Mark Bell's Power Project - Mark Bell's Power Project EP. 201 - Sean Provost

Episode Date: April 17, 2019

Sean Provost is a business owner at Dutch Bros Coffee. He has worked with the company since 2001 and now owns five different locations including: Davis, Dixon and all three in Woodland. He’s a husband and father of 4. He has been friends with Mark since the beginning of time and has been coming into Super Training Gym to train with Mark and his brother Chris at 4am to get more jackedereST. #BeatTheSun ➢SHOP NOW: https://markbellslingshot.com/ Enter Discount code, "POWERPROJECT" at checkout and receive 15% off all Sling Shots Find the Podcast on all platforms: ➢Subscribe Rate & Review on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/mark-bells-power-project/id1341346059?mt=2 ➢Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4YQE02jPOboQrltVoAD8bp ➢Listen on Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/mark-bells-power-project?refid=stpr ➢Listen on Google Play: https://play.google.com/music/m/Izf6a3gudzyn66kf364qx34cctq?t=Mark_Bells_Power_Project ➢Listen on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/markbellspowerproject  FOLLOW Mark Bell ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marksmellybell ➢ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkBellSuperTraining ➢ Twitter: https://twitter.com/marksmellybell ➢ Snapchat: marksmellybell Follow The Power Project Podcast ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/MarkBellsPowerProject Follow Nsima Inyang ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nsimainyang/  Podcast Produced by Andrew Zaragoza ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamandrewz

the weed whacker just went by so i think we're good on landscapers oh yeah it normally comes by right when we start up right when we start out the weed whacker starts cranking are you a warriors fan at all yeah yeah because they're still i mean they're still in the playoffs but the kings kings haven't been in a long time right they did better this year though than they have been and they got a new coach? Yeah, they just hired a new coach yesterday on my birthday. Yeah.

Luke Walton. Yeah, happy birthday, by the way. Thank you. Oh, wow. Yeah. Happy birthday. Yeah. How old are you?

34. Oh, okay. So it's all been over for a couple years now. We can throw some of those coffees up here on the table. We might as well promote over here, right? I need one more. What is this Dutch Bros business? What do we got going on over here, Sean?

Thank you. How did you get involved in this? How did you get involved in Dutch Brothers? Oh, yeah. Sounds so good. So growing up in Grants Pass, Oregon, it was my hometown normal thing. It was like Starbucks for us because I grew up with it. It wasn't weird or, you know.

It wasn't different. Yeah, it was just normal. Just what's there, yeah. I always went there and hung out and was a customer. And the guys who worked there were super cool. They were snowboarders and they were going to concerts and all the girls were hanging out and they were making tips. And it was the coolest job you could have in our little town that we were in.

And so I always hung out there and was drawn to that energy and the music and that scene, but never worked there. And then moved, went to play football for school, then got hurt, came home and was going there every morning with my, well, my girlfriend's mom at the time, but now my mother-in-law. And they told me, you should work here you're gonna like it it's it's fun and at the in that area it's a good job and so there's not very many openings that come up to where it was hard to get hired there because of the tips and because of you know that it was fun and they they really poured into their people and it was obvious like the culture was on point and I was like no I'm gonna go to school and I'm just trying to recover from these injuries and I eventually was like okay I'll I'd love to work

here I don't really know what kind of time commitment I can do and the manager at the time his name was Shane and he was like I think you're really gonna like it and had minimal training our scene now is a lot different than those days. And started working. Fell in love with it right away. Our co-founder, Dane, he'd come by every night on his way home to get milk for the fam. And started talking to him and became close. And told him my ambitions changed quick to stay and do this as a career

and not do criminal justice anymore, not play football anymore. I just fell in love with it within a couple weeks. And so that was the beginning of me being a part, and that was in 2001. So by 2004, I opened my first shop in Woodland, California. Have you always been like driven? Have you always, you know, have you always been like so focused? Because it seemed like from the way you're saying it kind of sounds like you've always been kind of driven towards just trying to be successful, trying to be better.

Yeah, with probably with sports definitely sparked a lot of that in my life. Starting off with soccer and then eventually falling in love with football. I always wanted to be the hardest worker, the best player, the hardest hitter, the fastest. Like if I was a defensive end and I wanted to have the fastest 40, I wanted to hit the weights the heaviest. And that's just been in me. I, uh, I think a big part of it's just my parents being hard workers and, uh, just being raised in a really good home. I learned a lot about integrity and work ethic and, uh, that definitely sparked something in me to where I wanted to be better than everyone else. Did, uh Did either one of your parents, did they teach you anything about

entrepreneurship or was it more like just what they did? No, neither one of them were entrepreneurs at all. I was talking to my dad recently about doing like a lemonade tea stand at a park when I was young and I would fix up bicycles and sell them. And I was always, I always had that entrepreneurship. I, uh, I definitely, it was just in me, especially the entrepreneur side of it. I love business. I love trying to figure out the hard things. I liked asking questions. I was never afraid to ask a lot of questions and I looked for people that did things well and became friends with questions. I was never afraid to ask a lot of questions and I looked

for people that did things well and became friends with them. It was like, what are you doing? How are you doing it? What do I need to do? What's the first step? It seems like a cool place to learn, especially all these things that you've learned. And now you have six Dutch Bros stores. The environment, you know, you talked a lot about the environment, how like they're, they're cranking some music. You love the energy. I mean, that's the first thing you notice when you go to a Dutch brothers is it's just different. You're like, and it should be right. Cause people at a coffee shop, they should be fired up. But when you go there, you're like, wow. Okay. Like that was a, it's more than just getting a cup of coffee. It's kind of an experience, but from an

entrepreneur side of things or a business side of things, we are trying to create a culture that's so fun and that's so cool that we're hoping that you never leave. And that's what they did for you. Definitely. And it wasn't very hard, too. They didn't twist my arm. It was that contagious. You just knew if they got you through the doors that you were going to be suckered in for life. Yeah, I just said, you know, I'll do whatever it takes to grow and be a part of this thing because I knew it was special and I knew that it was going to grow. And I love the relationships I had.

Looking back on it now, I had tons of mentors and people that poured into me and helped me and gave me life advice and were true friends. And at the time, I just thought it was like a job and it was normal. were true friends. And at the time, I just thought it was like a job and it was normal. And looking back at some of these people that were in my circle, I was just completely spoiled rotten. And it took me a long time to figure that out. I started looking at what some of them had done and accomplished. And I was like, I can't believe that I was friends with you when I was that age. And some of the questions I'd ask is like what do what do i need to do how can i help how can i serve and i remember they would call us back in the day we'd get these full orders of semi trucks full of beans and they were heavy i think i think the bags were like 90 pounds or

something and we didn't have forklifts or that much help there was five people that worked at our headquarters at the time and they would kind of send out a message and say, Hey, who can help unload the trucks? And it was always me and this other guy, Ron C. And me and Ron would show up and we'd get that thing unloaded. And then it just turned into more, it turned down into time with these people. It turned into more, you know, jobs or tasks or things to where I wasn't trying to get a pat on the back or anything. I just wanted to be a part and help in any way that I could. And our owners saw that in me and then just kind of built off that and gave me more. And I ended up helping to open up shops in different cities and traveling and just had this desire to learn as much as I possibly

could, especially once I figured out how smart these people were that I was around. So how did that progression look like for you when you started out? Like, how old were you when you started? What were you doing? Were you like you weren't a barista or something, right? Yeah. So I started out working nights and then moved into assistant manager position and then moved and opened up some shops. And then right after that, I applied to franchise and got approved.

I think I was almost 20 when I got approved. And then when I was 21, I opened my first shop. So it was a pretty fast progression. And something really cool happened on my 10-year anniversary of being a franchisee. And something really cool happened on my 10-year anniversary of being a franchisee. I text the owner and some other people that were involved in my progression and my career with Dutch Bros. And I was like, thank you so much for believing in me when I was so young. Because that's a pretty risky thing.

And they said. It's a big deterrent for a lot of people is age. Totally. Too old or too young you know i tell a lot of our people like don't don't have that as a roadblock or something that you can your is an excuse to get where you want to go because it wasn't for me and i know a lot of other people that make big moves and kill it when they're young as well and their their response to me was thank you for believing in us and i was like that's exactly what dutch bros is about it's like creating opportunities for others and then once you have that opportunity all exactly what Dutch Bros is about it's like creating opportunities for others and then once you have that opportunity all you want to do is create it for more people

coming from you so it's this this really cool evolution of like creating creating things for others and then it just carries on to the next thing cool Mark can you pull the microphone in front of them a little better there you you go. Perfect. There you go. So they don't really require that you have some sort of formal education, but you do need to learn the system. You need to learn what's going on. Do they have – I'm sure now it's way different than it used to be, but do you guys have like classes or is it more like just submerge yourself in this and you're going to figure it out? The setup we have now is really cool. It's called DBU.

So it's kind of like going through college. And they start off at the ground roots of, you know, being a barista and learning the trade. And our training is really good. And then they just kind of go through leadership. They start as a barista, then shift lead, then assistant manager, then manager, then regional manager. And then once they get to manage a regional manager role, they have the opportunity to become an operator and have their own scene. So on average, it's like five to eight years of a commitment and it's becoming more competitive. But one of the issues we had with growth was a lot of these very smart talented young people didn't have any money and so a lot of our growth was based off existing franchisees

that were growing and had the money to be able to grow and the resources and all that so this new setup that our owner and our headquarters put into play created this opportunity for people who do good and are hard workers. They don't need money to grow with us. And so we were able to not lose any talent, keep them in house, and then they become regional operators and they somewhat get to say where they go, what state, and we have a lot of growth in the future. So it's very humbling and rewarding for me to be able to offer this position to people where there's a bright future if they want it with the company or the skills that you learn with communicating and business and reps and the relationships of like leading people or all those different things. setting with people that want to become nurses or work at the jail or all these different things to where we teach them these basic goal setting things that gets them where they want to go.

And then it's just a cool job that they can do on their way to get there. So it definitely goes both directions. You can stay with the company and there's a lot of opportunity there, or you can take and enjoy all these experiences and then use that for whatever you're going to do next. You mentioned offloading the 90 pound bags. Was this something that you, you know, spending this extra, there's the weed whacker, leaf blower or whatever it is. It's back. It's back. You can't get rid of it. You know, you mentioned unloading these heavy bags and stuff like that. Is this some that you learned uh through your parents like you know it's good to uh invest time in people like good things will come from that or uh were you kind of thinking more like money or you just thinking like

i just need to be around these people this is the right thing to do i think it was a couple my my mom and dad if i wanted something they'd be like well go mow lawns go do something they'd they uh they don't go earn it go earn it yeah they never gave me handouts you can get it but you have to earn totally so I had I had a route growing up where I cut grass in the neighborhood um I did all kinds of stuff to earn money you know yard work stuff like that and then with with Dutch Bros it was so so attractive and so fun, and I knew I was learning a lot that I just wanted to be around it. I wanted to be around those people,

and I wanted to be that guy that was dependable, that would do anything that they needed done. Even if I didn't understand why or how, or it wasn't like a look-at-me type thing, it was just like I want to be a servant, and I want to help in any way that I can. And it didn't matter what it was. Most kids that age, they're off, you know, drinking or chasing girls or like, how come you weren't off doing some of that stuff?

I definitely think I stayed busy with the pulling extra shifts and working overtime. And also just the, the, the support group and the people that were around me were they were legit. You know, they weren't wasting time. A lot of them were very driven and smart. And so those types of things that I did see that scene and I didn't like it. I thought that it was dumb or a waste of time or too risky. I always look at risk and reward and seeing that lifestyle of people that weren't going anywhere or that were making bad decisions or getting in trouble. lifestyle of people that weren't going anywhere or that were making bad decisions or getting in trouble. I was just like, I've, I learned young that learning from other people's mistakes is way better than learning on your own and figuring that out. I was kind of sensitive to bad situations

or people that made risky decisions and I just stayed away from it. So there's probably quite a bit of that in your hometown, right? Totally. Yeah. That's like where I'm from. It's like that too. And it's just like, uh, I don't know, people are pretty negative. And I was just like, I don't think I want to be a part of that. So I always gravitated towards, I guess you'd say like healthier choices, you know, things that were just a little bit better for me. Something that I find really interesting is that a long time ago when you and I, like you and i met a million years ago it seems like now 15 years ago probably something like that sometime in 2005 or so right um at body construction zone where super training gym was named super training gym before super training

gym had a gym it was just a team of lifters just a team of fat guys getting together and lifting and you and ben alderman came and you guys lifted with the team for a while and stuff like that. But something that stuck out to me, you and I didn't really talk a lot. Like we weren't like buddy, buddy. We would communicate in the gym here and there and stuff like that. But I remember one time you were like talking about, you know, I think you were maybe opening up another Dutch Bros at the time. Maybe it was your second one or something like that. And you were like, yeah, you're like, you know, a lot of this stuff's not going to pay off for, I don't know, five, 10 years or something like that, but

I don't care. And you walked away and I was like, holy shit. Like, that's great. Like people don't say that. That's like so unconventional. People don't just say like, oh, this is going to, you know, the jujitsu he's doing now, like it's going to pay off in five years. Like most people don't just say like oh it's gonna you know the jiu-jitsu he's doing now like it's gonna pay off in five years like most people don't have the patience to even stick something out for uh even just a couple of weeks sometimes and you're talking about five years down the road how you're not you're not scared to kind of like eat shit for a while where did some of that come from i think it was ignorance and willing to take big chances. And they asked me where I wanted to go when I applied to franchise. And I said to just send me anywhere. I was all good at Fairbanks, Alaska. And I was, and growing up in the hometown, like I was trying to explain earlier, like that,

I just, I had a feeling that it would do well anywhere, even though I didn't really look into going to a place where nobody knew who we were like Woodland and having no customers and having to grind and figure out how it all works and learning a lot of those. I, my, my vision was just being close to Sacramento and I didn't even really care what city it was. They had a steel going in Woodland. They told me to go check it out and i said i'm down so the not knowing the full scenario or exactly what i was getting into probably helped uh just not having a full understanding but i knew that whatever i had whatever i was given i was going to perform at my best and i knew that if i if i trained people and if I gave back to the community and if people knew that I was doing my best, then it would be contagious and it would be something that was going to work eventually. And with the bills I had at the time, my shop and more than the first one was the most expensive Dutch Bros we'd ever built.

And they would talk about that. They'd be like, you got some pretty big overhead. You need to do some big numbers and not even knowing what I was looking at. I just had this, this confidence of like, um, faith and support. And my wife, I knew that we were going to figure it out. And, and we did. When you were, I mean, yes, 20, 22, 23, are there any like habits that you built over time that allowed you to just get better at what you did? Because like the Sean, Sean now was very different from then, but obviously you evolved and you transformed and you continue to get better and better and better. What things did you concentrate on getting better at, whether it be with your business or whether it be with yourself that helped you to progress well? or whether it could be with yourself that helped you to progress well? I think from failing forward and going through hard times, having to fire friends, having to make hard calls that nobody wants to make,

having to have those hard conversations, I just got a lot of reps of that in. Having to be that guy that has to have the final say. Sean and I, by the way, have fired so many friends that all we have is each other now. Yeah. That's how we're the, we're the last people in the room. Last man standing. He's tried. So I, I feel like a lot of it was through hard times and the, the will to just figure it out. We're figure it out and not not giving in not giving up and just knowing that it was gonna work out and I don't know how much of that was naive of being

young um I didn't really use my age as an excuse I definitely got treated that way though by people they'd be like oh you're that you're the Dutch Bros guy or you know you're young or you don't know what you're doing and I felt like I had a lot to prove. And so those things fired me up. We and Mark were talking recently about positivity and negative and just kind of the haters and all these different things and how they feel people differently. And at that time when I was starting out,

I felt like the hater type mentality and the people who are like, it's not going to work. You're tripping. You don't need to be in all this debt, you know, just get a nine to five, less responsibility. I was so anti that lifestyle. I was like, I want freedom. I want to be able to make moves. I want to do my own thing to where I didn't even think about that stuff. So I think part of it was just being that focused to where I was just not going to take no for nothing. It's one thing to kind of, you know, put a lot of faith into a project that's going to take some time. It's one thing to kind of do it on your own. But when you have a wife and you're building a family, you got four kids.

What was the wifey thinking this whole time? I mean, obviously, I'm sure she was uh you know excited about the things you were excited about but after a while it's got to be like hey like you know what's going on with this it was it was hard you know i remember a couple stories my gardener was like hey we should do roses in your in your landscape i'm like all right cool let's do it and i got the bill it was like 1500 bucks and I didn't have 1500 bucks to spare. And I was like, I think I had to do like a payment plan or something with them. And I had different situations where we had like taxes and rent and all these things come out at

the same time. And I'm like, I don't have enough money for payroll. And I had like eight, eight or nine employees at the time. And I remember going home and telling my wife, like, we're going to sell your car. She was like, cool. Drove to Medford, Oregon that night, sold her car, went home and made payroll. And no matter what I've ever said or done, she's always down. And I don't even have to think about it. So I definitely have taken that for granted over the years,

which I've told her. Did she work at Dutch Brothers too? Yeah. So when we first moved there, she was working at Gottschalk. So she believes in the system. Oh, totally. She actually started working for Dutch Bros before I did. In junior high, she got to work at one during the summer.

And then in high school for her senior project, she did Dutch Bros as her senior project. And her mom and dad were regulars from the beginning and knew the owners very well. And she kind of grew up at a Dutch Bros stand. So there's a lot of really cool history and roots of them having a relationship with her before me. But being down and maybe not understanding why it's happening or what's going on, she definitely like, there's crazy stuff that happens and i always think that i've seen a lot of stuff and then something will happen tomorrow where i'm like nope i haven't seen a lot of stuff did she ever ask you to get a real job

nope she fully she was fully sending it yeah we we were fully committed to make it work and and i think that's part of it too that focus it's, we didn't have any outs in our brain at all. So you got four kids. Uh, how old is the oldest one? So 10 is Zoe. Uh, Maximus is five or eight. Stella's five. And then we have a one-year-old boy. So we have two boys and two girls. And that's a lot to manage and six stores, four kids and six stores. You don't have a lot of time on your hands. What is something that you kind of learned recently? You know, you and I have been training together for the last like eight weeks or so. And it seemed like you were on a path with doing jujitsu for a while.

And you were doing that religiously for a period of time. And then you had kids and you got other things going on. And maybe you let your fitness uh fall to the side for a little bit what's something that you've learned now that you're gaining some of that back i i'm not afraid of very many things and i injured my back about 10 years ago and it just messed with me because i was in bed how'd you hurt your back um doing mma and from football just jacking myself up from football. I think it just eventually caught up with me. And it messed with me mentally to where it was a huge roadblock to where I would just say no to everything. I quit snowboarding.

I quit weight boarding. I was picking up grounders at my son's baseball practice one night and hurt it. So I got to the point where I wanted my mind to be sharp and I wanted to be able to work, but I didn't really care about my fitness. And over the years, one thing I've had to do with leading people is taking away their excuses. And I meet with Mark to hang out one day and immediately he took all my excuses away to work out. And I'm like, this is what I do. he took all my excuses away to work out. And I'm like, this is what I do. And now you're messing with me. And my wife, your excuses, threw them in the garbage. And it took 30 seconds. My wife, she works out every morning. She goes to CrossFit at six and I, I hang in with the kids. And then

when she gets home, I get ready and go to work. And I'll like see you at 4am. Yep. And I just said, okay. And you're like, all right. Very reluctantly. That's what happened though. Yeah, it is what happened. Has there been any type of change now that I don't know how long you've been more active than you were before, but has there been eight, just literally eight weeks? Yeah. Has there been any change in these past eight weeks with the way like you approach everything else you do in terms of business, these past eight weeks with the way like you approach everything else you do in terms of business, et cetera, because you're more active now? Getting out of bed, not being in pain. It definitely puts me in a mindset of like, okay, I'm going to win today. And then getting here,

getting a good workout in, being around great people. I just feel like it's this primer for the day that's just on fire. It's like, if I just did the hardest part of my day and it's this primer for the day that's just on fire it's like if I just did the hardest part of my day and it's done I'm gonna move on and accomplish whatever I need to I feel like my brain if I used to kind of be tired mentally about two or three every day not want to make any more decisions not want to talk much anymore after that I definitely push through and can go for longer than that I feel like not being afraid of something especially when I'm not that type of person has given me a lot more I don't know if it's confidence or or what but I just feel like I can accomplish more now having fitness be a priority and having my health be the priority

it's setting me up for the day better and I'm just taking it day by day I was Marcus said something about two I'm two to three years out on getting to where I want to go and for me like that I'm like all right well I'm eight weeks in and I'm not even I know that I can do it you know I know that I'm going to get back to where I was and I have like strength things where I know how much I used to bench I know how much I used to deadlift I know what weight I was when I did jujitsu so I know where I need to go and getting there in the healthy way one of the things he told me was like if you listen and you do what we we do you're not gonna you're not gonna hurt your back again and for me that was a big fear and I always talk about not being afraid of stuff.

And I was tripping, you know, so it was almost like not practicing what I preach. And now that I've been able to work out for a couple months, even though it's the beginning of this, I feel like I'm not afraid like I was anymore. Do you think, because like, in the past, I mean, the way you attacked your business, was there anything that really actually you were afraid of? Because, I mean, it seems like you're back. Obviously, you're afraid of doing stuff because you didn't want to get hurt again. But within the past few years, has there been anything that really actually scared you or you were already used to all of that by that point? So you just like, you're like, I can do this. I can do this. I went through, let's see how long ago it is. Almost six

years ago. Now I went through a really hard time where I had some like upper leadership in my business, just make some really bad decisions that affected me. And I immediately was like, I need to get rid of these people. And so I did. And what happened was as part of them leaving, they tried to take some of my other people with them. And it was like this, it was bad intentions on their parts. It wasn't healthy. It wasn't good decisions. It wasn't legit.

That happened with my podcast. They tried to take my people. They tried to take my fans. Not even my employees, just my fans. They tried to take my people. They tried to take my fans. Not even my employees, just my fans. It happens. It's real. Yeah. There's some haters out there.

There is. So during that time, it was hard because some of these people didn't necessarily do anything to me, but they did things to people I cared about. And it was, I just wanted to distance myself from them as much as possible. cared about and it was i just wanted to distance myself from them as much as possible so i learned that i couldn't do like our owner told me he's like you need some help because i was trying to do all these different things and i couldn't focus on what i should be and what mattered the most i was you know maintenance hr payroll all this stuff that, I'm not even that good at necessarily. So I was like, okay, I'll make me a list of what I need. And it wasn't a money thing. It was just like, I didn't realize how much I needed those things. And so I started bringing those into my life

and had good help and built that trust back with people and kind of reignited me to pay more attention to things. And it taught me a a lot and since then it's been way better and I needed to go through that and I needed to get that advice because it served me big time and now my scene I'm I'm able to help people more I'm able to create more opportunities and it's it's way more successful this way because a lot of people hide and the light always finds the darkness and it's just a matter of time and i and i see things i'll like hold my cards close sometimes and be like i see something weird going on over here but i'm just going to keep my mouth shut and then eventually it comes out i want to sleep good at night you know i want to do the best i

can with what i have so being more aware of that circle and those people was definitely a change that I made. And it's, it's been amazing since then. So yeah, that, that, I don't know, that was a hard time. I don't know how much of a failure that was. It definitely was a failure of like my reach and my communication and my approach with people. And I found personalities and, and people with integrity to help me fill those gaps of things that I can't do anymore. Yeah. How do you, uh, delegate out stuff to, for other people to do since you understand how to do every job there is at Dutch Bros? How did you get to a point where you're like, ah, man, you know, I just just got somebody else do some of this cause it's not my area of

expertise. How do I find them? Yeah, no, kind of how did you, how did you kind of come to that? You know, how did you get to that point where you're like, you know what? I just need, it'd be better off. I'd be better off. The company can expand and grow if I have other people kind of helping me. It straight up was our owner telling me

that I needed to hire more help. That's all it was. And I think he gave me a week to figure it out. And the next day I sent him a list and I said, it's all done. So it didn't take me that long to get the help, but I just needed to do it. And it probably would have taken me years to learn the hard way, beat my head into the wall before I took on that help.

But literally, I respect what he has to say and I trust him so much. Once you did that, what did that do for you? It let me focus on things that were more important. Right. I was like leaf blowing parking lots and doing stuff like that because I love doing mindless work that I can just zone out, you know? So for me, I, it made it to where I had to actually deal with things. Like Sean, go home. Yeah. We got a leaf blower guy you're good so it's just it put me where i needed to be for sure well then now you have time to do some fun stuff right you got some uh pretty cool trucks and pretty cool cars and you got a whole shop

going right yep i uh three four years ago i started doing off-road racing and it's got addicted i think about it all the time i two of my big goals is win the Baja 1000 and get my black belt in jiu-jitsu. And so getting my health is important for both those goals. So the racing turned into building cars and having my own shop now and creating another team of people that are at Provost Motorsports

where they're fun to be around. I try not to have anybody in my life that is negative or not contributing in a positive way and not stoked. So being able to start that group and them over-deliver and kill it, it's definitely been fun to, uh, do something different. Do you think that's important for, uh, people that are, you know, trying to, trying to get ahead, people that are trying to be leaders, people that are trying to be entrepreneurs, I think it's important that they have, that they have, you know, something like

this. They have something that they really gravitate towards. It's maybe like a hobby, whether it be like fishing, hunting, you're in in you're into your cars and stuff like that you think it's an important factor i do um i feel like even if you have an amazing job and you're passionate about it and everything's going really good it's you might be limited you might hit a ceiling of what you're capable of or what you can accomplish um I didn't like going on a lot of breaks or vacations. I just, I enjoyed working so much that it's just all I did and having kids and wanting to take them places and create opportunities for my kids. It's, it's refreshed me. It's kind of restarted some brain or some things that I've been struggling with. I'll leave

town and I'll come back and I'll be like, I know what I need to do now. So kind of knowing that I need those breaks or that the racing's an outlet and the building cars is an outlet. To me, it's just so much fun and I'm so passionate about everything that I do that it's easy to not do things that I don't want to do because I have so much amazing stuff in my life

that it's easy decisions to make. Have you always been into cars? Yeah. Yeah. I started off fixing up bicycles when I was young and then it turned into trucks and cars and that's my whole, as soon as I could, I was driving something. I'm sure there's some car nerds listening. So tell us some stuff about these cars. What kind of cars you got so the the the mafia truck which is that blue one right there we finished kind of gangster rap color right there yeah you know that'd be good with the mug that's right the mug yeah oh yeah the shaker cup yeah which i love by the way um theia truck did well in the show scene, and I got invited to go to Japan to the Moon Eyes show,

and it took a month to get it out there. You did a press conference, right? Yeah. You said you were totally unprepared. You didn't know they were going to be so excited, right? Yeah, it was a trip. They were the most gracious, generous, nicest people in the world. They were very enthusiastic about the cars.

They brought two trucks and one car from America to the show. And it's like the Super Bowl of car builders in the car world. And I was able to go. The guys who helped build this truck were incredible. South City Rod and Custom and Joe Capanni. And they've built a lot of amazing cars. And they helped me with this one. They helped me finish it.

And when we got invited to go to this show, it's called the Moon Eye Show, they couldn't believe it. They're like the first year of the first build that we do for you. And we get to go do this. So then coming home, and I like to design. I like the creative part of a build i know what i want it to look like uh the race shop at my house turned into a 12 000 square foot full-on building all kinds of cool stuff and i got a great group of guys that are doing it too so we've built um pretty much everything that we've built so far has been shot for covers and we've been able to meet

all the people in the industry and lots of really cool relationship and friendships have started in the last couple years and done a lot of traveling as well which has been cool and you weren't even trying to you weren't trying to have a business with that no i just fun right yeah i wanted to race um and then i kept having people ask me hey will you build me this car will you build this and i was like i said no for years and then one day i was like man i should start saying yes and i knowing that we can produce something that is going to be more than you expected or blow your mind and and do well um i'm very confident in being able to provide that, especially with the group of guys that I have. So anything is, uh, anything is possible. I'm really good at spending people's

money. It's a good parallel to what you mentioned earlier about the excuses. Cause when I was there, when I went through your shop, um, you were like, yeah, this car over here was sitting in somebody else's shop for six years. And this one was, and they were just like these cars that have just been sitting around other, for some reason, somebody else couldn't figure it out or couldn't get the look that the person wanted. And you're like, yeah,

we're just going to figure it out. Well, I've been through it. You know, I've been that guy that has been taken advantage of, or that didn't get what he paid for, took too long or got lied to. And it got to the point where i found a

few people that i trusted that did good work and then eventually we kind of all came to the conclusion of like why don't we just all come together and do this as as one one shop and being able to offer that to a customer where i can guarantee that it's going to be perfect and it's going to be what you want or more is I went through those bad experiences. And so do so many other people to where to be that shop and that guy, it's really easy to get really good customers that are looking for that. They're not trying to get like a deal or something for nothing. They like know that you have to pay for good work and they're, they're not even tripping about it. Yeah. that boat that you showed us, what the sound system was like over 100K or something, right?

Yeah, there's some wild stereos and lighting and all kinds of stuff that we've been doing. Yeah, we listened to Wrecking Ball. But that worked way better than the rap song, right? It worked, yeah. It was good. It was crazy crazy that was like um just vibrating the whole damn building yeah that one's gnarly yeah it was pretty pretty crazy

at this point do you find that you're uh is there anything you're doing that you don't really actually want to do in terms of like work or just like anything in general you're just doing things that you like to do i for the most part i get to do exactly what I want every day. And I love it. I mean, there's things that come up that suck or that I don't want to do, but having, I talk a lot to our people about having hard conversations because most people don't like those and it's awkward or uncomfortable. It's usually not as bad as you think it's going to be, but if you can be honest and real with someone, especially some of the younger people that i talk to they'll be like 19 20 years old and we'll talk about something and they'll be like nobody's ever said that to me before well what about your parents

and they're like nope and they're like they're things that you need to know or you need to learn or they're going to help you they're going to serve you and it's so weird that i'm i'm privileged and blessed that i can be that guy for them. But it's so crazy that some of the youth is not set up to win with good information sometimes. You have these parents who are either not there or if they are there, they want to be their friend or their homie. They don't want to be their parent. And I feel like I'm like the second step of of parenting where they they come into my world and i and i care about them and i i care about their goals and their health and making good

decisions like we've had some of our kids make super bad decisions to where i want to be protective but i can't control their decision making but at least i can be like hey this is probably a better idea or or i'm i'm try to listen well to where they just want somebody to talk to. A lot of them will be like, man, that was so cool. Thank you for everything you said. And sometimes I'm like, I didn't say anything. Yeah. They just wanted to have somebody that was listening to them. So having, being, being able to be in that spot, I feel very, very blessed to be that guy, even though it might be a hard talk. Yeah. And cause there's probably a lot of like college aged kids listening to this 18, 20, Yeah. And cause there's probably a lot of like college age

kids listening to this 18, 20, 21. And you said you were a criminal justice major, but you didn't end up even going towards that. You ended up doing what you're doing now. So is there any advice that you would have for like a guy or a girl that's in college right now? And they don't, they're doing something and they don't know what, if they actually want to head towards that, is there anything you'd tell them that they should probably be thinking about to help them out? I would try to get some reps in it and see, you know, do some ride-alongs like in that situation or ask good questions or talk to somebody who's been doing it for like 30 years and be like, what do you think? You know, is this, is this something that you would,

you would have my, you know, a blessing on me to do this? I think sometimes the sound or the image or the look of something draws somebody towards it but it might not be genuinely what they want it's a great suggestion because if you you know if somebody wants to be say like a police officer or something and you talk to somebody that's been a cop for a while they're going to tell you a lot of the pros and cons and a lot of these guys and girls have been divorced because the job is so hard and stressful and so you can kind of think to yourself, do I, do I want to be a cop that bad? Do I want to make that decision that could otherwise sacrifice other parts of your life? You know, there's give and take to all of it.

It doesn't matter what job you select. It's going to always be hard, but it's good to know that ahead of time, but just, yeah, trying it out. I feel like most of those, most of those, the age group though, there's something that they have in them or they have a gift or they have some niche that they might be running from or they might not be fully aware of that they're good at it. And going through, you know, having good friends, I think, is a big part of it. You know, having that circle of people who are going to be real with you and be like, you might not be good at that, bro. Some people never hear that and they just go for it. So I think having that truth and that honesty and having a good support system is a big part of it. There's definitely some things on a daily basis that you're abstaining from that you would want to do, like eat a burrito or something like

that, right? Like there's going to be pizza. right? Pizza. Uh, you don't necessarily want to wake up at three to get here at four, but it's the result that you're after. So there are some things that maybe aren't like, it's not all, uh, you're not always, uh, you know, building the next cool car, not always opening up the next Dutch bro stand, right? There's going to be some things you got to sacrifice towards, right? Totally. Um, what, what are you trying to teach your, your kids?. Um, what, what are you trying to teach your, your kids? You know, because, you know, we're talking a little bit about like education and things like that. Um, and some of your kids are in, are in school. Do you really feel that education's real important? Are you on top of them? Like with their homework? I'm sure mom

probably is regardless of what your thoughts are, But are you really into that, or do you kind of think maybe they're going to maybe go more your route where it might be unconventional? I take the approach to give them everything they possibly need to win, and that's boundaries, that's being super honest with them

about things that probably most parents aren't honest with their kids about,'s explaining like the different the different routes of schooling like if my kids want to go to school that's awesome if they don't that's awesome i just want them to have some type of plan and to i want to teach them like real life skills of work and relationships and how you treat people like a lot of times i'll say to them is that acceptable and it's a yes or no answer and they know and i those questions being direct and not giving them lots of outs and i'm i'm like definitely the the looked as like the easy parent and my wife is definitely more of like the structure and you know so i try to i try to support in a lot of those things i definitely want them to have fun and be healthy and learn as much as they can i want i want to push them

off at 18 and be like they're going to be fine and so all these all the reps that we're doing right now with them is paving that way to where when they bounce i know that they're going to be okay and they're going to make good decisions so seeing a lot of 18 to 25 year olds and kind of where they're at, it encourages me to be that guy or be that parent that's like has those hard talks with my kids because some of them are weird and some of it's hard. You know, like I don't sometimes I don't want to teach them about that, but it comes up. So it's like, all right, let's talk about it. So I feel like they're there. They'll come to me with stuff or my wife like all right let's talk about it so i feel like they're they're they'll come to me with stuff or my wife and and be open and honest about it and i don't i want to keep

that going to where they're not being shady or hiding like my five-year-old was lying recently and i'm like are you lying and she's like yes and it's like calling her out you know and being and keeping it real i feel like with our kids if you ain't got nothing to hide and they're aware of that then they don't either and so some of those things might be difficult but they need to get done how do you know when to push them into certain things because i think it's important that the kid that kids try stuff and if you just allow them to kind of just do their own thing a lot of kids will just choose to play video games all day so how do you kind of toe the line there between like you know bringing the hammer down a little bit, forcing them to do

stuff? Uh, how do you work that? They're all, I feel like my kids are very, I don't know. They're, they're smart and, and I don't force them to do things that they don't want to do. I explained to them practice and what it all entails but they uh i i they all do an instrument they all do some type of sport two of them are in jujitsu they is that something you guys made them do or they're no they they just showed an interest in it um some things like my son did soccer he didn't like he doesn't play anymore right so i'm definitely i'm not like jamming things down their throat it's good to push them towards something let them try it and then your belief is to if they don't really enjoy it

then you know let them do their thing totally and it's it's been pretty smooth it hasn't been an issue so i don't it's the same with my kids i was you know jake played baseball for a little while and he was like i don't want to play baseball anymore i was like all right we'll finish out the season because you're on the team and you can't just you know can't just pull out a lot of this thing mid-season like this but uh yeah if you really don't want to play you don't need to play anymore like my uh my son and daughter the older ones they were riding bikes and running and walking fast and my five-year-old does not want to ride a bike. And she just wants to walk or whatever. And my older kids are like, you got to learn how to ride a bike.

And she's like, no, I don't want to. And I'm cool with that too. I'm not like you have to take your training wheels off and do this and do this. I just try to take each kid as their own person and not compare them or be like, well, they did this, so you need to do it. And with the bike thing, I'm like, I don't care. You don't need to ride a bike. You know how to walk. That's cool. Yeah. And eventually they'll probably be cruising down the street on a bike when they're nine or 10. Anyway, totally. It won't, it won't really make any difference. Uh, it sounds like, uh, in Dutch bros, you ended up having a lot

of, uh, great mentors and one of them being the, uh, the person that started the business. Uh, what are some things that you've learned from him? Oh man. Some of the topics over the years have been repetitive of kind of like our values, but they bleed into so many different things. One of my favorite things that Trav says is the magic's in the details. If you look at the details are what set you apart from other things like thinking of your your jiu-jitsu and your approach it's totally different than what other people are doing that are your size but it's a detail that you're that you paid attention to and now you're getting after it so to me like a detail is an edge and a lot of people do as as they might do as as good as they can to get by or do what everyone else is doing.

And with details, it's like cleanliness. It's how you present yourself, your clothes. Is your hair messed up? Do you have good hygiene? You know, there's all these little things that come up where it's like it's details. And to me, that's one that stands out. Another one is our core values are speed quality and service and they all kind of go together you can't just do one really well you have to do all of them so we

have we have enough going on to where it could take my lifetime to improve in all these different things and there's enough on my plate of things that i need to do or that I want to get better at that it's always going. And so a lot of Dutch Bros, things are simple, and it's about taking care of people. It's about giving back to your community. It's about being understanding of things and being there in a bad situation. and being, you know, being there in a bad situation. And so for me, I'm very drawn to being a helper or trying to be, I guess, anything I can do in situations, I want to do it.

And it's contagious. And I learned that from being around all these other people that I get to work with. And so I don't think that there's like this complicated, you know, formula that we have. It's very simple, but it's being simple. It's not complicated. It's not confusing. It's easy to follow. And if you just tell people, be good to people, you know, make their day better, smile, you know, hook them up with a coffee. If they're having a bad day, if something happened, you know,

like there's all these little things that are looked at as not as a not normal, but they should be normal. Like I always have people, thanks for being honest. And I'm like, like there's all these little things that are looked at as not normal, but they should be normal. Like I always have people, thanks for being honest. And I'm like, is everyone else not honest to you? You know, it's just weird that like it's easy to stand out and it's easy to serve and do good because unfortunately there's people that don't. So it's a bummer, but we want to be that guy. We want to spread that light. Coffee's just part of it. You know, our drinks are just part of it. Being able to be like the highlight of someone's day or really listen or really be a part of a conversation and know their dog's name or whatever it is. Those little details mean a lot to our customers and they know that. And it's real. It's not like fake. It's not like robotic. It's very authentic. And we asked all of our people, what do you want from us as a company moving forward? And one of the things they said they loved about us was how authentic we were. And I think if you look at your values and your core values, that's one of ours.

That's pretty cool. I think when it comes to details, you know, I do think it's important, you know, as a kid, you know, you, you have kind of certain beliefs. I used to kind of think like, this doesn't matter. That doesn't matter. But as I got older, I've kind of recognized like, it actually feels good to care about everything, at least a little bit, you know, maybe some things matter more than others. It's going to be a priority list that you have. But yeah, taking a shower, like it matters. It's, it's not necessarily about you, uh, your smell or whatever. It's, it's more about you just taking care of yourself, you doing what you were supposed to do, uh, when you were supposed to do it. And probably when you probably didn't want to do it, you know, those things are really crucial. So, uh, hygiene, um, just as little, just those little tiny details end up making a big difference, I've noticed in the long run.

One thing that's unique about your position, which I think is something that doesn't get talked about enough. So people want to go to these leadership things. They want to learn from like the best. They want to learn from people that have made it to the top. But you can really learn a lot from people that haven't made it anywhere. And so in your line of work and being at a coffee shop, you're going to run into a lot of people that are, they're just kind of starting out like Dutch bros for you. It turned into a career for a lot of people. It's just, it would just be starting out a job. Maybe they don't understand the culture

and it's a little different than working at just any coffee shop, but for the most part, uh, minimum wage, wages type gig. Right. And so when you're dealing with people like you have a unique look at like, uh, what people are doing backwards, like what people are doing wrong. Like, it's great to look at your, your owner of Dutch bros, right? That's awesome to look at him and be like, holy shit, man, he really started something. But look at these people that are failing to like keep their job. And you're trying to, you're trying to lead them. You have mentors in the program. You have, you have everything is set up there. Just like super training gym. Everything is here for you to get stronger. But I've learned some of the most valuable lessons from people that don't get

any stronger from people that aren't pushing it. What are some things that you've learned over the years from people that you've had to let go, people you've had to fire, people that just aren't, they can't figure it out, even though everything's right there for them. That's tough. It's tough because I see one of the things that I'm good at is seeing what people are capable of and what their talents are and like what they can accomplish. And some of the people, they don't know that they don't, they don't believe in themselves enough or they don't have the confidence or whatever. The, the, the, the know how the experience to realize that like they can do great things. And I'm sitting there in their corner, like goal setting and being like, Hey, if you do this, this, and this, you can have this. And they just, they don't see the path. They don't see the, they don't understand that it's worth it. Like all this hard stuff you're going through is worth it. And, and it's, it's heartbreaking to see them make those decisions or not stay on course or kind of settle. I always say don't settle for second best. And I, and I have that approach

with everything that I do. You know, I was looking at trampolines for my kids and i'm like looking at the best trampoline in the world you know what i mean it's like just stuff like that where i i don't settle and so but for a lot of kids they they kind of they look at their peers or what scene they're in and they're like okay well i'm about the same as everyone else that's a pass i'm good like it's almost what do they call that in school when they're like, okay, well, I'm about the same as everyone else. That's a pass. I'm good. Like, it's almost, what do they call that in school when they go off the whole class's grade? Grading on the curve. On the curve, yeah.

I feel like, yeah, I feel like that mentality is. I don't think your microphone's working. Oh, my bad. I barely heard you. Yeah, sorry. It's called grading on a curve. Yeah, I feel like grading on a curve has kind of infiltrated the brains of our society. And it's so stupid.

It's like, why don't you be the best? Or why don't you try harder? Why don't you try for 100%? And if they're like, well, if I get 70, I'm good. And so with our crew, I feel like if I can show them a way that they can see what I see, or I can give them a taste of like, this is what you're capable of. And, and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. What are things that have worked well with people that you have trouble with? And what

are things that haven't worked? Like, you know, some form of micromanagement of some kind is probably always necessary. You got to give somebody, you got to give somebody something and you probably need to check back in with them on that, whatever that something was to see if the work got done. But we know too much micromanagement and you drive somebody insane and then they're not going to be as creative. And there's, there's all kinds of problems with that. So what are some things you learned that have worked well with somebody who's maybe showing up to work a little bit late? Maybe they're just like a little bit off, but you were able to step in and kind of explain things to them in a different way. And now they're on a stronger path.

I'll try to ask good questions. Like, do you like working here? Yes. Do you see that we care about you? Yes. Why aren't you showing up on time then because everything we do decision wise and meeting wise and it's all based around our customers so when what i'm protecting and what my main job is is protecting the customers and then secondly is protecting my

people and setting them up to win so if if somebody messes with the customers, I like get like a warrior mentality where I'm like, you mess with them, you're gone. And it's very black and white for me. I'm not a very emotional person. So those types of decisions are pretty easy for me. You made a mistake with a customer. That's it. Yeah. Yeah. And, and sometimes there's grace. Um, I feel like we definitely err more on the side of grace than we should at times if that's even real uh that's kind of the definition of it right we give a lot of chances we give a lot of coaching we give a lot of like podcasts and books and information and we also some of some of our crew will be like I'll be like hey anybody I'm always available to hang out go to lunch come by

the hangar that's where we're at and some people do they hit me up they're like hey in a month I'm always available to hang out, go to lunch, come by the hangar. That's where we were at. And some people do. They hit me up. They're like, hey, in a month, I'm going to come back and we're going to hang out again. I'm like, cool, let's let's work on this stuff and we'll talk about it. And other ones I don't hear from at all. And some of those people are like the they don't need a pat on the back or they don't need to be seen.

They're just like an under roar of a boat that's just going. And then they just pop up one day and they're ready to kill it. And so I'm surprised a lot by sometimes the person I didn't see coming that's just really good. I went to lunch recently with a – she's 19, and it was two people that want to grow with our company, and she kept bringing up age as an excuse. And she was talking about her family and her brothers in New York

and this clothing thing. And she learned how to work hard and all these things. And I'm like, why are you tripping about your age so much? And it's because that's what she's told. And so it's little things like that. Like, don't trip about that. Just keep doing what you're doing and take care of the customers and love on people. And you're going to have opportunities.

And sometimes it's that easy. and love on people and you're going to have opportunities. And sometimes it's that easy. Other times it's complicated and, you know, people are hiding things or not, not getting where they want to go. And the, if people can be real and honest, I feel like it's faster and easier to get them on track. Does placing some responsibility on somebody, is that, has that helped in the past? Like where you just say, you know, maybe somebody is, maybe they've been working for your company for a few years, but they haven't really, you know, they haven't really kind of gone to that next level yet. If you give them some opportunities to try something a little

harder, you increase the difficulty. Have you seen some changes in people from that? Yeah, it goes through all the ranges. Some people immediately are like, hey, thank you for the opportunity, but I don't have this. Like, I can't do it. Other people are like, they'll learn, they'll grind, they'll ask good questions, they'll figure it out. And then some people are naturals. So I feel like it goes in all those different motions. With coaching and accountability and being like, hey, this is cool, this isn't cool. with coaching and accountability and being like hey this is cool this isn't cool by the time we call we sometimes we call it like loving people out the door and and slow to hire quick to fire

and some of our some of our crew they'll we've worked with them enough where if it comes down to the time where we have to part ways they're like i know thank you this was fun i learned a lot and it's they know that it's not going to work out. But your team's got to be, because you are slow to hire and quick to fire, your team's got to be pretty together. And they're probably like, you probably already know and everybody else probably already knows this guy or girl's not really cutting it, right? And we try to, yeah, we try not to waste their time or ours. Yeah. We try not to waste their time or ours.

And if moving on, we try to tell them a message of like, hey, this didn't work. This is why. Do better. Serve your next job better. Don't do this again. Or the opposite of doing well. So you have a chance to give them kind of like an exit interview. Totally.

Hopefully something they learn from and they don't just tune you out because all they heard was that they're fired, right? And I like those too because that's the time where people will be super real and tell you what's up because they're like i ain't got nothing to lose so i'll use that and be like hey what can we work on what are we what are we screwing up on right now and sometimes we'll get some really cool nuggets out of that where somebody's like well so-and-so is your manager and they don't text me back or they don't do this or they don't do this and it's it's it's very sometimes it could be good information of things that you normally wouldn't have found out about or stuff that you can use to get better.

I think a big thing that people are hearing from this is, you know, when you started out, you had a lot of people around you that you didn't realize until later on that, oh my God, I was around these people. So that helped you to progress. And you also mentioned that a lot of the younger people that work for you, maybe their circle isn't that strong or everyone they're around is going on the curve. They're doing what everybody else is doing. So a big thing is obviously get yourself around better, stronger people that are going to push you forward. But let's say that you can't. You mentioned that sometimes you have your employees read books or podcasts. So for the people that are listening, that maybe they

really don't have anyone that they can get to immediately that can help push them in that right direction. What type of resources or what are some books that you think could really help them out? Oh man. Um, yeah, you read a lot and listen to a lot of podcasts. Yeah. He's always telling me about something. Any book that talks about decision-making, The Slight Edge is one of them, One Minute Manager, the Entree Leadership type stuff like Dave Ramsey books. I don't know. um the i don't know if if you have an iphone or a phone you have you know access to anything yeah and youtube and google like i just i youtube a lot i'll be like how do i do this

and it's amazing what you can learn from that so it's like having great podcasts um i i was just going into certain subjects and doing top 100 podcasts of this subject that I'm into. I think Ed Milet and some of the guests on Joe Rogan. I don't know. There's so many that I listen to that it's hard on the spot to talk about all of them. Basically, it's just trying to feed your brain the information that you desire right the information that you're looking for and you can customize it to what that is yeah it's amazing what would you say was like would be maybe your top two gifted books or suggested books to anybody could be on anything i i really like the slight edge yeah um i really like the go giver um it's yeah the i what who wrote the

outliers book malcolm gladwell yeah i really like that book um i'm i i go through so many of them so fast especially i love audiobooks um i'm super dyslexic so it takes me a long time to read, but I can listen. So I definitely, I ask people a lot, like, what are you into? Like, one I'm about to start reading is The Third Door that I've heard a lot of good things about. That there's always another way, which is something that I'm into. I don't know. I'm drawing blank right now. No, you just answered the question. Yeah, you gave us a lot of good material.

After owning this amount of Dutch brothers and things like that and interacting with so many different people, what becomes the most challenging piece of the puzzle now? Because as the company grows, there'll be more distance between you and the last person that was hired so how do you how do you kind of still try to not have too much distance between that person I really try to stay connected and tight with our managers and regional managers to where because you have a few hundred people right yeah we have over 200 now that's a lot of people and for yeah we're always hiring and growing. Trying to stay connected with the managers and leadership.

They're in it. They're, you know, in working shifts and with the customers and they know what's going on. So a lot of questions I have, I just go to them and I'm like, what do you think about this? And I try to get, and also with like other owners and other operators i i reach out to them as well so i try to find at least five people to ask questions to get as much information as i can with our with our crews though they're they're tight and it's easy to figure things out or or change on the fly or you know what i mean like they they're very adaptable to their situation to where they're cool with change they they want change so if we're if we're trying to update

things or or i'm trying to figure out a better way they're they're very open to figuring out that with us so it's that's not really very hard for for my scene do you have events and things like that you have gatherings where people get together so you can interact and stuff like that yeah we do uh food trucks uh movies uh trampoline or the mojo dojo place you guys got to check that out if you haven't been there uh all kinds of stuff they the really cool thing that i noticed recently was we try to plan these events and get everyone to come hang and we call them like culture hangs or stuff like that but they organically go to food and go to movies and hang out and chill on their own all the time so they have their own like little subcultures of of get togethers that just happen you know it's just like hang out with your friends and then we also host parties and organize things

to where they can come and be a part of stuff that we're doing too so it's it's it's giving them things to do that are just hang out just chill and they and they really like that and you have a like a headquarters and that's uh something that you did on your own it's not uh didn't come down from corporate and it's something that you paid for on your own dime. Is that right? Yeah. We have games and basketball and movie nights and Super Bowl and all kinds of stuff that we do. A giant RV. Yeah. Having Wi-Fi, like a lot of our crew will come down and do homework, you know, and one

time I went out there and these two girls were smoking on the Traeger some meat for lunch for everyone. And I'm like, this is so cool. Like, they're just out here cooking lunch for everyone. So I wanted an atmosphere that was safe, that was fun and positive. And our headquarters in Woodland is that. And it's cool to see our crew use it. That's what it was designed for. And to see people

chilling on the couch, doing their homework and stuff like that is, uh, it's, it's cool to see it actually happening. How do you figure out, um, what's something for you to do as a, as an owner? Like, how do you, how do you figure out what you should step back into sometimes and what you should just kind of like let everyone else run it changes a lot I I try to keep my eye on the future and like what we want to work on um we we revisit things like training or hiring or interviewing or you know growth or you know hangs or whatever to where it's it changes a lot um I just want to make sure that we keep the main thing the main thing and that we don't trip about stuff that isn't a big deal that things stay simple uh

it's easy to get complicated quick and then you got everyone tripping and like where are we going again i really want to keep uh the direction like as smooth possible, and I want it to be like a steady climb, not to where they're sprinting up a mountain, but where they're just climbing and doing something every day. In terms of leadership, what's something you look for in some of these leaders and mentors that you have within the Dutch Brothers stores? I look for their natural, real gifts that they have to offer.

I don't want them to act apart or be a certain way. And when we hire people, we're like, we're hiring you to be yourself because we like you. We look for people that are friends with them or, you know, like some of our crew that performs while we're like, hey, you should tell your friends to come interview too because they're probably cool as well. that performs while we're like, hey, you should tell your friends to come interview too because they're probably cool as well. I really look for people that don't have ego or have pride issues and they're like, I got it all figured out

and my critic on myself is I work too hard. I don't have enough me time or that kind of stuff. I'm quick to figure that kind of stuff out. I don't know. Dealing with customers, we just have had so many reps that our people know if you're legit, if you care for others, if you are a hard worker, all those things. Like Mark was saying before, you know, you've dealt with so many of these individuals that like maybe they've fallen out or they've, they've left the company and you've also probably helped a lot of people

that have gone into leadership positions. So do you think that, or have you seen that individuals that have these qualities inherently, um, obviously they're more likely to move up, but have you ever seen people that didn't have these types of qualities that learned them and that were able to move forward or does that not see enough? Totally. I see that all the time. Usually the grinders, the people that are hard workers, they're the ones that are good listeners. They're going to, if you give them a map, they're going to get to the end of it. Or they're going to, you know, if you give them a goal, they're going to crush it. Especially if we start with like maybe smaller goals and get that momentum built up and then you pitch them a big goal and then they're like they

have that confidence built up through those small ones that they accomplished so i definitely i've seen all both those spectrums of just like natural just leaders and i've also seen people start to surround themselves or look up to their manager or their regional manager and ask good questions and then listen like a lot of our messages is not um it's not super difficult but it's one of those things that happens over time and through experiences and so if they get in enough of those experiences they they know like how to handle that situation better next time and if they do it and they keep improving, then they can reach the same things as well.

You know, it's one thing to get better at something you're already like halfway good at. You have some discipline in some areas. You're mentioning these people that work hard. What about change? Have you really seen some like drastic changes with all the different people you've worked with? Have you seen someone go from being lazy, from not showing up on time, from someone maybe just like not doing stuff that even just vibes with you in general?

Have you seen somebody go from that to making a complete change or is that something you haven't seen? Yeah, I've definitely seen that i've seen people will imitate or want to be like their leader or their circle to where like if we have a manager that like is into gaming a lot of the a lot of the people are into gaming if we have one that's into working out then they're into working out or it could be the opposite if we have one that's into raging and partying they're gonna have a crew that likes to party. So finding those, those leaders and them being legit kind of is a trickle down effect of the, of the crew and those people. So it's, it's a similar to thing as, as your circle and who you're looking up to and who's like,

who's that curve? How are you grading yourself? It's to me that it reminds me of the same thing. How do you, uh, stay, you know, fresh with the information you were mentioning the books and then um uh you were mentioning listening to podcasts and uh what's this uh thing down in san diego about that you have your whole company is basically yeah right we're going to the summit uh entre leadership that dave ramsey's putting on and it has all these amazing authors and business people and leaders and they it's it's a really cool event that they do where you learn tons of information and you got to take notes because you can't take it all in in one day but Dutch Bros is always trying to find that edge or that tool or that thing that is ahead of the curve or coming

to where we're current and with technology and how fast this world's moving and if we don't have the wi-fi fast enough and all those things we're always looking for you know that advantage and being able to bring that back refine it and or or not and then be able to bring that back, refine it and, or, or not, and then be able to give that to our customer base or our crew is it's bigger than just us trying to learn more. You know, it's, it's, what can we give? That's like the best of the best to our people that is going to set them up to win bigger than they would have without that information. Something that you mentioned about this podcast, which i thought was really interesting is you said do you think people are getting it i don't i don't know i don't have the answer to that but when you when you uh suggest uh some of these readings and you uh bring some people to

some of these uh seminars do you feel that this uh younger audience because i think the people that you deal with are pretty young do you feel they're absorbing it they feel they're getting it or is or they're maybe not uh ready for some of the information that they hear i think the people that you deal with are pretty young. Do you feel they're absorbing it? Do you feel they're getting it? Or are they maybe not ready for some of the information that they hear? I think the majority is yes. The majority of them want to. And even if they don't, at least we've sparked a seed or a beginning of like, hey, I've heard about that before. Maybe when I'm older I'll look into it.

Maybe when I grew up, when I'm like 30, I'll start looking into that before. Maybe when I'm older, I'll look into it. Maybe when I, when I grew up, when I'm like 30, I'll, I'll start looking into that stuff. So I just want to be able to give the opportunity or the information and then do what you want with it. Yeah. It's, there's something special about hearing, you know, 50 different people, whether it's writing or podcasting or in seminars, uh, say 50 things that are basically the same thing just said differently. Right. And then you can kind of like nudge people and be just said differently right and then you kind of like nudge people and be like see see totally kind of encourage them on on some of those fronts we have we have a lot of uh uh really cool relationships just in-house with with with owners and with long-term friends like um to where the being honest is like hey what do you

think of this idea and they're like no dude that's dumb or yeah let's do it together it's it's kind of like everyone will support and do something or we won't do it or we'll try it and it didn't work and we'll we'll change it you know so it's like having the courage to do something weird or new or different but also having the smarts to ask enough people or to kind of have a group decision of like, no, that's probably not a good idea. So based with like that information of those types of, you know, podcasts or leaders or people we look up to, and then having a good relationship with people to ask those questions too.

Like, Hey, Gary Vee said this, it's crazy. What do you think? And I'm like, yay or nay, you know, and, and that could change, but it's like, at least, at least we have those types of support system in our corner. For you has, um, cause you picked up jujitsu again recently, right? I heard you mentioned that you did it back in the past and now you're doing it again. What's it been like, uh, picking up something totally new that you're horrible at? Cause I think for me, like, you know, I was doing lifting and I was doing a lot of know, I was doing lifting and I was doing a lot of things that I was fairly decent and comfortable at. I didn't feel the push, but when I

picked up jujitsu and I sucked and I was getting beat all the time, it really shifted my mind in a way. So what's it done for you? Well, it was really humbling just because I'm so out of shape. But the first couple of workouts with Mark, mark i was like i can feel my heart beating again so it's like i went from being you know doing nothing for i was in really good shape to nothing for a long time so the jujitsu was really hard i uh i could barely drive home after class so getting back to having a full you know hour class or whatever and feeling okay like those are some of my goals moving forward is like be able to do well through a whole class to where before like you know i that we did a situational thing where we started with someone's

back and all we had to do was finish it and like that that would normally be no big deal i couldn't i couldn't choke this guy out and i had his back you know what i mean to where it's it's it's hard because you know like in my situation i know what i used to be able to do but it doesn't it's not very relevant right now so i'm i'm baby stepping it and i'm being humble and i'm like i'm starting over basically and so i know that i know what I'm capable of and I know what I could build back up, but I'm, I'm doing it at a slow pace basically. But if it gets me where I want to go, I'm cool. Yeah. You got to talk yourself out of those excuses, right? How have you, uh, talked employees down from excuses? How have you been able to help

them kind of manage maybe the different excuses? You mentioned, I kind of took away some of your excuses. How have you done that for other people? One that's a trip is I'll ask them like, what do you think needs to happen? Or what moves do you need to make to get there? And they already know the answer. And then I'll be like, that's a good idea. And they'll be like, Oh, thank you so much. And I feel like a lot of people know exactly what they need to do. They just need a nudge in the right direction or they need like somebody to be like, yep, you're right. And a lot of times it's not, it's not me coming up with something or, or, or it's very basic or,

or a small change. It's not like something drastic. I've noticed that when you do stuff like that, sometimes the person will even show so much anxiety. Their voice will change and how they talk will change. You say, okay, Mark, what do you think are two things that we can do differently to make this easier? And then I'd go, well, you know, like, cause you're, you means you already thought about it a lot. So you're a

hundred percent right. When you pass the ball back over to them, this is something that's been on their mind a lot. They've already thought about it way more than you thought about it. Cause you didn't even really recognize it. You didn't know what was going on with them internally, but they recognized it at some point and made some notes of it. And they already have a lot of the solutions. People are really smart. And sometimes they just need a reminder of how smart they are. And I it's, it's cool when it happens like that. Um, I, I try to, uh, remind them to have like where they want to go. Cause that's going to affect your decision-making. And I, and I also recommend that it's detailed, you know, like if

I'm, if I'm helping somebody get a car, let's say, or talking about it, I'm like, well, what color do you want? Do you want tinted windows? You want wheels? Do you, I have different analogies that I use with somebody to get detailed as possible. So then that way it affects your decision making moving forward to get where you want to go. Like I want to move out from my parents' house. I'm like, okay, how much money do you need? And then we start breaking down, you know, what it's going to take in a timeline. And then if they can, if they can do, if they agree to it and they do it, then they get there and then they're like, man, I did it. What are we going to do now? And that's addictive. You know, once they, once they accomplish something, they want to do it

again. So obviously like you seem really good at first off helping people goal set and goal setting for yourself. Now you own six locations of Dutch bros. Is there a bigger goal for what you want to be able to do? And do you like, do you have it all set up or is it just like, okay, I want to open another one and another one. As of right now, I have, um, a few more shops that I can open in my area. I have like a territory and I would like to do more than that someday, but I'm at this point, I'm in, I have a great structure and a lot of help. So I'm going to just grow my area out and do the best I can with it and try to, I want to try to create as many operators or as many good people moving on to whatever they're going to do in the future. So as of right now, I have one that I'm working on in the future

and hopefully another one soon. So when that happens and I'm growing out and I've opened up these shops, then I'm just going to go from there. But over the next three or four years, I got a lot on my plate. So I'm not really tripping about that. I feel like the more good help I have, though, the more courage I have to grow and do more. So if I keep getting, um, awesome talent and surround myself with great people, I definitely feel like I can do more than I used to.

Um, how does Dutch brothers as a company stay on point? I'd imagine they've been around for about 15, 20 years, something like that, right? Yeah. We started in 92. Okay. So they've been around for a while. So how do you get back to the basics whenever something gets out of whack? They have a motto or you guys have a company thing that you rely on to get back to? Yeah, we have the Dutch Creed is a big part of our roots

and our foundation, which covers a bunch of different topics. It's like a poem. That was written on the wall at your headquarters, right? Yeah, yeah. of our roots and our foundation um which covers a bunch of different topics it's like a poem um that was written on the wall at your headquarters yeah yeah that's what i saw yeah um there there's a lot of people involved in the company that have been involved for a long time and we kind of look at it as like i look at them as like people who are fighting a good fight to keep our true north to keep our values in check to make sure that the main thing stays the main thing and our leadership from the top is just so off the hook with people who care a lot people who make good decisions that there's a lot of there's a lot of

that trickle down into the into everyone else so. So as long as our leadership is on point and stays where we're at and stays in our lane and, and keeps being weird and different and kind of playing in that gray area of, of business and taking care of our customers, it's, it's just going to keep growing. You know, as long as the decisions are good, it's going to be hard to slow us down. You see a lot of stuff on social media about entrepreneurship and what are some, uh, what are some things that you think maybe some areas maybe where you think people might be going wrong or maybe misinterpretations of, uh, even like, you know, some people might think, uh, that it's easier or, you know,

what are some misinterpretations of some of the things that are going on today? A big one that I see is everyone thinks it's fast or that they can cut some corner or they can trick someone or it's the time is there and it's real. And you gotta, you gotta put in the work for a while and having things be like, all right, I'm investing this now, but I'm not going to see it for 10 years. Um, we live in this space where everyone wants it now, you know, like if we got Amazon, we have, you know, all these things that are fingertips where it's very, uh, self-gratifying and it's very, very fast. So something being slow is not normal. And for especially the youth and let's say 15 to 25, for them to realize that this is going to take a while. But if they study the course and they change their approach, if it needs to be changed and keep going after their target, you're going to get there.

That's why we do a lot of goal setting with like easy stuff first, just to build that momentum. And then once they get that momentum going, they can, they can keep it. But the whole time thing is a big trick, I think, to a lot of people where they think that like some pyramid scam or, you know, some, some good, like it's such a good deal that it's crazy. It's like, it's probably not that good of a deal or if it's not something that's going to really pay you back. Yeah. It's, um, like stay in the course is a hard thing for people to do because they're going to want to, it's, it's, uh, so somebody might be good in one spot. Like, let's just say they're good at social media and then they want to like partner with somebody. Right. It's like, well, all right, well, you just divided up whatever profits you were going to make by 50%, right?

And it's easy to kind of think about, it's easy to start counting up these dollars when you think this idea is good and that you're going to get in business with somebody else. But I think what you're saying is a hundred percent accurate is people think that it's going to happen really fast. And they also think that they can kind of pass off the buck. They can pass off the work. And the only people that can really do that are people that have already executed business really well. So you, where you're at now, you could do that with a different business and you could open up some other, other things and you could figure it out. You figure out some

shortcuts just because you've already paid your dues. You've already navigated those waters. But I see a lot of people doing that. They think that this thing's going to be a great idea and this thing's going to, you know, really be great. And then three months, eight months, two years down the road, they're not with that company anymore. They're not doing the same thing anymore. And I was excited about it because now it's got chewed up because they took on loans or took on a partner or something like that. I myself have never taken any loans, never, you know, never had a partner in anything other than Andy and I, much like you and your wife, I'm sure.

How about for yourself? Have you had to take on like loans and different things like that? Opening up a store is a much different thing than what I was doing it than what I did you know yeah I'm definitely good at taking on loans but it's similar as you with me and my wife yeah same yeah you haven't added uh partners and you haven't I'm sure you've also have probably been thrown a lot of opportunities probably been a lot of opportunities thrown your way to go towards something but you probably have have you've had opportunities come your way like i've andy and i've had a lot of different things come our way and we're always like

that doesn't that doesn't follow the path that we're on totally with with my with my like world and uh with dutch bros and the growth and everything that i have going on it's been easy just to keep that the main thing and to focus on on that just because there's just there's so much of it and there's so much opportunity that i i've i've dabbled in some stuff on the side before and like back in the day we were going to this crossfit gym and it was going out of business so we bought it and i i knew right away that it was something i wasn't passionate about it and it was convenient and we worked out there. And so being able to sell that and have somebody in there that is passionate about it and is going to do a good job with it.

And realizing that I didn't have time for it, I feel like was a big learning lesson for me to be like really think about is this something that has a good return is it something that i have time to do and usually it's a quick like no i don't have time and that keeps me kind of in the direction that i need to be going in um the the the whole reason the shop works so well with building cars is because i i got great guys and the and the guy who runs it has been doing this scene for a long time and he's trustworthy and he's doing a good job to where I can just show up and be like, how's it going today? And then bounce. So I don't like have to put in time there. I don't have to be there. I'll stop by if I want to. So I know that that's a successful formula for me. I don't have,

I can't put 40 hours a week there. So like, I'll stop by and say, what's up. And, and with Dutch Bros is definitely more of like, you know, I'm, that's the main part of my time. Right. Are you a numbers guy? Are you kind of looking at, you know, your, uh, your costs and looking at your profits and things like that? I'm getting better at that. I definitely didn't. Um, as long as I had enough money to pay all the bills, I was cool. Um, but over over the years I've I've really looked at that more and been like what's a healthy you know payroll percentage you know what's this what's that and really having people in my world that do Dutch Bros to be like hey that's kind of high bro and I'll be like what I thought I was doing good and being able to use their ideas their tools or

their you know excel spreadsheets or whatever I've I've just recently become a lot better at that because I knew it was a hole in my game. And with assets and growth and properties and all these things that are part of growing, you have to know that stuff. You can't just wing it all the time. it all the time. And so knowing where I stand and knowing like what, what we were capable of next year and planning it out better, I used to just try to get whatever opportunity I could. And now it's a little bit more, um, planned out and strategic than it used to be. With all your, like, cause you went to school for criminal justice. You have a lot of business knowledge. Is this just like all experience of working at Dutch Bros and mentorship? Is that literally where it came from?

A big part of it and just doing it, you know, being in the thick of it and having really good people to ask questions. I just recently, I was talking to my uncle a while back about that I didn't like to read. I thought it was a waste of time. And he's a professor and he's super smart. And he's like, I feel the opposite. Like if I'm not reading i'm i'm wasting time and i really um there's so many people who have done things so well and wrote about it and and the the information's at our fingertips so i felt like i was tripping that i wasn't reading and i wasn't podcasting and i wasn't learning and so a few years ago when i

really took that more seriously and started carving out time to learn and to learn about things that i wanted to learn about um it definitely just stuck and i i really try to convey to people that like there's this negative thing about leadership stuff and that they're like oh well that's not for me or that doesn't work really though if you can just take one thing from it you know and and it, you're going to see value in it. It doesn't mean you have to agree with the person or that 10 things they shared were all amazing. But there's always going to be something that you can take away. And that's what I'm after. And that's what I try to get our people to do as well.

But, yeah, and then just having amazing people from the top, you know, like where I don't have to learn the hard way all the time. I can just listen. And that's easy for me. Yeah, we're an amazing time where you can basically educate yourself anytime you want, you know, through listening to YouTube. I talk about it many times in this podcast. My car is a classroom. You know, I have something playing on all the time. Even sometimes when my kids are in there, Jake's like, what the hell are you listening to?

Listen to somebody talking about success or whatever it might be. But that's helped me a lot. You know, I, my education didn't start until I was basically about 30 years old, you know, because I had a rough go of it in school. And then I just, anything I ever really learned other than that was like in the gym. And then once I decided at some point, uh, maybe I'm not as dumb as I thought, maybe I should, uh, try to educate myself and learn more. Um, it was probably about 30 years old and I haven't stopped since that time. It's, you know, I'm always like, I always got my headphones on or I'm always listening to something, always trying to gather information. And then probably the most important thing is just figure out, um, you were mentioning maybe,

you know, some people not having access to people, but I think that that's an excuse. You have to fit, you have to figure that out. You have to, you have to drive somewhere, you have to go somewhere, you have to, um, you know, somebody that's working for you right now, you know, they should, they should hit you up and say, I want to take you to lunch. You know, I've heard you say that before. Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah. They should, you know, because they're just going to learn. So it's not about the money. It's not about them, you know, buying you an $8 sandwich or whatever, and you're only supposed to eat the meat. But, uh, it's, uh, it's more about, you know, what the opportunity that they have, you know,

they could really grow from that. And it's important to try to figure out, like I went, you know, to Columbus, Ohio to learn from Louie Simmons. You know, I spent a year out there and you just, it's very important that you make some of these decisions in your life to just figure out a way to make it work. Just figure out a way to make it happen. I didn't have any money at the time. It's just something that I just went and did. And, um, you know, my wife, uh, I remember she came home from work and there I was like watching these like Louie Simmons DVDs. She came home from work. I had these like books out. She came home from work, like, and I didn't have, I didn't have a job at the time. Uh, the only job I have, well, I have just a bouncer, so I didn't have much going on, but I remember her coming home one day and she's like, can you just turn the shit off? Cause I had like these Dave Tate seminars on, you know, just playing nonstop. She's like, is it ever going to end? I'm like, no, I was like, I don't know. I'm obsessed with

this stuff. I don't know why, but you know, it's going to end? I'm like, no. I was like, I don't know. I'm obsessed with this stuff. I don't know why. But, you know, it's going to, it'll turn into something. And you mentioned when I met you long ago, you're like, I don't really know exactly what this will turn into, but I think it's going to pay off in about five years. It's pretty awesome. You know, you got to just hang in there. What you got, Andrew? I guess along the same lines, like, so you have six different stores. You have four kids. Essentially, you have 10 kids that need your attention all the time.

How long did it take to really develop the capacity to, like, deal with everything? Because I'm listening to this and I'm just like, dude, I have, you know, I have one kid every other week because we share custody. And I'm trying to keep up here. I'm just like, dude, there's not enough time in the day and I have one kid every other week because we share custody and I'm trying to keep up here. I'm just like, dude, there's not enough time in the day and I have one kid. So when I'm hearing you tackle all of this at once, I'm just like freaking out. Just like, dude, oh shit, am I ever going to get there? Like, you know, like, so like how long did it take for you to like, I guess, just not feel like you're running around in circles 24 seven. My wife, for sure. She handles business and she runs the house and takes care

of the kids and just kills it. And as I mean, you think of four kids like that's pretty heavy. That's a lot going on. But doing the best with what I have as far as like baby steps, like we had one at a time, you know, and the older ones helping with the younger ones and it's a team effort. And I feel like God gives me what I can handle and what I can do good with. And then I do the best I can with whatever that is, whether it's something small. And so doing well with small stuff, I feel like, is just the path to more. And if you can't handle one thing, then it might be sketchy to add more to that. Yeah.

So a big part of it is my wife just hitting home runs all the time. But it is something you kind of grew into. Totally. Like if all this was placed upon you eight years ago yeah crash and burn totally like if you look at i started with seven people on my crew and now we have over 200 and it's going to be over 300 soon but i could i could run and manage seven people really well and i was i was it was tight it was it was fun we did it together like we started together and all those things like i still have one of my original crew working for me now so it's like having those experiences is uh is like the baby steps you know like i i definitely it took a long time to get where we're at but i had great people

to help along the way do you uh do dishes or laundry no neither of i've never touched any of that stuff i actually i actually tried to do something with the dishwasher like a couple months ago and i broke it and now every time andy does the dishes i gotta hear about it she's like you broke this thing and i'm like i know i'm like i don't know what i'm doing you did it on purpose didn didn't you? Pretty much. It's a good strategy though. Yeah. Like I promise I tried with the dishwasher, the washer machine, now the dryer. They just keep breaking all around me. We never let you touch it.

Yeah. Well, and then you said your first Dutch Brothers in Woodland was the biggest one? It was the most expensive one. It probably was one of the biggest ones at the time as well. I'm asking because the one i remember was the tiny little shack right there next to the gas station on main street well that's where blockbuster used to be uh hollywood video yeah yeah so that's why i was like damn really that was the most expensive one but it was a different one it was the one in front of

orchard supply okay i know okay i got you now yeah yeah i was i grew up in woodland so i'm very familiar with all that um yeah but you like i said handling the kids uh casey right here he's i don't i don't know how many kids he has um 15 five that he knows of there you go and then you know my brother-in-law he's got four kids and he runs his own business as well so like I look up to you guys more so than like any of the athletes that we've had here so I just appreciate you opening up and sharing everything you know today because like I said I'm trying to expand our roster at home too

and it just it terrifies me thinking like oh my god this is the roster yeah don't be scared hey now at another yeah not anything how do you manage your time make sure you know make Don't be scared. Hey now. Add another, yeah. How do you manage your time? Make sure that the wife is getting enough attention and make sure the kids are getting enough attention

because having that amount of kids, I think it's valuable to do stuff as a family and then it's also valuable to get a little one-on-one time with them and stuff. So how do you work out some of that stuff? I try to be home by a certain time. I try to get a little one-on-one time with them and stuff so how do you work out some of that stuff i try to be home by a certain time i try to get off by five i it's it's crazy too because every like every part of what i do is like attractive so it's like i don't want to like i'm not like oh work sucks i'm gonna go home or you know or or I don't want to go home cause my family sucks. It's like,

I have to like, just set those timelines and those guidelines. If they studied, um, stuff in Washington DC for school. So we went out there for 10 days and did a field trip. So if I do like turn off like work world and, uh, or, or, or whatever you want to call it, it's hard to call it work for me. But with the kids, if there's an opportunity to go to Disneyland or whatever it is, I want to try to do that fully. And I'm trying to get better about not being on my phone all the time and not overbooking myself or things to where I really am trying to aim towards having more freedom in anything. To where like if you're like, hey, we're going to go somewhere today.

I'm like, all right, let's go. And I know that everything's not going to skip a beat with my scene because of the talent of the group that I have that are helping me. So with the kids, especially, and my wife, I want to be like, I booked out. For the first time, I wrote my schedule out from now to the end of the year. And I was like tripping out. I'm like, through December, have stuff. And before, I was kind of going month by month. And I had too much going on or not enough, not enough breaks or whatever.

And the planning part of it, I see a lot of value in. I used to book three things at the same time. and I was always just hopeful that the other two would fall, fall apart and then one thing would happen. And it usually worked out that way, but it doesn't work out that way anymore. I'm trying to get away from that lifestyle. So yeah, I, uh, I really like the, the grinding and, and what we've been doing for a long time. I really want that to equal having a lot of freedom and being able to go to concerts or randomly just bounce and do stuff it's hard to have the energy you know i think that's the thing is like uh it's okay to kind of like you

set a schedule and you look at the time and you're like okay well that gets me home at five like that's normal but then if you got your ass kicked that day, like it was a really tough, really tough day, then like you being home is like not, uh, as valuable, you know? So trying to, so people are listening to this, you know, it's important that you maybe just have some days, um, you get, you need to recover. You need to have some days with just like lifting. Um, obviously with work, you can't just periodically just take a day off if you're kind of in the, in the mix of it. But that's when you can utilize the weekends to your advantage or whatever, whatever days or times off that you have. Because I think, you know, I've done that before where I schedule a lot of stuff and then I get home and it's like,

I don't really have time to like really do much with my kids. I'm like dead, you know? like, I don't really have time to like really do much with my kids. I'm like dead, you know? So over the years I've learned and, uh, that's gotten to be a lot better. Anything else? All right. Well, that was, uh, that was awesome, man. I really appreciate you coming on the show and it's been fun working out with you the last couple of weeks since we've known each other for a long time, I think I'll turn it over to you if you have any questions for me or any questions for Nsema, who's been banging on that jiu-jitsu lately. I want to roll someday when I'm ready. Oh, yeah, I was going to say. I'll be the referee.

Yeah, we've got to choke each other out sometimes. Yeah, that'd be great. I just have to say how grateful I am for relationships and opportunities and my health. Um, being able, I'm very grateful to you to help me with my back. And this place is amazing. And what you offer your people and the world to come live for free.

And, um, I just think it's awesome. And I feel like, um, it's so cool how things work out and how relationships are and and i just i never take anything for granted and i know you don't either and i'm excited for the future and just um thank you for having me yeah we haven't talked like we haven't

really hung out or talked in years but he was listening to the podcast and then uh was it uh wayne or wade wayne wayne shout out to our boy wayne um i was just uh in davis and i was filming a something for instagram story or something i was talking about being outside of phil's and then he showed up he's like what's up man I haven't seen him in forever and uh then he kind of got you and I kind of reunited again so yeah it is great to have you back in my life and it's good to have you around and it's um it's fun to train with you in the morning and it's fun to it's fun to just be around somebody else that uh just knows bullshit when he sees it you know knows excuses when he sees it, knows excuses when he sees it.

And so it's fun trying to, it's fun trying to mentor somebody that mentors so many other people. So it's a cool opportunity for me too. All right, strength is never weak. This weakness is never strength. Catch you guys later.