0:00
Go rent the countertops of all the liquor stores and then go to Nabisco one of the big boys and be like, "Hey, guess what?
Search this video
0:07
I own 10,000 countertops.
0:12
You want to put your widget there?
0:14
You want to put your [ __ ] widget there?
0:17
Keep the money warm, Sam.
0:17
Yeah, keep the MONEY WARM, BABY. OKAY, EVERYONE. WHAT'S GOING ON? THIS IS SAM.
0:34
WE have Jesse Itzler on the pod today. Very fascinating guy.
0:36
Started a bunch of different companies.
0:38
Um the biggest one being Marquis Jets, which we got into some of the economics of that business.
0:43
And then he's done a bunch of other things.
0:46
You see him on social media.
0:47
He's done a lot of stuff.
0:47
But like his life advice was actually really amazing.
0:51
Um we went deep into some of the numbers behind some of his businesses.
0:54
We um learned about his early career.
0:57
And there's like a a ton of takeaways.
0:58
The pod was only supposed to be 60 minutes long.
1:02
But Shawn and I were like so into it that we went over.
1:04
I think we went like 90 minutes, something like that, because his story's super fascinating.
1:10
If you like the Rob Dyrdek episode, which a lot of people did, it's I think our most listened to episode of all time.
1:14
I think you're really going to like this one.
1:15
Um it was pretty spectacular.
1:17
I left feeling good uh about it.
1:19
And if you're watching this on YouTube, do me a favor, hit that subscribe button and make a comment because we've had a ton of people comment on our videos lately and a ton of people subscribe.
1:27
We see the data behind it.
1:29
So, it's awesome that you guys are doing this and it means a ton of us.
1:32
We actually text each other all the time when someone makes a funny comment. So, let us know.
1:34
And if you're listening on iTunes or Spotify, hit that download or the subscribe button, whatever it is on those platforms, because we get notifications about those, too. And it's awesome. We're killing it.
1:46
We're growing a ton and we appreciate the army of people who are supporting us.
1:49
All right, enjoy the episode.
1:51
Let us know in the YouTube comments what you think.
1:54
Um all right, well, welcome.
1:54
We got Jesse Itzler here.
1:55
Um also known as I think you might be the richest runner, white rapper in the country.
2:02
So, congratulations, my friend.
2:07
We We We are excited to have you here. I love that.
2:10
If you keep adding categories, I could be the richest in the world.
2:13
If you start to adding like, you know, that have four kids, that um that eat plant-based, etc. , etc. So, Right on.
2:21
So, you know, I'm excited to talk to you cuz you've done a bunch of amazing things.
2:24
We've talked about you on the pod and we sort of spoke it into existence.
2:28
I think we talked about it.
2:29
Somebody might have sent you a clip. I'm not sure.
2:31
But you uh you reached out and said, "Hey, I'd love to come on."
2:34
You have I'm just going to read a couple of these things.
2:35
So, I'm going to flatter you real quick, just so that the audience uh understands kind of just your background.
2:42
So, like we said, started out uh trying to make it as a rapper and ended up creating a a jingles company.
2:46
So, you were making jingles for for sports teams.
2:51
Ended up selling that and created uh Marquis Jets, a fractional jet owning company.
2:55
Sold that to Berkshire Hathaway, which Warren Buffett obviously runs and owns.
2:59
Uh you're married to Sara Blakely, founder of Spanx.
3:01
You are an epic sort of fitness athlete yourself. So, uh prolific runner. I read your book.
3:10
Uh the real The day I got really into you is when I read Living with a Seal, which is the story of you living with uh David Goggins for 30 days.
3:14
Um I can't even really listen I gave David Goggins for 30 minutes on a podcast.
3:19
Uh so, living with him for 30 days, respect.
3:22
And um yeah, you've created a bunch of companies uh outside of that.
3:26
Partnered with Zico coconut water and and doing a bunch of prolific things.
3:30
So, you have a a very prolific career, but the start was uh like anybody.
3:35
It was humble humble beginnings.
3:38
So, talk about the early days when you were you were trying to do the the I let's start with the jingle company.
3:44
You um you told me you were you were sleeping on couches at the time trying to make it and uh describe kind of what was going on at that time in your life.
3:53
What was the plan and what were you going through and how did you come out of that?
3:57
Well, I grew up in New York in the '80s when rap and hip-hop was starting to emerge in a bigger way.
4:04
And that if that was the intersection of of that happening and me going to college.
4:09
So, I was really into music early on.
4:11
And while all of my friends in college were writing resumes and going on job interviews, I was like, "I'm making a rap record.
4:18
Like I I'm Why would I waste my time making a resume?
4:19
I want to make an album."
4:22
So, it was like kind of that's the direction I wanted to go in uh right away.
4:27
I ended up signing with the record company called Delicious Vinyl.
4:30
Everybody passed on me and this one little record company gave me a shot.
4:35
And I didn't have met Like I wasn't super connected.
4:38
I didn't have like a lawyer I No, I did it all. I shopped it myself.
4:42
But I ended up getting dropped from the label shortly after.
4:45
And I got into writing um jingles or uh for companies and theme songs for sports teams.
4:52
And that was kind of my first entree into, you know, I pivoted.
4:58
It it didn't work out for me in the music business, but I still loved music.
5:02
So, I stayed in there and I started doing jingles and um yeah, that's how I kind of started out early on.
5:08
You told me you were sleeping on couches um trying to make it and somebody offered you a tempting deal.
5:16
They said, "I'll give you $10,000 if I can get 10% of everything you'll ever make."
5:23
How How did that happen and what was your answer? Right.
5:26
So, I was I was writing theme songs for sports teams. I was 22, 23 years old.
5:31
And my business model was to write a song on spec.
5:34
And then cold call a professional sports team, try to get a meeting with them, try to like, you know, get in there.
5:40
And then if I was able to get that meeting, convince them that they needed a theme song.
5:45
And that was my business model.
5:47
And at the time I was I was I was bouncing around from couch to couch.
5:51
I wasn't homeless, but my friends were I just moved to New York from Los Angeles.
5:56
And my friends were putting me up as I tried to figure out how to do it.
6:00
I had no money to go in the studio to write any more songs on spec.
6:03
So, I needed money to fund that production.
6:07
So, a music manager said, you know, I I I believe in you.
6:10
I'll give you 10 grand for 10%, but I want to own you for the rest of your life, basically.
6:16
10% of anything you make.
6:16
And I was like, "I'll take it."
6:19
Because I needed the money to go in the studio.
6:21
I thought it was the deal of the century.
6:24
You're going to give me 10 grand?
6:27
And all I'm going to do is pay you if I make it?
6:29
Like that sounded amazing to me.
6:31
At the time I was living on my friend Melissa Katz's uh couch.
6:34
I met her actually at a bar and she had given me her number on a napkin and said, "If you're in an emer- She asked me where I lived and I said, 'As of Monday, I have nowhere to live.'
6:42
I was getting kicked out of my friend's house on Monday.
6:44
She said, 'If it's an emergency, you can come live with my roommate and I.'
6:48
Monday, my friend kicked me out cuz his parents were coming for a week and I'm like, 'This is an emergency.'
6:51
So, I was living at Melissa's house and I told her about this opportunity and she said, "Well, why don't you go talk to my father before you give away 10% of your future earnings."
7:02
And as it turned out, her father was a very successful entrepreneur.
7:06
He owned the company called Kinney Parking parking garages in New York and was the um I think the second largest shareholder of the New York Yankees.
7:13
You're like, "Melissa, your apartment is really nice."
7:18
What was amazing about that was it really wasn't and that's why I really was taken aback by.
7:22
I knew her dad was an entrepreneur.
7:25
I didn't know the extent.
7:26
And um she you know, she sent me on By the way, his name is Lou Katz.
7:31
He passed away a couple years ago.
7:33
He was an incredibly influential guy in my life.
7:36
And this was my first encounter with him.
7:38
So, I went to not to believe it, but this but I went to see him and it's it's really relevant for anyone listening what he said to me as a 22-year-old.
7:44
He I told him my dilemma.
7:47
I'm going to take 10 grand for 10% of my life.
7:49
And he said to me, here's exactly what he said to me.
7:53
He said, "Jesse, you know, will you make this business work without the 10 grand?"
7:58
I said, "Lou, I'm on to something.
8:00
I know I can make it work.
8:02
There's a I know I can any He took his notebook and he literally threw it on the ground.
8:07
And he said, "I didn't ask you that.
8:11
I didn't ask you, can you? I said, will you?" Mhm.
8:14
There's a big difference between can and will.
8:18
I know you can start a podcast.
8:18
I know you can be a millionaire.
8:19
I know you can run a marathon.
8:21
I I said, "Will you, son?"
8:24
And I said, "Yeah, Lou, I will."
8:27
He said, "Well, tell him to take the $10,000 and shove it up his ass. Go make it work." And I did.
8:31
You know, like it was a really powerful lesson in like, you know what?
8:35
I signed up for this journey as an entrepreneur. Let me go figure it out.
8:39
Let me go That's what I want to do.
8:39
Let me go figure this out.
8:42
And he he breathed He blew that flame into me at an early age.
8:47
And um it's really been a theme throughout my life in all the buckets of my life.
8:51
The the whole will versus can notion. You know?
8:56
And why why is that so powerful? The will versus can?
9:00
Well, because it's it really puts the pressure, you know, Billie Jean King had a book, Pressure's a Privilege. And it is.
9:08
Like entrepre- We play for pressure.
9:10
Shawn, like as entrepreneurs, that's what we want, man.
9:13
And um you know, I recently did a race called Ultraman. It's a 6.
9:18
2 mile open water swim, a 265 mile bike and a 52. 4 mile run.
9:26
And I thought to myself before the race that exact thing.
9:28
Like, I think I can do it.
9:32
But I'm never going to know unless I sign up for the race, put myself in a position where something incredible can happen or not.
9:38
But I got to put myself in that situation.
9:39
And now it it's up to me.
9:42
Like, will I get it done?
9:42
You know, will What am I willing to do?
9:44
Am I willing to suffer for that one day for to have the next three decades have that in my memory bank and have it on my resume.
9:54
And and I and I am will and I am willing to do that and and I did.
10:00
So you know what's really funny?
10:00
After you told me that so I did a call with you the other day to just prep for the for the pod and say hey you know we're going to talk about I'm thinking about talking about this this this do you have any good stories and you told me this this will versus can thing.
10:12
And the next day my wife was literally like she's like hey can you take out the trash?
10:16
And I was like no no no baby.
10:19
How about can I take out the trash?
10:21
I will take out the trash and she has no idea what I'm doing and I've been doing it all weekend.
10:25
I've been cuz it's once you see it it's actually everywhere.
10:29
Ben texted Ben who's listening on this thing right here he text me this morning he's like um he's like hey how'd you eat this weekend?
10:34
We're both like on a fitness kick.
10:36
He's like can you stay locked in from now till Thanksgiving?
10:37
And I just I was like oh Ben you asked me can?
10:42
We don't ask can questions anymore.
10:42
As of meeting Jesse Itzler I no longer ask can I it's will I or won't I that's it.
10:51
Well think about how many times in your life someone said you you you say something that you've done like you know I did you know rim to rim I'll take physical activities right climb Kilimanjaro and you explain to someone like oh I can I can do that.
11:02
And I like my in the back of your head you're like yeah you probably can but you know will you do it?
11:07
You know there's a second there's a huge difference between like oh just checking the box because you said to yourself I can versus actually going through and doing it.
11:15
By the way Jesse I have one other story that you you don't know about.
11:21
So you used to go to something at least you went once called Coach K's Fantasy Camp. Is that correct?
11:28
I've been there for 18 straight years. Okay okay perfect.
11:32
you went to this thing so for those who don't know Coach K he was the the greatest college basketball coach at at Duke.
11:37
I went to Duke and my roommate Trevor used to volunteer at Coach K's Fantasy Camp.
11:44
And volunteer was literally volunteering.
11:46
I was like so what do you you're staying over from break cuz it's like during some break and he's like yeah I'm not going home I'm going to work this thing.
11:52
I'm like cool how much you getting paid?
11:53
He he's like I don't think we really get paid but you know whatever.
11:58
Like you just said put himself in a position for something good to happen.
12:01
And so he and what I did what he didn't know and what I didn't know was the only people who go to this camp that cost like 10 grand to go to are basically like business ballers trying to like live out their dream of like oh as if I was an athlete.
12:12
And he's he so he would all he was doing was driving the shuttle back and forth between where you all were staying and the thing he's like dude it's amazing.
12:20
He's like just hearing these conversations what they're talking about in this like 9-minute shuttle ride.
12:26
He's like every night he would debrief with me ideas that he heard.
12:28
He's like oh this guy said that he does this this thing over here.
12:31
This guy said he does this.
12:33
And he told me he goes I met this guy super charismatic like this guy he loved this guy's energy.
12:38
He goes and he tipped me 100 bucks for this like 10-minute shuttle ride.
12:43
And he late I told him he I told her I was mentioning to him that you're coming on the pod.
12:46
He goes that was the guy who tipped me.
12:48
So I don't know if you remember this or not but we took that tip and we had a business idea at the time and we needed to convince this famous chef in LA to come fly out and partner with us. We had no money.
12:58
And so you you plus a little like side job that I had became the money we paid for for the ticket to fly that guy out which definitely changed the trajectory of our life. So little did you know.
13:11
I I love that and yeah I've been going there for since I'm 35.
13:14
It's for guys 35 and older and it's not to chase some some crazy dream.
13:19
It's a combination of you know meeting amazing people and also kind of like there's not a lot of times I'm 55 so I'm older than you guys and I can't stop that clock.
13:32
You know time is undefeated it's always ticking.
13:37
It's it's the six days a year the five days I go there that I get to feel like an 8-year-old again and it's really one of the few times in my life that I get that chance and I love it.
13:46
I don't know man I follow you on Instagram it seems like you live like an 8-year-old a lot of times.
13:51
I'm pretty sure I just I had a lot I do I do I do I do I should say that.
13:56
I'm pretty sure I just saw you like in an RV with like eight friends just like running around the country.
14:00
It seems like you yeah it seems like you got the 8-year-old life kind of nailed down.
14:05
I like to give myself that excuse Sam.
14:05
I guess you put your right it's more than once a more than five days a year.
14:10
Yeah I I think I think you've done that all right.
14:12
You and then what's your first um kind of major business Marquee Jet?
14:16
So you went from did you go from jingles to jets?
14:20
Yeah so interestingly I had so the jingle thing turned into a real business. I found an opportunity.
14:24
I started out doing jingles just for anyone that would pay me anything to do anything.
14:31
So I was doing jingles for like that that honestly like turbo bubble gum this like bubble book gum company that no one ever heard of like just anything that would pay me intro needs a little sprucing up if you want to if you want to dust it off yeah.
14:45
I I I got you guys and and then I start and then one of those jingles gave me an opportunity to write a theme song for the New York Knicks.
14:52
I had done a a commercial radio ad for a company called in the in the paint clothing.
14:57
It was owned by um Nancy Grunfeld Ernie Grunfeld the GM of the Knicks wife.
15:07
And she really liked what we had what I had done and she said yeah if you have any other ideas you know let me know.
15:12
I said well I'd love to do something for the Knicks you know like write a theme song and we could shoot a video they can sing it in the arena.
15:18
So I I approached the Knicks to do this song called Go New York Go.
15:24
And the Knicks paid me $4,000 to buy the song outright.
15:28
I'll never forget it like um Ash had borrowed money to go in the studio to do this to do the song.
15:34
I didn't have enough money to go in the studio record it because they were paying me 30 or 60 days later.
15:41
And by the time I paid the studio the engineer the lawyer that I had the singer the producer it cost me $4,800 to actually deliver the song that they were paying me $4,000 for.
15:53
And when I look back on it you know for most people they would be like that's a terrible business model.
15:56
It was the best business model in the world for me because when you start out you know people buy into stories momentum and people very often more than the products.
16:07
Like I was the business plan and I would have paid the Knicks 10 grand to say they were my customer.
16:13
Because once I had the Knicks those phone calls to get onto the other sports teams became very easy and that became my calling card.
16:19
So I built a business around that Sean that actually I I ended up doing theme songs for almost every professional sports team and turned it into a business where we were selling CDs like the song I would take the songs they play in the arena and my original song with great moments in the team history and sell them at retail.
16:38
I sold that company to a public company called SFX.
16:41
And that was my first I was 27.
16:44
We sold it for 4 million bucks and then we had there was an earn out for another 12 or 16 or something which we earned out and that was my first kind of like get off the couch moment.
16:57
I was no longer on Melissa's couch and I moved into my own space.
17:01
What was your take home after that?
17:01
I had a partner and at the end of the day I think on the first 4 million I made like a million and a half or but by the way a million and a half dollars to me all the money. I was Elon Musk.
17:18
Before Musk was born I was walking around like I was Musk.
17:22
million and a half dollars I would go to the wake up at the 8 and go to the ATM I would get my a printout of my balance. Swear to God.
17:29
Then I would wake up the next morning and be like are you [ __ ] kidding me?
17:34
I have $300 than I had yesterday and I was sleeping.
17:40
I'm like I'm going to go back to bed. I'll go back to bed.
17:47
My partner convinced me to take all 1.
17:47
3 million dollars that we both cleared after taxes or whatever it was and reinvest it to to get like exclusive deals in all this like we made the business we reinvested it in the business and actually made the business a lot bigger and we got our earn out.
18:06
And then then everything changed a little bit for me.
18:09
But you know I had no idea how to manage money.
18:11
My parents never talked about money.
18:13
My dad owned the plumbing supply house. My mom raised four kids.
18:18
The thing I had no relationship with money.
18:22
That might sound weird but like people talk about relationships with in terms of their relationship with their kids or their significant other but not in terms of their relationship with time which is very important and your relationship with money which is equally as important.
18:37
I had no relationship with money.
18:41
So when I got money I didn't know how to save it how to spend it how to use it how to act around it.
18:46
I was very immature around new money.
18:51
And you know what happened to me then? I lost it.
18:55
Because I didn't know anything about it.
18:57
And fortunately I I was able to bounce back through having other successful businesses and failures but no one ever told me about it. How how'd you lose it?
19:08
Just overspending or what did you do?
19:10
Overspending thinking like oh that was pretty easy man I could just I could do that again you know um What did you buy?
19:17
It wasn't like so much what I bought it was just you know helping my parents spreading it out.
19:23
I wasn't abusive with it like but just I didn't know how to really handle that.
19:30
And that's pretty common right?
19:30
And that's pretty common right? Like you know Sean and I have a bunch of friends that you know we're both about 34 35 and we have a bunch of friends and ourselves as well who had exits at a young age and the thing about selling a company it's
19:41
different than there's usually two types of people I've noticed is people who have cash flow businesses or they're like a lawyer or something like that or they own a law firm something where your like income is going up a nice amount every year and you get used to having that cash flow. And then the other group
19:53
And then the other group of people are typically young folks who sell their company and typically those people are like me where I paid myself $20,000 year one, $20,000 year two, year three was $50,000, year four I sell it and make a lot of money and you're like this is just overwhelming.
20:08
I don't know what to do with this.
20:09
And that's like a pretty That's like a pretty common thing.
20:13
It's I I don't think I don't I don't know if most people blow it, but I think it takes about two or three years to acclimate and kind of get used to and learn what to do.
20:20
But there's no one to teach you.
20:21
The problem is I I'd always been taught oh, if you're a like a millionaire That ain't [ __ ] was the No, but I've been No, I've been taught the opposite.
20:30
Like if I saw a millionaire, that was like the pinnacle.
20:32
Like he's a millionaire, man.
20:34
So I was taught like, oh, I have a million dollars, that's all I need to have for the rest of my life. I'm a millionaire at 27.
20:42
And that's that was the relationship that was wrong. Right.
20:44
Yeah, you could spend that You could spend that easy.
20:48
Yeah, you go out and you have a $4,000 dinner when you were eating when I was basically eating a 99-cent bagel for 17 years, you know. Things change quick.
20:57
You I'm a big believer that most of life most of your life kind of is a result of this the conversation you have with yourself in your head.
21:05
Do you remember after you kind of had that first hit and you see the money and you still have you're only 27, you still got all your life ahead of you.
21:14
Do you at all remember like the conversation you had with yourself?
21:16
Like, all right, Jesse, so like now X.
21:18
And whether X was a good good a good conversation with yourself or a misleading one, do you remember what what the conversation you had with yourself at that point in time was?
21:28
You know, it was interesting cuz Sean, I was living in New York and most of my friends were working on Wall Street.
21:33
They were working at hedge funds.
21:34
They were making They were making a lot of money around There's a lot of money around me.
21:39
And you know, it's very easy to get caught up in what's he making versus what am I making?
21:43
And it's very easy to like you start having those conversations with you yourself.
21:46
You can go down a and spiral downward very quickly.
21:52
And you know, what I was making what it took me years to make and build and sell and my journey to get to that point was crazy.
21:59
I was selling carrot and celery sticks door to door. That didn't work. I had a t-shirt company. That didn't work.
22:06
I got dropped from a record label. That didn't work.
22:08
I sold I cleaned meat trucks. That didn't work.
22:09
I sold chicken, shrimp, and meat door to door. That didn't work. I mean, jingle company. I It went on and on.
22:16
So, you know, I had really worked so hard and and at the same time like I'd invested so much not for the money, but just like I just wanted to get a record deal, man.
22:32
I didn't care about the money.
22:32
I just want everyone said you can't do it. Everybody.
22:38
And it was it was such a driver.
22:38
If I remember, I was listening to a podcast where one of you guys with Laird Hamilton and you were saying how that he was saying how that you know, you one of you guys were saying you need that anger to inspire you like some kind of fuel, you know? So um I had that. I still have that. Don't get me wrong.
22:55
I still have that and I never want to lose that underdog mentality.
23:00
I never want to be like I'm at the top of the mountain. I'm not.
23:05
I consider myself back of the pack everything.
23:07
Back of the pack sales, back of the pack entrepreneur.
23:09
There's so many better entrepreneurs than me.
23:12
So many better salesmen than me.
23:14
But I I but I love that feeling of I got to prove myself.
23:19
So when I the money happened, it was just like, oh, Steve Starks is making so much more than me.
23:26
We're in the same basketball run.
23:26
Like I got to catch Starks, you know.
23:30
The the Marquis Jet thing, that's interesting though cuz that's like totally out of left field.
23:34
So and that seemed like a a way bigger win than the jingle business. Same partner, right? Same same co-founder? Yeah, same partner.
23:43
Um it was a much bigger win and it was like most things in my life um the most of the businesses that have that I've been involved with weren't planned, you know?
23:53
And most of my successes in life haven't been in my business plan.
23:58
They've been opportunities that presented themselves.
24:01
You know, my whole life I've been taught when opportunity knocks, you know?
24:03
And I'm not I don't want to sit around waiting for opportunity to knock.
24:07
I like to create my own my own opportunity.
24:12
And I was a guest on a private jet with my partner and I was like, people fly like, what is this?
24:18
What is this that I'm on?
24:25
And we it led to some research.
24:26
Like there's only really two or three ways to fly privately back in the '90s when we started Marquis Jet.
24:31
You can buy your own airplane if you have $50 million, you know, or something like that.
24:36
Well, that's out of the question.
24:39
You could get a fractional be in a fractional program like NetJets, but even that is a really big commitment both in capital and time.
24:45
It's a five-year commitment, a lot of money up front.
24:50
That wasn't I mean, that wasn't an option for us.
24:52
Or you could charter and there were a lot of questions around, well, who owns the plane? Who are the pilots?
24:58
You know, do I feel comfortable on that?
25:00
What if the plane doesn't show up?
25:01
So we found a little white space there.
25:04
We said, you know what, we only want to fly like 25 hours a year.
25:07
I bet there's a lot of people like us that don't want to own an airplane, don't want the responsibility, but they just want to be able to have the have a plane available on short notice.
25:18
And that was the idea around selling a 25-hour jet card that would work like a debit card.
25:23
So if if you and if you and Sam Sean flew two hours, you'd have 23 hours left.
25:28
And then we partnered with NetJets.
25:30
Again, part of being an entrepreneur is figuring out how to get from A to B the fastest.
25:36
And for us, for me and my life, many times it's been through partnership.
25:39
We partnered with NetJets.
25:41
They ended up buying us to use their airplanes.
25:45
Partnered with Coca-Cola at Zico at Zico coconut water. They ended up buying us.
25:50
Um so But anyway, that was That's what happened.
25:52
We were guests on the plane and you know, walking around eyes wide open looking for opportunities and said, wow, this could be really interesting.
26:03
And and then started the journey of figuring out how we could pull this off because we had no aviation experience, very little money, and you know, I was younger than you guys.
26:12
I was 28, 29 years old and figuring out like, man, we need a lot of airplanes.
26:17
Where do we go for airplanes?
26:20
And and then started that journey of of building this company.
26:24
So you walk in you walk into NetJets and you're like, hey, um I'm Jesse, former rapper, jingle-preneur, and I would like for you to give me your most valuable assets, your planes, for this new membership program.
26:36
How did you convince them to do that?
26:41
Well, at first we didn't.
26:41
They kicked us out of the office in the first meeting after about 12 minutes.
26:46
And um backing that up, the bigger question is how we even get in the room.
26:52
Forget like what happened at the meeting.
26:53
How in the world did a multi-billion-dollar company let two kids that didn't break a thousand on their SATs into a room to pitch them the idea?
27:03
A year before that, I was a yes guy my whole life.
27:07
I I I was I I've I've kind of and I still try to pride myself when people ask me for things to deliver if I can, but never ask for anything in return.
27:17
You know, like I'm not like, oh, Stan, I'll do this for you, Sean, but like, can you do this for me?
27:21
Like I don't know if that's not the MO.
27:25
I got a call a year before that from someone that said that their daughter This is a true story and it's the craziest story ever.
27:33
This guy was having a his daughter is having a sweet 16 and um a famous singer was performing in his hometown.
27:40
His daughter wanted bring her sweet 16 to the event.
27:41
The guy says, I know you know the manager.
27:44
Can you help help this guy get some tickets and do anything special?
27:48
Turns out, I get the the guy's daughter as a backup singer for one song with the mic off.
27:55
Everyone at school the next day is She's like the hero of this like, what happened?
27:59
Oh my god, they're freaking out. The guy calls me up.
28:00
He goes, I don't know who you are.
28:02
I don't know what you have what you do.
28:04
But you lit my daughter up and if you ever need anything, let me know.
28:08
Like Turns out, he I can't make this up.
28:11
He's the president of NetJets.
28:13
A year later, I need 650 airplanes. I've Oh my god, Jim.
28:18
You're never going to believe this.
28:21
The the guy I've got your daughter on I have an idea for a thing. He gets me the meeting.
28:25
We get thrown out of the meeting 12 minutes in because they're like, we're not giving two kids access to our 650 airplanes.
28:33
And this guy, Jim Jacobs, comes up to me after the meeting. He goes, you know what? That was amazing.
28:37
I said, we got thrown out in 12 minutes. What do you mean?
28:40
He goes, Rich Santulli, my partner, doesn't give anyone 12 minutes.
28:44
He goes, this is what they said.
28:44
Come back next week and bring this thing to life. Re-pitch it. I need more information.
28:48
So we came back the next week and we realized we can never sell them in a PowerPoint, which is like what every Guys see a hundred PowerPoints every year.
28:56
We brought in our own focus group.
28:58
We had eight people in the lobby and they walked in one by one and they stood up and said that they would never buy a fraction of an airplane, what NetJets was selling, but they would buy a 25-hour jet card.
29:07
And at the end of the meeting, they literally said, if you guys raise money or put up your own money, if you can figure it out, we'll give you a shot.
29:15
And a a couple years later, we had more customers than NetJets. That's crazy.
29:19
You showed him the market.
29:22
You were like, I could either put up a chart or a pie chart right here or I could literally walk the market into the room and have them say, I need this product.
29:29
And it turns out that eight people saying, I need this product to your face makes a bigger impact than a pie chart that says, 11% of the market needs this.
29:37
When I think back on this moment at 28 years old and we had like Carl Banks from the New York Giants.
29:44
I I Run from Run-DMC was there.
29:47
He was right behind me on the wall.
29:47
Um, you know, when these guys meeting?
29:50
Yeah, we brought it we brought him in. We brought him in.
29:51
And when we said when when when me they got up one by one and explained why this card would work.
29:59
And, you know, I think what they realized was they had been pitching to a much older corporate client.
30:07
And that they what they realized, I think, in the meeting was here are these two 27-year-old kids.
30:10
And by the way, remember I said people buy into people stories and momentum?
30:16
This had nothing to do with our product.
30:18
The decision-maker looked us in the eye and said, "I see enthusiasm.
30:23
I see someone that's no matter what, even they have though they have no aviation experience, is going to make this work.
30:28
And I'm willing to bet on these two guys."
30:32
It wasn't There was no PowerPoint. It was us.
30:34
Like, you're the business plan.
30:36
You are the business plan.
30:36
So, at the end of the meeting, he literally said to us, after we got the deal and you know, like year one we did I think we did like close to 200 million in sales year one.
30:48
And I remember going into his office and and asking I said Rich Santulli, who is like he knighted me, man. He knighted me.
30:56
I said, "Rich, what how do we how do we end up here, man?"
31:01
And he looked me dead in the eye and he goes, "You guys remind me of me when I was 27."
31:06
And bringing me in this focus group, yes, they came in and they explained why they would buy a card.
31:12
And yes, they saw a much younger demo that someone could be a lifetime customer now at 25 versus a lifetime customer 50.
31:19
So, they saw the lifetime value of what we were bringing in, this younger generation of athlete, entertainer, you know, young mogul, etc.
31:28
That they wanted that because that's incredibly valuable to get that person on their plane at a young age.
31:36
But at the end of the day, they he saw something in my Penny and I, my partner and I, that he wanted to bet on.
31:44
And, you know, I just want to say this for for anyone listening here because I know this is primarily a business podcast.
31:49
By the way, it took me 37 minutes to warm up, but I'm fully here. He's here.
31:56
I'm slow I'm slow today, but I got it now.
31:59
Um, you know, like I said, that was never in our business plan.
32:03
Oh, we're going to bring in our own focus group to start a company that does 5 billion in sales.
32:09
It's like it's the things that live off the the business plan that make the biggest difference.
32:14
And when you have a chance, you you know, you don't get a lot of big meetings like that.
32:17
And I remember at 27 walking in there and saying to my partner like, "This is as big as it gets because you know what?
32:25
There is no one else that has 650 airplanes. This is it."
32:30
And um, you have to bring that meeting to life. You have to stand out.
32:34
You have to, you know, not in a gimmicky way, but you have to make that memorable, man.
32:42
And and fortunately, we were able to do that. And and it worked.
32:45
And then we had an amazing amazingly fruitful relationship and partnership with NetJets until we exited.
32:56
Our software is the worst.
32:56
Have you heard of HubSpot?
32:57
See, most CRMs are a cobbled-together mess, but HubSpot is easy to adopt and actually looks gorgeous.
33:04
I think I love our new CRM.
33:06
Our software is the best. HubSpot. Grow better.
33:11
All right, everyone, a quick break.
33:12
You're listening to this episode.
33:12
You may be listening to a bunch of MFM episodes.
33:15
We get a lot of interesting insights.
33:17
And the reason we get insights is I have a lot of peers and friends who are CEOs of companies, and I'm able to ask them all types of different questions.
33:23
And it all started because I used to run this event called Hustle Con, and I would like convince these speakers of big startups, you know, you've probably heard of most of these companies, the founder of Grammarly, WeWork, Away, Travel, Casper, all these cool companies.
33:35
And I would sit in the green room with them, and I would hear all these amazing stories, but I would also be able to learn like how to fire someone effectively, how to how to handle things when the business isn't going well, how to handle things when it's going great.
33:46
Like all these stuff that happens behind closed doors, and it changed my life.
33:49
And so, I started this company. It's called Hampton. joinhampton.
33:52
com is the URL, where we make it really easy to have a peer group and have a network of other entrepreneurs that are like you, similar industries, similar size companies.
34:00
And so, if you do run a company, check it out.
34:04
The average company is doing about 25 million in revenue.
34:06
Some companies go all the way up to two, three, 400 million in revenue, and they're publicly traded.
34:11
Others are a little bit smaller in the one, two, three, four range.
34:13
But my partner and I, Joe, we review every single interview, and we hand-curate and hand-select all these interesting people.
34:20
So, it's been a really wonderful community.
34:23
So, if you want to be a little less lonely, if you want to find information and insights that you can't Google, check it out.
34:28
It's Hampton, that's the name of the company, and joinhampton. com is the URL.
34:34
So, you should check it out.
34:34
I review all the interviews.
34:35
So, uh enjoy the rest of the episode.
34:37
Are you um So, like I I I I think that all three of us might be a a bit similar in in business relationships where we're like we bring the passion and some of the creativity and the zero to one stuff.
34:49
Were you good at running that company, or were you or did you have a good partner who was running it, and you were great at kind of bringing some of the deals to fruition?
34:56
I can only run marathons.
34:58
I can't run any business.
34:58
I'm not good at running anything.
35:00
No, I'm a terrible operator. I'm a terrible manager.
35:04
But I'm really good at knowing that I'm terrible at that and being okay with it.
35:08
So, you know, we were able to hire a CEO right away.
35:12
Um, and then which allowed me to focus on sales, which I was which I was better at, buzz, which I was really good before the ins- before Instagram.
35:21
I'm not so good at the up now with Instagram, but back when there was no Instagram, I was good at creating PR-able opportunities and and talk-worthy events.
35:30
And um for my idea, that was really important.
35:34
So, no, um I have never I've never been the CEO of a business.
35:40
I've never ran or operated a business, but I've been a founder I think five times.
35:44
And how did that model work?
35:46
Was it like a Costco model where you were breaking even on the 200 million in sales, but you made money off the uh membership? No.
35:52
So, we the original deal with NetJets was we were leasing time on their planes, but I wouldn't have to we wouldn't have to enter into the a long-term lease until we sold it. So, we had no risk.
36:05
They were carrying all the paper.
36:07
So, if I bought if you and if Sam, Shawn, you guys bought 100 hours, we go buy 100 hours, and it was marked up.
36:13
So, we were just a marketing organization.
36:16
They owned and operated the planes, and we were leasing it.
36:19
As we got bigger, all of a sudden, you know, we have a 4,000 members, we're doing a billion dollars a year.
36:29
Then the model changed, and we had to start buying our airplanes.
36:30
But by that time, we had, you know, significant cash, and we were able to do that.
36:35
So, it started off with literally it was an incredible deal for us and for them.
36:43
Um it was a true um no lose for both parties.
36:47
And that those headline numbers are really big. How big was that exit?
36:51
I mean, that's a that's a pretty big thing. How big is NetJets? I don't even know.
36:56
Uh I don't even remember what NetJets sold to Berkshire for. I'm sure it's public.
37:00
This was before Berkshire owned it. Is that right?
37:03
NetJets sold it to Berkshire prior to us, and then and then we went to now we're part of Net- now we're NetJets now part of NetJets.
37:10
Did you get just Did you get your Berkshire stock?
37:11
Cuz that would have been a good stock to just get in the deal. I know, right?
37:15
NetJets sold for 725 725 million in '98.
37:21
Um and half of it was paid in stock.
37:21
So, that was um if if that was a good deal for NetJets depending on I don't know what the revenue was, but that that's a lot of money.
37:31
You um you snapped your fingers, and you were like, uh we did first year we did whatever.
37:36
I forgot what you said, 200 million or something. 200.
37:37
I don't know what that means.
37:39
What what is 200 million there?
37:40
That that's not that can't be membership dues.
37:41
That's that would be insane. No, it is.
37:42
The av- no, cuz our our average our average customer spent close to I think it was 250 or 235,000 dollars a year. Got you. Okay.
37:52
But and it's more like uh GMV.
37:52
So, like cuz you have to So, your take is some spread between that and then whatever NetJets. Okay, got you.
37:58
So, yeah, I guess like on on that model, what's the income on 200 on let's just say 100 million.
38:03
What what can your profit be on that?
38:04
Well, this is 30 years ago.
38:06
So, how about I don't remember exactly what it was, but it was enough that I was now off the couch and living a very good life.
38:12
And uh and by the way, the best ROI on that deal is I met my wife there.
38:17
She was a customer of ours, and that's how I met my wife.
38:20
Um but you you said you you told me something which was about getting the first customer.
38:26
So, before your wife was even a customer, uh you know, you're like, "I'm on this plane.
38:30
I'm like, holy [ __ ] this is an amazing way to fly. I'd love to do this.
38:34
I'm sure other people would love to do this."
38:36
You come up with the idea. Cool.
38:39
Now, how do you go get those first people to give you 200,000 dollars to be a part of this, right?
38:43
That's like a huge like Where did you go find those customers?
38:47
And and tell the story of kind of how you got it off the ground.
38:51
Well, we were start we started out, you know, I think the first thing that any entrepre- most entrepreneurs, especially in our position in at Marquis Jet, is we had to establish credibility cuz if I was going to sell you time on a plane, and you said, "Who flies with Who flies with you guys?"
39:06
That would be my first question or one of them.
39:09
And I said, "Oh, my dad or my next-door neighbor."
39:11
You probably would leave.
39:11
But if I was like, you know, Oprah, Bill Clinton, you'd be like, "Wow, they must have vetted this." You know.
39:16
So, we started out looking for athletes, entertainers, and and high-profile people, um which was not easy for me.
39:23
Um but I had to go where wealthy people congregated, and I heard about this, you know, they could afford time on a jet.
39:30
I heard about a conference in Monterey, California that was just getting some traction called TED.
39:35
So, I flew out to Monterey, and um you know, I told the guys like, "Hey, I'm going to go get my first sale.
39:40
I'm going to this thing called a TED Talk." They were like, "What?" He's 10.
39:46
And it's it's in Monterey, California.
39:49
You got to like you can't even get there.
39:50
You have to like I connected through Chicago into whatever, rented a car, 5 hours to Monterey. I get to the TED.
39:57
It's like Fort Knox, man.
39:59
Everybody has a credential like this like huge and I'm like, "You need a credential to get in here?"
40:06
There's no credentials to be found.
40:06
So, I'm thinking like how am I going to sneak in, buy someone's pass, like go into the room where all the qualified leads are.
40:13
I'm in this coffee shop plotting like, you know, my my my entrance or how I'm going to do it.
40:20
And every 2 hours a wave of people come in and they're buying they have these credentials and I'm like, "Oh, this is where they come on their break."
40:24
And they're all buying lattes and muffins and these lattes and muffins and whatever. Lattes and muffins.
40:30
So, the next morning I got up at 5:00 and I bought all the muffins from this I controlled all the muffin inventory. In Monterey, California.
40:39
And I literally just waited and this is a true story, by the way.
40:44
And it's it's been verified.
40:44
You can walk So, 2 hours later this guy the first wave of people on the break walk in and the guy orders a latte and a muffin. I stop him.
40:52
I they tell him that that they could give him a latte but they're all out of muffins.
40:56
It's like [ __ ] 9:00 in the morning.
40:57
It's like you're out of muffins? The guy starts walking. I stop him. I say, "Sorry. I overheard you.
41:05
I actually have an extra muffin if you want a muffin."
41:08
And he's like, "You got an extra muffin?"
41:09
I'm thinking like I got every single [ __ ] muffin under the table, man. What do you need?
41:15
And I started talking to him and he's like, "You know, what are you here for the conference?" I'm like, "Me, too. What do you do?" I tell him what I do.
41:20
He said, "You got to be kidding me.
41:20
I'm in the market for a private jet card."
41:24
And his name was Josh Kopelman and he owned a company called half. com. Famous VC. He wasn't a VC. he is.
41:29
I had bumped into like 3 years ago at uh at a retreat.
41:33
And and we were we were talking about this.
41:35
And anyway, he was my first sale. He was my first sale.
41:39
And and that is not a story of me being a good sales rep because like I said, I am truly back of the pack.
41:47
But it is an example of me putting myself in a situation will versus can of putting myself in a situ- situation where I could attract that kind of luck. You know?
41:58
And and um he was my first sale though.
42:02
Shawn, to answer your question.
42:03
And and you know what happened after that?
42:07
I'm going to tell you what happened after that.
42:08
I serviced the hell out of him.
42:11
I did what everybody listening would do but I did 30% more.
42:13
So, when he went to Mexico, he expected me to return his call and every EM, DM, and all that.
42:18
Of course I did what everyone here would do.
42:22
But he went to Mexico, he didn't expect the list of pediatricians that I've vetted in case his kids got sick.
42:28
He didn't expect me to make reservations every Wednesday at every night at 8:00 during spring break in Mexico in case he and his wife wanted to go to dinner.
42:34
And and and after a couple of months of doing that, what he didn't expect me to do, he gave me the magic word. He gave me a referral.
42:47
And that was rinse and repeat for for 5 years until we grew this.
42:50
So, no, I was never the CEO.
42:53
I was never the the operator. I was never the COO.
42:56
I was I wasn't even I don't even think I was on the org chart.
43:01
So, I'm I'm I'm looking at your Check this out.
43:03
Well, you're on the website.
43:04
I'm looking at I use Web Archive.
43:04
I'm looking at the the 2005 version of marquisjet.
43:08
com and I'm looking at your about page and what's interesting, it looks like your senior executive team was not only awesome, it was like amazing cuz Ken Austin I see was your executive VP.
43:19
Is that the same Ken Austin that went and started is it Avion, the tequila company and most recently started Proper Twelve with Conor McGregor?
43:27
Is is that the same Ken Austin?
43:29
And the tequila company with The Rock. Yes.
43:31
You've done a good job of hiring.
43:33
No, we were the Boston Celtics, man.
43:37
We were the Boston Celtics.
43:37
We from like the old we we the talent at this company was exceptional.
43:48
Ken Austin is an exceptionally I don't He could be the He is such a talented guy.
43:57
And um I learned so much from Ken.
44:00
And you know, we had great sales reps and we attracted really good talent because we built a really good culture.
44:06
Well, it's also a sick product.
44:06
I mean, you said you met your wife there.
44:08
It's like that's like the greatest line ever.
44:10
Like, "Oh, do you you're here at this jet company so I know like you're of someone I know you're someone interesting." Definitely.
44:17
Just so happens I I work here or I own the company.
44:19
I mean, it's like a that's that's a it's a pretty wonderful experience I imagine to work at a private jet company.
44:24
It would it would it really was and you nailed it.
44:26
But the only thing I would say to that is I think there were like 65 private jet companies that put a flag in the ground from when we started to when we sold and I think we were the only one that made money.
44:37
I might be wrong about that but if something that some Including uh Garrett Camp, the guy from Uber.
44:42
He created he tried to do an Uber for jets.
44:46
Uh that didn't work out, right?
44:46
It's it's very very difficult.
44:48
And if we didn't have NetJets as a partner, I you know, it wouldn't have I'm sure it wouldn't have worked as well.
44:54
So, a lot a lot of things lined up for us.
44:57
you did a partnership on was Zico coconut water.
44:59
And uh I think this is interesting cuz now we're seeing a pattern.
45:03
The first is you're picking businesses in like categories that they're not in the NBA curriculum.
45:10
Nobody's thinking about, "Oh, sports teams need slogans and CDs that will increase their fandom."
45:14
Nobody even realizes that that's a niche that you can go into.
45:18
Or to do, you know, this membership model for private jets.
45:22
Nobody's even looking in that area at the time, right?
45:24
There's a very few people are even thinking about that niche. It's not common.
45:27
Then you go coconut water.
45:29
So, now you're consumer packaged goods in a beverage category that's nonexistent really at the time.
45:35
Uh and I think Zico was pretty small when you found it.
45:38
It's not like it had like, you know, tons of momentum.
45:42
Um so, talk about two things.
45:42
Number one, finding these niches.
45:46
Like what what is it that that you What is your operating philosophy that leads that seems to consistently lead you to these?
45:53
That's the first question.
45:53
And the second is the key partnership that got it off the ground.
45:56
I heard an amazing Matt Damon story.
45:58
I want to hear the full version of it. Oh, it's Zico? Yeah. Yeah.
46:05
I spent a year trying to figure out how to have my own coconut water company. I went to Brazil. I went to Jamaica.
46:09
Look try to figure out This is There were no There was no coconut water in the stores.
46:15
That This is I'm a So, let me back it up even further.
46:19
I was running a 100-mile race.
46:22
And I did a lot of trick When I was doing my training, I did a lot of research around hydration and nutrition.
46:28
If I'm going to run for arguably 24 hours, how many calories do I need to eat it drink an hour?
46:33
Um how many calories do I need to take in an hour?
46:37
How much fluid ounces do I need to drink an hour?
46:38
How much salt do I need an hour?
46:40
And my research led me to coconut water.
46:44
So, I ran this race powered by coconut water and I finished it in 22 hours and 30 minutes.
46:49
When I was done, I'm like, "This is going to be This is the new Gatorade. No one knows about this.
46:54
I'm the human guinea pig.
46:58
I'm bringing this to market.
46:58
You know, it's a better option.
47:00
It's all natural, one ingredient. You know, it rains. God sends it up a tree.
47:06
We crack it open and we drink it.
47:08
Like this is I mean, are you kidding So, I spent a year trying to figure it out how to import it and I realized like I did get a 980 on my SAT cuz I couldn't figure it out.
47:22
But I knew I could market and sell it. I knew I could.
47:24
So, again, same model, same formula.
47:27
I took it the idea to Coca-Cola.
47:30
The president of Coke's emerging brands division um was friends with one of my customers at Marquis Jet. He got me a meeting. I pitched the meeting.
47:40
Uh I In the meeting, I pitched this idea of coconut water.
47:44
He takes a liking to me but he says, "We don't buy PowerPoints. We're Coca-Cola. We buy brands."
47:52
He goes, "But if you partner with another company or something, you know, maybe we can then I that's that's out there that has proved that they can make the product, ship the product, get it in stores or whatever, we'll come in we'll partner with you."
48:06
So, I went to Zico and that's how we formed the partnership.
48:08
During the meeting, the um a about a week before, I was at um Matt Damon's house.
48:15
And Matt was also a customer of a Marquis Jet and I did the things that I did for Josh Kopelman with Matt and we became friends.
48:23
And I said to Matt, you know, he'd asked me if I wanted to spend the night.
48:27
They were going out and I said, "I'm going to Brazil in a day or two."
48:29
I can't see He goes, "What are you doing in Brazil?"
48:31
I said, "I'm starting a coconut water business."
48:35
He's like, "You got to be kidding me."
48:36
He's like, "I love coconut.
48:36
I have a coconut tree in my backyard."
48:42
He's like, "I drink He goes, "If anything happens what, you know, with this company, let me know.
48:47
I may want to get involved."
48:50
A month later in the meeting at Coke, like the meeting is going so bad.
48:52
I'm showing this PowerPoint, you know, like and and out of nowhere, I I know I had to change the whole feel of the meeting.
49:01
I just turned to the president of the guy at Coke and I'm like, "You know, my partner Matt Damon and I."
49:07
Matt Damon's your partner?
49:07
I said, "I didn't mention that?"
49:09
What are you talking about?
49:13
We go all the way to the 1-yard line. I leave and I call Matt.
49:15
I'm like, "Matt, I need a favor."
49:17
He's like I'm like, "Can I come over with the Can we climb up your tree, get a coconut, chop it open, you know, go in the kitchen, put a straw in it, you know, turn to the camera and say 'Mutar, Mutar Kent, the CEO of Coke, there's got to be a better way than this.'" He's like, "All right."
49:34
And I filmed this he filmed this award-winning freaking 35-second short film of him getting a coconut, chopping it open, and saying there's got to be a better way. And and we got the deal.
49:47
And the creep you know what's interesting about that is obviously who's going to get you know a a megastar to come that's not the point.
49:55
It's it goes back to what I said.
49:55
Um will you make it work?
49:59
Putting yourself in a situation where you can get lucky.
50:01
Here's the other pattern Sean.
50:02
You're talking about patterns.
50:05
And making me making yourself stand out and be memorable in a meeting.
50:07
Now I stretched it a little bit this one.
50:11
But but um but it ended up it ended up working out. That's an amazing story. That's amazing. That's a good one. I love that story. I love that story. You That's wild.
50:23
By the way, Coke bought it 2 years later.
50:24
100% when you bought did you buy into Zico at the time?
50:28
Like did you was that like a Yeah.
50:31
And have you made bets that you felt like financial bets that were risky like you know Elon does this thing where he sort of rolls all the proceeds into the next business and sort of re goes all in each time which is you know probably not advisable to most but like what's your strategy been now that you have some chips to play with?
50:47
Do you do you make big financial bets or you saying no no I'm going to add value strategically?
50:52
Do you start things from scratch?
50:54
What do you what do you like to do with the chips that as you accumulate them?
50:57
How do you how have you used that to to your advantage?
51:00
Well I felt I realized that I've got as I've gotten older that more isn't better better is better.
51:06
And I really don't make a lot of bets. I have four kids.
51:10
Um what I'm most proud of Sean is in my journey at 55 is that I've been I've I've exited five businesses but I've been able to keep build a family, keep my health, you know, be a really good son to my parents.
51:22
Um I've great friends so I really I'm I'm not uh and I'm not using Elon as an example.
51:30
You you brought him up not me.
51:30
But I'm not trying to roll everything in or um I'm really proud of what I've been able to do and I I'm really proud of the life that I built.
51:40
So I really don't I really say no to mo I have this thing.
51:45
At this point in my life if it's high aggravation for high reward I'm not doing it.
51:49
If it's and that goes for anything.
51:51
Money, friends, I don't want to high aggravating friends.
51:53
I'm on friend reduction right now.
51:57
I'm on friend reduction man.
51:57
I want low aggravation layoffs?
52:00
You're doing Zoom calls with people let them know hey we had to make a reduction in in friendship. We're doing layoffs man. Excuse me Mr.
52:08
Damon, can you step up my office?
52:11
There's a severance package.
52:11
We'll hang out three more times but then that's it.
52:16
We need to have a discussion. What's crazy? So fun.
52:21
But I'm not trying to you know push it really.
52:23
It's like it's based on infused my enthusiasm for something.
52:26
Um how's it going to impact my life meaning like day-to-day.
52:30
Um I've walked away from several ideas that I think could be really good.
52:35
Because cuz you're like just cuz you have a good idea doesn't mean you should do it.
52:41
And I've um Sarah said that to me. I had an idea.
52:46
Now I see people are doing it now.
52:46
About 8 years ago I said Sarah I have an idea that's bigger than Marquis Jet.
52:53
Like Marquis Jet was the biggest thing I'd done, you know?
52:55
And um I told walked her through it and she goes that's an incredible idea. Don't do it. What was it?
53:03
I wanted to take commer this is going back 8 years ago.
53:07
So now it might sound like oh well people are doing it now.
53:10
I actually pitched this to a major airline now um that's doing it.
53:17
But I wanted to make commercial travel feel like private travel for people.
53:24
I felt like there was a big and there still is an opportunity for people that would pay up to fly commercial but they wanted an experience that's more private.
53:33
So for example if I'm flying from New York to California and I'm by myself and I'm on a global or a Gulfstream and I'm going round trip that's an expensive flight man.
53:44
That is an expensive flight.
53:46
Um or I could just buy a first class ticket for maybe 1,500 bucks.
53:52
So instead of let's say that that co that flight cost me if you chartered it maybe it's going to cost you let's just say $50,000.
53:57
It might be more it might be less I have no I don't even know today what it is.
54:02
But I could spend $50,000 on a private flight which is amazing or I could buy a first class ticket for 1,500 bucks.
54:08
I as a $1,500 ticket holder would gladly give you another $1,500 United American Delta Frontier whoever if you could walk me through a back door and make me feel like Mick Jagger and escort me onto the airplane it through the back door.
54:28
And um no one was doing it. No one was doing it.
54:32
And now they are doing stuff like that. That that's smart.
54:35
It's like you like unbundled the private experience.
54:36
It's like okay there's the jet part of it but then there's the walk onto the plane walk off the plane.
54:44
I mean cuz when once you get on an airplane do you really care Don't yeah it don't matter. I'm in 1A.
54:49
No one's bothering me in 1A.
54:49
And in some regard the commercial jet is safer. You have more amenities.
54:53
So yeah like I but I've been on a I flew first class from New York to LA one time for like some meeting.
57:44
I would never flown first I started doing so I started thinking about it.
57:47
And I'm like you know what?
57:50
I can't even name three pickle companies. And I I love pickles.
57:54
I don't even know who my friends This is by the way this is the part where he's going to bring in a focus group of 10 people and he's going to say name a pickle company and nobody could do it and he's going to be like that's the business plan. Well listen.
58:03
So I I I researched like the seven best tasting pickles.
58:11
And of the seven best tasting pickles I think it was like uh the Today Show did it something you know it's like it's like someone credible did it.
58:17
Um I only knew one comp one of the companies.
58:21
So I'm like if I only knew one of this top seven best tasting pickles there's a problem in the marketing of pickles.
58:28
It's a marketing problem. And I'm a good marketer.
58:33
So and it that's where it started and I'm like this is a category with no innovation no fun.
58:41
You know, 75% of Americans eat pickles.
58:44
The average American eats like 10 pounds a year. That's more than cereal.
58:49
And I'm like I like it here. I like this space.
58:53
I I'm a I'm a pickle guy too Jesse. Same.
58:56
Claussen like the big brand? Is that right? I like Claussen. I like Mount Olive.
58:57
Is it called uh Vlasic or Vlasic? I like that company.
59:04
But I think Mount Olives is the biggest ones.
59:06
I always get the little ones that look like a witch's toe.
59:07
You wearing a Mount Olive pickle shirt? I'm not.
59:11
Look I'm not I'm not big this isn't big pickle.
59:17
WELL JUST CUZ I LIKE TO THAT COMPANY or I don't even know.
59:18
But I'm just saying like you ever see me wearing a hat I'm convinced in fact we're texting Mr. Beast right now.
59:24
We're we're going to come into this market too.
59:27
You you just made a mistake my friend.
59:29
You're we're bringing our our influencers into this market.
59:31
I I believe you on this opportunity.
59:32
Why do you have let's just let's get the Beast on the phone.
59:36
Let's partner with the Beast Beast pickles. That's right. That's right. Who needs Matt Damon? We got Jimmy now. My yeah, where's Damon?
59:42
I need to go get Ben Affleck.
59:44
He seems like a good pickle guy.
59:45
I need to have a Beast is low aggravation though.
59:47
I only want the low aggravation partners.
59:50
Yeah, well, I don't know about that one.
59:52
Man Olive does 220 million in revenue a year privately owned.
59:54
It sounds it sounds doable, man. Sounds like our money. Right guys? Yeah. Yeah.
1:00:02
I want to thank them very much. For holding it for us.
1:00:03
Yeah, for holding Shoot a text over to CBO of Olive and just let them know to keep that money warm for us, all right? We'll be there soon.
1:00:17
What other ideas you got?
1:00:17
Cuz I I I told you I said, you know, you'll get this cuz you know, you're a you know, you're a rap guy.
1:00:22
When you go on certain shows like the Breakfast Club or Sway in the Morning, there's like an expectation like okay, if you come on here, you got a freestyle.
1:00:29
And we're trying to do that in the business realm where it's like you come on here, you got to bring fresh ideas.
1:00:33
You can't just only talk about your history and you go you tell me you go, I got 50 ideas in my top drawer.
1:00:39
I said all right, say no more. But you hinted at me.
1:00:43
By the way, the the the pickle names sound like a rap name.
1:00:45
Sweet Gerkin, Bread and Butter, Kosher Dill.
1:00:48
Like these are all rap names, man. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
1:00:53
We're about to have big ass pickles.
1:00:57
All right, tell me tell me about this idea.
1:00:58
You you gave me three words.
1:00:58
I don't know what the idea is, but you said ready-made 8 oz drinks.
1:01:00
What what you got in mind?
1:01:05
Yeah, so I mean I I've been accumulating ideas in my in my top drawer for 35 years.
1:01:11
Um I love starting things, Sean, you know, but um Yeah, that I mean I don't I don't mind.
1:01:20
By the way, if you guys want to rub anyone wants to rub with this, you can.
1:01:22
I'll take a one penny royalty. I'll give it to charity.
1:01:27
Um you know, I think like I go back to 5-hour Energy.
1:01:32
The brilliance of 5-hour Energy is they took a you know, 12 oz energy drink, they shrunk it down at 2 and 1/2 oz, right?
1:01:39
That's what 5-hour Energy was. And why did it work?
1:01:44
They they only I believe I believe they only a predominantly sold stores that would put it on the counter top when they started out.
1:01:53
So like it wasn't buried at GNC on the bottom shelf and it was like on the counter top at checkout impulse buy.
1:02:01
They were selling 10 million 2 and 1/2 oz bottles every week. 10 million.
1:02:07
When I look at when you look around retail at the counter at checkout of retail, the counter top is incredibly crowded.
1:02:16
At you go to Whole Foods, there's gum, there's mints, there's this, there's that, there's chocolates.
1:02:19
Everywhere you go, gas stations, there's lottery tickets and the only place that I found like where there's open area are liquor stores.
1:02:28
If you go into a liquor store, you don't see the the the the self stand you know, the stands and the crowded space and all the chachkies and stuff that you see at gas stations and at at grocery and and and other retailers.
1:02:43
And um I think there's a a tremendous opportunity.
1:02:45
I was going to call them quickies.
1:02:48
Um to have like ready-made shots.
1:02:52
Same thing as as 5-hour like of your lemon drop, whatever your favorite Kamikaze ready-made drinks are right at the counter top that are already made, fresh ingredients, you know, where people could just come and grab and go and have a ready-made cocktail that they could bring to tailgates, parties, etc.
1:03:12
I'm not saying it's going to it's going to be Grey Goose vodka, but I see an opportunity and if not that, someone should go make a deal and and in a very fragmented you now you got me thinking, Sean.
1:03:22
Now I'm like I mean this wasn't even on my radar, but here we go.
1:03:25
Like the freestyling [ __ ] you were talking about. I was playing that.
1:03:28
Um really even a better idea would be to go in liquor stores are that is the most fragmented market out there.
1:03:35
They're all mom and pops.
1:03:38
There's no like chain of liquor I mean that like you know, you go to your local liquor store.
1:03:42
It's like the guy my neighbor owns a liquor store.
1:03:45
I go there and I get the wine and this and that. Do a roll up.
1:03:48
Go pay someone for go rent the counter tops of all the liquor stores and then go to Nabisco one of the big boys and be like, hey guess what?
1:03:57
I own 10,000 counter tops.
1:04:03
You want to put your widget there?
1:04:05
You want to put your [ __ ] widget there?
1:04:08
Keep the money warm, Sean.
1:04:09
Yeah, keep the MONEY WARM, BABY. I LOVE IT.
1:04:15
YEAH, THE REAL ESTATE PROBABLY we could probably talk for 15 minutes about the opportunity and come up with 10 ideas around that.
1:04:22
You know, that's where it starts.
1:04:26
It starts with just like bad idea, oh better idea, the idea. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Exactly.
1:04:31
And uh you're kind of like I think the background of rap I'm not I'm not joking about this.
1:04:37
I think the the way the brain can sort of like not censor itself and wait till it has a fully formed perfect idea, but actually just start to go and then know that I'm going to hop from this to this to this to this and there that'll be the line and that's all I need to do is get to that one that one line.
1:04:54
I'm going to show you this too.
1:04:54
This is this is something I'm selling now.
1:04:56
This is I don't know if are we on are we just This is on YouTube, too.
1:04:59
Are we on on yeah, on on yeah?
1:05:01
No, no, video, video, video.
1:05:04
This is my 2024 all planned out.
1:05:04
This is next year fully almost fully baked what my year looks like.
1:05:11
My races, my What's what's orange?
1:05:14
There's a lot of orange on that.
1:05:15
What does orange stand for?
1:05:16
Orange orange of are So, when Sarah sold Spanx, she wanted to do a lot of traveling.
1:05:21
So this year we committed as a family to go on the road.
1:05:23
So all the orange, as crazy as this looks, is all travel.
1:05:28
We're going to Africa, we're going to New Zealand, but it's all mapped out.
1:05:32
Yellow, what's yellow what's yellow and what's what's green or or blue, whatever that is?
1:05:35
Yellow are my races and events. Green is my speaking.
1:05:40
Green is oh, birthdays and stuff. This thing's dope.
1:05:43
Now I wanted to ask you about this cuz you are super legit as far as like what you've actually been able to accomplish, your level of success.
1:05:54
And you do stuff like this.
1:05:54
You have like the big ass calendar club or whatever.
1:05:57
It's like that thing is called big ass calendar.
1:05:59
That's a product you make.
1:06:01
It's like a course you have.
1:06:01
And um I've always surprised that you're doing those things and you know, what's what's your thought process on like or the running club or the running club.
1:06:10
Like how do you pick projects?
1:06:10
Yeah, I mean I think this goes back to the earlier question you asked me about reinvesting in other businesses and stuff like that. Um how old are you guys? How old are you, Sam? 34. I'm 35.
1:06:25
So I got I got two decades on you guys and but I got I got the most experiential decades I believe on you guys.
1:06:33
Your your 40s and 50s, 30s, 40s, 50s.
1:06:37
Um you know, for me, there's I'm in I'm in a coaching space, you know, um um I speak a lot.
1:06:49
I have coaching programs, the calendar, but even the events that I do, the run running races and this kind of stuff, it's it all has an element of getting people to do more than they thought, to inspire people to do more than they thought they could.
1:07:02
But but to answer your question and the reason why I just said that is um the gal works with us in our family office was looking at all the businesses and um and asked me like I don't have a sales rep um on my payroll.
1:07:17
I don't I'm not going crazy on the marketing and this and that and it's really word of mouth and she looked at the numbers and she's like, you know, do you want to scale this and what are you doing?
1:07:27
Why don't why don't you just go do the liquor idea or the airplane idea or this idea or that idea or any of the ideas in your drawer?
1:07:33
And I pulled out my phone and I said, Kendall, all these are from today.
1:07:41
All of these messages are for today. Pick one. Read it.
1:07:45
I said, I can't and it was like, you changed my life or this has really inspired me or you you know, I did this or I saw my parents.
1:07:51
I haven't seen my parents in a long time and you know, I talk about the importance of that very often, you know, about not losing sight of what you already have while you're chasing your entrepreneurial dream, your health, your family, your friends.
1:08:06
There's no business in the world that would give me the return on investment that I'm getting right now.
1:08:10
There's nothing I could do. What?
1:08:12
Build another marquee jet? Work 20-hour days?
1:08:16
I mean like that's not going to give me that sense of impact, legacy for my kids, and just the feeling quite honestly that I have.
1:08:25
I mean like it's indescribable. A wire is a wire.
1:08:30
You get the wire and it's like the same feeling you get when when you sell a business is the same feeling you get when you finish the mar a marathon, you walk an old lady across the street, or you do anything that makes you feel good about yourself.
1:08:45
I swear to God I have the right to say that cuz I sold five of them.
1:08:49
I have the right to say that. It's the same feeling.
1:08:51
And for the for for very very for a lot of people chasing that, waiting 20 years to sell a business or something to have that feeling, when I feel like I get that every single day.
1:09:05
And that's a really powerful place to be in your life at 55.
1:09:09
And and that's the reason, man. And and so you're right.
1:09:11
I have these businesses and you know, there's no real plan around them.
1:09:15
People like, what you what I don't I don't know.
1:09:18
I'm just enjoying how it's making me feel right now.
1:09:20
And what's wrong with that?
1:09:22
I got to scale just to scale because everyone told me I had to scale?
1:09:28
I don't want to do that, man. I did that.
1:09:30
So, a question that we like to ask people is it's a really simple question, but we we learn a lot, which is like what do you do with your money?
1:09:35
So, like you have a really interesting lifestyle. I agree with you.
1:09:38
I'm not I I don't like the Elon Musk path of uh all these sacrifices and uh um doing things for the sake of humanity.
1:09:47
I'm like I'd rather have a fun life.
1:09:48
And you have a really sick life.
1:09:48
I mean, I I I'm I'm a former college athlete runner.
1:09:53
So, I I like watching what you're doing.
1:09:55
Um and I like to work out and do these podcasts and have a lot more fun than just work.
1:10:00
What do you do with your money um and um when you're financing it this, are you just are you using your speaking fees to finance it?
1:10:12
And then you have your Marquee Jet money in just one big account in the in the markets?
1:10:15
How how's your portfolio set up?
1:10:17
And what are you doing with your money?
1:10:19
Well, just, you know, it's um I don't know, man.
1:10:23
Like we we we never really think about it that much.
1:10:26
I know that's I don't want to belittle it or sound in any way obnoxious.
1:10:31
In fact, I'm incredibly grateful, but like it goes back to the relationship with money from the beginning of the conversation.
1:10:36
Um we're not trying to triple it or quadruple our money.
1:10:41
Like we don't really think about it.
1:10:42
It's like it's spread out strategically and we live our life.
1:10:47
What's your monthly burn?
1:10:49
I mean, what what does one need to spend uh per month to to to do that? I like to ride my bike. I like to run. I like to swim.
1:11:00
I like to speak in public.
1:11:00
I like to be around my family and friends.
1:11:04
What whatever that costs me, Sam, is what I'm going to spend on it.
1:11:10
How's that for an answer? Yes, Sam.
1:11:17
Um to ask you about something that you have talked about that I really liked, which is uh around your life philosophy.
1:11:21
So, you have a few of these that have made an impact on me.
1:11:25
You um I don't know where I saw it, some TikTok clip or something.
1:11:29
You were talking about like this 3-minute daily thing.
1:11:31
You go 3 minutes, and I forgot exactly how you phrase it, but it was like comp you go I I can network in 3 minutes, right?
1:11:39
I I can I can invest in my friends, my my network in in just 3 minutes a day, and I'm always interested in anything that's like, you know, the 6-minute abs.
1:11:48
I I I I tend to be interested in the like, you know, shorter time frame type things. And you go compliments. What was the other ones?
1:11:56
You go compliments um Complimenting, congratulating, consoling. Consoling.
1:12:01
Explain that that philosophy, cuz I've been doing that now where I I basically go through my text list, and I'm like, who's somebody I can compliment? Boom, send it out.
1:12:07
And they love it, cuz they're like uh you know, I'm thinking of them.
1:12:11
We haven't talked in a little while.
1:12:12
It's really simple for me to do.
1:12:14
This is like kind of like a actually like a very effective little tip.
1:12:18
I want you to share it with here.
1:12:21
Well, in my 20s, I didn't have a way to to I had no I was really on a super tight budget.
1:12:25
I was writing 10 handwritten letters um in a year.
1:12:30
Not every single day, but pretty much.
1:12:32
Writing about 10 handwritten letters a day, and that was my entire marketing strategy.
1:12:36
And I realized that, you know, it it's a great way to get through the the clutter of email, DMs, so you know, all this stuff, cuz a lot of people don't check their emails or their assistant does or whatever, but everyone reads a handwritten letter.
1:12:51
So, I the 3 minutes a day is, you know, I sent a text.
1:12:56
You mentioned the K Academy, Coach K.
1:12:56
I had sent a uh flew into Carolina um that's too long ago, and I sent Coach a text thanking him for having the event.
1:13:08
And I said, you don't need to respond.
1:13:08
I just want to let you know, like it makes me feel like an 8-year-old for 5 days a year.
1:13:12
I want to thank you for for doing this.
1:13:14
I know you don't have to do it.
1:13:16
And it took like I realized like he might share that with his team.
1:13:18
I'm like, I'm having an impact.
1:13:19
Like look at look at this note. Or tell his wife.
1:13:21
He might do nothing, but now if I see Coach K, I have permission to go over to him and say, "Coach, I sent you a text.
1:13:27
Like I don't know if you got it, but like I have that permission to do it.
1:13:30
I'm not coming out of left field like, "Oh, hey, Coach."
1:13:34
You know, like well, you just So, that's what me 45 seconds to hit send. Write it and hit send.
1:13:41
So, I was like, "Okay, if I did three of those a day and just took 3 minutes and just started hitting friends, suppliers, manufacturers, whatever.
1:13:53
Over the course of a year, I'll send a thousand.
1:13:56
I will plant a thousand permission slips all over the country and world. 3 minutes a day.
1:14:02
So, in carpool line, when I take my kids to school or pick them up, I just fire off a couple of emails or call them or whatever.
1:14:08
So, that was that theory.
1:14:10
The compliment, congratulating, consoling is really just kind of three things that I I like to to remind myself to do to maintain and build authentic relationships.
1:14:22
Authentic relationships, not relationships. Authentic relationships.
1:14:28
So, for example, if you have somebody in your life that's grieving, and you don't reach out to them, and you guys are young, but you'll see in the next 10 years, friends will start to get diagnosed with stuff, parents, grandparents are going to pass away.
1:14:43
Like your life's going to change, man.
1:14:45
If you have someone that's grieving and you don't reach out to them, they will never forget it.
1:14:49
They'll never Oh, they they they you can't human nature, you can't even help but take inventory.
1:14:55
Who reached out and who didn't. You're just aware. I just lost my father.
1:14:59
I know everybody that called me.
1:15:02
I know everybody that didn't call me.
1:15:04
And the people that didn't call me don't get a pass. They don't get a pass.
1:15:12
So, you always want to console.
1:15:12
The people that it you know, something happens to a friend in your life that's great, you want to congratulate them. You know?
1:15:19
And then you want to compliment.
1:15:21
You know, Shawn, man, Sam, listen.
1:15:25
You guys have been a amazing podcast. You did it yourself.
1:15:27
You know, you guys decided to like sold some businesses, and here you are, you know, bringing on inspiring people to inspire entrepreneurs all over the world.
1:15:35
And um I just want to congratulate on you on your success, man.
1:15:39
I'm you know, I you just call someone out of nowhere.
1:15:44
You default to calls or texts? Either way.
1:15:46
I just think I personally like handwritten letters. Here's one.
1:15:52
Um because I feel like the intent It takes a little longer, but to actually get a stamp, lick it, go to the mailbox, put it in the mailbox, it's received completely different than just sent.
1:16:07
But you know, it's about it like in the pecking order, but you don't have the ability to do that. It takes too long.
1:16:13
But at the end of the year, I do like to write 25 to 50 handwritten thank you letters every year.
1:16:19
I have a whole close out the year process that I kind of teach people, but like and that's one of them. You know?
1:16:25
But you compliment, you congratulate, you console.
1:16:27
And you do that to people, and like if I Sam, if I hit you up, God forbid you had something bad and and I don't even know.
1:16:33
I just met you for the first time.
1:16:38
Other than the question about how my burn rate, I love you.
1:16:44
So, if I if I were to call you up after one meeting and say, "Sam, man, I heard about XYZ.
1:16:50
Man, I'm so sorry that happened to you."
1:16:52
And then 4 months later, I call you up and say, "Sam, man, you guys just hit 5 million downloads a day. Congratulations, man."
1:17:01
And then I call you up again at the end of the year and say, "Sam, I just want to let you know, man, that question you asked me about about my burn rate, you know, I've been rethought it, and I want to compliment you because you ask the tough questions. And you know what?
1:17:12
That's the seat that you're in, and I give you credit for asking questions like that to people on the other end.
1:17:18
And I really admire you for that.
1:17:18
I do those three things in that year, you're going to think differently about it." his hero.
1:17:27
You'll be all of our heroes, to be honest with you. That'd be incredible. All right. Well, well Dad? Come on. Come on. Come on. Shawn.
1:17:35
You laugh about that, and we're laughing about it, but let me ask you a question.
1:17:39
Who doesn't want to be a hero? You're right.
1:17:41
Who doesn't want to be a hero?
1:17:43
We like if you're telling me I don't I don't have to run into a building and save save someone, I can just do that, and I can be a quote unquote hero. Like you know what?
1:17:52
I built my career doing that.
1:17:54
Well, so this is about relationships.
1:17:55
You also have others about skill building, life experiences.
1:17:59
Explain some of your other kind of life rules, cuz I think these are really worth sharing.
1:18:01
You know, people I think will be entertained and inspired by the business stories, but my hope is that that actually was just buying the right to drop a little wisdom on them at the end here, cuz this is the stuff I've liked the most from you from your story.
1:18:16
Um so so tell talk about, you know, the sort of Misogi or the the Kevin's rule.
1:18:21
Like I think these are pretty foundational.
1:18:24
Yeah, well, that goes into kind of the planning that I showed you on the calendar.
1:18:26
And um I really I had to do two or three things every year um at the beginning of the year.
1:18:32
This is actually perfect timing.
1:18:33
I don't know when this is going to air, but like November, December, when you look into 2024 or the next year, I try to have one big year-defining thing on my calendar every year.
1:18:44
Last year was my bike ride across America.
1:18:45
2015, it was Living with a Seal, the book I wrote.
1:18:48
2017, I lived on a monastery.
1:18:50
2016 or something, I started 29029, this company with my partner.
1:18:56
So, it is an old Japanese ritual called the Misogi.
1:18:58
And we took the liberty to kind of create our own version of what that means.
1:19:02
But basically, it means that every year you do what Well, the way I've interpreted it is you do one big year-defining thing.
1:19:12
And you have you should have something to show for it every year.
1:19:13
By the way, if you're 35 years old, I don't want I don't just rounding up here.
1:19:18
Um and you live to be 85, so you have that would be 50 year defining things between now and the end of your and the end of your run that you have on your life resume.
1:19:30
That's pretty damn incredible.
1:19:30
The second thing I do is something I call Kevin's Rule, named after my friend Kevin.
1:19:36
Um, which is every other weekend I do something I normally wouldn't have done.
1:19:42
Like, instead of watching like a George the Georgia football game, I might take my kids fishing.
1:19:46
I might go to a conference.
1:19:47
I might, you know, um, watch spend a couple of hours learning something I I didn't know.
1:19:52
Um, I coined it Kevin's Rule because Kevin and I were camping in Mount Washington with our kids and it was like the I go, "Kev, there's eight It's like the winter, it's snowing, we're sleeping outside in a minus 40 sleeping bag, minus 20 sleeping bag.
1:20:05
I'm like, 'Kev, there's eight billion people in the world, man.
1:20:06
It's only us on this mountain.'
1:20:08
You know, it it How often do you do this?" Cuz he invited me.
1:20:12
He's like, "Oh, every other week." He's a police officer.
1:20:13
I do so every other month I do something I normally wouldn't have done.
1:20:17
I'm like, "What do you mean?"
1:20:18
He's like, "So, at the end of the year I got six mini adventures."
1:20:20
If you're 35 and you live to be 55 and you have six mini adventures, that's 300 mini adventures and 30 50, I'm sorry.
1:20:31
50 year defining things, your misogi, and 300 mini adventures.
1:20:36
Shawn, I don't care how much money you have or how little money you have.
1:20:41
At the end of your run, if I go to you and you're 85 years old on your death bed and you're like, "Jesse, man, thank you.
1:20:47
I took your advice listening to my podcast and I now have 50 unbelievable adventures.
1:20:53
I've done the Grand Canyon.
1:20:56
I've taken my family here and I have 300 mini adventures that I've done.
1:21:00
And by the way, it only took six days of the 365 days of the year, seven days of the 365 days of the year. Is it 2%? Is it 2%? 6%? What is that? here.
1:21:16
We don't do public math, so don't worry, you're off the hook. Okay, there we go. That's a great run. That's a great run.
1:21:25
Have you ever hung out with Rob Dyrdek?
1:21:26
You guys are really similar.
1:21:26
We had him on, um, and I I think I've said publicly he's one of my favorite people.
1:21:33
Uh, and you have the similar quality where you just have a framework and you know what you like and you stick to it and you're really intentional and I appreciate that.
1:21:41
your terms, which is what I I think the highest calling thing we respect on the pod is somebody who defines their own terms and then lives on them.
1:21:47
Even if you don't even if somebody doesn't Because even successful people don't do that.
1:21:51
You like even people who are wealthy, they're like, "I [ __ ] hate my life because I'm tied to this job that I actually don't like doing."
1:21:59
And you're a great example.
1:21:59
Your your your your definition tends to be exciting and awesome cuz you're doing all these adventures, but it doesn't matter what your your definition of of like your framework is, you've done a cool job of defining it and sticking with it and I appreciate that.
1:22:11
Well, one cool thing that's different is Rob's is all about maximizing He's like efficiency.
1:22:18
How much How do I use my time?
1:22:20
How do I allocate it and how do I get the most done in that time?
1:22:21
Whereas I feel like Jesse's almost like it's a different relationship with time.
1:22:27
It's like, "How do I have the maximum number of of incredible experiences um, and amazing relationships and moments, whether that moment took five seconds or, you know, five days or five weeks, it doesn't really matter.
1:22:40
It's like maximizing kind of like the squeezing the juice out of out of the fruit, you know, versus versus, uh, you know, trying to optimize every moment.
1:22:50
In in in in in in a generation of hustle and grind, which is so obvious, no [ __ ] you got to work hard, that message gets lost.
1:22:58
And you don't want to give up your 20s and your 30s and your 40s and certainly not your 50s if you can avoid it, just grinding and chasing something that you can get the same feeling doing something else.
1:23:11
Well, we feel lucky for having having you on, uh, very early on on the podcast.
1:23:15
Sam introduced me to a guy Mike Brown and he said one line on the pod that changed my life.
1:23:18
He goes, he goes, "Yeah, my theory of life is find the people that you love and then do life with them."
1:23:25
And I just thought, "Oh, if there's a North Star for me, like that's the new North Star."
1:23:28
You know, maybe something maybe something more wise will come take its place, but that's it. And, uh, that's the pod.