In episode 62 of The Kitchen Table, Ken Baden interviews Andy Eliott as they discuss the importance of building a strong company culture, maintaining relationships with your team during tough times, and the significance of physical fitness in achieving success. Andy also shares valuable insights on leadership, loyalty, and the power of storytelling in business.
Tune in to hear about their collaboration and the impact of personal experiences on helping others succeed.
TIMESTAMPS
[00:01:10] Overcoming Challenges and Leadership.
[00:03:26] Building a Strong Brand.
[00:07:24] Fitness and Success Relationship.
[00:10:42] Building a Badass Culture.
[00:13:19] Embracing the Hustle Mentality.
[00:19:27] Stress Testing Relationships.
[00:21:32] The Power of Influence.
In this episode, Ken Baden and Andy Eliott emphasize the importance of stress testing as a means to strengthen these areas and prepare for challenges. Andy mentions the significance of understanding the breaking points of the company, marriage, relationships, and team. By stress testing these components, individuals and organizations can identify vulnerabilities, build resilience, and foster loyalty.
Overall, sharing authentic stories, building a personal brand, and inspiring others through real-life experiences are key components of success in business and leadership.
QUOTES
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS
Ken Baden
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officialkenbaden/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/officialkenbaden
Andy Eliott
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officialandyelliott
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theandyelliott?mibextid=LQQJ4d
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyelliottofficial/
WEBSITES:
The Kitchen Table Podcast: https://thekitchentablepodcast.net/
Blue Collar Ballers Union: https://bluecollarballersunion.com/
Andy Elliott: https://link.me/officialandyelliott
The Elliott Group: https://elliott247.com/
Welcome to the Kitchen Table, a podcast about where business is done. So pull up a chair and join your host, Ken Baden.
Intro/Outro
All right, welcome back to another episode of the Kitchen Table podcast. I'm your host, Ken Baden, and we have I say this every episode, but we really do. We have a very special guest in the house tonight because this guy has completely taken over social media, completely taken over the sales training market, somebody that. I've had the pleasure to work with recently and somebody that I'm looking to learn from personally and grow with. And so I'm really excited to bring you the great Big Daddy himself, Andy Elliott. That's an inside joke, but what's up, man?
Ken Baden
Man, nothing, kicking butt, Ken. Hey, and by the way, guys, so I had the bottom of my screen said Big Daddy when I logged in. So it changes it to Andy Elliott. So it's an inside joke, Big Daddy. But number one, Ken, I want to tell you, man, I appreciate you. Listen, one of the things that I love, and I mean, I know this is about like, you know, you said, hey, let's jump on this podcast because me and your brothers, but I want you to know, you know, your story is amazing, bro. What you're doing is changing a lot of people's lives. You know, I want you to know that like anybody that's watching this first and foremost, is that, you know, the things that you've overcome in your life, the things that you've gone through in your life, it makes you just that much more qualified to help people that have gone through those things that have had those things happen. And, you know, I just want to tell everybody that, like, do whatever has happened to you or whatever you've gone through. It's just truly like what's going to make you just be that much better of a leader. And it makes you that much more qualified to actually, you know, do what it is that you want to do, like the big stuff in life. So I just want to say that, like, that's why that's why you're winning right now, because you're qualified, man. Your story is amazing and I love it. You know, I love seeing every time I see you, you're more hungry and more fired up. You're taking good care of your family, your wife, your kids. You know, you want to have kids or your business. I mean, you're just you're a great dude. So I love it. Anything I can do for you, I'm in.
Andy Elliott
Thank you, man. And I really and I know you mean that. And that's one of my favorite things is it's hard to find authentic people these days and it's hard to find authentic people to buy into. You know, I'm somebody who like tries to navigate networking and really mentorship, man. I believe in coaching. I believe in mentorship. I was doing it well before, you know, finding folks to buy into well before I paid anybody to do it. But just really refreshing, man, to find somebody like yourself who puts their money where their mouth is. And so far, man, I can certainly say. That's been my experience. And so I'm loving navigating this with you. And I really appreciate the kind words, especially coming for yourself, having me on your podcast and taking the time to be on mine. So I really, really appreciate it. But we got to bring some fire, man, because I got you on the podcast today. So we got to blow every episode out of the water, man. We got to have some heat here. All right, so we could go into the whole cliche of backstory, but I feel like for the most part, and I could be wrong, but I feel like most of our audience knows who you are. And if you don't, you must be living under a rock. But like, you know, you've been for the last eight years putting out content, right? Probably before that. But I know you said like, hey, dude, this isn't overnight. This was eight years, probably more. But over the last two years, really, for me, I've seen you over the last year just freaking skyrocket. Yeah. Did you say you attribute that? It's not overnight, but like, is it just the stick to it of this? Like what's if you had to pick one or two things to give our audience to like, man, if you just do X, Y and Z, you can do this too. Because I remember, and this is a short story, but I remember getting a text from somebody from your group last October. I didn't know who you were yet. I was in a Bradley. I was in some sort of a funnel, right? I didn't know I was in one, but I commented on something or Brad and somebody commented on something. And for like six months I was getting like just conversation. But like, hey man, you know, do you know Andy? He's going to, you're going to know him. You're going to know him. And just, they were, they were somebody from your group. That's probably still there. That was stick to itiveness to the hundredth degree. And I love that. And the next thing, you know, sure as hell I knew who you were because you were everywhere. So like, it was just so impressive to see that man. So like, Where does that come from?
Ken Baden
Well, well, number one, I can't, I want to give a couple of things that I think are super important. Number one, anybody that's watching this right now, um, the last three years, last three and a half years, um, I've been dropping a lot of content and I want to tell you some content to me is the way that I live. It's not content. I don't see something on the internet. And then I'm like, Hey, this is trending. Let's go share this. Like we just share like real life, how our company's operating, what we're doing. Um, you know, like Ken, I don't believe that politics are going to change the world. What I believe that's going to change the world are great companies. And what my number one goal is to do is to make my company the greatest it can be, my company and my companies, and build them as strong as possible, raise our standards, inspire other people to be great, inspire other companies to be great, and literally do things at a very high level. That's my number one goal in life. is to do that in my company and then press that through other individuals or other companies. Number two, I will tell you on the content part, we talked about media, like do guys like the news is dying. So like you want to build a brand, like guys like wake up, like just it's 2024, wake up. If you're, if you're not building a brand in 2024, You're an idiot. We get 150 million views every 28 days. I've got more leads than I know what to do with. We were growing at a pace in which is. world record. It's actually just, I don't even have words for how fast we're scaling. And I'm truly telling you, it's because we built a brand. I don't do it to show off. I do it to show people real life, how you can win, how you can lose, how you can overcome adversity, how you can build from anything, how you create greatness. Dude, every single thing that we do in our life, we just try to share it with the world to inspire other people to reach for more. And dude, so I would say like anybody that's watching this, like number one, dude, like you need a new identity if you want new things. You got, you have the same identity. You're not going to, you're not going to see the world the same, or you're going to keep seeing the world the same. You're not going to see it different anymore. So you can't get different stuff. It can't happen. The one thing, the reason why we keep growing so fast here, Ken, and the reason why, you know, I think that like, like minded people like us want to be around each other is because like, dude, like loyalty is a big deal. OK, like I'm loyal in my company. I'm loyal to my people. I'm loyal to winning. I'm loyal to not being a traitor. You know, I hate traitors. I hate anybody in this world that can't keep their word. I hate. They make me sick and I, and I hate people that are ruining this freaking world by lowering their standards and breaking their word all the time. And by the way, that's what we're going to do is we inspire companies. And by the way, you know, I'm a fitness freak, right? Like, like, not that I'm a bodybuilder, but like, I am a business guy that takes care of his fitness as an entrepreneur. And we have a lot of entrepreneurs now that don't care about their fitness anymore. And I'm a big advocate on if we want to change somebody's life radically, we have to change their body. I mean, you talk about all the time.
Andy Elliott
I was going to say, I mean, I already know the answer to this, but how big of a deal do you put on the parallel between your physical, not just your shape, but how much you put into what you're taking care of yourself, eating right, working out and the success, the levels of success that you'll have in your life?
I'll tell you, it's everything. to me, and I'm going to tell you why. Number one, the art of achievement is important, but the art of fulfillment is more important to me. Okay. You know, Ken, do you know who Dean Graciosi is?
Actually, no, I do not.
Yeah. So Tony Robbins has a best friend. His best friend is Dean Grassiose. He lives in Scottsdale. I had dinner with him last night. Me and my wife, him and his wife were talking. And I'm just like, dude, like, I love the way this guy does business. I love this the way this guy honors his wife. I love how real this guy is. I love it. I'm obsessed with meeting people that are real people that are freaking just awesome. I love being around great people. And so I just want to tell you, anybody that's watching this, I'm trying to tell you the most important thing that we could ever give on any podcast is that you're qualified. Matter of fact, a lot of you are overqualified. If you've done like the worst of the worst, or if you've been shitty, if you made bad grades, maybe you weren't interested in school. That's why you made bad grades in school. Not that you're not bad at, not that you're bad at learning, but maybe you're just not interested in, you know, but now you can find something you're interested in. I just got done teaching for five hours downstairs, this big solar company. And I was like, dude, guys, like once I became interested in being successful, I fell in love with learning to a whole new level. Like everything changed. And by the way, to me, like growing a big business is going to require, you know, a lot of energy and being physically fit. So, I mean, all that, those are some gold nuggets. You said like, Hey, what are some things that are important? Like dude, physical fitness, extremely important, building a company that inspires the world that helps other companies become great and truly practicing human excellence at the highest level every day. And then just remember there are no freaking limits. And then lastly, build a brand. Like you got to build your brand. By the way, your brand is not repeating quotes on the internet that other people say, Building your brand is showing how you operate with your team, your family, your life, how you overcome adversity. The news is going away and the influencers are coming in and people want refreshing, real, R-E-A-L, real freaking people sharing how they're doing life. And that's what we're doing. And we have no fake shit and we don't do that. And that's the reason why me and you get along so good because we just don't fly that way.
No, you don't. And that actually is my next question. I wanted my team to put together a couple of questions for you. And so I've combined two of them with basically it's Rick's and Josh's question combined. But, you know, some of these guys got to meet, you know, we came out to Arizona, they got to see your culture and they were like, holy shit, man, like these guys are real and they're really like that. And they're all just so tight. So, you know, you just have this culture that's been created and conditioned so well that everybody is just jacked to the gills every day, all day. So the question is for those who don't already know, like how, how did you get that? And how do you maintain that?
Well, so number one, two things. Okay. Number one, a lot of people expect me to say it's the culture I build. My culture is bad-ass, but I want to tell you a couple of things that I think that go along with building this badass culture. OK, number one, core values and standards are very high and they are initiated daily. They are talked about daily. They are in the language of my employees daily and they are acted on daily. And those are those are demands. And we and we love it. I want to give you another one. And I, and I think like, this is super important, just like for anybody that wants to build something great, you'll get closest to your people when they have problems, not when they're doing great. Um, I'm always ready on demand to be with my people, my team, we have, we have almost a hundred people on payroll. When, when every time someone has a problem, that is my favorite time to join them because it's when someone is going through a hard time and you're with them. that they gain loyalty with you. It's not when things are good. Loyalty is not gained when people are making a lot of money and their paychecks are big. Loyalty is gained when people are struggling and going through hard problems and things are happening and you're there for these people. That's where loyalty is gained. Okay. And there's a reason why a lot of people aren't loyal to anybody anymore, because people will be there when it's easy, but they won't be there when it's hard. And I want to add something else too. People are always like, how do you get your team to work so hard? How do you get them to freaking give everything they got? How do you get them to take a bullet for you? Well, everything that I just told you, but also I will not be at work. I won't be at work. I'm not going to be at work. You're not going to outwork. I listen. no one's going to outwork me and my wife. And I don't mean this disrespectfully because I love my team and I want them to try to outwork me, but they can't. So when they see us not sitting on our ass as owners, we make a lot of money. We have a great life, but yet we still outwork everybody in our company. We're never satisfied. We go psycho. We stay up till 2am in the morning. We're smashing the gym at 5am. We're going absolute beast mode. We're freaking always full of energy. I don't want to sleep. I would literally rather live with insomnia than sleep because my life is so good, I don't want to sleep. And I want to work because I have a short life and I've got a lot to do. So I'm damn sure not going to sleep a third of it.
I love that man. I love that. From a practicality standpoint, I'm not so, but, but I love it. I love it.
And by the way, it doesn't have to be your life. Like that's our life. Like that's, that's the good thing is that people will watch this and they're like, Oh, that guy, listen, you go do you and I'll do me. Listen, Dana White built a UFC. Okay, I'm trying to build the UFC of entrepreneurship. I'm trying to build the first form of entrepreneurship. Okay, Andy Frisella didn't freaking sleep when he built first form.
Yeah. I think Elon said the same thing. You know what I mean? Yeah.
So it's like, Elon's building rockets. Okay. Andy Fussell has been on the first floor. You know what I'm saying? It's like, it's like do like, I'm not, I don't want, you know, Dana White built a UFC. I want to build a UFC, a freaking entrepreneurship sales and business. That's what I want to build. That's what I want to build. So like, I got a dream. My dream is strong. It's powerful. My why look, Kenny, life goes around and it sucks people in the face. And every day I see people all around the world that forget why they're actually doing what they're doing. So you're going to get smacked every day. You're going to get your ass pounded every day. You're going to hit adversity every day. You're going to have problems every day. But dude, the only time that that really becomes a problem is when you forget why you're doing what you're doing. And that's why people get burned out. People get burned out because they forget why they're doing what they're doing. So every day I wake up ultra thankful. I wake up ultra grateful. And then literally, like I say, close to God and I go smash the gym and I am ready. I mean, I can sleep on four, you know, four or five hours of sleep at night. I eat cooked food. I'm healthy. I work out hard, you know, and I don't have any stress. People are like, dude, I got stress. I don't have stress. Dude, I prayed for this shit. You know what's stressful? Being a loser. You know what's stressful? Being around the wrong people. That was stressful.
Yeah, I hear you, man. I mean, I said that too, thinking like, you know, everybody tries to. My wife, she's a big sleep advocate for like, oh, you got to get this many. That's just never been something.
It's important, Jenny.
I get it.
Listen, hey, and your wife, listen. And and probably me too, Kenny, I could probably do better with more sleep. The problem is I just got all this stuff that I write.
I hear you, brother. You're you're you're preaching for me. I'm going to make sure she listens to this because I'm like, oh, I hear you. Trust me. This is like me and her every night. I'm like, look, I got stuff to do.
You know what I mean? And she might go to bed and allow you to stay up and do a little work or something. Vice versa you go to bed with her and then you wake up earlier and do work like listen. Hey, I know how my wife is. She doesn't like to go to bed without me. So if I'm going to if I'm going to do work, the worst thing I can do is do it at night when she's trying to go to bed. I need to wind down with her and then I need to wake up earlier and then sneak out of bed and wake up and then actually I'll do it then.
That's actually probably the most advice I've gotten, because you're damn right. Like she wants me. She's like, dude, what are you doing? Literally last night I'm cleaning the dishes. She's like, what are you doing? I'm in bed. Come on, let's go. So she wants you.
She wants to go to sleep with you, man. She's your wife, like your roommate.
Yeah, yeah. And that's my last big thing about you, Andy, that I really, truly admire is it's always my wife, my team, my wife, my team, like it's never me, me, me, me, me. Like, I love this idea of like, dude, we make this work, like the dynamic between you and your wife. Honestly, that's one of the things that attracted me the most to folks like yourself and anybody like you, like preaching that. That's what I want. Like, and there's not enough of that these days. I think, you know, it's always kind of the adverse. So can you talk about how important that's been for you? Like the our couple dynamic?
I mean, you mentioned it several times, but yeah, I mean, dude, like, listen, any real successful person. that's truly, really successful. That will live a long, successful life, not just a flash in the pan for a couple of years. That person's going to need to take their family with them. Leaders are selfless. So like, I don't need anything. I'm good. I just want to take, number one, I'm obsessed with winning and I want to see how far I can go. Um, but I, but I love showing my wife new levels for me. Um, I love when I get to new levels that she levels up also cause she gets inspired by seeing what I do. Um, that also flows into my children. I believe it's my job as the man of the house to bring good energy to my family. Like that's my job. It's not anyone's else job to motivate my wife. It's not anyone else's job to motivate my kids. It's not anyone else's job to motivate my team. It's my job. So I believe in recognition. I'm constantly giving everybody recognition for everything. Tom Brady, if you've ever heard him speak, He always talks about his team. He always says, that wasn't me. That was us. You know, like, I just think it's really attractive, man. I, you know, Tom might've thrown the touchdown, but at the end of the day, everybody was blocking, you know, everybody practiced hard to be able to play that game. You know, everybody was in the right mindset. So I do like, it was everybody and only true leaders will actually give credit to their team. And I think that's why, like, I just, I just find that the most attractive way to lead.
Man, I love it, man. And you said something and you know, we're right up against it. But you said something earlier that I thought was just so powerful. And it was like, with the group dynamic and how important it is to build that foundation with your people when they're struggling and not when they're winning. That's when it's easy, right? But I think the biggest thing about that is the fact that you know they are. Like I think so many leaders are out of touch with their people. They wouldn't know when they're going through hard times. And the fact that you do, I think is why you win so highly, man. And so I just, I love the atmosphere at your place. I can't wait to come back and get some of that juice
Oh yeah. Well, Kenny, listen, I want to give you another secret too, and I want you to remember this. How stress test is your company? How stress test is your marriage? How stress test is your relationship with your kids? How stress test is it with your team? Okay. Like one of the things I've been talking to my team a lot about lately is stress test. I asked him, how much can we handle? How much can we take? Guys, what is our breaking point? OK, like I talked to this about me, my wife, my team and everybody. And that's the reason why I pray for hard times, because every time that we have something hard happen. Number one, it gives us an opportunity to create more loyalty with each other and get closer. But number two, it actually allows us an opportunity to stress test our company. So in the event one day that something really hard happens or something happens, our whole company is strong together because we've been practicing these techniques for a very long time.
I love it, man. I love it. I love it. This has been hugely impactful. Every time I get a chance to talk to you, man, it's awesome. I can't wait to come out and see you, I believe, next month for sure. Yeah, it's going to be awesome, man. Next month's going to be awesome.
And by the way, I want to say something, Kenny, and I mean this, you know, you just need to keep dropping your content, man. You need to keep putting it out there, dude. Listen, your story's amazing. You need to keep telling it. You need to tell it as many times as you can. You need to tell it as many ways as you can. You need to keep learning different ways to deliver it because it's one of the most powerful stories I've ever heard in my life. And literally like, like you're going to be, you're going to be a legend in the space. just keep going, like don't ever stop. And by the way, I know you have a big business. You see people like me and you, we're not really influencers. We're business owners. But at the end of the day, leaders are influential. So like we influence other people to try to just share our values, what we do, strategies. That way it helps other people just become great, man. So I just want to say like, dude, listen, I want to, I want to, you know, look up and, you know, two, three years as we look back on these old podcasts, not only do we change a lot of people's lives along the way, but we also get to look back and see where we're at in a couple years from now. You know, because I'm telling you, bro, I'm on, I'm doing some shit right now. Dude, it's going to hit in the next, like, four or five months what I'm doing. And this shit is crazy, dawg. Dude, no one in the world can predict what I'm about to do. It's unpredictable. When it drops, it's going to shake everything. And I know you're going to do the same shit, but I just want to tell you that I just can't wait to see where we are in a few years.
I can't wait, brother. I can't wait. That's exciting, man. The tension is palpable. I can't wait. I can't wait to see what that looks like. Andy, thank you, my brother, so much. I look forward to growing with you, man. Thank you for all the kind words. Obviously, guys, follow him on all the socials if you don't already because, I mean, he's everywhere. But I love you, brother, and thank you so much.
Thanks so much for tuning into this episode. We sure do appreciate it. If you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to the show, wherever you consume podcasts. This way you'll get updates as new episodes become available. And if you feel so inclined, please leave us a review. It is how new people find the show. Until next time, remember, there's always a seat at the table for business.