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here's a thing that everybody should do
if they want to get rich but nobody
wants to listen to which is fascinating
to me is that amateur do lots of things
and Pros do the few right things and how
is that possible it's because Pros teach
other amateurs how to do all of those
little things that they don't need to do
and so they have leverage right so Pros
don't have to be busy amateurs do have
to be busy because they can't
differentiate what is right and
effective yet so I think there's this
portion of your life where you have to
you have to do incredible amounts of
hard work because you can't delineate
what is good versus what is busy work
and every one of us just needs to
realize that some point and the only way
you start to realize what is good versus
busy work is through skill acquisition
one of the skills of which is what is
effective versus what is just filler and
so you know you don't even you don't
even have to pick up numerous skills you
can be like what Charlie M and Warren
Buffett talk about which is making 3 to
five really high signal to noise bets
over your entire career and sitting
lazily on your asses for the rest of the
time I mean mker talks about all the
time that in fact their strategy is only
one thing which is when they see big
risk they go in huge if they think that
risk can be rewarded and they do not go
in if they they do not see a huge risk
reward so they just are professional
nosay and that's because they learn to
differentiate the difference between
busy busy work and good work and I think
that is where most people should strive
can you strive to actually determine
what actions to take that will make
movements or change and it's really
really easy to say but hard to do I mean
think about it in your business in my
business every single day there's a two
to-do list so big I will never ever
finish it and I have to determine every
single day what is one thing that if I
do it becomes the folr on which I get to
place a lever that moves a giant boulder
and if I can't
continuously get closer to that one
thing the business will fail and I think
that's how most of us are is we have to
be able to figure out what does a
fulcrum look like what does a lever look
like and what do just a bunch of pebbles
look like that are going to do nothing
for me and that's actually quite
hard okay skill acquisition matters a
lot yeah getting that leverage matters a
lot we've painted uh a dark picture
about where we're going but I don't
think either of us are afraid paranoid
yes uh because only the paranoids
survive but when I say I'm paranoid what
I mean is I'm trying to see the angles
yeah I'm not taking that it's going to
happen easily for granted yeah so I my
channel can be rightly accused of quote
unquote Doom and Gloom but I'll just
blame all of you [ __ ] because
that's all you click on in a headline uh
but the what I hold myself accountable
to is every word out of my mouth is
something I actually believe so I
believe all the things that I'm saying I
just don't have uh crippling fear the
only thing that that maybe unnerves me
even though I'm a huge proponent of it
is AI we'll get to that later so anyway
uh potentially quote unquote dark period
coming from a recession standpoint I say
dark because a lot of people who aren't
paranoid who either don't have the
intellect or have not put the time in or
just don't have the right set of ideas
whatever they're going to get blindsided
love too many of those people so it it
it does appear as a dark time to me
however you have a quote from Baron
Rothchild uh that I think Bears bringing
up yeah buy when there's blood in the
streets even if the blood is your own
maybe especially when it's your own and
he became a Titan of Industry uh
probably one of the richest men ever on
an inflation adjusted basis so I think
he did okay and uh you know I was
thinking I I pulled some some data for
us uh for this conversation today
because here's the thing
if you haven't been if you haven't been
through a recession yet uh you're going
to survive this next one too I mean if
you look historically and we can show
this graph too we we survived 90 99 two
you know 2020 2008 those were just the
recessions during my working years and
if you look at what happened after all
of those recessionary periods not all of
them bounced back in a v-shaped recovery
but all of them have bounced back and so
the best predictor of the future is the
past it's not perfect but it's likely
that we will continue to sur survive as
a country and as individuals just like
we have historically and so I think even
though it's scary out there realizing a
sale is coming can also be really really
powerful what do you mean sale when the
market goes down everything becomes
cheaper you already seen that Austin's
one of the worst hit real estate cities
in the country so if you're looking to
buy real estate in a market that has
Tesla moving to it that has Dell that
has a bunch of Google headquarters uh
moving to it a bunch of Facebook
employees moving to it a bunch of AI
it's like one of the defense AI um
centers of the country but it's you know
the average uh house in Austin's down
somewhere between 20 to 30% and so what
does that mean well interest rates are
coming down and houses are 20 to 30%
cheaper and so you can buy a house for
less money at less interest rates than
you could a year ago and probably your
pay hasn't gone down by 20 to 30% and so
in this market you're going to have a
bunch of opportunities to buy things at
sale and most people get their money I
sort of think about it like the
unprepared transfer their money to the
prepared during downturns and so if you
do not listen to channels that are Doom
and Gloom about what might come then
when it comes one you won't recognize it
two you won't act on it and three you
will actually lose from it because
somebody else will take advantage of
your panic and so one of my biggest
missions is just getting people to see
the pattern because once you see oh look
this happened in 2008 it happened in
2020 it happened in 99 it happened in 90
and by the way there's signals right now
that show the same thing well then you
might be prepared for what's coming and
it might not scare you when you see that
you know auto loans are at the highest
level since the last recession uh auto
loan uh defaults that you might not see
that credit card delinquencies are at
all-time highs and that might not scare
you you might instead go okay well
something's coming on sale so how can I
make sure I have enough cash to do
something with how can I Circle up a
couple friends so we can make a smart
investment and property during this
period because the other thing that's
interesting those big scary people we
talk about all the time Black Rock
Blackstone all the big companies they
get a credit crunch too you know they
they cannot get as much access to
Capital as they can during normal
markets so that's another one there's
very few times where the poor get to
steal from the rich and one of them is
in a downturn if the poor are actually
thoughtful enough about preparing for it
and you can't do it in a big way but you
know most of America will die broke
alone and fat and so if that's the case
one smart house acquisition one smart
multif family acquisition is enough to
set up a family for generations and it's
just continuing to take those small
steps in a period where most people are
acting
emotionally walk us through so you are
um I've heard you speak to people before
like this this is the time you need to
be ready as you were just saying but you
also need to act so what is your very
unique
brrt uh strategy for not only getting
through a recession but really taking
advantage of it yeah so we have a a
strategy about how to buy businesses
during a recession and we talk about you
buy a recession resistant business so
think a plumbing company a landscaping
company a company that you work in you
could even buy part of it during a down
period where maybe your boss needs a
little bit of capital or your boss needs
you to go out and bring in more clients
for them
and you do that in a recession resistant
sector you raise prices because most
small businesses are underpriced
somewhere from 30 to 300% and you add
technology and this generation in
particular like if you are young and
hungry you are 10 to 20 to 100x more
Tech competent than the average small
business owner and so your ability to
work alongside one or take over a small
business and add technology that makes
things cheaper faster better is probably
quite High I mean in fact I was with
this cleaning company this week that we
might invest into and all these guys did
their their window cleaning they're a
window cleaning company they went from
uh unemployed laid off during covid uh
from pretty good jobs and uh no money
you know trying to figure life out their
first year in business in a window
cleaning company they did $200,000 in
Revenue the next year they did $500,000
in Revenue this year they'll do
somewhere between $700,000 and a million
do in revenue and these are two kids
that are both sub 28 years old one with
a newborn baby on the way and how did
they do it they added incredible social
media marketing so they do really funky
videos they added really incredible
branding and Merchandising because can
you name one window cleaning company of
course not nobody can so how could you
as a young person get on board with a
business that's very simple but hasn't
been sexed up by the internet and hasn't
been sexed up by adding technology and I
think those are all around it's just on
the internet I think people look down on
those types of businesses because we
were told for so long let's go become a
doctor a lawyer let's go to school let's
go to college what if you're actually
happier with a little dirt under your
fingernails in a company that you own
where you get to get out of your house
occasionally away from a screen and get
to know your neighbors and your
community turns out you might be happier
than working at Mackenzie or Bane for 60
hours a week under somebody else's
thought
and that is something that not enough
young people I think know yet it's
really interesting I think you've got
your finger on something that is that is
going to be a cultural shift of massive
proportions I had a friend over last
night um shout out to Dean who was
walking me through his new thesis so
he's he's done everything in from um
helping Finance films creative producing
to spaxs to traditional investing I mean
just all all over the place and he was
like hey I've got a new thesis and um he
was like we're going through this really
interesting transitional time you can to
have a ton of baby boomers retiring but
they're not going to have anyone to pass
their business on to you've got a lot of
people frustrated this going to start to
sound familiar here uh working
traditional jobs they don't want to be
in Investment Banking and so the new
play is going to be skip College buy a
business and I said my friend I have
somebody you need to talk to um but I
imagine a lot of people listening to
this if they're new to your world that
is going to sound
ridiculous especially in a time where
we're going into a recession so if they
don't have access to money they've never
bought a business never run a
business why would this be a good idea
how do you um for a second just you're
here to persuade you're here to help
make that Revolution actually come true
what do you tell people first I say
don't do it if you don't like pain
because owning a small business is
painful owning any business is pain
owning any business is painful and there
will be nights that you will regret it
but here's the flip side the second that
somebody tells you you shouldn't do it
and yet they are an owner or they run
their own business you ask them why
didn't you go back to being an employee
for somebody else and they won't have a
good answer they'll say well I'm
unemployable well I had no other choice
and the best don't listen to what people
say listen to what people do and what
people do is when they get a taste of
Freedom they either either want to
partner with other people on more deals
and businesses or they want to work for
companies that they're obsessed with
they don't want to have to work for
companies that they don't like doing
things that they don't want to do for
money anymore and so I will say it's
painful but it is worth it and that for
most people running a small business is
not rocket science especially today I
think it's never been easier to start a
small business uh as evidenced by the
amount of businesses that have been
started somewhere between like two to 5x
the number of businesses that were
created over the last three years as the
past 10 years and that's just determined
by like LLC and entity creation but it's
never been harder to have a pro uh
profitable business so most small
businesses 90% of them never even hit
the $1 million Mark oh and so with that
out there I've always had this idea of
well it's really hard to figure out
product Market fit in a small business
right like most businesses somewhere
between 30 to 40% of them die because
they couldn't find product Market fit
just they had an idea and nobody wanted
their idea right and so I'm kind of like
that I don't I don't know that I have a
crazy idea that somebody's going to want
to buy I never had that and so instead
I'm like why don't I just buy a couple
of these small businesses and I can
partner with the founder of the small
business and I know that somebody
already wants it because they have
revenue and it's profitable and I could
just help it grow and so we see that
again and again and again but nobody
taught us this in school because it's
there's risk right you when you go and
get a job at Mackenzie or Bane there's
no risk of you losing money you know
they're going to pay you a salary which
is largely guaranteed unless you get
fired and yet when you go and buy a
small business you could lose money and
you could not make money and you could
owe money from debt and so I think
people are so scared of that they're
they're terrified of failing and my
point is like the US actually has an
incredible system called bankruptcy
which a lot of of of countries don't
have this is an ability for you to wipe
the Slate if a business doesn't work out
for you well what's the best time to
wipe the Slate when you really don't
have anything anyway so when you're
young and you don't have a lot going on
I don't know why you wouldn't take a
huge risk and try to buy into a business
try to earn into a business because
you're because you're a general
contractor and you work in a
construction business and you can't
progress any further in the construction
business so you go to a competitor that
you realize is 65 years old plus and you
say to him hey what are you doing with
your business are you gonna sell it at
some point are you gonna run it forever
are you gonna give it to your son no
you're not well maybe somebody like me
could buy into part of your business and
I could earn into it using the profits
and pay you out over time like would you
ever consider something like that and it
turns out small business owners don't
have other options if they're under $10
million in revenue for the most part and
so there's a lot of these small
businesses that will just close as
opposed to get transferred and I think I
think you know by now we've taught I
don't know five six thousand people how
to buy businesses across our courses and
um and our Mastermind and they bought
something like $262 million in Revenue
wow yeah and these are people who are
like former teachers Engineers um
they're doing seller financing they're
doing SBA Loans and what I've realized I
can almost tell immediately if somebody
will be successful at it or not like if
they'll buy a business or not and the
way I can tell if they will be
successful or not is do they complain
about how much work it is and if they
say this is a lot of work you know I
just kind of want the deal to fall in my
lap you're probably not going to be
successful buying a business the ones
that say that they're willing to do the
work it's fascinating I haven't seen one
of them go sideways yet we've seen three
people's deals go sideways and all of
those were because they didn't want to
keep working on the business and so I
think I think hard work is really an
underrated an underrated thing in a
society that wants nobody to work and
everybody to take do you have a mental
model for why that is why everybody
wants that these days not necessarily
why they want it though maybe that's
part of the answer but why you're I
think you're rounding hard work to
something yeah um I don't think you
literally just mean work hard but since
we've already gone into detail on that
so whatever that thing is that you're
rounding it to do you have a mental
model for why that's so important I see
what you mean well one of my favorite
questions to ask when I interview people
is when was the last time you worked all
night on something by your choice and
what was it what did you do literally
for me like well yeah for you I know
what it was for you though I bet uh the
last time I worked through the night
it's a good question I think that was
for the comics that was the last time
because we had a deadline to pitch yeah
and so I had to hit that deadline yeah
yeah that was the last time it through
the night and you know what would be a
fun thing is there are many people I bet
listening to this that would say I have
never worked through the night for
something I've never wanted something so
bad that I was willing to sacrifice
sleep for one night which like Brian
Johnson is not going to like you know he
wants us to sleep which I get it from a
health perspective but there is such a
joy in working on something that is
really hard but really fun and you know
my husband is uh former military and and
a Navy SEAL and when I look at his
relationships I'm in awe of them his
friendships from that time you know
they've become my best friends they stay
with us we stay with them we're great
you know we're God Parents to his kids
we have this this tight-knit community
that's almost possible to break if I
needed to bury a body they would just
ask me the coordinates and they would be
there and um and the reason that he has
that is because they went through
something really hard together and
people wonder why they I mean the youth
I read this quote the other day the
youth today especially young women sub30
say that uh not a single person really
knows them not one single person we have
a crisis of of friendship and family in
the US and Faith lowest levels of that
across the board and I was talking to
Arthur Brooks the other day who just
wrote a book with Oprah who's one of I
think the great thinkers on happiness
Oprah or Arthur Arthur and and Arthur
said there's four things that determine
happiness and that is Faith Family
friendships meaningful friendships uh
and work that serves and he's like we've
done Decades of research on this at both
Harvard and at AI where he was
previously and he's like and so it's no
surprise that people are more unhappy
than they've ever been because they feel
more disconnected than they ever have
because they have no purpose in their
life and nobody to share it
with all right so that was a response to
me asking the thing you call hard
work is the under appreciated thing and
we ended up talking about faith and
family and friendship that's really
interesting so um I'm going to
see if I can tease apart the way that
you think yeah okay so part of this is
you have a base assumption that working
hard is in and of itself if tied to a
thing that you love is the reward in and
of
itself yeah is it love first hard work
second or is hard work in your mind an
inescapable need that's a good question
I know this
that every everyone has had a moment
where they're so miserable working on
the thing that they're working on that
they almost can't stand it any longer
they just want to quit they do quit they
make irrational decisions because their
their misery gauge at work is so high
and I've felt that before and if I go
back and think about why did that hard
work not make me happy what what was the
root cause of that I think it is at the
moment in which you feel like you have
nothing else that you're learning so I
coordinate hard work with learning I'm
usually learning something if I'm
working hard at something I coordinate
that with working on something that
matters so if I if I've lost my why for
why I'm working and then lastly if I'm
working with people that I don't aspire
to be or don't want to be around so it's
sort of this like people purpose and
this learning component that if I have
those three things the hard work is
really fun but if I don't have those
three things then perhaps the hard work
feels futile unnecessary and more like
labor than work I'll be curious to hear
if this resonates with you there's a
spiritual component to your mission to
get people to consider buying small
businesses that now I'm I've always
known that was true but I didn't know
why it was true um now teasing that
stuff out so some of this is a an aspect
of a life well-lived for you yeah I
think that's true like did you ever work
in a cubicle yes yeah did you work in a
cubicle when you didn't work for
yourself yes have you seen the Tucker
Carlson response to um oh gosh
postmodernist architecture uh I've no
but I've seen the headlines now you make
me wish that I had clicked it's
beautiful I can send you the clip
afterwards if people are curious but but
basically um he's in an interview with
somebody can't remember and he says post
modernist architecture is a um I'm going
to simplify meant to suck your soul out
yeah it's basically like it's it's um
yeah meant to demise Humanity you know
postmodernism is a direct affront to
humanity it wants to suck the human out
of us and how he ends it is he basically
says and no privacy at all and then he
says very intensely it is because they
do not value you they do not value you
as a human you are a number nothing else
to them and that is why po modernist and
cubicles demoralize humans because they
are showing you with their actions that
you mean nothing you mean nothing to
them and when I watched that I thought
God as a creator of things which is how
I think about building and what we do
here too everything that I put my name
on is like a little piece of me right
the things that I'm creating with my
hands there's a reason that I'm doing it
I only have so many seconds and minutes
and hours in my life in fact we have
very few of them them and so why would
we put our workers in these instances
that show that we don't care about them
at all that it's like copy repeat copy
repeat copy repeat and I'm a capitalist
so I understand the idea of of profits
and losses and needing to be Capital
efficient but I also really believe in
humans and I believe in our ability to
elevate one another and that if I find
Tom in his zone of Genius
in a place that has power for for Tom I
believe in the power of place then I
will have a Tom that outperforms on an
incredible level and I don't mean
distractions which is where I think
Google and all of them got it wrong
foosball and nap chairs and whatever we
don't need to be children that when we
stop working we have to go play around
with something else in order to distract
ourselves from our work we don't need
that but we do need to see beauty around
us because we're capable of it and why
wouldn't we and so I think you're right
there is part of this that I think is
almost spiritual and the place where I
found the most Flow State just like
athletes do when they when they do their
craft I find the same thing when I'm
caught in work that means something and
I think for people to say you should
have work like balance you should not
work all the time you know that that is
is bad for your mental health it's like
what the [ __ ] do you know about what
flow is is Flo netflixing and drinking
on Friday evenings because it doesn't
have to be but if it's if that's for you
let it be you and I'll do me yeah that's
not Flo um Flo I will say has a
definition but uh that won't be met by
that anyway probably not the important
part of that um the spirituality so I
can feel you trying to make the world a
better place which I love it is very
much why I do what I do as I said
earlier I think we are in a battle for
ideas yeah uh one of the ideas so
everything is Downstream of ideas so
they grip us at the individual level
they grip people at the collective level
and so it really matters what we push
and promote um you have a very unique
stance on hey there's a thing that
you're probably not thinking about
that's not currently in the Zeitgeist as
the cool thing to buy the boring
business the Gateway business that will
make you realize that these are being
run by people no smarter than you to
sort of Co-op the Steve Jobs quote um I
think that's really important and I
think that marrying that back to your
message is going to be really important
so that people understand hey I'm trying
to me Cody Sanchez I'm trying to reach
out into your soul and help you find
that path to the thing you secretly want
which I Tom Bilu will round to
fulfillment I think that's what
everybody wants and so I have a mental
framework for why hard work is so
important I think we have an
evolutionary algorithm that runs in our
mind that absolutely mandates that we
work hard and that nature only has two
levers Pleasure and Pain nature over God
God knows how many hundreds of thousands
millions of years has been shaping us
from amoeba to now uh saying surviving
is going to be hard and my job as nature
is to keep you alive long enough to have
kids that have kids so there are going
to be certain things that I'm going to
incentivize and if you get a tremendous
dopamine rush or whatever when you work
really hard and make progress towards a
goal now all of a sudden you're going to
want to do that because man if you ever
watched a TV show alone no I need to
like start getting a a kickback from
Amazon who I think hosts a show I talk
about this so much that gives a real
glimpse into what all of humanity was
like until like a thousand years ago I
mean it is hysterical how hard it is to
stay alive to just like find enough
calories to live it's bananas you don't
have to go I read so much history you
don't have to go much more than a
hundred years back in time to hear where
it was like oh we were just trying to
get from here to Oregon uh you know and
we were suddenly eating slugs oh and
then we ran out of those and so we had
to eat each other as we died it's like
yo so we all play that game didn't we
yeah orgon Trail uh so life is a level
of hard that we don't understand so
Evolution had to make doing hard things
internally rewarding so that we just
have this algorithm that says oh you
work really hard well done good on you
and if you aren't working hard it's
going to feel wrong that's part one part
two is entropy and if I could come up
with a simpler word but that that really
is the right word meaning that all
things are fighting against
you uh if you want to jump high gravity
Yanks you back down if you want to start
a business other people are going to
start a similar business if you're doing
well people are going to copy you one of
my favorite stories from our time at
Quest so when we launched Quest We
Looked ridiculous compared to all the
other um companies in the health and
nutrition space they all looked what we
call veins and chains so it was all
aimed at bodybuilders nobody was using
food porn it was just all tough guys big
muscles veins bulging literally chains
draped around their neck red and black I
mean taking a page out of Hitler's
Playbook which if you've never read
minec I'm really doubling up on my uh
learning from the psychopath day here uh
but he just lays out like oh this has a
certain psychological reaction so we're
like we're going to be everything that
that's not we're going to be uh blue
because it Peaks creativity we're going
to be food porn we want to feel like
welcoming and inviting and we did so
well three years later I walked to
somebody else's booth at a trade show
because I thought it was ours and I was
like these [ __ ] like they've
literally just copied everything that
we're doing yep so anyway you get
everything is fighting against you and
if you don't get real pleasure out of
working hard you just won't ever be able
to overcome entropy it it will there are
just so many things figh fighting
against you and so to to be able to run
a business is really what you've said
hard work and what I call the physics of
progress which is just it's iteration
you you it it's very important that you
do the steps but if you can work hard
and run the physics of progress you
really can pull this off but I think
people need to contextualize oh this is
a spiritual journey I'm doing this is
somebody who's pursuing fulfillment I'm
doing this as somebody who looks out at
this particular moment which I certainly
do I think you share and we're at a
Tipping Point for the wrong ideas taking
a hold of people and so we're talking
about business recession etc etc but
this is really about what ideas should
win yeah and hard work recognizing you
can buy a business if you so choose if
autonomy is a major driver for you it
could be a real path out but I I think
if people fail if people just hear the
cha-ching of the cash register and they
don't understand that you're speaking to
their soul as much as you're speaking to
their pocketbook they'll get lost yeah I
mean I think one of the best books of
all time for that is Atlas Shrugged
which has had some political connotation
which I don't know why um because it
really is about this idea of the joy and
finding the thing that you are uniquely
built to create on this planet and um
you know there's one quote I love from
it that's to summarize it's basically
like like what a tragedy to let your
spark go out Spark by Irreplaceable
spark in the shadows of the could bees
the wha ifs the May bees if you run a
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free today and and that always stuck
with me of this idea of man at the end
of the day I hope I show up at the
Pearly Gates rung dry saying to God I
had not one drop left which was a
paraphrase from an Emma Emma Bombeck
quote that I is one of the quotes I go
back to a lot which just like what else
is in there like having this curiosity
for yourself about what else are you cap
capable of doing is so powerful you know
every time I was just at at lunch with
with one of my team members and my
husband and we were talking about what
was the hardest thing you've ever done
like the hardest thing you've ever done
think about like one instance and you
know we talked first physically and so I
remember one of mine it was like hiking
a mountain I was super miserable it was
blizzarding it was a very high mountain
there were creases you know whatever and
it turns out I don't like hiking I don't
like the cold and I don't like heights
right and so it was just like it was
miserable you had to poop in a bag you
know it was just like not fun multiple
days you lost me at pooping in a
bag but I'm glad I did it because I need
to have more of those hard moments to
realize how lucky we have it in life and
I do think we're kind of as humans we're
we kind of forget how lucky we have it
we have such short-term memory to
history which we do not study enough and
even to our own history remembering what
we've been through before and thus are
probably capable of doing in the future
you know but I I remember we have a
company called Main Street holding
company where we own all of our small
businesses and that's where we buy other
people's businesses or invest in other
people's businesses and you know I
remember almost every single one of
those businesses at some point having a
moment where I thought we were going to
lose everything you know I remember one
company approachment where you know we
got all of our money stolen from from a
guy that we thought we were best buds
with you know um and then was like kind
of public about it and how how much that
hurt you know I remember when we had our
first car wash deal go through and we
thought we were going to sell for a huge
amount of money and then the whole thing
fell through and then you know we almost
didn't have the we didn't have the grit
to like keep going you're so close to
the Finish Line it's like seeing the
marathon right in front of you end and
then all of a sudden they're like just
get in 10 more miles you know and we
weren't ready for that and so I remember
all of those hard moments and I think
those Build You Up and enable you to
kind of keep going and you build up
these calluses right it's just like
weights at the gym at some point like
you don't feel them as much and anytime
I feel it too much I go to a book from a
great like we were talking before I'm
reading Ted Turner's book call me Ted
right now and it's incredible because he
goes through like the things that uh
bother you know he he goes through his
difficulty like it's Tuesday then he's
like well then we lost a100 Million
Dollar on the games over there and then
he literally says it like that moves to
the next line and I like rewound it a
couple times and I said to myself I want
to be so big and have created so much
wealth and prosperity that I can say we
lost $100 million on that you know think
about that but there's a guy out there
who that is the way that he thinks and
then for all those people who are like
crunchy granola hate making money you
know think the world's going to end all
about climate change what did he do with
his billions he owns now the biggest
bison Preserve in the world and has
single-handedly brought back almost the
level of bison in his area which I think
is is Wyoming um so guess what money can
do a lot of good too no doubt
um what is the single hardest thing
you've
done
um the single hardest thing I ever did
was get divorced when I went through
that previously um so that was
emotionally the hardest thing I've ever
done you know you make a promise to
somebody you say you're going to be
together for life and then you break
that promise and I I tend to try to keep
my promises and so that was really hard
for me and did you initiate I did yeah
and realizing that you know when you're
young and your prefrontal cortex is not
fully developed and you listen to what
everybody else says your life should be
as opposed to having your own internal
guiding Frameworks Creed uh vision for
life then it's very easy for somebody
else to supersede theirs on top of you
and I think that's what I allowed happen
to me I superseded my families on top of
me my mom's you know his and I tried to
be uh a painting that somebody else
painted as opposed to my own and I think
that happens to a lot of young people
because we don't spend that much time
asking ourselves like who do we want to
be what do we stand for what does our
name it mean and uh what do we actually
want to work towards and we we would be
time would be better spent in
universities if we spent more time on
that as opposed to amibas and
Pythagorean theorems how do you come to
know
thyself I honestly I don't know another
way besides doing things
so hard that it feels uncomfortable
constantly and then deciding if you want
to keep doing those things or not you
I've only ever learned about myself
through negation I don't like this
because I tried it and that wasn't great
I don't like this because I tried it and
that wasn't great I'm not smart enough
to go I like that and I want to go after
that I kind of have to trial the things
and realize I don't like them and then I
sort of pingpong my way to finally
something that I think is me and so um I
think that's a lot of us too and it's
okay to varied career paths it's okay to
make a lot of mistakes you just try to
not make ones that are lifetime early
and so you know I'm a big proponent of
marriage being married is the best thing
that ever happened to me this go round
and the strongest partner I have by far
has ever been Chris in any sense of the
word um but I probably wouldn't have
made that decision that early without
fully knowing myself through having gone
through a lot of hard things and
realizing what I was willing or not
willing to continue you've got to get
your calendar right like if you don't
maintain uh if your calendar doesn't
reflect your actual priorities you're in
real trouble so I keep a list that I
call important things yeah and the
important things are what is the most
important thing that I could be working
on right now and I will just tell any
any stage entrepreneur but certainly
beginning stage entrepreneurs you're
going to have trouble prioritizing and
the reason you're going to have trouble
prioritizing is because you think you're
dumb but in reality the problem is no
one's going to prioritizing till they've
done it a lot and then you begin to get
a sense of okay this is the to quote Tim
F this is the lead Domino if I do this
thing it'll make everything that comes
after it easier so you'll start to
identify those things and you're going
to do those until you can't do them
anymore either from fatigue or there's
just nothing more to do and now you're
waiting for somebody to come back to you
whatever then you move on to the second
thing but I find everybody gets
paralyzed by I don't know what to put in
first place and so now you have seven
things in first place and so I and I
constantly fight with my team about this
you stop [ __ ] being weak like what's
number one like you're allow yourself to
be emotionally paralyzed because you're
like oh it's all important yes
[ __ ] but you can only execute on
one thing at a time so what's that one
thing and so I'm just ruthless about
that yeah so the beginning of my day so
I'm up usually at 4:00 4:30 in the
morning I don't let anybody on my
schedule until 9:00 a.m. 9:30 if I can
push it Y and then I don't let anybody
on my schedule after 1: p.m. I like that
so there's a narrow window where I've
already gotten four to 5 hours worth of
work in the beginning so I'm doing my
most important [ __ ] all execution then I
take meetings I make sure everybody's m
moving and they have whatever questions
they need answered and then I'm [ __ ]
in it I'm in product and I'm in
marketing those are the two things I'm
just like obsessively focused about and
so I'm available I'm with the team which
by the way I'm going to guess because of
how many businesses you own you don't
operate like this during covid I was
like word go wherever you want you can
move away no big deal now I'm like
[ __ ] you better get in the
office like we are back in a big way it
is so inefficient to not have people
here yeah well we we just bought an
office in Austin for the same reason
I've especially found you know I have an
incredible team cuz they'll tell me
they'll be really honest about it like
one of the guys on my team who runs part
of the creative thing he's like yeah I'm
just I just don't work as hard when I'm
not in the office I'm like I can't
believe you just said that to my face
but also thank you right and uh and and
I think it's true because most all of us
have willpower issues and all of us can
benefit from a little eye over the
shoulder and the reason why I think we
can really benefit is because I remember
when I was at Goldman Sachs and they
were watching us like crazy I was never
on social media I was never [ __ ] off
because I wanted to get out of that
office I knew I was going to have to do
long hours and I wanted to get out of
there when I was done I never understood
the Silicon Valley foosball make them
stay here all the time thing I'm like
come here give it intense maybe do a
workout break or a walk in between come
back to intense and then go live your
life you know and if you're like me
you're going to work way more than that
but like be here when you're going to be
here like think about work like medit
you should be so singularly focused that
all distraction sort of Fades away and
if you do that then you actually have to
you have to work less because you're so
much more effective but I remember early
on in my career you know it's why I
couldn't stay at Vanguard actually
because I was sitting at a desk and I
was trying I was like you know those
Ducks where underneath the surface
they're paddling like crazy but on top
they're smooth that was me I was
drowning I didn't know anything about
Finance I'd come from journalism I
everybody was smarter than me everybody
went to Harvard and Stanford Etc I went
to Arizona State Harvard of the West as
you said um and uh and I remember one of
the my teammates came up and was trying
to talk to me about lunch planning and
stuff and I was like CeCe I I'm focused
I don't have time to talk about any of
this I'm I'm here man we could talk like
after work but like I'm here right now
and that happened like a few times and I
wasn't be trying to be a jerk I just
couldn't be distracted because then I
lost my focus entirely and I probably
have a little ADHD and so it would
derail me for like 30 40 minutes and I
remember that happened and then my boss
at one point was like your team thinks
that you would leave dead bodies behind
you and I was like huh really why
they're like well you don't pay
attention when they come up to your desk
you don't do party planning I was like
guy I am here to do a job and I am going
to I would never like run over somebody
to do the job but I will be singularly
focused to get it done and so that is I
think what it takes that or are you cuz
now as a CEO I have to imagine yeah you
got to make people feel a little more
warm and fuzzy or have you found a way
to be like yo I have good people who are
more warm and fuzzy than I am so I found
in life like you are who you are kind of
and every time I try to become somebody
that I'm not first of all it comes off
as inauthentic and second of all it
doesn't really work so if I come in and
I'm too warm and fuzzy nobody's going to
buy it um I am fun I think like I'm
aggressive but I'm fun so I'll I'll make
jokes and I do something every Monday
called the the compass and basically
it's just a little PowerPoint 10 minutes
that I give to the whole team and in it
are a few things like our culture code
every single week I go through what the
13 values are I pick like one one person
who wins like something for one of our
values um and in that there'll be some
funky fun stuff for each of them and so
I will like I will cheerlead the [ __ ]
out of the company during that period um
but when somebody needs a hug they know
not to come to me about it for sure um
now I think the Counterpoint to that is
I've always taken care of my people like
as long as you are good to your
teammates and to the company like I will
have your back like if you need a new
job and this isn't the place for you I
will help you find a new job I won't
fire you like I will handhold you um you
know if you have a health issue I'm
going to take care of you but like I
don't think you have to be warm and
fuzzy I also hire like a lot of we're
really h about who we are in interviews
which I think is really really and if if
you you know I was a terrible employee
at Vanguard because they're super touchy
feely you know kind of
socialists and I liked Goldman I liked
capitalist kind of jerks but they're
really smart and uh so I liked that I
wanted the pressure and so now when
people come and interview with us I'm
like hey like talk to me about like your
favorite moment of pressure talk to me
about when you did the thing that felt
unreasonable to get the goal and I tell
them UPF front our interviews start with
all the things that are terrible about
the company and why I'm awful to work
for and if they still like it after that
then they might be a win but otherwise
at least they know you know we have a
very similar thing so it's our culture
dock you can't come into interview
unless you've read it oh I like that
yeah oh yeah and the funny thing is uh
I've had multiple people say hey we've
lost a lot of candidates when they read
the culture do and I'm like that's the
point because I want them to know who we
are and if you're not about that life
then this is not the place for you I I
am trying to win a championship nothing
short I'm not trying to be in also ran
I'm not trying to play and get a
participation trophy I'm flat out I'm
trying to beat Disney yeah and that that
is a big task and the odds of success
are very low and so I want to have fun
but I also want to be surrounded by
hardcore [ __ ] that are here to
win and the document says exactly that I
love that and uh yeah it is very
aggressive and so yeah we have weeded
people out but what I always say to the
people saying like hey are we sure like
this thing is really aggressive I'm like
it found you yeah I'm like what's your
favorite thing about this company the
people exactly like we are a very
specific flavor oh yeah and if you like
our flavor I like to think we're like
black licorish which I love now I know
for some people that is the most
disgusting thing in the universe and so
I'm like but we're that kind of specific
for the right person like we will be the
favorite place you've ever worked and
for the wrong person we will be trash so
for any of my entrepreneurs out there
let me tell you right now culture is one
of the most important things product
Market fit more important make more
money than you spend more important but
then like culture is going to be a huge
deal for retention for employees
enjoying what they do for you getting
things done in a way that you're proud
of like as I always say to people hey
Lisa and I ran the experiment of what it
looks like when you don't have the right
culture and it's ass yeah and we hated
it as much as anybody else and not
liking being at your own company that's
really lame oh that's awful and so when
we found it impact Theory we're like
never again like culture is going to be
a main thing that we hire against that
we hold people accountable to um we have
something do you know Ray Delio oh yeah
oh God I love this guy so for people
that don't know he built the largest
hedge fund in the world amazing and he
has this thing in this culture that he
calls dots so everybody can give
everybody else like a score on whatever
30 different criteria yeah and so we
have a bunch of those criteria that are
part of our culture doc like our people
being hardcore etc etc so we can all
rank each other I love that you know
what I find fascinating is the stuff
when I was poor or not where I wanted
that I ignored is the stuff that makes
you millions and then tens of millions
of dollars like culture like leadership
I used to think what like I'm just here
I get a job done I want to get rich I
want to do the thing this this is how it
goes and so you know I think it's really
interesting whenever I'm with Builders
who have built a lot they all want to
talk about the same stuff it's like how
do you get more humans to want to do the
things you want them to do culture
leadership and if people want to have
real success and you want to do it in a
way where you're not killing yourself
all day those two words are like two of
the most important words in the English
language what's funny is I'm sure if we
did a YouTube video and the title was
how to build a $100 million culture
people would be like snooze but if you
like how to make a million dollars with
a vending machines in 30 days [ __ ] and
millions of views but guess what the one
on the left the this the first one100
million culture is so much more valuable
than the vending machine video and so if
you can push through what the world
wants you to listen to which is
literally the candy the vending machine
the sweets and you can actually want to
eat the broccoli oh my gosh that's where
all the magic is um it's actually funny
because I I was sitting with this the
other day I went to
team three of the Navy Seal's 40th uh
anniversary um of being in existence
right it's cool so this was the the team
that my husband was at and uh we go on
to the new base it's incredible like we
take a tour through you know these Halls
were like our friends their gear when
they were you know killed in action is
sitting there and my husband a flag with
his name written on it that was like
taken away from Isis and showed our yeah
it it was just incredible right that's
heavy it was it was really cool it was
cool to see the steps that land from
from people that you've known before but
what stuck with me from a business
perspective is we're sitting we're
looking out at the ocean it's beautiful
and we're sitting listening to uh five
people speak Admiral mcraven who's
probably one of the most um you know
well-respected
uh living Team guys uh can't is Johnny
Kim um anyway um both a Navy SEAL and an
astronaut and a doctor Jesus I mean
total underperformer yeah not doing
a