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Let's get into this episode.I hope you guys enjoy it.
What is up, everybody?Welcome back to Capital University, the number one business podcast in the world.Don't check that.If you guys are watching on YouTube, don't forget to like comment and subscribe.
And if you're listening on Apple podcasts, we greatly appreciate you.Don't forget to rate the podcast five stars, subscribe and leave a review.Actually get us to the number one podcast spot.Today we have a very interesting interview.
Uh, pomp and introduce them.
What's going on guys today.We have Tom bill.You Tom is the former founder, of Quest Nutrition.They sold it for a billion dollars.A billion.That's what they sold it for.And he is now the co-founder of Impact Theory.
They're basically going to go try to disrupt Disney.So this is a fascinating conversation.He dropped lots of knowledge.But before we get into the episode, hey, Bryce, who's the sponsor?
Was it Kraken.com where I get all my cryptocurrency?Kraken.com.
Where?You can go buy Bitcoin, Ethereum, or whatever other cryptocurrency you want.But if you go to Kraken.com, Bryce will be happy.
Kraken.com, our only sponsor.Seriously, Kraken.com, go right now.
Like literally, nobody else wants to sponsor us except for Kraken.Kraken is the OG because they'll sponsor.If anybody else wants to sponsor, we might not even take them at this point because Kraken.com is the best place for you to go.
Literally, Kraken.com.Whether you have $1 or $1,000,000, get some cryptocurrency.Kraken.com.Alright, let's get to this episode.
Alright, Tom, so maybe let's just start with kind of your story.Explain where you grew up, how you got into business, and then kind of the businesses that you've built.
Okay.That is an incredibly long story, so I'm going to give you an ultra nutshell, and then if you want more details, just let me know.
Went to film school, graduated, had no idea how to break into the film industry, wrote a screenplay, got turned into a feature film.I was horrified by the results.Meet these very successful entrepreneurs.
They say, look, you're coming to the world with your hand out.If you want to control the art, you have to control the resources. So why don't you come with us and get rich?"I said, that sounds amazing.I thought it would take 18 months.
It ended up taking 15 years, but it did work.We built multiple companies, the most successful of which was Quest Nutrition.We exited Quest Nutrition for a billion dollars about a year ago.
And I actually left the company, though, about in 2016, towards the end of 2016, to start a new company called Impact Theory.Impact Theory is where I'm at now.
And it's me making good on the reason that I was trying to generate wealth in the first place, which is to build my own studio.So we are now building a media company to rival Disney.And again, it's called Impact Theory.
And very quickly, that brings us to today.
So what's the goal of impact there.
Ah, my man, what a great question.So the goal of impact theory is to ensure that your zip code which right now your zip code is the number one predictor of your future success, and that is not a world I'm prepared to live in.
So our stated mission is to ensure that Your zip code is no longer predictive of your future success by giving people a growth mindset at scale.And the only way to do that is through storytelling.
Our storytelling is, you know, this sort of educational element of it's completely invisible, just like you could watch Star Wars and not realize that it's built on a foundation of Eastern philosophy, namely Taoism and Buddhism.
You could watch impact theory stuff and not realize that our sole reason for existing is empowerment, but it's there in every story that we tell.We see it as a graduation system.
So the widest part of the funnel is a movie or a TV show or a comic book.And then we draw you into more prescriptive content.So the nonfiction side.
So whether that's an unscripted show that we do or the digital content that we're most known for right now, which is direct to camera, think like this, act like this.
And then ultimately we're actually building a university, as you can see the logo behind me, where it's literal classes.
So you can take a mindset class or you can take business classes right now and hopefully over a long enough time period, you'll be able to skip university altogether and just come see us at ITU.
So when it comes to building out a brand like Impact Theory, what do you see as the most important part of monetizing content?
Oh, man, that's going to be dependent on the platform that you're on.That stuff starts getting very specific.So one, you have to make sure that you are creating content that can be monetized against.
So all the sort of big things on YouTube, for instance, that have been the ad apocalypses, are because people are making content that suddenly advertisers go, what the hell am I advertising on?This is ridiculous.
And so they don't want to advertise on it anymore.And so that was something that aligned with our brand perfectly.So our CPMs are very high.So that's been incredibly useful for us.Whereas we'll explore a show and we'll just ask, what is this sort of
content type have as a CPM and so we're used to CPMs that are, you know, say north of 30 and all of a sudden you're looking at something as a CPM of $2.
And it's like, well, I like the idea of making that content but I don't like the idea of that CPM.So being thoughtful about How does the actual ecosystem of content monetization work?You've got advertisers.They want to reach users.
They want users that have affinity for the personality.But what does that personality represent?So in my case, it's like I'm synonymous with mindset, with uplifting people.I'm not mean-spirited or anything like that.
So, you know, people don't have to worry about their brand being associated with somebody that might be mean or cruel or whatever.Also, I am very sort of open and honest and vulnerable, but at the same time, I have massive success behind me.
So I have credibility that people feel comfortable advertising with.
So just thinking about your brand, what it represents, what the areas are that you're on, so that you know what the sort of CPMs you're going to be looking at, and then making sure that the platform actually is monetizable.So
Instagram, for instance, much harder to monetize against than, say, YouTube.
So on YouTube, what is your CPM?Just curious.
Call it between 25 and 32.Oh my, so you're Google preferred.I have no idea.I'm not the one that handles that, but probably.
Well, if you're in that range, you are a hundred percent Google preferred.
Bryce, what's your YouTube CPM?Five.Yeah, it's going to be tough because from, and look, I don't know your content intimately, but from what I know, it's going to be more playful.It's fun.
Whereas mine is much more like reaching a demographic of people that have money.
And I'm talking about topics like neuroscience or relationships, a bad example, because that actually has a low CPMs, but things like that, that speak to a sort of 25 to 38 year old that have disposable income.
So advertisers come out of the woodwork to advertise on a show like that.Also that has a reputation of being sort of uplifting and that kind of thing.
So speaking of your demographic, what do you hope people in that range learn from engaging in your content?
So all of it is, regardless of age range, regardless of person, it is to understand that your brain has created the matrix for you.So whether we live in an actual simulation or not is irrelevant.Your brain is encased in total darkness.
Light never reaches your brain.When I heard this from this neuroscientist called David Eagleman, it really hit me, man. He said, think about it this way.Your brain is encased in total darkness.Light never reaches it.Sound never reaches it.
The only thing that reaches your brain are electrical and chemical signals that your brain interprets to create a basic VR scenario.And it's real enough that you can walk around without bumping into too much shit.
But the reality is that this is all fake.All this stuff that you think of as being out there is just your brain's internal representation of the outside world.
Now, if it's creating a representation, then the question becomes, is it representing reality?
And because everything is painted with emotion, this is where people go wrong is they think when they think that they're a loser, they're stupid, that they can never do anything.It isn't true.
That is an element of the algorithm running in your brain that's designed to keep you safe.And by keeping you small and very protective of not getting ostracized from the group, it,
does it by making you feel badly about yourself so that you'll retreat, so that you don't put yourself out there in a really dangerous situation.
And people spiral into these death knells of I'm a loser, not realizing, first of all, that your neurochemistry is wildly influenced by diet, exercise, all that good stuff.
So if I could get people to see that you can actually insert intention into all these things that your brain are telling you are true, that actually aren't objectively true, you can mold them, massage them, and live a much better life.
This is so complicated to try to cover.
I 100% just like got that.Like you just said, light does not touch your brain.You're kind of your brain is kind of just putting out an image in front of you and it couldn't be different to everybody.Yeah, that's just mine.Fucked me.
Now, when you realize, okay, you can take a hold of that process, you're not gonna be able to, like, this isn't about building a fake reality.This is about altering the way that you perceive that reality slightly to your advantage.
So hey, does feeling badly about yourself move you towards your goals?So my big thing is only do and believe that which moves you towards your goals.So if,
kicking the shit out of yourself and telling yourself that you're a loser moves you towards your goals.Great, do it.I've never met anybody for whom more than 20% of your time and what I call the dark energy is gonna be useful.
You need to spend 80% of your time like, I can do this.I can learn this.I'm smart enough to figure it out.I don't know it yet, but I can.And like, I can do anything I set my mind to, like all that stuff.
They may also be lies to a certain extent, but they're also incredibly powerful to get you to take the right behaviors to move yourself in the right direction. And so that's the big thing I hope people take away is just how malleable things are.
When you started the last business, Quest Nutrition, you guys built that into a billion dollar business, you then very quickly started a second business.
What are some of the things that either you messed up or you learned starting Quest that you then were able to kind of course correct for or improve when you started Impact Theory?
So one, my attitude on mistakes is don't think of mistakes, don't even use that word.So in artificial intelligence, they use the term samples.So an AI that's programmed to learn something, right?To get good at a video game, let's say.
It just tries random things.Like it literally moves randomly.And it goes, okay, moving like that didn't increase my score.Let me, ah, until it hits the ball.And it's like, oh, wow.Okay.I got a point for doing that.Let me do that.
Now let me try to optimize for that.And then all of a sudden it's, you know, getting high scores 30 minutes later. It doesn't go, oh man, I'm such a loser for having made this mistake.Oh man, I'm not even gonna try again, right?
So be like AI, get as many data samples as you can.So things that I have struggled with, like they hit me emotional, like, oh man, that really bummed me out when that happened.So one was culture.
So culture is like a thing for me, like connecting with people and getting them riled up and being a great leader.And at Quest, I realized, whoa, we grew so fast. 57,000% in our first three years alone in manufacturing.
This is not like we're selling info.We had to get more warehousing space, more equipment, more forklifts, more humans, like it was madness.And we went from five employees to 3000 employees in five years.
So trying to manage a culture like that in the way that I knew how to manage a culture, which was like, you're there, you're with them, they see how hard you work, like you're building a personal relationship. That I was very good at.
Quest grew so fast that the culture just started to like be in total disarray.And I had to learn the hard lesson, which is ultimately, boys and girls, you're only as good as what you can write down.
And so I had to take all these ideas that I knew intuitively and be able to make it a document and say, this is the culture. So now at Impact Theory, you get a document.
Before we will make you an official offer, you have to read our culture code document and decide if you want to be a part of a company like that.And then if you are, cool, you know, we can move forward.
But recognizing you've got to write this stuff down, you've got to turn things into a system.That was a huge thing for me. I didn't want it to be true.It is true.
And like I said, that is the tip of an extraordinarily large iceberg of mistakes that almost happen so fast and frequently that it gets hard to enumerate.
So how do you stay positive throughout those failures?
That's super easy.I just want people to understand that.You are flesh and blood.
I had to finally come to grips with something that in the beginning really hurt, like really bothered me, and now has become the thing that sets me free, which is that I am hopelessly average. Okay, now I'm not special, fine.
What are humans designed to do?The thing that has made us the most dominant apex predator the world has ever seen is that as a species level strategy, we chose the ability to learn and grow from our environment.
Most other species, the vast majority of what they know, they come hardwired for.So a horse, 20 minutes out of the womb can literally do all the things that a horse can do.A human can't even hold its own head up.
So it is just a totally different strategy that we've taken to make sure that we can be extraordinarily malleable and learn from our environment.
So if the average human is the ultimate adaptation machine that I need to just get rid of all the psychological baggage around. I want to be good.I want to be smart.I want to be talented.Forget all that.I know how to learn.
That's what I'm designed to do.So cool.If I have failed at something, there is a lesson in that failure, as long as I'm willing to look at it objectively and say, why did I fail?And not waste time going, I'm a loser for failing.
Just what is the data that is inherent in this failure?And Henry Ford is a great quote.He said, failure is merely the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.
And then there's another great quote from Churchill who said, success is the ability to go from failure to failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm.
So it's like the way the game works is the very people that win are the people that can get kicked in the face over and over and over and over and over without losing enthusiasm.And I can talk about how enthusiasm itself is a process.
Don't need to be born with it.There are ways to build that enthusiasm.I don't know if we have the time to go into it, but like everything's a process.
Getting people to understand you are a flesh and blood machine that is optimized for growth via discipline practice.So whatever it is you want to get good at, you want to fall in love more deeply, it's a process.You want to build a passion?
It's a process.You don't find a passion.You create a passion.And so understanding all of this stuff down to desire itself is a process that you can raise in importance or lower in importance.Tom, as you think through this, like,
You've thought a lot and been very, very intentional about the company you want to build.You've done a great job of, I think, identifying a lot of things that make you who you are and also help you in good and bad times.
And that just takes, as you said, kind of iterations over your career.
If you could go back to 21 years old when you were first kind of starting, what's the one thing that you wish that you knew that if Bryce knew it'll save him a lot of kind of pain and suffering over the coming years?
Okay, so it's tied to what we were just talking about.I didn't have a growth mindset.So when I was 21, I believed that my talent and intelligence were fixed traits and that I was never going to get better or smarter.
And so life was about making the most of my circumstances.It's like, all right, lifestyle, you this hand of cards now just go play it to the best of your ability.And that was devastating emotionally and it was causing me to spiral.
It was the darkest period of my life.I would lay in bed for four and five hours a day.I was working in a dead end retail job and just like I knew what I wanted to do.
I had big dreams, but I didn't know how to make them come true, because I didn't have what I now call the only belief that matters.
And the only belief that matters is that you believe if I put time and energy into this skill set, I will actually gain that skill set.
And now here's the important part that somehow people just don't internalize skills have utility, they let you do things if you learn architecture, you can build a bridge and the utility of that bridge is you can actually unite an island with the land.
Crazy, like that's so effective and so a part of our world that we take it for granted.You can build a building that won't collapse, right?You can build a house that will keep you dry and safe.You can build the internet.
I mean, think about what the internet has done, but this is all ultimately people had a skillset. And they had to go learn that, right?No one was born knowing how to weave fiber optic cable.But it's like, at some point, somebody figures that out.
And the world that we live in and take for granted, including electricity, it's like all these things, at some point, somebody had to learn how to do.But once they could do it, you can actually change the world around you.I am so fanatical.
And I know I'm coming across almost deranged in this interview. Because I want people to understand, put your time and energy into getting good.Put zero time and energy into worrying about whether you're cool.
Trying to pose and posture, this is what I needed to learn at 21, instead of posing and posturing like I was cool and trying to put myself in rooms where I could shine, just go,
I'm just going to put my head down and for the next 10 years, I'm going to get so good at something that I cannot be denied.And that's a real thing, man.That is a real thing.
Kobe Bryant, if I may quote more people, the greatest quote in the universe is, booze don't block dunks.You can get so good at something that even if people hate you,
and they are willing to spend their entire life fighting to ensure that you don't succeed.You can be so good at it that they actually can't stop you.That realization changed my life because I realized there's nobody holding me back.
There was only, I'm not good enough at things and other people are better than me and so they can stop me.And once you realize, oh my God, if I'm willing to invest the time and energy to get unstoppable, I actually can't be stopped.
And that will change everything.And so once my life can be sort of broken into two periods, one where I did not realize that was true, and then one where, okay, now everything is different because that is true and I act in accordance.
That was deep. That was great.Thank you for the advice, man.That seriously made me think.
For sure, dude.I am so amped that you are out there showing people that just because you can get wealthy doesn't mean that it lasts forever and really getting some wisdom behind you.
is so important dude and i'm sure you've said this to your fans a bazillion times but i just want to say i'm haunted by the fact that most nfl players i think it's either two or four years outside of the nfl go broke and the fact that you guys literally use that as your north star i think is so brilliant i'm very grateful that somebody's bringing that message to the world so
Thank you so much, man.Tom, where can we send people to find you on the internet or find Impact Theory?
If people want to get into the stuff we've been talking about here, Impact Theory University is the place to go.You can follow me socially everywhere at at Tom Bilyeu.Amazing.All right.Thank you, my friend.We'll have to do it again in the future.
Sounds good.Thanks, guys.
All right.Thank you guys so much for watching all the way to the end.If you're watching on YouTube again, don't forget to like comment and subscribe.Let's get to 50 K ASAP.
And if you're listening on Apple podcasts, don't forget to rate the podcast, five-star subscribe and leave a review.Get us to number one, actually.All right.We'll see you guys next time.Peace.
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