Mark Bell's Power Project - Everyone Has Their Own Path - How To Create The One You Really Want

Episode Date: October 29, 2023

In Episode 52 of Mark Bell's Saturday School, we dive deep into Mark Bell's journey from young Powerlifter in Poughkeepsie NY to Entrepreneur. When all his peers were going to school and getting traditional jobs, he went against the grain and broke that mold to become The Meathead Millionaire.     Official Power Project Website: https://powerproject.live Join The Power Project Discord: https://discord.gg/yYzthQX5qN Subscribe to the Power Project Clips Channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UC5Df31rlDXm0EJAcKsq1SUw   Special perks for our listeners below! ➢ https://Peluva.com/PowerProject Code POWERPROJECT15 to save 15% off Peluva Shoes!   ➢https://drinkag1.com/powerproject Receive a year supply of Vitamin D3+K2 & 5 Travel Packs!   ➢ https://withinyoubrand.com/ Code POWERPROJECT to save 15% off supplements!   ➢ https://markbellslingshot.com/ Code POWERPROJECT to save 15% off all gear and apparel!   ➢ https://mindbullet.com/ Code POWERPROJECT to save 15% off Mind Bullet!   ➢ https://goodlifeproteins.com/ Code POWERPROJECT to save up to 25% off your Build a Box   ➢ https://hostagetape.com/powerproject to receive a year supply of Hostage Tape and Nose Strips for less than $1 a night!   ➢ https://thecoldplunge.com/ Code POWERPROJECT to save $150!!   ➢ Enlarging Pumps (This really works): https://bit.ly/powerproject1 Pumps explained: https://youtu.be/qPG9JXjlhpM   ➢ https://www.vivobarefoot.com/us/powerproject to save 15% off Vivo Barefoot shoes!   ➢ https://vuori.com/powerproject to automatically save 20% off your first order at Vuori!   ➢ https://www.eightsleep.com/powerproject to automatically save $150 off the Pod Pro at 8 Sleep!   ➢ https://marekhealth.com/PowerProject to receive 10% off our Panel, Check Up Panel or any custom panel!   ➢ Piedmontese Beef: https://www.CPBeef.com/ Use Code POWER at checkout for 25% off your order plus FREE 2-Day Shipping on orders of $150   Follow Mark Bell's Power Project Podcast ➢ https://www.PowerProject.live ➢ https://lnk.to/PowerProjectPodcast ➢ Insta: https://www.instagram.com/markbellspowerproject ➢ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/markbellspowerproject   FOLLOW Mark Bell ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marksmellybell ➢https://www.tiktok.com/@marksmellybell ➢ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkBellSuperTraining ➢ Twitter: https://twitter.com/marksmellybell   Follow Nsima Inyang ➢ https://www.breakthebar.com/learn-more ➢YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/NsimaInyang ➢Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nsimainyang/?hl=en ➢TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nsimayinyang?lang=en   Follow Andrew Zaragoza on all platforms ➢ https://direct.me/iamandrewz   #PowerProject #Podcast #MarkBell #FitnessPodcast #markbellspowerproject

My friends, they started getting like kind of normal jobs. Some of them went away to college. But for me, I just never felt like that was going to be something that I did. And then people were like, yeah, but what are you going to do? I'm like, I don't know. I remember my dad having a conversation with me about something to fall back on. I was like, hey, if I'm going to plan to like fall back on something, then I'm just going to fall back. Before YouTube, before influencers, that didn't exist.

So did that exist somewhere else in your life? No, I don't think I really saw that. You're going to have to at some point sort of manifest your own success. Did you ever feel like you were at risk when you started kind of making this transition from gym bro to entrepreneur? For some reason, I have continuously put the cart before the horse. I think I just have a mindset of like, I'm just going to pull the cart myself if I have to. Power Project family, we've had some amazing guests on this podcast, like Kurt Engel, Tom Segura, Andrew Hooperman,

and we want to be able to have more amazing guests on this podcast and you can help it grow by leaving us a quick rating and review on Spotify and iTunes. If you're listening to the podcast, just go ahead and give us a review. Let us know how you dig it and help the podcast grow so we can keep growing with y'all and bring you amazing information enjoy the show hey let's start

this show off with something fun let's check out this uh clip of the rock this is great when wrestling was great yeah you've been in the ring with a lot of scary cats i've been in the ring with a lot of scary cats and yeah this cat is scary he's big he ain't king kong bundy walking around here remember bundy hi hi he ain't King Kong Bundy walking around here. Remember Bundy? Hi! Hi! He ain't Kamala. Remember Kamala? Rubbing his belly.

I ain't got it, I ain't got it! Oh, here he comes now. Scary. Watch this. Rock asked you something. Better go out there and whoop Candy's ass. Oh, I'm ready. Are you ready?

You bet your ass I'm ready. It doesn't matter! Oh! Rock and King came up with Hulk Hogan. And you know something, brothers? Whether it's the millions and millions of rock fans, or 20,000 Hulkamania, or 20,000 screaming Canaanites, Canaanites?

The question is, brothers, what you gonna do? When Hulk Hogan and The Rock and the Big Red Machine run wild, how you gonna do? That's a big guy fired up, too. Yeah. Oh, man. That was so cool. I didn't know.

Wrestling back then was so much fun. I didn't know Kane spoke, though. Back in my day, he just like. Burning a fire back in your day. Yeah. Undertaker's brother. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know.

There's a lot of holes in that plot. Plot line. Yeah. The writers got fired after that one. That's kind of fun when you're WWE. I think you can kind of just make stuff up, right? Get to do whatever you want to do. Yeah.

That and cartoons. I grew up watching kind of just make stuff up, right? Get to do whatever you want to do. Yeah, that and cartoons. I grew up watching some of that stuff, and I think that some of that might be a little bit related to how I ended up so screwed up. How I ended up this way, how I ended up. That's how we got here? I think today we're going to be talking about, you know, breaking out of a mold, breaking out of, you know, maybe standard ways that people think that you should live or, I mean, we've seen the model broken by many now at this point, you know, this day and age, there's a lot of people talking about not going to college. You know, college used to be like someone was in ninth grade tenth grade it's like you got to think about school you got to think about college remember 11th grade goes on your permanent record andrew well i mean it it so this goes to show like yeah i think it starts at

like 10th grade now yeah yeah so it's remember i when you got hired here that's what we looked at we're like 11th grade spanish how did you mess that up andrew always got a c that's what we looked at we're like 11th grade spanish how did you mess that up andrew always got a c that's weird and pretty much everything though it's just like okay d's and c's get a passing grade all right that's what we're going for hey in some situations like a double d or a c is really nice yeah see yeah that's true Yeah. You know, the way that I grew up, I think is, it has a huge impact on the way that I am today. And for me, when I think of like breaking out of a mold, my parents were just amazing. My parents were just great. They didn't really care about boxing me in so much. I don't know what gave them the confidence to do that. I don't know if it was that the bellboys eventually broke them in and broke them down and then they just, they couldn't force religion and school down our throat any longer or what happened, but they weren't real forceful on stuff like that. My parents also did do a good job though of forcing

you to do certain things. I don't know how many of you remember this, but do you remember your parents encouraging you or kind of forcing you to do something and then you ended up kind of liking it? Sometimes it's like, I don't know, there's some things that maybe you didn't really like in the moment because you wanted to like play a video game with your friend or something. But you went to grandma's house and you got to see your cousins and like it was fun. You're not going to admit that it was fun, but it was fun. And it was also nice because you saw your grandmother. also nice because you saw your grandmother you don't realize that when you're nine or seven or something like yeah like i don't know how many more times i'm gonna see grandma so this is really nice i did go and also seeing them when they're younger you know rather than like you know seeing grandma when you're in your 20s and she's like um it's not doing well like it kind of sucks it's nicer to see them when you're younger. But my parents, I think they found, at least with me, maybe not so much with my brothers, I don't know.

But with me, they found that kind of balance of like when to push and when to encourage or when to kind of back off. My dad was very involved in a lot of stuff that I did you know baseball and different things like he would my dad would be part of like a booster club to raise money for certain things and my dad being a financial person like knows how to do that kind of stuff my dad has a lot of energy my dad at 75 years old just like a week ago worked from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. bottling things of liquor for my brother-in-law just because my dad thinks stuff like that's fun. And my dad's, you know, there and he's jamming these corks on these bottles and stuff like that. And like I was doing it too, but I didn't do it from 8 a.m. toam to 8pm. I did it about half the amount of hours of

that and it wiped me out. So my dad has a lot of energy and he put a lot of energy, um, into us. And my oldest brother, Mike, um, he wanted to be a professional wrestler. He was a professional wrestler. He wrestled for WWE. He wrestled on TV. Um, he did a little bit of that stuff. He didn't quite make it to where he wanted to make it to. Um, he had, uh, alcohol or he had drug and alcohol issues. Um, he was also bipolar. So like a lot of that interrupted his ability to stay on track and to stay focused and to, um, be able to do what he wanted to do. And then my brother Chris is unconventional too. Like he broke a mold too and he liked sports and stuff growing up just like the rest of us.

We all like watched wrestling. We all love football, all those things. But Chris wasn't super tall and so he started to his path um wasn't going to be as physical as mike's and because mike played college football and stuff too for the university of cincinnati and uh chris started to find his own paths through using more of his brain and he loved movies and he was passionate about that kind of stuff and um, he started out doing skits, just like whatever kind of crap skits, funny skits, silly skits, wacky skits, some good, some bad, some in the middle. Um, but my parents were supportive of that too. You know, someone's got to buy your first camcorder when, when you're

getting into some of that stuff. And then my parents were fairly supportive of that. getting into some of that stuff. And then my parents were fairly supportive of that. And my brother, Chris ended up going to a junior college and then he won a contest, uh, from going to that junior college. And then that allowed him to go to USC film school. And because if it wasn't for my parents being supportive of that and being

into that, I don't, I don't know if like my brothers got shut down on stuff if they would have still done those things uh but from my experience and what i saw it was helpful that my parents were supportive and that they weren't like you're never gonna wait what are you doing you're never gonna make it like i never heard them told tell my brother mike um i'm sure my parents had private conversations. They're like, oh, my God, what are our kids doing?

This is scary. They're not going to have a real job? What's going on? Mike wants to be a pro wrestler? What is this? What is WWF? What is this thing? Or Mike wants to be a pro football player?

What are the odds of that? But my parents kind of believed in hard work and they think they believed in some creativity. And so, um, they weren't stifling all that. And it was really, uh, really helpful. I, uh, as a young kid loved basketball. So my dad, you know, put up a basketball hoop, you know, in our driveway. And I was out there playing that all the time. I was always out like playing football and just doing different stuff. And even my dad is an entrepreneur and my dad's dad is also an entrepreneur.

So me being one, I don't know like how special that ends up being. Things are still different than what I saw my friends doing. Like my friends, when they turned like 16, 17, they started getting like kind of normal jobs. Some of them did construction. Some of them ended up kind of staying in the area and just, uh, being in like family businesses. Uh, some of them went away to college and kind of went a more standard route. Um, but for me, I just never felt like that was going to be something that I did. I just, I didn't like school. Um, I did go to junior college. I played some football in junior college. I went to Santa Monica City College.

And I just like, I just hated school. I just, I wasn't good at it. I didn't have good study habits. I didn't want to work. I didn't want to like put work in when it came to school. So I don't even know how good or bad I really was at it. I just knew I didn't care about it and didn't want to do it. I didn't feel like it had any application towards anything that I had interest in.

I was like, I don't understand why they keep trying to teach me all this different stuff. I have zero interest in any of it. And then people were like, yeah, but what are you going to do? I'm like, I don't know. But there's got to be different options other than history and science and math and some of the crap I'm learning in school. And so I, you know, always knew that I wanted to do something different, but I didn't know exactly what that was. So even back then, uh, like what, do you remember what you thought was the mold? Um, cause you know, I, I graduated in 2003 and the mold was you graduate with good

grades, good enough grades to get you into a university. If that's not in, in the cards, then you go to junior college and you transfer to university. And then after that you get a job and then, you know, that's how your life goes. So at that time, what was in your mind, what was considered the mold for your every typical day high school student at that time? Yeah, I graduated in 1995. So the mold back then was, you know, you had like a guidance counselor in school and the guidance counselors told you like, you know, here's what you're in line to do. And you might be able to go to this college or that college. I don't really think I was in line to go to any particular school that was really worth much. But at the time, yeah, people graduated high school.

Graduated high school, you try to get decent grades in high school, and those grades would kind of determine what school you went to and where you're placed within those schools. Then you would go to school for four years or however many years you needed to go to get your degree. You would get your degree, and that would give you a place. You would, you know, those good grades that you got and your degree would now place you in the workforce somewhere and you would have like, uh, you know, a prominent job somewhere. But I never even really looked into it or even thought about it that much, but I was like, I don't think anything that I ever want to do has any requirement for school. Um, I knew that, I knew that there was going to be an education component to everything all the time. I always knew that you can't be a dummy. I knew that. You might be able to be stupid in school. That's one thing. But you can't be uneducated in the particular area that you want to succeed in. You're going to have to gain knowledge there. But I knew that I didn't want to get it in school.

I just didn't know how to say it, and I didn't understand where else to get it from because education only came from school at that time. And there's, like, other options now. There's, like, unconventional schools. I sent my son to Acton Academy for a little while, and he liked that, and that worked pretty well for him. And that's where, like, the students get to kind to kind of almost like vote on what they get to learn. And it's just different. And it might be a good option for some people. But I didn't really know about stuff like that when I was a kid. I didn't know about some of these other options.

I just went to kind of like a regular public school. But I always knew that I wanted to do something different. And I always knew that, uh, it was going to require me to have some sort of skill. And so that's where things did get sketchy and things did get iffy because it was like, well, what skill do you have? You don't really have a skill. You know, you can, you you're not good at reading you're not good at writing um you suck at math um you're not amazing at like remembering stuff uh you don't seem to have like a real passion necessarily although i did like sports and i liked physical stuff um i liked lifting i was good at lifting but know, back then I wouldn't say I was like, you know, super passionate about it. I did go to the gym. I did like getting stronger.

Um, but it was just kind of like, it was just like there, it was like in the background. It's like, it was like somebody being on like a basketball team. Like they might like it, they might enjoy it, but they didn't love it so much that they were going to extra camps for it. And like lifting wasn't like that for me in the beginning. It was a lot more modest than that. It was like I did it. I trained. I wouldn't say I trained hard, but I did train with some sort of intensity because the people that were around me, that's just the way they worked out. And so, um, yeah, you know, people were squatting,

benching, deadlifting, and they were working on getting stronger and they were working on getting bigger. And so, um, I wasn't like all in on that. I wasn't like a maniac about it. I, what I didn't know a lot of the stuff that I know now, but I was like half in, you know, it was like, it was, I was doing pretty good with it and I was getting stronger and it was helping to build a lot of confidence. So yeah, you were into it, but it wasn't necessarily your thing yet. But as you were kind of going through the motions, we'll say, did you get frustrated that you didn't have your passion? Like you didn't have the thing that you wanted to work towards? No, because at that time, at that time, I guess I sort of misspoke.

At that time, I had football. I loved football. I was fucking crazy about football. And I knew everybody's stats. I knew like what college this guy went to. I knew all that shit back then. And I still know quite a bit. And I observed football a lot too.

Like I even know the game of football even from like a coaching point of view. Even when I was a kid, I started to learn that. I started to learn about like certain plays and how they run. And like I just really, really liked football a lot. And, um, I always wanted to be like a pro football player. And when I was a kid, it was like, Oh, I'm pretty big. Like, it seems like I'm kind of in line for that. But as I got older and as I went to like a junior college and started playing with, ended up playing with Chadad smith and uh ocho cinco and uh just seeing some of these really high level athletes i was like oh i'm like okay

i'm not those guys like these guys are running you know four fours and four twos and like they're just they're on unbelievable specimens athletes. I'm pretty good at this stuff, but I'm not them. Steve Smith. Steve Smith, what did I say? You said Chad Smith. You combined Ochocinco and Steve Smith. Yeah, there you go. Thank you for that.

But anyway, I think Steve Smith is probably a Hall of Famer. I don't know if Ochocinco is in there. I think he could one day get there. Yeah, he's probably close, right? He's got some stats, right? Yeah, it's just, you know, the Ocho Cinco-ness of it all is going to make him wait a little bit until he can get in there. But I think he's deserving as well. Yeah.

So I built a lot of confidence through playing football, even though as I got older, I recognized I wasn't amazing. through playing football, even though as I got older, I recognized I wasn't amazing. When I was younger, I was pretty good. Like I was one of the better players on the team and stuff like that. And when I was probably like nine or 10 years old, my oldest brother, Mike, that's probably about right. Yeah. I was probably like nine years old. My oldest brother, Mike, that's probably about right. Yeah. I was probably like nine years old. My oldest brother, Mike had a friend named Jeff and Jeff, my brother always has the funniest, uh, like sore loser stories of all time. Our brother, Mike, um, went out for the wrestling team. Our brother, Mike, he just destroyed everybody. He, he was bigger. He was a bigger kid. And even though there was a heavyweight class, he was like way bigger than everybody. And anytime

there was anybody to wrestle, he would always smash them because the people in the heavyweight class, there was either no one to compete against because he's like 16 and in a heavyweight class or 17 or something like that. Or the kid is just real, real heavy and not very good or athletic. So that was the, my brother's friend, Jeff was just a big, big kid that went to another school and Jeff basically kind of fell on my brother and pinned him. His name is Jeff Leibold. And Jeff was over our house a lot. He became good friends with my brother. And he always teased my brother about it.

Always drove him nuts. He's like, fuck you. I'd beat the shit out of you. Brother would get all stirred up about it. It was amazing. And, you know, Jeff would watch me, like, throwing a football around. And he would see me, like, I don't know, just doing stuff. And then he went to some of the football games and stuff. And, um, you know, he knew my

brother, Mike and Chris, they called me smelly. They always teased me. And Jeff was like, like, this guy's name shouldn't be smelly. This guy is like the chosen one. Like he's going to kick all your asses. Like you guys are all done, you know? And I always, I like, that meant a lot to me when I was a little kid, because these guys are six or seven years older than me. And the coolest thing ever when you're that age is to get any sort of admiration or anything from somebody else. And so he used to mess around with my brother a lot. And he would say, it doesn't matter what you do, man. It doesn't matter what weights you lift or how you do anything. He's like, your brother's coming a lot and he would say, it doesn't matter what you do, man. It doesn't matter what weights you lift or how you do anything.

It's like your brother's coming for you and he's going to wreck you. And my brother kind of hated that. But those were sort of the things I heard when I was younger. And as I was mentioning with like lifting, even though I wasn't like crazy about it, I was really good at it. Um, I went to, uh, local competitions and I was a heavier kid as well. And so in the weight classes I was in anytime there was someone in my weight class, I would be able to beat them easily. And it was also easy for me to beat, uh, some of the state records and some of the national records. Cause again, those kids, first of all, there, there wasn't tons of records at the time cause it wasn't super competitive. Um, but I was setting records

at the time, um, fairly easily, you know, in, in powerlifting, you get, uh, three attempts, you get a, um, your opening attempt is your lightest and you're not allowed to go back down and wait. And, uh, you have opening attempt, second attempt, third attempt. And with my opening attempt, I would usually break a state or national record on the opening attempt and then crush the record, you know, even further. I remember like going into some competitions and just being arrogant, being like, I'm going to do the state record for like a triple or five,

you know, I never, I never did do that, but I always wanted to. But, uh, anyway, that helped build a lot of confidence too. And then, you know, I don't, I don't know how many people have, I'm sure people can relate, like either good or bad. You hear like whispers, right? You hear people talking like, so when I would be in school, I would hear people be like, man, he's a badass, super strong, you know, or like, or that's, that's Mike's little brother, but like, dude, he's, he's really strong. He's, he's Chris and Mike's brother, but he's super strong. Like I would hear all these things and there were things that built a lot of confidence in me. And, um And just over the years, the confidence built more

and more, not so much to the point where I didn't really feel like I was like arrogant necessarily, but I felt really comfortable with who I was. So it didn't matter that much where if I didn't feel like I had like, I didn't really even think about whether I had a purpose or not because I was a badass, right? So I'm getting confirmation from other people. They're saying these things. I didn't really even think about whether I had a purpose or not because I was a badass. I'm getting confirmation from other people. They're saying these things. People would speculate as if I fought this other guy in school. They'd be like, oh, Bell would kill him.

I was always terrified because I'm like, I don't know how to fight. I don't want to fight one of the guys on the wrestling team who's like one of my friends or whatever. Like, I'm just like, this is dumb. Like, I'm pretty sure I'd get my ass kicked because I even knew back then. I was like, I don't have a skill. I know how to throw some punches. I did some boxing. So if I catch him with one of those, that would be kind of cool.

But if he picks me up, because my friend Matt was a wrestler and he was only like 150 or 160. I'd mess around with him and he would just kill me. He was like, he was like Settlegate. Yeah. You know, he would just, and he, he just, he loved doing that, you know, because I was a lot bigger than him. He played on the football team and stuff too. But yeah, I had a lot of confidence and I also had confidence from my parents. and stuff too. But yeah, I had a lot of confidence and I also had confidence from my parents. They,

I don't really know what they did to help with the confidence, but, um, they're kind of always there just like when I needed them. Uh, if I was sad about something, um, my mother in particular, she would point out, uh, the things that I was good at you know um i remember a couple times being frustrated about like school and then she was like hey like when you arm wrestle your friends like what happens you know when you run against your friends what happens when you lift with your friends what happens you know i'm like yeah i kill them on everything she's like yeah you kill them on everything it's like you have something special within you um that is remarkable regardless of you know how you think about yourself in school or whatever and those kinds of things stuck with me and those things mattered a lot so as i got older and just you

know kind of recognized okay well like the dream of being like a pro football player those kinds of things they're not going to be there um i never really felt i can't even really think of times where i've just trying to make sure that's accurate um yeah i don't think i don't think i've ever had a day in my life where i really yeah i have not had a day in my life where i've ever felt bad about myself pat project family we love beef on this podcast. We talk about it a lot. All right. We love our meat.

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you can save up to 25 on your subscription that means you're going to be saving 25% on all of that different meat that's going to be heading to your door. Once again, head to goodlifeproteins.com. You can enter code power project and save up to 25%. Links are in the description box below as well as the podcast show notes. That's amazing. So like even so again, like your parent, like, I mean, shit, best parents ever, but they never tried to like sway you into like, like, son, like, you know, I got this tax business. Look how well we're doing because of it. Like I, you know, whatever, my own boss, that sort of thing. Maybe this is something you might be interested in or, you know, I don't know.

Do they try to get you out of the weight room to like, like, son, you're going to have to grow up someday type of vibe i remember my dad having a conversation with me about like a uh something to fall back on you know okay yeah there you go and so i said to him um i was like hey if i'm gonna plan to like fall back on something then i'm just gonna fall back you know like i i don't i don't have a plan like i'm just going to fall back. You know, like I don't have a plan. Like I'm just going to keep going forward. I'm going to keep just trying to do stuff. And, you know, and then he just like, I remember him asking me, he was talking to me in the car about it. And I just remember like, God, like quiet.

He didn't like say anything else. I think he was just like, well, who the hell knows what will happen with that? He's like, but I tried because i'm sure like him and my mom probably had a conversation yeah i was like yeah you should probably like you know uh talk to him in some sort of realistic way like you know i think he thinks he's going to do all these uh great things and maybe just you know kind of narrow down his focus to something something more realistic. And then again, so like, this is, I don't know, I'm just really loving where this conversation went down, but like at that time, were you also like living at home and relying on mom and dad

to like get through life? Cause I know you went to school in SoCal and they were still living in New York or New York at that time. So you weren't no longer under their roof. But as you're telling him like, no, I'm not making a backup plan. Like, did you still need to like rely on them for like getting by in life? That conversation probably happened when I was like,

I want to say like 18 or something. Like I was probably still in high school ish or getting, or like trend, you know, I might've been like 19 or 20, you know? Um, so at that time,

I, at that time I was home for something, but, um, I can't, I can't really remember the exact time, but yes, when I was going to junior college,

when I moved to SoCal, cause my brother was already there for, for his going to USC. Yeah. I needed a lot of help from my parents. Yeah. They helped me out a lot. And so I think that's where the, some of the conversation was like like if we're going to support you, you know, if we're going to help you out financially, then like you need to, you know, maybe do some of what we're suggesting. Like we would like to see you go down this path because, yeah, we're supporting you and we want to not support you to a certain extent so that you can one day go off and be on your own, you know, so you can learn how to do this on your own. Um, but you know, luckily they didn't like, uh, cut me off or shut me down. I think they just knew that I just, that I was going to need more time, you know, than maybe some other kids. So I think that is an interesting thing. I think that, you know, if you think about most kids, when they do go to college, they probably are getting help or assistance from their parents. They, a lot of times they can't work or work enough to really make ends meet. And, but they're so proud of their kid for being in school. They're like, my, my kid's going to Washington or my kid's at, you know, Arizona State or something.

But it's like they're still not doing anything, you know. So he's partying with more people. Yeah, and hopefully he's doing something productive, you know. Hopefully something cool is going down there. But you'll see this with your son too. As your son gets older, people are always going to ask what sport he does. And, like, if he's interested in sports and likes them and he has a good time in them and he does well in them, then cool. But he doesn't care about them that much.

It's good to get him some exposure, have him try the sports. But who gives a shit? You know, it's like so I'd have parents, you know, with my kids and stuff. They're like, oh, my son plays baseball. And it's like, your kid's 5'5". Like they're just oh my son plays baseball and it's like your kid's five five like they're just you know they're you know yeah okay cool i'm glad that they found you know and he he loves it he loves it yeah it looks like he really loves it he's out there like crying so far this has been just like the the like parent teaching moment. So like I appreciate it.

So was so I know, again, your dad had his own tax business or financial business. I know you're I think your grandfather also had like a dealership type of type of thing. Was there anybody else close to you or maybe even closer in age cousins friends whatever that went you know they broke their own mold and you're like oh shit like damn maybe this is possible because it's just for the time you know again before youtube before influencers before you never heard of like entrepreneurs and stuff like that before trying to say alpha elite that's not a diss it's just what we joke around we can't speak sometimes yeah you know none of that existed so the thought of being like i'm gonna be a power lifter and i'm gonna you know make that my my career like yeah like

that didn't exist so did that exist somewhere else in your life no i don't think i really saw that i do think that even better yeah i do think that uh Makes it even better. Yeah, I do think that. So I do think, you know, so my dad worked for IBM for 19 years. One more year and he would get his pension. He would get like 70% of like his salary or something for the rest of his life or something like that. And they let him go. Like IBM was in Poughkeepsie, New York. That's where their headquarters was. Uh, they had a shit ton of employees, like thousands of

employees. They started cutting back. And at that time, um, it was pretty common for big companies like that to like, quote unquote, trim the fat. And the fat that they would trim would be the 40 year old guy who's making a hundred K, you know? And that was my dad. And my dad didn't like, he didn't even like skip a beat. He was like, I think it was devastating. I think he thought it sucked when he left there. He told me, he's like, I, you know, realized I didn't own anything. Like I had nothing. Like I learned so much told me he's like i you know realized i didn't own anything like i had nothing like i learned so much there he's like and i felt like i did a lot for the company he's like but when i packed up my desk he's like i had a picture of you guys and

he's like a pen that i bought he's like and there was nothing else in the box because i didn't own anything he's like the desk is theirs the computer's theirs everything's theirs he's like a pen that I bought. He's like, and there was nothing else in the box. Cause I didn't own anything. He's like, the desk is theirs. The computer's theirs. Everything's theirs. He's like, I didn't own anything. And he's like, I kind of just felt like shit, man. I don't know if I, I don't even know if I like grew while I was here. Like I didn't really, I earned money, but that's it. You know? And he's like, and he's like, and they escorted me out like they do with everybody else. I'm like, damn, like a security guard, you know? And, um, but he didn't skip a beat because at the time he was already doing a little bit of real estate stuff and he was already doing a little bit of, uh, his tax practice. And so he just switched everything over to that. his tax practice and so he just switched everything over to that and then like um he the license plate of his car said buy a house because he was a real estate guy um our mailbox

uh had this giant sign that was like insanely embarrassing it's a bell financial services but like underneath the mailbox was a thing that he welded himself that said bell. And it was just like gigantic, you know? And like, you'd go by the house with like friends and you just be like, Oh my God, you know? And I, that's your house. And I think, I think, I think we got in trouble for it. Like the sign was like too ridiculous. It was like, yeah, it was too, too, too big or something like that. Um, yeah. And he made like shirts and stuff. And so like, I did see that from him and, uh, going back even further, which I didn't, I didn't really remember. Um, but I'm sure it was stuffed

in the subconscious somewhere. My grandfather, um, he had like a used car lot and he was a mechanic and he would, you know, fix up cars and sell them and stuff like that. But he also made like shirts and hats and my dad shared this with me and I have taken this too. Um, he said, people love free shit. It's like, so people come in here and they buy a car, they spend like a couple thousand dollars buying a car. And he's like, and I give him a free shirt. Like the shirt's not free. They just spent like 3000 or 5,000 or however much money they were paying for some of the cars back then. And, uh, so I don't remember seeing that, but that's who my grandpa was. Like, and I, I know, I know that I was around that whenever I went to his house. I remember, um, I also remember my dad and my dad still does this. A couple days ago, he was like going on and on about the story about how somebody he was with was really annoyed that he always takes a phone call.

Always. He'll always take a phone call. No matter what he's doing, no matter who he's talking to, I guess, you know, minus some sort of emergency that's happening right in front of him, he will always take a phone call. Well, that's his like lifeline. That's how he makes money. He's a financial consultant and he also does taxes and people have questions and people want to make appointments and stuff. And so his, if his phone rings, he will always answer it. And he's telling me this story about how somebody he's with got super frustrated with him about that. And he goes, hold on a second. And there he is on the phone. He's like, Mike Bell, you know? And he goes, yeah, yeah, yeah. He's like, okay. Yeah. He's like, yep. It's okay to

have a delay on that. Yep. It's going to be fine. It's going to work out, you know, and he hangs up. And I was just like, that's like just uh like a meme right there like he should the the sunglasses should have came on and the the OG gangster song song should have came on right there as soon as he picked up the phone because he's just he's always uh he's always ready so I did see like versions of that around but no one uh said anything about anything about being an entrepreneur. Something that does come to mind is that weights and money went together really well. I've mentioned this before on the podcast,

but for those of you who haven't heard it before, our basement when I lived in New York was when my dad lost his job, he turned half of the basement into an area where he could do taxes and meetings and stuff like that with people for financial services. And the other half of it was our weight room. And that's where I would, my, my dad bought us like a, like a, you know, like a full on like squat rack, Olympic lifting weights.

Um, and just like regular barbells and shit that you see now in gyms. But that wasn't common back then. So I still never understand. I'll never understand how he knew what to get. Um, I'm sure you dealt with this before, Andrew. You tell your parents that you have a PlayStation and you buy a Sega Genesis game.

And you're like, no. You're like, oh my God. That console doesn't even exist anymore. I don't know where. Where did you even find what you just bought me for like and you can't say anything because like i don't know back then you just get your ass kicked for everything so i know exactly when it was it was the christmas of 1999 and the reason why i know this uh because my cousin that year got a sega dreamcast and that came out in 99 and i was super jealous of that one dreamcast

but that's where i learned to play worms oh dude worms is so good i had asked for it was like it was kind of like nba jam but it was called like nba primetime or something like that for playstation and like oh what's this box like this is an oddly shaped box i don't remember asking for anything like this and it was that game for n64 and i'm like what am i gonna do with that i mean it all got sorted out and i remember that christmas break that's all me and my friends did so it was like the coolest gift ever but you bring that up and i'm like yeah that's exactly what happened yeah you got to go to the store and try like hope that they still have it in stock and all that yes i don't know how my dad figured out like what weights to get or whatever but he figured it out and we had we had enough

stuff to like definitely get started but when i would get done with a workout i remember i would go and like just mess around his computer and stuff and um there was some form i can't think of the name at the moment but there was some form of like internet that was actually coming out around that time. And I remember like seeing information about the Orange Bowl and Jerome Bettis and how well he did. That's how long ago it was for Notre Dame. Whoa, I got to look up what year that was. Yeah, and it was, anyway, he was like the MVP, I think, of the Rose Bowl that year or something. And he gave us like updates, like live or something.

And I was like, what? I'm like, what? I don't understand. What are you talking about? Like some sort of internet thing. So anyway, I'd poke around on his computer here and there. But he would tell me the money that he made. So like while I was working out, he would tell me the money that he made you know so like while i

was working out he was in there making money and he's like oh i got a check from your aunt it's 120 bucks i got this check from your uncle 200 bucks um i got this from he's like oh you know these guys from church and this person from over here and over there and i was like you make money from like your friends and family? And he was like, yeah. He's like, I make money from everybody. He's like, pretty much everybody I know I make money from. He's like, they won't let me do it for free.

He's like, your aunts and uncles, he's like, they're not going to. He's like, I have done them for free before, and I have helped friends out that need it. He's like, but most people won't let me do that. He's like, this is what I do for a living. And I just remember thinking like, that's really cool. Like, how do you figure out, yeah, how do you figure out how to provide a service to people? Like if you were a chiropractor or a massage person, everyone deals with pain at some time in their life. So maybe you have a job like that or you help like everyone needs financial help or

everyone needs their taxes done. You provide like a service and you get money for it, even if it's like your brother. I was like, that's pretty sweet. Pretty cool. I want to figure out something like that someday. The Paris sandal version two is here. Last year, we partnered with Shama sandals to make a sandal that all of you guys would like to wear out, but would also be functional for your feet because, well, flip flops fucking suck and they're bad for your feet. That's why we made these. But these are the version two. Has a tan, vibrant sole, which will last you thousands of miles. A German leather footbed, which will mold to your foot with every step you take. So the cool thing about these sandals is that the more you wear them, the more comfortable that they become. It has a heel

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They're saying you need to follow this path. This is the mold. Like you can't break that mold. But then your dad has a business practice right next to your your your gym it's like wait a second that's a little hint that the universe is dropping on me right i shouldn't ignore that so like i mean yeah how did like how do you kind of navigate that like how do you kind of keep the uh the radio signals open to receive that information yeah i think it's super important that, um, you know, you're, uh,

I think that it's super important that you're open to, um, understanding that you're going to have to, at some point, sort of manifest your own success. Like it's going to have, it's going to have to be something that you believe in. And again, having confidence and having my parents believe in me was always really helpful. And so having, I think my eyes were more open to those things as opposed to somebody that was maybe down and kind of out and like, man, nothing's going to turn up for me. But meanwhile, when they say that and their heads down, like something amazing is

going on in the background and they're maybe not paying that much attention to it. But I also just kind of felt like – I just sort of felt like if I'm a good person and I put in some work, like not crazy. Like I don't have to be like insanely organized. I don't have to be like insanely organized. I don't have to show up 15 minutes early looking perfect with, you know, shaved and combed and like groomed and all these things. But like if I'm just a good person and I work fairly hard and I'm just good to people in general, I always just thought like good shit's going to happen. You know, it's going to happen. Like good things will happen to me.

If I'm kind to people, if I share things with people, if I know that I could help somebody, if I can help lift somebody up and help pick somebody up or communicate with them in a way that gives them more knowledge to bring them up to speed on something, then I always felt that that would turn into something. I always felt that that would really help. I also think that it was really helpful just to be good at something. was really helpful just to, to be, to, to be good at something. So this is something that I, I try to communicate the best I can with people. Like, I think that, I think each person has like a divinity with them. I think each person has almost like God-like features or powers within them that are

amazing, that are, there's that dude on the Spurs wemby they call him right seven foot four like okay that's an obvious one right but i think that other people have that within them they have some sort of okay he's his superpowers that he's amazingly tall and then he's also done a bunch of other stuff with it to develop the skill set to where it looks like the guy might end up being the greatest basketball player anyone's ever seen because no one's ever seen anybody seven foot four that can like move like that it's unbelievable so some people have these real obvious traits that are just like just right in your face and other people it's like you're gonna have to mash together your skills like maybe you're not the strongest, but maybe you got good agility.

Maybe you have decent speed, decent quickness and decent experience. So you're able to win that jujitsu match because it's not always going to be about strength. It's not always going to be about what belt you are. Maybe, you know, maybe like, maybe you just kind of suck at everything. Like literally just aren't, you feel like you're not good at much of anything. Maybe you can kind of David Goggins it. Like what does David Goggins do? You know, I think, I haven't been running for very long, but I can probably think of 20 runners that would smoke David Goggins in, depending on the distance.

But who am I going to put money on? Like if I said, all right, well, Nick bear, Mike, I think, I think Nick bear would be way faster than David.

David Goggins is fast. David Goggins is way faster than me. That's for sure. But David Goggins is very, very fast, but Nick bear is probably faster. But what if they have to carry boats? Yeah, what if they have to carry boats?

What if there's more suffering in there? I mean, Nick Bear is like, he's tough, right? Like he can handle a lot. But what if we're just talking about like the duration of the thing? So maybe you don't feel like you're that good at the thing but maybe you just outlast everybody maybe you can just um maybe you don't feel like you have a lot of good skills but um maybe one of your skills is to like help is to make people laugh maybe one of your skills is just to like show up early like i suck at everything so i'm i'm just gonna i'm just gonna develop this skill to where and it's not even really a skill, right?

It's just a time management thing. I'm going to show up 15 minutes early to everything all the time because I know that I suck and I don't want anybody to see that. And this is going to be the one thing that I can offer, you know? And you're always there 15 minutes. And you're always there 15 minutes. These little things over time are going to be the things that will help turn you into something and help you to excel and help you to maybe get past some other people on certain things. David Goggins has this unique skill set of being able to like dig deep within himself, but he just has mainly just, just outlast everybody. He's just like, Cam Haynes was telling a story of like,

he didn't know what happened to him. He's like, I don't know. He's like, I was running and he's like, we were running pretty fast. And he's like, I don't know what happened to David.

And there was cameras there and stuff. And then people were asking him questions. And all of a sudden people started hearing, you don't know me, son. You don't know me, son. And it's David Goggins. He's up and he's running and something happened to his foot or something. And he needs to stop for a while and just stuff got weird for a little while. But then there he was.

He came back. And, I mean, I think each person, if they're being honest with themselves, they can see some signs of like things that they're good at or things that they can excel at or things they can be, you know, luckily for me, you know, I got really lucky, I think, in a lot of ways. I think that successful people don't talk about this stuff enough, but I had two older brothers. successful people don't talk about this stuff enough, but I had two older brothers. I wanted to be like my oldest brother and I wanted to be like big and strong. And I had weights. My dad,

my dad bought us weights. They were in my garage. Um, when you hear the story of like Bill Gates, I think Bill Gates was grew up in an area, an area where some of the first computers were used in school, like when he was in like high school. So there's like circumstances like that, that are just like, okay, there's other, other people went to that same school and other people had access to those computers. But bill gates saw the signs you know he saw he saw like what he could do and for some reason that technology and the combination of those things just really resonated well with him to where he could turn it into something so we were talking a little bit ago about like there was no influencers there was no

you know this thing to be like okay that's my path i'm going to follow that but there was no influencers, there was no, you know, this thing to be like, okay, that's my path. I'm going to follow that. But there was like personal trainers and stuff, right? There was gyms all over the place. Did you try that? And I want to keep, I keep coming back to your story because I think there's like way, way, like more things to learn than me just asking random questions. Like if I just ask you stuff about your life, I think people will learn a lot more. But like that was also a thing, right? Like training was a thing. Did you try to get into like coaching and training and that sort of thing? I did think about that when I was a little – as I got a little older. It was something I thought about doing.

It was something I thought about doing. But here's kind of an interesting piece of the puzzle is that although I was confident and although I felt good about myself, I wasn't confident enough to do certain things because of my bad experiences in school. So when it came to like getting certified and stuff like that, I was like, what is that about? Like, do you really have to do that and uh so i actually did do personal training for a while um but oddly enough in california you can get insurance to be a trainer without having any uh certifications i don't know how that works but i think just the insurance companies want your money i guess and so And so that's what I did. And then I got experience working at a gym in Los Angeles and I had no previous experience. So I just told the guy,

I was like, I'll do whatever you want. I'll, you know, I'll open the gym and all that kind of stuff. And so I did, I opened the gym up again, just somebody that could be reliable, someone that could be there early. I'd open up the gym probably for, I don't know, like a year or maybe even longer, like 5 a.m., you know, depending on, depending on what day it was. I think Monday through Friday was 5 a.m. and the weekends was 6 a.m. And I didn't do that seven days a week, but I did that often and made that drive often and opened the place up and had coffee ready for people that came in and shit like that. So I learned a lot of good, a lot of good lessons

there, but I was training people. I really liked it a lot. And I really felt that something, once I was started doing that, I felt something with that was going to happen i was like there's something within the gym that's going to happen i don't know how or why or maybe i'll own my own gym um maybe i'll lead a group of trainers or something but you know i wasn't even though i power lifted when i was young i wasn't like mark bell the power lifter yet i didn't squat a thousand pounds and do all those things yet wasn't known no one knew who I was or anything like that either so I didn't have like a name or reputation built up to really do any of those things but uh yeah you know working as a trainer was something that was valuable and it was something that I

liked a lot I liked coaching people. I liked helping people. Okay. Yeah. Cause like, I'm just thinking, you know, when I wanted to be a photographer, I was like, yeah, I'll do, you know, whatever. And I started trying things and I quickly found out like, oh, I really, really don't like doing like kids' birthday parties, you know, or I don't like doing whatever it may be, but like, oh, weddings are pretty stressful, but you know, or I don't like doing whatever it may be, but like, oh, weddings are pretty stressful, but you know, I think I can get through it and they pay really, really well. And I have a lot of fun doing it. Um, even though it wasn't like the thing that I ultimately ended up doing, which was, you know, working, you know, here at Slingshot and doing like getting into fitness,

you know, photography, if that's even a category or whatever, but I had to try things. And so like you said you enjoyed it, but like, I don't know, is that a, um, kind of a breaking of the mold path that you would recommend for people? Like if it's somewhere in the ballpark, like you hear in the corporate world, corporate world, just get your foot in the door. And then from there, you'll work your way up. So is that like kind of the same approach for somebody trying to, you know, get out of that eight to five race path to be like, let me try this. But if I want this, I'm going to probably have to go over here first. Yeah, I think so.

I think it's important to get some experience, you know, and get some, get your hands dirty, you know. Although I like training, I also recognized its limitations. I got to a point where I trained, some trainers were probably listening and they were probably like, oh yeah, I've been there. Like you train six, seven, eight, nine people in like a day and that's a lot. you train six, seven, eight, nine people in like a day. And it's, it's, that's a lot. Um, and sometimes you would train like two or three people at the same time within a given hour. And sometimes you do that like back to back to back. And now you just worked with like nine people in an hour and you kind of forget like where you are, you forget what time it is. You almost forget like what exercise and who the hell you were talking to

and how you organize the workout like shit just gets like foggy and weird it's not so much from doing that from one day but you do it every day and it starts to wear on you and it starts to get to you so i i recognize there was like a lot of limitations there and that was important for me because i started to see like oh like this cool. This is a nice way to make some money. I don't mind making money this way. However, it seems difficult to make a lot of money this way. And I don't know how long I'd be able to really survive doing this. Like, um, i would have to like set my own schedule which i'm not a good enough trainer yet to do that for this to really work i'd have to only work with like five people a day and i could probably handle that for like five days a week and i could probably do that for

maybe just a couple of years even and i just knew that like that wasn't going to work. And I just remember, um, not at that time, but later on in my life when I started, uh, you know, my personal development stuff didn't start until I was like older, unfortunately. Um, which is actually kind of interesting because I don't want to say I already knew stuff, but I have had already found and discovered a lot of things by the time I got to that point of starting to really listen to things like YouTube and paying attention to, um, like people that I would call like mentors via, uh, via YouTube. But I did just kind of like just walk backwards right into some of these ideas of like, oh shit, you're not going to make that much money like actually being like in the gym. Like that's not going to really work that way.

It's almost like the gains that you get from the gym. The gains that you get from the gym are from the recovery from when you're not in the gym. And the money that you're that you get from the gym, the gains that you get from the gym are from the recovery from when you're not in the gym. And the money that you're going to get from the gym is probably in figuring out a way to promote your gym better. It's probably going to be, again, from outside of the doors of the gym. Like when you're actually in the gym, how much money can someone pay you and how much money could you possibly be worth? Like there's just going to be a ceiling on that no matter how good you are like let's just be honest i mean how much are you really going to charge and what magic are you going to perform to where someone would pay you more than like 200 bucks and that like

this starts to get crazy um even if you're training like a high level athlete or something it's like maybe it's warranted because he's doing really well and he's making crazy amounts of money, but it's really not, it just can't be worth that much, uh, that much more money. So I recognize that I need to make money somewhere else. Um, later on, um, as I did get more into powerlifting and as I started to, um, as I started to establish myself a little bit in lifting, that's where a lot of the personal development and growth started to happen because then I got linked to Dave Tate and Dave Tate was running a business.

He still runs a business, EliteFTS.com. And Dave started introducing me to a lot of these ideas. He's like, if you want to make money, you got like the gym business is not a good spot to do that in. And if you do want to make money in the gym business, then you need to talk to people that are already in it. And you also most likely if you're going to be a trainer, you're going to have to figure out how can you have trainers under you to where they're bringing in some money, but you're able to get some of the money as well. Cause you own the facility, you own the equipment or something. Um, and so that's what, that's where my mind started to go for a long time. But, um, still there was like, I didn't have any, I didn't have any ideas on actually how I was really going

to make money. I just knew, I just started to formulate ideas that, um, I guess I started to formulate ideas around exactly what you said was I'm like trying stuff. I'm trying shit. I'm working on it. And as I was working on it, I'm realizing like this doesn't work that great. But it wasn't like I would refuse to do it. I still did it because I was like I just kind of needed to. But at the same time, I didn't necessarily hate it. But I was also like in my head thinking like I don't want to do this for very long. And I'm going to have to figure out something else.

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better, think faster, communicate better. There's so many things he goes in depth on in this ebook and you can get it now on our website at powerproject.live. The link's in the description along with the podcast show notes. Did you ever feel like you needed to, well, not needed to, but you were, you know, again, kind of doing that personal training type stuff. And you're like, if I want to make money outside of the gym like that's going to be the leap moment or whatever it is like I'm going to have to risk leaving this to go do that. Did you ever feel like you were at risk at all like when you started kind of making this

transition from I'll say gym bro to entrepreneur and somebody that's actually going to you know make that leap and make this your like actual like business uh you know i for some reason i have uh continuously put the cart before the horse i don't know why do that, but I think I just have a mindset of like, I'm just going to pull the cart myself if I have to. And if hopefully I can find some other people, you know, sucker some people in to like pull the cart with me. But if I can't, I'll just, uh, I feel like I can be a workhorse if I really need to be. And so, um, you know, like starting the gym and stuff like that, it was like, it just really didn't make any sense. It just didn't, it didn't really make sense. Like if

you're to go, if, if I was to like tell people or share with people, like it probably wouldn't be in their best interest to try to follow that path. Um, but people have their own path that is probably, uh, would probably look odd to me or look odd to other people as well, because it doesn't always, things don't always have to make sense. And also things don't always have to work out. So just because you try something and it doesn't really work the way that you want it to, it doesn't really, it doesn't really mean a whole lot all it means is that you have found a way that doesn't work which is great because now you can move on to finding more stuff that works uh if i think back to like the main chunk and the main recipe in this entire thing it's developing a skill set and it is like going all in on something so eventually i ended up going

all in on power lifting to where like that was wasn't all that mattered to me but it was you know it was really important for me to get stronger it was something i wanted to do it's something remember when i was saying i was young i I was just, I was good at it, and I put time into it, and it worked out pretty well, and I was able to break some records and be good at it, but as I got older, when I went back to it, everything changed, I wanted to be great at it, I wanted to like, I want not necessarily break records at that time. What those weren't things that were on my mind was on my mind was like, let me see where I can like actually push this to like,

what would happen if I like, I've been reading about West side forever. I've been reading about this stuff forever. What if I actually just move there? What if I actually just train with those guys? Cause I remember going to the WPO finals that were held in Columbus, Ohio, uh,

at the Arnold classic. And I remember, um, I was with my wife and I'm watching all these guys lift and I just kind of, I, I told my wife and I don't think she believed me because these guys look amazing. Chuck Vogel pools on the stage and, um, Steve Goggins,

who's like the first guy to squat 1100 pounds. And these guys are jacked. They're so jacked. It's just ridiculous. And, uh, I just told her, I was like, I think the only difference between those guys and me is body weight. It was like, I need to be bigger. I was like, and I need to, and, and, you know, I'm also not, I don't know how to train the way that they train and I'm not training as intense as those guys, but I'm like, I wonder if I did, what would happen? You know, are they that much different than me? I want to find, I want to like find out. And she was just

kind of like, she didn't say anything, but she was kind of like, I, I, you know, honey, I don't really think so. Like, you know, these guys are monsters. Like, you don't know what you're talking about. Um, cause that was long ago. And I think that was probably before I got on anything and all that kind of stuff too. So I remember just thinking like, I didn't, I didn't think, oh, if I get on steroids, I'm going to be able to crush everybody. I'm going to be just like these guys. But I did recognize like the body weight and the work was important. And so I ended up just putting all my chips into that. But I also have a lot of fortune in my life. You know, my wife was working at the time she was making money. So we had the ability to move the job that she had. I mean, there's just like so much fortune that goes on in, I don't, I don't really,

you don't really hear a lot of successful people sharing this. And I, I don't, I don't think it's because, uh, that everybody else that you hear from that's successful is like a self-made person. I just think that people don't like to share it because they think it diminishes what they've done. Uh, but I think it just adds to the story. Really. My wife's an amazing person. She's incredible. She's very smart and, uh, she can work her ass off and she's always done a great job for our business and she's always done a great job with making money period and always done a great job being a mother and an entrepreneur and all the other things that she does too. was doing well but like the company that she worked for she was like oh um and this is unconventional for that time as well she was like uh my husband and i are thinking of moving to like the middle of the country like would it be okay for me to work from home since you know i'm a salesperson and uh everything i do is from home anyway and I ended up working out great because she was, had an LA salary while we lived in Columbus,

Ohio. I didn't ever think about that. Which is pretty cool. Cause I mean like if you, if you're a, you know, if you're a, um,

uh, she worked for Westwood one. If you're like a, like that's a legit company, it's still a huge company. Um, if you're a legit company and you're paying somebody If you're like – like that's a legit company. It's still a huge company. If you're a legit company and you're paying somebody and you're in a big city or in Chicago or New York or – I mean you're in LA. You can't. I mean it's just impossible.

You can't get away with like paying people some dirt cheap thing. Like word will get out and like no one will want to work for you. It doesn't matter what job you even have there. Like you just can't get away with paying like some uh shit amount because it's just so um yeah i mean again there's like so much fortune involved in uh in some of the story but we moved to columbus and i trained under the tutelage of louis simmons and learn just a ton from him and see that he doesn't answer to anybody so that's where i start to see these uh ideas of like an entrepreneur that's where i start to see a lot of this stuff i see that he sets his own schedule wakes up goes to bed whenever he kind

of wants um but he still chooses to wake up early he still chooses to work hard um he still still chooses to eat right he still chooses to treat people well he still chooses to be kind to people like he didn't have to he like ran this whole gym and could have ran it whatever way he liked he could take advantage of situations and he didn't um uh he i mean he was mean sometimes because he's just like old grouchy coach but for the most part he was um he put his heart and soul into everything i just i saw a lot of that and he was also an inventor and just kind of seeing that and watching that and observing that i don't think i was like oh man i'm gonna you know i'm gonna be an inventor too or like i'm

i want to figure out how to be an inventor it's just like um you couldn't help but have some of that uh magnetism like rub off on you because he was uh at least like a one-of-a-kind person you know inventing like the reverse hyper and the plyo swing and all these other things that he had. Even the thing that you see nowadays, you see so many people doing like Nordics and stuff. He made a machine that it's actually a machine that like helps you to do a Nordic. It actually has like a post. I mean, he had this thing 20, 30 years ago.

You know, he had it forever ago. Vigorous Steve was just doing it all. He showed a clip on Instagram today. Yeah, the thing's been around forever. You know, Louie, he was like a pioneer, and I admired that a lot. And he just had a different thought process. I was like, you know, Louie, like when he speaks, he just, he had an interesting way of speaking. And I was like, he doesn't always say the most intelligent stuff.

However, because that's just like the way he grew up and just where he lives and so on. But he had some of the smartest people in the world coming to him for advice on strength training. And I always thought that was remarkable. I mean, there was people from the UK, from prominent like soccer teams, NFL teams, NBA. There were sprinters there. There was fighters there. It's like everybody, everybody was there. So I was really motivated and inspired by a lot of that.

So I was really motivated and inspired by a lot of that. And that's what kind of just all the other stuff I've ever seen in my life and all the other stuff I've been exposed to up until that point. I was always like, man, it didn't matter what it was. It could be it could be a car. It could be a girl. It could be it could be money. It could be a job. It could be a video game.

Could be anything. I've always been like, ah, you know, uh, all the way to the point where like my uncle, uh, he would like take me out here and there. Um, uh, when I was younger, um, he would like take me for the day, like on his boat or something. And, uh, my dad would be like, um, my dad would be like, well, how did he like it? You know, he'd ask his brother and, uh, my uncle would say like, I don't know, like your son is like totally emotionless, you know, something wrong with him. And I was just always that way. I didn't care much, but like when I came to whatever the algorithm and whatever the stuff was that Westside Barbell was made up of, that got me fired up and that got me excited. And all of it made sense to

me. Meanwhile, I've been reading and doing all these things for years where I would look at stuff and read stuff and things didn't make sense and words were backwards and upside down. And there were sometimes numbers in there that weren't actually there um when i looked at all this shit it just made sense and i wanted it to make sense and i wanted to like learn more about it so i basically just kind of would hang out with louis every day and i did that for like a year and then uh my wife and i eventually uh moved back to california but that just lit a fire under my ass that is still there today. You can fast forward as, as much as you want in the story. But, um, do you remember at what point you were, you felt, I'm going to use the word successful and we can use that term in any way. It doesn't have to be, uh, like, uh, financially successful, but like, when did you feel that you actually were successful

in like, oh, I didn't have to go get the job. Like, you know, like when you quote broke the mold of your typical, like American dream or whatever you want to call it. Like, do you remember when that actually happened? And you were like, oh shit, like I was right in following this path. it like I was right in following this path. You know, the, the progression was, uh, was fairly slow and I, I don't think I even really recognized it. I think, um, what I, what I can remember is that the first order of slingshots, I ordered like 6,000 of them or something like that because I was so confident that this thing was going to be great and I also felt that I could sell them within like a year and um it just turned out like whatever those gut instincts were whatever some of that intuition was I did do that um there was like some that we didn't sell because I made some that were just way too small and so those uh those

never sold they're just like tiny they're like made for a baby or something. Just didn't work out. But in doing that and then having that be like, you know, once we got through that inventory and we ordered more, it was just like obvious, you know, it was like game on. It seems like, you know, and, and then from there I didn't really intend, I initially didn't intend to make a lot of other stuff. I wanted to make the slingshot and really concentrate on that. But it was just so obvious that if you're going to handle more weight that you needed wrist wraps. And so it was like, all right, I got to add at least another skew you know and then over time started you know you make a wrist wrap and some people like those are too long those are too short and so you make like now you make 36 inch wraps and 26 inch wraps and i'm just laughing because you're like yeah one more skew okay yeah yeah i'm laughing because

fuck i forgot how many yeah we have thousands yeah we have yeah we have thousands of them yeah well at that time it was like doubling right it was doubling your skews going from one to two that's that dude that is so wild and i can't i wish i could remember what episode but like i remember we were in ohio and me and nsema were just blasting you with questions similar to what we're talking about today. But it was just mainly like the like the like how the company came to be. So if people are interested, I'll try to link it down below. Hopefully I can find it because we've done a lot of episodes now. But like I guess in closing, like advice for people who do feel kind of stuck. You know, they listen to the parents.

They listen to the parents they listen to the siblings they listen to everybody um because you know majority of listeners they're already like done with the college thing and they are like you know everyday people and we're grateful for every single one of them but like um yeah what's some advice that you can give to them that they can take away today just to kind of feel a little bit better about their position and maybe what to strive for and like what direction they can start heading in right now yeah i think uh it's like kind of hard to say but i think that like trying to i was never trying to necessarily do anything so i I think that that's an important factor. I wasn't, I was, I was always willing to like work and I was always willing to put in time. But much like you see me today, like I'm not really trying to do anything.

spend a lot of time doing lots of stuff that doesn't really make sense. I will sometimes just be randomly talking to somebody in the gym. Not to say like one person doesn't matter over another person, but like when I am speaking to somebody in the gym, it's not Andrew Huberman, you know, it's just like some random fan person. Right. Like, and yeah, I would love to talk to Andrew huberman or love to talk to some of the other guests that we've had here and have more time for that too but um it's because i will communicate with anybody because i for for one i think it's important to be kind to people but number two i also think there's a lot that you can learn from people and there's a lot that you can get so

to try to just think that you're talking to someone to take something from them might sound a little selfish. But it's okay, I think, because the different perspectives that people have. You know, one of the reasons why I pour so much time into helping Russell, our buddy who is almost down 100 pounds, is I get so much from that. Like that helps me in so many different ways. Helps me feel good. Like I have the knowledge. I have the information. Why wouldn't I share it with him? I have all the information that he needs to get to where he wants to go. So why wouldn't I help? Like it makes no sense, right? So I have the information, we're friends, so why wouldn't I share it? But there's so much I get from him because now I'm learning perspective of how he thinks.

And now I can learn perspective on how other people might think. And now I can start to learn perspective on like, oh, maybe it's just more difficult for some people. And I think that's what people need to really recognize and understand. And it's not anything to hone in on or spend too much time on, but some things are just going to be more difficult for you. Some of the things I mentioned, um, having my parents help pay for stuff. My parents were supportive when I put out the first order of slingshots. I had a friend, John Hannigan, who also was supportive. Um, those people gave me like, I can't remember, but it was like a total of like 25 grand or something like that like that's a lot of money and I understand maybe maybe other people wouldn't

be able to find that my wife was super supportive I've had a lot of fortune and a lot of great things around me but I also think some of that is made by you you know some of that's made by how you are and how you act, um, and how you think. So like, um, I think that, I think that, um, there's opportunities all around you all the time and maybe you're not recognizing them to some degree. And just because I said that I got help in one spot, please don't allow that to be a spot where you drop off. Like, oh shit, like he had that, so now I can't do it. Like, oh, he used steroids, so now I can't, I can't do it. It would be like, you know, listening to somebody else's story and they were addicted to drugs and became successful because they were, you know, I don't know, they used cocaine or something. Now you're thinking like, I can't be successful

because I didn't do that same thing. It's like, no, it doesn't mean that. It means that you're just going to have a slightly different path. Maybe you don't feel like you have supportive people around you. That's something that you should investigate. That's something that you should look into more. Why aren't the people around you supportive? Who are we talking about here? Who are these people? Why are they around? Because I don't, although I will talk with just about anybody and have good conversation with anybody and help anybody, I don't want to talk to people that are negative. I don't want to talk to people that are not going to be supportive. So the people in your life, if you feel like you have people that are really holding you back, I think take extreme ownership of that.

Are they really holding you back? I mean legitimately, are they holding you back? I joke with my wife all the time. We just have stupid jokes and we mess with each other all the time. And I'll say, I'll say like, oh, I was going to go on a run, but you won't let me. You know, I say, I say, and she says stuff like that too. She was like, oh, I was going to go, you know, do this with my friends tonight. And, but you won't let, you know, we just say stuff like that. But it's in reference to the fact that a lot of people think that there's other people holding them back.

And it's usually just yourself. And if you do feel like it's other people, why is that person still part of your life? Or why haven't you had a serious conversation with that person? So maybe in some cases, maybe it's your significant other. And maybe you're trying to go in a different direction with some things that you want to do i think if you are to explain something to somebody like really explain something to somebody like really take your time and say okay like i'm tired of working at this office i want to become a personal trainer it's been a passion of mine forever i just want to see what the hell

happens in my life when i actually follow something that I really like and love and, and, and that I'm interested in. And, um, I need your support. And just cause your wife or somebody says to you, Oh, you know what? Um, financially, we're not going to be able to do that. Like, just cause they said, it doesn't mean that you can't do it. It just means that you have to start to have more conversation in more detail on how you're going to do that. And that's where you might need to say, hey, well, you know, I thought you were going to say that. And I thought about this. I was thinking about, you know, I'd work here for like two more years. But as I'm working here two more years, I'll also do some personal training like Like on the weekends, I have a place where I can go and check out. And I already looked into it. And then now you have something where it's like, oh, well, wait a second. Okay. So actually what's going to happen is I'm going to have two jobs for a little while.

I'm actually going to be making more money than normal. And then maybe the jump off point won't feel so hard or whatever it is. So there's always a way, there's always a way all problems are solvable. Um, I think we should play this clip from a Jim Carrey. I think it's pretty relatable to a lot of what we talked about today, but it's a little bit more on like this kind of energy wavelength type thing, but I believe in a lot of this stuff. And I think it's, um, when I think about things like this, I, it makes me think it's not harmful to think about things like in this way. And it's actually can be really, really helpful to think about things in this way that, um, you can kind of, of, you can manifest a lot. And manifesting things, I think, is way different than just willing things to happen.

You know, Michael Jordan on a basketball court kind of willed things to happen because he like, he really muscled it. You know, he really used his skill set and he really, he like physically made it happen. But manifesting is a little different. Manifesting is more like, um, you, you just believe in it so much and you don't ever give up on it. You just believe in it. You believe in yourself so much that, um, your confidence doesn't waver. It stays strong. And you believe that even the most negative person in your life is there for a reason and that they're just part of it. Or the fact that your dad died when you were 10. It's just, it's part of you, your success story

rather than it being some horrible thing that happened. And I think if when you guys hear some of this clip, I think it will make some sense to you. I have an insane belief in my own ability to manifest things. Insane belief. I think it's ultimately complete sanity I believe we're creators and I believe we create with every thought and every word is every moment is pregnant with the next moment of your life we all start out with a false belief about ourselves with some untrue thing that we believe walking through our lives i'm not worthy i'm not lovable i'm gonna fail whatever your basic mistaken belief about yourself is you form

a personality around you know it it's the grain of sand in the oyster so i form characters that way a lot of times i'll ask myself what's what's the speck of sand super super cool believe in yourself i think that's uh you know the main message of today and uh to to break the mold you're gonna have to believe in yourself because people are gonna people are gonna think or say these different things. But also you got to remember that people don't care that much. They're not really thinking about you nearly as much as you think. There's like that self-consciousness is like it's a waste of energy. It's a waste of time to really think about, oh, I wonder what people are going to think of me if I do this or if I do that

or anticipating how people are thinking about you currently. Just work on the things that you want to work on. Fix what you can fix. Believe in yourself and stick to it. There's going to be a lot of time where this whole thing is going to take a long time. There'll be a lot of time where there's no money. There can be a lot of time where there's no signs of real success. There's going to be signs. There's going to be just, um, growing pains and there's going to be parts where you're just like learning stuff. I mean, when I think back to some of those days at Westside or some of the, you know, I can think back, um, on some of the stuff that I've done from Westside Barbell, like dragging a sled and stuff

like that. Like those were like lonely things I did. I just did them on my, by myself, but I didn't even really think of them as being lonely. Cause it was something I really liked doing. Um, but it was just like dragging a sled and just randomly dragging a sled and, uh, in El Segundo, California and getting like, I guess, I don't know if you can say pulled over, but getting stopped by the cops because they thought I was like eyeing up this like warehouse that got broken into a couple of times that was down the street from my apartment. I was like, no, I just dragged a sled because I like to build up my hammies. They're like, carry on. Strength is never a weakness. Weakness is never a strength. Catch you guys later. Bye.