096: How Friendships and Fun Can Create Massive Success with Jeff Fenster

Hi, I'm Natalie Jill, fat loss expert turned high performance coach. When odds are stacked against us, how do we shift and create everything from nothing? How do we level up when we aren't feeling it yet or we've had a big setback? On this podcast, I'll be talking to some of the most inspiring and courageous men and women on this planet who at their worst, learned how to achieve success greater than they ever dreamed possible. Leveling up and creating everything from nothing. As a serial entrepreneur, Jeff Fenster has been recognized nationally for business creations that have turned into huge successes. In addition, Jeff was named a top hundred entrepreneur under the age of 35 in America when he was just 30 years old. Combining his two biggest passions, entrepreneurship and healthy living, Jeff created his most recent innovation, one of my favorite places to eat ever bowl. He has built this explosive brand utilizing his personal philosophy of making friends and having fun. And this has translated into a fun, vibrant culture at Everbowl. But Jeff's not done yet. In fact, he's just getting started. Jeff has continued to disrupt on a massive scale and has recently launched superfood infused coffee company. Join in today and learn exactly how Jeff Fenster continually levels up and creates everything from nothing. Today I'm leveling up. I'm here with Jeff Fenster and I'm dying to talk to you today, Jeff, because Jeff is exactly the definition of why I started this podcast. He is. When I asked him what he does, he says, I'm a serial entrepreneur who over and over again has created everything from nothing. And I thought that's just so great because my podcast is leveling up, creating everything from nothing. And he is, at 36 years old, he has started from the ground up 14 companies. Now, not all of them were success. Some were massive failures. As he said. Sometimes he was a victim of identity theft, all kinds of things that happened to him. But overall, he has started 14 companies and some have been massive successes. So I am dying to jump in and talk with you today, Jeff. Thank you so much for being here with me.

Thank you so much. It's my absolute privilege and pleasure and I'm excited to connect with your audience and get to speak to you. I'm a big fan of your podcast and everything that you're doing. So thank you.

You're welcome. And I'm excited. Let's talk. Tell me, do you ever think you'd start 14 companies? Like, was that who you thought you'd be?

No, not at all. I was actually had this vision of being a sports agent and went to law school to be a sports agent. Had this whole future career planned out in my head and here I am, you know, many years later and not doing that at all.

So, oh my gosh, a sports agent's not really an entrepreneur, right? So you had like, you had a path. And why sports agent? Why was that important to you?

I love sports. Played sports my whole life and realized I wasn't going to be a professional athlete, so to speak. So I had connected, or I thought I wanted to and really, really wanted to just be in the professional sports world. It kind of was my first main passion growing up. And my parents always stressed either go to medical school, go to law school, do something that is going to have a fallback plan. Okay, sports agent, law school, that'll be my path, you know, And I plowed through school really quickly, graduated, you know, law school at 24 and was all set to do that. And really just unfortunately my inn became a wall. And so I didn't have that opportunity anymore. And so I had to kind of take a step back. Young daughter. I was 24, I had an under two year old and a fiance and a home. And so I had to get a job. And I got a job at adp, the payroll company. And that was my first job. And I was there six months and fortunately was the top sales rep in the company in the country and made a boatload of money. Had this big ego and thought I was.

I know that ego. So you've got the training of what it takes for a lot of entrepreneurs. You got that sales training. I mean really, you said six months top sales training. You got that in depth. Learning how to get people to say.

Yes, that's right, yes. I learned solution selling actually from my mentor, Dave Meltzer. Growing up in high school, I did a lot of interning and it was really around sales because sports agent is selling yourself. And really, in all things in life, being able to sell is a critical and crucial skill. So really focused on that most of my life and was able to display that at a company like adp. Actually, when I was there and making all that money, I figured I'd be there for a long time. I had this whole career path planned out in my head about staying with ADP and building this beautiful career. And then my ego got in the way and six months later I had to quit and start.

Talk to me about that ego, because that comes up with a lot of entrepreneurs I interview and they don't know it's an ego at the time. What did that Mean, when did you figure that out? What does that mean to you?

It came to realize that, well, I had a bonus built into my comp plan at ADP and I hit the metrics and I went to my boss and I said, listen, I'd like my bonus. And my boss said, sure, at the end of the fiscal year, which was six months from then. And I was never good with people telling me to wait for stuff. So I said, no, no, no, no, I earned it. Pay me my money and I'll keep working. And they said, no, you gotta wait six more months. And so my ego said, I'll quit if you don't give me that money. And I said that without giving much thought to it, just in the heat of the moment, said that they called my bluff. And so I had to quit the very next day. And I ended up moving, selling my house, moving in with my parents, with my fiance and daughter, and starting my own payroll company out of my mom's kitchen literally the very next day.

So many people would have done, I get the reaction, they would have reacted and quit and just said, oh boy, why did I do that? And they would have gone crawling back or maybe they would have gone gotten a job with another competitor or somebody else. What gave you the idea that I'm going to start my own? And like, was there any hesitation there? Did you, you just knew you were going to do that? That's scary. First step.

It was scary. I didn't realize at the time that I was going to do that. When I quit, I took a moment and then I kind of had that realization that I'm not built to be told what to do. I had a big ego, but I also had a lot of self confidence and I just had this ambition that you know what, I can always go get another job. Luckily I knew how to sell things. So I had the security blanket to know like companies are always looking for sale salesmen and women, right? Anyone who can increase sales is always a valuable and viable skill. I had a higher education degree, so I had a lot of built in things there to give me a launchpad of confidence. But I always just said, you know what, if I'm going to go chase why am I going to build someone else's dream, I'm going to go chase my own. And so I said to hell with it. And my wife was fiance at the time, was supportive and I had a little daughter who was going to look up to me and I wanted to be able to always chase her dreams and never settle and so it was kind of like that moment where I had find myself and I was young and I said, you know, I'm going to try.

Yeah. So, okay, so 24, you decide to do this? Is it all beautiful and easy? Did it happen quick?

Well, I got a bunch of. No, nothing? No, I got a bunch of sales early on. I was 25. Now. I just turned 25. Started this payroll company with a buddy of mine at my mom's kitchen. Got a little office about three months later, and I go to sign the lease on the office, and they tell me my credit is in shambles. And I'm like, my credit's in shambles? What do you mean my credit's in shambles? I have perfect credit. And then you have a Lexus you didn't pay for. And I did not own a Lexus. And I had an apartment in Orange county, which I didn't live in Orange County.

Okay.

And I bought an engagement ring, which I did not, because I had already purchased my fiance. So this was a new engagement ring. And all of a sudden, I came to realize I was a victim of identity theft. And my credit.

Oh, my gosh.

Thrown in the toilet right when I started a company and really needed all my credit.

Wow. Okay. That's a different spin. So you're confident, like, oh, this is going great and this is awesome, and this happens. How'd you experience? Knew what that was? Did you even know anyone that had identity theft before?

No. The DMV has this division called the Catch Team, and they showed up and they showed me a picture of my driver's license in the DMV system with someone else's picture on it.

Oh, my gosh.

They're like, that's not you. And I'm like, yeah, that's not me. And so it took actually almost two and a half years to get through all of that, clear up my credit, deal with all of that letters. I was working with the Identity Theft Resource Center. So it was a big fiasco. And definitely it was a sucker punch right at the time when I didn't really have the time or desire or patience to deal with it because. Trying to grow a company. Yeah, I don't know what I'm doing.

So what did you decide about that? Like, how did you get through and keep going? Because that would make a lot of people quit. Like, I. I'm done. I give up. The universe told me. Yeah, what? Like, how did you keep going with that?

You know, it's one of those things I've just always had this mindset that, that when life throws something at you, you just got to keep going. You know, Again, truthfully, it was my, My daughter. You know, I had this little being that was looking up to me, and I just wanted to keep showing her, like, hey, you're always going to have trials and tribulations in life. There's no, you know, there's no elevator to the top, and things are going to always get hit at you, and it's what you do with them that defines you and how you make yourself. And I always kept telling myself every morning, you know what, if I can get through this, building a company is going to be the easiest thing I do today. So focusing on that, I was able to keep driving through it. Luckily, I had good support group that was able to emotionally kind of be there for me in my bad days and rough days. But most importantly, it's about waking up every morning with the fire and passion to go kill the day and be your best self. And that's kind of. I mean, I'm so fortunate for it now because I've used the life lessons and skills that I harnessed then in all of my future companies, and it has allowed me to progress at such an expedited pace that I probably wouldn't have without those setbacks.

Yeah, it's so interesting because when things happen to us and I, I see this so many times with people I've interviewed. Like, so that's the defining moment, because I think something happens to you and you make up a story about it. Like, you have a perspective on it. Like, either I'm not meant to do this, this is I give up. Or, or you use it as, okay, this is going to make me stronger. Like, where do you think that came from playing sports? Like, where do you think you got that? Like, I know you mentioned your daughter, which is cool, because that's like, that was your almost like your driving core motivator. It was your why. But what. Where did you first learn that? Was that sports? Was that your parents? Like, how did you learn that skill? Because so many people are missing that.

I think both I think sports and my parents. I was fortunate to have very, very supportive parents. Both type A personalities that kind of pushed me. No matter what, you're always going to get good grades. I don't care what's the. What else you're doing, but you're going to get good grades. They drove me to work hard and still the work ethic in me and then being, you know, I'm 5, 9, 165 pounds. But I played running back in football, I boxed and baseball. Like I always played against bigger, stronger, faster people. And so it was never easy. Right. And I had this passion to play. And I think being on team sports and sports in general is a great way to learn these skills because it forces you to overcome adversity, overcome challenges, pain. Exactly. Embrace the suck, so to speak.

Yeah.

And just get through it, you know. And obviously now it's great because I have perspective. I'm older, I'm more mature. You know, my daughter's going into high school now, so I have a long time of growth with her and being a parent to see how that's been applied. But early on, you know, dealing with it, I think a lot of people take those negatives and like you said, they form a story or an excuse. And in reality, you learn more from failure than you do from success. Because when things go good, you don't take time to reflect. But when things are going bad, if you take a moment and reflect on it and see, okay, what just happened? What can I do to not have it happen again? How can I turn this into a positive? And I'm a big folks guy, so I apologize up front, but one of the quotes I like to say is when nothing's going right, go left. And with that mindset of saying, okay, fail fast, learn from them, understand what they are, and as long as you don't make the same mistake twice, it's not really a bad thing. It's a good thing. Right. Because now you've just improved yourself, you've increased your experience and now you're in a better position to propel forward. And so I think from all things, from, you know, the easiest way to do it and see it is immediacy is like fitness. Right. And you're obviously fitness space because you apply that energy and there's a day you don't wake up and feel like working out or you feel like eating something bad. And you know, I've started my, my path, my biggest passion in life is prevent besides my family is and industry is prevention of illness. Been how I started my most recent passion project, which is now my biggest company I've ever had. And it was because I finally get to connect truly my passion into my business. And it's all about being your best self and understanding what makes us our best self and how do we achieve that kind of state. And it goes from understanding the emotional side and dealing with all the negatives that come in life. And like you said, you can make an excuse or you can actually use it as a springboard forward. And that's the key, is to always be moving forward. Fail fast, move on. Tomorrow you will be better off than you were today. No matter how bad today is, just get through it and tomorrow's a brand new day.

I love what you just said too about your passion into a business. Because even like that first thing when you got let go or you quit ADP and you had, you said it was your ego, but you then started a competitive company, there was a passion behind that. Like I'm going to get them back. Like it might not have been the ideal passion, but that was that. That's what I'm hearing is that was sort of your passion.

That's right.

And that's why that you realize this and you're learning the lessons early on. That was your first company. Did you keep going with that and what point did you decide to Pivot? Because you 14 companies later, obviously you've had a big path. So how did you go from there to what was next?

So we sold it in. So I started in 2007, we sold it in 2010 into 2010. And I had.

So you were growing it during the economic downturn.

Yes, correct. And it was very easy. I mean, truthfully, my model was simple. It was to be, I believe to be the most cost effective service in the industry. So I was basically making very small margins but building a ton of clientele and leading with now what I classify as my two main business principles of making friends and having fun. And that's how I build all my companies today. I didn't have that coin to back then, but that's what I was making friends with all my potential clients. I'd go out and make friends and do what I could to connect on a personal level and personalize the service. So therefore people would want to work with me, the individual. And that's how I sell is I sell myself and I sell that. I'm going to be here for you tomorrow no matter what's the case. So if you make mistake or ADP makes a mistake, it's going to happen. But at the end of the day, you know that I'm going to take care of you and you're going to be good because you work with me. And so that was how we grew really fast.

I love that and I love. And also you were helping them save money like you said. So everybody is dealing with economic downturn. So that was key right there. They were looking for cost savings.

That was the other big negative when I started was I started the company at pretty much the height of a recession, which is always a great time to.

Great time to quit a job and start. Right.

Especially one where you're making six figures and you have a home.

Yeah.

And your fiance loves you for it.

Yeah. Oh my gosh, that's craziness. So. So you sold the company and then what was, what were you doing next?

So I traveled a bunch. We had an office in Orange county in San Diego. I was always on the road and I really wanted to work from a computer so I could. My wife was pregnant with our second child and I met my youngest time during that period always out. So I figured, you know what, I should use this computer to make some money. So I figured I'd start a digital marketing agency. And I don't know anything about digital marketing. And so I reached out to a buddy of mine who was in the space and I said, you know what, I'll pay you some money to help me. He said, listen, I don't do that. You should meet a guy named Neil Patel. And I said, who's Neil Patel? And he said, you should know him. He's kind of an industry leader if you're going to be in the space. And so he connected me with him and, and got me an intro. And then when I enter a new market or a new industry and I start a new company, I like to come in with fresh eyes and disruption and zero experience. I think that's a benefit. Too many people, I think, don't start things because they don't feel like they have the adequate experience. I think that's the most overrated attribute in any industry whatsoever. Because if you have experience, then you're just going to copy what everyone else has done and how it's been done. And so you're going to not really stand out. You're going to be one in the crowd again. I want fresh eyes and disruption. So if everyone's going right, I'm going to go left. So I basically went and sold a six figure client first and then went to Neil and said, hey, you don't know me, but I just sold six figure client for us. Why don't you come on down, let's meet and so I can sell our second client. And it was really kind of a curveball to him. Like he's like, first of all, who are you?

Yeah. And no one had done that way.

Yes.

Yeah.

And at least now he recognized that I'm different than every other person who probably reaches out to him. And so it didn't go exactly how I wanted, but initially. But we built a beautiful relationship with one of my very good friends. Now he's an advisor on some of my companies. We stay in very close contact and we built some wonderful clients together. And from that I learned about really the type of entrepreneur I am, which is a startup entrepreneur. I love from nothing to something. I like taking an idea, a vision and building a sustainable company and doing that through a set of specific business principles. And so leveraging that, I just started creating a whole bunch more startups. Until now I realize the power of vertical integration of multiple startups.

Okay, I got a lot of questions right now because what's coming up for me as an entrepreneur who's super ADD and has a million ideas? Me. And I'm assuming you got a little of that in you. Maybe. I'm certainly not a doctor, but just by what you're telling me, I'm relating to some stuff. A lot of that personality. We have so many ideas and we love to start, but we don't love to like complete and make it better. So a lot of people, they instead force themselves to complete and make it better. They start hiring, they stay, are told to focus. Just stay here. Like you just said, if you're going right and it's not working, go left or whatever. It sounds like that's what you're doing. You're really working with your personality. Talk to me more about that because I know there's a lot of people listening that can relate to what I'm saying right now where they have so many ideas and they're being told to focus on one and you're saying, no, make all your ideas work. So can you speak a little bit more into that and why that works for you and what you've learned around that?

Absolutely. So I do have entrepreneurial add. I am the squirrel who's always chasing the nut that falls.

I live that.

Yes, guilty as charged as well. So what I do and how I do it is I realize, okay, I need to surround myself with world class talent. And I think one mistake a lot of entrepreneurs make when they try to bring talent on is they try to control those people. And so understanding what the word entrepreneur is, I sell people and be an entrepreneur inside of my company, right? So my CFO come in and build the whole financial side of our business. I don't need to tell you how to be a cfo. You're the guy with the experience or girl with the experience. You get to Be an entrepreneur inside of the framework of our organization. And so one of my business philosophies is be the dumbest guy in the room or dumbest girl if you're a female.

Okay.

I pride myself on being smart and intelligent. I push myself to learn. I'm always learning. But I want to surround myself with smarter people. And if I'm the dumbest person at the table on a respected issue, the company's going to move forward at an exponential pace and I can go focus on the next piece of the company. And so for example, at Everbowl, which is a craft superfood restaurant chain, I'm a startup guy. So I started a construction company to build all of our restaurants. I started an import company to import fruit so we could reduce our cost of goods at the restaurants at the store level. I started a commissary so we could reduce the labor at the store level. So now I'm getting to focus on all these fun startups that I love to do.

You'd like to solve the initial problem? It sounds like yes.

And build a sustainable vertical integration model that all funnels up back to the main company.

Okay, this is brilliant. What I'm thinking is that you're also really good at who you're picking and hiring. I like what you said. Like I want to hire entrepreneurs within and, and I think that you're making that sound super easy. But I know that that's not always easy because a lot of people say they want to be an entrepreneur. Cause they don't want to work hard. Like there's a lot of motives that they say that they want to be an entrepreneur. How do you know, like who you're hiring is that right person and that can do it? And how do you incentivize them when you are seriously a startup and you don't have the money or the funds yet?

So first I'm going to touch on the first part. You said anyone who thinks being an entrepreneur means I don't have to work hard, don't be an entrepreneur first and foremost.

Good. I agree. But you know, that's what a lot of people think. That's a lot of reasons that they become an entrepreneur. And that's you were going to work 10 times harder.

So you either work someone else, you work 150 hours.

Totally.

Yeah. So really it's, it's again, it's making friends, having fun. So what I try to do is I try to make friends with enough people and build my, my relationship capital to the point where people know what I'm doing and they look at it. And so a lot of people want to be an entrepreneur but they don't have an idea, they don't have a vision. They're not a startup entrepreneur. Like okay, right, so take a my cfo, he was an accountant at his family CPA firm. He's been my accountant forever, very good friends. He has an entrepreneurial mindset but he doesn't necessarily have the entrepreneurial plan. Well the I get to sell him and say listen, come be your own boss, your own entrepreneur and executive of our company Everbowl. And now you get to grow this whole division. I'm not going to tell you how to be and do what you do. Inject your DNA into our organization and work with me, not for me. I don't have any employees that work for me. They work with me. I set the big vision, I set the path and everything funnels in but they get to own their own piece inside of it. And so I empower a system ecosystem where everyone gets to kind of be their own entrepreneur inside of it and that work, you know, it's kind of like what kind of an entrepreneur are you? Are you an operating entrepreneur? Are you a startup entrepreneur? Are you a next level entrepreneur who comes in after a company is off the ground? You know what kind do you or are you? And once you realize the kind of entrepreneur you are, you can find opportunities that fit. So when I'm interviewing or talking to people I'm looking for, you have to be a self starter. You have to be a hard worker for me to want to work with anyone because like attracts like and high energy. I am 100% on the go. I'm up at 4am, I work till 11 o' clock at night. I'm going to bust my ass and I expect everyone around me to do the same. So that environment pushes away anyone who doesn't really want to work hard to begin.

Does it ever create an issue with like your personality is the creative, the ideas, the startup. But then you're attracting people like you that are also that within that does that ever compete with butting heads? Like they have their own direction, you have your own direction. Like how does that end up working?

So not really because the people who are too much like me won't want to work with me. They're going to go do their own thing. It's the ones who are operators but want to be an entrepreneur or be in a startup environment and have that passion and thrill. So I give, I share equity, I Mean, all my executives, we all have equity, so we all share in the upside. I lead with the broom. So my philosophy is, do where you're what you're good at, and I'll do the worst job in the building, and I don't care what it is. And I'll keep doing that until I fill every job, and then I'll go start another company. And once I've done that, my position is done, I've completed what my objective was, and I move on to the next. The next.

I love this. You, like, you have the master idea. You find people smarter than you, better than you. You. You don't have any ego. You got rid of the ego there because you're like, literally like, I'll be the janitor. I'll do whatever I need to do to get it running while you're going, right? And then you move on because that's your next unique ability. I love it.

And if you can lose the ego, which I think is one of the biggest mistakes too many young and young, not in age, young, inexperienced entrepreneurs make, is they have this wrong mentality that if they don't come up with the idea or someone else inside the organization does, either they'll be looked at as a fraud or they won't get the credit. They won't get this. And the truth is, half the things we do at ever bull I don't come up with. And as a result, incredible team and nothing to do with me. I was just nominated for CEO of the year in San Diego, and I didn't do anything except surround myself with smart people who put me in position to get that amazing nomination, which I don't deserve. They do. And so it's just. It goes backwards, right? It's. It's kind of like what we think when we think, oh, I have toward the credit and I have to be the one who gets it all. You're actually going to get more of it when you empower others to be great.

And so now, Jeff, do you ever struggle with the letting go of control, though? Because you really are trusting and letting go of a lot of control. Is that ever a struggle for you? Like, I don't like what they're doing or I would have done it different. Like, does that come up? Because that's another thing I hear with a lot of visionaries and entrepreneurs is they struggle with the need to control. I'll tell you, I, for one, I struggle with that daily. Like, I want to let go of the control, but I control. So I'm wondering About that. Does that ever come up for you, or did it ever. And you caught and you conquered it.

It did and I conquered it. Yeah.

Tell me more about that.

So, yeah, so it used to. In some of my previous companies, you know, I would. I would be so afraid of us making a mistake, and so I would not allow it. I would try to be micromanaging every detail. And then what I learned is we're gonna make mistakes anyway. So it's how we. It's how we handle them. And as long as I do a good job on the forefront, to surround myself with people who understand the vision and everything they're doing is to push forward on the vision that I'm trying to drive or the direction I'm trying to take the company, I'm gonna give them the freedom to make those mistakes. And as a team, we're gonna pick them up. Mistakes happen. And I have failed at companies, and I've been successful, but I can tell you, I've had the most success when I conquered that and really started to let go and let great people be great, because we are so. And we have 500 employees, and 499 of them are incredible. And then there's me, and I'm just surrounding myself with amazing people again and again and again, which makes unbeatable on so many fronts. And it really allows us, no pun intended, to level up.

How did you learn that? How did you learn to let go of control? I mean, this is a big topic because I run into this all the time with entrepreneurs, and this is a big roadblock with them. They can't let go of the control. Somewhere, somehow. How did you learn that? And I said, you said you was learned and you figured it out. But, like, how. And have you ever slip up with it? And how do you catch yourself when you're in that loop? I know you still know what I'm talking about. There are loopholes that come up. How do you catch it and fix it?

So it's daily effort, right? I mean, it's a constant, constant focus to make sure that when I catch myself going, I don't agree with what he or she is doing, I take a moment, I step back, and I go, okay, is this furthering our initiative? And are they. Do I believe that they are doing what they believe is in the best interests of our company? The answer is yes, I'm going to give them the freedom to do it. If the answer is no, I'm going to step in every time. Because as long as.

So you get that Initial trigger like, this isn't working for me. And then you ask yourself that question, you interrupt it with that question and you do step in. If it's like, no, this is not. Something's off, of course.

I mean, at the end of the day, I still have to be the CEO. I still have a job to do. And my job is to make sure shareholders and myself that we're driving this thing forward and holding ourselves accountable to the vision. But it starts with me. And I have to make sure that if they believe it's in the best interest of the company, you know, there's multiple ways to get to the same endpoint. Right. You don't always have to all go on the same road. And because it's not the way I would do it doesn't necessarily mean it's the wrong way. And I'm going to give them freedom. And obviously it's going to start when they first join the company. It's going to be a smaller leash. And it gets bigger and bigger as they've proven that a, they are thinking only what's best for our company and to success. So it's not the first day they come. I let them drive us. Right. If we're going left. No, I mean, it definitely starts with a leash, but it's an environment and it's, it's very, very contagious. When you're around people who feel like their DNA get into the enterprise, it becomes our company, not my company. And that is so powerful because I work 100 hours a week. So do they. Because they care just as much as I do now.

Yeah. And they're incentivized as part owner or whatever, and they get part of it. How do you deal with details? I'm curious about that. Like, do you pay attention to them? Do you let go of them? Like, where are you on detail level?

I wish I was better. I wish I was a little better. I'm probably a little too broad stroke, so. So the first thing I always try to do is surround myself with someone who's a little. A lot more OCD than me when it comes because I'm moving so fast and unfortunately, sometimes too fast, that I have to pick, pick up and pick up what I dropped along the way, some of those finite details. But early on when I start, I'm doing it all right. When I started the companies, I do everything to get initially, so I understand every job. I never wanted to be in a position where someone goes, you don't understand. You never did it. No bullshit. I Did it. And then immediately I try to find the key operators who can really drive us forward. And again, I pride myself on being very intelligent. I have an extreme thirst for knowledge. I listen to podcasts or reading all the time or listen to audiobooks.

So being so you're not scroll, you're not scrolling social media and getting caught up in drama.

I'm really not have social media till my latest company and I only have it now because I'm pretty much being pushed to build the brand and build the personal brand so I can help more eyeballs to the company and so I'm doing it but because I have that thirst for knowledge and I am very intelligent or pride myself in being intelligent. When I surround myself with smarter people, these people are absolute rock stars. And I'm up to me to hold myself accountable, to make sure that I'm raising the bar and rise, you know, keeping the tide rise. Yeah, all boats will float.

Talk to me about failures and when you have setbacks and do you ever have those times when you're like, it's not going as planned, like you've started 14 companies, like you started it, it's not going as planned. Do you ever encounter that negative self talk, like, oh, this was a bad idea, this didn't work, like, and how do you know when it's actually a bad idea? Like time to cut my losses and be done or like I have to keep pushing through.

So all the time I think we all have self doubt. Anyone who does, who says they don't, I think is lying. I have an incredible mind because I have doubt literally five times a week, six, six days a week, you know, there's something we're doing or something we're working on. And you know, whenever you try to be disruptive and innovative, you're doing something that may not have been done before. So there's no.

Yeah.

So you're always like, well, what if they don't like it? What if? And I catch myself going through the what ifs in my head and then I yeah, you know, and like all skills, the more you practice it, the better you get. And I practice all the time. I try to catch my mind and I go, stop with this negative thought. There's no reality here. It's all being created in my crazy mind right now. And I get back to focus and that's where I try to apply, just go do something simple. And so what I try to do is, you know, I like to go into one of my restaurants and make a, make some food because it's something that kind of allows me to get back to center or back to what our crux is. And since we're all about making friends and having fun, I like to connect with customers. So when it comes to failure and when to pull the cord, I mean, that's a tough one because it's all industry specific. I think it's. I would rather hold on too long than cut bait too soon. I use an analogy with my team all the time, that when we try something, it's like you plant a seed in the dirt and it sprouts, but it's below the dirt. And too often we're waiting for that to sprout, waiting for it to sprout. And because we haven't seen it break the earth, we haven't. It's not going to work. But in reality, it has sprouted. It's just. Just at the surface about to break the earth. Yeah, it's just on the other side of the. Of the street there. And you cut bait too soon. So my thing is, I would rather. And it's what would you rather? Right. It's the game of would you rather. And it. For me, it's, would I rather cut bait too soon or hold on too long? I'd rather hold on a little too long.

Yeah.

Because again, life is short, and you got to find what you're passionate about. And if you're passionate about what you're doing.

Yeah.

Hold on and keep going until you get there.

Now, how have you handled financial stuff? I'm assuming in the 14 businesses you've had times when you're like, crap, I can't pay the bills. Like, what? How did you handle that? Because how do you make decisions when you're struggling with that?

So definitely had that happen. Like I said, I was a victim of identity theft, and I sold my house in the heat of the recession. I wasn't making much money and living with mom and dad, my fiance and daughter. So, yes, financially, I was very tough. And I had no credit, so I had no credit cards. I had no access to money. And my parents giving me money, they gave me a roof over my head, so we weren't going to starve, but I wasn't able to pay my bills. And then afterwards, you know, I started some companies, and I invested a bunch of money in one of my companies, and it wasn't successful. And I looked around and I was like, I don't know how I'm gonna pay the mortgage this month. And so I had to actually borrow some money from my father in law at one point and wow. You know, but again, it's all part of the journey, right? And yeah, and anyone who's self made. Air quote. It's just not true. It takes two people to make every human being in the world. So yeah, no one is self made. We're made from a. I believe that surrounding yourself with amazing who inspire and don't put you down, build you up is critical. You know, so I have amazing friends and an amazing support group around me and I try to give back to them every way I can. And when it comes to financial stress, you know, it's wake up and grind. I mean, you know, I think people spend too much time dreaming. And I don't dream, I plan. And I think that's the main difference between a lot of successful entrepreneurs and those who are starting up is a lot of people spend a lot of time dreaming about what they want and not planning. And when I go to sleep at night, I put everything in the ingredients in about thinking about what I want to accomplish tomorrow. So when I go to sleep, I plan, I plan my next day. And you know, of course we all have dreams in our heads, but stop dreaming and start planning and doing and do it.

What I'm also hearing with you too, and correct me if I'm hearing it wrong, but that you're really thinking big picture on the plans. You're not thinking, I have to go get through a bunch of emails, I have to answer all these questions. You're not caught up in those little things that are distractions. You're really constantly thinking of the big picture. And what's keeping you going Is that vision on that big picture?

Yeah.

Am I right on that or am I here? Okay, that's, that's the theme. I'm sort of hearing that because a lot of people say that they get up and hustle or they get up and grind, but I think they're grinding on the wrong things. Like they're just checking their emails all day and they're saying they're grinding.

That's correct. So another business philosophy I have is start with the end first. And so what that means define exactly what success is for you and where you want to be. So with ever bull, I want to be a nationwide coast to coast craft superfood reit food chain with stores all across the country. That's my goal. So anything that doesn't achieve, we take us one step closer to that I don't care about. And so work backwards. And when you start working backwards from there and you get to where you are today, you'll know what you need to do with your time, because it's a very easy equation for me. Do I need to respond to 197 emails I've got by noon today? No, because that's not getting me closer to selling more food tomorrow or today in the store. So I will get to Those emails at 4 in the morning when there's nothing else I can be doing. I'm surely not going to do it in the middle of my day. I'm not going to waste time on social media and to get into conversations and making sure that I'm the most popular or coolest person on the media on that specific platform. You know, I'm going to grind and do what I need to do during the hours and time it needs to get done. And if I miss some of the little steps that happened today, I apologize to everyone who I may take a little bit longer to get back. I love you. It's not personal. And everyone who knows me knows that you know, and I do my best. But again, it's. You're right. Too many people are spinning their wheels, focusing on totally the wrong things. And there's a difference between being. Being busy and being productive. And a lot of people find ways to be busy, be productive, and be targeted on what you're trying to accomplish. And don't waste energy and effort on things that don't move the needle because you're only hurting yourself. I mean, we're all the main character in our own story, right?

Yeah. Oh, my gosh. This is so good. And your biggest passion right now, the thing you're most excited and passionate about right now is ever bowl that you started, correct?

Yes.

Tell us about that. Where did that start from?

So I'm a little bit of a hypochondriac. I'm afraid of disease.

Okay.

And I think it's easier to prevent illness than cure illness. And so I looked at being that I love startups. I looked at why are we killing ourselves? Why is America dealing with so many heart disease, obesity, diabetes, strokes, cancers. And all the research is showing that it's a lot of it is behavioral. It's what we're doing. And so I created a word. It's on the front of all of our employees T shirts in our store. It doesn't say ever bowl because I'm a sports guy, but it says unevolved. It's a singular word I™. And the definition is to move and eat the way we were Meant to, to live actively and eat stuff that's been around foreverable. And that's where the name ever bull came from.

And so I love it.

I believe to be healthy and be your best self you have to move your body and live actively and you need to eat real food, not laboratory created man made food that our bodies don't know what to do with. But you need to eat body and stuff that's been around forever. And so I looked at the four excuses as to why we will eat something bad for us and it's simple. Any excuse someone makes, it's one of these four. And if you can answer these four, they will eat healthy every time. It either costs too much to eat healthy. Yeah, doesn't taste good, not going to fill you up, you can't get it. But if you give somebody something that is filling, delicious, affordable and accessible, they will choose the healthy option every single time.

I'm going to also add knowledge. I think some people don't know what healthy food is. Fair being from the fat loss industry like knowing that, I think there's a gap. Some like where I live in San Diego, California, there's a big education around it but there's some areas of the country that there is definitely misinformation about what's healthy.

You're absolutely right. And I'm taking that to the point where we voluntarily know what's healthy but we still choose that fry fast and fried option, the McDonald's and when we know that the salad is better for us, but it's not going to fill me up and I'm going to be hungry in two hours or I don't know it tastes or it cost me $14 for this beautiful salad, but it costs.

Or they have the salad with the ranch dressing, cheese and whatever and they're not, they're wondering why they're not. They think that's healthier because it's a salad.

Exactly.

Yeah. I love it. I love chatting with you. This is so fascinating. I think you're the first person I've interviewed that literally has started 14 companies and you're 36 but you're actually successful. I hear stories of people that have started lots of companies that have never been successful. That's a whole different story. That's a different topic.

Well, as long as you, as long as the game's not over, keep trying, right?

I guess so, yeah. So okay, if somebody's listening to this right now and they are something I ask everybody. So I'm curious your take. They're in Their own personal rock bottom. Maybe they are you at 24. Like they. Identity theft, they have no money, they lost their job, they're going through a divorce, whatever it is. They're in their own personal rock bottom and they're listening to this right now and they're thinking, I don't even know where to start. I don't even know what to think do because I'm in a rock bottom spot and I just, I can't even imagine. If you were to give them like three pieces of advice on what they can do right now to start changing and creating everything from nothing, what would you tell them?

First, I would say if you really are at rock bottom, it's actually a good place to be. Because if you're not quite at rock bottom, you can still fall further down. So there's only one way now, which is up. So take a moment and say, okay, I've gone down as far as we're going to go. And so moving forward, it can only go up from here.

So gratitude, really with it.

Interesting. Okay. Right, yeah. Secondly, I would take a moment and be. And be grateful. And I would make a list of everything that I am grateful for. Because when you start to make that list, you feel better. And like all things in life, it starts in the mind first and then it can be applied. So if you're smiling like it's this thing. And I'm gonna use a little analogy, I tell all my employees at Everbowl, when someone, a customer walks in, and you can do this on the street. You don't have to do this in a restaurant. Human psychology. But if you walk up to a stranger and you frown at them, they will frown back. If you smile, they will smile back. We are programmed to mirror each other. So what you. What you can accomplish with a smile is incredible. And if you make a list of what you're grateful for, you'll hopefully end up smiling. And when you smile, you'll feel a little bit better. And when you feel a little bit better, you'll do a little bit more and you'll actually. I love that into it. So first I would know those two things, and then the third thing I would do is I would say, well, since I'm at the bottom anyway, what is it that I. What is it that drives me? What is my passion? And then I would be relentless in pursuit of that passion. And I would stop at nothing, since you're already at the bottom anyway, until you achieve it. And that's, I think, why, like you said, when we Talked. You know, you've interviewed some people who were homeless and became billionaire, popped out of high school and accomplished amazing things.

Yeah.

Because of that, it's be relentless in pursuit of your dreams and passions and nothing can stop you. And the world will create those opportunities once you go forward. Right. As long as you're holding back with resentment or with reservation, nothing. The opportunities won't be there or you won't notice them. But when you have blinders on and you chase your passions and your dreams with relentless pursuit, it's amazing how the world opens up.

This is so good. I love this. And as I'm talking to you, I pulled up Ever bowl on my map and I was like, oh, my gosh, there's like a million right by me. I don't think I've ever been there. And now I have to go check it out. Rancho Santa Fe, San Diego. Yeah, North San Diego. I just pulled it up, you guys. Look at the map. If you're listening to this and how many Ever Bowls there are, I'm actually impressed with how many you have.

Oh, thank you. Yes, we just.

I'll check it out.

23Rd store in two and a half years.

That's amazing. Well, congratulations to you. This is awesome. Where can people find you besides Ever Bowl? Where can they find you? Where do you want them looking for you, following you, learning more about your businesses and what you do.

Sure. Instagram is obviously always a good place at Finster Jeff. Or at Everbowl Craft Superfood. Those are our two handles there. I'm on LinkedIn. I'd love to. I'm a big believer in mentor and mentee. I've always had mentors in life and I'm always there to give advice or tips or help and vice versa. If anyone has any suggestions or help for me, I would love it. I'm trying to get stronger on how I meditate because I have a bit of a monkey mind and I'm struggling with meditating.

I'm with you there. I love that. I need to do that too. When you find that out, let me know.

Right. Those are the best places to reach me. And of course, you know, I would love people to give Everbowl a try. We're hopefully going to be opening in a city near you and. Yeah, yeah, that's it.

Amazing. Thank you so much, Jeff.

Thank you.

Thanks for leveling up with us today. Please share this episode if you found it helpful tool so others can join in. And don't forget to hit that. Subscribe so you don't miss out on future shows. And if you would leave me a five star review. I appreciate those so much. I read all of them and it's how I know that I'm giving you information that you find valuable and come interact with me over on Instagram at Natalie Jill Fit. I read all the direct messages and comments over there. Make it a great day. Creating everything from nothing.