Transcript of The Mindset That Builds Unstoppable Entrepreneurs | Shawn Meaike DSH #1212

Wait, so it was 97 pounds?

Holy crap.

I graduated at 195. I got 100 pounds in four years. But I graduated at 17, so I was really young as a freshman. I didn't even think about going through puberty. And I was just walking around, didn't even realize. I realized how small I was compared to them as they started to mature and stuff. But I mean, football, dude, that's a bloodbath. I got knocked around everywhere.

All right, guys. Sean Mike is back. Same name as me. Let's do this.

100% man. Yes, sir.

What is it? Is it part two or part three?

Part three, bro.

Let's go. Yeah. Little three-peat.

Little three-peat, dude. Nothing wrong with a three-peat.

What's new? You just went to the inauguration, right?

The inauguration. How was that? I had never been to one. It's funny because it was unbelievable. It was unbelievable to see... You were there, right?

I didn't. I left the day before.

Okay. You pull up and you can't get within a mile because security and everything. I'm thinking to myself, how many people can be waiting outside because it's really freaking cold. To see tens of thousands of people waiting in line. Then you start talking to them because that was really cool. You're waiting in line and you're doing that. We didn't have to wait in line. We were going to go around and get in. It was cool. But inside, it was just like, It was an excitement. I think I like to, no matter who's there, who believes in what, I'm a big fan of... I like discussions, so I'd have gone no matter who.

You would have went if Kamala wants to?

Hell, yeah. There's some people like, You would have gone. I'm like, Dude, I I like experiencing things. I don't have to be... You understand, while I voted for Trump, I'm all about what's happening in the country, I'm all about where we're going, I'm an entrepreneur, all that. Would I have gone and celebrate it? But I like to see... I like to take all that shit in. I want to hear what people say. I'm not going to scream and yell and argue with them all day long, but I appreciate different opinions. What I don't appreciate is people saying, I can't have a different opinion because I appreciate your different opinion. I want you to appreciate mine. I had never gone, and I was going to go I've experienced either way. Now, in fairness, I knew Trump was going to win for a while now, and I didn't know he was going to win in a landslide, but I knew he was going to win. So it made it probably easier for me to want to go. Obviously, I was a hell of a lot more excited to go there.

Oh, yeah. The energy there was.

Oh, my God, the people. But just to listen to people. I was talking to a guy, and I said, Bro, why are you so excited? He's like, This is going to be the hardest four years of my life. And I said, Why? He said, I've always been proud to be an American, and I felt like I was being told that I shouldn't be proud to be an American. He's like, And I'm not a very confrontational person. He's like, So I just really just didn't say anything for four years. He's like, What about you? I'm like, I'm pretty confrontational, and I don't give a shit, and I don't seek it out, but I believe what I believe in. I'm going to have my opinion either way. But I thought, I didn't experience what he experienced. It didn't affect me like that for four years. I was like, Dude, I'm still going to live my life and talk what I want to talk about. But he felt like he just couldn't. It's funny going to the DC airport, and you're like, How many people had all their Trump gear on? But if this was a year ago, try to go in any of those cities, DC, try to be in New York, you find somebody walking with a MAGA hat on, people would be screaming at him, videotaping it.

It was different, and we were supposed to be free. I think everything that we have always celebrated about America is back.

I'm excited. Yeah, the times have changed. But like you said, a lot of it's perspective, dude. Even though it was those four years under Biden and Kamala, I I didn't really get affected the way I see it. Correct. I was still doing my thing. Me, too.

But you realize how many people got affected. I think that's what I felt bad. Also, they worked their job. They're really proud of the country they live in. They're trying to raise some kids. I also don't have any school-age kids, and I didn't realize that either. When you start talking to somebody's parents, and they're like, I'm like, You know what? That didn't affect me. My kids are all grown. To have to deal with that in the school system, I wasn't dealing with talking to my kids about a guy playing on my daughter's team. That was never a conversation or who goes to what bathroom. I never had to experience that. And had I had to, I think it would have affected me as it really gave me some perspective there, too.

I could see you as a parent standing I know you're big on sports, too. You definitely speak out against that.

Let me be clear. If some dude was competing against my daughter, the dude that helped make that person would be the dude I'd be talking to. I'm not mad at you. I love you. I want everybody to be okay. But your kid is not going to be... I wouldn't let my son go do that. So, yeah, I would definitely have stood up. That's for damn sure.

They put an end to that stuff, right? Yeah. He signed a lot of orders already. 100%. He released the JFK stuff, I think, today. Can't wait to read that tonight in bed. That's going to be content for the week.

That'll be a lot of content for you.

You never run out of content with Trump in office. No, he's a machine. He's polarizing, so there's always going to be debate around him.

Yes, he is. I think that was the thing. Even listening to him talk, I I think I've always respected people that are bold, regardless if I agree with them or not. Because if not, what's the worst now is people that they don't stand for nothing. Now, all of a sudden, it's like, No, I'm good. It's like, But you were so upset before and you hated him so bad. But now my opinion of people is my opinion. Just because I didn't vote for Biden, I didn't go, Man, I'm excited. I was like, What you said, Dude, I'm going to live my life. That's part of just being a businessman or businesswoman is like, you're in control of your own shit. It's the government. Like, whatever. They're going to come up with things. Were there things I had to navigate for four years? Absolutely. But you had to navigate them. What are you going to do? That's an immovable force. Now, what can you do? Don't beat your head against an immovable force. That's when you quit things. Can't go anywhere.

Fact. It's just that victim mindset, right? Because obviously stuff's going to pop up. Of course it is. How you choose to react to it. That's where a lot of people fold, I think.

Man, it's It's sad, actually, because at some point in time in your life, you just got to stand up. Sometimes it's taking an ass kicking and then getting back up and going like, That sucked. Let me figure it out. Most everybody wants to avoid that their entire lives. Then, I don't know, man, I meet a lot of folks that are in different phases of their lives in their '70s, '80s, and later. You're like, if they've not been through anything, man, sometimes you're like, How much did you experience? It's sad. Because I think if they could go back and stand up at the times, whatever the confrontation was, the fight, the difficulty, and not just become the victim, I think they'd probably change it. The pain of regret seems pretty nasty.

Yeah, because you talked to a lot of elderly in your space, obviously.

I did it as a social work, and I did it on life insurance. But I met with a lot of folks as a social worker, and me and your guy out there were just talking. He's like, I didn't realize how much wisdom I was going to get from people in this space because he deals a lot of elderly folks, and in his business. It's true, man. They've been through a lot, good, bad, or indifferent. They're usually in a phase in their lives where they're done front and they're lying. They're not pretending to be anything. They're not. They're just like, Here's what I've done in my life. Here's what I would probably do differently. Here's where I'm That. A lot of them, I think if they could have chosen to continue along that path, it would have been harder.

I think they would have. Yeah, that's cool, though, to have that no regrets mentality at a younger age, right?

It's like bliss, bro. It's the greatest thing in the world. You're going to make mistakes, but you've done everything you can do, and you don't back down from shit. You never take a step backwards. I got to go get them. Yeah, man. I think that's the... I was that old football coach, and that's why I love... Here's my line You're the backers coach. He said, The only time you're wrong is when you're going backwards. Move laterally, move forward. Your job ain't that hard. We ain't letting you cover nobody down the field. You ain't that fast. Just hit this person, but don't go backwards.

I love that. Simple advice, but you could apply that to life, right? Not just football. That's why I like sports a lot.

Because it parallels life.

100%, sports, poker. There's a lot. I was a distance runner, and that mindset that I got from distance running to be able to endure running 5, 10 miles a day I use that every day at this point.

Of course you do, dude. And how you feel with doing it, getting through it, the sense of accomplishment. That's the thing about working out. People are like, Dude, I just like doing something every morning that I don't necessarily love to do. I don't mind doing it, but I don't wake up and jump up and down. If I could wake up and do something business-related that has an awesome result or wake up and work out for an hour and a half, I'd rather do the business deal. But I start by doing this because I don't really want to do it, and then I get through it, and then I feel on top of the mother effing world, and then I go conquer everything else. It's just that, like you said, that competitive nature, you don't ever want to lose it.

I love it, man. That's a non-negotiable for you working out every day?

Every day. Wow. It's more emotionally, but seven days a week.

Damn. No days all. No.

You want to know why? First of all, I'm 52. You know what I mean? I'm just saying you get It could be you in your 20s, you can take days off. In your 30s, you take... I read something a long time ago. I said that at 35, everything starts to slow down and reverse stuff a little bit. I don't know if it's psychological or not, but I got to a point at 35, and I was like, Man, it does. It changes. For me, sometimes something happens that I'm on a plane earlier doing something else, and maybe I take a day off. But I was sitting there talking to David Goughens about that one day, and he was like, I don't take any days off because life might give me a time to take a day off. I'm like, Okay, I'm not taking days off either. If that fool can run 100 miles with broken legs, I can go work out if I'm sore. Every day. It makes me feel just emotionally. That's probably the bigger battle than the physical. I want to be healthy, but emotionally, my mind is jacked up. If it's a couple of days in a row, then I'll go work out.

Do you feel like you have good control over your emotions for the most part?

Yes.

That's important, right?

Very.

Yeah, a lot of young guys do not have control. I see it in basketball and pick up. They just lose their shit.

Then everybody owns you. A man in control of his emotions is dangerous in a good way. When I lose my... When I'm frustrated or I'm angry, I'm like, Dude, I intentionally didn't lose myself. I wanted to make a point to you about where I was at, but why would I ever let you get inside my head and control my emotions? You lose control of your emotions when you give somebody else the keys. You don't take the keys yourself and turn on and jack it up. You're like, Here are the keys. You said something, I missed a shot. I didn't do something. Also, it's lack of accountability. You lose your emotions. How about playing ball? I coached basketball for years. I'm like, Dude, why are you mad? You missed the shot. What You missed the shot. You did. What are you mad at them for? Who cares? You don't know who they are. That guy in the stands, he never played either. What do you care? That guy that you're talking to, he's better than you. Now you need to learn. That was our deal. Try to get in people's heads. That's what I love about basketball.

That's why I love coaching basketball because these kids were older. They're all 16, 17, 18, 19. You're playing travel ball. You're coaching. Basketball coaching is unlike anything else because you're in the game. I'm here and you're there. You're a player. I'm this close to you on the other team. That doesn't happen in baseball. You're in a dugout. You're near your team, but you're not near their team. In a football, you're on your own sidelines. Unless some dude comes on your sideline on occasion, and he's got a helmet on, nobody can hear what anybody's saying. But basketball, I can be walking out, you can be warming up, and I'm like, Why are you shooting that? I'm like, Four, stop shooting that. You're never going to make it. They're talking shit to me. I'm like, I don't care. I ain't even playing. Keep shooting. Let him shoot. Let him shoot all day long. But also I wanted them to be mad at me over the kids I had because the kids I had were sometimes a little bit intimidated with the groups we went into and how big the group was, the fans, the audience, how rowdy it is.

Basketball is unlike anything else. It's my favorite sport. Yeah, and I couldn't know less about it. I know so much about football and baseball. I know I learned about basketball, but dude, it motivated me because of just the environment and how real it is. The shit-talking resembled life to me. Because in baseball, you're not even supposed to talk shit. It's like somehow it's a violation of the game or the rules. It was an article a long time ago. No, What's that kid's name now? I'll forget.

Trevor Bauer?

No, not Bauer. He's a trip. The kid is with the... He's with the Phillies now, the left-hand hitter. I'll forget. I remember later, I'm thinking about. But he was on sport. I think it was ESPN magazine, something. They said, What is your biggest issue? He goes, People are going to stop watching baseball. It's boring. He said, I take my bat, flip it three, four times after I hit a home run, Harper, Bryce Harper. He's like, Everybody's mad at me. He's like, Dude, that's entertaining. Also, I'm excited. I did something that's amazing. I hit a ball that was going 98 miles an hour that moved nine inches, spinning like a top, and I smoked it and hit it 400 feet. Why should I not be excited? It's discouraged. It's like an old school. You don't do that. It's like, Dude, that was 100 years ago. We don't do that in anything else in life. We don't go like, Well, 100 years ago in business, you didn't do that. Dude, nobody's watching. Nobody cares. Even the NBA, like you said, with the basketball, dude, don't that whole flopping and this and that. Be accountable.

100%, I agree. Nba's ratings are at an all-time low. It's because they're giving for just talking shit.

Dude, how old are you?

27.

Okay. Have you watched clips of the pistons and all them back in the day?

I've seen clips, yeah.

Okay. I grew up watching that. You were going to games and looked like Jordan was getting literally physically assaulted. Punch. I mean, brutal. But back then, that was just the way you played. You watched Bill Lambeer jump up and elbow people in the mother of your head and spit at each other. You're like, Dude, it was First of all, you knew they cared. That's the other thing I think that's happened with all this AU shit is everybody's everybody's friend. When we grew up, we played at a high school, you were a different high school. We competed. You went to college, I went to college. We competed. We never played in the same team. If it was an all-star team, it was like one game. But we didn't leave our high school team. We played with our high school teammates over the summer. But now it's like with all these travel, everybody knows everybody. So all of a sudden you get here and it's like, Well, I played with him and I played. Well, dude, you're on our team now. It don't matter if you don't care if that's your best friend or your biological brother.

He ain't on our team. You're right. Who doesn't want to see people talking shit? It's theater. People are excited. Most of the people don't even know what's happening in the basketball court anyway. They're eating their hot dog, watching popcorn, they want to be entertained. You give them popcorn, you yank out the entertainment. Of course, people aren't going to show up.

Yeah, it's lost that physical nature. I think other sports, you should be allowed to talk because I used to love tennis, but now you get penalized for talking in tennis. Same with chess. Same with baseball. Same with chess? Yeah, you can't talk during chess. Really? I love chess because when I play with my friends, I'm talking shit. I'm getting in their head. You said it's a mental game, too.

You're not allowed to say anything.

Can't say anything or you get disqualified.

For real? Yeah.

For chess. You should be allowed to try to get into people's head. It's a sport. It's competition. The physical nature of the sport is one side of the game, but the mental side, like you said, with basketball, it's really evident. Because you see these guys warming up pregame, they don't miss a shot, not one shot. Then you see them in the game that can't make a free throw.

Well, that's the thing, too. It's funny because you get tech or something late, and one time, a guy said to me, Why don't you ever let my son shoot the technical foul? He's the best free throw shooter in the team. And I said, No, your son's the best free throw shooter in the team when the game's not on the line. And he is. If we're up 20, down 20, he's going to make both of them. And if the crowd's okay, but in a hostile environment, I'll let this kid shoot. He's 15% lower than your kid, but when the game is on the line, he don't change at all. He actually does a little bit better. He wants to be. It's like you hand the ball and you look at the kid's eyes and you're like, No, no, no. Then there's that one kid going, give me the fucking ball. I want the ball. Same with pitching, baseball. You go to the bull pen, you're like, Who the hell? This kid's dying to get in. Sometimes you're like, Hey, bro, you pitch way too much, and you're always excited and you're not as good as everybody else.

But a lot of times you're like, Oh, he wants in. That's the thing in The guy or girl that just wants in all the time, dude, I want in. Who's in? I'm in. What are we doing? Don't even know I'm in. Got any volunteers? I'm in. We did this little reality show. It was great. One of the first deals was you had to volunteer. You know what you're volunteering for. Ended up being... They were sparring, but we had this kid come in. He's a UFC former champion. Charles Roll is a great guy, and it was boxing for a couple of rounds. Again, he wasn't going to murder anybody, but you had to land or he lands the point. But it was the people that were like, I'm in. You're like, Dude, you don't even know what it is. I know that I'm in. Then some of the kids, I'm like, Dude, this is what's going to happen. You don't want your first fight. He's not going to hurt you, but you've never been in a fight in your life. It looks like you're terrified in your eyes. You don't have to do this, and I don't want you to be out this early.

Okay, thanks. Then some of you are like, Oh, he's dumb enough to just do it. That's what I like. Sometimes we look in people's eyes and there's nothing. Those are my guys. What's going on in there? I'm like, I don't think anything is. Meaning he don't give a shit about nothing. He don't seem scared. I don't even know if he's smart enough to be scared, but he's in. He's on our team. Let's go. Those guys are dangerous.

Yeah, you could tell a lot with the eye.

Crazy is good, dude, as long as you can contain it.

Yeah, that's the trick, right? You can contain it because sometimes they'll go the other way.

It's a blood bath.

I'm sure you've had to fire some people.

Plenty of them. Way too many.

It's tricky when they're top salespeople, too, I thought.

Yeah, it's hard, man. But you're crazy, can't hurt everybody else. Now there's levels, right? You're like, okay, he's... I'm not talking about coaching basketball. Sometimes my son would say, Why is he still on the team? He scores 25 points a game. He's paying the ass. I'm like, Oh, he's paying the ass. But he scores 25 points a game. He's good. He's a good rebounder, handles the ball well. We're going to hope that some of these other things change. If they don't, they don't. If we have to do something, eventually, we will. What if he scored two points a game? I wouldn't have him on the team. That's not fair. No, that is fair. That's life. I only got eight kids. So don't be absent and expendable at the same time. If you're having results, there's a little bit of leeway. But then there's a line. You get too crazy and you're like, Okay, I got to take him off team. He's going to harm somebody.

Agreed, yeah. Literally. You're still coaching any sports or all your kids are grown up now, right? They're grown, dude.

I miss it, though, man. I do. That's one thing I will tell you. I freaking miss immensely. I do some stuff for the FAU football program in Bocca. I got my buddy Chris Carter, I do a podcast with him, and he's one of the coaches there, and I'm involved with them. I like just being involved, but I miss it. I miss coaching football, basketball, baseball. It was some of the greatest times I've ever had to watch other people and be there for them, whether they're having their... I can remember games that these guys played 15 years ago, and I can vividly remember them.

That's impressive, man. You really were passionate about that. Yeah, man. Where do you rank coaching in terms of difficulty? Because a lot of people say it's one of the toughest jobs on a professional level.

Man, you mean being a professional coach or being- Professional coach, yeah. Well, first of all, it's insanely complicated. I rank it the difficulty levels off the charts. But also it's one of those things, where let's even take college nowadays. Imagine being the guy in charge that makes a million a year, and then everybody else you're coaching makes more than you. In today's world, and in that world a lot of times, it's like, who's making the most? Well, damn, the dude there is making the least, and he's allegedly in charge. If a guy makes 20 million a year to play basketball and the coach makes 3 million, the dude making 20 million is in charge. He's in charge, but if they're parting with one of these two, it ain't going to be this two. So he's got to appease this guy because this guy's in charge. When they go, he's a players' coach. Well, dude, almost all these professional coaches are nowadays. The Raiders just hired, what's his name back? Pete Carroll. Oh, they did? Yeah, hired Pete Carroll yesterday. You go like, what's it? Well, everybody says, he's a players' coach. Dolphins' coach, Mike McDaniel. I have this discussion with Chris Carter.

He's like, he's great. I'm But you know what? Players seem to like him. But then eventually you got to win, too. Now, if a fight breaks out or we're trying to get excited about something, I'm not calling Mike McDaniel to get me excited. If I'm a football player, I'm just not. I'm sorry, but he's smart. People like him. I think it's really complicated to juggle all of that. I think amateur coaching is such bliss because, dude, they want to be there. They're not being paid. When you just coach in high school, some of the travel stuff we did, man, and even some of the travel teams we had, dude, I paid their way. I liked hungry broke kids. But guess what? I paid your way. So I'm like, Hey, ma, he's on the team as long as he shows up, competes. But if he don't play well, I want you I don't understand. I'm not paying for him. I'm paying. You all got to pay nothing. My single mom couldn't afford to put me in anything, but he's got to now go ahead and do his job. Deliver, yeah. You get to deliver. As opposed to you're making X amount of dollars and everybody thinks you got to play this kid or play that kid.

I think it's really hard. I don't know how some of these guys do on the professional level because there's a few of them that have a lot of respect. Look at Andy Reid, those guys love him. But if you talk to some of these guys in the league, they love him because he knows their deal, he talks to them, he knows their life. He's just a connector. People really love that about him. If you listen to these guys talk, it's why at my home, those guys all love him. He's a connector, and they know that he loves on him. He's been through shit in life, too, with his sons. I think that they have that as well. When you hear them talk about, Andy's been through it, man, and he's still here for us. But I think the rest of it is really hard, man. Also, you look at the national championship this year, I actually believe, people argue with me, Ohio State, I think Dave was going to get fired had he not made the championship. The thing about that. You could literally get in a college play, but they're like, No, he didn't beat Michigan.

He didn't win this game over here, and he didn't do that. But he also is getting these guys getting paid $20 million, and a lot of them are. Now, all of a sudden, you're on top of the world one day. You have one loss You lose to Michigan, it's like the world's over. One game, which didn't end up mean... I mean, they won the national championship anyway. But it's just, dude, that's a very loveless business. They love you, they hate you, bro. Then everybody They're at you anyway, and then these guys aren't playing. I couldn't coach anything professionally. Not that I'm qualified. I just couldn't do it. Then I couldn't do it because I just don't know how you win that battle. You got an owner worth as much Which is he's, she's worth. Then you got a gentleman drop in there somewhere, don't have to deal with the players. Then you got the coach who doesn't make near as much. He's much more expendable than they are. If you go at it with the players and they got to pick between you and the players, they're going to pick the players, the good So now that you're not in charge, how do you navigate a bunch of people, make them happy, challenge them a little bit, the professionals, make in-game decisions, think about the star players, how you don't piss him off, and then make sure that the relationship between that triangulation of you, the general manager, the owner, and then what do you do when the owner is like a Jerry Jones, when the owner is with the players anyway?

You have no shot. Everybody's like, Is Deion going to be coaching the Cowboys? I don't ever see how Jerry Jones ever sets his ego aside unless Deion come in. Ever. You know what I mean? Because he's Jerry Jones. But imagine coaching, knowing that any one of those players called Jerry and be like, I don't like the way this is going down. I mean, you're literally just... It's tough, man. It's got to be tough.

I think the average tenure is like one or two years at the pro level.

I wouldn't want to do it, dude. I think for me, I think even when you coach, even through high school, people always say, What did you enjoy the most? Middle school, high school, some of the collegiate stuff. You get a certain age, dude. It was like, you just get really frustrated because you're like, Bro, you're not like, why are you acting like they're not? I used to look around and be like, Where are all the scouts? What do you mean, coach? I'm like, Where are they? Because you're walking around here acting like you're on top of the motherfucking world. Who do you think you are? There's nobody here, bro. There's us. We're competing. We like you. You're pretty good. Just go out there and play It's a game. But who do you think you are? Where do you think we are? Because that's a big part of it, too, is being honest with people. Because nowadays, and I do think it's different, nowadays, everybody's great. You find a way to play somewhere, you have a distinct. Everybody will let you play if you pay. All of a sudden, everybody's great. They get down in high school, Where's my kid going to play?

I would meet with these, except for in baseball. I'm like, I'll meet with you and talk to you about what their options are. I was scared sometimes. I'm like, Why is he flying out there to that camp? It's a paid camp. Well, he liked to go to school there. I'm like, Oh, go to school there? Cool. Because is he smart? He has good grades? Yeah. I'm like, Oh, awesome. He's doing baseball there. I'm like, That's a Division One baseball program. What are you saying? I'm like, Your kid's a Division Five baseball player. He has no chance to play college baseball at any level. Why are you telling him that? Haven't you watched his... He didn't play in his high school team, barely. But it's just this idea of, let's just continue. You're going to keep trying hard, Tommy. Tom, you're not good. You're as bad as your dad was. There's nothing wrong with that. Just go get a great degree. You played on this team, you're on your high school team, you got in a little bit. But they lied to these kids, and they set them off into the world. It's There's a lot of kids that were anointed to be the next coming of everything when they're younger, especially when they mature real fast.

I tell people, be careful with the kids that go through puberty real young because they look really good.

They peak young though.

Yeah, they're monsters. Then all of a sudden, it's like, Now everybody else caught up to you. Now, can you play or not? While they were doing this, their parents weren't just taken with a grain of salt. They're ready to get them drafted. They're 12. Just take a breath. That also makes the kids hate the game. They start hated it because then their parents They say, You're this. They get older, they're not this, then they hate the game. I've seen that. Yeah, it's awful. It's awful to do to kids.

I saw it in basketball with kids that grew tall early. Then by the time high school ended, they hated it. They didn't want to poop anymore.

Well, why wouldn't they? Then you let your parents. They don't want to let their parents down or whoever was believing them, and they're telling them what they're going to do and where they're going to go to college, and they're looking at all these schools. It's like, now, listen, they're not who you said they were going to be. You said they were going to be. They didn't say that. Nobody else said that. You said they were going to be that way. There's a lot of people to lie to the kids just going to pay. Yeah, your kid should play on our team. It's 3,500 bucks for the summer and he's going to be a great college baseball player. I'm like, He's not playing college baseball. But if you want to pay 3,500 bucks to have you a great summer, do it, but don't lie to the kid.

Yeah, it's tough because they put all their eggs in that basket and then they realize they're not good enough in college. Well, it's sports. Their identity is wrapped up in it.

They don't have an identity because it's all they got. Then it's that whole idea of always hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard. That's a fucking lie. That's a bold-face lie in athletics. In business, it's true. You built what you built by working your ass off. That's true. But just because you work your ass off on a basketball court, baseball field, or foot... Dude, if you're not talented, that kid can work out once a year. He's going to walk on the field. He runs a 40 and four, fucking four. He jumps through the roof. He's strong. You've been working out every day to work your footwork, your strength, your speed to cover him, and you still can't cover him because God made him much more talented than you. He's eating Cinnabon, runs, drinking what he wants to drink, laying on the couch, rolling off the couch, and kicking your ass. Because sports, that's what's great once you leave the talent. When it's based on talent and hard work, you got to work hard once you have the talent to continue to grow. I totally I'm not saying that. But what's great about being a businessman, working your job, being an entrepreneur, dude, it doesn't really take talent, which is what makes it great.

Are you willing to learn and will you work hard?

Facts.

That's cool. Now everybody's level. If you win, you can beat anybody. Anybody.

It doesn't matter. Yeah, I had no talent in business.

But your reps, hey, your first podcast, when was it?

Two years ago.

Two years ago. Very first one. How much better are you today than two years ago?

So much better.

Night and It was night and day. You wouldn't even recognize. If you watched the video, you'd be like, wow, not near as bad as you'll make it out to be, but so much better. How much more comfortable are you?

So much. I couldn't even talk on the first one. Correct. I was scared.

People come in now, you could care less. You're eating homemade stuff from your fiancé. We're having fun. We're sitting around. But the first couple, you're probably like, he's coming in. What am I going to talk about?

Super nervous. Yeah. Grant Cardone came on the first time. I'm going to shit myself. Yeah.

Now you care less. If I was like, Trump's outside, you'd be like, when's he in? Half an hour? You don't care. No. It doesn't matter to you at all. You put the reps in you to the work.

That's where confidence comes, right?

Yes.

Yeah. Because I had a little confidence growing up, to be honest. Little. I was not confident at all. I think part of that was single mother. They didn't have that father figure. Then sports helped me gain some confidence. That's why I recommend play sports.

100%.

You'll find yourself.

100%. You don't have to be a professional athlete. You'll find yourself. You take those things that have helped you in business. Same with me. All those things I learned throughout the years in the field, playing, coaching, I fall back on those in business when I don't know what to do. I'm like, All right. My coach, John Ellis, was the best coach I ever had. He was a successful businessman. Cool. This shit happened in life. How do I deal with it? Boom. This is what I think he would have done. Cool. That's great. I remember he had to talk me. I was always trying to get as much out of everybody as I could. I knew the coaches were using me to be better, so we'd win. I wanted to use them to get what they knew, not just about sports, but about life, because my old man went around either. I'm like, What can I get from them? What do they know? Coach, how did you do that? I was a crazy question asker forever, ever.

You weren't shy.

Never. I didn't give a shit. I was tiny. I was 97 pounds my freshman year in high school. Wow. 97. I played football, basketball, so I was 97 pounds.

Holy How did you get to graduate?

I graduated at 195. I got 100 pounds in four years. But I graduated at 17, so I was really young as a freshman. I didn't even think about going through puberty. I was just walking around, didn't even realize. I realized how small I was compared to them as they started to mature and stuff. But I mean, football, dude, that's a bloodbath. I got knocked around everywhere. But you just kept getting up. Then I was like, eventually I'll get bigger or I won't. If I don't get bigger, I mean, ain't about much. I can do it 97 pounds. But I was like, I didn't give a shit. I could care less. Hit me in the face, punch, but I was not going to back around. A lot easier to get beaten up by 200-pound senior when you're a freshman, then refuse to fight. I take that any day of the week. Really? What happened? I'm like, I almost had him. They're like, Dude, he beat the shit out of you. I was like, I almost had him. But I mean, at least... I think I just had my own issues, my own self-deprecating behaviors. I was going to party and do all that.

How Having that happen and having that happen with somebody was just another way for me to punish myself for some of the trauma and shit I was going through.

I feel you were big on partying in high school club?

I love partying, dude. Really?

What do you think caused that?

I watched it growing up. As much as my old man wasn't around whenever I saw him, he was always partying. Much as he was never, I was like, he's still my father, so I still had this weird, I want to be like... I didn't know how I knew it was messed up, but I didn't know how messed up it was. I was around a lot of that when I was real young, drinking drugs. Then when I was probably 13, my mom worked three jobs, so I knew some of the older kids in my neighborhood where we live. We started smoking weed, and they're like, You should sell it. I was like, What do I get? They told me. I was like, Okay, here's an eighth, here's a quarter. How do I do this? Here's a dime bag. Cool. Got to do this. I make myself some money. I love smoking weed. I smoked weed every day from the age of 13 to probably 28. Damn.

Every day. Fifteen years straight.

Every day. I miss my friends every day.

Holy crap.

But I love smoking weed. Then problem with that was it led me to using coke. That led me to smoking crack. It was just... Yeah, I got sober at 28, but I loved partying. I think it just made me It gave me the alter reality I wanted. I wanted a different situation. I don't want to live in some of the stuff I had going on. It gave me an edge. It made people look at me differently, I thought. A lot of those kids that I played ball with were really centered and really secure. I lived like these two lives where I played ball and I had my friends were athletes, but I partied like crazy. And so I had all these. Back then, there was all kinds of different crews. They called them in clicks and different names they had for them all. But I'm like, I just was in everything. I was like, You don't like him, but I get high with Max, so don't mess with Max. Then, well, Kevin, he's the Mateo back on football team. I just knew a lot of the different people. So I didn't feel comfortable. I felt comfortable playing ball when I was playing ball with the guys on my team on the field.

But once the game was over and they went back to their lives with mom, dad, dinners, two parents, I didn't know what to do. I'm like, I'm going to go over here and party my ass off. I don't really have anywhere to go. Game gets over and their mom's dad's picking them up and they're going to go. I don't have anybody to pick me up. Dan. Yeah, and I wasn't telling a It was fine, but I would get a ride home with somebody. My mom worked a lot, so it's not like she didn't want to be in my game. His mother just worked a ton. I don't think my mom went to football, basketball, and baseball. I don't think my mom went to... I played basketball for two years in high school. Basketball didn't love me. I didn't I love it, dude. I only played it for two years. I played four years of baseball, football, went to college to play baseball. My mother, I bet, seen two games. That's it? From when I was a little kid. She was working. Wow. My mom worked her ass off because she had to. She had to do everything, take care of us.

Then my dad, when he got older, he would fucking show up drunk and talk shit to me. He would taunt me from the stands. But I hated when he came. Then I think I just got to a point where in college, I was like, screw him. He seems to be excited. I don't even want to play anymore since he's around. But yeah, man. So I think I would run, not run, but my game would get over. I'm like, let's go over here with these guys and get high. I'll find my buddies in the apartment complex I lived in, and they weren't hard to find. Their moms weren't home. Their moms were working or their moms were partying. My mom worked. My mom was a drinker, but she wasn't a drug user.

So you were living two lives?

A hundred %.

Wow. That probably helped you with sales because you got all these perspectives.

Oh, dude. I learned how to deal with all kinds of people. I mean, all kinds of people, man, and everywhere. Just every background, where I grew up, and I was always very comfortable in any environment. So it wasn't a lot that made me uncomfortable.

Which is cool because sometimes athletes are just so in their own bubble, that they're close-minded to other perspectives. I see that with football players.

Yeah, I It was amazing, man. I think I was very... Which was good. I had a lot of perspective from a lot of different people, and I was always moving in different groups.

So that was good for me. It sounds like you really wanted to provide for your mother. Is that a big part of your work ethic?

Yeah, I'm I'd like to provide my mother. I didn't want to be broke. I wanted my mom to be okay, which I've been able to do. It's been awesome, and I didn't want to be broke. I think you talked about identity earlier. I was smart. No one thing was going to be my identity. I love playing sports. When I got done in college, I didn't freak me out. I was, I'm going to go to work. Then when I had my first job and I loved it, that wasn't my identity. It was just a job. I'm like, okay, cool. I'm going to run a real estate company. That wasn't my My identity. I was a businessman. Did that for years, had an opportunity to sell it. Cool. Let me get into waste management. But that wasn't my identity either. Life insurance is not my identity. I want to be a good business person. I want to do well. I want to provide for other people. I want to teach other people to do what I've done. Period. End of story. I want to do it at a better... I want to give people a better opportunity.

There was barrier of entry. It was really hard for me when I got into business because I was trying to find a way to get around people, and we didn't have social media. You didn't get to go on the search shit and find it. You had to go find people. Then you go find people, and then they want you to pay them. They wouldn't do it. It wasn't like it is now. They didn't have all these coaching, but you'd have to find a way to get around them. When I was in real estate in It, 2000? Dude, I was like, my first event was here in Vegas with a RE/MAX company. That shit was like $30,000. Damn. Yes.

Wait, just to attend it?

To attend all the sessions they had. It was like four days, the breakouts. Yes. But a lot of these people... I was one of the few people not making... I was new to the business, and I had made some money. I was never broke when I was doing other shit, doing stuff I probably shouldn't be doing. I had money. Then But it was so awesome because I was one of the only guys. Everybody else who was there was a big producer. I had this wealth of people, and I was young. Most of them were a lot older, and I had the ability to... I was courageous. I'd ask questions. I made a lot of relationships there that lasted me 10, 15, 20 years. A lot of them were like, Well, why did you come? I'm like, Well, the person that recruited me said this is the best meeting all year and said to me, she said, I bet you can't afford to do it. She was Hell, in her 50s, she was 30 years older than me. I was like, Well, what do you mean? She's like, Well, it's not for new people. I'm like, Am I not allowed to go?

She's like, No, you can definitely go. I'm just saying I wouldn't waste. I'm like, But you're telling me it's really good. Why am I wasting my money? She's I'm like, Would you have 30 grand? I'm like, I could come up with it. I can come up with 30 grand if it's going to be that good. Then I'm not going to those four days. I went to every minute. I showed up 7: 00 AM, stayed till 07: 00 PM. I didn't fucking miss nothing. Went to the bathroom, I came right back. Then I just asked questions when we had breaks and found people. I'd be like, Can I get your number? Can I get your number? Dude, it was a different world. It wasn't like, Where's your cell?

No cell phones back then, right?

It was a different world, man. When you start thinking back then, how you got a hold of people, when there was I don't mess the other thing, which is good, but a lot of you all couldn't fathom because you're like, What do you mean? I'm like, Yeah, that was a newer thing for me to send an email. It was like getting your home phone number to then call you from my office or home phone to then get a hold of you. That's crazy. I can't remember when I had a cell phone or didn't or when I didn't have a pager, or when I first got my next out and I'm like, walkie-talkie people. But yeah, man, but you had to go get it. I wanted to provide stuff where people... It was a lower barrier of entry. I wanted to be able to just share information with people on a pretty regular basis and not smoke them.

Wow. That perspective is crazy because you hear people complaining about not getting views on social media, but this is a whole another level.

You would get an airplane to fly across the country to have a conversation with somebody. Then when you left, how did you get in touch with them? You'd have to get back into a phone and hope they were in front of theirs.

That's It wasn't nice. Now you could text them on the plane.

A hundred %. You could do everything. You got Wi-Fi on the plane. Then you're like, How did you get your information? Watch TV or read a newspaper.

All my parents have that.

All my parents have that.

They met on a newspaper. Really? Yeah. That's what dating was back then, right? Newspaper ads. It's crazy. Now you got Tinder, you just swipe.

Yeah, I never use newspaper ads, but yes, it's a lot different nowadays than it was then.

Yeah, the access is just... I see all the views I'm getting. It's just like, holy crap. A hundred million views a month. It's crazy. Back then, You got to have a huge television show.

Well, think about that, really, right? How many people back then had... How many... Anything had a hundred million views. You all are bigger than the biggest TV and shows and sporting events were.

Yeah, that's true.

100%. They have that many views.

Because stadium is like 100,000. Correct.

Now, think about that. That's what blows my mind. I travel a lot, and I'm with people, and I'm like... And again, it's always bigger platforms. Your platform. What's his name? The Hard Knocks kid who I like a lot. Oh, James. James. I was in a casino the other night, and this guy's like, Hey, man, how are you? You're Sean? I was like, Yeah, just watch Hard Knocks. But then again, somebody's like, Man, how do you like... I'll be traveling. I was in St. Thomas. This dude's at a restaurant. He's like, Hey, I just saw your hard knocks. I'm like, But when you have that many views, there are a couple of hundred million people in America. If you're getting that many views, that's a large percentage of the population that's seeing what you're doing. You could not accomplish that before. You I didn't. There were ridiculously famous people in New England I knew. Ridiculously famous. But dude, you didn't know. Unless you watched games, you didn't know. These great athletes walked around all the place. Nobody knew who they were.

Because they have helmets, too, I think.

They have helmets. It was a different world. They didn't have post-game interviews, all the stuff they're doing now. They didn't have any marketing. They're not being promoted. They weren't doing any commercials. I mean, the handful of athletes everybody knew. But outside of those handful of athletes, you didn't know.

Other than Gronk, braided, and maybe like Emandola and a couple of others, No, you didn't know the rest of the Patriots.

No, 100%. But even back then, you wouldn't know anybody. You wouldn't know them, braided. Gronk probably wouldn't have had the marketing back then because that wasn't the appetite. There was really no Gronk deal. He just wouldn't have fit into a lot of the market. It was very bland and dry, and it wouldn't have-It wouldn't have worked.

Yeah, pre-social media, I don't think it would have worked. You're right. It wouldn't work. Yeah.

He would have worked for it. He got on whatever product it was. He would have said something, but you wouldn't have known any of these people. Businessmen, women, you didn't know who they were. Your politicians, I mean, your president, but outside of that, you didn't know. How did you know? If you watched the news and happen to catch one of them on the news and see something. But other than that, you didn't see all this stuff live.

I remember reading in elementary school about Bill Gates. That's the only entrepreneur I knew.

Correct. That's it. Back then, those guys were walking everywhere. You didn't know. You look at some of those old school videos back in the day, that was word of mouth. You showed up in an event somewhere and got around them with 100 people. People are like, How did they get into that group? Dude, nobody knew about it. How did you find anybody? Because I think you take that for granted. You think about, how many views you got a month? Hundred. Hundred what? Hundred million. Think about that, dude. A hundred million Yeah, it's nuts. That's the thing. If you really take a step back and go, That's insane. It's nuts, dude. Yes. If you take, how many people are in America?

It'd probably be at least half if I had to look at that a little bit.

Okay, so 50 million of them are here in the States. How many people live in the United States or America?

320 or whatever.

So one in every six people has seen something you've done. It's more than that because all the people are sharing. But think about it, even if it was just that, if it was one in every hundred, one in every six people. When you walk around and people are like, they know who you are. That's crazy, right? Yeah. That's crazy because a couple of years ago, especially when you were like, didn't want to leave your place.

I know. I had a gorophobia. I couldn't even leave my bed.

Which is awesome. You share it and also you're transparent about it. But it means any... Dude, that's the whole deal. You are Anybody can do anything. If an agoraphobic who don't want to leave their bed can get one out of every six people in America to watch something he's doing every single month by doing what? Going to work, working your ass off, changing, getting uncomfortable, and just showing the fuck up.

That's what I'm saying. I'm not doing anything special. I'm showing up, filming six episodes a day. It's just a work ethic.

There you go.

But anyone could do it if they put their mind to it.

Correct. But early on, when you're not getting 100 million Million views.

Oh, I had to lose at first. Yeah. First six months, I was losing money. I was doubting myself. I was probably a month or two away from calling it quits.

Which is what most successful people... Because you had to push that limit. When I look at all the stuff I've done, I would have done something else, but I could have called it in. Do you understand in real estate, waste management, and life insurance, I did not make money my first three years in any of them. Now, I made money that I poured back in, but I didn't make money. I was paying my bills to the tune of real I was probably keeping 40 grand a year. Sold that for millions and millions of dollars. Waste management, I was paying my bills. I was probably taking 50 grand a year. Pay my bills. Sold that for millions. Life insurance deal for a hell of a lot more than that. Boatloads of money. Same thing there. I was paying my bills to $280 a year. Wow. Keep my money. Modest. Modest. Yeah, dude. I was building a company doing 100 million in volume, driving a Honda Accord and living in my house, 8 on the street in Norwich, Connecticut, a tiny little aqua blue, green. I don't even know what the T, what the hell of color is.

Asbestosided house with no yard and no driveway. Wow. Yeah.

That's discipline, man. 100%. Because you see all these people on social media these days flexing their...

But I was doing what you What are you doing? I was working 14 hours a day, dude. I was doing stuff. I was on the phone at 6: 00 AM, down, recruiting, selling, and I was on the phone until 8: 00, 9: 00 at night. Seven days a week. Anybody could have done it. Any one of my peers could have done it. But And I was probably not too far away from going, Dude, I got to make money eventually. I got to make money eventually doing this.

That's where I was about six months in. I was like, Damn, can I keep leading? This hurts. Putting that much money out, not getting the views you want.

Correct.

You got to stick through it, man.

Well, you did, man. You should be proud of yourself.

You, too. Yeah, it's not an easy route. A couple of final questions since I know you're big on coaching. I want to know who you think the goat of coaching is. Greatest of all time.

Athletically.

Yeah. Oh, man. We could break it by sport, probably. That'd be easier.

That's a great question. Man, that's a really good question. I'm a big Phil Jackson guy in basketball. I just think that not just triangle offense, how many championships I won, I think to manage all those personalities. I think to do what he was able to do when you're looking at Jordan and Rodman and Pippen. Jordan and Pippen can't even talk to each other at all. In Listen, obviously, when one dude's son dates the other one's ex-wife, that's got to mess you up. But he managed all that shit, and Jordan respected him, which Jordan doesn't seem to respect a lot of people. So he respected him. So I think From a basketball standpoint, I mean, pop bitch, some of his other guys are great coaches, college-level, Shashefsky. But I just... Dude, Phil Jackson, to me, was just a different level.

He had Shaq, too.

He had Shaq.

He's not easy to manage.

No, I can't imagine any more easy to manage, dude, and he did it well. Man, dude, I can go back to a lot of old-school coaches. Dude, I just don't know if anybody's... I don't think anybody's better than Andy Reid. I love Bill. I know. You got him over Bill? Yeah. Listen, dude, and Andy's still rolling. We don't know what he's going to win or not win. Bill Belichick is one hell of a coach. If he's not the greatest all the time, then Again, I'm just telling you, if you ask me right now, when you look at both of them, body of work, it doesn't look like Andy Reid slowing down, don't know how many Super Bowl is going to win, how many games he'll end up winning. I think if Bill Belichick was starting his career today with the current players. I don't think he evolves. We'll see how he does in North Carolina. I mean, we'll see. But I do think Andy Reid, obviously, Belichick is easy to say, and it's not about one I like one more than the other. Base. Man, dude, are you an old-school baseball guy at all or no?

No, I don't follow the old stuff.

I'm going to tell you what. Tommy Lesorto was a very successful baseball coach. Dodgers, he went a lot. But I'll tell you why I love him, because a buddy of mine played on the Olympic team with him, and he was a coach. They were in Australia. Back in the day, it was a big deal because they got in a brawl in a casino. I said, What was Tommy doing? He goes, Oh, he's in the middle of it, fucking fighting. He was old-school, hardcore. I mean, there's some unbelievable baseball coaches, obviously. But I like guys. I was a Billy Martin guy, too, with the Yankees. Billy was always... I mean, to manage Steinbrenner and be able to handle him made him one hell of a coach. Joe Tori, a Yankee guy, was one hell of a coach. But I don't know, dude. It's something about a coach that's drinking, fighting, partying, winning, kicking ass, takes no shit from nobody, guy. I love it. He would mess with the players, call them different names just to fuck with them, get in their heads and get the most out of them. He won an Olympic gold medal with a bunch of ragamuffins, what they were called.

They said they had no shot. It was a team that no... And he went a gold medal with them. That's one hell of a coaching accomplishment. That would be my favorite.

I agree with basketball and football. Baseball, I don't watch as much, but I think you're spot on. You would know as a former coach.

Yeah, man, it's been good to watch, dude. So we'll see how it all turns out. We'll see how it turns out this year in football and see where we go from there. Yeah.

Any predictions? The Super Bowl is in a couple of weeks. Who do you got?

I like the commanders to beat the Eagles. I do. As someone asked me, do you think that Philly's in a cover. I said, I think Washington is going to win. I love Jane Daniels. When he's at LSU, I sure didn't know he's in this year this year. But Philly's loaded, Philly's talented. But I don't know. I just think in Washington, they've won a lot of these big games in the road. This kid is poised. I mean, this kid's in the pocket, and it's like, all these... He He don't bend. He don't break. He's unbelievably talented with his footwork and throwing a ball. I like them, and I like the Bills. I'm probably going to sit back and watch the Chiefs win by two and be like, Dude, how did that happen? They won 24 to 22. What the fuck? They always do that. They do. But I just I think the bills are dialed in. I think Josh dialed in. Kansas City, I know there's been some years, but they've had a tough year, but I do. I like the bills and the commanders, and I like the bills to win the championship. I love it.

Do you think Mahomes will catch braided?

Man, I don't... What's hard about this dynasty is what happens when... Can they continue to do it? I also think that Freddie Listen, braided was addicted to having that success. I don't think Mahomes is. I don't mean that in a bad way. I think Mahomes is into his family and is into a lot of... Braided was into football, period. I'm not trying to be a prick, but- Or he lost his wife over football. Your wife didn't hook up with this ugly martial arts because you married football, and that's okay. I'm not judging. I'm not to be in it to know what happened. But it's like Tom was that committed to be able to take care of your body, your mind, from a football standpoint, do all those things that he did. I mean, Patrick Mahomes takes his shirt off and he should put it back on. That's impressive because you're like, he just shows up, eats his Captain Crunch, goes to Canes, and then throws a football around a little bit. He don't give a damn, drinks his core as light. I just think to be able to do that for that many years as Tom did.

I don't know that Patrick should want to either. I think life's too short. I think for me, when you watch what braided went through, you're like, and again, who knows the whole deal or not? But at the end of the day, dude, talk about it being your identity. I wish he wasn't announcing games because he's just awful.

Oh, braided. I haven't seen them.

Oh, my God.

That's actually surprising. You think he'd be really good.

He just has no... Oh, God. It's like eating I have a bag of thumbs tacks listening to him. But it's a great question. I don't think so, and I don't think he should want to. I love that. I don't. I think he's going to have one hell of a career. He's going to be one of the greatest all time, but it looks like he's got a cool wife and awesome kids, and he should focus on that. For some people that have lost sight of that, I've been there, where it's like business, business, business, business. If you're just like, Dude, I think that there are bigger things in life. I don't know. You'd have to ask Tom braided that. You'll probably have him on one day, but you have to ask him that. I will. I have no doubt you will. Will he have done anything differently? I don't know. But to win as many Super Bowl, I don't know about that. But Patrick Mahomes should keep his Doritos and Captain Crunch and have his little gut and be happy and be with his family. I like what he said. She was having the last kid, I guess.

He's like, why to schedule it so it's not around the game? But dude, that guy, that seems like it's God family in football.

Yeah, he's all about that.

I think that's enviable.

I love that answer because I've had a couple of points in my business career where I could have lost my wife if I wanted to keep working the way I was. You got to really evaluate what are you willing to sacrifice to get to where you want to be. I could have had a few more million, but I would have lost her. It's like, that's not worth it.

It ain't worth it, dude. No, You'll get there when you get there.

Yeah. Family is super important for sure. Dude, it's been fun. Where can people find you and find your podcast?

Man, they can find me everywhere, dude. But last name is M-E-A-I-K-E, even though it's Sean Mike. Yours is spelled right. Mine is M-E-A-I-K-E. Find me on Instagram. We got a fully loaded podcast. I have a Chris card. I love you. Check that out. I got my Pick Money one, which is good. I do all kinds of stuff. But you can find me on all socials by my last name. And not hard to find me at all. But I really appreciate letting me get on, dude.

Absolutely, man. Thanks for coming. Check out this podcast, guys. See you next time..