Warum der Underdog-Status dein größter Vorteil ist

0:00you're an underdog. So, the first and most important point of being unheard of is that every position actually has an advantage. And so, for example, let me tell you a story. So, I had a company called Allen, which I ended up selling 75% of um four years ago, 2021, however many years ago that was. While I was working inside of Allen, we had B2B customers, we had agency owners. And so, an agency owner got on the phone with me and he actually was serving gym owners.

0:28Now, at the time, I still owned Gym Launch, the company that I ended up selling also in 2021. He said, "I feel like it's not fair that I have to compete with you." Now, mind you, I'm like here trying to help this guy grow his business, even though he is technically a competitor of mine by selling to gym owners. I made this point to him that I thought was worth making probably for you, which it doesn't really matter where you're at in business. Like, I think one, you should always try and think like an underdog. If you're in the apparel space, you're always competing with Nike. And so, like, you're an underdog compared to Nike. But I think the underdog mentality is a winning mentality because underdogs are the ones who win ultimately and the people who are at the top of the mountain are the ones who are fat and happy and end up getting taken over by the underdog. And so I mean Jeff Basos talks about this. He says it's always day one at Amazon is that we want to they want to keep that mentality. And part of that reason is why they are so big is that they still maintain that flexibility. So I want to hit on some of these advantages. in talking to this uh agency owner, he was struggling and he said, "Everybody who gets on the phone with me says,"Well, you know, you're not gym launch and you know, give me your track record, how long you've been doing this, things like that." And he was like, "I just don't really have a good response." And so I said, "Well, have you considered that one, when I started I was in your position and so one, it's possible. Number two is that your advantage is that you're not me, right?

1:42So, if we're the biggest person in the space, which Gym Launch is arguably the biggest the market leader in that in that industry, the advantage that I have as Gym Launch is I'm going to say, "Hey, this guy Adrian is in his mama's basement and has no track record. And if you want Coca-Cola Classic and you want to know that it's that you have success stories and there's tons of case studies and tons of proof of gyms just like yours seeing this level of success, we know that our system works. You just have to run the system, right?" And so that's fairly compelling. Now, what do you say in response to that? Well, what you would say to the prospect is like, listen, well, you don't want to work with Gym Launch because to them, you're just a number. You're never going to meet Alex. You're never going to even probably even talk to him. He's not going to know your name, right? You're going to get assigned some account rep, right? That doesn't care either. And they're just going to be running through some like checklist with you. Whereas for me, you're going to have my cell phone number. If you need anything, you can call me whenever you want. And it's actually me. And so who you're really comparing is not, you know, my company versus Gym Launch. It's me versus their rep who they would assign you to. And I can promise you I'm far more dedicated to seeing you succeed than they are.

2:49Compelling. Of course, both positions have advantages. And so you want to play the cards you're dealt. Only a loser's perspective that their position in some way dictates how the end is going to happen, right? Because one of the beautiful things about having nothing to lose is that you also have everything to gain. And so what it means is that you also have unlimited shots on goal because if you miss, you're just back at zero, which is exactly where you are. So you have essentially risk-free unlimited upside, which I think people wildly underestimate the advantage of the underdog, which is why in terms of game theory, they're the most dangerous player on the board because they can't lose. And that perspective was ultimately what got me to even quit my job in the very beginning was worst case scenario, I just get my job back. So that means that like I have risk-free shots. It's like life giving you a lottery ticket. The only thing you pay for is with time, but you still have unlimited upside every time you scratch it off. To me, not a bad gig. And to be clear, I have the portfolio that we have now and it's all all this money and success, whatever. But like I had nine businesses that amounted to almost nothing before I had my first real big win. And unless you're Mark Zuckerberg or you're Jeff Bezos, which is not common, uh most people fail the first time and the second and the third. And sometimes what happens is that the failures just become less failure. Like in the beginning like not no one buys anything. But you do remember building the logo on the website and thinking that you had a business but like nothing happens, right? And then finally you make your first sale, but you're like this isn't a real business. Like what's going on here? Like I exchanged money, so I guess I technically in business. Do I have to pay taxes on this now? Like what happens, right? And then and then eventually you get to one where you're like, "Okay, now I'm starting to sell stuff and make money, but like I'm not actually making money. I'm making revenue, but I'm making no profit. I'm like incurring all this risk and all this debt in order to get it going." and you're like still trying to figure it out. And then on like your fourth try, you're like, "Oh, what do you know? I made a profit.