278: [Nick Begin] It’s Not That Simple

arted a gaming lounge back in: 2007

Nick Begin: That was a very expensive learning experience. I could have taken that money, put it into tuition somewhere and gotten a much better uh, return on my investment. Right. I could have had like some kind of a, uh, diploma on my wall that I could say, hey, I paid for an education as opposed to, hey, I have a failing business.

Anthony Weaver: Welcome everybody back to another exciting show there about that water podcast where we help you build strong financial habits. And one of the things that I want to talk about, um, and bring on today is somebody who's started a business, sold the business, so now he can talk about the business. And his name is Nick Vision. How you doing today, Nick?

Nick Begin: Thank you, Anthony. Thank you for having me on today. Yeah, definitely. I've owned a business. Uh, uh, and can I tell you, I can tell you that I learned a lot of lessons from that business. Um, um, it's a cautionary tale. Uh, it didn't go so hot but I'm still here to talk about it. And yeah, so whatever questions you have about, I'm happy to answer.

Anthony Weaver: Yeah, becauseh uh, one of the things about starting a business is like it's not. Well, people think it's fun and exciting. It's almost like ah, a relationship. It's like a marriage or like you're dating somebody. It's like, oh man, I got this cool idea. Let's, let's do it. And then you do the thing. And then everybody was like, okay, well what's next? And then it's like the what's next part.

ll tell you, this was back in: 2007

Anthony Weaver: I bet it was, yeah.

survive, um, the downturn in: 2008

Bing was a business that lived and died because of birthday parties

Anthony Weaver: Uh, but how much, how much did you bother wind up buying the business for?

Nick Begin: So I'll tell you. Okay, so the. I ended up spending every dime that I had to put into this thing where it was $300,000. Right. So that included all the equipment, all the um, uh, the games, the software, the furniture, the fixtures, the equipment, all that stuff in that space that we were leasing. Um, and plus of course some goodwill uh, because it was the existing Bing, right. I'm buying, ah, an existing client base. Um, so, so that was it. I had to uh. But, and I'll tell you the. I put in every dime that I had at the time that, that, that we had. I was uh, married and, and um, so me and my wife at the time, we put in all the money that we had. And that's the first kind of dangerous thing is that we put in all the money that we had. That means that there wasn't a lot of cash flow left. Right? And we put in all the money we had. We didn't have $300,000. So between a mixture of three different loans that we put together based on various. So there was a loan against uh, the equipment. There was uh, a, uh, government, um, loan that we had qualified for. So, so we got some money from that. There was a, there was a loan, uh, that was against our equity, uh, in our house as well. Right. So you see, going like, wow, that sounds scary. It was scary. And, but when you're excited and you see this business that can't fail, like, no worries, we'll get it all back in spades. It's going to be great. Um, so yeah, we put in everything we had and we borrowed what we didn't have. But that meant like from day one our cash flow was extremely limited. So my wife at the time, she was still working. I'd quit my job to do this full time. My wife was still working. So we did have some income coming in. Now based on our business plan, even with the loans, even with everything we had planned that I would still be making a decent salary, right. I'd still have some take home. So, so that, you know, we could still maintain the current lifestyle that we had. It was great. Um, um, and again, because we're buying an existing business, we were basing our business plan based on existing numbers. So again it. When you get into business day one, you have Zero customers. Right, right, right, right, right. When you open the door, you hope you have customers. You're building a client base. I mean, look great. If you got the name out and, and the word out and people are coming in and stampeding through the door, fine. But that break even point doesn't comeill much later. But for us, it was supposed to come a lot sooner because we were supposed to have a decent cash flow day one because of all these clients. They were supposed to be coming in and recurring in, uh, income. It was going to be great, right? Um, I can tell you, uh, it did not work out that way. This was a business that lived and died because of birthday parties. Um, a lot of people came in. So Saturdays was like a busy day where everyone. Saturdays and Sundays, right? It was weekend. Weekend birthday parties was our bread and butter, right? So during the week it's kind of quiet. Not a lot of people come in because everyone's working, doing stuff. So in the evenings, you know, we had some evenings where people would come in, but birthday parties, that's where the bread and butter is. And I'll tell you very, um, honestly, I'm not a fan of birthday parties. I mean, other kids. Birthday parties is not really my idea of, hey, I like video games. This is what I want do is entertain a bunch of kids right? Now, I did have employees, right? So, uh, and I'll tell you, the employees that were in with me in that business were fantastic. These guys were great. They knew everything, uh, about the computers. They were like great computer geeks. They knew about, uh, networking the computers. It was fantastic. Uh, those guys were great. And I even had someone who was, who was willing to be the hostess, uh, for these birthday parties. So that was great. It was fantastic. Um, so that was the thing. I had again, built in customers, fantastic, uh, staff to start off with. I mean, you couldn't go wrong. These guys were experiencing. These guys had been there for a couple years working. So it was, it was great.

There's three things you don't want to do when you go into business

to really show at the end of: 2007

Anthony Weaver: Okay.

Nick Begin: Hobbies are. It depends what you want out of your hobby. Right. Like I. So for myself, I always enjoyed playing video games, um, as a hobby. Right. Just for fun, like I was, um, but it was an escape for me, right. So I played video games just so I could shut out the world for a little bit, do something else. Just focus my mind on something else. That wasn't my problems. Well now if I played video games, I was playing um, them at work for work. So my problems were my hobby. Now I wasn't escaping anymore. Uh, I'll tell you, it ruined my hobby for me. I mean, you know, people are like, oh, you're such a good cook. You should, you should, you know, you should start a food truck or a restaurant or something like that. Like that's a whole different animal. Like if you're cooking just for yourself or your family and you enjoy doing that, to have to do it for strangers who you are going toa put out reviews who are very demanding, who expect high level customer service. Like it's not the same. It's completely different. Same as you know, a mechanic who likes to tinker with cars or whatever, you, you just. Maybe this guy wants to go out to his garage, play with his cars, just, you know, take things apart, clean it up, restore a vehicle on his own time or whatever. Now if you, if you're. Just because you're good with cars, you open up a garage. Now you're on a timeline. Sorry, you're on deadlines. Um, you know, everyone's demanding things right away from you. Um, it's so different now. I'm not. It's not to say that no hobby can turned into a business, um, because certainly when you go into a business, you have to have a passion for it and that's great. So you think hobby, I have a passion for that I should turn into a business? It's. The mistake is why you have that hobby, right? Uh, the mistake in turning it into. Turning your hobby into a business is why you have it, if you have that hobby. Because it's a distraction, it's an escape for you. And, and you know, you don't want to escape reality for too long, right? So you just, you go in a few hours, enjoy your hobby, come back to reality and all your problems again. Fine. That's good work. Life type balance, um, you need that escape. You need to be able to step away, um, for a bit. And if you can't do that anymore, then that'll ruin the hoby for. It did for me. It ruined video games for me for, for a long time. Uh, to be, to be quite honest. Um, but I love those kind of sk. Like I love reading, I love watching movies. Like just escaping into a different world for me is great. It's a lot of fun. Um, but if I turn those into businesses, then it, it's not the same anymore. I don't get the same enjoyment out of it. So.

Anthony Weaver: Yeah, the same endorphins like you used to that, that excitement.

We came within a few hundred dollars of claiming personal bankruptcy over computer networking

So what are you doing for excitement now? Like as you know, since you don't.

was. So this was back in, uh,: 2007

Anthony Weaver: Oay.

just over a year. Uh, so then: 2008

Anthony Weaver: Wow.

Nick Begin: We, I mean, I talked to an insolvency trustee to talk about, well, you know, how do we claim bankruptcy? Because I'm like, I can't pay these loans back. Like, we just. We do not have the money. It just not. Like, if we get rid of this business, we can't pay those loans back. We're not making any money with nothing in the bank. Like, what happens if you claim bankruptcy? So we. We actually got to that point. So we ended up paying off, uh, all the loans that we could. The ones that were like the one that was against the house, for instance, the one that was against the equipment that got forgiven essentially, by the bank. Um, and then the one that was, uh, like a government loan, um, that was like a program. So because we. We close down the business that got forgiven, essentially. But we came within, you know, this close of having to claim personal bankruptcy ourselves. Um, it was, you Know, it'scary It was very stressful. So, uh, many lessons learned. Um, and I'll tell you, okay, if I'm looking at it objectively, um, was I the best business owner? No. No, uh, I didn't. I went into it ignoring a lot of red flags. I went into it because I was excited. Did I know a lot about computer networking? No, I did not. Should I have? Yes, yes. Could I have learned more about it? Yeah, for sure. But I mean, I. Look, in all fairness, the guy that bought it from would always provide like, help with it. He lived locally. So, uh, and we never had any real issues. And the guys that worked for me, like I said, these, these guys, some, uh, great computer geeks, fantastic, uh, guys. And, and they always keep the. Kept the place running, so that wasn't an issue. Uh, but, you know, would you do.

Anthony Weaver: It again now in this era?

Nick Begin: Yeah, I would. I, like, currently right now I have a podcast. Um, and I, I have a nine to five. Uh, because podcasting stuff, like it's. So there's so many podcasts out there, right? Like this one wonderful podcast I have po. Everyone who, who can turn on a mic can, can, ah, have a podcast. So it's. The barrier to entry is very low. Um, so trying to make a living at podcasting, I'd say is very challenging. Um, but would I get into business again?

Getting into business is tough. Marriage, though? Oh, yeah, that's tough

Yes. Um, it took me a while to, um. It took a while for my ego to be okay again because it'a huge hit to the eaggo. Like, if you fail, I think it's like worse than losing a job. You lose a job, uh, you know, you can blame it on the company, you can blame it on whatever, but when you're a business owner, the buck stops with you. So when that doesn't work out, yeah, it's on you. Like, your ego is the one that's going to take the hit. Um, because everyone looks up to you. Your friends, your family. You all told. You told them all that you out of business now to tell them that didn't work out. So this thing I was really excited about and I told you guys was going to be awesome and it was gonna work out. I have to go back to tell everyone, hey, it didn't work out and it's probably my fault.

Anthony Weaver: You know, that that's tough.

Nick Begin: Tough hit to the ego. I got to say, in terms of, uh, mental health, um, it suffers quite a bit. Even though when you're a business owner, mental health is, is. Is an extremely difficult struggle. You feel like you're alone in it because you are.

Anthony Weaver: Right.

Nick Begin: You're the business owner. Right. As it certainly as a solo, um, business owner, um, um. Everything lies on your shoulders. You feel like you're in it alone. You're responsible. Um, you're the only one who understands. It's tough. It's. It's very difficult. I can see it's very strenuous. Um, in terms of mental health, it, uh, is very. It's a huge strain.

Anthony Weaver: Um, and how was it when your re. Marriage, though?

Nick Begin: Oh, yeah, that's tough. That's tough. Yeah. Yeah. Your wife's looking to you say, hey, how come this isn't working out? We put everything we had into this. You know, she, to be honest, looks at you as. As less of a man. It's a huge strain, uh, on my marriage. Now I can tell you, uh, that marriage did not work out, uh, it. But not. Not necessarily because of the business. That wasn't the, uh, the issue.

Anthony Weaver: Okay.

Nick Begin: That was other, uh, more personal stuff. Uh, just after a while, it just. It like I just wasn't with the right person. At the end of the day, that was nothing more than, uh. We ended up splitting amicably, uh, for the most part. So it wasn't. And u. I mean, that's a different story. But it's tough on your marriage. Absolutely. Like a relationship definitely, um, definitely tough. You feel like you're a failure, you're having a hard time. The other person doesn't look at you as. It loses a little bit of respect for you. You feel like. So. Yeah, it. No, it's tough. It's tough. No matter. I mean, no matter how supportive the other person is, just. I don't know, you feel like they've. They don't see you in that high regard anymore. I don't know, maybe that's just how I felt, uh, specifically. But, um. Yeah, no, it's tough. It's getting business. Getting into business is tough. But I'll tell you, and I've had conversations about this recently, the way my brain works. There's always an idea in there. There's always something percolating. So I will be getting into business again for myself. I can almost guarantee it. What that will be, exactly, I'm not sure. Um. Will I go in with my eyes open this time? Hopefully. Hopefully. I'm sure there's some red flags that I will ignore because it's impossible, I guess, to. To plan for everything. But u. Yeah, no, it won't be something that's high risk. I won't Be risking my house. No, this house that I live in here. It's great. I love this house. I wouldn't want to lose it. Um, I don't want to lose the, the lifestyle that we have.

How do you find an equal balance in your next business

You know, for myself, my, my, my wife, my kids, you know, we don't want, um, I wouldn't want that to change. Um, and I understand you have to take some risk. So fine, there's some risk inherent to it, but I'm not going toa take such a risk that it will, um, uh, that I would jeopardize this. I m. And it's tough too, right, because someone somewhere has got to open a restaurant somehow. Someone's got to put that money out. Someone's got to take the risk. We want to eat out, you want to use, you know, uh, I like to get, take out sometimes I like to go eat out. Those restaurants have to be there. Someone's got to take those high level risks. It's not gonna be me, I can tell you that. I can't do it. It's not me, I can tell you that. That's uh, there's no way.

Anthony Weaver: Yeah, I was, I was thinking of uh, what you're saying is like now when people are happy, when they have money, they like to entertain themselves and that's the first thing that they kind of get rid of as well. But how do you find that equal balance in the next business? And that's one of the reasons why I like podcasting. You can get that entertainment but it's such a lower cost.

Nick Begin: That's right. Right. There's no risk. Right. Like if your podcast takes off and you can do this full time, um, I'm sure you'd be thrilled. Right. But at the same time you're not jeopardizing that primary income so you don't have to worry about that as much. I mean it'sug look, and I know from experience is difficult, you know, you're working nine to five job, you have to put all your energy into that so that you can keep the lights on and eat. Right. That's kind of important. Um, but then you have to also find that energy afterwards to be able to put it into a podcast and deliver something that's entertaining and great for people. Uh, and that's tough. I find it's tough to do both, um, to bring that sort of energy to ah, side hustle, kind uh, of thing that you're hoping will grow into, into more um, but that's, I mean that's what you have to do. That's, that's the, that's the journey of the business owner. Right. Whatever project you have going on side hustle, um, if you want to make something of it, you have to find that energy somewhere. Um, but there has to be, I think, you know, in, certainly in your case, if you're doing the podcast, um, there has to be some passion for it, right? So you have to have passion for it. Uh, and maybe that, maybe this is a hobby for you that you enjoy podcasting. Fine. I'm just saying, you know, if you're, if, if you have a hobby that takes you away from reality and just kind of shuts you out from the world, um, that's great. You try to turn that into a business. That's, that's really going to be hard. It's gonna be very difficult. Um, might ruin a hobby for you for a while, which it did for me. Did me.

Do you talk to your kids about being business owners

Anthony Weaver: But, um, as we talk about it, because we want to go slide into this third segment here, which is a feature. Um, and you say you have kids. Do you, uh, talk to your kids about being business owners? Or you just kind of like, you know, it just at 9 5, don't even worry about the business side. So what fears have you already instilled in them or tried not to instill in them?

Nick Begin: I, you know, so, so on my podcast I, uh, talk about, um, I talk to business owners and I get their story similar to what we're doing now. Um, but it's current business owners. So people who are entrepreneurs and they tell me their stories about how they started and in every, the common denominator, I'll tell you, for everyone who's in business, um, and started their own business, there was the sense that they could do it right. So everyone got into business knowing that they could do it, not knowing how to do it necessarily right. So the how is different, how it comes after, but knowing that you can do it. So you're facingacle an obstacle, you're facing a challenge. Um, and you don't know how you're going to overcome that challenge. Right. You don't know how that business is going to work out. Exactly. You don't know exactly what you have. You just, you know, you start day one your business that you can do it. And that's the big thing, knowing that you can do it. Because otherwise you're just sitting around with ideas in your head. You never pull the trigger. But if you know you can do it, then you're ready to, you can take the plunge and it's Such a big thing. And that's what I try to instill my kids is knowing that you can do it if you want to. If you know you can do it and you want it badly enough, you'll figure it out. And that's what I tell my kids. You can do any, like, of course, like any good parent, you're going to tell your kids you can be whatever you want. And of course one of my kids, smart ass, will come back and say, well, I want to be a space cowboy or something like that. Like, fine, right. I'm not saying you can do everything you want, right? You do anything you want, right? So you can, you know, if you want to own a business, great. If you want to be, uh, you know, president, great. If you want to be an astronaut, fine. You can do all that stuff. Uh, you can do anything that you want. But you have to want it badly enough and, and know that you can do it if you know that you can do it. So that's what I try to tell my kids. Like, if you know you can do it, then you will do it. That's it. Look, and it's hard work and it s effort, right? Nothing, nothing comes easily, you know, especially like you look at podcasting, right? For instance, uh, people put out a show like, you know, Anthony, I'm sure.

Anthony Weaver: You, you could talk about it. Yeah, go for it.

Nick Begin: You know, like all the behind the scenes stuff that goes on with like, you know, like for instance, like for you, right? Like easily not booking guests, right. There's a lot of back and forth, there's a lot of time. You have to find the guests, you have to, you know, explain to them how everything works and all that stuff. Yeah. And for the recorded, uh, segments, you're going to have to do a lot of editing and marketing, whatever. Right. So when you see I, I try to explain to my kids that in this world that we live in where you're getting bombarded with all sorts of media and TikTok and all these videos or uh, content that people are creating, there's a lot of work that goes behind that. So the people that, you know, get very successful and go viral, you know, on, on social media, they sure, like there's this flash in the pan ones that just kind of happen. Fine, right. That's a, uh, that's lightning in bottles and one in a million shot. Fine. But for the regular folks like you and I, right, It's all blood, sweat and tears.

Anthony Weaver: Yeah.

Nick Begin: Right. To get that final product out, whatever it, yeah. All that research get that final product out. You know, just that small little video, small piece of content. There's so much work that goes into it. Right. So it's. The effort that you put in is when you'renn get out of it. You can't just show up and be like, hey, I'm gonna do a podcast and record a bunch of stuff, and off you go. Like, is all the. All that. Like the. The product that you put out, such a small piece of the larger puzzle to get it to that point.

Every kid these days wants to be a YouTuber

All right, So I tried to tell my kids, I look, you want to be famous. You want to be whatever. Is. Every kid these days wants to be a YouTuber, and they figure, like, it's easy. It's not like these YouTubers that are famous, the guys that are making all the money and whatever, they see this, they make everyone makes it look easy. Right. In these videos. But it's not. It's a constant grind.

Anthony Weaver: Yeah. Because one of the things. Well, you know, from. I guess from your background of being a business. Well, you know, is that when it comes to even just researching your color scheme, what are you going to use for your color scheme? What are you going to do for.

Nick Begin: The artwork, branding, all that Stu.

Anthony Weaver: Yeah. That stuff takes a lot of time.

Nick Begin: And.

Anthony Weaver: And then 10 years later, are you so lucky that you made it this. I'm like, like all this stuff that I've done in the past. Have you look at episode one, like, right, right. I, uh, look where I'm at today. Like, this stuff, and it costs. And think about it. We do this podcasting stuff for free for our listeners. It is because something, like you said, it goes back from passion and excitement. Excitement will get you in trouble, but the passion there, it has to be there because.

Nick Begin: Get you across the line. Absolutely. Absol. No. And you're absolutely right because. Because you look at all stuff like the branding. Right. Like, look at your podcast. Right. About that wallet. Like, that name doesn't come out of thin air. Someone might be like, wow, that just makes so much sense. Obviously, that's an easy name for the podcast. Yeah. Meantime, Anthony's thinking, it took me a long time to come up with that name. Uh, I workshopped it. I brainstormed a bunch of stuff. I narrowed it down for, like, 50 other names or, you know, whatever. Like, it. Every. Every item of branding, like you said, color scheme, all that stuff doesn't just come out of thin air. Like, it all has to be planned out. It all has to be. So it's all the effort. So and you know, m. We're talking about kind of uh, entertainment sort of media and content creating, um, and you know, but I could tell my kids, like, you want to start any kind of business if you want to be successful at anything. You want to be, I know, a famous athlete or whatever. Like you see like athletes, for instance, you watch the Olympics is a good example, right? These guys, you know, they're like blood, sweat and tears is literally what these guys do, right? To just, to get to that high level. And you just see like that you say the sprinters do that 10 second race. You're like, right, second race. That's it. These guys have worked their whole lives for that 10 second race on the world stage. Right. You know, there's just so much effort that goes on behind the scenes when you're talking about a business, any kind of business, right? If you open a restaurant or whatever, you know, you're looking at the menu, you're looking at uh, the dishes, all that, everything that, the decor, whatever you see in that restaurant, there was so much time and effort that went into it before you even walked in just to have that meal. You looked around, you enjoyed yourself and you left. Like you're a small piece of what, you know, what they showed you. But there's hours and hours and years and years that go into planning these things, you know, and, and that's what I tell. To tell m my kids and you know how it is, right? A good parent again can tell their kids, I don't care what the mark is on your report card. I care about the effort that you put in. Like if you don't, if you don't put in any effort and you're still getting A's on your report card, hey, that's fantastic. You're probably not going to learn anything because you're not going to learn how to overcome adversity, how to um, you know, challenge yourself. You're just getting easy as life's not easy as I can guarantee that it's not. There's no participation ribbons in Life's a.

Anthony Weaver: Lot of apps in there. Yes.

Nick Begin: Lot of. Yeah. And that's it, right? Like would buy. But that's a good example. Would my report card be for, for the business that I ran? Ye. That's a lot f. I'll tell you. I talked to a, um, a business coach not, uh, too long ago and he explained something or yeah, he mentioned something that kind of resonated and he said so the thing about life is that you never go back to zero right. You never go back to like being a 10 year old kid and not knowing what the world is about. Right. You're always building, right? So you're building on what you've done previously. So like, so yeah, I have run a business. It didn't go well, but I've learned a lot of lessons from it. I understand what it's like, I understand what needs to be done. So, you know, next time I do that, and certainly in any other, other aspects in life, I've taken those lessons and applied them allgh. So yes, that didn't, that counts as a setback. That counts as we'give it my f or whatever. But any kind of failure, um, comes with lessons.

Even if your podcast or your podcast doesn't work out, that knowledge stays

And you can't go back to before the failure. If you fail, you don't go back to zero specifically because that knowledge is there. You understand that much more about how the world works, right? So say my podcast or your podcast doesn't work out. You've gained tons of knowledge from it and you can apply that going forward. You've grown. You can't take that away from someone. So no matter how badly they fail, you can't take away that growth from them. You can't take away that knowledge, can move on to the next thing and you can fail several times, but you'll get the lessons each time. I mean, of course you try to minimize the failures, you try to minimize the loss or whatever going forward. And hopefully you've applied that knowledge, but that stays with you, those skills, right? Like the skills that you have podcasting, that stays with you, right? So you've been doing it for a few years now. In five years you were saying, that's a long time. That's a lot of knowledge that you've built up in an industry that's always changing. So you can't lose that knowledge. That's it. Like it's with you. If you walked away from the podcast today and said, oh, you know what, it's not as successful as thought it'be or I'm tired of doing it, um, you could take that to whatever business you want.

Anthony Weaver: Yeah. Because the next thing I was thinking I was going to do if I didn't do podcasting, I'll be reading audio books. Because it's the same equipment, Right?

Nick Begin: There you go. Okay, so that's a perfect example. Not only it's the same equipment and you're used to using it, you're very good at using. You've got the skills, right. You're not just day one, like, how does this Microphone work? Where's the on button? How close do I have to be to it to be, you know, like. You know what I mean? Look, that's silly little things, but, but those are things that come with experience, right? That's the growth. You don't lose that growth. So anytime you're putting effort into any kind of project, you get to keep that. And you and I tell my kids and you know, it's funny because I was in school, I was that I hated school. I hated school so much I couldn't leave school fast enough. Um, and, and looking back, I understand, you know, all this crap I was learning about history and math and stuff like, when am in to use this? I don'understand you know, this stuff. So useless. Why are teaching this to us? But when you realize that you're in school to learn how to learn m. Right. To learn how to research, how to figure things out, how to solve problems, then you realize what school'about yeah, because.

Anthony Weaver: Lot of too d with people. Customer service.

Nick Begin: Right, exactly. Right. Dealing with people, networking, uh, making connections, all that stuff. All those skills that are important that you don't realize that that's actually what you're gaining when you go to school. And certainly when you're talking about like high school or elementary school, whatever, like the real young stuff that you're like, I'm never going toa use this stuff again. You know, like, why am I learning trigonometry? I'm never going to use trigonry in my everyday life for as a podcaster, right? No, but you're learning, so same thing. How do you solve trigonometry problems? You figure it out. Same thing. How do you solve having to. To put together a podcast? You figure things out. It's the ###les challenges. So that's where you're getting out of school. So stay in kids. Stay in school kids. That's the. I'll tell you.

For a long time after I was done in school, I stopped learning

Anthony Weaver: All right, so what about you then? What skills that you feel that's going to take you to the next level?

Nick Begin: What skills do I still take me? Um, you know, I did, ah, for a long time. I. I'll tell you, like I said, I hated school. So for a long time after I was done in school, I stopped learning. Uh, I thought I was like a dumb kid in my twenties where I thought as soon as I learn what I want to learn, I'm done. That's it. I don't. I know enough about the world that I don't need to learn more. And that's such a Silly, naive way of thinking. Um, but I took a good 10, 15 years off of learning, which was terrible. No real personal growth. I wasn't reading books, wasn't taking courses, nothing. When you realize that life is always about learning and growing, uh, everything opens up for you. And it has. For me, it's great. Like, it took me until I was really into my 40s to get back into some real learning and growth and just, just for the sake of learning. Like, there's so many things out there that I don't know. But to expand your mind, to open it up. The world is not black and white. The world is always changing. Um, what you read in a book, uh, that was written by someone, sure, uh, has facts in there maybe, but there's opinions and it's great. You take that perception, but you don't just, you know, if you stop and just learn that one side of the story, you don't get the full picture. You have to listen to other people, listen to many different podcasts, get the different side of the story. You know, uh, I know some big elections going on in the US These days. And you know, you got to hear both sides of the story. You got to hear what everyone's about. You know, um, if you stop learning, you stop growing. Um, and it's a sad place to be. Uh, it's funny, you know, I've had conversations, uh, with people and they're like, oh, this celebrity is doing this and that and bunch of conspiracy theories and this and that. And like, yeah, what do you think? I'm like, okay, that's interesting. And're like, well, do you have an opinion? I said, well, not really. Like, you gave me information about something that I didn't know about, which is great. Uh, I'll absorb it, I'll take it in. I'll have to kind of mull it over and then maybe form an opinion. But at the end of the day, like, well, but you should care about this. I said, why? I took in the information I don't need. Uh, I'm learning from, from what you're saying, that's great. I got a perspective on your side of the story. If I feel that I need more information, I'll do some research, I'll figure it out. But if I don't, then, you know, that's fine. Like, it's just always absorbing my thing now, right? So I'm absorbing, I'm growing this knowledge coming in. It'just uh, it's a one way thing. And of course I'll share with people if we want to have an actual discussion about it. But for people to say, well, you have to come out with an opinion. You have to do something by. But I don't, I don't have to anything about this. You know, if you feel that this person is a terrible person and doing terrible things, well, that's great. I believe you and fantastic. But I don't know that person. I don't know the full story. Whatever. Um, I mean, I kind of got off track a little bit, but the idea is that I'm always learning, always growing. Right. And, um, so I'm always trying to, um, be like I was when I was a kid, you know, just be a little sponge and soak it all up. And I stopped doing that for a while and it was sad. I didn't like that. And, and so now I'm just, I'm just a bunch. I'm happy to talk to anyone. And that's the thing. Right. So I find when the way that, uh, I learned now is just by absorbing all sorts of stuff. So I'll read things and I'll go down rabbit holes and it's great, but I'll go down the rabbit hole. But I won't be like, okay, well this is how the world is now. And this is blah, blah, blah. I'll be like, o well learned some interesting things and different perspectives and great, now I ll go down a different rabbit hole.

Anthony Weaver: Yep. And that's the reason why I hate the. When people generalize things. Like all this group of people do this. I'm like, maybe that one and individual is that just that, you know, and that's how I look things. Look at things now. Like you said from we can't be podcasters without having that open mindset. It was like, this is a cool story. You know, everybody should hear about this. Or I just came across this cool article that I think my audience would really love to hear.

Got to talk about the failures. The failures are where the lessons are the successes

And that's the reason why I wanted to bring you on because I heard, um, about your story just a little bit, but you didn't go in detail. And that's really what I wanted to hear about it. Because a lot of people talk about their successes, but not too much about their failures.

Nick Begin: That's important. Got to talk about the failures. The failures are where the lessons are the successes. And you know, when you're looking at like the Amazons or whatever, I like, wow, this guy's like, Amazon's taking over the world. And Jeff be so, so rich in this. And thateah. You see you See, you know what he, where he is today and that's, you know, but that's not, there's no challenge, there's no struggle there. And what, whatever. I get it. Like the challengees running you a, uh, multinational company and global corporation. I get that. But, but you know, when you go back to, you know, he started it out of his garage, right? Challenges. Yeah. He's, he created a marketplace that, that wasn't easy. Right? That, that's, that's where the lessons are. The lessons are why did he start it? How did it go? You know that, that's the story. And I'm sure that's what you're about.

Antony: Why did you think this would succeed? What were the challenges

Like, that's what I want to know. I want to know what it was like day one. Why did, why did you think this would succeed? What were the challenges then? Challenge now is easy. The guy's got more money, uh, than he knows what to do with. Right. So he can buy whatever he wants. Now his challenges are on such a high level that most of us can't even comprehend it, you know.

Anthony Weaver: Yeah, because he changed the name from, because it used to be called, uh, Catterra and now it's became Amazon.

Nick Begin: Right.

Anthony Weaver: It was like so cool that he had to change the name and like learning that story. Like I said, we can go another rabbit hole.

Nick Begin: Yeah, right, but, but it's a good point though. It all kind of ties back in. Like you look at the name Amazon, right?

Anthony Weaver: Mhm.

Nick Begin: I mean everyone on earth has heard of Amazon. Right, but. And you can hardly picture a time before Amazon even existed. It just seems so. Right. It just seems so easy. Right? The branding, all that bit, like it just seems like, oh yeah, that's obvious, it makes sense. But how much time and effort went into figuring out the branding and there's an evolution. Of course it changed over time. It didn't always have that arrow from the A to Z. Right. Um, so it, you know, it, it's so many things that go into something that seems obvious. You're talking about Apple and iPhones and stuff like that. Weeah. Obviously everybody loves iPhones and Apple. I mean, clearly. But there's so much that goes into Steve, uh, Jobs starting that out with uh, a couple folks. Yeah, right. With those Steve Jobs and the other guys.

Anthony Weaver: Other guys.

Nick Begin: I'NEVER getting credit. Uh, but it's one of those things that in any kind of business, no matter how successful they are, you know, you're seeing, you're hearing them because they're successful, likely. Um, and you're seeing the branding and you see, and it just seems so obvious and it seems easy, but it's not like it. All that stuff had to come from somewhere and it. And I think that's what's difficult when talking about business ownership is that a lot of people don't realize what goes into and business ownership and. And, uh, I'm sure you can agree just having your podcast. When you're a business owner, when you're. You have a passion project, when like a podcast or whatever, it's always on your mind.

Anthony Weaver: Yeah.

Nick Begin: You can't shut that off. There's no 9 to 5. Like you re 9 to 5 job. You might be able to walk away from that and be like, okay, no problem. But when you're running a business, it's always on your mind. There's always bills to pay. Um, you know, your podcast, it's always the next show. You're always like, okay, I got to come up with ideas. The next show. I got to find guests. Um, I have to edit stuff. There's always something to do. There's never a time where like, I did everything. That's it. I'm good. I can take today off and know that there's nothing else to do, right, Antony, you can tell me.

Anthony Weaver: Oh, yeah, Chelsea.

How do you market your podcast beyond just blogging and emailing

Uh, because even now when I go inside other business stores and brick and mortar stores, I was like, man, I do like the decorum. I like the color scheme. I wonder how they marketing this thing. And then I'm looking at the ceiling piece because I was like, I love the open floor, the open ceiling concept. I was like genius on pricing because you don't have to worry about putting up, you know, the drywall or anything like that.

Nick Begin: Oay.

Anthony Weaver: And then I'm like, okay, how are they making money? And that's where I'm coming in. That it was like, okay, now look at the people who are actually inside the business. Why are they coming to this? What makes this establishment so appealing to them that they want to come and spend their hard earned money at this particular space? And then I'm looking at how the curb of feel is all of these things that I'm looking at to how can I make my podcast be something like, hey, they people taking time on their day to listen to this show. What brings them back? What is it about the colge scheme? What feelings do they feel when they come and listen to the show? Uh, same. Like when they come to listen, like go to a particular restaurant, um, I want to get that Starbucks feel, you know, I'm saying, like, you feel like you're in an exclusive club, you're part of the brand. And that's what I kind of want to go to next. But that's going to take time. Um, and not to say people that are listening right now, this is what I want you to do. But if you're a die hard fan of the show, please do go on, buy some merch, walk around proudly, and you know, I would love to see photos of it. Just tag me. But this is what I'm thinking about all the time. Um, am I providing the great lighting? Like, because I'm always changing my lighting every time I do an episode just to kind of see what it looks like.

Nick Begin: Ye.

Anthony Weaver: Um, I'm always trying out new things, different sound segments, different, um, ways to market them. Am I showing up on time for a lot of things or m. Am I communicating enough, uh, for everybody? So these are the things that I worry about. And even for the newsletter, like, what's next? I'mn put in my newsletter because you got it. That's a whole nother medium you got to do. And then blogging is something else. Like podcasting is a lot on the back end. I don't.

Nick Begin: Right.

Anthony Weaver: This is my first time actually get to talk about it.

Nick Begin: But yeah, we'll switch sides now. I'll ask you the questions you can. But that's, but that's just a great example. Like, there's just so much that goes into it. And usually people arrive at, ah, your podcast might think, oh, yeah, this is great. This is awesome. Wow, what a great little thing they's got going on here. And they don't realize how much time and effort the blood, sweat and tears. Right? Like, uh, and it doesn't end like you said, like all those things you just talked about, the blogging, the newsletter, the guests, the lighting, the audio. Like, it's always, it's never ending and it's always on your mind.

Anthony Weaver: Yeah, right. Always.

Nick Begin: Uh, you know, I understand your pain. I understand your pain. And thank you, like, for you. And, and even more than that.

Putting on a live podcast takes a lot of energy, right?

So, like, putting, like, showing up to do the recording, that takes a lot of energy, right? Like, you can't just show up and be like, okay, I got to get through this episode. Let's say, okay, let's record something. You have to show up and be energetic, right? Like, uh, come on. And there. There's got to be. Some days we're like, oh, my God, I didn't sleep well last night. I got to do this show. Uh, I mean, your live show might even be more Difficult. I don't know.

Anthony Weaver: Uh, the live shows, a lot easier.

Nick Begin: It's eas.

Anthony Weaver: It's funny. It's easier in a sense, because I don't have to worry about the editing afterwards. Yeah, the research part before I hit record is the toughest part. It's because I want to make sure I get all my videos that I want to talk about. I got to make sure I got all of the news articles that I'm going to bring up. And then also what are my talking points and who are. If I'm a bring on guests for my live show, what are they going to be talking about? Do I. And how I filter them in if they're going to show up on time. Because sometimes I had guests that don't show up on time. They show up 10 minutes later. I'm already like, deep into the topic and I'm like, hey, you know, welcome to the show with somebody.

Nick Begin: Right? That's got to be the worst. But. But that's part of life, right? And. And you know how it is. It's just life happens. Like, who knows? That guy showed up late, maybe out of power failure. Uh, and it's that simple, right?

Anthony Weaver: Yeah, that's true.

Nick Begin: Or I don't know, he has a baby and his baby threw up on him. He's got to change his shirt and got. What. Who knows why people are late? Like, look, I'm sure I'm trying to give people benefit of the doubt as to why people would be late, why, what would happen. Um, um, you know, they.

Anthony Weaver: So that at least they showed up and's showing up. It.

Nick Begin: Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. But. But think about antthing. So, so think of how much energy you have to bring to that live podcast, right? Like, you. You're going in with all these things in your head. If you didn't get a good night's sleep the night before, you've got. And you know, you've got a life behind the scenes, right? Family, friends, work, all that stuff.

Anthony Weaver: Right.

Nick Begin: You've kind of. But you've got to kind of put that aside a little bit to bring that energy to your podcast. That's not easy.

Anthony Weaver: Yeah, I think one episodes I faked the funk. I was like, super excited, all animated in the thing. And he was like, oh, that was a great episode. I was like, it took a lot of energy because that's not me normally.

Nick Begin: Right?

Anthony Weaver: Yeah, it's tough.

Nick Begin: It's tough.

Anthony Weaver: It's tough.

Nick Begin: Yeah. And I can see, like, you know, um, how tough it is. And so that's it? So to run any business I have any kind of passion project, you have to have the, you have to have the energy. First of all, like you can't go in half ass. It. You can't. It's not like a 9 to 5 job where you can kind of maybe fake it some days. You know, I'm depending on your job of course it to say office jobs. We'll say office jobs for jobs. Maybe you could fake it some days. Like, you know, I'll just avoid the boss today. I won't talk to him. I'll just click away on the keyboard, pretend I'm doing stuff and really just kind of, you know, trying to get my, my head out of my ass, you know. You know, in a 9 to 5 job there is a lot less pressure. U. Um, look, I'm not saying nine to five jobs, easy. I have one. I know that. I'm in management and I get it. But I'm not belittting, belittling that in any way. And every job is important. So please don't, you know, I'm not saying that. I'm just saying as a business owner, your head has to be in a different place, but all the time.

Anthony Weaver: Yeah.

Nick Begin: And finding that work life balance very difficult for business owners. Like I said, I think uh, and I always go back to the restaurants, the restaurant owners, those, those guys, I don't know how they do it. I will never own a restaurant. My life, there's no way. I mean, look, and I'm also not a food guy in terms of like wanting to be a cook or a chef or anything that, so it's definitely not for me. But I've never thought, hey man, I want to own a restaurant.

Anthony Neugebauer offers advice on starting your own podcast

I want to work like 80 hours a week for very little, uh, gain.

Anthony Weaver: Ye.

Nick Begin: Yeah, exactly right. Like they. So whatever 95 job you have, compare it to uh, a restaurant owner. Right? And what it takes to run a restaurant, that, that's really, that's what I can say in terms of uh, having to compare. I've done both. I've worked a lot of jobs. I've owned a business, I have a podcast. Uh, and I can tell you they're all different. They'require different skill sets. But the energy it takes for me to show up to the podcast is so much different in the time and effort it takes to put that podcast together. And like you said, the editing the blog and writing and social media and blah blah, blah, it never ends.

Anthony Weaver: It never ends.

Nick Begin: He whatever. So now I've turned this into me Just renting. I'm actually selling anyone on really starting their own business or getting into their own project or creative dreams, uh, or whatever. But uh, yeaheah, that's what, um, because.

Anthony Weaver: I was just at a financial conference called fcon, um, and a lot of people saying, oh yeah, I want to start a podcast. And I was like, the first question, I was ask him why? Because that's a lot of work and it's a lot more work than you think it is just hitting that record button. And so I was like, well, what is your passion behind it? They was like, well, I have this business and everybody keeps saying I should start a podcast. And I was like, have you thought about a podcast tour? And it was like, well, uh, what is that? How do I even start a tour? I was like, easy. You get on one podcast. Then n. That podcaster hook me up with another podcaster and build that chain. Once you get that set up, you're now looked at as an expert for your business. You didn't have to start up a podcast. And all you have to do is just create a Spotify playlist with all of the podcast interviews you've been in. And if somebody want to know more about you, just send them that one link of the Spotify playlist and boomneag go. And if they are all video, you can actually just create a YouTube playlist. Send them that. Like it's that easy. You don't have to do all the backend stuff. Let the podcast to do out of marketing. Let us do all the recording, the editing, make you look good.

Nick Begin: Damn, Anthony, why don't you tell me that before I started my. No, that's genius. I love that. That's really smart way of going about it. But yeah, look that. But that's again, you learned that, right? Yeah, learned that. That's another way to go. Uh, that might be a little bit easier, uh, for people, but you know how it goes, right? In life, everyone has an opinion. Everyone's turn that into a business. Not that they want to help you do it. They just think you should do it. You know, all these muffins are really good. You should turn. You should open a bakery. Oh, okay. That's easy. You know, everyone, everyone's like, yeah, no, turn into business. Everyone needs to know about it. Yeah, it's not that simple.

Anthony Weaver: It's not that. That'probably be the episode title.

Nick Begin: It's not that simple. Right.

What does wealth mean to you in today's economy

Anthony Weaver: All right, ready for the final four questions?

Nick Begin: Let's do it.

Anthony Weaver: All right, number one, what does wealth mean to you.

Nick Begin: Uh. If you asked me in different points in my life what that meant when I was a little kid, man, wealth was like being scrooged McDuck diving into his vault, you know, swimming in the money and all the gold coins and all that stuff. That was good as wealth. That was wealth to me when I was a kid. Now wealth to me, uh, I think would be having the money to having enough money. So you don't have to worry about money then. By that I mean, you know, look, you're always going to think about money in some respect because if you've amassed enough of it, it's great, but you also want to maintain it and keep it. Maybe, um, keep growing it, of course, so you want to manage it. But I'd like to, you know, wealth to me, um, means having enough money that you don't have to think about little things. Right. And, and I know like today, especially like in today's economy, worrying about little things like groceries, uh, right. You know, like, do I buy, you know, do I buy toilet paper or do I eat? You know, like those kind of like, look, those changes. Yeah, I'd say that I'm at that point, but I know a lot of people are struggling with that in this economy and that's a huge thing. Right? That weighs on your mind. So you being a business owner or whatever. But if you go home and you're thinking about these little decisions about do I put gas in my car, do I buy toilet paper, do I buy food? Like, if you're wondering which one of those you have to do without this week or today, uh, that's a huge problem and that's going to weigh on your mind. So for me, wealth is not having to worry about money for, we'll say the basics. M. Right. So luxuries aside, like, uh, you know, if I want to buy like a fancy car or big and live in a big mansion, I think that's finde that that's, you know, more excessive wealth. I would say, you know, when you have more disposable income or funds that you have available to you. But wealth for me is really not having to worry about the day to day, uh, things. Right. Um, and I know money is not the end of money is not happiness. I get that. But. And people will tell you money can't buy happiness, which, you know what, uh, maybe m. Money's not going to define your happiness, uh, but when you have enough money that you don't have to worry about the basic necessities, uh, you'll be a lot happier, I can tell you that. You know, you't have to worry about the bills. You don't have to worry about. So, so wealth. Yeah. So wealth to me is we don't have to worry about your bills, um, you know, in basic bills. Okay. If you have to worry about, you know, the payments for your, um, your private plane. Oh, well, then I'm sorry, that's, that's a different problem. You know, that's excessive wealth. Right. So that's success. So wealth to me, uh, is not having to worry about your bills, your necessities excessive wealth. That's a different problem I'd like to have at some point.

What was your worst money mistake? O my money mistake was that business

Anthony Weaver: Got you number two. What was your worst money mistake?

Nick Begin: O my money mistake was that business that I bought from the guy that did not work out. And I'll say because that was my biggest. That was the most money I've ever sunk into anything that didn't work out that I. And like, think about the $300,000 plus all the extra money that we put into it, uh, on top of that, that's a lot of money to just kind of get's gone. I have nothing to show for that. Yeah, fine, fine. I grew. Fine. I learned some lessons. Uh, fine. I've got the knowledge and the skills. That was a very expensive learning experience. I could have taken that money, put it into tuition somewhere and gotten a much better, uh, return on my investment. Right. I could have had like some kind of a, uh, diploma on my wall that I could say, hey, I paid for an education as opposed to, hey, I have m failing business. I had nothing so far.

Anthony Weaver: Right, right.

Nick Begin: Um, so that was, that was my biggest money mistake. Have I made other money mistakes? Um, yeah, for sure. Uh, when I was younger, uh, I didn't know how to save. I didn't know what I was doing, uh, with money. I just blew everything. So there weren't like any, it was a lot of small incremental, um, was. And that was back in the time like when I was telling you I wasn't growing, I wasn't thinking, I wasn't doing anything that for myself that, that generated any real kind of return. Um, so yeah, it was, it's terrible. I hate that I had that kind of void. And it's not like I don't think I was necessarily a bad person at the time, but I was such a. It's funny because I go around saying, yeah, I'm open minded, it's great, I don't want to learn anything, but I'm Open minded, right? Course minded. Yeah.

Anthony Weaver: It't work.

Nick Begin: I feel I'm open minded now. But, uh. Because now, you know, it is now I know, but I don't know and I don't know anything. I know that I don't know, um, nearly enough about all the subjects that, that I should know about. So I want to feel like that makes me wise. And I think when you hit that point where, where you know that you don't know anything, uh, that's eye opening, really. Uh, that means you're always ready to learn. You're always ready to go, and you'll never learn everything. And not that I don't want to learn how to perform surgery, and I know I'll never learn that, but I'll never learn enough about any particular subject that I'm interested in or the important subjects. Right. Things around me. Politics, um, history, the world in general. Like, I won't know enough about that. I can't because there's too much to know. Yeah, there you go. That's. That's it. Why I'm wise because I don't know anything. That's the, uh. Yeah. Yeah. Does it get older? Yeah, I.

Anthony Weaver: That'll be a book title.

Nick Begin: Why? Because I don't know anything.

Anthony Weaver: Ye.

Nick Begin: That's it. There's no.

Anthony Weaver: Yeah.

What is your favorite financial or non financial book

Uh, all right, number three. What is your favorite financial or non financial book?

Nick Begin: Okay, so when I was in high school. So'say two bucks. When I was in high school, um, um, I read, uh, we had, we do book reports. Right. In high school. It was great. Uh, and in this particular class, we were given a list of books, and one book that stood out to me was called the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Are you familiar with that one?

Anthony Weaver: I've saw a movie. I'd never read the book.

Nick Begin: Okay. Movie is terrible. Uh, compared to the book, the book is awesome. It's written in such a way. It's such a fun book. Right. So that, that got me, uh, back into reading. I thought it was fantastic. Um, and it was his Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Um, I read the first book for that book report. There. There's, um, there's five books. Um, originally it was a trilogy in four parts. And then he wrote another book, fifth, uh, book that goes with it. But it'it's such a, um, crazy concept that I loved it. It was so wild.

Anthony Weaver: Um.

Nick Begin: And it's so, so great. It's about aliens and, and Earth about to be destroyed for this superhighway that, uh, that's being built. And, and the characters are funny and wild and it has. This is where the uh, the question comes, you know, what, what's the you know, they ask, um, in the book, uh, they built a, these aliens built a supercomputer and they ask it, you know, what's the answer to life, the universe and everything?

Anthony Weaver: Mhm.

Nick Begin: And this machine works for like years and years and figures it out and it spits out an answer, says it's 42. Yep, the answer is 42. And then they're like're like okay, but what's the question? So the computer goes back again and starts thinking and you never figure out what the question is. But so spoiler. Ah. But uh, but the answer to life, the universe and everything is 42. But more than that, the what's the question. Right, so that's the uh. Anyway, so it's a fun book. It has a lot of little silly tidbits like that um, that go on throughout the whole book. It's an, it's a fair. It's an easy read. I love that it was an easy read. It's not like a long book or anything like that. So I read the first one for that book report. Loved it. Fantastic read the other three, uh, at the time, um, yeah, my favorite favorite book. Um, because it, it sparked my interest in reading and learning again. Um, and I really enjoyed it and I know they've, they've made a couple movies about it and they really don't do it justice because like I said, like even in the book, um, they're just little. Some of the chapters are like small paragraph like this. Like it's just, that's one chapter. It just, that's the chapter. It's just a little fun fact, a tidbit or whatever and you change. I'm like as a kid who didn't enjoy reading at the time, I thought well this is great. I just read the thing, turn the page. I was good. You know, has burning through the book is fantastic. So that, that was my. I really enjoyed that book in terms of a piece fiction. Um, um, non business book, um, business book. The one that got me into learning and expanding my mind was the uh, Laws of Success. Um, and that, that is not like the, I didn't read the, the uh, bridged version, uh, for Napoleon Hill. This was the full size phone book style brick of a book. Yeah, yeah, it's huge. But it's really, really good. Uh, so it has 10 laws of success. Each one, uh, it just makes so much sense. Um it really turned my thinking around when it came to business and life, uh, in terms of you want to be successful. And it kind of, it opened my mind to the concept of the universe and everything kind of working together to um, for this universe of virus. Right. Everything is connected. The way that every people come in and out of your life, the way that ideas, um, come into your head and things, it's just all connected. And I love that that it kind of gave, it elevated my mind, I will say, um, in terms of. It made me part of the global consciousness. If that's like, I don't want to get too freaky on you or anything that it's not, it's, it's nothing like that. But it made it so that I'm not just a lonely individual anymore. I'm part of the universe, something greater than myself, which, which was uh, which was great. It is really eye opening. Uh, so, so. Hitchhir'guide to the Galaxy. Uh, best, uh, non business book that I've read just because it started me off on my journey. Laws, uh, of Success by the Napoleon Hill. Highly recommend. It'it's um, a tough. It, it's a long read. There's a lot to it. There'a lot to digest. Um, um, but man, did, did that open up my mind to, to certainly for business and for, for life. So yeah, uh, thankful for those books.

Anthony Weaver: Yeah, I'go mightna have to take a listen to the Laws of Success. Um, and I'll try to audiobook because I do.

I recommend Laws of Success for sure. It's um, like I said, it's a big book

I've been doing a lot of audiobooks, so I'll definitely make sure I add these to my list.

Nick Begin: Yeah, I recommend it. I recommend uh, Laws of Success for sure. It's um, like I said, it's a big book. I, uh, want to say it's tough read. It just. There's a lot in there. Like it's just so much to absorb that it's kind of tricky. Right. But it's all good stuff. So uh, yeah, I'd recommend it. Audiobook, um, sounds a good idea if you're driving around, you listen to a podcast or whatever. Um, yeah, take, take a listen to on audiobook when you're doing that. If you have a long road trip ahead, it's a good way to do it.

Anthony Weaver: Hopefully I'll notd.

Nick Begin: And just don't, don't do that. I don't recommend that.

Anthony Weaver: Of course.

Number four, what is your favorite dish to make

Uh, number four, what is your favorite dish to make?

Nick Begin: Favorite dish to make.

Anthony Weaver: Yeah.

Nick Begin: I am not a cook.

Anthony Weaver: Okay. You'not a. I'm not a Crook.

Nick Begin: Not cr. Uh, I'm. I'm not a chef. Uh, my favorite dish to make, man, my Iife will tell you I'm. I'm not a good cook either. Like, I have to cook from, like a recipe book. If, if, if one. I do it, which is really rare. Favorite dish to make. This is funny. This goes back to, like, when I was living on my own, you know, my 20s, and. And I just needed to eat. Craft dinner. Craft dinner. Honestly, it sounds so dumb. Uh, but my wife will tell you, she said I make excellent craft dinner and, and she can't replicate it because I just kind of pour things in and do a bunch of stuff. Um, you know, I added a few things over the years, and it evolved to a great kind of fun recipe. It's just really good. But it. It's such a basic stupid meal, but it provides so much comfort. Right.

Anthony Weaver: So, I mean, this is a kaft dinner. When you say Kraft, like, what is it exactly?

Nick Begin: Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.

Anthony Weaver: Oh, really?

Nick Begin: Oh, sorry. Yeah. Where I come from, it just Craft dinner. This craft macaroni and cheese. Yeah. In a blue box. Yellow. Yellow writing. Right.

Anthony Weaver: M. Hmm. Okay. Yeah. Because down here they just call it Kraft Mac and Cheese. I know.

Nick Begin: Oh, sorry. Yeah. Yah.

Anthony Weaver: No, it's okay.

Nick Begin: Cheese. There you go.

Anthony Weaver: Yeah, we got international with this podcast.

Nick Begin: Morning International. Yeah. Breaking down borders and boundaries. Yeah, it's great. We, um. It's. Yeah, yeah, so it's. It's, uh, Kraft Mac and Cheese. Um. Um, I wouldn't try any other brand. Just it. This is like. It's a comfort food. It's such a stupid thing. You ask me that question, I don't have a good answer for it.

Anthony Weaver: I mean, neither personal. I mean, we. Personal finances. Personal. Personalits as personal.

Nick Begin: I'll tell you the worst part is we've really tried to get away from processed foods because we know those are bad. And I have a friend who's, uh, a holistic nutritionist, and, man, she's always got bad news for her. So, you know, sugar is bad for you. Like, I'm waiting for her to come around and tell me, oh, we're wrong about sugar. Sugar is good. Have as much as you want. I'm French. I have a terrible sweet tooth. Uh, I love, love sweets. We just had Halloween, man. I love when the kids come home with their. Their Halloween stuff. And I can. I can help them eat them. I'm doing them a favorite, right?

Anthony Weaver: So I can help them. The adult tax. Right?

Nick Begin: Yeah, that adult. Exactly. I have, you Know what's funny? I have, uh, one of my daughter. Uh, she's celiac, so she can't eat gluten, but she loves Halloween, so she'll go out and, like, hit as many houses that she want. Like, sh.

So you asked me what my favorite meal to make is. That's the one I'm best at

Many houses. She can't. She is like, a fiend. And she. She'll, like, run and run the whole time, come back, fill up a pillowcase, you know? A pillowcase, right'that's?

Anthony Weaver: Hardre.

Nick Begin: Yeah, She'fill one up, and she'll go back and. And try to fill up again. But it's great. She comes home and she can't eat half the stuff that she gets. And I feel bad for her. She loves it. She doesn't care. Uh, but I'll go through. I'm like, well, no, you can't have this. You can't have this. Like, this. Daddy's pile is great.

Anthony Weaver: That's great.

Nick Begin: I benefit from it. I love it. It's great. But again, so, yeah, I know sugar is bad for me. Uh, processed foods, I know they're bad for you. Uh, y. That's not good. So. So the Krat macaroni, the crraft, the, uh, Mac and cheese with the glow in the dark orange cheese, you know, I know that's not good for me. We don't eat it very often. I'm very good at making that.

Anthony Weaver: The glow, the dark.

Nick Begin: You glo in the dark. Right? You know, that's found in nature.

Anthony Weaver: That's not.

Nick Begin: Yeah, that's natural. All, uh, natural flavors and colors for sure. Yeah. So you asked me what my favorite meal to make is. That's my favorite meal to make. That's the one I'm best at. And sadly, I'm actually really good at it. I tell you, my wife, she's a fantastic cook. Like, I love. Oh, my God. Have. She's f. Like any. She's fantast. She'll make, uh, lasagna. She'll make spaghetti sauce. She make chili. All of my favorites that I've ever had of those things in my life. She makes the best of them. Uh, and it will go anywhere else, and we'll have someone else'long I'm like, it was okay, but. So I don't even try to live up to what my wife tries to do when it comes to Mac and cheese. I'm the king of the house. She can't replicate it. She can't make it nearly as good. She's like, I don't know what it is you do. Uh, it's all the love I put into it, I'm sure.

Anthony Weaver: Yeah, that's it.

Anthony: If you don't have passion, your business will fail

All right, so we down to the last question of the show, which is where could people find out more about you?

Nick Begin: Okay, so, um, we have the um, Crazy Courage podcast. So if you wanted to find out all the goofy stuff that I'm talking about to people, uh, on the Crazy Courage podcast, that is, um, it's@crazy-courage.com. uh, there is a, um, there's a LinkedIn page, there's a Facebook page's all. It's also it. So I'm on same as you, Anthony. You kind of find it on all the platforms where, um, you can find podcasts. Uh, it's hosted on Spotify and then I send it out to all the other platforms. Right. So I heart Amazon, um, Apple, all that stuff. I have it on YouTube as well. Uh, really, it's the Spotify one that I like. Um, but I put it on YouTube because people like YouTube as well.

Anthony Weaver: So do.

Nick Begin: Right, right. Same sort of thing. Um, but yeah, no, it's uh, Crazy Courage business stories. That's the's uh, what I do. I talk to. It's very similar what you do here, Anthony. I talk to people about their, uh, their business stories. Uh, it's literally it is to talk about for me to be how they got to where they are and, and all that fun stuff.

Anthony Weaver: Um.

Nick Begin: Yeah, it's uh, I've, I'm kind of like you. It was a passion thing. Uh, I, uh, I started it because u, um, I love talking to people about their business stories. I love the stories. And I thought.

Anthony Weaver: And that's what I'm here for too. The stories are great hear's stories, right?

Nick Begin: I always thought I love talking to people about their businesses. I love the stories. Um, and I want to create something. So I married those two ideas and created a podcast. And again, I probably should have done what Anthony mentioned and gone on like a podcast tour because that sounds so much easier than having to slog it out trying to do podcast with all the other stuff that goes along with it. Um, u. But man, it's u. You do it because you enjoy it. That's the only reason I would say awesome. Um, if you go into business, do it because you enjoy it, because you have a passion for it. If you don't have passion, your business will fail. I'll tell you that right off. If you don't have passion, you're done. Don't even bother trying to start your business. And that's the thing I've Had a lot of business ideas that were, I thought were like, really, really good. Um, um, and, and I was, you know, I think, okay, should I do this? And I keep thinking, no, this is a great idea. The world would benefit. But I don't want to do this. Not. It's not for me. It doesn't make sense.

Anthony Weaver: Yeah, that's reason why I don't mind sharing my thoughts is because, uh, like, how often will we even have the energy or time to execute what I just told you?

Nick Begin: Exactly.

Anthony Weaver: Not. So who cares if I share my ideas out there? I'm like, steal it. Somebody stillal my idea.

Nick Begin: Yeah. Ah, ste it make a flying car, people. I need flying car. I'm not gonna do it. I don't have time. Uh, and, but I think, you know, Antony, I think that's a really good point is are you gonna have the time and energy, right? Because the energy you have to come up with, like you said, like, to show up for your podcast, like, you have to come up with that energy to be able to put out a good show that people are going to want to watch. It's like you said, people are going to spend their time with you, devote some time out of their lives that they can never get back. How can you deliver a really good, uh, product, Right? So to do that, you have to put in the energy and the time. Well, that's your time now, right? So that's your valuable time that you can't get back. So what are you sacrificing to be able to do that? Is it worth it? Right? Because are you sacrificing time with your family, your friends? What is it that you're giving up to be able to follow, uh, this path or this dream or whatever? So, yeah, if you want to go, you know, so if you're giving away free business advice or whatever, and people are like taking it and running with it, it's great now, uh, it's on them to come up with the energy and the, um, and the time to do these things.

Anthony Weaver: Yeah. And Nick, I can sit and talk to you pretty.

Nick Begin: Yeah, man.

Anthony Weaver: It's business side.

Nick Begin: A lot of fun. A lot of fun.

Anthony Weaver: Because I, uh, definitely want to have you back on, um, see what your next ventures are maybe like next year or so just to kind of see where you, um. And maybe, you know, we can exchange things and, uh, you know, do our own podcast tour.

Nick Begin: There you go. Yeah, that's good. Ye.

Anthony Weaver: I love that.

Nick Begin: Love. I love podcast tour. That sounds like such a fun thing, right?

I leave this disclaimer with everybody. Like, hey, the content, uh,

Anthony Weaver: Yeah. So I just want to leave this disclaimer with everybody. Like, hey, the content, uh, uh, for this audio is educational purposes only. Conduct your own research and make the best choice for you. If you need advice, contact a qualified professional. So with that, everybody, uh, I wish you all the best, and please continue on to learn more and take those deep dives and take a chance and learn from your failures. Do you not look at your failures as. It's a personal thing. It's not. It's okay. It's part of life. So I do want to thank you all again for listening and staying through to the end, and Nick has been amazing, uh, for this episode. And thank you a lot again.

Nick Begin: Thank you so much. It's been a blast. I really appreciate it all, everybody.

Anthony Weaver: Y'all be safe. We out.

Nick Begin: Thanks. Take care.