The #1 Personality Trait That Made These Business Moguls +$450M

23:35And he describes the day that he quit. And he's like, I was just sitting there and he's like, actually, we used to get paid pretty well for being a bellhop. I forgot what it was. It's like, you know, 22 bucks an hour or something back then. He's like, it's not that the money was so bad. he's like and I like the guys that I worked with but he's like am I just going to do this shit forever and he's like I had the realization that every day that I do this I'm not doing it's another day that I'm not doing the thing I want he's like because before I used to feel like you know I could always someday go do something and he's like you know what screw it he goes he says so here's here's what he says about it he goes he goes if I had to tell you one thing and he's given a talk later he goes it would be to take the risk he's because when I quit and I actually went for my thing, guess what?

24:20I realized I can always come back and be a bellhop. Like this life I have is always here because it's the bottom. It's not where I want to be anyways. What do I have to lose? I, worst case scenario, I could just come back and get another job like this. He goes, but I will never get back this window of time I have right now in my twenties that like I can go and take a shot at something. And so that was kind of like his mindset and his mentality. So he quits and he's like, I want to start. so he starts trying to he's doing the boxing thing he's trying to trying to become a promoter and then you're right the the mob thing happens here's what he said about he goes um these guys show up and they're like hey you owe us$2 ,500 and he's like uh he's like in the movies it's cool when you see like mobsters and mafia if it's real life and they want you shit super scary he's like that is not cool and he's like so i he's like i was like i have no way of paying this he's like so i'm just gonna he goes i go home that night i just go to delta.com and I bought a one-way ticket to Vegas.

25:15He goes, I left all my shit there. It was like my TV, my dresser. Like I just left her there. I know I couldn't do anything. He says, I just ran away basically from these guys. Once I realized that they're pretty serious, I bought a one-way ticket to Vegas. And the guys who were behind it, it was Whitey Bulger, who's like the real deal. He's from the movie Black Mask and he's the character behind The Departed. Yeah, exactly. When they first came in, they were like, hey, you owe us$2 ,500. He's like, I don't owe you that. For what? I don't have it. Like, what do you want me to do? and then a couple weeks go by and then they call him and they're like, you owe this money by tomorrow, 1 p.m.

25:49or else. And he was like, oh shit, okay, I got to get out of here. So he left basically that night. A couple other things. I thought he was friends with the Fertittas. They actually didn't know each other. They only knew of each other in high school, but they weren't friends. And what he said was, basically, they knew of each other and they liked Dana because Dana was kind of like, basically, he tells the story, he's like, we had this class that we all hated. And he's like, Dana realized that the teacher was like really like uptight. And so it was kind of sucked to be in that class, but because the teacher was uptight, like one little thing could distract the teacher and throw them off.

26:22So he's like, Dana would go to the restroom and he would kick this door really hard. And he kicked the door really hard, make this huge sound. The teacher would go like become irate. Like who the, what is that? Who's doing that? And it would go try to find the person. Dana would run away, but the class would basically half of the class would go by with no teacher because like teacher would be looking for somebody. So he used to do that like every week. And then one day he did it, but his shoe like flew off and he was like, oh shit. I don't know. Like he's like, he just had a jet. So the teacher found the shoe and realized it was Dana and Dana got in trouble.

26:51But the Fertitta is always like logged that in their mind. They're like, man, he took a bullet for us basically. So years later they're at a wedding and they meet up and they're like, dude, I haven't talked to you in so long. What do you do? And he like learns what the Fertittas do. He learns what he does. One of the things Dana says, he's like, yeah, I teach this like boxer size class. I'm doing jujitsu. and I think Lorenzo was like, you know what? I'm doing good in business, but I'm not really doing anything fitness-wise. I want to train jiu-jitsu. And Dana's like, all right, sure. I've heard that a million times.

27:18Nobody actually shows up. Lorenzo the next morning is there ready to do jiu-jitsu. That's how they actually got to know each other. That's how the Fertitta started to fall in love with fighting or MMA. So what happens is while he's doing that, he becomes an agent. Same thing as Ari Emanuel. Becomes an agent first before he becomes a business owner. He starts representing Tito and Chuck Liddell. But the UFC is so small back then, even though these guys are the big stars, they're so small. But that in doing that, he's negotiating a contract with the owner of the UFC. He's like, you got to pay Tito more.

27:47Look at how much money this guy's bringing in. He's the face of this. You got to, you got to, you got to step up. And the guy's like, the guy's negotiating, negotiating. He's like, finally, he's just like, look, Dana, there's no money. All right. This whole thing's going to fall over. Like you're not wrong, but I have nothing to give. And Dana's like in that moment, like basically should have been a disadvantage. Like shit, my main business is going to go down the drain. The owner can't pay my fighters. This is over. But he turned that disadvantage to an advantage. That's when he approached the Fertittas to be like, hey, let's buy this thing.

28:18One funny thing is that owner had mismanaged his business so bad that they didn't even own UFC.com. He had sold it to just get a little bit of cash to user-friendly computers and then Dana had to go buy it back from user-friendlycomputers.com and get back UFC.com's domain, which I thought was amazing. I think when they bought it, Dana was like, someone asked Dana, they go, what did you get when you bought it? He goes, well, he had this octagon, which is basically just a cage and mats, which is not very expensive. But it was really just that name. I love that name, UFC, so much. We hadn't had the name.

28:53Exactly. Then he's like, they had put$40 million more into it. He felt so bad. He's losing his friend's money. And they were trying to make it work, but it just wasn't working yet. And Lorenzo calls and he's like, dude, I can't do this anymore. I can't keep bleeding money like this. Can you try to sell this thing? And Dana's like, okay, my buddy needs me to sell this. And so he's like, he calls everybody. And he calls back Lorenzo the next day. He's like, there's not a lot of appetite for this thing. I think the best we could do is get six or seven million bucks for this. And Lorenzo's like, okay, let me call you tomorrow.

29:25Next day, he calls him. Who knows what he had that morning for breakfast. But he's like, fuck it. Let's keep going. Let's put in another 10 million, one last chance to turn this business around. and then that's what they used to create the ultimate fighter. That last 10 million. So he's in 50? They're 50 in? They were 50 million in. Well, it was all funded by the family's casino and previous successes, which I think they were really rich, but I think they were not rich enough that 50 was, I mean, 50 was a significant sum. And when it sold for 4 billion, those guys, the brothers, each owned 40 % of the business basically at that time.

29:57Dana made 360 million on the sale and like had a 10 % kicker. Some other crazy things about Dana. So it takes a pretty rough dude to build the UFC. And I think this guy's kind of like a no holds barred kind of guy. Well, have you ever met any of the UFC fighters? I think you and I have been around them because we have a friend that has been around them. They're all insane. Because if you think about what it takes, so what's it take to get in your underwear and fight to the death in front of a million people? You have to be an animal. You don't have all your screws. No. And so Data has talked about it.

30:27He goes, I don't think you guys understand. Like someone will say something homophobic or racist. And he's like, dude, that's like not even close to as bad as it gets when you're working with these guys. They're insane. And drama happens every single day. You only hear about a small portion of it. But UFC would not be... It would not exist. It would not be what it is if it wasn't Dana's force of will. Some other ways that he's just all in. So do you know he's like a banned blackjack player from multiple casinos? Which is funny because it's like you can't really have an edge playing blackjack. The only edge he has is that he's willing to bet absurd amounts of money and then he wants to walk away.

31:02there's well there's stories about him like before it was hugely hugely successful where he's like i made a million dollars last night at a casino exactly uh of course as anybody's ever gambled knows you never tell the stories about losing the million dollars you only tell the ones where you made the million but his strategy one thing he'll do he goes and he bets 75 to 100 000 per hand and if he just wins the first two hands he'll walk away which is just like infuriates the casino because that you know they're they need the large law of large numbers to catch up. And he's like, if he makes 200 grand, he'll just immediately bounce and like, ha, I got him.

31:36But when he starts to get in the hole, that's when they, you know, that's when they get him. So, you know, it's just a kind of impulsive individual. A couple of other things that, that I thought were kind of interesting. So he's like growing up, his dad was an alcoholic and here's what he said. He goes, my dad was never around. And if he was around, he didn't want him to be around. He goes, he was not a good guy. He goes, but I wouldn't change anything. If I didn't grow up like that, I would not be me. Right. I had the toughness that that built in me would not, I wouldn't have that if I had just had like a nice, you know, safe upbringing.

32:06The other thing he says, he's like, I didn't have a car. So he's like, I just biked everywhere. I went in Boston. He's like, so I bought a Walkman and I would put on Tony Robbins and I would listen to, you know, the giant within he's like an every day I would just ride around on my bike, kind of like working myself into a frenzy, listening to that thing, just getting anywhere I needed to go. And he's like, it was my kind of escape from like the shittiness of my life. He's like, and then I started buying those tapes for anybody as gifts because it was like so impactful to me which i thought was interesting dude isn't that funny though so dana dana white is is a tough guy right like i think that he's the type of guy who you don't want to mess with physically or in business like he's he's he's a legit tough guy and even he listens to self-help stuff i always thought it was funny i was i used to be ashamed of like listening to a tony robbins or something i was like i don't want to talk about it and then you realize that like even the bad the badasses consume a lot of this stuff in order to get pumped.

32:57Yeah, the people who have improved themselves seem to have done something to improve themselves. It's insane. One other thing. He had the same thing like the mailroom thing. So he said, I didn't know this part of the story, but for three years, he doesn't really talk too much about it. He's like, I worked under a guy. He's like, I basically did an apprenticeship. And he's like, I told myself, I'm going to spend three years with this guy because I know if I spend three years with this guy, I will know everything there is to know about the fight business. he's like today I'm not the guy who can go be the next Don King or go become the next big promoter of the fight business I know that's where I want to go but I got to learn I got to earn my stripes so he did his version of the mailroom he's like he worked for this guy he's like for three years I worked harder he's like you know the whatever my actual wage was like per hour must have been just ridiculously low with the number of hours I put in he's like but I did every job there is he's like I was a cut man I was a corner man I was a referee I managed the talent I would read all the contracts, even though he never even asked me to.

33:52He's like, I put in three years so I could know the ins and outs of the entire business so that that prepared me to do what I wanted to do. And he's like, I knew that's what I needed. You haven't actually explained how they're all the same. They're all just maniac all in individuals, right? There are people who basically Ari is a good example of this. So Ari kind of had already made it. WME was the biggest agency, one of the top two agencies in Hollywood, right? And he'd already made it. And I talked to somebody knew him, I'm like, why did he buy the UFC? And to buy the UFC, he tapped his network.

34:24He raised every dollar he could. But then he basically had to leverage and mortgage WME. So he kind of put everything he had worked for at risk to buy a very high risk asset at a very high price. To tie it all in, I think Silver Lake was the funder or one of the bigger funders. Exactly. So Silver Lake sees what Ari is doing and they're like, if Ari Emanuel is going all in on something, he will not lose. He will not let this fail. Ari Emanuel mortgages everything he's worked for to go all in on this bet. Dana has options to sell the business and actually had an option to sell for almost a billion dollars more, he said.

35:00But he turned it down because he wanted to work with Ari because he knew Ari is the guy who's all in. And the future upside of this thing is going to be bigger with Ari, even if today's payout is a billion dollars less. And so they all shared that trait of why they all wanted to be in business with each other and why they all wanted to back each other. And the Fertitta brothers, no different. Same reason they wanted to back Dana and do this deal was they're also wired like this. So to me, that was the commonality amongst all these people. And if you watch a big UFC fight, you're going to see Ari Emanuel.

35:28You're going to see his girlfriend to his left. And then to his right, you're going to see Egon. And then a few seats down is going to be Dana. They always sit in the exact same spots for all the big fights. And you see them. And I remember seeing Egon there. And I'm like, who's that guy that's always there? And that's how I learned about him. And Dana said when he sold the UFC, he's like, it kind of fucked with my head. He's like, I spent two days. I just like, I just had like a bender in my hotel room. Cause I was like, what do I do? I have$300 million in my bank account. My best friends who have been doing this with me are gone now.

35:58I'm doing this on my own and we kind of made it, but I'm used to being the guy who is fighting for fighting to make it. What happens when you make it? He's like, it really screwed my head for two days. And then I was like, all right, well, I guess I'm just, I'll just go back to doing exactly what I know how to do. I just go back to doing exact, like just don't change anything. Just keep operating the same way. And so what do you know about the Fertittas? The Fertittas, I didn't look up their history too much when I wanted to know their personality a little bit. A couple of little bullet points I have here.

36:26They work out every day together, the brothers at 7 a.m. I like that. I just like that as a brotherly thing to do. The second thing, they attend all meetings together. So they're not like delegate, divide and conquer. They're like, no, bro, we're going to all the meetings together. They both sit there, they drink a diet, Dr. Pepper, and they attend almost every meeting together as well. and then they like ball out. They got yachts and planes and art and their cousin Tillman Ferdinand also is a baller. And so like, they're just kind of a crazy family that made it in this wild, wild west time of Vegas.

36:53I was going to say, do you know who their cousin is? Their cousin is Tillman. Tillman got famous because he, I think he bought into Landry's, which is a, I think, is it a steak restaurant in Texas? From there, he bought many, many other things, including like Bubba Gump shrimp and like a ton of like those not fast casual but like applebee's like not nice but like kind of nice if you're broke and you want to go out to eat type of situation and then eventually he bought out the whole company after taking it public and i believe now it's one of the most profitable privately held companies where he owns 100 of it so there's a lot of a lot of privately held companies that are quite huge his company is 100 owned by him i think it i read his biography i think it does something like three million a year in EBITDA and he bought the Houston Rockets as well.

37:43He's known as being a real asshole. The other Fertitta guys, all the interviews I've seen with them, they seem shockingly... They're still sharks, but they seem shockingly well-mannered and calm and they seem really easygoing, if that is such a word that could be described, these types of sharks. They are incredibly respected. I'll leave you one last little quote I liked from Dana. He said, he goes, you know, about the risk-taking thing, he's like, you can always go back to your job, but here's what you can't do. You can't go back and get this opportunity again. You can't rewind time. You can't get back your youth to take risks.

38:20He's like, I realized that I didn't want to be on my deathbed with a bunch of I should have. He goes, not everything I've done has worked. And what I've learned is that even if it turns out shitty, it's not just that you learn how to win. Sometimes the most important learning is I thought I wanted to do this, but it turns out that's not what I want to do. And I thought that was a really wise thing that most people don't say. What's he referring to? Walking away from the UFC? It might have been like, it could have been anything. It could have been like when he thought he wanted to be a boxer. Then he goes in and he realizes, oh, actually, only through trying this did I learn that that's not actually the thing I want to do.

38:52Oh, this is Dana. This is Dana talking. And so I thought that was good because everybody talks about, oh, it's okay. If you fail, you'll still learn. But rarely do they explain this, that one of the most important things in general in life is just figuring out what is the thing you actually want to be doing. Most people go their whole life, never, never finding that. And then they're in their thirties or forties or fifties. And they feel like it's too late to even try a new thing. They're so far down one path. They don't want to go back to the bottom of the mountain and try a new path. And so I thought this is so important to know is like early on when you're not that far up the mountain, use that to your advantage because you can go back to the beginning and choose a new path.

39:28And that sometimes going down the path, it's not just about becoming a better hiker. It's about learning. This isn't a path I like. And the only way I could have known that was by trying. Hey, this episode is brought to you by Mercury. They're the fintech of choice for over 200 ,000 companies. I myself use it for eight different companies. The reason why we all choose it is because it does everything you need under one roof. So like my e-commerce company, it's super important for us to be able to easily wire transfer, pay all our different vendors and suppliers all around the world. And the old way with our more traditional bank that shall now be named.

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40:28So highly, highly recommend it. If you're not using Mercury, I question your judgment. So that's it. You've heard it on My First Million. For more information, check out mercury.com. Mercury is a financial technology company, not a bank. Check show notes for details. My biggest takeaway from these stories is loyalty. So I've heard Dana and the Lorenzo brothers talk about their little trio, their three-person team. They're crazy loyal to one another. And I was always envious that I didn't have a brother that was about my age who I wanted to partner with or work with. And so I've read about the Lorenzo brothers a lot.

41:04And I'm very envious of that relationship that they've had. They seem like they've had a healthy relationship with their parents who were business people. And then when they brought in Dana, they are all crazy loyal to one another. And they never disrespect one another publicly. It seems like a great partnership. And that's been my biggest takeaway from from these guys is loyalty. Even Dana, I don't like many of the things that he's done. And I'm actually not a Trump supporter, but he was like, Trump was nice to me in 2008 or something like that. When nobody else was. He's like, no one would help us.

41:37Trump helped us. I remember that. Therefore, I'm going to repay him. Now, I don't think Dana is a straight up guy all the time. Like I said, I think he's done a lot of messed up stuff. But his value of how he looks at loyalty, I appreciate, at least when it comes to those two brothers. Yeah, you're kind of like that too, where like, loyalty is a deep rooted value. I feel like if someone's loyal to you or disloyal to you, even in a small way, I feel like that goes really deep in your core. Is that right? I don't forget. So someone will do something. Do you remember that story that I explained about how I asked a reporter if she wanted to freelance for the hustle?

42:20And she said, that's cute and I like have always held the grudge and I want to destroy her. I went and re-read the email. She didn't say that's cute. She said, that's so sweet. I appreciate you so much, but I'm not interested. But for some reason at the time, I read it and I went re-read it the other day when I was talking to Sarah and I was like, maybe she actually wasn't being rude. But for the last 10 years, I've been waiting for this woman to make a mistake and I wanted to pounce on it just to get revenge because she dismissed me. I've been wanting to do that so bad. And I'm so thankful that that hasn't happened yet because she actually wasn't rude to me.

42:57I reread it. But the point being is if someone's disloyal to me, I want to destroy them. And the people who are loyal to me, yes, I go all in on them. Because if you don't look, I moved to San Francisco with not knowing anyone. The way that you get ahead is you have to have a group of people who you do everything for and you expect them to do everything in return. And once you find that group of people, it helps you so much. Not just in life, or not just in business, but for everything else. It helps so much. And we have a friend who is so incredibly loyal that it sets a standard of loyalty. It's almost annoying.

43:32You know who it is. It's almost annoying. I don't need to say it. He buys the best gifts and I feel like I've got to go... It's not even about the gifts. It's like, I know that if I was in trouble, this guy would drop everything he would drop everything more than my dad would drop everything to come help he would say send location send me location exactly send location I'm there this guy his level of loyalty is like next level and I don't even know why it's not like it's ever even been tested in that way I've never had to send me location but why do I feel that way I have no idea but I do you can't convince me otherwise because he has shown it in a bunch of small ways that you know that the big way would always be there.

44:15But man, it's paid off wonderfully for him. He was successful on his own, but he's definitely gotten ahead. But then there's been times, I was with him one time and he wanted to ride a skateboard. I go, Ramon, don't ride the skateboard, dude. You're 40 years old. You're about to hit your head. Do not do this. He does it anyway. He gets a concussion. We got to take him to the hospital. We take care of his kid while he's in the hospital for two or three days. and so he's been repaid a little bit in his loyalty but it's paid off and I've seen I'm like I feel like I owe you so much that I will do anything in return to get you back and so it's helped him so much and so anyway I respect that about these guys is that how loyal they are I was thinking here's a little philosophical thought experiment for you you know the phrase F you money like oh he's got F you money and I think a lot of people aspire to have that but an interesting question is what are the other F yous like you know, maybe, you know, Sam, you could be like, I have FU health, right?

45:13Because if you're in absolute pristine health, you have physical fitness, you're extremely athletic, you're mobile, you're whatever, right? You can have FU health. Like what else could you have? And I think Ramon has, he has FU loyalty, right? We're like, it is, he is just full, fully abundant in the loyalty that he has for others and that others will have for him. Because me and you and everyone I'm sure that he's friends with, we would all go to bat for him completely. And I just, as a thought experiment, it's like, what are the other versions of FU that actually are more valuable than having FU money?

45:45Have you ever thought about something like this? That's a great question. So what else, what are the other options besides loyalty? Like my trainer, my personal trainer, he's got like FU happiness. We're like, the guy's happy no matter what's going on, which is kind of the way that FU money works. It's like, dude, he'll do whatever because he's like, he just doesn't give a shit. He just doesn't care. my trainer's like that with he just doesn't give a shit there's traffic oh i'm having a party in my car oh this person cut me off well oh i'm you know whatever he just makes his own version of like he's always in a good mood no matter what is going on he's completely unconditional he's completely invincible i think you have it i think you have that i aspire to have that well in my opinion from my perspective you have that i was thinking the other day i'm like what does sean never get rattled uh or does he ever get like stressed and unhappy and there's been stories and i've seen it firsthand where someone has said something to you rude or you've had something didn't break your way and it was a tough break and you're you're hard to like get down i mean i've been with you when you've lost a bunch i've been i've seen you make a bunch but i've seen you lose in a variety of bets that you've taken you don't get rattled you tweeted out something the other day you said um your your pucker butthole what was it uh i was like everybody's got a butt clenched number.

47:04It's an amount of money where it makes your butthole pucker up a little bit. It's good to know where your pucker number is right now. And just keep note of that. And I was like, because I had just wired a bunch of money. And like, it's not even that I was like, it's not even that I was like worried all I'm going to lose it. But I was literally like, let me just double check the routing number. Let me just make sure I got that right. Which I don't usually, like, I don't usually bother to be like, okay, palms are a little sweaty. Let's go ahead and hit the button. Like if you ever use Milchip. Dude, I do that with a thousand dollars.

47:29I do that with a thousand dollars. like animation when you're going to send an email you know you know the one i'm talking about where it's the monkey's finger about to push the sand and it's sweating and it's trembling because it's like you're about to email your whole list let's just are you sure you got all the details right that's like that's the pucker number for for some people with their email list and so i think everybody's got to know it your number was high i i i'm like that with a thousand and so when i think about like why am i stressed about certain things i definitely try to think you know um there was uh who was it i think it was jfk he had a photo of abel like it on his desk and he goes i just always try to ask myself, what would Abe do?

48:02Sometimes when I get stressed, I think, what would Neville Medora do? And what would Sean Puri do? How would they handle this? Neville Medora is another person who has no stress. There was one time when he was trying to... He had never owned a house. And he was thinking about buying a house. And he had never thought about finances because he's been making a great living for years and years and years. And he never thought about money. He could buy whatever he wants. And he was thinking about what house he wanted. And he was just going to pay cash or something like that, where it was a big investment, his first big investment.

48:27And he was talking to my wife and I. And he goes, I couldn't go to bed last night. Because I was thinking about buying this house and I can't buy exactly everything I want. And I actually have to like second guess some of the things. And then we were just sitting there. We didn't say a word. And he looked at Sarah and he goes, is that stress? And we were like, yeah, dude, that's what stress is. Like finally you experienced it at the age of 38 years old. And you go to the doctor. He's like, I have a taste like sensation. What is this thing where I stayed up like for an hour last night, just thinking about this.

49:00And you and Neville have that same thing where you have a very high tolerance. It's crazy when you see it because people take pride. They're like, man, I don't tolerate no disrespect. And it's like, what are you really saying there? What you're really saying is like... What do you say? You tolerate it? You can't disrespect me. If you say something, that says something about you, not me. Well, you can't bother me. There's a great way Tony Robbins said this. He goes, how cheap is your happiness? Meaning if all it takes is somebody doing something really little to take your happiness away, your happiness is cheap.

49:34You got the TJ Maxx of happiness, right? You are the dollar store of your mood is in the dollar store, right? Anybody can go get it for so little. Someone could just take the grocery cart in front of you that you wanted. And now you're a little bit piffed, right? Don't be cheap with your happiness. Be expensive. Be luxury. I heard a very funny story about you. And if this violates anything, we'll delete it. So I was with Ben last night at Ramon's birthday. We did a little birthday thing for Ramon. Ben told me this funny story about how you were thinking about writing a book and you meet with this amazing author and the author asks you something or maybe he was like, why do you need my help?

50:09And you were like, well, I think I could do it. I think I'm talented enough to do it. I just don't have the time right now and I just would rather you do it. And you said something that I guess this guy thought that you were being rude. And the guy in the middle of the meeting goes, well, stop the conversation. I'm out of here. This is not a good fit. And instead of being insulted, your takeaway was, wow, I really respect that about you. You did a great job of standing up for yourself. So that's not what happened. Here's the story of what happened. Here's the story of what happened. We meet with this guy.

50:43He's a book development guy. So basically, there's somebody in between, an editor, a publisher, a writer. A book development guy is just the guy who's going to help you think through the concept and flesh it out, right? So I'm like, who's the best in the world at this, right? A question I will always ask. Who's the best in the world at doing this? I want to talk to them. So I meet this guy who's the best in the world doing this. And what he asked me was not, why do you want to write this? I didn't say I don't have time. What he said was, what do you want to write about? And I go, oh, I go, I think I could write about anything.

51:09I was like, I could write a book about storytelling. I could write a book about marketing. I was like, I feel like that's actually the problem. And maybe I'll write multiple books. I don't know. But I was like, I have so many ideas. I want you to help me think through which of those ideas. And he goes, that's a nightmare. He goes, that's probably the worst answer you could give to somebody like me. He goes, I want somebody who spent 10 years, 20 years of their life only thinking about one thing. And that's the thing that they need to pour into a book. The guy who was like, oh, I could write about anything and everything.

51:36Oh God, that's going to be miserable for me to figure out. And he like ended the meeting. He didn't end the meeting. No, but he goes, that would not, he's like, I don't want to do that. That's not a fit for me. So he didn't end the meeting, but he's just, he's just was like, I'm going to be honest with you. And I go, I was like, all you did was make me want you more. I was like, that's exactly what I want out of my development guy. Yeah. Push back because the speech I had given about what are the things I could write about and why, it was a good speech. It was an A-plus speech. It was only 60 seconds long, but I was like, I made a strong point there.

52:05And whenever somebody can say the truth in the face of my persuasion, I have an extreme amount of respect for them. It's not about generic pushback. It's about truth. The guy said the true thing, which was, that's not what you want when you're writing a book. What you want is, my whole life has been building up to this one book in this one moment and this one thing that I can't wait to pour out of me because I've refined it in my head for 10 years. And I was like, that's actually right. And I want to work with you even more now. But I also agree with you and that you're completely right. Thank you.

52:37And I was like, I thanked him profusely for that. The same thing happened the other day on a tax call. Well, by the way, my point being is, I think that's a really healthy way that you approached it. Let me tell you about a more offensive thing that happened that was also not offensive to me. I have been looking for a tax person. And I was like, so I created this whole tax data room. And I sent it to a couple of people. I was like, hey, I heard you're good. Take a look at my situation and tell me what you think. And most of them, they're like, hey, took a look. So I did three calls. First call, door number one, guy goes, hey, took a look at everything.

53:11It looks really good. I have two suggestions of maybe if you did this instead, you could save some money. So, okay, thank you for your suggestions. person number two says, Hey, this looks, uh, this looks great. You know, congratulations on all your success. Um, you know, I definitely think we can handle this for you. We have other clients that are similar and I feel really confident about it. I said, okay, thank you for that. Uh, cool. Not quite what I'm looking for, but, but okay. Thank you. Third, third door. I get on the call. This guy goes, all right, I took a look at everything and, um, I'll be honest with you.

53:42you have way too much complexity for how much money you make. And I was like, thank you. I feel the same way. But a part of me, my ego was like, did you look at the numbers? They're going up. That's actually 2022. 2023 is better and better. And 2024 is going to be great. Like my ego wanted to be like, are you saying I'm a broke little bitch? Because like, that's what I heard. You heard that lady, that writer say, that's cute. And she didn't actually say that. In my head, what I heard was, you're too poor for me. Thank you. I don't really want to do this. And I felt that for like 15 seconds. But then more than that, I let myself have the feeling for 15 seconds of my ego being deflated, like a pin pricking my balloon there.

54:25But I was like, what do I actually want? Let me remember what I actually want. And I hired the third guy, of course. I was like, I totally agree. Can you help me fix this up? And he's like, and then as we were talking, he's like, actually, now that you've told me more, a lot of this does make sense because of the trajectory. trajectory, but I still think we need to simplify. And I still think that you really got to ask yourself, do I really want to optimize all this for taxes? Or would I rather just spend my time actually growing the business and making more money? And I'm like, you, sir, are exactly what I've been looking for.

54:53And even though that first punch hit me right in the gut and I wanted to get defensive, I have learned that that gets me absolutely nowhere. And I just let that feeling go in 15 seconds. And that's actually the tip, by the way. Everybody has the same feelings. it's just that some people hold that for like 10 years some people get mad for 3 days and then the goal is like can you just have the feeling for 30 seconds and move on and like I don't think that should be the goal dude rage is an amazing motivator I have achieved a whole lot remembering being dumped by a high school girlfriend you've had great accomplishments but you should probably remember that like you want all those accomplishments because you think they're going to make you feel better and feeling rage is not the better you seek So using rage.

55:36We can deal with that. We can deal with that. Using rage is not really the way, right? Just remember, you never want the thing. You want the feeling you think the thing is going to give you. And using rage to get there is not the way. Abs aren't built in the kitchen. They're built by an eighth grade girlfriend telling you that you're not good enough. Just remember that. Abs are built by a crumbled up valentine car. Yeah. Bro, can I tell you a funny story? I was in sixth or seventh grade. And I really liked this girl, Rachel. and I was like I wrote this like poem Valentine-y thing like basically like folded it up I cut it out I write this thing and I show it to her and she I show it I don't know what I did but like I basically gave it to her I think I was so nervous that I didn't even say anything I just like handed her a note and I'm standing there and she opens it up and she reads it and she's like oh my god Sean this is so sweet and I'm like it worked and she's like this is amazing um who's this for and i was like and i'm like and in my head i was like i could just be courageous and be like this is for you i love you actually turns out that i seventh grade love you and instead i was like it's for chelsea i just made up a name and she's like who's chelsea i was like she doesn't go here and i was like and i was like she's like what and i'm like yeah you know that improv content?

57:03She was at that. I met her. She goes to another school. She's like, whoa. She just made the most elaborate lie. And for three months, I kept up this charade that there's some girl that I met that likes me and I like her and that note I showed you, that was for her. That's where I was. That's where I was. I don't know how I don't have abs by now. That was pretty devastating. Somehow that didn't even work for me. See, you got to use that rage to get those abs. Although, that's a pretty good one. I hope she listens to this. Rachel, I hope you're listening to this. There was no Chelsea. You were Chelsea.

57:36There was no Chelsea. Now she knows. That's awesome. That's it. That's the episode. That's the pod. I feel like I can rule the world. I know I could be what I want to. I put my all in it like no days off. On the road, less travel, never looking back.

57:56All right. This episode is brought to you by Mercury. They are the finance platform of choice for over 200 ,000 companies. Shouldn't be surprised because I use it myself for not one, not two, but I have eight different Mercury accounts. I have seven for different companies that I'm a part of. And then I have my own personal account because now they have personal banking, which is a really cool feature. I highly, highly recommend it. Like I said, I use it myself. And the reason why is because the way that Mercury works is beautiful. It's very intuitive. And you could tell that it's actually made by a startup founder.

58:24It's an entrepreneur. You could tell it's made by somebody who used other banking products in the past and didn't like all the different rough edges and annoyances and decided to actually fix it himself. And really any type of entrepreneur you are, let's say you're an agency. Well, One of the things every agency has to do is be able to send invoices, easily create them, send them to customers, and stay current on your balances with all your customers. Well, you can do that inside Mercury. And so I think that Mercury is great. Highly recommend you check it out. And thank you for sponsoring the show.

58:49For more information, check out Mercury.com. Mercury is a financial technology company, not a bank. Check show notes for details.