The Employee Mistake That Cost Me Millions

Full transcript

Welcome back, guys. I'm Anthony Eamon. This is the Anthony Eamon Show. I owned Redefined Fitness, hitting three million dollars in revenue this year, and I want to teach you more stuff. We got my co-host Yao. Yao is the film Extraordinaire, but today we're gonna talk about employees. Yep. The good, the bad, the ugly. Let's talk about it all. Because I could tell you something. Every single day I learned something. And what I know now, if I knew that nine years ago, I'd have a $20 million business at this point.

Wow. So you think it sets you back that far? Employees make a break your business. Wow. Because they are your business. But you did say you blame yourself for certain things. So let's see where this goes. Let's see where this goes. What is something you've learned that set you back $17 million?

The absolute biggest mistake I made in business was trusting people too much.

Oh, this one's gonna be good. You think that's a mistake? Trusting your employees too much is a mistake. Giving blanket trust.

I know I'm gonna give some examples for context. There's been a lot of times through business, someone makes a mistake, and I say, oh it's okay, but they didn't mean that. Or they're late to work. Oh, I had car trouble. Oh, okay, yeah, that's fine. Oh, you know, I the light wasn't going. That's why I'm late. And these things stack because you take little micro moments and you want to believe people. And that's the trust, right? They're working like why would they ever want to do dirty in a company? Like, don't they want to see somebody grow? Like they tell me and they talk to my face how much they love it. And it's just not true. They want to take the laziest route possible in order to make the most amount of money. Like, that's the mindset some people have. It's not everybody. That's true. Yeah. It's definitely not. But that's what makes business so tough. Yes. You have to be able to figure out who is and who isn't right. And sometimes it's not even the person, it's just the person in the job. That's true too. Or maybe the person in the position. That is true too. That was me and one, you know, right. Yeah. So you have to learn in business how to create something and put the right people in the right position to get the best results. And that isn't something you just have. It has to be a skill that you learn through time. And I grew up in a family atmosphere where I was told to forgive and forget.

Okay.

Or turn the other cheek. Let me tell you what doesn't work in business. That.

That. That. Turn in the other cheek. Because then people constantly screw you over. Well, well, no, no. Sorry. Sorry. The bad eggs constantly screw you over. Okay, go ahead. All right. All right. Never mind.

The good eggs, and then this is what makes it even worse. The good eggs, you still end up screwing over. Because they watch the bad eggs get away with it and then they want to quit and get the hell out. And you got an employee like that. You know, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. All the time. Yeah. I lose good people because they watch the bad people get away with shit. And they're like, I don't understand, there's no company. Yeah. And it's it's so hard. And as a business owner, I feel like you have to get screwed over a thousand times in order to figure out, like, oh, well, I need to be harder. And then people think, like, oh, that guy's a jackass. Like, he doesn't, he has all these strict rules.

But you have to. So if you realize that you have to be hard after people have taken advantage of you and all these other things and come up with an excuse, it's just crazy, you think the stories and situations that have occurred. How long did it take you until you doubled down and really be got serious? We're still getting there. Why? Why is it still a work in progress? Whereas it could be an overnight thing for some people.

You lose people, and you're like, wow, I'm losing employees, and your clients get mad because of losing employees. But you're just trying to level the bar up the business. And then you recover from that, and they have to realize, oh, I'm still not high enough. And then you go up again. So it's a catch-22 because what you need to realize is let's say you're your strict like it's down here and you're just doing this, and you're constantly going up and down, up and down, leveling up, you're better off going away and going into the extreme. And then when you catch up there, you're good. But you know, you're afraid, and I this is what I've been afraid with my whole time. I'm afraid of being that guy. Wow. We had a we had a podcast to go back. I was talking about the elevator. I was just about to say that I was just about to say he fired some of the gentlemen's brother for lunch, Jobs. Like people said he's a dick.

Yeah, but he created Olay players. And so that's so funny you brought up because I was gonna ask you. I was like, is that the and for those who don't know what we're talking about, what we're referring to, uh Steve Jobs terminated somebody that was maybe 30 seconds to a minute late from lunch, caught him on an elevator going back to his desk, and Steve Jobs said your lunch ended at 345, it's 346. Why are you not back at work? He got fired on the elevator because of that. That's why it was no one like taking the elevator with Steve Jobs because they knew what was coming. So that's what we're referring to. With that being said, Anthony, is that the level you're trying to get to? I don't know. So, okay, so you don't there's no goal, like I need to be like, you just I want to be at the level that works. Uh what is that? What does that look like? That's the business question.

What does that look like? I can tell you what it's not. Okay. It's not letting people get away with shit. It's not constantly letting people step all over you. It's not constantly giving into the little things because they're gonna be turning out the big things. It's not the people who constantly tell you they're your best friend, those are the ones that are probably screwing you over the most. So you have to really understand what's going on. Like, I know a company, and I'm gonna leave that context of this one a little bit. There was a girl who was pregnant, five five five months pregnant, visibly pregnant, who was snorting painkillers at a desk job. Like, but she did a lot of bunch of other shit prior to that, and finally got caught doing that, and then the person pulled him into the office and was like, okay, we're gonna have to like let you go, but like stop doing that. Like that. What is that to? So you use this is a story you heard from the email. Yeah, I know this is somebody. But the point being like I see that, and there were so many red flags prior. That's you showing a lady hiding in the bathroom too much. Like those things always lead up so many, so many times. You just want to this is this is the biggest conundrum, and I want you to people to really sit with this because this is my lifelong struggle right here. This this is it. I relate everyone to me. So the point being, yes, I would never intentionally hurt my business. Right. And I always know if I do something bad, I give myself the benefit of the doubt because I'm trying to do good. Like my ultimate goal is to do good, and someone like me I want on my team. And I always push that into other people. So I'm like, well, for me, you know, my car is broken down, this happened to me. I really I can't get mad at them, but I give them the benefit of the doubt because I know that and so I would do it for myself. You've been on that side as a but then I have to realize no one's me because they don't own the company, they don't have stakes in this. So how do you find that line of giving benefit of the doubt where understanding they don't own the company, but still trying to find the A players to help grow that company? It's so hard. And then you compare conflate let we talk to skill versus will you people who are really good at what they do, but the cancers.

Cancers, you gotta get those out of there, man. And they destroy everything one bad person can turn an entire gym of Sahanya Young. That that one without a doubt, without a doubt, which brings me to the next point. You you said this before. Do you feel that do you feel like currently, I just go currently, do you feel like you currently have cancers in the business? And if you do, why are you not getting rid of them? Right, catch 22. So you do, you're agreeing. I do have cancers in the business right now. Right now. Everyone does. I don't know, company doesn't. Why are you not getting rid of them?

Because you're in catch 22, which is you're afraid of clients love them, right? Because a very service-based business, a lot easier in someone that's not server side. True, that's correct. So if I fire them, I lose their clients, which then loses that revenue because the clients become lawyer to that employee. Even like the problem. That's the problem. Even though we've implemented things to try to push that house, yeah, change that.

Yeah, direct. And then it's helped. Correct. But it it still exists no matter what.

And I can't tell you like you drive this line and clients come all the time. Why did you fire that person? Why did you fire that person? Why did they look great? And I don't want to talk shit about people. I'm just like, ah, it didn't work out. I'm not gonna tell them the reason I fired them or whatever. And they go, they were really good, they were really good, they're really good.

And it's and it's probably burning you inside, right? You want to tell me to life like you don't even have it. I'm not gonna tell you what this dude was doing.

Like, if you think they were great, they were screwing your program up. Oh wow. Like, I want to tell them like you think they're doing they're horrible trainers, they weren't following code, they weren't doing this, they weren't doing that. There's so much better you can get, and then some people take that as an excuse to leave because now it's a change that could write that off because that's the reason. Because it's hard to convince people to work out, and then the the craziest thing happens. You hire someone, I don't really like that person. I just give them a chance, just try it. Two months later, wow, they're way better than the last person. No shit. Yeah, yeah, and then guess what? The psychopathie themselves. They fall in love with that person, gotta fire that person, we'll level up again. Same thing. Some of them quit, and you get the three months later, like, oh wow, they're better than as a client. Uh I want, and this has helped me with businesses too. A company is never gonna fire a really good employee, someone that's servicing you really well, correct. In both ways, well and scale, yeah. Right? Yeah, so my job is to keep the client, correct? Right? The client brings in revenue, I give the client results, it's a win-win, it's a transactional relationship, which we spoke about before. Yeah. So, why in the world would I ever fire somebody that would do a disservice to them? Isn't me firing someone a benefit to them because I'm bringing someone in better, because I'm raising the standards for them so they can get a better experience here?

Yeah, but you're not taking your advice. You don't want to fire certain people right now because you're afraid of losing those clients. Because you're in that catch 20. Because how do you explain it to people? Yeah, but if you're afraid to lose certain clients, my whole point is you gotta have you gotta trade, you gotta trade off. Get the capsule, you gotta trade off. You see that you keep the clients or you fire the cancer. The cancer will do more damage than losing the clients. Do you agree? Disagree? Agree if you have the people to back it up.

Meaning you have a replacement to fill in as a stop gap, because otherwise you have nobody because you're fully booked and you can't service that client at all.

How many are you talking roughly? This is based on this, based on keeping an employee that's cancerous, you're not talking one or two or three. It seems like it must be more than a few.

Oh, it's a few, but everyone is.

I believe it counts.

Yeah.

Do you not see this contradictive? I do. But what do you do? You have to do it.

I mean, but you have nowhere to put the client or nowhere to service them. So what we have to do is actively hire, actively recruit before you fire. Correct. See you have to plan it out, and then you get the the other side of it, right? Where people go, that's unfair to that person because you're planning on firing them in a month. They're unaware. They're unaware, they think they're on good terms, you're not telling them. Well, you know what, dog? That is it. See, we spoke about that. That is kind of it is. Then you then you get to the well, I should tell people that I'm gonna fire. That's what I'm trying to say. Like, you don't think that yeah, like if I came to you and said, Yeah, I'm gonna follow your reaction, bitch. Oh, it's over. You both are it's over. Then I lose you, then I'm disservicing the clients again. What you're supposed to you're supposed to serve it, be a company that has good standards for your employees and clients, right? It's it's both ways. So I'm trying to service my clients the ones feeding the machine, all right? They feeding the business. Yeah, yeah, 100%. So I can't do them just I have to try to protect my clients as much as physically possible to give them the best experience.

But your trainers are feeding the machine also and growing the business.

Of course. What it stands you need to bring people in first or try your hardest to bring people in first, which is kind of goes into another point. You should always be hiring.

I remember you said that, yeah, get rid of the worst, hire more, hire more.

Even if you get to the point you don't want to fire people anymore, you have a backlog.

Bro, so with you, no one's ever safe. But no one's ever safe. That's what we've talked about. I know that. I know that. No one's ever safe, no matter what. But no one's safe in a marriage just because you're married. Yes, but it's a different. No, no, no. No, no, no, no, no. No, Anthony, look, look, look. There's a difference because you're actively looking for someone to replace you just in case you play games or mess up. And marriage, you're not actively looking for women when you're married. I would say some people are. That's hard. That's horrible. There's two players in marriage. That's horrible, bro. But to most that are happily married, you're not actively looking for another partner just in case my wife messes up. So what's the difference? So it can't be the same because as an employee, if you're actively looking for someone, that means I don't have all my faith in you. That means you're on rock, you're you're you're on the rocks. If you mess up, I'm getting rid of you. Absolutely.

I have a kind of argument for you. Okay. I want you to think about this. I'm gonna relate it back to marriage. Okay. When you get married, yeah. And told my wife this, and I said that this is extreme. This is how we think, okay? There's no such thing as divorce. I agree. I know that yeah, I agree with that. No, no, think about that.

No, I know that. Well, you no, you well, uh huh.

Now you think sit on that, okay? I will not marry somebody if divorce is ever a question.

That's your belief. That's what I believe. You won't get divorced under any circumstances that I will not get married to someone. There's a divorce is an option now. That's not the point of getting married. Correct. You're right about that, yes. But is divorce at a table for you in your marriage?

Never.

So if your wife harms you, you're not gonna leave. Figure out a way to fix it. You'll never leave. I don't think I will. There was an episode where you said accountability looks like me walking away, y'all. Of course. If my wife pushed me down the stairs, I'm not gonna be a dummy and stay. Right.

So this is But I wouldn't marry somebody that would push me down the stairs. Okay, I guess. Right. So that's you're saying, uh, yeah, I guess you're not. That's the whole point of dating vetting process. Correct. So you go, it's the same thing as an employee being here for four years, right? Take that. That's a long enough time horizon to know this point staying for a long time. Dating someone for four years is a long enough time horizon to know that you know they're not gonna do the extreme things. I understand what you're not gonna push from the stairs, they're not gonna uh the head. But if you know them, you know them, yeah. Correct. So outside of the vetting process of the extremes. Yes. So employees for five years, four years, whatever the case may be, same thing with dating you're four or five years in, you you have to. It's like, as long as I know I'm doing good, why would I ever want to get divorced? But I'm not supposed to take my wife for granted as well. Right? Yeah. So it's the other side of it. Like, if I'm Sarah and I, and I'm a person, I get caught up in dated days, and I admitted to her all the time. Like, sorry, I was thinking about X when I should be focusing on Y. Like, well, humans make mistakes. But I need to constantly remind myself, like, I need to prioritize my wife. And prioritizing my wife means constantly growing with her, constantly winning her offer, constantly doing things. Like it's hard right now, but prior to kids, we were doing dates very like often. How often would you say? Weekly. Oh, wow. And we get back into it and back out of it, just uh ebbs and flows of the kids because they're so young right now. But we really do try, like we just had a date a couple weeks ago.

Yeah, Spider-Man, yeah.

Yeah, so we like try to build that time in so it's not taking it for granted because it's so easy. You're right. I just think tell you, I had a conversation with uh like someone you're right, went for love for vacation two weeks ago. And he's like, We're married for 16 years, and we just both took each other for granted, and now we're getting divorced. He's like, you know, it's bad when you both look at each other and say, Wow, we don't love each other anymore.

There's a difference between loving the person. Oh, you said don't love each other. They don't love this, they don't love each other or that one is different because that's got caught up with other priorities.

Yeah, no, it can't be unemployed back here the same scenario. It's it can't be just because you're here. That can't be the only reason. We can get comfortable, yeah. You can't get comfortable. Yeah, you have to constantly win the person over, right? Constantly win the business over, constantly go above and beyond, constantly keep going, constantly keep growing because the company's gonna keep growing. So as the company grows, it can bring more resources to you as an employee. You can make more money, you can get more. You bring more to the company, the company's will supply.

It's a it's a mutual benefiting relationship transaction with each other, but it has to be mutual. So let me ask you this question then. If you say that, do you have employees currently that have done the same exact thing since they started that they're doing today? Yes or no? All my employees have leveled up to some extent. Really, really. You don't have an employee that's doing the same exact thing to a certain degree. You don't believe that?

No, no, everyone is leveled up. It's just the cadence the leveling up at because there's also another core value we have, which is speed.

Okay, would you say you have employees that are moving extremely slower than you would like? Yes. And are kind of stuck in the past almost. Oh, yeah. Really? Yeah. What are your thoughts about those employees? Terminate or keep keep, talk to, then terminate. How long have you been in business? Nine years. These employees that I'm referring to, how long have they been here? It's it's all over ranges. Okay. I'm assuming the reason I asked is I'm assuming you had this conversation with them already. No, you have not had this conversation. Because it's catch 220 mil. Yeah, they have a backlog of trainers. Come on now, bro. But then, so who's so so who's that fall on mid? Because you didn't have a conversation with them. Correct. But you're aware of it, so why haven't you? Because I need to get better having those conversations. Now you go even further. Because I'll go further for you. Yeah. Because I'm still learning how to be myself. There you go. And that's that's what I was getting at. There's a reluctancy because you don't want to maybe I don't want to hurt somebody. That's it. Thank you very much. But that's what I was getting to. That's it.

Because I was still trying to be too nice. I'm still trying to be too nice. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's yet again constantly giving in and thinking the guilt and giving people second chances. But how many small mistakes have to realize? Like, yeah, this is when it became so clear, and it took eight times. Maybe I'm a slow learner. You fire somebody because they do something wrong, a couple things here and there, and then you realize there's so much garbage under the rug. Like, you only well you fired them up was 10%, and they're still 98% that you missed.

Yeah, you're gonna go higher, you fucking and found out. Oh, you were doing a whole bunch of other stuff that I was gonna do.

We had someone collecting payments for us. Okay, never told us that the payments went onto a credit card that we were supposed to then run because it was paid from the state. We thought we we I thought everything came through his checks. So he would rectify his accounts received, whatever, whatever. No, one of these payments went to a fucking credit card and supposed to run that credit card, he never did it. Oh so let's go to another topic. You're in the beginner as a company, right? Yeah. And you realize the only solution is to have redundancies. And redundancies means have two people responsible for the same thing. That way you can catch checks and balances, right? And they go, that's what the US government's like that checks and balances in your freaking company because you need people to constantly verify things to make sure that system is so I had to hire a CFO. My CFO has to eventually catch up on everything and really be able to keep an eye on this. And she isn't covering these things, right? Wild. So I'm sitting here questioning as a business owner, why would I hire a fractional CFO? That's gonna cost me about $5,000 a month. That's a lot of money. This woman has already saved me $5,000 a month by finding money. That's the point. That's the whole point. And I was worried. Yeah. Or I can have someone embezzle $100,000 for me. If I had over the beating, it never would happen. Correct. But I'm too worried as having $5,000 in a fractional CFO.

And they're coming to save you.

Yeah.

So you would say the hindrance right now between you and certain employees that are currently employed, certain employees that are currently here, is that you've through time you've gained a liking for them and grew a personal relationship with them. And that hinders you from having these real conversations with them and letting them essentially either change your behavior or you're terminated. And what so you can attribute the lack of success or where you feel that you should be because of that. 100%. So you know, you know, you knowing this, you being conscious of this, why not do it now, today? What does keep you from doing? Screw it. Hey man, I need to do this. I know I'm aware of this guy's messed up, this lady's messing up. I need to have a conversation now. Where am I waiting on? My business is gonna go down, X, Y, and Z is going on. I need to grow, I want more location. Like, I need to grow.

Because I grew up always thinking other people were more important than me. That's horrible. Why is that?

I don't know. I just know that's how I feel. You think that stemmed from bullying some somewhat?

That probably. I'm sure there's other factors pertaining into it, but I always thought everyone was more important than me. And I didn't prioritize myself and let people take advantage of me over and over and over again for a lot of factors in my life and use me. And people obviously have used me. And I take a step forward. I take a step back. I take a step steps forward, step back, two steps forward, step back. And I'm getting there. And it's you try to go there, and then people don't like the way you act, and they try pulling you back. It's like the you become a version of you that other people don't like. So the people that don't want to don't like that version constantly do things to make you become the old version again.

Yeah, because they can't take advantage of you anymore.

Yeah.

That's why. They don't like the new version because it can't get over on you anymore.

They don't like either taking advantage or you make them look bad.

Taking advantage. I can't do what I used to do to you. And if what they used to do to you is taking advantage and they can't do it, they try to let you revert to the old person you are. That's the reason why. Do you think you still have what you know? It's funny. That's why you say business is life, life is business. The way you carry your business is most likely the way you carry your business. Say it again. There's no difference. Yeah. Do you think you still have people in your life that take advantage of you? Actively that you know of in your personal life? Because this all spills into business. This is why you still have employees here that you know shouldn't be here. And essentially they're taking advantage and you're not calling out for it.

I think the problem I've learned now is I'm so just discombobulated about and disgruntled about the whole thing. I don't know anymore. Like it used to be it used to it used to be people took advantage of me and I just I didn't know because I was ignorant. Okay. Right. And then I learned, and now I just assume everybody is. See, there's a there's an exploding on both sides. Of course. So I'm trying to learn to dial that back. Correct, correct. And realize that not everyone is. There is levels to the and of course, relationships need to be mutual beneficiary, meaning there's always a case, like you and I, right? We mutual benefit of each other, but you still want something out of me. That's fine, that's normal.

Yeah, I mean, how can you do it?

But it's not one way. Yes. Yes. And that's that's what you need to try to uncover is how do you see both sides? It's really interesting. My wife and I talk about transactional relationships. She says everything's very transactional. She's saying you are. I do. Okay. She says every relationship is seen as a transaction.

And what's meaning good is she good or bad on that stance? Like is it a good thing? It's not a good thing.

Okay. I think it's a good thing to an extent. Because transaction doesn't have to be monetary. Correct. And I don't think should everything in life isn't monetary, but there needs to be I need to gain something from you. Whatever that may be. Like knowledge or whatever. Yeah, take the the stat that everyone likes using. You're the average of the five people spend the most time with. Correct. I'm gonna gain something from you, even if I think you're leveled up with something I want. If you're in shape, more physically fit than me, you might not be actually giving this, but I'm picking up on your habits. I'm taking something from you. Right? That is that coming in definitely. It's transactional. It's transactional in a sense. So maybe there's a point.

Maybe it's a good thing. It depends to what it to what extent I would say. Well in these relationships. Because then it makes the because then it makes the um it makes the relationship. But is it well? It gets cold. Yeah. It almost comes across like that. It's like it's not it's disingenuous. Like, I don't know if Anthony really likes me like that. I feel like we see I almost feel almost feel used almost when talking to him. No, because you, I'm sure every relationship you get something out of it.

Even subconsciously. Like, um it's it's kind of the argument that philosophers use about altruism. Whether there's such a thing as true altruism. Meaning I think I do something for somebody and I get zero benefit from selflessness, yeah.

I don't think there is. So the answer, you don't do stuff for people and get nothing out of it. You know, I don't think there's such a thing as true altruism. Oh, you think you believe somebody's always doing something to get some type of gain, some type of uh that's we're in New York, it snows.

The old lady next to me can't shovel her driveway. I go and I shovel her driveway for it because she physically can't. She didn't ask me to. I just did it at the goodness of my heart, right?

Some people would say that's altruism. 100%. I I'll give you examples of things I've done. 100%, that is. I disagree. Okay, why why? Because you did it so you could feel good at the end. Yeah, but bro.

You went so little. You did her a favor, right? Yeah, so it's still good for her.

Yeah.

Right? It's not egocentric.

Yes, correct.

At all. Correct. I don't think it's black or white egocentric altruism. Correct. You did something for her to make her feel good, which in turn made you feel good, and now you feel good the rest of the day because you did something for someone else. So you donate money to a charity, right? You're it doesn't, you don't get anything for the money, whatever the case may be, but you feel good about it.

So you got good spirit. You gained something. That's what you say. So in that in that sense, that your transactional in that sense as well. It doesn't have to just be mounted. In that sense, you do so for so you have friends that you may not gain any knowledge from. You may not gain, but do you have friends that I just talked to them because I feel good on about helping them? Yeah. Do you have employees that you just feel good about helping them, but meanwhile, they're detrimental to your business? I'm sure I do. I'm sure that's part of the problem you learn to balance in the business side. Hey, and guess what? It's it's their business side, it's tougher. Hey, and guess what? Um, that mindset is why some of us would never reach a highest expectation without a kill that if you want to reach highest. You have to be willing. You have to be like, yeah, you have to be willing to allow people to be hurt and cut them out of your life if you want to reach your highest expectation. Most never do reach highest expectations, but you have to be willing to do that. You have to, man, listen, emotion having emotions involved in relationships, man, especially when it comes to business specifically, it's gonna hurt you in the end. You will, you know, people shouldn't be here actively actively here. You know in your heart they shouldn't, but because you built a rapport with them, a long-term relationship, you still have them here. What does that do?

And I think this is just a good note to end on because it's absolutely wild and hysterical, and I just want to bring it up. I called an employee once on a wild occurrence, and I just think this is quirky, and if you want to look at this for you guys two years ago, I was in my bed sleeping, and I had a dream. And I have these visions that come to me once in a while, like once or twice a year. And they always feel different, they don't feel like dreams, they feel real, like there's this it's hard to explain, but I know they're visions and they're not dreams. Like I I subconsciously know that when I'm having it. So I I that that came to me. It was a vision. And I saw myself overlooking my Stonyberg location, and my assistant manager was distributing the quarterly exam, and he was going to do it later that day at one o'clock. This is obviously early hours in the morning from Jerry. And I saw him distribute the exam to everyone. I saw how they were sitting, I saw how he was standing, and then they started taking the test, and I saw that he wasn't giving them the answers, but he was working through the answers with them. So they'd be like, Oh, is it this or this? And he goes, Well, think about it, and talk it through and basically cheating and get them the answers, but not like a direct, it's end. Correct, correct. I saw the whole thing. I woke up and I was like, That guy's gonna cheat. I called the manager, the person above it. I said, Devin, he's gonna cheat on the exam. He said, or he's not gonna cheat. I said, No, I saw it. I explained the low vision to him. He's looked at me and he really looked for me. He goes, You're out of your mind. That's what you told me. And I think most people would say most people would that's a reasonable insidious conjuring stuff you're talking about, insidious. Yeah, that was at 9 a.m. 1 p.m. comes, and I was when I just had Dustin, so I was rocking him on a chair, and I was like, pull the cameras up. I'll do the biggest run a little bit. So at the top, bro. No, verbatim. Verbatim. You got chills, right? I snapshot recorded the entire thing on the cameras, took the whole video clipping, sent it to Devin, and he called me and goes, Holy shit. He goes, if you told me you had a dream about that after the fact, I wouldn't have believed you. The fact you called me four hours prior to let me know that's gonna happen, and he did that exact thing. He's like, What do I say to him? Anthony had a vision, and that's why you got caught. Wow. We ended up telling him he was. We wrote him up for a pip from financial plan. And he goes, just curious, like, how did you catch me? And we just told him. Is he still here? That guy? No.

Okay. Wow. But like, wild. Wow. So sometimes you gotta go your intuition, your visions, and it leads you. They yeah, you just gotta submit to what you feel that gut feeling, man. That feels right. But I do believe I want to end off on this, Anthony, that and agree to disagree, you owe those people a conversation at least. I have already started. Okay, good.

Uh, the conversations are coming. I made a promise. We were away last week. I made a promise to myself and to my wife.

I'm gonna be me. That's dope. You're gonna be yourself, authentic self, through and through.

That means we're going balls the walls. We're doing everything I think about. That's fine. I want to build up to, talk about. And if you see us now and you're watching this, I want you to watch us a year from today. And watch the channel. When we're gonna be on the whole level, because I'm gonna do things that most business owners only dream about doing. Dream about doing.

Yeah. Anthony, what did you what would you say you took away from this episode? Accountability is leverage, that's our slogan. What do you hold yourself accountable for?

Be me. Be you.

Be your authentic self.

Be and a little philosophy note to end it. There's something, uh, it's core values, and we all have different models. I think there's like 75 of them. There's values that we all have, and we all have different ones. There's like 70, 75 of them. And I had to do an exercise once where I picked like my top three core values. Right. Authenticity was a big one too. Yeah and went through it. And the values that we spelt, they were useful, right? I was able to hold myself. If I truly believe this, I need to live this. Like if I want to be authentic and be authentic. Right?

Yeah.

If I want to build connections, because I have values to connections, meaning one-on-one relationships, I need to work on that. But I noticed going through this for like three months, there's something that stood out above all of it. Okay. And I brought this to someone, I said, you know, there's these values I hold, but there's just one value that I feel like you need, or you can't have any of the other ways. Which is why. It's the value. You want to guess what the value was? And he actually told me that Aristotle coined it as the value. Like you need that to even have any of the values altogether whatsoever. Want to guess what it is? Well, I have no idea. What is it? Courage. You can't have any values in your life if you don't have the courage to do something about them. That's fine. That's fine. That's the lesson from Aristotle. Well, that's good. Do you have courage? Do you have the courage to live by who you want to be no matter what the consequence is? We'll see you next time, guys. Please like, comment, subscribe.