Andy Frisella Breaks Down the Mindset That Creates Elite Performers!

I think people underestimate the level of intensity you 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.

I think it's one of the biggest problems in the entrepreneurial landscape right now.

I think you have to integrate AI into your backend 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.

Mm-hmm.

And that's where I think the companies that are gonna win are, are gonna win big.

That if we're going to fix this country and fix what's going on, I believe it comes from the entrepreneurs and ethical entrepreneurs, ethical entrepreneurs that set ethical culture

around the things that matter inside their business.

The employees take that culture home into their households and spreads through their community.

So if you have excellent culture inside of your business, you're in your— you're by default correcting culture inside the world, right?

You can't do that with fucking robots.

Andy, that's being said nowhere.

Yeah.

Welcome 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 in in my life, and I'm fortunate enough that I've been in this room many, many times.

Um, the 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 going to record it so you guys can listen in.

Yeah.

And 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.

I'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.

He speaks his mind, which I know he'll do again today.

And we're just going to talk about business because you guys all want to lean in and know what we talk about every single day.

He's my partner in the Arte Syndicate, which we have the greatest business coaching program together in the world.

He's the founder First Form.

He's the founder of Form Energy, and not all of you might know this, you know, he also is the founder of 75 Hard, which has been the greatest mental toughness movement on planet Earth

the last 5 to 7 years.

So his name is Andy Frisella.

Andy, welcome back to the show.

Thank you, bro.

It's awesome to have you here, man.

Great to have you.

Yeah, I appreciate all the kind words, and you know they're reciprocated.

Thank you, brother.

I know that.

So it's interesting, we'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.

It's a pretty darn nice place.

And every time I come here, I get my vision stretched a bit.

I think people would be surprised about our private conversations.

And so you're founded, you know, right now the fastest growing energy drink in the world, the biggest movement online the last 5 years, like I said.

And FirstForm is this behemoth in the industry and well and growing, yet you don't feel successful.

And it's actually sincere.

I mean, I don't think you think you're broke, but in 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.

Why is that, and what's that mindset like?

You know, how I look at it is a little bit different than I think most people look at it.

You know, I'm, I'm 46 now, um,

done, done a few things, right?

But that's maybe half my life or half my potential, right?

And 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 and lose it,

that, that I just, I just stopped looking at it the way that most people look at it.

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, to the pursuit of one's true potential.

Okay.

So

what that means to me is that as you push down the path of winning and success, you're gaining new potential, you're gaining new, new skills, you're learning, you're becoming more effective.

And if you were to just stop, then you're leaving all this potential on the table.

And 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 is not what it is now, and that's not what it's going to be in 5 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 that means is, is that as you go down the path, your potential is expanding on the back end.

Really good, right?

Because you've learned new skills, you've had new experiences, you've made new relationships, you have different resources.

And, um, what that ultimately means, unfortunately, is that, you know, you could never hit your true potential, right?

Because eventually you're limited by time, right?

We're gonna die.

So, uh,

how I define success is just simply pursuing that, knowing that you're always going to 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.

You always say that word duty.

Why 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, I think,

I think it is a duty.

You know, when I think of like— meaning like because you've been so blessed to live in this country or whatever it is that you— I look at it like this, okay?

For it does have something to do with our country.

But

for you, when we think about like what creates a stable functioning,

high functioning civilization, it comes from ambitious men.

It 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.

And eventually when you get, you know, you can't understand this when you don't have anything, you 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.

Right.

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 of fulfillment in those things.

You can enjoy them, but it's not really a fulfilling thing, so to speak.

And,

you know, for me, my dad's father, they never met.

So my dad's dad was killed.

He stormed Normandy and then he was killed 6 months later in World War II.

And my grandma was pregnant with my dad.

So my dad never even 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.

And so that's part of it.

Okay.

And 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.

Yeah.

And that doesn't do anything good for anybody else because the truth of the matter is, is that if we want a high-functioning, high-drive, high-character, driven, ambitious, successful

America with the American dream, if 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,

that's, that's, you know, that probably inspires some people, right?

They want to get some stuff.

But 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 much better

example to set.

And so, and then so those are two parts.

And the third part is, dude, like, I'm just wired for it, bro.

Yeah, you know what I mean?

Like, uh, I enjoy it.

I enjoy, um, inspiring young people.

I love when I drive one of my cars to the gas station, the little dudes are like, oh man, it's so cool.

Yeah, like, I love that.

Yeah, so I know you do it.

I think it's— by the way, I was thinking about it.

It's probably, if we go back, it's been a while now, it's probably why we founded Baratay 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.

But 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.

Yeah.

How far away from here is that?

10 minutes.

10 minutes away.

Yeah.

And I've been down there.

I looked at the home you grew up in.

We've actually met one of your neighbors that remembered you when you were a little boy.

Yeah.

And So I look at that guy, I know that guy, right?

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 going to pay it forward, I'm successful, I want to help other generation, I want to touch my potential.

It's a never-ending thing.

But if we went back when you first started,

did you—

was there like a dream and a vision like we'd be sitting in a room with, I don't know, $70 million 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, I'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 have been, back in the very beginning, kind of a little bit of a dream, trying

to get their life off the ground.

What were you thinking then?

Were you thinking all this stuff then, or were you like, just get ahead above water?

You know,

it's, it's In the beginning, dude, it was, it was, I just wanted to make a lot of money.

Same here, by the way.

That's the honest answer.

Yeah, same here.

I just wanted to make a lot of money.

I thought, you know, I was really into cars growing up.

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 planted in my mind, that if I was going to ever enjoy that for real, I'd have to make a lot of money.

Yeah.

So that started for me when I was pretty young, when I was like probably 8 or 9 years old.

You know, me and my dad were— my dad, my brother, and I were at a gas station.

There was a guy who had a white Lamborghini Countach.

This is in the '80s.

And I thought it was the coolest thing I'd ever seen.

And my dad was always really good about not shitting on other people's success.

And making it a lesson.

And I think that's hard for a guy to do, right?

Like a guy pulls up in a car that costs as much as your house and you're able to look at him and say, hey son, that guy's doing something right.

I don't know what it is.

My dad was always good about that.

And I think a lot of parents really fail at that.

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 valuable lesson onto their children.

Uh, but I got lucky in that way, and I use the term luck very selectively.

But, you know, you can't really help who your parents are.

Yep.

And, um,

so I— my dad's like, yeah, man, that car is awesome, but guess what?

You're gonna have to make a lot of money to do that.

So that kind of 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, you know.

I had a little baseball card like hustle going on in my dad's garage.

Yeah, I sold, uh, you know, anytime in school there was like a contest to like sell sausage or whatever the stuff was, you know, I go door to door and sell the shit out of it.

Yep.

And so that just started.

That'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 going to be taught in school.

You knew that, right?

Yeah.

And so, uh, And that's kind of where it started, man.

Where do you think you're— I've always wanted to ask you this because I know you obviously, you know, really well now.

What 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?

Like, 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.

Like, what did you get good at?

Well, naturally, dude, I'm pretty introverted.

Um, I'm not a people person by nature, and that was a skill that I had to learn that became probably my best skill.

I'm able to communicate with people, um, 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,

I'm able to find common ground very quickly and be able to, you know, connect with people.

And I did that intentionally.

You know, I used to play a game, um, with myself to train myself to be able to do that because I was scared to talk to people, like really scared to talk to people.

Uh, 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.

And that's something that I think almost all successful people have in common.

Now, there's outliers to that.

Yeah.

But

having great strong people skills is super, super, super important.

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 3 people Wow.

A real conversation, 3 random strangers, and then I could go home.

So I'd walk in cold and I would make myself do 3 conversations and I would go home.

I did that for years, for years, so that I could get comfortable, like real comfortable, you know, talking to people.

And then that skill set, you know, kind of led to all different great things in my life, you know.

Great 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.

I think I'm good.

I think anybody who has done what I've done for 27 years would be as good as I am.

I come out— it's one of the points.

Very rarely— I very much disagree with that latter.

I'm going to tell you a couple of things I think you're great at, and I want you to talk about them and don't be humble.

Okay.

So one thing you are really great at is vision.

You see things before they happen.

You also did not create all of this in your life without a really clear vision and dream.

Okay, so that is something 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.

You're broke.

Some of you probably know this.

We're not going to cover all the stories we've covered before, but this guy was an overnight success in a decade.

Yeah, okay.

It took him a decade to make any money.

I mean, like, even any money where he could really eat consistently on that dime without supplementing his income.

Okay, so 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.

To this day, of all of my friends, I think you're the friend that stretches my vision the most.

He's always sending me, hey bro, look at this yacht.

And it's not all material things.

He'll send me photos sometimes, hey man, Don'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, and 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.

I don't know that I always believe I'll get it, but don't you agree?

Like, let's be real, and 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?

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I had dreams.

I had dream like what, like maybe this would be cool, this is what I would like.

But that's why I also believe that there's a lot of truth to like metaphysical law of attraction and those things as well.

But I actually think that the vision comes from experience, if I'm being honest.

You 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.

Right.

I'm going to choose this now.

And then these two things could happen.

I think this thing's going to happen and then these two things could happen.

I think that thing's going to happen.

So it's more of like a calculated

regurgitation of things that you've already seen.

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.

It's definitely a skill.

It's a skill because I think when you hear giftedness, I think people think, well, maybe that he just got given.

Yeah.

So 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 people do only look at that first decision.

You're right, you know what I'm saying?

Yeah, they make that decision and they don't have the capacity to look 1, 2, or 3 steps down the line.

And I think that's a big handicap for most business owners, if I'm being honest.

Well, we'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.

Yeah, yeah.

And here's one of them.

You and I, if people— I think people see it with you more than they would me.

But you run hot.

And 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, like 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.

I know it's God's blessing, but there's a level— I think people underestimate the level of intensity you 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.

I think it's one of the biggest problems in the entrepreneurial landscape right now.

Entrepreneurship has become like a, a thing that is presented like it's for everybody.

Okay?

It's not for everybody.

And it doesn't matter.

I don't care what all the other guys say.

None of them have built what I built.

That's just the truth.

And I'm just telling you, dude, it's not for everyone because you're, you're trading a lot of things for other things and it takes everything.

And I think one of the things that I did, I was always that way.

Yep.

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 college, every— I was always ultra competitive and ultra urgent about winning.

Now, I might not be urgent about everything, but I always wanted to win.

And, um, I think over the course of my journey, that

intensity increased

to the point where I could almost not control it.

And then once I matured a little bit, I was able to bring it back in line and know when it's appropriate.

Right.

So it's like this awesome weapon that you have, but you got to know how to use it, you know?

But I feel like this is one of my roles in your life.

Absolutely.

That you met.

No, absolutely, bro.

Yeah.

If I didn't have you as a, as one of my brothers, dude, that I could call and talk to, I'd go fucking crazy.

That's the truth.

Thank you.

Because I don't have that many people outside of like my own brother and my own business partners.

That really understand that, right?

You know what I mean?

Yeah.

So, and you met me, by the way, after I— you're just so brilliant the way you just articulate— you met me after I made that discovery, meaning I've got to deploy this intensity strategically.

That's where I learned it from, right?

Okay.

From you.

Okay.

Like, when you and I met, I was just running fucking wild, bro, right?

Like, I was bull in a china shop.

I just let my energy and my urgency and everything just I just nuked everything.

You did.

And, uh, and by the way, you were already very successful.

Yeah, but, but I mean, dude, that's not a fun way to live, right?

Because you're always pissed off.

And there's a cap.

Yeah, because you build things and obliterate them.

You build people and hurt them.

You— it's because I've done it, right?

Yeah.

And I, I regret some of that.

But I do too.

But this is what I want people to understand that want to be entrepreneurs, or I think just want to be a professional athlete, or want to be a great whatever, great at anything.

You— I'd rather have somebody that I've got to dial back.

Yes.

Than someone I got to dial up.

You've got to bring this pace and this urgency and this intensity to your mission that I think people underestimate because of social media.

Yeah, everyone looks like they're having a good time.

Yeah, you 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.

They're intense people.

Doesn't mean they're loud or, uh, they have deep voices like you.

That's not what I'm talking about, because plenty of these people are women, right?

But there's a thing in them.

There's this dog in them, almost like— you know what I mean by that?

They got that dog in them.

They got that— it's like a fire you have to control rather than try to ignite.

Yeah, I look, I think it's required.

Okay.

I don't know anybody now.

I know a lot of people who sell, maybe they sell digital products or something kind of casually and they got a little more freedom and that's okay because, you know, maybe that's all

they want.

Maybe they just want a little bit of money to go travel the world and do those things.

Sure.

I'm not talking about that.

I'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.

That's a different thing than selling, you know, how to do a widget or whatever, right?

So, but to build real things, I'm not taking anything away from that.

Sure, you make, you make half a million bucks or a million bucks a year, tremendous, travel the world.

Cool, dude.

Awesome.

Yep.

I'm sure that's most people's dream, but that's not my dream.

And, um, when I think of like

the require—

people have to— there's nothing casual about winning.

There you go.

Absolutely nothing casual about winning.

You are competing against other people who are willing to give all of everything they have at all times.

The higher that you go, it gets more competitive.

So if you don't have that urgency and you get in that place of comfort where, you know, you're cruising out on Thursday afternoon and coming back on Tuesday, bro, you're going to lose.

That's just reality.

It may not feel like you're going to lose.

You may not feel like you're losing, but you're going to 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 going to pass you.

And that's reality.

Yeah.

And sometimes by the time they pass you, it's too late because they've evolved too much.

You're too far behind.

And I've seen— I've seen— and I wonder what you think about this, but I have seen more people fail in life that have won once.

Gosh.

Than people who never win, if I'm being honest, because they get that first win and they think it's always going to be there.

Yeah.

And it's just not.

It's— 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— bro, I don't want to 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— no, it's not healthy.

It's not.

Listen, it's okay not to be this way.

Listen, just don't say you want to dominate the business.

You don't have to.

Look, man, I'm not saying that you have to be that way, right?

I'm not saying— I'm saying if you want to build real things and compete at the highest level, then you have to be that way.

Yeah.

And that's what I want to do.

And 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, you know, the first 15 years you're

in it,

that does something to people.

Yeah.

You know, that, that, that rewires your nervous system, man.

It does rewire.

Yeah.

And, uh, and then, you know, when I met you, I, I, I was doing very well.

Um,

not comparable to what I'm doing now, but it's doing good.

And

I think I remember telling you how much I made that first time.

It wasn't very much.

I remember.

Yeah.

Um,

it was a lot, but it wasn't very much compared to now.

But the point is, is that, you know, uh,

what I realized from, from having you in my life, which I'm very grateful for, and I'm not an expert at this by any means still because there's still moments where the old Andy appears.

Yeah.

Um, 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.

Yeah.

And that made me a much more effective entrepreneur and much better leader.

Much better leader.

He's one of the great— he is truly, you guys, he's being very nice to me— he is one of the great American entrepreneurs, and he's building multiple multi-billion dollar companies at

the same time.

And 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, but 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.

I 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.

I think that— and maybe that even sounds like a weakness.

No, no, it doesn't.

I get it totally.

Like, I show up at work every single day.

I'm at the office 7 days a week at this.

Anybody that works for me knows that I'm there 7 days a week.

I show up there every day

thinking we're going to go out of business, even if it's not true.

Wow.

It's, it's a mentality that I used to try and get away from.

Yeah.

That now I embrace and really appreciate that I have.

I call it zero options mentality.

All right, 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.

Like, it's either go or accept what you have, understanding that what you have is going to get worse, right?

Okay, because as you get older, you're going to be less capable, you're going to be less hireable, you're going to be less employable, you're quality of life is going to lower as you

get older.

And if that's what you want to do, cool.

That's just not what I want to 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.

But 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 that there's no other option.

Yeah.

You know, and like, for me, the story I tell myself, even though it completely is— I know it's not true.

Okay, this is going to sound crazy, but I tell myself, I'm like, you don't have a degree.

All right, you don't even need degrees anymore.

But I tell myself this because that's the area I come from.

You don't have a degree.

If you lose, you're going to be digging ditches.

You don't have any skills.

Like, I'm— I pretend I'm the same old dude right from the beginning.

Yep.

And, uh, and that's what keeps the urgency alive, right?

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 could get it back and enough relationships I'd get it back like pretty quick, right?

You know, um, but you think that way, like, and 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.

We're sitting here having a nice time.

We look great in your place, but we both have worked today, you know, and and it's a Saturday when we're recording this, everybody, right?

And the other reason is, is that— and maybe this is just a mindset thing, and then we'll shift to some AI stuff— but like, for me, I'm a competitor.

I tried to play professional baseball.

I wasn't good enough.

I say I got injured, but I just wasn't good enough, right?

You were a great athlete too.

Your brother wasn't good enough.

Your brother was really good.

Yeah.

And he had an injury.

But, but this is my sport.

Yeah.

Yes, this is my sport.

So, um, and it's also a form of expression for both of us.

That's why we do Arete.

It's my— I don't play music very well.

I can't sing.

This is like my art form and my sport simultaneously.

Yeah, I 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, like, I don't do any of that.

And I'm not going to be a professional.

I used to think I'd be on the Senior Tour playing golf.

I 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?

Yeah, 100%.

I grew up wanting to play in NFL.

You know, my brother played pro baseball.

He would have actually been— yeah, Sal would have— Sal would have been a 15-year pro MLB guy had he not had a compound fracture, like, in the game.

Um, 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 10 years when I was like suffering in business,

I had nightmares of— and when they're dreams, but, but they're more like nightmares of playing football.

Like 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.

Things weren't working out, you know.

And then when we started winning, it trans— I started realizing what you're saying.

I started realizing, whoa, this is actually a great thing because now I get to, I get to play the game till I'm 70.

Yes.

80.

Yes.

Right.

Like, it's the best game in the world because it's not like baseball or football where you might get 6, 7, 8, you know, years.

If you're Tom Brady, you get 20.

Right?

But with entrepreneurship, it's, it's a lifetime.

And 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.

It's true.

And so it's, uh, it's an exciting game and I enjoy it.

And that's how I look at it.

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I still about once a year have this dream, but for a long time I had it like once a month.

And it's— I'm playing baseball still, and I know why.

I'm going to tell everybody this.

It's like a confession.

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.

Oh, yeah.

And I think the reason I did is that maybe if I didn't make it, I'd have an excuse.

I'm not sure.

Subconsciously.

Yeah.

But even all you business people, just evaluate this.

Do you leave anything in the tank?

Because I did a little bit.

Like, I could have— it looked like I was working my hardest, but I know I could have given more to the game than I gave.

And let me tell you what the dream is.

I had this dream where I'm being announced to play.

I'm outside the stadium.

I'm in my uniform.

And I can hear them, leading off, playing center field, number 8, Eddie Mylett.

And I can't get in the stadium.

They won't let me in.

I can't.

And I'm running up to the security there like, no, I'm the center fielder.

They're like, look, man, I don't have any ID for you.

You can't get in here.

And I'm not open the other door and the fence is locked.

They won't let me back in the stadium again.

I'm like, no.

And they're like, and it's second base.

And I'm like, no, I'm the center fielder.

Dude, you can't get back in.

And I've had this dream.

I still have it at least once a year.

And I think part of it is like, I think it's a healthy thing because I don't want to ever look back at this part of my life, which is the rest of it, at the end of it, go, let me back

in.

Yeah, I don't want to have any regrets at this point in my life.

I don't like, let me back, please.

I'm, I'm no, bro, you missed it.

It's over.

Yeah, I don't want to have that feeling.

So the field is like my life now, and it's just so it's interesting that you had a dream like, dude, you know, I think a lot of that comes from 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 type outlook.

And I think that comes from two things.

What I've been able to determine is there's, there's two different exact

avatars of people that, that this comes from.

One is people who didn't make it in their sport, but two is people who had an actual near-death experience.

Interesting.

Okay.

I've had both.

So

when you realize, when you have this

awareness that your life can end like literally in a second,

it's hard not to be urgent, dude.

And I think a lot of the truth is that a lot of people haven't really faced real hardship to develop the urgency.

They look at people like me or people that are like you and they're like, this guy's fucking 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, you know?

And

that changed me, that whole thing, you know?

Like, I was—

I just don't take it for granted, dude.

I just don't.

You never told me that that was the effect the stabbing had on you.

Oh yeah, yeah.

I woke up the next day and I was like, fuck.

That could be.

I said earlier that you see things pretty well.

I've only asked a couple people this on the show just because I don't value their opinion.

But with you, I'll be honest with you guys, like, there's been so many things this dude has told me the last 7 or 8 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.

They don't always happen in the time frame.

No, sometimes they're later, sometimes they're earlier.

Everything always takes longer for me.

But man, it's happened, right?

And so AI is something you're really getting deeply involved with now.

A year ago when we're talking about, you're like, I don't know anything about that.

At some point you went, that's not going to be good enough as a business leader.

That's right.

I need to know about this.

That's right.

I need to educate myself.

It'd be like some guy back in the day going, I don't know about cell phones.

Like, you got to know, right?

Yeah.

So what's the picture look like for you?

Like, if someone's listening, they're 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, they're maybe they're concerned, maybe they're excited?

Well, I definitely think you should learn it.

I mean, I think that's where you start, right?

Um, I, I missed— when I was 19, 20, 21 years old, that's when the internet really started booming, and I didn't have any resources, so I missed that opportunity.

Uh, when social media came around You know, I was 3 or 4 years late to that, still did okay, but, but, you know, I wasn't thinking of it in terms of business, you know.

And then when AI comes around, I think it's the— I think it's the biggest of those 3 revolutions that we've had happen.

Um, 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.

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?

Yeah.

Um,

oh man,

I think all administrative jobs that basically bring no value to a business are going to be eliminated.

Um,

AI 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 shit.

Those people are done.

You're done.

If that's you, you're done.

You just don't know it yet.

Um, are all businesses done?

No, absolutely not.

People still want to— and I think the sweet spot here, because we're seeing all different opinions, right?

We see— 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.

That's happened a bunch of times.

I don't— it doesn't get publicized because none of the bad shit does.

Um,

but I actually believe that it's going to be different than what people think.

I think a lot of people think it's just going to run everything and it's going to be— and, and, dude, that's what people think when they're thinking like the lazy way.

Right.

I could get a cloud bot and I could do— it could make me millions of dollars and it broke.

But

can it?

Right.

Can it really?

Have we seen it yet?

We haven't seen it yet.

Right.

So

there's a, there's a lot of hustle around it.

I personally believe, and this is where I think businesses should position themselves on AI.

I think you have to integrate AI into your backend systems to make them function as quickly as possible.

To eliminate and to eliminate the labor costs, but also increase the efficiencies quicker, faster, instant, you know, things.

And then

equip your forward-facing human force to be very good with those tools.

And that's where I think the companies that are going to win are going to win big.

I think if you think that you're going to automate all of your shit, you're probably going to lose.

And I think that for a number of reasons.

Very good.

Um, the main reason being is that we're in a cultural position right now where people are not wanting to spend more time with technology.

How many of you guys want to spend more time on social media?

Honestly, probably zero.

Okay, so people are becoming disenfranchised with how— and they're becoming aware of how much technology is stealing from us living our real lives.

If that's the case, which I know it is because I watch, I see how we do business,

then we're really in a situation where people are— there's a vacuum for human-to-human contact right now, right?

There's a vacuum for great relationships.

There's a vacuum for connection that cannot be filled with AI.

So if you're an employee or an entrepreneur or 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 want to look at it.

And you want to equip your soldiers, your team with the best weapons.

And that's what I think.

And that's how I'm positioning my companies.

That's what I was going to say.

Okay.

We're, I mean, none of this shit is just like, I'm betting my life on it.

So we are allowing our systems on the backend 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.

By the way, I want everyone to hear that.

The la— by the way, I— no 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.

In 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.

That's just a fundamental belief you have.

Not only do you— it goes back to that duty that we talked about.

What do you mean?

Well, don't— I think there's ethical entrepreneurship and there's unethical entrepreneurship.

There's that ethical entrepreneurship is understanding that as an entrepreneur in your community, you have a responsibility to create careers, jobs, and support the community.

Sponsor the baseball teams, uh, you know, be involved.