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Chad Kodary (00:01.661)
What's going on everybody? We have the man himself, Alex Sharpen on with us today. Uh, this is another episode of behind the revenue. I'm super excited to have Alex on. Um, for those of you guys who don't know Alex, I personally have been following him for many years now. Uh, he's been once again on tons of events with us, webinars, challenges, all the good stuff. Anytime I think of anything where it's like business operations mindset, anything like that, Alex, you're the first one that comes to mind.
And I just want to gravitate you towards our audience. Now I know that I know you, but the audience might not know you. So if you can, maybe if you can give like a minute or two, tell the audience for context who you are, what you do and all that good stuff.
@alexcharfen (00:41.902)
Yeah, you got it, Chad. So I wrote the book, The Entrepreneurial Personality Type. I'm obsessed with helping entrepreneurs understand themselves better, be more productive, optimize and be able to grow businesses. And today I run a company called Simple Operations and we do three things. We show entrepreneurs how to align with themselves, how to align with their relationships, usually their marriage. And then the big part of our business is...
what we call the simple operation system. We show entrepreneurs an operating system to put in their business, to install in their business so that they can go from running their business by personality, where it's really overwhelming, to running your business through a process where you can actually get out of the day to day and go be a visionary. You know, I have...
Chad Kodary (01:23.325)
And who are -
@alexcharfen (01:23.83)
undying belief Chad that every visionary should be out of the day to day of their business so that we can actually create vision. So we have time, so we have space, so we have freedom. And my mission on this planet is to help as many visionaries as possible become more efficient and more effective so that they can do that. Because when visionaries create big visions, we change the world.
Chad Kodary (01:43.119)
that. I know for me, one of the big things that have always kind of gravitated me towards like your theories and your frameworks and all these different strategies that you have is something that you created that I believe is called the billionaire code. And if I'm not mistaken, it's almost like the evolution kind of looking at like the journey of a business owner. And it's something that's resonated with me for a long time, because I've known you for years. I mean, you probably came up with that at least five years ago, I would think something like that. It's
@alexcharfen (01:55.948)
Yeah.
@alexcharfen (01:59.47)
Yeah.
@alexcharfen (02:10.254)
Yeah. Yeah. I think I shared it. Yeah. I think I shared it at final hiking live in 2000, maybe 18 or 19, something like that.
Chad Kodary (02:15.325)
Yeah. And I was there. So that's probably where I first saw it. Right. So like, it's something that's resonated with me. And as I've gone through my journey, you know, obviously, you know, growing our company and hiring employees and growing in revenue and, you changing all these processes and like, it's, it's something that really changed, like your, your mindset changes and like you, you really do shift and become this different person. If you can.
Uh, cause I think it would be, it would hit home for a lot of entrepreneurs that are watching this for those that are not familiar with the billionaire code. Can you just explain that kind of like the frameworks and how you go through like this evolutionary cycle as an entrepreneur.
@alexcharfen (02:52.238)
Yeah, for sure, Chad, you know, for years. So I've been obsessed with business since I was a kid. And I mean, really obsessed with business. It's like the only place I've ever felt comfortable. It's the only place where I felt like I could win. It's a place where I felt like I could like show skills and talents and abilities, because honestly, in the rest of the world, I am awkward.
and challenged and I have a hard time with most situations, but in business, I feel very comfortable. And so was probably about 10 years ago, Chad, I started this, like, I had this question in my mind, like, is there a clear path to entrepreneurial success? Is there a clear like structure that anyone can follow to have a successful business? And I shared it with a few friends of mine and other people and they're like, no, Alex, all businesses are different. You know, there's no clear path, you know, everybody navigates it differently. And I just couldn't let go of this feeling.
that there has to be a roadmap that every entrepreneur can look at to understand where they are and understand what's coming next, but just as importantly, what they might've missed. And so I started handwriting the billionaire code for probably two or three years, like just writing it on big sheets of paper and revising it and writing and revising it. And then I had this breakthrough, I had some friends in my office and we were looking at it. They made some suggestions and like all the pieces kind of fell in place.
And suddenly we had combined with like some data from the government and combined with some information on how we run businesses. We came up with these nine levels of what it really takes to go to become a hundred million dollar entrepreneur. And so the billionaire code is each of those nine levels, like zero to 40, 40 to a hundred, a hundred to 300, 300 to a million, a million to three, and then a million to 10, 10 to 30 and 30 to a hundred. And.
I remember Chad, when I, when I finally figured it out, I'm like, man, I got to show this to somebody. And I was a member of genius network at the time. And so I reached out to Joe and said, Joe, can I present at the next event? And I'd already presented a ton of genius. I'd spoken at their annual conference. He knew me well enough to say, yeah, you can bring it and show it. And so I showed it at genius. And I'm like, there's a lot of high level entrepreneurs in here. They're going to tell me where I'm wrong. They're going to tell me what I missed. You know, I really want the constructive feedback. And so I did a 10 minute talk on the billionaire code. And at the end, everybody was like,
@alexcharfen (05:06.606)
dude, can I get a copy of that? That's just truth. And there was no constructive feedback. I'm like, hey, what did I miss guys? And they're like, you didn't miss anything. That is truth. There was actually a guy in the room who had, I think $180 million company. And he made a comment like, dude, I've never seen it before, but I can tell you exactly when I went through each of those transitions and what it felt like. And it's exactly what you said. And so we put the billionaire code out into the market. And I think, I don't know, several thousands of people have downloaded it.
And we get feedback all the time from people like I downloaded the billionaire code and it started, it helped me understand what I needed next. But what's more important is I saw all this stuff I was missing. And so as you go through these transitions, they're super intense. In fact, we were just talking before we started that you're in one of these very intense transitions yourself.
Chad Kodary (05:54.365)
Yep. We, we are, we've gone through a lot of those transitions. Um, and I would say like for me, it's funny because sometimes you obviously revenue definitely has a number because you go through, you know, as you're increasing in revenue, there's a lot of things changing in the business around you. Um, so that's definitely one of the, the, the biggest shifts, but for me, I think the biggest shift was mindset in just how you become a different person. You have to.
@alexcharfen (06:12.844)
Yeah.
@alexcharfen (06:21.678)
100%.
Chad Kodary (06:22.681)
become a different person in order to really grow. Like when I remember when we started, cause you know, most people don't know this, but when we started our company, we didn't start with DashClicks I started, I started a marketing agency in 2009, right? So I've been, I've been in doing marketing for like 13, 14 years. It's been, it's been over a decade, right? And then we, you know, in our marketing agency, we started off doing nothing. Like I started off in working, uh, at.
@alexcharfen (06:37.39)
Oh man.
Chad Kodary (06:52.445)
at my parents. I was 21 years old. I was living at my parents house, working out of my room in my boxers, trying to figure out how I was going to make money to just go out on the weekends. Like that was the thing, right? I was trying to figure it out. Right. And, uh, I was working, I was working multiple jobs and the agency thing was like my side thing. And then I remember, I remember when we started originally, I didn't start technically off as a marketing company. I started off as a graphic design and a trade printer. I was,
@alexcharfen (07:03.438)
Hahaha!
Chad Kodary (07:21.373)
Basically designing business cards, designing flyers, because I had some graphic design skills. So I was doing everything on Photoshop, designing a bunch of stuff, sending the artwork to a trade printing company, charging somebody like 50 bucks or a hundred bucks to print their business cards and then another hundred bucks to design it. Right. So that's kind of how we started. And then from there, people were like, Hey, do you do websites? I was like, sure. Right. And I figured out how to, how to build websites. And then they're like, Hey, how do I get traffic to the website? I was like, Oh,
Uh, we can do some SEO or we can do some Google ads or, you know, I started learning how to do marketing and I went through this like evolution, right. And it wasn't until year four for me, um, which was like the biggest shift we went from like 60 K in revenue. And that most people don't understand. They take years for granted, right. But like four years working to only get to like, I don't know, like 60 K in revenue a year. Like that's a long time. Like a lot of people can just work, you know, a normal job and out of the deal with all the headaches to make that much. But.
I remember fighting through it. I remember my mom coming into the room every single day. She's like, Chad, like, are you sure you want to like do this? Like, you don't want to go to a job or something. And I was like, it's going to pan out. Don't worry. It's going to pan out. It'll work. Right. And now we make jokes about that today, obviously. But I was like.
@alexcharfen (08:22.926)
I always tell people, I always tell people if you want to go somewhere fast, really believe in your idea. If you want to slow everything down, tell your family about it.
Chad Kodary (08:40.765)
Yeah, a hundred percent, dude. And and I remember that that year I went from basically kind of doing everything myself to moving into like my friend's office. So my friend had an office. He was an immigration attorney and he had like this front space that was like could fit like two people with a desk. Right. And I was like, hey, dude, I don't have any money or I don't have a lot of money and I really want to pay for office space. Can I just barter with you and do like SEO services and manage your website and stuff like that? And.
Let me just like hang out in the front and work from here since you're not using the space. He was like, cool. I did that for like a year and a half. Um, and the biggest, uh, the biggest mind shift that I had, like I went from 60 K to $588 ,000 the next year in sales in a year, one year difference. Yeah. So one year. Um, and. Oh no. Oh no. Yeah. No, definitely not. And the biggest shift that I had was for the first, like, you know, three, four years in business.
@alexcharfen (09:23.948)
in a year.
It always looks like an overnight success story, but nobody sees the backstory. Yeah.
Chad Kodary (09:37.085)
I was waiting for everybody to come to me. I wasn't attacking the market at all. And I had no business operation experience. I had no products or offer creation experience. I was just literally selling anything that anybody wanted to buy. I got to the point where I ended up looking at my QuickBooks one day. Um, I looked at my QuickBooks and you know, the 80 20 were where they're like, you know, you make most of your money, probably from, from 20 % of the products that you sell, not the 80%, right? Or I don't know if I have that mixed up, but I think you get the point.
@alexcharfen (09:39.766)
Hmm.
Chad Kodary (10:05.329)
But anyways, I remember looking at my QuickBooks file and we had like hundreds and hundreds of products in there and it's like random stuff like video creation, PDF design, just random crap that I was literally doing to collect money. I really didn't have an established business. And year four came and everything changed, right? And that was like the first for me, like the evolutionary cycle into, okay, this is now like the next journey. This is what it looks like, right?
And then getting out of that and moving into my own office and hiring a team. I think I went from, uh, like me and two people in that little office, uh, to, I think we moved into the next office and we're like 15 people, maybe like 10 or 15 people in the new office within the next like year or two. Right. And then we started obviously scaling up from there, but like, as you go through these evolutions and what you're saying in the, what you say in the billionaire code is like, you, you, you have to literally become a different person.
as you go through these different revenue shifts. And it's, it's, it's totally true for those people that are going through it. Like you'll, you'll, you feel it when you go through it, you have to make these shifts. If not, you end up stuck.
@alexcharfen (11:00.844)
Yeah.
@alexcharfen (11:13.006)
Well, a lot of people don't make the shift, Chad. Like if you look at businesses in the United States, just to give you some numbers, like the numbers are damning. If there's so when we could get numbers, it's been hard to get numbers since COVID, but when we could get numbers, it was 29 million businesses in the United States. I think that number has gone up, but out of 29 million, 16 million were under a hundred thousand. So over 50 % of businesses are under a hundred thousand.
And the reason is that growing a business requires consistent behavioral change and consistent mindset change. Like each new level of the business, you have to change your behavior. You have to change your mindset. And what I think happens to a lot of entrepreneurs is the behavioral change is too difficult or it's not clear or the mindset change is not clear or it's too difficult and they stay where they are.
You know, I grew up in a, in family where there was a business like that. My father, when I was young, had, when I was really young, had a super successful accounting company in Mexico. He was a partner with Deloitte Touche. He sold out of that for some really challenging reasons and then had a huge, uh, roofing tile company. Had to sell that for some challenging reasons. And then he started a business that never grew, Chad. It was like a retail store on the border of, of, uh,
Chad Kodary (12:23.229)
Ups and downs.
@alexcharfen (12:25.782)
California and Mexico is right in a place called Calexico and on the other side it's Mexicali. So it is like one city with a border in between. And his business never really went over like 800 ,000 to a million for 30 years. And I watched just this stagnation. I watched my dad have a job. He had a company, but what he really had was self -employment. And for us as entrepreneurs, as we're growing the business, if we understand the behavioral change, if we understand the mindset change,
Chad Kodary (12:37.691)
Wow.
Chad Kodary (12:43.517)
Mm.
@alexcharfen (12:54.478)
things get so much easier. And here's where my dad got stuck. Right around a million dollars, and Chad, you're kind of describing this in the description of your business. Right when you start approaching a million dollars, you have to go from the mindset of this is about me to this is about us. And then you have to go even to a further mindset about this is about me doing things to the team doing things. And then it's me achieving to the team achieving. And...
Chad Kodary (13:10.109)
Yeah, 100%.
@alexcharfen (13:20.398)
So many entrepreneurs can't let go of doing everything. My dad was that, that entrepreneur, you know, he stayed in a 100 % self -employed place and I felt it. I felt it up until we sold his business a few years ago. Unfortunately now he's in the later stages of dementia. And when we sold the business, I remember thinking like, man, this is life's work. It's this tiny little business that never grew. We're basically selling his job. And I think,
in so many ways, that's what's motivated me to not only grow my businesses to much more substantial results and a lot more contribution, but to help every entrepreneur, man, because I felt just how challenging it was for my dad and just how frustrating it was for my dad. And so being in a place where I can show other entrepreneurs like, Hey, here's why you're stuck and this is how you resolve it. It's been life changing for me.
Chad Kodary (13:58.587)
Yeah.
Chad Kodary (14:08.925)
I think one of the biggest challenges that I had to overcome when going through that shift, very similar to what your dad probably overcame or had to overcome, or didn't overcome maybe, but was I remember hiring the first hire. Cause in my mind I was like, man, now I'm going to have to share this thing. And.
@alexcharfen (14:16.75)
or didn't overcome.
Chad Kodary (14:28.445)
I don't want to share this thing. You know, as entrepreneurs, we want to make it. And I was young too, at the time. I didn't really understand any of this business stuff. I was like, I want to make as much money as possible. I had like, we'll have to share this now. Right. So it's like,
The hiring my first employee, I think was a big milestone for me because it allowed me to understand like, holy crap, there's a whole new world. There's somebody that can actually do stuff aside from me. Right. And then that led into my second biggest milestone, which was to let go. Um, and that for me is still, still difficult to be honest with you. Yeah. It's very difficult because I'm, I'm OCD. I'm a perfectionist. I like, I have to have.
@alexcharfen (14:51.982)
Yeah.
@alexcharfen (14:59.374)
Oh, it's a work in progress.
Chad Kodary (15:07.677)
I have to try to perfect things, right? So it's like, I have to always like, look at things, be like, no, wait, don't push that, don't send that live yet. Like, let's fix these couple of things right now. I always have my hands in the basket. So my team tells me, Chad, leave me alone. Get out of here. Just let me do my thing. So it is definitely something that I'm working on. It's a work in progress. I've been in business for 13 years. That's 2009, however long that is, 13, 14 years. And I'm still, it's still a work in progress for me.
So it's definitely been a challenge. I wanna ask you once again some selfish questions that I'm really curious about that always sparks some really fun conversations. A lot of the people that you work with or most of them like kind of like more so like higher network individuals, maybe over like seven figures, a lot of them.
@alexcharfen (15:54.542)
Most of the time, Chad, yeah. I mean, the majority of our members have a seven figure plus business. I wouldn't say that they're necessarily all high net worth individuals, because some of them are getting there for the first time. I'd say probably half of the room does really well financially. The other half of the room is on their way, but yeah.
Chad Kodary (16:10.653)
What's the biggest shift that you see from somebody going from? Cause there's always like these marks, like seven figure, eight figure, nine figure, right? 10 for whatever it is, right? What's the biggest shift that you have to create when you're going from a seven figure business to a eight figure business? What are like the, the internal beliefs, the internal changes that you have to make and like, what are the things that you see trending where it's like, Oh, most companies that we, we deal with, they have to go through these, you know, two or three things, and then they see.
massive change.
@alexcharfen (16:42.162)
So if we're talking from 1 million to 10, there's a few. So first, one of the biggest issues that we have as entrepreneurs, and you kind of alluded it to a little bit, is that we have trouble asking for help. In fact, for our population of people, like I said, I wrote the book, The Entrepreneurial Personality Type, and...
our personality type has a very hard time asking for help. We know we need more help than the average person, but anytime we have to ask for help, it leaves us feeling vulnerable and exposed. And so understanding that we have an issue with help in general is a huge part of just being able to go from one to 10 million is like, I have to commit to asking for help and I have to commit to asking for help in a system and a process where I actually get the help I need. And the biggest issue, like you've already said it, Chad, from one to 10 million,
you have to make increasingly difficult decisions with less and less information. And that is kind of, that's your mission for the rest of the time you're a CEO. The bigger the company gets, the more difficult the decisions and the less information you will have. And I've been challenged on this. People are like, no, you can get reporting. You can talk to your team. You can do this. And I'm like, look, when there was a one person business, you knew everything. So as soon as there's two people, you know, less than everything. As soon as there's five, you know, way less than everything. Chad, you're like at a hundred.
You have no clue. I mean, there's people on your team you don't even know their name.
Chad Kodary (17:59.997)
It's a, you know what? I'll say something that's kind of embarrassing, but it's reality. I don't, I've never spoke to them. I don't know their names. Um, I had somebody message me. Yeah. Uh, yeah. I had somebody message me today. They were like, chat, I wish you could, you could attend my wedding. Uh, they, we use teamwork chat for like internal chat. Like, I wish you could, I wish you could attend my wedding. He's actually somebody that's overseas in our, he's in our India department. Um, uh, and he's like, I wish you could attend my wedding and fly out to India. And I was like,
@alexcharfen (18:09.004)
Did you see how I predicted what you were going to say?
Chad Kodary (18:27.965)
I'd love to, but like, and then I have for a second, I was like, what does this guy do? Like, I had to look at, I had to look at his profile. I was like, oh, he's one of our developers. Right. And I was, and it becomes, it's like almost like awkward, but like, I try as much as I can, obviously, but it's very difficult, especially when you, when there's a lot of employees and you know, we, we, people come in and out, you know, you, you hire some people don't work out. You're, you know, we're constantly recruiting and finding, trying to find talent at that, at the, at the stage that we're at, that's kind of one of our biggest.
@alexcharfen (18:31.598)
Who is he?
@alexcharfen (18:35.532)
Yeah.
Chad Kodary (18:57.469)
In fact, I think that's one of the things that we're good at is trying to actually recruit and find talent. Right. Um, and it becomes very challenging at, at the stage that we're at. Um, but I feel like it's, it's an awkward thing to not know your own employees. Like you're, you're writing their paycheck and you don't even know what this guy does.
@alexcharfen (19:16.686)
Yeah, I mean, I think it's one of those things that you have to get used to as a CEO. I remember the same thing, Chad. We had 100 people in person. We had like, well, 90 something in person and like 13 or 15 that were remote. And I remember walking through the office one day and seeing four or five people. I'd had no clue who they were. I hadn't seen them before. I'd been gone for a few weeks. I came back and it's like, man.
you really do have less and less information. You have to make increasingly difficult decisions. And when you look at that one to 10 million transition, this is key, Chad. I know you're there. I know you're like right at the precipice of these things. And here's where most businesses miss. Like the biggest miss I see from three to 10 million is that they fill in the bottom of the org chart and they don't focus on the top. And when you're going towards 10 million from 10 to 30, your leadership team is going to make or break you.
On the way to 10 million, they can make it a lot easier. They can make it better 10 to 30. If you don't have a solid connected leadership team that understands they are the most important team in the company. And the team between them is more important than the team in their departments. Like the cohesiveness, the communication with the leadership team is crucial. That's where most companies miss. You know, I've helped a lot of people go from one to.
multiple eight figures from one or two million to multiple eight figures. And the ones who get there and stay there are the ones who fill in the top of the org chart. The ones who get there and come racing back down and it happens are the ones who don't focus on putting other leaders into the company because and here's why. Here's why I think the mindset for us is so difficult because on the way to that one to 10 million, we start delegating tasks. We start delegating time. We start delegating what we're actually doing. And that's pretty transactional.
Chad Kodary (20:46.109)
Very true.
@alexcharfen (21:00.59)
But when you start hiring a leadership team, you have to go from transactional to actually turning over success. You have to tell someone, here's the outcome I want, you go do it. You figure it out. And for most of us, it's so hard, so hard, especially for those of us who are perfectionists, because when you're a perfectionist, here's the biggest weakness of a perfectionist is we only see one way to get something done, the perfect way. And...
Chad Kodary (21:12.765)
So true. So, it's so true.
@alexcharfen (21:28.398)
The reality of business is that if you give me any outcome, there's probably 50 ways to get it done. And the key to hiring leaders and to have them actually be leaders in your company and have them take responsibility and not just be figureheads is that you say, here's the outcome I want, you create the plan. You create the structure. And instead of telling them how they should do it, or instead of telling them how you would do it, it's reviewing their plan and saying, hey, does this have a chance of being successful? And if it does,
then letting them execute that plan and learn from it. Because what happens far too often is we hire a leadership team and then we hold on so tight that they never get the chance to lead. I did this, Chad. Like I did it in more than one business. I had.
Chad Kodary (22:08.253)
It's so true. We do it now. It's, it's, yeah, it's, I agree.
@alexcharfen (22:12.398)
You know, we actually got feedback from our team members. I got one of the most challenging, you know, we, we on a, I think it was a quarterly basis. We sent a survey to our team and like, how are things going? How are you feeling? Is there any suggestions you have? And one of the team members suggestions at one point was I think Alex is an amazing CEO. He just needs to let the leadership team lead. And from a, from like a relatively entry level employee who had worked at like Facebook and Google and a couple other places. And he's like, you know, you have amazing leaders.
show them that they can lead. And it hit me like crazy. I'm like, damn, am I in the way of my leadership team? And I think at the time we were probably at like 7 million or something like that. And I made the decision like, okay, I'm gonna get out of the way of this incredible team that I have. And I really had an extraordinary team. And over the next couple of years, we went from seven to I think 13 million. And we were the 21st fastest growing company in the country. And I think it's because, not think, I know it's because,
Chad Kodary (23:08.093)
Amazing.
@alexcharfen (23:10.734)
I finally actually transferred responsibility and didn't hire leadership, tell them exactly what to do and then go check on it.
Chad Kodary (23:20.029)
There's a lot to unpack because I'm going through a lot of these things. So it's, it's yeah, I'm in it. I'm like in the mix of all of this.
@alexcharfen (23:23.438)
You're in it, man. You're in it. And you know what, Chad, dude, I just want to, I want to say something, man. You're in it for the first time. Like you're, you're in it going through this process for the first time. And you and I have known each other for a long time. I've watched everything you do. And we've had a lot of conversations. Dude, you're, you're, your growth and the way that you've navigated this with your company is pretty extraordinary. I just want you to know that. Like I've watched a lot of companies grow and the way you've grown this organization and the.
Chad Kodary (23:47.293)
Thank you, man.
@alexcharfen (23:52.306)
persistence with which you've driven this company, from the outside looking in, man, it's impressive. And I know a little bit about the inside and even that's impressive. So I want you to know that.
Chad Kodary (23:58.905)
I appreciate that, thank you. Thank you very much. I wanna ask you another question, and by the way, really thank you for that, that hits home and it resonates with me a lot.
What, what, what's your, what's your, um, what's your say or view on work life balance? Because a lot of entrepreneurs, you know, we, we do coaching as well for agencies and stuff like that. And we, we see the hurdles that they're going through. Um, and we, there's this mentality where it's like, I need to work X amount of hours. Like I need to go into overdrive. And if I do that, then I'll have a larger outcome.
@alexcharfen (24:19.468)
Mmm.
@alexcharfen (24:38.892)
Yeah.
Chad Kodary (24:39.833)
What is that true? Is it? I mean, obviously, like, what's the what's the what's the whole theory there?
@alexcharfen (24:46.19)
Yeah, not in my experience, Chad. So when it comes to work -life balance, I don't like that phrase because here's what I see in my head when I think of balance. I think of somebody like walking across a tightrope and the wind's blowing and the rope's shaking and they're like, I'm gonna balance work and family. I'm gonna balance work and family. And what happens when the wind starts shaking? You fall off, you know? And I think the more we think about balance, the more we will see ourselves as failures because the reality is you never balance work and business. You can't.
You're spending way more, sorry, you never balance work and family or work and personal because you spend so much time at work that there's not real balance. So yeah, I prefer integration. Like how do you integrate your business and your life? And you know, that's, that's somewhat different for everybody, but I think the key dude is challenging for all of us, Chad.
Chad Kodary (25:20.957)
It's really hard.
Chad Kodary (25:32.573)
been challenging for me so I'm actually curious I have I have you know just add some context I have three kids and a wife obviously and I have a five -year -old three -year -old and a nine -month -old
And two out of the three are in school. My wife stays home with the third one because he's still an infant. But but how do you balance like how do you create that? Because I I feel like for me, I'm like and I my wife always tells me and I have to like stop myself and like smack myself in the face. But she's like, get off your phone.
@alexcharfen (25:56.94)
Integrate.
@alexcharfen (26:06.444)
Yeah.
Chad Kodary (26:06.717)
Like, like, you know, like, and I'm like, shit, you're right. Like it's 6 30 PM and my kids are running around the living room and I'm answering an email on my phone. Like, how do you create that? It's been really difficult for me. It's been a challenge that I've been struggling with for years, for years. My wife hates it. Like, how do you create that? Just like separation or integration or like, what do you do? What are some of the things that you do?
@alexcharfen (26:20.206)
Yeah.
@alexcharfen (26:27.726)
Well, first there's a mindset shift, Chad, and it's really important. The mindset shift that we must go through as entrepreneurs is to understand that the more we are doing for our company, the more we are the biggest liability in the business. Yeah. So I was coaching this woman years ago and she had a two or $3 million company. And I remember we were in the middle of an event and...
We had a question of like, how do you show your team that they're taken care of or something like that? And what we were looking for is like, you know, we do birthday parties or we have lunch and learns, or we give them gift certificates or whatever. And she stood up and she's like, well, here's what I do. Whenever my team has an issue or a problem, I just jump in and fix it. And I make them feel really cared for. And I was like, oh, time out, time out. We need to like have a discussion now. I thought we were just going to get a bunch of cool ideas. Now we have to like change the event and we're going to talk about this.
Because here's what I told her every time you jump in and take care of something for your team, you are lowering their productivity and efficiency and you are solving for them. And here's what happens when we, as CEOs, when we as visionary solve for our team, if there's a problem in the company and we solve it, we are responsible for the outcome. And so the way that you integrate work life balance and not balance the way you integrate your work in your life is to understand that.
Every minute you're putting into the company, once you are at the visionary CEO level and Chad, you're there. Every minute you're putting into the company is a minute of liability. If you can get down to where the company doesn't need you, then you have no liability of yourself in the company.
And it is so hard because you just described it, man. You described sitting in your bedroom for four years. What happens is you're in that bedroom for four years. Your mom's coming in and saying, Hey Chad, are you sure about this? There's all kinds of adversity. There's emotions. It's hard. It's probably one of the hardest things you've ever done. You finally break through and start making some money. And here's the conditioning. I did everything to create success. And so that conditioning runs so deep.
Chad Kodary (28:11.645)
Well, powerful. Very hard. Yeah, very hard.
@alexcharfen (28:37.198)
that even as we grow our company to a million, then three million, then 10 million, dude, I have worked with CEOs that are running $50 million companies and running the whole thing transactionally. They are overweight and cortisol out and they have hormone issues and they're not sleeping and autoimmune shit going on because they are literally putting all of their time, effort and energy into the business because they never have realized that the less they do for the business, the less of a liability they are and the more they have a real company.
And so Chad, what I tell visionaries to do is, this is not a fun process, but it will slap you in the face. You do a two week time study and you write down everything you're doing for two weeks, everything, all the in -betweens, all the little details, all the silly things that you're doing. And then you look at that two week time study and you ask yourself, what did I have to do? What was strategic? What is actually something I should be doing? And then what's tactical that somebody else should be doing? And when you review that time study, it will confront you.
Years ago, I was working with the leadership team at ClickFunnels. And I was working with Dave Woodward, God rest his soul, such a good guy. And Dave called me, Chad, and he's like, so, you know, I'm having some issues with time management, with this, like, I'm not getting enough done. And so we started talking and I'm like, oh, Dave, you could do this. He's like, no, that doesn't sound like it. Like, oh, Dave, you could try this strategy. He's like, no, that doesn't sound like it. And so we finally, like, we're talking, I'm like, okay, Dave, I know exactly what you need to do.
Chad Kodary (29:42.781)
Yep, yep, yep.
@alexcharfen (30:02.082)
It's called the two week time study. You're gonna carry sheets of paper down around. You're gonna write down everything you're doing. He's like, oh man, is there anything else? And I'm like, no, this is the thing. Like this will change how you manage your team and how you manage your time. And it was probably day three of his time study. He left me a voicemail and he was like, Alex, I want you to know I'm so frustrated with you right now, but I'm also so glad I talked to you. He's like, I've been doing the time study for three days and I already see how much time I'm wasting and how.
Chad Kodary (30:23.133)
Hahaha!
@alexcharfen (30:29.87)
how I'm stuck in tactics and how I haven't let go of things and how I haven't transitioned things. And then I got a few more voicemails from him, but like at the end of the two weeks, he's like, you were right. This is the single most important productivity exercise I've ever done. And so Chad, right now for you at this juncture of your business, if you were to carry around paper and do, don't do it in a program, don't do it in an app, you don't feel it as much. It doesn't hurt you as much. It doesn't like trigger as much because when you're writing down,
I answered email for 20 minutes or I answered Facebook crap for 20 minutes or I wasted time in some way, you're gonna be like, ah. And in the two weeks, your productivity will skyrocket. In the three or four months after that, your productivity will completely shift and you won't recognize yourself in the business. And then what we have people do is you do the two week time study, spend two and a half months offloading everything, you do it the next quarter, do it again, next quarter, do it again. And if you put this discipline into your business,
you will always be systematically offloading what is tactical and moving yourself into more strategic. And what I want to see on time studies, you know, the average CEO that works with us, they come in spending somewhat, let's just call it 40 to 60 hours a week in the business. And when we do their first time study, they're spending 50 to 75 % of their time tactically, and a lot of them are much higher. But dude, that equates to a thousand.
Chad Kodary (31:43.549)
Me too.
@alexcharfen (31:53.006)
to 2250 hours a year tactically. When we go through this process and we get them some of that time back, suddenly everything changes. So the second thing that I wanna see, if I was coaching and working with you, I would wanna see how many hours you're working on your first time study and I wanna see a reduction in hours and an increase in strategy on the second time study. Then the next one, reduction in hours, increase in strategy. I've gone through this with a lot of CEOs. One of the most impressive ones was Rachel Rogers. She is a...
Chad Kodary (31:59.693)
Nothin'.
@alexcharfen (32:22.286)
powerhouse. Like Rachel's extraordinary. She wrote the book, We Should All Be Millionaires. It's up on my shelf. I mean, she's gotten so much press and so much media. She's just she's amazing. She's a lawyer by trade. And she shows women and underprivileged people how to make money. Rachel came into our program, she was at about 2 million. By the second year, she was about four and a half. By the third year, I think she was around nine. By the fourth year, she was approaching like 13 to 16, something like that. What I was more proud of is that when she came into our program, she was working like 45 or 50 hours a week.
Chad Kodary (32:44.925)
Peace.
@alexcharfen (32:52.43)
Then when she hit like 4 million, that had reduced to 30 or 40 hours a week. Then when she hit 8 million, it had reduced again. When she was approaching 13 million, she was working 16 to 20 hours a week in her business and it was going down. And the reason the business, here's what people get so confused. People say like, how could she spend less time in the business? And it grew. My answer is because she spent less time in the business, it grew.
Because as visionaries, when we pull ourselves out and we transfer responsibility, that's when everybody knows they can actually get stuff done. That's when everybody knows they actually have responsibility for it. If you're a visionary who's saying, hey guys, you're responsible, but I'm gonna be here 65 hours a week, they're like, we're not responsible. He's watching over our shoulder every day. And so it's really that combination of understanding where you're spending your time, committing to spending less time in the business so that you fortify and strengthen the business and run the best company you can.
and then going through this process over and over again. So you're constantly integrating what you need to be doing in your life with what you're doing in the business.
Chad Kodary (33:59.249)
Alrighty.
@alexcharfen (34:02.198)
Well, Chad, you know what, man? It kind of feels like Mount Everest, right?
Chad Kodary (34:02.397)
lot lot to pack in here.
Chad Kodary (34:07.773)
It always does, I feel like it feels like it's a never -ending climb to the top, which shouldn't feel like that.
@alexcharfen (34:14.126)
Well, let's be honest, Chad, if it wasn't a climb to the top, you wouldn't do it. Right? And so the reality is if it wasn't hard, you wouldn't give a crap. And if it didn't feel like, yeah, yeah, it's like a game with levels. Yeah. And so you're leveling up in a way that most entrepreneurs never have the opportunity to do. 3 % of companies get to a million. And I think the number is like four out of 10 ,000 get to 10 million.
Chad Kodary (34:18.225)
Also true. Also true.
Chad Kodary (34:24.029)
Yeah, it almost becomes like a game, right? Like it's like a game, like a video game or like level. Yeah, exactly. It becomes like a game.
@alexcharfen (34:43.278)
And so you're in a place where, where like very human few human beings will ever be Chad, like, like a very small number in the world. And this Mount Everest of like really getting yourself out of the business. It's the most important one. And so if I was setting outcomes for you as a coaching client for the next year, I would say, Chad, show me how many hours you're working on your first time study. And by the end of the year, let's have a 50 % reduction and.
Chad Kodary (34:49.511)
Crazy.
@alexcharfen (35:12.352)
And visionaries freak out when I do this chat. It's like they're always like, Oh my God, I'm not going to be able to work. And dude, sometimes during, during the year, like when I used to do one on one consulting, what would always happen is there's like, we install our system and then things get smoother and they get easier and the visionary has more time and energy and things are going great. And then there's this freak out point. Like we actually call it the freak out where the visionary is like, wait a second. Nobody needs me.
important anymore. Yeah, my slack is silent. I haven't gotten a text message in two days. I'm insignificant. I don't matter. And what happens so often is visionaries go back into the business and start screwing things up. And then that way they're needed and they can fix things and they don't even they don't do this consciously. Like we don't consciously make the decision I'm gonna go jack things up. But if we are in a place where we don't have enough to do and we don't guide that energy in another direction, like
Chad Kodary (35:41.693)
Isn't no one messaging me or emailing me?
@alexcharfen (36:08.814)
spending time with family, optimizing our bodies, optimizing our health, getting into the most radical condition that you can get into so you can actually enjoy the money you're making for a long time. If we don't redirect, we actually start causing issues in our life so that we are needed and we're validated and we feel connected and we feel like significant. I always tell visionaries, you know, if you're always putting out fires, chances are you're the arsonist. So you need to really like evaluate what you're doing.
Chad Kodary (36:39.229)
I know you said one thing, you know, talking about health, you know, as an entrepreneur, I know that's one, it's one topic that a lot of entrepreneurs struggle with because like even for me, like I'm not a very active person. I'm to be honest, I'm, I work 40 hours a week. I'm in front of my desk for all 40 of those hours. Usually I'll get up and walk around a little bit, but I don't go running around the block. I don't go to the gym. Unfortunately, I'm, I'm skinny by nature, but fat stomach, I guess it's genetics, a little fat, little fat stomach.
And then I find myself always telling myself, I'm like, yeah, just, I kind of like push through it and like, you know, like when, once you get to that point where you don't have to work as much, you could just do whatever you want. Then at that point, you just go to the gym and you'll get in shape and you'll do all that stuff. Then people like always kind of like push it. And I feel like it's like, at what point do you like, where, where are we put like pushing forever here? Right. So it's like, what would you give somebody? What, what type of advice would you give somebody that, that has a very similar issue like that? Like somebody like myself, like you just keep pushing it. I'm like, oh yeah, I'll just.
I'll get in shape when I'm done, you know?
@alexcharfen (37:39.566)
Yeah. Um, you're never going to be done. Never, never. You're never going to be done. Like we're never done as entrepreneurs. We don't finish. We don't retire. We don't stop. You know, it's just who we are. Even, even the entrepreneurs that are, I know that are retired and don't have businesses anymore. They're running charities and running foundations. They're doing all kinds of stuff. And so that, that point where you just stop is not going to ever be there. And so here's what I always encourage entrepreneurs to think about.
Chad Kodary (37:42.813)
Never, seems like it, yeah.
@alexcharfen (38:07.726)
As entrepreneurs, we look for the biggest levers we can pull to get the biggest result.
Right. And we look for that in marketing. We look for that with people. We look for that with the processes and structure in our business. And we're like, where can I get leverage? Where can I get an advantage? You know, for me, I always think about if I have competition out there in the world, where do I get an advantage? So for me, like a very unique advantage I have is I have an incredible relationship with my wife. We have a very secure attachment. She's my person. We we have process instruction in our marriage that protects us. I know.
I have a massive advantage over anyone I'm competing with that doesn't have that same type of relationship in their life. Same thing with health. For me, I look for the biggest lever. And if I want to be better in every meeting, if I want to think better, if I want to focus better, if I want to have a better view of the future, I know that if I'm...
moving my body and lifting heavy things and eating the right foods and hydrating that lever makes everything that I do every day more significant and more connected and more present and more aware. And you know, Chad, you only have to look at like Jeff Bezos or Mark Zuckerberg or any of these big CEOs. Dude, Mark Zuckerberg used to be the 98 pound weekly. Now he's like winning jujitsu tournaments. You'll get Jeff Bezos, Jeff Bezos.
Chad Kodary (39:24.445)
Yeah, I see that.
@alexcharfen (39:27.086)
like literally look like the point extra guy in the corner who gets made fun of. Now he looks like a linebacker. Why are these guys like this? Is it because they spent a lot of money on their health and wanted to just look better? It's probably part of it, but a huge part of it is the more space you hold for an ecosystem called a business, the more you can come to understand that the more grounded and present and in the moment you are.
the better you are going to hold space and the more that ecosystem is gonna grow. If you are punishing yourself to grow that ecosystem, if it's wear and tear on your body, if it's wearing you out, if you're not sleeping well, if you're not healthy, that ecosystem is going to show the disorder in your body in the ecosystem.
So when somebody comes to me and says, Alex, I've got this great business, it's at 7 million, but these are the problems here. I'll turn it to them and say, okay, so in your life, how do we reflect these problems and what you're doing day to day? You're saying your team's not focused, they're not really present, they're not really aware, looks like you haven't worked out in a while, you're not eating the right foods, you're not drinking a lot of water, so your team's marrying you. And they always will. And so the better you get, the better your team will get.
Chad Kodary (40:36.989)
What advice would you give somebody, let's say like myself, if you were to restructure not their schedule, but like I can give you just a prime example. I think most people that are watching will probably relate a very similar schedule. Like I wake up in the morning, usually at about 7 a .m. I have three kids and I have to help my wife in the morning, right? Getting everybody ready, food, eating, all that stuff. Usually leave the house by about eight thirty. And then I'm at the office at nine. I start my day at nine a .m. and then I'm working from nine to about five.
30 get home at about six my kids because they're young they go to sleep around seven thirty eight max right so I have two hours to spend with them at night you know and that's also it's like showers dinner you know playtime like all that stuff so it's like you have such limited time especially when my kids are so young where do I fit in the time to go to the gym to exercise to play basketball to like do all of these things like what what type of suggestions would you give somebody like that that has that
almost feels like a time constraint. It might not be, but it feels like it is.
@alexcharfen (41:39.15)
No, I mean, and if you feel that way, it probably is, you know, if you feel like you have a time constraint, then your reality is you probably have one. And so there's a couple of things. The first thing is the way that entrepreneurs approach health is like we, that's how we approach everything else. It's like, I've been doing nothing. Now I'm going to do all the things. Do not do that. Like don't.
Don't try it, because here's what people, here's what happens. People come to me and they're like, you know, they give the same description you do. And then I share with them like, Hey, we need to fix this. And a few days later, they're like, all right, man, I got a gym membership. I'm going to a personal trainer. I'm running in the morning. I'm doing this other. And I'm like, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, time out. You just had like eight things to your life. How do we know what worked? And so what I would suggest is you make gradual changes over time.
and you pay attention to your body and you see how they work. And the first gradual change that I would recommend, and this is an easy one, Chad, instead of getting up at seven, get up at 630, just half hour off the sleep. First thing you do is get up, hyper hydrate, drink a whole bunch of water and go on a 20 minute walk. If you go on a 20 minute walk in the morning and you hyper hydrate, it does two things. So first the hyper hydration, just drinking water. I'm obsessed with optimization. Drinking water in the morning increases.
Chad Kodary (42:48.029)
How much water are we talking? When you say hyperhydration. Okay.
@alexcharfen (42:49.614)
Uh, over 16 ounces. So like somewhere around 20 to 30 ounces, you know, I carry one of these monster jugs everywhere. And I think this is, this is three and half liters. I drink about seven liters of water a day, maybe eight liters of water a day. But I start in the morning with it, like somewhere between 20 and 30 ounces. And what, here's what that does. It activates the metabolism and 20 to 30 ounces in the morning can increase your metabolism by 30 to 50%. When your metabolic rate goes up.
It's actually healthy for the brain. It helps your brain check in. And when you go out walking, the bilateral stimulation on the body of walking actually calms your nervous system. So by drinking water and walking, you're getting a metabolic increase. You're exercising. It's cardiovascular. You're calming the nervous system. And if you don't take your phone with you, which is my recommendation, silent walk, you're also involved in a level of meditation because walking in silence with no input is actually a meditation.
Chad Kodary (43:39.261)
That's the secret.
@alexcharfen (43:47.438)
In India, they teach walking meditations. And so half hour, do that for 30 days and look at where you are at the beginning of 30 days and then look at the end of 30 days. And then there's a few other things you can do. Like if you're working nine to five, if you've got a meeting where you know you don't have to take a lot of notes, get up and take it walking. Steve Jobs took over half of his meetings walking in Palo Alto because he knew that a hundred percent, if you had, if, if, if Jobs wanted to have an important meeting with you, you were walking with him and he was walking barefoot.
Chad Kodary (44:09.213)
Really? Wow.
@alexcharfen (44:17.646)
on the grass. So he understood that stimulating his feet actually made him think better. And so throughout the day, take a walk with, with somebody who you're having a meeting with. And then when you get home at the end of the day, grab your kids and take them for a quick walk. You'd be shocked at how much your kids will communicate to you when they're moving. When kids aren't moving, they have a hard time talking and communicating. When kids are moving, they are communication machines. And so Chad, what was that?
Chad Kodary (44:37.885)
Very true.
Chad Kodary (44:43.101)
oh yeah I think oh yeah like I hate when my kids are sitting on the couch watching their iPads and stuff like that yeah
@alexcharfen (44:49.838)
dude, take them for a walk. Here's what happens when kids walk with their parents. This is one of my favorite scientific things that there is. For us as human beings, we are genetically programmed to co -regulate with the person who gave birth to us and our parents, with both parents. And so if you're walking with your kids, Chad, they look at you and their nervous systems actually calm down. They talk to you and their nervous systems connect.
They look at you and they start processing any challenges or issues or frustrations they had during the day. Here's what's so magic. They do the exact same thing for us. Like that same chemical shift is there, that same physiological shift is there. So if we're walking with our kids, we are connecting with them in a way that their nervous system will feel for the rest of their lives. And we are taking advantage of the fact that we have kids and they can co -regulate our nervous system and calm us down.
And so Chad, when I've shared this with, with CEOs, like the morning walk and then walk with your kids, those who have done it will come back to me after sometimes a month, sometimes just after a week. And in fact, you know, one of the most dramatic responses I ever got was from Layla Hormozi. I told her, you know, I want you to walk for 20 minutes every morning and just see what happens. And if you know Layla or if you know who she is, okay, she's hardcore. Like.
Chad Kodary (45:43.773)
That's crazy.
Chad Kodary (46:06.589)
Yeah, I do, of course. Yeah.
@alexcharfen (46:09.74)
Layla doesn't walk. She lifts thousands of pounds of weight. She, you know, she runs, she moves everywhere. She breaks shit. She's like, she's like one of the most extraordinary women I've ever met. But I remember it was probably three or four days after I had made that suggestion where I was out in California with her at Alex and Layla's house. And she left me a Voxer three or four days later. And I could hear her feet moving in the background. I could hear the steps and she's like, Hey, I just want to let you know these morning walks or something else. She's like, I feel calmer. I'm less triggerable.
I feel clearer. This is like making everything in my life easier. And it was this, and by the way, I've gotten that message from so many people and it's just validation that is as entrepreneurial personality types, you know, I define us as physiologically sensitive, momentum -based beings that are highly reactive to constraint. That first part, physiological sensitivity, like our bodies are sensitive. We are physiologically sensitive. You put a little bit of exercise, a little bit of movement into an entrepreneurial body and you get massive rewards.
Chad Kodary (46:46.525)
sure.
Chad Kodary (47:08.517)
You know what I have to say to that my friend. Set an alarm for tomorrow at 6 30 a .m. Done. Alarm. I'm going to give it a shot. I'm going to give it a shot and I will message you at 7 a .m. when I'm done with my walk.
@alexcharfen (47:16.822)
Hell yeah, Chad. I want to know how it goes. I want to know how it goes. Sounds good. I will have been up for about three hours by that point, but you can message me. I wake naturally between like four and five in the morning every morning. 930.
Chad Kodary (47:31.741)
You wake up that, what time do you wake up?
Chad Kodary (47:37.553)
And what time do you go to sleep? Okay. That's why I see that's the problem with me. I'm like a kind of a night owl. Not too much. I go, I'm like 11, 30, 12. And then I start, you know, dozing and just knocking out. Um, but yeah, and it maybe, I don't know, maybe you got to start doing a little shift going.
@alexcharfen (47:47.886)
Yeah.
@alexcharfen (47:54.062)
Here's what I found in my live chat. I was the same way. I usually was like a, like 1030 to midnight guy. But what I found was if I started really looking at those extra hours, they were pretty wasted. It was usually TV. Yeah, it was crap. It was like, yep, yep, yeah.
Chad Kodary (48:05.757)
They are wasted a hundred percent, dude. I'm on tick tock. I'm on TV. I'm sitting on the couch doing nothing. Like I'm shopping on my phone. I'm doing stupid crap that yeah, that I did not really changing anything in my life. So you wake up at four in the morning and then you just start working or will you start maybe with your routine?
@alexcharfen (48:14.734)
Yeah.
@alexcharfen (48:18.55)
Yeah.
No. Yeah, I my routine. So I get up at between four and five. Um, I come down to my office. I have like a morning ritual that kind of wakes me up, gets some energy going. I spent some time in the sauna. I get in the cold plunge. Um, I come back and I do my daily planning. Uh, then.
I get like my whole day set up. And then usually at about 630, I go up and wake up my wife, we spend a few minutes in bed together, like that's some intimate connected time that we have, I wake up my kids, they now my daughter drives herself to school. So at that point, I kind of take over my day myself. And, you know, I work out, I spend some time with Katie, she and I run the business together. So anytime that we spend together, we make productive. But for me, my morning routine is crucial. Like I want to feel
Chad Kodary (49:04.881)
That's awesome, man.
@alexcharfen (49:09.11)
optimized. I had this goal, Chad, to be in the best shape of my life when I was 50. That was last year. It took me a little longer. But today I'm 51. I'm in the top 1 % of strength on our tonal system. So it's like a comparative compared to everybody else who owns it. I'm in the top 1 % compared to everybody who owns our body composition scale. I'm in the top 2 % of all men, not men 51 to 50. In that category, I'm like in the top one half of 1%.
Chad Kodary (49:32.573)
Wow.
@alexcharfen (49:35.47)
But for me, like those things are important. I want to optimize. I want to be here as present and as clear and as much energy and much focus as I can have.
Chad Kodary (49:44.285)
Yeah, I hear from a lot of people and I have a couple of friends that are they're well off entrepreneurs and they wake up super early and they do it mainly because they say that by the time nine o 'clock hits like.
that's like, it's, it's like, they've gotten all the important stuff that they needed to do really just out of the way. And like, they have this whole day. I think Alex Hermosio also said in one of his recent videos that I saw is like, he wakes up super early, probably maybe got the idea from you, but wakes, yeah, wakes up, wakes up super early. And then by like nine o 'clock, he's just like, like all the stuff that he had to do for the day is done. And now he has a full day to really pick and choose what he wants to do. Um,
@alexcharfen (49:59.406)
100%.
@alexcharfen (50:09.326)
Maybe.
@alexcharfen (50:23.566)
Yeah, that's how it works for me. I would say most days by nine, I've cleared everything and then I just have calls like this.
Chad Kodary (50:25.021)
Yeah, cause me and
Chad Kodary (50:31.613)
Yeah. Cause by the time I get in, I get in at nine and I'm like, okay, well the first, you know, 30 % of my day is gone. Cause it's just like doing all the grunt work that you have to do to just get, get your like day finally, like kind of cleared out of the way, you know, emails and messages and all that kind of stuff. All right. Wow. Yeah. Share. Yeah.
@alexcharfen (50:38.674)
Ahem.
@alexcharfen (50:46.83)
Yeah. Check this out, Chad. I just want to share some math with you. So if you were to modify your schedule so that you went to bed at 9 .30 instead of 11 .30, we're just talking 9, 10, 11. It's only two hours, right? And if you put that at the beginning of the day instead of the end of the day, those would be productive hours. So over the course of the year on just weekdays, you pick up about 400 and something hours.
Chad Kodary (51:11.261)
Yeah. You know who I saw a recent, I think it was like a real or something that I saw was Rob Dyrdek, um, was actually talking about that on his podcast. And he was also saying that he basically wakes up early because he literally is another half of a shift. And he's now able to technically outwork everybody, even though we're not trying to outwork your yourself, but I'm just saying in general outlive. Yeah. But, uh, yeah, I like that too.
@alexcharfen (51:26.412)
Yep.
@alexcharfen (51:33.198)
No, I'm trying to outlive everybody.
Chad Kodary (51:37.917)
I like that. But yeah, but that was his concept. He was like, dude, he wakes up in the morning and he's like, instead of having eight hours, I have 12 hours technically. So I am can run faster than anyone. Like that was kind of his theory, you know, teach his own obviously. But, um, but yeah, man, I love that. I'm, I'm going to gradually start. I'll start with the six 30 thing. I'm going to start with the six 30 thing. I'll do that for a couple of weeks and then see if how I can wind that back a little bit, because I would love to wake up, you know, my infant.
@alexcharfen (51:54.606)
one step at a time. Yeah.
Chad Kodary (52:06.397)
He wakes up around six 37. Um, usually he's nine months old. So he's like, starts crying. He's in bed, right? Um, but I want to, I want to wind that down. So my goal for me, it would love to have, to be able to get all of my daily mornings crap just out of the way. So when I come to work, I'm, I'm kind of like free to have that creative zone. Um, yeah, go for it.
@alexcharfen (52:26.35)
Let me give you some suggestions. It'll make this easier, Chad. Okay. So here's the hard part about changing sleep rhythm is that we all have a circadian rhythm. And if you have been in a place where you're staying up to 11 o 'clock, your circadian rhythm has now been programmed to keep you up to about them. So the most important shift, like the single most important shift is to start blocking blue light when the sun goes down.
because blue light, like all of this shit light in front of me and the light of this screen is brighter than the sun at 12 noon. And our bodies are programmed by the sun. And it makes sense, right? Evolutionarily, there wasn't electronics. The sun told us when to get up, the sun told us when to go to bed. And now we have all these artificial suns around us. Like if I could flip this camera around, you would see I've got like eight different lights spot on me.
But I wear these glasses because they cut out the blue light and they don't mess with my circadian rhythm. And so for someone like you who's been staying up late, if you put blue blocking glasses on around six, you will be shocked at how quickly you get drowsy because your body's like down regulating and calming down. So first thing is the blue blocking glasses. Then I have two other suggestions. Another major one is to start taking magnesium.
Chad Kodary (53:26.525)
Really? Wow.
@alexcharfen (53:36.766)
Entrepreneurs are stress machines and magnesium is the stress eating like compound. And so we use a company called or a product called natural calm. And we also use another one called tri mag, but you can get a decent magnesium supplement, take it about an hour before you go to bed. So in this case, I would encourage you to take it at like eight 30 and that will help you also down regulate and get in your body and really be able to sleep. And then the last part is going into your room and making sure that you're sleeping in a cold environment like
67, like 64 to 67, and then black out everything. Make it so your room's dark or wear an eye mask to go to sleep. Like sometimes I wear an eye mask and then it falls off, but just wearing the eye mask to go to sleep makes it easier. And so those are the three easiest suggestions. I've got a whole bunch more, but the easy ones are buy a pair of swanies and take some magnesium.
Chad Kodary (54:07.997)
Yeah, that's that's that one I got covered already. Yeah.
Chad Kodary (54:15.869)
that I have to change.
@alexcharfen (54:29.774)
and black out everything in your room. And if you're wearing the blue blocking glasses and you've taken magnesium that, you know, 8 .30, you go lay down at nine or 9 .30, you're going to be able to get to sleep.
Chad Kodary (54:43.805)
I have a lot on my to -do list now. Thank you for that. Thank you for that. All right. Um, I know we're out of time here, Alex. Um, thank you so much. Always coming into our community and providing just tons of value. Thank you for, uh, answering all my selfish questions that I've had. I've been waiting to ask you now that we've got you on the podcast. I'm sure we'll see you here in the near future. If somebody wants to reach out to you, download your books, things like that. Where's the best place for them to go.
@alexcharfen (54:45.774)
Hahaha!
@alexcharfen (55:09.774)
So you can download the billionaire code that we talked about it billionaire code .com. And if you want to check out the entrepreneurial personality type book, you can go to free EPT book .com like free entrepreneurial personality type, the initials book .com.
Chad Kodary (55:23.643)
Love it, dude. Thank you so much once again. Appreciate everything you do. Love seeing you on your journey as well. Uh, tons and tons of success to you. And thank you once again for everything. Have a great day. You too.
@alexcharfen (55:33.774)
My pleasure, Chad. Look forward to seeing you soon, brother.