Control Your Focus, Control Your Outcome, with Andy Frisella - MFCEO102

I want to be a motherfucking hustler. You better act somebody. What is up guys? You're listening to the MFCEO project. I'm Andy. I'm your host, and I am the motherfucking CEO. Guys, if this is your first time listening, welcome. This is episode 101. If you want to know with this with the projects about what we're here to do, what we're trying to do and what we are going to do, go back and listen to episode 100. I think it outlines it pretty clear. What is the MFCEO project? Well, basically guys, it's a podcast based around entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial values, leadership values, taking initiative, taking responsibility, and core values that basically make up why our society has been successful for the last, I don't know, 230 years or so. How many years are we at, Maun? I was just thinking about that. I think it's 250, 260. Is it something like that? Anyway, the last couple hundred fucking years, how about that? Guys, our society has gotten away from what has made our society successful, and we are here to help show people, teach people, talk about the values, the techniques that successful people have used over the course of time to become better at entrepreneurship, become better providers, become better leaders, and become better people. That's what this is about. You guys have to realize that you are the CEO of you. You are an entrepreneur of you. You need to think of yourself as your own brand, especially in this day and age where we're consumed with social media. We have this whole second world out there that is social media, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and there's reality, there's real world, and there's this other world, the social world, and because the social world we're also involved in it, you are a brand. If you don't run your brand properly, guess what? Your value is decreased. We talk a lot about how to handle your social aspects. We talk a lot about how to handle these values, how to provide value. Basically guys, go back, listen to episode 100, go back and listen to some of the past episodes and you'll get the drift. I think a lot of people really resonated with that episode and must have shared it with people because we have a significant number of downloads normally, but I was checking our stats, and I saw that, wow, we blew the doors off of some of our daily records, so thank you guys. Yeah, everybody for listening to it. Yeah. Share everybody's behind the mission. Yeah, it's not just this isn't just a podcast, it's a movement, and we don't ask you to buy things, we don't sell programs. This is a way for us to give back and some of you guys are fathers and you didn't grow up in an entrepreneurial family or you're not an entrepreneur and you want your kids to do better. Well, this is the kind of podcast that you can listen to and learn some of these things that you could pass along. We do this as a passion project. It's something that we care deeply about and we want to provide real value to you guys. Today, we're going to talk about something that is very, very, very important every aspect of achievement. The podcast generally is for people pursuing success, entrepreneurs, business people, regular human beings that just want to get better. People like you that have active brains, okay? You're always thinking, you're always looking at the world and you have an opportunity mindset or if you didn't, you wouldn't be listening to this, okay? But here's the problem that I see with bright, capable people that I run into all the time because you see potential everywhere, sometimes you allow your attention to be distracted by everything, okay? You value hard work, you have all the tools, you have the drive, you have the discipline, but you spread those tools all around so thin that it's hard to produce a result. And I know most of you listening here suffer from this, okay? Here's the truth. The most elite, successful people on this planet know how to put on the horse blinders. They know how in a world of opportunity to choose one opportunity and take that full force of their work ethic and their drive and their ambition and their want and drive it home on a single point. This brings something up that annoys the shit out of me, a term that all you young motherfuckers like to use out there and all the one-to-be Instagram entrepreneurs have in their profile says serial entrepreneur, okay? That's the most worthless fucking term on the face of the earth. First of all, you're not, okay? Otherwise, we would know who the fuck you are. Second of all, there is very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very few people that can become true serial entrepreneurs, okay? Most of you motherfuckers that are serial, claim to be serial entrepreneurs, you just don't have the discipline to attack one fucking point to make it grow as much as it can. I see this all the time. I know guys who are moderately quote unquote successful who have 17 different fucking businesses and they're starting something new all the time, when if they just concentrated where they were strong, they'd be a fucking hundred millionaire. But instead, they're getting by, they're living mediocre life, they're spreading themselves way too thin so they can pretend like they're fucking Warren Buffett, all right? There's only one motherfucker Warren Buffett. You know how Warren Buffett got to be Warren Buffett? Because Warren Buffett knows how to build a fucking team. Warren Buffett isn't making all those decisions. He's not running all those companies. He's a team builder. He's a guy who comes up with fucking ideas, builds teams around those ideas and lets that team do the work, okay? So the term serial entrepreneur, when I see it, makes me think dumb fuck. That's what I think. Yeah. I think it's somebody pretended to be something that they aren't and they're probably not good at any of the fucking companies that they have and it's the most popular term right now because entrepreneurship is cool. Well here's this. How about you get yourself to an earning level of eight figures a year and then start a new company. You know what I'm saying? Stop talking about serial entrepreneur when you're making fucking 50 grand a year or spread out from six fucking companies. Yeah. That's just an impressive way or trying to be impressive way of saying that you're throwing a bunch of things against the wall and hoping that something sticks. Yeah. And that goes right into what we're going to talk about. These people lack focus. They lack the ability to drive a point home. They lack the ability to stay on top of something and see it through until harvest time. They don't know how to go out and fertilize a field and water a field and cultivate a field for five five six seven years without seeing a result. So what do they do? They get frustrated and they go start this or they go start that or they go start this and then they're a little plant. They originally planted my sprout a little bit but it never becomes the fucking true crop that it could be. You see what I mean? Absolutely. And dude I'm going to tell you right now big one of my if you have serial entrepreneur in your profile and I see it I fucking laugh. Like I laugh at you period unless your name is Warren Buffett or fucking Richard Branson. You know but if you're fucking you know Joe Blow or even if you're moderately successful and you call yourself a serial entrepreneur I think you're fucking moron right personal opinion and it but it's right. So this is where I'm going to talk about today guys we're going to talk about focus all right we're going to talk about relentless single-minded sharp as a knife focus the kind of focus that you can look at and see with total depth total certainty total clarity a goal and commitment to that goal all right I'm going to drop three principles on you that have helped me maintain focus because guys let's face it developing the kind of focus that we're talking about is not something you're born with. I used to be the guy who used to want to start a new business every three months I used to be the guy who thought that you know I needed to do something else all the time so I understand the process and I'm going to try to teach you guys how I overcame that process to learn how to really focus in on the one or two things I'm really really really good at to allow those things to mature and provide fruit and then what I'm going to do is I'm going to give you some best practices to help you maintain focus I think will help you in the position that you're in all right so I'm just going to get started right now and just say right off front the best way to stay focused guys is to focus on one project and remember this basic principle the most important thing is to provide value it's not about you it's about what you give it's not about what you take it's about what you give it's not about the money you make it's about what you give and I know we've covered this over and over and over again but this is something that people have a hard time grasping if there isn't value in your idea for the other person it will never work you should throw it in the garbage all right that aside you know people who bounce from one business venture to the next are the ones who are always focused on what they're going to take, what's in it for them, how much money are they going to make? Those are the people who are always going for six months and then jumping to something else and then jumping to something else and then jumping to something else. If you focus on the money guys, it's going to be really hard to focus on the benefit that you're providing on. Us as humans, we have a very limited ability to focus. So you have to trust the process that when you focus on providing value that the money just comes in. All right? Does that make sense? Yeah, it makes total sense. And guys, that's not to say that there's anything wrong with making money because absolutely there is nothing wrong with making money. You have an obligation to make money. But if that's what's driving you, if that's your priority, if that's what you think about non-stop, you're wasting so much time that could be spent on how you could provide value, how you could make a better product, how you could provide a better service. And that's taking away from your ability to succeed. All right? So if you focus on the wrong things, you're going to have a difficult time. You follow them saying? Yeah, it's really, I mean, I don't know, it's kind of amazing if you really think about it. So that the idea that it is countertuitive, but it's also, I mean, you're literally saying that the people who are bouncing from one thing to the next, if they took a whole hard look at themselves, it really is because they're selfish. They're just looking for the next greatest opportunity for them to cash in. Yeah, and that's why you, that's why these people bounce from one thing to another thing to another thing their whole entire lives. Yeah, they never really stick into something and never really become anything. And then they're getting jaded and getting better and then blaming the whole world for, you know, fulfilling what it is. The world doesn't exist to fulfill you. You exist to fulfill the world. If you can adopt that mindset, the money is going to be part of the reward that you get. It's not going to be the whole reward because you're going to get all kinds of other rewards. You're going to get fulfillment. You're going to get, you're going to get to see people grow. You're going to see people solve problems. There's going to be a lot of pride in those things that you get. And that's a big part of the reward. The biggest part of my job reward is not the money. I know people think that, but it's not it. The biggest part is seeing people lose a hundred pounds or change their life or get their confidence back or build up, you know, their life to quality that they want it to be. And, you know, that's what we try to focus on here at our companies. We focus on providing the tools and the information necessary for them to make those changes. And because we focus on those things, the money naturally comes in. It's a lesson that I think people need to learn that doing the right thing is often good for business. It's always good for business. But I think people think that a lot of times they have to choose between doing the right thing and being, you know, having, having practical business success, whereas it, that requires just a total mind shift. No, they need to take that idea and throw it in the fucking garbage. Right. Because that's not the way to think about it. Right. The, the, it's about providing value period. Right. And providing value comes down to doing the right thing. And when you do the right thing, better than anybody else, and you're providing more value than anybody else. Guess what happens? You make more money than anybody else. And that's just the way it is. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it. You could fucking argue at all you want. But I could point at every single business, every single one. And argue the point that you would say, oh, that's not true. Because every single business out there is an example of that, every single one of them. Just is. But in practical terms, what you're saying is if you do the right thing, if you provide value, it is going to help you hone your focus. Yes, absolutely. You know, you only have the, like I said, you only have the ability to focus on one or two things. And if you're always focused on your bank account or always focused on your money, this is where people really screw up. You know, they focus on their lack of money, they focus on, their need for money, they focus on the bills they have to pay. Well, that takes away their focus from how do I make a better product that people are actually going to want? How do I make a better service that people are actually going to want? How do I do the best job I possibly can that's going to make people excited to do business with me? And whenever they lose the focus on those points, that's when their business kind of falls apart. You see what I'm saying? So they get caught up in the day to day. You have to push that shit out the negative shit, the worries, the anxiety, the stress. Be aware of it, but push it out and don't focus on it. Focus on that one handshake, that one smile, that one thank you, that one positive Facebook post somebody's going to write about you because you did such a great job. If you focus on that every single day, that's going to cumulatively, you know, affect your business in a positive way over time. And because people who we caught up in the day to day in the bills and the anxiety and the I don't have the lack, you know, they get more of that. Right. And you know, guys, the thing about success is that, you know, it takes time. It takes tremendous amounts of energy. It takes tremendous amounts of tenacity. And when you diffuse your efforts on multiple projects, because this one isn't working yet, because you're impatient and you haven't let it grow the way it needs to grow, good things are not going to happen for you. You're going to spend your eternal your whole entire life on a three-year plan. That three-year plan is going to go like this. Start something, work my dick off. Two years, I'm not making money, three years, I'm making a little money, I'm not making enough money so I'm going to go fucking do this other thing. And people spend their entire lives in that process. How many guys do you know that every time you see them, they're into something new? Right. Dude, I've been doing the same thing for 17 years now. You know what I mean? Like, there's no coincidence there that we're doing okay. Right. You know, you have to learn to commit to the project that allows you to provide the most value to the market and to the world. And if you put all your effort into that, the money is absolutely going to take care of itself. I get that question all the time. Which one should I choose? Which one can you be the best in the world at? Which one can you be the top 10 in the world at? Which one can you provide the most value to someone else? That's how you answer that question. Right. But most people will do what? They will say, I'm going to pick the one that I think I can make the most money at. Right. And it ends up blowing up in their face. Right. When I hear you say that, I think you can't really ask, how can I provide the most value without using the word I? How can I provide the most value? And when you do that, you're asking, what do I bring to the table? What are my assets? What are my experiences? What do I care about? And because it adds that personal dimension, you're going to be so much more invested in it. You're going to be. And you're going to be so much more driven to make it successful. Yeah. Agreed. Totally. So guys, first point, the most important thing is to provide value. Focus on value. Focus on what you can give. Focus on what you can provide. Focus on how many people you can make. Happy. How many people you can make advocates. How many people you can make? Sing your praises. Focus on that. All right. That's point number one. Point number two is you have to change your mindset about opportunities. Opportunities aren't passively found or lost. You are in control of creating opportunities. Okay. Nobody's going to come to you and just offer you this tremendously great opportunity like in the movies. All right. It just doesn't fucking happen. Now, when you're up the ladder of success or somewhere in the middle, like let's say where I am, I consider myself somewhere in the middle. I do have people who are higher up on the ladder than me that I'm friends with that'll say, hey, Andy, I've got this opportunity for you. Blah, blah, blah. That shit does happen through networks. But when you're just starting out in your regular Joe and you don't fucking know anybody, it doesn't fucking happen. Right. All right. So you have to understand that you are in control of creating your opportunities. And here's what I mean by that. I meet people all the time who say shit like this. Andy, I've been working on this business, but I just heard about this amazing opportunity doing this other thing. And I'm just afraid that if I don't stop what I'm doing in this business and grab this other opportunity, I'm going to miss out. And guys, that is like the most amateur, most unatchpreneurial statement you can make. Like if you're really this guy, if you're really in this position, you probably should just have a regular fucking job. Okay. You decided you wanted to do this. You decided that you wanted to start this project. That means you've never really, and we're going to get to that minute, this point in a minute, that you've never really committed to this project. You're still in it for you. You're still in it for your money. You're still in it for your dollars. And people are thinking right now, well, of course, I am because I care about myself. Well, yeah, but you have to get through your fucking head by changing your mindset that the way you take care of yourself is by taking care of other people. Okay. You determine whether your project you're working on is a great opportunity. You determine if the product idea that you have is a million dollar product. And in fact, don't even focus on million dollar product because they have enough money. All right. If it's a 10 million dollar product or a 50 million dollar product, set your high goals. Okay. You do that through focus, hard work, and persistence, and by being patient. Okay. But if you keep jumping [BLANK_AUDIO] looking for the next opportunity, or the next million dollar product idea. Guys, you're not gonna be able to do shit, okay? You're gonna be the guy in a three-year cycle we just talked about a minute ago. Opportunities are not found, discovered, or lost. They're created, and they're developed by the focus, hard work, and patience that you put into them, okay? Time is always gonna be a factor, and I'll give you an example of this. How many companies do you see to spend 30 million dollars a year on Super Bowl ads that you've never heard of before. And you never fucking hear of 'em again. A lot. - It happens every year. - Yeah, every year. I can't think of anyone sticking in my head. - Exactly, yeah, okay. But the reason for that is you can't buy people's trust. You can't buy people's top of mind recognition. It's impossible. It doesn't matter how much money you spend. Time is a factor. It will always be a factor. It takes somebody time to see your brand, to get to know your brand, to hear your voice, to see your face, to learn to trust you enough, to swipe their credit card, or make an order on your website. You cannot buy your way into somebody's heart and brain. Okay, it takes time. And it takes years, guys. It's not a fucking month, all right? Quit jumping from thing to thing to thing to thing. This is the equivalent, and this is the analogy I use. It's the equivalent of this. You want to run a marathon, all right? You, 26.2 miles, okay? Every time you go out to try to run a marathon, you get to, miles 17, you get to miles 18, and you say, "Fuck, I'm never gonna get there." This is, dude, I've been doing this for fucking 18 miles. I'm never gonna get there. So what do you do? You turn around, you go back, and you start a new marathon, and you think, "Well, maybe this time I'll get to the end." And what happens? You get to mile 15, 16, 70. You're like, "Fuck, this is hard." It's getting hard. You know what, I'm not getting the results that I thought I was gonna get. And what happens? You stop, you go back, you start a new marathon. That's the same thing people do with business. Do you ever complete your marathon? No, this business is exactly the same. You follow what I'm saying? - Absolutely, yeah, yeah. - It's exactly the same. If you get into it, and you make a little bit of progress, a little bit of growth, and you learn a lot of shit, and then all of a sudden, it gets hard, and then you quit, and you start something new. Realize you're gonna have to go through all that same shit over again. - Right, you know what I mean? - Isn't it, oh, I mean, the people that I know come to you and say, "Oh, man, I am working hard on the project that I started with, but I'm looking over here, and I just heard, I met this guy who basically said, "Now is the time to get in, and if you don't get in now, it's gonna be an opportunity that's forever lost." And what I hear you saying is-- - Dude, I hear that every fucking week. - Right, and you know how many of those opportunities that now is the time that I've missed out on? One, over 17 years. - Yeah, you know what I mean? - But it didn't ultimately determine your success, because I think-- - Oh, because I dedicated the shit to my shit. - Right, right. Don't you think that that fear, though, that you're gonna miss out on an opportunity? Don't you think that that-- - Fear missing out. - Right, isn't this come down to what you say? Like you've always said that successful people have kind of, I think it's called the abundance mentality, where there's never a shortage of opportunities. - And that's right, and that's the difference. There's opportunity everywhere. And like because of what we just said, successful people understand what we just said. They understand they create their opportunities. - Right. - Dude, I'm a firm believer, man. I can start a fucking tire company today and make it a fucking, you know, $100 million company. I can start a sleeping bad company. I can start a fucking cooler company. You know why? - I know I can make it work, because I'm gonna fucking make it work. - Right. - You say I'm gonna do whatever it takes to make it work. I don't care what it, whatever I have to do, I'll do. - Yeah. - And that's what people don't understand. They think there's some sort of magic to it. It's just a decision, and that leads into the third point, which is, are you even 100% committed before you even start? - Mm-hmm. - You know, I wouldn't start a sleeping bad company or a cooler company or a tire company, without already knowing where my outcome was gonna be and being committed to that, no matter how well fucking long it took. First form is going to be a billion dollar brand. I have no fucking doubts about it. I tell people that peers of mine in the industry, they fucking giggle a little bit, but I'm used to being giggle that. I've been giggle that my whole fucking life. You know, in five, six, seven, eight years, they're gonna be like, fuck. - We always knew you could do it, Andy. - Exactly, exactly. But the point is, is that dude, I'm committed to that. 100%, I'm all in. And we talk about that a lot in the podcast too. You guys know that. But it's amazing to me how many people start a business and their attitude is like, oh, you know, this might be cool to try this or, yeah, maybe I'll do this and I'll see what happens. Dude, if that's your attitude, there's no fucking way that you're committed and there's no way that you have the proper focus or the proper area focused on. Okay, and I know that wasn't the best way to say that. I got a little tongue tied there, but you guys know what I mean. You're not focusing on the right shit, okay? With the right amount of focus, right? Talking about two different things. How much focus and where are you putting the focus? And if your mentality is, I'll do this and I'll see what happens or, oh, this might be cool to try, you're gonna get fucking bitch slapped. It's the way it is, man. Dude, sorry, man, she says this fucking hard. Entrepreneurship is fucking hard. Running a business is fucking hard. It's not something that you could just, oh, I'll see if I can do this and try it. Dude, I see this in my industry all the time. A lot of people, because of the way I speak and the way I present myself as a regular dude, they say, oh, look, dude, if that goon can do it, I could fucking do it. Hey, motherfucker, you're welcome to try, but I'm gonna tell you right now, you better bring it all because this shit is hard. I know what it took me and I'm a smart motherfucker, and I'm a hard worker. I will fucking outwork anybody. And I'm gonna tell you right now, it took every fucking thing I've got and it's gonna take everything I have to get where we wanna go. So that's really why I don't give a fuck about competition because I know they don't have it. They don't have what I've got, they don't have what we've got as a team. So tell me if this is a stretches and analogy, but most people who have brains in their head, if they meet somebody, they wouldn't be like, oh yeah, I think I'll get married to 'em. You put a lot of thought into that. And when you come to that point where you're gonna get married to somebody, you realize like I'm gonna take vows often before God and witnesses and you realize, okay, this is, you know, I'm not gonna just try this, I'm really serious about this. And I don't think people realize when it comes to an entrepreneurial venture, like a business idea. They don't put the same amount of commitment into it. They don't even think about it. They're like, they don't think of it. No, that's like a marriage because that's what it is. You're gonna be living with that business in the next 50 years, you know? Is that a cheesy analogy? - No, it's even more of a commitment than a marriage. I mean, dude, if you don't think that fucking my business gets more of my time than my marriage, you're fucking crazy. It's not even a proportion, you know, and people are gonna say, well, that's not right. Well, you know what, it's what it is. That's what I'm talking about. What are you willing to fucking give? - But it is amazing that people are like, well, I think I'll try this out for a little bit. - It's because entrepreneurship is glorified, right? You have all these stupid fucks on the internet, posted pictures with their rented fucking cars on their fucking fake ass fucking, somebody else's airplane, you know, with cars, they don't fucking own, they never own, and front of somebody else's house saying how they're trying to act like they're fucking ballers on the internet. And you know what, dude? That shit ain't fucking right because it gives people a glorified idea of what this is about. And which is why I try to take the opposite approach. I try almost to scourge people from being an entrepreneur because, dude, most people just aren't gonna be able to do it. That's just the way it is. It's something that they're not gonna be able to fucking do. And because these stupid fucks on the internet, let all these people think that, you know, be like me, I'm fucking 19 years old and I'm rolling a fucking Lambo. Or, you know, I work four hours a week and I fucking blah, blah, blah. You know what, dude? If that's what you believe entrepreneurship is about, dude, you have no business being an entrepreneur because it is the complete opposite of that. Remember, like, I'm trying to think of something that would be representative of entrepreneurship in my brain. Like in terms of like a movie, you know, like, you know, like Castaway, like the movie Castaway, where the dude's on a fucking island, all by himself. All right, nobody to talk to, nobody understands him. He has to make up his own fucking friend 'cause like nobody understands what he's talking about anyway. And, you know, one thing after another, after another, after another goes wrong and he has to figure out creative solutions to all these problems, you know, that's what entrepreneurship is. - That's a great analogy. - That's what it's like. It's like having nobody that understands you in your whole circle, having one thing after another, after another go wrong. And you having to fucking improvise all these other solutions to fucking fix these things. Okay, and then as you become like a more successful entrepreneur, it's the same thing except for the people that are, the problems are coming from the other people in your organization and you're having to fix all their problems. - Right. - You know what I'm saying? - Right. - It's just, dude, unless you want to subject yourself to total, mind-fuck torturous life that you get paid well to do, dude, entrepreneurship is not for you, right? It just isn't. And it sure as fuck isn't for you, if you're thinking, oh, let me try this out. Let me see if it fucking will work. Dude, get the fuck out of here with that shit. You're gonna get stopped. You know, you're gonna end up walking around with a fucking mushroom stamp on the side of your fucking face. Tyler, you know what I'm talking about. - So get your head straight before you even start the game. - Dude, 100%, man. You have to be 100% committed. You know, commitment comes before focus, all right? It comes before you even decide where to focus. And the decision comes before dedication, okay? You have to make the decision. You have to decide, and the Latin form of the word decision is actually to cut off all other options, okay? It means I am deciding that I am going to lose weight. I am deciding that I'm going to start this business and make it successful. A lot of people decide they're going to start a business, but they don't decide anything more than that. They think starting the business is the fucking goal. Starting the business doesn't mean shit, okay? I see these people all the time celebrating starting a new business. They ain't shit, man. Like really, we should be having your fucking funeral because it's brutal. I'll start a new business, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I'm always like, hey, congrats. Like, dude, call me in a fucking year, bro. - Welcome to the underworld, you know? - Yeah, exactly. But you have to ask yourself those tough questions, you know? Do I understand how hard this is going to be? Do I understand how long it's going to take? Do I understand this whole process is going to be very, very messy and probably detrimental to my personal life at some point? It's just the way it is, and you have to be willing to answer those questions. And when you do that, you realize that you can't possibly bounce from one thing to the next, you have to focus on one thing and become fucking great at it. You know, so many people, guys, they get this, it's the magic thing. When they think they can bounce from one idea to the next, I do the next idea to the next idea, they still believe that there's some sort of magic involved here. There's some sort of unseen force that's waving the magic success wand over your head. And you get this like, when did you're back? Everything you touch turns to gold power and become overnight successful. It's not how it works. It's a grind, it's a hustle. It's a fucking 10 to 15 year fucking struggle. It is just the way it is. If you're not willing to pay that price, don't get into it. Period, okay? You've got to be committed 100% from the start. Anything it takes, whatever it takes, no matter what, or it isn't, it's not going to work out. It just isn't. I know you're going to share some best practices in a second, but I wanted to, I was jotting down your principles and I wanted to just review them for everybody. Number one was the best way to stay focused on one project is to remember the basic principle that the most important thing is to provide value. Use that as the screen by which you filter out all the other stuff. So you're not interested in hopping from one thing to the next for money making schemes. You're interested in locking in with laser precise effort onto one main thing that you can provide value. That's principle number one. Principle number two was second way to stay focused on one project is to change your mindset about opportunities. They aren't passively found or lost. You create them. So don't worry about missing out on opportunities because you're the one who creates the opportunities for yourself. And then you said the third way to stay focused is to make sure you are 100% committed before you even start. 100% cool. So what's that? 100% committed, Vaughan. 100% it's kind of like you're how you're 100% committed to being a bad motherfucker. Yeah, you know, tell everybody what you're committed to. I'm a thousand percent committed. To be in a bad what? A bad awesome person. There you go. Tyler's 100% committed those mushroom slaps. He's laughing, he's laughing. Oh man. So you have some practicals. Yeah, not that that we just talked about wasn't practical. No, I'm going to give some practical things to help you maintain your focus. Because I know if you are a true entrepreneur at heart, you're listening to this. It is exciting to want to build shit. OK, the serial, I know I dog on the serial entrepreneur, but I do get it. Everybody wants to be that because the exciting part for a real entrepreneur is not the money. It's the building. It's I call them class A builders. It's people who want to take something and they want to put some pieces together and they want to create something new. And that's exciting shit. But if you ever want to actually build something great, you can't just bail out on a project when it's in stage one to start another one. Right. Can I say something about that real quick just because you don't have talked about the whole serial entrepreneur thing. And I don't know, I mean, I know you're not an MBA guy, but Steph Curry, you know, was the MVP. Steph Curry with the shot. Boy, MBA MVP the last two years. And he's got that crazy. That's all I know, Steph Curry. Well, I don't know a ton, but I do know this because I read several articles about this. That's a song in one of my rap songs I listen to when I work out. Steph Curry, who's the rap song? I don't know. OK, anyway, he's got this sort of crazy shot that he shoots, he shoots and he's, you know, falling over backwards and he's doing all this, this stuff. And he's always hitting these crazy shots because he's got this crazy form. And so now somebody came out and said, that's the worst thing that could happen for young kids to be wanting to copy Steph Curry. Yeah. Because Steph Curry has learned the fundamentals so well that he's able to do that. But if you try to do that, you're going to-- Well, dude, there's guys like that baseball, too. Like, if you look at, like, Prince Fielder or guys like Jim Tome, who have these crazy fucking gigantic uppercut baseball swings, that when they hit the baseball, it goes four trillion fucking miles. And then you go to Little League Baseball games, you see these kids trying to do that shit. You're trying to do it, right? But then I don't tell you, is this dude strikes out nine times out of 10. Right. So in the area of entrepreneurialism, people see somebody like, we'll say Gary. So they see that Gary has the wine library and VaynerMedia and all this other stuff. And they're like, oh, I want to be a serial entrepreneur. Like Gary. And they don't realize he's come to such a point of maturity that he knows how to complete one product. That's like saying-- That's like saying-- You see where I'm going with this? Yeah, so 100%. People disagree with that statement, though, very strongly, because they want to believe that they have that, right? Dude, entrepreneurship is a talent and a skill. You, just like Gary said, and we went and got him on the podcast, you might be able to, you know, he used the NBA analogy. He said, look, I might be able to get pretty, I like basketball, I might be able to practice every day and become good at basketball. But am I ever going to become LeBron? Right. Now, there's a natural ability and Gary has a natural ability. I have a natural ability. There's a lot of other people out there that have a natural ability. There's a lot of people out there who have created tremendously successful lives, very, very quality, high-earning incomes that didn't have a natural ability. But instead, they cultivated an ability to a point where it was effective. OK? Now, you're not going to take somebody who has that natural ability and look at them and say, oh, I'm going to be like this. If you don't have it, and people don't think that it exists, but it does fucking exist. It just does. And it exists in the work ethic, in the grind, and the intelligence, and the ability to connect, the ability to recognize how you provide value, the ability to communicate, all these things. It's like a perfect storm of skills that people have. And just because you don't have it doesn't mean that you can't be very successful. It just means don't try to be somebody who's got a natural ability for that. Right. Right? That's no sense. So I just wanted to throw that out there. Yeah. So-- and people can upset when I say that. Like, I'm dogging people. Dude, I'm sorry. Not everybody here-- like, dude, I played football in high school, and I played sports. And guess what? I thought I was pretty fucking good. But there was a lot of motherfuckers a lot better than me. And they had natural ability. I didn't have. There's no matter how much work I could do, I wasn't going to make it in NFL. I wasn't going to make it in MLB. Absolutely. Which is the way it is. And there's a real-- I mean, there's a real simple solution for people who say, well, Andy, you don't believe that I have this ability? No, probably. You don't. Well, you probably don't. If you do, show me. Exactly. I mean, show me. The proof is in the success. The truth is, Vaughn is most people just don't have it. Now, I'm not saying it can't be a successful entrepreneur. That's what this fucking podcast is for. But they don't have that level. And let me clarify, not having that level doesn't mean you can't create a business that earns the same amount of money that that man earns or that those kinds of guys earn. It means that you can't run 20 different fucking companies and make them all work. You know, people who are entrepreneurs have this fucking disease. I call it the golden touch. And the golden touch means this. And it's not a good thing. It's a bad thing. People who are successful in one area start thinking that they can be successful in other areas. And what they do is they think, oh, because I made it here, I can make it here. And over here, the second area is something I know nothing about. But I made it here, so I know I can make it here. And so what they do is they think they have the golden touch, the mightest touch. And they go over here and they lose their fucking ass. Right? That's absolutely true. It happens all the time. It's the demise of most small and mid-level successful people. They spread themselves too thin because they start reading their own fucking news clippings. Dude, you ain't that great. That's why I stick to what I fucking know. I get people all the time. Hey, I want to start the shoe company deal with me or hey, I want to start, I don't do fucking shoes. Hey, I want to start consulting. I don't fucking consult. Hey, I want to blah, blah, blah. I don't blah, blah, blah. You know what I do? I do what I fucking do. Right. I'm the best at it. Period. Right. You're so right though. It is amazing that I've met a lot of PhDs who are very, very smart in their particular- Dude, doctors are the worst. Doctors are the worst. If you're a fucking doctor, you think because you made a couple hundred grand a year, you're some kind of fucking businessman. You're a fucking crazy ass motherfucker. Let me tell you right now. Stick to writing fucking prescriptions and doing your fucking whatever it is you fucking do. You see more doctors lose their fucking asses because they got money to spend on shit. Dude, go fucking gamble the money away. Go buy cars, go buy shit, buy your wife some fucking Rolexes. You doctors are the worst because they have a fucking gigantic ego about it for some reason. I'm a fucking doctor. And they think they're gonna come out and be fucking Mr. Antspreneur. They don't know a goddamn thing about business. Yeah. Dude, I see it all the time. All the time. But it is true. Listen, hey, Mr. Doctor, if you're listening right now, which your ego is probably too big to listen to somebody who isn't a doctor, so I'm safe. But you're the worst fucking business people ever. Period. Exactly. They do. If people who think they're smart and one thing think they're smart and every day. People who think they're smart are the dumbest motherfuckers. Right. Right. You know, they have these huge egos, they're not humble. They think whatever they do is gonna work. I went to school for 15 years. So I know whatever blah, blah, blah. And I can do this. Yes. Dude, you know what doctors should do? They should do fucking single and multifamily rentals. And that's it. Because you have the cash, and it's almost impossible to fuck that shit. So. That's a good point. Yeah. But if anything else that you do, you're gonna fucking lose it. Unless you treat it like you're becoming a new doctor, right? Like you treated your medical school studies, or you treated, you know, whatever. People look at it. It's a new thing, like there's a magic to it. Like I'm gonna open up, and this shit's just gonna happen. And then I'm gonna become this. Dude, if you're not studying this shit on a daily basis every fucking day, if you're not making yourself a student of success and taking this as serious as you would take anything else in life, dude, you're gonna get pounded, because there's people like me, people like Gary, people like all these other success drive up and down, fucking any street, and see all these big ass companies, that that is their life, that is their livelihood, that is their life's work. And those motherfuckers study this shit, right? You're not gonna make it just by opening up, and you don't deserve to make it by just opening up. You're gonna get fucking smashed, whatever it says. Way it goes. Absolutely. So guys, let's get down to how I help, how I think I can help you stay focused on this, all right? Being an entrepreneur, like I said, we come up, you know, with all these ideas, we get excited, and we wanna do them, all right? I get it, you know, I come across great ideas for products or businesses all the time. I come across a lot of bad ones, but I occasionally do come across ones that I think will be fun to do, or exciting to do, or things I think I could get behind. It's hard to just say, and I get this guys, it's hard to just say, well screw that idea, I'm not gonna do it. So to help you get to a point where you can pass on the opportunities that you think are great, start doing this. That's instead of just saying no, say, I'll do it in the future. And create what I have is a future project folder, all right? And that's actually like a folder on my desktop, my computer, it's just a Word document with a fucking paragraph or two about the idea that I could come back to at a later date. You know, I put all the shit that distracts me in this folder, and I don't even think about it or go back and look at it until what I'm working on is at a point of stability that to where I can run on its own, right? Which is very rare, by the way. I have so many things going inside my own umbrella of companies that for me to take on something new, I just don't have the time or want, or whatever. But dude, there is some ideas that, you know, I like it and that maybe one day I'll get to them. And the way for me to deal with that like fear missing out is to put them in this folder to know that they're there for me to come back to. So guys, step one, create a future project folder, it'll help you stay on focus, it helps you let go without really letting go. And something that helps me stay on my game, you know, with the horse blinders on. Step number two, so step number one is a future project folder. Step number two is pick one or two trusted advisors for feedback, okay? And then don't listen to what anybody else tells you. Stick to what they tell you, everybody is going to have an opinion on what you should do. Most of these people have never done shit in their lives. Quit listening, this brings me to a point, why would you listen to somebody about your future, your life, about your business decisions that has never fucking done anything with their own life? It's a very good question. It doesn't make sense. Because so many people, let those people come into their circle and come into their, their influence decision making, you know, you just cannot do that, okay? So pick two or three people who have been, you know, where you want to be, who have done things similar to what you want to do, and cut the rest out. I've seen so many entrepreneurs derailed by friends and family who are well-meaning, but fuck them up because they don't know what the fuck they're talking about. They just don't. And I'm sorry to your mom and dad. I know they were great parents, but likelihood of them knowing what the fuck they're talking about is very slim, period, something you have to deal with, okay? They say stuff like, oh, Johnny, have you considered changing your logo from green to pink and adding, you know, the fluffy rainbow and unicorn or, you know, they'll say something like, I don't know if your idea is going to work. People, they don't have a lot of their time on their hands for that kind of stuff or their product, you know? And you know, when they do want to spend their money, they want to spend it on stuff like, you know, go to the Packers game and shit like that, like dude, they're going to say everything they can to try to negatively get you off your game, thinking that they're saving you from a bunch of heartbreak. You need to cut that shit out. You can't listen to it, okay? Go to people who have done it, go to people who have done what you want to do, listen to those people, trust what they say and never fucking doubt yourself when you're chasing something that you believe in, okay? People are going to constantly fill your brain with this and that, dude, you have to learn how to politely turn it down, politely move away and sometimes unpolitely turn it down to be completely honest, you know, there's been a number of times where I've told people like, hey, dude, you know, they keep pressing, keep pressing, keep pressing and finally look at them and say, hey, what the fuck do you do for a living? Well, I'm going to fucking this, well, I'm not a fucking this, I do what I do. So I'm not coming to tell you how to do your shit, so keep your opinions to yourself by how I do my shit, you know what I mean? Sometimes you just got to tell people because they don't fucking get it, families like that, they're the worst, you know, they think they're going to, they think they can fucking tell you everything about your business, right? So point number two, you know, pick one to two, three trusted advisors, anything you could find that has done something that you want to do, listen to them, trust them, ignore what other people say and focus on the advice that they give you. Don't focus on the negativity, don't focus on the, I don't know if you should, or I don't know if you can, don't focus on that shit, focus on what the people who have done it have to say because those people understand what you're trying to do and the other people don't. Have you found, I mean, obviously, one of the main ways to determine who you're going to choose as an advisor is, have they accomplish what it is you're wanting to accomplish? But if you found that there's a particular way that really successful entrepreneurs give advice, you know, because I know, I know at one point, I feel like it was early on in our podcast career that you said, I think you said something like a really truly successful entrepreneur who understands the nature of entrepreneurialism is never going to tell you your idea is going to work or your idea is not going to work. They're not going to put themselves in that position. Well, I don't, yeah, I agree with that. Yeah, so what they're going to say is they're going to say, okay, well if I, they're going to, like somebody came to me and they said that I would automatically assume they're committed to their idea. So I'm thinking like, all right, I'm not going to talk to Sky out of his idea. So what I'm going to try to do is focus them the best direction I can for him to get the best possible results. So how they're going to communicate that is not like the average person would. They're like, oh, I don't know fucking blah, blah, blah. They're going to say, well, from my experience or how I would do this would be x, y, and z. And they're going to give you steps on how to direct that. They're not going to go, you know, oh, you know, that's, that's a good idea. But blah, blah, blah, blah. And if they do have criticism, they're going to say things like this instead of saying, well, I don't think that's going to work or this, they're going to say, well, have you thought about this, have you thought about what was going to happen when this happens? Have you thought about what's going to happen when that happens? You see what I mean? Right. So they're going to cultivate and probe you to like create your own solutions, right? Which is what you're going to have to learn to do anyway. But, you know, you know, you know, you know, you're going to have to learn how to do average people don't do that right they just fucking they don't have the perspective they don't have a knowledge they don't have the uh they just don't have the perspective to speak on it it it seems to me like the default the negative you know what I mean right the default there right and it seems to me like the difference between an expert advisor and somebody who's just a armchair quarterback is that the armchair quarterbacks almost always focus on things that really just come down to personal preference they say oh your logo's blue and it should be pink you know whereas the advisor knows objectively what's true right and they give you the freedom to choose whatever you want that is your own personal preference logo doesn't fucking matter yeah no one matters it matters what it stands for right right I mean yeah you're right what you're saying is correct okay so point number one future project folder point number two trusted advisors ignore everybody else okay that those two things are gonna help you keep your folks on point point number three take time every day to close your eyes and reconnect to the vision that you initially had for your business a lot of people get so consumed with the process and in the disc and the discouragement and the band-aids and and by band-aids I mean the small things that come up on a daily basis that you have to fix over the course of time that they lose sight of what they envisioned in the beginning so you have to learn to to re-center yourself on that ultimate vision on a on a daily basis otherwise you'll get you know one degree or two degrees off course and then you get five miles down the road and you're not even you're you don't even order fuck you are you see what I'm saying so you have to understand that business is executed in the trenches but you have to take time out of the trenches to remind yourself what it is and why it is that you're doing this okay and it's easier to focus when you keep the final product on your mind when you keep the final vision at the forefront of your brain on a daily basis it's easier for you to cultivate decisions and ideas and things are going to help to make that vision materialize than it is to you know be so in the trenches every day that you end up you know putting your head down for six months poking it out of the hole and then looking around not knowing where you are you know that's something that's very common in entrepreneurship it's it's there's a term that most business I've heard a million times it's not my term but it's the difference between working in your business or working on your business okay we mentioned Warren Buffett earlier Warren Buffett is tremendously awesome at working on his businesses he doesn't work in his businesses in his businesses he builds great teams and puts them into motion those people work in the businesses his job is to look at it from the from the 10,000 point view or 10,000 foot view look over and say okay this looks good change this change this change this change this and these guys go execute now I realize when you're a small business owner and you're starting it's likely only you so you have to remember to do what we're talking about here and to take time to pull back and focus on the big vision like for me where I'm at I'm 17 years into this business my time working in the business is very limited I do not really do anything that has to do with day-to-day operations nothing like I do nothing okay a hundred percent of my time is working on the business it's the 10,000 foot view the strategy the focus the the chest so to speak of our companies that's my job now when I started the business I had to work the calendar all day long and then what I had to do is go home and think about the big picture all right so you have to learn in the beginning to separate yourselves you know from working in the business one thing to keep in mind here two guys is that if you are to a point like I am which I know some of you are where you're working on your business all the time you have to take time to think about what it's like to work in your business okay so like what I have to do is I have to take time every day to sit back and think about what it's like for our customer service reps or go sit with them while they do calls or go into the warehouse and talk to the guys and see you know what the what the gripes are because you know they'll always right I poke them in proud to tell me the real shit that's right you know and then it's my job to go fix it right see what I'm saying right so if you're to a point of of working on the business most of your time make sure you take time to think about what it's like for your people you know because just because you're not doing the job doesn't mean that it's perfect or it couldn't be done better see what I'm saying absolutely so the reverse is also true in that situation most of you guys listening need to step back from working in your business aka making the actual sandwich and work on the business you know aka how you're gonna grow into two three four sandwich shops you see what I'm saying makes a total sense yeah so guys the best practices one future project folder two trusted advisors three take time to reconnect on the bigger picture alright guys you know we don't charge for anything here all I ask is that if you found value in the podcast would you please bring us one person as I mentioned the beginning of the podcast this isn't a sales oriented tool like 99.9% of the other podcasts I'm not selling programs I'm not this is a project of passion this is a project and the reason it's called a project is because we want to make a difference we want to improve people's lives we want to give back you know I've been a very fortunate person I've been very very fortunate in everything that I've been able to accomplish so far in my life and I want to share that with people to bring back the gutsiness and the grit that founded what has built our country I think our country is overly pacified especially when it comes to competition especially when it comes to business especially when it comes to building shit I think most kids these days are taught that they can't do and I need to depend on other people versus they can fucking do and I think it's somebody you and me and all of us together need to stand the fuck up and say no that's not how it is because I'm living proof and I know hundreds of other people who are living proof so we got to quit buying into the social message and the media message that you know we we aren't able to be successful or that success is bad or that all these other fucking things that are bred into our culture right now you know I'm fucking sick of it and that's where the that's where the passion comes from in this project so guys if you believe in that if you believe in helping people take back control their life spread the word and just to remember guys reminder guys we are we are still running the contest for the celebrate the hundredth episode of the MFC EO projects so go to the MFC EO dot com forward slash contest and sign up for a chance to come out to St. Louis and to hang with us for the day probably be part of the podcast does recording session and then obviously just hang with Andy and learn learn one yeah we're gonna do a we're gonna have like five or six yeah people coming out yeah it's gonna be cool we're gonna do a couple hour Q&A live probably recording that be cool be some content yeah yeah you know basically guys I'm gonna put myself at your service for a day to help you guys figure out what it is that you need to do on your personal situations give you a little bit more personal attention but yeah guys I appreciate you guys so much we are fastly and quickly becoming one of the top most downloaded podcasts in the world that is all you that is all you guys spreading the message I appreciate you guys so much because it gives me hope in the people in this country and that to me is more valuable than anything that you could ever give me monetarily so thank you so much and I'll see you next time