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"I Got RICH When I Started DOING THIS!" (Copy These Billionaire Habits) | Tilman Fertittia

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Tilman Fertitta, a billionaire entrepreneur and owner of an empire spanning 600 restaurants across 15 countries plus major assets like the Houston Rockets NBA franchise, attributes his success to fundamental tools rather than innate genius. He emphasizes taking the word "no" out of one's vocabulary by focusing entirely on customers rather than competitors or spare ones. Fertitta advocates for a disciplined approach where individuals must separate themselves from everyone else in their field; whether working as a mail carrier or behind a camera, one should strive to be the absolute best at that specific task. This mindset involves telling oneself daily that they will execute their role better than anyone else, effectively becoming "the bull" in whatever position they hold. The interview details Fertitta's resilience during the economic downturns of the late 1980s and early 1990s when he faced repeated banking failures while building his company from a single restaurant to an industry giant. He illustrates this with his concept of "Keep Punching," urging people to persist through adversity until they can no longer function, noting that one must always prepare for the inevitable downturn by worrying even during good times so that life's challenges do not catch them off guard. This philosophy extends to financial acumen; Fertitta explains how he navigated a period where every bank he worked with failed before him yet still managed to pay his debts in full without interest, highlighting the importance of understanding business fundamentals like occupancy costs, lease terms, and margins regardless of the specific industry. Fertitta stresses that success is not about being naturally gifted but rather about knowing one's God-given strengths while acknowledging limitations through due diligence. He advises against partnering with people who share identical skill sets to avoid blind spots, suggesting instead that leaders must understand every department within their organization, including complex areas like information technology and cybersecurity. By forcing himself to learn the basics of IT despite not being a millennial, he ensures he can make informed decisions across his diverse portfolio ranging from aquariums requiring biologists to casinos and sports teams. He also teaches that one should never assume tasks are completed or answers are correct without verification, a habit crucial for maintaining high standards in operations. Central to Fertitta's methodology is the "95/5 rule," which dictates that while 95% of business activities may be executed correctly, true excellence lies in identifying and attacking the remaining 5%. He demonstrates this by scrutinizing minute details like parking lot weeds or smudged front doors before even entering a building to gauge overall operational quality. Similarly, he applied this principle to his Houston Rockets team, analyzing why they lost despite strong performance to find small improvements, such as acquiring faster transition players. This relentless pursuit of the critical few percent drives him to outwork competitors by negotiating deals late into weekends and early mornings when others are resting, ensuring that effort becomes a competitive advantage. Ultimately, Fertitta's legacy is defined not just by wealth but by fairness and doing the right thing while remaining audacious in his goals. He encourages individuals to dream big with concrete steps toward acquiring new ventures or achieving major milestones like owning an NFL team, viewing business as a sport where one must constantly conquer challenges rather than simply sitting at home. His advice culminates in reading his book "Shut Up and Listen" to internalize these principles of leadership, resilience, and the importance of knowing more about any situation than anyone else in the room. By applying these basic tools—knowing your numbers, focusing on customers, separating yourself from peers, and being the bull—one can achieve extraordinary success regardless of their starting point or current industry.
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I think you [music] can see that I'm no smarter than anybody else in this room. I just use certain little basic tools to be successful every day. Take the word no out of your vocabulary. Worry about your customer, not spare customers. Use the 95/5 rule. Separate yourself from everybody else. Be the bull at whatever you do. And I don't care if you're in the mailroom or if you're the person behind that camera that I'm going to be better than anybody else with that camera and I'm going to be the best mail carrier and the person who comes up and is the most organized and does it the most professional way. [music] You can be the bull at any position you're doing and it's just telling yourself I'm going to do this better than anybody else. Hey everyone, welcome to Impact Theory. Today's guest is an extraordinary entrepreneur who took himself from the owner of a single restaurant in Katy, Texas to the world's richest restaurant tour with 600 restaurants in 36 states spread across more than 15 countries. Today his business empire encompasses not only such landmark restaurants as Mastro's Steakhouse, Rainforest Cafe, Morton's, Dos Caminos, and Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, but also a wide variety of other industries including numerous hotels, casinos, aquariums, and even the Houston Rockets NBA franchise. He stands as one of the largest employers in the nation with a staggering 60,000 employees and his companies collectively serve over 150 million customers annually. His outsize success places him at 153 on the Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest Americans and he's received countless awards for his endeavors, including Entrepreneur of the Year Award from Ernst & Young, and being inducted into the Texas Business Hall of Fame as the second youngest inductee ever. He is also an incredibly active philanthropist who currently serves as chairman of the board for the Houston Police Foundation, the Houston's Children Charity, and the Texas Heart Institute. Additionally, he is the longest-running chairman of the board of regents for the University of Houston. So, please help me in welcoming the bullish and charismatic star of CNBC's Billion Dollar Buyer, the author of Shut Up and Listen, Tilman Fertitta. Good. Welcome. Glad to be here, Tom. Man, it is good to have you, dude. Your story is pure insanity. What you have accomplished and built essentially from scratch is bordering on unparalleled. It's It's really insane. And I love some of the notions that you have that I think have helped you really build that. Um give me some background on Keep Punching. You know, it's it's funny, and uh I I guess when I first was really going in the '80s, uh you hit that horrible recession, and people talk about how did banks get so big because the government took a few of the big banks and said, "You're going to take the good assets, and we're going to take all the bad assets." And that's why you have banks that are too big to fail today, cuz they're roll-ups of bank after bank. And And the late '80s were tough, and I was getting going, and and and you just realize when other people were filing bankruptcy, you just got to keep punching and punching and punching. And And people don't realize how much you can take, and and if you just keep punching and find a way to get out of the mess. And uh you know what's funny? This is a great story, and I talk about it in the book. I was doing business with like nine or 10 banks in in the late '80s in Texas. And it was really getting tough and to make payments or whatever, starting to default on some by a few days. Every single bank that I did business with failed before I did. [laughter] Is that not a crazy story? And I know that's hard to believe, but the FDIC would come in every Tuesday into Houston in in the late '80s and close down four five or six banks. So over about a over about a six-month period, every single bank failed that I did business with. And you had you would call us and say, "So what do I do with these payments?" And there was such a bureaucracy, I truly got a three-four-year reprieve. Wow. And and then in in 1990, I remember somebody calling my office and saying, "Mr. Fertitta, we have these notes of yours. We would like you to come in and talk to us." But in that time I was able to go and and keep building my company and was able to pay them 100%. No interest though. Yeah, that that's a a nice touch. Now, so in this notion of making sure that you keep punching and knowing how much of a shot you can take, how do you stay focused when you're getting punched? How do you weather that storm and have the clarity to move forward? Well, you just got to keep punching and just take care of your business and you just realize until they come and shut you down or lock the doors or you can't get product or whatever until you can't make a payroll. You'd be surprised what you can take though. And and you just keep punching and punching and believe it or not, times, you know, get good and it goes back to what I once again preach. When times are really bad, we forget they're ever going to be good again and when times are really good, we forget they're going to be bad again. And we need to always remember that so the paddle don't get you. Yeah, tell people your your concept of the paddle. Well, there's a paddle for everybody's ass. We all know that. And uh every day you just get up and I don't fear anything, but I worry about everything. And the day you stop worrying in good times, the paddle will get your behind. And and and so, as great as things are in life, I I know you're only a a few steps or a few incidents away from something bad happening. You can never forget it. Did you have fear as a kid and you just got into enough business scuffles that you figured your way through things, or have you always been fearless? I'm pretty fearless, but I do worry about everything. But, you know, once again, you know, the book and this is why Harpers asked me to write the book because of all my Tillmanisms, you got to know what you know and what you don't know. And and I knew that I understood business. Now, don't ask me to, you know, go win an Emmy. I took guitar lessons for 4 years and I still struggle playing a guitar. I can't draw a stick person very good, but I knew that I understood business. So, I I I know what I know and I know how to do due diligence on a deal. I don't worry about making a bad deal because I feel like I I That's what I know. So, no fear when it comes to that. And how much of that is instinctive and how much of that have you had to teach yourself? I think I definitely got the DNA gene and and understood business. But, at the same time, I've been a sponge. And I'll look and watch everything and pay attention. And every day I get up, I look for mistakes and uh what I can learn that day. You don't ever think that you know it all because you don't. And so, every day is still a learning process and and you just You can't ever get caught up with who you are because you're worth a few billion dollars and and you have an extremely large company. And cuz like I said, the day I I don't look in the back of my head, that paddle's going to get my ass. My father-in-law is um a very successful self-made man, came from a tiny ass village in Cyprus, which I hadn't even heard of until I met his daughter. And he gave me, I think, the best piece of business advice I've ever gotten, and I still use it to this day, which is to know more about any situation than anybody else in the room. And that has served me really well. I'm guessing, given your reputation and how people say you can spot a light bulb out at 40,000 ft and all the things that people say about you, that um you tend to know more about any deal, anything going on in your company, than anybody else. I want to know how. How do you master it to that level? Well, I mean, I I can't get into some details that people know that I don't know, but but if you walk into my office for a meeting, I don't care what department you're in, I will pick apart whatever you have, and and you better know your numbers when you walk in there with a spreadsheet, or you better you have your ads right if you're the marketing person walking in. But you also you you you know, you know if people know what they're doing, and and uh but it's my job to make sure and bring everybody up to another level, and I think that's probably one of the greatest compliments I've ever gotten is that I'll take somebody good and make them better. Is that Is that a conscious process for you? Like, what are you doing? Is it just kicking people in the ass, inspiring them, leading by example? the above. I I think I do You always know where you stand with me. Uh I have all my top VPs probably have been with me an average of 25 years. My two assistants uh have been with me 27 and 26 years. Uh and everybody will tell you that is the hardest son of a in the world to work for, but I would never work for anybody else. What would you have to see in them to think it's worth the risk? I think one of the best things that I ever did was I will I will look at somebody's resume, and I can say, "You know what? You've never been with the right company, and that's why you haven't excelled and and and you are that's why you're in here today. And so many people choose the wrong company to go to work for. And I look at people all the time and I look at your resume and say, "Why did you go to work for this company? I knew they were screwed up when you went to work for them, okay?" And so some people just are not good at choosing the right company. And also the person interviewing them makes promises that never happen. And I think that's one of the biggest mistakes that people make is choosing the wrong company to go to work for. Curiosity, what makes something the wrong company to go to work for? Is it different by person or are there just certain things in a company people should look out for? Well, do they really have good liquidity? Are they going to be in business? Are they an acquisition target where all of a sudden that they are and you're going to get bought and probably laid off? Uh you know, everything is is uh are they in Do they have a product that is going to be around for a long time? So everything from liquidity to product, acquisition target, growth, where are you going to go? Everybody should always ask themselves if they want to grow and they just don't want to just whatever is is say, "Where can I be in 5 years? If I can't be at this position in 5 years, then this isn't a good career path for me." I think everything is career path. Mhm. I'd love to talk about that. So your career path is crazy and inspiring. So how much of that was mapped out? Like when you had that single restaurant in Texas, how big were you dreaming? Were you already thinking aquariums? Like how much of this is you're just going and you're taking a a deal as it comes? How much of it is you discovered as you went? Let's do it another way. Let's go back to 10 years old. I walked around with my my business, my briefcase. What was it? full of business. There was no business in it, but I wanted to be a business guy, but you really didn't know what it was. By junior high, I was buying candy and reselling it at school. By high school, I was already trading on the stock market. So, let's take [snorts] these one at a time. So, the candy sales. [laughter] Who gave you that idea? Did you just understand uh if I can buy it for less than I sell it, then I can make money? That's just hey, doing whatever it took to make money. I always wanted to make money. I always had money even when I was a kid cuz I always worked whatever job I could find, whether it was uh uh mowing somebody's yard or washing cars or selling lemonade uh to the construction workers. Uh it was just always about making money. What made you good at selling? That is a very particular skill. You know, I I'm Even today, it's it's all about Somebody said, "Why are you so successful?" Because I sell. And even when you go out and you raise billions of dollars in debt and you're meeting with debt holders, you're still selling yourself. That's what it's all about. You're not just selling the deal. When I was public for 18 years, okay, and you're selling equity, uh I did five follow-on offerings, the most a restaurant company ever did when I was public. And and and you are selling yourself. And and and you know, you know your numbers, you know your business, and you make yourself that you know more than everybody else, even if you don't. [laughter] So, to dig beyond the sort of mythology of just the kid carrying the briefcase and all this comes naturally, at some point this becomes somewhat systematic. So, if you're going to be a sponge, you have to put yourself in a position to be a sponge. You have to know who to listen to, who to ignore. How did you begin to formulate that and um what does that process look like now? I knew how to make money. And so, at 21, I sold Bottoms and started building homes, building shopping centers. Uh by the time I was 26, I built my first hotel. By the time I was 25, I told myself I'll have my first jet at 35. And I did. Uh so, uh I was an investor in a restaurant uh and then when the world collapsed in the late '80s, uh you couldn't develop anything in Texas for the next 10 years. That's when every S&L failed, like I said, every bank failed, and I just started opening restaurants and did that between like '86 and '92, and then '93, I said, "Well, you know what I'll do? I'll just build restaurants cuz I understand this business but since you can't develop anymore, and I'll take it public cuz that's when the whole big thing of restaurant chains going public." Did that for the next 17 years, and uh then was an opportunist, which I always talk about, is that my stock crashed with everybody else in '08, '09. When I took it public, I owned 100% in '93. You wake up, you're worth $100 million. I took it private in '09, and you're worth $500 million. I was very successful, bought it right, and then, you know, I could really grow then because I didn't have the handcuffs of being a public company. Mhm. And when you think about the fundamentals of a business, when you're going in to evaluate or whatever, what like key things do you look for? Well, everything is uh occupancy cost, uh term of lease, do they own any real estate? Uh what are their margins? Uh I'm not real smart, but I know how to do that. Okay, I can analyze the numbers of any business and tell you what your margin should be or whatever because my production cost is this, I have this many subscribers, you should be doing this or that, and I don't care what the business is. So, that's what I know how to do. And so, if I try to make the right deal, and I do heavy due diligence, and and then hopefully, you can continue to grow your network. And if somebody wanted to get good at what you're good at, what would you recommend they do? You know, I think you know if you know business or not. And people ask me, "Should I go get my MBA?" And you know what I usually tell them? You know if you need to go get your MBA. If you don't have it inside of you and you understand economics and finance and and and operations of business, then you need to go get it. I knew that I didn't need it. It was just a God-given gift. But also remember I didn't get a lot of those other gifts. Don't ask me to play that guitar. Don't ask me to sing you a song. Don't ask me to draw you anything. But but you've got to know your God-given gifts and everybody has it. Everybody in this room has it right here. So do what you know was your God-given gift and find a way to use that as your path. So when you think about um somebody stepping into career and building something, obviously there's an element of okay, you need to figure out what you're good at, what you're not good at. Um do you believe that people can improve the things that they're not good at? Should they just entirely not think about that and partner with people that have a different skill set? Um you've said do not partner with somebody that has the same skill skill set. the book. You read the book. I I Absolutely, but at the same time uh I've made myself, you know, understand uh IT, information technology. And if you talk to any CEO of any company, they'll tell you that's the one department that you do not want to uh because no matter who you bring in, everybody has their own way of of doing it and and I've just still made myself uh understand technology even though I'm not a millennial. I try to at least know a little bit about every single department even if I don't know it a lot. And so walk me through you want to learn about IT, what do you do? You Googling it or do you go sit down with the head of IT and say teach me everything? No, I just I I I want to I want to know everything. I want to understand this, you know, you know, malware, how people are are getting into all of our systems and hacking us and and uh What's your process for learning though? Sitting down and say you got to make me smarter on this. You got to You got to help me through these steps because I don't get it. Don't go into too much minutia cuz you'll lose me cuz I'm not that smart, but you got to give me the steps of why this is happening or not happening. And that's something that everybody should do. You don't have to understand, you know, that I'm going to go and be able to program something or or write something, but but we should all if we're running a company understand some portion of it. Uh when I was shooting Billion Dollar Buyer, I know what all these different people do and exactly what they're doing and how important, you know, each person is and and uh it just trying to understand what you do and it makes you appreciate that person and how smart they are at that job, too. And how important they are to your company. All right, let's say I'm one of your kids. I want to take over the business one day. What How are you going to help me absorb the business fundamentals? Is it just follow you around? Is it you're going to hand me a list of Tillmanisms? Like what does that process look like? This This is This is a really great question that you just asked because I've had people say to me, "Why don't you let your kids work for me for a while instead of just working for you?" And then other people say, "You should put them in one department and let them learn that department." And and uh and you know what I've said and I I really think I'm doing it right and we'll see. Only time will tell. There's so many departments. You're talking about a a $4 billion revenue company with 60,000 employees and 700 million in EBITDA that does everything from, you know, I have 25 biologists that work for me at aquariums. So, everything from aquariums to amusement parks, to five casinos, to restaurants, to uh an NBA basketball team, okay? Just everything you can think of. I'm teaching them to make decisions because that's really what it's all about is learn how to make decisions, see how I make decisions every day about everything, whether it's a little decision or a big decision. And they've been doing that with me and they say they're pretty smart. We don't know that we could run this without you. [laughter] So, it's kind of interesting because it's just it's them sitting in meetings and seeing how I make decisions is the best thing I can do for them instead of learning one little department. So, if you were going to teach us a few key business principles, what are what are some of the core principles of business that you really like if you knew if I die without my kids understanding these three to five things, like what would those three to five things be? Know your numbers. No matter what business you're looking at, always know your numbers. Number two, realize that that we're not successful if that consumer does not come to us. Whether they're eating in your restaurants, whether they're playing in your casino, and and and whether if you don't have a good product on that basketball court, the fans are not going to come and buy those tickets, the sponsors aren't going to come, and therefore you're not going to have the money to pay for those good players next year. You're not going to be able to pay Russell Westbrook and James Harden each $40 million a year. You've got to always remember we're only as good as us taking care of that consumer. Um one of the things I teach everybody, and especially my kids, don't assume anything. I people think if somebody walks in and gives you an answer that it's the right answer. And and and even when I tell somebody to do something, I don't assume they went and did it. All I ask them a week later, did you do that that I asked you to do cuz that was really important to me. Oh my gosh, I didn't do that. And I think that's the biggest mistake people make is don't assume that everything's running right, don't assume anything. Do you see parallels between the game that you play in business and sports? Is that why there is a passion for you on both sides? 100% Uh I operate by the 95/5 rule. 95% of of everything we do in business, if we're doing anything is right, so look for the 5%. Uh, it's in the 5%? This is so powerful and reading it in the book, I was like, okay, here we go. So, how do you spot the 5%? How do you know what 5% matters? How do you prioritize how you attack that 5%? Okay, well, let me just say this, okay? I walked into this studio, okay? And and I've done a lot of interviews and and uh, as soon as I walk in, your your your people greet you, they introduce you know, this you come up here. Here's uh, here's some snacks. There's even a a a camera light. Uh, so if they're doing your makeup up there, it's a perfect lighting. Uh, I could tell this guy has his act together. This this guy I'm having a hard time finding his 5% because they're doing everything right. And I'm not just saying that, but you know everything I'm saying is true. That you have somebody meet us outside. We're not walking around lost. And and uh, so I hadn't found the 5% here. I'm sure before the show's over, I will. But but [laughter] It's there for sure. I think you're right. Everybody has a 5%. your you and your operation the second I walked in. And it's no different if I'm pulling up to a retail store or a hotel or a restaurant or whatever. And before I get to the front door, I'm pulling up in that parking lot. Is the parking lot in pretty good shape? Are there weeds out there? Are there cigarette butts in the parking lot? Uh, are there lights burn out? Uh, the front door's got a bunch of smudges on it. I haven't even walked in yet and I can tell you this isn't a crisp operation. I can tell you everything, how the operation's going to be inside before I ever walked in the front door. Cuz if they're not taking care of the outside, the inside's not going to be good. And that's the same parallel that I used for the basketball team. We had a great year again. We've won the most games we've ever won in a 2-year period in my first 2 years of ownership. But I sat down with the general manager and the and the head coach and my top basketball people and said, "All right, we did 95% of everything right, but we didn't beat Golden State again. So, let's what do we need to do? How do we improve that 5%?" And we kicked it around and and and that's when we decided that maybe there's an opportunity to be a little more athletic in getting a great transition player uh who can speed the game up and make us a better team like a Russell Westbrook. And so that was the 5% we were looking for. Changing out a few coaching positions, changing out a few other players. You're never going to be great if you don't look for the 5%. Yeah, as you were talking I thought, "Okay, I'm beginning to get a very clear picture of what makes you work." So, remember that I don't believe in It's not that I don't believe that some people come with sort of hardwired gifts. It's that I don't find it very helpful. So, if you're if the sum total of your story is that uh you're either born with it or you're not, why read the book, right? So, it comes down to there is an element of this stuff that can be taught. And hearing you talk, the part that sounds so interesting to me that I think can be taught is you have really high standards. And more importantly than that, you have high standards that when you look at where it's going wrong it doesn't damage your sense of self-esteem. So, you're willing to look at it. You're willing to what I call staring nakedly at your inadequacies. You don't walk into a restaurant to clap for yourself. You walk into a restaurant to figure out what the going wrong. Not saying that it's bad, you're just saying that if we want to and this is my favorite concept of yours, separate ourselves from everybody else. Easiest thing to do. It's the easiest thing to do. And I tell everybody that no matter what your job is is that you can go to work every day and separate yourself from anybody else. And it's no different than than the sound guy on this set. If you pick up, you know, what this sound guy is really really good. And he's worried about this and he's worried about that, then all of a sudden you tell somebody, "You need a good sound guy this." And then they end up on this person because of a recommendation. All of a sudden, this guy is known as the best sound guy in LA because he's paying attention or she's paying attention to details that the other sound people don't. No, you know what I I hear an ambulance out there. Let's cut it. You know, just a little little little bitty things. And I just think that it's easy to separate yourself from anybody else, no matter what your position is. If If you go to work for a company and you don't go up the corporate ladder, it's your fault. It's nobody else's. You're either with the wrong company where there's no upward mobility or you should separate yourself. Cuz I know one thing, if you work for me, I'm paying attention. Nothing goes unnoticed, okay? And I tell people that all the time. If you want to separate yourself, it's easy to do cuz somebody above you is going to notice it. Your peers are going to notice it. It [snorts] is easy to separate yourself from anybody else. Yeah, that that notion to me is one of the most critical things that anybody in a company can do. And I love what you're saying about personal responsibility. It's on you, man. If you're not Even if, like you said, it's just that you're you're in the wrong company. You're in the wrong company. And so, if you want to get somewhere where you can move, you either have to go somewhere else or get your skill set aligned. If somebody comes to you and is like, "I want to improve." Um I get that it is specific to that case, but are there general things that somebody can do? Is there um Is it start with shut up and listen? Is it the Tillmanisms? Is it getting those things ingrained in your soul? Or is there something else that give somebody the the mental framework with which to propel themselves forward? You know, I I think that you can pick up from from talking to me that that I'm not on a different level. Okay, these are pretty simple basic tools. And so nobody out there is listening to him and saying, "God darn, he's just he's just using words and he's just so much smarter than me. So I'm not going to become worth $5 million. That book is okay? He's just naturally smarter than me." I think you can see that I'm no smarter than anybody else in this room. I just use certain little basic tools to be successful every day. Take the word no out of your vocabulary. Worry about your customer. No spare customers. Use the 95/5 rule. Separate yourself from everybody else. Be the bull at whatever you do. And on and on and on. Know what you're good at. Know what you're not good at. I want to go back to the bull thing. So certainly I understand it when it comes down to an acquisition, being bullish. Basically, when there's blood in the street, that's when there's real opportunity. Like I get all of that. Now give it to me like I'm a young kid. I'm trying to come up through the mail room, whatever. Like how does one embody the bull? Is it about confidence? Is it about audaciousness? Like what is that thing? Whatever position you're at, you want to be the bull. And I don't care if you're in the mail room or if you're the person behind that camera that I'm going to be better than anybody else with that camera and I'm going to be the best mail carrier and the person who comes up and is the most organized and does it the most professional way. You can be the bull at any position you're doing and it's just telling yourself, "I'm going to do this better than anybody else." I don't care what the job is. I don't care what you do. You be the bull at what you do. What drives you? Is it setting goals? Is it the conquest? Is it you know, somebody that that's an all-weather winner. There's something pushing them. No, it's just sport. It's just the sport of this is what I do every day. And people say, "Why why do you do this?" And I just say, "Because what would I do?" I mean, if I can't come to the office and solve problems and fight with everybody and and conquer something you know, conquer then then what am I going to do with myself? Am I going to sit at home and die?" I mean, that's what I enjoy doing. This is my basketball. This is my game that I play. This is my pick up Monopoly game, whatever you want to call it. Okay? This is I love going to the office and and and leading people and and trying to conquer something. That's what I enjoy doing. It's sport. So, when you were it's so interesting because you once said that, you know, when I had my first restaurant and I was finally being successful and I think you were making like three or four million dollars a year and your dad was like, "Why do you keep putting this all at risk?" And you said that's basically how I think of myself now. Like, you may think that I've gotten big, but to me this is like nothing compared to where I want to go. How do you dream big and how concrete are those dreams? Like, do you maybe you're not willing to say out loud, but do you already know like this is my next acquisition and this is where I'm headed and this is how I get the NFL team and Totally. That's you're exactly right. This is this is steps to get to the next level. Now, if I don't pull any of that off, have I reached that point in life where I'm happy? Yeah. I don't feel like after I bought the Houston Rockets, uh and once again, I you know, who gets to own 100% of their team in their hometown? There's probably not of all the major 100 sports teams, there's probably not five. So, I feel very fortunate. Do So, if nothing else is accomplished, do I feel pretty good? I feel okay. I really do. I I really do and I thank the you know, the good Lord and and and all the people that helped me accomplish it. But but what you just said is happening. I'm taking the next steps right now to get to the next level. Cuz always that's my sport. Let's go play pick up basketball. Let's go to the office and play business. And that's what I do every day. I go to the office and play business. I have weekends, if I'm not on vacation or on the boat somewhere whatever, and I'm sitting at home and it's Labor Day or Memorial Day and I don't have plans, I'm going nuts. I'm going to go to the office. I'm going to attack. If people want to engage with you, they want to learn more about what you're doing, where would they find you? Uh you know, follow me on Instagram or Facebook or Twitter and read Shut Up and Listen. And And all the people that work for me will tell you that have read the book, that is Tilman talking. That is That is him. It it it it would capture him perfectly. And like I said, I've never been the smartest guy in the room, never professed to be, but I will outthink you. I'll I'll work you. I will outmotivate you. And And I will teach you how to lead. Really fast, talk to me about the notion of outworking people. Uh I can tell you we've worn down many of people on deals when we just say let's just keep going. The greatest time to negotiate a deal is Friday and thinking that uh everybody's going to leave at 5:00 or 6:00 in the evening. And so I always try to set up a negotiation for all you people that I plan on doing an acquisition for them in the future because we'll go right through the weekend and they want to go home. And so we just keep plowing through at 3:00 in the morning, 4:00 in the morning. We will outwork your ass. Yeah. One of the greatest strategies in life in my opinion. I'm totally with you on that one. What is the impact you want to have on the world? You always want to do the right thing. Uh you want to be remembered that you you were very successful, but you did it fairly and squarely. Uh I'll out, you know, I'll I will I have take pride in outnegotiating your ass, okay? Uh and and you just want to leave this world that everybody said, "God, that was a difficult son of a gun, but he always did the right thing." It's pretty good. All right, guys. The Tillmanisms alone are worth the price of admission. I highly recommend the book. It is a lot of fun. If you were paying attention to the way he's talking, you will definitely, when you read the book, realize that that is definitely his voice and captures his spirit. And somebody that can start with a single restaurant and build what he's built today. If you have any interest in doing something extraordinary in your life, regardless, by the way, of whether you want to be an entrepreneur or not, I think a lot of the rules apply to just knowing more about something, outworking people, knowing what you want, big audacious goals, all of that stuff, being the bull. It will pay off well in your life. If you haven't already, be sure to subscribe. And until next time, my friends, be legendary. Take care. Tillman, thank you, my friend. That was wonderful, man. One that I learned to sell an encyclopedia [music] store to door in my early 20s is be prepared in life for a lot of rejection. Because if you're prepared for a lot of rejection and it comes, you don't get turned off, you don't get disappointed, like, "Well, I'm not going to do this anymore. [music] No one thinks this is a good idea."