The Restart Podcast

Day 7: How I'm building a business with zero dollars (ep. 54)

• Arthur Toole • Season 7 • Episode 7

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How do you build a thriving food business with zero dollars in your pocket? Let's uncover the secrets behind Arthur's roller-coaster journey as he takes on the Veterans Project Opportunity Pitch Competition for a shot at $10,000. The stakes are high as Arthur, with a little help from his insightful family, particularly Danette, maneuvers through a challenging pitch format. He shares powerful lessons learned from past experiences, including a bittersweet victory where promised rewards never materialized, leading him to create his own version of Shark Tank. Inspired by the successes of entrepreneurs like Mark Cuban, Arthur imparts valuable lessons of focus and perseverance to his son, all while holding firm in his commitment to personal and professional growth.

Join us as we explore the pivotal role of self-control in achieving success. Arthur's candid reflections on managing business pressures, personal health, and even the nuances of everyday life reveal the transformative power of self-discipline. With a 100-day journey towards fitness and wellness underway, Arthur underscores the importance of consistency and accountability. His heartfelt message of love and faith resonates deeply, aiming to inspire listeners to cultivate their own networks of support and encouragement. Tune in for a narrative filled with grit, determination, and the relentless pursuit of dreams.

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Speaker 1:

Hey good people. This is Arthur. This is day seven of the Grow my Business Food with Zero Dollars. So last night was a long one. We're about let's see this week seven, about 11 days from the Veterans Project Opportunity Pitch Competition where it's $10,000 at stake. Competition where it's $10,000 at stake.

Speaker 1:

I ran through the draft of it for the first time to my family and a couple of my friends and the first time it always sucks, right. The first time always sucks so, and with this format where I'm being kind of told what I can say and what I can't say, and the format that I have to go with, it seems overwhelmingly restrictive. But here's the pretty interesting part. So, you know, my family is rough, is rough, right, and so that's why I love them, because if I can get past that gauntlet of my sisters, um, you know, like I could take anybody right, um. But afterwards, you know, danette was tweaking it a bit and she said that she liked the fact that they put so many restrictions on me, because the last time I did this they had to wind me down and I didn't remember that part. You know how we only remember the parts of our past that we want to remember.

Speaker 1:

So in December 2019, I pitched in the Phillies veteran Shark Tank for $50,000. I won, and they never gave it to me, and they never gave me an official reason why, nor did they put it in writing, although they told me that, hey, we'll allow you to say you won, but you won't actually get the money. I met all their criteria. You know, did a background check on me. I don't have any criminal charges or never convicted of anything, but they did anyway. But, you know, did a background check on me. I don't have any criminal charges or never convicted of anything, but they did anyway. But you know, the cool thing is that's what? The thing that that led me to build, uh, my own shark tank. That now, next year will be the fourth year, but forget all that, because actually it was a blessing had I not, had I gotten that money. I don't know right, but I will win and I will build Grenada Nut in spite of so. But she said that by them restricting me is forcing me to focus on that and she thinks it's better for me. Now. Danette and I are polar opposites in everything, so, but I do know this that when her gut says something, she's pretty much always right, right. So even if she can't articulate, articulate it she's genuinely and generally correct.

Speaker 1:

Anyways, I have another presentation for the president of the college that was due really Friday, but it can be turned in today and for the life of me, I cannot complete this thing. I'm not sure if it's a lack of desire or lack of thinking that anything will happen from it, or what, but I do know that I was up all night trying to get it done and I just can't. So today, I haven't given myself until 11 am get it done and I just can't. So today I haven't given myself until 11 am, which is about two hours from now, to get the draft ready and send it off so they can be reviewed. From this date, this point on, I want to practice the actual pitch for the pitch competition at least three times a day, and then I'll redo it in front of family on Sunday.

Speaker 1:

Personally, I am going to get back being serious on physical health Uh, I didn't gain all the weight back that I had lost, um, because I just been eating whatever again, and I want to have a lifestyle that is consistent with healthy living, as someone that's been a good steward of the temple that God gave him Right. So I'm going to start doing that. The eating right part is a lot easier for someone like me because I have dinette. It's when I go out and buy the extra stuff so the Cokes, the candy and stuff like that. Like, if I just cut out the Cokes and candy, I drop a lot of weight, I've seen it. So I'm going to come up with a plan today and then tomorrow I'll share the plan.

Speaker 1:

But I think I'm just going at least, for since I did 100 days of posting, I think I'll do 100 days of. I did 100 days of posting, so something for my business. I'm gonna do 100 days for something for my personal health and I think that that'll be it. So it'll be, you know, fitness, eating right, drinking water, things like that, um, and the goal is it'll be. You know, fitness, eating right, drinking water, things like that, um, and the goal is just to be consistent. So I don't know what my body will look like after a hundred days of that, but I do know that I am curious and I don't want to get it too late in my in my life to where I try to reverse some things that can no longer be reversed. I don't have any issues now, but you just never know, what lesson would I want to share?

Speaker 1:

So I was talking to my son and he is like he has. He's an amazing talent, amazing kid and he has a business that he's working on and, just like every other entrepreneur, you get the new and shiny, you know. And so I told him I said, listen, commit to it for five years and you'll be at such a better position in five years if you just commit to that and even if nothing happens to it, the skills that you would learn in it would be I mean, it would be the thing that can take you to that thing. And while I was talking to him, I was, you know. He started mentioning other people, but everybody that he mentioned that's super successful, like I think he mentioned. The first one was Mark Cuban. Mark Cuban committed all his time to one thing, then sold that to Yahoo, I believe and then started delving into other things.

Speaker 1:

And then started delving into other things. Um, michael lee chen was doing a financial advisement, invested, sold that, then jumped into one other thing and then spent the next three decades on that. Um, the ceo of amazon can't think of his name. Uh, even the tesla guy. They all od'd on one thing, sold that and then to started doing other things, or at least diversify once it became viable.

Speaker 1:

And so while I was telling them, you know, I felt convicted that you know, medrely has to be that one thing. And it's not like I'm not interested, it's just that every time I start committing other things, more attractive things, um, come along right. So, oh, that could do that. I could flip that real quick. But it's all just an illusion. Everything looks easy when you knee deep in something else. Right, it's true in business, it's true in in marriage. It's true in a career choice. It's true in um. You know decisions like you want to do CrossFit and you get into CrossFit because you think it's easy. And then you see, I don't know, yoga, matrix, make that up, but whatever you do, commit to that thing and then work at it as unto the Lord, right. And then give it time, right.

Speaker 1:

And it's weird because, like, we all struggle with discipline. But for those of us who are in Christ, part of the fruit of the spirit is self-control. So we shouldn't be out here trying to get self-control. It was given to us as a gift. We just have to choose to use it self-control. It was given to us as a gift. We just have to choose to use it.

Speaker 1:

All right and I'm talking about me as well as every other person that claims to be a Christian we choose to be self-controlled, right Like. We choose not to work out but we choose not to eat, right Like. We choose not to commit to the thing. We're choosing not to use self-control. So, for a hundred days, maybe, that's it, I'll choose self-control, and then so I'll write out something to see what that looked like and I'll share that with you.

Speaker 1:

Um, I'll choose to be, uh, use self-control in my business. I'll choose to use self-control in my personal life. Choose to use self-control in my health. Choose to use self-control in my personal life. Choose to use self-control in my health, my eating habits, in my thought life. Self-control, in other words, is discipline, consistency, all sorts of things. I'll choose to use discipline in terms of committing to this, so that I can continue documenting the journey to help you or to help the later version of me. Continue documenting the journey to help you or to help the later version of me. So what about you? What are you choosing to use your gift of self-control over. All right, let me know, and you know, we'll hold each other accountable. All right, love you. God loves you more. See you tomorrow.