Latest / Forget The Noise / 24. Seasons in Business | Featuring Trevor Cowley and Rick Trimmer

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24. Seasons in Business | Featuring Trevor Cowley and Rick Trimmer · Forget The Noise

• speaker-0: They say motivation something you want. Discipline is something you need. Obsession is something you have to have. I'm gonna show you what I wanted, how I got it, and how I was obsessed to get there. speaker-1: Being an entrepreneur sounds cool, but the reality of building a business is very, very difficult. Every level that you hit, there's a lot of things that suck that you just won't want to do. What you're capable of is on the other side, I don't feel like it. And if you're committed to what it is that you're trying to do, nothing is going to stop you from getting there. speaker-2: Welcome to the Real Business Owners Podcast. I am here with Trevor Cowley and A speaker-0: Cappuccini. Cappuccini. speaker-2: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. and AJ's from Canada, right? Flew down here just to kinda hang out. You've been in RBO for how long? speaker-0: Think I'm on my fifth year? It would have speaker-2: So is almost since the beginning 'cause it's been going five. speaker-0: been one year after I started my business. speaker-2: Four years. speaker-0: Yeah. It'd be started my b business in twenty twenty. I started a year after that. Okay. Yeah. speaker-1: Maybe five. Yeah. It'll be five years since RBO existed in terms of the inner speaker-2: Inner circle. speaker-1: circle and all that, in November. Just coming yeah, speaker-2: Okay. really? Okay. So speaker-1: coming close. speaker-2: So you've been here a long time. You've been in the upper level, the family, right? before. They they shut that down and then return it back on in November. But you you've been around, you've been doing this for a while and then you wanted to just fly like why are you here? I guess is you know, one question. What's why why did you want to come to St George, Utah? 'Cause you made a special trip. speaker-1: Yeah, what's the value in traveling twenty six hundred miles to the United States to hang out with one tall, handsome bastard and one short, sexy fucker? speaker-0: question. speaker-2: You answered your own question. speaker-1: that's one. Yeah. Okay. speaker-0: Yeah, move on. Next question. Yeah. Next question. speaker-1: Yeah, I think I think it's important to to dig into that because I don't think enough business owners or humans in general are are doing what you're doing. speaker-2: Well it's action, right? Like it's like I that's what I love about it is so many people are like, I wanna I wanna, you know, results, I wanna change, I want this, I want that, and it's like, Okay, do these things and then they don't. We speaker-1: Yeah, they stay in the same environment over speaker-2: didn't even ask you to come here. We didn't you know, you just said, Hey, I'm coming. you around I'd love to do a podcast if you guys would be willing and open and and hang out and have some lunch and what made you what what what makes you That way. What makes you think that this is like again, you're you're putting time and money into this. speaker-0: It's honestly like meeting in person is so different. Like you can sit there and talk about knowing successful people, higher up people, people doing more than you. But you see them online. It's like it's not it's real, but it's not real. Like I like I can shoot Trevor a text, I can shoot you a text, but meeting in person, it puts you like we were saying, like someone doesn't see themselves traveling the world or running every single day. It's stupid to them. So until you actually go and meet someone in person, shake their hand, have a conversation with them, it's like That shit's real. Like you know mean? Like let's say a new business owner. Exactly. speaker-2: Right? Celebrities on T and you're like, and then you meet in person, you're like They're normal dudes. speaker-0: Hmm. And then the first trip was just because Trevor kept saying medium persons work there, medium per and I think I did three here back to back to back. Like we did a micro, another micro, and then the RBO event. Yep. And I did like three back to back to back. And I'm like, okay, I now I need to make bigger moves. And I learned a lot at the RBO live event. I made some big changes in my life, made great decisions, made really bad fucking decisions. When was that? To the RBO event two years ago. So that would have been the one at Top Golf. That was the one at Top Golf. Yeah. Yeah. So I went back full of piss and vinegar, invested in something, business partner went sour, joined the family, everything went downhill, and I just said, okay, I gotta rebuild here. So I've been doing that over the past two years. And then this trip was literally just to change my environment. Like I I'm hitting, you know, like the lonely chapters. I'm hitting like the second round of that. Like the first one's kind of like I'm a business owner, no one I know is a business owner. I structure my business to the point where I'm going to work nine to five. I feel like I have a regular job again. I start converge with people again. Now I'm at the point where it's like, okay, now I want bigger things. Like you know I mean? Like certain goals are realistic to me and they're unrealistic to other people. And I just got into like a low. Certain things with one company is not working because I've never run a three million dollar company. I'm like, why can't I fucking figure this out? Right. And then the second business, I'm like back in the weeds on day one and trying to figure out the like we get a new client. It's like, well now we gotta figure out how to fucking onboard again. I'm like I don't want to onboard again. So, like coming down here was literally just a change of environment. Even if even if both of you guys said, like, I love the mountains, I love the trails. Even this guy after the gym, we had two hours to sit around and rest. I'm like, bro, let's go for a hike and let's go see a sunset or a sunrise kind of thing. I just I love this area. So even if you two said I couldn't meet up, I still would have just gone for the trip. That's good. Just to get out of my element, reset, speaker-2: Shake it. speaker-0: kind of look at things from a bird's eye view and just kind of say, like, I have to do this. And I think making a choice like this to come down here, because especially flying because I'm coming from Canada, international, it's not cheap. Yeah. So knowing I'm willing to make a decision like that and take action like that, when I get home, it's one of those like, well, fuck, I just jumped on a plane and flew to Utah for no reason. I go, like, I can make that decision tomorrow. If I can do something like that that can hit me financially or time or whatever it is, and this is a problem to me, it's not a problem. speaker-1: But it also gives your brain undeniable proof that you're willing to do whatever it takes to get the result that you want, that you're that type of person. Yeah. Right. So it's like, hey, I'm getting up and I'm leaving the environment in which is creating an experience that I don't like, and I'm gonna go away from it for a second and I'm going to center myself. And then go back into the environment with a a clear mind. Just total reset to where you're motivated again. And I don't think enough people really talk about, you know, in business, there are retract phases where you're where your business is growing and then it retracts. for sure. And then you're just fucking looking in internally at your soul, being like, What what am I doing wrong? And this, like you're you you ride a high and then the low gets so low, it gets extreme because it's just like Business has these ebb and flows where you're feel invincible and everything's going well. The next deal just signed again, and you already have a whole bunch of work inhead of you, and you're just like, man, I can't miss. But then there's going to be that season, that survival season where your business starts to retract, the market retracts, something changes. You do a deal, you lose some money, then you get into a mental funk, or there's all sorts of situations in business. That you're doing this highs and lows and highs and lows. And I think that that's why it's so important what AJ's doing is getting out of his environment and centering himself, right? Because if you're riding highs and lows, that that is not a good situation to be in if you honor where you're at at that time. Riding the high, then you get too high. You're riding the low, then you're on suicide watch half the time. You're you're you're honoring it when You should be the most certain thing in the environment. And as it's going up and down, you're centered. Yeah. Right. You're focused because the business needs you the most at that time. But yet that's when you're also least motivated because you're looking at the effort and the energy that you put in and the results are less than what you used to receive. So how do you muster up the energy and motivation or inspiration and be like, I'm doing worse than I've been? speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: Super motivated. I'm gonna get no. It's like where are you at mentally when your business retracks? That is where people die in those gaps when they hit the lows. And so doing something like hopping on a plane, changing your environment, hitting that reset, removing speaker-2: New conversation. speaker-1: yourself from the place that is creating this emotion or feeling that doesn't align with how you need to feel in order to get the result, then what the fuck do you do? Yeah, even get out. speaker-0: Well, even with this trip, it's not just coming here to learn something. It's like what we just met, right? But we've bantered like through text and stuff. Trevor, over the years, I think we've kind of got a little bit closer. And it's just that mindset of like when I'm at home, I'm not around people that have retired themselves out of business or made seven figures. And just walking into this room and that fan to friend like development is enough to just build someone's confidence. It's kind of like, you know, I was a fan of these guys when I first started listening to the podcast and shit. And now I'm sitting. across table from them on the podcast, you know, daps in the hallway, bantering, making jokes, stuff like that. It's kinda like I've just gone from fan to friend where it's like that's enough confidence boots where it's like, okay, now I'm like I'm getting past that friction of the grind. Like you have that grind where it's like you quit drinking and it's like your friends keep drinking. It's kinda like well I can't correlate with them. Yeah. But I haven't learned enough or done enough to get with my new friend group. Now like getting in here and just like shaking hands, having a conversation, being on a podcast kinda like Okay, I can see, you know, my toes are over the line, my heels are still on it, but I'm crossing that line now. Like I'm invited on their podcast, they're taking the time, they're meeting up with me, you guys are both busy, like you we know that. And I'm getting your time. So I'm like, okay, well, I'm getting my foot in that door to kind of like put myself around those speaker-1: You're in the environment that was the environment that ultimately inspired you at one point. And now you're in it. Right. And so yeah, yeah, you're at you're you're you're at the table. And it's like there's just little things like that that I think are gentle reminders that you're doing something right, even though the result that you're maybe experiencing at that time might not reflect that. Right. Like you can be doing a lot of things right and business just hit the skids for a minute. The question is, do you still show up in the same manner or Turn up the volume a little bit on the effort or energy that you're that you're putting out there. Because if you're fighting that friction, it's going to require a different version of you, right? And it's like, really, who's in control of your mind? Are you really in control of your mind or is the situation that you're in in control of your mind? And you could tell. You could tell because if you start asking yourself like, What are my most recent thoughts? If they're kind of darker or more negative, speaker-2: Victor Mindset. speaker-1: Yeah. Like poor me type shit and it's like, Okay, yeah, that poor me type shit's really gonna get ya incredible results. speaker-2: Yeah, you some of your thoughts, right? I mean your thoughts are gonna lead you. speaker-1: That's that's where I go check in with myself as I start saying, Okay, what's my thought? speaker-2: Do an audit. Mental audit. speaker-1: What's my thought process lately? Am I defaulting to be more negative than I than I should be? In am I just reacting to these situations where I'm like starting to feel flustered just looking at an email or this or that and it's like, okay, I'm allowing this thing outside of me an email to determine how I feel. Right. And it was it's the same thing. Like when I was driving into the no to the gym one early morning and it was like this dude was on my fucking ass and I'm sitting here in the rear view mirror at him, looking at him, and I'm fucking getting angry. Like that's one thing that that I don't fuck around with is you know, I've have my business partner Coulter was with me before he was a business partner and I had my window down and these kids drove by in a diesel. And we were kinda going slow and then they stepped on it to blow the smoke right in my face because my window was down. And I said, fuck that And I fucking stepped on it and fucking there was like four dudes and it's just me and him and he's younger than me. He's scared to shit fucking speaker-2: I'm not speaker-1: spitting out the window, fucking yelling, telling to pull over. I'll fight all fucking four of them when I'm fucking pissed. Yeah. You know, another time a guy that actually worked for me fucking flew by me and flipped me off. I didn't know I didn't know who it was because speaker-2: She should run. speaker-1: his dad's truck. And it was like a tile a tile and stucco truck on the side. It was a business truck. And my wife and kids were in the car. And I'm fucking hot as shit. And I'm fucking riding his ass. I live up the street. I heard he and drop them off. I got a picture of the number on the side and I fucking called it so that I could meet up with him. I'm like, where the fuck you at? You know what I mean? And the guy's that guy that answers like hello. And I was like, what the fuck? Did it all shit? And he's what's going on? He's like, I said, you just fucking drove by me and flipped me off. Like, let's fucking meet up and all shit. And he's like, my son has my truck. And then I get a text from Tyler that works for me. He's like, Bro, my dad just called me. That was me, dude. And I was like, my bad. Right. So anyway, so that was a couple rage road range stories. I get, I get heated and I let it. Take me. You know, I'm in no control. I am not centered in that moment. So I have I have you know some bad tendencies just like any other human speaker-2: For sure. speaker-1: and so here's this moment again. And I've had these moments throughout my life where I fucking get pissed and I'm sitting there staring in the mirror and he's on my fucking ass. And I'm like, do I slam my brakes? Do I pull off to the side and then fucking speed up and get on his ass? Like, let's get it going, you know. It's fucking five minutes. speaker-0: And at five in the morning, bro. speaker-1: Yeah, fucked that, dude. I'm fucking pissed. I'm I'm on I'm driving in around a half marathon. I ain't happy about it. So if I can fuck somebody up, it makes my day fun. Yeah. So, anyways, I'm like, I noticed that I keep going to my rear view mirror. And every time I'm sitting in my rear view mirror focusing on what he's doing, I'm getting fucking pissed. And so I'm like, I turn my mirror and I'm just like looking forward. I'm like, if I'm not looking back. And I don't see him on my ass, I'm not being affected at all. speaker-2: Yeah, he's not there. speaker-1: Right? So then I started thinking, I'm like, I'm letting a situation, somebody else, and their actions come into my life and dictate how I'm feeling at this moment. I was like, that person has way more control over me than they should right now. And so I So speaker-2: Yeah. Which we all can relate to, but it's so silly. speaker-1: it was just so that's why I'm talking about like honoring The emotions in the moment when your business is low or when somebody's riding your ass or the like where is your focus? Yeah. What would like I I was focused on him rather than focused. Hey, dude, just look out the front fucking windshield. Like if you don't notice it, you can't be flustered by it. You know, and so like I with age, yeah, I'm trying to get, you know, more mature. but for speaker-2: I think it I think that's I I'm like I'm always two ways with that 'cause I think I'm getting more mature but I'm getting more tired of it. You know, it's like you just get it's like I'm too old for speaker-1: Snappy. speaker-0: I don't give a fuck. I'm at that point where it's just like it doesn't bug me. But back to the like you were saying, yeah, someone else's actions bother you. Yeah. I feel like that rarely happens to me, but I find the battle with myself is where I'm having a big problem right now. It's like if work slows down, I gotta bring in some leads, and like I have one client complaining, and then another job gets declined because we're too expensive. It's like like it's hard for me to push forward. Instead of like worrying about someone else's actions setting you off, I find my own actions are kind of like because by the end of the day, I'm like Well, I could have done those two fucking cold calls. I could have done those two like follow-up emails. I'm like, but I almost start slacking on myself because I'm like, I'm tired of the uphill battle. Like, you know, and on top of everything else I'm doing, like you've known me for four or five years, I think I'm the most dialed in on self-improvement now. And I'm like, I'm I said it the other day on the podcast. I'm like, I'm tired trying to be my best self. Yeah. And I feel like people are holding me accountable now. And like now I'm I I'm just tired of doing it. I'm like, there's I I just don't care. I'm not even doing what you're doing, but like I'm being consistent to the point where like my kids' friends at school that are in high school, they message me and it's like, dude, where's the son talk today? I'm like, I gotta keep fucking teenagers happy now too. Like not even only like my, you know, close network of like friends or contractors or buddies that are trying to do better. I'm like, not my kids' friends are watching me. It's kinda like I'm tired, dude. I I don't speaker-1: Set an expectation, bruh. Like just like back in the day when I did the sandwich reviews. When I see people be like, What's up with the sandwich reviews? I'm like, bro, I didn't know anybody gave a fuck. I was just doing that for fun. Yeah. You know, because Nick liked sandwiches. You know, so speaker-2: Is that why? speaker-1: Swear to God. Yeah. I I asked one time, I said, You want to go to lunch or whatever? You know, and I was like, I'm gonna get him out of the office, spend some time with him or whatever. I was like, You want to grab a sandwich? He goes, I love sandwiches. Like that's like my favorite. His eyes speaker-0: He saw the love and it was speaker-1: are watering and I was like, fuck. My eyes don't water, huh? No. speaker-0: Nick's did when he said sandwiches, he started crying, say, I love sandwiches. speaker-1: Yeah, fuck bro. he went to a different place. I c I could see it for real. Like he really did love sandwiches. And then I was like, you know what? It would be kind of fun to eat at every place. So we get on Google and be like, what place have we not had a sandwich? and then I watched his taste buds mature over time because before it was like fucking ham and cheese and mayo. I'm like, bro, you got a pallet of a fucking eight-year-old homie. What are you gonna get? A power eight or a root beard? He's like power aid. speaker-2: Great. speaker-1: No, exactly. speaker-0: He started a Michelin star theory on or process on sandwiches, pretty much. That's how Michelin star star started, right? speaker-1: we were rating the price, the the tape, the speaker-0: Yeah, the look, the appearance, yeah, the delivery, yeah. speaker-2: Yeah speaker-1: Like literally I did that because it was like almost like you're talking about a season that you're in. It's like, what can I do to switch things up and just do something different, something fun, something that isn't serious. Right. Yeah. but you you talked about, you know, hey, I'm tired, I'm the you know, like that that that's just what it is. speaker-2: Well that's what I was gonna say. It's like it's it's it's not even just if your business is going bad or everything like that, but it's like having, like you said, this community or these friends. I have so many friends and I think I probably take them too much for granted, honestly, especially now. But it's like, dude, when I'm having a bad day, I can call four or five people and be like, dude, man, you know, we lost this big job or this or that happened and speaker-0: They get it. speaker-2: and and you know, if you don't have that, it's a big deal because what you're feeling is normal. Like Trevor's saying, like that's what it is. This is This is the game. I talked to my wife. It's funny because my wife started revitalized womanhood four years ago and never had done her own business ever. And I she like yesterday. speaker-1: Dude. speaker-2: She came, she went to LA while I was in Hawaii for like four days to a women's event. And she comes home and she's like, It's just exhausting and all these things. And and I'm like, No shit. What do you think I've been doing for 20 years? Yeah. Why do you think when I come home, I'm like, get out of my way. You know, let's just watch Netflix, turn my brain off. speaker-1: Dude. speaker-2: Please, because it is hard. speaker-1: Many times have you wanted to get a fucking flip phone? You know, speaker-2: yeah, hundred percent. speaker-1: like I think you get to the point where your phone's blowing like it it becomes a source of stress almost because it's blowing up. speaker-2: Did my nine years of travel? My nine years of travel, we always got a SIM card because most of the time we're in other countries. Yeah. And I would give it out to four people. Four people. I I you know, I talk about this in January of this year. I got like two phone calls. And I got 32 today. You know? Yeah, yeah. And it's all it's all it's all self inflicted. It's all self inflicted. Yeah, yeah. But that's why I checked out for nine years. speaker-0: Nine years. Yeah. speaker-2: And people are Was your you know, what's your Instagram at? I'm like, seven hundred followers? They're like, after nine years of travel? What's I'm like, it's been private. speaker-1: been what's been the hardest part for you going nine years off and then coming back and like trying to run a full speed? speaker-2: dude, it's speaker-0: Yeah, because you didn't jump into something small. Like you jumped into like speaker-2: Bought the land, I bought the sixty acres, was thinking that was it. And then my companies came and were like, Will you consult for our, you know, dozen companies? And I'm like, Sure. And then RBO fell into my lap and I'm like, Ooh, you know, but I delegate like crazy. But yeah, you're right. It's we're speaker-1: That is speaker-2: kind of we're kind of like in this season, right? Like you're we're passing each other. Yeah. And and we've talked a lot about this where you're You're trying he's trying to live your life. He wants less friends. He wants less bullshit because because there's things that come with that. Yeah. You know, like my wife, she she's she's working with this person here in town and there's been a little drama the last couple of days. And I'm like, that's what it is, you know. And she's like, maybe I don't want to do this. When you when you have people that you expect to act a certain way and they don't. That's kind of what you've talked about where it's like I'm done with people not keeping their word and saying I mean, I and I I just told Gina this yesterday because I'm working on my speech for it next year with the Forge and I I chat GPT'd, I'm gonna talk to two hundred men. How many will take action? And it's two to five. Two to five. Yeah. Chat GPT told me. And I'm like, what's the purpose of me flying out there and spending my two days of my thro four days of my life and thousands of dollars and And it's like, if you touch one, you know, that's worth it and it's like bullshit speaker-1: I wanna touch all motherfucker. You know what I mean? Like and and and I think that speaker-2: So you gotta kinda but again, that's where it's like I go with it's like it's it's it's just kind of this fun, funny way it is where it's like, I want lots of friends and business people, and then you have that, and then you get into drama and bullshit and comparing who's got the fastest car and the biggest house and the most successful, and then you're solo and it's like, damn, I wish I had somebody I could call. There's i I found that in life there's very few things that are just perfect. Very few things. It's speaker-1: Everything has pros and cons to it. The question is is do you value something enough to suffer for it? speaker-2: Hundred percent. Like I just talked about your body on the podcast, you know. I says you have the you know, not to make it weird, but you have the best body of anybody I know personally. And it's like, but you earn that. You run thirteen miles every day, you lift every single day, you eat the specific way every day. It's speaker-0: People. speaker-2: like I'm not obviously willing to do that. speaker-0: People look past at everyone's accomplishments and don't realize like how speaker-2: yeah, he got lucky. speaker-0: many times they had to pay someone to do like you with your body. You can't fake physical fitness. You speaker-2: You can't. speaker-0: can't just walk in and own, you everyone's business out for the world. You can't just do that. It's not something you can just fake your way into, right? And people downplay it with stuff like that. And that's I find people like you guys, high achievers. you just kind of like start removing stuff, and like once you get good being alone, it's it's almost like I was telling my wife what two weeks ago. And I told her, I go, I'm actually lonely and I'm like getting really good within it's fucking scary. Like it's actually scary how good I am being alone now. It's like I don't need anything. Like I can live like bare minimum. Like speaker-1: I prefer it. speaker-0: Yeah. I'm at that point where it's like speaker-1: Yeah. speaker-2: don't. I like I like I just went to Hawaii and I says to my dad, I'm like, I'm out here with my dad and my son. And I was thinking about coming. He's my son's come with me twice and and next April I'm coming back out. And it's expensive to fly my little 11-year-old out, you know, and have him be there for a week. And I told my wife, I'm like, I cannot imagine coming out here without him now. I love having him here in that in that, you know, and so I'm I'm a little different, but what you've influenced me more is spending more time alone. Constantly have things around you, you're not good with yourself. speaker-1: Yeah, external s external stimulus. speaker-2: Yeah, 'cause you it shocks to me it shocks me that you run and don't listen to music or a podcast. speaker-1: No. I w I want I want a time with OG baby. speaker-2: You know what I speaker-1: I've worked fucking hard on this speaker-0: Favorite topic? Yeah. Right? Yourself. That's it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But family's not alone, right? Like family spending time with family's not alone. Like with my daughter. My son has a license, his own car. Yeah. My daughter will ask me to drive her at 1 a.m. to like a party or home from a party. And like I'm she's like 14. So I'm like, or 15. I'm on borrowed time now. Right? Like December when she turns 15, I'm like, she's got another year and she gets her license. I'm like, I I I also spend time with my kids, but it's like entertaining, you know, like a dinner party or karaoke night or that. I'm like, I don't care to. Like I really don't. Like I went for dinner with my wife and some friends and they went to like a trivia night. This was about a year ago. And she goes, just come for trivia. And I'm like, okay, cool. And it's like a pub. So we went, we did trivia. I kissed her. I left. And our friends are literally like, Where'd age you go? And he said he's coming for trivia. But we're having dinner after. But you asked him to come for trivia, he's only coming for trivia. And that was it. That was like I didn't say bite anyone, and I dip. That's it. I did my bare minimum. I'm good. I had my social battery drained and I'm gone. Like that's it, bro. Like I I speaker-1: My social battery dreams quit. Yeah. I I I honestly think it's just you know, what I've noticed, and I actually made a I ri I I wrote up a whole Facebook post about it, like like when when you get to the point of being successful, like and your financial problems are solved, what ends up happening is the world starts attacking you and other people want you to solve their problems now too. Right. Like people will hit you up for certain things or whatever. Like you start getting looked at as a source to a speaker-0: Resource. speaker-1: a resource, right? Like what I want to get c what I can get from him. You know, the type of messages that I receive, hey, it can check out this link. This is my kid. Can you donate here? Could you do this? Could you do that? And it's like, just because you've experienced some success, and it's like, If people think about who they know that's successful on Facebook because they're raising money for this or that or hey, I have a friend. I told them about you. will you will you t call her and talk to her about her business? She's struggling with and it's just like, dude, I'm our I already do fucking RBO shit. It's like Yeah. If if if they fucking Yeah, joint like it gets to the point where it's like ask, ask, ask, and I feel like that the world is asking so much of me and it's like I've given so much already every day to my employees, to my business, to other people, that it's like it gets to the point where what I have noticed is, and again, it's I I don't want to say it as a blanket statement because it's it's it it can't be valid in a hundred percent of situations. But what I have noticed is the more people that you have in your life for the most part, there is more. speaker-2: Drama. speaker-1: That is a part of your life because people go through things. Like this experience called life only gets messy because of humans. Right? Like when we were out running the hundred miler this last weekend when I was pacing my buddy, we were sitting here talking or whatever, and I'm like, bro, it ain't no problem, you know, when he's getting busted up or whatever. And he goes, you know, Tony Robbins said the only problem with problems is humans don't think that they should have any. speaker-2: Yeah. speaker-1: Yeah. And I'm like, that's very, very true. Yeah. And so when they have problems, they try to go to somebody that's the most resourceful that they know to try to help solve it and it happens to be you. And then speaker-0: Fast tracks a problem though. That fast tracks a solution rather than them working to figure it out themselves. speaker-1: Yeah. It speaker-2: Just gets exhausting. speaker-1: it it it gets physically exhausting and then you hear about somebody's bitching about their husband or their wife or their finances or this and it becomes like in some cases you you you watch people become a complaint board about their entire life, but then you watch their actions and absolutely nothing fucking changes and you could literally see three or four different things that they could be doing different. That would change their entire life, but you already know that they they want to own their problems because it gives them the ability to bit. They want to stay in the pattern, right? They really don't want to change because you could tell is somebody asking for a solution to a problem, or are they just talking about problems? What the fuck is it? Because if you start delivering solutions and you're giving them real talk, then they can get defended. speaker-2: I remember you talking about your wife, which is where I go with my wife. You know, she'll sit down and start talking and I'm like All right, there you go. Here's what you d like literally yesterday. Yeah, I said we got in an argument 'cause I'm like, Cool, I can solve it for you. Don't work with that person. Don't do this, don't do that. And she's like, No. speaker-0: I love her. But people don't want solutions, right? They want a vent. No speaker-2: I'm not asking for advice, Rick. And I'm like, what's happening here then? Yeah. I'm just talking. I'm like, okay, well, I don't do well with that. Yeah. You know, I don't I'm not just s gonna sit here and listen to you puke problems and not try to fix them. But that's what a lot of people want. speaker-1: Then I then then I started getting better with that a little bit. Yeah. And then I would and now I Yeah. Yeah. I wouldn't say shit. I'm like I speaker-2: Are you in love? speaker-1: the fuck up 'cause if you open your mouth you're gonna start spitting solutions, big guy. And you know that this is no environment where that's gonna be accepted because this is a fan session. Then you're in trouble for the you know, and then it's like Are you? Well I was talking you and you're not even responding. And I'm like, Because if I respond the way I respond, you're not gonna like that either. So I'm fucked either way. So I speaker-0: I ask a lot of people when they're coming with with those problems, like my wife will do the same thing. Like even the other night she goes I can't sleep. I'm like, Did you have a glass of wine before bed? Did you turn off blue light? Did you do this? Do you and I start asking, What did you do? I'm like, What did you do? Yeah. Like, what did you do for this not to happen? speaker-1: Yeah. Identify the problem. speaker-0: Yeah. And then I end up like on the couch. speaker-2: Judging me. It's like no, I was trying to give you some advice. speaker-1: Like you just want me to hear you, bitch? Okay. let like let me know. I'd had to tell her, like, do you want a response or are you just venting right now? Like I have to the speaker-2: For sure. Again, for sure. speaker-1: maturity side of things, so speaker-2: Well I love man. So you so you came down, you you were looking for again, trying to just hang out with some people, get some a new s switch it up, get some new insight. Is there anything like I said, I is there anything you wanna ask us specifically? I know this is kind of a rollover, you know, we're talking about you, talking about us. Is there anything specific you wanna ask me and Trevor or anything you're dealing with right now that you wanna throw out there at all? speaker-0: Not really, honestly. I'm just in that chapter where it's like that second phase of loneliness. And I I think it unl until you go through the first one, you think the first one's like the end of the world. It's like, my God, I'm never gonna have friends again. I'm gonna be alone. I have to do this all by myself. twenty twenty. Yeah. speaker-2: How long have owned your business? That was your first first speaker-0: Business. Well, I had it I had that business, but I ran it on the side. So it's a registered business, I ran it on the side. And then twenty twenty was what just where I just said, you know, yeah, I'm like sick to shit. speaker-2: New to this. I mean you're new to the I mean that's to me five years is six years is pretty new. so you're you're new to this world, you're building it up, you've you've got some success, and now you're trying to kind of figure out what's next. Like the are you're looking at growth kind of both? speaker-0: I'm playing on the wrong field. Yeah, I feel like I'm just playing on the wrong field because my goal from day one is I think it's because I started listening to stuff like RBO right out of the hop. and I took a lot of the advice. So my goal was to like scale quick, have the tools, have the resources, have the environment to run, you know, five million dollar business, and then I'll just fill in the pieces. So like I hired administrator, like I faked a secondary email address for a year. I pretended like I was someone else. And like homeowners would like I'd be talking to homeowner, I'm like, Yeah, yeah, I'll tell the office to reach out to you about that, right? I get in the truck and it's and they call me, your administrative subs, she's so fast. And I'm like, Well, it's me in the truck, but you know what I mean? But then I hired office staff, like support staff before I even hired someone on the field. Yeah. I brought my wife into the business to do all the design work. So we had that department set up before speaker-2: You have a ha you have a G C like speaker-0: Yeah, general contracting. General contracting. So I hired my wife and took her out of her job before I hired field staff to do all the design work and stuff. And I stayed on the tools as long as I could. Then, you know, things like, okay, well now we have office staff. What do we need? Because the office in the field aren't working. Okay, let's get an actual commercial unit. So we got a commercial unit. And I just feel like now I'm at the lonely phase because I'm like I have the tools and resources to operate at like a five million dollar company, but I'm not a five million dollar company yet. So it's like keeping your head above water until it like pays off. It's like that. It it mentally it's draining. speaker-2: What's the market like in Canada? 'Cause I've been here and it's like not going well, right? Like you guys are not speaker-0: We have a good speaker-2: in a housing crisis, but it's it's softening, right? Which is speaker-0: Yeah, because the housing prices are insane, right? Like housing prices are insane. Yeah. speaker-2: Yeah, and and rates. Are you guys' rates high? Like a speaker-0: yeah, we're pretty high. We're in the like fours right now, so speaker-2: Marshall seven, so speaker-0: yeah. We're at like two speaker-1: Fuck bro, don't say that. speaker-0: seven. We're at two seven five. speaker-1: Fucking go get a Canadian home for my American speaker-0: But we're also looking at price point, right? Like right now where I live, I have a twenty five, no, twenty three hundred square foot home, a fifty by ninety foot lot in a subdivision and we're over seven figures for a house. Right. Wow I mean like speaker-2: Seven seven Canadian dollars. Yeah. speaker-0: Yeah, Canadian Canadian dollars, yeah. speaker-2: What's the what's the exchange rate? Seven speaker-1: Exchange speaker-0: seventy one cents, seventy three. speaker-2: seventy one what is it? speaker-0: I just exchanged two hundred and fifty bucks and it cost me three hundred and twenty six. speaker-2: Okay. speaker-0: So about seventy three cents. speaker-2: Seventy seventy seventy a hundred dollars of seventy dollars. speaker-1: Million dollar house there would be fifty roughly give or take a quarter million dollar difference. speaker-2: Yeah, which is still a big number. speaker-0: Yeah, still. Yeah, and we're just getting hammered on taxes. speaker-2: So do you do new construction or do you do remote? speaker-0: remodels. Yeah. So we only do remodels. So speaker-2: So is the market for you to get to three f three to five million, what's your biggest issue do you think? Is it work? Is there n is there is there what's what's the size of your city? speaker-0: our where I live is probably eighty five thousand. speaker-2: Like St. George. speaker-0: Yeah, about St. George. Yeah. we have a pretty good name in town. But I think right now it's just kinda like I'm getting to the point where it's like trying to operate like that, like the work orders and then the field giving updates to the office and this and that. I'm like, okay, we have a lot of overhead, we have a lot of expenses, and we have to operate like this if I'm gonna Scale, but I can't afford to operate like this if I want to keep growing. So it's like now at the point with like banking. I don't I don't want to touch a fucking bank account anymore. I don't want to do one transaction. I wish I can just bring someone in that knows the numbers and I can work with them going forward. So that's what I'm working right now is like bringing in almost like a fractional CFO and kind of saying, like, listen, you see my numbers, I can't afford you to pay you a hundred thousand dollars a year, but if you want to work with me like part-time, right? And as I have the numbers, you come to me after three months and say, Bro, I fixed your numbers, I paid off some debt. I gotta sit in a better position. I'm giving myself a twenty thousand dollar raise. I'm like, I don't give a fuck. If the numbers work, do it. speaker-2: When you do in G C do you subcontract? speaker-0: yeah. speaker-2: So you don't do the cabinets in house, you don't do speaker-0: no, we do like drywall, mudding, taping, painting, flooring, trim. You do flooring in house? Yeah. Okay. stuff like that. speaker-2: Okay. Very similar to mine. Yeah. I mean I've got a cat I we do G C we do free models, we do but I own the paint I own the paint company, I own the handyman company, I own the cabinet company, I own the flooring company. So that's that's speaker-0: Ultimate. speaker-2: the way I like to do it because then you control it and you can grow, you know, all my divisions. speaker-0: I make more on my billables too, right? Yeah. My guys are painting a house, I'm making on them by the hour versus a flat rate where I can only put ten points on top. speaker-1: difference is is though that you make all those other services available to the market. speaker-2: Yeah, exactly. speaker-0: Yeah, we were g that's what we worked on last year. So now that I've grown the team, like I told you, like I have the object manager I rolled in, I have like general labors now and we're slowly training them into offering, I guess, trade specific jobs. So if you want just painting done, we're gonna do just painting. If you want just flooring, we're gonna do just flooring. So we're kind of working that into we're we've done a few of them, but it's not a full tilt thing yet. Yeah, but speaker-1: It's all under the same name. speaker-0: yeah. speaker-2: Yeah, see mine's all different. Exactly. Mine's design mine's design concepts flooring and we do flooring for everybody in town plus mine. Yep. speaker-1: Yeah. speaker-2: And then I have cabinets, design concepts cabinets, and they do they they do it for everybody and mine. So if have you ever thought of that? speaker-0: That's the goal is to have different departments. Just right now I don't have the workload to have just a flooring crew. Yeah. That's where I'm try solely getting so I want a crew that can do for speaker-2: Some bar flooring install. speaker-0: See, I the price point that it doesn't make sense. Like we'll install, say, vinyl flooring at two dollars or two hundred two dollars and fifty a square foot. Yeah. But my installer that subs out that who is good and I can trust is two twenty five. If we do a six hundred square foot job, it makes no sense for me to do I make two hundred dollars and I have to do this headache of administrating and scheduling. So I'm like, I'm gonna train a crew in house and eventually get them doing only flooring. Right. So speaker-2: That's what we did. speaker-1: Most profitable. It's a painting. Cabinets. speaker-2: Cabinets. speaker-1: Yeah. Yeah. I know like speaker-2: You don't do cabinets. speaker-0: We sub and we'd probably still make a pretty fortune on yeah. We were making like fifteen points on them from wholesale. Yeah. Yeah. So speaker-1: Yeah. Which is great. But the reason why I was asking that is I know painting margins are pretty good. Yeah. speaker-2: Yeah, the hard the thing you have to look at is why is paying margins are okay are they're okay, but the reason cabinets are so good is because it's a hard barrier to entry. Yeah. You gotta have a huge shop. You gotta have you know, I have machines over here that are two hundred thousand dollars machines. I have a paint booth that was, you know, five hundred thousand, whatever, you know, more than I do, but yeah, speaker-0: Yeah, stock material. speaker-2: you gotta s it's it's a like to to have a paint company, it's a sprayer and a van, you know. speaker-0: Yeah if you use a sprayer, right? You can get with just starting painting walls and trim, right? Like speaker-2: Yeah. So that's one of those things where but we get this is one thing is we get most of our flooring and other jobs from the cabinet leads. That's what I figured. Cabinet draws them in because we have a really good cabinet division and then we get the flooring and the paint and the other remodel stuff because of the cabinet division. speaker-1: Yeah, what else are you doing in the house? Are you painting? Are you this? Are you turning one customer into three customers? speaker-2: Because the floorings flooring is flooring, it's like you got a showroom, you have some inventory, and you have an installer. There's no, you know, C and C machines and paint booths and all these this ex you know, dust system. I mean, our dust system, I don't know, Ricky knows more about it than I do, but we have hundreds of thousands of dollars in the dust system, you know. Yeah. So anyway, there's just some ideas there that we could look at more and more speaker-1: Long term that that I mean, hell, not even long term. I think it would be smart to at least start creating a separation now before you even need it, even if it's just forward facing to the marketplace that it says AJ's painting or AJ's whatever, right? Like speaker-2: Yep. That biggest the biggest reason we do it is because you're you it's hard to s it's hard for me to go over here to ent's homes and say, Hey, we'll do your flooring and then the house next to you I'm building. Right? speaker-1: Yeah. Now you're supporting the competitor. speaker-2: The reason we keep everything separate is so that we kinda keep that veil in place. speaker-0: I am we're about forty minutes outside a big city and the contractors in that city have like a horrible name. Like they s pull like they scam people all the time. They have people knocking on the door saying, My general contractor didn't pay pay me, so I'm gonna rip out your floor. Like bad scenarios like that with subcontractors. So I find there's a sour taste in people's mouths when I walk in and I'm like all my work subbed out, they're like, Well, I want you doing the work. Like people have this like bad experience on them where like general contractors didn't pay subcontractors, they didn't pay trades, they didn't pay third party so they're kinda like, No, I'm gonna hire someone that can do it all in house but then it gets messy because we have handyman who try and take on jobs that are too big for them. You know what I mean? And it's like they're like, I'll do everything myself, right? And then they can't speaker-2: U in Utah you can't do over like fifteen hundred bucks or I don't even know what it is, something like you don't have any regular speaker-0: We have no regulation. We have Yeah, do they can be speaker-2: Full remodels and everything though? Fifteen hundred bucks or I don't know, something where it's like they can do small handyman things but they can't go into you speaker-1: Once the price point hits a certain amount. speaker-2: have to have a license. If you guys don't have that, speaker-0: Yeah, see we don't have a cloud. speaker-2: you're just speaker-0: We ha so we have no license for a contractor. We only have I guess a a law that says like any red seal trades or anything have to be done by a licensed electrician or plumber or something, like they have to have a license to do that work. But stuff like framing a house, technically anyone can frame a house. Right. Well no, you have to abide by like you have get certain like permits and inspections along the way. So if you hire a hack job and he doesn't pass inspection, you're not going any further kind of thing, right? But speaker-2: There's some checks and balances but still there's not the license. But speaker-0: There's not anything like that. So speaker-2: you said something though before that you said you feel like you're playing on the wrong field. Do you mean the wrong field is in you're playing on the three million dollar field and you wanna be on the five or are you in the wrong industry? speaker-0: No, I think I'm just in the wrong bracket right now where it's kind of speaker-2: like you don't mind you don't you don't mind being doing what you're doing you wake up somewhat fulfilled. I mean again yeah I just did a podcast on this just a minute ago. I had a qu I did a QA and somebody asked me like what how do you know what you're gonna do the rest of your life and I'm like good luck. Yeah you know I didn't I'm sure you didn't wake up when you were eight years old be like I'm gonna own an accounting firm. Yeah but if you run it and do it efficiently I have friends that are worth I have a guy that sold his company for thirty six million dollars in Phoenix That's a landscaping company. You know, it's like if you do anything fair fairly well, you can make a lot of money. And that money you take it and you invest it and you pay off your house and you pay off and you buy some rental properties or whatever and you can win the game of life in any field. Do you feel that way? You know, because I have a brother that really does not enjoy what he does and it comes off every day in what he's and and you can feel it, you can sense it. And I again I don't know if his employees are, but I can and I'm sure his employees are. I'm that's what I was just asking. Is is this are you you you started this, it's six years old. Are you looking at like selling it and exiting? Are you looking speaker-0: I I love it. It's my baby. Cool. And I'm looking at it at it as like a tool to make other people's lives better. Okay Do I want to collect check? Ideally, I'd love to show up, you know, once we're creating jobs. Like the Tasmanian devil, walk in, fuck everything up, leave, and then everyone else can fix it and do my thing, right? So we just actually just built out like a tier system where we have fourteen tiers. So like one to ten is field operations, and then eleven and twelve, we get profit sharing, and then thirteen fourteen, it's a staggered equity share. So everyone has a direct roadmap saying, Hey, if you want to get to this point, these are what we expect. And every category has this is only field work. And then once again did a little more, I guess, management. It's like we expect you to be able to do this on the field, train two guys on the field and in the office communicate with our coordinator. Like it there's standards. And I speaker-1: What what what has been your experien like what's the market up there in Canada in regards to employees? I mean you're you just laid out a plan, right, for for people that sound that sounds great. What did that plan come off of the back because it's you it's hard to retain people or find good people? Are you dealing with the same shit that every other contractor of like, hey man, it's tough to find good people? speaker-0: Don't think it's tough to find good people. It's tough to find people that know their value. Like I find it's very inflated. Like I'll have guys walk in saying I want to learn at 50 bucks an hour. I'm like, not gonna do that. Like you know, I mean, like it they people are overentitled on what their wages are, and I think that's why it's hard to find people. That's why people say it's hard to find people. And that's why I laid out the tier system saying, Yeah, if you want to work for a company, this is where you're gonna get paid for this is what you do. Yeah, like you know what I mean. So if you can't do this, yeah, if you can't do this, you're not getting paid that. In turn the guy's already on the field. I'm like, if the guy beside you is dog fucking, like, don't worry about it because in three months you get doing nothing but fucking the dog. speaker-1: He's speaker-2: Yeah. We don't see that here. speaker-1: doing something. What do they do up in Canada? speaker-0: Yeah it is, yeah. speaker-1: I would go over there and just check it out just out of curiosity. speaker-2: Dude, I'm glad you said it because I heard the words and I was like Dog fucking I I was like, What? Did he just say that? I'm like speaker-1: What they doing when they're catfucking? That guy's speaker-0: I have no idea. No idea. speaker-1: catfucking. Then you look over and he's just chilling. speaker-0: Yes, yeah. but then I tell my guys, I'm like, listen, if we hire someone new and he's not pulling his weight, is that better? Pulling his weight, right? You don't have to worry about because if we meet But I'm saying like when speaker-1: Fire him on the spot. speaker-2: You don't hear prison. speaker-0: I know, I know, I know. speaker-1: We try to stay away from that. We like the term. speaker-2: Isn't it funny how there's different terms? speaker-0: I know. That's awesome. but in after the quarter, I go when I sit down with him, you're gonna move up, he's not. So like there's there shouldn't be hostility on the field between guys with like I'm doing more work than he is, I'm pulling more weight than he is. You're gonna Well that's gonna be you're gonna get credit for it when the time rolls around and it's gonna get recognition. So don't worry about it on the field, right? But like with AC Custom, what I'd like to do is with that tiered system is like slowly sell a little bit more. Hopefully some of my employees are key players right now. Have a better life, they have some interest in growing the company. Cool. And it could be just that and it could just be that Yeah, it speaker-2: Very similar. I mean a few years ahead of you. speaker-0: could just be that in the basket of like I can take some money out of it, I can make some money off it, but it kind of runs itself. God forbid my kids wanna get into it. It's kinda like, okay, you have an option. Like my son wants to get into being a fractional CFO. I'm like, Well, you got a client right there. You know what I mean? Like it's built more like a tool for everyone. And then the solutions company and the consulting, I'm loving that. Like that has so much more impact. Like it You know, that and the podcast, I don't know. The podcast is more of a passion thing. I don't know if I'm gonna monetize it, but the consultant thing, it's like when someone calls you and said, dude, like I I didn't answer my phone all night, like it it it just hits different rather than walking into a kitchen after a month and you see some kids standing in a drawer of mustard scenes all over the countertop. I'm like, if you didn't care, why did I care? Right. But with the consulting thing, th this is changing the way people operate and they're like, I can handle this now, I can make more money. I'm like, Okay, that's what I want because this is gonna last for the next ten years versus Forever. Yeah. You know what I So I don't know, it's just speaker-2: I got you. Cool. speaker-1: Well y you said something about overvaluing themselves, like, hey, I want fifty bucks an hour, da da da like there is a lot of that in the marketplace. I mean, there's somebody that that I know of, not like in close proximity. they're not working right now. And speaker-2: shit, I already know. speaker-1: Yeah. That's speaker-0: King. speaker-1: what the fuck he's been up to. speaker-2: Yeah, yeah. speaker-1: But anyways, they they left one job and they're in the process of of building a house and you know, having to turn a construction into a li they can't qualify now because of some of the things that have ultimately been inflated over that time and costs and this and that there's there's a some sort of equity line of credit that they pulled to start on the house, but now their debt to credit ratio because of that, but that would be wrapped up in the loan anyways. And they're like, if we could afford this right now, we could afford the house. But speaker-2: Yeah, yeah. speaker-1: they're looking at this right now like it or if this is an additional expense, blah, blah, blah, blah. Anyways, this this person is they're married, so the the spouse has it an income that's paying for all that. But they They need to make like an extra three or four grand a month to qualify. Right. And it's like, dude, you can go make twenty bucks an hour at fucking Del Taco up the street. Right. speaker-2: Yeah. speaker-1: Yeah. But there is this value that I'm not going to do anything unless I'm getting paid. Yeah. Fifty was the number, fifty bucks an hour. And it was like, what were you getting paid at your old job? It wasn't that. So now they're overvaluing themselves to the point where they're putting themselves in an even worse situation because they're unwilling to work for 25 bucks an hour. So the hole keeps getting deeper and deeper and deeper. You know, it's like there there is a form of humility that has to take place in everybody's life at one point. Rick fucking lost everything. He had to humble himself and fucking get back to work. But he could have chose the victim lifestyle. Yeah. Right. But again, it wasn't like, no, I'm too good to get back on the tools or do this or that or whatever. And having some sort of ego, like you need X in order to perform at X level. And it's like, no, where can you start right fucking now to just make progress? It's almost like the Hunter Miler. It one step looks like fucking nothing in the whole thing, but it all fucking mattered. speaker-2: You can't get to two unless you get to one. speaker-1: It all mattered. So that twenty dollar an hour ste it's a step in the right direction. Is it gonna solve all your problems? No. But why don't you get something now while you're eyeballing the marketplace for what it is that you want? speaker-2: I just did a podcast, right before this one, a solo, and one of the questions was if you lost everything today, everything and you had to start over, what would you do? And I'm like, I did it. I'll tell you what I'd do. speaker-1: I'd be watching jumping. I'd become a crackman again. speaker-0: No, but do you but with that problem there, do you think? speaker-2: I'd go get a job. I'd go get a job and then I would continue to try to build up my side hustle because I'm assuming I lost my company, which back then I didn't, but I kept it going. But it's like I would swallow my pride, I'd go get a job, I'd go to my wife and say, Hey, you're not a stay-at-home mom anymore. You go get a job. Change. speaker-1: We've gotta all come together. We gotta come together. speaker-2: And what's the most you know? Obviously, you're gonna try to get the biggest no number you can, but it if it's 15, 20, 25, whatever the it's like the longer you you spend six months. looking for a job for forty bucks an hour, if you would have found one for thirty five, thirty speaker-1: You could have made fucking twenty five grand over that time. speaker-0: Do you think it's someone's the extent of someone's problem? See, I find like say a kid, right? It's like you don't want them playing on the tablet late at night, but you choose to allow them to play on the tablet because that negative income or outcome is not as bad as hearing them scream. It's like you you see what I mean? It's like the kids having snacks late at night. It's like, do I want to fight with them not to have snacks? So like no, I'm saying like this guy's not going out to work at Del Taco because. the situation he's in with this house isn't as bad as it can be. It's better to deal with the have this hang over his head. Yeah. speaker-2: hasn't hit rock bottom yet. speaker-0: You you like not at that rock. Yeah, you still have options. So the problem's not bad enough to have to go and take an extreme. No, that speaker-2: I think they're dead men walking, they just don't realize it. speaker-1: They have zero options actually. speaker-0: But you see what I'm saying though, like how many people are doing that? speaker-2: I think they do. Yeah. All of it. speaker-1: They're gonna lose it. Yeah. No, no, they are. Sure. That that's where it's But over that period of time speaker-2: shit. That sucks. Right now. Yeah. That's too bad. They could have made another twenty, thirty grand and not. speaker-1: Option. You're delaying it. So what's happening is this person is in an extremely low spot mentally. Right. And they're depressed. And and therefore not motivated to go do something. They're already defeated by the situation. Rather than solution, speaker-2: Gotta get on a flight. Shake it up. speaker-1: like what can I do to make this terrible situation a little better? speaker-2: Yeah. And I've been there. I'm not trying to judge because when I lost everything, I sat in the basement for six months drinking beer and playing Call of Duty the same way. So it was like I'm broken. Yeah. But eventually, and I talk about this on all my podcasts, eventually I was like, nobody's gonna walk through the door and be like, Come on, Rick. Yeah, let's go, bro. I got you. I'll carry you. Yeah. Nobody gave a shit. They got their own problems. Eventually you gotta look in the mirror, like you said, and hear your thoughts and be like, hmm. I got it's this is the only way I'm gonna get up is if I stand up and I take the first step and then you know and then you start making progress. But it is hard to but that's where you try to surround yourself with people that are like, bro, you're okay. It's all right. You know, keep when speaker-0: Well that's why I looked at this law. speaker-2: they talk to people like you, your friend, I'm sure he's talked to you. Or somebody speaker-1: No, that's not my friend. speaker-2: has he ever spoken to it's like speaker-0: That's almost close proximity. speaker-2: that's where if you you're in his circle, you'd have like, bro. speaker-0: He could reach out if you wanted to. speaker-1: This is a situation where he is working. It's a female that's not speaker-2: Yeah yeah. speaker-1: Might not whatever. It it it it's somebody that that I'm close to but not. My wife knows So I Yeah. And I'm like, What about this? She's like, I said this and I said this and I said that speaker-2: But that's the problem is if they would listen they won and take action, they would not be in the same speaker-0: That's an ego thing though. That's a fucking ego thing. It is an ego thing and it's you can't it drives me crazy. speaker-1: If you can't suck up your fucking pride and work for twenty five fucking an hour when you're in the shittiest possible situation that you Amen. That's you have speaker-2: That's life. Life will work life will life will even all this out pretty quick. Yeah. You don't get what you want. You get what you earn. speaker-0: I'm not saying with me I'm gonna lose everything in six months, but it was one of those like I'm in a rabbit hole. So I'm like, you know what, I can take the action now because I know what this is gonna look like in six months. Right. If I keep, you know, yeah, you know, kinda living in my own swallow here, kinda like feeling bad for myself, like I'm making bad decisions, or like I just hired someone it didn't work out, or I did this, or I did speaker-2: No, that's the other thing too, is like, dude, I've been in business for twenty years, Trevor. How long have you been an entrepreneur? Your whole I mean fifteen. speaker-1: Yeah. speaker-2: Yeah, it's like, dude, five years in, bro. I lost everything. I started at twenty six and at thirty one I was homeless. So like Yeah. speaker-1: So five years in? Yeah. speaker-0: Go home. I speaker-2: You're a baby, but but you're speaker-0: I've heard the five years nightmare. Yeah, I've heard the five years. speaker-2: Because I didn't go and search these people out and join these groups and have these conversations and listen to these podcasts. I was just egotistical. Yeah. Thought that I was some genius. And when when the recession hit and said, Okay, buddy, yeah. You know, you've been riding this wave that is just fake. And when it crashed it was like shit, you know. And so that's where I think it's good that people out there listening. If you're in this situation, it's like What are you doing about it? speaker-1: What are you doing about What are you doing about speaker-0: But the thing is, pay to play. Like, I I know it sounds cliche, but like I was smart enough that I got into at least the inner circle early, and I've slowly done stuff listening to it. And like the podcast, you're gonna jump on the podcast, like someone listening new today, right? They're gonna listen to the podcast this week. It's not gonna fucking relate to you. It's not like they Rick's in season 27, you're in season 26. Like, you what I mean? It's not gonna relate to you, but scroll through it. That's what's the great thing about technology nowadays. Like, scroll through and like you're having a hybrid problem, go back to The first year they were doing the podcast, they talked about hiring all the time. I'm like, use those resources that are there and if it interests you, like, pay to play because there's so much more value in it when you pay to play. Trevor speaker-2: Farms that you know we were talking about right before this podcast, and he tells his story about how he built a business and and got over extended and lost everything and lost his home and had to have his neighbors buy him groceries and now he he's fed twelve million people. Yeah. Blah blah blah. But it's like there's a podcast right there that yeah, I you know, I relate to because I lived it, but somebody that might be in that season of shit, I'm losing my house and this is happening. Go listen to what Trevor did. You know, he went and got a job. Mm and he w his wife went and got a job and they, you know, and they cut back and they didn't go on vacations and whatever, whatever. And it's like, gosh, people just people want their cake and eat it too. speaker-0: I hear so many people, they're like, Well, it wasn't really my thing. Because I listen to like a select like six six or seven podcasts. I'm like, Okay, that's where you're at. This podcast would do for good for you. I see them a week later, they're like, it wasn't f for me. I'm like, But did you listen to other episodes? Like, are you that lazy you couldn't just scroll a few yeah screens? speaker-1: One is speaker-0: Like but you know, to watch Instagram and some girl working out with her ass in the screen, you're good to scroll all day and hit every like, but you know, to help yourself you're not willing to. And I don't know why I get fired up about it, but like people not helping themselves, I'm like, I'm just so over it. I'm just like I don't have patience for it or I told T-Bone when he first started working with me as a videographer. He's like, dude, I love what you're doing. Like I known you for two weeks and like you're just killing it. And I'm like, I'm gonna make a rule with you. I go, I will hire you. I'll put you on retainer. I'll work with you. And I swear to God, what did I say to you? Yeah, he I don't surround myself with losers. So I said, if you're working with me, you're working with me. But you're gonna do the work too. Right. Like, don't come and subcontract me and be a fucking loser. I don't want that. I don't have time for that. Like, I'm not dragging you along. I'm not gonna call you to make sure my videos are ready. I'm not gonna text you for deliverables. Like, dude, if you want to do the work and you came to me with this, like, you know, piss and vinegar, I want to grow my business and do this and do that. And he's been in RBO what, a month? He made the trip with me today. Yeah, yeah. Like he literally said, He goes, You're going? I'm like, Yeah, he goes, I'm coming. I'm like, Cool, let's go. Do it. Like, you know what I speaker-2: I think what gets hard and and and they always say it's lonely at the top. And I think it's a lot of it is because like I look at Trevor for people to hang with Trevor, it's hard. Yeah. I I mean I it's like I talk to people, I I have people come and they're like, dude, I want to travel, you know? And I'm like, All right, what? You know, they're like, I want to go to Hawaii for five days. And I'm like, Yeah, speaker-1: Go to the internet and fuck a book up speaker-2: it's like me talking to Trevor and I'm like, Bro, I'm exhausted, man. I worked out three times this week for forty minutes and Trevor's like, Go away. Yeah. Which is natural. You know, and so it's like it's lonely at the top because you're you're firing at these high levels and it's natural to be like, I can't deal with you. I can't deal with you. I can't deal with you. And pretty soon there's a very select view that can, you know, like Andrew, he runs with you every weekend. It's like he's found a guy who can hang. speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-2: But there's not a lot. I know it. I see the pictures and it's like Andrew and Trevor and then a couple of randoms every once in a while. And it's like, but that's that's Reality. speaker-1: I had to do ten miles a day for like fifteen months straight by myself in order to it speaker-2: Be able to hang with that. speaker-1: in well, in order for other people to say, speaker-2: It's real. speaker-1: This is what he's doing. Like maybe I'll I'll entertain that. So when you're going through like no man's land, so to speak, and you're in this phase in this phase, you keep showing up at an extremely high level, and eventually you're gonna attract your new tribe. People that think like you, that wanna live the same lifestyle as you. But it was a year and a half by my fucking self speaker-2: Yeah. speaker-1: before and then just This is what I'm doing. And then other people have been like, yo, maybe I wanna start doing that too or maybe they you know speaker-2: True. I remember on our first podcast we did together, I kind of mentioned I said my sister, you know, and my family, when I first told them I'm gonna travel the world and everything, they're like, okay. And I took it, and even up till that day, I took it as an insult. And Trevor's like, dude, I don't think your sister's wrong to be saying that because probably for the first 30 years of your life, she never thought you were capable of retiring at 36 and traveling the world. She judged you because but now, and this is where I brought it up because I When she had said it was like seven years into my travel, you know, and I'm like, Hey, I'm gonna do this and it's like you're still doubting me but I think you're right there where it's like that's the It's just hanging speaker-0: yourself in your that group. Yeah, it's just how long do you travel? Nine years? Okay, that's a little more. But you you said it, right? Show me your last thousand days. So now no one even doubts that he likes to travel. Because he's done those thousand running. You've done those thousand days. Like no one doubts that speaker-2: And that's it. Yeah. Funny because when I told people I'm gonna come back and work, they're like, Okay, speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-2: really? Yeah, good. Really? Now in the crowd. speaker-1: Yeah. Now you're gonna come back to work. Yeah. speaker-2: My mom was like, Do you think you can go from nine years of travel to a full time job? And I'm like, I think so. I think so. I did a thousand days in a row a decade ago, and she's like, I don't think you can do it, Rick. And now I'm doing that. And we just I just went to Hawaii with and they're like Are you okay? How are you adjusting? And I'm like, I don't really know. I'm kind of in this weird phase. But yeah, man, I think like you said, haters are gonna hate. Listen to your thoughts. Yeah. What do you want? What are you what are you, you know, looking for? And then and then go all in. speaker-1: Can I add something? Yeah, yeah. I'm not gonna ask for permission to fuck you guys. I'm gonna I'm gonna add something whether you like it or not. speaker-2: Yeah. Yeah. speaker-1: Okay. you know, we're talking about lonely at the it's lonely at the top, this, that, the other. And my perspective is just a little bit different on that. The loneliness period is when you're at the bottom and then you've got the top right here, and there's a gap. in between the bottom and the top. I speaker-2: Everybody wants you at the top. speaker-1: think this is the loneliest. speaker-2: Yeah. speaker-1: When you actually get to the top, speaker-2: Let's do speaker-1: there's a ton of look, bro, me speaker-2: That's a good point. speaker-1: and you, like I I I could I could hit you up, you could hit me up, whatever, whatever. It's not like we go have dinner or this, that, the other. speaker-2: Okay. speaker-1: Like I there's certain pe there's a reason why you're here with the RBO stuff is because of who you are as a human being. speaker-2: But had to do nine years speaker-1: And then I saw you. speaker-2: Yeah. Yeah. That's a good speaker-1: Another peak. You know what I mean? Like there's a high level of respect at the top for other people that are at the top. And when they have real and like character and integrity, I'm not saying everybody at the top has character integrity. I'm not saying that. I do keep, you know, my circle small, whatever, whatever. But at the end of the day, I don't have to. I could know a lot of fucking people. A lot of people know me, you know, and I choose not to go kick it. Yeah. Right? Like, hey, we got the cabin up here, I had a couple of free days. speaker-2: He'll never hang out with me. He's a dick. speaker-1: It's I I just dude speaker-0: It's it's Trevor from speaker-1: business, family, running and and pretty much anything outside of that, it don't work. And so when you see me with people, what am I doing? Running. That's speaker-2: Yeah, yeah. With them. Yeah, yeah. And I and I'm learning that a lot just being new to RBO because again, you know, a decade ago I had construction companies, been traveling, and now I'm back, and you have all these people pulling at you, and you've warned you've mentored me heavily on this over the last you know few months with RBO. But it's like, you know, I told Jacob the other day, I says, We gotta make a a phone number that's not my cell number because now I'm getting texts and messages and all this stuff, which they're not trying to be rude. They don't realize. that there's a hundred and ten people and when five of them text me at seven o'clock at night, they don't know that there's five others that text me. speaker-1: Their their i their perspective is individual and they speaker-2: Individual. Right. speaker-1: don't see how many arrows are coming speaker-2: So you gotta set those boundaries. That's where they always say, you know, one of the most powerful words is no. Yeah. Yeah. Right? Yeah. speaker-0: Well I would speaker-2: Guarding your time. speaker-0: message Trevor because like and I'm not even like close to your guys' level, but stupid things like the sauna talk or like just with just doing what I'm doing every day, like people reaching out to me or how you doing or it's not only the motivation part of it, it's like I find people want to be in that circle then. It's almost like they feel better about themselves saying, yeah, yeah, I'm friends with AJ or I'm doing something with AJ. And that's not being arrogant or anything. It just it's natural with the environment, right? And I'm like, Okay, it's today just everyone stop. Yeah kind of thing where I think about people like you guys and I've message you. I'm like, hey dude, I know you have a lot of like input with members. I'm not asking for anything, but like I'm starting to understand what it's like and I couldn't imagine your level. Like if you ever need output, dude, reach out to me. And I've text you that and I'm like, dude, this is not me asking for anything. It's just like I get how much you put out to people. Like if you ever need to just like scream or bent or something just reach out to me, dude. Like speaker-2: That's when he runs. speaker-0: Yeah, but you know what I though. It's like I have my outlet. Yeah. No, but I'm saying like when you get into that perspective speaker-2: You can you can speaker-0: Crazy how much people like yeah take it upon themselves, it's kinda like this is mine. Like speaker-1: So so this is this was the phase that I went through. Okay. B starting business building businesses, you know, starting to go through a little bit of the lonely journey of of all that. Then I joined Masterminds and I immersed myself around people constantly. New new perspectives, new information, people doing bigger shit than me. And that was like a five-year stretch where I fucking was, I dove in head first. You tell me to read a fucking book, I'll read the fucking book. Fucking podcast, I'll listen to the fucking podcast. Tell me to fly across the fucking country because I'm gonna be able to network and meet cool people. I'm flying across the country and gonna network and meet new people. Right. So then I immersed myself around a fucking shit ton of people, learned a lot, grew a lot. You know, and then then then I believe, again, this is just my own perspective, that then there's needs to be a new phase where you start to pull back just a little bit because when you're around so much and have an opinion. speaker-2: You lose your identity. Yeah. speaker-1: Or is your opinion just the opinion of other people that you're around? Yeah. Right. And so then I went to this place where I just completely retracted so that I Could take the information, the books, the podcast, all the positive stuff, go away from it. Who is Trevor and how does he think? What is his perspective? What is his opinions? Instead of constantly absorbing, absorbing, absorbing, absorbing, instead of wondering what other people's perspectives or thoughts were, I wanted to know what my perspective and thought was because I felt like I had finally developed myself into somebody that. is valuable enough to trust his own opinion, but I needed to get away from the noise. And then when I did that, that was a little bit of a lonely phase because I was around the busyness and so speaker-2: much. When was that? How long ago? where where are you at now? That speaker-1: In regards to what? speaker-2: that drill. Are you isti are you fuck ever speaker-1: Everybody in my my life has speaker-2: So you took all that information, you analyzed it, figured out exactly who you are, and that's where the chapter at now is this is me unapologetically speaker-1: Reinvented myself after emerging from that. I rose to a completely different person. So when I moved out of that situation for a moment, I said, How do I want my life to I started to actually build it by design. And when you're doing this stuff in here, it's busy because you do get the phone calls or networking, you want to make those contacts, maybe get some referrals. And then all of the information, try this, do the and it and it just gets overwhelming. And it's like, how can you really design a life when you're on a on an airplane every two weeks to travel somewhere for three or four days? You're not creat for me, it wasn't I wasn't designing my life. I was letting the business and the success that I wanted to have design my life. And it was like going down a river, hitting the riverbanks and kind of just getting beat up. I was moving in the right direction, but it I was still trying to figure myself out what I wanted. And then I had to remove myself, design it, and then run the speaker-2: Yeah, it doesn't sound like a bad thing to me. It doesn't sound like you were hitting the You speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-2: were going down a river and you're like, I'm gonna go down this river, I'm gonna go down it for five years, I'm gonna get all this information and then I'm gonna come out on a lake and I'm gonna and this is gonna be my lake and I'm gonna leave the river behind and I'm gonna just reflect on what I learned on the rapids and all the bullshit and all the journey. And I think everybody should do that. I think speaker-0: Everyone has to. Everyone has to. Yeah. speaker-2: 'Cause you surrounded yourself with amazing people. You took in a lot of information. I think either people don't do that, they either just go through their life and don't read a book, listen to people, you know, get mentors, or they re they get all this information and then they never stop. They just are on this I have so many people that are like, you know, I've read Dude, I have friends that are like I've I've listened to you know, I've read five hundred books and I'm like, Cool speaker-0: I don't even read self help books anymore. speaker-2: One or two or five or I've listened to a thousand podcasts. It's like, Well, you you're in the same position you were at five years ago. Mm-hmm. You know, like you're speaker-1: So have ever heard speaker-2: not going down the river. speaker-1: you ever heard the old saying like maybe you're spending a little too much time studying the roots when somebody's up there picking the fruit? Mm mm. What are you focused on? Right. Picking the fruit or you still studying the roots? speaker-2: Yeah, yeah. speaker-1: You know, like in those books studying, studying this, that like you're not getting the fruit because you keep studying the fucking roots. Like change and then fucking stuff's speaker-2: Like fruit. speaker-1: And then you then you partake. speaker-2: Mm. speaker-1: But people stay with the root way too long and it makes it feel like that they're around the fruit but they're not partaking. speaker-0: It's like living through your friend's life, right? Like, I had that buddy that made it to the NHL. I had a buddy. Yeah. Like everyone's got a buddy, right? Like, bro, how about you? Mm-hmm. Like what's wrong with you? Like it's always, you know, my friend or, you know, I know someone or my neighbor or someone like that. It's like they and you are speaker-1: They say you made it when other people brag about knowing you. Yeah. When you don't even have to say anything for yourself. That other people's highlight is, hey man, I I know I know Trevor. He just broke the world record. For the most have so other people are bragging. That's their brag, is that they know somebody. And that's when you know that you fucking made it. They're speaker-2: Yeah, they're not bragging about themselves. speaker-1: bragging about the proximity or knowing of you. And that is their speaker-2: And you think about that it's true. You think about that it's true 'cause I I've friends that are like, dude, I'm friends with this actor or this movie star and I'm like, Okay, cool. Cool, is he nice? They're like, Yeah, I think yeah, he's nice. I'm like who are you? You know, your whole our whole conversation has been that I know this person. It's like wow, that's that's like who are you? I tell me what the fuck you're I'm Mike. I know speaker-1: Yeah. speaker-2: who maybe I should sound like I should meet him because speaker-1: My cell phone and get my contacts. I know AJ. I know Rick. I know these are all the people I know. You know, it's like who gives a fuck if you know what the fuck. speaker-2: Be the contact in the phone that you people want to know. speaker-1: Why don't you be the person that other people know that are fucking you're giving them bragging rights just for knowing you? How about that? Yeah. Switch it up. Yeah. You know, so speaker-2: I love it. How much time we got? What are we at, Ricky? Yeah, we good? Is anything you guys want to add anything? I think it was I'm AG, I appreciate you coming down, man. I'm excited. We're gonna have lunch tomorrow. Yeah. speaker-0: Hopefully someone got value out of this. What's that? Hopefully someone got some value out of it. speaker-1: Fuck I had fun. I'm living I'm living my earthly I I'm I'm living my earthly human experience. If you guys wanna partake in it, cool. Yeah, here it is. But if you don't like it, fucking partake. speaker-2: I I I'm still in the phase where I hope you got some value. Trevor's in it where it's like I love worrying about I love that value. That's good. speaker-1: But dude, speaker-0: See I feel like I still need to bring that up. speaker-2: Hopeful speaker-1: we we fucking we come here with the right intentions to bring value and if you don't fucking get it, fuck off. Right. Like I already know I have a fucking resume that says I might know a thing or two or have done some things right. The resume also shows I've done a lot of fucking dumb shit and fucked off a lot, so I know what not to do too. speaker-2: Which is good. Yeah. speaker-1: You know, so I've already made those mistakes, you know, and and watched how those dominoes fell. Where that led, you know, like so it's it it I'm just at the point where it's like I'm gonna speaker-2: This is me speaker-1: authentically meet and I'm gonna try to be of service and add value to the world and be a net pop. speaker-2: It's not gonna connect with everybody. speaker-1: fuck where it lands. I just know I'm giving myself credit for how I show up, my intentions, and because I know that they're pure, if somebody gets value from it, awesome. I absolutely love that. If not, guess what? I'm gonna fucking leave here. speaker-2: Your turn your radio off. speaker-1: Yeah. I'm still driving the same way home, whether you got value or not. The sun's gonna fucking come up tomorrow and I'm running a half marathon, whether you got value or not. Nothing changes in my shit. So speaker-2: Yeah, I love it, dude. speaker-1: anyways, we hope you guys enjoyed today's episode. speaker-0: Yeah. Thanks for having me on. speaker-1: Make sure you're rating and reviewing, cause that's the shit that I do care about. Right. And I'll find you. We know where you live if you don't. Yeah. You know, it shows us your your IP address if you're downloading our shows and you haven't sent a review yet. speaker-2: We're gonna try to change. speaker-1: You should actually feel like shit about yourself that you're extracting value and not saying, What's good? These guys are legit. So make sure you drop that that review on on both podcasts, because this podcast is gonna air on AJ's podcast. speaker-0: forget the noise. speaker-2: Forget the ghost. speaker-1: Noise as well as this and so it's kind of a a two for one deal here, but we're we're definitely happy to see AJ in person. So I speaker-0: Okay, bro. Thanks for having me. speaker-1: appreciate you guys keep kicking ass and we'll see you next week.