This week’s Misfit Entrepreneurs are Alex and Leila Hormozi. Alex and Leila are an entrepreneur power couple. They have scaled three companies to well over $100M in cumulative sales across 3 different industries (software, service, eCommerce) and continue to grow.

Their companies include Gym Launch, a service and coaching company, Prestige Labs, a premium supplement company, and ALAN a lead management software firm. In fact, they took Gym Launch from 1 employee to over 70 and $28 million in revenue in just 3 years.

Needless to say, Alex and Leila have not only figured out how to scale and grow companies quickly and effectively, but they’ve also found the right balance as a couple to do it well and I want to dig into all of this with them in this episode.

Alex Hormozi Podcast – The Game

Alex and Leila both have Youtube Channels where they give a lot of advice

Alex and Leila met in 2016 through online dating. Both were very focused on their careers. But they met for the first data and found a lot of commonalities including their love of business and their backgrounds. How they saw business was similar. In fact, after Alex heard what Leila wanted to do, he told her to skip all that and come work with him. Over 3-4 weeks of them talking and her learning more about the Gym Launch concept, she saw a great opportunity to work together. She ended up leaving her business and joining him with Gym Launch. They ran the business as just them for a year and then began to build out the teams, etc.

They actually were doing such a good job that some gyms could not handle the capacity they were creating for them, and it caused problems. In fact, Alex and Leila almost gave up. They re-worked the business model so they or a rep for them did not have to be present and things took off. From there, they got into supplements specifically for gyms. They also developed a lead management software and other solutions.

Alex mentions that they had a logistically challenged business that they had to fix, even though they were very good at doing what they did.

Alex was good at the solution side, but Leila is really good at putting the team and leadership into place.

What has been your secret to working well as a couple?

Leila

• They want to be around each other is the foundation. You have to desire to be around each other all the time.
• There is never anything between them – they don’t allow things to go un-addressed, fixing them when they come up.
• Delineating each other’s responsibilities is important.
• Making sure to drive toward the same goals.

How does your dynamic work or change during tough times?

• Alex We are fairly even keeled.
• It’s important to separate a circumstance from emotions. It is not a reflection of who you are, it just is. 
• Separating the stressor from the response is a key skill.
• Finding out what information each other is working with that the other doesn’t have when there is a problem.
• Staying in each other’s lanes when it comes to making decisions in the business is also very important. They trust each other to make the best decision, but seek input as needed.

What are the principles you use to develop a successful business and teams?

• A lot of it is psychology. Really understanding people and making sure to put them in the best place to succeed.
• Being willing to have good, but hard conversations.
• Working on your emotional intelligence is very important to success.
• You pick the people, you assemble the people, you coach the people.
• “Sharp mind, kind heart, strong will.”
• Core values: Candor, Micro-speed/macro-patience, have humility, give credit/take blame

At the 23 min mark, Alex and Leila talk about their culture…

“To have a great company – marry the smarts and the hearts.”

Explain your marketing and lead strategy…

• Fundamentally, there are 2 ways to grow a business: Get more customers or make it each customer more profitable.
• Fancy fails, simple scales.
• Paid media, earned media, owned media are the areas of marketing.
• Referrals are one of the best and easiest ways to grow. You should not scale other areas until the word of mouth is a significant driver of your business.
• Mastering an area is that it will continue to produce once you’ve set things up and don’t have to be involved in it constantly.

Give an example of a front-end offer that works well?

Win-win.

For Gym Launch, a customer can start using Gym Launch absolutely free and if they don’t make at least $4000 in their first 30 days, you don’t have to continue.

Back-end?

• Value ladders should never stop. You solve problem one and problem two, but solving problem two creates problem 3 that needs a solution and so on.
• Value ladders typically stop at the level of competence of the entrepreneur selling them.
• Your job is to continuously grow your ability to find and solve problems building out your value ladder.
• Alex’s book on this is called Hundred Million Dollar Offers ​

Best advice for an entrepreneur starting out today?

• If you are not moving at the pace you want to look at what you may be lacking. Is it a skill? Is it a belief? Is it a character trait? Identify this and go seek it.
• Let go of any identity that you hold – identity is habit and may not serve you in the way you need to succeed. Start with a blank slate and become the person you need to be through the habits needed to succeed at what you are doing.

Best Quote: To have a great company – marry the smarts and the hearts.

Alex and Leila's Misfit 3:

1. Alex: Think in decades not months. ​
2. Leila: 99% of your thoughts are not true.
3. Alex: Do the boring work.
4. Leila: ​Feelings are not to be obeyed, but something to be managed.
5. Alex: Volume begets skill. The more you do, the better you get. The better you get, the more you do. ​
6. Leila: ​Learning how to make smart decisions is one of the best skills you can require. Don’t build up decision debt.

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This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Robert Burr. Bob is one of kind. He’s been in the oil business for over 40 years and has generated hundreds of millions of dollars during his career. He’s shared the stage with everyone from Robert Kiyosaki to Peter Schiff educating people on the opportunities, benefits, and risks of investing in oil and gas.

Bob is a master syndicator and deal strategist…but you know what, he retired a number of years ago and after spending almost every day on the golf course and with grandkids, he felt the urge to come back. It it was the pandemic that made him jump back in with both feet because it created some of the best oil and gas opportunities he says he’s ever seen.

I asked him to come on to share his wealth of knowledge on investing in oil and gas and his philosophies on business.

www.Burrite.com

admin@burrite.com

Bob started out in the insurance business in the 70’s and had huge success. He was making more money than he ever thought he would. His brother got into the oil business and recruited him to help sell the investments. His brother would run the business and he would raise the money. The timing proved to be tough as it came right as oil and gas embargoes started, but they worked their way through and went on to have massive success over many years.

As Bob says, “It wasn’t easy, but it has been a passionate, life-fulfilling mission that he would not trade.” Bob wrote about his story in his book, Leaving Your Pack.

At the 6 min mark, Bob talks about a conversation with his dad that helped put him on his path and about “being in the game.” “

• The day I can no longer compete in life is the day I hope God takes me…”
• All this is, life, is a big game and we get to play and compete every day.
• Everyone has 24 hours. You have to show up for your 24 hours and keep showing up.

Talk to us about the types of things and deals you do in oil and gas…

• Bob talks first about the geological side and how it is very hard when starting.
• You have to try multiple fields to find one that is good.
• He hit big on one field and sold it in the early 90’s to marathon and was able to retire.
• After many years of retirement, his boys got into the business. He decided to help them avoid a lot of the early mistakes and come out of retirement.
• One of the benefits of oil and gas is the tax advantages – up to 90% in the first year against your income.
• Bob raises money to drill his wells and targets a 3-year payout alongside the tax advantage.
• He focuses on good, solid income producing wells that will product for many years.
• The drop in oil prices during the virus was an opportunity of a lifetime for him and his investors.

What are the risks that people should know about when investing in oil and gas?

• Conventional new well drilling is successful about 20% of the time, so pretty risky.
• Bob focuses on proven oil fields that are already producing and getting a piece of them.
• Proven production and proven recoverable reserves are key to limiting risk.
• In some cases, Bob will drill the well with his money to test it out and if he finds oil, he will then use investor money to build the well out. This is least risky for the investor.
• Bob is obsessed with making money for his investors and has built his reputation on it.

At the 26 min mark, Bob talks about the tax-free way to “roll” oil gains like a 1031 exchange and defer taxes…

• What are the principles you build your businesses on?
• Bob wasn’t great with people – his brother ran the business side and Bob brought in the money.
• But then he lost his brother and had to come to grips with who he was and change because he was a selfish person.
• He soul searched and really made a commitment to become someone who truly loves his people. Initially, he thought he would “fake it til he made it,” but in the act of caring and putting his people first, he began to change and become that person.
• It’s the same with partners/investors – without them, you cannot win, so take care of them and help them.
• “In order to have a successful business, you have to sincerely, from your soul, love your people.”

Other great lessons about entrepreneurship and how to succeed from your journey?

• Getting into a deal is a lot easier than getting out of one.
• It’s better to kill a deal than to get into a bad one.
• Be so sensitive.
• Don’t do business with people that have an acidic personality. Do business with people that have a soul and heart.
• Success is not easy. Educate yourself to be ready and know the good and bad sides and be prepared either way.

Best Quote: In order to have a successful business, you have to sincerely, from your soul, love your people.

Bob's Misfit 3:

1. You can’t do anything without passion. If you are not being fulfilled spiritually, you cannot give it every it requires.
2. You must have total commitment. Once you decide, commit.
3. Take care of your spiritual relationship with God and love people.

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This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is David Bradford. David is well known throughout the world for his work and development of Interpersonal Dynamics -arguably the most sought-after course at Stanford Business School. He is the Eugene O’Kelly II Senior Lecturer Emeritus in Leadership at Stanford and has been leading in his areas of expertise since 1969.

His work in Interpersonal Dynamics has been at the forefront of how to build great relationships in business and in life and David has been tapped by many of the largest companies in the world to help them in better developing their leaders and teams. He is the co-author, with Carole Robin, of the best-selling book, Connect: Building Exceptional Relationships with Family, Friends, and Colleagues. The book is in many ways the Stanford course he is so well-known for packaged in an easy to use and implement guide so anyone can put the principles to work. ​

And its these principles that I want to dig into today, so let’s jump in.

https://connectandrelate.com/

David did his doctoral work in social psychology with an emphasis on interpersonal group behavior. He learned how to get students working in groups of 12 to get better at interpersonal relations and was brought to Stanford to help teach this to generations. Students call it “touchy/feely.” Over the course of a semester students learn how to be more open and authentic and get it validated from their peers. The experience is often transformation for students. After succeeding for so many years, David and his co-author, Carol decided that they could help people build powerful relationships on a larger scale by putting their process into a book, Connect.

What is Interpersonal Dynamics?

• The course is part of the business school because business is about relationships. Strong relationships.
• We have to look at how we relate to other people and it will be different for each person – there isn’t one way to do it.
• Interpersonal Dynamics is about creating strong relationships where people can be honest, authentic, and work through challenges successfully together.

What is an exceptional relationship and what are the characteristics of them?

• Relationships are on a continuum. Some are casual or superficial. Others are closer. We have friends that we share experiences with as well as intimate ones.
• Exceptional relationships have 6 core dimensions that David has discovered throughout his career. They are as follows
  • #1: Can I be myself? Not having to “spin an image.” Can I tell you who I really am?
  • #2: Can I build conditions where you can be yourself and let yourself be known? This builds trust.
  • #3: Do I know that neither of us will use this information against the other person?
  • #4: Can we be honest and say what we mean and mean what we say?
  • #5: Can we lean into the conflicts and learn from them in a way that builds the relationship?
  • #6: Are we committed to each other’s growth and development.
• This is high standard. If you have 3-4 exceptional relationships, you are ahead of the game.

Is there one of the dimensions that is harder to achieve in a relationship?

• Each one has its own needs, but the hardest one is learning to deal with conflicts.
• We have trouble with getting and giving feedback.
• We have trouble dealing with someone being upset with us.
• We need to see conflict in a positive sense.
• Conflict is a sign something needs to be fixed.
• If you car is broke, you don’t say “Bad car!,” you get it fixed.

At the 11 min mark, David tells the story of how he and Carol had a falling out and used the dimensions to repair their relationship.

• Carol and David had a very strong relationship.
• They were both teaching the interpersonal course and David had mentored Carol.
• Carol was set to replace David as he was moving to Emeritus.
• Carol wanted a new title and some other things that David didn’t really think was needed and he did not go to bat for her with the University.
• It hurt their relationship deeply.
• After some time passed and each reflected, they got together and neither ended up agreeing, but they understood each other and accepted each other’s views, it allowed them to rebound and even led to them writing the book.
• Logic and feelings are both important. It’s the feelings behind the logic that give it importance.
• Logic and feelings are partners. Not in opposition. We don’t want logic to fully control us like Spock on Star Trek and we also don’t want feelings to fully control us. But if we don’t recognize our feelings, then they do control us. So, can we know what we are feeling and now what we want and have them work together.

What are some of the things people should be doing to put their relationships on a path toward exceptional?

• At the 18 min mark, David talks about how they do the groups with the students at Stanford. It’s best to listen.
• You should look at each of the 6 Dimensions/variables and ask where you can improve.
• Then focus on getting a little bit better and growing each area of improvement.

You worked with and advised some of the biggest companies in the world include top Silicon Valley startups, where are some of the biggest challenges in most companies when it comes to building better relationships?

• Entrepreneurs often have a great idea and pull in others, but they over-emphasize what they know.
• Building a company and solution is complicated.
• It is hard as a leader to both have a vision and drive but stop and listen to other people.
• At the 25 min mark, David tells the story of George Washington being talked out of attacking New York by his team and if he had, they would have been defeated and the US would not exist.
• You have to be able to make decisions and know where you are going, but listen to others and implement their feedback at the same time.

At an individual leader level, what are things they should thinking about when interacting 1:1?

• What is often most difficult to recognize that the power differential between them and their direct reports.
• In the end, they are the boss. They hold the employee’s future in their hand. So leaders have to work extra hard to make sure their relationships are strong enough to get the truth, but also that they maintain the line of being the boss and not becoming a friend.
• Asking “Am I doing anything that is getting in the way?” or “How can I be more helpful?” is important to show you are willing to work with people and adapt to help them succeed.

What do you see in the great leaders you’ve worked with on how they balance being a leader and being a friend?

• It’s both.
• Your primary objective is the organization.
• This doesn’t keep your from building a strong, open relationship with direct reports.
• At the 31 min mark, David tells the story of Jeff Immelt, former CEO of GE, giving a talk at Stanford discussing his relationship at GE with then CEO, Jack Welch. He said they were friends and liked each other. Jeff worked for Jack.
• Jeff had a time where he didn’t meet his numbers for 2 quarters. At a leadership retreat, Jack pulled him aside and said “Jeff, I really like, but a 3rd quarter like that and you are out.”
• They could be friends, but Jack never forgot that his first duty was the organization.
• Hiring and growing people is important – we hire people for their potential and it your duty to help them. Feedback is a gift.

Any practices or habits leader embody that help them learn to get better?

• Leaders need to know themselves.
• If you want a leader to be liked, you are in trouble. You want to be a leader that is effective. You need to get likes and approval somewhere else.
• Can you live with the fact that a direct report is mad at your or disappointed in you and not bend yourself into a pretzel?
• This important when you need to terminate someone.
• Can you honor differences in style with direct reports? This is important and needed to succeed. Don’t just hire people like you. ​

What works or mentors have influenced you most in your career?

• David’s father.
• Carol.
• The best mentors have been the mistakes he’s made. And what he has learned has been huge for his success.
• David sometimes has a class that doesn’t go well, and he takes time to write down why.
• Mistakes are learning opportunities and you must use them as such.

Best Quote: Logic and feelings are partners. Not in opposition. We don’t want logic to fully control us like Spock on Star Trek and we also don’t want feelings to fully control us. But if we don’t recognize our feelings, then they do control us. So, can we know what we are feeling and now what we want and have them work together.

David's Misfit 3:

1. We constantly have choices. “I can’t” is a choice. Whatever you decide on anything, is a choice. Own it.
2. Realize that your goal is not to be perfect, but to be human and show who you are.
3. See disagreement and conflict as a sign that there is something here we need to work on. Seek a 3rd alternative that has the best of both. See conflict as a source of creativity and a source of growth.

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Hello Misfit Nation! Welcome to another edition of "Lessons for Hannah!" Many years ago, I introduced a new format that alongside our regular episodes called “Lessons for Hannah.” Hannah is my daughter and one of the main inspirations for the Misfit Entrepreneur. I wanted to have a place where she could go and learn from her daddy and his Misfit friends throughout her life….even after I am gone. If you haven’t listened to the first episode of "Lessons for Hannah," I urge you to as it gives some more background and tells the amazing story of how Hannah came to be in our lives.

Lessons for Hannah are short, very useful, and sometimes comical lessons, that I want to share with you and give to Hannah to help in your lives. Because I want Hannah to have these for her life, I’m going to speak as though I am talking directly to her. These episodes are a lot of fun and if you think there is a lesson that we should include in these episodes, please don’t hesitate to send it over to us at support@misfitentrepreneur.com. We’d love to share it.

This week’s Lesson for Hannah

Hannah, Between this Lessons for Hannah and the next one, you will turn 9 years old. Nine! It feels like it was just yesterday that I held you for the first time and saw your first smile. Time goes so fast, and you wake up one day and your baby has grown into an amazing little girl who is already making her impact on the world. Hannah, you have impacted your mother and I in so many ways (most of them good, ha ha) and I wanted to take this time to give you 9 ways you are amazing as you turn 9 years old. Here goes.

1. You have a beautiful and caring heart and are not afraid to show your love to all those around you. You are always there to put a smile on our face or give us one of your little notes telling us how much you love us. Never stop doing this.
2. You have a mischievous side that keeps you active, and yes sometimes get you into trouble, but keeps you curious and learning – and keeps us on out toes. Although, it sometimes frustrates me, this quality will prove so useful during your life. Never stop being curious or learning.
3. I love, love, love the sense of humor you have developed. It’s witty, yet sometimes sarcastic, but always playful. You’ve even started talking in movie lines like your crazy dad and mom do way too much. (Also, the occasional quote from The Office)
4. You are also strong, not just physically (amazingly, at 9 years old, you are just about a black belt), but also in the way you approach life. This isn’t surprising – you have always been strong and brave since the moment I first held you.
5. You have a talent for music and continue to grow and increase your abilities every day. I don’t say it as much as I should, but I love hearing you sing while playing piano or your Ukulele.
6. You are very comfortable in your own skin and being by yourself. You can keep yourself busy for hours and are independent in your way. Many people afraid to be by themselves and face who they are. You do it every day and can with ease because of your good heart and curiosity for the world around you.
7. You are very giving. How often do you whip out your little wallet and offer to pay for something like groceries or want to give to one of your family members? It’s like 10 times a week. And of course, even though you persist, I have to explain that you do not have to buy our groceries, but the act of giving and helping others is inherent in you and I love that you want to and are always look for ways to help.
8. You are personable. While you are very comfortable being on your own, you are also great with others and easily can adapt to new people and become fast friends. You can walk into a room full of people you’ve never met, and within a short time, almost everyone will know you and like you. This is just part of who you are – never lose it.
9. Lastly, you are an amazing blessing to your mother and I and all those you come in contact with. You are an incredible daughter, granddaughter, friend, cousin, sister to your puppies, and a bright light of goodness in this world.

Hannah, I could keep listing ways you are amazing, but you’ve got a lot more birthdays ahead of you and I need to save a few to add to this list each year. Just know that your mother and I, family, friends, etc. love you, are proud of you, and are so lucky to have your impact in our lives. Happy 9th birthday!

I love you,

​Daddy

Best Quote: Many people afraid to be by themselves and face who they are. You do it every day and can with ease because of your good heart and curiosity for the world around you.

Misfit 3:

1. Keep growing, learning, and being true to yourself.
2. Never stop doing to little things for those you love and showing you care.
3. The willingness to give to others is a wonderful quality. Never lose it.

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Misfit 3:

This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Matt Lohmeier. You may have heard of Matt as he has been in the news over the last year when he wrote a book and spoke out about the dangers of marxism and its effect on people’s lives, especially the military. He was a lieutenant colonel in command of a space-based missile warning squadron for the United States Space Force and was subsequently terminated after writing the book and speaking out.

While Matt’s story has been controversial politically – politics is not why I asked him to be on the show. No matter who you are or what you believe, at some point in your life you will need to take a stand to defend your principles and in today’s day and age with seemingly endless twitter mobs and cancel culture rampant, that is not an easy, no, an almost impossible thing to do. I want to explore what compelled Matt to take his stand and use his lessons learned to help you for when it’s your turn.

And lastly, while I know Matt has deep concerns about marxism and its danger to the American way of life – I think there is something that is even more dangerous and that is the loss of entrepreneurs. We are going to explore all this and more in this episode.

www.MatthewLohmeier.com

Book: Irresistible Revolution

The views that Matt expresses are his views and not those of the military. Matt has served in the military for over 15 years and has been a fighter pilot logging over 1200 hours with F15s and other planes. Most recently, he was in command of a space unit in the Space Force. During 2020, as he saw what was happening in the culture and the woke culture, he recognized the seeds of marxism behind a lot of it. And he saw how much it was polarizing society. He recognized many of the talking points of marxism from his studies in the military and on his own.

At the 5:30 mark, Matt talks about the oppressor vs. oppressed mantra from Marx and the Communist Manifesto and started to see it being brought into and impacting the military. There were trainings being done in the military that re-enforced marxist principles. He saw it as his duty to speak up and wrote his book the Irresistible Revolution. He was fired a week later.

What was the catalyst that compelled you to take your stand?

• The military service member shoulders and important and large burden in that they have to be and remain un-political.
• Politics until recently have remained out of the military, but things have become much more politized.
• This started to create a climate in the military that stifled free speech and made service members fearful. It created a climate that hampered innovation and started to infringe on the oath he took to defend the Constitution.
• Matt believes that integrity and preservation of the individual and their rights and freedoms is paramount and could not let those things be infringed upon.

Can you explain why marxism is such a danger to the American way of life, entrepreneurs, and the individual?

• At the 13 min mark, Matt talks about the founding philosophy of the US with a focus on the individual and their natural rights vs. marxism’s goal of collectivism and removing the worth of the individual and instilling that worth in a group instead.
• Marxism can only survive by making everyone a victim and calling for violent force to overthrow the system and creating a collective run state that owns the means of production and is control or all – no private property, no natural rights, no entrepreneurship, etc.
• It destroys the individual and their potential.
• The principles the underpin the founding of the country are what have unleashed the potential of mankind and given them the freedom to reach it, especially for entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurs are great at using logic and reason to succeed, but as a whole, society runs more on emotion – how do we get back to using logic and reason as a society to better manage the emotional reactions so many have in today’s world?

• There is emotionally induced illogic and the influence of emotion on the ability to think critically is important to understand. This has been studied and it has been proven, the more emotion, the more the ability to think clearly is diminished.
• At the 25 min mark, Matt explains this throughout history using examples and how we can get back to logic/reason and better tap into the entrepreneurial side of ourselves.
• Pay attention to rhetoric. For example, equality vs. equity. People have the right to be free of discrimination or roadblocks to equal opportunity. But equity means forced equality of outcomes, not opportunity. This is totalitarian. It ends up in inequality and discrimination of one group over another.
• If the state has to ensure outcomes, it chooses what people get and forcibly takes from others. It becomes a large authoritarian/totalitarian lust for power state.

Entrepreneurs are the biggest line of defense. Everything stems from entrepreneurship. To take an idea from nothing and do what has to be done to create something around it that creates benefits for others that impacts their lives and the lives of others. Capitalism and the principles of the US unleash this. What an incredible opportunity we have at our fingertips every day that most do not have.

What should entrepreneurs be doing to share and show the success of entrepreneurship and capitalism?

• You are a leader – whether leading a large or small group, or just impacting one person for your sphere of influence.
• You must do all you can to foster the creative impulse and spirit of entrepreneurship and keep forces that would destroy it away.
• Leaders influence culture and impact culture – this can be positive or negative.
• Dialogue is a good thing, but context in which dialogue unfolds is important.
• You must share ideas and the logical reasons for them, but not force ideas on people and lead out of fear.
• Everyone is uniquely situated to bring something to a team – discussion and free thinking is critical to a great culture and you as a leader must foster the kind of climate that can allow this and allow for disagreement without punishment.

What advice would you give someone to get over the hump and take the stand they know they need to take?

• Some things are worth falling on your sword over and other things just aren’t.
• You have to determine whether the issue you think you need stand on is really worth it.
• If so, you need to study and learn about the issue very well and be very well versed in it. You must understand it.
• You also must weigh the cost(s).
• The book Ordinary Men is an example of what can happen if a stand is not taken.
• Matt judged the issue to be worth the cost and it was important to speak up early before things became worse. ​

Final thoughts?

• The loss of entrepreneurship is a devastating blow to America and Marxist ideology directly threatens that. These are issues that should not be partisan.

Best Quote: The loss of entrepreneurship is a devastating blow to America and Marxist ideology directly threatens that.

Matt's Misfit 3:

1. Be authentic. Speak the truth. It will enhance your life personally and professionally and speaking the truth is courage which is desperately needed.
2. Determine your aim and pursue it vigorously by prioritizing your life consistent with that aim.
3. Learn constantly, but don’t be ever learning and never come to the knowledge of the truth of things. Seek truth to reason appropriately and use logic based on sound principles.

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This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Jeff Wald. Jeff is a serial entrepreneur and founder of WorkMarket, an enterprise software platform that enables companies to organize, manage and pay freelancers efficiently and compliantly. Jeff built WorkMarket from scratch and sold the company to ADP in 2018 for over $400 million. Jeff and WorkMarket won the Stevie Award for best HR software, were ranked as one of CNBC’s 25 Companies to Watch and received several other awards.

But as with any entrepreneur story, it wasn’t success out of the gate. Jeff had failures and learned a lot of lessons on his way to success. His story and the legacy he has created with it is truly amazing and I cannot wait for him to share it with you today, along with his best advice to succeed as an entrepreneur.

www.JeffWald.com

Jeff says he was fortunate to be born into his family and be born in the U.S. He started his career in finance as an M&A banker at JP Morgan working 100+ hours a week. He then went to business school and when he came back, he realized that it wasn’t the best fit for him or his life. He ended up at a venture firm and after a few years in, he really felt the call to entrepreneurship. He was helping people create their dreams and there was something about that was so amazing to him.

His boss told him that he needed to go after this calling. He did and funded the business himself. The business failed and he lost everything. In fact, his mother called and asked him if he needed to move back home. He had 30 days before he couldn’t pay rent and figured out how to create some income. Ironically, several years later, he restarted the business and ended up selling it for a nice profit. For a while Jeff wouldn’t tell people about the failure and the 2-year depression he went through. He didn’t want to own it. Eventually, he did and learned that sharing his story and telling the truth about his journey helped him find his true self and become a more effective person. It was freeing.

At the 9 min mark, Jeff and talk about this process of freeing yourself, but realizing fear and those things are still there, but you learn to handle them better.

At the 14 min mark, Jeff shares the story or Workmarket…

• The idea had been around Jeff and his co-founder’s idea board for almost a decade.
• In 2010, they decided it was time.
• They raised $6 million for the business from VC’s
• The idea was to create a solution to help manage the Gig workers and contractors.
• After a year, they launched the product connecting the buyer and an on-demand labor force.
• They ended raising a total of $70 million and then ADP came knocking.
• At the 18 min mark, Jeff tells the story of how ADP ended up buying the business.

What was in the PowerPoint slides that landed you $6 million in initial investment?

• Looking back, the presentation/look was terrible.
• But the ideas and what they were setting out to do was spot on and exactly what they did. That was what people invested in and what they did.

What is the future of work nowadays?

• There are 3 broad trends
  • Remote work and flexible work are one bucket
  • The on demand/gig economy
  • The 4th industrial revolution of robots and AI and how it will impact the labor force.
• In Jeff’s book, The End of Jobs, he discusses these trends.
• A lot of people out there talking about this stuff want to be heard more than they want to get it right.
• Jeff’s goal is to present the trends based on evidence, so his framework in the book is looking at the history of work, looking at the data and the trends/patterns, and then looking at how companies engage workers.

What are the main findings from work?

• For remote and flexible work, the pandemic has rapidly brought forward a more flexible workforce and has broken the 9-5 paradigm. It has also changed the need for location proximity to work.
• As for on-demand labor, this is not something new and has been around for a long time. About 25% of the labor force is on-demand and it is growing slowly.
• As for robots and AI, it is important to understand that we have been here before. We have been through huge technological improvements that greatly improve productivity.
• Each time, we end up with more jobs from new ones being created where others are lost, people making more money and ultimately working less.
• The key challenge is how we help people transition to new types of work and how smoothly that can be done.

At the 33 min mark, Jeff and I discuss why it is such a good time to be an entrepreneur.

You’ve said, “Ideas are cheap.” Explain that.

• “Ideas are cheap, the will to execute is expensive.”
• The idea you have is not unique – someone else has had it.
• The difference is whether you act on it and bring it to fruition or not. The idea is super cheap. It is the will to do it that is expensive.

Top 3 lessons learned going through a process to sell a company?

• Bankers are useless.
• Going through a process is a huge time suck. It takes a lot of your time and you need to be prepared. It’s like having another full-time job.
• As you build your company, you need to be building it with the mindset of creating value in the capital window you have to sell or maximize its potential to investors or buyers.
• You should know what you potential buyers or investors care about for a business like yours and focus on those things. ​

What are the values you used to build the company that resulted in a lot of other companies being created by employees?

• Jeff would tell employees and encourage them to go after their own dreams and create their own businesses if that is what they really wanted.
• Core values were learning and transparency.
• He would share everything with his team about the business to be transparent and help them learn.
• Jeff would put on startup events for his team to help them walk their own journey.
• It helped make employees more well-rounded at a minimum.

"Best Quote: Ideas are cheap, the will to execute is expensive."

Jeff's Misfit 3:

1. Ideas are cheap, the will to execute is expensive. Get out there and start!
2. No one will care how much you know, unless they know how much you care.
3. The key to success is getting knocked down 7 times and standing up 8.

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This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Aryeh Sheinbein. Aryeh is the founder of Results Driven Advisory, a firm that has 2 primary focuses. The first is to help business owners value their business, then improve the value of the business. Second, to help business owners grow their own wealth while focusing on the business. Aryeh has and still works with Alvarez & Marsal as a Managing Director. The company is one of the premier advisory companies to the world’s biggest hedge funds and private equity firms on business valuation.

He’s maintained this while building multiple successful companies such as Results Driven Advisory helping clients throughout the world. ​

And I wanted to have him on to discuss a few topics, of course how to make sure you get the full value out of your business and maximize your wealth, but also how to successfully build companies while still working in a professional you love under a company.

www.Solutionadvisory.com

Instagram: @AryehTheBusinessMan

Aryeh went to college and got a degree in finance and wanted to be on Wall Street as an investment banker. After two years, he moved to a small private equity/VC firm that was more of a family office. They invested in early stage companies and small businesses that they grew and sold or took public. He did that for 4 years and it helped to shape his path. He was the only junior person on the team and worked with private companies. He then went back to Wall Street and spent time in hedge funds and equity firms, then ended up where he is today helping those firms in valuing businesses. He always had the drive to do other things on his own and built his own businesses or invested in them along the way.

What should business owners know about how to truly value their business? What do they get wrong?

• For most business owners, the majority of their net worth is tied up in the business, the asset. And most don’t think about maximizing that for themselves.
• The starting point is the value today and the ending point is what you take home when selling. You have run the business to get to the destination in the right way.
• Business value differently. Manufacturing is different than SAAS, etc.
• Buyers are interested in the future cash flow. What does the business throw off in the form of cash?
• If you are not generating free cash flow, you have to show how the growth with get there and how it will pay off. If you are, you need to maximize the cash flow as much as possible. Essentially, EBITA.
• Recurring revenue in addition to good EBITA is important for value. It is valued higher than one off revenues.
• If possible, you should work to have a recurring component to your revenues to help your with your value.

What should an entrepreneur do to start increasing their value? And how does recurring revenue affect the multiple on a business?

• You need to layer in a recurring or subscription stream of revenue and automate it as much as possible.
• Look for complimentary products or services to your core product to add a recurring component with.
• Increase net revenues (EBITA) by either strategically lowering the cost to deliver your solution or look at ways to increase your pricing – do both if possible.
• Look for economies of scale in where you can add more clients without adding cost. ​

How do you achieve a liquidity event without selling it?

• You can do this with debt as a cheap cost of capital.
• It must be debt as vehicle that the business can handle.
• In a similar way you can do a “cash out refinance” on a home, you can do the same with a business loan.
• At the 20 min mark, Aryeh goes through an example of this.

Thoughts on exiting a business?

• There are many different factors, but the first to understand is that there are two types of buyers: Financial and Strategic.
• A Financial buyer is buying with the intent of a future financial gain or return on the invest in buying the business. They will pay a fair market value in the middle range.
• A Strategic buyer is a competitor or a complimentary business and views your business as a good “add on” to their business and plug it into to their offerings.
• Strategics get more economies of scale and thus typically pay a premium value for a business as the sole purpose is not just a financial return, but there are other businesses or capabilities that the target brings.
  • Think of Dollar Shave club being bought because they created a niche and it was easier for Unilever to buy them and the niche than to compete.
  • Most business owners work on and in their business but have little time to focus on their own wealth. How can an entrepreneur maximize their personal wealth while short on time?
• Increasing the net worth of the business increases their net worth, so maximizing that is a start.
• If the business is generating good cash for the business owner, most business owners hire a financial planner or advisor. This industry is driven by limitations in that they sell financial products and/or are paid a percentage of assets, but these fees really eat away at the growth potential of your capital.
• Additionally, you are not able to see all the investment vehicles available to you.
• The #1 thing, if you want to be educated, is that whoever you are going to deal, you have to know, like, and trust, and they need to show they have a broad knowledge base.
• Look for true investors that are Fiduciaries if you are going to work with an advisor.

Thoughts on 401ks and other investment vehicles?

• If you are an employee, take full advantage of 401ks and the match.
• There are limitations in that you cannot invest in things like real estate, etc. in a 401k.
• 401ks stick mostly to mutual funds and ETF’s which over 90% do not beat the S&P 500 over time.
• Fees are also important to track and make sure you are on top of as it is surprising at how impactful they are to the growth of your 401k in a negative way. Keep fees as low as possible and limit them in every way you can. ​

How do you manage it all and do what you do? ​

• You need to have systems for things.
• Things need to be able to scale.
• Standard operating procedures that are documented and can be followed by team members is critical.
• Your goal is not to be needed in the day to day but be needed strategically.
• What is the trade of time? You have to see what it takes and is capable of doing before you can know if it is something you want to continue.
• You must personally develop and get to know your true strengths to find complementary strengths in others and fill your weaknesses.
• Staying healthy is very important as well.

Best Quote: For most business owners, the majority of their net worth is tied up in the business, the asset. And most don’t think about maximizing that for themselves.

Aryeh's Misfit 3:

1. People are super important in business and life, and it is a 2-way street. Your development in people skills and communication is critical to success.
2. Focus on things you enjoy doing and to do this, you need systems to help you do so.
3. Use systems to help manage and do the things you don’t enjoy. Always be learning. It really compounds your growth over time.

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This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Jeff Lieber. Jeff is the founder of Turnkey Product Management, a boutique Amazon consulting firm, which helps brands at every level sell their products on Amazon.

Jeff started by selling his own products on Amazon and identified the fundamental strategies to help sellers to stand out among the competition and see their full potential on Amazon. TurnKey offers everything from Full-Service Amazon Account Management to Consulting to Amazon Ad Management. He’s been so successful that he’s been asked to work with some of Mark Cuban’s Shark Tank portfolio of companies and has helped clients go from $0 to $100k+ in one month in sales. His secret had been mastering Amazon’s pay-per-click advertising, key word research and optimization, listing optimization, and other areas that when put together give him and his clients a big advantage.

Amazon is one of the most accessible places to start or grow as an entrepreneur and I’ve asked Jeff to come on and share his secrets with you.

www.TurnkeyProductManagment.com/Resources

Jeff graduated college in 201o and got a job at a health care company in San Francisco. But, he had always been interested in entrepreneurship and been on the lists for some of the top internet marketers. In 2014, he saw an opportunity for Amazon where people where sourcing and launching their own products. That model made sense in that he could source a product and create a brand around it. He decided to take a leap and do it on the side. He started with “puppy training pads” of all things. He paid the bulk of his life savings for a container of it, $15000. He started out slowly but got better at marketing and soon had success. He then launched other products and after about a year, he had replaced his income and decided to focus on it full time.

A friend of his launched a product on Kickstarter that did well but were not having success on Amazon. They tapped Jeff to help, and he doubled their sales pretty quickly which led to more referrals and helped him build a consulting practice. He got overwhelmed and was stressed to the max. He decided to sell off the businesses and keep just Turnkey and focus on that, which he did.

Because he could focus, it really took off.

What does it take to become a successful Amazon seller and what are some of the best practices on how to do it well such as product sourcing and branding?

• The people that build brands around something really care about and are passionate about and working to bring something unique to the market, do well.
• Those that chase trends and hop around all time, don’t do as well.
• You need to be passionate about creating awesome products and brands.
• At the 11 min mark, Jeff gives an example of a client selling CrossFit products well.
• On the sourcing side, it depends on what your product is. Supplements for example are a huge market with a lot of niches – but that is not something you would source from China. You would want to get the products from the U.S.
• You can google suppliers for the products you want and find lists of suppliers.
• There are product sourcing consultants that can help you and do a lot of the work for you and negotiate on your behalf.
• Get as many quotes are you can, at least 5 suppliers and remember, it is all negotiable.
• Alibaba.com is great place to find suppliers for any product you want to source.
• You should request and check samples to make sure the quality is good.
• There will be winning suppliers that standout.
• Once you’ve picked one, then get the smallest minimum order you can negotiate to test with.
• Then use Amazon FBA by shipping the product to the warehouse.
• You are then in stock and can sell.

Branding Tips

• You can have the best product in the world, but people can’t touch or feel it when shopping on Amazon. You need to create that experience for them on your Amazon product page.
• You have about 1 minute to convince a buyer to buy your product. An optimized page does this.
• #1 is amazing, professional photos for your products. Invest in this.
• #2 is customer reviews. Reviews are king on Amazon, so you need to plan on getting to at least 10 reviews as fast as possible. Get creative.
• #3 is having a real good title and sales copy. When you search on Amazon, all you see if the title, image, and price – so title is critical. Make sure to use all real estate available to you.

Share a case study of how you doubled sales with a client…

• A newer brand that was back by a former NBA player.
• They had done the work to make a good product and had gotten a number of pro-athletes to represent it.
• But, it wasn’t a popular product at the time.
• They hardly had an Amazon page. It wasn’t unique and didn’t showcase the product well.
• Jeff and his team optimized the page and listing and focused on the strengths of the client.
• They went through #1-#3 above and made sure they checked every box.

Any other tips?

• Once you have products listed and optimized and gotten reviews, it’s time to turn on Amazon PPC advertising.
• Most search results are ads. They don’t look like it because Amazon hides it well.
• Amazon is 3rd largest advertiser in the world now.
• The fast way to get visitors to your page is to run well-designed Amazon PPC campaigns and you can go very targeted and detailed.
• Start with a small amount and grow it over time.
• You need to do this and if needed, find an expert.

Any niches you see that are up and coming?

• The health space is very big – diets like Keto, Gluten Free and others are gaining popularity.
• People are niching down to the submarkets under these.
• Make sure you don’t just chase a trend; you need to be passionate about it.
• There are tools to assess potential for products on Amazon
• At the 34 min mark, Jeff explains this in more detail.

Anything else people should know about selling on Amazon?

• It’s an amazing place to be.
• Amazon could be your best sales channel.
• Don’t treat it lightly and just throw up a listing.
• Amazon gives a snowball effect where it compounds over time and can grow to a 7-figure business within a few years.

What surprised you most on your entrepreneur journey?

• The roller coaster and how extreme it can be.
• The challenges, the mess ups, and mistakes.
• It’s on you at the end of the day and you run into things you never expected.
• But that is balanced by the freedom you get and the great things that happen. ​

Best advice for entrepreneur’s starting out today?

• Thing carefully and take your time to pick the right one.
• Don’t chase something just for the money.
• Make sure you will be happy with what you are doing.

Best Quote: You can have the best product in the world, but people can’t touch or feel it when shopping on Amazon. You need to create that experience for them on your Amazon product page.

Jeff's Misfit 3:

1. Life is short. We never know when it could be over, and it is precious.
2. Make sure to enjoy each day. Meditate and take time to change your expectations to equal your circumstances around you. Realize how good you have it.
3. Take a risk on what you want in life. It’s worth it.

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Hello Misfit Nation! I am excited to bring a special weekend episode of the Misfit Entrepreneur. Occasionally, I find something I truly enjoy and when I do I like to share it with you. In 2021 I’ve started listening more to the immersive shows on Wondery. If you haven’t checked it out, you need to do so.

Recently, I was able to connect with them and they offered to share a small sample of one of their new shows with the Misfit audience and that is what I want to share with you in this short special episode because it focuses on one of my favorite topics – the stories, successes, and failures of businesses and what we can learn from them to help our success.

With that in mind, I want to tell you about a new podcast from Wondery featuring Marcus Lemonis called 100 Percent. ONE HUNDRED PERCENT WITH MARCUS LEMONIS is a masterclass, cocktail party, and Sunday drive wrapped into one. If you are thinking you’ve heard the name before, that because you probably have. Marcus runs a fortune 500 company and is host one the most successful business shows on TV. In his new podcast, he talks with exceptional entrepreneurs such as Kathy Ireland, Charles Barkley, and many others about their businesses and how they got started. He asks entrepreneurs if they know their numbers: revenue...sales...gross margins...But the numbers are just one part of the equation. On the show, they get personal. Marcus digs deep and understands the stories behind these companies. Where did their idea begin? Who inspires them? What are their goals? He’ll identify what they're doing right and he coaches them on what may be holding them and their business back.

Some of his celebrity friends stop by to offer inspiration, advice and sometimes...tough love. Friends like Kirsten Bell, Howie Mandel and even Gayle King. Together, they’’ll help entrepreneurs identify what they need to do to take their business to the next level

You’re about to hear a preview of ONE HUNDRED PERCENT WITH MARCUS LEMONIS. While you’re listening, follow ONE HUNDRED PERCENT WITH MARCUS LEMONIS on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, or listen early and ad-free by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app. Just go to wondery.fm/100PercentMisfit.

Enjoy!

Hello Misfit Nation! Welcome to another edition of "Lessons for Hannah!" In November of 2016, we introduced a new format that we are putting alongside our regular episodes called “Lessons for Hannah.” Hannah is my daughter and one of the main inspirations for the Misfit Entrepreneur. I wanted to have a place where she could go and learn from her daddy and his Misfit friends throughout her life….even after I am gone. If you haven’t listened to the first episode of "Lessons for Hannah," I urge you to as it gives some more background and tells the amazing story of how Hannah came to be in our lives.

"Lessons for Hannah" are short, very useful, and sometimes comical lessons, that I have learned which I want to share with you and give to Hannah to help in your lives. Because I want Hannah to have these for her life, I’m going to speak as though I am talking directly to her. These episodes are a lot of fun and if you think there is a lesson that we should include in these episodes, please don’t hesitate to send it over to us at support@misfitentrepreneur.com. We’d love to share it.

This week’s Lesson for Hannah

Hannah,

I recently re-read the book The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. The book is a metaphor for one of the most important journeys of life – finding and pursuing your highest purpose. It is written as sort of a fable of a shepherd boy who leaves behind the trappings of comfort and what he knows to pursue a dream, his dream, to find a treasure. He goes through many twists and turns, challenges, and has to overcome internal strife and the urge to quit and delay gratification many times to make it through the journey. In the book, this journey is called realizing your personal legend.

What I love about it, is that #1, the book is very accurate about this journey in life and #2, it presents great wisdom and lessons that are needed in life.

Let me share what I mean with some quotes from the book.

“Dreams are the language of God.” How true. When we dream (not so much the dreams of sleep), but when we dream of pursuing something great. Something seemingly beyond our capacity and even comprehension. When we have that vision and it keeps coming back to us in our lives, I believe that is one way that God speaks to us and shows us what is possible for us. And sadly, most do not listen. How many never realize their true potential and possibilities simply because they did not act on their dreams.

“You will never be able to escape from your heart. So, it’s better to listen to what it has to say.” If you think deeply about this quote – it is about that voice inside you that is telling you what you know you need to do. Our heart and soul will guide us if we desire something enough and steer us in the right path if we are willing to truly listen to it. And same as with the last quote, sadly many do not listen. They do not listen because of fear. They do not follow their dreams because of fear. They are afraid of failing and possibly losing what they have. In fact, in the story, the shepherd boy loses everything he has multiple times and each time he is faced with a choice to give up and quit or accept something less than his dream. And each time, his heart tells him he must keep going and because he keeps pursuing his dream and listening to his heart, his soul, and the language of God, the next quote happens.

And that is “When you want something, all of the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” Hannah as you go through life, you will understand this more, but when you truly desire something that is good and true, it is amazing at how the universe opens up ways for you to get it. What you focus on truly does expand in your life. And God told us this in the bible in Proverbs where it says, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Listen to your heart and pursue your dream and you can and will get it. You will have to overcome many things in your way, especially fear, but if you keep pursuing and resolve to not give up, even if setbacks take you off track for a while, you will get there. In fact, the shepherd boy after one of the times losing all of his money, works for an entire year in little store in a town, in a foreign land, where he was a stranger and did not even speak the language - all in order to get back on his feet. And in doing so, he helped make the store more profitable than ever, making himself more money than he had lost, and learns many valuable lessons that he uses down the road to reach his treasure and fulfill his personal legend.

Speaking of personal legends, the next quote I want to share from the book is “To realize one’s destiny is a person’s only obligation.” I agree with this in principle but would add that to “realize one’s destiny in the context of serving God and being right and true by his word is our obligation.” But the point is the same. We all have a great purpose in this world from the God that created us, and we need to fulfill it. In fact, another quote from the book states, “No matter what he does, every person on earth plays a central role in the history of the world. And normally he doesn’t know it.” The world is a huge place, and it can feel like each of us are just there, but everything we do has an impact and when we pursue our dream guided by our heart in a good and true way, we play our central role in the history of the world and become that which we were created to be.

Lastly, another theme that is quoted throughout the book is “Maktub, it is written.” This quote references that everything that happens, happens for a reason and is pre-ordained or written by God. Every choice we make, every decision happens because it is supposed to in the grand context of the universe. We may never understand it all or why, especially when bad things happen to us, but that is a question that only God can answer and someday when you meet God, he will. The lesson from this for me is to trust in God and trust in the bigger picture. And I have seen this throughout my life. The story of finding you and us becoming a family is a great example of this. Everything that had to happen for us to become a family had to happen exactly as it did, good, bad, and everything in-between. It was a journey, a dream of all of ours that was just and true that we pursued until we fulfilled it together.

Hannah, there are many more lessons, but if you can understand that you must listen to your heart and God’s voice in your biggest desires and dreams, and then pursue them because they are good and true to the end; the universe will help you realize them and fulfill your personal legend, or legends, because Maktub, it is written. It is your obligation to realize your destiny and play your central role in the history of the world. I know you will and cannot wait to watch you do so!

I love you,

Daddy

Best Quote: To realize one’s destiny in the context of serving God and being right and true by his word is our obligation

Misfit 3:

1. Read the Alchemist one a year and make sure you are on the path to your personal legend or legends.
2. Listen to God’s voice in your dreams and what your heart tells you is just, good, and true.
3. Keep going, no matter what happens – keep the desire alive in you.

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