Shawn Stevenson: Welcome to The Model Health Show. This is fitness and nutrition expert, Shawn Stevenson, and I'm so grateful for you tuning in with me today. Listen, we've talked about this many times, but I don't think that it can be stated enough just how much your mindset matters in creating the success that you are really capable of, alright? Your inner world is really dictating your outer world, alright? So I want to bring the very best people on the planet in mindset in helping you to really make those adjustments necessary to achieve the success that's possible for you in your health, in your fitness, in your relationships, in your career. All of those things matter, but it starts with you, alright? And I'm telling you guys, listen, the person I have on the show today is- when I say best in the world, I mean that. Alright? And it's just going to blow your mind, so listen in, put on your concentration cap, and get ready, alright? Really assimilate this. But first really quickly, I've got to give a shout-out to my beverage today, and I'm not talking about sippy-sippy, I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about my coffee. Now listen, for years- for years I was just not a fan of coffee. I like literally never had it since I was like five. I took a sip of my grandmother's coffee and I was like, "I'm never going to have this again. Never going to have it-" it was Folgers in your cup, alright? So that's probably one of the reasons that it was pretty terrible. And so I just didn't get it, you know? I'd see people with their Starbucks, and just like, "Oh that's cute," but it was like a real thing, like this coffee phenomenon. And it wasn't until I actually tried the coffee from Four Sigmatic. When we would do the show and talk about the mushroom elixirs, I'd always say how my wife loves the coffee, but now I'm officially- like I get it. I get it. Number one, so we've got lion's mane mushroom in this particular coffee. So lion's mane- University of Malaya have found that lion's mane mushroom is one of the very few things that's enabling your body and your brain to do something called neurogenesis. So this is literally creating new neurons, new brain cells from this particular mushroom. It's crazy. And it's not actually a lion's mane, alright? So it's not like anything weird, like it's actually a mushroom that kind of looks like a lion's mane. Alright? So lion's mane plus chaga. Chaga has been found to have 300% plus increase in your natural killer cells activity when you consume chaga. And it's blended in with this organic coffee, so you're not dealing with all of the pesticides, fungicides, rodenticides, genocides; all the stuff cide needs to kill is typically found in your conventional coffee that's out there. So you're drinking nice smoking hot pesticides, alright? So you're not dealing with that with Four Sigmatic. And also, of course with coffee you get that little bit of caffeine as well, and so I wanted to share this particular study I just came across again. It still blows my mind that people don't realize this. This is why caffeine is in a lot of supplements as well. This was a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that when you consume caffeine, you get an increase in your metabolic rate by upwards of 11%. Alright? And most of it- and what they confirmed was that most of the increase in metabsolism is caused by an increase in the burning of fat. There you have it. Caffeine helps your body to burn fat, but we want to do this in an advantageous way because it's a very strong nervous system stimulant, right? And if you go too hard in that you can end up with the conventional crash, alright? So having the medicinal mushroom along with the coffee is a great formula because it balances it out. The acidic nature of the coffee, the alkaline nature of the mushroom, and it actually tastes really good, too. Alright? I love to mix it with some healthy fats, so many MCT oil, grassfed butter, whatever you're into. Alright? But head over there, check them out. Do yourself a favor, get on board with not just coffee like me, but the good stuff. Alright? Head over to www.FourSigmatic.com/model. That's www.FourSigmatic.com/model and you get 15% off of everything, so pop over there, check them out. Again, www.FourSigmatic.com/model. And now, onto the iTunes review of the week. itun Another five-star review titled, 'Jam-Packed with Tips, No Fluff,' by BroadAkersPeach. 'I've learned so much from this show. Some of the other health shows, you can tell they didn't really plan out well, and are full of fluff. Not this one. This show is jam-packed full of important knowledge and tips. I'm learning so much about what my body needs and new habits I need to implement each day to keep it up.' ss Thank you so much for heading over to iTunes and leaving me that review. It means the world to me, and I really do appreciate that statement. Like we're really focused on creating master classes here on whatever the subject matter is, and also bringing you the very best people on the planet to help you to achieve your goals, alright? And none better than my guest today, so let's go ahead and dive in, and get to our special guest and our topic of the day. Our guest today is the one and only Andy Frisella, and he's a hometown guy here in St. Louis with me, and I'm so grateful to be able to connect with him and to have him here to just learn from him today, and to share him with you guys. He's the CEO of 1st Phorm, which is one of the fastest, if not the fastest growing supplement company on the planet, alright? So keep that in mind. Also Supplement Superstores here in our area. You'll be hard-pressed to walk around town and not find somebody wearing one of his tee-shirts; it's that much of a phenomenon. Alright? I was seeing these tee-shirts way before I knew Andy, and then him kind of stepping out from behind - and I'm going to ask him why today - from behind the organization and being the real face of a brand. It's just like really, really powerful. So he also has one of the top podcasts in the world. It's the MFCEO Project, and that stands for- I'm going to keep it PG-13, Mother Loving CEO, alright? So the MFCEO. It's not for the kids, alright? This is for if you're ready to really dive in to some like real- he's very much full on, in your face, honesty but a big heart, and he's one of the best people that I know, incredibly generous, and I'm grateful to welcome to The Model Health Show, my friend Andy Frisella. What's up, man? and Dude, what's up, man? Thank you so much for the gracious introduction. I really appreciate it, it means a lot. ss Hey it's my pleasure, man. I'm so pumped to be able to connect with you. I did your show- I think it was like two years ago when we first connected. gues Yeah man, you did the show when it was like- when nobody even knew the show, you know? We need to get you back on it, man. ss Definitely. gues Because I would love to have all the new listeners that we've been able to- that we've been blessed with to get to know all about you. ss Yeah, I'd love that, man. Done. Done. But man, I would love to know- and this is the thing, I know a lot about you, but I'm going to find out stuff that I didn't know. And so I want to talk about your origin story first. So you're from St. Louis, and there's not- I mean there's not a tendency of big thinking, right? gues Right. ss It's just not something that is conducive here. And that's okay, you know? But you had some big aspirations when you were a kid. So let's talk about like how did you go from obscurity in St. Louis to having one of the biggest companies in the world? gues Well I mean, man I don't believe in luck really, and that's something that I'm kind of known for. I attack luck. But I did get lucky in one area of my life, and that was that I had a dad who was able to teach me about business, and entrepreneurship, and encourage those things at a young age. And so from when I was little, man I was doing things like selling snow cones, or selling baseball cards. I had a baseball card shop in my dad's garage. Going door to door to sell lightbulbs, like basically everything from when I was like eight years old. And I grew up with that mentality. It was funny because I got asked yesterday by a guy who I've started to get friendly with on social media, and he's like, "Dude-" this guy is like 27, he's doing well in business, he just bought his first Lambo and he's like- I'm like happy for him, this is cool. So we started talking and he's like, "Man if you weren't an entrepreneur, what do you think you would have been?" And I thought about it for a second and my answer was, "I didn't ever think I was going to be anything else, so I've never even considered another option." I'd probably be digging ditches or something, I don't know. You know what I mean? But so I grew up in an entrepreneurial environment, and that's just what I came up knowing, and played a lot of sports, did all that, and when I was nineteen- dude, I always knew school was not for me. Alright? It just wasn't. I didn't have any interest in it. I learned very, very young that like if I didn't see where I could apply things, I had no interest in learning them, so I did very bad in school, I had like D's and C's. ss Because you were logical. gues Yeah, very logical. Like when guys are standing up and they're trying to teach me stuff, I'm like, "I'm never going to use this for what I want to do." I already knew what I wanted to do, so I just did bad. You know? And so I did what you're supposed to do. I tested really well. You know, I got bad grades but I tested high, and so I got in some good schools even though I had bad grades. I ended up going to St. Louis University for a year here in town which was a really good academic school, and everybody was shocked I got into it. Well I had like a 2.0 average, but I scored over a 30 on my ACT. ss Right. gues So I automatically got in. So I went there, I knew right away- I'm like, "Man, this is not for me." And so my business partner and I, we went on Spring Break. My business partner I played high school football with and he went to Vianney here in St. Louis with me, and we're friends. And he's like, "Man, we're going to go on Spring Break," and I'm like, "That sounds awesome." So we went- it was all with guys that went to Southwest Missouri State, which is not Missouri State, and we partied, and had a good time, and it was fun, and man I came back- I had such a good time, because there were like thirty of the people from that school. I came back, I got back on like a Sunday. On Monday I loaded up all my stuff, on Tuesday I moved to Springfield. I didn't know what I was going to do. So like I just packed up the stuff out of my room at my dad's house, I said, "Dad, I'm going to Springfield," and I moved. And so Chris and I, we were like, "Man, we'll just start a business, we'll do all this," and we had $12,000 between the two of us because we still worked the same summer job which was painting stripes on parking lots, so pushing a lot striper, which is pretty hard work, but it paid well. So we took our money, we pooled it together and we started a company, and it was called Supplement Superstores, and we used all our money, we went into debt, we started this business, and we didn't know what we were doing, man. The first day we sold $7.00, the second day we sold $0.00, third day we sold like $23.00. It took us eight months to have a day over $200.00. We had to live in the back of that store so it was very, very humble. Like we built the shelves from- we went to Home Depot and just built the shelves out of wood, because we didn't even know where you could get shelving. Like you've got to remember, the Internet was not like a real thing then, you know what I mean? This is '99. ss Right. gues So our friends helped us set up the store, man and we opend a store, and that was it. We didn't really know- we had no idea about business, we had no idea about nutrition really. The only reason we started a store was actually because- it's funny too, because a live magazine is here in the same building, and the guy who- I don't know if he's still involved or who used to own it. Attilio used to own Attilio's Sports Nutrition way back in like the nineties, and I was watching him succeed and I'm like, "Dude, we can do that." And so that's- ss Wow, I was going to ask you like what was the inspiration for it. gues Dude, I just wanted to make money, man. I'm like, "This guy is doing it." And you know, and so we did it. And it turns out, it's a lot harder than what we thought, you know? ss Right. gues I didn't get paid the first three years at all, had to work two other jobs the whole time to keep the store open. The next six or seven years, the most I made was $695 a month. So that's ten years in making $695 a month. ss Wow. gues It was funny too, because I tried it. People were like, "Oh you have such determination and drive." Yes, I do but I also had some things happen where like- that people don't know about that kind of accidentally placed me back on the path that I'm on. ss Like what? gues Like my dad, who had retired, wanted to open up a Sears carpet cleaning franchise, okay? And he's like- man, this was like in '03 or '04, so we're like four or five years in, I'm not getting paid, and barely making it. And he's like, "You're going to come run it with me," and I'm like, "Alright cool, this will work." You know? And I went up to train before we signed the paperwok in Ohio with these guys from Sears, and I ended up hurting my back. I slipped a disc in my back when I was going through their training and had to fly home, and was in bed for like thirty days, and it killed the deal. And then I ended up going back to work in the supplement store. So like just weird stuff like that, like I don't really know why it happened- well now I know why it happened, but at the time it was just like, "Oh, I've got to go back and do this?" Little did I know what was coming, you know what I mean? So yeah, so then 2009 I still wasn't getting paid, I said, "We're going to start our own brand," because we had seen so many supplement companies create the cheapest passable product in quality so they could sell it for the cheapest possible price, and I knew what the game was. you know what I mean? The game was to be the cheapest. It never made sense to me. It never made sense. Like, "Hey dude, I'm trying to be healthy, I'm trying to get results, I'm trying to do all these things that are going to be positive for my body, and I don't know one thing in the whole entire world where the cheapest is the best. The nutrition industry has this culture of like, 'The cheapest, the cheapest, the cheapest,' and that never resonated with me. And I knew if I was going to start a brand, that I could live with people saying, "Hey man, I can't afford to use your stuff," but I can't live with people saying, "Hey man, you're making junk." You see what I mean? ss Yeah, absolutely. guse Like I can't morally live with that. ss Yeah. gues So we decided from the get-go, like no matter what we did, we were going to do everything we could to ensure that we made the best possible products, and we've stuck to that. We definitely aren't the cheapest, but we're one of the fastest growing for a reason, because what we make works. So it's been fun. ss And so where are you at today with everything? You've got Supplement Superstores and then you've got 1st Phorm. gues Yeah so we still have the stores, we still have 1st Phorm, together those companies along with like our contract manufacturing, we're going to do over $200 million this year. So the last few years have been really, really good to us, and we're trying to make sure that we keep that going. ss I just want to point that out for people, because it's just like a decade of you barely getting by, but still being able to keep moving forward on your vision. And I want to talk to you about this. This is specifically one of the reasons I wanted to have you on. I've had on people who've been in the movie The Secret, but I didn't ask them about Law of Attraction. gues Yeah. ss Alright? We talked about other stuff because I wanted a real person who is very logical. Not saying that they aren't, but like they're in that. gues I'm not selling it. You know what I'm saying? ss Yeah, exactly. So I've heard you say- and I haven't heard you talk about it though, but I've heard you say that it's something that you subscribe to. And like when you got injured, and ended up- like it put you back on this path to what you actually visualized as your success. Like this is your way. gues Yes, and looking back, I never knew what it was because The Secret was the first exposure to Law of Attraction that I ever had, like a lot of people. Right? We hear about it and we're like, "Oh if we think about an elephant, the elephant is going to show up," and that's not how it works. You know, there's so much more to it. There's quantum mechanics, quantum physics, all these different sciences that study this stuff. So I got introduced to it, like most people, by The Secret, and then I went and did my research because that's how like I am. To me, like everybody's full of crap until I go see that they're not. You know what I mean? It's just my mentality, so I have to like double check everything. So I start looking into it, I start researching, I end up way over here in like quantum physics, and I start to realize what's happened in my life, and I look back. When I started my business, and this started from when I was eight years old, this is how I started doing things like selling baseball cards, and all this stuff. Back when I was eight I saw a Lamborghini- a white Lamborghini at a gas station, alright? And listen, I don't know why, and I don't know why I have this, and sometimes I wish I didn't have it because it costs me so much money, but it cemented this like love of cars into me that I've always had. So my whole motivation from when I was like eight, my whole life, I was like, "Man, I'm going to be successful so I can get a Lamborghini." I thought about it. Like I had posters, like I obsessed over it, okay? Hot Wheels, Micro Machines, remote control cars, like anything with a motor, I'm obsessed with. And I still am today. So over years I focused on this thing, right? And I realized what happened when I got hurt, what that was, was that was the universe saying, "No that's the wrong turn, bro. Get back on this path because you're never going to get where you've been focusing your energy." And so I am a huge- and that's just like one story. I could tell you twenty, and I will, I'll tell you another one that's really good here in a minute. But there's way too much proof in my life that it works exactly like people say where you focus, and focus, and focus, and focus, and focus, and things materialize. There's too much proof in my life for me to not believe it 100%. And I'm to the point where I'm first paying attention and being aware. Like I'm so aware of what I bring into my life, like I have to be careful what I think about. ss That's deep, man. gues You know what I'm saying? ss Absolutely. I want people to really absorb this because I don't think we really understand how powerful we are, you know? And also with you having that vision- and I want also people that are just like, "Well this is materialistic," so what? gues Yeah. ss If that's what's going to get you to get up and to use your life energy. guse Hey man, I've got 4,000 people that earn a living because I loved a Lamborghini. Alright? So if you want to boo-hoo me for being materialistic, go ahead, I don't really care. You know what I'm saying? ss Man, that's powerful. Listen, what I also want to point out is when we have these aspirations- so if your thing is like, when we decide what we want- gues You've got to be real about what you want. ss Yes. gues So like people- this brings up a good point about materialistic nature. I got in an argument with Gary Vee about this. So Gary Vee always is negative about people's- and Gary's a friend of mine, by the way, those of you that don't know. Like we're boys, like we speak at each other's events, we're homies, right? But what do homies do? They call each other out whenever- you know what I mean? So he will sometimes say, "Oh material things are for insecure people." Well you know what? I don't agree with that at all, and I think it's very dangerous to say that, because I can tell you this. During those ten years when I was struggling not making any money, one of the only things I had to hang onto was that dream, and now because of that dream, people- thousands and thousands- hundreds of thousands of people are living healthier lives. Thousands of people are earning their whole entire living from our company, okay? So there's a lot of good that comes from people's- you have to be very careful how you judge. Now obviously you evolve, right? And like so for me, when I was nineteen, my motivations are different than they are now. Now I've accomplished all those materialistic goals. I have a very nice house, I have every car that I think is cool, and I have all that stuff. So now my motivation has switched and evolved into things for like my team, and things for my customers- and not 'things,' but like helping them evolve, and helping coach them. And that's one of the reasons I got into the podcast, was because I felt an obligation to help people with personal development and business because I was blessed to have a dad who taught me some of the fundamentals that allowed me to have that, and I know most people don't have that. You know? ss Right, and that's literally just paying it forward. You know, giving back in a way. This is something that's free that you don't have to do, but because- it's not just the material object, it's who you become in the process. gues Dude listen, you and I are buddies, but I don't know your religious beliefs, and I'm going to say something that I've never said on anybody's show. Dude, when I was broke and poor, I used to pray- and I pray every night. Like I don't talk about my- I don't think that's anybody's business, like everybody's beliefs and stuff, you know? But I would pray, man. Every night. And I would tell God, I would be like, "Man, if you'd just let me become successful, I'll do good with it. I promise you, I'll be one of the people that would do good with it." And you know what? When that success came, I've figured out ways to do good with it. You know what I'm saying? I've done the things I can, and I continue to try to do the things that I can to pay that promise back. You know what I mean? And so a lot of people- you know, I think that the universe, a lot of people call that Law of Attraction 'God,' and vice versa, you know? I don't know if it's God, and I don't know if it's the universe, but what I do know is there's something else out there that is responding to the way that we focus, and what we ask for, and what we act upon, and if you do it long enough, I don't have any doubts that what you're focusing on and what you're trying to do, I don't believe there's any limits on it. ss Yeah absolutely, man. You know a great example, it just popped into my head just now, I saw a tweet that was reposted from Michael B. Jordan who starred in the new movie Black Panther. You know, he's the villain but he had tweeted out like six years ago, or even maybe even longer, 'Black Panther, let's do it.' Basically, 'I would be perfect for the role. You know, let's make it happen.' gues Right, right. ss And he was just getting started in this business, and I think he had done one semi-successful movie, maybe it was Fruitvale Station, but he literally ended up being in the movie. And he's a Black Panther, you know? gues Yeah. ss Like he's the villain but he's suited up like that whole thing. And they're just like, 'Oh well that's just for him.' gues Yeah. ss No, we're all doing that. And it might not be exactly the way you envision it, but just keep moving forward. gue Dude, here's the crazy thing about the Law of Attraction, is that we are all doing it. You're doing it, I'm doing it, it's just a matter if you're doing it consciously or if you're doing it without being aware of it. And most people don't- they're not aware enough to know that what they're getting, they've thought about over, and over, and over again. If you think about debt, and how bad your life is, and how hard your job is, and how much you hate it, guess what? You're going to hate it more, you're going to have more debt, your job is going to be harder, and you're manifesting that. And they're like, "How do I break free?" Well the first way is to become aware, like aware of what your thoughts are. And let's be real, do I have negative days? Absolutely, man. But here's the thing, it's like a 90/10 rule, you know? You've got to be able to catch yourself, like when you're in that state, and then readjust where you want to be. But dude, like me for example, like I just got back from speaking at 10X where I rip people's faces off, man. It was awesome, you know? Biggest entrepreneur event in the world. And when I was young growing up, and I think I told you this one time, dude I wanted to be a rapper. ss Yeah, you told me. Yeah. gues So like- but I could never- I always thought of myself being on stage, being a rapper, and dude I'm into hip hop, and I wanted to be a rapper so bad. Like I just couldn't ever figure it out. ss Wait, you've got to share the name though. gues Oh dude, I had a couple, man. ss Please, man. Please! gues Big Sex AF. You know? ss Yes! gues I think it works, man. ss Oh man, print the tee-shirts, let's go. gues Yeah, that's right. I might just have to put those out. You're forcing out the goofy stuff, man. So yeah, so I wanted to be a rapper bad, and it never happened, right? Like it never happened and I became an entrepreneur, right? But here's the funny thing. If I pay attention now, I get paid rapper money to go speak to crowds that are 15,000 people, and do a show for them. You know what I mean? It's really not that different. You know what I mean? I'm driving the same cars, I'm making the same money. ss And rocking the crowd. gues You know, I just don't- right. It's just a little bit different. So you have to be aware of that. You might not end up exactly where you want to be, but man in my experience, it's been pretty close. You know? Like dude, I've got this one story I've got to share. This is the craziest story for me. So when I was building 1st Phorm, nobody would take us serious because we were literally picking up- we were just selling it at our own stores at first, but I wanted to build it into a national powerhouse brand, okay? So nobody took it serious, so like they're looking at me, I'm this guy who's not making any money, and they're thinking, 'Well how's he making this stuff? Like in his bathroom?' You know what I mean? Like the same stuff- I don't blame them for thinking it. I mean, I wasn't successful, this, that, I get it. Well I was partnering with a company and we were literally picking up our orders in the back of my pickup truck and driving them around. That's how little we started. So like I had to figure out a way to get people to take us seriously, or even try the product, because they knew like, 'There's no way you could be doing this.' So I knew that- just from my research on my own, I knew that the University of Oklahoma had a sports nutrition research department. And I didn't know anybody there, I didn't know anything about it, I just knew they had it. And so I would what a lot of entrepreneurs do when they've got to eat, is I would bullshit people, okay? And I would say, "Hey man, we're getting these studies done at the University of Oklahoma right now," and I would tell that, that was part of my spiel. Right? Just to get people to try it because I was desperate, man. I didn't know what else to do, and looking back, was it wrong? Yeah it's wrong to lie, but here's the thing, I did have good intentions, and I did want to the product to go to the University of Oklahoma, I just hadn't done it yet like I told them, right? So I said this like in the store, literally man, like twenty times a day over the course of like three years, okay? And so like thousands of times. "Hey man, you need to try this. We've got studies going on at the University of Oklahoma right now," right? Like that. So- and when people would ask me about it, they would say, "Hey Andy, how's 1st Phorm going?" I'm like, "Oh it's going great! We've got these studies going on at the University of Oklahoma." Like I would tell them like, "It's going to be great, we're getting ready to get them back," and I had not even sent product there. It was totally made up and fabricated. Well at our family Christmas, my dad has- we don't have like family Christmas, it's like friends and family. It's kind of like a Christmas party. I'm sitting at a table with some of my friends and some of my cousins who I hadn't seen in awhile, and your cousins always got new girlfriends and stuff like that, right? So like one of my cousins was like, "Hey what's going on with 1st Phorm?" And I'm like, "Oh dude, it's awesome! We've got these studies going on at the University of Oklahoma." And his new girlfriend, who I had never met before, is standing behind me and she goes, "The University of Oklahoma? My brother runs that department." And I'm like, "Uh-oh." I'm like, "I'm caught." Like I was like sweating, and I'm like, "Oh no, not that department, some other one." She goes, "No, he runs the sports nutrition department. The ones that do protein studies. I didn't know you guys were on that." So I said, "Oh yeah, we are," and like I got up right away, and like awkwardly walked off. And I came back like two minutes later, and I grabbed her and I said, "Hey," I said, "I was lying," and I told her the story. I said, "But can I get his number?" So she gave me his number, and now he's been our research director for 1st Phorm on our payroll since 2011. ss Incredible. gues Dude, I didn't have any connections to that. What are the chances of that? ss That's nuts. Of all of the labs. gues That's what I'm saying. ss That's powerful. gues So you spoke it into existence, you see what I'm saying? ss Yeah, man. Listen, there are so many examples of things like that in all of our lives. gues Right. ss It could be for the good and the not so good. gues Right. ss I want to point people to one thing. Even if you're not looking into quantum mechanics, string theory, all this different stuff, we can look at just what's happening in our own brains when we get focused on something. So we've got like the reticular activating system, or the reticular cortex period, it's like a part of our brain that is like a heat-seeking missile, right? Whatever you start focusing on, it's always scanning your environment for the thing you're focused on. gues Right, right. ss And so you start to filter out unnecessary things, you start to see things that are more in alignment with the thing that you're focused on. How powerful is that if we can actually tap into it, use it consciously, that's what I want people to do starting today, being honest about what you want and just having a practice of focusing on that thing. gues Dude, I want to get back to what you just said, being honest about what you want, okay? That is like a huge key and a huge hangup for why people can never get it to work for them, because people are so worried that they're going to be judged for saying what they really want that they'll say what they think everybody wants to hear, and there's a problem with that. What you're putting out is getting tangled up with what you truly believe in your heart, okay? And your message, what you put out has to be congruent with what you believe if you want to attract it as fast possible. So when you say- like I hear this all the time, man. Like in business, because I get literally tens of thousands of questions a month through my podcast. People will say stuff like this, "Well I want to be in business because I want to make a difference. I don't really care about the money," and I'll quickly say back to them like, "No, dude. Do you really not care about the money, or are you just saying that because you think it's the right thing to say?" ss Exactly. gues And what I'll find out every- literally every single time is that they care a lot about the money. Right? That's okay. It's okay, you could do a lot of really good stuff with money, you know? I built my high school a new football stadium, a new baseball stadium, a new weight room, I put kids on scholarship. Like I do all kinds of stuff that I wouldn't be able to do if I didn't have the money. Guess what? I also do some fun stuff for myself. But the point is that there's nothing wrong with wanting those things, but if you really want them, you've got to be honest with yourself about what you want. ss Right, it's societal conditioning. gues Yes, and societal conditioning ruins the Law of Attraction for a lot of people because they can never get it to work, right? ss Again, there's a lot of pieces of wisdom to really pick up from today, but man, I think it's so crazy that we have to talk about being honest about what you want, but it's just because of our environment, you know? gues Well dude, we get judged. You say, "Oh, you're materialistic." Or, "Oh, you're selfish." You know dude, I have literally twenty exotic cars, right? And I drive- ss You have that Lamborghini. gues Yeah, I drive one of the Lambos up somewhere, and you know, people look at me and they say, "Oh dude, he's probably really selfish," but they don't know me, and I know they don't me. You know what I mean? And that's fine, it doesn't matter what they think. The way I've gotten to where I am is because I've been honest about it with myself. You know what I mean? And so you know, us being bombarded by negative thinking, and limited thinking from our family, from our friends, from our teachers from the time that we were getting into school, until the time that we're grown adults, we've been told, "You're supposed to do this. You're supposed to do that. You're supposed to do this. Have this kind of job, drive this kind of car, make this kind of money." And unfortunately, most of the people who are teaching us that are living life at a low level, and so that builds us into a box that just creates more, and more, and more of that. And so we, as people who want more, and want to achieve more, and want to impact more, have to figure out how to get outside of that. You know? ss Yeah, man you know we talk about all areas of health, so nutrition, fitness, stress, sleep, all that good stuff. But I've also brought on experts in financial health, you know? Your financial fitness as well, and I'll put some of those episodes in the show notes because I know firsthand that that stress about money can be a big reason why you cut corners, or why specifically from your health itself is suffering. gues Right. ss And I've seen this firsthand growing up in a household where we were on foodstamps, and getting food from food pantries and things like that, and seeing my mom cut corners, or the stress involved. gues Right. ss And hurting other people. You know, I don't want you to ever be in a situation where there's something that's good for you to do, but you're not doing it because of money. Right? I feel that money should never be the reason that you're not doing something that your heart is drawing you to do. And so that's what I want people to really get, and having you on, and also just those lessons, and very practical lessons as well. Like it's okay to build up your financial health because not only are you going to be in a position- gues It's not just okay, dude. It's great, it's a great thing to do. It's responsible. How much difference can you make- people say things like this. "Oh, I want to donate my time to feed the homeless." That's a great thing, good for you, I'm glad that you're doing that. But what if you could build ten facilities that would feed homeless people? What's more valuable? You see what I'm saying? So people get caught up in like thinking that you have to be morally correct or wealthy, and the truth is that you can be both. You know what I mean? ss Absolutely, you can. I love that, man. gues Yeah. ss I want to shift gears now and talk about your own personal fitness and transformation, you know? So you're running this, and it's really kicking butt, taking off a couple years ago, and you find yourself on the wrong end of fitness. gues To say the least. ss So I think you've lost like 100 pounds? gues Yeah, 110. ss So let's start first, how? How did you get in that situation where you were that far off with your health? gue Well I think I found myself in a situation that a lot of people find themselves in when they're struggling, right? You're running from thing to thing to thing, your own personal health gets put on the- because I was always an athlete, man. Like when I was in my twenties, dude I could get ripped on Subway sandwiches. You know what I'm saying? I didn't have to like- I just had to clean it up a little bit, and I would stay in shape. And I stayed in shape because I was working at the store at the counters. If I didn't look the part, guess what? I didn't sell anything. So it was part of the deal. And as I removed myself, as our company grew, from those situations, I started being like- I didn't really know. I learned everything by fire, right? So like I didn't know what I was doing. So like when you don't know what you're doing, you get stretched really thin, and you're running around, and you're trying to figure things out, and everything's a crisis, and when everything's a crisis, and everything's crazy, and you're in that zone especially as an entrepreneur, the last thing that you really care about is going to be what you eat. You know what I mean? You're not like, "Oh I've got to eat my proper meals, and I've got to train," and I think that happens to a lot of people, and I think that just happened to me. You know? I just pulled my focus off of myself and put it onto other things so much that like at the end of the day, man, all I wanted to eat was like Chinese food or pizza, and I did that, man. For like three years, that's all I ate. So like I went from being in shape, 240 pounds in shape, to being 350 pounds of not in shape, to say the least. ss We've got some great Chinese food here, to say the least, by the way. gues Oh, dude. It's like a trigger food for me, man. ss That was my last thing- true story, that was the last 'unhealthy' circumstance I found myself in. I'd made all these changes, and I'd improved my health so much, this was when I was in college, 22 years old and I was sitting in the restaurant - if you want to call it a restaurant - and I'm sitting there, and I've got my hot braised chicken, it's fried with the sauce. gues Were you at a buffet? ss No, this was like you order, so I'm sitting there and I'm looking over at the owner's family, like his kids and his wife, and they're eating like some white rice, and like some steamed vegetables. And I'm just like looking at my plate, looking at them, looking at my plate, looking at them. I'm like, "They don't eat this." gues Yeah. ss You know? It just kind of clicked. And I'd already made some changes, but it's just like what level you're at, it's just awareness, you know? gues Yeah. ss And so- but it's addictive, man. gues Dude, I'll tell you what, I struggle with food addiction, man. Like I'm obsessive about things- certain things, and food for me- you know, some people don't believe that food addiction is a real thing, I believe it is. And if I go eat French fries right now, or if I go eat Chinese food, guess what? I'm going all in. Like I'm going to go on a rampage, you know what I'm saying. Like a bulimic rampage with the purging. And I equate it to people- they're like, "What's that like?" Well it's like trying to quit heroin but you still have to shoot up a little bit every day to stay alive. You know what I'm saying? ss That's deep. Right. gues Or trying to quit smoking but you've still got to smoke three cigarettes a day to stay alive. It's just a real hard thing. ss Because you've got to eat. gues That's right, man. ss So you're constantly dealing with that. gues I personally believe it's the hardest addiction to beat, you know? ss That's powerful, man. gues Because of that. Think about that. Like, "Oh, you're an alcoholic, Shawn? Well, you've got to have three whiskeys a day, man, or you're going to die." ss Forget about it. gues Right, that's what I'm saying, it's hard. ss And also, you know this has existed- there's been threads of this throughout human evolution with folks dealing with food, but today the landscape is so different because we've got things like- you know, when I'm sitting here thinking about what was in that hot braised chicken, we've got MSG, you know, monosodium glutamate. Literally cytotoxins that make your brain like do cartwheels, just like, "Yeah." You know? And so food manufacturers are coming into the game like making you addicted, so it's very tough. gues Dude, it should honestly- like in my opinion, it should be illegal because that's how they get you to buy more stuff. And we could go way into the rabbit hole on this, but there's addictive substances being put in the food for the sole purpose of making people buy the food and crave the food. And dude, I don't think that's okay. You know what I mean? But you know, their lobbies are so big, they get to do whatever they want. ss But that's why it's important with what you're doing, with what I'm doing, because the landscape is changing. gues Right, right. ss You know? It's a process, and what the Internet allows us to do in communication. gues Have a voice. ss I was just talking to Mark Hyman, Dr. Mark Hyman, and he shared with me- and I couldn't believe that this guy shared it with him. He was sitting with the CEO of Pepsi, and he was like gloating about how they just figured out how to clone tastebuds so they could use them in laboratories and find out just how quickly they can get the tastebuds stimulated and addicted. I'm like, 'How is he even sharing this with you?' You know? Does he know who he is? But that's the level of consciousness we're dealing with, but at the same like there are action steps, because when you do have to face that seeming nemesis, like we can actually turn this into something else. So instead of maybe the whiskey we could do the wine cooler, or whatever. You know? gues Dude, you know what's funny for me too, man? Is that like you know how they say, "Marijuana is a gateway drug," right? "It will get you to do all the drugs." Listen, marijuana will get you to do all the drugs if you have the addictive personality and you need to go do all the drugs. But the food for me opens up the gateway for other destructive things. Like for example, I also like to drink. Okay? And if I drink, and I'm eating healthy, I can control my drinking, like where I may have one or two drinks a week, or drink like a normal responsible adult. But when I'm eating bad, my mind says, "Hey it doesn't matter because you're already eating bad." You know what I do? Drink every day. You know what I mean? So it's like it's all in or all out when it comes to what I consume. And so I've had to learn that about myself. ss So how did- what was the big shift that took place? What was the catalyst? Because you were in a situation, sitting there on the side of the bed, 350 pounds. gues Yeah. ss What was that catalyst for you? gues What's funny is that when you're in school as a little kid, kids are ruthless. I mean they'll pick on you, right? Well they'll call you fat, they'll say- and we've all been picked on for certain things I'm sure. But the funny thing is that the Internet is no different, only it's adults. And I was developing a pretty decent sized podcast, and literally every time I posted a video, I was getting people like, "Dude, what are you doing? You're a fatass." And like I'd have to block ten people a day for calling me fat. You know, I didn't realize it at the time that I was that far gone, right? And like looking back, man, I'm thankful they did that, right? But it hurt, man. I'm like, "Dude, you know what?" Eventually Sal, my brother who runs day-to-day at 1st Phorm every day, we were talking about doing a transformation contest, and I'm like, "Man, we can't do a transformation contest because dude, I'm fat." You know what I'm saying? Like I'm the face of the company. Which is really weird how I even got the company going in the first place being like that. Like I look back and I'm like, "Man, we have some really, really good people that follow our brand because they supported me, you know what I mean? When I was like that. And so dude, I'm always very thankful for the people that we have that support us. I mean we have a really nice culture, I mean the best culture. But something clicked in my head and I'm like, "You know what, dude?" I said, "I'm going to do it. I'm going to be the person that shows these people what can happen," and I just made up my mind. We put $250,000 out as the reward for the prize money, and I put myself in a situation where like- dude, it would literally ruin me if I didn't do it. And because dude, you've got to remember, like I'm killing it financially, I'm doing all the stuff people want to do, I'm flying around on private jets, I'm speaking to big crowds, but the only thing I didn't have in line, the only thing was that I was 350 pounds. When people hear 350, they think like much bigger than I looked. Like I carry weight really well. But most people would think that I looked like 280 or 290, but I was way bigger. Anyway, I just put myself in a situation where it's like, "Dude, I will lose all of the stuff if I don't follow through," because I put my credibility on the line publicly. Because we have a huge social following, and we did at that time, it was 2016 when I started it. And I just put it out there, man. I said, "Dude, I'm doing it," and we made a video, and I said, "I'm going to do this with you guys." And I knew I had to do it then, and so that's what got me in gear. And honestly, I don't think I would have done it for anything less than that, unless I had to do it, you know? Because I got all these other comforts and I'm like, "Ah dude, who cares?" You know? Like I'm big, I'm fat, it don't matter, but I'm ballin.' You know? For real. ss Yeah. gues And you know, I kind of owned it for awhile. Like I just- it was part of me. ss Big Sexy AF. gues Yeah exactly, dude. And so dude, like look at Rick Ross, man. He owns it, you know what I'm saying? Like he owns it. ss Oh man, he's on CrossFit now. Like he lost a lot of weight. gues Yeah, he looks great, dude. He's down 100-something pounds. ss You know, one of the funniest moments of my life that I don't think- maybe ten people saw. I was watching some random interview show Pharrell had, and he had DJ Khaled, and Khaled's been trying to get his stuff together for a long time. gues Yeah, yeah. ss He just needs to talk to me for a minute. But Khaled was just like giving props to Rick Ross. He was like, "Ever since he started doing this Ross-Fit. It's this Ross-Fit," and he kept saying Ross-Fit not knowing it's CrossFit, you know? But he gets away with that stuff. gues That's hilarious. ss You know? It's amazing, you know? But culture is changing, you know? And so I love the fact that it was just that one area. Because this brings to bear, like so many of us, we can be dominating in these different areas of our life. Maybe our body is crushing it, and our relationship is good, but we're struggling financially. This is why I appreciate you. Like I want people to know that we can in fact have all of it. gues Oh yeah. ss But it's the awareness. If you can't see it, you can't be it. I want more examples of that. So it's powerful. gues Well dude, I think the biggest thing to remember is that like the disciplines and the skills to build a successful business are the same ones you're going to build a body or a healthy relationship. So if you have one area that's kind of in check, you're really just taking the skills and the ideas and the principles and applying them over here and it works. You know? And I see this in fitness a lot, because I've been in the fitness industry for twenty years, I see these dudes who are incredibly fit, they're healthy, they're killing it with their fitness, but their financial life is a disaster. You know what I mean? They're literally dead broke. And they're saying, "Oh it's okay because I've got my body together." It's not okay, bro. It's not okay. You know what I'm saying? It's reality. ss There's a tendency too to cut corners, you know? gues Right. ss Like when you're struggling because it's a survival mechanism, right? gues You tell yourself a story, right? You're telling yourself, "Oh it's not that bad." You know? I look in the mirror at 300 and I'm like, "It's not that bad, dude. If I had like six beers, I'd do me." You know what I'm saying? Like I'm telling myself a story, you know? So like dude, I had a come to Jesus with myself and be like, "Look, man." Because even though we were doing- at that time we were doing about $100 million, even though we were doing this, and I was doing all these cool things, and gaining popularity with the podcast, I knew- I knew it. Because I'm like, "Dude, you're going to be limited by your physical state, and not just energy wise, but how people perceive you wise." It's the truth. And people want to say, "Oh well it's all on the inside is what matters." And you know what? That's not true. It's just not true. You know what I'm saying? I was going to be held back- I'm in the fitness industry, if I didn't set an example for what that represents, what does that say about my product, right? How much business was I losing? How much further could I be if I hadn't have gotten fat? You know what I mean? I could tell you this, whenever I did lose the weight and got back in shape, my podcast has grown quadruple. Okay? I'm making incredible money speaking, which I wasn't getting before. And you know why? It's because I'm able to deliver a more impactful result because of the way that I deliver, because it goes along with the way I look now. Before I still delivered with the same presence, but my message and the way I delivered didn't match what was- ss Congruency. gues It was congruent with the body it was coming out of. You know? And that was hurting me, and I knew it. And all of those things together, man. Like I just had to be real with myself, and I had to be like, "Dude, you're fat." You know? ss Man, I was not expecting to hear that being the catalyst for you, and basically the Internet trolling, and just like- I had no idea. gues Yeah. Well dude, I can say like, "I don't care what they say," but look man, let's be real. We're all human, and you hear something enough, you start to question yourself. You know? You hear something enough, you're like, "Alright well maybe it's not them. Maybe it is me." You know what I mean? Because if you're having an issue, the same issue over and over and over and over again with people you don't even know, you're probably the problem. And as superficial as it sounds, I'm putting myself on a public stage, you know what I mean? So you know, people will be like, "Well the body acceptance is a huge deal right now." Listen man, I don't buy into that. Not at all. I don't think it's a good thing. You know what I mean? I think when you see these people who are doing body acceptance and all this stuff, dude to me, it's a cop-out. You don't have discipline, you don't love yourself. If you really loved yourself, you would be healthy. Because this isn't just about the way you look, this is about being healthy, and you're not healthy when you're 100 pounds overweight. It's just true, you know? And the politically- you know I'm not very politically correct. But the politically correct thing is to say, "Oh everybody's beautiful," and this and that. You know what? It comes down to more than looks. You know? Look, I can look at a woman who's got some curves and think, "Yeah, dude." I mean come on, I love that. But let's be real, a lot of what we're talking about right now in society as accepted is not healthy. And you know, I fell into that category, too. I was not healthy, man. I'm crushing it, I'm doing everything that you could- anybody wants from a success area. Dude, I'm driving Rolls-Royces, Lamborghinis, I'm around successful people, I'm flying around on private jets, I'm doing all these crazy things, I'm getting recognized as Entrepreneur of the Year. Doing all this crazy stuff, and yet when I look in the mirror, dude I know I'm not happy. You know what I'm saying? Like I wasn't happy. Like I could pretend I was happy. I wasn't happy. I wasn't happy with that. And you know what? What's more important is I wasn't healthy, man. I've got all these people who depend on me, I've got all these people who depend on me for their jobs, and to drive the company, and do this and that, and even though we were doing well, we're nowhere near where I want to be even currently. You know? I want to be in the B's, not the M's. You know? And I knew for me to get to the B's, things were going to have to change. ss Wow. guest And if there's body acceptance, people that listen to the show, and that's something that you guys talk about, I apologize but that's just my personal thing, man. ss I absolutely love it, thank you for the honesty and that perspective because you know, I think that anything- marketers screw up a lot of things. gues Yeah, everything. ss Something that has a good thread to it, you know? Because the idea of body acceptance, the general heart of it is good, accepting your body. But it's with the caveat of like, "Are you healthy?" Right? Because we need to move towards that. So I want- and also understanding like there's no cookie cutter, and everybody's different. gues Look man, you know what makes people beautiful for real is their uniqueness. I believe that. Like even their flaws, man. That's what make people who they are. Like I've got these scars on my face, and that's a whole other story, but like we don't have to tell it, but you know dude, people owning who they are, that's sexy, man. You know what I'm saying? But like convincing people that are not happy that they should be happy is not right. You know what I mean? Because no matter much you try to put lipstick on it, when they take that lipstick off at the end of the day, they're still going to feel the way that they feel on the inside, which is not healthy. You know? If we're talking about health, that's not healthy. ss Yeah, you know since we've also been talking about financial fitness, it's not just about making money, it's also about saving money, and being smart about your money in your investments. gues Right. ss And so I want to give a shout-out, we were talking about this before the show, to Thrive Market. Alright? So Thrive Market I've been utilizing for years. I was actually the very first podcast to feature them as a sponsor, and because I love what they're doing. And so they're literally taking like a wholesale kind of concept for premium products, things that you buy at your local Whole Foods or health food store, and they're getting them to you at the wholesale price. So I have this jar of coconut oil, organic, extra-virgin coconut oil, the same thing I'd buy at Whole Foods for literally like $20 more than I have from Thrive Market. gues It's like a Costco for quality foods. ss Exactly, and you can get a membership. gues I can't wait to try them. ss And they've got- like they do specials every month, and man, I'm telling you. Like these little flash sales, and I just rack up. This is a true story, like I get slightly hurt inside when I end up paying full price for something because I didn't buy it from Thrive. Like I forgot, right? And so this is where we get a lot of goods like nut butters, and bars for my kids, and coconut oil. They've got this fantastic spicy mayo. gues Do they do like meats and all that, too? ss They're working on bringing kind of perishable goods. gues Okay. ss And so that's the next level. I just actually- Mark Hyman, who I mentioned earlier, he's on their board so he's been working with that. And so this is mostly non-perishable stuff, but they've got so much. gues Yeah. ss And then also personal care products, so without parabens, and phthalates, and all this crazy stuff, you know? Detergents, all this stuff I get from Thrive Market, and I save- so we're talking 25% to 50% off what you pay at Whole Foods. And I still love Whole Foods, there's no disrespect, but this is intelligent. gues Whole Foods is an experience, man. ss Yeah, exactly. gues I get it. ss And so I want everybody to make sure you're utilizing Thrive Market if you're not doing this already. Do yourself a favor, pop over to www.ThriveMarket.com/modelhealth. So that's one word, modelhealth, and they're going to give you- not only are you getting 25% to 50% off all the products that they carry. They've got categories for Paleo, Keto, Vegan, whatever you're looking for. They've got things curated for you for easy shopping, and you get an additional 25% off your entire first purchase by going to www.ThriveMarket.com/modelhealth. Alright? And I believe you're going to get free shipping, too. Alright? Because that could be the thing that does it for you. It's like, "I'll spend $300 on stuff, but $5 for shipping. I don't know." You know? gues It's the principle, man. ss So you get free shipping as well, alright? So everybody, pop over there and check them out, www.ThriveMarket.com/modelhealth. I promise you're going to love it and become a big fan like I am. And so man, I want to talk to you- because we're here in St. Louis. gues Dude, like no BS, I'm like looking forward to trying that. ss Yeah, it's amazing, man. It's amazing. You know, being from St. Louis, we've got some really amazing people here. Like the people in St. Louis are just good people, there's a lot of good people, but we mentioned at the start of the show just thinking big because it's just our paradigm. Being able to see something like close that you can touch, you've been that for a lot of people, just seeing you, what you've accomplished, but you've done this without a lot of connections, without a lot of people who are doing huge things outside of our paradigm. So what would you say to folks who are just like, "I can't do that because I don't have the connections"? gues Man, you know what's funny? I didn't have any- like zero connections, you know? St. Louis is a great town, man. It's salt of the earth people, man. Loyal people, people who support their own kind of people, which is why our company- like if we didn't have St. Louis, we wouldn't even be here because they were the first people- they were the first people to criticize me, but they were also the first people to love us, and our company has grown from that love, and I'm forever- like I love being from St. Louis, man. I take a lot of pride in it. But I didn't have any connections, man. And so I wasn't familiar with social media at all, this was in 2013 or 2014, and I was talking to a friend of mine, and I saw some dude on social, and I saw that my friend- they were like having a conversation, right? This guy's name was Rob Bailey, and today he's one of my best friends, but he owned a company called Flag Nor Fail, and at the time they were just dominating the Internet. They're still killing it, but they were like it. It was before nobody was doing online fashion, and clothing, and like dude, just way ahead of the game. And I asked my friend Curtis, I said, "Hey dude." I said, "You know that guy?" He's like yeah- and I was liking what he was doing, right? I'm like, "This guy is cool." He's like telling it how it is, he's running his company the right way, and I said, "Hey, do you know this guy?" He's like, "Yeah I know him." And I'm like, "Will you give me his address?" And so dude, I knew that to get his attention it was going to have to be something big. So I put a pallet of our product together, and I wrote a note, and I said, "Hey bro, I know you don't know who I am, I don't want anything for this, I just want you to know that I think what you're doing is cool." Well I sent it up there, it was an over-the-top thing, right? Like a whole pallet of stuff. ss That's nuts. gues It cost me like $5,000 to send that and all that. And he called me up on the phone and he was like, "Dude, I don't know what to say, man. Like nobody's ever done this." And we talked for a few minutes, and he invited us up to his headquarters, and we went to like a camp that he was putting on, as guests. And I just started seeing how he interacted, and how he- and basically like I was asking him questions about social media, and like, "What do you think about this?" Or, "How do you do that?" And we would talk back and forth, and dude, I really learned a lot about social from him, so I started putting those things into play. I started getting some traction, right? And then I realized like, "Hey dude, what's stopping me from reaching out to whoever?" So the very next person I reached out to was Gary Vee, because I had read 'Crush It,' and I'm like- and Gary had just gotten his Internet going then. Like it wasn't like he is now, where he's like the number one most influential entrepreneur in the world. He had just gotten social going, like he was on YouTube, but I'm talking about Facebook and Instagram. So I reached out to him, and you know, I think at that time we were doing right at $100. And I said, "Hey-" and this is a true story, by the way. "I read 'Crush It,' I took a lot of the info from it, I went out and applied it, and guess what happened? I did very well." So I told him, I said, "Hey man, I know you don't know me. My name is Andy, I own these companies, I started here, this is where I'm at now. What changed for me was when I read this book you wrote called 'Crush It,' and I just want to say thank you." And dude- I didn't ask for anything, I think that's a huge thing, okay? I didn't ask for anything. I was doing it out of real gratitude and those guys knew it. Ring, ring, ring, it's Gary on the phone. "Hey bro, I want to meet you. Fly to New York." Okay? So I fly to New York, I meet with Gary, we have dinner and we become like friendly, right? Then you know, my social is growing, I'm continuing to put into play things I've learned and evolve, and I'm the kind of person that if you show me the basics, I'll take it to a new level, right? Like if you show me how to do something very basic, I'll be like, "Okay I've got it," and then I'll run with it. And that's kind of what I did. So my social- my Instagram at the time was bigger than Gary's when I went to dinner with him, and he's like, "Dude, how'd you do that?" And we started talking, I told him how I did it. Well he took what I told him, he went and ran, now he's three million followers. I'm at like 850 or whatever I'm at. So he's crushed it with that. So we developed the respect and friendly relationship, and he asked me to- when he came out with his '#AskGaryVee' book, he asked me to launch it for him. So we did the launch event at my headquarters, and then after that man, like dude, I started meeting like- my level of influence escalated. Because dude, when you're doing an event with Gary Vee, that's kind of like the deal in the business world right now. Everybody respects it. And then so now I don't- it just grew, man. And like it just took on a life of its own, and now I've met literally everybody there is to meet, you know? And it's been cool. ss But it started with you giving. gues Yeah, that's right. That's right. It's real gratitude, man. You know what I'm saying? ss That's so powerful. gues Because everybody who's at that level, people- dude, like we were talking before the show. Like people send you a lot of stuff, and they send me a lot of stuff, and like a lot of guys will send stuff and then like you know they want you to post it by how they wrote the note. Like, 'Oh if you post this, tag me in it,' or they'll say something weird. It's like, "Bro, you just guaranteed no matter how cool it is, I'm not posting it because of your intention." You know what I mean? Like I want to help people that have genuine intention, not people who are trying to get something from me. So guys at that top level are smart, dude. That's how they got there. So I knew- I was doing well in business, I just didn't have social relevance, you know? And I knew that for me to like to even get their attention, dude, like it would just have to be like, "Hey bro, I think you're awesome," and if it happens, it happens, if it doesn't, it doesn't, and I didn't put any weight into it. I'm still doing good, and I'm going to do good regardless, but that's how it happened, man. And so now, like I just spoke at Gary's Agent 20/21 with- it was only me and him and one other guy, Tom Ferry, and I mean that's a huge deal. Now dude, I'm getting paid to speak, $75,000 an hour. So I mean, like it's gone from like nobody knew who I was to like craziness, you know? ss Yeah because that's the thing, is like you came out from behind the scenes, and for a lot of people it's just like out of nowhere, but it's been like all of these years of putting in work. gues Right. ss And then having the audacity to give, and I think that's important, is like to do this without expectation in a way, you know? To drop the expectation, and just do something good. Lead with value, lead with giving. gues Yeah, and you know what's funny, is the guys- all the guys at the top level, that's how it works, man. Like there's no- like I see these dudes who are down there at like the middle level, and they're trying to break in to the top level, and it's always like, "Well dude, if you do this for me, I'll do this for you." It's like this tit for tat ledger sheet, and the reality is, at the top level, you know what I want? I want Gary to win big, you know what I'm saying? You know what Gary wants? Gary wants Andy to win big. And I can say that for all of my friends that are- like dude, I want Shawn to crush. You know what I mean? And I know Shawn wants me to crush. We talked about Lewis Howes, who's a mutual friend of ours, do you have any doubt in your mind that Lewis doesn't want you to be the biggest, baddest thing ever? ss Man, I just today recorded a show- I don't know when it's getting put out on this timeline, but I talked about Lewis specifically just popped into my head. I was giving the example of how not to go about a relationship, and an example of somebody in my family just taking advantage of me, and not being there, just calling when they want something, versus what Lewis does. Like I might not talk to him for a couple of months, and he might reach out because he does want something, he's got a project coming out or whatever. But number one, I know it's of high value, and number two, every time he gets a chance, he's doing something to bring value to my life and to help me. gues That's right, man. ss So it's like all- gues Everybody at the top- like dude, I met some awesome guys. Like Bedros Keuilian, and Dean Graziosi who's probably the most influential success coach behind Tony Robbins that there ever has been, okay? This dude's like- I mean dude does $200 million a year in courses, on info courses for his products. He's crushing and he has been for thirty years. You know what I mean? This dude's on the phone with me twice a week now because I had him on my podcast telling me, "Hey let's do this, we can do this, we can do that," giving me pointers about how I can improve just because he wants you to win. And I think so many people stay at that lower level, and the middle level, because they had that scarcity mindset of like, "Well if that guy wins, that means I'm going to win less," and that's not true. The truth is, is that if you want people to win genuinely, not just say it. Like you know how some people will say like, "Oh dude, I wish the best for him," but you know deep down they don't. I'm talking about genuinely- genuinely want people to win. ss This is so funny. The guys in the studio know, or had seen that I just talked about this, even there are songs about it, you know? 'Fake people showing fake love to me.' You know? Because it's just like not only- it's one thing for people to not cheer you on when you win, another thing is to fake cheer you on. gues And that's worse. ss Absolutly. gues That's worse. Dude, the fake cheering on is worse. I'd rather have people be like, "F-U dude! You suck!" I'd rather have that. But yeah, man. You know, you have to be coming from the heart, from the right place. Like dude, all the people I connect with, and the people that I've had on my podcast. You know, my good friend Ed Mylett, like just guys that- Brandt Leahy, these dudes, they're all super ultra-successful guys, but man we're on the phone with each other or texting back and forth how we can get better, without like saying, "Hey you've got to do this for me." No, man. We understand that there's plenty for all of us to win, and we get a lot further working together. And so it's like- it's just funny that people think that- people think that people- and I'm putting an asterisk next to this because I am nowhere near the top, okay? But people who are making zero dollars look at me and think I'm at the top. I'm not at the top, okay? I'm like a trillion miles away from what I think my top is. But they see people who are at a higher level, and they think, "Those guys have got to be selfish, and they got there by hurting people, and screwing people, and this and that." And dude, it's just completely the opposite. And I know people hear that, and they think that's total BS, but man, it just is, you know? ss Yeah, and same thing. You mentioned Ed Mylett, he just called me the other day, we had a great conversation. He's one of the most successful people walking around, and he's just finding ways that he can help me. gues That's right. ss And you know, he's just meeting me, right? And also, you know, he knows some of the things that I've been able to accomplish, and there's a reciprosity there, and an acknowledgement of care, and of passion. But I think a big word that I like to use, and I've coined this, I haven't heard anybody say this, but 'coopertition.' Coopertition where we've- in ways we are competing. gues I like that. ss But guess what? We're also cooperating and lifting each other up because I love it- gues There's a fine line between competition and collaboration. Because dude, when you want to make a bigger impact, guess what? The guys you compete with, the guys who you respect their competition, and who you want to be, are going to be the guys you want to collab with because the impact can be ten times better. You see what I'm saying? ss That's what we're all really here for. gues That's right. Like dude, I just did 10X with Grant Cardone, and you know love Grant or hate Grant, Grant puts on the best entrepreneurial event in the world, okay? Every single person there I want to destroy when I go on stage, right? Like I want to go up and be like, "Dude, you shouldn't have even showed up." But you know what? All of us think that, but all of us are friends, all of us have beers together, all of us take care of each other. You know what I mean? And it's a friendly- it's exactly what you said. It's a friendly cooperative competition that we all understand that when we work together, we do better. ss Absolutely, man. I want to ask you about one more thing. Man, I'm just having a great time, man. There's so many insights and just things I'm processing. But I want to talk to you about something that a lot of people struggle with, and this is- and you know this intimately because you were in it for years. But what about when you've got a goal, you've got a mission, you've got a dream that you're working towards accomplishing, and you have a lack of people believing in you? How can people start to address that? gues Yeah, man. I used to get angry about that, right? Like I'd have these ideas, and I'd have these dreams, and I'd tell people, and I could tell they weren't feeling it, and it would make be mad, and be like, "Dude, that guy's a hater, and I think I have all these haters." But what I came to realize, and after a long time, is that I'd never given those people any real reason to believe what I was saying. Right? Like I wasn't disciplined in other areas of my life, I wasn't doing anything to really show them that I was going to do the things I said I wanted to do. So why on a logical level would they believe, right? And it wasn't until I started to realize that like I had to show them more of myself. I had to show them like the work I was doing. And dude, it feels good to have people believe in you, right? But it's not necessary. And so people tend to not believe in you until you've already started to believe in yourself, right? And then you don't need them anymore. So that's how it kind of works. Like you don't need them to believe. You know, I had people telling me the same stuff, man. Like, "Dude, you still got that little vitamin store in Springfield? When are you going to grow up and get a real job? When are you going to start taking life serious?" Like I used to hear all that stuff, man. "You're such a dreamer," you know? All that stuff that everybody hears, I heard it. And dude, from people that were like my aunts and uncles, like people that shouldn't have been saying that, you know what I mean? And dude, I think there's two kinds of people. There's kinds of people that are going to hear that, and they're going to fold down, and there's the kind of person that's going to hear that, and they're going to use it as fuel, and they're going to do everything they can until the day they die to stuff that sh-t down other people's throats, and I just happen to be that kind of guy. You know what I mean? So like just like when I was- when people were calling me fat, I'm like, "Dude, I'm going to turn out like The Rock, and you guys are all going to have to eat words." You know? And that's just how I am. I've always been that way. So if you're not that way, I would try to learn to use the negativity as fuel, and when the time comes that you don't feel like following through, you don't feel like going to the gym, you don't feel like sending those emails or doing what you need to do, try to remember some of the things that people have said to you that hurt you, and use that as your motivation and go do what you need to do. You see what I'm saying? ss Absolutely. Absolutely, so powerful, man. Alright final question for you. gues Yeah, yeah? ss What is the model that you're setting with the way that you live your life personally, for other people? So what is the example that you're here to set with how you live your life personally? gues Oh man, I think the main thing- I think the main thing I was made for is to help people understand that they are truly limitless in whatever they decide they want to do. And I've done things, crazy things. Like dude, people have watched me develop a career as a speaker. They've watched our brand on social media go from this tiny little brand to this huge behemoth of a company that's going to end up being the biggest company in the world in our space. My main thing that I try to let people see is that they can dream- as cheesy as this sounds, right? Is that they are limitless in what they want to do, whatever it be, you know? And I try to do the right thing, man. Like I try to teach people that doing the right thing is always going to get you further than trying to like- and I think it works for me too, man. Because like my delivery, if you listen to my podcast, like people when they first listen, they're like, "Dude, this guy is a jerk. He's crazy." But when they listen to what I'm saying, and they hear what I'm saying, it's like you said, it's in your face dude, but it comes from the right place. You know what I'm saying? It comes from a big heart. And so I'm trying to show people that like dude, you can be aggressive, you can be successful, you can drive Lamborghinis and do the cool stuff you want to do, and you can also be morally good. You can also do good things for people. You know, to be honest dude, I don't really know the answer to that question yet, if I'm being real, you know? Like what I'm trying to do now is break down the barrier that money is a bad thing, and success is a bad thing, and to help people understand that it's a great thing, and they're obligated to do it, if for no other reason than because they've got to take care of the people around them they love. And so that's what I've been focused on. That and the fitness world as well, but dude honestly, I think I'm going to do much bigger things than that long-term, I just haven't really nailed it down yet. ss Amazing answer, man. Thank you, brother. Can you let everybody know where they can connect with you online, let them know about the podcast? gues Yeah, for sure. So Instagram is where I do a lot of my work. It's @AndyFrisella on Instagram. And then I do some YouTube, it's @AndyFrisella. And then the podcast is called The MFCEO Project. You can subscribe on iTunes, we're on all of them, you know? SoundCloud, Stitcher, Google Play, everything we're there so we shouldn't be too hard to find. We'll be right up there at the top. ss Oh definitely. Definitely, man. gues Wink, wink. ss This has been just powerful, man. I appreciate you immensely. I'm so glad that- gue This was fun, dude. ss Yeah to have you here in the city, man. gues Yeah we haven't talked about- oh yeah, man. Listen, I'm honored, man. Like I know you just don't have anybody on, so it means a lot to me. ss Oh man, it's mutual, man. So again, thank you bro. gues Alright. ss Everybody, thank you so much for tuning into the show today. I hope you got a lot of value out of this. Man, I'm telling you, if anybody can really help you to make that shift in your mindset, it's definitely Andy Frisella. So if this really hit your heart, hit your soul, definitely pop over and check out his podcast. It's one of the best in the country for a reason, like consistently, and he just brings the goods, you know? So make sure to check him out. And I want you to really embrace this lesson today about this law, you know? This kind of universal law that's present whether or not you understand it. And it's just- I think today is the opportunity to decide whether or not you're going to use this consciously. What you focus on expands, you know? Whether or not you really get it with like again, quantum theories, string theory, any of that stuff. But just from the sake of your brain, right? This incredible super computer you're walking around in your head, whatever you focus on is going to get isolated. Whatever you focus on is going to start to filter out the stuff that you don't want. So are you going to keep focusing on the things that you want? Or are you going to keep focusing on the things that are going to retract and take from your life? Alright? Because you get to pick. And it's not easy, let me be clear about this. It's not something that happens overnight, but the awareness trumps everything. So becoming aware of that, making it a practice. Get yourself around people that are empowering you and inspiring you on a consistent basis. I think every single day should be tuned in to something that really uplifts your spirit and puts you in the right head space. And preferably, even right before you go to bed, you know? Whether it's the books you're reading, podcasts, videos, something to really entrain your mind as you drift off each day. Probably not be on the computer if you read 'Sleep Smarter.' Full disclosure. Podcast, book would be awesome, alright? But to start to reprogram your mind to start to think bigger than you've ever thought before, alright? Because the only limits that you have are the ones that you're carrying around. So really again, I appreciate you so much, and use this message. Like the Law of Attention, this is the guy I wanted to talk about it, and I know this intimately because this has been a part of my life, and why I'm here with you guys today. You know? And the people that were in that film are like my friends! You know? It's just so amazing. Like I saw this, but I worked in that direction. Right? I saw this, I decided exactly what I wanted, and I kept working every day in that direction, alright? Just getting a little bit better, and that's what I want you to do as well, and use your power for good. Alright? We've got some incredible guests and show topics coming up for you that's going to blow your mind, so make sure to stay tuned. Take care, have an amazing day, and I'll talk with you soon. And for more after the show, make sure to head over to www.TheModelHealthShow.com. That's where you can find all of the show notes, you can find transcriptions, videos for each episode, and if you've got a comment you can leave me a comment there as well. And please make sure to head over to iTunes and leave us a rating to let everybody know that the show is awesome, and I appreciate that so much. And take care, I promise to keep giving you more powerful, empowering, great content to help you transform your life. Thanks for tuning in.