The Real Blueprint to Building Multiple Businesses | Andy Hernandez

In this episode of The Gold Coast Podcast, host Eric Winegard sits down with Andy Hernandez, CEO of The Roads Home Health and founder of Beyond Media Group, to break down what it really takes to build, scale, and sustain success across multiple industries.

Andy’s story is anything but typical.

Starting out working overnight shifts in the ICU, he saw firsthand how the healthcare system operates from the ground level. Instead of staying in that lane, he used that experience as a foundation to build something bigger, eventually launching and scaling The Roads Home Health into a multi-location healthcare company serving patients across Florida.

But he didn’t stop there.

Recognizing the shift in attention, influence, and opportunity, Andy expanded into media, creating Beyond Media Group, a platform focused on content, podcasting, and personal brand growth.

This episode dives deep into the mindset, discipline, and decision-making required to operate at a high level in both healthcare and media.

Inside this conversation:

How Andy transitioned from employee to CEO
The real challenges of scaling a healthcare company
Why relationships and reputation are everything in business
The power of personal branding in today’s economy
Lessons on leadership, fatherhood, and building a legacy
The truth about entrepreneurship that most people never see
How media and attention are becoming the new leverage

This is not just a business conversation, it’s a raw, honest look at growth, identity, and what it actually means to win in today’s world.

If you’re an entrepreneur, business owner, or someone striving for more, this episode will challenge how you think about success.

👉 Make sure to LIKE, SUBSCRIBE, and SHARE with someone who needs to hear this.

Thank you all for listening in on today's episode of The Gold Coast Podcast!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

What um so growing up, what was your what was your favorite sport? Who was your favorite athlete?

SPEAKER_02 0:04

So growing up, my favorite sport is college football. Okay. I'm a huge Florida State fan.

SPEAKER_01 0:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 0:10

My brother played for Florida State in 91 to 95. So I grew up, he was in the first national championship in 93. The Charlie Ward team. Yeah, Charlie Ward team, yeah. I've known Charlie since. Was Sam Cower on that team? Sam Cower was on that team, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I know my team. Wow, you know your stuff. Yeah.

unknown 0:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Because he played for the Bills for a while. Yeah, yes.

SPEAKER_02 0:27

Sorry, Lonnie Johnson. You remember Lonnie Johnson, tight end? Yeah. Yeah. So Florida State's like my passion. I'm a diehard, uh, even though we're going through some rough times right now.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

But yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:37

Yeah. So my brother played there. Uh my brother and I are the same father, different mother. Okay. My brother came here from Cuba in 1980. Came here when he was eight. And uh he started playing football when he was a junior in high school. And uh yeah, he's a big, big, big guy, 6'4. Probably weighed 320 at that time, 3'10. And they put him at uh offensive guard. So he started playing, he was pretty decent, and then he ended up going to prep school in uh Valley Forge, which is in Pennsylvania. Yeah, he was there for a year. And then he ended up at uh Ajuko for about two weeks. And Chuck Amado, I don't know if you remember Chuck Amado, coach with NC State, found out about him and he called the coach at uh I think it was called Eddie Eddie Wamba in Mississippi, called him and said, Hey, uh, we're really interested in this player, send him. And so my brother gets a knock on his dorm. It was like nighttime, and they said, Hey, uh, you're gonna you're going to Florida State. He's like, where the fuck is that? Like, it's in Tallahassee. He goes, Where's Tallahassee? He didn't even know. He had no idea. And he's like, They're like, it's in Florida. Like, really? So they put him on a bus and he ends up at Florida State, walks on. He starts turning heads, and um Brad Scott, which was the coach at Clemson, but he was the offensive coordinator of Florida State, tells him, Um, listen, I'm gonna go searching for linemen this year. Uh if I don't find anybody better, I'm gonna give you a full ride. And they went looking and they couldn't find anybody better. They gave him a full ride. And then my brother ended up becoming a starter sophomore year. Uh because at Florida State they ran a rotation. So he was part of the rotation, and he ended up being a starter there for three years.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

An offensive lineman rotation? So they're almost like a defensive line rotation. Correct. They used to run that. Whoa.

SPEAKER_02 2:22

Yeah, yeah. Like they played eight guys. Whoa. Yeah. Eight to nine sometimes, yeah. Remember, they were blowing teams out. They believed in in if they believed in in creating a bench. Kind of how we run our companies now. Like a lot of the philosophies I have running a company is Bobby Bowden's philosophies that were taught to my brother, but they always believed in developing the guy behind them. So that's why they played a lot, and they would beat the shit out of teams, you know, by 50, 40, 60 points, and that's why they had the liberty of being able to play guys and rotate them. They believed in rotating. That's how they developed their guys.

SPEAKER_01 2:57

Huh. You don't see that now. No.

SPEAKER_02 2:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

Who was who was was work done, wasn't it? Oh, yeah. Oh, the work done wasn't.

SPEAKER_02 3:05

It was on the 93 team, yeah. He was a freshman.

SPEAKER_01 3:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 3:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:08

He was a beast. Didn't they have who was their top receiver, too?

SPEAKER_02 3:11

So they had uh they had Matt Fryer, they had Kes McCorvey. Um Andre Cooper was now on that he was on the 93 team, but he wasn't playing much. Uh that was more on the 95 team. Who else did they have?

SPEAKER_01 3:23

Uh they didn't have like they didn't have a guy that went into the NFL and 500.

SPEAKER_02 3:28

No, no, no. Okay. No. E.G. Green. E.G. was a freshman or sophomore in the 93 team. Yeah. Matt Fryer was like their their number one guy, I would say, and they had uh was Matt Fryer. I'm missing a guy. Oh, Kevin Knox. There's another guy that they had. Oh, yes. Yeah, Kevin Knox and Lonnie Johnson was a big part of their offense. Um, I'm missing one guy. Kez McCorvy. It might be Kez McCorvey.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

They were great. Who did who did they didn't Charlie Ward? I mean, was it Notre Dame they beat in the national championship? Did I get that right? No, Nebraska, 1860. That's right. Yep. Tommy Frazier. Tommy Frazier. And Lawrence Phillips.

SPEAKER_02 4:10

Lawrence Phillips. Yep. Wow, the freaking option. The option. So then they the following year they beat the shit out of Florida in the national championship in '94. Wow. Remember? I do, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

So that was what was that freak's name? The defensive end. Was he on that team? At Florida State? Javon Kurz. Oh, Javon Kurz. Was he on that Florida team or is that a little too early? No, that's a little too early.

SPEAKER_02 4:33

A little too early. Yeah, yeah. Javon was late 90s. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:38

I always grew up a Syracuse fan. They they had some decent. So you're from that New York area? Exactly. Yeah. Upstate New York. Upstate, yeah. So Rochester, it's right in between Buffalo and Syracuse. So we're all Buffalo and Syracuse fans. And McNabb had some, you know, they were this close to being, you know, really nationally competitive. And they were as good as anybody.

SPEAKER_00 4:59

They really were, but that program just, you know, for a while really fell down.

SPEAKER_01 5:04

College football is weird now because I'd like to hear your take on this. I mean, you're, you know, this whole NIL. Yeah, the it then transfer portal. The the same the programs that look like they're ascending are are not the traditional SEC teams. Right. Right? Which is interesting. Like I was looking at the mock draft the other day, and the only guy that I saw from the SEC in the top was uh somebody out of Florida, and I can't remember.

SPEAKER_02 5:32

Um oh it was uh probably the defensive tackle, defensive end.

SPEAKER_01 5:37

I can't remember. Um maybe it was, or no, maybe it was I was looking at something. Maybe it maybe it was.

SPEAKER_02 5:43

University of Miami has two guys in the top 10, possibly.

SPEAKER_01 5:46

But they're not SEC.

SPEAKER_02 5:47

They're not SEC, ECC. Yeah, SEC, that's right. Uh Georgia doesn't have a top guy, uh guy in the top 10.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

Maybe, maybe, maybe I was looking at the basketball rankings. That's what it was. I was looking at the basketball rankings. Yeah, there were no SEC teams in the top 15. Yeah, you know, it was Florida.

SPEAKER_02 6:03

Changed, right? Like it's a year-to-year thing, and it's which programs booster club or boosters or billionaires want to spend more money. You know, Texas Tech came out of nowhere, you know, they were uh you know, a game away from being in the national championship. You know, it's like it's just crazy, right? Like Indiana just won the national championship. Think about that. How wild is that? They wouldn't have been able to do that in the old system. You know, Mark Cuban donated a ton of money to them, and now it it completely changed. This is a year-to-year thing. And the SEC, which I still think is the most dominant league in the country, uh, the best players play there, they beat they beat each other up. You know, you get an Indiana that plays maybe two, three top teams in the country, and then you got a weak ass schedule and you're not getting beat up. That helps, man, to go on a playoff run like they did. Yeah, you know, and then they found the missing piece in Fernando Mendoza, and and they went and got older guys that were established guys, but they weren't really pro guys, and they brought them in, and that that gap from 18 to 19 to 23 and 24 is a big gap in that sport. And Kirsten Netty's figured that out to bring older guys that are very good players, they're not great, they're not gonna be NFL guys, but they're just really good college players. That's always gonna beat a good 19, 20-year-old four or five star, I think.

SPEAKER_01 7:26

So hearing you, so do you think it's gonna be basically who has the biggest paycheck is gonna have the biggest best programs right now?

SPEAKER_02 7:33

Yeah, I would say so. So Miami's in good shape. Miami's in great shape. Miami's in great shape. Uh, you know, Miami's payroll is probably north of, you know, they say anywhere between 30 and 35, and it's bullshit. It's probably more to closer to 50. And I sat down with the GM of Texas AM. Wow, and I asked him straight up, I said, listen, off the record, what's what's your payroll? Is it 35, 40? He starts laughing and goes, it's 50. And I gotta go back to the boosters to ask for more, and I don't know what to tell them. Because there's no ROI on their money. But he goes, if we want to stay competitive, we gotta pay.

SPEAKER_01 8:10

The only ROI is ego, ego, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:13

You know, and pride, you know. Um they gotta figure out a way. Uh I don't think this is sustainable.

SPEAKER_01 8:19

No way. No way.

SPEAKER_02 8:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:22

No, because this is the this is the part that, and I'm gonna sound like an old fuddy though.

SPEAKER_02 8:27

This is a great podcast, by the way. No, you love it. Already rolling. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

Oh, we've been rolling. Amazing. I love it, man. Yeah, because it gets people just natural.

SPEAKER_02 8:36

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 8:36

Yeah, I love it. I don't even I dude, we I had a couple videos really hit out of nowhere. Yeah, and like one of them got like 33,000 views, another one, you know, like 6,000. I just started this a couple months ago, and it really got like a bunch of subscribers, which is awesome. That's awesome, man. And what I'm realizing is is that like when I watch podcasts, I hate the intro.

SPEAKER_02 8:59

Right, right. The interview part.

SPEAKER_01 9:01

Yeah, yeah. I just want the meat of it because you can do the intro with the text or the captions, yeah. You know, Andy Hernandez, big baller, Eric Weingard, CEO, whatever it is.

SPEAKER_02 9:12

Yeah, whatever it is, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, you're absolutely right. You know, I've been running podcasts for you know for a couple years now, and I started my own podcast, and now I run multiple podcasts for athletes. But you're absolutely right. And I've actually, funny enough, I've been thinking about the intro. Is it really needed? No, it's more of like the hook. How are you gonna hook the audience into your into your podcast or into your content?

SPEAKER_01 9:33

Yeah, that's like the thumbnail. 100%. Right?

SPEAKER_02 9:35

So the thumbnail on YouTube most important thing on YouTube is the thumbnail. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

So that's the hook. Yeah, so it's like, okay, boom, I got them to watch it. I don't want him to watch an intro. I mean, not that I'm comparing us to Joe Rogan, but Joe Rogan just goes through two seconds. Yeah, you know, yeah, no, absolutely, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:52

That's so cool though. You like the like the love of the, and I kind of thought in my head, I'm like, shit, are we already rolling?

SPEAKER_01 9:59

Yeah, well, I like it. The other thing too, you're obviously natural and you're in business, so you talk about, but I've had some people that struggle, and then once that red light's on, they talk a little differently. They freeze up, yeah. And I gotta ease them back into it. So I just said, you know what, let's just roll.

SPEAKER_02 10:15

Let's roll it. Yeah, that's that's a good strategy. That's a very good strategy. I might I might start doing that.

SPEAKER_01 10:19

Test it out.

SPEAKER_02 10:20

Yeah, I'm gonna test that out, yeah. Yeah, test it out. So tell me about your podcast a little bit. Well, I had a podcast that I launched probably during the end of COVID. You know, so I got very into like the whole politics thing, and I've always had an interest in it, but I'm like, man, I feel like I'm being misled, you know. So I'm like, I feel like it's a bunch of bullshit, right? Like what they're feeding us, yeah, COVID. And I, you know, I grew up old school Democrat. My dad was an old school Democrat, uh, you know, JFK, Bill Clinton, that type of Democrat. So I kind of grew up kind of with those principles, right? Um so always, you know, I voted for Barack Obama, I'm not shy to say it, and then I voted for Hillary because I didn't believe in Trump. And uh and then I started realizing I'm like, hold on, like something's not adding up. One plus one is not two here. And then I started doing a lot of research, and I started up a podcast called Beyond the Narrative with a buddy of mine named Petey, and we just started talking about all the different things that were going on and just giving our opinions, and it was fun. Um and then it evolved into all right, how do I turn this into a business? And that's how we created Beyond Media Group. And then uh, you know, I'm passionate about sports, love it. Very, I think I'm pretty knowledgeable in it, and uh, it just comes very natural and easy, easier than business, right? Uh business is a struggle for me sometimes. Uh, as hard as that is to believe for some people, it's I struggle with business, and but sports is very natural and easy. I'm like, and it's fun. So that's how we started building. We we started acquiring talent. You know, I have multiple shows from the Nevin Shapiro show, I have uh uh you know, Keon Dooling show, I have uh Vitor Belfours with us, and we're we're starting to do some stuff, and we're relaunching our the Beyond the Narrative podcast, and I'm gonna do it with Vitor, and we're just gonna do this right here and talk about everything, everything's gonna be on the table, and it's gonna be super interesting because it's gonna be his perspective on things, and he's really gonna open up.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

He hasn't really done that like politically and still politically and you know, and he's Brazilian, correct? He's Brazilian, okay.

SPEAKER_02 12:23

Yeah, what an incredible story Vitor has. Came here when he was 16 with a thousand bucks. He convinced his coach was the uh uh one of the Gracies, I forgot his name because I'm not a big MMA guy, as crazy as that is. Um, now I'm learning more about the sport because of the relationship that I've developed with Vitor, but his story is just incredible, and it's like the American dream where you you leave a situation where it wasn't conducive uh you know for your growth and and and to be successful, and and you just pick up and leave as a 16-year-old and try to make it here in this country, and he did that. It's just incredible. I'm like, Vitor, we gotta get this message out. So that's one of the things that we're doing, and and uh he's all about it. And he actually approached me, he's like, Hey, I want to do a podcast with you. I'm like, Whoa, really? He's like, He's you're the only one I would do it with. And I'm like, Okay, wow, let's do it. So we're relaunching it, we're working on it, and uh hopefully we get it launched uh end of March. Um, but it's gonna be fun. Very cool, and we'll have some interesting guests and all his you know friends and network and and mine as well.

SPEAKER_01 13:20

But uh yeah, so yeah, so your network is cool. Like, I'm always fascinated how people you know get a network. Like, aren't you like, don't you have a connection with Dwight Howard? I do.

SPEAKER_02 13:31

Okay, yeah, okay. So we do some stuff, we've done some stuff for Dwight. Uh when he got inducted into the Hall of Fame with Orlando before he even got inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame, yeah, which by the way, he invited us and ended up going with Keon. Him and Keon are very close, and I happen to be Keon's plus one. And uh man, so I was there, front and stage, red carpet. It was just incredible. Have some pictures, I'll share it if you want to share with the audience.

SPEAKER_01 13:53

But I'm a big hoops guy. Yeah, are you? Yeah, really? I know hoops. I I can end the goat debate with somebody. I can end it. It's Jordan, right? 100%. There's no there's no debate. Oh, uh, but anybody that says it's not, and I don't mean to just segue into this, yeah, but but but I can just slam it down because I have a a view on it that I've never heard anybody else bring up, but it's just factual. Well, I want to hear it. Well, okay, you always hear about should teams mortgage their future to try to win now.

SPEAKER_02 14:27

Right. Right. And basically we're just talking about that, yeah. We're just getting this, which I didn't know we were recording, but yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:33

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:37

Um, and and and basically what that means is, and I don't understand all the contractual language, but you know, making a lot of commitments that that you know, basically you're gonna kick the can down the road, and in a few years you're gonna be financially strapped. Sure. A lot of teams don't like to do that because they want to try to keep sustainability and flexibility, right? Well, when you stay with one team, if you're I'm my beloved San Antonio Spurs in the Tim Duncan era, and you make the playoffs 20 straight years, I think it was, and you're always uh have the first, second, or third best record in the league, dude, you're always drafted at the end. Right. It is damn near impossible. It's that's what fascinates the New England Patriots. Uh that's what fascinates me about the New England Patriots, Chicago Bulls, Golden State Warriors, San Antonio Spurs, is because they're never drafting at the top. You have to, your player development and your scout team and and your drafting has to be impeccable.

SPEAKER_02 15:40

100%.

SPEAKER_01 15:41

Right? So it's not just that LeBron was teaming up with other good players. That's not my big argument, even though it is an argument. My argument is when he went to Miami for those four years, they were screwed. If he would have stayed there years five, six, and seven, they wouldn't have been competitive because they mortgaged all of their finances on that four-year run. When the Spurs played them in 14, it was basically a sweep. They destroyed them. Okay. LeBron knew it. So what LeBron did is he went to Cleveland, and Cleveland had three number one draft picks in four years.

SPEAKER_02 16:21

At cap space.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

You got it. Yep. So now he gets to reset everything. They flipped one of the picks for Kevin Love. They moved Andrew Wiggins over there to get Kyrie, and then there was a bust on Anthony Bennett.

SPEAKER_02 16:33

Right.

SPEAKER_01 16:34

But now you have all these finances to pay guys like J.R.

SPEAKER_02 16:36

Smith and yeah, all the plug-in pieces. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 16:39

So so he does that run and he has a great run, but then he destroy he destroy he destroys it again, right? So now he goes to LA, same sort of thing. They have some capital. You get Anthony Davis. So it bec if you have sustained greatness in professional sports, the reason it's so tough is because of the contracts and where you draft. The entire system in the NFL and the NBA is to try to create parity. Correct. Right? It's to try to create parody. That's right. So when you bounce around, yeah, it is an unfair advantage. So nobody ever brings that up. I've never heard anybody bring up that argument. That's a great point. But you have to get dinged for that a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 17:25

Yeah. Yeah, I guess I I guess you know there's arrows. And I think it's possibly this is an error of that was to be able to create a legacy and to win championships. Probably in his mind, he thought, all right, this is the way the league is structured now, and there's a way the only way I'm gonna win is by doing this. Is my legacy gonna get a little bit of a knock? Fine. But no one's ever gonna take away the four championships that I have. You know, so maybe that's the thought process there. But I agree. Uh it's a good point, isn't it? Yeah, it's a very good point. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 18:00

I just I just think if you like I think if you line up, if you're talking about all-time greatness, I think there's two things in the NBA. The goat debate's awesome. There's the resume debate, right? Right? What like because if if Tim Duncan applied for a job with his resume, bro, he's top three. 100%. Right? Like you, I could argue only Kareem and Jordan maybe have a better resume. Maybe LeBron, if you add in the statistics, but he's definitely top four or five. Right. Very rarely do people put him in the top four or top five, and that's because of the other thing. It's kind of the eye test, right? Like, like how good are you on the court? Like Kobe Bryant only won one NBA MVP, but we all saw for 15 years.

SPEAKER_02 18:49

Tim Duncan was just it wasn't pretty. It wasn't pretty to watch, right? So just nothing stood out about his game. You know, you can only watch the you know, hitting off the backboard so many times, you're like, I'm bored, right? You want to see Kobe, you know, firing from from half court and pulling up and dunking on somebody. That's what people want to see, and that's what they remember, and that's what they apply greatness to. But if you look at the body of work, I have to agree with you. Tim's there, right?

SPEAKER_01 19:13

I'm biased. I'm I'm a Spurs fan, so I'm throwing that.

SPEAKER_02 19:16

You know, I met uh Popovich.

SPEAKER_01 19:18

Cool.

SPEAKER_02 19:18

Yeah, what was that like? Yeah, man, it was amazing. I met him in Vegas actually in 2016. I was there for uh Team USA was practicing, they were going to, I think there was China or wherever the Olympics was at, and they had this fantasy camp, and my brother was playing in it, and he's like, hey, come with me to Vegas. Uh you know, have this uh fantasy camp for older guys that you know their CEOs and all this shit. And uh actually uh one of the guys on his team ended up getting hurt and they picked me up, so uh, you know, I started playing with them, and actually our point guard was Turtle from Entourage, Jerry Ferrara, yeah, yeah, it was super cool. Uh actually a very nice guy, Jerry's very cool. Um he was our point guard, but anyway, so we go to a dinner and uh Popovich was there, and I've always been fascinated by Pop. Like Pop to me is probably the goat of coaches in the NBA, and I will put him above Pat Riley, I'll put him above Phil Jackson. I think he's the best coach to ever coach in the NBA. And I saw him and I said, Hey, listen, uh I just want to introduce myself. And I never do this, I never get like uh starstruck or anything like that. I've been around a lot of athletes my whole entire life, and uh but I said, listen, man, I'm a big fan, I'm actually a Miami Heat fan. I have to disclose that. Uh, but man, I I'm just a fan of your work, and man, he couldn't have been nicer. I talked to him for about 30 minutes.

SPEAKER_00 20:31

Wow, just incredible.

SPEAKER_02 20:32

And I have the picture of that too, I'll I'll share it with you. Yeah, uh, but it just uh it was just an incredible and just the way he sees things is just so different. I there's guys that can be CEOs of companies, and he's one of them, right? Like a Fortune 500. I think Nick Saban, right? I'm fascinated by Nick and how process-oriented he is and how every detail matters. Um Nick can run any company in the country. I'm I'm convinced of that. And uh that's what fascinates me about these guys. And Pop is just one of those guys that was able to win 20 straight years and not have a top draft pick, right? Uh he gets uh a point guard from France and you know turns him into what he was, right? Uh in Parker. Uh just incredible, man. Just incredible.

SPEAKER_01 21:15

That's interesting, too. And I I don't mean to steer you in uh the direction of my fanhood with the San Antonio Spurs, but but it really is a uh a fascinating case study because no one no one demands trades to San Antonio, right? They they demand them to New York, maybe Chicago, it's a great big city, LA, you know, the Bay Area, but nobody demands trades uh to Middle America, I'd say. Nobody's demanding one to Cleveland or Milwaukee, that's for sure. Um, so from that standpoint, it's I think you got to give these small markets even, you know, like the Thunder right now, how great they're doing. You gotta give them credit. You know, that was all through the Krusty's unbelievable. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:58

The job he's done at Oklahoma. You know, building all those draft picks and getting all those young players. I honestly think it's San Antonio and Oklahoma City now for the next probably five to seven years, they're gonna be going toe-to-toe. Uh, because San Antonio's super talented. Wemby's gonna be the best player in the league for the next 15 years. You know, you got DeAndre Fox, you know, the whole that whole team's insane. No, that's wild. They got lucky, yeah. Yeah, they did.

SPEAKER_01 22:21

Uh were you at the event um with where Ron Harper was there that night? Did you?

SPEAKER_02 22:27

I was out of town. I think I was in LA. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:29

His son is a stud for the Spurs, Dylan Harper. Yeah, that's the number two pick. Yeah, yeah. I walked right up to Ron Harper and I go, We got something in common now. And he's like, What's that? I go, We're both Spurs fans.

SPEAKER_02 22:40

And he was like, Oh, you know, he slapped me up. Artie's very nice.

SPEAKER_01 22:44

He's a sweetheart.

SPEAKER_02 22:45

Yeah, that's what I heard.

SPEAKER_01 22:45

Yeah, he's a super sweetheart.

SPEAKER_02 22:46

I was a big Ron Harper fan.

SPEAKER_01 22:48

Were you?

SPEAKER_02 22:48

Yeah, yeah. When he played with the Bulls, yeah, man. Yeah. That whole run. He was just such a great complimentary piece to that team.

SPEAKER_01 22:55

So you're a Heat fan now. Now, how old are you?

SPEAKER_02 22:57

I am 42. I turned 45 next week. Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:00

Okay. We're the same age basically. So in the 90s, who was your team?

SPEAKER_02 23:04

The Bulls, man.

SPEAKER_01 23:06

Bulls, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:07

Miami Heat weren't relevant. You know, Miami didn't become relevant until Pat Riley got here. And that took some years because we got our heads beat in. Uh, we couldn't get past the Knicks, we couldn't get past the Bulls. Uh, it took it took a little bit until you know Pat was able to land Shaq. And when he landed Shaq, then that's where the ascension of the Miami Heat really started to happen. And he got D-weighed. I got a funny story about Pat. Tell me. So I'm at a I'm at a place called The Globe down in Miami and the Gables. And uh my buddy and I, my best friend Ruben, we uh we went to go watch a friend of ours that was like a professional boxer, he ended up getting his ass kicked, but anyway, it was a different story for a different day. So it was uh we were down the street and we're like, hey, let's go grab something to eat. And I think we were like 22, 23 years old. Couldn't be more than that. And uh we get to this place, the place is empty, but we sit at the bar and we're sitting like on the corner of it, and we're getting something to eat, we're having a drink, and all of a sudden Pat Riley walks in. And I'm like, I freeze, I'm like, holy shit, it's Pat and he goes, Oh so he comes, he sits down with us, and uh he sits literally like right there. And I'm looking, do I talk to him? Do I not talk to him? My buddy looks at me and I'm like fucking I'm going for it. And I say, Hey Mr. Riley, uh, you know, obviously big fan of everything you've done here in Miami, and thank you for everything you've done for the city. Uh, I just have to tell you, man, the the Dwayne Wade pick uh was unbelievable. And thank you. He goes, You think I go to I think? Yeah, I think, yeah, yeah, it was just so cool. He he spoke to us, and you know, he came in with the suit, the slick back hair, and you know, of course, a scotch neat. That's what he drank. And he sat there, had his scotch, and he left. And it was after a game, and the bartender told us every home game after the game, he would come here to decompress. He sits here, he gets a Glenn Leavitt 18 or whatever it was, drinks it and then goes home. Yeah, but yeah, but that's my Pat Riley story.

SPEAKER_01 24:58

I got a couple, I got a couple of meeting. Uh I wouldn't get starstruck. I think Michael Jordan might I might get starstruck there for sure, just because he's MJ, you know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:08

But he's created this mystique, right? Yeah. Above him playing and all that stuff and all the accolades and all that, but he's not very accessible. Exactly. So I think that's the mystique with him, is like if you get accessibility to him, it's like, whoa. Right? You you'll never get him on a podcast. You can barely get him on an interview. He's not very opinionated about anything. Uh, so if you can get near him, I think that mystique is what really appeals people. I think.

SPEAKER_01 25:33

Yeah, I think, you know, I I've had a I kind of have had a taste of being famous for this reason. When my beard is long and I'm hanging out in Miami or Fort Lauderdale, the amount of people that come up to me. I think they're Danville Zoom. So it's so I kind of have had like some, you know, feeling famous moments, and I've had people stop and take pictures, and and usually, and my wife is beautiful, so and I have some beautiful young girls that are employees. So sometimes I'll take them out, and and these young guys are like, yo, Danny. What's up? Yeah, right. Um, you know, I even had I even had this girl one time freak out in front of me, right in front of my wife. She just freaked out, she started pushing her butt on me. She grabs her phone, she's like, Oh my damn those she just freaked out. And and my wife goes, just let her be. Just she's gonna feel so stupid afterwards. But but just with my stupid fake fame, yeah, you know, I I do feel for some of these guys, because every single time one of us says, Hey man, you know, I know you get hit up a lot, and you know, they do get hit up a lot.

SPEAKER_02 26:47

And I've seen, man, like, you know who's one of the coolest? Pipple. So I'm out having I think it was dinner at PF Chang's down in Brickle. And Pippo shows up, he was with a young lady, don't know if it was his wife, whatever, sits down with her, and he's just ordering a meal, and people just coming up, hey, can I take a picture of the selfie? And I'm watching this, and it was it must have been, I don't know, 11, 12 people. Man, he did it with a smile every time. I'm like, I don't know if I would have had the patience for that. Like, I'm trying to eat, and you're here, you know, I can even get a bite in because you're you wanted to take a picture. And and I seen athletes get get upset, you know. I'm here with my family. I've seen D. Wade get upset. You know, he's been out at uh Michael's genuine and he's been sitting next to us and and people just come up, and there's no level of respect when it comes to that. I I've never, me personally, never gone up to an athlete and asking for a picture unless we're having a conversation and it's you know, we're all interacting, and at the end, hey, let's take a picture. But like to go out of my way to take a picture like that, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:48

One time this is another funny story, and I really like Stephen A. Smith, so I'm not trying to blow his spot up.

SPEAKER_02 27:53

I love Steven.

SPEAKER_01 27:54

Yeah, so I so I I met not met him. You can't even make this up, right? I got to uh briefly talk to him at PBDs the other day.

SPEAKER_00 28:02

It was kind of cool.

SPEAKER_01 28:03

And because he told his uh San Antonio Spurs story, and I said, Hey, I'm a Spurs fan. Sorry our fran fans treated you like that. But he said, uh I saw him in an airport. I was literally in the urinal, junk out peeing, and we were in the Newark airport, and then literally he comes right next to me doing his peeing right next to me, and I'm like, hey, I'm probably like 28 years old, you know, but hey, Steve and Hey, you know, and he goes, he goes, I'm so fucking all over, kid. Like, you know, and I know there's no way he remembers that, there's no way he remembers peeing at the urinal with me, but um, I got a couple uh I remember Steve Nash. Yep. So I'm from Rochester, New York. I was in guests, I was buying a pair of jeans or something in the mall, and in upstate New York I saw Steve Nash. I go, What is he doing here? Yeah, this is like 2003. Okay. They had he was playing for the Mavericks, they had just lost, I think, to my Spurs. And uh, dude, he taught I kid you not, he talked with me. He just sat there and he knew I knew basketball, and he just talked with me. We probably talked for I'm not even exaggerating, 45 minutes about basketball. He didn't look, he wasn't like he was engaged, he was like, This guy knows hoops, right? And he's just in he's just talking with me about basketball. And I remember I asked him about Tony Parker because they had just beaten him. I was like, hey, do you think he's really gonna be good? He was like, dude, that guy's gonna be a nightmare, right? And then I finally asked him, What the hell are you doing here in Rochester? And apparently his um brother was playing semi-pro soccer and they were driving up somewhere. Um, I don't want to blow up his spot, but after Spurs games, I'm just telling the story the way it happened. After Spurs games, my friend and I, the I would I would fly down to San Antonio during every playoff uh year and go watch the finals or the Western Commerce Finals, whatever it was, whenever I felt like they were gonna have a competitive series. And me and my buddy would always go to the strip club afterwards. That's just kind of something they do in Texas. You know, they call it the tit. You know, you're gonna go hang out at the tit. And we would go there, and uh, and I paid for the VIP one time. Tony Parker was in there, right?

SPEAKER_02 30:27

Was he there with Eva?

SPEAKER_01 30:29

He was there with a whole bunch of girls. That's all I'm gonna say.

SPEAKER_02 30:32

And I don't Tony, I know Tony likes to get down, or used to like to get down. My boy that lived in San Antonio used to tell me stories, he used to party with him.

SPEAKER_01 30:39

So yeah, all I'm gonna say is he slapped me up and he was super cool, and we were talking spiritually a little bit, and then on his way out he winked at me. And he had a few girls with him. So that's awesome. Yeah, Tony did his thing.

SPEAKER_02 30:51

Yeah, oh yeah, he he wasn't uh he wasn't afraid. No, and I've heard that I never got to meet him, but I have a good friend. Uh, we did a lot of business back in the day, and uh he lived in San Antonio. He would tell me, you know, I'm hanging out with Tony, blah blah, you know, and I know how my friend used to roll, so I can only imagine with Tony. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:09

I prefer being the family, man, by the way.

SPEAKER_02 31:11

Oh, I do too. Yeah, I do too. I you know, I lived it up. I lived in downtown Miami in my 20s. I had a lot of fun. Yeah, a lot of fun. Uh regret some things, you know. Uh I have two daughters now, and uh I've said it in other podcasts, and my wife and we've had this conversation. Some of the way we I I treated women back then was it wasn't wasn't good, you know, wasn't right. And uh I just didn't have the the father example because I I came from a broken home. And uh not to blame or excuse any, it doesn't excuse any of my behavior, but um uh just didn't have the right the right uh person to look up to uh you know when I was younger, and uh I think that affected a lot, but I did have a lot of fun. Yeah, I had a great time.

SPEAKER_01 31:56

Well, I I think I think all that matters, and I and and you and I are cut from the same cloth. I I grew up without a father too. Yeah, so the only thing I ever I tell people the only thing I've ever witnessed as a dad is what I see on TV. Yeah, I I don't know what a dad is actually like. No, so yeah, dude, I I went down this road of being ultra promiscuous, and it took me forever to realize this, but all promiscuity is is insecurity. It's insecurity, right?

SPEAKER_02 32:27

Because you're trying to uh yeah, you're right. You're trying to uh run up the score. Yeah, right? Yeah. To be able to show your friends or whatever, look at me, you know, so and so and so, and yeah, it's running up the score.

SPEAKER_01 32:40

Because when you think about it, it's pretty gross. Yeah, like when you really think listen, young men out there, do your thing, get it out of your system. Yeah, no, agreed. You know what I mean? Agreed. Like if you just if you're in that place, you just have that urge, like, like I'm not gonna fight that fight, but but at some point, you know, it's it's it's pretty disgusting, it's pretty gross. And no, you shouldn't treat women like that.

SPEAKER_02 33:02

No way. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I've I've made my amends. I've I've I've apologized. I've gone on, I've just said it on podcast, and I I I I've reached out to some of the some of the girls in the past, and I I've apologized, absolutely. Yeah um it wasn't a way of of behaving, not that I it was abusive or anything like that, but it was just the things I was doing wasn't very respectful, right? And uh and and now having two daughters, I'm like, shit.

SPEAKER_01 33:26

That's how it's just yeah, unpack that, yeah, keep going.

SPEAKER_02 33:30

Yeah, so you know, having two daughters now, and I'm like, holy shit, am I gonna pay for for all the dumb shit I did, right? And uh which I hope not, but but I you know, uh I gotta be the best example possible to my girls and how men treat women, right? So I'll they've never seen me fight my wife. Um, they'll never hear me uh you know doing anything bad to my wife or anything like that because I want them to understand that this is the way a man is supposed to treat a woman, right? And it's through the examples I give, right? So that's really resonated with me in the past uh you know 10 years uh since I had my first one, Emma. So yeah, life has a funny way of humbling you. For sure. You know, that's probably why I ended up with two girls. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 34:12

And I needed it. I'm so excited about the the gender reveal. You know, I um are you scared? No, but I'm not scared. Great question. Yeah, you know, I'm 45 years old, almost 46, and just like you, I've worked on myself a lot, right? So I don't raise my voice to my wife, even even if I feel like I want to, yeah, no way.

SPEAKER_02 34:39

No way, me either.

SPEAKER_01 34:40

Now, fortunately, she doesn't to me either, so I can understand a combative household. I think both both parties need to respect one another. Absolutely, right? Um, so so I'm I'm I'm actually not scared at all because I know this child is going to be raised where the household is secure, there's no drug problems, there's no alcohol problems, uh, there's no psychological abuse going on, the the finances are very good. Um, so I'm actually ex beyond ecstatic to bring a child into this world because I truly am ready. If I would have done this at 22, you know, this child, it would have been a different story. I would have been nervous.

SPEAKER_02 35:21

Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_01 35:22

You know, uh sounds like but sounds like you have two beautiful girls, Emma and what's the other one? Mila. Mila?

SPEAKER_02 35:28

Yeah. Uh 10 and 6. Well, Emma turns 10 now in June, and and Mila just turned six in December. Amazing kids. Uh but they can't get along. They don't get along. Oh my god. They have moments, but my little one's a gangster. Straight shank in the court, you know, in the middle of the commissary, you know, the courtyard. Thank you. Yeah, yeah. My little one's a gangster. My my uh my older one, she's type A too, so it's just it doesn't work.

SPEAKER_01 35:57

Really?

SPEAKER_02 35:57

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:58

I mean they'll love each other to death. Oh, absolutely. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:01

My wife and I were talking about that the other day. When they get older, they're gonna be inseparable. But right now, it's just like we're breaking constant fights up and they pick at each other and they, you know.

SPEAKER_01 36:11

They are little gangsters. I I want to know, you know, I want to know more about I'm gonna know more about your business. Like, what's your main source of income?

SPEAKER_02 36:18

So I started in health, I started in healthcare. Um, so I started from the bottom up. I was a transporter at Baptist Hospital, which actually sit on the board there now. I'm on the foundation board, I'm chair counselor at Homestead Hospital. Um, which is very surreal for me that I even got to that point uh because I was a disaster when I started working at Baptist, you know. Uh I didn't even think I was gonna make it working there. I thought I was gonna get fired. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, I I would party, I would show up late. Uh, it was just uh I wasn't very focused uh at that time, but you know, I was 21 years old, 20 years old, so my head was up my ass. But um, but that's where I got my start. I started there and then I worked my way uh to becoming a medical assistant in the ICU. So I used to work nights from 7p to 7A. Did that uh close to a year, and then uh my brother called me, which I had worked for my brother uh briefly as a he opened up a medical equipment company, so it was a DME company. And at that time they were putting a lot of companies under review and auditing them. And at that time we got put on the review, and uh he had to make some cuts. And uh, had a buddy of mine that I brought on that uh to do deliveries because we started growing, and uh, but he didn't have paper, he was a dreamer, didn't have papers, you know, that type of thing. So I told him, I said, listen, keep him because he ain't gonna make it if he loses his job. I'll go figure this out. And uh let's just do that. So I went back to school, uh, you know, and then I got a job at a law firm as a clerk. I became best friends with uh the owner, uh, and we played golf every day. So that yeah, so did that for a little bit, and then I realized, all right, so we're where are we going from here? My dad got into some trouble. So my dad was in and out of my life. Uh he was there, but he wasn't really there. Got into some trouble, he had to, you know, leave or whatever. And then I had I was like, okay, I really have to go to work here. Um so I I called my best friend, he had a job at Baptist, and I said, Hey, are they hiring over there? And he said, Yeah, I think I can get you as a transporter at the MRI. And I took the job, you know, interviewed, got the job, and uh started there, and then I worked my way to the ICU like I told you, we paid a lot more, shift differentials, trying to support my mom, which uh my mom was sick at the time. Um, she had a stroke when I was three years old, pregnant with my sister. Um so she couldn't work, and then my sister was uh just starting college, so I had to take care of my mom, right? So uh yeah, so I was working nights, I was working 16-hour days, I would pick up overtime shifts, I did all of that. So my brother calls me, he's like, Hey, I have this opportunity. Uh, I think you could be a sales rep. Why don't you come work for me? I'm like, I don't know, dude. Like, I already worked with you this one time, and I don't know. I don't know if you're even gonna make it. He goes, No, things have changed. Come, come, come out with one of our reps. She was an older lady, been established in the business for many years. So I took a day off from work, went with her, and she started showing me the ropes, and she's just talking to social workers, physicians, and blah blah. And it's funny how God works. I feel like that that Baptist position was like my like, I tell people it's uh it was my university because I like I learned a lot of medical terminology. I learned I learned the ins and outs of a hospital, and that gave me like that boost to be able to do what I did in sales when it came to home health. So I'm going out with this lady, my brother calls me at the end of the day, and he's like, Hey, what do you think? I'm like, Well, she just goes around talking to people all day about getting business. I I can do that and I can speak these people's terminology. It's like, all right, go out with her son. So I went out with her son the next day. This guy's a nut crazy, going to doctors' offices, opening up cabinets, stealing Viagra, Sialis, and I'm like, holy shit. I'm like, what are you doing, dude? He goes, I gotta go lock, fuck this. But the girls in the office loved them. I'm like, how's this even make sense? So my brother calls me at the end of the day. I go, he goes to me, hey, how'd you go with Mark? And I'm like, dude, this fucking guy's crazy. He goes, Well, that's why he gets a lot of business. I go, how? He goes, huh? This is your first lesson because he's different. You got a thousand people going in there giving business cards and brochures, but they don't stand out and they have no relationship with these people. He's comedy hour, he's going in there making them laugh. They want to see him, and to get him back there, they keep sending them business. I'm like, damn, that makes a lot of sense. So that was my first lesson about sales and marketing. How deep is your relationship, and how do you stand out versus the others? As crazy as he was.

SPEAKER_01 40:40

So yeah, that's gonna go viral. No, that was great. No, that was great, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't be like everybody else. Don't be like everybody else. Be yourself, but but yourself is yourself is unique, but it brings out the best version of yourself.

SPEAKER_02 40:54

We're in the authentic economy right now, yeah, and social media and anything, people want to see authenticity, they don't want to see bullshit. Bullshit doesn't sell anymore. Curated videos are not selling anymore. What they want to see is you grab the phone and connect with them and they can you tell a story that connects with them. That's what they want to see.

SPEAKER_01 41:13

You know, we we are hard taking a hard look at our social media strategy and our clients' social media strategies because on TikTok, TikTok was known to be the organic platform. You know, it's almost like the way I would coach people to do a TikTok is pretend you're on FaceTime, right? Pretend you're on FaceTime. And that was working better on TikTok, but it hadn't migrated over Instagram.

SPEAKER_02 41:39

In Instagram, because it was more creative than Instagram, yep.

SPEAKER_01 41:41

But but you're starting to see it for sure uh migrate more to Instagram. So so there really is something something different.

SPEAKER_02 41:49

Do you go look at my Instagram? Because I really have been putting a focus on my personal brand. And uh, you look at the videos that I just grab the phone and just go, I get thousands of views and I get crazy engagement. The ones that are more curated that I'm sitting in my studio and I'm bro, nobody cares. It's just it's crazy, right?

SPEAKER_01 42:08

Yeah, no, you're right, you're right. The harder I try, the worse views they get. 100%. Dude, you know what videos of mine get the most views? What's that? Is when I'm I don't this look. Um, you know, I'm pretty muscular. I don't know if that has something to do with it, but I have a tank top on, a hat on. I just left the gym, I'm in my car, and I have a thought, and I just rip it on my phone, 160,000 views. Yeah, yeah, believe it. Versus all this damn equipment, all this production, all this stuffing, all this stuff. 225 views. Yeah. You know, so you're you're right. We're it's it's the trust economy. It's the trust economy, right?

SPEAKER_02 42:42

Yeah, yeah, yeah. They want to see authenticity, man. Like, even brands now, right? Like brands, see the brands didn't understand the ROI when it came to podcasting and influencers. They're starting to get a grip on it now. And what brands want is storytelling. Can a brand tell their story through you?

SPEAKER_00 42:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:59

Right? That's the biggest thing right now. Brands don't care that you get a million views now. What they care is can you grab engagement, right? Yeah. And bring them to their brand.

SPEAKER_01 43:09

Another thing too, like, like I only have um like on my Instagram, it's just shy of 9,000 followers, right? So I don't have a giant audience by any means yet. But my goal is to have a massive audience.

SPEAKER_02 43:20

Yeah, I'm on that same tip, by the way. Yeah, I just started, I've never put a focus. I started putting a focus into my personal brand probably like six months ago, not even three months ago, probably. Me too. I handed it over. They finally convinced me because they had to get me around to it. I'm like, I'm no, I'm the one we were the ones that build everybody else, and they're like, no, we need you to build. I'm right there with it. And I'm like, okay, let's do it. Let's do it. So I'm all in, I'm committed. I do the videos, I send them, you guys put them out, and let's see what happens. And man, I've grown my following by like close to 3,000 in three months, and yeah, I'm on that same tip. You have to you have to grow your social media, you have to grow your personal brand to survive these days. If not, you're if nobody knows who you are, they're not gonna. Do business with you. That's just the the economy we're living in. Yeah. Especially want to scale.

SPEAKER_00 44:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:05

No, I think um no, I love it. So so so tell me. So the market, so do you so do you run um some marketing too? Or yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:12

So tell me so so yeah, so back to the story. Uh yeah. So that story, I end up taking the job with my brother, and uh, you know, it's a sales job, and I just start learning home health, skilled home health. So we're basically an extension of the hospital in the home. So we send, pretend grandma comes out of the hospital or grandpa or mom or dad, we'll send the nurse into the house uh to the house, or the physical therapist or the occupational therapist into the house to take care of them to make sure that they're good, there's no relapses going back into the hospital, and that they can continue on with their lives. So that's basically what we do, and that's the business I've been in for uh 22 years now. And uh so uh we have uh seven branches. We are we are in 14 counties in the state of Florida. We serve close to a thousand patients uh right now in the state of Florida. So um, yeah, it's all I've ever done. And then this whole media thing just happened because of COVID and I had an extra space, and I started the podcast, like I said, uh beyond the narrative, and then we turned uh Beyond Media into what it is today, which is a sports-driven podcast production company. Very cool. Yeah, and we do some talent management stuff too, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:19

Yeah, very cool. So who so when when my if uh grandpa breaks his hip, grandpa goes to the hospital, they say, Hey, it's time to go home, grandpa, but you you're still gonna be jacked up for a little while. Yep. Who makes that decision on the home health care agency?

SPEAKER_02 45:36

So usually the physician, the MD that's seeing them if it's either the hospitalist, primary care, but usually now in the hospital, you have hospitalists that see the patients. Those are doctors that belong to the hospital that see patients. Usually they're hospital-owned. You might have some private groups, but they just focus solely focus on patients that are admitted into the hospital. They're not primary care, they don't have practices. Some do, but most don't have practices, just rotate and they see the patient. Usually those are the doctors that write the orders. Doctors nowadays don't like to get too involved with saying, Oh, use this agency, use that agency. You still have some, but back when I first started, everybody had a tie to everybody. Like when I first started, it was so competitive. There was a lot of fraud too. Um, in Miami alone, there was 13 home health agencies, 1,300 home health agencies, Medicare certified home health agencies. Today there's probably under like 200 and really operational, probably under 100, uh, because the federal government came in here and cleaned everybody out. Put everybody in jail. Um, so doctors don't like to get too involved. So social workers, dish discharge planners are the ones that send the business. So you develop a relationship with them. Um, you know, you provide good service, uh, a good turnaround time, uh, make sure that the patients are happy with the service because we are an extension of the hospital. If the service is bad, then it's a reflection on that person giving us the referral. So we we really focus on giving the best possible service because I tell people all the time, I don't give doctors money, never done it in my life, not a gift card, not anything. All we do is sell our service and make sure that our patients are happy and that they get to where they need to get to with their goals, their medical goals. So um it's been a great business, man. Um, but there's been a lot of challenges. The federal government uh has put a lot of uh hinges on us, and they have reduced our margins significantly. There's a labor shortage when it comes to nurses. A lot of nurses have turned into uh nurse practitioners now. Um there's not a lot of there's not a lot of people wanting to become doctors nowadays because there's not a lot of money in it, right? Um and you get into like serious debt over it. So there's been a big shift when it comes to uh health care in this country from a standpoint of services, uh, when it comes to home health. So uh I I don't know where this is all gonna go in the next 10 to 15, 20 years. I do know that AI is gonna play an integral part into uh patient care. Um and uh that's one of the things that we're trying to figure out now is how do we incorporate AI into our our model, uh, which we already started. Um, but yeah, it's uh it's uh it's a challenging business, but it's a rewarding one, man, because uh a lot of families need home health. I I I I needed home health for my mother when she was going through what she was going through, and we wouldn't have been able to have work if we didn't have that care for my mother at home. We would have had to stay home with her and all that stuff, and and thank God for home health because it helped, but we we need some flexibility when it comes to regulation because we're we're getting our ass kicked right now.

SPEAKER_01 48:28

Yeah, what you know you brought up uh two key two key letters there, AI. Are you of the opinion that AI is kind of this doom and gloom scenario where in a decade, you know, AI is running the show and you know it's this weird society that we live in and nobody's actually really happy because AI is doing everything? Or are you of the opinion that AI is gonna create some sort of utopia?

SPEAKER_02 48:58

I think it's just gonna be a shift. I don't think it's doom and gloom. I mean, if you want to use it for bad, like anything else, there could be some bad. I think that we'll figure out ways to live in this new world. I think there's gonna be regulation that's gonna come down the pipeline, it's gonna control a lot of this stuff that's going on with AI right now, and that needs to happen because right now it's the wild, wild west with AI. Um, and I think you know the the government reacts late to everything, right? Uh it's usually you know, Bitcoin now, they're they're trying to regulate. Uh crypto, I mean, they're trying to regulate. But I think I think that I think we're gonna be fine. I really do. You think the same way? I do, I like that answer. Yeah, I do.

SPEAKER_01 49:39

Yeah, no, I do.

SPEAKER_02 49:40

I I think that like this is in a society where everything's the end of the world, and it's like time off.

SPEAKER_01 49:46

It's like relax. Yeah, that's how I feel. Yeah, you know, like I I always think of like I'd use my business and my family and my friends, etc. You know, if there's there's an infinite number of scenarios that could occur any day. Infinite number. Okay. There's the worst case scenario, sure, which is catastrophic event. Uh, every single person I care about gets hit by a bus today and dies. Okay. Then there's the best case scenario, which is Elon Musk gets really bored and goes, Eric, I'm gonna give you a trillion dollars. Okay. Exactly, right? So there's the worst case and the best case, right? And the way I look at it is I know it's outrageous to believe that either one of those scenarios is gonna happen, and there's an infinite other number of scenarios in between. It's probably gonna be one of them. Well, why doesn't it have to be one of the ones that's on the better side of that?

SPEAKER_02 50:49

Right, of course. You know, I think because we live in a society where everything is negativity, negativity sells, and that's all you see uh when it comes to our media, it's all you see on social media. Like, that's what people want to see. It's just negative stuff. Look at these streamers, they're creating scenes like this Dean. Have you seen this kid, the Dean, the kid that got slapped up by the MMA guy, and he's going after everybody's girlfriend, Dean the younger kid he was a boxer. Yeah, boxer, you know, influencer boxer, you know. I didn't know that. Yeah, yeah. Uh, so this guy's going around just hitting on everybody's chick, and but shit staged. Come on, man. Like, you're not that guy. Like, let's just start there. You're not that guy, right? And they've already smacked you up twice. I don't know if it's real or not, but what I'm trying to get to is people are doing anything for views and follows and clicks. And if negativity sells, that's the word they're gonna push, right? And that's negative, right? Like, who won't you think that's appropriate for you to be hitting on somebody's wife? Yeah, but people are watching it and viewing it and clicking on it, and that's just the world we live in, man.

SPEAKER_01 51:51

I didn't realize, so I saw the it was the big white dude who they said was all I saw was a clip. Larger white guy, shorter black guy. It looked like they were talking a little junk, and I saw the white guy kind of just knock him out. Yeah, sucker hit him, and then they were freaking out afterwards. Right. I didn't know what the context was at all.

SPEAKER_02 52:08

So the day before he was with this guy, Larry Wheeler, he hit on the guy's chick uh over dinner, and uh, but I think it's staged, man. I think all the streaming stuff is staged, and Larry Wheeler's probably 300 pounds, just pure muscle. Like the guy's just jacked, he's a you know, he's uh uh a bodybuilder, and he ends up slapping the crap out of him. And then this guy called him out and you know, saying, Hey, you got I I saw you got your shit slapped, and you know, this kid decided to try this guy. I think he's uh he was an MMA guy, and he just completely it looked like he knocked him out, but you can't see in the angle if he hit the floor or not.

SPEAKER_01 52:43

But it looked like well that tension, and this is just me being a casual observer of one video, yeah. The tension looked real.

SPEAKER_02 52:50

It did, right?

SPEAKER_01 52:51

It did look real, and I'll tell you why. Yeah, because when I when I observed it, the smaller young black kid, yeah, it looked like he was going in to maybe think about sucker punching him. Right. And and the the white dude, I think he was trying to be like, I ain't about to get sucker punch. And so he reacted, but it could have just been great acting. I had no idea.

SPEAKER_02 53:12

Yeah, I don't I don't know. You know, we live uh Nevin Shapiro tells me this all the time. We live in a WWE world. He would say that to me when we first uh you know uh started becoming close. And uh I'm like, what does that what does that mean? And then I'm like, huh. Yeah, we do live in a WWE world. Everything is entertainment, everything is is uh curated, uh, you know, uh what's the word I'm looking for? Um artificial, fake, fake, yeah, uh uh made up, uh, you know, it's just the world we live in. Everything's WWE.

SPEAKER_01 53:50

I I don't know how you feel about this, but how do you feel how important is your brand? Because I don't, I don't, I don't want my brand because in four years, when somebody says, Oh, Eric Weingard, I want my brand to be, man, that oh, that guy, that guy's the truth. Yep, you know, that guy came from nothing, built something awesome, and he built something so awesome that he's creating other awesome positions for other people. I want that to be my brand. I don't want some WWF event or you know, hokey media stunts to be my brand. Do you do you see do you think that's important for your personal brand? Absolutely, it's important.

SPEAKER_02 54:36

Um, you know, what I want to be remembering, I think, you know, you go through progressions as you become a man. Uh, first you're trying to find your way, then you're trying to establish yourself. Once you establish yourself and you're doing okay financially, then you're like, what's next? And Lex is your legacy. What are you gonna leave behind? Obviously, you're gonna have a kid now and you're gonna understand this. My two girls are my my legacy, my wife, my family. Then the legacy I leave back with the people that I've been around my career, right? And the people that are around me now growing. Like I tell people all the time, my biggest joy in business has been seeing others grow and change their lives. We've had so many stories of of people being able to buy their first car, their first home. That's what's rewarding. Uh, you know, I've had money and I've been miserable and I've been depressed. That that hasn't been the fulfillment. The fulfillment's been in seeing others uh grow. So that's what I want my brand to be is that uh one that I I I have uh uh uh a side of humility to me, um, and that uh people know that I always put others first before I even put myself, which some people would disagree that that's not a good strategy, but for me it works. And I always tell people um I'd rather give than be the receiver because I know that God will definitely have my back, knowing where my heart's at and and and truly being a person that that wants to see others uh you know grow in advance.

SPEAKER_01 56:01

I have an interesting question for you. Yeah, I'd be curious to hear your take on this. You're a Trump supporter, right? Yeah, me too. Me too.

SPEAKER_02 56:07

I got flipped.

SPEAKER_01 56:09

In what year did you get flipped COVID?

SPEAKER_02 56:11

I got flipped uh so no, COVID happened. I got flipped in 20 uh when he came out of the presidency when they were trying to throw him in jail. That's where I'm like, I'm done. Like, I don't care. Why did that flip you? Because the presidency is bigger than just one person. And once you start that tit for tat type thing, we're never gonna get out of this ecosystem that has been created. Not everybody's gonna want to throw the other party in jail, and I think it's a problem. And they try and they tried to destroy his life, and a lot of the things that they accused him of has been disproven. And and I was pushed away because I'm more moderate. You know, I have fiscal, I'm a fiscal conservative, but on social issues I tend to lean more left. And I've kind of changed a little bit as I've gotten older now on that stance as well. But I'm I'm moderate. I'm not, you know, I'm I'm registered independent, I'm not even Republican. A lot of people think I'm a Republican, but I just agree with a lot more of the philosophies that Trump has versus the other side. I just can't agree with a lot of the things the other side is pushing right now.

SPEAKER_01 57:19

Yeah, I I um God, we're so similar, dude. It's crazy. You know, let me tell you, and I've said this before. So I used to be very moderate, yeah. And because I was fiscally conservative, you know, I I don't believe in over-regulation. I think, you know, there should be freedom to do business a little bit, right? Because if you don't get the economy right, you can't get anything else right, unfortunately. So, so no, money's not the most important thing, but yes, it is the most important thing because we live in an economic world and it's not about driving Ferraris, but if the money doesn't work, nothing else works. Absolutely, right? So I was always pro, let's let's get our money right, let's let's get the country's money right, let's get business's money right, families' money right first. Now, yes, I do believe in social programs. My mother uh was on welfare, mine's she used welfare to eventually become a nurse and end up kind of we lived somewhat halfway decent. She used a social program the right way. Okay. But I was living in upstate New York during COVID, and that was when I just got slingshotted far right, because I just saw how quick people were to throw on the mask, stay at home, tell all their kids to stay at home. Let's they were just so willing to destroy society based on what Dr. Fauci is saying. And I'm like, this is I'm like, this is nuts. I'm like, this is absolutely crazy. And you know, so that's why I moved down to Florida. So I was I was always very moderate, but I really got slingshotted to the right recently. But here, here is my biggest frustration about when I tell people I'm extremely conservative. Is they say I'm racist.

SPEAKER_02 59:12

Everybody's a racist.

SPEAKER_01 59:15

I'm like, I grew up in the city playing uh football and basketball. Most of my friends were black, for God's sakes, because those are typically urban sports. 100%. And I'm like, like it installs. My best friends grew, yeah. It infuriates me. It infuriates me.

SPEAKER_02 59:31

Yeah, I've been called a racist too. Oh, you being a Cuban and I'm brown, by the way. Yeah. And I'm a racist. I just laugh at it. I just think it's a cop-out. I I think that you can't you have nothing else to go to, but that's the playbook, just to call somebody a racist, and you have no real ideas or or able to defend your ideas, and that's that's just the easy one to go to. But I think people are are seeing past that. Like, okay, call me racist. Fine. Yeah, just go look at my track record of how many minorities I've hired in my company, right? Like they were trying to call Trump a racist for the whole Obama thing, and it was tasteless. I didn't agree with it, but it is what it is. But just look at the facts of look at Trump's cabinet and who he has in there. Marco Rubio is a Cuban. Alisa Johnson is the the board uh the uh the Pardon Tsar, African American, uh the guy that uh runs HUD, he's African-American. Just look at everybody that he's put around them. They're all minorities, right? Mostly. And those are facts. The first step act that Trump passed, right, that has released more prisoners than any other act, right, was Trump that passed it with Kushner and the CETIC Association, which I'm very close with them and I know them very well. They passed that, and that was Trump that signed that into law. No, no Democrat, no Republican before Trump signed that into law. And that that they released about, I think 80% of that 44,000 since that first step back uh established, yeah, were African Americans. So it's just such an easy thing to go to because you can't defend your ideas, I think.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:56

What do you think? Now that we're getting into politics, what do you think in a few years when Trump can't run anymore, or at least Donald Trump can't run anymore? What is do you think there's is this a permanent divide 2028 and further? Or do you think when Trump is no longer the president, do you think there's some sort of kumbaya that happens between the parties?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:21

I I I think we're at the point of no return. I think that that the only thing that could happen is something very catastrophic like 9-11 to bring unity, because that brought a lot of unity when it happened, and I I wouldn't want to see that, don't don't don't misquote me on that. I I just think we're we're just in an age of tribalism, and social media plays a lot into that. And it's hard, how do you how are you gonna bring everybody to get along when everything that's being sold is division? And division is how people get elected. That's the playbook. Look at any just look at history. How did Hitler rise to power? Division. You divide and you conquer. It's not gonna go away. Right? Next three years? I'm scared. Midterms, I don't think Republicans win. Historically, historically, they never win, right? Like whoever's in power doesn't win the midterms, it's just historically. The question is, three years from now, who's gonna be our president? And that's that's what I'm a little scared of, right? Is it gonna be uh a Gavin Newsom, right? Kamala, I think, has no shot. I think she she shot her shot. But Gavin, Gavin's a snake, and he's a smooth talker, and he looks the part, right? And he can he can get in there. I I I think he can be elected. But we'll see. I think so too. You think so too, right? I think he does.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:43

Yeah, so it's interesting. I think a lot of it's gonna depend on this Iran thing because this uh, you know, so I'm a conspiracy theorist at heart, right? So I until you're not, right? A lot of the conspiracy theories have been proven. You know what I'm saying? And and I'm just here's what I am I'm a skeptic at heart, is what I am. Like, like if somebody tells me something, my response is, we'll see. Yeah, yeah, we'll see, right? So, you know, when I'm told that listen, I'm talking CNN and Fox right now. Yep. Okay, this is my libertarian, my moderate career, right? I know I can't trust both of them wholeheartedly. No, you can't, right? I I know whatever's being said.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:27

They have agendas and narratives, yeah, that they're pushing.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:29

So, yeah, is does Iran have these weapons and you know it's an imminent threat of killing us? I know, I know there's something way more in-depth going on. I know it's not just, you know, atomics.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:45

This is not about this is not about nuclear weapons. Yeah. And I said that on one of my videos. Um maybe. I said this is what I said. I said it may be. I think Trump saw an opportunity with there's a couple factors into this. He's making a big push to control the Western Hemisphere. That's one of the reasons why he went after Venezuela. He's got their oil. Now he wants to put China out of commission. I think this is part of the reason why he did what he did with Iran, and he saw a weakness with the civil unrest that was going on in Iran, where this was going to be the only opportunity to truly try to get regime change and really control and stabilize the Middle East and get China out of the way. Because China and Russia have been controlling the Middle East, and by making this move, I think it was a very calculated move. Is if if they accomplish what they want to accomplish here, now they get control of the Middle East, and now they have control of the Western Hemisphere, and now they're the complete superpower of the world. Which that hasn't changed, they've been the superpower, right? Um, and uh I think it was a decision, it was a very calculated decision to do this. Uh even if the public's not in agreement with it. A lot of people feel that it's Israel behind this, which there's an argument to be made there. But what what are your thoughts on on the whole thing?

SPEAKER_01 1:04:57

No, I think um I I I believe there's something. Do you know what controlled opposition is? No. Controlled opposition is Is it a theory? Yeah, uh, it's just a way to manipulate somebody's thoughts, right? So uh let's say, for example, um we'll use aliens. Okay. Okay, so real? Um I think it's a bunch of BS. Really? Yeah. Okay. I think it's part of the controlled opposition. Okay. All right. It's okay. Elaborate. Well, it's okay. Um, so um what they'll do is is they'll say, hey, you can't go down to Antarctica. Okay. Uh and the reason why is be and they'll lead you to believe it's because of the weather. Well, weather or or no, there's maybe an alien base there.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:53

Yeah. Right?

SPEAKER_01 1:05:55

Yeah. So maybe maybe the aliens are controlling the earth from the the center of the earth or

SPEAKER_02 1:06:00

Whatever crazy story up.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:02

So I think they lead you in the direction of Antarctica's bad or the center earth is bad, you can't go there, but what's actually there is different. So it's kind of like this uh controlled opposition is this. Let's say you're a man and you've cheated on your wife with a hundred women, and you go up to her intentionally and you say, I was um, I cheated on you one time with one woman. So I intentionally gave you the one lost. That way, if you ever see anything suspicious, it's not, it was Jennifer. Right. It was that I'm sorry, I told you already, but there's 99 other women. That's controlled opposition. That's probably a better way to explain it. Yeah, that makes sense. And you probably you probably dealt with that when you're 22 years old. Sounds like but so that's controlled opposition, right? So so I know whatever they're telling us, I know it's a part of the truth, but boy, I know it gets way deeper. Oh, yeah. Probably, you know, it's it's probably stuff that most people don't want to know. And it's probably there's probably a whole lot more going on than than we'll ever realize. And I think it'll be 10 or 15 years before we actually know.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:19

I agree. One of the things uh that I think about a lot is like the evolvement of like when you're in your 20s, 30s, and now in our 40s, and how you start climbing in your career and you start getting in different circles, and you start realizing that the world isn't what you thought it was. You know what I mean? Like how are these like the Epstein Files? How does that world even exist? Like, I still don't like I've been in so many circles, I've been around celebrities, athletes, high-profile businessmen. I've been around everybody uh a lot, and uh, I've never heard a conversation about uh a child being molested or these rings or these circles, how like Bohemian Grove, like how is this even a thing? I can't even believe that this world exists. How can anyone want to hurt a child and that multiple people are in the conspiracy, right? You know, you have one isolated psycho that likes to molest kids, but Epstein had a whole ring of guys that were that were doing this to kids. Like, how's this how does this world exist? I just don't I can't fathom it.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:29

Yeah, no, it I um it's funny. Do you know who Bradley is? Bradley Bradley dropping bombs. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So my company runs a bunch of his marketing. I like the guy's awesome, but I but I saw him make a a video the other day about how men shouldn't cry at all. And and I disagree with it because I cry all the time. I just don't cry about myself, right? But I cry for others. Like, damn it, I hate seeing that, right? So to me, when I hear about these things, it gets me, it gets me riled up, dude. Yeah, me too. And and part of me, like the tough guy comes out and me, it's like, let me hang out with that guy in the phone booth. Give me two minutes with him. Yep. You know what I mean? Let me show him how he made that little girlfriend.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:15

I was telling somebody I was at dinner with last night, you touch one of my fucking kids, I'm unloading every gun I got on you. It ain't how he goes, how about if they steal money from you? I'll go up and money has been stolen from me. Don't care. Yeah. On you go. Touch one of my kids, it's it's a problem. I I just kids is just something that is just dear to my heart. And I just can't, I can't understand it. I cannot understand it.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:41

No, I and you're you seem like a spiritual man. Yeah, absolutely. The only way to explain it is the devil. That's it.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:45

It is, it is, and that's a great point that you made there. It's really validated for me that there is good and evil, and that God truly, truly exists.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:57

Me too.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:58

Absolutely exists. Yeah, yeah. And uh and for people out there that don't believe in God, God is real. God is real because evil exists. You know, and it's true evil. I mean, that's some of the things that you've I I I I went down the rabbit hole of reading some of the stuff in the Epstein files. Some crazy stuff in there.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:19

What's some of the stuff? Because obviously I haven't read all three million things, three million files.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:25

You know, there's communication and they have code words like pizza and grape, and that's you know, code for for for kids, you know, young girls, young boys, and they're going to pizza parties and and you know, they're having grape soda, and uh Woody Allen's talking about basically eating humans, and it's just crazy stuff, man. That's just like whoa.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:46

Yeah, I think, and this is gonna sound disgusting. I hope I don't sound like a pedophile when I say this. I almost don't want to say it. I guess I can understand someone having a weird sexual aversion. I'm not saying I condone it, but at least I can comprehend it in some sort of weird way. Not condoning it. This, but this whole other leap to maybe this adrenochrome stuff and and like this torture, like that's like what the fuck is going on? And you know, part of me thinks it's because these people are so wealthy, you know. I've done very good, you know, for myself, and you know, I'm at a point now where I don't even care about what car I drive. Like, there's nothing, even going and buying a Lamborghini, it doesn't, it's cool, it just doesn't excite me. You know what I'm saying? It doesn't excite me at all, right? So I can only imagine what it's like for a billionaire, uh what excites them, and and I'm not trying to justify it, but maybe it's this weird thing where extremely wealthy people have to just I don't know, get get get off on get off on devilish actions. It's the only way I can kind of rationalize it because it doesn't make sense. You know, it's not it's not a ring of broke people.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:18

No, no, they're all very wealthy, right? Very powerful people, yeah. It could be that. I mean, I I don't I like it's unexplainable. I don't know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:29

Well, here is something else too that I was thinking about the other day. And I said this on a podcast yesterday. I was out in San Diego.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:36

Oh, nice, beautiful weather out there. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:38

If I had to live in Cali, I could do it'd be San Diego.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:43

Listen, I was in Los Angeles not too long ago. I'll tell you what, Beverly Hills. Oh, come on. I I went, I drove by the gables. I'm like, this is a port mat. No, it's nice. Beverly Hills is another level. Like, you could eat off the the street, how clean and cured, you know, manicured that place is. It's just incredible. LA's beautiful, it's just the the politics suck, but yeah, I couldn't. I wouldn't raise kids there. No, no, but California's just absolutely like it's beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:10

Yeah. Um, but what I was I'm sorry, what I was saying on the podcast was it's very interesting, just saying it's convenient, that all this Epstein stuff came out, and then boom, we're in a full-fledged war. You believe in coincidence? So convenient. Yeah. So convenient.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:30

There's an argument to be made there. And I've thought about that too. You know? Yeah. Yeah. And uh, you know, Trump released a tweet that he's gonna release all the alien files too. You know, he he instructed uh, I guess, Heg Saf to start releasing them or whatever, you know, whoever he instructed. I don't remember the the uh true social that he put out, but yeah. I guess diversion, I don't know. I don't know. You know, it's hard, it's hard because if you start going down that rabbit hole, you start you start going crazy.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:57

Let's just um, you know, is there any um two things? Yeah, the PBD community, how did you get in? What was your connection there? What's your man?

SPEAKER_02 1:14:06

Funny story. So I didn't know who PBD was. Uh I came across PvD. Uh I love Kobe. So I saw the interview with Kobe. I'm like, who's this dude? And then I would start seeing his stuff in my feed of him promoting the vault back in when it wasn't even the vault. I've never been to the vault, but promoting the vote, and I'm like, all right. And then I started seeing clips of his podcast, and then I'm like, all right, let me check it out. And then I started watching, I'm like, damn, this guy's good. And then, you know, his whole team, you know, Adam, uh, Vinny, which I've gotten to meet. Vinny is a wonderful human being. And actually had lunch with Adam yesterday, incredible. Um, very funny. Adam's very funny.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:46

Uh yeah, I mean, Adam he invited me to his birthday party a couple weeks ago. I was I was there. Oh, were you? Yeah, I was there. I had some people in town, I couldn't make it. Yeah, yeah. I haven't gotten to know him that good yet, but I'd like to. We've been talking about it.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:58

Yeah, I don't know him that good. He's he's actually close to one of my my friends, and uh, and that's how I got to to meet him. But uh Vinny, I I met at Adam's party. He was just he's he's unbelievable. I could talk to Vinny for hours. And I actually saw him yesterday over at uh headquarters. I took somebody by there. Uh, so that's how it happened. I started becoming a fan, and then I got away from it. I stopped watching because I just don't have time right now to watch podcasts and all that, and I'm actually watching it now again. But I got invited to a meeting at the boardroom. I didn't know. They're like, hey, it's PVD's place and cigar lounge, and I thought it was just like his own place. I didn't know that it was a thing that was open for members and all that. So I go, uh, we have the meeting and I meet Mikeli, which is the GM. He's unbelievable. And just talking to him for like a couple minutes, I'm like, dude, uh, are memberships available? They're like, Yeah, Karim tells me, yeah, they are. I said, Send me the link, I'll sign up. I don't even know what I get with that. Just give me the platinum thing. Yeah, yeah. And that's how I signed up and I became a platinum bucks. Yeah, a couple bucks. It's all right. It was well worth well. I don't think I think it's uh, I'm not gonna say it. Yeah, it's well priced. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But uh, you know, it's it's an incredible community. Uh, they're building something special there. Everybody's like-minded. You have people that have families, uh, politically, we mostly align in there. Um, and uh, we're we're about wanting to grow uh uh you know personally and professionally, and I think everybody in there has the same common goal. So it's it's a cool place, man. That's how we met, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:24

Yeah, no, a lot of people will so I started. Here's how I started Following PBD because I I used to work for a company and they thought they were good sales leaders, they were not, right? They were teaching very dated sales practices, and I was the best salesperson, and then they made me responsible for coaching and managing and training salespeople. So I was really yearning for higher level knowledge, and fortunately, YouTube came out, so I started following you know the Grand Cardones of the world or you know, looking back at old stuff with like Zig Ziggler, etc. But I found this guy, swearing my life. I would I I saw these freaking YouTube videos, and he was training just kind of his insurance reps, right? And I can tell it wasn't really made for the masses, but I dude, he probably had a few thousand followers, and I said, wow, I really like this guy's material. So I started following him from day one because he would talk about a lot of sales management and leadership. So I really gravitated to it, and then he just you know he talked about business so much, I just kept following him, following him, following him. And obviously he got political the past few years, but I've observed him and his growth, right? Forever, you know, it's it's amazing to watch. I've I've watched this ascension, so I've always admired the heck out of him. So to be on like a first name basis with him for me is cool, it's it's awesome, right? But anybody that reaches out to me and they say, Hey, Eric, you know, thinking about getting involved with you know, valuetainment and the community and everything, like what's your experience? And I say, It's worth every dollar. Because it's not about meeting Patrick. Sure, it's cool. And if the right time and place, yeah, you'll get some interaction with him.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:14

Cool, awesome.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:15

You know, he said my name on stage at the moment.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:17

I know, I know.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:18

I was yeah, I couldn't, you know, a few times, right? In a few of these meetings, you know, he'll point me out and say, Eric, say how much money you've made.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:25

Yeah, I was in one of those.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:26

Okay, yeah. That's cool and everything, but but that's not why I do it. Why I do it is the Andy Hernandez. You know, it's it's the community. And I, you know, my um gender reveal here is in uh two weeks with me and my wife. Dude, there's probably 10 or 15 people that I met in that community. Amazing, you know, me, you, and Serge are hooked up with Clifton right now. A couple other guys were about to do like a challenge body transformation thing. I can't wait. See how long I last.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:57

Yeah, I'm scared of Clifton. I mean, he probably kicked my ass off. He's a big dude. Yeah, he's a big dude. Yeah, man, it's an incredible community. I got listen, uh, I didn't understand PVD's bandwidth. That's one smart dude. His bandwidth is insane. Um watching him, uh, you know, I went to the uh, you know, I've gotten close with Kareem, and and and uh he's one of his top guys over there. Uh and Kareem's like, hey, you gotta do the business planning, blah blah. And I'm like, listen, I'll go. Man, it was incredible. It was incredible. I learned a lot, and I mean I've I've done a lot of different things in business and I've learned from a lot of people, but he's got a lot of knowledge and just his insight on uh, you know, he's very system and process oriented, and that's uh that's impressive how he's able he's been able to scale at the way he's been able to scale. He went from like eight to nine, ten employees to 160 now. He bought that beautiful place uh that's sitting on a landing strip. People don't even believe me. I'm like, yeah, it's on a landing strip, right? It's just uh a beautiful place, just incredible. And he's the he's the American dream, right? He came from Iran with nothing, and he's built uh he's built he's building an empire, you know, and nothing but respect for him.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:06

No, I got I I love the guy to death.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:07

He um I think him being Iranian, and I want to keep going, but last thing I'll say is uh I think it helps him because you know, politically, you know, I don't know if you remember this, but uh I forget what was that group of kids called that he was debating? Jubilee.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:26

Oh, yeah, yeah. That was great, by the way.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:28

It was amazing.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:30

One I would have grabbed one of them by their neck. You know what I'm saying? One of them had the nerve to say to him, Rich people are all tall, white, and handsome.

unknown 1:20:41

Oh god.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:42

And he's like, he literally looked at himself like, like, how are you just blinders? You know, so I think part of his ascension, and and I this is a great thing, you know, is it is his nationality, is his heritage. Yep, you know, because um he you kind of can't bullshit him. You know, no, like he he didn't have you know, he had everything stacked against him as a young person, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:12

Yep, and he's been able to make it.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:14

Dude, he he's probably a billionaire now. He's probably not on paper, but if he had to sell value attainment to somebody, somebody would pay a billion dollars. 100%. No doubt, no doubt, you know, yeah, so God bless him. Good for him. Absolutely. Keep growing, keep shining. Absolutely. He's a young dude. Yeah, he's 47 years old.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:30

He's a young dude, he's got so many years ahead of him. He wants to go till he's 80. You know, he's told us that, you know. Yeah, or whatever, 80 or 90, however old, uh, he said he wanted to go. So, yeah, man, he's just an incredible story, and it's it's a cool place to be. It's like you said, it's the people that make that place. I've met so many great entrepreneurs and and just great family men and just great dudes that you just want to hang out with. And what's great about that place is no phones. I absolutely love that. And I know sometimes people are trying to sneak in. I actually like it because I'm on my phone all day long, right? For if it's not messages, emails, Instagram, this, that, the other. Just it's you know, it's so relaxing to be able to put your phone away and just have engagement and conversation with people. I I I find that pretty cool about going there to the boardroom. Yeah, I'm actually going there tonight. Um they have an event there tonight, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:22:20

I I think that was last night. I was there last night. Yeah, they have an event. I think they're having another. Oh, really? I'm taking a couple of my guys. I'm meeting. Have you met Francois yet? No from Quebec.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:30

No, I haven't met him, though. He's a cool dude. Yeah. Yeah. What time are you guys heading over there?

SPEAKER_01 1:22:35

Probably 7 30. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:37

Do you live nearby there? No, I live I live down south. I live west uh West Miramore. Okay. So I'm on the borderline of Miami and Broward.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:45

Yeah, it's tough for me to get not tough, but I I live up here in Boca, and I'm probably uh yeah, it's not brutal. It's probably 20 minutes. Yeah. So if you if um do me a favor, look in that camera. Sure. And if people, you know, I don't know what business you want to promote, or you know, uh tell them what business if people want to get in touch with you, learn more about you.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:05

Yeah, so Instagram is a great place to find me, Andy A. Hernandez. Uh, the Rhodes Home Healthcare is our home care company. You can see everything on my Instagram. You can go on my uh uh Linktree and uh you'll see all our businesses there. And then Beyond Media Group uh dot com. You can check us out there and check out our podcast, you know, with all the athletes that we work with. So yeah, that's me in a nutshell. I really don't do much promoting of my businesses for some reason. Yeah, yeah, but uh the thing is that we work we work with doctors and physicians, and it's like if you don't get the business from there, you're not gonna get it from the the direct to consumers. So yeah, I gotta do a better job. You might be recruiting somebody. That that is true. So yeah, we're we're constantly recruiting. Yeah. So if listen, if you're a clinician, R N, P T O T, S T, we want you. Uh we're in 14 counties in the state of Florida. Uh, and if you're looking for a sales job, we're actually actually uh we're we're expanding uh our sales team. So yeah, cool.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:02

Awesome, guys. Thanks again for tuning into the Gold Coast Podcast. I'm your host, Eric Weingard. Make sure to like and subscribe, and please forward this to someone that you think finds value. We'll see you again.