The argument in one line.
Mental toughness is the foundational skill that separates successful people from everyone else because success is determined not by knowing what to do but by the ability to execute at the highest level even when you don't feel like it.
Read if. Skip if.
READ IF YOU ARE…
- An entrepreneur who has achieved early financial success but feels the urgency draining out and wants a framework for manufacturing intensity after the existential stakes are gone.
- A business owner actively figuring out how to integrate AI into back-end operations without hollowing out the culture and human-forward elements that made the business work.
- Someone drawn to the 75 Hard program who wants to understand the philosophy behind it directly from the founder rather than secondhand summaries.
- A founder or operator who believes ethical culture inside a business is a lever for broader societal change and wants that conviction sharpened by two people still actively building.
SKIP IF…
- You are looking for tactical AI implementation advice — the AI discussion is philosophical and high-level, not a how-to for specific tools or workflows.
- You want data-driven performance science; this is an unscripted experiential conversation between two practitioners, not an evidence-based breakdown of elite performance research.
The full version, fast.
Sustained elite performance is a duty, not an achievement � the obligation to keep pursuing your expanding potential because casual effort cannot build anything real. The mechanism is twofold: treat intensity as a controllable weapon by manufacturing zero-options urgency even after you've won, and develop mental toughness as the master skill that contains discipline, perseverance, and grit, since most people fail not from bad plans but from inability to adhere to one. Apply this by integrating AI into back-end systems to cut administrative waste while equipping forward-facing humans to deliver the connection technology cannot, by competing on the days you don't feel like it, and by treating discipline as a perishable skill that requires consistent reps to stay sharp.
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01:32hostEd Mylett
01:32guestAndy Frisella
Where the time goes.
00:00 – 01:32
01 · Cold open + intro
Andy mid-sentence on potential and duty — then Ed Mylett brand card, then full intro in the car room.
01:32 – 09:00
02 · Success = pursuing true potential
Andy redefines success: not an arrival state but a commitment to the pursuit. Potential expands as you grow — you can never actually hit it. Why stopping is leaving potential on the table.
09:00 – 17:00
03 · Duty, not commitment
Why Andy uses the word 'duty' — obligation to honor sacrifice, inspiring the next generation by continuing to go hard after you've already won.
17:00 – 29:00
04 · Origin story: broke, obsessed with cars, hustler kid
Andy's dad and the Lamborghini Countach. Learning to not begrudge other people's success. Building people skills intentionally — the grocery store game: three real conversations with strangers before going home.
29:00 – 36:00
05 · Vision as a trained skill
Ed calls Andy the most visionary person he knows. Andy pushes back: it's pattern recognition from 27 years of watching decisions play out, not a gift.
36:00 – 45:00
06 · Running hot: intensity as a weapon
There's a frequency to successful people. Andy went from bull-in-a-china-shop to strategic intensity deployment. Ed's rule: always easier to dial someone back than dial them up.
45:00 – 53:00
07 · Zero options mentality
How to manufacture the urgency of your broke days after you've made it. Andy tricks himself: 'You don't have a degree, you'll be digging ditches.' Shows up 7 days a week thinking the company is going out of business.
53:00 – 57:00
08 · Near-death urgency — the stabbing
Andy got stabbed in the face and nearly died. That plus not making it in his sport wired a different kind of urgency into him. Can't manufacture what real hardship gives you.
57:00 – 1:00:00
09 · AI strategy: weapon not replacement
Andy's positioning: automate the back end, equip human-facing teams with AI tools. People are disenfranchised with technology and craving human connection — that vacuum can't be filled by AI.
1:00:00 – 1:01:14
10 · Ethical entrepreneurship + 75 Hard origin
Entrepreneurs fix culture from the inside out. 75 Hard: mental toughness is the master skill beneath all success skills. Discipline is perishable — you must practice it like a musical instrument.
Lines worth screenshotting.
- Success defined as the pursuit of one's true potential is a self-expanding target — every new skill and relationship increases the potential you are leaving unfulfilled.
- The feeling of 'not having made it' is not a dysfunction in elite performers; it is the cognitive mechanism that prevents plateauing after early wins.
- Intensity is systematically underestimated by the entrepreneurial community, and its absence is one of the most common hidden causes of stalled growth.
- Companies that integrate AI into back-end systems while training forward-facing humans to use those tools are the ones positioned to win the next decade.
- Excellent business culture is not contained within the company — it exports through employees into households and communities.
- 75 Hard exists as a protocol because mental toughness cannot be built through conversation or insight; it requires sustained physical evidence of follow-through.
- Duty is a stronger operating motivation than commitment because it implies obligation to something larger than personal benefit.
- Robots can eliminate labor cost but cannot propagate ethical culture — that transfer still requires human operators embedded in the organization.
- The ambitious person's drive to create something great is not just personal ambition; it is the mechanism by which functioning civilizations self-repair.
- Defining success as a fixed achievement level produces the conditions for losing it — the moment you feel you've arrived, the intensity that built it starts to erode.
- Making it to a 'former president's home' level of success while still feeling unfulfilled is not a failure of gratitude but evidence that the potential-expansion model is working.
- The right AI integration question is not 'what can we automate?' but 'what do our forward-facing humans need to be equipped with so the human layer wins?'
The room is the format.
Podcast production playbook
Two people who are still in the game, in a private room, letting you listen in — that's a format that 10,000 podcasters wish they had but can't fake.
- The setting isn't incidental — Andy's car collection room signals status and intimacy simultaneously. Find your equivalent.
- Ed's framing ('we normally talk about this in private') makes the listener feel like a privileged third party, not an audience.
- They promote Arete Syndicate for the first time in 4 years, in passing, with genuine reluctance — that's the most effective CTA possible.
- The cold-open clip before the intro rolls is doing real work: it front-loads the best line before anyone can click away.
- Two frameworks worth stealing for your own content: Zero Options Mentality and 'discipline is a perishable skill.'
Terms worth knowing.
- Arete Syndicate
- A high-ticket business coaching and mastermind program co-founded by the two speakers, aimed at helping small, medium, and large business owners grow their companies through direct mentorship from active operators.
- 75 Hard
- A free mental toughness program requiring 75 consecutive days of strict daily tasks including two workouts, a diet, water intake, reading, and a progress photo, with no substitutions or missed days allowed.
- Live Hard
- A broader mental toughness framework that extends the 75 Hard program into a year-long structured progression of phases designed to build and maintain discipline as a perishable skill.
- First Form
- A sports nutrition and supplement company known for direct-to-consumer sales and a strong internal sales culture, used here as an example of a human-driven business operation.
- Form Energy
- An energy drink brand backed by major partners, referenced as one of the fastest-growing entrants in the beverage category.
- MF CEO
- An earlier business and mindset podcast that preceded the host's current show, often cited as a foundational body of free entrepreneurship content.
- Real AF
- A long-running podcast covering business, politics, and culture, used here as an example of the speaker's ongoing free content output.
- Zero options mentality
- A mindset of operating as if failure means total loss, deliberately maintained even after achieving wealth in order to preserve the urgency that drove early success.
- Body (in hiring)
- Industry shorthand for an employee hired primarily to execute repetitive administrative tasks rather than provide strategic value, often the first role displaced by automation.
- Ad funnel
- A structured sequence of paid ads and landing pages designed to move a stranger from first click to paying customer, commonly taught in online marketing courses.
- BYOK
- Bring Your Own Key — a software pricing model where the user supplies their own API credentials for third-party AI services, paying those providers directly instead of through the app vendor.
Things they pointed at.
Lines you could clip.
37:00
“There's nothing casual about winning. Absolutely nothing casual about winning.”
44:00
“I go to work every single day thinking we're gonna go out of business even if it's not true.”
1:01:00
“The reason most people can't get in shape and stay there is because they think it's a physical thing when it's a mental thing.”
1:00:30
“You can't fix culture with robots.”
Where the conversation goes.
01:32 – 09:00denseSuccess redefined as pursuit of potential
09:00 – 17:00denseDuty, sacrifice, inspiring next generation
17:00 – 29:00steadyOrigin story + people skills
29:00 – 36:00steadyVision as pattern recognition
36:00 – 45:00denseIntensity and running hot
45:00 – 53:00denseZero options mentality
53:00 – 57:00steadyNear-death urgency
57:00 – 1:00:00denseAI strategy for entrepreneurs
1:00:00 – 1:01:14denseEthical entrepreneurship + 75 Hard + mental toughness
Word for word.
metaphor
00:00As you push down the path of winning and and success, you're gaining new potential. You're gaining new new skills.
00:08You're learning. You're becoming more effective. So when I think of, like, the sacrifice that all these men have made over the centuries of America, I think that we have a duty to honor those sacrifices
00:22with what we do with that freedom and what we do with that ability and skill. I think people underestimate the level of intensity
00:31you have to bring to making something great happen in your life. No doubt. I think it's I think it's one of the biggest things.
00:37I think it's one of the biggest problems in the entrepreneurial landscape right now. I think you integrate AI into your back end systems to make them function as quickly as possible to eliminate the labor cost, but also increase the efficiencies quicker, faster, instant things. And then equip your forward facing human force to be very good with those tools.
00:57Mhmm. And that's where I think the companies that are gonna win are are gonna win big. That if we're gonna fix this country and fix what's going on, I believe it comes from the entrepreneurs.
01:07And ethical entrepreneurs. Ethical entrepreneurs that set ethical culture around the things that matter inside their business.
01:14The employees take that culture home into their households and spreads through their communities. So if you have excellent culture inside of your business, you're in you're you're by default correcting culture inside the world.
01:27Right? You can't do that with robots.
01:30Andy, that's being said nowhere. Yeah.
01:39Welcome back to the show, everybody. So today is something that you all ask for about once a year, and I'm super blessed to be able to do it. I'm sitting in what is the most impressive room I've ever sat into my life, and I'm fortunate enough that I've been in this room many, many times.
01:53The greatest car collection I've ever seen in my life sits in this room, but also like the greatest dude sits in here with me every time. So usually, this guy and I sit in here, smoke some cigars, and talk about life and business, and we decided today we're gonna record it so you guys can listen in. Yeah.
02:07And, uh, this is one of my great friends in my life. He's like a a young brother to me. I've learned so much from him.
02:12I'm very proud of him. And, uh, he makes a difference in the world, you guys. He's making a huge difference in the world.
02:18He speaks his mind, which I know he'll do again today. And we're just gonna talk about business because you guys all wanna lean in and know what we talk about every single day. He's my partner in the Aarte Syndicate, which we have the greatest business coaching program together in the world.
02:31He's the founder of FirstForm. He's the founder of Form Energy. And not all of you might know this.
02:35You know? He also is the founder of seventy five Hard, which has been the greatest mental toughness movement on planet Earth the last five to seven years. So his name is Andy Frisella.
02:44Andy, welcome back to the show. Thank you, bro. It's awesome to have you here, man.
02:47Great to have you. Yeah. I appreciate all the kind words, and you know they're reciprocated.
02:51Thank you, brother. I know that. So it's interesting.
02:54We're sitting in this room. I won't give you the number everybody of what the car collection's worth. It's a former president's home you live in.
03:00It's a pretty darn nice place. And every time I come here, I get my vision stretched a little bit. I think people would be surprised about our private conversations.
03:07And so you're founded, you know, right now, the fastest growing energy drink in the world, the biggest movement online in the last five years, like I said. And first form is this behemoth in the industry and well and growing. Yet, you don't feel successful.
03:22And it and it's actually sincere. I mean, I don't think you think you're broke, but No.
03:26In your own mind and I think this is a recipe that people need to learn. Like, you truly, as we sit here, don't feel like you've made it.
03:34Why is that? And what's that mindset like? You
03:38know, how I look at it is a little bit different, and I think most people look at it. You know? I'm I'm 46 now.
03:47Done done a few things. Mhmm. Right?
03:50But that's maybe half my life or half my potential. Mhmm. Right?
03:54And I feel like a lot of people, they get to a certain level and they start to feel like they're there. And I've just seen so many people get to that point Mhmm.
04:04And lose it Mhmm. That that I just I just stopped looking at it the way that most people look at it.
04:12I I look at it differently. You know? When I define what I think success is, I believe it's the commitment to one's true potential Mhmm.
04:22To the pursuit of one's true potential. Okay? So and what that means to me is that as you push down the path of winning and and success, you're gaining new potential.
04:35You're gaining new new skills. You're learning. You're becoming more effective.
04:40And if you were to just stop, then you're . Mhmm.
04:46And so if we're talking about, like, what success really is, it evolves over time. You know, what success was to me on the first day of my entrepreneurial journey Mhmm.
04:59Is not what it is now, and that's not what it's gonna be in five years from now. And so I just believe that when you think about it the way that I think about it and you think about, like, pursuing your own true potential, what what that means is is that as you go down the path, your potential is expanding on the back end.
05:20Really good. Right? Because you've learned new skills.
05:22You've had new experiences. You've made new relationships. You have different resources.
05:25And, um, what that ultimately means, unfortunately, is that, you know, you can never hit your true potential.
05:32Right. Because eventually, you're limited by time. Mhmm.
05:34Right? We're gonna die. Mhmm.
05:36So how I define success is just simply pursuing that knowing that you're always gonna leave things on the table, but you have a duty to become the best version of yourself if not just for yourself and your family, for everybody else to see.
05:55You always say that word duty.
05:57Why is that the word you use instead of, you know, like, commitment or whatever? You call it like a like, it's something deeper than that to you. Yeah.
06:04I I think
06:07I think it is a duty. You know? When I think of, like
06:10Meaning, like, because you've been so blessed to live in this country or whatever it is that you No. I look at it like this. Okay?
06:17For it does have something to do with our country. Mhmm. But
06:22for you when we think about, like, what creates a stable functioning, high functioning civilization, it comes from ambitious men.
06:34It comes from ambitious people. It comes from people who have big dreams, big goals, who are willing to go down that path with no guarantee to create something special, something great that inspires other people to do the same.
06:48Mhmm. And eventually, when you get you know, you can't understand this when you don't have anything.
06:53You know, when you're first starting out, you're like, man, I'm eating ramen. It's hard to think about other people when you're eating ramen. That's true.
07:00Right? But as you start to win and as you start to grow and as you start to, you know, accumulate things and, you know, all these things that people think success is, you start to realize that there's not a whole lot fulfillment in those things.
07:14You can enjoy them Mhmm. But they're it's not really a fulfilling thing, so to speak.
07:19Yep. And, you know, for me, uh, my dad's father, they never met.
07:26So my dad's dad was killed. Uh, he stormed Normandy.
07:31And then he was killed six months later in World War two. And and grandma was pregnant with my dad.
07:38So my dad never met his dad. And he died when he was like 20 years old. So when I think of, like, the sacrifice that all these men have made over the centuries of America, I think that we have a duty to honor those sacrifices with what we do with that freedom and what we do with that ability and skill.
08:07And so that's part of it. That's good. Okay?
08:09And then the other part is, you know, people are so shy and so ashamed in a way of being successful that they keep it to themselves.
08:18Yeah. That's true. Doesn't do anything good for anybody else.
08:22Because the truth of the matter is is that if we want a high functioning, high drive, uh, high character driven, ambitious, successful America, the American dream.
08:34If we want that, we have to understand that at some point, we're responsible for inspiring that example in the younger generations. So when I if I were to just stop and say, oh, here I am. I'm a rich guy.
08:49That's that's you know, they'll probably inspire some people. Right? They wanna get some stuff.
08:54But when they can observe someone who they deem to be successful, continuing to go hard, continuing to try and push, continuing to try and elevate, I think that that's much a a much better example to set.
09:08Yeah. And so and then so those are two parts.
09:11And the third part is, dude, like, I'm just wired for it, bro. Yeah.
09:15You know what I mean? Like, I I enjoy I enjoy
09:22inspiring young people. I love when I drive one of my cars to the gas station and the little dudes are like, oh, man. It's so cool.
09:28Yep. Like, I love that. Yeah.
09:30So I know you do. I think it's by by the way, was thinking about it. It's probably if we go back, it's been a while now.
09:35It's probably why we founded Aarte Syndicate. I mean, we both wanted to pay it forward. We both wanted to grab people back at a stage we were at at one time and bring them forward.
09:44But I've been with you. I want everybody to go back a little bit. I've been with you down that dirt road that you grew up on.
09:52Yeah. How far away from here is that? Ten minutes.
09:55Ten minutes away. Yeah. And I've been down there.
09:57I looked at the home you grew up in. We've actually met one of your neighbors that remembered you when you're a little boy. Yeah.
10:01And so I look at that guy. I know that guy. Right?
10:05Like I didn't know him then, but I've taken this journey with you. And so there's the you now that's like, look. I'm gonna pay it forward.
10:11I'm successful. I wanna help other generation. I wanna touch my potential.
10:14It's a never ending thing. But if we went back when you first started, did you was there like a dream and a vision?
10:24Like, we'd be sitting in a room with, I don't know, 70,000,000 car collection or whatever that's sitting around here and smoking cigars and, you know, having the life that you live? Or were you just like, look, man.
10:34I'd like to get my head above water and be financially independent, or was there always this part of you in the background? I want you to answer this because there's most of the people listening to us are there where you and I've been back in the very beginning, kinda with a little bit of a dream, trying to get their life off the ground.
10:50What were you thinking then? Were you thinking all this stuff then, or were you, like, just get ahead above water? You know,
10:56it's it's in the beginning, dude, it was it was I just wanted to make a lot of money. Same here.
11:02By the way, that's the honest answer. Yeah. Same here.
11:04I just wanted to make a lot of money. I thought, you know, I was really into cars growing up.
11:09Yep. Um, I always had Hot Wheels and micro machines and remote control cars, and I was obsessed with cars. And I understood very early because my dad planned it in my mind.
11:19If I was gonna ever enjoy that for real, I'd have to make a lot of money. Yep.
11:24So that started for me when I was pretty young. When I was, like, probably eight or nine years old, you know, me and my dad were, uh, my dad, my brother, and I were at a gas station. There was a guy who had a white Lamborghini Countach.
11:38This is in the eighties. And, uh, I thought it was the coolest thing I'd ever seen. And my dad was always really good about not on other people's success Mhmm.
11:50And making it a lesson. You know? And I think that's hard for a guy to do.
11:54Right? Like, a guy pulls up in a car that costs as much as your house Right. And you're able to look at him and say, hey, son.
12:00That guy's doing something right. I don't know what it is. Right?
12:03My dad was always good about that. Um, and I think a lot of parents really fail at that. You know, a lot of parents, when they see other people's success, they allow their own insecurity and their own jealousy to stop them from passing a a valuable lesson onto their children.
12:18Right? Uh, but I got lucky in that way, and I use the term luck very selectively. But, you know Mhmm.
12:26You can't really help who your parents are. Yep. And so I my dad's like, yeah, man.
12:31That car is awesome, but guess what? You're gonna have to make a lot of money to do that. Mhmm.
12:35So that kinda started that started me down the road of entrepreneurship. You know? Um, when I was a little kid, I was always trying to figure out ways to to hustle.
12:43You know, I had a little baseball card, uh, like hustle going on in my dad's garage. So did I? Yeah.
12:49Sold, uh, you know, anytime in school there was like a contest to, like, sell sausage or whatever the stuff was. Yeah.
12:56You know, I go door to door and sell the shit out of it. Yep. And so that just started.
13:00That's where it started, man. And all through school, I was never really a good student because I always knew that I wanted to, like, do more than what I wanted to do wasn't gonna be taught in school.
13:10You knew that. Right. Yeah.
13:11And so, uh,
13:12that's kind of where it started, man. What do you think you're I've always wanted to ask you this because I know you obviously, you know, really well now.
13:19What was the if someone's listening to this, and by the way, is it the same skill now? What did you get good at that got you momentum and progress?
13:29Like, what was the thing that you was it selling? Was it persuasion? And then do you think that same skill, whatever it was, is required now in this economy with the advent of AI, which we'll talk about in a moment?
13:41Like, what did you get good at?
13:46Well, naturally, dude, I'm pretty introverted. I'm not a a people person by nature, and that was a skill that I had to learn Mhmm.
13:57That became probably my best skill. Mhmm. I'm able to communicate with people no matter if they're, you know, guys that have grease and dirt all over them or if they're, you know, a billionaire walking through the room.
14:10I'm able to find common ground very quickly and and be able to, you know, connect with people. And I did that intentionally. You know, I used to play a game with myself to train myself to be able to do that because I was scared to talk to people.
14:24Like really scared to talk to people. Even when I was like going door to door when I was a kid, I was terrified of doing it. And I realized that for me to become effective, I have to be great with people.
14:36And that's something that I think almost all successful people have in common. Now there's there's an there's there's outliers to that.
14:44Yeah. But, you know, having great strong people skills is is super, super, super important.
14:50Mhmm. And, dude, I used to play this little game. I used to go to the local grocery store here, and I would make myself talk to three people.
14:59Wow. A real conversation, three random strangers, and then I could go home.
15:05So I'd walk in cold, and I would make myself do three conversations, and I would go home. I did that for years.
15:11Mhmm. For years. So that I could get comfortable, like, real comfortable, you know Mhmm.
15:16Talking to people. And then that skill set, you know, kind of led to all all different great things in my life, you know.
15:25Great relationships, great partners, great networks just from, you know, having that skill set. Other than that, dude, like, real talk, I don't think I'm really that great at anything.
15:34Uh-huh. I I think I'm good. I think anybody who had has done what I've done for twenty seven years would be as good as as I am if I did.
15:44I I it's one of the points very rarely. I very much disagree with that latter.
15:49I'm gonna tell you a couple things I think you're great at, and then I want you to talk about them and don't be humble. Okay? So one thing you are really great at is vision.
15:57You see things before they happen. You also did not create all of this in your life without a really clear vision and dream. Okay?
16:05So that is some I think a lot of times when we're good at something, we just take for granted that we're good at it. That could be. You're you're go back there.
16:14You're broke. Some of you probably know this. We're not gonna cover all the stories we've covered before, but this guy was an overnight success in a decade.
16:20Yeah. Okay. It took him a decade to make any money.
16:22I mean, like, even any money where he could really eat consistently on that dime without supplementing his income. Okay.
16:29So during that time, you probably wanted to quit a million times, probably almost did a million times like a lot of people listening. You are a visionary per to this day, of all of my friends, I think you're the friend that stretches my vision the most.
16:42He's always sending me, hey, bro. Look at this yacht. And and it's not all material things.
16:46Mhmm. He'll send me photos sometimes. Hey, man.
16:48Don't tell anybody else this, but, you know, we just you know, the company just did this for this cause or whatever it is. He'll never tell you guys, but he'll share with me. You're extremely visionary person.
16:59And I think it's one of my skills too. I don't even know where it comes from because I didn't grow up with any of that. But I always like I'm always seeing what the future could look like.
17:07I don't know that I always believe I'll get it. But don't you agree? Like, let's be real.
17:11And we'll talk about another skill I think you have in a minute, but that's a real thing with you. Did you have that back sleeping on the mattress then? This episode is brought to you by Row Nutrition.
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19:24I had dreams. I had dream like, what like, maybe this would be cool. This is what I would like.
19:31But that's why I also believe that there's a lot of truth to, like, metaphysical law of attraction and and those things as well. But I actually think that the vision comes from experience, if I'm being honest.
19:42You know, when you see things when you've when you've been in business for so long and you've seen things play out over and over and over again, you get really good at seeing past the first or second decision that's going to be made off of the decision that you're making now.
19:58Right? I'm gonna choose this now, and then these two things could happen. I think this thing's gonna happen, and then these two things could happen.
20:05I think that's things gonna happen. So it's more of like a calculated regurgitation of things that you've already seen.
20:14Mhmm. And so I don't know that it's a gift more than it is just being around for a long time and watching things unfold. I don't know if it's a gift, but it's a skill that you've a skill.
20:22It's a skill. Because I I think when you hear giftedness, I think people think, well, maybe that he just got given this. Yeah.
20:27So you make a really good point. Yeah. Here's the other thing that I think is, like, I'm trying to find things on the show Most where people do to only look at that first decision.
20:34You're right. You know what I'm saying? Yeah.
20:35They make that decision, and they don't have the capacity to look one, two, or three steps down the line. And I think that's a big handicap for most business owners, if I'm being honest.
20:45Well,
20:46we'll talk about a couple of the ones you've made too. Here's another thing. Like, I always try to find things on the show when you and I are together that, like, you and I talk about, but, like, I don't ever really hear discussed elsewhere that I'm comfortable putting on the show.
20:57Yeah. Yeah. And here's one of them.
21:00You and I, if people I think people see it with you more than they would me, but you run hot.
21:07And what I mean by that is not just like a temper. I don't mean that. I mean, there's a level of intensity to you that I think even the guys that came with me here today shaking your hand, meeting you, there's a frequency.
21:19Like, there's a level of intensity. I'd like to think I have that as well, and I think that it's one of the secret sauces and elements of successful people. They almost will things to happen.
21:31I know it's God's blessing, but there's a level I think people underestimate the level of intensity
21:37you have to bring to making something great happen in your life. No doubt. I think it's I think it's one of the biggest things.
21:44I think it's one of the biggest problems in the entrepreneurial landscape right now. Entrepreneurship has become a like a a thick a thing that is presented like, oh, it's for everybody.
21:54Mhmm. Okay? It's not for everybody.
21:55Mhmm. And it doesn't matter. I don't care what all the other guys say.
21:59None of them have built what I built. That's just the truth. Mhmm.
22:02And I'm just telling you, dude Mhmm. It's not for everyone because you're you're trading a lot of things for other things.
22:10Mhmm. And it takes everything. And I think one of the things that I I did, I was always that way.
22:16Yep. I was always that way. Like, when I was in when I was young in sports, when I was in high school in sports, when I got through Cal, every I was always ultra competitive and ultra urgent Mhmm.
22:28About winning. Now I might not be urgent about everything Mhmm.
22:31But I always wanted to win. Mhmm. And, um, I think over the course of my journey, that intensity increased to the point where I could almost not control it.
22:48Mhmm. And then once I matured a little bit, I was able to bring it back in line and know when it's appropriate. Right?
22:53Good. So you you it's like this awesome weapon that you have, but you gotta know how to use it. You know?
22:59But I feel like this is one of my roles in your life Absolutely. That you met No. Abs absolutely, bro.
23:04Yeah. If I didn't have you as a as a one of my brothers do that I could call and talk to, I go fucking crazy. That's the truth.
23:12Thank you. Because I don't have that many people outside of, like, my own brother Mhmm.
23:17And my own business partners Mhmm. That really understand that. Right.
23:21You know what I mean? Yeah. So And you met me, by the way, after I you're just so brilliant the way you just articulated.
23:26You met me after I made that discovery. Meaning, I've gotta deploy this intensity Yes. Strategically.
23:33Where I learned it from. Right. Okay.
23:34From you. K. Like, when you and I met, I was just running fucking wild, bro.
23:38Right. Like, I I was bull in a china shop. I just let my energy and my my my urgency and everything just I just nuked everything.
23:46You did. And
23:48and by the way, you were already very successful. Yeah. Yeah.
23:51But but I mean, dude, that's not a fun way to live. Right. Because you're always pissed off.
23:54And there's a cap. Yeah. Because you build things and obliterate them.
23:58You build people and hurt them. You it's because I've done it. Right?
24:01Yeah. And I I regret some of that. Me too.
24:03But this is what I want people to understand that wanna be entrepreneurs or I think just wanna be a professional athlete or wanna be a great whatever. Great at anything. You I'd rather have somebody that I've gotta dial back Yes.
24:15Than someone I gotta dial up. Yeah. You gotta bring this pace and this urgency and this intensity to your mission that I think people underestimate because of social media.
24:27Yeah. Everyone looks like they're having a good time. Yeah.
24:28You can have complete balance. You can, you know, ski in the Alps of Switzerland, and then at the same time be closing deals on your laptop and whatever the heck this stuff's been pre and I I just have not had that experience nor of the real people like you that I know that are successful. These folks run hot.
24:45Yeah. They're intense people. Doesn't mean they're loud or, uh, they have deep voices like you.
24:52That's not what I'm talking about because plenty of these people are women. Mhmm. Right?
24:54But there's a thing in them. There's this dog in them almost. Like, you know what I mean by that?
24:59They got that dog in them. They got that it's like a fire you have to control rather than try to ignite.
25:05Yeah. Look.
25:07I think it's required. Okay? I don't know anybody.
25:10Now I know a lot of people who sell maybe they sell digital products or something kinda casually, and they got a little more freedom. And that's okay because, you know, maybe that's all they want.
25:19Maybe they just want a little bit of money to go travel the world and do those things. Sure. I'm not talking about that.
25:24I'm talking about actual entrepreneurship, the creation of things that are an involvement of things that already exist or original thoughts that you take from your brain and put into action that actually create a company that employs people, contributes to culture, society, community.
25:42That's a different thing than selling, you know, how to do a widget or whatever. Right?
25:48So but to build real things, I'm not taking anything away from that. Sure.
25:53You make you make half $1,000,000 or a million bucks a year. Tremendous. Travel the world.
25:57Cool, dude. Yep. Awesome.
25:59Yep. I'm sure that's most people dream. Mhmm.
26:01But that's not my dream. Mhmm. And when I think of like the require people have to there's nothing casual about winning.
26:12There you go. Absolutely nothing casual about winning.
26:16You are competing against other people who are willing to give all of everything they have at all times.
26:25The higher that you go, it gets more competitive. Mhmm. So if you don't have that urgency and you get into that place of comfort where, you know, you're cruising out on Thursday afternoon and coming back on Tuesday, bro, you're gonna lose.
26:39That's just reality. It may not feel like you're gonna lose. You may not feel like you're losing, but you're gonna eventually find out that other people that are doing the same thing as you are working all that time that you're out doing whatever it is you're doing, and they're gonna pass you.
26:54And that's reality. Yep. And, uh, sometimes by the time they pass you, it's too late because they've evolved too much.
26:59You're too far behind. And I've seen I've seen and I I wonder what you think about this, but I have seen more people fail in life
27:06that have won once Gosh. Than people who never win, if I'm being honest. Yep.
27:12Because they get that first win Yep. And they think it's always gonna be there. Yep.
27:17And it's just not. It's, uh, I have more friends that used to be successful than currently are Yeah. That used to have a little bit of money than currently do that used to be successful.
27:25Wanna be that. Well, well, I'm being real, and I don't know that this is even healthy. By the way, when I say healthy to live like you and I live sometimes.
27:32No. It's not healthy. It's not Listen.
27:34And it's okay not to be this way. Listen. Just don't say you wanna dominate business.
27:39You don't have to. Look, man. I'm not saying that you have to be that way.
27:43Right. I'm not say I'm saying if you wanna build real things and compete at the highest level, then you have to be that way.
27:49Yeah. And that's what I wanna do. Yeah.
27:51And so, you know, that intensity that I always had and then combined with the urgency of knowing that you're, like, one day from going out of business Yep. You know, the first fifteen years you're in it Yep.
28:04That does something to people. Yeah. You know, that that that rewires your nervous system, man.
28:09It does rewire you. Yeah. And and then, you know, when I met you, I I I was doing very well.
28:18Not comparable to what I'm doing now, but doing good. And I think I remember telling you how much I made that first time.
28:25I remember. It wasn't very much. I remember.
28:26Yeah. I remember. It was a lot, but it wasn't very much compared to now.
28:31Yeah. But the point is is that, you know, what I realized from from having you in my life, which I'm very grateful for Thank you, man.
28:40And I'm not an expert at this by any means still because there's still moments where the old Andy appears. Yeah.
28:47Same thing. But it is I realized that this is this is a tool in my tool belt, and I needed to learn how to use it properly.
28:55Yeah. And that made me a much more effective entrepreneur
28:58and much better leader. Much better leader. He's one of the great he is truly you guys, he's being very nice to me.
29:04He is one of the great American entrepreneurs, and he's building multiple, multibillion dollar companies at the same time.
29:11And it's been unbelievable to watch as he's matured and as he's grown and as he deploys this intensity. I wonder and answer this for you, not my way. And I know you will anyway because it's you.
29:22But do you feel like you that thing where people have the first win and stop. I've always watched that like and this is what happens in my head.
29:30I go, aren't you afraid you're gonna lose it? Like, I think to some extent, maybe this isn't healthy either. I've developed a lot of self confidence, but I'm still I play scared.
29:40I think that and and maybe that even sounds like a weakness. No. No.
29:43It doesn't. I get it totally. Like, I show up at work every single day.
29:47I'm at the office seven days a week. Mhmm. At this anybody that works for me knows that.
29:51I'm there seven days a week. I show up there every day think thinking we're gonna go out of business even if it's not true.
30:01Wow. It's it's a mentality that I used to try and get away from Yeah.
30:06That now I embrace and really appreciate that I have. Mhmm. It I call it zero options mentality.
30:12Alright? So like in the beginning, when you're totally at, you know, where we talked about most people are at the beginning of their journey, you don't have an option, dude.
30:20Like, it's either go or accept what you have, understanding that what you have is gonna get worse. Right. Okay?
30:25Because as you get older, you're gonna be less capable. You're gonna be less hireable. You're gonna be less employable.
30:31Your quality of life is gonna lower as you get older. Mhmm. And if that's what you wanna do, cool.
30:38That's just not what I wanna do. And, um, as you grow and you start to have wins and make success, you know, it's easy to have that mentality of I have to go no matter what when you don't have anything.
30:50But when you start getting resources and money and success and wealth, how do you operate at that same intensity? Well, you have to trick yourself into believing Yep.
31:00That there's no other option. Yeah. You know?
31:02And, like, for me, the story I tell myself, even though it completely is I know it's not true. Mhmm.
31:07Okay? This is gonna sound crazy. Mhmm.
31:09But I tell myself, I'm like, you don't have a degree. Alright?
31:14You don't even need degrees anymore, but I tell myself this because that's the area I come from. Mhmm. You don't have a degree.
31:20If you lose, you're gonna be digging ditches. You don't have any skills. Like, I'm I I pretend I'm the same old dude Mhmm.
31:26Right from the beginning. Yep. And, uh, and that's what keeps the urgency alive.
31:30Right? I think Even though I know it's logically not true. Like, if I were to if I were to somehow lose everything, I mean, I have enough skills where I can get it back, enough relationships, I can get it back, like, pretty quick.
31:44Right. You know?
31:46But you think that way, like I do too. Sometimes I wonder if it's healthy or not, but it's kept me I mean, I you and I both worked today.
31:54We're sitting here having a nice time. We look great in your place, but we both have worked today. You know?
31:57And and it's a Saturday when we're recording this everybody. Right? And the other reason is is that and maybe this is the mindset thing, and then we'll shift to some AI stuff.
32:05But like for me, I'm a competitor. I tried to play professional baseball. I wasn't good enough.
32:11I say I got injured, but I just wasn't good enough. Right? You were a great athlete too.
32:14Your brother I wasn't good enough, your brother was really good. Yeah. And he had an injury, but but this is my sport.
32:20Yeah. Yes. This is my sport.
32:22So, um, and it's also a form of expression for both of us. That's why we do arete. It's like my I don't play music very well.
32:29I can't sing. This is like my art form and my sport simultaneously. Yeah.
32:34I don't love every day of it. But left alone, if I didn't do this, I'd have no form of expression because I can't sing. I don't dance.
32:41Like, I don't do any of that. And I'm not gonna be a professional. I used to think I'll be on the senior tour playing golf.
32:47I can't break 80 anymore. So, like, this is my sport and my art at the same time, and that's why it doesn't usually feel just like work to me. The same for you?
32:57Yeah. A 100%.
32:58I grew up wanting to play in NFL. Mhmm. You know?
33:01My brother played pro baseball. He would have actually been Yeah. Sal would have.
33:05Sal would have been a fifteen year pro MLB guy had he not had a compound fracture in, like, in the game. So he grew up in that world. And the one thing I'm grateful for because, you know, when you don't end up achieving those dreams, at least for me, you know, for the first ten years when I was, like, suffering in business, I had nightmares of and when I their dreams, but but they're more like nightmares of playing football.
33:40Like, I would have these dreams of playing football, and then I would wake up, like, with this regret. And it's because we weren't successful. We weren't making any money.
33:49Things weren't working out. You know? And then when we started winning, it trans I I started realizing what you're saying.
33:55I started realizing, woah, this is actually a great thing because now I get to I get to play the game till I'm 70 or 80. Yes.
34:04Right? Like, it's the best game in the world because it's not like baseball or football where you might get six, seven, eight, you know, years.
34:12If you're Tom Brady, you get 20. Right? But with entrepreneurship, it's it's a lifetime.
34:18And what's cool about it too is that, you know, in sports, these dudes get a little older and they start going downhill. Well, in business, you get a little older, you get a lot better.
34:27It's true. And so it's
34:30it's an exciting game and I enjoy it and that's how I look at it. That's so funny that you say that about the dream. I'll tell you something.
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36:32Money movement services are provided by Intuit Payments Inc. License is a money transmitter by the New York State Department of Financial Services. I still, about once a year, have this dream, but for a long time, I had it, like, once a month.
36:44And it's I'm playing baseball still, and I know why. I'm a tell everybody this. It's like a confessional.
36:49I I don't think I've told you this before. I feel like when I played, I gave everything I had, but I left a little bit in reserve.
36:57Oh, yeah. And I think the reason I did is that maybe if I didn't make it, I'd have an excuse.
37:02I'm not sure subconsciously. Yeah. But even though all you business people, just evaluate this.
37:06Do you leave anything in the tank? Because I did a little bit. Like, I coulda it looked like I was working my hardest, but I know I could have given more to the game that I gave.
37:15And let me tell you what the dream is. I had this dream where I'm being announced to play.
37:20I'm outside the stadium. I'm in my uniform, and I can hear him leading off, playing center field, number eight, Eddie Mylett.
37:29And I can't get in the stadium. They won't let me in.
37:33I and I'm running up to the security. They're like, no. I'm the center field.
37:36They're like, look, man. I don't have any ID for you. You can't get in here.
37:38And I'm knock open the other door, and the fence is locked. They won't let me back in the stadium again. I'm like, no.
37:43And they're like, and it's second base. And I'm like, no. I'm the center.
37:47Dude, you can't get back in. And I've had this dream. I I still have it at least once a year.
37:52And I think part of it is like, I I think it it's a healthy thing because I don't wanna ever look back at this part of my life, which is the rest of it and go, at the end of it, go, let me back in. Yeah. I don't wanna have any regrets at this point of my life.
38:04I don't like, let me back, please. I'm I'm no, bro. You you missed it.
38:09It. It's over. Yeah.
38:10I don't wanna have that feeling. So the field is like my life now.
38:13And it's just so it's interesting that you had a dream like that. Dude, you know I think a lot of that comes from? I I've I've I've talked to a lot of people that have similar feelings of what you're not the same dream, but, like, a similar Mhmm.
38:26Type outlook. And I think that comes from two things. The the what I've been able to determine is there's there's two different exact avatars of people that that this comes from.
38:39One is people who didn't make it in their sport. But two is people who had a actual near death experience.
38:46Interesting. Okay? I've had both.
38:48Right? So when you realize when you have this when you have this awareness that your life can end like literally in a second, it's hard not to be urgent, dude.
39:03And I think a lot of the truth is is that a lot of people haven't really faced real hardship to to develop the urgency. They look at people like me or people that are that are like you. Mhmm.
39:14And they're like, this guy's insane. Well, bro, when you get stabbed in the face and you almost fucking die on the street for real, you wake up with a different understanding that it can go away like that.
39:25You know? And, um, that changed me, that whole thing.
39:30You know? Like, I I was
39:32I I just don't take it for granted, dude. I just I I just don't. You never told me that that was the effect the stabbing had on you.
39:38Oh, yeah. Yeah.
39:39Woke up the next day and I was like
39:42That could be You you you, uh, I said earlier that you see things pretty well. And I've only asked a couple people this on the show just because I don't value their opinion.
39:51But with you, I'll be honest with you guys. Like, there's been so many things this dude has told me the last seven or eight years, whether it be in the world or geopolitically or business or what he was going to do in some of his businesses, and then they've happened.
40:06Mhmm. They don't always happen in the time frame. No.
40:09Sometimes they're later. Sometimes they're earlier. Everything always takes longer for me.
40:12But, man, it's happened. Right? And so AI is something you're really getting deeply involved with now.
40:18A year ago, when we're talking about, you're like, I don't know anything about that. You at some point, you went, that's not gonna be good enough as a business leader. That's right.
40:25I need to know about this. That's right. I need to educate myself.
40:28It'd be like some guy back in the day going, I don't know about cell phones. Like, you gotta know. Right?
40:32Yeah. So what's the picture look like for you?
40:35Like, if someone's listening to an entrepreneur and they go, Andy, what about AI? Like, just in general as a broad stroke question, what advice would you give to people who I don't know.
40:45They're maybe they're concerned. Maybe they're excited.
40:49Well, I definitely think you should learn it. I mean, I think that's where you start. Right?
40:52Um, I I missed when I was 19, 20, 21 years old, that's when the Internet really started booming.
40:58Mhmm. And I didn't have any resources. So I missed that opportunity.
41:02Uh, when social media came around, you know, I was three or four years late to that, still did okay. But but, you know, I wasn't thinking of it in terms of business.
41:12You know? Mhmm. And then when AI comes around, I think it's the I think it's the biggest of those three revolutions that we've had happen.
41:19Um, so I think it's very important for everybody to understand what's going on and and to know a little bit about AI. You don't have to be an expert, but you need to know how it works, what what the biases are, what it can do, what it can't do, uh, how it's made, those kind of things. Um, but as far as, like, what I think is happening, is that what we're asking?
41:38Yeah.
41:41Man, I think all administrative jobs that basically bring no value to a business are gonna be eliminated.
41:52AI is very good at managing tasks and doing things that you would have to hire what we would call in entrepreneurship, a body, right, which is basically a human with very little strategic value to the business to just type Those people are done.
42:10They're done. You're done. If that's you, you're done.
42:11You just don't know it yet. Are all businesses done?
42:15No. Absolutely not. K.
42:17People still want to and I think the sweet spot here because we're seeing all different opinions. Right? We see we we already saw, um, we've seen a number of companies lay off thousands of people and then, uh, and then realize that AI is not good enough, and then they try to hire the people back, and it really put them in a bind.
42:36That's happened a bunch of times. I don't it doesn't get publicized because none of the bad does. Mhmm.
42:42But I actually believe that it's gonna be different than what people think. I think a lot of people think it's just gonna run everything, and it's gonna be and and and, dude, that's what people think when they're thinking like the lazy way.
42:55Right? I could get a cloud bot, and I could do it could make me millions of dollars and it bro.
43:03Can it? Right. Mhmm.
43:05Can it really? Have we seen it yet? We haven't seen it yet.
43:07Mhmm. Right? Mhmm.
43:09So there's a there's a lot of hustle around it.
43:14I personally believe, and this is where I think businesses should position themselves on AI. I think you have to integrate AI into your back end systems to make them function as quickly as possible to eliminate and to eliminate the labor cost, but also increase the efficiencies quicker, faster, instant, you know, things.
43:34And then equip your forward facing human force to be very good with those tools.
43:41Mhmm. And that's where I think the companies that are gonna win are are gonna win big. Mhmm.
43:46I think if you think that you're going to automate all of your you're probably gonna lose. And I think that for a number of reasons. Very good.
43:54The main reason being is that we're in a cultural position right now where people are not wanting to spend more time with technology.
44:04How many of you guys wanna spend more time on social media? Honestly, Probably zero.
44:10Okay? So people are becoming disenfranchised with how and they're becoming aware of how much technology is stealing from us living our real lives.
44:23If that's the case, which I know it is because I watch I see how we do business, then we're we're really in a situation where people there's a vacuum for human to human contact right now. Mhmm.
44:35Right? There's a vacuum for great relationships.
44:38There's a vacuum for connection that it cannot be filled with AI. So if you're an employee or an entrepreneur or, uh, an operator, you know, a founder, CEO, Understanding AI and seeing it as a weapon versus seeing it as an all solution is the way you wanna look at it.
44:59And you wanna equip your soldiers, your team with the best weapons. And that's that's what I think and that's how I'm positioning my companies.
45:08That's what was gonna say. Okay. We're I mean, none of this is just like, I'm betting my life on it.
45:12Right. So we are allowing our systems on the back end to become more efficient with AI, but then we're still allowing our humans to do what our humans do, which is help other people get the resolution and the solutions they're looking for.
45:28By the way, I want everyone to hear that. The by the way, I
45:31no one said that that I've asked that on the show. The way you say it seems to be plausible. But there's another underlying reason for this that I just think is important fundamentally about how you and I view business, and I'd say particularly you, which is that you're about the people in your businesses first.
45:47In other words, you're not looking for ways to eliminate humans. No. You're looking for ways to be able to employ and expand the dream for more people and utilizing technology to do that, not quickly finding ways to get rid of the guy running the camera or the person doing the editing or what have you.
46:05That's just a fundamental belief you have. Not only do you back to that duty thing
46:09that we talked about. What do you mean? Well, don't I I think there's ethical entrepreneurship, and there's unethical entrepreneurship.
46:15Mhmm. There's ethical entrepreneurship is understanding that as an entrepreneur in your community, you have a responsibility to create careers, jobs, and support the community.
46:25Sponsor the baseball teams. Uh, you know, be involved. Those things matter, dude.
46:30That's our whole culture and our whole society is based on those things. How many Amazon Little League teams do you see? Mhmm.
46:35Right? That's my per that's my I believe that if we're gonna fix this country and fix what's going on, I believe it comes from the entrepreneurs.
46:44And ethical entrepreneurs. Ethical entrepreneurs that set ethical culture around the things that matter inside their business.
46:51The employees take that culture home into their households and spreads through their communities. So if you have excellent culture inside of your business, you're in you're you're, by default, correcting culture inside the world.
47:04Right? You can't do that with robots. Andy, uh, that's being said nowhere.
47:09Yeah. You just said Well, because most of these dudes don't run real bro. Right.
47:12Yeah. You know? Yep.
47:13And if they have employees, a lot of people just look at them, and they're like, oh, that's my employee. I compensate them for their work. Too bad.
47:19Mhmm. That's that just happens not to be me. Yeah.
47:21I go to work every day. These people are my friends. Yeah.
47:24I care about them. Mhmm. I love doing what I do with them.
47:27Mhmm. You know? So I don't know.
47:29When I think of, like when I look at a a spreadsheet and, you know, there's a dollar amount next to your employees, I don't look at that as something that
47:37I look at that as something that should go up Yeah. Quite honestly. That's unbelievable.
47:40You go to Harvard MBA, you won't hear what he just said. And it's, um, it's the reason we do a terrible job of promoting this, so we're gonna take thirty seconds to promote it.
47:48I wanna say something to everybody. It's the reason out of all the people on the planet that right when I met you, I'm like, if I'm gonna have a partner in anything I do in the public space on coaching entrepreneurs, wanna do with this man.
48:01One, obviously, people have seen your brain on display today, but it's also the way in which you frame business.
48:07And I'll be honest with you. You've said a lot today about the things I've learned from you or that you've learned from me. I've learned that from you of devotion really to the people that work with you.
48:19And you really believe they helped build you. Like, it's a deep real thing. Well, they do.
48:24I know. And it's made me evaluate in myself over the previous decades when I was a younger man.
48:30Did I really have that depth of appreciation for other people? People are the end I've learned from you.
48:36They're not the means to an end. Right. They're the end.
48:38It begins and ends with people. And for thirty seconds, because we never do it, most people probably don't even know.
48:46They watch both of us. You and I, a zillion years ago, formed a very unique syndicate, a group of people called the Arete Syndicate that you and I both personally mentor.
48:57And I just for just for a second, your view on
49:01what you and I do in that group and why you think it's valuable for people and different. Yeah. It's different.
49:07I think, you know, the one thing that we that we do We do a terrible job of promoting. Yeah. I mean We never promote.
49:12Yeah. We don't. But that's because it's not our main line of business.
49:15That's the difference. Right? Like, for most of these people, this is what they do for their business.
49:19Their business is coaching. Right. That is not our business.
49:22Right. Which is actually what makes Arte valuable. Mhmm.
49:25Because you're dealing with two guys who are still in the game. Mhmm. They're building.
49:28They're creating. They're doing new things as the world is changing. Nobody else is doing that.
49:33And, also, nobody else that I know of is teaching people how to run an actual business.
49:40Mhmm. You know, they might be teaching people, you know, how to they might give you some advice or, you know, say what they think or, you know, give you, uh, how to run, uh, an ad funnel or some Right?
49:51Right. But we don't we don't have too many people out there that are actually building things Mhmm.
49:57That are helping other people navigate that water. Yep. And so that's what we do there.
50:02You know, we take, uh, small, medium, and large sized businesses and make them bigger. You know what mean?
50:07Right. Yeah. And that's what we do.
50:08And we have a number of people who started out with us in 2018 when we started, and, uh, now they're literally 9 figure entrepreneurs.
50:18I know. I know. So we've we've got a whole list of them.
50:20Yep. And that's what we do. So we help people grow their businesses.
50:23If you have a real business, no matter how big or small, meaning, you know, whatever that's a place where I think if you're not in there, you're not gonna learn the
50:33anywhere else. I I I firmly believe that. I know that.
50:36I know that. I'm very proud of that group. Yeah.
50:38I am too. I'm proud because I do it with you. And every time we you know, calls in the group, I do mine, you do yours.
50:43When we do them together, I always tell you, I go sit back. These are just they're just so valuable.
50:47They're valuable for me. And and so Well, that's the cool thing about the group too, dude, is that,
50:52you know, being around the environment where everybody's in the game Yeah.
50:57Like, dude, there's a lot of things that I've learned from guys in the group. Same here. Yeah.
51:01And, like, they're doing this new thing or this new technology, something that isn't on my radar yet. Yeah. I mean, dude,
51:08I I love it. I do too. I love doing it.
51:10Well, if any of you you know, we don't promote it, and it's very rare that we do it. But if you go to a r e t e syndicate dot com, Arte is aretesyndicate.com,
51:19you can get some info on And it's super affordable, dude. It's not it's not like it's not like what's you know what's funny to me?
51:27Yeah. It's like, I think we raised the price we do better.
51:30Yeah. People What if it's By the way, or if we ever mentioned it. Yeah.
51:34Today's the first time in four years. We just never mentioned it. Dude, we try you and I both did this out of a feeling of obligation.
51:41That's right. Right? Yeah.
51:42And
51:44Well, the other thing too that I think people should know, and I think they all know this, like, you and I probably collectively there's a few others. Like, we've given away more free content. Yeah.
51:52You on your podcast all the way to the MF CEO days to now with Real AF and the MF CEO. Like, all of it. Like, most of our stuff, we're just here to serve and help.
52:00It's one of the few things we do any charging for, and it is affordable. The other thing I wanna ask you, I wanna land on a last thing because I I I don't think everybody really understands the impact. Look.
52:09FirstForm's a huge company, made a difference. What you're doing with Form Energy and Anheuser Busch and Dana White and all that, like, it's unbelievable what you guys are doing. You're building these huge behemoth, you know, American backed, like, companies.
52:25Right? And it's I'm very proud of you for doing that, and and it's been awe inspiring to watch. Having said all of that, I do not go anywhere where I don't run into somebody who has said 75 hards changed their life.
52:41Like, by the way, which is also free, something that you created. And I even Michael who's here today.
52:48I think he was on his third time doing 75 hard. Right? And it's changed.
52:53I mean, you can give us the data in a minute about how many hashtags there's been or whatever. Why did you create it? And what do you and I know why, but I want them to hear because it was a personal thing, frankly.
53:04But also, what's the impact on mental toughness in someone's life?
53:10And why is that such a skill? Each of all the skills you could have chosen to develop in people, you chose mental toughness as the thing you wanted this to develop. Why?
53:18Well, because I think it's the most required skill in entrepreneurship
53:21and personal success. You know, I have I have a lot of issue with the way the Internet promotes success.
53:31Mhmm. Okay? We have all these guys who sound real good, and they write real nice, and they sell these nice things that are that are, you know, nice to hear that are completely out of tune with what it really takes.
53:43Okay? It's a battle, And it doesn't matter.
53:47Anybody who says it's not has been in it too long. They've been in it too long and they're too big. They don't get it.
53:52Okay? Or they they've never been in it. Right?
53:55It is hard. And the number one thing so when we think about mental toughness, mental toughness is the embodiment of a bunch of other subsets.
54:05Right? Perseverance, uh, discipline, uh, the ability to, you know, not like all of these things, fortitude, grit, perseverance, all of these things fit in the definition of mental toughness.
54:22Right? And when we think about like why most people don't succeed, it's not that they don't know what to do.
54:30It's that they don't have the capacity to adhere to a plan. Mhmm. Okay?
54:34Think of it like this. What if you had the recipe for the best cake ever, but you didn't have the ability to put the ingredients together and follow directions and put it?
54:45It doesn't matter. Mhmm. And everybody likes to look at like, oh, I got the wrong plan or the wrong idea or the this or the that.
54:53Bull You don't have the ability to adhere to the plan. That's your whole entire problem. That's why that's why you're overweight.
54:59That's why you're broke. That's why you're not doing well. It's because you get one, two, three, four days, five a week, two weeks, three weeks into something, and then you decide, oh, it's not for me.
55:09And then you go on to something else the minute it doesn't get fun. And the ability to be successful over the long haul, whether it be your fitness or your wealth or whatever it is, is the ability to execute at the highest level possible, especially when you don't feel like it.
55:26Okay? If you can execute on the days that you don't feel like it, when everybody else packs it in, those are time gaps that accumulate over the course of time that separate you from everybody else.
55:40So if you're competing against someone who every time it gets overwhelming, it's, I gotta take a month break in Bali and decompress. Bro, I just gained a month on you, man.
55:51Like, you're this is math. So when we think about, like, why people can't get their life together, it's because they're not controlling the basic things that they need to control.
56:03They're not controlling what they drink. They're not controlling what they eat. They're not controlling their how they move.
56:09They're not controlling their exercise or what information or who they're hanging around. They they they they abandon the controls that they have and then pretend they're surprised that their life is chaos.
56:22Okay? Well, if you're able to control these things, that's gonna give you 90% of the outcome in the life that you want.
56:30You're gonna be fit. You're gonna understand how to achieve things. You're gonna be able to follow a plan.
56:35So when we when this thing was born, this you know, when it comes to fitness and the reason that most people can't ever, like, get in shape and stay there is because they think it's a physical thing when actually it's a mental thing.
56:51It's just you don't have the skill set developed to persevere down the path and stay that way. So, you know and then the other thing you have to realize is that discipline is a perishable skill.
57:03So just like, you know, you go out, you work in the yard, you get all sweaty, uh, then you take a shower, you're not you don't stink anymore.
57:11Right? Well, eventually, you're gonna stink again.
57:14You gotta take another shower. And so when you know, one of the things people say about seventy five hours makes me laugh. It makes me know they don't know anything about it.
57:22Is they say, oh, it doesn't work if you gotta keep doing it again. What are you talking about? You you this is a perishable skill.
57:29This is no different than practicing a musical instrument or shooting a a firearm. You know? If you're playing golf, if you don't get if you don't go hit balls consistently, can you be good at golf?
57:39No. Okay. It's the same thing with your discipline.
57:42It's the same thing with your toughness. It's the same thing with your grit, your fortitude, and that's why it's important to present yourself with hard things and follow through on them because they they develop those skill sets that you need.
57:56And so, like, to answer your question, why mental toughness?
58:01Because mental toughness embodies all of the subsets that actually make someone successful, whatever they decide to do.
58:09If I decide if I have my mental right and I'm a disciplined human and I decide I wanna get good at playing guitar, I can do that. I understand how to do that. I'm gonna show up every day.
58:18I'm gonna play the guitar every day. I'm gonna play on the days that I don't feel like playing, and I'm gonna keep going. My fingers are blistered.
58:23I'm gonna keep going, and eventually, I'm gonna be able to play the guitar. And it's the same thing with building a business. So I I believe that, you know, the reason that LiveHard and seventy five Hard have become what they are is because it works very well.
58:38It's several billion hashtags. Is that right? Yeah.
58:41Yeah.
58:42It's billions and billions of hashtags. Yep. And you you guys gotta realize something.
58:46What did you weigh at your peak, by the way? Three fifty. Three fifty.
58:49So you see the super jack guy here. This was a guy many years ago was three fifty and broke, and now he's worth a b in front of his name and is a machine. And he's changed millions of people's lives.
58:59And, um, so you can go just 75 hard anywhere. Hashtag it. Google is there you go to 75 hard app or website, or what do you do?
59:06Yeah. You just go to 75hard.com. Yep.
59:09And and by the way, it's completely free everybody. And then to work with Andy and I, you wanna go to rtsyndicate.com. This, by the way, today is why podcasts were created and why I do my show.
59:20And I I really just wanna thank you. I thank you for being I mean this sincerely without getting too emotional. Like, you really changed my life.
59:27I consider you. I don't have a brother. I've got three sisters.
59:30I just wish I saw you more. Yeah. Me too.
59:32I wish I was around you. We're both running a million miles an hour, I love you. And I'm very very proud of you, And I'm grateful for you, bro.
59:38So thank you. That's mutual. Alright.
59:40I'd be I'd be I'd
59:43be first of all, all of that's mutual. But I do have to say this because I'd be wrong to not say it.
59:50I'm also surrounded by the best team in the place face of the earth. Mhmm. Okay?
59:54I I was blessed to have people around me that are extremely intelligent and smart and hardworking. So when you look at all these things, understand this is a this is a community effort of, uh, some very intelligent people, including my brother who's the CEO of First Form Now.
1:00:10Yep. So it's you know, I get a lot of the credit, but
1:00:15the I'm I work with some killers, and it's really You work with these killers. You had all these super intelligent people on you, and then there's also DJ. Mhmm.
1:00:23Who's here today with us. I'm just kidding, brother. I love you too.
1:00:26But yeah, man. You know?
1:00:30Yeah, dude. I I just that needs to be said because it really is at at this level, it's
1:00:38it's not something that somebody could do on their own. Yeah. It's a great lesson for people to learn as well.
1:00:42I don't think I have to ask anybody to share today's episode. I'm pretty sure you all will. Um, hey, guys.
1:00:47Thanks so much for joining us here today. I wish you all the best in your life. Continue to max out your life, and god bless you.
1:00:53Take care.
The Hook
The bait, then the rug-pull.
Before the intro even rolls, Andy Frisella is already mid-thought — not selling anything, just stating a truth. Ed Mylett's framing is disarming: they've been having this conversation in private for years. Today, they let you listen in.
