Kind: captions
Language: en
What is up everybody? Welcome to a very
special Facebook live. Tom Billu Emma.
Um we had a lot of responses to a post
that we did on Facebook um soliciting
questions. You guys submitted the
questions. These are going to be the
answers. It is going to be a lightning
round. I have a hard stop at 12. Uh so
it gives us a little less than an hour.
Um but I'm going to burn through all of
these bad boys and then if there's time
I'll also be taking live questions. So,
if you have a question during any of
this, a follow-up, something you wanted
more information on, go ahead and drop
it in. And, uh, we will get to that. And
then, um, this could also potentially be
a new format, um, which we'll call the
AMA series. All right. So, here we go.
The first question was submitted by
Melissa Utiro. What pushed you through
the days when you were living your
reality, but working towards your
vision? Um, obviously, it takes time.
So, how did you stay focused on your
goals that seemed out of reach? Um, so
first and foremost, this is what I call
the arrogance of belief. uh you have to
believe that you can accomplish it. So I
won't say that I ever allowed goals to
seem out of my reach. There have been
many many times in my life where I was
really unsure of how I was going to pull
it off, but I never let that stop me
from taking the first step. Um and I
think that's critical. So here at Impact
Theory, we're building a studio, a
traditional studio. So think Disney. And
I think it's going to take a very long
time to um outpace Disney. And I have no
idea how we're actually going to pull it
off. I have some theories, things we're
going to try. Um, but that didn't stop
me from taking the first step and taking
a risk and knowing that I'll be looking
for opportunities all along the way and
that I won't be afraid to pivot or go in
a new direction. So, that's really
critical and developing the skill, the
willingness to even though you don't
know exactly how you're going to pull it
off, to have faith that taking one step
after another is always always the right
answer. So, only execution matters. Uh,
being willing to take a risk is
absolutely critical. Um, so yeah, that's
always been my motto. always be learning
and always be moving forward. All right,
the next question comes from Drea Van
Grisven. How did you find what suited
you for success? I followed lots of
paths and have been successful in almost
all of them yet still looking for the oh
my god, I'm going to do this for the
rest of my life moment. So, this really
comes down to how do you find or develop
a passion? So, I want to differentiate
between I don't believe you find a
passion, I believe you develop it. Um so
you need to look inside yourself for
areas of interest and things you just
find interesting whatever they may be.
Don't pass a judgment on them. Um find
an area that overlaps ideally multiple
interests overlapping and then the
absolute critical part it overlaps with
your ability to monetize. So whether
that um manifests as employment in
somebody else's company, whether that
manifests as um being a a contractor or
whether that is actually building your
own business, I don't think it really
matters. Um whatever suits your
personality, but at the end of the day,
you need to find an area where that
interest overlaps with your ability to
monetize. Then you're going to begin
gaining mastery in that thing. The
desire to be great, I think, is
absolutely critical. and anybody that
doesn't have a desire to be great to
push their own skill set regardless of
what other people are saying. So, if the
world is pushing back on you and telling
you that it doesn't want you to be
great, that it doesn't want to see you
shine. Um, like Kodak Black says, thank
you to the people that submitted that
when I asked what song that was, uh,
that people don't want to see you win.
Um, if you can still pursue greatness in
the face of that and wanting to develop
your own skill set, then you're going to
go far. And it's in the development of
mastery in an area of interest that will
ultimately develop into a passion. So,
um if you haven't found that, oh my god,
I want to do this for the rest of my
life moment. Um one, don't be afraid of
that. I don't think that anything needs
to be um a forever thing. And the only
thing I know about any forever company
that I do, which I actually consider
impact theory to be my forever company,
is that it has to be flexible enough to
allow me to adapt and change and grow
and want to move in multiple directions.
So, excuse me. Don't be uh tense about
that. Okay, the next one. Lewis Ramos,
if you could start again with no money
connections team, which industry would
you tackle and why? Well, the great news
is that I just had that opportunity. So,
um building Quest and really wanting it
to be that flexible forever company um
and and just having the sort of
unimaginable success, but being
identified as a protein bar company that
made it impossible for me to do this
part of my passion set, which is the
mind. So Quest allowed me to address the
body, which was amazing and I will
forever be grateful um for all of the
success we had there and and just still
am such a huge believer in that and
still consider myself the chief
evangelist for the company. Um but it
wouldn't allow me to address the mind
and that was um really when I turn
inward is the thing that I'm most meant
to do. So um wanting to do that I had to
start over. Um I did have the good
fortune admittedly of uh having the
money connections and the team. Um but
nonetheless the industry is the same. So
I would be addressing the pandemic of
the mind as I see it. Depression,
anxiety, um the lack of belief in
oneself, the lack of belief that you can
become whatever you want to become. Um
and wanting to do that through the lens
of narrative because I believe that it's
the most powerful way to do it. Um so I
would still be in that industry. I would
just obviously be taking a different
approach. Though I still would be using
social content because you can do it for
free. it just wouldn't look like this.
Um, we would be in this would be a
podcast. I would do most of my
interviewing over the phone. Uh, but
none of what I think makes me a good
interviewer um costs money. It takes
time, but it doesn't cost money. So, I
would still be leveraging that. All
right. Stacy Lee, on tough mornings and
days, what specifically are you telling
your mind that gets you out of bed to
keep moving? Um, step-by-step methods,
tactics would be awesome. All right. So
for me, I think that you need rules that
you live by. So one of the rules that I
live by, for instance, that gets me out
of bed is literally I have 10 minutes to
get out of bed. Um and to be the person
that I want to be, then that I have to
get out of bed because I've set a rule
for myself. So you need to understand
that um behavior drives or sorry
identity drives your behavior. So you
need to craft your identity around
something that's going to get you the
behaviors that you want. So I am by
nature a lazy person. But I don't let
that be part of my identity. So what I
tell myself is I'm the type of person
that despite being lazy is always going
to do and believe that which moves me
towards my goals. So adjust your
identity and the behaviors will follow.
All right, Brandon Vanderstappen, dope
name. Uh first off, huge thanks for
giving us this opportunity. Totally my
pleasure. Uh my question is this. What
is your ongoing heartfelt commitment to
yourself and all of those around
you? Um well, my entire business is
really predicated on um one promise
which is that I really feel I got pulled
out of the matrix and I got pulled out
of the matrix by my wife, by the books
that I read, by my business partners.
like there just been cumulatively all
these amazing people that have come into
my life that ultimately pulled me out of
the matrix and I swore that if I ever
had um ever gotten to a position where I
could pay that forward that I would and
so now that's really the central mission
of my life is to what is the most
scalable way to give people that
mentality that will get them out of the
matrix. So that is for sure uh my most
ongoing and heartfelt commitment to
myself and to others is to give them the
mental framework with which to be
successful however they define success.
Um your question is sort of
multiaceted. Uh but I think to make sure
that um I get to all of them I'm going
to have to stop there. Sorry. Uh Jen
Jerome, does your ego allow you to take
advice from someone now? Uh your wife
doesn't count. Like, do you only allow
yes men around you? I don't mean any of
this in a bad way. You are awesome to
me, but I was wondering when you get to
that to the level that you're at, can
you still listen if you're doing
something wrong? Uh, let me tell you, a
I don't think that you're ever going to
succeed at the level that you want if
you can't learn. And you're sure as hell
not going to stay at that level if you
can't learn. So, the only thing I can
promise you is that change is coming for
you. The world is changing so rapidly
that uh I think at the core of anybody
with an antifragile personality, you
absolutely must be willing to sit at
somebody else's feet with absolutely no
ego and learn. So I know I'm wrong about
just an unimaginable amount of things
and I'm always looking to get better and
so my identity is that of the learner.
So the only distressing thing I find in
your question is does your ego allow you
to take advice from someone? Now um I
have like my life and my success is
predicated on the fact that I'm always
trying to learn from everybody. I
believe everybody is my superior in some
way and I'm just trying to extract as
much knowledge from people as humanly
possible. So uh the long and the short
of that is absolutely and not the least
of which is my wife who I think also has
amazing answers. Uh I do not surround
myself with yesmen. These people here
tell me no all too often. Uh but no, I
love it and it's definitely what makes
us um I think sets us up for success.
All right, Corey Mclennon, what is your
brand? I'm not taking the piss. You
revealed yourself as British with that
one. Uh, I actually get a lot out of
your interviews, but I never saw what
was before that. Did your vision always
look like what we see today, or did it
evolve with your brand? And where do I
start? I'm not sure why I is in um
quotes, but uh Okay, so the I think what
you're asking is what was the brand that
made me successful? The answer to that u
is Quest Nutrition. Um I built that with
two co-founders. um very long and I
think very interesting story of how we
went from not liking what we did,
selling that company and then founding
this one purely on passion um and uh
value creation and not focusing on money
and then oddly enough in not focusing on
money anymore and really just thinking
about what's valuable. We were able to
build a massive brand uh was very very
exciting and there were always two
things I knew I would do with my life.
Not always, but as I got deep into my
business career once I clicked over into
passion, I should say once I clicked
over into passion, I always knew there
were two things that I was going to
address and that was the pandemic of the
body and the pandemic of the mind. Um,
so that's where I'm at now. Quest is
addressing the pandemic of the body and
impact theory is addressing the pandemic
of the mind, which to me is anxiety,
depression, not believing that you can
do anything you set your mind to. Um, so
I asked myself the the question, no
[ __ ] What would it take to give
people the mentality they would need to
get themselves out of the matrix? And
the um answer is that you have to use
narrative to impart the ethos that is at
the core of impact theory. Uh so that's
what we're doing. All right. Adele Khan,
uh one, do you confuse the word
suffering with struggle? Brendan Buchard
said mentioned in his audio book
manifesto of motivation, which I think
is the motivation manifesto, I'm not
sure. Um that struggle is necessary but
suffering is not. Um, so I don't confuse
them. Uh, but I do think that both are
important things to acknowledge and
recognize. And so I define them like
this. So suffering, I think you have to
be willing to suffer in order to grow
and change. I think suffering is the
thing that allows you to do that. But to
Brendan's point, you're going to
struggle. You're going to go through
hard times, but you can choose not to
suffer in that. And I think that
actually even though I really really
find the um willingness to suffer to be
very very important, I also think that
it's just absolutely critical to develop
the ability to understand how you can
switch off the suffering. Um watch the
episode that I did of impact theory with
David Gogggins to really get insight
into how I see the usability of
suffering itself, both how to deal with
it and how to leverage it. Um so that
was amazing. And then two, and he plans
to work directly with Brendan Buchard.
So, I just met him for the first time a
couple months ago at a success live
event and found him to be such a nice
guy. I was literally like dumbfounded.
So, imagine you're walking down a hall,
you've never met somebody before, ever
in your life, and from like 30 ft down
the hallway, somebody screams your name
like they know you, uh, like you're a
longlost friend. and he was so kind and
so generous and just giving me all kinds
of useful information about how to grow
a social following and how to be
meaningful to your community. It was so
cool. Uh so the second Brendan wants to
do something, I would do it with him in
a heartbeat. He's amazing. Want to get
him on the show, do an interview with
him. I really, really think he's a
special guy. Um Andrew
Pastana, how did it feel when you
purchased your first big ticket item?
Uh, was it a full circle [ __ ] yeah
moment where you realized all of your
hard work paid off or was it just
another car house moment? Um, I think it
is so dangerous to let any moment be
just another whatever moment. So even
when it's like small like I try not to
take for granted um the way my wife's
smile eats her face. So that's just one
of my things and she's actually behind
the camera right now smiling for me. uh
when she smiles like that really big
authentic smile, it actually looks like
it's going to consume her whole face and
I love that more than I can possibly
tell you. Uh and I remind myself to be
grateful for that and to see the beauty
and to let it affect me on a
neurochemical level. Um to step out on
my um balcony and just enjoy a sunrise
or a sunset or just the view, like all
that stuff's critical. So, when my wife
and I bought our first really big ticket
item, which was the house that we're in
now, um we really let it affect us and
we were like, "Oh my god, like I can't
believe this." We were freaking out. We
were like little kids. Um even just when
we started house shopping and to know
like the budget that we could play in
was nuts. And you know, as somebody who
grew up uh in Tacoma, Washington and not
being around money and you know, really
like making my wife who grew up around
resource, she didn't grow up rich, but
she definitely grew up much better off
than I did. And I made her clip coupons
uh for years because I basically made
her poor uh for a stint. And to not take
for granted how far we've come, I think,
is just absolutely critical. And so,
yeah, the the first purchase was just
all inspiring and amazing, and I try
never to take it for granted. All right,
Benedict Leap, how did you change your
belief system from passive victimhood to
proactive and responsible leader leader
entrepreneur? Uh, did this have to do
with the relationship to your sister?
That's interesting. I get because I talk
so much about my sister, but no, it had
nothing to do with my sister. Um, so how
did I change my belief system? I be I
became goal obsessed. So once I became
goal obsessed and I was like okay I'm
trying to get here. What are the things
that are actually going to allow me to
do that? Um that was really really
important for me and just a a huge part
of my development. Um so in doing that
that really gut checked me with a lot of
my belief system and um I think that is
really critical. So that gut check um
just made me realize that I was going to
have to um develop a growth mindset. I
unfortunately didn't have those words,
but that was the path that had put me on
to developing a growth mindset that
would allow me to actually achieve my
goals. Um, okay. LK Elliot, how did you
build your brand with Quest and Impact
Theory? Your branding and community has
been so powerful. How did you create it?
Okay, so um, Quest was really a company
born out of misery. So before that I was
chasing money and I was just hellbent to
get rich and I spent 8 and a half years
chasing money building a company that I
didn't really care about and thought
while we solved a problem for people
certainly wasn't something I was
passionate about. I don't think it was
really something even the people buying
it were passionate about which oddly
enough actually made it hard. Uh and it
certainly made it soul sucking. And so
uh at the end of that I realized I was
not willing to do it anymore. And I
actually went into my partners and I
said, "I quit. I can't keep doing this."
I gave them the equity back in the
company. I said, "This is just total
misery for me. Um, I can't be a part of
this." And long story short, cuz I only
have two minutes per answer. Um, they
said, "You know what? We actually feel
the same way." And for three very
different reasons, we decided to get
into nutrition. And we agreed that it
was going to be a company predicated on
value creation for the employees and the
customer. that it would be a passion
play that we would ask the question,
what would we do and love every day even
if we were failing? And by shifting our
focus over to that and really focusing
on something that um was fun for us that
we could enjoy in the moment that was
creating value for other people. Um, it
was just a total gamecher and it focused
us on building community and making an
amazing product that was actually good
and holding ourselves to just a totally
different standard um than we had been
holding ourselves to before. So, it
really was uh a radical shift that made
us think about branding. Up until that
point, we' never really thought about
branding. It was always the product we
were trying to brand and not the
company. And so, that was a big shift.
Um, with impact theory, I'm really
trying to take that to the next level
and really truly being entirely
community focused. Um, and yeah, just
how far can we push the notion of value
creation. So, you'll notice um, this
show right now, what I'm doing right
here is marketing. Um, but it's all
value ad. So, we don't do like your
traditional like you're not going to see
like ads and stuff. I won't say we won't
ever do it because I if it helped build
the community, I would do it in a
second. Um, but all of our marketing is
value ad. So, this is all free. We give
it away. Um, and we do that because we
want people to understand how sincerely
we want to positively impact your life
because we want that to be the brand
ethos. We want people to understand that
literally from the ground up, this
company is designed to help. Um, and we
plan to monetize it. We plan to make a
whole lot of money doing it. Um, but I
believe the only thing that's
sustainable that you can sell for the
long term is value. So, um, that's what
we're all about.
[Music]
Um, and then the second part, knowing
that it's physically possible, Milin,
etc., and that people did it isn't
enough. Would be great to hear how
exactly you did it. So, I think I sort
of covered that. Um, but basically,
yeah, focus on community, build
community, make a great product. Those
are the the shorthand answers.
Um, okay.
Locks rain. What was the single moment
that catapulted you towards your first
step? What clicked for you that changed
and turned it around? Insight, wisdom,
wisdom, a experience that helped you put
it all together. Wisdom and experience
that helped you put it all together. Um,
so this this is very similar to the last
question. It really was frustration. Um,
I'm going to take a tasty beverage sip
here. Bear with me one second.
It really was more an insight into what
I didn't want to do anymore. Um, and I
think that's important to acknowledge.
Like I got fed up. I got frustrated
with not feeling alive, with not loving
what I was doing every day, with feeling
like, man, you got one shot at this.
This is your one life. This is it.
You're not coming back. So, what are you
doing to make it count? And realizing
that the game you're playing is actually
brain chemistry. So feeling good in the
moment is all that matters. So I wanted
to structure my life in a way where I
would actually enjoy the day-to-day. So
frustration is the only honest answer.
And and I actually it wasn't just
frustration. It was despair. Despair was
my first step. And I was unwilling
anymore to um continue on the way that I
was. And um yeah, that was the the key
insight for me. Despair. There you go.
All you have to do is hit rock bottom
and you too can go on to do what you
love. If only it were a little easier.
Um hopefully you guys can learn and not
have to put learn from me and not have
to put yourself through that. Uh so
there are ways to monetize doing what
you love and what you believe in. You
have to look inward and figure out what
that is. Develop a passion. It's not
something you uncover or find. We talked
about that earlier. All right. Alan
Cruz. Um do you have a customer
experience department at Quest? If so,
will you share the success you had with
that department? If not, why? If not,
can I start one for you? Uh, this very
kind offer. We do have one. So, our
customer support department and really
quite frankly, every department um from
the ground up is meant to evangelize the
customer. And that was our whole thing
right from the beginning is you have
it's not enough to take care of the
customer. You have to evangelize them.
Now, very important point, very critical
to realize that starts with evangelizing
your employees first. And you really do
have to be an employee first company. If
your employees are bitter, they are
going to pass it on to the customer. And
so taking really really good care of
your employee is absolutely critical.
Now it's harder than it sounds and I
have made my share my fair share of uh
mistakes there. But that remains like a
core value for me and something that I
take very seriously to make sure that
the employees uh believe in what you're
doing, understand what you're doing, are
better for having worked at your
company. Um, and that's really my
promise to every employee is that if you
work here, your life will be better than
if you hadn't. And um, making good on
that promise is hard as hell, but I
think that every entrepreneur has to
hold themselves to that standard and
really accept responsibility when you're
falling down on that. Assess how you're
falling down on that, why you're falling
down on that, make adjustments, um, and,
yeah, go forward. So, um, that's super
super critical. and going above and
beyond, going way over the top for your
customers. That's also really critical
uh and a great way to build community
and build a business, by the way. Um to
not always be thinking about ekking
every bit of profitability out, but
instead think of the emotional reaction
that the customer has to your brand as
the profitability, and I just really
believe if the customer believes in your
mission, believes in the company, wants
to support it, um that in the long run,
you're just going to be way more
profitable. So, um, always putting that
first I think is just smart business.
All right, Jonathan J., what would be
your strategy if you didn't have social
media web? Well, it would take you back
to um I I mean I can only go backwards,
right? So, I don't know what looking
forwards is going to look like without
social media and the web and maybe we
evolved past it. Almost certainly things
change so rapidly. Um, but looking back,
I mean, it was traditional marketing and
advertising. Um, so being hightouch is
where I shine. So I think that um, given
if I were in the same circumstances I am
now, just I didn't have um, social media
and the web, I would be doing a lot more
events. I'd be doing a lot more speaking
engagements. I'd be building the
community one by one. Um, meeting
artists and writers and creatives is
going to be so critical to my go forward
business. I would still be based here in
LA. I would still be building
relationships with those people. Um, and
then it would be, excuse me, it would be
a much more direct path
to the creating the content. I would
have to rely much more heavily on the
traditional means of getting that done.
Um, and so instead of because what we're
doing now is essentially building the
community, but telling the community all
along the way to know what to expect
from us, that we're going to be building
a studio, that we're going to need your
help identifying what content um, to put
resources behind all of that, to engage
the community in that. So, it's not a
surprise um when we start doing that,
but really really believe that building
the community um is step one and is so
much easier to do with social media and
the web. So, I would forego that without
it. I would focus more on um creating my
persona, which I think is very critical.
And if you look at what Disney did, I'm
very much modeling myself after that,
which is why I've stepped out front all
that. Um but looking at the way that
Disney built an ethos on the brand
umbrella. So, that's what we would do.
There would be only certain types of
content that we would create, but I
would leverage the traditional um
distribution means to do that. Okay. Um
so Moody Imr um how long did it take you
to have a net worth of over a billion
dollars? It's funny. Um I've heard
people make comments like that before.
I'm not a billionaire. I don't have a
net worth over a billion dollars. Our
company had a net worth over a billion
dollars. Um but I had two other
partners. So you got to divide
everything in a third. So, I'll let you
know when I finally cross that mark. Um,
Andreas Roso Ezi, I'm sure I just
brutalized that name. Um, what is the
best way to meet prospects at the start?
Uh, well, oddly enough, social media and
the web. So, depending on what you're
trying to do, that's um a very generic
answer, but nowadays getting the
awareness through social media um is
so easy. because it's free. So, and I
say easy compared to what it used to be
where you had to throw money at the
problem and just getting people to pay
attention to you. There were a thousand
G gatekeepers that could stop you
because they were the only ways to get
out in front of people. It was much
harder to do ground swell. Um, but one
thing I will say, have an awesome
product. Like having an awesome product
is always the right answer. So, focus on
that. Make your product great, whatever
your product is going to be. And if it
actually solves a problem, start giving
it away. Giving away a problem that's or
giving away a product that's amazing and
solves a problem uh is is just always
going to be the fastest way to getting
things done because then people are
going to talk about it. Um but yeah,
really making pain go away for people is
super
important. Okay, Ariel
Huskkins, what was the single most
valuable tool you used to create your
business?
Well, that's really twofold. There's
only um you have to to give two answers
to that. One, your product has to be
amazing. Okay, that there's just no
substitute for that. And that's why I
really encourage people get great at
something. Like get really good. Focus
on being amazing. Focus on being
extraordinary, outperforming everybody
else, having something that nobody else
can match. Like that is so important.
And I think that in the
um with the
millennial desire for
immediacy and anybody quite frankly that
uses social media where it's so fast
like there's you can get something out
really rapidly. You can get feedback
really rapidly. Um and even just the
forget social media like the mobile
generation. I could order something from
Amazon now and and it'll be delivered by
the time I'm done like with this
segment. It's crazy how fast. So, we've
all really been trained to want things
immediately. And that's why I think the
people that are willing to go head down
and do the work are still going to be
the ones that win because there's the
getting to the physics of the problem.
The physics of the problem is the human
condition. And the only way to uh get
people's attention is to wow them, to
solve a problem for them, to excite
them, to entertain them, whatever. But
that only happens when it's actually
good. It's actually impressive. It
captures their imagination. It captures
their attention. draws them into your
universe. So that is just super super
critical. So the people that go heads
down, do the work to create an amazing
product, you're going to win. The second
part of that is that you really have to
um
leverage building a community. Community
is everything because they're going to
be the ones that help you spread that
word. So building a community,
evangelizing them, making them love your
product, helping them understand what
what it means to use your product and
what they represent to the world when
they're using your product, that is um
just really really important. So those
were the those are the two things. An
amazing product and building a community
around it. Um okay. Um Ariel Huskkins, I
guess, part two. Looks like she snuck in
or he snuck in. Two questions. Um,
what's the best and worst thing about
competition with other companies in your
space? The best thing about it is they
push you to innovate in no uncertain
terms. Like having that competitive
pressure um, triggering in you that
competitive drive to want to keep
pushing and being better and having
somebody that's making you sweat. I
think that's always pretty advantageous.
Um, so yeah, that's the best. The worst
part about it is
um God it can create a confusing message
to the consumer and that is very very
true. Um back at Quest where I felt like
man we make products that are way more
real than 99% of our competitors and yet
there was a lot of noise from the
competitors um that muddy the issue of
nutrition which is already confusing as
hell. Um, so that got really frustrating
that people would start to listen to
what I felt was um, a metabolically
worse message and product than what we
were putting out there. Um, and you
still have to deal with all of that. So
that was the worst part. They can really
muddy the waters if especially if your
product relies on some degree of
understanding in uh, a difficult space.
So uh, for me anyway, that was the
worst. Um, Joe Snyder, what one thing
took Quest from 1 million to 1 billion?
It's the the same two things. And I know
you asked for one, but you really have
to have both. It was the product and the
community. Those two things were what
really allowed us to leap frog. The
product was real. In fact, I'm going to
throw in another thing. Um, and so if
you're going to make me isolate and sort
of forget those other two things, the
one thing that we had that a lot of
people didn't have that gave us a huge
advantage was our ability to execute
operationally at the um production
level. So we became our own
manufacturers because nobody else would
manufacture the product that we wanted.
So in order to make that great product
that I think is so necessary, we had to
be willing to manufacture it ourselves.
And that was a huge huge leap forward.
Nobody else was doing that and let us
make a product that was really unique
and gave us probably a three-year head
start on everybody else um while they
really struggled to keep up and alter
their equipment enough to allow them to
make the same product that we were
making. So um that was just super super
critical. Uh Jordan Demco, is it a good
idea to find a mentor? Absolutely. Even
if that mentor is only books, there's a
great quote from Socrates. Read so that
you may learn with ease what other men
have struggled greatly to learn. That's
a paraphrase, forgive me. Um but that's
the idea, right? That people are putting
into books. Like they're taking 10, 20,
30 years of knowledge and condensing it
down to something that you can consume
in a week. So that's arbitrage. So be
sure always be reading. ABR that is like
that sits at the center of my universe.
Um I'm just always reading, always
reading, always reading, always trying
to learn. Um always trying to push my
skill set. So that is really really
critical. And so think of those authors
as your mentors. you don't necessarily
need a flesh and blood mentor, although
they are awesome as well and you can ask
some questions, but especially in
today's social age, I think the ability
to get um digital mentors has just never
been easier. So, um yeah, find those
people that you resonate with that maybe
understand your industry or what you're
trying to get into um and
and engage with them socially. Like I it
is so meaningful to me to get these
questions because it gives me an
opportunity to deliver value to the
community. So, like this is a great
opportunity for people to get their
questions answered. So, you're
delivering me value and hopefully I'm
delivering value back. Um, and there are
um a lot of amazing people that are
doing something similar to this. So,
take advantage whoever speaks uh most
clearly to you. Kevin Holt, how do you
actually make money like me personally?
Uh if that's the answer, um by selling
product. So, at Quest, that was really
simple. Sell protein bars, sell protein
chips, protein powder. Um, that was how
I made money there. Um, how do I make
money at Impact Theory? Right now, we're
in a building phase, so I'm not worried
about monetizing yet. I'm in a very
fortunate position that I don't have to.
Um, so that's put us in a very unique
position that I never anticipated, but
am um leveraging to the hilt, which is
that I can build a community predicated
on value and build a brand doing that.
My ultimate um money-m plan is
merchandise. So I believe that if you
can create intellectual property that
resonates with people on um on an ethos
level where it's like how do I live my
life? What are all the things that I
need to be thinking and doing? Um I
think that you can really build a
powerful community um that then
leverages that merchandise to do what's
called self signaling where they're
signaling they are intending to signal
to other people but they really
reinforce in themselves uh their
ideology. And I believe that we have a
unique ideology here that's going to
pull people out of the matrix that will
allow us to create traditional narrative
content. So the easiest way to explain
it is um look at what Disney's done. So
the way that Disney built their studio
has never been replicated. It's crazy to
me that it's never been replicated. And
what they understood that nobody else
seems to understand that we plan to have
the discipline to replicate is every
piece of content that Disney creates
feeds into the brand ethos. So if you
say that you're going to go see a Warner
Brothers movie, nobody knows what you're
talking about. They don't know what kind
of movie you're going to see. But if you
say, "I'm gonna go see a Disney movie."
People know exactly what kind of movie
you're about to go see. So that's what
we want to do. And we want to create
books, comic books, TV shows, movies,
and video games. Um, that's really how
you get narrative to people. And while
we'll make money on that, that's not the
real big play. The real big play is
merchandise, which by the way, you can
go right now to impact theory.com and
buy some of our uh merchandise, which
ultimately isn't uh I don't think we're
ever going to make a lot of money off of
Impact Theory merchandise, but we will
ultimately make a lot of money on the u
properties that we make underneath that.
So, if you think of a comic book turning
into a movie and then all the subsequent
merchandising that kicks off of that, um
that's where the real money is made. And
so, uh, like take George Lucas and Star
Wars. Uh, he made billions of dollars
off merchandising, um, not off the
property itself. So, that's our path to
revenue. Um, and so we're in a very
fortunate position where we can build
community first and worry about the
money later. Um, yeah, which I think is
the right way to do it. Just most people
can't afford to. Um, and then Valerie
Vieiera Gardener, do you like turtles?
I'm indifferent. I'm glad they exist. I
would hate to see them um become
extinct, but I can't say they make my
daily radar. So, there you have it. Uh
Patrick Smith, uh why are you a good
bullshitter? Ah, if you mean why do I
have good verbal skills, which I'll
choose to believe is what you mean
because I have practiced it. I think
that I um am wired for it. So, I think
that that is an early win, but I don't
think early wins take you very far. Um I
have worked very very hard since about
the seventh grade to um get adept at
verbal communication. Um when I was in
high school for instance I used to do
essentially improv standup comedy. I was
sitting down improv comedy um at my
lunch table pretty much every day Monday
through Friday um for four years. So
that alone was worth its weight and
gold. And then on top of that I did
speech and debate in high school. So, I
spend an inordinate amount of hours not
only doing it, but competing at it. Um,
so yeah, it's been something that I have
put the number I've put more than 20,000
hours into getting good at verbal
communication. So, um, yeah, I'll choose
to believe that's what you were meaning
to ask me. Uh, Zia
Raymond, how did you get out of
distractions? Um, that comes down to
identity. So, I was um diagnosed with
ADD when I was a kid. Uh, but because I
could sleep through the night, my mother
refused to um medicate me. Yay. And
sorry, not ADD, hyperactivity disorder.
Um, so bouncing off the walls. Um, yeah,
that's a much more accurate description
of myself. Um, so as an adult, I've just
learned to train myself to focus.
Um, because when I start to drift, I
remind myself that that doesn't move me
towards my goals. And my identity is to
always be goal driven. And so I refocus
myself. In fact, I was just doing that
today. Uh, I opened my phone to go into
something else and had that like I saw
that I had responses waiting for me on
social and I so wanted to dive into
that. Um, I got that like dopamine rush.
Oh, you're about to go in uh into social
and have interactions. Yay. And I
thought, nope, that doesn't jive with my
identity. And I'm much more um
emotionally and chemically rewarded for
being true to my identity. Um, so my
identity keeps me focused. So, and then
also, by the way, I keep a list of the
most important things I could be doing
at any one time. So, when I find myself
drifting and I'm not sure what I should
be paying attention to, I just dive into
that. Um, that's really, really helped.
Matt Davis, where can I get one of those
FE man t-shirts, which um stands for
Iron Man? Uh, I got it on Amazon as I
get virtually everything that I don't
make. Um, so yeah, there you have it.
All right, Paul Dominique, how do you
get highprofile mentors? um by
delivering a crushing amount of value.
Do not reach out to the mentor and say,
"How can I help?" That puts the onus on
them and is the exact opposite of value
and they will almost certainly just
ignore you. Plus, it makes it feel bad
because they don't want to ignore you.
Like, there are a lot of really cool
people out there that actually want to
help, but you have to facilitate them
helping because they're getting hit up
all day, every day by people who are
like, "How can I help? How can I help?
How can I help?" Um, and that's a pain
in the ass. So, if you really want a
high-profile mentor, do the following.
Find out what is valuable to them. Find
out what their mission is in life.
What's that thing that they're trying to
do? Find out how your skill set makes
you adept at doing part of that for them
better than anyone else. So, and then go
explain to them how you're going to help
them get what they want. And tell them,
I'm going to work for you for 90 days
for free. I'm going to work harder and
smarter than anyone you've ever met. At
the end of the 90 days, if I have
delivered value, you can put me on
payroll. Or if you just want a
mentorship, great. Um, and if not, at
least I got knowledge and connections,
and that's all that I'm looking for. But
it's really about figuring out how them
mentoring you helps them. That's what
you have to show them because if it only
helps
you, why would they do it, right? So,
you really have to put yourself in their
shoes and know that like every human
being, they're going to be selfish. So,
you have to show them how mentoring you
is a win. That is the big thing. And I I
really cannot emphasize enough, it is so
lazy to ask the other person how um you
can help them. You need to go armed
knowing so much about them, what they're
trying to accomplish, and then detailing
for them exactly how you plan to help
them achieve that so that they can see
that the most selfish thing they could
do would be to mentor you. All right, so
uh we're getting low on time, but I do
have 10 and a half more minutes. Chase,
do we have any questions coming in?
All right. You want to just run over
here real fast and uh throw them out.
Yeah.
What is up
everyone? So, we got a question from
Vishuav Rana. Hey Tom, is it worth
risking job security for an unplanned
future and dreams?
Uh, so I don't think that you have to be
binary like that. I don't think that you
have to burn the ships at the shore. I
think at the end of the day, you
can do it nights, weekends, you can do
the side hustle and then just prove it
out that there really is something
there. That's certainly what we did at
Quest. So, we were running a technology
company by day and then we were building
Quest at nights and weekends. And then
once we saw that it was taking off, then
I left that and went to do Quest
full-time. Um, but I think that there
are ways to hedge your downside, which I
actually think is pretty important. and
taking a cue from Richard Branson, one
of the most successful entrepreneurs of
all time. Um, had you downside wherever
possible?
Got it. So, another question from John
Belt. Why couldn't you do what you're
doing now with the name Inside Quest?
What made you want to change into a
brand new company and not just adapt it
to Quest? Because what I found was we
were building two separate
um fan bases, communities. So
unfortunately for me cuz I would have
much rather done that um the community
just there wasn't overlap like people
did not see um the connect like why is a
protein bar company doing a show about
the mind that people just kept asking
that and um also my partners and I did
not share a vision for it. So it would
have been very stressful to try and drag
them along um in the process which
inevitably was going to be very
expensive and take years to build that
community and years to get people to
understand how body and mind are
integrated and all that. So I thought
you know what rather than do that um it
just makes more sense to spin this out
into a standalone company. The reason we
didn't keep the name inside Quest is
because that intellectual property is
owned by Quest. So even though I own a
third of it, I only own a third of it.
And so like trying to like pull that out
just would have been weird. Um, also
rebranding gave us a chance to get away
from the identity of the protein bar
company and create something entirely
new. Uh, and Impact theory was certainly
ideologically much more in alignment
with what I'm trying to accomplish. So
yeah, that's why. Cool. So question from
Tyrone Davis in all caps. Nice. Saw the
interview with Gogggins. It was deep
question. Do you believe that suffering
is inherent with change? Or do you think
that whatever decision that we make, we
will gain something and we will lose
something? Or is all just a matter of
Atlantic rhetoric? Either you're good at
it or not. I don't know what Atlantic
rhetoric is, but I'll answer the rest of
the question. Um, I don't think that
suffering is necessarily a part of
change, but I do believe that um to
really transform, there are going to be
moments of suffering. I'm like trying to
rag me. Is there a time where that's not
true? So there are definitely moments of
change that are painfree. Um where if
you can learn from somebody else like
that's incredible. Uh but I found like
the deeper you go into like your belief
system, the harder it is to change
without some sort of moment of crisis,
without some sort of moment of
collision, conflict, something to really
force you to like take that big step.
Um, so I won't say it's inevitable, but
I'll say that God, it it gets real
close. Um, that how about this? It it is
inevitable that in a grand enough
journey, there will be extreme moments
of suffering. Now, back to one of the
earlier questions. Can you turn off
suffering? Struggle is um inevitable,
but suffering is not. Suffering is a
choice. And I I do think that like at
some level that's true, but I've never
met a human being that didn't suffer. At
least to the point where then you have
to learn to make peace with it. Like for
instance, I will just tell you um that
when I'm doing a fast, which you and I
did together, it sucks. But you can
actually embrace the suck as David Goan
says. And once you begin to embrace it,
the suffering takes on a different note.
And so it doesn't feel like that imposed
upon you suffering which has its own
layer of pain. So one thing I find very
interesting in the brain like if you go
to a hypnotist um they can hypnotize you
to not feel pain. That actually isn't
true because there's pain and there's
suffering. So the the signal the pain
signal is still going to your brain but
the area of your brain that registers
this stimulus this pain is bad which is
what makes it suffering switches off.
So, I think you can shut that off. Um, I
just think that it's inevitable that
you're going to go through it, at least
temporarily, until you get to the point
where, okay, now I've got control of it.
I'm going to turn that part of my brain
off. Um, so, and the moral of my story
with all of that is don't fear
suffering. Like, don't do something
based on whether or not you think you're
going to suffer. Um, but do learn to
make friends with the suffering. Do
learn to see the power in it. Um, that's
very, very advantageous. And then that
actually makes the suffering less. A key
takeaway in that as well is from man's
search for meaning. Victor Frankle said
that you don't need to suffer to find
meaning, but you can find meaning in
suffering. I think that's a key takeaway
when looking for said way better, but
then Victor Frankle says everything
better than I do. So, yeah. Let's see. I
think we have time for maybe one more.
Yeah, we got a six minute mark. So,
okay, we'll do one or two more. So, from
Victor Salgado, Tom's, any plan? By the
way, Victor is OG Quest, assuming this
is the same Victor Elgato, but uh Tom,
any plans on writing a book? Yes, we are
literally working on that as we speak.
So, we're in negotiations with the
ghostriter right now. Uh and assuming
that we're able to pull that off. Um
essentially what they're going to do is
go through all the content that we've
created, boil it down into one narrative
about how to get yourself out of the
matrix. Um, so it'll be all my words
just taken from um all at this point
we've put out hundreds of hours of
content that all contains, you know, the
belief system about how to get out of
the matrix. They're going to consolidate
it because the reason that I've pushed
it off is I can't justify the time it
takes me to actually sit and write. Um,
but I've put all of the ideas out there.
So that would be an amazing solution to
that problem. So yes, our hope is that
by call it midsummer 2018 that the book
would drop. Cool. Excited. Me as well.
So last question from Nico Rose. How do
you get yourself to believe in yourself
when your doubts and fears dominate you?
All right. So this is do and believe
that which moves you towards your goals.
So if you can allow yourself to believe
the following. Humans lead with belief.
What I mean by that is you won't take
the first step unless you believe you
can get there. So you don't have to
believe that you're capable of doing it
today. You just have to believe you can
become capable of it. Now if you don't
already believe that then believe this.
Humans are an adaptation machine.
Period. That's just fact. Uh you can
look at um the way the brain does a
process called mileelination. And we can
learn anything. So when you were born
you couldn't walk, you couldn't talk.
You've learned all of that. Those are
way more difficult skills. You don't
think they are. You totally discount
them because you did it when you were
young. they're actually way more
difficult skills um to learn than
whatever talent skill thing that you're
trying to get good at. So through
discipline practice, all things are
possible. So if you can believe that
humans are an adaptation machine, that
you don't need to know how you're going
to get there when you first start, but
you have to start in order to do the
discipline practice in order to get
good. um that you just have to take that
first step, keep putting one foot in
front of the other, making demands of
yourself to put in the time, the energy
to look at yourself and honestly assess
where you are and what you need to do to
be good at it. Um then that I mean that
literally to me that's just looking at
the physics of the problem. That was me
not going am I extraordinary? It was me
going what is the truth of the human
condition? How does a human get good at
something? Um and then doing it. So and
also just realizing that your brain is
lying to you. So um insecurities are
totally worthless. they do not serve
you. Um, so you have to jettison them.
Simple as. The only reason anxiety is
good is to get you to take something
seriously to make sure you put in the
work to get good at it. So I get anxious
before every interview. Uh, but if I
didn't, then I wouldn't take them as
seriously. I wouldn't put in all the
work and then the interview wouldn't be
as good. So I'm grateful for it in that
sense, but I don't let it escalate and
to where it's becoming like panic
because then it's actually deletterious
to your performance. So again, do and
believe that which moves you towards
your goals.
Well said. Word. I think that's it for
right now. Booyah. All right, everybody.
Thank you so much. This camera might now
be on me and be wider. So, I'll take a
risk and say, "Guys, thank you so much
for joining me." Again, this was an AMA.
Hopefully, we'll be doing more of these.
So, what happened was we put a post up
on Facebook. We said, "Submit your
questions. You guys submitted them." And
that was a lightning round answer, which
is very different. Normally, I probably
only answer five or six questions uh in
an hour. Uh which is fun. I get to go
down tangents, but means a lot of people
don't get their questions answered. Um,
so this was you guys uh heeding that
call for questions, doing a lightning
round answer, which we'll call the AMA
series, uh, based on the Reddit thing,
which hopefully will actually integrate
with Reddit here at some point in the
near future. So, thank you for
submitting your questions and giving me
the chance to answer them. Um, if you
haven't already, be sure to subscribe
and thank you guys so much. Until next
time, be legendary. Take care. Peace.