How Far Should Branding Go

Full transcript

What does your brand look like? That's what we want to know. Yep. What is branding? How should branding reflect to me? What's the difference between business branding, personal branding? And how does that reflect to what's going on in today's music? That's kind of what sparked this conversation. Correct. So yeah, what happened yesterday?

Tesla is making cars fly, man. Finally, we got some art cars that are suspended in the air. I saw something. What cool was that? That blew my mind. But it's never gonna. I mean, there's so many rules and regulations, it's just not gonna happen anytime. Stop before that. Let's talk about how freaking awesome that was. It was amazing. It was it was mind blowing. How many times did you watch the car? A lot. I didn't believe it. Yo, I stopped. Like, yo, do you see this? The car. Did you guys see it? Tesla, the steam. Elon's amazing. He's taking things to the next level. Um, but what's the purpose to that? What's the purpose? That's what people asking. What is the purpose of that? Is just to be cool? That's a waste of time, that's a waste of money, Anthony. That's what people are saying, man. Visuals. Why is that why is that important to just get eyes on your business? That came out, what, yesterday? Yeah. All four of us here.

All four of us here have seen it.

Yeah.

Millions of people have seen this. Okay. And it's branding. What is important about branding? This is how paid people putting a complex in their heads. And I've done the same thing. So I can't. Well, this is how we work as consumers. I have a problem, right? Let's pick whatever. I like surgery. It's the easiest explanation. I need surgery. I don't know why I could go into this. You got surgery. But do I want to go see a doctor? Do I want to go see maybe an orthopedic doctor? Do I want to maybe see an orthopedic surgeon? I'm getting more specific. Okay. Do I want to go see an orthopedic surgeon in a rural area that sees a few patients that's new in the field? Or do I want to see the orthopedic surgeon that's done 400 people worked with people the most medically complex and could do it? In my mind, I want the guy. I say I want that guy. Because that guy worked on people who were all the way over here. I only have a minor thing, but I know for a fact he's going to get it done. So let's set the car example. It's brilliant. Do I want a regular beater that can get me from A to B? Some people here. Or I want the car that can freaking fly. I know that car can fly, it could definitely get me to work.

But okay, Devil's gonna say so now here's Devil's Advocate. How many people are gonna get it just because I know the car is capable of doing something that I will never use?

It builds brand confidence. That's gonna skyrocket that.

And how much money do you think he invested just to build it? Yeah, yeah, we get it. Sky, man. How much do you think he do you think it's worth the investment to just build brand confidence? And at what lengths would you go to to build brand confidence? Uh whatever I need. Branding has the best ROI.

By far. You think so? Oh, yeah. Let's take drugs. Okay. I like talking about drugs, yeah. Surgery and drugs. Where the hell is my mind? I have no idea. Yeah, you have a headache.

Yeah.

Let's say you have a headache. Oh man, my head and my joints hurt a little bit. You go to your local pharmacy. What are you buying? Tynol. One more time. Tinyl? Yeah, it's it again. Tinyl. Say it louder. Tynol. Yeah, that's stupid. You're buying tyano? Why?

It's an on this uh leave you alleviate you of your headaches.

You know, yeah. What if I told you you could save 20% and get the same results?

No. I want tiny.

But you just buy acetamedaphine, it's the same thing. It's the drug in general.

That is tylenol, but I want tylenol.

Branding. No difference. I can go buy acetamedophine, store brand. Or buy Tylenol. It's the same exact thing. There is no difference. It's the same drug, it's the same percentage of the drug. But people would go buy acetamedophine over Tylenol. Or I take ibuprofen. I'm gonna go buy ibuprofen instead of Advil.

Yeah.

Or an approxin instead of a leaf. Or pseudophedrin as opposed to pseudophed. Or my favorite, band-aids, because no one even knows the actual name of a band-aid. Band-aid's a brand.

Wait, hold on, bro. That's true. What the heck is a band-aid?

Adhesive bandage or something like that? It's no one knows the name. Yeah, you're actually right. But I'm gonna go by band-aids, which are twice the price. Wow. That's the power of brand. Nike. Like, yeah, you're right. Which is marketing. Take Nike, right? Why did Nike blow up? Did you ever read the book or watch the movie?

No, no, no, no. No, never did. No. I know Adidas story, but I don't know Nike.

So Nike's story was very similar to the story to Adidas. Like, wasn't they weren't popular, they were low-level shoes, they really couldn't get out. Then they found somebody.

Who's was it Jordan? Not Jordan, right? It was Jordan. For Nike? Yeah. Prior to Jordan, Nike wasn't a big thing? No. Oh, I didn't know that. What's the movie called?

I'm blanking on it.

The Michael Jordan thing, whatever it's called.

I know what you're talking about. Yeah, but he's a college athlete, Michael Jordan, but then and the contract they got him to sign was to create his own shoes that remember his legacies, hence Air Jordan's. And that's how Nike went up. Because people said that guy wears Nike's and he could be a professional basketball player. I want to rock Nikes. Really?

It was Jordan that turned Nike. I thought before him. That's amazing. You're right. And this is why uh brand ambassadors, influencers, all that is important. If they see someone come to Redefined Fitness and it's um Angelina Jolie, I'm just throwing a name out there. It's like if Angelina Jolie's going to redefined fitness, then I'm coming to Redefined Fitness.

Let's take my favorite company, Red Bull, that does this really well. Okay. Yeah, there, there. Red Bull's phenomenal. All their social media is crazy stunts. Yeah. Like the guy who jumped from space.

Yes. They landed on a roof of the parachute.

Yes, yes, yes. But he had a Red Bull on him, and people say, well, Red Bull got this guy to jump from freaking space. Like it can get me up in the morning. I'm thinking of implementing some of that.

I think I'm implementing it. I think I'm thinking, I just gotta figure out how to do it.

Have you thought about how to implement that craziness into your business? Yeah, it's a lot more complex in our industry because we have to get our actual clients to uh have us film them.

That's true. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But that's yeah, how can we make something extreme and say, look what we did? This is proof. Yes, right? That's what they're using for this proof. That's what it is, yeah. But the proof is extreme. Yes, we're going to the extreme. So everyone fits below that. That's how you get your big target marty and you have your proof all the way out here, so everyone floating below is easy. If your proof here, you only get these people. The ones above aren't gonna come. So a good example, if you show proof that you made a client lose 10 pounds, you don't get anyone that wants to lose ones of 10 pounds. Someone that used to do 50 pounds is go, well, they lost 10 pounds, maybe they can't help me. You have someone lose 150 pounds. It's over. It's over. Everyone's over that. Everybody's coming.

You don't got a question it no more. And those are the videos you put on the screens. Those the document, you see what I'm saying? You know who I'm talking about. If that person would have lost 100 pounds, oh Anthony, and you document that and you put it on the screens, of course they can make me lose 15 pounds. You're right. Extreme. That's the whole purpose of the documentary. That was it. If we could show you we can take an extreme situation and fix it, we could definitely fix your issue. And I think all business owners have to ask themselves that how what is the what extreme can you go to to prove that you're more than capable of solving the average issue, average problem. That's what you gotta ask yourself. And I gotta do some thinking because I don't I I I'm gonna I Elon Musk show like man, that's why I love this guy. He just keeps showing, man. The next one.

Well, that's why brands also do sponsorships of like stadiums, right? Or big events. Like think of Coca-Cola and Pepsi or Budweiser. They always sponsor sports events. Super Bowl, awesome. Because you always see it. And it's they're the sponsor of that. Now you're gonna go buy it, now you're gonna go spend more for it. Because it's there, it's all a part of it. Then it then there's something for branding, not the term, but I like relating it to you because it really helps people understand it. Branding, in a sense, is gaslighting. Sort of, yes. I understand where you're going with it.

Yeah, you're right. You're right, you're right.

It's gaslighting. Okay, yes. You're constantly telling people I do this, I do this, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, until eventually they believe it. You're right. Now, there is a sense that yes, all businesses will make more money just from gaslighting people. Yeah, yeah. Even if it's false. Yeah, yeah, it's true.

Because you're all over the place. But what's gonna happen is those that are false will have to crack and fall. See, that brings me to my next point. You have to make sure you master your product and service so well before you start opening them up for the brand all over the place.

Because then what happens if you both go up, let's say this is the false one, this is the good one. You're both branding, you're gaslighting people, you're getting more, you're getting more, you're getting more, you're getting more. Eventually, somewhere around here, the product comes out that's not good, product or service that's not, you're not proving what you can, right? Your brand then flips. Okay. And this person goes.

And and and the perfect example for that, let's just say Nike, Nike proved it. You know who couldn't prove it? Anyone remember something called Anne One? You guys are probably young for Anne One? Yeah, you remember that? I used to have a pair. Oh so An one was started, it was uh uh how would you describe it? A basketball company, a basketball sneakers, sneakers, but it was also another company. Yep, and they um it's three kids from college that started it. I don't know if you guys know the story. There's three kids that met up at a pizza shop and they started it. They love basketball, so they started their company, turned into an almost a billion-dollar company. Do you know how An1 fell apart? Crazy story. Stefan Marbury was the uh they sponsored him, right? In the NBA. He's a basketball player, Stephon Mario. And they gave him the An one shoes. In one of the first few games he played with the shoes, guess what happened to the shoes, Anthony? They ripped up. They ripped up. And guess what happened to Stefan Marbury, guys? He got injured wearing the An one sneakers. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the end of An one. That's how the business fell. I mean, this you guys remember? It was booming, man. It was huge. Everyone had a fail. Huge. The day Stefan wore it. Say it again. Years ago. Stephon Marbury, uh, New York Knicks. This is years ago, like early 2000s, like 2001. That's when they were, it was they had the video game. It was a big deal, and one the shoes ripped on the court, he got injured, done. The whole point, it's a perfect example. The whole point of that is like you said, both will go up. Whoever's gaslighting, you're gaslighting, you're prove yourself, you're branding, you're showing yourself all over the place. We do this, we do this. There's always gonna be companies that are saying they do the same, but eventually you have to show what you're saying. Can you, are you really capable of doing it? And they fell short, and one is gone, and the other company survived. So you got to make sure you master that product and test it, test it, test it, test it every possibility before you tell people you do this. And it's the same with the film industry. You hired me, and I said, Okay, this is another client, and you asked me a few questions. You said, Have you done podcasts before? Well, I did exact I'd done podcasts before, yes. But the example I chose to show you was a podcast I did with Eric Trump, Donald Trump's son. Extreme case. Obviously, that's the president's son. So the whole point is you have to master your craft to the point where you can showcase work to in extreme cases. Like, yes, I can lose, I can make you lose 10 pounds because we made someone lose 100 pounds. And that's how I think you don't fall off when you get to the top.

That's the only way to do it. Yeah, it's the only way to quality, your service, your product has to be top tier.

Otherwise, you will reach the peak eventually. You'll reach a pinnacle, but you will not stay there, man. Uh, talent gets you there, right? But being tested keeps you in there. You have to be battle-tested and know I can do it in the worst case scenarios. I will succeed. And that's what keeps you there, man. This guy turned into a monster one day, or audio-wise. I didn't know how we're gonna fix it. I I knew how to do it because I had the experience. So you have to make sure you you test yourself in the worst case scenarios. If this happens, how do I solve it? And you win. That's what every entrepreneur should be doing on their off time, man, is testing yourself, learning. Like you said, you do. You're always learning, you're reading, you're learning. That's how you get to the top level and you stay there. There's a difference between getting there and staying there, man. So now we're gonna break this, okay?

So we understand the power of brand, right? We understand the power of business brand. We understand why branding is so important because you can make somewhere more money, and then people build trust inside that brand, and that that grows. Now, what's the difference between a business brand and a personal brand and how are they relevant? Do you know the answer?

One hand washes the other. Explain. Your personal brand, your personal, you're I mean, you're connected to your business. Well, if you're a business owner, it's it's you. Your personal brand can elevate the business brand, and your business brand can elevate your personal brand. They what they one hand washes the other. You're if especially if you're the face that people know you. It's known that Anthony Ayman is really lower level thinking of it though. Okay, elaborate.

Think about this. Redefined fitness. Let's say I'm not, I don't really push my personal brand or whatever. Grows, blows up, blah, blah, blah. Anthony wants to go do something else, starts another business. No one knows who he is. I start from scratch. I build Anthony's personal brand. Anthony's personal brand builds redefined fitness. They both grow. Anthony says, Okay, time to go to something else. I already have all these followers pushing. My brain's already elevated. Now everyone wants me. You can venture off into other things because you're not. Now wherever I go, people go.

Yeah, but what do you say to the business owner that does not want to show his or her face in the camera and be all, I don't want that.

Nobody wants. And what I mean by that is go back to the conversation we had six months ago. Are you a business owner or an entrepreneur?

Yeah, exactly.

If you're a business owner, it's fine. Yeah, because you're just a business owner. Like there's companies you don't know who runs. That's what I'm saying. There's hundreds, there's tons of them. You don't know who's totally fine. Yeah. But a personal brand is how you make the best ROI. Because people want you and they compete for you. You are the limited resource. Take it to like the gym. If you have a gym that everyone can go to at all given times, you're gonna have a really cheap membership because you can get it whatever. If you're in an exclusive private gym, you only take a certain amount of people, it's a lot more expensive to get in, right? So people are willing to pay more to get that. A business is more open than a person. A business can cater a lot more people than one person can.

That is true.

So I become way more of a commodity to people because of my personal brand. Scarce. Scarce is me. It's scarce. It can't do, yeah. It's one person, it's as scarce as you can get. Exactly. And that's why you can get less than that.

And that's why you can charge the armor and leg for it. Correct. If you want me there, that's funny. Another client just told me and said, Oh, yeah, I want you to um your company to film this, that, and a third for me, no problem. But I want you to do the filming, that's not gonna be the same price if you want me there. That's the beautiful thing. Because you know, with y'all comes experience directing. The people that I hire have not done 70 movies. I have. The people that I hire don't have 17 awards and under in film directing under there, but I do. So when the worst case scenarios arrive, and for if they do God forbid, I know how to solve it. And that's the point of charging an armor because I come with um 13 years of experience. Experience and decision-making skills. Exactly. And this but it all goes back to what we're saying. You have to master your craft, man, so well that when you make these demands or people request you specifically, Anthony, you show up, but make sure you they know the price is not gonna be the same. Like it took me nine years to figure out how to get us here.

Correct. And we're still at the top, but I'm above a lot of people. I'm about to say that. Right. I'm about to say that. It's gonna take someone nine years to learn the knowledge I learned nearly.

Exactly. Where most businesses in your industry go out in what? The first year, how many? What percentage? Remember that?

Uh 86 in the first year, correct? 94 in the second year.

Uh I that's how many uh uh people in the gym industry, fitness industry go out of business. He's been in it for nine in the first year, he's been in it for nine years. What what is um how what does the average gym owner make? It just went to 44,000 annually. It was 40 hours. Oh god, I was gonna 4,000.

Okay, 4,000 above. 44,000 annually is the average take-home for a gym owner.

What does the average uh trainer make usually?

Oh, it's it's so hard. They I'll explain the average job. It's a lot easier to understand. It's paid for only when you're working, so paid per session, not per hour. Wow. If you're not training, you're not getting paid. Wow. You have to find your own clients, meaning you have to go outsource, bring them in, you gotta go deal with them, retain them. So And here is complete opposite. Complete opposite. You get some of my trainers are on salaries, meaning there's guaranteed income no matter how much they work, because they're my system managers. Wow. And then my the ones below them are guaranteed wages. So it's you're guaranteed 38 hours of work irregardless of how many times you train a client.

Do they have to find their own clients when being hired here? No. And that's the difference. That's what makes it scarce. That's what makes it exclusive. It masters the craft to the point where I can offer something that no other competitor can. But it takes, it takes a lot. It takes a lot. It takes a lot of things.

They do 25-minute sessions, not even half an hour, a minute, half an hour sessions, and they pay them what's equivalent to 24 an hour. So they really get like $11.75 per client. That's insanity. Only when they're working, and they do split shifts. What was split shifting? It's exactly what it sounds like. Like they're splitting the ship. And then PMs. Uh so you're not doing full throughs. Stopping and then going from like four to eight.

Oh, wow. So Anthony, because of that and because of what redefined offers, do you get a lot of people running to you with applications? Hey, I want to work here, I want to work here.

I get people that don't apply because they don't believe us. Really? Wow. I get that all the time. People are like, I plot on indeed, but wasn't it? It took me so long because I didn't think it was true. Wow. It's like, you actually pay like that? This isn't like some solid.

Listen, man.

A lot of gyms are scums and they'll advertise that way, and you're coming to talk to them and they'll tell you something. Oh, so that's an industry? That's what they do? They trick you. It's true, it's a lot of bullshit. Wow. And so they people like, oh no, this is true. So it's like, I have a trainer that's been working with for like four years, and he always says, he's like, all these new trainers we get see job postings for a lot more money, and they leave and go there, but they don't realize that what they're walking into. Because like the difference is I've been I've worked at other gyms. No one pays like you.

No one pays like and also the culture, too. I think it's more, in my opinion, almost more important than the money for me. Agree.

I mean, it's the culture, it's the ability to make this a career. Yeah, you can't make this a career when you're doing per session. You can't get there's no medical vision, dental, four skin, one percent matching, free college. Like what business offers that? Correct, correct.

No one, correct. So, Anthony, with that being said, do you get people, and this is all learning for business owners, because of what you offer for the people that are employed here, do you get people that maybe were terminated or quit or whatever the case may be, come back later on and say, test out other gyms, come back later on and say, hey, I want to work here? Not people are too afraid. Embarrassment, right? Pride, right? Ego, right? Do you feel that though? That they may have there's some regret.

I've thought about this.

It's a good question. What do you think? Is my are my services so good that if you interpret it? Say I don't know.

Okay, but up for interpretation. I have had people that we have let go that I know for a fact it's been years since they've been let go. They still talk about us all the time.

No.

In a bad way. Huh. And I don't know if that's a jealousy thing. I mean, there's no way around it. Yes, it is. But if you still I don't talk about any previous employers that I've left. Exactly. Most people they leave her job and they're just done. Yeah. And there's uh quite a few people that like still talk to you about it's jealousy, of course. Still talk to other people about working here.

Yeah. And it's like, listen, if you broke up with your ex six years ago, you still talk about that same lady from six years ago? You might still love her, man. So maybe there's probably say I don't know because I don't have proof. I know. But well, that's the telltale sign right there. I can just assume, right? But it's an assumption. Yeah. Well, well, there you have it, man. Um, branding, yeah, branding's and it's everything, I think it's it's everything. But I think for me, and there's a lot of people in this position. I think you need to, it's hard. You could do simultaneously, you can build your business and your brand. It's like the stovetop theory we thought about. We we spoke about. But I'm in a space where I need to build my business, my business, and make sure that's fully functional and automated before I focus on my brand fully. Does that make that make sense? Um, because I I was tired of splitting my time because I noticed one was losing and the other one's.

Look at the podcast, it splits my time.

Yeah, but it's different though for you because you're here in the storefront while your business is being ran. I was in operations. Does that make sense what I'm saying? Like I was an operator in my business, so it's like I can't do my personal brand because I gotta physically do this. It's until I started hiring people. Now it gave me more time for my personal brand.

Which will then give you more return on your investment and make more money. Correct. But people are too afraid to let go of the little things, like we talked about. I did a reel on that, right? So you're too afraid to let go of the little tiny fire thing, so you're not you're focusing on the three, four dollar an hour things.

Yeah, yes, you remember, yes, exactly.

I I I heard years ago a breakdown of like a per hour split. And obviously, due to inflation, these things are no longer. But the concept makes sense. Yeah, you start off as a business owner doing every job. That's what I'm saying. That's what I was saying. Every job. Yeah, the first thing you hire are the $10 an hour jobs because that's the cheapest. Why are you doing $10 an hour jobs as a business owner? You shouldn't cut all of those first. Get that. Hired first. Then you move up to the $40 an hour jobs. Right? So you take those $40 an hour jobs, hire for all of that, and then you only focus on the $100 an hour jobs. And then eventually you get hired for those hundred dollar an hour jobs. Fill that bucket up. And then you move up to the $1,000 an hour jobs. And you that's how you can't.

Yeah, exactly.

Don't go from a thousand dollar an hour job ever back to $10,000 an hour jobs.

No, no, no, no. And that's the that's what I had to learn. I had to get rid of the little stuff. First thing was the editing. Tedious, took way too much time. It was like my eyes were coming out. It was just ridiculous. My eyes were burning. I was editing all day long. I hired editors. Then I said, eventually I got to start training videographers to go out to clients because that's killing my time. I'm traveling to clients, I'm filming. I need people to be able to do the job. So let me train certain people. And eventually I'm not training anymore. I'm going to eventually hire someone that goes and does the training. Every job you do as an entrepreneur, as a business owner, you need to learn how to replace yourself. And that is the only way to scale and really make real money. Replace yourself. You know another big problem that I used to have that I noticed business owners have that when I was starting to speak to clients, a lot of them don't want to let go. That's what end up 50, 60 years old. Go to certain businesses. You see, certain business owners are still operating at 60 years old in their business because they feel no one can cook like me. No one can do this like me.

But I know a lot of people in that scenario, they get to 50, 60 years old and they go to sell their business and they can't because the business is worth nothing because they still work in it all the time. Where did your retirement go? It's out the window.

Yeah.

You're nothing. Now you have to work. Yet because your retirement was gonna be sell your business. But you didn't have the confidence and skills and operations to put into place to build that business up. Because if you work in your business, your business is worth nothing. Because look at everyone from private private equity group, which is most likely to buy you out, right? Yeah. They're not gonna they leave, whatever's the business is garbage, they're not coming in here, they're private equity, they're collaborates, they're like working from afar. Exactly. They need to make sure that place is running without them. Yeah, so that's true. Your business is worth absolutely nothing, all 40, 50 years out the window. That's crazy. Because you didn't put the systems in operation to make your business work with it.

Yeah, and and I'm speaking for myself. I used to have this fear. One guy told me, hey, y'all, you need to do vesting. You need I didn't when a person I just told this person, a very good friend of mine. I said, I didn't know what you were talking about back then when you said, Yao, do vesting, hire this person, create a system that does not require you. That is how you make money. And my answer to him, I was uh like 30 years old. Maybe this is no, no, 29. So like seven years ago. I told him, No, I'm the one I gotta direct. I gotta direct these movies. No one can direct it like me. And he looked at me and said, That's very sad. You don't get it. It took me till last year, is when I figured it out. 35 years old, I said, I get it now. And I just sent him a message uh yesterday telling him, I get what you were telling me seven years ago. You have to take yourself out and hire other people. Business is just a machine that you need to learn, let it run on the bottom.

On top of that, you can't know what's burning if you don't step out.

That's a beautiful oh, that's fire, bro. So that's fire, you get it? That's fire.

Skipping the dad jokes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But literally, like you have to step out, let it burn, come back and fix the things that are burned. That's what that's what people get wrong about Musk, right? Okay. They always say, well, he's working on his business. No, he's not. He's working up, seeing what's burning, and then fixing that problem. It might be on the maintenance floor fixing things, but he has to first have the capability of stepping out. If he was working day-to-day on the maintenance floor, he would never know what's going on and what's working. But he has to take a step back, look at the company as a whole, and say, where's the biggest bottleneck? There it is. Okay, now I'm gonna plug into that. But it's not that I need to be there, it's that I want to be there. And I want to fix that bottleneck. Fix the bottleneck, take a step back. What's the next bottleneck?

That one, but you can't do that forever, bro. You can't keep doing that. Uh, who said it? Uh Steve Jobs. He said, My problem is every time I see a problem, I or or I want to put the fire out. And then now I've reached the point of it.

Fire out means building the resources and systems to make sure the fire doesn't happen again.

Okay.

That's what I mean by fire out. Not just go fix it and you're still responsible. Correct. If people fuck up where they go and like, I fixed it, now I have to stay here. That's what that's what I'm saying. No, it's to build the system to make sure it doesn't happen again.

Nailed it. Yeah.

That's the difference. Yes. But you can never do that if you're stuck and bogged down in the day-to-day. Correct. You need to step out and see things from afar. So, me moving to Florida, like I've always been talking about it, like still pending when I'm going. But people are like, it's too soon, it's too soon, it's too soon. But if I don't create that bottleneck, if I don't create that stipulation for me, I'm gonna keep pushing it off. Oh, 100%. You just spoke about this.

Yeah. You said it was supposed to be June, you said December. If you're gonna say you're gonna clean your room in a day, it's gonna get done in a day. You gotta choose a date for which I'm leaving.

And I know physically, if I'm here in New York, the biggest restraint on me is me showing up. You're gonna this day this week. There's nothing stopping you, bro. No, I'm gonna come in. I have control issues. So, in order to fix Anthony, Anthony's to go to a different state. Because then I'll be able to look at my business as a whole. As a whole, let me step away because I'm not there dating yet. Come back, I could say, here's the problem, here's my focus.

Exactly. Um, but it's again, it's easier said than done. I went on vacation. I went on vacation for, and you've been on several, but I went on one vacation stepping away from my business. And um, oh boy, the fire department couldn't put out those fires, man. It was some fires, man. So, and you've been on several, and luckily for you, it it works. Like your business has worked. There's been things you have to work, but now it's getting to a point where you're getting ready to go on a permanent vacation. You're gone. Well, we're doing a test vacation coming up.

Okay, there we go. Elaborate on that. So in December, we're doing 10 days, which is like a longer but still time span than usually things we usually do. We do is usually seven to ten days.

Okay.

In February, it stays on a fishing, waiting for a sign-off on Amanda. I'm taking a month off. No way. You're going for one month. Where are you headed to? I don't know.

Oh, you just you just want to get the time and test it out.

So you really go. I I have to get out of New York State, though. I do. I have to leave the state. You're gonna see this guy driving around looking at the gym. I told the manda, you give me the okay. I'm hopping in my car with my family and we're leaving.

That's fire, bro.

And I'm doing it strictly to test the business. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, you have to. I have no choice, but I can't move and then move back.

No, no, no, no, no.

So I need to take a month and smooth the hell.

I love that. And I didn't think of that. And I think all business owners should do that. Instead of just jumping a gun and leaving and saying, oh, my business is good while slightly still operating in it. You need to do some tests. You need to leave for a month. And and I think 30 days is more than enough. Now, in those 30 days, what are you doing? Are you calling? Who's calling? Anonymous, what's going on?

I'm still gonna probably do things I could do in Florida. I don't plan, I don't plan on 100% letting go. Okay. I plan on operating the things remote that I can do remote.

Correct.

That's my plan. So now let me ask you. So when you go to Florida in March, June, whenever it is, you go, would you still doing things remotely?

Yeah, probably. Okay. Okay. Because the bottle next we still sells a marketing for us, and most of that could be remote.

Okay. So it doesn't require you to be here. And in March, I mean sorry, February, you'll test that out. And now, God forbid, it's not where you thought it was, and the problems are more than what you thought it was. What happens there? Come back and do you mean, let me clarify. Do you delay more? Your no? You don't delay when you're gonna delay, then I'm gonna put off cleaning my room ones. Yeah, but you left February to test it.

The whole point is for tests to see is it good enough for me to test and then it's fixed and then go away again and test, but make sure we're not about.

But that means you need a cut, you need a solid date in which I'm not passing this date. The vacations end here. I'm gone. June, probably. Do you see what I'm trying to say? Yeah, otherwise it keeps getting pushed and pushed and pushed. June is it. That's really close to February. God damn, brother. I think you can do it. It's just um, yeah, and and to your point, I think the easiest way to be able to leave your business and not be an operator anymore is hire people that are more than qualified for the job. Hire A players and pay, and the way you get them is just pay more. That's it. If you know Anthony, you believe in your business, you hire the right people here, you're ready to walk away, and February is gonna show that. If you didn't, February is going to be a reflection of the choices that you made as an entrepreneur and who you put in place here. That's it. And prior to February, you need to do a lot of firing. I gotta let certain people go that I think are gonna cause more fires when I leave. I gotta let them go now. In your head, don't have to are there people still gently operating in your business that you know if I leave this person may be a nuisance. I gotta let them go.

I think you need to step away and say.

So stepping away is how you really see all that. Yeah. We'll see. And maybe I'll be impressed. And we got a disease. You know what that disease is? We cannot put our phones down and keep checking. I don't know if you still got it. I got it though. I'm bad. I got it. I'm bad. You really? Um how mine is almost going to the shower. I'm almost putting the phone on the you don't understand. That's the next step.

I was thinking what do you consider business podcasts? Sorry? What is that working business podcasts? Like what we're doing now? No, like listening to them.

No, that's no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm talking about like always checking on the what's going on with this guy. What's going on? Are we good here? Checking the numbers. Like, you can't stop. What's the meta ads doing? What let me call Skylar. What are you what do you oh so you're in a way better position than me then?

I do like an hour. No, when I go home, I'm done.

Oh, you're so I mean, but then you have a way bigger business.

But I but I but I learn, I spend the time learning. Oh, double checking.

For me, that's never gonna stop. The business podcast and learning. I mean, that's just what I love. I love, yeah, that's not gonna be.

Or usually I'll come up with ideas because I'm home and I'm away. That's when I keep realizing I need to freaking leave. All my ideas are when I'm home.

Oh, yeah, but that's you and I spoke about that. Remember the quiet neighborhoods and all that where you get time to think. So you, but that's different. That's just you being an entrepreneur at heart. You love business, you love this business. That's never gonna end, and you're never gonna kill that. I'm telling you, it's not gonna be.

I'm telling you right now, I love what I do. Then it's ups and downs. Yeah, don't get me wrong. I spend time questioning it. I sit back and think, is this really what I want to do? Because it gets stressful. There's times it's like I feel like the world's collapsing. I know those feelings. It just happens. And then you go like, yeah, exactly. It's just I wouldn't trick this for I brought my ADHD is in love. I'm just constantly bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing. It's it's fun, it's a puzzle.

Do you here's a way to know you really love what you do. Can you say what you just said in the darkest moment? That right there is how you know you love what you do in life, you chose the right career. Can you say what that gentleman just said? This is for me in the darkest moment.

I have a really funny trait my wife thinks out of me all the time. I will get down, depressed, stressed, like things will bog me down. And I'll be like, oh shit, like there's a worse tired, yeah. Oh man, like personal stress, business stress. And I'm like sitting there and I'm using AI now, like contemplating the meaning of life. And I'll be like, I just gotta go to bed. I go to bed, I wake up, I'm a different person. I'm like, what the hell is that? Yeah, that's what it is. Oh man, I know what I'm doing. Let's go. What the fuck? And I wake myself up and I go.

That's fire. Yeah, you just gotta sleep it off.

Resilience. Yeah, resilience is key in business.

Oh, yeah, if you don't have it, it's the end of the road for you. You have to have it. There are more dark days that are gonna occur than bright.

That's I think I think the two things that separate an entrepreneur from every other person employee. If I were to say like what is chalked up to a good CEO, if you have to take them to two words resilience and decision making. Tenacity, yeah.

You just can't. Those are the things. You have to be tenacious, man. And decision, yes, and um well, hold on. Well, yeah, that falls with it. Delegation, yeah, yeah, you got it.

Decisions is everything.

Correct, correct, correct.

Ability to say, no matter you look at two things, like are we going to wear or we're not gonna wear, you just happen to make a decision and be certain about that decision in a resilient area.

Let's do three resilience, decision making, and speed. If you're not fast, you're gonna lose. Tell me that I I just you have to be quick. Decision making is tied in with speed for me. But for you, it's because some people sit on it, like, I'm gonna make decisions, give me some time, you're gonna lose. You have to be fast.

You have to be able to make a decision and fast regardless, move forward with it. Yes, yes, a lower level employee is never gonna be able to do that. Yeah, 100%. They're gonna sit there. Oh, what about this? Well, what about this? What about yeah, that's what I'm saying. You can't be like that. Oh, they have one bad day, one bad client, and they're gonna give up. There's the resilience part leaving. Yeah, not an ability to bounce back.

Yeah, that's it. Yeah, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. You because it's gonna get dark. And and and the key thing is everyone that works for you, they follow you. So if you have doubt in your mind, is this gonna work? You gotta make sure you're the only one.

Bro, that is so much more true than you think that is. Yeah, bro. I when I'm down and I've had depressive, like don't open your mouth, but just contemplating episodes, don't open your mouth. Abysses drops. Yep, they're come on, I'm telling you. Because my managers pick up on it because they see me all come on, and then they go past that down that emotional.

I'm telling you, yes, man. It's a Sunday. Oh, yeah. We all go in, yeah. But Anthony, see, let me tell you something, man. You're human being at the end of the day, I'm human being, everyone's watching this. The end of the day, that is why you need people that have that will, that fire. Anthony, let's go. Come on, let's do this, bro. Because you're human. There's gonna be days that you're down and sad, like, I don't know. You need people to uplift you. You gotta have it around.

I need someone to look at me and say, Anthony, stepping up and keep going.

Do you have that? Truthfully speaking, I think so. How many people do you have like that? Three. Okay, that's good. Some people don't got any money. That's really good. You? Okay, Amanda and Skyler. And you and Sarah, too. Sarah, too.

I'm in business relationships.

Yeah, but I'm talking about in life.

Oh, my wife is number one.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. She chess all the time. Oh, so so you're lucky. So you got four people in your is there anyone outside of business that you have that says, Anthony, stop, bro. We gotta do this. We can do this. Let's let's hustle. John does.

John.

Oh, kill Martin. Shout out to John, man.

We had to talk with this yesterday, actually. That's fire, bro. He's like, we just tell it, him and I just tell it how it is. No matter what's going on, just do it. Just stop being pathetic. Go.

So, would you advise people? I would. You, I think you have to, business, you're you're gonna have to surround any go. You have to survive yourself with the right people, man. Because the wrong environment will make you fail. You contemplating them thoughts like this.

What's the number one to become a drug dealer? Hang out in a loud street.

Hang out in a loud street. That's the number one way, yeah.

Right. Go drive around the neighborhood. All the guys are hanging out in the middle of the air. Go on a Monday. You're gonna be shot, you're gonna be a drug dealer, you're gonna be again. Go on a Monday to a neighborhood and it's just women walking around with kids, you're gonna be a millionaire.

There you go. And those, and guess what? Those are usually the neighborhoods where the greatest ideas are born. Because peace creates creativity.

Innovation is born in peace. Innovation is driven by two things: capitalism, yeah. The ability to know that you can succeed no matter what, which is why capitalism is the gold standard for everything. Correct, correct. You cannot commit to the other. Capitalistic assistant idea, yeah. And quiet. Quiet in the sense of boredom. Yep. You have to be bored. Yes. You're mentally.

You have to eliminate yourself from meaning and all that.

Don't jump from this is why uh also employees will never get ahead. Some of them at least. They go from working an eight-hour shift, then they go to home and scroll on their phones for two hours, and then they go home and watch a movie, and then I'll play video games. Yeah, but that's lazy. No, it's just that even if it's not laziness, it's not leaving space for boredom. Sit there and think about different ways to utilize your time to make more money, learn a different skill.

Yeah, but that's what you're doing. But that is laziness because you're at you are making that decision to I'm a let me see, PlayStation 5. You're doing it. You're doing it. But if you're born into, if you're born into a uh a poverty-stricken environment or neighbor, that wasn't my choice. I was born poor, but you don't have to end poor. It's like a Bill Gates.

You have to have the ability, you have the open mind to think about it. You have to be bored. You have to lock yourself like Ray Ramone does in a private room with a pen and paper for four hours and not leave for four hours, even though we write something.

But he does it because it comes down to how bad do you want this to work? That's what it comes down to, eh? You're playing video games, that means you want to play video games. Whatever you focus on comes to fruition. Whatever you focus on, you're looking for a girlfriend, you will eventually find it. If you're looking to make money, you will eventually find it. Everything is how though. I don't want to just be an employer, I want to be a business owner. There's routes to it. That's what it comes down to. Separating yourself. I'm done, Ant. I'm done.

We went from branding to that, but yes. I love it though. Go start a business brand, create a personal brand, truly where you succeed. And if you know the name of a band aid, let us know in the comments below.