11 - Andrew Biggs : living better than rich

:: 00:02

00:00:36 All right, well, welcome back today. I have Andrew Biggs with me. Andrew is just transformational in the stuff that he has done, where he used on how he has moved around. The man just uses courage. So he has been instrumental in my life in helping to challenge me to push, you know, beyond my boundaries of comfort. And so I wanted to introduce you to Andrew and super happy to have him here.

:: 01:09

00:01:32 So I'm excited to dig into it today. Thank you, my friend. I appreciate it. Yeah, you, you have just made leaps that it's like, I think would have other people just like stop in their tracks and go, yeah, I'm not ready to take that, that, that move. So if you would, let's start off just have you kind of describe where you're at both personally and business-wise what,

:: 01:57

00:02:17 make a lot of money. I work with a lot of people who have been successful in the business world and have been successful in sales or entrepreneurship, but they aren't really have that. They don't have that deep, meaningful life that they really desire, whether that's like deep, meaningful connections and relationships or it's personal growth, or maybe it's making an impact in the way they want to be honest.

:: 02:41

00:02:58 I I'm sure, you know, a lot of people listening can feel that. And basically what I do is I kind of help them on that journey to deep, meaningful connections, purpose, meaning in their lives vision, of course, developing their skills. And then the last, the last pillar is also deepening their wisdom and their discernment. So we kind of work with these sorts of things and,

:: 03:18

00:03:35 He's, he's amazing. We live here in Fayetteville, Arkansas, you know, I've been all around the world, but this is where we've decided to plant roots. You know, we obviously a lot of people didn't necessarily, you know, come out of 20, 20 thriving. You know, we, we kind of got lucky and kind of had the opposite we had our best year ever.

:: 03:55

00:04:13 better than rich really was birth. You still were living the, like mentoring, like a lifestyle, right? You were helping men grow, like you've talked about what, what better than rich does you already doing that? Right. Been coaching now for, I want to say four years or so I've done some, some, some retreats and those sorts of things.

:: 04:40

00:05:00 Anyway, I actually started in the Cutco world way back in the day. I don't know if you're familiar with tech con I'm sure there's probably are as well. A lot of, you know, kind of high flyer, you know, sort of individuals in the personal growth space has come out of that, that world. And, you know, cause it's a great proving ground and a great breeding ground for personal growth.

:: 05:20

00:05:39 And so the more people I could help succeed in that position, the more I could, you know, you know, succeed myself. Now, what was interesting was around 2011, 2012, I started to get more interested in deeper concepts like philosophy and spirituality. And that kind of drove me all the way to the other side of the world to India,

:: 05:57

00:06:14 like clash of clans and those sorts of brands, which was really fun, you know, get to play in the mobile gaming space and got to see their, their headquarters in Helsinki and all sorts of fun stuff. But really that was also a journey for me to, you know, go on this self discovery journey. And even then, you know,

:: 06:32

00:06:50 and I really loved that company. And I, and I still am in touch with, with some of the leadership, but just the recognition that I wanted to do something more directly in the personal growth space. And that's really when around 2015, 2016, I kind of transitioned out and began this more, this more aggressive path towards individualized leadership and really trying to make a deep impact with people's lives,

:: 07:13

00:07:34 honestly, you know, it's just kind of a, an interesting story. They, they advertise to a lot of college kids and I got a letter in the mail and it said $15, you know, base. I think that it's up up now, even from that. But if that in 2006 I was like $15. There's no way I'm going to get paid more than $15 anywhere else.

:: 07:52

00:08:11 you know, to, to make that a career, you gotta be really, really into it. So it's pretty fun, you know, I can play at cocktail parties and stuff like that, but it's not exactly where they, the direction I chose to go. And so when you joined with Cutco, like what did Andrew looked like at that time and what,

:: 08:28

00:08:46 how to, you know, present yourself, how to actually close the deal. And it's not high pressure sales by any means, but it's just something where, you know, it's your first sales job. You got to present yourself, you've got to kind of put yourself out there. And I think, you know, there's a lot of challenges that come along with that,

:: 09:03

00:09:22 the boy. And then she kind of used this medieval analogy where it's like, there's the page. And then there's the night. And then there's the prince and eventually the king and, and, you know, when you're kind of in that age range and like, you know, 18 to 25, which were, it was where I was kind of the night phase.

:: 09:39

00:09:56 How do I rank, you know, we're really concerned about our status. And so, you know, it was a formative time for me to, to kind of flex those muscles, you know, but ultimately it's kind of a selfish mode. And so, you know, I think what I learned from that time was that, okay, I have some capacity I'm able to,

:: 10:18

00:10:39 We beat the competition by like 67%. I was pretty fun to just like, you know, kind of be that like warrior type and like slay the dragon. And also it was around that end of that chapter where I started asking deeper questions that I was realizing, oh, being at the top of the leaderboard, actually isn't as fulfilling as I thought,

:: 11:02

00:11:20 They are climbing that corporate ladder or whatever it is that they're chasing and it's kind of leaves them unsatisfied at the end. And so that was really where I started to ask those deeper questions, if that makes any sense. Totally makes sense. I mean, I think that's a pretty common thing is it's like you see the prize that you want, the goal you want to attain and then when you attain it,

:: 11:43

00:12:04 you know, you've made those transitions for, so can you talk a little bit more about the time when, when you were discovering, Hey, this is not giving the me the fulfillment I'm looking for? Like, how are you feeling and what were some of the conversations or thoughts you were having around that time? Yeah. You know, I think it's a little shattering to a lot of people's identities when they are chasing after something that they feel will be the ultimate version or the ultimate success.

:: 12:33

00:12:53 I'll go after this, this achievement. And then it kind of, you know, is underwhelming, that's shatters our identity. It's like, okay, who am I? And what's going on in this world because my calculations were off, you know, the, the star that I was aiming at, wasn't the north star, right. I was like,

:: 13:09

00:13:28 you know, questions like, who am I and why am I here? And why are we here? And how did we get here? And like these sorts of questions that people have been asking for, for millennia S sometimes successfully answering them and sometimes not, but just actually asking the deeper questions and not settling for this shallow existence, even if it's sometimes painful to reflect and ask yourself,

:: 13:53

00:14:13 yeah, I w you know, I think to the courage point, I leaned into those questions a little bit more, even though they were scary. And it's something that I encourage my people to do. And obviously, you know, you as a listener, I want to encourage you to do that today. It's obviously part of the reason I'm here is to help you kind of ask those deeper questions,

:: 14:32

00:14:57 You know what I'm saying? It's like the draw of leaving behind comfort or a certain known position at work or something along those lines and going, you know what, I'm going to leave this and go over here. Like, when I left corporate, you know, being a corporate employee and went to owning my own it consulting company, I didn't know what I was stepping into.

:: 15:27

00:15:49 you know, it's been one of those of just making a decision to move despite the pain more so than I think how you're talking that, you know, like you have, you have in like inherent courage built in. So I think the way we come at things is a little different, but we both see the value in moving forward. And so,

:: 16:13

00:16:30 Maybe you feel like you should move. Maybe you feel like you're being inspired to start a, a brand or a podcast or, or get a message out there. Maybe you feel like, you know, I just, just have a, I have a coaching client who, you know, has been living with his girlfriend for eight, nine years. And I'm just like,

:: 16:48

00:17:06 you talked about risk versus like a guaranteed return. And it's like, well, there's really no guarantee either way. And that recognition is super important that, you know, there's a risk in acting and there's a risk in not acting and you needed to decide, you know, what the right call is. I'm not saying be reckless, but can you make calculated risks?

:: 17:27

00:17:46 playing it safe to, you know, yes, ships are safe at Harbor, but that's not why ships are made Living small, like playing it safe has its own pain because then you look back and, you know, regret is the thing that you can't ever get back because you can't always go back to that opportunity that you had, you know? So it's like,

:: 18:06

00:18:27 you know, on the next action you take it's. It gives us a more depth of knowledge to succeed as we move forward. So it's like, I've grown in my risk tolerance, you know, as far as just being like, Hey, we're going to give it a shot. If I have to backtrack, I have to backtrack. If you know,

:: 18:45

00:19:09 you know, bet on yourself, you're your best investment. Right, Right, right. You know, there's, there's one thing that kind of triggered something for me when you were speaking, which is why do we play it small? You know, one of the benefits of playing it small as you can always kind of say, well, I could always do that if I wanted to.

:: 19:24

00:19:43 I would be, you know, where I want it. And so there's, there's an inherent sort of, you never have to ask yourself, am I good enough? Because you are just staying right where you're right where you're at. You're never put to the test. So, you know, again, if you're, if you're listening and that, that resonates,

:: 20:05

00:20:27 and then you went to managing at the video games, right. In India, you went to India, correct? From there, Correct? Yeah. Well, there was a lot of like escapism, you know, in that, you know, in that pain and, you know, just kind of feeling empty, kind of numbing out and, and whether that's,

:: 20:51

00:21:08 you know, feeling depression or anxiety or fear or whatever, and you don't want to feel it, you can just, you know, open up your phone and distract yourself. And so, you know, distraction, you know, whether it's substances, drugs, and alcohol, or, you know, a lot of guys these days struggle with porn or different things like that,

:: 21:29

00:21:48 I'm just going to kind of escape. So, you know, I was kind of simultaneously trying to ask these deep questions, but also bumping up against my own limitations. And, you know, that's, that was that transition to India. You know, we, we had a lot of fun. We grew the company to, in, in those years,

:: 22:08

00:22:30 So that was something that I really had to overcome. You know, I think also I had to overcome kind of just, Hey, who am I right. Do I, do I really know myself very well, and am I proud of myself? Do I love myself? You know, sometimes I've been a little bit, you know, I consider myself kind of a sensitive person.

:: 22:50

00:23:12 And I think that I always kind of, or reading poetry or something. And I think that I kind of saw that as maybe lesser than I had to kind of deal with that, like, okay, what is, what is my form of masculinity kind of look like to me and how can I be proud of who I am and, and put that forth,

:: 23:30

00:23:52 you know, trying to feel comfortable in those moments, you know, and, and kind of playing the part a little bit, but Hey, do I really belong in this room? And you know, is it really, you know, am I kind of a fraud here? So just kind of having to deal with those, those sorts of questions.

:: 24:12

00:24:30 this tunnel, I don't know if you've ever been there, but, you know, there's just this opportunity to be confronted and idea like, here's, here's the, here's the message. If you're in the tunnel right now is like, just keep going, right? Like Winston Churchill said, if you're going through hell, keep going and you'll, you'll find your way out.

:: 24:49

00:25:04 But as soon as what I saw was you kind of seeing the light and then just like chasing after it with all of your might. And it was really inspiring to see. And, and so, yeah, like that was really that chapter for me, but what, what comes up for you there? So what comes up for me as I'm sitting here wondering,

:: 25:21

00:25:46 did it did going from Cutco to managing on the computer app side? Did that just kind of increase the feelings that you'd been having before? Absolutely. I mean, it was, it was really in this feeling like I'm a little outclassed here, right? There's a, there I'm a little, like they're throwing around acronyms that I got to, like,

:: 26:10

00:26:26 what's an API or what's this or that. And just learning the lingo and there's a throwing around really comfortably and you kind of are like, oh yeah, an API. Okay, got it. Yeah. Put it down in your notes. And so you're just, yeah. You're feeling like, okay, I I'm maybe, maybe I'll kicks my coverage.

:: 26:43

00:27:08 you know, I think is, I think is really important. So how did you get to a point where you're like going, what the heck is an API and, you know, like a CRM, like you talked about all these acronyms of, of business and, and on the tech side, how did you get from that to, to being like,

:: 27:27

00:27:50 Right. And just recognizing that, Hey, you know, probably a lot of these people in the same room feel the exact same way. And, and just that recognition that, Hey, you know, maybe this isn't just a me thing because the more I have conversations that are real with people, the more I see this imposter syndrome and this feeling that,

:: 28:15

00:28:30 Another thing is just beginning to release, attachment to things, needing things to go a particular way and just trusting, trusting God, more trusting the universe, more, whatever you want to call that. But just trusting that, Hey, if this meeting doesn't go as planned, that's exactly how it's supposed to go and relaxing into that. You know, if this podcast,

:: 28:53

00:29:15 I've just recognizing that the, what if worst case scenario that you're imagining in your mind in this meeting and this job opportunity and this entrepreneurial endeavor or whatever is actually, you know, it's probably not that bad. Even the worst case scenario, it's like, okay, if you get fired tomorrow, worst case scenario is like, you're on, you know,

:: 29:34

00:29:52 I mean, you still have your goal. You're still driving in a certain direction if I'm understanding it, but you're removing the expectation. How did you go about doing that? I mean, it's, it seems like that wouldn't just be like, Hey, I'm going to remove expectation and boom, you're done. So how did you go about that? In my,

:: 30:11

00:30:45 Hey, right here, right now, everything that's happening is happening for me, not to me and kind of allowing life like the life force energy to, to flow through which again, it takes, it takes a practice of, of really watching your ego and then beginning to decide, identify with it a little bit where you can, you know, you don't see yourself as this small little micro,

:: 31:14

00:31:29 the power of now really changed my life and just trying my best to be in the present moment. I don't always do it, you know, but as often as possible, how can I just be present with the person or the people in the moment that I'm with? Yeah. I think that's critical. It's like with, you know, people losing their job over this last year,

:: 31:48

00:32:11 It's one of those that's forced upon you almost at that time. So I think it's, it's imperative that it's, that as much as we can control it, ask those questions when we're in a position of being able to guide it and yeah, just detaching from those expectations. It is so, so worthwhile to work through the challenge and the struggle of doing that.

:: 32:37

00:32:58 you know, you want to close the deal and maybe that is the path, but maybe it's not right. And just being comfortable with like, okay, being unattached is I don't need anything from you. Right. Because I'm committed to getting there. You know, I want to work with you. I want you to be a client of mine, or I want you to be,

:: 33:18

00:33:35 in our sales process is better than rich. Like if it's not aligned for us to work together, I'm not closing your deal. I'm not taking your money. Right. Like I refuse to do that. And first off, that's a really important sort of ethical stand that makes you feel really good about the business that you do do. But it also just is a really attractive thing because people are like,

:: 33:54

00:34:11 again, I'm not perfect at that, but as often as possible, that's the goal That's vital. How did you grow as well? Going from what'd you say you ended up at 1500 people. So you went from 200 to 1500. That's like over seven times as many people. And what timeframe was that within how many years? About five years. So within five years,

:: 34:36

00:34:58 And, and kind of being comfortable, laughing at yourself, you know, not taking things too seriously. And I think a lot of times people aren't willing to have that beginner's mind, nobody likes to feel like a beginner, right. So I, you know, the old saying of you can't teach an old dog new tricks. It's like, people don't want to,

:: 35:15

00:35:30 if you want to learn and you want to grow in life, especially if you want to pick up a new hobby or you want to just round out your skill set in a business, you know, you have to be willing to do that. So part of it was embracing that beginner's mind and learning the industry, so to speak. I think that was really important.

:: 35:48

00:36:13 How do you, how do you test your assumptions? How do you, how do you collect data? How often are you getting reports? It became very much a business that we had to think systematically because when we scale, you know, you have to think that way. You know, one of the things that my, my old CEO at that company who I really admire really smart guy,

:: 36:33

00:36:58 and how do you account for that? You have to think with a different mindset than if it was a small town. And so, you know, three, nine, right, 27 is the next triple 81, two 43, et cetera, et cetera. So on and so forth. When you, when you triple in head count, you have to re-imagine it.

:: 37:18

00:37:44 Hey, they may not do it as well as you will, but they're still going to do a good job and they're still gonna, you know, get the job done. And if you ever need to, you can step in being able to work through people, being able to delegate and trust that they can do their jobs and empowering them to do so.

:: 37:58

00:38:22 You know, ultimately we were kind of a vendor to those industries and, you know, they probably, you know, overnight they could replace us if they want it to yes, we had contracts, but you know, they, you know, if they weren't happy, could replace us pretty easily. So just being willing to ask the tough question, leaning in,

:: 38:43

00:38:57 where they're real concerns and reading between the lines with their answers and then making plans, you know, accordingly, and you Ended up then going from, from there, you stepped out on onto your own and you actually moved to Mexico from there. Is that right? When we moved back to the states for a little bit, and then we're like, yeah,

:: 39:16

00:39:36 put it into store. Well, we packed up everything we needed into a few bags, put the rest in storage, which really wasn't that much, honestly, because we, we had just moved back and we, we said, okay, let's go. We got booked a one-way flight to Mexico, got an Airbnb. And we, we lived in Mexico for like four or five months,

:: 39:53

00:40:21 And you left this, like for sure position as you're managing 1500. I mean, like you took up big leap. What was going on there both for you and in your conversation with your family? Yeah, that's a really, that's a really interesting one, a really tough one because in some ways, you know, I, I, in some ways it was the perfect,

:: 40:47

00:41:09 that discussion right in our, in our marriage, in our household really had to be around, well, you know, I feel a calling, right. I feel compelled to take this leap. Yes, it's risky, but I'm going to trust that this calling is on my heart for a reason. And, and if I stay any longer, I'm to kind of,

:: 41:34

00:41:51 we've got to have these tough financial discussions and Hey, we got to put that off and okay. You know, did we pay that credit card? And we got it. Okay. Let's renegotiate the debt, you know, or whatever. And how on the other side of that to be able to be like, oh, wow, cool. You know,

:: 42:06

00:42:27 callings are placed on us, you know, by forces that are, that are bigger than us. Right. Again, whether that's, whether that's God or whatever your conception is of that, can you, you know, it's kind of like the story of Jonah in the Bible. It's like, you got to go to Nineveh. It's like, what?

:: 42:46

00:43:01 Well, I'm like sitting back and going, that's a huge jump. I understand, like, you know, having going into the office and just having it wear down and eat it too. And it's also one trying to take into account, like your wife's security, you know, like her feeling of like, Hey, we're taking care of, and then you've also got,

:: 43:25

00:43:45 How has that played out for Elijah? Like, how was he, how is he being formed watching mom and dad make these bold, brave moves? Yeah, it's funny. I can actually hear him in the other room. I love you. You guys get on the podcast, but good timing. But I think that one he's, he's he's become and is becoming incredibly resilient.

:: 44:08

00:44:25 I think has been really cool. Also, he's been cultured in different and, you know, has these appreciations for different things, which is really fun to watch. And, you know, the capacity to make friends really easily has been really good to watch as well for him. So, you know, that's, that's what I would say. At least in terms of a parenting perspective is he's a,

:: 44:51

00:45:09 this, that, and the other. But we kind of said, Hey, we need to be able to have him, you know, do this or that and pivot without breaking down. So that was, that was really key. One of the things that came up for me when you were sharing about, you know, negotiating that with my wife and stuff,

:: 45:27

00:45:48 Have gotten better and better and better. And so my accuracy improves over time. If you don't shoot ever, right, then your accuracy is gonna remain poor, you know, cause you're just not practicing, you know, your decision-making muscles. And so by taking a lot of shots, I've gotten better at aiming, I guess, is one, one way to look at it.

:: 46:13

00:46:36 Hey, we're going to go, you give this a shot and you're, you're in it together at a higher level and able to act on it. Is that, is that accurate? Yeah. It's like, you give me the ball, let's let, let's go. Let's shoot. And you know, again, it doesn't mean you're gonna, you're gonna make every shot,

:: 46:55

00:47:16 is generally better in business and in life, if you're trying to worry, worry about the competition or worry about, you know, always playing it safe, you're missing out on so much opportunity. So I think playing is, is generally better as a strategy. Well, my friend, I want to say thank you for coming on, sharing everything that you have from,

:: 47:38

00:48:00 you can also follow better than Rach there. You can find it in my, on my bio, but w I, we do have a virtual event coming up August 7th and eighth. If you go to better than rich.com, check out our virtual event, it's a really, really cool experience. We'd run three or four of these at this point. We've also run two or three in person,

:: 48:20

00:48:38 So this one will be virtual will be a little different, but that's the sort of community we'd like to build with better than rich. And so if you can make it and you want to get to know us more, check us out, you know, the virtual event, it's a kind of a great way to, to get introduced August 7th and eighth,

:: 48:52

00:49:18 See you on the next episode, and remember to continue putting yourself out there. Have a great one.