Jeff Fenster: Dream Big, Scale Bigger | The Blueprint for Growing Multiple Brands

Episode 65 – Transcript + Timestamps

Dream Big, Scale Bigger: The Blueprint For Growing Multiple Brands w/ Jeff Fenster (EVERBOWL Founder)

Introduction

[00:00:00] Yvonne Heimann: Hello, and welcome back to Boss Your Business. As you can tell, I’m, I’m somewhere else today. I actually get to join Jeff. Jeff. Oh my god.

[00:00:10] Yeah. Jeff. Jeff Fenster. Jeff C. I have too many Jeffs in my life that I care about.

[00:00:16] Totally excited today actually being in your studio. So I’m, I’m having, I’m having a little bit of VIP moment, so hang with me. You know how my tongue goes. I have tongue twisters regularly on my podcast, and we never edit them out. Really excited to be here.

[00:00:33] You guys should see and you will see in insta, on Instagram, multi camera setup, dream of mine. One Of those days, I will have a room like this, and hopefully such an amazing team as you have put together, and we’ll dive into this. One of the reasons why I wanted to have you on the show, and I’m really excited to have you because it seems like you’ve been going against everything that I have been taught how to run my business. [00:01:00] So if you guys have not met Jeff yet, you have your own podcast on Entrepreneur. You are the founder of Everbowl.

[00:01:07] You also added a construction company on top. You are now building out franchises for other people. You were an author. You did the entrepreneur awards, like, going through his bio. I literally spent this morning, and I read my half of it.

[00:01:22] It’s, it’s interesting to watch you. Did little Jeff ever think you’re gonna be here?

[00:01:29] Jeff Fenster: Gosh. No. No. No. No. No. No. Never thought about being a business owner.

[00:01:34] Never wanted, even heard the word entrepreneur until probably 15 years ago. So I think I was an entrepreneur before I even knew the word entrepreneur. I wanted to be a professional athlete. Little Jeff wanted to play sports.

[00:01:46] Yvonne Heimann: Did little Jeff also play sports?

[00:01:48] Jeff Fenster: He did. He did. I played through high school, boxed in college, but was not good enough to play at the highest level, which, you know, it’s the reality.

[00:01:58] Yvonne Heimann: It takes a lot.

[00:01:59] Jeff Fenster: It [00:02:00] does. And it also, I worked hard. I, I was always a small kid. So in order to compete, I was fast and little. So I always had to outwork everybody else, really demonstrate to coaches, like, why they want the you know, I was late, late bloomer, short kid. I think my freshman year of college, I might have been a 120 pounds, playing football and, you know, I played with guys like Kellen Winslow who went pro and, you know, he was 6’4 220, his freshman and sophomore year.

[00:02:28] So It was like

[00:02:29] Yvonne Heimann: 120, that’s not, that’s 5 pounds less than what I weigh when I was 20 days.

[00:02:33] Jeff Fenster: I was a little boy. So I had to work hard.

[00:02:36] Yvonne Heimann: That usually means you are, you are limber and can sneak your way through the big guys.

[00:02:40] Jeff Fenster: Yes. And I had small dog syndrome. So I had the chip on the shoulder, felt like I had my ego forced me to have to prove to everybody, all the time, in order to make the team be accepted by my peers, get playing time, and, you know, I just, that was what I thought was gonna do.

[00:02:59] Yvonne Heimann: Seeing, [00:03:00] seeing the switch in you, because I, I’m like, a year ago, I didn’t even know your name. It’s, it’s this funny thing of the circles you were in. Right? Suddenly, it’s like talking to my friends is, like, Everbowl? I, I didn’t know.

[00:03:13] And suddenly, you, you see it popping up everywhere. So when did, when did little Jeff lose that chip? Because you definitely does, do not have that chip anymore.

[00:03:23] Jeff Fenster: I do still. I just figured out how to control that chip. I definitely have an ego. I try to control it and use it as a tool versus let it control me, because as a kid, it controlled me too much.

[00:03:37] And you could get me to do things just by telling me I couldn’t do it. Right? I was that guy. Oh, you can’t do that. Oh, yeah.

[00:03:44] We’ll see. Watch me. Yeah.

[00:03:45] Yvonne Heimann: Watch me. I’m gonna do it either way or especially if this oh, you’re, you’re not supposed to go right. Oh, believe me. I will go right.

[00:03:52] Jeff Fenster: The stove’s hot. Don’t touch it. And I will see how hot it is.

[00:03:55] Yvonne Heimann: Uh-huh.

[00:03:56] Jeff Fenster: You know, thankfully, and I mean this social media didn’t exist, people [00:04:00] didn’t have cameras on their phones.

[00:04:01] Yvonne Heimann: Oh my god. Thank God in my childhood we didn’t have those.

[00:04:04] Jeff Fenster: I made dumb choices, got into some trouble that not serious trouble, but trouble that if it was on camera, probably would hinder my life today. You know, the things that kids make, decisions kids make. And so I know, young Jeff, entrepreneurship, but maturity, growing up, having kids on my own, learning, you know, trying to understand and see perspective. Definitely going to law school helped me with perspective.

[00:04:29] That taught me a lot about understanding the other side and through that process, you know?

[00:04:36] Yvonne Heimann: Sort of remember right, you went to law school for sports law to go into that direction, but that never came to fruition. Right?

[00:04:45] Jeff Fenster: So I graduated law school and had a job lined up at Leigh Steinberg Sports Agency.

[00:04:49] But, ultimately, my third year of law school, I met the woman who’s my wife and have a kid and didn’t want to, at the time, there was no Zoom. There was no social media. Everything was in person.

[00:04:59] Yvonne Heimann: Yep.

[00:04:59] Jeff Fenster: And [00:05:00] the peers of mine and friends of mine who were already sports agents and the people I looked up to and saw their lives, their careers.

[00:05:05] None of them had relationships with their families that were anything I wanted. They were gone all the time at the beck and call of all these athletes that lot of them are prima donnas. No offense to my friends who are athletes, but a lot of you are prima donnas. And the expectation was when I have a thing, you’re gonna be there early, you’re gonna make sure. Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

[00:05:23] And when you’re cutting your teeth in the industry, it’s even worse.

[00:05:26] Yvonne Heimann: Yeah.

[00:05:27] Jeff Fenster: And I just kinda saw that most of them were divorced or had a strange relationship, so I was like, I don’t want that. So when I graduated law school, I was like, uh-oh. I have something that means more to me now than sports, and that was a daughter and a, and a wife or a fiance at the time, but wife.

[00:05:44] Yvonne Heimann: I love that that happen so early on, because we, we’ve seen that story a lot, right? Where it’s like, we do all the work. We, I think, as men and correct me if I’m wrong, female here, we were brought up a little bit different with the thinking. But I think [00:06:00] as a man, you are often brought up to you are supposed to provide. And looking back till just recently, providing men, bringing the money in the house, doing all the things, which now has changed. So it’s, it’s nice to see that you realize that early on and just found a different way.

[00:06:21] And I guess right at that time frame is kind of like when you discovered entrepreneurship. Am I right on that?

[00:06:27] Jeff Fenster: No. I had 6 figures in law school loans to start paying back, a kid, a fiancee, and so I got a job, because that’s what you have to do when you have to pay your bills.

[00:06:37] Yvonne Heimann: Yeah.

Utilizing Your Ego Properly To Achieve Better Success

[00:06:37] Jeff Fenster: You know, I was 24 years old and had a lot of bills to pay. So I got a job with, a friend of mine got me a job at a company called ADP, which was a payroll company. And I’d always been good in sales and had done sales jobs in college and high school and interned in telemarketing. And so I got a outside sales job selling payroll, business to business in San Diego and $38,000 base pay plus commission.

[00:06:59] Yvonne Heimann: [00:07:00] $38,000 base.

[00:07:00] Jeff Fenster: Yeah. My law school loans alone were 1,300 a month. Net 1300. So I did 38,000 plus commission, so I had to go sell.

[00:07:08] Yvonne Heimann: Uh-huh.

[00:07:09] Jeff Fenster: But a hungry dog hunts best. Right? Yeah. And so I was in a position where, Okay. Give me the model.

[00:07:13] And ADP had this formula, 50 phone calls oh, 50 phone calls a day would get you 5 appointments. If you get 5 appointments, you’ll close 2 of them. And if you do that, you’ll make Presidents Club and you’ll make 6 figures. So when I got the job and I said, how do I make over a hundred k? They said, make Presidents Club.

[00:07:30] Said, okay. What do I need to do that? They said, follow this model. I was like, done. I don’t care.

[00:07:35] Let’s do it. And so I followed the model. And my first 6 months there, I was the number 1 sales rep in the country. Made President’s Club first out of 2,000 ish reps and it was great. I was like, I’ll be here forever.

[00:07:46] I bought a house in San Diego, moved my fiance and daughter into it and we bought the house in January. I got the job in August, went on commission in September, bought the house in January or closed on the house in December, bought the house before that. We [00:08:00] actually moved in December, January. And then in January, I made President’s Club. And in my contract, said if I sold this amount, which was Above Presidents Club.

[00:08:08] It was like a higher threshold. You get a raise from 38,000 to 54, so I get a 17,000 dollar base pay increase. I needed that money.

[00:08:15] Yvonne Heimann: That’s a Nice chunk.

[00:08:15] Jeff Fenster: Yeah. And I just put all my cash down on the down payment of the house. So I was like, great. When do I get my raise? And my boss said at the end of the fiscal year, which wasn’t until the fiscal year ended in June, so I’d get it in July.

[00:08:28] Yvonne Heimann: So nobody ever mentioned the fine print?

[00:08:29] Jeff Fenster: Yeah. Well, because their position was it’s an annual contract. It’s an annual goal. No one does it in 6 months. If you’ve done it in 10 or 11, you’re gonna get it in 2, 3, 4 weeks.

[00:08:39] Right? But they didn’t expect or anticipate the speed with which I was able to accomplish it. And so I said, well, that’s not gonna work. I want my raise. And she tried.

[00:08:48] Ashley, my manager, I mean, in her defense, she did everything she could. She didn’t wanna lose me. My ego said if you don’t give it to me, I’m gonna quit, because I thought they weren’t gonna let Jeff Fenster walk out the door. I’m the number 1 sales rep. How are you [00:09:00] gonna let me leave?

[00:09:00] Yvonne Heimann: The trip. Mhmm. Right?

[00:09:02] Jeff Fenster: And she came back and she goes, Jeff, I mean, there’s nothing we can do. So if you’re gonna quit, you’re gonna quit.

[00:09:07] And I went home that night, and we’ve been in our house not long. And I said to my fiance at the time, I said, I wanna quit the job. And I wanna

[00:09:16] Yvonne Heimann: What did she say to that?

[00:09:18] Jeff Fenster: She was supportive. She’s like, honey, if that’s what you wanna do and that’s what you need to do, do it.

[00:09:22] I mean, she was still in cosmetology school at the time. And she’s like, I trust you, you know. Whatever you think is best, go for it. And so I called my dad and I said, how would you feel if me, Britney, and Olivia, my, my daughter and fiance, moved into your house? And he’s like, why?

[00:09:38] And I said, I wanna sell my house, quit my job, and start my own payroll company. And he goes, you wanna do what? And he was already pissed that I wasn’t using my law degree.

[00:09:46] Yvonne Heimann: Yeah.

[00:09:46] Jeff Fenster: Because he’s like, go be a lawyer.

[00:09:48] Why are you selling payroll? Like, you don’t have to be a sports agent. Go be a lawyer.

[00:09:51] Yvonne Heimann: Parents want the best for us. Right?

[00:09:53] It’s like they’re they’re coming from their story. They’re coming from their story.

[00:09:55] Jeff Fenster: And he’s a doctor. I get it. So he’s used to the normal career track, and he’s like, [00:10:00] you have a JD. You don’t have to go to law school. You’re done. Go be a lawyer. Because I can go be a criminal defense.. I could do any kind of law I want. I don’t have to just be an agent.

[00:10:08] So I didn’t do that. I got a sales job, And I’m killing it, making 6 figures, bought a house, and I wanna quit. And he’s like

[00:10:15] Yvonne Heimann: He’s got it all and you have really

[00:10:17] Jeff Fenster: And he’s, you know, he said something to me, And this was the pivotal moment. He said, Jeff, you have a kid and a soon to be wife to support. You don’t have the privilege of chasing wild dreams and doing this.

[00:10:28] Like, you’ve gotta stick with what it is. And I looked at him and said, I agree with half of what you said. But the other half is I have a kid who looks up to me. Do I wanna teach her to settle? Or do I wanna show her to go be who you were meant to be and go chase you believe in everything you want and damn with the results.

[00:10:48] And I’m like, I’d rather her see that her dad tried everything. And if it doesn’t work and we’re struggling, I can always go get another job.

[00:10:56] Yvonne Heimann: God.

[00:10:56] Jeff Fenster: And so

[00:10:57] Yvonne Heimann: Yeah. I’m just getting goosebumps. And having, having [00:11:00] the support of your partner where it’s often enough a lot of us are fear based, where it’s like, oh my god. I just see the, the bad things and everything that can go wrong and, oh my god. Now we just bought the house. You already wanna sell it again. We are moving in with your parents.

[00:11:15] What the heck are you talking about? And just being like, cool. Let’s do it. I mean, we’ll make it happen.

[00:11:21] Jeff Fenster: She believed in me. She was, you know, my partner. So we’re in it together, and I hit results earlier than we anticipated. Right? So we didn’t expect me to do so well so quick. I didn’t expect to buy a house that quick out of law school.

[00:11:36] I didn’t expect to make the money I made. So it came in a whirlwind, but If I can do it once, I can do it again. It didn’t win the lottery. It wasn’t just luck. You know, I had a formula that I figured out.

[00:11:47] And, ultimately, I believe that if you aren’t passionate about what you’re doing, you won’t be successful. I was passionate about ADP until I wasn’t. I can’t fake it. I’m not gonna fake it. I’m not gonna show [00:12:00] my kid, oh, yeah.

[00:12:01] You know, my dad could have done all these things, but he settled for me. You know, he settled because I was born or because he had to pay bills. And so when I have a family, I’m gonna settle. And I don’t wanna teach my kids that. So I was like, no.

[00:12:13] I’m gonna do it. My dad said, yeah. You can you can live here, but you’re an idiot and you’re making mistakes. And you don’t know anything about running a business? Like, what do you know about starting you know, back then, I was business owner.

[00:12:24] The word entrepreneur, I didn’t never heard it. There was no YouTube to watch. Like, there was none of that stuff. So I was like, I don’t know anything about it, dad, but I can sell it. And so my buddy who I got a job at ADP, I convinced him to join me.

[00:12:36] And he ran the operations and I ran the sales and ended up raising private equity capital. We ended up selling it a few years later. It worked out really well. And, you know, 18 months later, I moved back out of my parents’ house and bought another house that we moved into. So it was 18 months in my parents’ house and,

[00:12:53] Yvonne Heimann: and 18 months is nothing.

[00:12:54] Jeff Fenster: It’s, it’s really not. And that’s why when people, you know, I, I can’t because I have a mortgage or I have kids. I look at them and I [00:13:00] go, I don’t see what you see. I think you have an obligation. Like, who cares about your house?

[00:13:03] Does the house mean more than your happiness? If so, stay in your house and work the job you hate. I mean, it’s a choice. I don’t care about my house. I mean, I do.

[00:13:12] I love and want all the things.

[00:13:14] Yvonne Heimann: But it’s not gonna be the major make or break. It’s not the high on the value. The, the rest is way high on that.

[00:13:20] Jeff Fenster: It’s a house.

[00:13:21] Yvonne Heimann: Mhmm.

[00:13:22] Jeff Fenster: And if I can go buy, I can tell you, the house I bought 18 months later is bigger, better, nicer than the house I lived in. So

Not Settling For Mediocrity; Path To Remarkability 

[00:13:31] Yvonne Heimann: With that, what, what is the impact you want to have because it’s like looking, looking at all the things you do, and I’m probably just scratching the surface. What is that, that story, that message, that impact that you want to leave behind?

[00:13:50] Jeff Fenster: To who? My family? The world?

[00:13:53] Yvonne Heimann: Put anybody that he has Jeff Fenster, 50 years down the road.

[00:13:58] Jeff Fenster: I want to [00:14:00] show that everybody can be remarkable and extraordinary. And everybody can have everything they want if they actually want it and are willing to put in the work.

[00:14:11] And I say this on stages. I’m an ordinary guy. I’m 5’9. I’m average height. Like, I’m as average as you look up average height of a male, it’s 5’9.

[00:14:18] I’m 5’9. I have average intelligence. Like, you look at my SAT score, I was, like, 50 percent, like, right there. So I made a career and a living, and I learned it in sports of working really hard and focusing on the details and beating you not because I’m more talented, more capable, or anything. Just because I’ll do what you’re not willing to do longer, harder, and faster.

[00:14:38] I just will. I don’t care what I have to do. I want the result, and you give me the formula, I will follow it. So at ADP, Most people don’t make the 50 calls. So Presidents Club is like the top 6, 7 percent.

[00:14:51] If you go look at how many people make 50 calls a day, 6, 7 percent, Which means everybody could probably make President’s Club

[00:14:57] Yvonne Heimann: As long as they make the call.

[00:14:58] Jeff Fenster: But they won’t. And why? Because the [00:15:00] first 40 will say no. And it’s like, oh, I don’t wanna do that again.

[00:15:03] Uh, uh, uh, and they have this Thing where they have this requirement to want to, to do something.

[00:15:08] Yvonne Heimann: Mhmm.

[00:15:09] Jeff Fenster: And I don’t need to want to do something to do it. I just am focused on the formula and the result and so my, what I wanna leave behind is anyone who, you know, I’ve created a lot of success in my life with the things I’ve gone after. And I’ve done it through a formula and a process, and I think everyone can achieve success in whatever they’re after, whether it’s health, business, family, relationships, you know, be a doctor, be a student.

[00:15:32] I don’t, it doesn’t, be an artist. Be whatever you wanna be. Success is defined by your definition of success, but everyone can have it, and I’m tired of living in a society where I feel like everybody is not everybody. The majority of humans are average, and they’re average by choice, but the words they say is I want more, but they don’t put the action behind it. And I feel like they don’t put the action behind it because they don’t have a formula or an understanding of what do I need to do.

[00:15:57] Where at ADP, it was clear, 50 phone calls a [00:16:00] day. So I made a hundred Because I wanted to do it faster. So if a hundred, if 50 gets me here, what if I make a hundred calls a day? And so that’s what I wanna leave for everyone else is, I wanna give everybody else a glimpse into the and give them a, a example of, oh my gosh, I can do everything he did. I’m more intelligent than he is.

[00:16:20] I’m more capable than he is. Great. So beat me. Be better than me in your own life, in your own world. And if we’re competing in the same arena, beat me.

[00:16:28] I’m okay. I will be Pepsi if you are that much better than me and can work that you know, if you can beat me at this game, I’m really happy about it because I wanna live in a society where remarkable is the standard. Because that means when I go to dinner, the restaurant’s gonna be remarkable. When I take an Uber, It’s gonna be remarkable. When I meet humans all throughout life, everything about my life will be better because everyone’s gonna be better at their careers.

[00:16:52] They’re gonna be happy. They’re gonna have more abundance. Gonna live from a position of giving and, and, and enjoyment versus this scarcity mindset and [00:17:00] defensive mindset and mad because I’m not happy with the outcomes of my choices. I want everyone else to be better because it’ll be a better world, and I have to live in this world. And I deal with mediocrity too often, and it’s out of my control.

[00:17:10] So it’s a selfish thing, but that’s what I wanna leave in the world.

Rethinking Productivity And Spending Your Time Efficiently

[00:17:13] Yvonne Heimann: I love that. Now what’s your framework to actually do this? As I mentioned before, it’s like, everybody always tells you, you need to niche down, 1 message, 1, 1 product, 1 person, 1 thing. And then I go through your timeline of things, and it’s like, yeah.

[00:17:32] Sure. We just started 3 businesses in, in 1 year. And yes, behind the scenes, I see the connection between growing and building Everbowl than the construction mess you guys had. Bringing Rebuild in to, to systemize the thing.

[00:17:50] But my question is, like, you are 1 person, and it’s like, suddenly, there’s Everbowl popping up [00:18:00] everywhere. I know how much you guys do with WeBuild behind the scenes. You are speaking. You are producing the podcast. You are doing all the things, and yet I still see you spending time with your family too.

[00:18:13] Did, did you find a time machine or something?

[00:18:15] Jeff Fenster: No. I’m, I’m intentional on what I do. But you talk about the companies and it’s not I don’t want anyone to sit here and think that’s because of me. It’s truly the team.

[00:18:27] Right? So I have an incredibly gifted, talented, amazing team of humans I get to do life and business with.

[00:18:35] Yvonne Heimann: And super fun, by the way, too, where I literally like to bring my laptop in and just work here with the team. It’s, it’s coming into the office here. It’s just fun.

[00:18:44] It’s like, I feel at home, and I’m just a little piece on, on getting to help you guys make things happen.

[00:18:50] Jeff Fenster: But that’s how things happen. And I think too many people try to do everything on their own, Or they have a scarcity mindset about who they recruit and attract. And I think if you [00:19:00] build the right culture and you have the right values yourself and you can do those things, You’ll attract the people that want the same for themselves. All the people on our team wanna be the best at their whatever they’re doing, whether it’s their job here.

[00:19:12] Yvonne Heimann: And it shows.

[00:19:13] Jeff Fenster: Or their human side, you know, whatever they do personally or anything that they do. And so, you know, in our control room, we have all these quotes, You know, 1 and everyone who comes on the show leaves a, leaves a message. You know, and Drew Brees is so perfect that it’s how you do anything is how you do everything. And when you look at our team, it’s evident.

[00:19:31] How we do anything is how we do everything. And so if you’re not that way as a person, you’re not gonna, a, we’re not gonna hire you. But, b, you’re not gonna feel comfortable here. But if you are a high achiever, if you do want to be remarkable at everything you do, if you do strive to improve every day, you wanna be around other people who do that. So You’re gonna be attracted and wanna come work with us anyway, which means our team keeps getting better.

[00:19:51] We’re adding all stars every single day. And so, yeah. I can say, hey, we’re gonna start this company because that’s my, my role on this team is to pick [00:20:00] a destination for us and set big goals, and we can then bring in amazing people to help us get there who can do things way better than I can, and that allows us to do it. So when you look at it, it’s like, yeah, We have all these things, but there are seasons.

[00:20:11] Right? There are times where I’m up to my neck in the day to day, and then I hire people who are better than me. So now I’m not the best person for that role, so someone else is doing it, which gives me more bandwidth to either add another company or speak on a stage or do a show. And there’s reasons for it all. Right?

[00:20:27] It’s, it’s about the macro. The show is fantastic because I get to bring in incredibly amazing people into my studio, into my headquarters, into my environment. I get to build more of relationship capital with them. I get to share their message to help deliver the message we want, which is give everyone a success formula. And some of them end up doing business with me and some don’t, and that’s fine.

[00:20:47] The speaking gives me a platform to talk about my message and help more people be successful, but simultaneously talk about Everbowl, talk about WeBuild, talk about UnEvolved products, talk about my show, my book, my speaking. So it builds all of them. So it’s like a [00:21:00] snowball that’s building steam and momentum. And so those things drive, you know, top of funnel, business development, relationship capital, personal brand, all these things. And you mentioned a year ago, you didn’t know my name because I never cared about personal brand.

[00:21:13] And so January 1, 23 is when I decided to do personal branding and start. I, I’m a private guy. I don’t, I don’t ever wanna be famous. I don’t need people to know who I am. I, it doesn’t drive me at all. But I realized what I was missing in my snowball.

[00:21:28] As I wanna get better, I realized I’m missing the bigger platform to spread the message to get more eyeballs and awareness so I can grow Everbowl faster, WeBuild faster, and help more people with a formula to help them be successful. And if I do that, it’s gonna, it’s gonna allow everything to exponentially grow. So and then the family is a non-negotiable. I mean, that’s my family. So, of course, I’m spending time with my family.

[00:21:50] And if you really, it’s, it’s, it’s funny because most people spend 8, 9, 10 hours a day being active in their job or career.

[00:21:57] Yvonne Heimann: Mhmm.

[00:21:58] Jeff Fenster: But they’re not productive. [00:22:00] And there’s a difference.

[00:22:01] Yvonne Heimann: Yep.

[00:22:02] Jeff Fenster: And so if you spent 5 hours being productive. You’ll do more than most people will do in 8 or 9.

[00:22:07] Yvonne Heimann: Yep.

[00:22:07] Jeff Fenster: So if I go do the same 8 hour shift as everyone else, but I’m more productive than everyone else. Then you look at the result and go, how are you doing that and spending time with your family because I’m still done and go home at night. And I get to hang out with them like everyone else. It’s just I don’t like to waste my time. I don’t do activity for the, you know, just to feel like I’m busy. Busy is a waste of my, what is our goal?

[00:22:28] What is our intention? 50 calls? Give me the phone. I don’t wanna just make phone calls till you book 5 appointments. No. No. No. How many does it take?

[00:22:35] Yvonne Heimann: Yep.

[00:22:35] Jeff Fenster: 50? Give me the phone.

[00:22:38] Yvonne Heimann: And it’s, it’s interesting to see having that behind the scenes knowledge, it’s interesting to see how those beliefs and that focus is threading to at least 2 team members that I am working with too, where it’s like, cool. I literally came in to help do that, to help the team be more efficient and [00:23:00] not spend their time on, on, let’s be honest, bullshit admin stuff where it’s like, really, we need to apply 3 subtasks. Let’s not do that. Right.

[00:23:08] And it, it is really fun to see all of this threading through the community that those businesses are and just how much fun the team is having, especially when you come in and everybody is on VR. I’m like, what am I missing here? I’m missing something.

[00:23:25] Jeff Fenster: Well, it’s part of it. I mean, the, the 2 non-negotiable rules at all of our companies are make friends and have fun. And

[00:23:30] Yvonne Heimann: You are definitely impersonating that within the companies. It’s everything

[00:23:35] Jeff Fenster: It has to. And if you’re not that way, you don’t wanna work with us, and that’s okay. It doesn’t mean it’s the only way.

[00:23:39] It’s just our way. And we wanna build our tribe of team members that make friends and have fun. And if we’re having fun and we’re making friends, we’re gonna win, And we’re hard to beat. And while, yes, we compete with competitors, our true competition is ourselves.

[00:23:55] Yvonne Heimann: Yep.

[00:23:56] Jeff Fenster: We are focused. So you ask, the formula that I follow is very [00:24:00] simple. It’s make friends and have fun. Take immediate decisive action.

[00:24:03] Yvonne Heimann: Oh, that’s a good one.

[00:24:04] Jeff Fenster: Because a lot of people are tomorrow.

[00:24:06] Yvonne Heimann: Should I do this? I can do that tomorrow.

[00:24:08] Jeff Fenster: Yes.

[00:24:08] Yvonne Heimann: Can I do that? Oh, yeah. I can do that tomorrow. I still have time. Oh, yeah. You don’t.

[00:24:12] Jeff Fenster: Tomorrow’s a magical day that never happens.

[00:24:14] Yvonne Heimann: Yep.

Overcoming Procrastination: Taking Immediate Action Now 

[00:24:14] Jeff Fenster: You get a hundred percent done of whatever you do right now.

[00:24:16] Yvonne Heimann: Mhmm.

[00:24:17] Jeff Fenster: So just get it done. Like, just get it done. Your life changes the second you enable and enact that.

[00:24:23] Yvonne Heimann: Yep.

[00:24:23] Jeff Fenster: If all people get from this is I’m gonna start to be a take immediate action now human. You think about working out, work out.

[00:24:31] You think about getting a haircut, get your haircut. You think about cleaning your room, clean your room. You think about reading that material, read the material.

[00:24:36] Yvonne Heimann: Yep.

[00:24:37] Jeff Fenster: You think about listening to the podcast, listen to the podcast.

[00:24:39] Don’t wait. I’ll do that later. I wanna watch or I wanna scroll. I wanna, you’re wasting time and you’ll never do it. The list of things that you need to do, stack.

[00:24:49] My list is small, because if I can do it now, I do it now. I don’t care how long it takes. I mean, no one wants to do everything we do, But I want the results.

[00:24:58] Yvonne Heimann: Exactly. So you’re [00:25:00] gonna have to do what you’re going to do.

[00:25:00] Jeff Fenster: And which one do you want more?

[00:25:01] Yeah. And that’s why words and speaking is cheap. And so I don’t judge anyone on what they say. Show me your behavior.

[00:25:08] Yvonne Heimann: Mhmm.

[00:25:09] Jeff Fenster: I, everyone wants to be great. Everyone wants to be Michael Jordan. Everyone wants to be Bill Gates or Elon Musk.

[00:25:14] Yvonne Heimann: You’re gonna put the work in to make it happen.

[00:25:16] Jeff Fenster: Show me your activity and show me your actions.

[00:25:18] Are you being and focusing on being remarkable at everything, doing it now and improving, or are you making the you know, mistakes are fine once. The second time you make the same mistake, it’s a choice. It’s not a mistake anymore because you’ve already experienced it. Right?

[00:25:30] Yvonne Heimann: That to me, you’re just too lazy to do anything about it.

[00:25:32] Jeff Fenster: But the second time is a choice.

[00:25:34] Yvonne Heimann: Yeah.

[00:25:34] Jeff Fenster: And that’s why I tell my kids. It’s like one mistake is a mistake because you didn’t know better. The second time you make the same mistake, it’s a choice.

[00:25:40] Oh, dad, I forgot. You didn’t forget, it’s a choice, because it wasn’t important enough for you to not forget. Right?

[00:25:47] If you cared, you would not have forgotten.

[00:25:49] Yvonne Heimann: Yep.

[00:25:49] Jeff Fenster: So It’s a choice, which you’re saying, whatever this is, cleaning my room, taking the trash out, whatever the stupid chores at home, it’s not meaningful enough to you. So it’s a choice and you’re allowing yourself to [00:26:00] forget versus I take the trash out. I will not forget.

[00:26:03] I’ll put a reminder in my phone. I’ll do whatever I have to do to not forget this.

[00:26:06] Yvonne Heimann: Yep.

[00:26:07] Jeff Fenster: That’s remarkable. You start to do that in every area of life. The results just happen because and this is the sad part. The competition, which is society, is average and mediocre. So it’s not hard to beat everybody or excel or stand out because no one else has lived, not enough humans are doing it.

[00:26:25] The high road, the 1 percent, the high achievers, there’s only a small select group of people who are doing the work. And so if everyone does it, I would probably be average again because I am an ordinary guy.

[00:26:37] I’m okay with that though because I know everyone’s not. And I still would rather live in a world where make me be better. Push me. I don’t care. Let’s go.

[00:26:46] Yvonne Heimann: I’m gonna put the work in. I think that’s, that’s really what it comes down to putting in the work because so many just simply don’t.

[00:26:55] Jeff Fenster: Yes.

[00:26:56] Yvonne Heimann: It’s like I have enough 9 to 5 friends who are like, I don’t like this. So what are [00:27:00] you gonna do about it?

[00:27:01] Jeff Fenster: Correct. And they don’t do anything. They don’t. Yep.

Embracing Kaizen And Working Towards Incremental Gains

[00:27:03] And the next one is Kaizen.

[00:27:04] The idea of getting 1 percent better every day. Not focusing on trying to say i’m gonna go from being out of shape to running a marathon. But it’s like, how do I just improve a little bit today? What can I do to be a little bit better than yesterday? If yesterday, I only made 40 calls, can I make 41 tomorrow?

[00:27:17] Yvonne Heimann: Yeah.

[00:27:17] Jeff Fenster: And in 10 days, I’ll hit 50. Fine. Maybe it’s not 50 day 1 because it’s too much. But in a hundred days, are you at a hundred or you still at 40?

[00:27:25] And most people are still at 40 because you’re not making those micro gains. And if you continuously make micro gains, you’re gonna get better, which is gonna allow you to compound winning and win stacking happens. And all of a sudden, you start to see noticeable results and then, you know, be remarkable, which is a lot of people wanna be perfect. You can’t be. No one’s perfect.

[00:27:43] Nothing’s perfect. But if you strive

[00:27:44] Yvonne Heimann: You can try. I can

[00:27:46] Jeff Fenster: But you can hit perfect though on the way towards remarkability. And remarkability just means, did I give a hundred percent of my best effort that I have today? Whatever it is, This podcast with you, am I thinking about 8 things I gotta do later and the ballgame and the [00:28:00] bills or the business? Or am I here with you a hundred percent with you engaged with you.

[00:28:04] And if I’m doing that, even if I’m not very good, I’m still remarkable because I’m giving you my best. And if I do that every day, I’ll get better with my Kaizen. So my best tomorrow will be better than my best today.

[00:28:16] And I’m always remarkable. And that’s what, another backbone of success. And then finally, the idea of change ready that you have to be willing to adapt and pivot as the world and information changes where AI is coming. How are you implementing it? Right?

[00:28:30] Are you just saying, well, I’m not gonna use AI?

[00:28:31] Yvonne Heimann: Oh my god. Yeah.

[00:28:32] Jeff Fenster: You know, I was, became an adult right when the Internet was becoming mainstream. And so there was a transition of companies that were not adopting the Internet because that’s not how we do business.

[00:28:41] Yvonne Heimann: Oh, it’s gonna go away.

[00:28:42] Jeff Fenster: Yeah. It’s a fad. Oh, you’re extinct. You’re a dinosaur, and you’re gone.

[00:28:46] Yvonne Heimann: Yep.

[00:28:46] Jeff Fenster: And that’s dangerous and it’s true in life. So as information comes out on health and wellness, are you willing to learn and listen? Or with relationships, are you willing to change as society changes. Like you said, you know, our view on male, female was different [00:29:00] 20 years ago than it is today and social issues and conservative issues and all the stuff.

[00:29:06] Are you willing to adapt and change as new information becomes available so you can continue to take you know, make friends, have fun, take immediate decisive action, Kaizen your way to becoming the person and skills you want, be remarkable, and change when you’re necessary. You do that in every area, You’re successful.

Thinking Beyond Your Goals; Becoming Your Best Self

[00:29:25] Yvonne Heimann: And it has served you well as, as we can see on, on your bio. So to, to round this up, 2023 was the big Jeff Fenster is stepping on the mat out of, out of behind the scenes.

[00:29:37] You got your book that released, I think, beginning of 2023.

[00:29:41] Jeff Fenster: Yeah. I think it was April.

[00:29:43] Yvonne Heimann: April something? We’ll have that.

[00:29:44] Yes. I’ll get my, my signature here in a little bit. You got WeBuild going, which is go, growing crazy. You got Everbowl growing, which is going crazy. You got all these things going on.

[00:29:58] What is in the plan [00:30:00] for Jeff Fenster 2024?

[00:30:03] Jeff Fenster: Well, all those things you said, I wanna keep growing, keep doing. I wanna get better. So I’m gonna improve every day or I’m gonna strive for it. That’s the intention.

[00:30:11] Does it happen every day? No. But that is what I strive for, so I wanna become a better speaker. I wanna continue to grow the Everbowl brand, the WeBuild brand, the Jeff Finster brand. We’re looking at other ways to kind of build community and help more people because I do believe that there is a massive need and there are people who have good intentions that are doing great work to help others, and there are people who are taking advantage of the need from people.

[00:30:37] And I wanna be the former. I wanna be a source of results for humans. I wanna people to go, hey, you know, Jeff, he helped me or I learned something from my mistakes or if I can help because I am fortunate. I’m very grateful for my relationship circle and the people that are in my life that have helped me learn the things I now know. You know, I, I am not the creator [00:31:00] of all of these ideas. I, I’ve receive them.

[00:31:03] Yvonne Heimann: Mhmm.

[00:31:03] Jeff Fenster: Implemented them, fine tune them for me, and see the results. And I want more people to make more money. So, you know, I speak more to entrepreneurs just because, you know, doctors don’t necessarily care what I have to say and nor, nor should they.

[00:31:16] But if you’re in the entrepreneurship community or the, or the, you know, startup community or the business community, I think that there’s a voice I have in that space to help, and my goal is to help you. And I want you to make millions of dollars and make businesses that have massive impact and make my life better. Because I want, you know, everything we do is selfish and there’s a selfish reason. Spend more time with my family and friends. And, you know, we’re looking to continue to find new cool companies that can either be part of our ecosystem and cool people to join the team.

[00:31:46] And I can’t tell you because I don’t think things out that long. I’m not a 5 year plan guy. I don’t know why. I think we spend too much time worrying about the future Instead of winning the day? And [00:32:00]

[00:32:00] Yvonne Heimann: It comes back around to do it now?

[00:32:01] Jeff Fenster: Yes. And, you know, the first rule of entrepreneurship is stay in business today.

[00:32:07] Yvonne Heimann: Yeah. That’s a big one, especially after the few years we had.

[00:32:11] Jeff Fenster: Yeah. And the second rule is stay in business tomorrow.

[00:32:14] So I laugh because, you know, I invest in companies and people give me these 5 year projections and 5 year business plans and

[00:32:20] Yvonne Heimann: So much changes nowadays in 5 years. It’s like

[00:32:22] Jeff Fenster: Think about 5 years ago. The word COVID didn’t exist. Like, you said COVID. I’d be like, what, what, what?

[00:32:28] I don’t even know what that is.

[00:32:29] Yvonne Heimann: Mhmm.

[00:32:30] Jeff Fenster: 5 years ago, the world was very different.

[00:32:34] Yvonne Heimann: Oh my god. Yes.

[00:32:35] Jeff Fenster: So why are you worrying about 5 years from today? What are you doing right now? And how are you gonna think through the next 1 year backwards or 30 days backwards or what are you doing today?

[00:32:44] Yvonne Heimann: So do you do any kind of planning?

[00:32:46] Jeff Fenster: Of course.

[00:32:46] I mean, as a company, we do. Yeah. Personally, I set goals for myself, you know? But they’re not, as they’re not as, like, forward like, can I get in better shape in 2024? [00:33:00] Yes.

[00:33:00] I work out every day. 7 days a week. Never fail. Without fail, I work out every day. So am I gonna continue to do that?

[00:33:07] Yes. But if I continue to do that, I’m gonna get in better shape. Can I eat better? Well, I already try to eat good. So, yeah, I can try to make better choices.

[00:33:14] Yes. All those things are great. But I don’t set like, I wanna make 50,000,000 dollars next year. Like, to me, those are, are, those are glass ceilings. How about in 2024, I’m the best version of Jeff Fenster that I’ve ever been in my entire life.

[00:33:29] I’ll be 41 this year. So in 41 years, if the 40 first year on this planet is the best Jeff Fenster, I win. And guess what next year is gonna be? Can I be the best version of myself? All the results I ever wanted, you blow through them.

[00:33:43] Like, I used to think, oh, I can’t wait to make a million bucks. And I made a million bucks. And I wasn’t satisfied. I wasn’t happy. And then one of my mentors said Mhmm, what if you said 100,000,00? And I’m like, well, I’d probably be happier. And he’s like, no. But you you, you might have been, but you probably would have hit [00:34:00] it. You were doing

[00:34:01] Yvonne Heimann: You held your self back.

[00:34:02] Jeff Fenster: I held myself back by setting a goal of a million dollars.

[00:34:05] Yvonne Heimann: Mhmm.

[00:34:06] Jeff Fenster: And I wanna set numbers. Like, of course, with the team, I’ll say, hey, you know, can we do a million dollars here, 10,000,000 here?

[00:34:12] I wanna bring in this many new locations. I want our AUVs, of course. We have objective you know, objective targets that we are striving to. But as a personal level, I wanna be the best me, and that’s all I can be. And whatever result that gets me, I have zero regret.

[00:34:28] Because I, if I look back and say, well, I could have done this, I should have done that, I could have studied harder or worked harder or spent more time, and I, I could have spent less time on Instagram and, you know, I could have well, then, yeah, though I’m gonna be very unhappy.

[00:34:41] Yvonne Heimann: Mhmm.

[00:34:41] Jeff Fenster: But I don’t have, It’s very rarely I ever look back and have regret even when I fail, air quotes, or I don’t hit some target because what else could I have done? What else could I have done? I did my best.

[00:34:55] This is it.

[00:34:56] Yvonne Heimann: I love that.

[00:34:57] Jeff Fenster: All I can do is live inside my own skin and be the best me. [00:35:00] And I want everyone else to be the best you every day, all the time. And when you build that habit, it’s hard.

[00:35:05] It is hard especially if you haven’t been living that lifestyle. It is hard. So you’re hearing me say these words and it’s not easy to change your habits. It’s not easy to change who you are. It’s not easy to implement.

[00:35:16] You don’t have to do it overnight. Can you get 1 percent better today? Can you just get incrementally better? If you can, it’s a matter of when, not if. And it might take you 10 years to become the best version of you.

[00:35:26] So what? In 10 years, you’re gonna be happy.

[00:35:29] Yvonne Heimann: Yep.

[00:35:30] Jeff Fenster: Or it could be 6 months.

[00:35:32] Yvonne Heimann: And the, the nice thing is you are living it, where a lot of people go out there and speak and say, where you are talking about the relationship bank account and all the things where when you get a behind the scenes look, it’s like, oh, so you just jumped on a marketing scheme.

[00:35:52] And it’s like, no, it’s not. It’s like the first time we went into each other. It’s like, he’s just there. There is no i’m [00:36:00] the fancy guy.

[00:36:00] I’m like, yeah. I love having, I wanna have an Andrew too. So one of these days, we’re just gonna clone Andrew. Andrew, Andrew is like Jeff’s shadow, who’s doing the behind the scenes, the B roll footage, who’s recording for us today.

[00:36:11] Jeff Fenster: He’s also, he produces the Jeff Fenster Show.

[00:36:13] He’s a videographer. We travel together. He’s great. I want an intro.

[00:36:17] Yvonne Heimann: But you are approachable.

[00:36:19] You are out there. You are resharing on social media. Sometimes with, with even paid collaborations, getting somebody to share something when you tag them is like pulling teeth, and you are just in there. You are just exactly who you say you are. So thank you for coming on through the show today.

[00:36:37] It was really fun picking your brain. I was listening on miss Pat Flynn’s show actually coming here where you guys were also talking about, you know what? It’s easier to invite somebody to your podcast and pick their brain because even though i’m in the office here, I don’t always get to see him. So thank you for coming on.

[00:36:55] Jeff Fenster: Well, thank you for having me.

[00:36:55] Yvonne Heimann: I’m excited to see where everything is going in [00:37:00] 2024 for you, for the companies, for all the things.

[00:37:03] Jeff Fenster: And thank you for doing your show. I mean, you know, you’ve, you’ve been doing this for 60 something episodes, which is a testament. And you should be very proud because that is not easy to do. And for helping an audience of humans get access to great ideas and conversations that maybe they don’t have current in their life. And sometimes it’s that one piece of information you need to hear at the right time that changes everything.

[00:37:26] You never know who it can come from.

[00:37:27] Yvonne Heimann: Yep.

[00:37:28] Jeff Fenster: And I, I mean that wholeheartedly. So I, I think it’s, it’s wonderful that you do this on top of the amazing things you’re already doing to help us as we continue to build out all of our systems and I wanna thank you for the work you’re doing for EverBowl and WeBuild because you are making us more efficient and you are making it so we can be a better as a team. And that was really a cool opportunity for us to meet through that, and I’m grateful that you invited me to come on.

[00:37:50] Yvonne Heimann: Thanks so much for coming on. And, guys, as always, you can find all of the links and everything about Jeff right in the description. I’m gonna link the book there. I’m gonna link his page there. I [00:38:00] know you have a, a couple of things coming up on the personal branding side.

[00:38:03] As always, check out the description. Make sure you hit the follow button, and leave a comment. If you have follow-up questions for Jeff, leave it in the comment section. I’ll make sure to pop it over to him. Thanks for coming on.

[00:38:13] Jeff Fenster: Thanks for having me.

Timestamps

00:00 | Introduction

06:37 | Utilizing Your Ego Properly To Achieve Better Success 

13:31 | Not Settling For Mediocrity; Path To Remarkability 

17:13 | Rethinking Productivity And Spending Your Time Efficiently 

24:14 | Overcoming Procrastination: Taking Immediate Action Now 

27:03 | Embracing Kaizen And Working Towards Incremental Gains

29:25 | Thinking Beyond Your Goals; Becoming Your Best Self