July 6, 2026

The Difference Between Dreamers and Doers (According to a Shark Tank Entrepreneur

The Difference Between Dreamers and Doers (According to a Shark Tank Entrepreneur

Most people don't fail because they have bad ideas. They fail because they never take the first step. In this episode of Quick Before You Forget, I sit down with entrepreneur, engineer, inventor, and two-time Shark Tank guest Chris Guerrera to...

Most people don't fail because they have bad ideas.

They fail because they never take the first step. In this episode of Quick Before You Forget, I sit down with entrepreneur, engineer, inventor, and two-time Shark Tank guest Chris Guerrera to explore what really separates dreamers from doers.

Chris has launched thousands of products, worked on iconic innovations for Ford and BMW, partnered with Daymond John, appeared on Shark Tank and Good Morning America, and now helps inventors bring their ideas into the world through Pitch the Pros.

But this conversation is about courage.

We talk about overcoming fear, taking action before you feel ready, finding the right people, building community, leading with credibility, learning through failure, and why execution—not ideas—is what changes your life.

If you've been feeling stuck, burned out, overwhelmed, or wondering whether it's too late to pursue something that keeps tugging at your heart, this episode is your reminder that the world doesn't need another perfect idea.

It needs someone willing to act on theirs.

In This Episode

✔️ Why execution beats ideas every time
✔️ What Shark Tank taught Chris about success
✔️ The biggest mistake entrepreneurs make
✔️ Why your community determines your future
✔️ Building confidence through action
✔️ How to know when to ask for help
✔️ The power of showing up consistently
✔️ Why credibility is built one promise at a time

Show Notes

00:00 Meet Chris Guerrera
2:15 How Shark Tank changed everything
8:00 Managing pressure when life gets hard
10:00 Lessons from working with Daymond John
12:00 What launching products really looks like
14:30 There is no overnight success
16:00 The biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make
19:00 Action separates dreamers from builders
20:30 Why who you work with matters
22:00 Building teams people actually enjoy
24:30 Creating communities people want to belong to
27:00 Core values before skill sets
32:00 Engineering vs entrepreneurship
35:00 What Chris would tell his 22-year-old self
36:30 Why asking for help is a strength
39:00 Finding the right people
41:00 Surround yourself with people who elevate you
42:30 Chris' song of survival
45:00 The unforgettable Good Morning America proposal
49:00 What family taught him about leadership
52:00 What's next for Chris

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So I would say early on, find out what you're

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good at, really focus on and what believe what you're

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good at. Then when you're not trying to find some

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people to help you because you know they may sell

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it's expensive, Well, it's more expensive to make all the

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mistakes and do it wrong then have to go back

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and do it over again.

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Chris Guerrera, welcome to Quick before you.

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Forget all right, happy to be here.

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I am so pumped and so excited. So you guys

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might recognize Chris from Shark Tank or Good Morning America,

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but I am blessed to also recognize Chris as a friend.

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Is a mechanical engineer turned innovation powerhouse who's helping bring

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ideas to life at their highest level, from working on

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iconic launches like the BMWZ three and X five to

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guiding inventors on to national stages like Shark Tank and Beyond.

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He loves a great idea, but his why is actually

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found through execution, helping people take what's in their head

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and actually build something that works in the real world.

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Through Pitch the Pros and his show What's that Big Idea,

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He's creating a platform for the next generation of creators

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to stop dreaming and start doing. Let's talk through what

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that looks like for you, Chris as we walk through

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your story today.

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Yeah, you know, for me, I've always enjoyed helping people

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in general. I think I get that from my mother,

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and my mother was a very loving and helping individual

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for me right growing up. But I've launched thousands of products.

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I've worked on some really big ones with What's ford

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a company. I'm on the largest pat in the world

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of a fort when I termed gas cap, a lot

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of work with BMW. So I've always enjoyed launching products,

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and I've been doing my whole life. I started doing

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my own and I just see the journey with entrepreneurship

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and inventors and see the struggle, and you know who's

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real out there that can actually help. I see so

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many people selling services, but yet they've never done the

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journey or walk the paths. I'm like, how can you

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offer service? How can you tell somebody I get you,

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I help you, get you on Shark Tank if you've

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never been on Shark Tank. So I see that. I

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always want to give back and help because I know

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the journey's.

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Not easy, it's not and it's it's quite scary too.

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On top of that, but you mentioned Shark Tank and

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I want us to dive into that a little bit

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because you've been on Shark Tank two times. Yes, can

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you talk us through those those experiences?

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Yeah, the first one was pretty interesting. I had I

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had decided that I wasn't going to do landscaping. I

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hadn't taken vacation in probably five or six years, so

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I was doing a lot of work and traveling, and

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normally I would spend some time in my house. I

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had a big house up in New Hampshire and I

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would do a lot of landscaping. I mean it would

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take me a while, three and a half hours just

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to cut my grass right, but it was really beautifully manicured.

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And I had a big sport court and I said,

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you know, I'm not doing that this week. Let the

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kids work on that. So my wife and I went

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to New York and I had a couple of things

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in mind that I wanted to do a couple of

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baseball games. I hadn't been in the city in a while,

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and as I wanted to see Good Morning America. And

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when I went there Thursday morning, it was probably five thirty.

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One of the producers was talking to me and asking

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me a lot of questions, and my wife was like,

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she's not a morning person, Like she stays up around

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the clock. I'm in bed early and up early. She's

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the opposite. But I'm like, I think she's interviewing me

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to being on television. Can you at least smile? You

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look like you want to be here? Long story shore,

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It led to us getting on TV that day talking

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sports and with Ginger Z and I ultimately became friends

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with this producer. We followed up. She knew some people

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that I knew, and I had some people that she needed,

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and I got this random call probably three months later.

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They do Shark Tank on Good Morning America on Fridays,

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and then obviously Shark Tank that I was on for

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season twelve and a Grand Finaley. Well, the first time

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was on Good Morning America. I got a random call

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at ten o'clock on a Thursday night, which is usually

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my kids either in trouble or needing money. Those are

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two strong bets. But it was the producer and she said, hey,

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you got some products, right, I said yeah. She said,

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well you want to be on Shark Tank. Good Morning

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America and I'm like yeah. She said, okay, well I

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need you to send me. It doesn't have to be

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over produced, just you on camera pitching your product. I

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got off the phone probably like ten to forty you

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called my team. They all wanted to go into the

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office to start filming. I'm like, I'm going to sleep.

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See at five am, got up at five, wrote to script.

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We did ten takes because ultimately she told me she

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needed it by nine am the next morning, which I

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told her I'm on a flight. He said, well that's

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your call. I needed by nine to make a decision.

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We filmed ten of them, took the first one. I

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sent it in, jumped on a flight, landed in the afternoon,

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and she said, we love it. I'll see you on

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Good Morning America Friday. And that's where that started. So

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that was the first time and it really went well,

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and they'll do a lot of work with Barbara Cochman

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on that. The second one was a little different. I

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had partnered with somebody on a baby product, which are

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not you know, baby products in general are not easy.

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I submitted. I mean, you hear of all the stories

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of people waiting in line for two days pitching. I

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literally did what my friend Aaron Kraus did at scrub Daddy.

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I submitted an email with several of my products. Driving

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down the road. My wife was in the car with me.

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I get a call, it's a Saturday morning at start Tak,

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the talent scouts for Shark Tanks, saying hey, we love

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your products. We want you to start. And immediately going

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to a call like that, you think, oh my god,

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I'm on Shark Tank. That's just the beginning. I think

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we had to do like ten videos afterwards. But she

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said we like your products. I said, kind of, submit

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more than one. She said, no, you can only do one,

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so pick one. I picked a baby product. It reminded

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me of Squatty Potty. It was a super potty trainer.

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It was a party training device that said on the

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toilet bowl and trained your child how to potty train

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the right way the first time, not going to all

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these generations. It was clean, it wasn't messy, it was transferable,

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it was portable, so it was It was really a

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pretty cool product. And I was manufacturing in the US,

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which is another big benefit. I'll tell you about that

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after we hear it to minuted it and it was

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so I had just gotten to Walmart in February, so

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this is two thousand and twenty, just got in a Walmart,

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so we should in products I had submitted to Shark

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Tank and then COVID hit. So during that time, my

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mother was passing away. I was dealing with shipping the

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Walmart and trying to get on Shark Tank. So it

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was a pretty stressful time for me personally. We ended

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up submitting it. They called us, they liked it, and

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then every time you go through these iterations you get

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a different producer to you finally get somebody assigned to you,

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which is which is good. But again it was during

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COVID everything was zoom and I just remember the last

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the last comment was your next video, make sure it's perfect.

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This is like ten videos in. I'm like, what do

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you mean? Every video we sent in we thought was perfect.

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They said no, Mark Burnett and his team are looking

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at the last ones to pick for the Show's like

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no pressure, right, right, So we submitted it. This is

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over a three month period, submitted it and then they

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approved it, and it just happens all at once, like

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I actually had. I had proposed a break a Good

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Morning America in December twenty nineteen, and Robin Roberts a

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Good Morning America did a follow up in August of

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twenty twenty at my house, which aired live. So I

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had Shark Tank wanted to put me on a plane.

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I had to film Good morn in America and then

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shoot my actual episode of Shark Tank during COVID in

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a room for eleven days. Couldn't even go in the hallway,

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like literally locked in a room for eleven days. So

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it was pretty pretty stressful timing.

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Well, you had a lot, so you had a lot

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going on during that time, Like you're with just life,

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was doing life, and you were going after these big ideas.

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Can you walk me through for like the people that

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go through the struggle of trying to figure this stuff

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out and they have life happening at the same time, Like,

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can you walk me through a little bit? Like what

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was in your mind? Like how did you coach yourself

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through that mindset? Wise?

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Yeah, you know, I think I've always always had the

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mindset of being successful, and that was a big deal

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for me, right. I was always really competitive. I was

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youngest in the family, so I was always always had

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that mindset of I didn't have a whole lot of

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fear and risk to me is just part of life.

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I mean, I was still the youngest executive to run

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a BMW plant at age thirty one in a German company,

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and I moved my whole family from the north to

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the South, So that alone was a pretty big risk, right,

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And I just always felt that way that that it was.

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It's really important. So you have to really departmentalize what

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you're working on, what your life is about, and what

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you're focused on trying to achieve and in that case,

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truly trying to achieve of getting on Shark Tank. And

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I had so many people counting on me, you know,

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I didn't want to let anybody down. I had my

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family and my kids always calling me, had friends, my partner,

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so there's a lot that was happening. And the last

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thing you want to do is is get on Shark

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Tank and freeze or do something crazy that's memorable forever.

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We wanted the opposite of that. We want to do

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our pitchion and make sure that was memorable. And it

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has been. We've aired that I know of about forty

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times now. You know, even after Shark Tank aired in

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the grand finale of season twelve. I think we hear

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three or four more times before the new season. You're

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lucky if you aired two more times. So it was

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it resonated with a lot of people. It was good entertainment,

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a lot of drama, and ultimately, when I look back,

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it was a lot of fun. And it led me

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to Damon John of course, and he's become a personal

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friend of mine.

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We'll talk us through that, like what is what are

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some of the lessons that you've taken from working with

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people at such a high level and under such high

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pressure too, Like you mentioned the word pressure a few times,

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So what are what are some of the things that

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you've learned from that that people might be able to

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apply to their life.

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One thing guy I learned after Shark Tank and really

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we did a deal with Laurie and Damon. Damon had

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a real interest and me personally and in our brand.

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I mean I just had a fireside chat with him

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in Greenville, South Carolina at my event, and he talked

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a lot about that how he looks at the individual,

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and I just felt like there was a connection there.

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He was always very good to me. Then I became

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you know, over five years, really built a relationship, became

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really really good friends, and I feel like I can

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count on him for anything. But the big message for

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me is not ever letting someone down. If somebody counts

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on you to deliver, to make sure you do within

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your power to deliver. And it's all about credibility. And

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I think that's always been part of the relationship I've

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had with Damon is that when I say I'm going

225
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to do something, I don't ask for anything. Like He's

226
00:11:41.159 --> 00:11:43.360
never asked me for anything. He's done a lot of

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wonderful things for my family and my son. This jersey

228
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I have on right now, Chris put on this side.

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He put on Shark Group and Damon Warret part of

230
00:11:51.399 --> 00:11:55.519
his Chris's Clothes collection and Damon Pitch products all week

231
00:11:55.600 --> 00:11:58.879
while wearing Chris's shirt. You know, things like that. He's

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just a good human. He understands a journey and how

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hard it is, and he's he's become become really successful.

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But he's always giving back. And that's one thing for

235
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me is that I felt not to ever ask to deliver,

236
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to give more than than I would ever receive, and

237
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that always seems to work out. And for that relationship

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with Damon and I just to sit down with him

239
00:12:22.240 --> 00:12:24.879
in Greenville at my event and talk through some of

240
00:12:25.000 --> 00:12:28.759
those milestones was pretty cool, you know. And I think

241
00:12:28.799 --> 00:12:31.759
everyone that was there can see the chemistry between us

242
00:12:31.840 --> 00:12:34.639
and really the way we feel about each other. And

243
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you know, a man I didn't even know the man

244
00:12:36.919 --> 00:12:39.240
and he called me or my dad passed away and

245
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sent these huge flowers. I mean, I just think, like

246
00:12:42.519 --> 00:12:44.759
he didn't have to do any of that. He's you know,

247
00:12:44.840 --> 00:12:48.000
he travels. I forget what it is in sixty five

248
00:12:48.120 --> 00:12:50.679
days a year. I mean, the man's always on the road.

249
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For him to think of me and to call me

250
00:12:53.440 --> 00:12:55.080
at that moment meant a lot to me. And that's

251
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something personally I'll never forget.

252
00:13:00.320 --> 00:13:03.639
Inside one of those big launches like it'd BMW, you

253
00:13:03.759 --> 00:13:07.039
mentioned like what do people not see behind the scenes

254
00:13:07.720 --> 00:13:08.840
that would be helpful to know.

255
00:13:09.960 --> 00:13:11.480
Yeah, So on the one of the turned gas cap,

256
00:13:11.559 --> 00:13:14.919
a lot of development goes into that. You see. You see,

257
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the end result is their car or their one a

258
00:13:17.759 --> 00:13:20.360
turn and gas cap, And the whole goal was to

259
00:13:20.399 --> 00:13:23.159
have that's when the releases came out and they had

260
00:13:23.159 --> 00:13:26.200
to have zero premation to the atmosphere, so you had

261
00:13:26.200 --> 00:13:30.440
to have a system that was completely enclosed and circulated

262
00:13:30.480 --> 00:13:33.279
any fumes or any type of pressure inside the tank.

263
00:13:33.960 --> 00:13:35.600
And if you left your gas cap off back in

264
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the day, you get a little notification on your dish

265
00:13:38.759 --> 00:13:42.279
and because the pressure inside the tank was not reading correctly,

266
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so most people would bring it to the dealership, but

267
00:13:44.759 --> 00:13:47.200
it really it solved its own problem. You put the

268
00:13:47.240 --> 00:13:51.679
cap back on. So we had the fuel system, the

269
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little pump, the entire tank, the fillerneck, all up to

270
00:13:55.200 --> 00:13:58.440
the gas cap. All of that was developed over a

271
00:13:58.559 --> 00:14:01.399
three year period, so you see. What you don't see

272
00:14:01.519 --> 00:14:03.840
is a lot of engineering changes. I think we did

273
00:14:04.519 --> 00:14:07.799
ten crash tests and each crash test is about two

274
00:14:07.879 --> 00:14:11.960
hundred and fifty thousand dollars at the facility. So you

275
00:14:12.080 --> 00:14:16.039
try to get as many products onto a car and

276
00:14:16.120 --> 00:14:20.799
then they actually they crash it. Literally the government regulation

277
00:14:20.919 --> 00:14:23.000
is thirty five miles an hour. We would do it

278
00:14:23.080 --> 00:14:25.559
at fifty five miles an hour and try to get

279
00:14:25.600 --> 00:14:28.559
the system to fail. Then they would turn it upside

280
00:14:28.600 --> 00:14:30.399
down and see for leaks, or you start of fuel

281
00:14:30.440 --> 00:14:33.960
it so there's no explosion, but it's similar to actual fuel.

282
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And then you had a problem. You had had to redesign,

283
00:14:37.399 --> 00:14:40.120
it had to have an engineering change, and then resubmit it.

284
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So what you don't see is the number of iterations

285
00:14:43.360 --> 00:14:49.399
behind from design testing before it actually hits the test

286
00:14:49.480 --> 00:14:52.480
tracks in like Arizona and Alaska. It has to pass

287
00:14:52.720 --> 00:14:56.240
cold tests and heat test before it ever hits the

288
00:14:56.480 --> 00:14:59.480
hits the market. But what interesting was that gas Cap

289
00:14:59.600 --> 00:15:02.840
was the first cap to hit the market, and then

290
00:15:02.919 --> 00:15:05.639
everyone followed afterwards. I think GM came out with a

291
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quarter term, BMW came out with a snap so it

292
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truly revolutionized the industry.

293
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And what I heard there was there was a lot

294
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that happened, a lot of iterations behind the scenes that

295
00:15:18.639 --> 00:15:21.039
people don't know about. And that made me think of

296
00:15:21.159 --> 00:15:24.919
being an entrepreneur or building a business, or trying to

297
00:15:25.000 --> 00:15:29.120
be like a content creator or whatever your path is.

298
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In this world, there's no such thing as overnight success,

299
00:15:34.759 --> 00:15:37.399
only overnight fame, and I think a lot of people

300
00:15:37.519 --> 00:15:39.919
kind of forget about all of those different things that

301
00:15:40.039 --> 00:15:42.919
happened behind the scenes to build the human or to

302
00:15:43.039 --> 00:15:46.559
build the opportunity, or to build the honestly even relationships.

303
00:15:47.080 --> 00:15:50.320
So what it makes me curious of something in your

304
00:15:51.000 --> 00:15:53.679
career or something in your journey that should have worked

305
00:15:54.320 --> 00:15:56.480
and didn't, and what you learned from it.

306
00:15:57.559 --> 00:16:00.279
I think every entrepreneur thinks they got the next I

307
00:16:00.360 --> 00:16:02.000
can't tell you why people telling me a million dollars

308
00:16:02.080 --> 00:16:04.799
some people tell me a billion dollar idea. I'm gonna

309
00:16:04.799 --> 00:16:06.519
tell me. I said, can we just start with millions?

310
00:16:07.039 --> 00:16:09.639
Like you skipped all that went to billion? Like you

311
00:16:09.720 --> 00:16:14.639
have to have some realistic viewpoint because not everything makes it.

312
00:16:14.679 --> 00:16:16.360
I think it's two percent of the products actually ever

313
00:16:16.440 --> 00:16:18.679
hit the market. There's a ton of patents I'd never

314
00:16:18.759 --> 00:16:22.320
even get marketed or get produced. So I always say,

315
00:16:22.440 --> 00:16:25.960
like everyone that I work with or have worked with,

316
00:16:26.159 --> 00:16:30.200
think they have the next biggest idea. And that's fine.

317
00:16:30.320 --> 00:16:36.159
You can have really great visuals and have ambitions and

318
00:16:36.759 --> 00:16:39.840
and really believe that. But the reality is you've got

319
00:16:39.960 --> 00:16:43.320
to start from point A and then work through the

320
00:16:43.440 --> 00:16:48.000
process because very very rare does someone launch a product

321
00:16:48.080 --> 00:16:50.840
and it just takes off. I think I think a

322
00:16:50.879 --> 00:16:53.159
lot of people think they launch a product and they

323
00:16:53.200 --> 00:16:56.080
have the greatest website and it's gonna sell millions. And

324
00:16:56.159 --> 00:16:57.840
I'm like, my first question is, yeah, okay, you got

325
00:16:57.879 --> 00:17:00.879
a great website, but how are you driving people to

326
00:17:00.960 --> 00:17:04.440
that website. So I always start with make sure your

327
00:17:05.759 --> 00:17:09.880
your expectations are right from the beginning. Launching a product

328
00:17:09.960 --> 00:17:12.079
is not easy. It's a lot of time, it takes

329
00:17:12.119 --> 00:17:14.079
a lot of capital, and you have to be a

330
00:17:14.119 --> 00:17:17.079
little lucky along the way. You know, what have I done?

331
00:17:17.160 --> 00:17:20.160
And I don't know. I've always been really selective. I

332
00:17:20.279 --> 00:17:22.519
haven't had too many. I didn't want to call them

333
00:17:22.559 --> 00:17:26.319
failures because I've been really I've taken high risks, but

334
00:17:26.400 --> 00:17:30.160
they've been really educated risks. Not everything makes it to

335
00:17:30.279 --> 00:17:33.599
the market, but I know my expectations up front that

336
00:17:33.680 --> 00:17:35.680
it may not, so I'm very careful when I release.

337
00:17:36.240 --> 00:17:39.279
I'm very careful when I self fund, because these things

338
00:17:39.319 --> 00:17:42.799
will put you in a bankrupt situation really quick. But

339
00:17:42.839 --> 00:17:46.000
I'll give you a really good example. This the product

340
00:17:46.039 --> 00:17:47.559
they got in. The last product they got on shark

341
00:17:47.599 --> 00:17:50.319
Tank was a baby product and I had gotten in

342
00:17:50.359 --> 00:17:54.839
the Walmart. They want us to ship fifteen five hundred units,

343
00:17:55.160 --> 00:17:58.400
four hundred stores. I was making the US, so it

344
00:17:58.519 --> 00:18:00.359
was really good for me. I was pretty using it

345
00:18:00.440 --> 00:18:04.119
in the US, and guess what. March sixth was the

346
00:18:04.240 --> 00:18:08.640
first delivery to the stores. COVID hit but they wanted

347
00:18:08.720 --> 00:18:11.880
me to continue to build over fifteen thousand units a week.

348
00:18:12.559 --> 00:18:15.559
I remember having this blowout saying, I'm not doing any

349
00:18:15.680 --> 00:18:19.240
more units, like I'd been going to Walmart and nobody

350
00:18:19.359 --> 00:18:22.880
is shopping for baby products. Couldn't even get into Walmart

351
00:18:22.920 --> 00:18:25.119
at the time. I had waiting lists, like people are

352
00:18:25.119 --> 00:18:28.440
buying food. So I just said, you know, if I'm

353
00:18:28.480 --> 00:18:30.759
in violation of a contract, that's for the right reasons,

354
00:18:31.200 --> 00:18:34.720
but I'm not shipping you fifteen thousand units. And if

355
00:18:34.759 --> 00:18:37.519
I had continued to do that, it would have bankrupted it.

356
00:18:37.640 --> 00:18:39.960
I mean literally, I would have bankrupted me personally because

357
00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:42.359
I was funding it. I didn't have investors. I was

358
00:18:42.440 --> 00:18:46.680
the investor, with my partner funding the entire program. So

359
00:18:46.759 --> 00:18:50.240
I was very smart on how I treated that. But again,

360
00:18:50.319 --> 00:18:52.799
it was a tough decision, and it was one that

361
00:18:52.880 --> 00:18:54.799
I decided that I was going to take on. If

362
00:18:54.799 --> 00:18:58.039
I got penalized, fine, But if we kept building fifteen

363
00:18:58.079 --> 00:19:00.000
thousand units, I would have hurt a lot of people.

364
00:19:00.440 --> 00:19:02.079
I would have killed the product, I would have killed

365
00:19:02.119 --> 00:19:05.240
the plant personnel that we had manufacturing in the US,

366
00:19:05.759 --> 00:19:08.759
and my personal bank account would have taken a massive hit.

367
00:19:09.400 --> 00:19:12.680
And it turned out we had enough sales to get

368
00:19:12.759 --> 00:19:16.519
on Shark Tank, which ultimately led us to a really

369
00:19:16.599 --> 00:19:20.640
big exit. Right when we aired on season twelve, I

370
00:19:20.720 --> 00:19:24.160
had this big airring party. I think within two minutes,

371
00:19:24.200 --> 00:19:26.880
I sold over eight thousand units. We sold lout of Amazon,

372
00:19:27.000 --> 00:19:29.359
like within two minutes before the show was even over,

373
00:19:29.960 --> 00:19:33.240
we had like ten thousand new orders and we shipped

374
00:19:33.400 --> 00:19:36.599
all of that within seven days because it was produced

375
00:19:36.599 --> 00:19:40.359
in the US. So that's a risk that could have

376
00:19:40.440 --> 00:19:42.559
been catastrophic if it wasn't managed correctly.

377
00:19:44.200 --> 00:19:47.519
Well, that's difficult to figure out when the right time

378
00:19:47.640 --> 00:19:49.839
is to put your foot down. But it sounds like

379
00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:52.680
it was the right choice for a lot of reasons,

380
00:19:53.039 --> 00:19:54.880
and here we are today, So it was you know,

381
00:19:55.119 --> 00:19:59.640
it paid off in big time, and it has enabled

382
00:19:59.680 --> 00:20:03.400
you to go on and now kind of like Foster

383
00:20:03.759 --> 00:20:07.920
and develop these other creators and inventors and all these

384
00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:10.960
great ideas. And lots of people have great ideas, Like

385
00:20:11.079 --> 00:20:13.799
lots of people have a lot of great ideas. But

386
00:20:13.920 --> 00:20:17.759
what separates a great idea from something that you can

387
00:20:17.839 --> 00:20:19.920
actually build action?

388
00:20:21.039 --> 00:20:23.799
Everyone says, you know, I can't tell. Many people said

389
00:20:23.799 --> 00:20:27.079
I've seen that I had that idea, but somebody else

390
00:20:27.279 --> 00:20:30.640
acted on it. And I tell Everyboddy, if you don't

391
00:20:30.720 --> 00:20:33.599
make that move with your idea, you'll see it in

392
00:20:33.680 --> 00:20:35.839
the market. If it's a really good idea and it

393
00:20:35.920 --> 00:20:37.759
has a lot of potential, you're going to see that

394
00:20:37.960 --> 00:20:40.759
in the market and wish you did. And that's what

395
00:20:40.839 --> 00:20:43.559
I believe. If you have this idea, all it takes

396
00:20:43.599 --> 00:20:46.799
is a quick sketch, some searches, but you have to

397
00:20:46.960 --> 00:20:49.079
act on it to make it a reality. If you

398
00:20:49.119 --> 00:20:51.519
don't and it's a good idea, someone else will and

399
00:20:51.559 --> 00:20:53.599
you'll see it in the market and you wish that

400
00:20:53.720 --> 00:20:54.839
you have taken the opportunity.

401
00:20:55.240 --> 00:20:57.720
When someone comes to you with a good idea, what

402
00:20:57.839 --> 00:20:58.680
are you watching for?

403
00:20:58.960 --> 00:20:59.000
Like?

404
00:20:59.079 --> 00:21:01.200
What is one or two things that you lean in

405
00:21:01.480 --> 00:21:05.640
when you hear these certain things, I look at.

406
00:21:05.559 --> 00:21:09.200
The person honestly, if I can't work with you and

407
00:21:09.279 --> 00:21:12.160
you're a missus know at all, I'm not interested because

408
00:21:12.160 --> 00:21:14.279
I just know the path is gonna be rough and

409
00:21:14.640 --> 00:21:16.799
you're gonna take this make decisions that I'm not gonna

410
00:21:16.799 --> 00:21:19.119
be interested in. And it's funny because Damon mentioned all

411
00:21:19.160 --> 00:21:22.319
of this in my fireside chat, how he truly looks

412
00:21:22.359 --> 00:21:25.200
at the entrepreneur first, Right, if you have a good

413
00:21:25.200 --> 00:21:27.240
product and a great entrepreneur. You have a great mix

414
00:21:27.680 --> 00:21:30.079
and we can do many things together. But I start

415
00:21:30.440 --> 00:21:33.640
I've always felt that way, gut feeling. I have so

416
00:21:33.759 --> 00:21:35.720
many people that think they know more than they actually

417
00:21:35.799 --> 00:21:38.839
know until they know and it's too late, and or

418
00:21:38.920 --> 00:21:40.640
I get people that say they want to partner with me,

419
00:21:41.000 --> 00:21:42.519
So why I always say, Okay, you want to partner

420
00:21:42.559 --> 00:21:44.559
with me, So what does that look like? You want

421
00:21:44.599 --> 00:21:47.839
me to fund it for you, because that's not truly

422
00:21:47.920 --> 00:21:52.039
a partnership, right. A partnership is really someone who wants

423
00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:56.039
to help you use your expertise to help them launch it.

424
00:21:56.720 --> 00:21:59.039
They're gonna they have investors, they're gonna fund it, and

425
00:21:59.119 --> 00:22:02.440
you're gonna really truly be a partner to get it

426
00:22:02.519 --> 00:22:04.200
to the next level or get it out in the market.

427
00:22:04.480 --> 00:22:06.920
So I'm very careful on the individual now. I've learned

428
00:22:06.960 --> 00:22:09.880
that over the last seven years or so, really the

429
00:22:10.519 --> 00:22:13.039
who you work with is the most important thing, because

430
00:22:13.079 --> 00:22:15.440
it determines whether you're gonna have fun or are going

431
00:22:15.480 --> 00:22:16.200
to be miserable.

432
00:22:18.160 --> 00:22:21.240
I don't want to assume that everybody can gather this

433
00:22:21.400 --> 00:22:25.720
from our conversation, but you are fun to work with anybody, anybody,

434
00:22:25.759 --> 00:22:27.400
and everybody would want to work with you because I

435
00:22:27.440 --> 00:22:29.400
think you're just like a You're a fun guy, and

436
00:22:30.160 --> 00:22:34.359
I'm wondering how you use fun to make these ideas

437
00:22:34.440 --> 00:22:37.519
come to life, Like what, what's maybe something fun that

438
00:22:37.599 --> 00:22:39.240
you've done recently? I mean, I think I know the

439
00:22:39.279 --> 00:22:41.279
answer to this, actually, but what's something fun that you've

440
00:22:41.319 --> 00:22:45.519
done recently that reminds you why you're doing what you're doing.

441
00:22:46.440 --> 00:22:48.920
Even when you know what I've managed really big companies.

442
00:22:49.480 --> 00:22:51.480
I always felt like if you had to come to

443
00:22:51.599 --> 00:22:54.599
work and be miserable, you weren't the person that I

444
00:22:54.680 --> 00:22:57.079
wanted working for me, right, So I tried to make

445
00:22:57.119 --> 00:22:59.400
the environment fun. I tried to always make it where

446
00:22:59.519 --> 00:23:04.039
it was proactive, where we had big company outings, we

447
00:23:04.160 --> 00:23:06.359
had kids at the plant, we had your family would

448
00:23:06.359 --> 00:23:08.920
come in and see everything you do, cookouts, we had

449
00:23:09.279 --> 00:23:13.400
Halloween specials, we had July fourth. Just always made it

450
00:23:13.519 --> 00:23:16.319
so that you love coming to work, and oh yeah,

451
00:23:16.720 --> 00:23:18.960
the better the company did, the more you got rewarded.

452
00:23:19.039 --> 00:23:22.559
So I would have big bonus plans based on your

453
00:23:22.640 --> 00:23:25.519
good quality and through put in meeting goals. I just

454
00:23:25.680 --> 00:23:29.359
always felt like if you could have fun at work

455
00:23:30.480 --> 00:23:33.440
and it's not really work, right, you look forward to

456
00:23:33.559 --> 00:23:35.799
seeing someone that you go to work with. We had

457
00:23:35.839 --> 00:23:40.759
baseball teams, softball teams, basketball teams. Literally we wouldn't bring

458
00:23:40.880 --> 00:23:44.079
anybody from the outside in. We would use our company teams.

459
00:23:44.559 --> 00:23:46.319
And one year we were number one in the state,

460
00:23:46.960 --> 00:23:49.039
so people had all star teams they were bringing in.

461
00:23:49.440 --> 00:23:51.079
That's how much talent we had, and it was like

462
00:23:51.160 --> 00:23:53.920
a big deal I had to have. We we were

463
00:23:53.960 --> 00:23:55.759
in the media all the time. To have that kind

464
00:23:55.799 --> 00:23:59.599
of exposure was great. And what I do and what

465
00:23:59.759 --> 00:24:02.960
I just did recently to bring people from all over

466
00:24:03.039 --> 00:24:06.799
the country, I mean literally from California. We had people

467
00:24:06.799 --> 00:24:10.480
from walking New York, Miami, Indiana, Michigan, all over the

468
00:24:10.519 --> 00:24:13.319
country to Greenville and then bring all these kids from

469
00:24:13.319 --> 00:24:17.720
the universities as part of this pitch event outdoors by

470
00:24:17.720 --> 00:24:21.599
I'm taking a gamble. It was beautiful weather of seventy

471
00:24:21.640 --> 00:24:25.599
six degrees outside. It felt like a family reunion, like

472
00:24:25.640 --> 00:24:29.200
a cookout, like a just a And that's the response

473
00:24:29.319 --> 00:24:31.079
back people were saying, I don't know how you took

474
00:24:32.079 --> 00:24:36.799
such a serious thing of pitching and product advancement and

475
00:24:37.000 --> 00:24:40.680
brought it to an environment where it felt really cool.

476
00:24:41.240 --> 00:24:45.720
The vibe was great. We were relaxed in a beautiful setting,

477
00:24:46.640 --> 00:24:49.200
so I achieved my goal. Everyone's still talking about it.

478
00:24:49.279 --> 00:24:51.400
Then we brought in Damon at night and did it

479
00:24:51.480 --> 00:24:54.960
again outside. It was just a really cool vibe and

480
00:24:55.079 --> 00:24:57.799
that was to me as gratifying as you can get

481
00:24:57.880 --> 00:25:00.440
to bring that many people into one area and have

482
00:25:00.640 --> 00:25:04.480
them come back and tell you what you envisioned actually happened.

483
00:25:04.759 --> 00:25:07.200
Pretty exciting. It was a lot of fun. That's what

484
00:25:07.279 --> 00:25:07.759
I love to do.

485
00:25:09.799 --> 00:25:11.599
I think there's going to be more of them, Yes.

486
00:25:12.200 --> 00:25:14.079
Yes see, I'm going to take them. I'm gonna do

487
00:25:14.079 --> 00:25:16.400
a couple of year, but I like to do four

488
00:25:16.839 --> 00:25:19.119
a year. Ultimately, it's a lot of work, a lot,

489
00:25:19.240 --> 00:25:21.920
it's a big expense, but take them throughout the country.

490
00:25:21.920 --> 00:25:24.559
I've already got four or five people reaching out to

491
00:25:24.680 --> 00:25:26.839
me wanting them doing different parts of the country under

492
00:25:26.920 --> 00:25:29.880
different circumstances. I have a foot braining on how to

493
00:25:29.960 --> 00:25:32.480
do it, and I've been sending that out and then

494
00:25:32.519 --> 00:25:36.839
we'll do I'm gonna start doing these monthly webinars where

495
00:25:36.839 --> 00:25:39.519
I bring the community together once a month so we

496
00:25:39.640 --> 00:25:42.119
can all talk about what each individual is working on

497
00:25:42.240 --> 00:25:47.200
and cover round free your charge. And you have entrepreneurs

498
00:25:47.359 --> 00:25:50.400
venters and the pros all together at one time.

499
00:25:51.480 --> 00:25:54.160
I love that idea. The webinar idea sounds great, and

500
00:25:54.319 --> 00:25:58.920
you're building community around good ideas, which you know, having

501
00:25:59.000 --> 00:26:03.640
the right people in your circle changes literally everything the

502
00:26:03.839 --> 00:26:07.799
most important then yeah, I mean, what have you learned

503
00:26:08.079 --> 00:26:10.640
from being in these rooms with these people and create

504
00:26:10.680 --> 00:26:14.519
and that you plan on then translating into the communities

505
00:26:14.559 --> 00:26:15.200
that you're building.

506
00:26:16.160 --> 00:26:18.119
What I find is when you have the right people

507
00:26:18.200 --> 00:26:20.480
on your team and the right people in the community,

508
00:26:21.119 --> 00:26:23.640
they all want to help each other. All it takes

509
00:26:23.759 --> 00:26:26.920
is one or two people. And I've had this where

510
00:26:27.039 --> 00:26:30.680
they take advantage of the situation. They show up at

511
00:26:30.720 --> 00:26:32.799
these events. They don't want a sponsor, They just want

512
00:26:32.839 --> 00:26:36.079
to be there to take business and never give back.

513
00:26:36.519 --> 00:26:39.240
Those are people we don't want and I'm not kidding.

514
00:26:39.680 --> 00:26:42.880
I'm quick now to kick them out of the club literally,

515
00:26:42.960 --> 00:26:46.359
because it doesn't do any doesn't have any value, doesn't

516
00:26:46.400 --> 00:26:50.480
benefit anyone but them or their company, And that's not

517
00:26:50.559 --> 00:26:52.759
what we're here for. We're here to build a community

518
00:26:53.240 --> 00:26:56.640
and to help everyone, right. I mean, sure certain people

519
00:26:56.759 --> 00:26:59.559
need more help than others. But if you're part of

520
00:26:59.599 --> 00:27:01.519
the commune unity and we have these big events and

521
00:27:01.599 --> 00:27:03.759
you want to be part of it, then you have

522
00:27:03.880 --> 00:27:06.160
to also give. It can't be one way. It has

523
00:27:06.200 --> 00:27:08.400
to be a win win. So that that's how I

524
00:27:08.480 --> 00:27:12.119
see it when we have these type of events. And

525
00:27:12.400 --> 00:27:15.000
this last event probably had the best group that I've

526
00:27:15.039 --> 00:27:19.359
been around since I've been doing these. It was incredibly fun.

527
00:27:20.799 --> 00:27:24.640
I've had the joy and honor to know a handful,

528
00:27:24.799 --> 00:27:27.920
not not everybody, but I knew like a small number

529
00:27:27.960 --> 00:27:29.759
of people that were at the pitch to pitch the

530
00:27:29.799 --> 00:27:34.920
pros in Greenville. And you're right. So, as a leader,

531
00:27:35.160 --> 00:27:36.960
like of a of a company or of a team,

532
00:27:37.559 --> 00:27:39.799
how do you build that sense of community and that

533
00:27:40.039 --> 00:27:43.720
that that mindset that you talk through in your team?

534
00:27:44.839 --> 00:27:48.480
Yeah, I think it starts with who has core values right?

535
00:27:48.519 --> 00:27:51.400
And then do they align with your core values? And

536
00:27:51.519 --> 00:27:53.599
then I look at what am I really good at?

537
00:27:54.519 --> 00:27:56.359
I know what I'm good at, and I know what

538
00:27:56.440 --> 00:27:59.359
I don't like to do. Those are the ones who

539
00:27:59.480 --> 00:28:01.799
love to do that. Those are people that need to

540
00:28:01.799 --> 00:28:04.160
be on your team. So then you have everybody doing

541
00:28:04.519 --> 00:28:07.200
what they love to do. Right, Like some people don't

542
00:28:07.200 --> 00:28:08.640
want to be in front of a camera, I love

543
00:28:08.720 --> 00:28:10.240
being in front of a camera. I'm fine with it.

544
00:28:10.880 --> 00:28:13.559
I don't like doing all this stuff in the background, right,

545
00:28:13.680 --> 00:28:16.200
I don't like doing all the prep work for being

546
00:28:16.279 --> 00:28:19.920
on TV or all the stuff for social media. So

547
00:28:20.039 --> 00:28:22.680
you have folks doing that in the background, and I

548
00:28:22.759 --> 00:28:25.279
can then be on the forefront. And it works for

549
00:28:25.359 --> 00:28:28.599
everybody because it just it just gives you a good blend.

550
00:28:28.960 --> 00:28:31.920
I have good IP attorneys, right, we have good marketing folks,

551
00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:36.039
good social media people, good distribution and good manufacturers. So

552
00:28:36.160 --> 00:28:39.680
I just try to cover everybody in my group that

553
00:28:39.799 --> 00:28:42.519
can handle a launch of a product, and then if

554
00:28:42.519 --> 00:28:44.759
you want to license it, we have those people as well.

555
00:28:45.160 --> 00:28:48.599
And it just makes for a really good network of

556
00:28:48.839 --> 00:28:53.160
individuals who want to win, win for everyone, including you know,

557
00:28:53.559 --> 00:28:57.359
the entrepreneur. They get the benefit of a group who

558
00:28:57.400 --> 00:28:58.480
wants everyone to win.

559
00:29:00.200 --> 00:29:02.519
We need we need more of this mindset in the

560
00:29:02.599 --> 00:29:07.160
world for real. So you shared with me in a

561
00:29:07.240 --> 00:29:10.440
different conversation that we had this great story about Ford

562
00:29:10.519 --> 00:29:13.359
and I can't remember all the details, but my husband

563
00:29:13.680 --> 00:29:17.640
is he bleeds Ford blue. So can you walk us

564
00:29:17.680 --> 00:29:20.599
through some like what that was like and what what

565
00:29:21.000 --> 00:29:23.559
working with Ford was like for you in terms of

566
00:29:24.240 --> 00:29:26.119
how it led you to where you are, but also

567
00:29:26.240 --> 00:29:29.240
just the experience of being with a big organization like

568
00:29:29.319 --> 00:29:32.480
that that has people like my husband who you know

569
00:29:32.720 --> 00:29:34.960
are have been lifelong fans.

570
00:29:35.440 --> 00:29:38.400
You know. Ironically, I was there as an engineer and

571
00:29:38.519 --> 00:29:41.400
got my motives engineer manager and director of engineering. Well

572
00:29:41.519 --> 00:29:44.359
that led me to BMW because my name had gotten,

573
00:29:44.880 --> 00:29:47.200
you know, out in the market to where they wanted

574
00:29:47.240 --> 00:29:49.160
someone like me as an engineer to run their plant

575
00:29:49.839 --> 00:29:53.400
at BMW. So it was it's it's it's a lot

576
00:29:53.440 --> 00:29:56.599
of pressure in the background because there's every vehicle has

577
00:29:57.160 --> 00:30:00.240
certain parts of the vehicle that you're responsible for. I

578
00:30:00.319 --> 00:30:03.839
had fuel systems, so you have timelines you have to meet,

579
00:30:03.960 --> 00:30:06.759
you have dates you have to get design and manufacturing

580
00:30:06.799 --> 00:30:09.480
and development, so I had all of that. As a

581
00:30:09.640 --> 00:30:12.839
chief design engineer, I had all the requirements of getting

582
00:30:13.000 --> 00:30:15.720
all of that ready to be packaged for a release.

583
00:30:16.160 --> 00:30:17.839
They used to call it back in the day Q one.

584
00:30:17.920 --> 00:30:22.079
I'm really dating myself now. I suppose like BMW call

585
00:30:22.160 --> 00:30:24.480
it media days where they were to release cars to

586
00:30:24.519 --> 00:30:27.319
the media. So all of that in the background is

587
00:30:27.359 --> 00:30:30.039
a lot of hours of work, a lot of development,

588
00:30:30.599 --> 00:30:34.920
a lot of trials of testing. When something doesn't go right,

589
00:30:34.960 --> 00:30:37.319
you got to redo it. And then every time you

590
00:30:37.400 --> 00:30:41.440
redo it, the end date doesn't change, just the pressure

591
00:30:41.920 --> 00:30:45.720
of hitting the end date changes. And that means all

592
00:30:45.839 --> 00:30:48.680
the suppliers that you work with, let's face it forward

593
00:30:48.759 --> 00:30:52.799
and BMW they don't build, they don't manufacture anything, right,

594
00:30:52.880 --> 00:30:59.799
they truly build vehicles. So it's a community of suppliers, right. BMW.

595
00:31:00.359 --> 00:31:04.000
It came to Greenville and they brought in a number

596
00:31:04.000 --> 00:31:07.519
of suppliers and now this thing is blown up where

597
00:31:07.519 --> 00:31:10.000
they're the largest export in the world. They do all

598
00:31:10.079 --> 00:31:13.240
the x'es and Greenville has You've been to green who

599
00:31:13.279 --> 00:31:16.200
has blown up like they are on the map now

600
00:31:16.839 --> 00:31:19.519
back in the day, and you know, knowing Greenville was

601
00:31:19.559 --> 00:31:23.839
a bakery and textile state. Now it's a home at BMW,

602
00:31:24.079 --> 00:31:26.039
it's a home of Michelan, it's a home of ge

603
00:31:26.759 --> 00:31:32.160
It's really grown into something incredible and just looking from

604
00:31:32.279 --> 00:31:36.000
ninety five until now, you wouldn't even recognize it, especially downtown.

605
00:31:36.400 --> 00:31:40.200
Downtown has completely changed. And that's what it does. And

606
00:31:40.359 --> 00:31:43.559
you look at now like Michigan where it's changed a

607
00:31:43.559 --> 00:31:46.160
little bit, right, they're not producing as much. All that's

608
00:31:46.279 --> 00:31:50.640
moving south, right. Volkswagon has coming to Columbia. Mercedes is

609
00:31:50.680 --> 00:31:53.920
in Alabama. I think he is in Tennessee. So this

610
00:31:54.200 --> 00:31:57.640
whole area now is becoming the automotive capital of the world.

611
00:32:00.079 --> 00:32:03.240
Mentioned Greenville is just pretty like I mean, I was

612
00:32:03.319 --> 00:32:06.839
there in you know, I live in Wisconsin, and it

613
00:32:07.119 --> 00:32:12.240
was brown and cold and just icky in February, I

614
00:32:12.279 --> 00:32:14.440
think or March when I was there, and then I

615
00:32:14.519 --> 00:32:17.079
came to Greenville and it was green and pretty and

616
00:32:17.359 --> 00:32:19.799
warm and sunny, and I'm like, why why do we

617
00:32:19.880 --> 00:32:20.920
live in Wisconsin again?

618
00:32:21.720 --> 00:32:24.079
I know, I mean I really missed when I left

619
00:32:24.119 --> 00:32:26.440
Greenville to go back. I'm glad I did because my

620
00:32:26.519 --> 00:32:29.319
kids got to know my family. But like, you know,

621
00:32:30.039 --> 00:32:32.279
it's April, right, it's gonna be May. And it's like

622
00:32:32.559 --> 00:32:36.480
the kids playing ball north their arms are sword, it's cold,

623
00:32:36.519 --> 00:32:39.640
it's rainy. Been playing ball on air for two months, right,

624
00:32:40.079 --> 00:32:41.400
It's a whole different mindset.

625
00:32:41.880 --> 00:32:43.799
Right my kid, I mean, my kid's soccer game got

626
00:32:43.880 --> 00:32:47.559
canceled yesterday because it was like a swamp in That's

627
00:32:47.640 --> 00:32:48.960
just that's just what it's like up here.

628
00:32:49.200 --> 00:32:51.400
Plus, you guys are getting I saw today some really

629
00:32:51.480 --> 00:32:52.000
cold weather.

630
00:32:52.359 --> 00:32:55.359
Yeah, it's just and then like tornadoes like last week.

631
00:32:55.400 --> 00:33:03.160
It's fine, Everything's fine, say it ten times right, Right,

632
00:33:03.599 --> 00:33:09.079
So you've worked in engineering and entrepreneurship, which you know

633
00:33:09.160 --> 00:33:13.359
that's not always the most easy transition. I don't think so.

634
00:33:13.400 --> 00:33:17.880
I'm curious what those worlds like engineers and entrepreneurs like,

635
00:33:17.960 --> 00:33:20.400
what those worlds get wrong about each other.

636
00:33:22.000 --> 00:33:25.079
But I would say I'm a little unique, right, Most

637
00:33:25.119 --> 00:33:27.279
engineers aren't able to get on in front of a camera.

638
00:33:27.400 --> 00:33:30.359
And that whole story, right, that's my mom. I really

639
00:33:30.400 --> 00:33:32.599
believe that was my mom. But I think at age thirteen,

640
00:33:33.319 --> 00:33:35.079
I go way back. I mean I think about how

641
00:33:35.119 --> 00:33:37.680
I was as a kid and being around here all

642
00:33:37.720 --> 00:33:40.960
the time, two older brothers. But she cultivated that whole

643
00:33:41.000 --> 00:33:44.839
storytelling in me. And I loved working with my hands.

644
00:33:44.920 --> 00:33:46.920
And you know, I tell my kids back in the

645
00:33:47.000 --> 00:33:48.559
day that was on YouTube, I had to buy a

646
00:33:48.599 --> 00:33:50.920
book and figure out how to change the tirod. I

647
00:33:51.079 --> 00:33:52.720
just did it. I know how to do. You write

648
00:33:52.720 --> 00:33:55.279
a book all procedure, and that's what I think. The

649
00:33:55.359 --> 00:33:58.359
engineering side for me gave me a lot of discipline.

650
00:33:59.039 --> 00:34:01.519
Like when you're when you're supposed to be at somewhere

651
00:34:01.519 --> 00:34:03.440
at ten o'clock, you don't show up at ten o'clock.

652
00:34:03.880 --> 00:34:05.759
You show up early, right, because if you show up

653
00:34:05.759 --> 00:34:07.880
on time, you lay it has a little bit of

654
00:34:07.920 --> 00:34:10.760
a military but you know, my family is in the military.

655
00:34:10.800 --> 00:34:13.440
But I just believe it's discipline. I always felt like

656
00:34:14.320 --> 00:34:20.000
data speaks louder. Data driven decisions speaks louder in someone's opinion, right,

657
00:34:20.039 --> 00:34:21.639
it's good to have to be able to talk it.

658
00:34:22.039 --> 00:34:25.239
I always felt like as an engineer, you could you

659
00:34:25.320 --> 00:34:27.440
could have the best design in the world or the

660
00:34:27.519 --> 00:34:30.760
best product in the world. If you can't explain it

661
00:34:31.360 --> 00:34:35.440
or really pitch it properly, it's boring, right if you

662
00:34:35.559 --> 00:34:39.159
talk technical. I have a Lean six Sigma Master black

663
00:34:39.199 --> 00:34:43.599
belt under my under my wings. It's all technical. Nobody

664
00:34:43.760 --> 00:34:46.920
cares you lose them, right, So to make it fun

665
00:34:47.360 --> 00:34:49.519
and talk about how you're going to fix a process

666
00:34:50.159 --> 00:34:53.519
and really see the end results, that to me is important.

667
00:34:53.880 --> 00:34:56.440
An entrepreneur goes hand in hand. I think the problem

668
00:34:56.960 --> 00:34:59.760
some entrepreneurs may have is they don't have the discipline

669
00:34:59.760 --> 00:35:05.119
of being organized, and they don't understand truly the discipline

670
00:35:05.159 --> 00:35:07.840
of what it takes to release a product. So you're

671
00:35:07.920 --> 00:35:11.559
all over the map. You know, you may work on

672
00:35:11.639 --> 00:35:15.039
your website first and not look at searchers to see

673
00:35:15.039 --> 00:35:17.599
if your products really got to market or get some

674
00:35:17.760 --> 00:35:21.360
customer feedback. I think you've got to have some working

675
00:35:21.440 --> 00:35:25.039
prototype to understand maybe you do have something. Then you

676
00:35:25.079 --> 00:35:27.920
need to check to make sure you do have something,

677
00:35:27.960 --> 00:35:30.760
and you can get some provisionals on it. Then you've

678
00:35:30.880 --> 00:35:33.880
got to take steps to get it into the market.

679
00:35:33.960 --> 00:35:36.599
And they always forget about marketing, and in the end,

680
00:35:36.679 --> 00:35:39.599
marketing is one of the most important things, and they

681
00:35:39.719 --> 00:35:41.079
run out of the money. So all of that, I

682
00:35:41.159 --> 00:35:45.039
think all that discipline and having a strong financial budget,

683
00:35:45.639 --> 00:35:47.960
really understanding where to spend the money up front, what

684
00:35:48.280 --> 00:35:52.559
work to do first before bouncing all over the place.

685
00:35:52.639 --> 00:35:54.840
I think it's critical and that's for me. That's where

686
00:35:55.280 --> 00:35:58.079
we're being an engineer and being disciplined and understanding the

687
00:35:58.159 --> 00:36:01.880
process really helps me stay focused.

688
00:36:03.480 --> 00:36:04.679
They can't forget marketing.

689
00:36:05.960 --> 00:36:09.320
Turn. It happens all the time, people telling me they

690
00:36:09.400 --> 00:36:11.400
spent eight grand on the website, and I go, first

691
00:36:11.400 --> 00:36:13.760
of all, eight grand on the website, Like, what did

692
00:36:13.800 --> 00:36:15.519
you build? They said, well, I wanted to make it

693
00:36:15.679 --> 00:36:18.000
look really good so I can sell product. I like

694
00:36:18.159 --> 00:36:21.760
that's great. How does anybody know your product exist? I mean,

695
00:36:21.760 --> 00:36:24.840
you have to drive them to your website, and that's marketing.

696
00:36:26.719 --> 00:36:30.119
Super important. Chris, what would you tell twenty two year

697
00:36:30.159 --> 00:36:30.480
old you.

698
00:36:32.760 --> 00:36:35.760
Focus on you? Focus on me. I think when you

699
00:36:35.840 --> 00:36:40.280
start getting when you're young to you want to do

700
00:36:40.360 --> 00:36:42.559
a lot of different things. When I have a path,

701
00:36:42.599 --> 00:36:45.079
I always had this vision of who I wanted to

702
00:36:45.159 --> 00:36:47.199
be as I got older. But I think when you

703
00:36:47.320 --> 00:36:50.239
start working for a company in corporate America and you

704
00:36:50.360 --> 00:36:52.920
focus on other things, but you, so I would say,

705
00:36:52.960 --> 00:36:56.239
focus on you really set your goals, on your vision

706
00:36:56.280 --> 00:36:57.519
and what you want to become.

707
00:36:58.039 --> 00:37:02.840
And then do it, says Ez does hard right, Like

708
00:37:03.039 --> 00:37:05.559
you know that, then do it? Part I think is

709
00:37:05.599 --> 00:37:09.320
where people get stuck. And I think too many good

710
00:37:09.360 --> 00:37:11.840
ideas die at that at that point. And it just,

711
00:37:12.159 --> 00:37:14.639
you know, talking to you makes me just like my

712
00:37:14.760 --> 00:37:17.760
brain is firing with all these ideas, and I just

713
00:37:17.960 --> 00:37:21.199
wish that people could learn and lean in and hear

714
00:37:21.320 --> 00:37:23.320
you when you say, like the most important thing to

715
00:37:23.400 --> 00:37:27.840
do is take action. So understanding that not every product

716
00:37:27.960 --> 00:37:31.079
or service is the same, Like what is the most

717
00:37:31.159 --> 00:37:34.400
important first step when you're taking action? Like what can

718
00:37:34.480 --> 00:37:34.639
you do?

719
00:37:34.840 --> 00:37:36.079
What is you know?

720
00:37:36.159 --> 00:37:38.440
And I know understand that like that it's different for

721
00:37:38.639 --> 00:37:41.760
every different area. But what would you what would you

722
00:37:41.800 --> 00:37:45.159
say to people that feel that pull but don't know

723
00:37:45.320 --> 00:37:45.920
how to start.

724
00:37:46.440 --> 00:37:48.400
Yeah, I would say, don't try to do everything yourself.

725
00:37:49.039 --> 00:37:52.559
First of all, don't you should know everything or be

726
00:37:52.719 --> 00:37:55.239
everything to everyone? Right, you know what you should know

727
00:37:55.320 --> 00:37:58.679
what you're good at. Like I don't ask my attorneys

728
00:37:58.719 --> 00:38:01.519
to be engineers, right, and as an engineer, I don't

729
00:38:01.559 --> 00:38:04.199
try to be an attorney. I don't know the legal stuff.

730
00:38:04.679 --> 00:38:07.599
So I think at some point I see people write

731
00:38:07.639 --> 00:38:10.559
provisionals and you know, it's fine with AI. You can

732
00:38:10.599 --> 00:38:13.079
do some of that now, but in the end you

733
00:38:13.199 --> 00:38:15.880
may not get the results you want. So I would

734
00:38:15.880 --> 00:38:20.079
say early on, find out what you're good at, really

735
00:38:20.360 --> 00:38:22.760
focus on, and what believe what you're good at. And

736
00:38:22.800 --> 00:38:24.320
then when you're not trying to find some people to

737
00:38:24.360 --> 00:38:27.719
help you because you know they may say it's expensive, Well,

738
00:38:27.760 --> 00:38:29.960
it's more expensive to make all the mistakes and do

739
00:38:30.079 --> 00:38:31.920
it wrong then have to go back and do it

740
00:38:32.000 --> 00:38:34.360
over again. And if you want to do it right

741
00:38:34.519 --> 00:38:38.400
and constantly follow through the process, make sure you surround

742
00:38:38.400 --> 00:38:40.840
yourself with the right people and know when to get

743
00:38:40.920 --> 00:38:44.159
help and add somebody to your team. That's one of

744
00:38:44.199 --> 00:38:48.639
the biggest problems I see is everyone thinks you need

745
00:38:48.719 --> 00:38:52.239
an nda. Everyone thinks you need, you know, to be

746
00:38:52.480 --> 00:38:55.039
everything to everybody and you should know everything. It's not true.

747
00:38:55.159 --> 00:38:58.039
It's it's not true because you can only be good

748
00:38:58.079 --> 00:39:00.480
at so many things. If you're gifted, you have that

749
00:39:00.880 --> 00:39:04.119
more than most people. That's great. But don't try to

750
00:39:04.159 --> 00:39:04.800
be something you're not.

751
00:39:06.599 --> 00:39:11.519
Don't try to be something you're not. Yeah, that's a

752
00:39:11.519 --> 00:39:15.400
big one I think for people too. And understanding that

753
00:39:15.559 --> 00:39:18.320
you need to ask for help, Like I think a

754
00:39:18.360 --> 00:39:20.880
lot of times that's the hardest thing. Is Like when

755
00:39:20.920 --> 00:39:22.920
you when you're scared and you need to ask for help,

756
00:39:22.960 --> 00:39:25.719
you're confessing to somebody that you don't know something, and

757
00:39:25.840 --> 00:39:28.960
you can feel dumb or you know they're going to

758
00:39:29.039 --> 00:39:31.000
judge me or whatever. But it's all, it's all part

759
00:39:31.039 --> 00:39:32.519
of it, and it's super important.

760
00:39:32.960 --> 00:39:34.679
And I think when you're younger you have more of

761
00:39:34.760 --> 00:39:37.079
that than when you get older. Yeah, I've been around

762
00:39:37.199 --> 00:39:40.159
enough to know that that's the worst thing you could do. Honestly.

763
00:39:40.239 --> 00:39:42.480
It's just you know, fake it till you make it.

764
00:39:42.559 --> 00:39:44.760
That's all bs And you know, trying to be something

765
00:39:44.800 --> 00:39:48.039
you're not. Just be You focus on what you're good

766
00:39:48.079 --> 00:39:49.880
at and what you're not. Find somebody in your group

767
00:39:49.920 --> 00:39:52.880
that can help you continue to get to the next level.

768
00:39:54.599 --> 00:39:59.360
What is something that you I guess would if I

769
00:39:59.480 --> 00:40:02.320
handed you a megaphone and everybody that had a big

770
00:40:02.440 --> 00:40:06.039
idea had to listen, what would you say?

771
00:40:07.599 --> 00:40:09.599
They got to go back to that whole, that whole

772
00:40:09.679 --> 00:40:16.199
comment of finding the right people. And I think surrounding yourself,

773
00:40:16.320 --> 00:40:18.320
you become who you are at some point with who

774
00:40:18.360 --> 00:40:21.840
you surround yourself with. And I think I find that

775
00:40:21.960 --> 00:40:23.559
I can sit in a room with anybody. Now, I

776
00:40:23.599 --> 00:40:24.679
can sit in the room with the President of the

777
00:40:24.719 --> 00:40:26.440
United States if I had to, I just know I

778
00:40:26.480 --> 00:40:28.159
can't mean. I just sat down with Damon John He's

779
00:40:28.159 --> 00:40:30.840
the most sought after speaker in the world right now,

780
00:40:31.320 --> 00:40:35.199
and had this amazing fireside chat, and people said that

781
00:40:35.719 --> 00:40:38.360
the chemistry was unbelievable, Like you seem like you guys

782
00:40:38.400 --> 00:40:40.440
hang out all the time, and it just I just

783
00:40:40.519 --> 00:40:42.800
felt like I know him, he knows me, and we've

784
00:40:42.840 --> 00:40:44.480
been able to do things together and he's been very

785
00:40:44.559 --> 00:40:47.800
respectful and vice versa, and the chemistry is there. And

786
00:40:48.159 --> 00:40:50.840
so I feel like when you surround yourself with the

787
00:40:50.920 --> 00:40:54.199
right people, it just elevates you. It makes you better.

788
00:40:54.639 --> 00:40:56.960
I always even at BMW, I had people with me

789
00:40:57.079 --> 00:41:02.000
that graduated from MIT Harvard and that never intimidated me.

790
00:41:02.400 --> 00:41:04.800
I always felt like these people, a couple of people,

791
00:41:04.840 --> 00:41:09.440
made me better. They made me strive to achieve new heights.

792
00:41:09.559 --> 00:41:13.199
And I think, if you're just gonna hang down low,

793
00:41:13.679 --> 00:41:16.039
you're always gonna be that same person and you're never

794
00:41:16.119 --> 00:41:19.320
gonna achieve rightness. And when you put yourself in a

795
00:41:19.440 --> 00:41:22.519
situation where you surround yourself with people that want to learn,

796
00:41:22.679 --> 00:41:26.039
want to be coached, and then you are also listening

797
00:41:26.119 --> 00:41:29.679
more than you're talking, you elevate your own game. And

798
00:41:29.960 --> 00:41:30.800
that's what I would say.

799
00:41:31.559 --> 00:41:33.400
It reminds me a little bit of when I did

800
00:41:33.559 --> 00:41:35.920
my first five K, Like I was a couch to

801
00:41:36.079 --> 00:41:39.000
five K person. I never had run a mile in

802
00:41:39.079 --> 00:41:43.159
my life, and standing in that starting line with all

803
00:41:43.199 --> 00:41:46.719
those people that you know, varying levels of had run

804
00:41:46.840 --> 00:41:49.400
five k's before most of them had, if not more,

805
00:41:49.519 --> 00:41:52.960
or my marathons and all that, and being around that energy,

806
00:41:53.559 --> 00:41:55.960
like that's like the most visceral way that I can

807
00:41:56.039 --> 00:41:58.480
describe what you're saying is like surrounding yourself with the

808
00:41:58.559 --> 00:42:01.800
right people that elevate you. Because I did run that

809
00:42:01.960 --> 00:42:04.280
first mile of my five K and I paid for

810
00:42:04.360 --> 00:42:07.000
it for like a week, but I you know, because

811
00:42:07.079 --> 00:42:09.320
I was with that energy and with those people, they

812
00:42:09.719 --> 00:42:12.719
took me up a level, and you know it, it

813
00:42:13.360 --> 00:42:15.840
was like something I felt in my body. So when

814
00:42:15.880 --> 00:42:18.039
you're describing that, that's what that's what came to mind

815
00:42:18.039 --> 00:42:20.000
for me. It was like, yes, like I felt that

816
00:42:20.119 --> 00:42:22.440
at my first five K and it was insane. And

817
00:42:22.559 --> 00:42:25.159
I never had run a mile in less than sixteen

818
00:42:25.239 --> 00:42:26.880
minutes before, but that day, I think I did it

819
00:42:26.960 --> 00:42:29.199
in thirteen and that's like unreal to me.

820
00:42:29.719 --> 00:42:31.559
Yep, you hip yourself up. I feel like way with

821
00:42:31.639 --> 00:42:33.519
live TV, like I'll get asked you want to do

822
00:42:33.559 --> 00:42:35.559
a live you want to do it as a segment paped.

823
00:42:35.599 --> 00:42:37.360
I'm like, I want to do a live yeah, because

824
00:42:37.360 --> 00:42:40.800
it's forever. It's like excitement. There's a lot of energy

825
00:42:41.079 --> 00:42:44.159
involved with it, and you know, if you make a mistake,

826
00:42:44.639 --> 00:42:47.320
that's it. You can't cut it. Everyone's going to see it,

827
00:42:47.679 --> 00:42:49.280
so you want to be prepared. And I always feel

828
00:42:49.320 --> 00:42:53.119
there's there's more excitement with doing stuff live than if

829
00:42:53.119 --> 00:42:55.039
you do a tape and say cut will you do it?

830
00:42:55.639 --> 00:42:58.840
That's just me agreed. Well, the next talk we have

831
00:42:59.239 --> 00:43:01.280
maybe we'll do it on the YouTube live or something,

832
00:43:02.119 --> 00:43:04.079
because I agree with you and I think that there's

833
00:43:04.119 --> 00:43:06.800
something to be said for that. So you may know

834
00:43:06.920 --> 00:43:09.639
this or you may not. I don't know, but I

835
00:43:09.840 --> 00:43:13.360
love music. It does something for my soul that is

836
00:43:13.440 --> 00:43:16.800
healing and restorative. And I've been asking all of my

837
00:43:16.920 --> 00:43:20.159
guests what their song of survival is, So a song

838
00:43:20.320 --> 00:43:23.639
that like grounds you or keeps you going when things

839
00:43:23.639 --> 00:43:25.639
are hard? Do you have a song like that?

840
00:43:26.880 --> 00:43:30.400
I love mass Bunch twenty. I got a chance to

841
00:43:30.440 --> 00:43:32.800
meet Rob Thomas and a funny story I'll tell you

842
00:43:32.840 --> 00:43:35.280
before I tell you the song. This is before I

843
00:43:35.400 --> 00:43:37.679
knew Chris Trapper, who writes with him, before I knew

844
00:43:37.760 --> 00:43:41.639
Jim who was his photographer, And it's kind of ironic.

845
00:43:41.719 --> 00:43:44.880
We were at mohegan at one of his concerts, and

846
00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:47.159
I forgot I had VIP passes. It was like twenty

847
00:43:47.239 --> 00:43:50.199
of us. So we're sitting in the VIP room and

848
00:43:50.800 --> 00:43:53.000
his publicist comes out talking to us. I'm just having

849
00:43:53.000 --> 00:43:55.199
a good time filming us, so I asked him. He said,

850
00:43:55.199 --> 00:43:56.960
how can I meet Rob? And he laughed. He said,

851
00:43:57.920 --> 00:43:59.960
you and a one hundred thousand people. I said, don't

852
00:44:00.079 --> 00:44:01.719
they care? About the other one hundred thousand. How don't

853
00:44:01.800 --> 00:44:04.320
I meet him? Anyways, we filmed some stuff for him.

854
00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:07.079
So that night, I think we were in the first

855
00:44:07.119 --> 00:44:12.440
section front row. We were coming back from the concession

856
00:44:12.480 --> 00:44:14.760
stand and I look at He's coming off the stage

857
00:44:15.440 --> 00:44:17.559
and he's singing, this is how heartbreaks. And I used

858
00:44:17.559 --> 00:44:19.360
to play that to my son Tyler when he was

859
00:44:19.440 --> 00:44:22.800
like ten, to get him pumped up for football. Well,

860
00:44:22.840 --> 00:44:24.880
he's singing it coming off the stage and I'm looking

861
00:44:24.960 --> 00:44:27.920
and he's walking towards us, and I'm like me and

862
00:44:28.000 --> 00:44:30.599
my brain he's liking shock. So I put my beverage

863
00:44:30.639 --> 00:44:34.960
down and get everything ready. This security surrounds us. He

864
00:44:35.119 --> 00:44:38.400
literally sings the entire song. I got great photos, high

865
00:44:38.440 --> 00:44:40.760
five and me. He's got his arm around brand He

866
00:44:40.840 --> 00:44:44.639
sings the entire song to her, and it was like

867
00:44:45.159 --> 00:44:47.400
it was like unforgettable, like she couldn't make it till

868
00:44:47.559 --> 00:44:51.400
this day, and her facial expressions on the pictures are

869
00:44:51.559 --> 00:44:55.800
like unbelievable. So I've been a huge, huge match Box

870
00:44:55.840 --> 00:44:57.639
twenty fan. And when I was when I had moved

871
00:44:57.719 --> 00:45:01.760
to Carolina, the song Real WORL is what sat with me.

872
00:45:01.880 --> 00:45:04.159
That whole song, all the words in it. It was

873
00:45:04.199 --> 00:45:07.840
a lot of how I was transforming from an engineer

874
00:45:07.960 --> 00:45:10.119
to an executive and it was that time in my life.

875
00:45:10.239 --> 00:45:12.280
And I've been a fan of his forever and that

876
00:45:12.440 --> 00:45:14.719
was a song that resonates the most with me. And

877
00:45:15.559 --> 00:45:19.599
to think about that moment now I've met him, it was,

878
00:45:19.840 --> 00:45:22.320
it was. It was pretty epic. It was pretty cool.

879
00:45:22.559 --> 00:45:25.679
It sounds epic, and it reminds me of another epic

880
00:45:25.760 --> 00:45:27.719
moment that you had in your life. Were you proposed

881
00:45:27.800 --> 00:45:31.119
on Good Morning America. Yeah, that was really good tawk

882
00:45:31.280 --> 00:45:33.800
us through that story, because that's a that's a really

883
00:45:33.840 --> 00:45:34.440
good story.

884
00:45:34.880 --> 00:45:37.199
Yeah. So Brandon and I had been together for fifteen

885
00:45:37.280 --> 00:45:39.480
years and we never talked marriage because it wasn't a

886
00:45:39.519 --> 00:45:42.119
big deal. We had our we both had kids that

887
00:45:42.159 --> 00:45:45.000
I know each other before we met. And I remember

888
00:45:45.079 --> 00:45:48.079
with Tyler was twenty one. So this is twenty nineteen

889
00:45:48.119 --> 00:45:51.079
in December. This is probably like August, and I'm talking

890
00:45:51.119 --> 00:45:54.000
to Tyler and saying, hey, I proposed to Brandy and

891
00:45:54.079 --> 00:45:56.639
he laughed on Good Morning America. He laughed at me.

892
00:45:57.239 --> 00:45:59.159
I'm like, what do you mean dude? Hecause, I'm not

893
00:45:59.159 --> 00:46:02.239
gonna let you do that. I happened to text my

894
00:46:02.400 --> 00:46:05.599
contact and sometimes it takes an hour to three hours

895
00:46:05.960 --> 00:46:08.440
to get back, depending on where they are. She respinded

896
00:46:08.519 --> 00:46:10.760
within a minute and she said, hey, listen, we can

897
00:46:10.880 --> 00:46:12.519
do something. I don't know if he can do it

898
00:46:12.639 --> 00:46:15.639
live because we're booked for three months. I said, well whatever,

899
00:46:15.679 --> 00:46:18.320
and then she sent me four VIP passes and so

900
00:46:18.440 --> 00:46:21.000
I was like what. And I told him I had

901
00:46:21.039 --> 00:46:23.599
known Michael Strahan a bunch of camera guys. That's the

902
00:46:23.679 --> 00:46:27.119
only he believed me. So I didn't tell anybody. Tom

903
00:46:27.199 --> 00:46:29.440
and I went out picked out a ring, and I

904
00:46:29.519 --> 00:46:31.440
kept us a secret. For me. It was like eternity.

905
00:46:31.480 --> 00:46:33.599
It was like four months and tell anybody. I just

906
00:46:33.679 --> 00:46:37.119
told everybody that day to watch the show. Right. So

907
00:46:37.239 --> 00:46:40.320
we get there, we have to be there like five thirty,

908
00:46:40.960 --> 00:46:44.000
and we've learned to say, there's nobody there. No one's

909
00:46:44.039 --> 00:46:47.000
talking to me now, the camera guys, nobody. I'm like

910
00:46:47.239 --> 00:46:49.679
jezus Well, I didn't want to blow it right. So

911
00:46:49.800 --> 00:46:52.400
Brady says that, why are you so nervous? Like you

912
00:46:52.400 --> 00:46:55.119
don't seem like you're never nervous when you pitch your products.

913
00:46:55.440 --> 00:46:57.199
I said, I'll have my lines down. Yet she wouldn't

914
00:46:57.199 --> 00:46:59.039
even have your lines down yet well, they wanted me

915
00:46:59.079 --> 00:47:00.760
to talk about Robin Robert It's how I met her

916
00:47:00.800 --> 00:47:03.599
and how I knew her before going into it. And

917
00:47:03.719 --> 00:47:06.639
then I was talking to some of the people on

918
00:47:06.679 --> 00:47:08.400
the set at three thirty in the morning, and Brand's like,

919
00:47:08.400 --> 00:47:10.440
who you talking to? I said, no, nothing, I'm just

920
00:47:10.960 --> 00:47:13.519
just doing some work and they would tell me how

921
00:47:13.519 --> 00:47:15.039
they were gonna do it with Brandy, and then they

922
00:47:15.119 --> 00:47:17.239
called me back at five thirty. As I was walking

923
00:47:17.320 --> 00:47:20.519
there scrap it off, they said, We're gonna hand you

924
00:47:20.599 --> 00:47:23.119
the mic. You're gonna go live. This is the exact

925
00:47:23.239 --> 00:47:27.400
word he said, bring the ring and don't f it up.

926
00:47:28.159 --> 00:47:32.480
I'm like, oh more, added pressure. Great, So I was

927
00:47:32.519 --> 00:47:34.519
getting my lines down. Literally, they handed me the mic

928
00:47:34.800 --> 00:47:36.880
at like eight oh one, coming back from a commercial.

929
00:47:38.599 --> 00:47:40.920
I started talking about Robin Roberts and the whole audience.

930
00:47:41.039 --> 00:47:43.760
Even though that's when there was an audience there had

931
00:47:43.800 --> 00:47:45.480
no idea what was going on. Then I started saying,

932
00:47:45.519 --> 00:47:47.840
you know, me and Brand, you've been together for fifteen years,

933
00:47:47.920 --> 00:47:50.719
and they start going nuts. They knew what was coming,

934
00:47:51.400 --> 00:47:54.920
right I proposed her. She was in shock, I mean

935
00:47:55.199 --> 00:47:59.320
literally in shock so much that the producers came out

936
00:48:00.239 --> 00:48:02.400
and asked me, did she say yes, I'm like, she's

937
00:48:02.719 --> 00:48:05.639
sitting right here, and of course I did. They said, well,

938
00:48:05.679 --> 00:48:09.559
did she swear and tell her said yep, So I

939
00:48:09.639 --> 00:48:11.159
guess when I was I didn't hear, but I guess

940
00:48:11.199 --> 00:48:14.559
when we're When I was proposing to her, she said

941
00:48:14.639 --> 00:48:18.480
no effing way because she was in shock. So they

942
00:48:18.559 --> 00:48:20.920
were freaking out trying to cut it on the West Coast.

943
00:48:21.039 --> 00:48:22.920
It was. It was the funniest thing.

944
00:48:22.960 --> 00:48:23.360
I just said.

945
00:48:23.360 --> 00:48:25.719
I remember saying her a nice going. There's probably three

946
00:48:25.760 --> 00:48:28.920
million people watching right now. I messed up the West

947
00:48:29.000 --> 00:48:31.920
Coast that she felt so bad. And then Robin Roberts

948
00:48:32.000 --> 00:48:34.679
came back in August and did another whole segment, talked

949
00:48:34.679 --> 00:48:37.840
about my shoes and remembering that day, it was really

950
00:48:37.880 --> 00:48:40.360
cool and I that was probably the best surprise I

951
00:48:40.440 --> 00:48:41.079
ever pulled off.

952
00:48:42.440 --> 00:48:46.639
Pretty cool. I'd say, goodness, gracious, and it was good.

953
00:48:47.360 --> 00:48:49.480
And then you know, you know, I had met Robin

954
00:48:49.559 --> 00:48:52.920
Roberts before that national commercial, and I had talked about

955
00:48:53.280 --> 00:48:56.039
where I met her in a grocery store. I lived

956
00:48:56.079 --> 00:48:59.199
in Bristol, Connecticut, right next to ESPN, and she had

957
00:48:59.239 --> 00:49:02.480
just started her career in nineteen ninety and I remember

958
00:49:02.559 --> 00:49:04.280
seeing her with her parents, and I talked to her

959
00:49:04.320 --> 00:49:07.280
for like twenty minutes. She introduced me to her parents

960
00:49:07.320 --> 00:49:09.199
and BRANDI never believed me. She's like, she's not gonna

961
00:49:09.239 --> 00:49:12.519
remember you who. And literally we did this commercial and

962
00:49:12.599 --> 00:49:16.199
Robert Roberts called me over and we were talking. Brain's like,

963
00:49:16.280 --> 00:49:18.119
oh my god, here we go. He's been talking about

964
00:49:18.199 --> 00:49:22.000
this for seven years. And she said, yeah, when we met,

965
00:49:22.679 --> 00:49:24.639
I think it was eight and p and she said,

966
00:49:24.639 --> 00:49:26.800
I don't introduce anybody in my parents. I'll never forget

967
00:49:26.840 --> 00:49:29.199
that moment. And then she tweeted me later saying, it

968
00:49:29.280 --> 00:49:31.840
was so good to see you after so long. I'll

969
00:49:31.880 --> 00:49:34.039
never forget you meet my mom and dad and they

970
00:49:34.079 --> 00:49:36.719
were all both crying. It was like it was such

971
00:49:36.760 --> 00:49:38.639
a cool that was such a cool moment. I'll tell

972
00:49:38.639 --> 00:49:41.079
you so. I've had some fun times on Good Morning America.

973
00:49:41.119 --> 00:49:42.079
They're really good people.

974
00:49:43.119 --> 00:49:47.159
Good people is the good people is the name of

975
00:49:47.199 --> 00:49:51.159
the game today, like honestly, truly, and it makes all

976
00:49:51.239 --> 00:49:56.519
the difference. And you're something that I've noticed is you

977
00:49:56.760 --> 00:49:58.639
light up when you talk about the people that you

978
00:49:58.760 --> 00:50:02.440
care about. That's really cool to me because I'm a

979
00:50:02.519 --> 00:50:06.320
similar human in that regard where I do connect deeply

980
00:50:06.440 --> 00:50:08.800
with people at a level that doesn't make always makes

981
00:50:08.840 --> 00:50:12.760
sense right away, and I respect and admire that about you.

982
00:50:13.039 --> 00:50:17.880
So what has being a husband to Brandy and being

983
00:50:17.920 --> 00:50:20.639
a dad to your kids, what has that taught you

984
00:50:20.920 --> 00:50:23.199
about being a better entrepreneur.

985
00:50:24.039 --> 00:50:27.280
I think it's about commitment, honestly, and it's about not

986
00:50:27.480 --> 00:50:30.480
letting anybody down. Even when I went on Shark Tank,

987
00:50:30.559 --> 00:50:32.960
you know, I had so many things going on and

988
00:50:33.039 --> 00:50:35.000
it was locked in a room for eleven days. I

989
00:50:35.079 --> 00:50:37.719
felt like my and my number one goal was I

990
00:50:37.760 --> 00:50:39.800
don't want to let anybody down. You know, people freeze

991
00:50:39.880 --> 00:50:42.119
and they do things, they say stuff that's not right,

992
00:50:42.199 --> 00:50:44.840
and it makes bad TV. I felt like I wanted

993
00:50:44.840 --> 00:50:46.679
to know what I was doing, make sure my pitch

994
00:50:46.840 --> 00:50:50.119
was good, and and somebody send me Chris Dane, I'll

995
00:50:50.119 --> 00:50:52.880
send me every question I've asked. So that's all I did,

996
00:50:52.960 --> 00:50:55.679
was studying every question, so I was really prepared. I

997
00:50:55.679 --> 00:50:58.239
didn't want to let my my family down, my wife,

998
00:50:58.360 --> 00:51:02.039
my kids, friends, partner. That's what I felt like for me.

999
00:51:02.159 --> 00:51:05.719
It was I wanted to perform and not let anybody down.

1000
00:51:05.920 --> 00:51:10.440
And that was pressure beyond belief and that self inflicted pressure.

1001
00:51:11.159 --> 00:51:13.079
But That's how we felt, because it's kind of a

1002
00:51:13.119 --> 00:51:15.719
funny story. When they finally brought us down on the

1003
00:51:15.760 --> 00:51:18.239
eleventh day, they had us in the bullpen again. It

1004
00:51:18.320 --> 00:51:20.079
was all during COVID, so there was only four people

1005
00:51:20.360 --> 00:51:23.119
all spread out in this bullpen and we were doing

1006
00:51:23.159 --> 00:51:25.960
our last pitch. So we went down to the eleven

1007
00:51:26.000 --> 00:51:28.280
We didn't pitch until five five, and I actually made

1008
00:51:28.320 --> 00:51:30.519
a mistake when we were doing the pitch and the

1009
00:51:30.519 --> 00:51:32.960
producers like, you're just kidding, right, He said, no, I know,

1010
00:51:33.079 --> 00:51:35.159
I made a mistakes, No big deal, I said. When

1011
00:51:35.159 --> 00:51:37.280
the cameras are rolling, They're like, oh my god, you

1012
00:51:37.400 --> 00:51:39.239
need to know all his lines, you need to know

1013
00:51:39.360 --> 00:51:41.920
her lines. And I'm like, relax when the camera's on,

1014
00:51:42.039 --> 00:51:42.760
I'm going to be good.

1015
00:51:43.159 --> 00:51:43.679
And I was.

1016
00:51:44.239 --> 00:51:46.840
But it's just just I mean, I must have said

1017
00:51:46.880 --> 00:51:49.920
this thing a thousand times, and it was just hurry

1018
00:51:50.000 --> 00:51:52.840
up and wait, and all of it was zoom until

1019
00:51:52.880 --> 00:51:54.920
it wasn't zoom, and it was like, I just want

1020
00:51:54.920 --> 00:51:57.440
to get this over with now. So that was my

1021
00:51:57.840 --> 00:51:59.960
big take is in being a dad in a HU

1022
00:52:00.400 --> 00:52:03.840
is always being there whenever one needs me, knowing whenever

1023
00:52:03.880 --> 00:52:06.000
the phone rings, I answer it, know when they need

1024
00:52:06.079 --> 00:52:08.280
me to show up. I always show up, and that's

1025
00:52:08.320 --> 00:52:11.719
all part of commitment and being true to who you

1026
00:52:11.840 --> 00:52:15.639
are and really being a part of everyone's life. So

1027
00:52:15.719 --> 00:52:18.679
when I leave the world someday, don't know that whenever

1028
00:52:18.800 --> 00:52:20.000
they needed me, I was there.

1029
00:52:21.519 --> 00:52:25.199
You are having a profound impact on the world around

1030
00:52:25.280 --> 00:52:27.800
you and the world the bigger world around that. So

1031
00:52:28.360 --> 00:52:32.039
I am so grateful that we cross paths in great, beautiful,

1032
00:52:32.280 --> 00:52:35.760
sunny Greenville, you know, two months ago or a month ago,

1033
00:52:35.840 --> 00:52:37.719
or whatever it was. I'm so grateful for you, for

1034
00:52:37.840 --> 00:52:40.000
your friendship, for your energy, for your fire, and for

1035
00:52:40.119 --> 00:52:44.079
pouring into me into the viewers and listeners today. Chris,

1036
00:52:44.199 --> 00:52:46.760
what else would you add that I didn't ask you today?

1037
00:52:48.239 --> 00:52:52.239
I don't know. I just I love having fun. I've

1038
00:52:52.519 --> 00:52:54.400
I've been working hard my whole life, and I don't

1039
00:52:54.400 --> 00:52:56.880
think I'll ever go to retire. I just like helping people,

1040
00:52:56.960 --> 00:53:00.039
and I enjoy what I do, and being around the

1041
00:53:00.159 --> 00:53:02.920
right people just energizes me. So I can continue to

1042
00:53:02.960 --> 00:53:06.079
build a network and have fun doing.

1043
00:53:05.960 --> 00:53:09.360
It and stay tuned for all that good stuff. Guys, Yes,

1044
00:53:09.519 --> 00:53:13.320
so we will see you next time on quick before

1045
00:53:13.320 --> 00:53:17.400
you forget Thank you for being here with me. Today

1046
00:53:17.840 --> 00:53:21.480
on Quick Before You Forget, Please like, share, and subscribe

1047
00:53:21.519 --> 00:53:24.039
as that helps the show so much and I really

1048
00:53:24.079 --> 00:53:27.039
appreciate it. And I'll see you next time on Quick

1049
00:53:27.119 --> 00:53:27.840
Before You Forget,