From Zero to a Million: Unlocking the Secrets of Resilience, Growth, and Wealth with Joel Gondara #497

Today we have a truly inspiring guest , someone that really blew me away with his story and his knowledge around so many things that answered burning questions in my own mind . And today's guest is Joel Gondara , who is an incredible man . He's a bloke who went from zero to a million dollars in 13 months .

He now has a men's organization and is doing a lot of incredible things . Now is an interesting entrepreneur who turned his challenging beginnings as a young immigrant into a journey of remarkable success , from reselling items in a schoolyard to owning multiple successful brands .

Joel's story is a testament to the power of resilience , hard work and smart investing , which is a very interesting topic we discuss . We'll dive into Joel's journey of transitioning from an employee to working up to 100 hours a week to becoming a successful entrepreneur .

We'll explore the turning points , the challenges , the lessons learned and the mindset shifts that have shaped his path . Now , whether you're considering taking the leap into entrepreneurship or you're looking for insights to help you level up your own journey now , this conversation is packed with wisdom and practical tips that can help you .

So , without further ado , let's dive into this rich conversation and welcome Joel Gondara to the show . And before we dive into today's episode , i want to remind all of you success driven men who are looking to play at a higher game , take more responsibility , but really dial in health , wealth and happiness .

I'm inviting you to check out our Strongman Evaluate Academy Now .

It is limited to 100 men OK , we're at about 47 now and it is a 12 month program where we help you level up in either in either health , wealth or relationship Now , not only to get to learn for myself , you get to learn from Brad but a community of men who are thriving in so many areas , from six , seven and eight figure income earners in multiple different

industries to men who have incredible lifestyles and relationships with their families and friends . Now , we know that all pillars of your life lean on the next one , so if one of them is out , it will start to rot on the other one .

That's why we believe it's really important to network with men who have the results that you're looking to create in your life . Now that , and that is one of the reasons why this academy is so valuable . But there is so many more things , but just focus on this . We will help you improve those areas of your life that need improving .

To find out more about that , head over to the man that camprojectcom , and you can click on the strongman of value Academy there . Anyway , let's get back into the episode . So , joel , you started your entrepreneurial journey out of necessity at a very young age and then transitioned from working up to 100 hours a week to owning multiple successful brands .

Can you tell us more about the moment that you realize that you wanted to be more than an employee and take control of your destiny through entrepreneurship ?

But yeah , i was an employee for a long time and I always knew that I was going to work for myself , but I didn't know how to go about it . All I knew is that I'd have a regular job and then a little side hustle .

But I knew that someday , hopefully , that side hustle income could get close to my regular job , and the day that it did and it got close to the pay , i was able to make that switch .

They didn't make anything . But my mom went from being a physics teacher in Cuba to cleaning hotel rooms in San Francisco where we ended up living . My dad was an electrician .

He ended up just fixing people's TVs and radios And back then , in the days when you would repair things , not just throw them out And then they got , he got a job at a radio station , not very making very much . So my upbringing was very poor in a very bad neighborhood And I always knew that's not what I wanted .

And the reason I knew there was something better is because I'd watch television shows and I'd see these rich American kids and I just wanted to be like them .

there's always two ways our life can go . With any experience in life , you were shown the hardships of life from a very young age . What or where do you feel it came from for you to be able to take the path to go ? and , hey , i want to take ownership , as opposed to , this is my circumstance . I need to accept that .

When we played sports in the playground , i wanted to be the best player , i wanted to do well and I wanted to stand out .

You know , one of the things I'm very proud of is that in very early in elementary school , just barely getting by with my English , i was voted friendliest in my school for the whole elementary And that made me feel really good because finally I was making friends . I just wanted to fit in and get along .

But I wanted to do well And you know , my dad would tell me we're poor to see . You know , we're very poor . This is as poor as it gets . He always would say that and it would irk at me . It would bother me so much because I didn't want him to say that . I wanted him to say that we were middle class and he'd always say , well , but we're not .

And that was just my hope . My dream was to say that one day I could be middle class .

I'm going to prove my dad wrong and everyone else wrong . We're going to get to that middle class rank . What drove you to do that ?

It's a very fair system , i think . But I just wanted to win . I wanted to do well and not be that poor kid . That's where the hunger came from , because I got made fun of for the shoes that I wore .

I got made fun of for the clothes that I'd have because they'd be hand-me-downs And you could see the hem marks where they were folded up and then let go as I grew And I didn't like that . Here's the irony I'm not a materialistic person . Today I don't have any fancy things that have well below my means about my house cash . I don't have car payments .

I don't have any debt my businesses and my personal So I'm not trying to live a life that I cannot afford . But as a kid you just don't want to be made fun of . You don't want to have the lunchbox that the teacher gave to you because she felt sorry for you . And everybody laughs at you over that .

I have a series of things like that Kids visiting my house after school and saying where are your toys ? And I didn't have any . And when I'd go visit their house they had a bunch of toys and that stuff would just kind of eat at me . I'm happy to say I don't know the feeling of jealousy . I really don't .

I don't feel like I don't want them to have it . I wish I could take it from them . Not at all , i want them to have it . And I'd like to have one too , but I know that I have to work for it .

You mentioned you don't focus a lot on the materialistic possessions now , But as a young age you wanted that because you didn't want to sort of go without go to that middle point of the journey where you started to recognize or realize that the materialistic possessions weren't everything that maybe you once wanted .

All my parents have done all their life is work to provide for us just the basics , just food , A roof over our head , And so I never had that attraction to buying fancy things And I always wanted security .

Because when you , you know , I have memories as a kid where my parents bought that house but then they couldn't afford a refrigerator , Because when we were renting before the refrigerator was included when we bought the house there was no refrigerator . For a while , we had a cooler and my dad would buy ice every few days and that's where we kept our food .

So when you have memories like that , that could go two ways . I could say I'm going to buy the most expensive things and live it up and never have that again , or I'm going to be careful And I'm going to just worry about growing passive income and being very careful and not so . So I had a good start because I saved a lot of money .

I worked really hard , but there was a time where I started realizing that you know what I'm pretty good For me . That was about nine years ago , at the age of 38 and 47 . Today , i realized that the house I have is my dream house and my wife agrees and our kids agree , and we don't need to shoot for anything higher .

When I got to that realization , my life changed . My perspective around money changed . Passive income became more than enough to live on And I didn't need to keep putting my foot down 100% , sacrificing my health and sacrificing my family time , to earn more money . So that was a realization I made around that time .

. here in the States We measure it by acres . It's about a quarter acre . It's in a beautiful country club , a gated community with professional athletes that live here , from a lot of sports teams from Florida . It's the safest city in Florida . It's like the 50th best city to live in in the United States . Great place , great house , great neighborhood .

However , there always is that little doubt Well , could I have bought a bigger house , a fancier house , call it what you may ? Well , that was a . we bought the house and about three months later , a summer vacation , and I'm riding bicycle with my two oldest boys .

We have four kids , but my two oldest were , let's call it , eight and six or so , middle of the summer , middle of the day , riding bicycle throughout the community , and I take them as a surprise . They hadn't been there yet . Two blocks down there are absolute mansions within the same gated community , the houses that are double or triple the size of mine .

I mean just impressive homes on the golf course , on the lakes , just beautiful . And I tell my sons , look at this street . and as we're riding down , they're looking to the sides , going wow , wow , every house is more beautiful than the next . And they say why didn't we buy a house in here ? Could you have bought a house in here ?

And I explained to them as we're riding , i say yes , i could have bought a house in here , but I would have had to take a mortgage and I would have to pay thousands of dollars a month . The property taxes would have been higher , the maintenance would have been air conditioning , heating , help to clean such a big house , all of these things .

And we could have done that . However , i would be a lot more stressed out and I probably wouldn't be riding bike with you guys right now . I wouldn't have this freedom that I have in my life . And , by the way , have you boys seen any other dad in the last hour that we've been riding through this community , going through all the parks in the community ?

Have you seen one dad ? It's because they're working and they're stressed out . And both of my boys . that moment gave me the best clarity I've ever had in my life . They both said we like our house , let's keep our house .

When you get clear on what success looks like for you , you need to ask yourself are you prepared for the consequences or the trade off of that ? And for a lot of us , it is our health and it's our relationships .

And you nailed it there with the conversation to your boys And the fact that you were actually living that not just talking about it , but on a bike ride during that moment is something that I hope a lot of men listen to . A lot of children don't want all the materialistic things that we feel they do .

They want dads , They want active dads , And that moment for you and the way you articulated that was so powerful , Joel .

I had a Zoom call with about 40 guys recently And the topic was tell me about your father . And I didn't hear one guy in there say , yeah , i just wanted my dad to work more , I wanted him to work harder .

On the contrary , more than half of those guys said he was never here , he'd left before I woke up and he got home when I was getting ready for bed . So do you want to be that father ? Do you want to do that to your kid ? And the excuse , i think , is this men , we are the providers , we have that caveman mentality , but when is it enough ?

What gave you the insight to go look , i'm happy to live below my means so that I can have the opportunity to spend time with my family and my friends , etc .

As far as she could be home with a kid , she could be , you know , with me more We could just do more things . So if that was the case , if her working less raised all of our quality of life , maybe I could work a little bit less and raise our quality of life . So you have to have a partner that's on board and has the same work ethic .

Now I'll tell you this in the book The Millionaire Next Door , this question gets answered almost the same way by all those successful millionaires . And it's my wife is more frugal than me . So I I'm in that camp . I cannot get my wife to spend money . How many men say that right ?

So one day I remember telling my wife I gave her five $100 US bills and I said do not come into the house until you show me receipts for clothing that you spent all this money . We've never been in a fight in 21 years of marriage , but that almost caused the punch . I cannot do it . I cannot . So all she worries about is she sees money .

The way I see it , it's to give ourselves a very comfortable , beautiful life without the extravagances , and also to keep our kids honest and keep them hungry , because she grew up in a way that she stayed hungry . I stayed hungry , not physically , we had food , but we had that hunger to get ahead .

Now , if you want to talk about it , i have a lot of friends who are very successful . I have a couple of friends who are billionaires , and one thing that I find that's a problem is keeping the kids hungry and keeping the kids grounded . So we do that . That's a big thing for us .

My number one job is a father , husband and father , and so we make it very clear to our kids all this money , it's all going to charity . Now , they don't listen to any podcast . I'm on . It's not true . However , that's what they believe . So , guess what ? They're very hungry . My four kids all have businesses I mean legit businesses .

The 17 year old has $30,000 in the bank . We don't give him a dollar , We don't buy his clothing , we don't do anything for him , he does it all on his own . In 10 days from now he starts in the US Army . He's still going to do great . All of them down the ladder have money in the bank a little bit less as they get younger .

My daughter has an Etsy store and she spends about an hour a day sewing . She loves it , it's her passion , and she has a store where she sells her creations And she does really well . She does artisanal shows . She'll rent a booth . She just turned 11 years old yesterday .

She'll rent a booth and pay $100 for it And so for eight hours a day there and sell her goods . And that's all a result of us saying it's all ours , we're not leaving it for you , we're leaving it for charity . You better hustle . You're on your own , but we're going to guide you and we're going to tell you what we think is going to be best for you .

You do it what you want . That has been the most fun adventure to see them create businesses .

So , firstly , what I took from that is you're not necessarily trying to pass on generational wealth even though they will and hopefully they'll never listen to this But it's more so the skills that allow each generation to create their own wealth .

And I read a paper recently where they're like if you create generational wealth and let's say at last , three generation , every generation becomes less and less likely to keep that right Because they don't have to develop the skills and a lot of success comes back to skills and habits .

So the approach that yourself and your wife have taken did you encourage your children to look at creating their own businesses or side hobbies , or was that something that they started asking you about ? or where did that all come from ? Like , how did you create that ?

We sit around the dinner table and we talk , and it starts with what's the favorite part of the day You And they're just fighting to get picked so they can talk right , so we're talking all the time .

Yeah , when my oldest son was about six years old , he said to me and I remember this at the dinner table after school and he said I want to make money how you did when you were a kid . How can I make money ? And I said perfect , do you remember that chocolate fundraiser that the school did just a couple of months ago ?

and you and your brother beat the whole school . They won first place and they want a gift card . And all this I said you guys did fantastic , that's all you have to do . We could go tonight and go buy some wholesale chocolate bars at this discount place and you can go sell them And his eyes lit up . His little brothers lit up and they started .

And that's what they did . And , by the way , at any given point in my house there's a palette with a thousand to 1500 chocolate bars . All four of my kids sell chocolates . They do other things as well , but the oldest has a relationship with a fundraising company . He buys a palette at a time .

He gets delivered to my fulfillment center , we break it down into the car and then we drive it over here And then he wholesales it to his brothers and sisters at a very fair price . He only makes like two bucks a box , but then he wholesales it to all his friends .

The oldest one , because he owns the boxes , wholesales it to his friends , wholesales it to teachers at his high school who then resell them to kids .

But then , he also the oldest , he goes listen to this My son , when he was 13 years old he's 17 today made a deal with the owner of a bar where alcohol and cigars are sold , no food , where he could go in every day for 10 minutes .

At 13 years old , he lets them into a bar because my son is the most convincing , he's a very good salesman And he said look , i'm a , i'm an entrepreneur . This is what I'm , my hustle , i'm trying to make money . Would you let me just pop in here real quick and sell ? And he did it . And he came back the next day and the guy's like , oh , you're back .

He goes yeah , would you mind if I keep doing this ? And he goes all right , kid , don't harass the people . If they say no , it's no and you can come for 10 minutes a day . So my son has done streaks of like five months where he hasn't missed one day , and he checked on Google and he found that 9pm is the busiest time .

He was in middle school and he would ask me dad , can you get up and we ? can you put your clothes on instead of pajamas , can you drive me over there ? And he'd walk out with $60 , $70 in one day . So he started accepting credit cards .

He'll he'll have you do it on your phone and and sign the , and then at the end there's a tip and he makes tips on that . So we've done this through . It has to come from them because , look , i own companies and I lead teams and I don't tell them what to do . I asked them to tell me what the goals are and when they can execute them .

Then I hold them accountable to that . I tried to do the same thing with my kids . If I told them , hey , kids , you're going to sell chocolates , that sounds abusive . It didn't come from them . They're not going to want to do it . So it has to come from the person , and that's how we've done it .

they're asking you questions that a lot of people one would never even think of asking . But two , you're talking about money around a dinner table . A lot of people never talk about money .

Ok , so for people listening , regardless of where you're at , if you , you , we all have two choices we can stay where we're at or we can decide we want to improve our situation And look , we may never get to where you truly want to be . However , what you learn you can pass on to the next generations .

They're only going to compound your knowledge , joel , your children and they're learning this . Imagine if you knew this at . You know it'd be wild , right . So I think that's an incredible thing .

Going back to what I mentioned just a moment ago , the money conversations you're talking about money with your children . I never had that as a young fellow growing up . We just had the belief that money doesn't grow on trees wealthy people or greedy people , all of that . So I had a lot of negative beliefs around money .

Why do you feel it's important to talk about money within your family and with people in general ?

The government can get trillions of dollars in debt and people don't know the difference . They don't even know what that means . People believe that to have a good credit score , they have to pay interest and they have to have all these balances .

That's funny , because I've never paid interest in my life and I have an 800 and something credit score , which is a very good credit score . That's a lack of education . The school system doesn't do it , just like the school system . I don't . You know our kids are in public schools and they're great schools .

However , i don't trust the school system to do everything for my kids and they definitely don't know about money because most of their teachers don't know very much about money . I saw in college , my first semester in college .

It took me 10 years , by the way , to earn a bachelor's degree , because I had a full-time job , i had a part-time job , i had a business , so 10 years , and I paid for it myself every penny , every book , every single semester . No , parents helping , no .

But I saw a lot of weird things in school because imagine , by the time I graduated , i was 28 years old , i had a business , i was making more than my professors and I knew a little bit about money , but I saw that nobody was teaching this In my very first semester . There was a table and it had chocolate bars and I was starving .

It was around lunchtime and they said if you apply for a credit card , you get this huge chocolate bar . So , yeah , i was going to do that . However , fortunately for me , my parents had already taught me get a credit card , earn points , cash back , whatever you want , but when that bill comes , you pay it all .

So if you're going to spend $20 on gasoline , sure , put it on the card , but you know it's coming , the bill will come and you will pay it in its entirety .

My parents have always done that , because they made very little and they didn't have aspirations of overspending and they taught me that , and so I am trying to teach that to my kids So as they get older . So I'll give you an idea for them . Saving money is just a normal thing . Buying your first house pretty soon is a normal thing .

My 17 year old is saving to buy his first home and he wants it to be a rental property and he's already told me I'll pay you rent here Right , because it's 200 a month when you hit 18 . It's here just like my parents did to me .

He said if that 200 a month is cheaper , then I'll just rent out the entire property that I'm selling or I'll rent out the rooms because I'll get more money for each room . This is a 17 year old . He's been telling me this since he was 16 . Why ? Because at 22 years old I bought my first house . I kept the master bedroom for myself .

I was a single guy master bedroom and bathroom on this side of the house for me , and over here I rented out the other two bedrooms That paid my mortgage . So that was September of 98 about my first house . Guess what ? I bought my second one , september 99 . My third one September of 2000 and my next one December of 2001 .

So in three years and a few months or so , about four homes . Why ? Because I lived under my means , because my parents did talk to me about money . They didn't know much about it . All they knew is earn it and save it . I tell my kids a little different Earn it , save it , invest it by real estate , invest in someone's business .

There's more you can do with it . So that's why that's what we talk about . I pulled out my P and L statements from my businesses and laid them out and showed my kids and I go . Here's the top line revenue . Here's how we're up over last year . Here's our cost of goods sold . Here's our gross profit . More importantly , here's our gross profit percentage .

That's what I focus on And here's our net profit percentage . Here's our EBITDA . It's a 17% . Last year was 14% . Look how we tightened up and cut expenses And now we make more money . That's very clear for a kid and it's fun . And it's their own dad showing them the business . And that's how we approach it .

Like everything , all I knew at that time was to hustle , Have a part-time job after school , go to the flea markets and sell . This is what I was doing all the time Buying stuff at garage sales , selling it at flea markets . And then a coworker asked me . He said Joe , I just found out my wife's pregnant . He's older , I was 17 . He was 24 .

And he said I just found out my wife is pregnant . I really need some money right now . Would you loan me $500 ? I'll give you I think he said , something like a hundred a week , And then I'll pay you $50 at the end in interest . My eyes opened up .

I couldn't believe it because at the time I had like 3000 in the bank and I said that money's making nothing in the bank . I can make $50 . I did it . And then , after I did it , I was so excited about it I went and told a friend in my high school . I said you won't believe what just happened here .

I thought he was going to get excited in the sense that he would want to do the same . I'm encouraging , Like you won't believe you can make money like this . Guess what he said . He said would you do the same for me ? And I said do you want to borrow $500 ?

He was yeah , I'll pay you back the same way that guy did And he did , And I made another $50 . He told a couple of friends . By the time I was like 19 years old at any given moment remember I wasn't making very much money .

I'd have $10 , $20,000 out in the street loaned And I never set the conditions And I never said no to the conditions that any friend said . So if a friend said give me $1,000 , i'll pay $100 a week and then I'll pay an extra $100 at the end , yes , if they said the same thing but they said I'll pay an extra $50 at the end .

I own a couple of companies that I founded and I worked really hard in the beginning , but I'm not active in them anymore And I'm now in the process of actually exiting one of those businesses And I should be closing in the next four weeks to finally get a big cash out , which I've never done . I've always just had these businesses in place .

So passive income is make money , earn it , save it , invest it in something that just every month you get a check in your mailbox , whether that's real estate or that's a business that you found and you started and you worked really hard .

But now you hire a replacement and that person's the new boss and you just stay home and collect a 5,000 or 10,000 or $100,000 check every month , whatever it is . that's passive income . I love it , and I'll tell you what else .

When my son was really grinding at about 14 , 15 years old , selling chocolate bars , he said these words to me , and my wife and I almost had a tear in our eye . He said uh man , i'm getting really tired of selling all this chocolate . I just want passive income . He was 14 years old .

I was first introduced to the idea of passive income in 2014 and it just opened my eyes to the possibility of how you could set yourself up for life , And one of the things I've been very intentional with is obviously , you know , business is great for cash flow and stuff , but I've always had an idea of how am I going to have my money working for me and

also with a business , How can I step outside of it so that I can collect , as you said , that check as well and have more funds to do more of what I want to do ? And I think a lot of people because they aren't aware of it or it may sound challenging because it is a long-term play . You don't just create overnight .

However , I do like the Loanier Mates Money idea . That is a bit more instant than , for example , growing a business . It really is game-changing and the fact that you're having those conversations with your children at such a young age is just phenomenal .

I had to wait until I was 24 to even learn about it , So I hope a lot of people listening to this start having the conversations with people in their life about that , because it truly can change your life Really can .

I can sell them each for $2 . So I can make like $150 . And I'm hearing this kid getting all emotional for him , me . I'm hearing him and I'm just cheering him on like yes , this kid's going to be a killer . And then his mom says what are you ? What are you crazy ? What are you some sort of entrepreneur ?

This is a natural thing for kids . They want to explore this . It could be their hobby . It was my hobby . I was making money as a kid . Don't shoot down a kid who wants to make money . They're setting themselves up for the future .

I have an incredible skill set that I now want to pass on my lessons not to just your family , but to other people .

I went from a wholesaler in the apparel industry with owning brands going direct to consumer by buying a website We could do a whole talk about . I've acquired 14 different businesses And I've rolled them up and all of you think , well , that guy must have a lot of money . That first acquisition was $90,000 and guess what ?

I didn't have that $90,000 cash that day . I had 30,000 . And then I financed the other 60,000 . But that enabled me , with a small step , to do something bigger . That started netting me 10 to 15,000 a month . That acquisition , after paying the monthly Do's that I had to do for that one year that I financed it .

Then I acquired another one , then I started buying out competitors and then I started making real money . I started making seven figures and As I grew my income by the way , the difference from when I made 50,000 a year to when I made over a million dollars a year An income was right here . Nothing else changed . It was all in my head .

I started thinking differently . I started thinking outside the box and thinking well , that might be possible . Let me talk to the guy instead of having that negative voice . And that's not gonna work , because that's what I used to be an expert at .

I would practice things that I preach . I write a lot of handwritten letters , i send those out , but the people I send them to have nothing to do with my industry . I I owned an underwear company and then later a fulfillment center , and I you know Cuz .

I write a letter to some engineer Engineering firm who I met the CEO He's not gonna buy underwear from me , he's not gonna use my fulfillment services . That doesn't really do anything for me , but a lot of the things I just kept practicing because they seemed like the right thing to do . And What happened was I started mentoring .

I've been mentoring for over 20 years in different organizations for free , and one guy asked me if I could be as Coach And I said well , i'm your mentor , like everybody in this organization , i'll come in and do these Conversations . And he says no , no , no , i want to hire you . I want to pay you money .

And I said no , you don't have to pay me , i do this for free . And he insisted . He said I'm not gonna listen to it unless I pay money and have skin in the game . And That was a game changer , because I helped him and his wife . His relationship with his wife got better , his relationship with four kids got better , his business got better .

That was years ago and we're still working together on different , on a different level , but I started realizing all of this past got me ready to do this and it happened organically . I wasn't trying to start a coaching business , but I did .

And now it's this , it's what I do , it's what I spend most of my time on and it's my absolute passion beautiful to know that you did it Without anything in exchange for so long as well .

But when you have people who have Decades of experience , who've been doing it anyway , and they have their own tried and tested businesses to go with that , so you understand what it's like to experiences experience the financial stressers having to deal with different Tears of management and people's expectations and problems .

And then also go what I need to manage my family . I need to look after my health as well . You've lived that and And so to now have people gonna look , i'm paying for that . That's an incredible thing to put out there . But you wrote a book and you have the program the 31 days to becoming a better man . Why men specifically ?

and what's all of that about ?

You better eat well , you better sleep well , you better run some wind sprints , you better lift weights , you better do all the right things , and I like that . Because ultimately not . I'm not gonna become a professional athlete , especially at this age .

But I want to be healthy , i want to live a good life , i want to set a good example , i want my wife to be attracted to me through physical exercise and all these things . So I found that men Look , i love women , they're the best thing that was ever created . But but I know men better because I'm a man and I could relate better .

So I noticed almost all my coaching clients were men and I wrote a book on Helping a man become better through the practices that I've been doing for many years and tried and tested , but also through I coach amazing men Entrepreneurs , ceos , executives and I see what works for them and then we tweak it and we've tested it for years , and then what I did is

just put that into a book for 31 days . But it's not just the book , it's a program that we all go in and we do it together and we have a what's app group and we chat about it and we motivate each other , and That started very organically . I picked up a challenge book and I messaged 24 friends and all 24 said yes .

Now , not coincidentally , all those guys are multi-millionaires . Everybody I got in that first group are extremely successful . So when , then , one of their friends reaches out and says hey guys , i got this amazing challenge idea . Do you want to do it with me ? I don't think I got one . No , they all said yes .

They jumped in with me , and as soon as we started going , we created a what's app group , we started doing zoom meetings and , by the way , this is like six months ago only They said they said Joel , this is a business you got to do a second class . Let's call this one zero , zero , one . Do zero zero , two . We'll pay you to be in that one .

Wow , this is amazing , very organic and very natural . I'm still figuring it out as I go , but we've actually created a nice five-figure business in six months I mean per month , five figures and it's growing and And then we do it So . So here's how everything works .

I'm a member in entrepreneur organization and I have a lot of friends in there , and so one of the guys was in that second class and then he gave me a great idea and he said , joel , the class is great , but then it's over . Why don't you do a maintenance program ? so we started a maintenance program .

In the last three months we have 35 guys in there , and So that's been the organic way that we built this up , not forcing it , letting the market decide . The guys are giving me ideas and we're implementing them the same day , and that's what .

Guys usually talk less . I know I talk a lot . In general , guys talk less . They don't express their feelings , they don't express their emotions , they don't have a safe place to do that and , by the way , guys are in a very tricky place right now . We grew up being told you know , you don't show your emotions , you be a tough guy , you don't cry .

Okay , we're dealing with that , we work that way , and then we have a society that now tells us well being a man is toxic And that's not very good , and being a man is a negative thing , and if you're a straight man , you probably are a big . If you're a white man , you might be a racist .

You know , there's a lot of all these signals and some guys are just trying to be a good person and get by . So what we're , what I think it's important to create , is that that brotherhood , that Group that you can get together in and you can express yourself and be honest and then Form one-on-one bonds with each other . I encourage that tremendously .

Within my group of guys , it's everybody should be talking to each other . Ever , like between now and our next meeting , have have a one-on-one with one of the guys right , start talking , because when they share their problems , all the sudden your problems aren't as bad as you . Okay , i'm going through the same thing .

Okay , i'm normal , i'm a human , i'm a guy , and I think that's extremely important . If you get in a cocoon and you stay by yourself , you're gonna just be depressed and not feel very good because you think you're not normal .

or have you noticed any I guess patterns or correlations to income level ?

. Right , i started with no money , but I started being friendly and interested in people . I love talking to people and I love learning about them . Right now I'm talking a lot , but if you and I were at a party , i'd be asking all the questions . I want to learn about people . I want to know everything about them . This isn't the right environment .

I'm not gonna go on your podcast Right now . Look , yes , yesterday in Jiu Jitsu There was like a little break in the action and the coach was about to start talking to us . We had 30 seconds and I said something to the guy next to me and he was surprised that I knew that about him .

And I said , yeah , and you have a baby on the way and you used to work at this law firm and you left and now you're back and You were a wrestler in high school and you went to Western high school and the guy was like Dude , that's why you're so successful in business . That's amazing . You remember all that well .

So see , i wasn't successful in business , i didn't make a lot of money , but I have an interest in people and I have an interest in growing myself and connecting with people and when you do that , at the end of the Tunnel , at the end , there's a prize and it's success and to be ability to make more money . So , work on those things .

The money will come in the end , the success will come in the end , but you got to put in the work . What would some of ?

I would start reading really good books like the secret .

So , reading a book like the secret , reading books like extreme ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin Navy SEAL commanders who talk about extreme ownership or everything in your life Guess what good or bad , it's your fault . Things aren't going good in your life .

You probably have something to do with that and accepting that responsibility and not pointing the finger and blaming it at someone You know . You start reading these sort of books and they start developing your brain To becoming more like the guy who is making a million dollars a year or five million dollars a year , and if that's not your goal , that's fine .

It gets you to the guy who makes a good income but has a phenomenal relationship with his wife . You know someone that I coach one-on-one . Yesterday We had a 55 minute conversation on the phone and he said to me I gotta update you . There's like the last three minutes and we had our intense conversation .

He says he told me at the end time froze during this conversation And I said because we're both in a flow , you're doing all this work and I'm just passionate because you're doing all the things He said to me at the end in the last three minutes . Let me tell you about my wife About a month ago and a month and a half ago .

He's a local client most aren't but he's local and we went rucking in some hills Back and we're working and I like , i like getting guys sweating . I go out walking .

If they're remote , because most of my clients are I want them walking and sweating And I'm doing the same thing and lowers all the inhibitions and you open up quicker because you're , you feel like you're dying So you just let it out .

He told me that he thinks he's gonna get divorced and it's not working out and his wife's just not doing the work And she doesn't want to grow and she's just happy where she's at . Well , guess what ?

for the last six weeks since that conversation , he's been putting in work and I mean a hundred push-ups a day , a hundred air squats a day , reading the things that I tell him to read and putting in the work and taking notes and focusing on this . Then this other thing Creating leaders in his organization .

He owns a couple of companies and he was telling his employees what to do . I said why do you want employees ? I want leaders . I don't want to work forever . So these things have been starting to click in his head . He's doing the work and then he updates me and he says my wife is a new person . And I said what did you tell her to do anything ?

I know the answer , but do you know ? She's just been watching me . She's been watching me lead better , lead our family better , lead her better As a positive leader . He's not telling her what to do . Guess what . He goes down and does a hundred push-ups . He doesn't say word .

But then his wife sees him doing that and she's like you know , i'm gonna start kickboxing or I'm gonna start yoga or whatever . She's starting now and she's getting in shape . And she's saying you know what ? I do want to read that book that you mentioned the other day . Why ? because he's reading like four books in the last six weeks .

So focus on yourself and all these magical , all these problems magically start taking care of themselves .

and especially when you're working with driven and ambitious men , they really struggle with the concept of slowing down , for example , whether it's taking time to Invest in your relationship because it doesn't feel like it's productive towards career goals . Same with the health or maybe reading or exercising . How do you help them navigate that ?

And and when you dig down , i don't accept what people tell me on the surface I ask a lot of questions Really , you didn't have time in seven days , what'd you do ? And they usually come up with some very lame excuses , such as well , my , my uncle is very sick , really , and what were you doing for me ? Well , i've taken him to appointments .

Like when's the last time you took him to appointment Thursday , thursday evening ? And I said well , today's , tuesday , have you been with him anymore ? No , no , oh , come on then . That's just an excuse .

If you told me you're by his bedside and I don't care if you're by his bedside , you're not taking care of them every minute You could sit there and when you sit there , read the book , and when you're , you've read red Ted pages , go down and do 25 push-ups . It find a way to get things done . It's all excuses . Do you have social media ?

Do you play video games ? Do you watch television ? You give me any of those and I'll show you where you can have the time to work out . By the way , some of the I work out every single day . I rarely take a day off , but , but some of those days I do an eight-minute workout , yep , and when I'm done my body's on fire . That's all it takes .

Do you have eight minutes ? Can you wake up eight minutes earlier ? Can you not goof around for eight minutes a day ? That's all it takes . So It's all . I haven't found one . Look at one guy was gonna join my program because his friend recommended it Mm-hmm . And then he had a call with me and he told me look , here's the problem .

And , man , he made a good , compelling argument . He is the busiest guy you've ever met . He did my program . He joined the ongoing maintenance program that we call the brotherhood . He's very active in it . He's now going to lunch with every guy in there and I see pictures of him getting together for the local ones that he lives near .

I haven't challenged him yet to say what was that whole 25 minutes ? And we spent on that phone that one day where you told me you just don't have time in a day . Well , guess what ? He's not doing social media much anymore . He's not goofing around on a TV . He does . He stop drinking alcohol . He's not wasting time . He doesn't feel sluggish .

He's working out every single day . He came over Saturday of last week and trained with me at my house . We I introduced him to jujitsu . He'd never done that before . I have a mini academy in my house . I have an ice plunge . We went in the ice plunge . He'd never done that before . The guy is a new person .

This is a guy who told me he didn't have time in his life . Oh , by the way , that's another one Whose marriage went from probably a four to like a nine now not said by me , but said by him and he didn't have the time to do the work or when he found those couple of minutes a day . Life's better now .

As you just said , joel , eight minutes . The goal is movement . The intention behind why you're moving is , whatever it may be for the specific individual , get it done . 8 minutes , 5 minutes , you know , do a Tabata workout That flogged you in about 4 minutes .

So there's so many things that you can do to think outside the box , and I think one thing that I've really taken away from our conversation so far is your ability to do that in so many different areas of life And , just as a result of that , the results that you're getting not only for yourself , for your family and for your clients .

But we walked a couple of miles there , we walked a couple of miles back . We ate , we could go to yoga together . That's kind of a date right . And sometimes we just pack a lunch and we have lunch out on the grass and have a little picnic .

It doesn't have to be extravagant , but so you're exercising together and it's a date night and you're connecting with your spouse or your significant other . Those are all good things . Another thing I had a coaching client still work with him . He's in my program now . He's an engineer and he's the most organized guy in the world . He owns a couple of companies .

Everything's in silos and he writes them every week and he gives it a seven . How many hours he spent The quality , amazing graphs and colors . And he'd say like I don't have time for the dating as much if I'm actually doing the workouts .

And I said do you want to date a girl who likes to work out , so her body looks better and she's healthier and your kids are going to be healthier . He's a young guy And he says , absolutely , i go . Then your dates are workouts . You're on this dating app . Invite the girls to go on a date with you . But guess what ? You're going kayaking .

You're going to the . He lives five minutes from the beach . You're going to do this . You're going to that . He was mind blown because he was in stuck in those silos . So I run . When I run long distance , i'm listening to audible , so I'm feeding my brain . I'm feeding my body by running .

I've learned to execute at a faster pace because my brain works pretty quickly . So I went from one time audio to 2.0 to 3.0 . Now I listen to books at no , i'm sorry to 2.75 is where I'm currently at , so I can listen to a book really fast .

Knock out a book in a day or two , and I knocked out 10 , 15 miles And so see , there's time you could squeeze it in somewhere .

Or maybe something that I need to think about more is , even though I'm listening to information a lot quicker , slow down because I was just like whoa , but it's definitely a great way to stack things on top of it . So when you think about what those priorities are in your life , what can sort of marry up and kill two birds with one stone ?

Your story is really incredible . As you've mentioned , you've gone from nothing to creating an incredible life , to also recognizing in the process .

It's not about the things you once wanted , the materialism and now giving back of all of the experiences that you've had to date , what would be one to two significant lessons that you've learned that you feel would be beneficial for our audience .

Investing in real estate at an early age was a game changer , because that first house that I mentioned that I bought for $160,000 , i put $32,000 down . That was a down payment of 20% . It paid for itself every day because I had tenants . But when I sold that house about four years later , i profited like $80,000 . Right , that put me in a better position .

And then I put it into more real estate and I funded the purchase of products for my business And you know . So , investing in myself through a business , through businesses . I thought that was really good . But specifically real estate . I'm a big believer in real estate .

So that's something that's out there , trying to think what else I could , such general statements that I could make without knowing the individual situation , stuff .

You found a way to negotiate to get sample orders and stuff , to then test it to see if the market wanted it . Because there's generally a difference between what we think people want and what they actually want .

So can you maybe share some insight around for maybe people who are looking to start a service or a product or invest in something how they can do that in a more manageable risk adverse way ?

I started coaching a lady who owns a technology company and does very , very well . She called me because somebody recommended that she hire me because she started an apparel company , but it was too late . Her initial opening order was $800,000 .

She's never sold products online , she's never had an apparel company and she invested an opening order of $800,000 plus a warehouse that she rented staff , tables , racks , i mean she went all out My opening order .

when I first took it serious and said I'm starting an order of my own brand , it was an $80,000 order , but before that it was $500 that I bought of something so that I could go test it . I did not go crazy . Now I'll tell you here's the big one , because now you prompted me . Very well , i have never written and I have never read a business plan .

That means zero to me . I'm a small time entrepreneur . I'm not this corporate guy that reads big fancy documents . So here's what I do If I . I'll give you the big example My son the other day we talked about this . The school district where he goes to school has a new rule for next school year You have to wear transparent backpacks .

They want to see everything that's in it . A clear backpack for safety concerns .

First worst case scenario you sell them to your friends . Test it out that way And if you see this , start selling immediately .

Put all your money , or put half your money and buy all of these , because the supply is going to run out , because this is the six I believe , is the sixth largest school district in the United States and they're requiring this and maybe others will , right ?

So I wouldn't go write this fancy business plan which , by the way , the market will go by too fast and you won't have executed on time but I would order that . I don't know . I don't think my son took me up on it . That's fine , that's his call , but I would have ordered that day . I would have spent $200 , $300 , $400 , whatever .

Put up a little Wix website that costs you nothing and go tell everybody . Go put it in the Facebook group for the community , go tell all your teachers , go test it And if this immediately starts selling , put it all in there . But that's how I approach everything .

Obviously , that's not my business , that's not what I do , but I do other things that way And I have found that it's a very natural . I like organic results . I like going after an illogical approach . So yeah , that's something I've learned from seeing others do it another way . I have not done it the other way .

I have not risked a million dollars on an idea . Today I heard the documentary on the segue . That device never did anything but they put millions and millions into it . I don't want to do that . I recommend people don't do that . Start small Gene this advice .

And from when I went to where I started to multiple six figures was just like where's the problem ? How do I solve it ? Let's go .

And obviously you don't always hit a home run with that , but you learn a lot as opposed to a lot of people are always getting ready to get ready , they need to have it proof read and triple checked And I'm like sometimes you just got to take the action .

And so when I heard you say that I was challenged but at the same time it made me feel good to know that someone was extremely successful and didn't need a business plan .

You know , yesterday I got invited to a forum of eight entrepreneurs here locally and went and sat in on their meeting and helped them with a goal planning session . Goals are very simple Write out your goal , write out an action plan .

Let's call it three things you're going to do for each one , but the part that nobody ever talks about , put it in your calendar and invite an accountability partner to make sure it happens . So what I volunteered as my gift at the end of the thing is each one of you eight guys , seven or eight . Here's my email . Add me on there , right ?

Add me on all those actions that you just planned . So today I already had to check in with two of the guys . Tomorrow I'll probably check in with another one . Whatever pops up in my calendar , i'll be checking . Did you do the thing ?

One of the guys went to the automatic human default extremely successful , they're all successful , very big businesses And this guy goes okay , i'm scheduling . Because I said take time now and schedule , get your laptop , your phone . And he was scheduling a session to plan on how he's going to do this thing .

I mean , it was just like you're going to plan a meeting , to have a meeting , to have a meeting . And I said what do you think the plan could be ? And I said well , i want to work on this , so I want to dedicate 15 minutes to practicing it , like once a week . There's your plan . Don't now set calendar time for next week to sit .

There's your plan , just move . I'd rather not be perfect , because guess what a week or two of you doing this . Tweak it a little bit , but don't now sit and procrastinate and pontificate and never get around to it . I think people are all talk and very little action . I have a Latin phrase in my garage , which is a gym , and it says acta nonverba .

It's act , don't talk , just do it .

on . Joel , i've taken away a lot from this in so many different areas . There's going to be a lot of blokes listening to this who are doing the exact same thing . Where can people find you ? Where can they listen to more of your content ? Where can they get involved in your programs ?

I don't need it , but I do want people to put a couple hundred bucks up just to feel like they're in it And then they buy the book 31 days to become a better man . I have friends about the book and didn't do the class . They did it on their own . Then they signed up for the class and they go .

The second time was much better because I did it with this group of guys and we got to know each other and we built community . Some have started businesses together . I've already invested in two businesses from the guys that have gotten in the program , because you get to know somebody really well and now you feel comfortable with them .

You see they're an outstanding person , so you feel comfortable . So , yeah , to reach out to me , go through my website , joelgendaracom .