How Jesse Cole Turned Baseball Into a Billion Dollar Show

17:30You know, I think I learned from Walt Disney and he was obsessed. He said, you know, Disneyland's a living, breathing thing. It will never be complete. We will always plus the show. They called it a show, you know, performance. And, you know, Disney's the kind of guy that, you know, literally they were at capacity at Disneyland three, four years. And I mean, they were dominating and, uh, and he wanted to put a Christmas parade and he said, it's going to cost$350 ,000. And all the accountants, everyone in this business was like, no, Walt, you can't do this. We're already at capacity? Why would we spend another$350 ,000?

17:57It makes no sense. He goes, nah, we got to give him a reason to want to come back. And that obsession, he goes, to continue to invest, to continue to put things in, he was always plussing the show. So yeah, we were selling out every single game. You know, he went from sleeping on an airbed and$30 a week grocery shopping to having a very healthy business, successful.

18:16Lewis Howes:But - Like you'd maxed out, you'd gotten to the top of the league of what you could make. Yeah, top of all. 3 to 4 million a year. Yeah. yeah maybe you can make a little more every year but it's kind of then you then you got to take from your fans and you got to you can't you got it's it's incremental uh-huh so then we as we were watching if we kept thinking how do we make it better for fans how do you plus the show how do you plus the show so i wasn't thinking about how do we make this global or make this you know all over the country i was thinking how do we make it better and i just kept watching our fans watching watching and this is what walt disney did better than anything he literally put an apartment above the fire station at disneyland just so he could walk the park and walt said whenever I go on a ride, I'm always asking what's wrong with this thing and how it can be improved.

18:54And so I was like, all right, how do we improve this? How do we make it better? How do we make better fans? And I realized that even with our big show, players dancing, the celebrations, all the promotions, fans were still leaving games early. So we started taking pictures and videotaping every 30 minutes. First 5.30 when I get in, 6 o 'clock, 6.30, 7 o 'clock, 7.30. And I realized something. At 9 o 'clock, you'd have your first influx of fans. No matter what, even if we had a firework show or something at the end of the night, nine o 'clock, two hours in, fans would start leaving. Then 9.15, 9.30, you'd have a lot more.

19:25By 10 o 'clock, you'd have 50 % of your crap. No matter what. That told me right there, there's a fundamental problem with the game of baseball. It needs to be two hours. I always say this before. It's like, you know, you go to a movie, and it's like, you know, you go, oh, the movie was great. Yeah, I left in the middle. No one leaves a great movie in the middle, but baseball is, yeah, I had a good time. Left in the sixth inning or so, you know, got out early. you should never create something where people want to leave early so how do you create something that's so good they want more and so i said all right let's look at all the parts of a baseball game that are too long too slow too boring so i remember i wrote down and um that's most of the

19:59Lewis Howes:game most of the game is too long too slow too boring other than you know if you ask baseball traditional unless you're watching the playoffs or something yeah 100 and so i started writing down and what i'm so blown away by right now so i started an idea book in 2018 and i realized if you want to have good ideas you got to come up with more ideas um i mentioned you earlier about the great podcast episode yeah with uh andy grammar and about how many songs he wrote he was just constantly writing songs and performing them out in the streets over and over and over again quantity leads to quality so i was like i'd have more ideas so i started writing all these ideas and in 2018 um you know i was like all right what are all the boring parts of baseball mound visits stepping out of the box walks bunting's boring i did all these things i started just writing all these down.

20:41And then one of our big premises of everything is whatever's normal, do the exact opposite. No one gets excited about normal. When we first started in Savannah, we were doing normal social media, normal ads, normal radio, normal, all that. We're getting terrible results. So I wrote down all these ideas and, um, I said, why don't we just try them? Just see what happens. And so the first time we went to a college, we went to my old school, Wofford college. And, uh, the coach said, yeah, we'll try this in practice. No one's there. We'll try it. so we got rained out so the first ever intentional banana ball game it got rained out on as i learned at my wedding they say the rain is good luck so i'll take that as good luck so i went to my old other former coach at lander and uh so we played with these guys i said guys hey we're playing a crazy game today the goal is we just want you to have fun have fun enjoy it let us know how it is

21:26Lewis Howes:but this was not inner squad this is a different this is a different team we're testing it at a college and they're thinking we're trying to just play baseball what are we doing yes we went to it played nine innings in 99 minutes. And the guys at the end of the set was the most fun they've ever had playing. Wow. And there was, actually there were a few girlfriends that like came in and they were like doing their homework as they go to practicing and they put their homework down and they were like, I was going to see watching. Because it was just boom. There were walk-off hits. You know, you could walk off every inning.

21:50There was outs, it was passed. The pitchers were thrown every six seconds. It was just exciting. I was like, we got something here. And so, yeah, in 2020, in the middle of COVID. This was like a scrimmage game. It was a scrimmage. No one knew about it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, you know, we filmed it. We were, we filmed it. We knew this. This is what, 20? This is 2018. Wow. So this is, this is right after we met. And so then 2019, we just kept doing our thing. And finally it was like 2020.

22:12Lewis Howes:Were you rehearsing it? Well, we just, I kept iterating. So it was like talking about ideas. We were still in a league. We're, you know, we're setting a contract. We can't get out of the league. All those things. But you were trying to do a scrimmage every now and then. Yeah. And so, so COVID happened and like, you know. And baseball shuts down. Everything shuts down. And so we were allowed to have a thousand fans, but we had to spread them all out. And I was like, all right, screw it. Let's just try it. And so we did it. And it was chaos. I mean, one of the first hitters, he walked, it ended up being a home run because no one knew what to do with the ball.

22:41So a ball four sprint is, ball four sprint, the hitter takes off full speed. And the fielding team has to throw the ball at every guy in the field before it's live. That's cool. But they didn't know what to do at that point because it never happened before. So they're like throwing a field, throwing a center field. The guy's running around the bases like home run and everyone's like, what is happening? It's just chaos. but we played and the guys had fun and we realized a few things a few rules iterations okay what if we go do this on the road one time and then the one city world war in 2021 and then sound didn't go out there were so many issues fans were confused again but they stayed till the end and i was like all right there's something here let's do it further let's keep going in 2022 we do seven cities and then keep iterating 2023 we did 33 around the country then we added new teams at 24 our first major league stadium 25 we started adding football stadiums and we build a league and it's just the constant iteration, just like Walt.

23:31It's like plus and improve constantly. And, uh, you know, I want to be the fastest learning organization.

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26:33Lewis Howes:this is crazy to me because essentially in five years you went from a three to four million dollar wooden bat league to a billion dollar brand now do you think that makes me uncomfortable when you say that so i hear that you saw i look away i just i i don't i don't like thinking i don't that's not how i think well you could say okay three to four million to a billion dollar brand that impacts you know how many people yeah i i'm proud we play in front of 3.4 million fans this year and uh you know we're impacting so many more online and social millions of people and billions i i love that i want to bring joy to billions of people that fires me that's that's a different you think walt disney was intimidated by the numbers how much walt hated talking about money he hated it he was roy you handle all the money i mean he didn't want to he said money doesn't excite me my ideas excite me he was fascinated and like he was terrible with money he was like ah this this movie uh snow white this will cost a couple hundred thousands cost millions or or uh you know, Disneyland, it's going to be a couple million, it's 17 million.

27:31Like he was, because he told it, he told his team, it's like, you know, Hey, I'll let you know when I'm done. Like, I'll let you know when I'm done, how much it's going to cost. We're innovating here. We're innovating, you know, the multi-plane camera, which is never invented and, and sound and the first, you know, animated with color, the full, full length animated in Snow White and Disneyland. I mean, he was constantly doing things that never happened before the animatronics. Are you kidding me? He was so far ahead of his time. How can you put a price tag on something that's never been done before.

27:58And luckily, Roy, which deserves so much more credit than he got, he said, okay, we're going to keep going. We're going to keep going. And he found a way to keep the business stable enough. When they were ups and downs, I mean, they were almost out of business numerous times. I mean, there were strikes. But Walt said, we're going to keep going because it's best. It's best. He believed in it. So when you ask me, how do I believe in it when I'm sleeping on an airbed? I saw something. We bring joy. We bring fun. And we can see, we create something that people have never seen before, never experienced before, every single night, it'll work.

28:29And I just, Walt has built in me this trait. It's in my DNA. I will never doubt anything. And doesn't mean we don't fail. We fail every step of the way, but we're going to keep getting up and go to the next step.

28:40Lewis Howes:Wow. So if COVID doesn't happen, where would you be? Do you think you would have eventually done this? Oh yeah. Because in 2018, we tested it before. Oh, I was, I was ready. It It was how do we get out of the league? How do we, you know, our people in Savannah at first, you know, they were, they hated our name. They hated who we were. They hated what we were about until we actually delivered and we brought joy. They didn't want this. As Steve Jobs says, no one knows what they want until you show it to them. We hadn't shown them anything. When at first, that's no reason why we sold two tickets.

29:11We're talking about there's going to be dancing players and there's going to be entertainment and banana-nanas. They hadn't seen it. They had every right not to believe in it. And so when I'm talking about this new game where fans are catching foul balls for outs and, you know, there's nonstop celebrating and nonstop entertainment and there's trick plays and guys catching backflips, they're like, I don't get it. What are you talking about? As Bezos said, Jeff Bezos, you need to be willing to be misunderstood. Anybody that innovated or truly invented something that's never been done before, they are misunderstood in the beginning.

29:38They are always misunderstood.

29:39Lewis Howes:What's the thing you misunderstand about yourself still? It's a good question. misunderstand about myself. I know, I want to cut that back at you. Like, what are something you think that... Well, I'd say that you're so passionate about the brand, the mission, fans first, not caring about the money, you know, and the experience of bringing joy to millions of people around the world. Yeah. and you've been going nonstop for what it seems like five six years since you did the first show the first kind of live show and it is only obviously you've had lots of mistakes and challenges you've had to face but you have been non-stop like a machine of innovating it's got to be better it's got to be bigger it's got to be more fans more better for the fans it's got it's been non-stop for five six years for you for 20 years almost 20 years but since you launched this new version, but nonstop.

30:38Lewis Howes:And it has grown from an uncomfortable$3 million to a billion valuation. And you're getting offers left and right from every TV network deal, players want to play. Now everyone understands it. Not everyone. Not everyone, but the fans understand it now. The fans who have been there, yes. Is there anything you misunderstand about yourself or you don't understand about yourself at where you currently are from where you were five years ago? yeah it's tough I think you know I'd have to go back I think you know when you first start and you know you're trying to think about growing yourself and and growing your own you know you want to get think about everyone they want to have a bigger promotion bigger title they want to be all this and you know people that see me in a yellow tuxedo you know oh he's just you know maybe he's about himself he's got an ego and you know what I've realized with this and inspired from PT Barnum back in the day it was like this actually is the I believe it's the best version of myself energy fun give permission to have people to have fun you know how many owners are they're dressed in their suits and they're up in the suite like i want to be out with the fans having fun that says you can dress up you can be a little silly you can be goofy you can let loose you don't need to take yourself too seriously i think you know um you know i think there's always a little bit of an imposter syndrome you know i'll tell you when i came up to you in 2018 i was a little nervous i was you were dominating i mean you were showing up every week in a huge audience and making an impact and i was like he's probably looking at this guy like he's crazy but i was like this is me and I'm not going to hide away from this.

32:04And it was, there were a lot of awkward, uncomfortable moments. When you go into a different room and a bigger room with people that are accomplished, you know, I know there's the perception, who does this guy think he is? And so I think there's always a, uh, you know, misunderstanding or, you know, people that look at me and, you know, we can't always just talk about the fancy has to be about money. I mean, yeah, I want to make sure we have a healthy business because I want to take care of our people. Yeah. But when I was sitting on the air bed, it was like, yeah, we got to get out of this. But like I learned in my wife how to be okay with not having a lot.

32:30And so, you know, I think the people that get to the point where they have so much, you were asking before, what are you going to fly private? I'm like, I don't know. I have my 2018 Honda Accord. I drive it. I'm fine with it. Like it is what it is. So it's tough for me to ask that question. Cause I guess I not, I heard someone say on a podcast recently, they're like some of the greatest entrepreneurs, they aren't introspective. And which was really interesting to me.

32:51Lewis Howes:I saw that too. Yeah. And I don't, I don't remember the whole thesis. Introspection is more of like a modern day thing. Yes. Back in the day, you talk about Henry Ford back in the day in Rockefeller. It's not like Walt Disney was thinking, oh, I wonder how I'm being right now. He was just trying to create something that he loved and that gave him energy. I think everyone should just chase things that give them energy. What fires you up every day? And yeah, I think it's important to know who you are and what you stand for. But if you focus so much, focus internally and not actually just focusing on actually doing things and doing things that fire you up, you might get stuck holding yourself back.

33:20And I don't ever want

33:21Lewis Howes:to hold myself back. So you were 15 years then working in teams, smaller teams until this kind of took off, right? Maybe you're playing in front of three, 4 ,000 people. Yeah, 4 ,000, a great night. It was a great night back in the day. So what is it like going from 4 ,000 to 100 ,000 within a couple of years? Yeah. And what shifted within you energetically to be able to take on that energy of 4 ,000 being like, this is our biggest night of the year to 100 ,000 every week. How do you energetically hold that space and not feel like an imposter? Yeah, it's hard. And the first major league stadium, I'll never forget it.

34:00So that was a big jump for us. So we had our minor league stadiums 15 ,000, which was big. But then we went to our first major league stadium. We went to Houston.

34:05Lewis Howes:The big boys. Big boy arenas. And it was in 2024. And I remember it vividly. And I took our whole team and our staff up to the upper deck. That's two years ago. That's not that long ago. Yeah, 2024. for you right it feels like decades ago i know what happened um so we took everyone to the upper deck the furthest seat away and now what people don't realize is is we travel with 200 plus people wow you know we get carried out of the globe trotters and again i have respect for them but we are completely different in the sense we're in a league every game counts we're doing 10 to 15 things every night the gold charts travel with 20 to 30 we travel with 200 now we have three tours going on 16 150 to 200 plus people so we have 200 people at first major league stadium and everyone is you know big eye looking around like what are we doing do we belong here look what are we doing And I said, guys, we're up in the upper deck.

34:47I said, everyone's expecting us to fail. We are too big for our britches. Everyone says, you know, you can do the small stadiums, but this is too big. And I go, I go, we're not going to fail. I go, we're going to find a way and we're going to do it the same way we've done it from day one. And it's one fan at a time. I go, we're right here in the upper deck. How are we going to make sure these people that are the furthest away are going to have the best experience? What's it is for the people behind home plate and the people up here? What are we going to do differently? I remember our head coach, Tyler Gillum, who's been with us since 2018.

35:16He's an amazing, amazing individual. And he started writing thank you letters and signing them and putting them in different seats all throughout the upper deck. Then our players started doing it too. It's like, what can we do? Can we put a card up here or put something up here? How can we make sure we get up here in the middle of the game? And I said, I'm going to be up here. I'm going to spend two innings in the upper deck every single game. I'm going to do it. Now we put on a great show. ironically we did fail our ticket system shut down completely went out chaos ensued and so we put on a show we deliver the show but it's just chaos and uh but we got through it we got through it we got to the next major league stadium but um yeah i i think i knew i tried to put myself in those people's shoes all the way up there and so we go to 40 000 now to 100 000 seat stadiums which when you walk into 100 000 seat stadium you know i just i can't believe that us this little small college summer team got to perform there.

36:09But I also know no one obsesses like we do about every single seat around that stadium. And so, you know, now if you come to one of our shows, you know, most people say you're going to a sporting event, seven o 'clock game. What time you come to the game? 630? You know me, I got to get there early. There's some major league teams, 50 % of their fans come after first pitch.

36:27Lewis Howes:Wow. So I said, all right, well, we got to deliver a lot more. We got to plus the experience. So one step at a time, we started doing a bigger pre-show and then we started adding a little bit to it. So now at a football stadium, 100 ,000, our show starts at two o 'clock. We do a rope drop. The first thing you see when you come in, rope drop. We have all characters cast. We do a big opening number. Really? You know what I mean? The first thing you see is our players. Our players greet you. For the first hour, they sign autographs. Before the game. Before the game, from two to three o 'clock. Then from three to four thirty, we do a huge stage show.

36:54Two to three? The game is at seven? Yeah. Players are signing. Wow. So players are signing. People are there at two o 'clock? Thousands. Wow. So like at Texas A &M, 100 ,000, there were 45 ,000 people there, three hours, before the show. Wow. So we do a whole performance show. Then we have a march and our players go through the crowd and we high five every single fan so we know who we play for. These people have come from all over the country. You know, as an athlete, often you're in your own world, how are you going to win this game? But when you realize that all those people all around that came five hours before the game, seven hours before the game, that stay an hour and a half after the game, that flew in from all over the country for that.

37:26And you either get to high five or you get to see them, you have a different sense of purpose playing. Oh yeah, 100%. And so we know that. And so when I talk about winning the upper deck, said, we're going to get up here. And so we actually have activation stations. People realize we have all of our players. We have activation stations throughout a hundred thousand seat stadium where our cast and our players, this is your zone. This is where you're throwing deeds. This is where you're throwing t-shirts. This is where you're getting up and doing selfies. This is where we're doing a sing-off. And so I knew it was going to be hard.

37:53And we still, you know, some people, we probably don't get to touch as much as we'd like to, but I knew if we just had to focus on it, like put ourselves in their shoes and do it and give them so much more than they expected, we'll continue to find a way.

38:05Lewis Howes:Wow. It's interesting because when I got into kind of online business, I guess, 16 years ago, 17, 18 years ago, I guess, I went to my first Sertus Aley show. That's not to compare you guys with that. No, I have a lot of respect to them, a lot of admiration. What year was this? Probably 2009, probably. Vegas? Vegas. I can't remember which one I saw, but I saw a bunch of them. But I remember getting there, I don't know, 30, 60 minutes earlier or something and the cast being out in the lobby and even out of the tickets area too. And I was like, and it made me apply what I learned from Search of Soleil into webinars, into online marketing, into live events where I was like, oh, and into the podcast as well, where I was like, oh, it's not about the show.

38:55Lewis Howes:The pre-show is the show. the pre-show is the show like our conversation out there for 30 whatever minutes that is the show oh yeah in my mind and it's not obviously you got to make a great show too but the show can be a thousand times better based on what happens before the show 100 percent it's intentional you set the tone yeah and so i was like oh how do you create that experience that vibe that energy that joy yeah before people enter your arena yeah whatever that arena is are you. And, um, it seems like you guys are just lost that. We've learned. And you just, and you put yourself in the shoes.

39:32I just, I'm in a world where I want to be entertained all the time. I want, I don't want to be bored. Like I am so scared of boredom. I don't know what it is in my mind. I have this fear of boredom, a fear of settling, a fear of irrelevance that I want to have something going on. And so again, I don't need to go back to Walt Disney, but he's like, we're going to create a berm around Disneyland. But when you first come in, you're going to see the train, you're going to see the fly, the landscaping. Then you're going to go through this little tunnel and you're going to start to smell and then you're going to start hearing sounds and it's going to open up to mainstream or say mainstream then you're going to have the castle there and it's just everything was intentional and this is that that's i mean it was the pre-show it is no no one has gone on a ride yet no one has experienced pre-show is the show that's exactly exactly so we think about that same you know we you know you got to do the unscalable do the scalable too yeah yeah people realize our first seven years we called every single fan that bought a ticket and thanked them hundreds of thousands of fans that's cool now Now, during Christmas time, we'll get our players.

40:23We'll do surprises. Now we serve millions. It's kind of hard to do that. But you're pre-show. We send an email, what to expect when expecting. We set the tone there. And then when they show up, we're ready to go at 2 o 'clock. And then your last impression leaves a lasting impression. Every night, every show I'm at, I will say. So again, your what? Your last impression leaves a lasting impression. And so every night, no matter where I'm at, I will sign till the last p.m. leaves. And it is a full day.

40:50Lewis Howes:And you're at midnight, baby. it's like every ball yeah if we're at 100 ,000 seat stand it'll be two three hours after the game and and we you know we start rehearsals seven eight in the morning we're going through all of our programming our tech right and it's it's a this is why you're gonna need a private jet because at midnight you're gonna want to jump to the next city but if you want to be successful you got to do what others won't do of course yeah and and to me i'm so grateful i i remember you know that kid who dreamed playing at fenway park and an opportunity i remember the kid just hope to meet a player.

41:18I remember a foul ball or something. I remember sleeping on the airbed and having nothing. And I think a lot of people, you know, business that becomes successful, if you haven't gone from starting from nothing and to get to that level, it's hard. It's very easy to take it for granted and just say, you know what? I don't need to do this anymore. I've made it. And I don't want that to ever happen. I want when I'm 70, 80 years old to still be at the end of the night. I want to be up at the upper deck with the fans, singing with them. You know, and I think if myself, my wife and our team sets that tone, All of us will continue to do that.

41:48And so when people say we're a fad and you look at the graveyard of all the leagues that have failed over the years, there's hundreds. They start up, they fail. You know, I think a lot of people would put us that we're destined to fail because we're just this, you know, new kind of fad that's, you know, this quirky little thing. But they don't know our passion. They don't know our purpose. They don't know how we put ourselves in the fan's shoes every single day. and so in our how our obsession is so much different than trying to make money or trying to drive revenue and so um i want to have this conversation in 50 60 years when people say banana ball it's just this fad it's whatever when they said that back in the day because i think our obsession is going to continue to grow and our ability to plus the show and plus experience

42:31Lewis Howes:that's what fires me up where does the fear of irrelevance come from uh geez you want to get Now we're going to go deep. This is right up your alley. Why do you have a fear of being irrelevant or being bored or sitting asleep? Yeah, well, the bored is just kind of... I just enjoy feeling alive. I love feeling alive. But the relevance... I was the only child when I grew up. And I didn't have a lot of friends when I was really young. And I remember, I mean, my dad would come home from work and we'd play and stuff and play baseball. But I'd say, Jess, during the summer, what did you do today? I'd say, I run my bike to...

43:08Alex's and then I went to Bobby's and I didn't, I didn't do that. Really? Yeah. It was, I, I didn't have a lot of, I, I, you know, again, I was, you know, there's, I'm not gonna make excuses. I just didn't have a lot of friends.

43:17Lewis Howes:You're just kind of like a quirky kid or you just didn't fit in? I think I was, and so what I learned was, uh, when I had opportunities around people to try to make the most of them. And so when I was around my, my teammates, I would try to try to get like, Hey, what's up on, let's do this. And I started, so I started building friends, but like when I was young, I was just, you know, I just wasn't around a lot of people. I was in a neighbor. there were no kids in it and I just I didn't I don't know I wasn't great at it but I learned because I was I didn't want to feel like I didn't matter you know like I was just so I started really working hard to create attention to get excitement I mean I think I got 26 detentions in seventh grade you know I did I did I would did anything to try to were you like the joker kid then yeah I joked I was trying to have fun I was just always trying to have fun yeah yeah and so I I think what I realized is I felt alive when I felt seen, heard, and that I mattered.

44:05And so what the opposite of that is feeling irrelevant. And so when I think about, uh, now what we create, I want every single fan, everyone to feel loved, to feel seen, to feel heard. Um, you know, my dad, who I have the closest relationship in the world with, and, um, you know, he didn't use the word love when I was a kid. So I never really received that. He didn't say, I love you. He didn't say, I love you. And now we say every day, uh, we have a different, but I didn't get that. And so, and you know, my birth mother wasn't in the picture as well. So I just didn't, I didn't, didn't have that.

44:40And so I think I've always searched for feeling that love. And so at the end of the night, being around fans, being around our team, coming back in and having our fans first talk with all of our closest people, I feel alive. Thanks. I feel a lot of love. I feel a lot of love of what we just did and how we did it together. And so that feeling of irrelevance or feeling like you didn't do anything that matters. Yeah. Uh, that's, that's going to be, uh, something that drives me. And I think I've channeled it to be a very positive, uh, positive motivation.

45:08Lewis Howes:Your, uh, your mom wasn't around? Uh, you know, my birth, my birth mother, I've had an amazing stepmother who's been tremendous in my life, but my, you know, my birth mother, you had some challenges and, and, and she, my parents got divorced when I was eight years old. and so my dad you know was she around before then before yeah yeah yeah sporadically or just emotionally not available i don't want it to i mean again i i don't want to go too much but yeah i i think you know she did her best and and you know my dad helped raise me we had the bond of baseball and then amazingly my stepmother came in and we you know we built from there but yeah it was my dad was going to the park and playing every day and so that was it it was playing ball me and him.

45:48And so when I got to take him, you know, to Fenway, our first game at Fenway, and I took him out on the field and we got to play catch at Fenway, you know, that's, those are some moments that - That field of dreams right there. Well, I grew up wanting to play for the Red Sox. That was my dream. And so to be able to now, because of what we built with Banana Ball to now sell out Fenway Park and be able to take my dad and take my son out there and play catch, you know, it's a, it's a, it's a full circle moment.

46:08Lewis Howes:You have a video of that playing catch with him? You better believe I do. Oh my gosh. I got, it was crazy. They were, they were fans on tours and they were coming to our games and they were up around and they were taking videos and they saw me playing catch and it's pretty special. That's cool, man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The biological mom's still in the picture? You talk to her? Yeah. You talk to her every now and then? Oh, here and there, yes. Here and there. You're closer with your stepmom? Oh, she's been tremendously supportive. She was the first one literally videotaping what I was pitching when I was 10 and 11 years old.

46:37She was filming all my games. Really? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that was special.

46:39Lewis Howes:Wow. Do you feel like any of that relationship is also what drives you to want to be relevant or or create a deeper love or deeper i think we all want to feel loved we all want to feel loved to an extent and i think that was it i didn't understand love too much when i was because it just wasn't you know my birth mother she said it to me but i didn't understand that as much my dad didn't so i just didn't understand it it just wasn't part and now you know i literally say to my kids every day numerous times a day i just i'm probably giving them what I always wanted, you know, if you look deep into it.

47:13And so, yeah, I think it's, I think what we built and how I built this whole world, it's all built on spreading love and spreading joy. And so.

47:26Lewis Howes:The most successful leaders, experts, and bestsellers would tell you the same thing. There's no expiration date on growth. That's why Southern New Hampshire University offers more than 80 online graduate programs. With career-focused courses and low online tuition, SNHU's master degrees are designed for your next move. And if you're choosing between a few schools, SNHU is a clear frontrunner. It's flexible, affordable, and career-focused. Progress doesn't happen standing still. Take one step forward at snhu.edu slash lewis. You know that old saying, it isn't what you say, it's how you say it. I've always believed that.

48:10Lewis Howes:Anyone can talk about ambition or determination, but the real question is how you show up. Your presence, your energy, the way you move through the world, that's what makes the difference. Lending power, poise, and performance just like you. The Range Rover Sport was designed to make an impact. With a distinctly British design, the Range Rover Sport is built to take on roads anywhere. Free from unnecessary details, its raw power and agility really shine. It combines a dynamic sporting personality with elegance and agility to deliver an instinctive drive. And its assertive stance hints at an equally refined driving performance.

48:39Lewis Howes:Defining modern luxury, the Range Rover Sport features the latest innovations in comfort and convenience. The cabin air purification system, alongside active noise cancellation, creates a new level of quality, comfort, and control. Terrain Response 2 offers seven terrain modes to choose from, fine-tuning the vehicle for challenging roads ahead. And it's available with a choice of powerful engines, including a plug-in hybrid with an estimated range of 48 miles. The Range Rover event is on now. Explore enhanced offers at rangerover.com. What's your relationship like with your wife? Because I know she's obviously an owner with you.

49:13Lewis Howes:She's been on the air mattresses with you going for this crazy dream. Baseball wasn't her first love, I'm assuming. It wasn't like, I want to go start a baseball team when I'm an adult. you know she's really kind of supported you on this journey yeah well well and yeah she's supported everyone she's the heart of our organization for in many ways um but what what is your and i know she does a lot of you guys have foster kids i know every game she's a big part of giving back in a big way um how have you fallen in love with her more since you guys have been on this journey from taking over in 2015 to taking over and recreating and reinventing in 2020 to where it is now.

49:58Lewis Howes:How has your relationship with love or your wife evolved over the years with all the different levels and layers, your adoption to having your own kid to giving back to the charities that you guys support? We'll go back to 2015, we took over this team. We got married and we're taking over a brand new team. That's a huge venture, a scary venture. And when we got the phone call, we're out of money. The first thing she said, we need to sell our house. So we were living in Charlotte, her whole family had moved down. So she grew up in New York, her whole family, her three brothers, who she's extremely close with, her mother, her dad, all live in Charlotte.

50:29And she's like, we got to sell our house there. And we got to go in to Savannah and be there full-time. So immediately she says, I'm here. Like we're married. I'm going to do this. Leave, you know, the family, because we got to take on this.

50:40Lewis Howes:You had a house in Charlotte. Yeah. Cause we still had a team in Gastonia, North Carolina. So we just, yeah, we were going, you were kind of going back and We're going back and forth, but we need to get down there. He needs to be all in. I had to be all in because we had nothing left. And so - So we sold the house. Sold the house. Found an absolute - It was an old garage that was turned into a studio. Uh-huh. We put an airbed there, and it was so gross. Like, the floor was so nasty. Like, we slept in our socks. Like, you should never sleep in your socks. Only lunatics sleep in their socks. I would have probably upset some pair of air, but you got to be crazy to sleep in your socks.

51:11And so we're sleeping in our socks because we don't know where we're going to step on. You couldn't ever clean the floor because it was an old garage. It was brutal. And so we went through that and she was, she was there. And then during COVID we're down there and again, not around family, just trying to figure out how to get out of this, our business, live entertainment business to shut down all this just there. And it was amazing at that point, she started learning about foster care and just studying. It's like 2020, 2020 in the middle of COVID. She read the book, everything is figureoutable.

51:37Lewis Howes:Wow. And she said, Jesse, there's 400 ,000 kids in the U S that don't have a permanent home. We got to do something. and she's like, will you, you know, join me in this? And my mind, are you kidding me? You've supported me like crazy to coming down here with nothing. I go, I'm all in. She's like, will we become foster parents? I go, in the middle of COVID. I go, all right. You've heard a lot since then, man. Like, again, we just started this big vision. We were like, yeah, yeah. Let's do it. And so we started, we got our first call. Why does she want to foster? Because again, there's 400 ,000 kids in the U.S.

52:09that are in a permanent home. We got to do something.

52:11Lewis Howes:But where did that, where did that spark this? Her family. Kids that don't have water, kids that don't have education. Why foster kids? Her family. So her family was one of the close-knit families. Her three brothers, they were just always together. You know, they went through challenges and everything, but they were always together. And she just realized the power of family. She's always been family, family, family. And then when she started learning about this, she's like, no one's talking about it. It's one of these things that's out there and just there's kids. And like she heard stories. She started listening to every podcast.

52:36She went deep. Like how I go in Walt, she was learning everything about it. And so I went to, we went to like an online class. I was like, we're going to do it. And so, uh, yeah. So we said yes. And we got the first call and a two and a half year old girl joined us and gashes and cuts on her all over. And she was nonverbal and it was really two and a half, two and a half. And you guys had a son already? We had a biological son who was four months older, three months older.

52:59Lewis Howes:So three years old, roughly almost. Yeah. And so she joined us and immediately we learned, started learning what foster care is like, you know, the challenge of the DSS, they're understaffed, you know, being able to have visits every week. And then sometimes the parents don't show up. The kids are devastated. All this, just the emotions and the pain of it. It's like, wow. And so we went through it. And then about a year later, we get another call. We're going on date night and we get a call from, uh, uh, there's a six day old who's in the NICU who's battling every drug imaginable. Six day old?

53:28Six day old battling every drug imaginable in her system. He did not bring her in. So we took her in and she joined us. And, uh, and you know, we didn't know what was going to happen with her. And, you know, to get the kids back to their family. That's the best thing. And that was the goal. Six months for a year. We always thought that's what, Hey, we're just going to be it. And we're going to be foster parents again and just help, help these kids in their journey when they need it the most. But, um, yeah, on mother's day, uh, that year of our baby that, or the six day old who had us, um, we're traveling.

53:57This is active 2022. And so that's our final stop of our banana ball tour. Seven cities is all we did. We're in Kansas city. It was unbelievable. We played another professional team. We beat them. It was covered on ESPN. It was unbelievable. And we're in, and we're traveling and it's, you know, me and the, we've got seats. It's Emily up there with Maverick, our son and me and with Kenna and Addie. And, uh, Emily turns to me in her phone and she turns around and she's bawling her eyes out. It's mother's day. And she shows me the text and it was from the birth mother of the baby. And it said, I, you know, if they get a lot of this on mother's day today, I couldn't imagine a better gift than for you to be the mother.

54:35of my daughter.

54:37Lewis Howes:She just had this kid six days prior. No, this is a full year later. Okay. So it's a full year later. So it's a full year later. And she realized the maturity of that birth mother. And so at that point we realized that now it was the goal to help. She said, I want you to be the mother. I want you. I want you to be able to take care of the maturity of that. And so then Addy, we went on a path towards adoption. And then the same thing with Kenna, we went on a path towards adoption. So we adopted them on the same day on January of 2024. So they joined our life and, you know, we still continued foster care, but, uh, you know, doing respite fostering from now on from time to time, like for weekends when families needed, but we still realized there's more to do.

55:15And so, uh, Emily, uh, when you start talking, we've got to do something more. And so that's when I realized, well, what if we honor families every single night? We're playing all over the country. We honor a family that's, you know, had 60 kids in their home or helped adopted three or helped 20 go back to reunification, whatever it is, make them the hero, celebrate them. And so we said, we might as well call, call it bananas foster. And so we came up with the name and we started doing it. And so now, yeah, it's been, don't answer this long about question. It's like, I think we just have so much purpose when we're doing something that, you know, really matters.

55:45And I will always support her in this, in the family. And she will always support me the business. And now we've brought those two together. And so now with our family, literally those two worlds are together with everything we do. We have two that came out of foster care and a biological, we have the world, We have Bananas Foster. We have Banana Ball. Our worlds work together in doing something that gives us a lot of purpose and fulfillment. And so for me and Emily, it's just, it's a support system. And it's very hard right now with three kids under eight years old. It's extremely hard. But she traveled all the events.

56:12She goes to a lot. But this year she's like, you know what? The kids right now, this season, they need me and her. And so she stepped off a little bit, which was really hard for her. And again, I had to support her in that. And she came up to me like a couple months. She was like, we got to, we got to get these kids to experience new things. And so she came up with world schooling. And so literally we took the kids to Greece to experience that. So full circle is an, and I flew there and I fly back to a game and I'll fly there. And it's just, it's all part of, you know, uh, we're figuring this out.

56:37But when you have clarity on what matters, Emily, right now is I'm going to make sure this family is strong as we can. I'm going to make sure I can do everything I can to keep the family and the business as strong as we can. And we just try to figure it out, man. It's hard.

56:49Lewis Howes:how is your relationship as a married couple that evolved over the last five years with again you've taken on so much more she's taken on so much more you're you're you're pulled in a lot of directions it's all exciting yeah but it's also a lot of time and energy how is your definition of love evolved and there could be there could be resentment different ways like i'm like you know she's right having fun or she's right now with the kids in greece experiences and i was there for the first week, but I had to fly back for the SPs and do all these things. And it's like, and then she see me, you know, play, do all these things.

57:20And so there can be that. But, but what happens is, um, when you, it's how you view things is how you do things. I believe that more than anything. And so every night, uh, we send our roses and our, and our buds. So the roses is something great that happened during the day. And a bud is something that, uh, you're looking forward to. And so normally we'll FaceTime or call, but if we're in a completely different time, which we are now 10 hours different, um, you know, we'll text it to each other and we're constantly sharing the good in the day. We're constantly sharing what we're looking forward to.

57:49And I believe that so much. So many people talk about all the negative things and you see it all over social media. Emma's like, I love social media because all she gets is positive. That's what we look for. It's what you seek out. I love it. I'm not getting negative politics. I'm getting positive. And so how do we keep the connection? You know, we really focus on the good. We talk about the joy. We don't hide away from things that are hard. We talk about it. But then when we get together, we really lean in. You know, when I went, it was a greets of the kids. I literally shut down work for a little bit.

58:15I was like, I'm going to be here. I'm going to be fully present.

58:18Lewis Howes:Did you have to miss a game? I miss games. We have six teams playing, Lewis. I miss games. So who is running the production to make sure that your vision is being executed at the highest level without you there? We have hundreds. I mean, so like we have show callers for every team. We have lead, vice president of marketing. We have video. We have creative. We've had a team that we've been working together, like a core team for six, seven, eight years. And so, yeah, it might not be 100 % at the level that I would see it, but if you get it at 90%, you got to keep learning and growing. So yeah, so I miss a lot of games.

58:48I miss, you know, more than sometimes I like, but if you're, if you're with your family and you're growing that together, I don't want my kids to, this is where I get, can get emotional, get tough for me and my kids to feel like, you know, daddy's just had another game. And, you know, I remember when you're outside of Greece and, you know, Maverick goes, daddy, when are you coming back?

59:09Because, you know, I planned what's going on right when they came back is meet them. Yeah. But they don't know this right now, but I planned a surprise trip. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so they're all a surprise trip and I'm not telling them I'll turn my location services off for 12 hours and show up. And because those are the moments that really matter. And so I will miss more games to go be there for them. And so my kids can know that they do matter most.

59:34Lewis Howes:Wow, man. Yeah. because you're probably away from them a lot right now right especially in the growth phase but do you get to bring them with you also yeah so they like all the last few years they travel like crazy but when they travel with us man it's we get one hotel room we're all in a hotel room we've got you know addy's four now but she's wild yeah and kenna and maverick and so yeah it's tough and then you know the morning we start we start rehearsals at seven eight nine in the morning we have our promo meetings rehearsals our tech director meetings our i mean every show is a brand new show we're not this isn't you know i have so much respect for broadway so much respect for what they do.

1:00:05But they are executing the same show eight times a week. In the same location. In the same location. Not going to new... We're going to a brand new facility, brand new stadium, brand new video boards, brand new plaza set up, brand new everything with a brand new show and with huge performances we've never done every single night. It is extremely hard. And so the time that we have to put in every week, like on Tuesdays, today, like we spend all day creative. I spend three hours before this a part of all of our OTT meetings talking with the clowns on what they're going to do, talking with the bananas and the party animals.

1:00:35We had a host meeting talking about all our new promos. All of this because this is brand new for this weekend coming up. I love it, but it's a lot. So when the family travels, you know, they get some of their dad, but probably not as much as they should. And that hurts me. I still love it. The kids, this is how great Emily is. Just, we'll get naps. At the end of the night when I'm done signing, the best feeling in the world at midnight, 11 o 'clock, I come back, we're all having dinner. And, you know, Kenna will put on my yellow jacket. She'll put on my hat. She'll come over and give me a big hug.

1:01:03It's those feelings that the kids get to be a hard day for that. So we're trying our best, but it is hard.

1:01:09Lewis Howes:My friend, I hope you're enjoying this episode. And the School of Greatness drops new conversations every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday around money, mindset, healing, manifestation, and relationships. And if you're not yet following the show, then you're missing all of them. Please tap the follow button right now, and you'll get notified the moment every new episode drops because the next one might be exactly what you need. Now, let's get back to the conversation. August is a great time to reset before the fall rush begins, and your closet is a good place to start. Quince makes timeless, high-quality essentials like ultra-soft organic cotton teas and premium magnolian cashmere sweaters.

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1:03:04Lewis Howes:With a distinctly British design, the Range Rover Sport is built to take on roads anywhere. Free from unnecessary details, its raw power and agility really shine. It combines a dynamic sporting personality with elegance and agility to deliver an instinctive drive. And its assertive stance hints at an equally refined driving performance. Defining modern luxury, the Range Rover Sport features the latest innovations in comfort and convenience. The cabin air purification system, alongside active noise cancellation, creates a new level of quality, comfort, and control. Terrain Response 2 offers seven terrain modes to choose from, fine-tuning the vehicle for challenging roads ahead.

1:03:37Lewis Howes:And it's available with a choice of powerful engines, including a plug-in hybrid with an estimated range of 48 miles. The Range Rover event is on now. Explore enhanced offers at RangeRover.com. yeah my twins are nine months now yeah and i'm starting to see you know they're not talking yet they're just they're just starting to crawl they're they're saying some papa mama kind of but every time i come back whether from the office or on a trip and they see me they just light up oh yeah it's got to be crazy when they start talking oh yeah it's got to be the craziest thing when they can start interacting with you in a different way it's a different level of love and you know my biggest fear is what the day i come home and they don't run out Ooh.

1:04:19Oh, girl. The day I come home and they're just still playing and it's not their dad's home. And so to make sure that doesn't happen, I have to make sure I'm there for them and I'm their best friend when I'm there. Yeah. And I'm their best friend. So their best friend is coming home. Wow. Because right now when I see them, they will sprint up and hug me and they won't let go. And I'll hold, I'll hold on until they let go. You're like Disney. There you go.

1:04:43Lewis Howes:You're like Disney character, man. I'm like Disney character until they let go. Wow. And so I'm still fortunate, an eight-year-old, seven-year-old, and a four-year-old, I still have that. I don't want to lose that. Gosh, man, that would suck. That would really be scary, I think. It's kind of like the beginning, it's like the beginning of the end. It's like you're always trying to get back to that feeling. And maybe when they're 20, they're not going to do that. It's evolving, but you don't want them to lose the spark in their eye when they see it. When they're excited. And it's because, and the key for that is when you are there, are you there?

1:05:11Are you there with them? I try whenever I'm with them. If they ask me something, I say yes. If I'm exhausted and they want to play a game, which is not the most fun game, I try to say yes. And a lot of times when we come home, we have a pool in the backyard and I'll just jump in my full clothes. I'll have pants on, I'll have a shirt on, I'll just jump on because they're in the pool or we're going to run. I'm going, let's go. They come out and run, dad, we're going swimming. Let's go. And you just, those are the moments. And when I think about the moments, everything I do, everything we do is all about moments, creating moments that you feel alive.

1:05:42I think now more than ever, AI technology. You think about this connectivity that's happening in the world and everyone's, you know, connected in their own world, but it's the shared moments, the shared experiences. It's the human to human connection. I am betting all in on that. And so we got to be able to do it the best with our family and make sure that we provide those. And so I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that in 10, 15 years, they remember the time that dad's jumping in the pool with them and they're creating these moments and, you know, dad's dancing in the middle of the night and places they never imagined like with them that's what i think they're gonna remember because when i was a kid i remember the moments playing catch with my dad i remember the moments playing until you know literally it was almost dark and you couldn't see but we were still out there hitting it's those moments and uh you know going to the disney trip and just feeling things with it it's that's what i'm that's what i'm working on do you feel like you're a different

1:06:37Lewis Howes:person in the yellow suit versus outside of the yellow suit like do you put on a Like identity almost? It's a good question. Yeah. It's kind of the alter ego mindset. Yeah. I mean, I'm a dad. You know, I'm a dad when I'm off. Like this is usually when I'm working. So when I'm in this and I'm going, I'm with you. I'm at stadiums. I'm in this. When you're doing business meetings, you're in this too? Oh, yeah. Pretty much every day you're in this. Every day that I'm working. Weekends when I'm with a kid or from Greece, I'm like, no, I'm a dad. Unless you're at a game on a weekend. But yeah. Yes. Weekends if there's not a game in the fall, in the winter.

1:07:10Yes. Yes. Yeah. I mean, you know, this is me. And again, after a game where I'm coming from sign and then the kids are there, I can go into dad mode as well. But no, I mean, this is me, man. I just like, I like bringing energy. I like having fun. I like bringing joy.

1:07:23Lewis Howes:And do you feel like you have more confidence when you're in this outfit than when you're in normal clothes? That's a good question. People would say like, yeah, you would say no. Sometimes I could actually less because if I get into a room that's a little different and like, you know, I don't really think about that, but it's not. Is there anything that switches on though? Like when you button up, jacket, hat On a show night, you better believe it On a show night So like I'll be in, if I'm like Alright, it's time to meet the fans, let's do this And so like there's a Switch When we do our march, you know, at 4.15 And we know there's 30, 40, 50 ,000 people outside The hours We got our band playing, band's playing the music Everyone's hyped up, we're jumping around I mean we play, they play, we're bouncing It's crazy, like people say it in videos People are like, what?

1:08:08like that gets me fired up because then when you're going through the crowd and that we do a mark that goes all the way around the state there's just fans lined and you're feeling this i'm like are you kidding me i can't imagine you know how the beatles felt back in the day or michael jackson but i'll tell you i'm feeling 20 30 40 000 going through and every time you get close to their yelling and screaming and yelling your names and myself and our players man how could you get better perfect like let's go we're gonna put on a show and we owe it to them they're sitting out here in the sun for three hours?

1:08:37We got to give them something that's unbelievable. That fires me up. And that's why even when I'm tired at the end of the night, even after a tough show, we make mistakes, things don't go our way. I will go out there and I'll sign for them because they showed up for us. We need to show up for them. And that's what fires me up. And that, that starts at the top. You know, once companies get bought by shareholders and, you know, they get investors, private equity, that all changes. They try to make more money from the top. You're not thinking about how you care about that one fan, that single mom that showed up with their kid that been waiting for four years on the watery list, the wait list to get tickets.

1:09:09And they show up that one night they flew from all over to get there.

1:09:13Lewis Howes:They deserve something special. They earn the best of you. I know you've been asked this a lot about, would you ever sell or something like that? What would it take for you? Would there ever be a world where you'd sell, go public or take a minority sale, like let someone buy a piece of it? Never. Never. What would it, What would have to happen? There's nothing. There's nothing. And again, like, I know that's crazy. And people will say that's BS. Because, well, they're playing on a different system. They're playing a different game. They're playing for money. They're playing for money. You know, we're fortunate.

1:09:48We built our business to be healthy. We're healthy. We're able to take care of our people at a level that I never even imagined. But, like, I love this so much. There's a different purpose. There's a joy. We show up every day. I get to do what I love. and so does hundreds of people. When you see the joy of our staff, you watch some of our sideline staff, they're dancing throughout the game. They're having fun. You get to dance in your job and just have fun and be with people that appreciate you. And so we sell it. What happens? All that changes. Their goals change. They want to make money. They will take away all the things that really matter to our team, matter to our fans, trying to make a little bit more money.

1:10:25You'll start adding sponsorships everywhere, doing TV rights, dude. hey, Jesse, there's no reason you're doing, you're paying everyone's taxes. Everyone charges taxes. Just do that. No. No. You just charge shipping, Jesse. Everyone charges shipping. Just do it. No. Ticket fees, convenient fees, just do it. Hey, it doesn't matter. People, the fans are used to it. Just do it. They keep saying that over and over again because it's hundreds of millions of dollars. But it's not what best for fans. You want your people to be fired up every day for who they work for and what they stand for. And our business is Fans First Entertainment.

1:10:58That's who we are. We live by that decision. As soon as you start making decisions that aren't for your fans, you lose all that. You lose the people that helped build this from nothing, from selling two tickets. And so - You lose the mission. You lose the mission. The purpose, the drive, everything. And it happens. Look at the amount of companies that have gone private equity and they change. An unbelievable book, Incorruptible by Eric Ries. He shared it. He shared all these companies. You can just look at it. They were this company and then they sold. and this is what happened. There's very few.

1:11:32There's very few out there. And so I just, there's not one model in my world. I hope that I can have this till the day I die. I hope our family, I hope the people that understand what matters the most. I want to put some kind of structure that no matter what you do, you have to do it for the fans. I want to figure out that. I'll probably try to lock it up in a crazy way to keep control. So someone, whoever does, try to say, you know, well, just, hey, there's a hundred million dollars here. I don't care. Keep us healthy. But if you run a business for the right reasons and do the right thing, right things, your fans will repay you.

1:12:00And our fans have taken care of us more than imagined. The merchandise, the tickets, we have a wait list that's now approaching 5 million. Wow. Where can you have that in the world? Let's go. And so like, that's, that's what fires me up. I know it's like crazy. You sound like, I know people say like this, you're not real. Like, it's not real. And I'm like, I was sleeping on an airbed with nothing. We were good.

1:12:20Lewis Howes:It's so interesting because I lived in a two bedroom apartment until three years ago, you know and until i hit 40 i was i mean i was in a studio in a one-bedroom apartment and a two-bedroom apartment for like i'm in a 12 or 13 years and i was happy i didn't need more than a two-bedroom apartment yeah i was pretty pretty happy like i didn't need more space or this you're sometimes happier with less our place that we have right now it's a little one apartment the more you the more you own the more it owns you yeah and so i love like just like hey this is what we have yeah And again, like I mentioned before, look at the graveyard of past leagues that have failed.

1:12:56The ABA. They had Dr. J. They had the three-point line. They had everything. The World Hockey Association. They had Brett Holt, Wayne Gretzky. You look at the XFL, the USFL. They had Steve Young and Jim Kelly. World Team Tennis, Billy J. They had all these, all these competitor leagues. But they were playing the same game. They were competing on the same thing. and they were chasing sponsors, TV rights. They weren't obsessed about creating fans and creating something brand new and special. And, you know, I think about that, you know, and one, you could just keep going. All the leagues over the last 30, 40, 50 years.

1:13:32Isn't Liv going out of business now too? Yes. I mean, it's arena football. And they got more recent, like all these, like Liv and all these, they put all the resources into it. Oh yeah. But they're doing it for different reasons. When you obsess over the right reasons and do it for the fans and build something truly special, you can be unstoppable and you can be an enduring company. And so that's why when people say you want to sell out or you want to do this, like just study history, study history, look at everyone else and what they've done.

1:13:57Lewis Howes:With everything you studied around Walt Disney, what do you think Walt would think about where his vision is at today? They've had some, obviously some amazing CEOs that we know, but also they've gone through some phases where they probably made a lot of mistakes. Yeah. Where do you think he, you think he would be proud of what Disney has become? Or what do you think if Walt was around today that he would be saying, guys, we're missing this. We've got to hear more of this. Like, what do you think that his original vision that he would be more obsessed about than anything today that would take Disney to a whole new level?

1:14:34Yeah. Well, again, you got to look at the history of Disney. So obviously they had 20 or 30 extremely challenging years after Walt went down. Everyone said, what would Walt do? And they weren't actually just doing things and they were just kind of working on their past. And Walt always said, you can't top pigs with pigs because they, you know, did the first three little pigs and they tried to do another one. And he was always against sequels, which is ironic because now, now Disney's doing tons of sequels, but they were successful. So they're crusher. Yeah. Things change. Um, and then, then Mike Eisner came in and Mike, boy, when he started, he went at it.

1:15:00He was so innovative. He started building new parks. He started, you know, focusing on animation. He started focusing on creating. And he did some things that didn't work. But he was innovating and trying things and experimenting. I mean, he was made to say he was the next Walt. And boy, he did it for a while. And then there was challenge. There was some turmoil that was stagnant. And then Iger came in. And Iger said, you know what? We're missing animation. What's our last? It's been years since we have it. And he's like, all right, we've got to find it. Pixar, Marvel starts bringing it in. And then starts creating new and completely revitalized Disney animation.

1:15:28And Frozen and everything they did. It comes to a different level. Disney has amazing years. Then they had a couple challenging years during COVID and everything else. And now they're back on creative. You know, Josh DeMar, I think, is a tremendous lead for them because he is going to be obsessed on creative. That's where he comes from. And so when you look at Walt.

1:15:46Lewis Howes:And he cares about the fans. Well, he would walk the parks every day, Josh. Yeah. And shake people's hand and be like, what is it that we're missing? How do we make it better for you? He's obsessing about that constantly. So if you look at, you know, his first shareholder call, for instance, he used the word fans like over 10 times. Wow. And I told him this. I said, Josh, I go, that's how you're going to be different than anyone else. Because everyone's also talking about their clients, their customers, their product. You're talking about your fans. No matter what happens with AI, no matter what happens with all these things, and everyone's chasing customers, customers are transactional.

1:16:17They come and go. But fans never leave. There's something different about fans, especially Disney fans. But I have fans that get tattoos of every one of our teams. And one guy came up, he's like, Jesse, you've got to stop adding teams. I go, that's a you problem. about it. But again, there's a difference to the fans. So to answer your question, I think Walt, if you look back, what did Walt want to do? He wanted to keep creating. He wanted to innovate. He wanted to keep moving forward. Opening new doors, he would say. If you look at what Disney has done, the amount of new theme parks, the amount of new animation, the amount of new movies, overall in a scheme of things, how could Walt not be proud of it?

1:16:51Now, I think when you look at some of the challenges that they have, you know, pricing, you know, I mean, Walt is quite... It is. But, you know, again, eyes are smart.

1:17:01Lewis Howes:There's demand. Eyes are increasing price. Their attendance was going up. I mean, there was, when they started doing that, they were realizing. And the value, they put so much into it. You can't just charge nothing. They also have to make money because they're a public company. They're shareholders now. So they're a different model. They have to. Have to. You have to respond every quarter to people. This is one of the reasons why you go back to me, why I will never sell and I'll never be public. I work for the fans. And so what Josh and the team and all the CEOs have that challenge is every three months, Jay got a report of the shareholders.

1:17:28How are they growing revenue? Not how are they growing fans. That's not the question.

1:17:32Lewis Howes:How can they do both? How can they - They do a lot. So like, I mean, they're investing, what,$60 billion on new enhancements in parks, adding new cruise ships. They're adding all these new experiences. And so how can anyone, not even Disney, but how can any business owner, entrepreneur, CEO think, yeah, I need to think about revenue because - You need to, yeah. They're not a full owner like you. They've got other people that are invested and they've got to make a return. Yeah. How can they think about financial growth, but also fan growth? Well, it goes hand in hand. You know, the thing is like every day we're constantly trying to think, how can we provide something that's unforgettable for fans?

1:18:11And then how can we continue to provide new products, new services, new experiences? So yes, we're playing one game, but you know, we obsess over our merchandise, which we do all in-house. We obsess over our team, Jared and Corey and the team. I mean, they are obsessed and we are coming up with new things and we do it all in-house. We're building our own everything. And so like that's exciting for us. When we think about, you know, we're playing at football stadiums. We're selling out cruise ships, which makes no sense. But again, constraints foster creativity. We had to learn five days on how can we entertain for five straight days about playing the animal.

1:18:42Great constraint for us. And so we added that to Pans and our fans loved it. And that was a whole nother level. Like you can't sell a cruise ship here. Yet we did like eat all the fees and we made it so it's very minimal profit. But like that was a new service. So what are these new services is that we can build the banana ball universe. You know, where could we play at beaches, aircraft carriers? Could we do new innovative games at football stands people have never seen before? Do, you know, all these ideas that we think about constantly, which is a whole new thing that can, if you do it well, it'll drive fans.

1:19:10It'll also drive revenue. Every day we're looking at how can we serve more fans. A few years ago, we sold only 100 ,000 tickets. Then we went to 500 ,000. The whole year. The whole year. Then we went to 500 ,000 in 2023. Then a million in 2024. then$2.2 million in 2025. Now$3.4 million in 2026.

1:19:28Lewis Howes:Already in the first half? Yeah, the whole year. But the whole season sold out. So yeah, yeah. $3.4 million. $3.4 million. But next year, we'll go to four, but it's going to be hard. So what are we going to have to do? The biggest challenge, because you have so many teams, they're maxing out their games, they're selling out football teams, they're selling out everywhere we go. So it's going to be hard. Our team knows this. So where do we have to look? Do you look at international? Do you look at new opportunities? Do you look at different seasons to play? You have to look at all these other things on when you can provide something for fans that fans want.

1:19:54That's a great challenge. It's very hard. You know, WWE, they maxed out at 2.5 million fans one year. That was it. Tickets sold. Tickets sold. So what do they have to do? They got to start doing more TV rights, sell more sponsorship. That's the only way they can really grow their business because they maxed out on how many fans they can. MLB did 80 million fans 15 years ago. They're around 70, 72 now. They maxed out. So what do you got to do? Hire TV rights, hire sponsorship, all that. More expensive merch. Yeah. We got to find out how to serve more fans. that's a hard proposition because every single league maxes out

1:20:23Lewis Howes:and your ticket prices are like very minimal $40,$50, and$60 with no ticket fees no convenience that's it $60 is the most you can spend yeah yeah yeah I mean we have a VIP package that's a more and we're gonna answer your question we're gonna offer more of those because fans want those the VIP oh yeah but we're still gonna keep that low price but we're gonna offer more of those because fans are craving for those the first tickets we sell are the$100,$125 tickets the backstage tickets they go faster than anything else because people want that so we have to offer more of that So you offer more or do you increase the price?

1:20:52And when do you increase the price? That's the biggest challenge. We try to go many... Perennial, we're going about three plus years without raising prices, which I'm proud of. And then we do a very small. And I always fight back with our team. I was like, how do we not? And that's a constant challenge.

1:21:07Lewis Howes:And then you have a million people on a wait list still. Five million. Or five million that can't go to a game. Correct. So what back in the day, Eisner would say, well, just charge more. And I think that makes sense. Supply and demand. Supply and demand, do that. but like I don't feel good about that. I'm that fan, that single mom, that family that's been waiting forever. Like why? Just because you're successful and now you got to charge more? We try to picture a fan with us. Would a fan want that? Now we have to at some point. You know, we might have to do a little bit here and there. We've done it throughout.

1:21:34Five, 10 bucks here. Yeah, you have to at some point just because of as much as we fight back, you know, costs continue to grow and we want to make sure we take care of our players.

1:21:41Lewis Howes:And your expenses are going to grow. And so, yeah. My point is every other league, what they have to do is they got to find revenue on how to extract value from the fans. They got to extract ads, sponsors, TV rights, merch, food. They got to extract. What we got to figure out is how to serve more fans and how to do it in a unique way. So what the challenge is, so you got to look at all other top opportunities throughout a year or international or at different venues to serve more fans. And that's a hard, hard challenge. And I love it. It fires me up because it's very, very difficult, but when our whole team's in on it, we're going to find a way.

1:22:14And so we'll go to 4 million, maybe we'll go to 5 million, maybe we'll start doing international.

1:22:16Lewis Howes:Let me ask you this question. In two years, if you had to sell 10 million tickets by 2028 in one year without raising the price, how would you do it? I wouldn't do it. And here's why. Because you would dilute your product. You'd water it down. So what happens is, so we have six teams now. And I'm proud of these shows. They've sold out everywhere, but they're not at the level that the bananas, we built that for 11 years. And so, you know, they're getting very clean. Yeah, but like the party animals, they're selling out major league stadiums without the bananas. They have more followers. Who do they play against then?

1:22:50Well, we've got the firefighters, the tailgaters, the coconuts, and the clowns. We got six teams in a league.

1:22:54Lewis Howes:They play those. They play that teams. They play you guys too. Yeah, it's a league. We play a 60 game schedule. So the question would be, if you try to go to 10 million in two years, what you would have to do is you would have to dilute and you take away your focus and you would water it down. You'd have to add some more teams. You have to play at bigger venues. The product would be worse. Yeah, yeah. I would not do that. You know, you look at Costco, you look at Chick-fil-A, you look at some of these companies that have grown, you know, they're very strategic. They'd make sure when they go, they're going to do it the best possible for their customers.

1:23:22So you're not trying to get that many. No, well, eventually, I believe we're going to create a billion fans. But I'm not saying we're going to do it in two, three, four, five years. I want to try to do it in a hundred years. That excites me. I like doing it. Yeah. Yes. To go from a hundred thousand to three million in five years is crazy. All right. It's crazy. But we're not going to try to go jump to 10 million. We'll probably do four. and then maybe we'll find a way to get five and then we'll start over here in this country and we'll do this over here like that that fires me up because it's it's it's really hard and it's a way to build something that you can make sure the fans get a great show and a great experience and if you go too fast most companies boston market quiznos i could keep going there's a huge list of all the companies like we got something good let's go and then go on and then the quality goes down they try to do too much boston market try to serve all these other things they just wanted the chicken you stayed boston chicken you probably have been more successful do one thing do a factor than anything.

1:24:10Sweet potato in Boston. Sweet potato. Yeah, you have to decide. That's pretty good. But you know what I'm saying. I think that's the mindset. So I think the question is continue to grow with fans every year without taking away from the fan experience. Wow.

1:24:20Lewis Howes:So you're not trying to grow as fast as you can. No, I want to continue to grow with fans and make sure we grow and stay healthy. I want to make sure I take care of everybody. I want our players to continue to pay more, our staff to need to pay more. The average bonus for our front office staff is like$30 ,000 to$40 ,000. Wow. That's just everybody. That's from when you start. That's our average bonus happy. We have to continue to do that, so we have to continue to serve more fans. Wow. What's your biggest internal challenge with all the success you've had? The standard of the showing experience.

1:24:53So I think that's the biggest challenge.

1:24:56Lewis Howes:Because when it's smaller - I'm everywhere. We're everywhere. You can do it all. You can be there at each game, but now it's so many moving parts. So I'll go back to Walt. He spent three years on Snow White. Three years. Obsessing. one project and they had so much excitement and they went to they went to pinocchio they went to fantasia they had uh they had three movies going on at once and all those you know well now they've you know critically acclaimed but they all did not succeed they actually lost money they were failed he couldn't put his whole focus in it and then when walt solely focused on disneyland every single day he was walking it he was setting up he was visioning it focus is everything.

1:25:36And so when people say, why don't you grow? So it's like, we've learned this going from one team to six teams is hard. And so I think that's the one thing that internally I just try to, how do we make sure the show and the experience at the highest level? And we're going to have to be very strategic.

1:25:48Lewis Howes:How are you going to keep your focus when you're only going to expand though? You have so many cool projects happening and so many ideas and you're creative and you're writing down a hundred ideas. You sound like my wife right now, by the way. She asked this question. She's like, sir, how are you going to do it there? You got a cruise ship here and you got 30 games over here and you got these teams and this and project uh disney and it's like you have so many cool i'm on the sps now i'm doing this thing i'm doing this project this is how many people on your team right now we've got 10 full time but we got about 30 that do inside you have to build your team yeah when you just started tell me your first podcast what was it me and robert green yeah it's two it's two yeah and we just started it was just it it was just it and so the iphone yeah it's now you built your team and they've been i mean just my time here.

1:26:27It's a different level. So like, I have to spend as much time as I can with the core people that can have the most impact on each show. And I have to do that and we have to obsess and I have to not be afraid to coach when it's hard. Hey, like, you know, we were at the Aspies and there were certain things that were missed. Like, it was missed and like our team delivered. I was so proud.

1:26:45Lewis Howes:But there were cameras. You guys miss it, but not everyone else. Well, no, yeah, I was like, camera shots and details and things not even out of our control. So this is one of the reasons why Lewis is like, I think you've learned this here. You can control everything. People are like, oh, you're a control freak. That's not a bad thing. When you can control everything, we control our tickets, our merchandise, our show, our experience. It's about a product. Our deal points. Because we care at a different level. Yeah. And we obsess over it. And so that's where I got to make sure when we go to other places, we can't lose control.

1:27:10If we lose control, we're in trouble. So you got me going today, man.

1:27:16Lewis Howes:What do you think will be your biggest downfall if you do what? Or if you don't do what? yeah, it'd be, it'd be the, it would be taking an opportunity for the wrong reasons. So again, going against your values, going against your values. You know, it's like I said, what Roy said when, when, what if it's such a big opportunity? What if it's like, man, this is a big number. This is something I never thought I could imagine. Yeah. Well, Steve Jobs with Johnny Ive, you know, his creative director and he said, you know, focus is when you wake up and you so badly want to do something and you're willing to say no.

1:27:49Gosh, that's crazy. He's like, there were so many things that Apple had the opportunity to do. But if you look at what they did, they would, hey, for two years, I'm going to focus on the iPod. For two years now, I'm going to focus on the iPhone. Three years alone, they would spend just constant. They innovated more than us, but they spent obsessive focus for years on one main product. They had their other ones going, but their A team, their best of their best was only focusing on one thing. And so, yes, we could get the biggest opportunity we have. We've got some crazy opportunities. of these.

1:28:17I could run and say yes to it. And then what happens to the rest of it? And so, you know, where your focus goes, what does Tony Robbins say? Where your energy goes, your focus goes, something like that. And so, yeah, where your attention goes, your energy goes or something like that. It makes sense in my head. But I mean, yeah, that's, that's, so the downfall would be, we take something like, you know, we have some movies coming up. We have some ideas, we have some things that we're working on and, um, some shows. And, um, I have to remember that, Hey, keep the main thing, the main thing. and I believe we can be the best in the world and create the greatest show and greatest live experience in any other sport.

1:28:48And so I got to remember to keep that the main thing. That's what drives us, all of us, everything we can do.

1:28:54Lewis Howes:What's your three favorite baseball movies? Ooh, ooh, that's good. Ooh, that's such a tough question because I'm going to get criticism on that one. Just what comes to your mind? Yeah, what comes to my mind? I mean, you go back to The Sandlot was obviously. Sandlot just, and again, I've been able to connect with those guys. and we've had Patrick Renner with us, the great Hambino. He's amazing. Oh, man. And so, yeah, that was... That's a great movie. You know what one that I watched, like, religiously, which no one will ever pick as one of the greatest baseball movies, For Love of the Game with Kevin Costner.

1:29:24I was just obsessed with that one because I was a pitcher. But, I mean, yeah. I mean, Feel the Dreams, the moment with the dad is special. Bull Durham was so funny. There were moments, I mean, Major League. Jeez, I'm listing literally all the baseball movies. Top three.

1:29:36Lewis Howes:What am I missing? What's your... What's a movie that inspires you the most with the vision that you have? what's a movie that you watch, whether it be now or when you're a kid, that you're like, this feels like me, what I'm going after. Inspires me the most. The Greatest Showman or just - Yeah. I mean, I love The Greatest Showman because of what they're doing, but I don't know if it's the most inspiring movie. Rocky. I don't know. What's your - No. I mean, again, it's so crazy, Lewis. I mean, I am so focused on what we're doing and even my family in the business that my mind doesn't go to movies.

1:30:08The realest reason when I saw was Michael and Michael Jackson. What'd you think of that? Um, it was, there was a lot more to be told. A lot more to be told as someone I studied, Michael, I was obsessed with Michael as a kid, one of the greatest performers.

1:30:22Lewis Howes:You perform Michael Jackson a lot. I have. I do have like all these videos of you dancing. That's bad that you know that, but yes, I've done some videos. Um, I was obsessed with Michael Grace more. I mean, I think, you know, there was moments in there. He goes, he goes, you know, if you, if you see Haley's comment every year, it won't matter anymore. Not special, right? Not special. And so I think about that often. I think about a lot of those things and he goes, I want to be the best. I want to sell this. I want to, you know, I remember seeing a documentary about Chris Martin, Coldplay, when he was a kid, he was young.

1:30:46He's like, we're going to sell out the biggest stadiums in the world. He was like, just as band just started. I love people that go out and say what they're going to do and they dream big and they go out and do it. And so like, yeah, you know, Michael and some of those documentaries. I just, I love that.

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1:32:44Lewis Howes:What was it about Michael Jack? Obviously, he's got an interesting past here, but what was it about him as a performer that inspired you so much to be obsessed about him as a performer well watch this is it or watch uh the mj the musical uh on broadway which is great it's just talking about his tour um it was such an obsession over every moment every beat everything that comes in every sound effect every everything and even right before he died he was challenged with a lot of medical issues you see that tour it's like no we're gonna hit it here no right here we have to here. It was every moment.

1:33:15And I watched that. I've been fortunate to work with Pasek and Paul, the writers of The Greatest Showman, and I've been able to sit in the room with them. And the obsession over every syllable, every piece. I mean, we've been writing together. We're writing songs. Really? Unbelievable. And we just released our first song, Show Starts Now. That's cool. But when you're in rooms with people like Michael, Pasek, and Paul, Mandy Moore, a choreographer who did the Taylor Swift tour, did La La Land and Diaz was there, it's every single detail matters. the greatest performers the greatest achievers ever they have that same thing in common and so I think Michael was probably the best at it and so when you watch a tour there was a reason why people were fainting like it was just everything was perfection how he'd come up on the toaster lift how he would stand there for two minutes like he did during the Super Bowl

1:33:59Lewis Howes:two minutes just the glass and he's waiting because he understands he's building the I love that video of the producer behind the scenes fascinating who's like come on Michael come on Michael let's do it and he's and he knows he's sizzling he's sizzling he's sizzling and because he's feeling a moment and i tell our people all the time it's you build the moment you build the moment you build the moment it's that obsession to detail so like michael or any of the greatest performers they all have that in common taylor swift another one you watch her you're like it's every moment her and man that's why they work so well together i just that's what excites me because when you nail it which doesn't happen often there's no other feeling what i drink you feel you do come alive like our first football stadium at clemson we had a halftime show in the middle of the game we had singers up in the top decks we had the whole clemson band come together we have both teams into a full performance this is happening in the middle of the game with the clock still running and they're all dancing and i wish there was a clip somewhere i'm jumping on the side up and down because i'm feeling it i'm literally jumping up and down this is happening i'm going nuts because i'm watching the vision of like we're hitting that upper deck we're hitting that upper deck we're hitting here now the whole the band comes in 200 people now 60 performers and you nail it you know those months i feel alive for something like that how how much do you rehearse that big half an outrageous amount so you're Rehearsing it where?

1:35:09Lewis Howes:At the stadium? Yeah, so every show starts. It's exactly like Saturday Night Live, and I've taken so much inspiration. All week you're rehearsing. You start on Tuesday. Tuesday, ideas. Well, the ideas, you start, then you have your table read. You probably have some set things that you're going to do. You're like, all right, we have... No, you start from scratch. It's all new? Oh, yeah. So you have... You have like guys walk off songs, right? You have different... You have your regular hits. Like we do Hey Baby, it's a banana land. We do that every game. So you have some romance, but all of the...

1:35:33Lewis Howes:50 % is standard. Yeah, but Tuesday is all brand new. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so, for instance, we have six shows. Every weekend? Yeah. Every season. Yeah, so if you have two games a weekend, you have six shows. If we have three games a weekend, you have nine shows. And you're doing 10 to 15 brand new every night. So we do 100 brand new things. So Tuesday, all the idea sessions, all day. Then we start writing the scripts, the blocking, the choreography. Start doing rehearsal in Savannah for a movie that Wednesday. Then we fly. Everyone's in Savannah. Oh, all six teams are in Savannah. Really? Yeah, we had to figure that one out, too.

1:36:04That was hard.

1:36:04Lewis Howes:so they're all rehearsing and practicing during oh yeah on one field we had to figure that one out yeah do they have different times oh yeah it's crazy our days like literally from like 9 a.m they're going and then we have a little side field that we built up like wow we figure it out because now we're all there we understand that's cool you're all there 100 you understand what it's all about so we know the heart of who we are what we stand for you don't separate it so yeah then we travel and then saw that at clemson uh the day before we started a little bit of the rehearsals the block in savannah though right well we start that yeah start And then you go there.

1:36:32And then you go there. And then you've got to bring the Clemson band. Then you've got to bring the performers in. Then you do it up in the morning. Then you do it during the day. You do it three, four, five times. And then you just hope with 81 ,000 fans there. And in the middle of the game, you hope. That's where it all comes together. You hope that it hits. And most times, for me, it's hard because I know I see all the things that don't hit.

1:36:50Lewis Howes:No, yeah. 100%. You're always going to see things that don't hit. So like, Walt, whenever I go on a ride, I'm always asking what's wrong with things, how it's in the roof. It's so funny because I was at a... you know we do a we do a big event every year called the someone of greatness and yeah and we do some smaller kind of mastermind events or whatever but we're not an event company but we like to put on a show when we do it we want to go big oh yeah we've never made any money because we overspent on production and experience the wall philosophy dance and art we make it an artistic expression of life and when you spend money on art you don't make money unless it's like a long term investment so and we don't sell anything at our event yeah there's no upsell there's no nothing.

1:37:28Lewis Howes:It's all fans. The worst business model. Yeah, but you're creating a community. There's a purpose for it. You're creating a community. There's give back. Yeah, 100%. 100%. And it's so funny because, you know, so I relate to this because we're rehearsing for two days before, but we're really rehearsing all year round. And then we only have like two days on location while you're building the set and the production and there's tons of moving parts to try to get the essence of the feeling you want to create. Yes. And you hope that when it starts at 9 a.m., like the music cues hit, the performance, like everything works with all those rehearsals.

1:38:03Lewis Howes:So I understand that feeling. And I was in Australia last week at a little speaking tour. Yeah. And I wasn't putting on the event, but the guy who was putting on the event, it's just so funny because I notice when something's not working also from behind the scenes. Yeah. And we were doing like this little kind of VIP meet and greet Q &A at the end. and I could see because at one point we were given the mics to like do Q &A. Yeah. And the mic wasn't on and I could just see him scratching the mic like without anyone noticing. I could just, I looked over, I see him scratching it and just kind of tapping and then looking over and I go, I just laugh and I look at him.

1:38:40Lewis Howes:I go, you're obsessive like me. The little details. The mic has not turned on like right when you need it to be turned on and I could just see it. We just It's got to have this laughing moment of like the production mind, you know? You always see it. But I think what you said earlier was really brilliant. You said, you know, you have this feeling that you want to mind. I think most people like they're like, I want to build this. I want to create this. I want to do this. But it's working backwards from that feeling. Like what's that feeling that you, like if you work backwards, I had to, when I was struggling, I was, you know, starting Gastonia and it was just me.

1:39:10It was like a few of us. Like we were just, I was burnt out almost every night. Really? Oh man. I was just, I was doing everything. I was doing sales. I was doing sponsorship. I was doing finance. I was burnt out. And finally, I was like, all right, what days are the days that I feel good? And I looked at my schedule and it was days that I was coming up with ideas or I was out sharing what we're doing, talking to people or I was promoting, I was doing all that. Or I was learning, I was doing that. And so I created, you know, my energy list and it's all things that are creating, sharing and growing.

1:39:35And what I realized, what you just said there, it's like work backwards from that and work backwards from the feeling that you want to have. And like I can, I vividly can remember that feeling at Clemson, jumping up and down. I can feel it right now because everything came together. It's like, okay, why? How do you work backwards from that? What are you trying to create? I was like, what I felt was everyone together was doing something together. We were building something together. It wasn't just one person doing this, one person doing this. It was hundreds of people on the field, people up in the stands, everyone in this moment together.

1:40:03And it's like, okay, I always want to create those shared, emotional, powerful moments where you feel alive. And so that's what I work backwards from. Because if I can have one of those a day, one of those a week, it's a great week. It's a great day. That's big.

1:40:16Lewis Howes:Wow. So everyone, there's what, hundreds of players now? Yeah, yeah. 160 players, 150 cash members. How does this work then? Do you pay their rent? Or do they have to move there and then they find an apartment, they find a house, and they just, they live their life, they're getting a salary. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you're not paying for... Yeah, I mean, we pay them year-round, which most leagues don't. We pay them year-round, they have full health insurance, they have all the benefits and all that stuff. But yeah, we're really proud of where it's come. Because you look at where baseball leagues and minor leagues and everything else, I mean, it's just at such a low level and we're continuing to grow at a higher level than we ever imagined.

1:40:48And I'm very grateful for that.

1:40:50Lewis Howes:Now, I'm curious about this because most people think of it as obviously they're coming to watch baseball. But you look at it more as entertainment, I'm assuming. Yeah. Yes, baseball is the game we're playing, I guess. Oh, banana ball. We don't use the term baseball. It's not baseball. Okay. It's banana ball. But are you trying to get your guys to be better at dancing and entertaining and performing? or trying to have them better at banana ball with playing baseball within your level of banana ball? D, all of the above. Really? So like, yes, I mean - Because right now I'm assuming they're better baseball players within banana ball rather than - They all start as baseball players.

1:41:28Yes. They become banana ball players. And what we hope is they all obsess over putting on the greatest performance, the greatest show and creating fans. And so we're very intentional. I mean, during our spring training, we spend days going through who we are, what we stand for, what great banana balls. In the middle of the season, I meet with him in my talk. We literally have everything timed, how long the games are, how many trick plays we're doing, all of this. I mean, it's a constant metric of how do we make the game better. I mean, we're having games over 30 trick plays. That's it. Backflip catches behind.

1:41:55We have first baseman catching the ball behind her on a ball thrown like this. We've had double plays where a guy catches a bare hand at first base on a 90-mile. It's crazy. Wow. Bare hand backflip catches. They're doing things every night I've never seen before on a baseball field. I love that. Because that's how we can't get bored. You know, going back to the feeling of boredom, if we've seen it all.

1:42:13Lewis Howes:You want to watch and see what's happening. Oh, yeah, 100%. I don't want to miss something. What's going to happen? If me and our team, we don't want to miss anything, good luck for the fans their first time coming. What do you think will happen when all of your players get better at dancing and performing and the entertainment side just as good as they are at the baseball side? Well, plus so. Or better. Yeah, so here's a good thing that I learned. Bring on, we talk a lot about raising the bar. And we talk about who's going to be the bar raisers. And so, like, for instance, we had Ziggy, Alex Ziegler.

1:42:50And so he was the bat trickster. I found it. He was on the internet doing bat trick things. Oh, that's cool. Yeah, and he balanced and he can do all these things. And so he's a bat trickster. But can't he hit the ball? Yeah, he played baseball. So he could, yeah, he could, yeah. He had a home run at Clemson, I think, last year, which was awesome. So we won't say how short the fence was because it was a football stadium. But he had a home run. So my point was, I watched. I said, guys, just continue to try things and show things. Again, go to STD Draws. People don't know what they want until you show it to them.

1:43:13So he was in the off season and he was just catching balls like this and catching balls like this. So I said, Ziggy, what is that? He goes, I've just been working on it. So I call our coach. I go, let's put Ziggy at first. He goes, Ziggy, first? And I go, yeah. He's catching behind his back. He's catching behind his back. So he goes over there and he's just practicing over and over and over again. And the first time a guy throws a ball over and he immediately turns and catches it like that against Alex. we were all like what and then the next day he catches ball like this he's now our regular first baseman wow that's cool but professionally he's doing it he raised the bar and now everyone else needs to learn how to do that at first dr meadows our center fielder first he's like i can do a backflip i'm gonna try to catch a ball doing a backflip they're doing it then he's like i'm gonna try without a glove to the bear half then he's like i saw the saquon barkley where a guy jumped over backwards i'm gonna jump backwards and catch the ball between my legs he did the saquon barkley He raises the bar in the outfield.

1:44:06Rack raises the bar. He's trying to do aerial catches and all these other things. So for instance, everyone you look at raising the bar, Derek Klinna. I don't know if you know the name, but Derek Klinna was a Broadway A-lister. Is a Broadway A-lister. And passing in Paul, we were writing and coming up with ideas. He goes, have you heard of Derek Klinna? I go, no. Start showing me. I'm like, he was on Wicked, literally, and Moulin Rouge, and like A-lister. But he played baseball at UCLA. Wow. 13 years ago. And I was like, Derek, we connected. I go, crazy idea. why don't you come down to a tryout?

1:44:35Come sing. He comes down to a tryout. Shut up. And he takes a mic out, sings, and it's the best I've ever heard singing on a field because it's Broadway, full, unbelievable. And then he pitches. I was like, the arm works. And he's not throwing 90 miles an hour, but the arm works. Yeah, yeah. So we talked. We said,

1:44:49Lewis Howes:I want to give it a shot. Is he playing now? He's a full-time player. Come on. And so when - He was on Broadway, now he's with you guys? He left Broadway, and now he's a full-time player. He's a pitcher? Oh, yeah. Does he sing like in the middle of the innings or something? Wow. Derek has generated hundreds of millions of views. He has gone from thousands of followers to hundreds of thousands of followers. He, we wrote, our song show starts now. He's saying, at the ESPYs, live. That's incredible. And it's, he raised the bar. So now that we have a singer player, what's next? You mean a dancer player?

1:45:24Well, yeah, we have breakdancing coaches. We have other things. We have cast that's unbelievable that are doing things that I've never seen before. And we've got two Broadway-type guys that are hosts for the Indianapolis Clowns. We've got the number one juggler in the world, Spencer, who's with us juggling for the Indianapolis Clowns, which was the former Negro League team that was all about entertainment. We've got an acrobat who was from Cirque du Soleil. We've got one of the best contortionists in the world that's with us. We're going to give him his first at bat this week. So he's got to come up to bat, and hopefully he'll be completely flat on the ground with no strikes.

1:45:52So we'll see what happens. And so you keep pushing the envelope and raising the bar. And that's, so who's going to raise the bar in your position? Who's going to raise the bar here? And that's, that's what excites me.

1:46:02Lewis Howes:This is cool, man. Hey, that's why you got to see you. I got to bring out you to see a show. Yeah, I got to come out. This has been powerful, Jesse. I've got a couple of final questions for you. This one's called the three truths. Imagine it's your last day on earth many years away. Yeah. And you get to create and manifest everything you want in this life from personal to banana ball to everything, it comes true beyond your wildest dreams. Imagine six years ago when you did your first game to where it is now, how much it's grown, and imagine 50 years from now where it could be. But on your last day, you have to take all of your information with you.

1:46:43Lewis Howes:This conversation, your books, anything you ever say, video's gone. Yeah. But you get to leave behind three lessons to the world. Oh, jeez. Yeah, you've asked it for. You only get to leave behind three lessons that we would get to remember of your content. What would those three truths be for you? Yeah. I mean, I go back to the first thing we ever put on our Fans First Playbook. I wrote, be patient in what you want for yourself, but be impatient in how much you give to others. And so I think that's something that I've really learned that has been powerful for us. Again, this isn't so eloquent, but do what gives you energy.

1:47:21You know, I think that's just something that I've, um, and, you know, again, there's lots of all these sayings that I, I think our staff could all say on my sayings, but, you know, I don't want to use those. I just like to keep things simple and, and spread joy, just spread joy, man. And it's, it's, you know, it's how you show up, how you do anything is how you do everything. And if you spread joy, you bring energy and you give to others. I think anything is possible.

1:47:45Lewis Howes:Good things happen. Yeah. Good things happen. You've got Banana Bowl, I believe. Is it on ESPN in October? Do we know where it's at? Disney. The Banana Bowl. Yes. What is this, Banana Bowl? It's the biggest event in Banana Bowl history. Have you done this before? It's our WrestleMania, no. So what is it going to be? What can people expect when they watch it? What can you do? We're going to do, we're bringing all six teams, all of our cast. There'll be hundreds of people. It's going to be the biggest performance of our lives. We're going to picture a Super Bowl halftime show, but we're going to do the final inning show with all original music and it is going to be over the top and it's going to be larger than life.

1:48:19And it is the scariest thing I've ever done because it's the biggest stakes. And if you go back to first WrestleMania, the first Super Bowl, all those moments, this is it for us. And to show that it's so much more than just one team, so much more than just one person, it's a movement. And the Banana Ball universe is here to stay. That's our first night we're going to go out and prove it. Wow.

1:48:39Lewis Howes:Where's it going to be? Do we know yet? We can't share. It is something that has changed. It's not public yet. It's not public, and it's changed a lot over time. He don't know it. Well, there's a lot of things that have changed, and there's intentionality on where it's going to be, and we're pretty close to be able to announce that. Wow, that's cool. Yeah. But it'll be televised, or it'll be all over? Oh, it'll be all over Disney. It'll be all global. It'll be Disney, and there'll be things that we've never done before, bigger than we've ever done them before. And I'm hoping for that feeling that I had at Clemson, that I'm jumping up and down.

1:49:11But it's going to be extremely hard. And if we deliver, it'll be something people will never forget. Wow.

1:49:16Lewis Howes:It'd be cool if it was at Disney, huh? Yeah. Well, we play games in the wide world of sports. But yeah, you can't have it at, I don't think Magic Kingdom there. We could fit the fields and all that stuff there. Maybe one day. By the end of Banana Bowl, what is the feeling you want to have after it's midnight, all the fans leave, and you've accomplished your first ever banana bowl, what do you want to feel? And yeah, what do you want to feel? I'm going to hug my dad. I'm going to hug Emily, hug the kids.

1:49:55I've had these feelings before. So when you do something that's really hard and you work really hard for it and you get to feel it and you get to feel how far you've come, then we've come from nothing. We've come from a wild journey, a lot of criticism every step of the way. eight people told us that we couldn't do it and when you do something that is um beyond anything you ever imagined and you the key is to not you know be at the top of that mountain be by yourself and to be with my dad my family and then all the people that have worked so hard in this as much as it's going to be amazing seeing the thousands of fans at the end of the night it's going to be coming back to have our final fans first chat cheersing everyone being around everyone saying look at what we just need wow that's going to be and the song that we wrote was look what we made dream it up it could look something like this long ago we said we'd make it someday hey hey look what we made wow and that's the song we're going to perform the final song that is cool yeah it's gonna be pretty special wow man this is

1:50:54Lewis Howes:amazing yeah i want to acknowledge you jesse for the journey you've been on man it's been crazy you know since well i met you in 2018 for a few minutes we've been connected over the years on social media and texts and things like that, just seeing what you've been up to. But it's inspiring to see you've stuck true to your values and you've just gone for it. You've gone for it and you've been riding the wave and you haven't allowed outside forces to get you off path. And I think a lot of people get caught up in shiny objects for the wrong reasons. You've been, you know, caught up in your own shiny object for the right reasons and stuck true to yourself.

1:51:33Lewis Howes:So I want to acknowledge you for staying true to yourself, for not doing it for the money, but doing it for people and bringing as much joy to as many people as possible. And I cannot wait to get to a game one day. So we're going to have some fun. You better be ready. You're going to, we're going to get you going. I'm in man. Probably in. Probably in. Let's go. You know, I'm in for this. We're going to have some fun. For people that haven't seen a banana ball yet, how can they follow the journey, get on a wait list, social media, where should they go to experience what you're talking about if they've never seen it?

1:52:04Lewis Howes:And then how can they come to a game or be a part of the universe? Good. I appreciate using the banana ball universe. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we're easy to find. You search banana ball, search Savannah bananas. And, you know, even I think my phone number, my email is still out there everywhere. It's crazy. But yeah, I mean, we post every day. You know, one of the things I believe is you learn by doing. And so when we first started social media, we didn't know what we're doing. We said, we're going to post every day, try to spread joy, try to make baseball fun and show what we're doing. And now, you know, fortune over 40 million followers that have been following us on this journey.

1:52:32And so, uh, yeah, we are very visible. We're very out there. I think that's one of the biggest things that is our differentiator. You know, when many people put barriers between people, we try to, you know, break down those barriers and allow our fans to be around us and interact. And we love it. It gives us joy and purpose. So, um, very accessible, uh, probably too much, uh, to an extent, but, uh, I love it. And the joy I feel when fans come up to me and you know think about this how many people in their life someone you get to feel it i know because of what you do but how many people come up just say thank you you know just to come up i wish everyone in the world could get thanked every day for what they do and we get to feel that so i'm very grateful gosh man it's a it's a blessing anytime i i don't really leave much um like i you know i work out at home my trainer comes to me i come to the office

1:53:16Lewis Howes:i go home with my kids yes i don't go out as much any day but anytime i travel or go out and someone comes up to me and tells me how the show's impacted. You impact their life. Yeah. There's no better feeling to meet someone that you've made a difference in their life. There's no better feeling. And so if you get to this every week and high five thousands of people who are having the best time ever, there's nothing else you'd rather do. A hundred percent. It's fuel. If someone gave you a billion dollars right now to sell it, you'd be like, I don't know what else I would do. I would go redo this whole thing again.

1:53:46Lewis Howes:A hundred percent. Because it's not about the money. It's about the impact. And that's what helps me when there's constant criticism because we still get criticism. You know, every day we get criticism because, you know, the only people that get criticized are the people that actually do something. And so we're going to keep doing, I'm going to have that fuel from those people. And you know, that's, that drives us. If you don't want to, you know, I just, I so believe in just showing up constantly with people that believe in what you believe in. And I realized that we're going to continue to get criticized.

1:54:10The bigger the stage, the bigger the criticism, but the people that believe in you and you feel that every day, that come and thank you, that's who we'll work for. That's who it is.

1:54:18Lewis Howes:I'm just curious, how many followers does all of MLB or MLB teams have combined? Do you know? It's not a - I'm just curious. No, I don't know. I honestly, I think a lot of people, they spend a lot of time focusing on their competitors. I'm just obsessed over our fans or what we say, our customers, but yeah, I don't know. I mean, they probably have a lot, but I know our party animals have, I was told, more than every Major League Baseball team on TikTok, and they're our second team. so like it shows you we've been able to grow by giving something that fans you know want wow that's amazing that is um well they can follow you yellow tux jesse all over social media you got a lot of great content and the thing i love about your content you tell a lot of great stories thank you so you're in the the stadiums you're on location sharing stories which i think is just well think about this who's who's if you will look back who's the biggest inspiration for you like in your like maybe not just personal but maybe even someone big like like for me it's Walt Disney like yeah is there anybody that like that's not as I mean like you know LeBron James I like there's an athlete anyone from way back anyone like anyone that Michael Jordan was like you know when I was growing up he was he was the guy and you got to see it a little bit with The Last Dance but think about this yeah The Last Dance was good think about we didn't tell many stories though during yes that's what I'm saying just on play if Walt Disney and his journey of building Snow White Disneyland was sharing the ups and the downs and when they mess up incredible that's what so I I realized like I had such a great gift to be able to read a lot but why on this journey.

1:55:40Like it's hard. We're going through it. I just love, I think it's something I love sharing it because I know other people are going through some things. And so that's like gives me, it inspires me. I'm like, I think back, man, if Walt shared everything back in the day. Incredible. Yeah. You're a great storyteller. Well, that's awesome. Thank you.

1:55:54Lewis Howes:Find your yellow tux.com. You can learn more about you and what you're building as well. But a yellow text, Jesse on socials, a final question, Jesse, what's your definition of greatness?

1:56:09You know, it's funny. I think about, I've watched so many of your shows and I probably, I know some people probably prepare on these. Like I was just like, I want to be here with you. The way I, greatness is someone being the best version of themselves and truly being able to give and go all out and just really, I think about what we do and I think about, I've been surrounded by a lot of greatness and they are, they've been in tune with everything that lights them up, that makes them feel alive, and they give everything they got at the best version of themselves. And I think that's something that, um, you know, you could look at greatness as, you know, success, fulfillment, joy.

1:56:50And I think all that comes to, but someone that's truly great is able to put in tune everything that they have, everything that they can give to the world and they give their best. I think that's what, that's what greatness can be. So I probably should have thought of that more in detail. um it's okay it's funny no it's so funny like i know you asked those questions but i was like i'm just going to be present with you and i'm not going to like think about stuff but it's beautiful man well what do you what do you define greatness as my current definition because it is a change it probably has about that's where i figure where

1:57:19Lewis Howes:you are in your world yeah yeah it is and for me it's discovering your unique the odds and gifts yeah yeah uh to pursue your dreams in that pursuit making the maximum impact on the people around you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. For me, that's what it is. Because I feel like you were born to discover what our gifts are. Yeah. And I feel like it's a waste if we don't pursue those gifts. But I think it's a little... Because if I said to you, the best version of yourself, you have to have your unique gifts. Yes. All right, good. I think it's a waste if you just do it for selfish reasons for you to look good rather than help people around you.

1:57:50Yeah, yeah, yeah.

1:57:51Lewis Howes:So that's the current... But who knows? Maybe in 30 years, I'll be like... Well, it's interesting. Well, I wrote my... In my first book, I wrote my obituary. and I was 30 years old or whatever I was. That's different. That's completely different because you know, at a 30 year, you're a different mindset as you grow and you evolve. And I was like, how will you be remembered? And so like greatest, like right now I'm just talking with you. I'm like, all right, what's the best version of yourself? But like, you know, if you think about it in five years, I'll be like, ooh, this is greatness. Of course.

1:58:13But again, when I surround myself with greatness, I see an unbelievable obsession, an obsession with how to make something truly special and different and unique. It's an obsession. And I don't find anybody that's truly great that is not obsessed. And people look at obsession as a bad thing. I think it's a beautiful thing. I think if you can find something that you're truly obsessed with, boy, what a gift. Not many people have that. And so that's, you know, I think that's a really good point. I think in five, 10 years, we can see how you evolve and how you define things.

1:58:43Lewis Howes:Yes, sir. Man, we jam, man. Appreciate you, man. So good. My friend, I hope you're enjoying this episode right now because we are on a mission to impact 100 million lives every single week. and every follow here on this podcast helps us reach more people. Make sure to hit the follow at the top of this show's page right now. It's the single biggest thing that you can do to support the show and the impact of us reaching you every single time we have new episodes. I appreciate you and I can't wait to see you in the next episode. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and it inspired you on your journey towards greatness.

1:59:21Lewis Howes:Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a full rundown of today's episode with all the important links. And if you want weekly exclusive bonus episodes with me personally, as well as ad-free listening, then make sure to subscribe to our Greatness Plus channel exclusively on Apple Podcasts. Share this with a friend on social media and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts as well. Let me know what you enjoyed about this episode in that review. I really love hearing feedback from you and it helps us figure out how we can support and serve you moving forward. And I want to remind you, if no one has told you lately, that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter.

2:00:00Lewis Howes:And now it's time to go out there and do something great.

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