On today's episode of Gathering the Kings. That's a crazy feeling as an entrepreneur. Yeah. To have the weight of them behind you, like, holding everything up. And you're like, oh, wow. I didn't have to carry all of this. What's up, everybody? I'm Chaz Wolfe. I've got Garrett Breton here on the king stage. My brother Garrett, another brother from another mother. How you doing? Awesome, man. Great to be here. Thank you for having me.
Dude, I had to say that, you know, brother from another mother thing because we just figured out that we have some similar love That's for sure. Yep. And before I give away the secrets of our our conversation we're just coming out of, tell me what kind of business that you got, brother. Sure. So my business is called Comfort One Juice. We are in Washington, DC, Maryland, Virginia right now. We have 14 locations, and we focus on better grade European comfort shoes.
And incredibly high service level. I love it. I love I love the niche. It has nothing to do with what we were just talking about, though. Really unrelated. Yeah. Those are different shoes. Those are different shoes. Those are different shoes. Those are different shoes. So for the for the listeners' sake, I gotta I gotta let them in on our secret because of course, you being a shoe guy. I have a history in selling shoes. I did it for a long time.
I ran some footlockers, and and you said to me, what's your favorite shoe? And my response was, well, first off, how old are you? We just we just we established that we're about the same age. Okay. We grew up in the Jordan era. So we had to put the Jordan's in a box. And I actually, too quickly. I moved it over, didn't I? I I I said, listen. Yeah. I brought the box over here. He said, no. No. No. I'll bring that box back.
And so we're we're a big we're big Jordan fans, and then specifically the shoes, and and you've got quite a few of them. Maybe that'll come up with the conversation here. I don't know, but Yeah. Yeah. I gotta know, man, before I get into your story and kind of a little bit of the practicality of of your success, why? Why do you do this? Why shoes? Why retail? Why European comfort? What's the burning desire? Like, give me the deep down, good stuff.
Yeah. Sure. So, you know, I thought I was in the shoe business forever. So he started selling Chaz, a little independent shoe store in Massachusetts where he was from, He came down to Atlanta, Georgia and was a buyer then did all that. So it's definitely in my blood. Comfort One Shoes. I started working here. I was fourteen years old. Though 1994. It's, you know, it's a family company. My dad started at 93 with 1 eight hundred square foot store, and from there, but he called it L1, location 1.
You know, he's he's looking to grow. So started in the sock room, did a little everything. Retail in general is a tough business. And footwears, even tougher. Tons of inventory, lots of costs to get started, but what it has that a lot of other retail doesn't is that when we are able to fit a customer in something that's really right for them, it can change their life. And I don't mean that in a, like, you know, that's a terrible way.
I mean, like, if you're back and knees and hips are hurting because you're wearing the wrong thing, we can we can correct that for you. You don't get that when you sell them a shirt, they might look great in the shirt, but it's not gonna make their back feel better. So there's a real kind of visceral connection to the customer with footwear that I don't think is is available in other in other kinds of retail.
Yeah. Yeah. You're helping people, and it's not just the cliche we're helping people, but, like, practically, They come in for this specific problem, and they walk out with with a better solution, than they had before, like, real. Know, it's interesting because I I think back to those moments where, you know, I was spiffed to sell, you know, the shoe cleaner or the inserts, just the extra things.
But I really did cut my teeth on, like, really good service and sales with shoes because I believe what you just said is that Depending upon what they were looking for, whether they were training for a marathon or they were, you know, running short distance, whether they were playing basketball, like, whatever that they were looking for, whatever they came in, I could ask them those types of questions, and then I could strategically put them in the right shoe.
Yeah. I obviously, you and I agree with this, but how do you think this applies to life? Or maybe more specifically, the guys that are listening right now are the ladies, and they're not in the shoe business. We understand it, but How did they take this methodology of you really helping your customer? How did they take that and put it in home services or tech or, you know, nits own blank? Yeah. So life is complicated. You know, people have a lot going on. They're busy.
They have their their own deal. So the idea that they're gonna be into the thing that you're into is it's a low percentage chance of that happening. So people aren't gonna sit around and study the difference between, you know, polyurethane materials and the sulfatex why it's better, why one's more cushiony, but I am. And our salespeople, we have the, I think, one of the highest retention rates in the entire industry our average salesperson on the sales floor within this 8 years.
And in retail, I mean, 8 months is rare. I think you've been doing, you know, I won't call anybody out, but, I mean, you've been to one of the big box stores where they do care less. They know less than you. So in life, if you can figure out, like, if you can eliminate a pain point for a customer. If you can take something and deep dive into it and be their resource, their expert, they will learn to trust you over time. And then it becomes just like, hey.
Let's be friends, and I'll solve this for you whenever you need it solved. So whether that's, you know, a great haircut, whether that's an IT problem for the government, it can be anything, but becoming a real specialist who genuinely cares. Like Yeah. You know, there's a lot of people who pretend to give service or pretend to care or are, like, every other home services company out there instead of real problem solvers.
And when you really do it the right way, people are excited to share that news with their friends. They're like, hey, man. I solved the the handyman issue. I solved the this. Just go see my boy Garrett, and you're good. You know, and that's that's really where you can apply it to anything. It doesn't matter what your passion or niche is. Yeah. Become exceptional at it. And then give away the answers, and and people come back to them. Yeah. They do. They do.
You hinted at it, but I wanna just you know, make it super clear that when you give, basically, that people will come back. And what that really means for business is longevity or LTV. And because don't wanna just find a new another client. Like, yes, there's a ton of people that need to choose, and I'm sure you could go find some new ones. And and you want to, but that that guy that you just serviced, if you serviced him, right, with the genuineness of actually caring, he's gonna come back.
And by the next pair and the next pair, and then he's gonna bring his family, his wife, his kids, or you know, whatever the the circumstances is because he trusts you because it turns it turns from, like, a good recommendation and caring to, oh, wow. This really helped me. He did me right, and I and I I feel safe here. There's trust. I'm gonna come back even with a pair of shoes. Right? Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, it's I can take it from a transactional relationship.
Into a real relationship. And, I mean, you know, from a truly financial standpoint, it's customer's acquisition is expensive. And if you can keep the same customers over time Wolfe you're, you know, adding the new ones as well, it's just a much better model long term. Yeah. The eighteen year old, seventeen year old Chaz working at a Foot locker, I didn't even own the the the store, but I had repeat clients.
Yeah. Chaz would come back to a big box store looking for me and would not purchase if I wasn't there. Mhmm. And and one particular client I'm thinking of was a pretty high VP and a big insurance company, which then later, I was able to get a job at because I needed to move on from selling Chaz. And, it was so funny because I didn't even know what he I mean, I knew what he did, but not really, but he was like, my boss's boss's boss in that environment. And it's like, I knew that guy.
He would only come back and spend his money with his family with me. A seventeen year old kid. But it's it's I mean, I don't I can't say how many times that kind of things happened where, like, you know, a a great waiter, a great bartender, a great haircut, like, it doesn't matter what it is. Once you see, like, alright, this person's passion cares is the right kind of person that shares our values, then all kinds of opportunity to open up.
And that's, you know, that's true of people that I'm, you know, hiring, but it's also true of, like, my, you know, people I'm investing with now and doing real estate deals there were never else Chaz. It's like they, you know, they could trust me. I've showed up. I, you know, I give freely without warning, and then eventually it all brings back. It's cool. Yeah. It's these are really, really, really important principles. I hope the listener's taking good notes from you.
I wanna know practically how the story began. You gave us a little tidbits dad started the store. You started there in 14 at 14 years old, but, like, how did you become who you are today? Give us a little bit of that. Gotcha. Yeah. So, I mean, when, you know, when you're fourteen, you don't know what the hell you want. You know? So I started looking to make some money and buy some Jordan. My dad told me what time to get there, and I showed up and started doing it. You know?
So from, you know, that perspective, like, that's how I got pulled in. And then, you know, not that quickly. Maybe 5 years, 10 years. You know, it was probably my early twenties when I really decided like, oh, this is something I want to do. This is a career I see a path for me here. And then once I made that decision, you know, it it changed. I was much more invested in it and started, you know, I remember right the first time I got promoted to the manager.
I think I was twenty years old, you know, 6 years of experience at that point. And And he held on to me too. I'm sure. Yeah. And I was like, oh, man. You know, now I'm the boss. Like, now I don't have to do any of that work anymore. So, you know, I got in there, wrote these long lists signed everything, went to lunch, you know, did that for, you know, 3 weeks before the entire staff quit. Yeah. So you burn those kind of lessons. And at Matt's you know, for me, other people are Yeah.
They're smarter. They can learn from other people's mistakes. Me, I gotta I gotta do it on my own sometimes. So know, and then I came back and I was like, oh, well, that's not great. Now I have to do with the whole checklist. Again. Now I'm a salesperson again. You know? I'll see if I can resolve it. And then, you know, they when the when the students read it, the teacher appears, I think that's something that's injury for me always. There's a guy Sean O'Neal.
Who was, you know, a manager of a our biggest store at that point. And I saw how we worked, how we treated people, how we got the best out of people, but also how we saw the best in people. Sometimes even when they didn't see it for themselves and, you know, in me, I wanted to be better for him. And it was, you know, it was my dad's company at that point. You know? But that's that's what I started to emulate, and it took me years to develop that. I'm an introvert by nature.
But in sales, like, that's not an option. So, you know, getting a 1,000,000 of reps, I don't know how many. They get to relate to lots of different personality types, right. You get to open yourself up and, you know, and see what happens, be vulnerable. Lots of people are gonna say no. And in any other, you know, in lots of businesses, where lots of, I guess, areas of life, When people get rejection, they turn the opposite direction.
And in in business, I think, if, you know, if you asked five times and you get 4 nos, you were successful. You got a yes. And and that was something I had to learn. So, you know, from there, I I became a better manager. I became a district manager. I got into the buying department. And from there, learn the other part of the business, the the numbers part where you have budgets, and you've got, you know, margin goals.
Yep. And I came in there again with a, you know, a false sense of how smart I was. And, you know, I'm like, I know what to pick. And, you know, I can predict the future of what's gonna happen. And in there, I learned the left in our, like, I'm gonna be wrong a lot. A lot more Chaz right. So what I can do though is I can affect the the terms and the conditions under which I'm I'm guessing.
So I can partner with vendors, brands who are looking to get into our stores and, you know, want the distribution. And then I can, you know, agree up front, like, hey. When you're when they're not in your story yet and they're trying to sell you something, that's your best opportunity to to get better terms. Yeah. So I can say like, hey, man. I I think this is gonna work years why we have this amazing set of stores and a wealthy area. Lots of visitors. It's a great place for your brand to be.
But I've been wrong before. So, like, what happens if this doesn't work out? Is there a way to return the product and swap it for something else? Is there some kind of protections? So if I have to mark it down, we can do that together and share the risk. And, you know, people are generally reasonable. They understand when you're making a a legitimate business case for something. And they can see the the overlap of interest. We're like, this could benefit us both of the works.
And and if it doesn't, we'll, you know, share a bit and move on. So I learned that lesson there, and then I've applied to lots of things. So Yeah. About this is a long answer. Sorry. No. It's good. Keep going, man. Keep going. So maybe 13 years ago, there was another, like, game changer for me. There was a class offered at Loyola College. Their next gen business school. So the national shoe retailers association, which is a organization we're part of offered scholarships to attendees.
So I I went to the school and there learned, you know, where my gaps were. Maybe I learned a little bit more about how emotion is important as a motivator and how I can't just ignore it and go all logic. You can't just, you know, cut that out and be a leader. Yep. And there, we I started to negotiate with my father in terms of like, hey. I wanna take over this company. How would that look? You know, here's what I would expect out of it. What do you expect out of it?
And then you can kinda start hammering that out over 2 years, I think it took. We got a buy sell agreement with a 10 year timeline. So we started to, like, execute that. At that point, I bought a third of the company. And my my wife and I had been buying real estate. I started I bought my first rental property. I was 21, June 20. So, like, we Chaz been doing that on the pipeline. Yeah. And we were able to borrow against that portfolio to buy into the company.
And then then as of January 1st, I bought the the other 2 thirds from my father, and I was I'm really proud to say that I brought on Sean O'Neal, the guy who had taught me how to lead you know, my mentor, and he's a partner now in the business. I never looked at him as like a, you know, employee, but I always thought him as a partner, and now he really So that's pretty awesome. I mean, dude, I think if I if we ended the show right there, I think I think it would, like, wow. Yes. Awesome story.
Love the ending with Sean. I was wondering what happened to Sean. There's so many principles in there, dude, of humility and education and learning and leveling up. False false ego. Yeah. Yeah. I love the real estate play in the backdrop. I think I think most entrepreneurs are like swimming in the idea of how do I do that? Kinda did it in reverse order.
You you did it first and then used it to propel your business later where I think most guys are are growing their businesses, making money, going, what do I do with it now? But I love I love everything that you just said. Inside of that, you already gave us some really good and bad decisions. But I wanna know I wanna know, like, be good decision.
Like, where you're like, this one thing that I did has led to a lot of things or knocked over a lot of the other dominoes, maybe it's already something that you said, but I just wanna hear I wanna hear this succinct answer. Yeah. So, you know, I like my my newest good decision the best.
Like, you know, I might have another one or a few years, who knows, but I was turned on to the book traction from some really good friends and read the book and, you know, I've I read a lot of business books, and I can take over. I can glean something from all of them. And, you know, I thought it was another one of those, like, when they first recommended it, and then they're like, hey. We're putting it in the system, and then a year later, I was like, wow. You guys bought a company.
Wow. You added these things you were talking about for years and never really did. And now they're happening. And then I was like, alright. I'll go read it. So I read the book and thought this could be, you know, not an answer to everything, but a a great framework for organizing the efforts setting the goals, holding teams accountable, and and also distributing the the responsibilities so that it's, you know, It's not me dabbling and checking in on everyone and and meddling. It's like, hey.
If you're doing, you know, if everything's all your scorecard's green, keep rolling, man. You know, we started implementing that in 2020 just in time for COVID. So we had plenty of time to implement. Yeah. All the stores were closed. So it was plenty of time to get stuff done. You know? Right. And, yeah, and, you know, that that kind of was a hiccup in our planning, but but now we're know, we're absolutely crushing it. I said what I thought was a really aggressive goal of for growth.
And I came to, you know, mathematically. I thought, like, it's possible. It's hard This will be a lot of stress. And the very 1st year, we we, you know, gave the team the their own ears, responsibilities told what we were trying to accomplish. And, you know, and they got excited about the plan. We crushed it this year. We're trending really, really nicely. We should beat it again. And, you know, it's a What's rolling?
When I put in our 10 year goal with the OS, I was embarrassed to to put that out there. Like, I was like, this is such a lofty goal Wow. That I'm almost afraid to speak it. Like, people are gonna be, you know, they're gonna laugh at me. They're going to, you know, think I'm crazy. Yeah. Yeah. And now I'm like, well, we did 33% 1st year. We're gonna do that. Yep. Gonna beat the 25 percent goal for this year compounding, like, maybe I wasn't aggressive enough. You know?
Like, it's already switched to that in only a few years. So anyone who's, you know, I don't know exactly when it would make sense if you're a single, you know, one owner, one person in the business maybe doesn't make sense, but Yeah. But even if I I wish I had done this, 10 years ago. You know, I wonder where it would be if we had really gotten everyone laser focused on on our goals. Right? So that would be the decision I'm most excited about right now. Yeah. I mean, well done. Well done.
I think that the result is showing for itself. I wanna hit on 2 things inside of the implementation of of EOS. You said that they got excited, and, obviously, they're crushing the target. Do you think that there's a level of, like, clarity for them? And that's why they got excited. It wasn't just, like, who raw Here's the next target. Let's run, but it was like, here's what it is.
It's kinda crazy, maybe, but then, like, reverse engineered all the way down and then all the way down to your scorecard. Here's what I need you to do. And so it it, like, made it manageable for them to be able to wrap their brain around. Mhmm. Yeah. That's certainly is a huge part of it. I mean, the the 90 to 8 most important goals are called rocks, and everyone gets 2 or 3 of them. And if everyone accomplishes their goals, their rocks, then we'll get to the the budget.
Like, it that's how it happens. You know? Like, here's the problem where you Wolfe. We solve these and we'll do it, and everyone's counting on each other to solve them. So I think that the you know, I inherited a team that had exceptionally high trust. We believed in each other, and we trust each other do what we would say. So that's a huge part of the equation that helped but we also, like, have a culture of, you know, we're commission gels people. We post all of our numbers.
We have a healthy competition amongst us, and we like to win. So when I put out a originally, it was my goal, you know, at the next year, it was our goal. That was a beautiful ABC where it wasn't me. He, like, pushing the the crazy idea. Yeah. It was like the team going, maybe we could do more. Maybe we could do this. So it really was organic from them.
And if you have a team of people that are, you know, that like to win and that trust each other, they're gonna get excited about big, exciting goals. So I think that was a lot of it. Having the framework and break it into bite sized pieces, because we do have different, you know, personality types on the team. Your finance department probably shouldn't be pie misconduct.
You know, like, let's let's we could do anything, buy everything, like, you know, you want them to be conservative and to be numbers focused. So so that team likes the, you know, we all have a close scorecard. We're gonna have budgets like you know, I can hold people accountable that way to the decimal point. Sorry about that. To the decimal point. That's right. No rounding up. And then the, you know, the the sales team, like, having, you know, big goals and no way to get there.
So it's got a little something for all the different the different personality types, different, you know, kind of focuses of people. So it's it's a strong system. Down. Yeah. You kinda hit on my second point there, which was at at not only does it give them clarity, but then it empowers them where then you said to yourself, Well, this is not my goal anymore. This is our goal.
And and then when you feel the weight of a team behind you, mhmm, taking ownership of that, and it's no longer just Garrett's great idea or Chaz's great idea or goal or lofty craziness. It's like, no. Actually, we see it, and maybe we can do a little bit more. Like you said, That's a crazy feeling as an entrepreneur to to Yeah. Have the weight of them behind you, like, holding everything up. And you're like, oh, wow. I didn't have to carry all of this.
Yep. Yeah. It's nice to have a team to to hold some stuff, to hold some weight. It's also nice to have accountability. You know? Like, when you're in charge, you can change your mind and you can do some stuff that maybe isn't the best for the company. You know, like, I have a lot of ideas. That's just how I'm built, like, and, you know, a lot of them are awful. And I get excited about most all of them. Yeah. Your thought would be a nice myself. Yeah. You know?
So, like, I would, you know, keep they wouldn't know what my priority was because it wasn't a written down goal because I would be excited about one thing one day, and be talking about customer service. They had me talking about internet sales. Then I'd be talk you know, I just kept switching on them. So they absolutely like to know where where my head Chaz at. And where we're heading.
And I like the accountability of having to execute my rocks that I've promised to the team because that keeps me focused when I'm, you know, when I'm having the idea today, like, yeah, but I have till June 12th to make an acquisition or I or I get a red dot. You know? So No, Rajat. Work on that just work on that today. You know? Yeah. So it keeps me focused as well in a really healthy, healthy way. Yeah. Probably the most impactful thing that you've said.
I mean, the other things are super great and and long long term make big impacts, but what you just said, I think, is the most practical for the listener to walk away with. And it's the same thing I've experienced. And still, we still today, both you and I have these moments where we're like, the, that's super exciting over there. And Yeah. No. But it's really hard. It's really hard, especially when you're really passionate and zesty about life and targets and and cool stuff.
So I can relate to that completely. Hey, Chaz Wolf here. As many of you know, I have been on an absolute mission to help entrepreneurs from all across the country in many different industries, level up their game and grow their business, and intentionally connect with other entrepreneurs. We do Chaz, obviously, through the podcast, but We also have a peer to peer mastermind group specifically for 7 to 9 figure business owners.
We are bringing some of the best and most success entrepreneurs and minds together in a regular and a super intentional way to not only grow our network, but to be able to leverage And at a certain point in business, success becomes about leverage, leveraging time, leveraging resources, leveraging key relationships, This is exactly what we're doing inside of the peer to peer mastermind group called Gathering the Kings specifically for 7 to 9 figure business owners.
So if that's you, if you're ready to level up your 7 to 9 figure business, even to the next level and get around other big hitters just like you, want you to go to gathering the kings dot com. Fill out a short application, and, it'll come to an application, call with me. And I wanna chat with you to see if it might be a good fit. Talk soon. What about a bad decision? What was your what was your not so great hour? Yeah. So, you know, Again, there's many of them.
I think the biggest mistake I made in my, you know, my career so far was focusing purely on financial goals. So I had this idea that if I hit a certain net worth, that I Wolfe, like, have complete freedom and happiness that, like, at that number, then I could do whatever I wanted and, you know, It'd be all puppy dogs and ice cream from here on out. Yeah. And what really ended up happening is I was, you know, trying to get a loan from a bank.
So I was putting it again right PFS this is when I was 39. And, you know, I hit the number, without kinda realizing it. Like, it wasn't there wasn't any flashing lights and champagne and all that. And that's when I was like, oh, nothing's different. You know, I had this idea in my head that something would change, And then I had to, you know, do some looking internally.
Like, you know, there's nothing there's no, like, outside amount of money or goal that I'm gonna hit that's going to, you know, make me feel like, like, I've arrived. I'm not built that way. Curious, I like to learn. I wanna learn new things. I wanna grow. And those are the things that give me some satisfaction in life. But but the day that I, you know, saw that I'd hit it. It started, like, an accidental crisis.
You know, like, I had to really evaluate who I was why I got there, where I wanted to be, and was I supporting my, like, was I really being truthful to myself and authentic and and doing things daily habits, you know, just actions that were getting me closer to the person I wanted to be, or was I running a little bit of, you know, fear and, like, wanting this this number for security and, like, trying to to patch that together?
So, you know, at that point, I I had a really good friend that kind of talked to about, like, hey, man, buddy. You know, here's where I'm at, and he recommended something called the Hoffman process. Which is, like, a retreat in California that I went to about a week long, and I really deep dove on myself. Again, like, who I am, how I got to be who I am, What are the, like, unconscious behaviors that I'm just doing? They call them patterns because I've done them before. Like, I'm just in a rut.
And then which ones are awesome? Like, you know, I have a work ethic that was instillated from my father and from his father, comes down through the bread and you can see them all busting their butt and we get, you know, you get love and you get approval and you get all that stuff when you work hard. In my family. That one is awesome. Like, it's great to be dependable. It makes me a better person. It is who I wanna be. And then there's other ones, like, hey, man.
When I, you know, when I'm stressed out and feeling sad, I start eating Twizzlers and candy at my desk. Well, thinking about it. You know, that's not one I want. You know, there's a much better way to handle that. So I got to sour patch sort through. Sour patch. That's what I found. That's better than Twizzlers.
Yeah. So, yeah, so, I mean, I, you know, from that mistake, I was able to grow a lot, and I feel like I'm a much more balanced person leader, better business person now as a result of that mistake. Yeah. You're talking about identity. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. I mean, I, you know, and I I really thought it was about dollars. I thought it was a scorecard. And then, you know, once you hit the ding ding ding ding Everyone thinks you're awesome and you're happy.
And it really Chaz very little to do with that. It has much more for me to do with, you know, am I being my best self, my best version of myself, how closely can I be at? And I'm I'm not, like, I, you know, I'm always get trying to get a little closer each year. I'm not, like, fully formed. So but that's what brings me happiness and security and those kind of feelings now. It's not it's not a dollar sign. And and, you know, I also like to to win and Chaz the the dollars are sort of a scorecard.
So it's it's a nice little indicator. Yeah. Yeah. You you're giving permission for a couple different things here. I wanna point them out. Number 1, that it it it is more than money. Right? And I think money as income is kinda like step 1, and then money as net worth is, like, another level. So your story started with the next level.
So for listener right now, if you're not tracking your net worth, the, like, the next level of the quote, unquote measurement of the game is net worth, not just your income, because it's not what you make. It's what you keep. And and then how you use that for wealth generation. But even at that, it's not just about that. It's about who are you? Why are you doing this? What is the point? And the work that you've done is incredible.
And and I love what you said as the result of doing that work is understanding that you're still going to be doing the work again and again, and I'm gonna keep reaching into who I am at another level reaching for the next level of potential. And there's almost like this settling, almost security of I'll never be done. Yeah. Yeah. We'll get that. It's not like, just like about the yeah. Like, it's cool. We say we say in Gathering and King's grateful. But not done.
And there's this really interesting balance because comfort or or being complacent is not necessarily what I mean when I say grateful. What you were talking about is like, okay. I'm here. And it wasn't like, I feel empty. It was like, okay. Like, this is Cool. I did it kinda unexpectedly, but there's more. Yeah. And if you don't have that, but there's more, then eventually it sets into, I'm I arrived. It's complacent. What did I do this for? It's empty.
Mhmm. There's no one else here with me or whatever those empty feelings or sadness is because even though I've achieved the number, I haven't become who I'm supposed to be. So I love what what Garrett's given to you guys here because it's it's it's the pursuit. And it's funny because probably 2 months or so ago, I was talking with one of our mastermind members, and I was just wrestling with him a couple things on his business.
And I I love for them to So with me on my businesses and and even Gavin the Kings as a mastermind. And he was like, hey, have you ever thought about, like, what you sell? And so we kinda wrestled with that for a second, but the word is fulfillment. You know, like, okay. Yes. I I help already successful entrepreneurs, collaborate and connect with other successful entrepreneurs.
And and we facilitate, you know, environments where not only they can connect with each other, but you know, leverage can be taught and or, you know, facilitated courage can be transferred. All these really cool things inside this environment. But, really, it's what does a king be like, Okay. I wanna become a king, or I am a king. What does that mean? It's like, well, I'm reaching for the best me. I'm being fulfilled or I'm living fulfilled.
Everything that Garrett just said, it's like, that place of understanding, I I am who I am, but I'm not done. So I don't really actually know who I am yet, but I'm on the way to find him. Right? Yeah. Yeah. No. It's, I mean, through, you know, I meditate in the morning, and all that is is me reminding myself who I am, what's important to me.
And then when I go into the day, I have a much better chance of being that person and and doing things that that serve that goal than I would if I just went in hot and just kinda want there's winging it all day. So, yeah, that's and I have to remind myself of it every day. You know, 4 days out if I'm not doing it because I was on a trip or whatever.
I'm starting to, you know, go into the old patterns and, you know, being the the automaton that doesn't really get what the kids are really thoughtful in in making proper decisions. So, yeah, it's, like, it's a constant, constant, I won't call it a struggle because it's a it's a joy when it's working. Right. You know, it's like it's it's awesome when it's clicking. Yeah. And sometimes I'm in that flow, and that's I just wanna get into that flow a little more.
You know, like, maybe tomorrow, I get 6 hours of it instead of 5 a half. You know? So that's really what I'm I'm pacing for. And, you know, you know, had getting money wasn't a a bad goal, but I didn't understand why I wanted it. You know, what I was really looking for was freedom. You know, I wanted to be able to do the kind of work that I wanted to do with the kind of people that I wanted to do it with. You know? And then from there, like, everything kinda works out.
Like, you know, I'm working with smart people who are hardworking. We trust each other, and we're going after exciting goals. We're gonna make more money. You know? But it's not the it's not the destination that I that care about as much today. Yeah. Yeah. So good, man. If if I were listening to this show, I would stop and go back and re listen to everything that you just said.
And I say that a couple times here and there on different shows, but I really mean I would go back and listen again because Garrett, even though he he's even been honest about I don't have it figured out, what he has figured out is that he hasn't figured it So if you want to get there. Yeah. Right? You know? Chaz manager who signed all the work had it figured out. Yeah. He did. He did. And so, yeah, you're right. It's humility to understand. Like, I'm thankful for where I'm at, but I'm not done.
And I and I just the humility of, even that you still have to work at it to get into it every day, you go on a 4 day trip, or I just, you know, came off of a similar scenario where I was kinda out of the routine for a few days. And the last, like, 10 days has been me going, like, Yep. Like, just you gotta climb back into it purposely.
And so I think even that should transfer some courage here today, man, because the listener right now even if they're high performing like you and I, they're gonna deal with the same stuff. And so if they're if they're not at this level, mentally, financially, whatever we're calling this, they're gonna for sure be dealing with it. And they think it's like, oh, it's like something's wrong with me.
It's like, no. This is just our instincts, our our survival, fear and and instincts for survival are not get outside my comfort zone. Press for more, reach for my potential. Like, all of those things are not safe. Mhmm. Yeah. Darn conflict. They're uncomfortable, you know, and I had to get used to being uncomfortable. And, you know, there's a I think it's right. Maybe traction. You know, I don't know. I steal everyone's ideas, so I should really come from some docs.
After, like, the big time I say it feels like it's mine. But, you know, oh, man. I lost what I was thinking. Oh, gosh. I don't know where I was going with that. Sorry. No. That's okay. My fault. Wanna ask you some speed round questions here. So if you think about what you're gonna say, just pop in here. Sure. The first one is around KPIs. Obviously, you run a a huge business, and I know you're tracking all kinds of stuff. You got sales. You got back in. You got purchasing.
The one thing that you track forever and ever, what is it? Oh, gosh. So We try to track lead indicators so we know what the business will do. You know? So we're looking when times are good, I have a tendency to get complacent. Like, everything's good. We're all super smart, and that's when I gather habits that got it to good. And that's when it goes bad again. So we try to to constantly track what we call quality numbers. So anyone can hand you a shoot at you ask for.
So it's second pairs, It's attachment rate. So are we adding on linkos, which are a a really cool custom insole that make the shoe, it can ever shoot better. Like, you know, we're looking at those quality numbers, which is an indicator of how well we're doing the process over and over and how well are we executing? And if we're executing at a high level, it doesn't matter what the world does, what the economy does, our results will be better than they would have been.
If we got complacent and got out of the the habits. So we try to I try to measure habits for, like, personal KPI. It's, you know, Did I meditate today? You know, like, if I'm doing that, I'm I'm getting in the floor. Yeah. Love that. Yeah. The measurement of habit or the measurement of placency. If we're gonna put a little negative emotion on it, that's interesting. And I think it's I think it's really good. The scorecard for that should look really fun. What book?
You've already mentioned EOS, but what book or maybe podcast or other business resource would you recommend? Yeah. So gosh. You know, I liked good to great. Was a a classic for me Chaz gave you the idea of, like, Hedgehog, take what you're good at, get rid of the distractions, and do the good thing over and over and over again, and you'll become the best at it. So that was, like, a focused thing that I I really got on it at. I liked the, you know, 4 hour work week.
You know, from there, I learned, like, to scale, you have to systemize. My goal wasn't to get down to a 4 hour work week and autopilot it, but in order to grow, we had to systemize, and I got a lot of those ideas from there. So those would be a couple Chaz, you know, I would recommend. Yeah. Yeah. And retraction first. He takes he takes a lot of those ideas and puts them puts them on.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You mentioned earlier about mentioning a lot of things from a lot of other places and eventually becomes yours. I think EOS is a great compilation of that. Although he he does, He does make something brand new out of the gathering of all these things, but he does a very good job of pulling a bunch of already well known things together.
But he makes it unique to himself or or patentable, probably, in in a way in a way that brings them all together Chaz uniquely work together. So Yeah. Exactly. Highly highly recommend that as well. Okay. So I got a question for you about about family. You know, you you being in a family business being generation. That's interesting. My my question is around obsession, and I'm just not a fan of the word balance.
I believe that in order to be successful in the business, you gotta be obsessed, have a brain desire. I believe the same for my family, my wife, my kids. My question is, how do you, Garrett? Obsess over your family like you do your business and at the same time. And it's not working. Yeah. So that's fascinating question. I love it. So what is, you know, what I'm thinking of right now, again, everything could change tomorrow. But I see a ton of myself in my girls.
So I have 2 girls, and I can see them bumping into the same things that I'd loved into. I can see the best of myself and them sometimes. And I can see the worst myself and learn sometimes. So this kind of like self improvement, self realization thing that I'm super into which is, you know, for me to be one of the things I need to be happy is a perception doesn't have to actually be true, but I have to feel like I'm rowing and getting closer to my authentic Wolfe.
And being a better version of myself. And that because they look like, you know, little reflections of me shocking how I can, you know, I'm always thinking about myself. Yeah. You know, trying to keep them from making some of the same mistakes I made, but doing it in a way, like, you know, people can always tell me on, k. That was dumb. Don't do it. And that never worked for me. You know? Like, I was like, well, yeah, you you love the rules.
I like to I like to get in there for you out what's going on. That's right. And then, you know, try to break them. So telling them, like, authentic real stories that I wish that I had been told. You know, I wish I knew my parents a little better than I do. You know, like, I wish I really knew them. When they were sixteen and did dumb stuff. So those are the kind of things I share with my girls now.
So when they're having trouble, school or they're doing something that I've, you know, I've already made that mistake. I've already done this. This is how it made me feel, and this is why I do it differently now. And then, like, not telling them what to do, make your own choice now. So that's the kind of stuff that gets me excited about being a dad is the So maybe maybe they'll do it a little bit better or a little bit easier than I did it. So, yeah, that's for sure.
I I love I love your decision making kinda construct there. Really, it's that's what a good dad is. It's like, I'm gonna build you up. I'm gonna in I'm gonna give you all the things that are necessary, and then I'm gonna let you make your own choice. And, and we're gonna go with it. Yeah. Support you. And sometimes it's gonna be bad. Sometimes it's gonna be really good, and I'm gonna be really proud of you, but it's gonna have been yours.
With, obviously, the preparation that we can give to them of, look, I've been there, can't make the decision for you, nor would I want to. If I'm not gonna rob you of Chaz, Yeah. I you know, my mistakes are what to find me. Like, I've that's where I've learned the fastest. That's where I've learned the deepest and real change has come from the pain times. Like, the time when things were uncomfortable and I needed to grow.
I needed to level up to get out of that same behavior that wasn't really working, and it worked before. That's why I did it again. Like, you know, it was working at one point, and then it stopped working. World changes, I change where I want changes. And so, yeah, they have to Sometimes they have to feel that too. And then other times, I can I can help them? I Chaz let them feel some of my pain, and they remake a slightly better decision than than we would have hoped before. That's right.
That's right. I love the collaboration. I get pretty fired up about thinking about doing deals, business deals, real estate deals with my kids, my grandkids, Yeah. That I know that's kinda odd for for guys our age to be thinking about, but it really does wake me up, man. I'm feeling excited about those things these days. One last question here for you, Garrett. Are you ready? Yeah. I wanna know if you had the opportunity to whisper in the younger Garrett's ear. What would you say?
Chaz drunk and stupid is no way to go through life flush. Uh-huh. Yeah. You know, I mean, you know, I I I don't know if young girl would've listened to to over here. You know? Like, I really am hard headed. I really am curious and wanna experience it myself. If you tell me something's bad for me, I gotta go out there and, you know, put my hand on the stove or else. So, yeah, I mean, it's, you know, I Wolfe I would whisper it to myself.
I hoped, but you know, you gotta go through it yourself, brother. Yeah. It's gotta be the advice. Best of luck man. Try to kill anybody. Yeah. You know, we laugh because it's real. Yeah. It's real. And for you to be able to share that is pretty special, actually. I hope that the listener is is getting some, not only laughs, but just some genuine touch of, like, okay. Because, really, what you just said is that I have 0 regrets. You know?
Because because why because if if I had changed it, first off, I probably wouldn't have been able to. That Garrett wouldn't have listened. Yeah. But you also identified too that it was that Garrett that didn't listen. And that this Garrett, you know, even though still curious and maybe a little disruptive, has has learned to maybe add some of those things on every now and then. Maybe I do heed, or maybe I do take a take a piece of advice, or maybe I do collaborate.
With somebody who's further down the road. All those things are super valuable, and it's not like you thrown those things to the wind either. Yeah. You're just giving me something. That's like that's I love Chaz now. You know, like, I I learn I learn so well from people who have done the thing that I wanna do and just sitting down and, like, And I love to share that with people who are interested.
Like, when they're asking the right questions, you could you could have a much time, one of the times you want. You know? Like, you've already started out. You already did your homework. You already got yet before you needed some help, and then you're just, you know, needing the little push in the right direction. And I hope to be that when I'm when I'm asking a mentor questions. Like, I hope I'm prepared. I hope I'm not, you know, wasting their time. If I if they give me advice, I do it.
Or I don't ask them again. Like, you know, I'm not gonna come back in 3 weeks, ask the same dumb question. So, yeah, I, you know, I hope I have her on that way. And that's a the ability to know when I'm when I don't know something and ask for help was something that took me a long time to realize was incredibly valuable. Yeah. So good, man. I wanna know, first off, how can how can we you said internet business a minute ago. So can can anybody buy shoes from you?
And if so, where And then name name the locations of your your stores again. So that way if listeners are in Chaz area, they can come into your stores. And then if we're just an entrepreneur, we wanna get to know you and I'll get you out. How can we find it that way? Sure. So comfortonechoose.com0ne spelled out as our website, and you can buy whatever, you know, everything. You can block them all over the world there. We'll ship it to you.
Our stores are in DC, Maryland, and Virginia, and we're we're coming at you. So we're we're hoping to grow. And our in store experience is, I think, what makes us different than every other retail in the country. We really do, you know, do the thing. We analyze your foot with a three d scan. When we get started, we Wow. From there, we can match you up with the shoes that are right. All the black dress shoes look the same.
They feel widely different because, you know, because you need high arch or you need extra cushioning. And the fact that we have people who've been with us for 8 years in the sales floor on average means that they know the shoes you need. So you can just come in and tell us what, you know, what's where you're going, what you want to accomplish, and we'll get you the right shoes. So we'd love to see you. I'm here in in Old Town, Alexandria.
My office is above 1 of the stores, and I'm happy to, you know, do a lunch, talk to an entrepreneur. Please reach out to me. So Thanks. Man. Yeah. You've been incredible. Thank you for sharing and giving us value, but we wish you and nothing but success and blessing on your family and your stores. Your expansion. Thank you for being here, brother. Yeah. Awesome. Appreciate you. Thank you for listening to gathering the Kings today.
I hope that you were able to pull out a few nuggets to go apply into your business right away. More importantly, though, I hope that you're realizing that it takes more to be successful than just being by yourself, doing it all on your own, carrying the weight all by yourself. What I have realized, not only in my own journey, from multiple businesses and multiple different industries, and now interviewing literally over 2 or 300.
Other very successful 789 figure business owners is that it's tough to do it alone. And so gathering the Kings literally exists to bring together successful entrepreneurs. In fact, we are putting together 1000 kings specifically who are grateful, but not done.
We're intentionally assembling kings who fight tooth and nail for their business, family, and communities here's what we believe Chaz in the pursuit of excellence in those areas, that it ignites within us the responsibility to govern power and forge a lasting legacy. So if that relates and and resonates with you and you know that you need people around you, sharp qualified other very successful business owners. I want you to go to gatheringthekings.com.
I want you to take a look at what we're doing and see if it makes sense for you to be part of our pursuit to 1000 kings, toxin.