I always say your first idea is not your best idea. And most people, they come up with a good idea, and the first thing they wanna do is celebrate and move on to another idea. No. Stay on that idea. Drill down.

You don't need another building. You need to go build in the building you're in.

This is Tales From the Pros, where business leaders and influencers share their stories of inspiration, struggles, and successes. And I'm your host, Michael Georgiou.

Hey, everyone.

Welcome to Tales From the Pros. This is Michael Georgiou, your host and cofounder of Imaginovation. My amazing guest here today is the founder and president of the Steiner Agency and Collectible Exchange. The Steiner Agency is the nation's premier independent athlete procurement source and Collectible Exchange is an online platform for fans, collectors, store owners, celebrities, athletes, and teams to buy and sell collectibles. Previously, he created Steiner Sports Marketing and Memorabilia, which was one of the largest companies of its kind.

In addition, he is a well known motivational and inspirational speaker and has spoken to world class organizations such as the New York Yankees, BMW, Nike, Live Nation, Cornell University, TEDx, and Harvard Business School. And he is also the author of Living on Purpose, The Business Playbook, and You Gotta Have Balls, which I love. Please welcome the legend himself, Brandon Steiner. Brandon, I really, really appreciate you being here today, and and I'm honored and humbled to have you. I know you're a very busy guy.

You're starting all these new things. It's really cool to have you here. Thank you so much. I have a lot of gratitude.

Well, thanks for having me.

It's a beautiful day, and, you know, with all the craziness going on, to be honest with you, I'm not that busy. Mhmm. Even my dog came up to me this morning and asked for a little space. Like, I don't know. I've been home for three and a half months, but, you know, I've been coming back to the office, and what's crazy is, you know, I started Steiner.

Yeah. You know? I started the Steiner Agency last summer, and I started collectibles change in in in November, December, and it was rough. I mean, I had a rough start on the collectible exchange. You know, it was a big tech platform where, you know, it's like a form of eBay where people can buy and sell it.

I went into this virus thinking the 1st month, thank god for some great TV that I got to watch, but I I was thinking maybe I'm not making it out. And all of a sudden, what did you do when you went home? At least for me, my wife was like, get down to the basement. Get down to these closets. Get into the garage.

We gotta clean this place up. And we've just been onslaught with product. Like, we we have over 60,000 items on the collectible exchange already and growing every week. People are clearing out. You know?

Because baby boomers above all had to really bunker in. Mhmm. You know, you you wanted to play around. Maybe you're younger. You're healthy.

But if you're over 50, over 60, you stay at home. You would stay away from February. So you started cleaning up, and you also started thinking about dying. Like, you know, maybe I gotta get rid of this. Maybe I better get clean this up.

You know? So the site's booming. Like, in this virus where I thought I was about to take a death turn with my new company, it actually turned out to be a huge boom. And then, you you know, I just launched the Syracuse Dome. I'm selling the roof, the most famous roof on the, in the country, if you're not a Syracuse fan.

But, you know, it's a lot of great moments in the dome, and and, so we're selling that and doing a lot of stuff with UFC fight collectibles. You know, we're doing all that stuff there. And Fantastic. Bunch of stuff that I'm launching. I've had, like, 3 months.

Because one thing you need to talk about this stuff, but I tell people, it's like, you got this break. Time to laser focus. Keep growing. Keep going. This will end at some point, and maybe it's over now.

Maybe it'll be over in a few more months. I don't know. But you gotta keep going and growing. And, you know, something like I I kept focusing, and then all of a sudden, I was reaching out to people I hadn't talked to in a long time. We started coming up with a lot of ideas, and I gotta be honest.

I went into this virus with, you know, my head kind of in a cloud, and were booming. And I'm very grateful, you know, for this disaster, which I feel bad, but life's a loss, but it's been incredible, the run. You know? It's been incredible. It's gone on the last few months.

Yeah. It has been. It's definitely been it's been some crazy times. I I wonder what's, what's gonna happen next in the world. I was I was telling my buddy the other day, I said I said, you know, they're probably gonna discover aliens below the Empire State Building or something.

I mean, it wouldn't surprise me. There's all this just it it Well, you know, what's going on with off another. You know, things feed off each other and, you know, what you have to be careful in business and and in life is, you know, not to let your emotions get too out of control. And everybody has good reason to have high level of anxiety. There's a lot of question marks going on right now.

But, you know, you gotta keep things in perspective, and it's all about improvement. And for me, it's not about where you're at. It's what you want to accept. And I think even with the Black Lives Matter movement, you know, it's so important now. I think the line in the sand is, like, it's clear that, you know, when I, as a as a as a country, we're not gonna accept this.

And only till you get to a high level of nonacceptance can something get done, and and it's finally we've gotten to that point where there's, it I mean, there's a big majority part of this country that is a high level of nonacceptance. So I'm very I'm extremely grateful and hopeful that I think we'll finally get a a a big, big push of change in an area that this is going on for way too long. And I think that's true also with the virus. I think that we needed a change and a correction. You know, after 911, we all kinda got, you know, high level of humility.

We started to realize how much we need each other and how much we can help each other, and then we started acting like a bunch of idiots again. And then, you know, the last 4 or 5 years, I've never seen this country, you know, with the economy booming, more people miserable, you know, more people unhappy, more greed, you know, more lawsuits, more and I think that, you know, I'm and I believe in divided intervention, but I think this is a great message for us to realize that all of us are better than some of us. We're all important. We all realize that, you know, the grocery person stocking the groceries, the appetizer person, the cross you know, the police officer, fireman, all these people that have put themselves in harm's way, nurses, doctors. I mean, we probably need to go start showing a lot more humility.

We learned in 911 to be that way with first responders. We learned in 911 to learn how important our military is. And what we really need to learn is that everybody's important, and everybody should be treated with respect regardless of whether they're making $10 an hour, $10,000,000 an hour. It doesn't matter. Right.

All that stuff is great if you get it, if you want it, but it should make a difference how you treat people. And I think that's the most valuable lesson is that we all have to learn how to treat everybody great. It's nice to be important. It's much more important to be nice. So true.

That line before, but yep. Yeah. I was just gonna say I I I share a lot of, what you just said and along with I've I've been following you for a for a while now, and I I have a lot of, similar values to you and how you grew up and characteristics. And, for me, until the day I die, I will always put people first, not money first or anything else or material things, because I always say this that when we die, when we pass, we're not taking any of those things with us. No.

Never. Self worth And people forget that. Self worth has to be more valuable than net worth. And I agree with you. We're not taking any of that with us.

But I'll tell you one thing that's really important that I worry about. And and with this, you know, break where a lot of us work from home for long periods of time, and it doesn't seem that doesn't even seem to be going away. I think a lot of companies are committed to letting their people stay at home and working. I'm worried. I'm worried about mental I'm not I'm not talking about, you know, the mental mindset.

I'm worried about the mental motivation of the distraction, the ability to not be able to feed off coworkers, feed off a manager in any which way. So, you know, I think that's really important for people to realize that and maybe understand that they've got a they've got anywhere from an hour to 2 to 3 hours more time in their day. So we know people are starting their days much earlier because they don't have that early morning commute. They're maybe getting dressed. You know, I see people with a t shirt on, gunners.

They're probably in their underwear. Whatever it is, it's definitely easier. Right? But Yeah. I think I think that I worry about you now have more time in your workday, and you've definitely gotta figure out what the etiquette on all that is.

You know? Not only for yourself, but in a communication relationship with other I've always been a 4, 5 in the morning emailer. I want my email to get there first, all those kind of tactics. And now I've gotta kind of kind of move back from it. But, you know, I worry about this mental mindset, and I think it's really important for people to understand that, yes, there's the organization of your time management, but there's also the the organization of your mental mindset to stay focused and to stay hungry.

And you need to develop a hostile attitude. You need to make sure that you're the underdog. Though you're sitting in your house all alone and nobody's really appreciating the results or those sales you just made or all how hard you're working, You need to make sure your self motivation, your self starter ability has to be turned up high. You gotta realize that you don't have anybody to feed off of. You don't have a manager or, you know, some just a general vibe in your office to feed off of.

And you gotta be careful that, you know, the dog and your kids and all of a sudden, UPS driver, those are all distractions that you may not be dealing with in a normal course of business. So as much as everything's changed and a lot of people are working at home, and it's a mixed I did a little survey on my LinkedIn about, you know, it's a mixed view of whether actually people like working from home. This was so much, oh, man. If I didn't have to commute, if I don't have to, Well, how's that parenting thing working out for you now 7 days a week? You don't like it being home so much anymore.

But, you know, there's a mixed view on it. A lot of people like being home. What what really comes down is it doesn't really matter. What matters is can you produce a result, especially when no one's looking? Can you produce a result regardless of being able to feed off of other people when you're in a not competitive situation now?

And, I always tell people, you know, you gotta be hostile. You know, you gotta make sure you met maintain an underdog mindset. You gotta always think about the people that said you can't do what you are trying to do, and you gotta make sure your your goals and your mind is set on doing more than what you should and what you even think you could do. And you gotta be into a I call it pop. You've got to be in a mindset to progress on your process.

You must not so be so goal driven as much as how do I get better today? How do I get more done today? Because you're gonna get more done today work from home than in the office because you just picked up 2 hours a day when you weren't commuting. It's 10 hours a week, 40. I mean, you got an entire work week you're picking up.

Yeah. 5 weeks because you picked up an entire work week without having a commute, not to mention distractions. But lack of focus, lack of energy, lack of inspiration could take you the other direction. So how do you use that extra time to be more productive, be more effective, and get that raise and get that imaginary corner office. Because you now have another 40 hours a month to play with to be the better employee and in part be a better husband, husband, wife, family, friend.

So the question is, it doesn't matter where you are, but how much you want it, and are you resetting your goals, but also really driving your process, being very conscientious about your process because you now have time to get a quick walk in in the morning. You have time to get a running. You have time to eat right. Now what's your excuse? It's true.

Yeah. I know. And I I'm sure, Brandon, you've you've been through so many different things in your life, you know, just through business and and, you know, combining your your family life, personal life with all the companies you've been running and all that. And I wanna get into that a little bit, you know, with your story, because I love storytelling, and I'm I I know you've mentioned it a few times. You know the power of a story, a good story.

You know, can you tell us a little bit, Brandon, like, for for right now, the all the levels of success that you've, at least in in our eyes that you've reached, How did you get to this point today? I've I've seen a lot of, I I I love some of the content you put out about some of the inspiration from your mom. I'm a I'm a mama's boy for me. I love you know, she gives me so much inspiration. I try to listen to her, and I want other people to really listen to their their parents' wisdom.

So can you talk a little bit about your story and and how, you know, just, when you were in in Brooklyn and and all that good stuff? You know, I talked a lot about nonacceptance, but when I was in 5th grade, I you know, first story comes to mind is, you know, I I I called up to the front of the class. This really would all got started for me. I mean, 10 years old, mister Kerber gives me an envelope of money. We're taking a math test.

I was like, what's this for? He goes, we took a collection for you to buy some clothes. Okay. You know, any clothes is where you've been wearing the same pants for 3 weeks in a row. I go home.

My mother's like, well, you're in between sizes, blah blah blah. About 3 hours later, I go in my mother's room. I said, mom, it just doesn't make sense. Then when you're 10, you don't really know if you're poor or rich. You just know what you know.

You're you're not thinking, you know, do I and it's the first time I realized I don't have a lot of the things that most of the other kids that I know in the neighborhood have. And I walked in my mother's room and said, mom, you don't have to worry about me anymore, which is really I I I could start crying about because I could imagine the day that I did this. And I said, I'm gonna go get a job on Saturday, and I will, take care of what I need, clothes, food, and then, you know, if I have extra money, I'll give it to you. Now my mother must have just been hysterical laughing. So I have younger kids that's not growing up.

I mean, if I get my 10 year old to get dressed, maybe eat breakfast in the morning, like, that's, like, unbelievable. The fact that I got up on my own and hit Kings Highway in Brooklyn, which is a long strip of several miles of stores, and went from store to store and asked them if they need help, It's probably the beginning for you to understand. I probably wasn't a normal kid. But I granted, you know, at that age, I I never missed a day at work, and I found Freddy the fruit man who, delivered fruit and vegetables in the neighborhood and stocked the fruit and vegetables. Back then, those fruit and vegetable stores where people got most of their, vegetables and fruit.

And, you know, I hope that how that story relates to your audience is that, like, everyone at some point has to draw a line in the sand and decide they wanna be accountable and dependable. 2 very important characteristics. Are you accountable and are you dependable? And most importantly, are you gonna let your circumstances and your past dictate your future? Because it's so easy to let your previous chapters in your book dictate the future chapters in your book.

And, you know, for me at 10 years old, it's like, no. I'm not tolerating this. I have a high level of nonacceptance of, a, not having enough food to eat, not wearing these same pants all the time. Like, I'm not accepting it. I'm gonna do something about it.

I'm not gonna go away. You know, my dad died when a young age and before I was 4, we're on welfare. My poor mother was raising 3 kids. I mean, I had all the excuses. But you know something?

Like, I I I think think that and and everybody has their own time. I think Dan is a little young, but everybody has their own moment of time when they wanna draw that line. But it's unfortunate there's a lot of people that never draw that line. They continue and I'm not saying that sometimes you have to get some therapy. Sometimes you gotta get some help to work out your past so you can clear up the present.

But Right. There's so much opportunity and light and and for everyone if you can, you know, kinda close-up the cases and and and and get the past organized and put it to a normal place. Because life's hard. Life's difficult. You know?

Life you know, it's not easy. There's a lot of bad stuff, and there's a lot of unfortunate things that can happen to you along the way that most of it is not your fault. So, you know, my mother always says, like, listen. We're not poor. Our circumstances suck right now.

You know, we definitely don't have the apartment and the money that I always thought maybe we'd have, but we're good. You're healthy. You're a smart kid. You have the ability to do anything and be anything you want. And you got a little hustle and little energy.

Believe me, nobody's gonna stop you. But our circumstances aren't too good right now, so we gotta take advantage of those circumstances and make the best of it. And it's important, you know, the self worth versus the network, you know, not to get confused. Just because you have a lot of money doesn't mean you're not valuable, lovable, and and a good person. So, you know, for me, like, when I went to go see my mom and how I started all these companies and when I really got the confidence, I'd have Syracuse on my mind because we're selling the dome of the roof of Syracuse to Syracuse Nation, and we're selling all the products.

And I had that was, like, a big confidence boost to go to Syracuse and be able to go to a school like that with no money, no grades, and 7, 60 on my SATs. So, you know, my mother was always like, you know, you gotta make a big sale. Sometimes you gotta step up. You gotta make a big sale. Don't worry about what other people think.

Just worry about what the people that love you and care about you think. And when I went to Syracuse, you know, at 760, no money, and I went to a pass fail high school. And, you know, she's like, you know, listen. I want you to go to the most expensive school in Syracuse well, Syracuse that has an accounting degree. It was a private school.

It was expensive school. Like, mom, how how am I gonna go to this school? He goes, because nobody as poor as we are has the ball to apply. That's why. And, you know, something you're a good kid.

You're deserving. You've been working since you're 10. You're a treasure of your high school, So you don't have great grades. You know? You have a pass.

Don't worry about it. You know? They they they wouldn't take a chance on you if you're serious about making sure you're gonna get yourself through it. So I went up there. I made a sale.

And, it was the biggest break, you know, for me to be a poor kid to go to a wealthy school like that and eat 3 meals a day, you know, get a great quality education and really see the opportunity, in many cases, through my roommates and through my friends, seeing what their parents do. You know, I really got a great insight to all the possibilities that you can, with a little education, get, which is why I hear a lot of people saying that, you know, they're not big on education. But, I mean, I I I think education gives you the opportunity to go out to the world and actually start learning. I think people get a little confused about what a college would be will give you, but for me, it really taught me how to learn. It taught me how to be a better student.

So when I went out in the real world, which really with the real education you get, you're in a position to to absorb that in. So I go see my mother at 12, and I told her I wanted a career change. Yeah. I was laughing. She's like, 12 years old.

That's the mom I've been working, like, 3 years, working my butt off. You know, I need a change. I'm working every day after school. My Saturdays, I wanna play sports. I need more I need more freedom.

I need more flexibility. I'm like, she's just you sound like a 40 year old guy. It's like, well, hey. You know? I'm out.

I gotta I gotta be concerned with my time here. So and I was a decent student, but so I went and got this paper out and and and and I saw a piece of paper on the window in the in the paper route store. It's changed my life. It was like, whoever opens up the most accounts this month wins a box of candy bars. I'm like, I'm winning the box of candy so I'm like, I gotta win this box of candy bars.

I'm knocking on doors. Nothing. A week goes by. Nothing. Did open up an account at 29 dailies and 34 Sundays.

Nothing. Finally, I knocked in this older woman's door. I see she's got a stack of papers in it. Like, man, would you get the paper delivered? She says, absolutely not.

I'm good. I get the paper delivered in the corner store every day. I said, ma'am, it's the same price as me as the corner store. It's 8¢. She says, yeah.

But then I gotta tip you. So I go home. I said, mom, we gotta move out of this neighborhood. These people are so cheap. This is the worst neighborhood we could possibly live in.

We gotta get out of here. These people are no good. I'm trying to open up these paper routes, and get people to get it delivered. They wouldn't even give me the courtesy of getting the paper delivered because that tipped me. And my mother says, sit down.

I'm gonna tell you something once, and I'm only gonna tell you once. You gotta stop selling. That's right. You gotta stop selling. You can't expect to sell something that other people are selling the same thing.

You have to provide value. Value is what you can do for someone that they can't do for themselves. And on top of that, you gotta differentiate yourself. You gotta be a solution based businessperson, Brandon. You need to walk in a situation where you're in business and figure out how you can come up with a solution for people, not just sell them something so you can win a box of candy bars.

Solve a problem. Start selling. Stop selling and start serving and solving. Be a solution based salesperson, not a salesperson who's trying to make a number. So I go back out.

I'm not gonna. I'm so desperate. I go back. Now there are a lot of apartment buildings in in in Brooklyn, so I'm figuring I should be lighting it up. There's a 100 apartments in a building.

Imagine if I get 20, 30. I'd not have 20, 30 apartments in 5 minutes. Mhmm. I'd have to get on my bike and ride around. You know?

So I was seeing huge piles of money. But when I started thinking about the customers I was calling and and I went back, it was 11 o'clock at night to this old woman door. I knocked on it again. That's how desperate I was. So I figured maybe I could talk her into it.

I knocked on the door. I said, Sonny, is there a fire? Are you crazy? It's 11 o'clock at night. I said, ma'am, just 4 minute.

A woman such as yourself, she's probably well in her seventies at the time. If there's a rental downpour, snowstorm, heat wave, ice on the ground, woman such as yourself shouldn't be out. If I get you milk and bagels on Sunday, I'll get you milk during the week. I'll bring you a paper every morning by 7:30. This way, when the weather's bad, you don't have to worry.

You'll have that. And if you need something else, I'll get it for you. You would do that for me? I said I was concerned. Yes.

A woman such as yourself, and though you have adverse weather, you probably could use a hand picking up some things in case. You would do that. That's so nice of you. So that lady signed up. But not only did she sign up, but she was the mayor of the neighborhood.

She got every one of her friends. I went from 29 dailies and 34 Sundays to a 199 dailies and 230 Sundays. Wow. Two boxes of candy bars. So I asked you out there is, are you listening to your customers and really understanding what they need and then proposing what you have based on what they need as opposed to proposing what you have so you can make a sale?

Are you a solution based businessperson? Are you looking at your business and looking at the people you meet and being a problem solver? Because nobody's getting rid of somebody who solves their problems. And how are you differentiating yourself? What are you doing that's unique?

I'm on the beach at Coney Island. I'm trying to make money because I'm going to Syracuse. I wanted some spending money. And I'm walking up and down the beach in Coney Island in Brooklyn, which is a whole experience in itself. Some incredible people you run into, every color, every kind of sex, nationality.

This was a education in itself. Amazing. High conditions, cold soda, and that soda was heavy. You know, he carried 2 cases of soda. The conditions were light.

I'm like, man. I gotta sell this stuff. It was okay, man. I wasn't doing well. I was see.

You know something? A lot of kids on this beach. Now back in the day, Oreo cookies came in 3 sleeves and one sleeve. I go to the supermarket. I buy 3 sleeves, the big one.

I take 4 cookies. I put it in a little baggy. Hot kineshies, cold soda, and Oreo cookies. Every kid comes running and wants the Oreo cookies. The parents go over to pay.

Boom. They need a soda. Boom. They need a knish. I lit it up.

Matter of fact, the other vendor on the beach was so fast because I was lighting it up with those shots, They actually caught tried to get me removed from the beach. So, you know, you gotta differentiate. You gotta be you know, you gotta think a little bit out of the box. You gotta think about who are you selling to, what's gonna be really attractive. And sometimes it is that initial look.

If you like your condition soda, great. Soda was ice cold. I had a dry ice in there. But the cookies, you know, your kids dominate. They come over, and they want those Oreo cookies, and boom.

They were the finishes. So, you know, I can't tell you how many times the value proposition comes up in my life. Because most people, when they see a wealthy person or a celebrity, the first thing they think about is what they can get. Man, that's a rich person. Wow.

I could probably sell him insurance. Or I could sell him this. I could sell him that. Well, that's a celebrity. Maybe I can get him to do this, do that.

The first thing I think about is what can I do? What value can I provide that person to start a relationship where they actually think that I'm valuable in whatever? Know, at some point, I could work something out where it's a two way street, but what can I do for you? Not what can I sell you? What can I get from you?

And that's unfortunately the way a lot of people think. They're like, oh, that's a wealthy guy or that that's that's a woman who who has a lot of clout. What can I get from her? No. No.

No. What can you do for them? What can I get from you? Approach. Selfless approach.

It's the long game. Mhmm. And I I try to Yeah. I try to give you these examples because, you know, people talk about the long game, but it's hard. You know?

And I think with younger people, like, I was playing the long game when I was 20, which is do as much as you can for as many people as you can as often as you can and expect nothing back. Do what you can do because you can do it, not because you're keeping score, not because you want something back. And it's really hard, you know, to get in that kind of mindset, but it's you know, I always say helping people is not a burden. It's actually Yeah. An opportunity that will lead you to share joy.

And it's a great joy. I love doing favors for people, helping people. I love doing as much charity work as I can. Not because first of all, it makes me feel good, and it brings me joy. And I think that's why we're here.

I mean, that's why we're here, to help each other. Absolutely. And I like what you said, Brandon on, I I know you were on the Gary v Show years years ago or a few years back. What was that? Yeah.

Couple years ago, Gary. Yeah. Gary's always got a lot to say. Oh, a lot. I I I'm a fan of Gary too.

Well, funny is Gary takes me to a hockey game, and he said, Brandon, you cannot ask me any questions. I'm like, what? I heard about this. I have so many questions for you. And, you know, one of the things about Gary v I'll tell you, if you're a Gary v listener out there, I I cut you off for one second.

But Oh, that's a fucking yeah. Things I learned about Gary, and I I've hung with him a bunch of times, but I just cannot be the level of how good a listener he is. Really? He's incredible sponge because he's so aggressive, and his personality is so big, and it is. But when he gets into his learning mode, those ears seem to get gigantic.

So he's like, you can't ask me a question. Like, I have so many questions, Brian, I wanna ask you. I've been following you for a bunch of years, and I really wanna get an understanding how how you did what you did. And in an entire Ranger game, this man was prepared. He was firing I don't even remember the game.

It was crazy. And between the 2 of us, like, I I don't know who's more popular, but there were I I cannot believe the level of people that were coming to engage with Gary. I mean, it was just insane. Oh, yeah. I mean, it's just insane.

And and what I loved is his ability to really absorb what I was saying and his preparation for the conversation was crazy. It seemed like when he was interviewing you, he okay, so you know Gary, when he's in these interviews, he doesn't interrupt people. Right? He's always talking. Like you said, he talks, talks, talks.

But I also noticed with you, he did that, but he also was very, like I feel like he looks at you a little bit as a mentor. I don't know. I mean, you know, listen. I think when he was growing up, he definitely had a thing for the sports, and and he definitely said to me he goes, if you hadn't done what you did on the collectibles, I would have done it because he was a big card collector Yeah. Big wine collector.

I mean, he's a magnificent business person. I mean, really special. He's awesome. You know, we you know, what what what Gary really needs is and and just, unfortunately, he's just ahead of his time is he he really just needs his own half hour show because more people probably need to listen to him more often. I mean, my difference between me and Gary, and and I love a lot of his content, is he's a tell you what to do, although he's altered a little bit lately.

I'm a show you what to do. I'm more about showing you, what I did. You know, I always say, you know, don't tell people what to do. Sell them what to do. You know, it's like and who cares?

Nobody wants to be told what to do. So, you know and and I always say, you know, you gotta show people what to do. You know? You gotta and there's no better showing people what to do than it means humiliating yourself a little bit and demonstrating a problem you had and how you resolved it. I'm a lot more open book about that.

I don't mind telling if you follow me on on on social, you know, I I and my family kills me about this, but, hey. Too bad. You know, I talk about a lot of stories about me not being as good a a a father or a husband at times or just not being the good friend that I should have been. I think we all overrate ourselves. I tell people all the time, like, go to your kid and ask him to rate you on a scale of 1 to 20 how good a parent you are.

And and you you ask a kid anywhere from the age of 8 to 12, they'll give you an honest answer. Oh, yeah. Not like it. You know, dad, you're you I could give you a pretty good score, but I gotta tell you, you're on the phone a lot. You're texting a lot.

I'm gonna have to give you, like, a on a scale of 1 to 10, I have to give you, like, a 6 or 7. You got room for improvement. Oh, it's unbelievable. My kids told me that you're on the phone too much. I mean, you know, you're great, but I I'm not sure what you're talking about on the phone.

It's not that interesting. And, you know, this and and, you know, we all have our quirks, but you wanna get some honest feedback, but most of us don't. The most important aspect of our life is probably parenting. We all do what we do to be better parents, yet we don't really get good feedback on our parenting. I I talked a lot about it in my last book, Living on Purpose.

So I got great inspirational, motivational insight to being a better parent because it's so hard to get parental feedback. It's one of the best chapters in that book. And I wanted it in the Ball's book, and the editor made me take it out, the publisher. I was like, you know, something is the last book you're publishing for me because I want this in the book. But and it's funny.

In the per in the last book, Living on Purpose, people write me and I go, I can't believe you your your chapter on parenting is so spot on. Because it's really hard to find good parenting books that are easy. And most times, if your neighbor walked up to you and said, you know, you could be a little bit of a better parent. I see your kids, and they're not really you were you you that's a fight, and you gotta call the police. But we all should be looking for feedback and better insight because our kids are our biggest asset.

It's very important that we wanna do the right by them and parent them right. And it's about just giving them everything. It's about really showing them and directing them and leading them. And the better advice you can get from different sorted amount of people, you can help become the ultimate parent you wanna be. So Yeah.

That's And, I mean, look at look at how look how your mom made you. She raised you. Right? I mean, you you you should go back have balls. You'll that's the that's the one last night.

I tell women all the time. Like, I know you don't wanna read this book, but it's not a sports book. It's really a book of a tribute to how much of an impact you can have as a mom. I tell women all the time, and I know the you have the, you know, the, me too movement and everything. But make no mistake.

There is no more important human being on the planet than a woman, and particularly a mother. There's no way a man is ever gonna do what a woman does to the dead. It's just not gonna happen. Yeah. On my best day, I'm still way, way, you know, my my wife has lapped me many times.

Like, her productivity, her level of accountability, her level of focus. They're working a bunch of idiots. Guys are just a bunch of idiots. So, you know, I'm I'm all about the one movement. Listen.

I grew up in a home where, you know, my mother was brilliant and took no crap from anybody. She certainly was not a not a typical woman back in the sixties by any stretch. And then I've grown up in a house where, you know, my wife was a as a CPA and a and a brilliant woman herself. I come home, and I tell my daughter that I'm getting honored by this woman's, association, And I wanted her to give me the award. My daughter's like, dad, I want you to refuse that award.

You don't deserve it. You haven't done enough for women. When you go and do more for women, I'll come and I'll give you the award. I want you to refuse the award. Do more for women.

I haven't seen your body of work to do enough for women. I'm like, Nicole, they asked me to take this award for 3 years. She said, well, you know, you helped the women's basketball team in Syracuse. You've done a few things. You just haven't done enough.

I'm like, who are you? Like but you know what? That that's where you get the idea of what's going on in my house. Like, I get no breathing room. 0.

Yeah. I mean, I I I like it. You know, when I was, when I was watching the interview with you and Gary, you know, Gary always talks about his his parents, you know, who came from Belarus over here, from former Soviet Union, all that stuff. And and, he always talks about, like, how his, you know, how his parents were mentors to him, and I feel like I'm like that. My parents were mentors to me.

And I was found out when I was younger, I didn't really know who my mentor was. I didn't realize the power, the the influence my parents had on me until I got older. It's crazy. Like, I didn't realize it. Now, you know, I'm I'm 33 now, and I I look, I'm just like, okay, you know, I'm still young, and I'm like, man, you know, I really appreciate every minute I spend with my mom and dad because they've really they're amazing.

They're beautiful people. I look up to them, and what they've instilled in me, that's partly of why I am who I am. And I and I like how you talk about your mother and even when you were in the Gary Vee Show, and he was talking about his parents, and, and that, that gave me a good connection. You know, I was like, I have to interview Brandon. I was reaching out to you a lot like, years ago.

I remember, I think you were you were, you were at still at Steiner, and I was it was really It's hard it's hard to leave Steiner when the name of the company is your name, which is a whole thing in itself. But, you know, at the end of that, big part of who you are is who raised you and where you were raised. I think you can't put enough emphasis of where you're raised and the impact that a neighborhood that you've been raised in can have on you, good and bad, but you gotta recognize it that it's had a big impact. You gotta recognize as early as you can that, you know, a person you're spending many, many hours, especially counting on, as in your parents, are gonna have a major impact on whether you like it or not. And as soon as you could sum that up and really take a good, honest look at it, you can approve on a couple of the things that may not been that good or put that to rest, and then you can run with the stuff that's good.

I was, my daughter my wife comes to bed 1 night, and she's like, you know, oh my god. And she's, and I'm like, what what's wrong? Do you know how hard it is to put your daughter to bed and then get her up in the morning? That's how hard could it be, honey? How hard can it be?

She's 11 years old. How tough could it be to wake our daughter up in the morning? You don't realize how hard it is, how many times I gotta go in there. Just why don't you see? I said, no problem.

I go in. I go in to call. Tomorrow morning at a quarter day, I'm gonna wake you up. At 10 minutes later, I'm gonna come give you a double check. If you brushed your teeth, gotten dressed, and you're downstairs by a quarter after 8, you're eating breakfast, ready to go to school, I'm gonna give you $5.

Great. I go at quarter 8. She's up already. I come back 10 minutes late. She's dressed, teeth brushed.

She's on her way down. I go down to 10 after 8, which is 5 minutes early. She's already eating breakfast. She's dressed as dad. I'm ready to go to school.

I say, you know, Nicole, I'm really proud of you. She said, dad, I'm glad you're proud of me. This is the easiest $5 ever made. I want that $5 now. Like, Nicole, it's the easiest $5 I ever made.

I bet your mom 10 that'll have you ready with no problem in the morning. And, you know, it's like I I tell I tell parents all the time. It's like, you know, ethical bribes, everything's negotiable, and and you gotta have fun parenting. Yeah. Like, you gotta have fun parenting.

Like, you know, you not everything has to be cookie cutter, but routine, and there are certain things that, you know, you wanna create in your household and create security and stability for your kids. But you gotta have some fun too. Easy as $5 I ever made. So, you know, parenting is is is probably the hardest job you're gonna have, and I always recommend to anyone listening, I'm certainly no expert at it, to to really, really get on YouTube and and read some books and and really take a step outside yourself and take a look and take a real look while you still can about how good a parent you think you are versus what you really are. Because in the end, when you're talking about getting judged, you're not getting judged as much by how big your house is, how many cars are the boats as as much as whether your, you know, your wife and your family.

I mean, you you go at the end of the day, a lot of people will be disappearing. You're gonna be in a much smaller house because you can't get up the damn stairs, but, you know, your kids and your you know, that that religious relationship could be everything. Yeah. It's good advice because I I'm not a parent yet, but, I'm actually engaged. So we we do definitely wanna have children.

So thank you. Appreciate it. Yeah. I got a I got a good woman. I'm blessed for sure.

But, you know, you know, Brandon, I I wanna talk about your you know, you know, how you got how you started Steiner. I've it's so cool how you talk about, I was when I see your content, I always think I I always hear this about your the dirt, the dirt you've collected and been able to sell. It's got, like, the biggest margins, but I know there's a lot more that goes into that story. How did Steiner really come about? You were always a sports fanatic, right, versus your I mean, I was a big sports fan.

Baseball. I I wasn't a great athlete. I mean, I always hung in. I played hard, so the kids would always choose me and my friends. So friendly with them.

They remind me about how good an athlete that I wasn't. And, also, I grew up in a neighborhood with, you know, a lot of its, you know, really good athletic Italian kids, and, you know, they were good. I mean, I I was mediocre. But, you know, the sports thing came by accident. Frankly, it was it was just a a little bit of luck, frankly.

I mean, I I when I started Steiner, I was booking athletes and really doing more sports and PR and and, you know, some consultant for some sports restaurants. You know, by the way, if you watch my TED Talk, the Syracuse 1 in about the dirt I did. I love that. That was one of my favorite talks. Talk.

Yeah. But at the end of the day, like, when I started Steiner, the real reality was is I was booking a lot of appearances. I think I was booking a Roger Staubach appearance in Dallas. I'd flown to Dallas, took Roger the appearance, and, you know, I think it was $10. I made, like, a 1,000 or $1500.

I'm like, I don't know. A lot of work. You know? I mean, I don't know how this is gonna be scalable, because I think it's important to come up with a good idea. It's important to come up with the execution of strategy, that, you know, you can execute the strategy.

But is it scalable? You know, is your idea really scalable? And I'm and I'm doing a lot of appearances, and I'm not making a lot of money. And I'm starting to wonder if this is scalable. And then the guy comes down with a bunch of shopping bags with a bunch of, like, bootleg stuff for Roger to sign.

You know, the wrong footballs, like, these helmets that were just I don't know what they were. They were replica helmets. They were terrible. And I'm like, dude, like, why don't you let me get that stuff here? I get go to Wilson.

I'll get you a real football. I'll get you Rydell a real helmet, and I got this ability to get you these really nice photos. He's like, great. So I said, listen. If I get these things done the right way, you can give them out to your clients.

Maybe bring one home for your kids, have them for some other customers so people can make it. And he's like, you know something? Yeah. Go pick that up for me. He goes, you know something?

If you can get that stuff, just charge me whatever you want. That stuff will go a long way. So here I am. I'm, like, looking Roger's stomach for $10 and make, like, $1500. And I go order that stuff.

It's, like, $5,000 and it cost me 25100, which is the reason why I was just charging them the the the normal rate to buy the stuff, which he would have to pay. I just picked it up wholesale. I was thinking every time I do an appearance, if I can go pick up another few $1,000, and I'm making the customer up solving a problem for him, he doesn't have to worry about it. Picking up all these stores, trying to find the right stuff, get it signed right. So when I really, the way I got in the collectible thing was never to think it was gonna be a brand, Never was gonna be something for fans.

I always thought it was a b to b play. I'd go to these appearances at a trade show. We'd raffle off some memorabilia, bring more people to the booth. You know, I do a promotion. We give away some stuff on the radio.

So it was always, you know, always kinda thing as an add on where I could tack another 500 or a $1,000, make another 500 or a1000. I wish I had a sexier story than that, but it was really just to solve a problem of taking care of my corporate customers and expanding my margin a little bit and delivering a service that would enable them to take advantage of the appearance and then take it to customers and friends and family. If they need a player, they have something to go bring them. But you you became so good at it, Brandon, as well. I remember that notion that you mentioned earlier about not selling, but serving instead.

That probably played a whole a huge role in in the success of Steiner. Right? Oh, there's no question. It's it's If you didn't field sales deal, you weren't trying to sell athletes like Derek Jeter. You work with him, all these the best athletes in the world.

They felt you were you were helping them about how to fix it. I don't think any of my approach you know, when I went to the Yankees, I I they definitely need Brandon Steiner. I mean, the Yankees are the ones biggest powerful brand. Mhmm. I found something they needed a little help with.

You know? And I thought I could service them because they're worried about their fans buying fake game used and fake stuff, and they wanna protect their fans, and their fans are everything to them. So instead of thinking about all the money I can make on the Yankees if I'm able to create a partnership, I was thinking how I could help them. And how I can make we save, fans all the humility and frustration of buying fake stuff by make coming up with an authentication process and assisting that would get fans closer to the game, being able to buy real stuff, and also being able to get to meet players and stuff like that. Those are things we had talked about.

We weren't ever sure at the beginning of conversation we ever gonna make money on Yankee Steiner. Wasn't even really a money concept at the beginning. It was more of a service and something we could do to kinda get things kind of on the right track. So, you know, when I see a Mariano Rivera, like, I think about a guy who, you know, is in a foreign country, doesn't really speak great English at the time. He does pretty well now, and he's an amazing amazing mentor for me, actually, as it turns out.

But at the beginning, you know, I'm trying to get him a car service. I'm trying to figure out how to get airline tickets for him and his family. Like, you know, a lot of little things. And and my wife's like, why are you doing that? I'm like, because I can and because he needs help.

I don't know if he's gonna be anything. I don't know if this guy's gonna be a player, but he's reached out. He needs some help. I'm gonna get him the Lions King tickets, you know, whatever he needs. Like, I I didn't know he was gonna be Mariano Rivera.

I just took a liking to him. He's a nice guy, and I tried to help him. And, you know, things just play out. I mean and I could tell you 10 guys that I helped out similarly back in the day that ended up I never heard from them again. So, you know, it's not all easy peasy, but you gotta think about the value you can provide, and you gotta make sure you're providing as much value for as many people as you can.

And, some things will work out, some won't, and but you're putting out good in the world, and people appreciate, when you when you're good at going out there trying to help them. They know you are doing it for the right reasons. You have good intentions. I think people can feel that. You know?

You you know, I mean, Brandon, you've been in business for so long. I mean, for me, even just still, I'm I'm learning so much from from you and so many others, you know, building my company for the last 9 years or so. And I'll tell you that I I wanna continue to be authentic and real and honest to people, because I've dealt with so many others that were dishonest. They they had other intentions behind contacting me or wanting to work with my technology company or wanting to, you know and and you can feel that, but then you can also feel and get a good sense of the ones that they're really trying to help you. They're trying to connect with you.

They're trying to provide good, and and it's I think it goes a long way. I really don't I really do believe that. I think your thoughts and intentions are huge. I I think, you know, I listen. I think, know, at the end of the year, you gotta pay taxes.

You know? You're gonna get sick once in a while. I mean, there's just some things in life. It's not a straight line, and and life's not easy. You're gonna deal with some people that are gonna take a little advantage.

You're gonna deal with some people. I don't I don't get so caught up in trying to dice and slice it all up. I know some people are gonna take advantage of me. It's kinda part of the deal. I know some people are gonna sue me even though they don't have a legal case, because they can.

And because just for the cost of the lawsuit, they know I'm probably gonna settle in some cases. Like, it's part of the way things are. Do I do I does it make me angry? Sometimes frustrating. Yeah.

But I try to limit it because that's part of the same way somebody comes to me and gives me an incredible business opportunity. There's some people that will come and try to take advantage. It's kinda part of the deal. If and if you know life is difficult, if you know that life is gonna throw you a bunch of these curves when they happen, they don't turn you upside down as much. So it's really important to bear your mindset that you're gonna get thrown those curves.

You're gonna have to pay some taxes. You may get sick. You may have to get some surgery. Somebody who's close to you may die. These are just life.

And life is difficult, and life is not always rosy easy peasy. But when you prepare yourself to understand that some of those things are part of life, you're not immune to just because you're making a lot of money or this or that to bad things happen. Sometimes they happen. But, usually, a lot of those bad things, a lot of times, will lead you to even better things. You know?

The learning experience, some of the worst things that have happened to me have been incredible. They're painful, and I'm not happy about going through them. Was just having a talk with God this morning. I was like, god. Mhmm.

Man, cannot believe what you did to me a year ago, man, with, you know, leaving Steiner and everything. He goes, well, I I was telling you to leave Steiner for 5 years. You didn't listen. So I had to smack up the side of your head. It's the only way I can get you to leave.

And I was having this, like, conversation with God this morning, which is crazy that, you know, I'm I'm, like and, you know, at the end, it's like, you'd be surprised how God does intervene, and it is important to have faith. It is important, you know, to to realize that some things are divine intervention. And sometimes being a stubborn and just not thinking clearly, sometimes somebody has to step in, smack you on the side of your head, and it's painful. But, you know, at the end, you know, we think about the great things you've accomplished usually comes off of sometimes, you know, some difficult times. Some of the worst pain.

Absolutely. I mean, I'm a man of faith as well. I mean, I I definitely believe in all of that. I think I think, things things work out in their own way, and and I think God has a reason and purpose behind it, and you just gotta have faith and persevere. I think resilience is a huge factor.

You know, you know, I I love the word perseverance. I know you've mentioned it a few times, just being resilient, never giving up, continue moving forward. I think it's part of the process. You gotta yeah. You know, and I I know a lot of, a lot of the, a lot of the younger people as well, what I've experienced is working with, with so many startups, they have this, I'm not speaking for everyone, but what I, a lot of people that I've dealt with is that they have this expectation that, hey, you know, because of social media and everything going on around us, I need to make this amount of money.

I need to be this Facebook guru or this, you know what I mean? I need to, I need to be Mark Zuckerberg or, you know, this top athlete. I need to make $1,000,000 before 30. I need to, you know, and it's almost, at least my opinion, it's almost like you're setting yourself up for failure. There's good it's good to be to want success.

That's a good thing. But But I think you've got to understand that it comes with a lot of patience, grit, perseverance, gonna come with a lot of obstacles and struggle. But if you love what you do and you feel like what you're doing is gonna make a difference, then keep doing it. And I think the success will come. That's kind of how I I have approached it.

Well, what I You know? One thing I would say is, you know, I'm I'm a big resilient guy, but I I'm not a fan of and I think you you don't wanna be into an SOS mindset, you know, which is stuck on stupid. And you gotta make sure you're clear about resilience and then just being stuck on a stupid idea that just sucks and doesn't work. Of course. So I I think it's important to realize that, you know, we say dream big, sample small, and fail quick.

It's like, if your idea is so good, you're gut I got this gut feeling, which I don't know what that even means, but and I've had those gut feelings. That's cool. Dream big. Have those big gut feelings. Great.

You know, to have your tendency of what you think is gonna happen, but sample. Because it's so real. Sample. Try it out. See what the feedback is before you go get jump into the deep end of the pool.

Stick that little toe in the water and see how the water is and how it feels. Nothing wrong with that. And I've learned to be a great sampler. It's really, really important, to be a sampler. So, you know, dream big and sample small, fail quick, and don't be stuck on stupid.

You know? Sometimes your idea just sucks. I wish that some people would have smacked the side of my head on a couple of my ideas that I was so dead set on. I've had ideas that I was like, yeah. Let's try it, and it'd be unbelievable.

And I've had ideas I was ready to bet my house on, and all they did was just sucked and didn't do anywhere near at what I thought they would be. So, you know, some of the stuff, you can be resilient and drive through. Some of your ideas just they may be really good ideas maybe at the wrong time, or people are just not ready to receive that the idea that way. I mean, it's because I've seen a lot of different ideas just come out at the wrong time, and 5 years later, boom. So, you know, there's a lot of different factors.

But if you're resilient about, you know, letting an idea go and moving on to the next one, that's that's that's a good characteristic too. Yeah. And what I mean by, like, resilient perseverance is more of the fact that not really ideation, more of the fact of when you do have something that's working, like, for you, you solved the problem in in, you know, in in the, in the world of sports with memorabilia, and you did it I feel like you did it in an authentic way. I know you probably have had other competition, competitors that were they were probably selling fake items. You guys solve you you guys were really you guys were honest.

You were authentic, and you solved the big issue. You kept fans consistent and loyal to their to their teams. You know, and and you were solving a big issue. So that was working. You received a lot of success, but you also probably went through a lot of crap too.

You were going through a lot of different struggles during that success. Yeah. No doubt. That's what I'm saying. You know what I mean?

And people, they give up. They just give up. They're like, oh, it's you know, I'm making money, but this is too damn hard. And I'm like and I tell others, I'm like, it's hard, but it's supposed to be hard. It's gonna be hard.

If it was that easy, everyone would do it. You know what I mean? You know, I I like how you talk, Brandon, with with, you know, don't think about only what you want or what you think is gonna be successful. Think about what does the market want. Does the market need it?

Does your do your customers need it? Is that actually gonna work for them? It may not. And how about the individual tolerance for risk? You know?

You gotta remember that. If you you wanna go out and do something unique and differently, then understand that you have the tolerance for risk and understand that nobody's go nobody's pitching a shout out on entrepreneurism. You know, if you think you're going 10 and o, it's just not gonna happen. So you gotta have a tolerance that the key is to win more than you lose and to come up with more good ideas than bad ideas. But if you think you're gonna pitch a shutout in entrepreneurs, then you're you're making a big mistake.

Yeah. And and some I I like this, there's this statement that you had about success. You said, what it means, you you talked about letting success get in the way of more success. What did you what do you mean by that? Do you think they they pretty much they get in their own way?

They're they're seeing a little bit good? It's you know, I think listen. I think success, and I got sometimes getting out of bed in the morning is successful. I think I I never wanna be successful. You know?

I had no interest in it. To me, I was always interested in being the best that ever was at whatever I decided to do, and I wasn't gonna tire anything less. Whatever business I got into, I wanna know who the best was at that business, and I wanna know what I was trying to beat. And I wanna make sure that I was looking for the solutions and the gaps and the white space of how I could maybe mark make my mark on an industry and make it better. I think what happens is is that and we just went through this.

We had a great day yesterday with selling the Syracuse dome. And I told my people, I was like, listen. The best time to do better is when you're doing well. Take your better and make it better. Most people, when they have some success, they wanna go out for lunch, they wanna celebrate, and then they think that because they have some success, they're ready to move to the next idea.

No. No. No. No. No.

No. No. No. That's the time when you wanna take your best and even make it better. Make it great.

Yeah. Even drive it because the greatest companies you know, nobody's talking about the Walkman. Nobody's talking about the the the phonograph, the cassette. You know, it's like, you think about Sony I mean, you think about Apple, you think about some of the best companies on the planet. They do one thing, and they just keep figuring out how to do it better, better, better, better.

They're not thinking about 50 other things. And I think a lot of us, when we get some success going, we all of a sudden think that we should jump into a whole bunch of things. If you stay in your lane now when you become extraordinary, when you become the best at whatever it is you're doing, and people know you to be the best. And, listen, I'm very humble. I'm very grateful, you know, what people say about me, which is very nice.

But that's the door when people start saying, wow. This guy is the best. This guy built this. He did that. Then you could start maybe getting some other things.

I always say your first idea is not your best idea. And most people, they come up with a good idea, and the first thing they wanna do is celebrate and move on to another idea. No. Stay on that idea. Drill down.

You don't need another building. You need to go build in the building you're in. And I've learned that the hard way myself. I've gotten spread out too thin, tried too many different things. And one of the things I'm doing with my new business here at Collectible Exchange is staying very locked in and focused about people being able to trade with each other, being able to buy directly from each other, and being able to buy directly from players.

And I'm really trying to stay focused on that and not get into the 50,000,000 different things that come by my desk every day. And I've been pretty good at my business, and I have a pretty good name, but the only way you can get to extraordinary and blow past success is by being an expert and being great at one thing. Once you're an expert and great at one thing, which takes immense amount of focus, concentration, and a high level of nonacceptance, saying, you know, I know I'm good, but I'm not accepting. I gotta be better. And it's hard.

Like, we had such a successful day, and everybody's celebrating. I'm like, no. We need to go look because there's a lot of things that we know could've been better. The highest price, the best profitable item that we had was mixed up in in in a cloud. I'm saying, yeah.

We had a great day, but if this item was a much better explained and better seen, we would add even a better day than a better day. And by the way, we forgot to launch this other product that slipped through the cracks. And, by the way, we forgot to send out a press release to one of our bigger bases that just slipped through one of my guys' hands. He just forgot to email the press release to one of our important bases that we're announcing, this new product line for UFC. You know, we're doing all the UFC collectibles.

So the best time to get past success is when you're having some success. And most people go the other direction. They wanna chill and they relax. When you're on a winning streak, that's what I'm the most nervous about when I'm coaching the teams, when business is really good. When business is bad and we're kinda struggling, everybody is focused, and they're trying to think how we could be better.

You know? You're in the locker room. You lose 3 to 2. Oh, man. What do we gotta do better?

We gotta hit better. We gotta taste better. You win 3 2. They're drinking champagne, drinking beer. So Yeah.

One run. At the end of the day, the consistency over time is what gives you credibility, and that consistency is beat yesterday. Regardless of what the score is, don't keep it. Regardless, it's about did we improve, did we get better? You hear a lot of college coaches talk about it, but it's the truth.

If you're not waking up every day trying to beat yesterday, you're probably headed in the wrong direction. Either you're Don't plateau. Green either you're green and growing or you're ripe and rotten. And and and, you know, it's like you've got to stay green. You got to stay on a on a on a track that wants to pop progress on your process.

If you're not doing that, you're going to end up working your way out of being on a path to be extraordinary. It just will never happen because to be extraordinary, you have to fight to be great, fight to be an expert, and then you gotta fight and keep fighting to keep up on top of it because there are people trying to catch you. I love it. That's really great advice. And, Brandon, I wanna, before we we have a few minutes left here, but, I want you to talk about, your work with Sonya Apids.

And this this question is honestly just more for me, But, what was it like working with all of these, I mean, like, Derek Jeters of the world and all these guys? How I mean, they they a lot of those guys seem very humble too. But what was it like working with them or or is it just a different type of people? Do they what do they like when they were working with them? The 2 most important things when you get to work with a Muhammad Ali or an Eli Manning or is, 1, there's a lot of responsibility.

If you're working with a a high level, high profile athlete, you don't wanna screw up. There's only one of them. So, yeah, it's fun. You get to meet these different guys, but you gotta realize that there's a lot of accountability and responsibility, and you gotta make sure you deliver. Or it's not about getting that athlete.

It's about keeping that athlete. I always say that it's not about getting married. It's about staying married. I told this guy who's working on my gym. I was like, not about getting the NBA, but staying in the NBA.

Oh, it must be great being in the NBA. No. The accountability and responsibility to play on that level and stay on that level is immense. So when I'm with these athletes, yeah, it's it's a pop. It's a joy to meet them.

But for me, the most important thing is, like, how can I not only get this relationship going, but how am I gonna keep it? So now I have a 20 year relationship with Manning, 25 year relationship with Jeter or Mariano. Like, you know, those are like, that's really the telltale sign that I was able to build something with them, make not only a lot of money, but make a difference. So and the other thing is when you're with anyone, and I said this to anyone listening, anytime you're with anyone that's extraordinary at anything, whether it's just the the janitorial person in your school that there's never been a school cleaner or this the the waiter or server that, you know, the best way to ever add, anybody who's extraordinary that really cares enough to be the best at what they do, you can't pay enough attention to and learn from them. So, really, a big part of me being with a lot of those athletes is, like, what I could learn from them because they didn't just become that great and become these kind of players and celebrities and athletes just because of some guy given talent and luck.

There's a work ethic. There's a mindset. There's a strategy. There's a lot of stuff to learn and pull from, and I was definitely a collector of that motivation and inspiration. I didn't get so caught up in the hype of it, most of it.

There are times you get a little caught up, but generally speaking, I I knew the important thing was is to really get these nuggets from them about how the hell did they get there. Mhmm. And you still stay in touch with a lot of them? I try. I mean, I'm, you know, I'm I'm I'm working with a lot of them, and and I'm trying to work with the players that I enjoy working with that I know I'm gonna have fun with.

I'm getting a little older, so, you know, chasing down young athletes that don't really get it. You know? Listen. I I had this guy come to my house. I have a basketball court at my house and into a court.

He need to use the court. And I said to myself, listen. Your marketing is horrible. Do you not think this divine intervention, you find yourself here in the middle of a a a virus, that you're now with a pretty good marketing guy, and you play for a New York team. And he didn't get it.

You know? It's fine. I mean, you know, you know, I I used to take offense to that, but I'm like I said to him, I said, you don't think it's divine intervention? I mean, you don't think that you were brought here for me to show you how you can actually monetize your off the field marketing, and how you can maybe do something way above and beyond just playing basketball? He just wasn't ready for that.

But, you know, a lot of players are, and, you know, I mentor a lot of coaches, and I mentor a lot of, kids in college, and I mentor a lot of college coaches. I enjoy that. I like the college game and work with them. So I've been I I mix it up. I I I have more than enough stuff going on on that kind of stuff.

But what's nice now, because I have a little bit of a small company, is I get to talk with a lot more of the athletes. Someone you know, the last company got really big, and I I didn't do a lot of interaction with the players, much I would like. And now I get to talk to them a lot more and give advice and and and build some stuff with them. That's cool. This how many employees does the Steiner agency have?

The most you guys had? The Steiner Agency has 3 employees and me. I'm the 4th. And then I'm at I'm at the Steiner The platform changes is, 9 employees. Okay.

So small. What about the I'm just a guy I hope the medium are kinda small. Yeah. That's fine. Was a 100, a 125, 80, you know, in that.

So, you know, it's a lot of people to worry about and manage and especially, you have different diverse groups in your company from warehouse people to accounting people to, you know, that kind of stuff. The it's I didn't realize you know, you don't realize the the wear and tear and the work that's involved, especially if you care about what you're doing. And I enjoyed it. I always wanted to manage. I always wanted to own a company or several and manage people.

That's what I studied for in Syracuse. So I'm very grateful for the opportunity to manage so many people, and it's also very, you know, it's a great feeling when I look at the body of work, and I see so many of my former employees doing so well. It's a nice feeling. That's cool. That's good.

Yeah. Seems like I'm a pain in the ass, boss, though. Don't get your listen. You know, I'm here, and it's great. We're having a great conversation.

I'm a pain I'm I'm not an easy guy to work for. I'm not gonna lie. I've gotten a little bit or a lot, actually, much more, have a lot more empathy, and I'm a lot more flexible, but I'm definitely a difficult boss. I mean, I'm there's no way that you wanna come work for me and think it's you're gonna be on easy street. You know, do I'll tell you to do a 100 things.

You do 99. I'll kill you over that 100th item, and I remember you didn't do it. And I'd say, listen. You're getting operated on. The doctor did a 100 things, but the one thing he forgot, he left a scalpel in your lung.

You're not gonna be happy. I'm like, you wanna be a professional, do a 100 or come clean that the last thing you're not able to do and ask for some help. So, you know, I'm a I'm a I'm a very difficult guy with one beard. I have a high expectation level for myself, and I wanna I want people to grow that are around me. I don't I don't like people around me that are paycheck players, for the most part.

Sounds good. And, Brandon, the last question I have here is that so for me, I I as I told you before, I love storytelling. I think everyone has a story. As it me, you discussed, you know, everyone has something good that they can get to the role of purpose and all of that. For you and everything that you've been through with personal life, your your career, everything, if you had to define your story in one word, I always ask everyone this, In one word, how would you define your story?

I'd define it with survival. You know? I think, you know, a big part of it is surviving and and and, you know, being generous, you know, and and realizing how you know, you gotta realize how great you have it. You have to realize how fortunate we are to have what we have. You know?

So gratitude is such an important element in remembering that, you know, that there's a lot of people that are a lot less fortunate. You know? And it's amazing, that we forget that. But survival, you know, I think my childhood would probably be survival, and, I think my adulthood would be about winning. You know?

I'm a very competitive guy. So I'd be survival as a kid because things worked soft, and it was not an easy road at the beginning, to grow up in in the house that I grew up in. A lot of different issues. I don't I didn't let it become too big of a deterrent, and then, you know, then winning. You know?

It's like, alright. Let's compete. I wanna win. So, you know, I I you know, whatever you have. You get on the basketball, call me.

I'm I wanna win. I yell at my teammates. We got we lose. I wanna win on every level. Everything I'm competing with, I wanna win.

So I think winning is, you know, I wanna win at, you know, the game of life, which is I wanna win at being a good dad. I wanna win at being a good husband. I wanna win at my health. Wanna win. Perfectly said.

And, everyone can find you. I know your website is atbrandonsteiner.com. And Yeah. To get my books, if you want any of the free books, you can go to Collectible Exchange. You know, the books are good through July 15th.

They're free. I'm a big LinkedIn guy, so, you know, you can't connect me, but just follow me. You can message me on LinkedIn. I answer them all. And then, you know, I do a lot of lives and stuff on Facebook as well.

So Cool. Well, I Brandon, I'm I mean, it's a good conversation. Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely.

It was it was great. I'm I'm really grateful to have you here again and big fan, and, I hope people will get some insight from this and inspiration, and, and definitely gonna they're gonna be learning from you. So, thank you again, Brandon. Really appreciate it, man. Thank you.

Alright, man. Thanks, everyone, for listening. Yeah. This is your host, Michael Georgio, on Tills from the pros, and until next time. Thanks, guys.

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