Humility Is Huge, with Andy Frisella - MFCEO12

Podcast Overview

Sixteen years ago, Andy Frisella, “The MFCEO,” and his business partner, Chris, started a company called Supplement Superstores with $12,000 they earned from striping the stripes on parking lots and now do annually over $100 million a year in business.  He started this podcast basically for three reasons.

•      To mentor people who don’t have mentors
•      To motivate people in a real authentic way
•      Because he has a passion for motivating and helping people

Andy’s main motivation here is to help people realize what it takes to A) be successful. B) stay self motivated and C) hopefully for people to give back to others as well.

Humility is Huge

Humility is huge.  Not just for living a good life.  For running a successful business, too.  According to Andy Frisella, humble leaders inspire employees and customers, and humble businesses improve and dominate.

Humble Highlights

Here are some of Andy's salient points from this episode:

(1) Nobody wants to be friends with an asshole—and you need friends to succeed in business and life. "If you’re so prideful you think you’re the shit, the gold standard by which all other people are judged as inferior, I’ve got news for you: People will notice that. They will think you are a prick who doesn’t value them. A Dickhead who doesn’t need them. A total and complete asshole. And nobody wants to be friends with an asshole. Nobody wants to help that kind of person dream big dreams, pursue their goals, and have the best possible life.   Yes, it’s true that some people have no choice but to work for an asshole, but do you really think they will give a 100 percent at their job? They might be good people who work hard in spite of a crappy supervisor; but I will tell you this: They won’t be as effective as they could be. It will be too hard for them to maintain a positive attitude and be motivated.   (Oh and good luck finding customers who like buying from an asshole or doing business with him.) No matter who you are, you need help to succeed (see chapter four). Assholes get no help. They are on their own."

(2) If you think you’re perfect, there’s no way for you to improve. "We all know the saying, “Life is a journey, not a destination.” Prideful people think that there is a moment in life when you finally “arrive.” You climb to the peak of the mountain and you’re done. You can stay there, high above the rest of the world. Nothing left to do but look down on everyone else.  That’s totally false.   If life is like climbing a mountain, that mountain goes up and up and never ends. Sure, the higher up you climb, the better your view of the rest of the world. But you’ll never reach the peak—except maybe when you die. (That’s a discussion for another time.) When you have that attitude, your self-improvement inevitably comes to a grinding halt. Why? There’s no way to get better because you think you’re already as good as you could possibly be. Other people could help you get better, but you think you’re better than them—so what help could they possibly give you? There’s all sort of things you could learn, but why bother? You pretty much know everything there is to know—at least about the important stuff."

(3) If you can’t make friends and can’t improve, you’re screwed—in business and in life. "Who the hell would disagree with this? But that’s exactly the danger people flirt with when they allow themselves to get prideful. In fact, the truth is, it’s actually pretty easy to succumb to pride. The moment you accomplish something big, the moment you start tasting success on a regular basis, pride is a constant temptation. I fight it everyday. It’s hard not to be prideful when you’re as awesome as I am. (Just kidding.) Seriously: Even the nicest people can be become prideful assholes if they let themselves.  I can. You can, too. So how do avoid that? Be humble."

(4)When you are humble, you value other people. When other people feel valued by you, they will help you succeed. "It seems like a no-brainer to admit that someone is better than you at something. But what you are really saying is that they have something that you don’t have. Or they are the kind of person that you’re not—yet. You recognize that they could help you become a better person or have a better life. Go even deeper and what you’re saying is something that most of us will rarely admit: We can’t do everything ourselves. We need help. We need other people. Every now and then, I’ll be invited to some banquet held by the local chamber of commerce or some other organization—and I’ll be given an award. When I get up to receive the award, I say “thank you” and tell everyone how much I appreciate the recognition. But then I make it very clear that I’m only accepting the award on behalf of the entire team at Supplement Superstores. I’d be a prideful asshole—and an absolute idiot—to think that I earned that award by myself. I didn’t. In fact, most of the achievements I get recognized for I didn’t accomplish myself. I had help—lots of it.   I’m not a one-man show. I need my business partner Chris. I need my teammates. I need my wife. I need my family."

(5) When you are humble, you are open to learning new things. It is only by learning new things that we improve ourselves and position ourselves for greater success.   "Dude, let me ask you a question: Do you have the Internet mastered? I mean, do you have every page of every website memorized and understand it completely?  No? Okay then.Have you talked to every person on the planet? Do you have an exhaustive knowledge of all their wisdom for life and happiness? I didn’t think so.  Here’s my point: Nobody knows it all. The prideful person is not just a dick, he’s a dumbass too. He thinks he perfect . He thinks he knows everything and can’t get better. But the minute you think you know everything, you can’t learn anything. If you can’t learn anything, you can’t improve. If you can’t improve in business, you’ll be bankrupt in months. If you can’t improve yourself, your knowledge, your talents, your character, you might have one or two moments of success—but they won’t last. You certainly won’t enjoy a lifetime of success. Without the ability to improve, you’ll never dominate your life."

LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE