The Power Of Perspective, with Andy Frisella – MFCEO1

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, along with their second company 1st Phorm, do 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.

It all starts with the power of perspective.

Episode Introduction

In this first conversation of The MFCEO Project podcast, Andy Frisella, “the MFCEO” of Supplement Superstores and 1st Phorm International, explains the purpose of the podcast and shares how he was brutally stabbed, left for dead, but eventually recovered and learned the importance of overcoming adversity for success in business and life.

Joining Andy is his co-host, Vaughn Kohler.  The two of them talk about how to develop a mindset that knows how “to turn an ass-kicking into an asset.”  This is a provocative, motivating conversation that drives home what all successful people have in common: the power of perspective.  The ability to find the good in the bad.

Andy’s Story:  Stabbed In Springfield

Oftentimes, when people first meet Andy in person, the first question that they have, that they might be afraid to ask is, “what happened to your face?” Andy’s got several scars on his face. He’s got nerve damage on his face. There was a time where he wouldn’t tell people what happened because he was embarrassed of it.  He felt like they judged him so he would tell them he got in a car accident or something like that, just quick and easy.  But the truth is, he got stabbed multiple times.  Andy tells the harrowing story of how he almost died, the shit he went through afterward, and what he learned from it all.

The Successful Find the Good in the Bad

Andy says that it’s necessary to realize that if you really want to have an awesome life, if you really want to be successful, you have to develop the power of perspective.  That’s the ability to find the good in the bad. Andy doesn’t mean that in terms of fairly tale fluffy, cotton tail rabbit stuff. He means , “look, there’s going to be bad shit that happens, there’s going to be things that happen to all of us. There’s going to be adversity. There’s going to be things that we can’t necessarily control. There’s going to be situations that are going to piss you off and frustrate you and really make you want to quit.” The difference between people who are successful and people who aren’t successful in life are that former look at these situations that cause tremendous amount of heartache and pain and they find the lessons in those situations.  They use them to their advantage.

Choosing The Power Of Perspective

Andy says it all comes down to how you choose to see things. The great thing about developing the “power of perspective” mindset is that when bad shit does happen, you don’t get upset about it anymore. What happens is, instead of getting pissed off and upset and crying about the bad things that happened, you automatically look at things and say,  (A) “All right, that happened. (B) I’m not going to do that again and (C), here’s what I learned. That’s something that all successful people do and all unsuccessful do not do. Developing the mindset that thinks “I can learn anything from struggle and setbacks” is a tremendous tool and advantage that you have over other people.

Develop The Power of Perspective So It Becomes Automatic

Andy says that once you develop the skill of seeing the good in the bad on a regular basis, it becomes automatic.  That’s when you become exponentially more powerful because it’s not a conscious decision anymore, it’s just what you are. When bad things happen, you automatically say, “All right.  This is what it is.  How can I respond positively, productively, and powerfully to this?”

Take Inventory of the Bad Shit You Can Use

Andy says we should take inventory of the “bad shit” that’s happening to us right now. Take inventory of these things that you’re frustrated about.  Instead of being frustrated, take a piece of paper out and write down what you can learn, what is the upside and how you can use this to your advantage. It changes your perspective. Instead of being frustrated, it basically takes a weight off of your shoulders. Try doing that, see how it makes you feel and when you’re in a positive mindset and you have that pressure off you it’s a lot easier to do things you need to do.  You’re not dwelling on the negative.

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