Welcome to the “Making of a DM.” Thoughts or dreams. Do you know the difference? Well, after this episode, you're definitely going to know the difference. Grab a pen, grab some paper, because today's episode, we're going to share with you how to decipher the difference, and it is a massive difference. So, with that said, let's get started.
Mark: What's up, everybody. It's your boy, Mark Evans DM here. I’m hanging out with my boy, Cory Gregory. We’ll get started in a second that you guys were coming on to there. You get right in there. I was thinking about you today. I was getting ready to… Can you see? [01:00.2]
Cory: Yeah, a little pump a little iron.
Mark: Got a dumbbell straight over here I'm trying to get done. Dude, you tear people up over it. I love it. That's in a good way.
Cory: It's been cool.
Mark: Yeah. So, guys… Dude, you’ve got to wait for a second because everyone's coming on alive, but what's going on, man?
Cory: Shoot, man. Just push him forward, man. I think my skill set right now is helping out a lot of people. A lot of people weren't prepared to be stuck home, not being able to go to the gym and work out, and also a source of motivation. So, honestly, man, I felt I was made for this type of stuff to be straight with you, you know what I mean?
Mark: Okay.
Cory: I mean… So, I just kind of settled in after shaking it off for a couple of days like everyone else, you know what I'm saying? Get settled in. I was ready to go and it's been actually very positive because I think I've lent some excitement that people's workouts when they thought they were hard up.
Mark: Yeah, man, I'm in the same thing, man. I really love what's going on as weird as that sounds. But we're gritty guys, dude. I think that's what people forget. It's like the people that are elevating, always growing, we're gritty. That's why we're there, you know? [02:02.4]
Cory: Yeah, man, that doesn't… When I’ve got to kind of roll my sleeves up, we both come from blue-collar backgrounds and we've known each other pretty much our entire careers.
Mark: Yeah, wild.
Cory: Which is also kind of wild. It's another man I can always expect to have a nice hat on when we operate. So, yeah, look, once again, my stuff more felt on my kids. I couldn't see my kids play sports, they're things that they're dealing with. And then from a work standpoint, not being able to. I've been going to my gym. I’ve owned a gym for 20 years. I haven't been there in over a month. Now, I could still go there, but as a content producer, I've got to put myself in the same situation as everyone else, so I can produce quality content to help enrich what they're up against, too, so I chose not to go. I haven’t been to the gym since the day they said you can't go.
Mark: It's wild, man. It’s wild.
Cory: I know, it’s weird.
Mark: It is weird, I mean, because you're a diehard. I think, guys, before we get started, what's up Shane, Tim, Nick and all you guys. I'm here with my boy, Cory Gregory. He's in Ohio, met him in Columbus. It's 20 plus years. It's been a minute. [03:03.2]
Cory: We met through a barter network. Right? I think that's what it was. Wasn’t it?
Mark: It was, yeah. BBX, right, or something like that?
Cory: BXI I think it was called.
Mark: That’s awesome, man. But as I'm sitting here with Cory, he was a trainer and a small town gym guy, started off…Cory, when you started you were a coal miner.
Cory: Yes, I was a coal miner, saved my money and moved to Columbus. I grew up about two hours away, came here with about 20 grand, started going to the local community college for one year to get my exercise specialist certificate. But within that process, six months in, I started training clients and got pushed on by management. Ended up, at 20 years old, starting my own personal training studio for less than $5,000, and actually 1,750 of it went to rent for three months. The rest was for equipment.
And, Mark, you remember people were bringing me equipment. I was doing everything I could do, including barter stuff, which is how I met Mark. I used to barter with a carpet guy and give him sessions. I bartered my freaking wedding ring for my wife back then. I mean, that was another funny story. [04:11.2]
I met a lot of people through just networking and being creative, and fast-forward, I've built a personal training business for 10 years from very humble beginnings, and then started a supplement business that did extremely well and sold in 60,000 doors in 100 countries. And then, since then, since I sold my percentage in that, I've been building more direct-to-customer smaller businesses that are doing really well. So, I've been blessed. It's been 20 years of fitness and personal development in my life, which is what I love to do.
Mark: Absolutely, man. And your company now is Max Effort Muscle.
Cory: Yeah, Max Effort Muscle is a supplement brand. We go direct to customer. And then I have CoryG Fitness, which is an online app where I help people with their workouts, and really we have members in the same areas I used to sell across the world. We have members in 100 countries and helping people, especially with this pandemic, being able to have quality workouts at their house, which is some dumbbells or bands or whatever they’ve got. [05:05.2]
Mark: Absolutely. Guys, if you're not following Cory, you’ve got to. He’s out in the backyard, doing it up. I wouldn't expect anything less. That’s what's awesome about it. It's normal. I think that's the thing. It’s norm. It's like we adapt and I think that's what people have to understand. Successful people are constantly adapting and evolving. That's taking it all the way.
Cory: Here's one thing me and John talked about. We have a podcast called Business & Biceps, me and my partner, John Faso, and we talked about there's an element of limbo in entrepreneurship that you're just used to, right? It's like you almost get comfortable or it's naturally how you operate. You're just always pushing, and taking chances and really calculated risk and things, and we've been doing this for 20 years.
So, there's an element of that for the whole world right now and I think that's why there are so many people struggling that this is how we in a way kind of operate anyway. It's more faith-based and work. And not that people aren't working hard, but when they can't work or they don't know when they can go back to work, you know what I'm saying? We don't know how long certain ventures are going to last. If they're going to work, you know what I mean? If certain books are going to sell. I know you just launched a new book. [06:13.0]
So, it's like there are all those elements of limbo that we're kind of used to and I think that adaption in limbo is maybe why I don't feel is kind of crazy during this time as maybe some others do.
Mark: Yeah, I mean, you're right. It's like the abnormal situation is our normal life. You're right.
Cory: I agree.
Mark: We wake up. We don't know where our money is coming from today.
Cory: No.
Mark: We know we're going to bust our ass and do work, and get with people and push forward, and shoot this video. We don't know what happened from it. One person could show up or a million. We just never know and I think that's kind of our constant state of being…we're not reactive. We're very plodding. We're just pushing and pushing and pushing. And I think it's very interesting, yeah, I never thought of it that way because it does change the game.
Cory: Yeah, because there's so much unknown, right? And one of the things we're used to is the unknown, because we have the belief with the actions that things are going to happen at least towards the direction we're after, and we adapt along the way. [07:09.3]
So, that's really what this is worldwide right now and I think that's why it weeds out, I think, real and true entrepreneurs to the fake action we had going on out here for the IG world forever. And I don't know, I think this is an interesting thing we'll talk about obviously for the rest of our lives, and how we operated through it as businessmen and as entrepreneurs.
Mark: A hundred percent, man. I think I always talked about this. Kind of what we're talking about is the “me” economy. You and I, as business owners, we're always focused on me and you, a lot ourselves. If it can't help, if we can't grow and push and all that, it sounds selfish from the outside end, but the reality is if you and I aren't growing and developing, like you do lunch and learn pushing yourself, you're expanding. Some people say, Oh, you could spend time with your family. Oh, you could do this or that. Dude, I’ve got to take care of myself. If I don't succeed, no one else succeeds around me. That's how it works. [08:02.0]
Cory: There's a period of time that I've understood about myself for a long time that I need that development of a couple hours each morning, and as I get older, it actually gets even more severe, to be honest with you. I'm not driving to the gym, but it's normally 35 minutes, so I begin development there and development back. That's an hour and 10 minutes. My lunges, which are 20 or 30 minutes, that's another 20, 30 minutes of development. I'm getting an hour and a half there, plus some additional time throughout the day.
So, I'm studying two hours a day, not to mention working out during some of that time and not some of that time. But if I get an hour and a half, two hours of workout, hour and a half, two hours of study, that's what my normal routine is. I get up at 3:00 AM because I'm trying to fit that in with the family, too, so it's a crazy balance, but I think that's what keeps me sharp along the way and allows me to provide a lot of value for the people that are my businesses, which is what I do.
Mark: Absolutely, man. Everyone, Cory, I do the 4:44 thing, waking and all that. [09:01.6]
Cory: Yup.
Mark: G is up way earlier. G is up at three o'clock-ish. You're getting up maybe a half hour later right now with everything going on. Are you still…?
Cory: Yeah, no, because I don't have the drive time, so I'm like, Look, for this month or two months, whatever this situation is, I'll grab an extra half hour, you know what I'm saying? Hour and even sometimes even up to an hour, as long as I'm rockin’ and rollin’ between 4:00 and 5:00 during this time. The days are so long; I think we can all say that. So, it's like there there's plenty of time, because I think I'm not taking kids to practices, I'm not going and doing things at school with them, so the time that's elapsed I feel I grab an extra half hour or more and ain't gonna hurt nuttin’ right now.
Mark: Yeah, it’s time, what we're all chasing more of. We all want more time.
Cory: And we’ve got it right now.
Mark: Got it, man. And there are some people who are like, Oh shit, I don't know what to do with all this time. From me, in specific, I get in trouble, man. If I’ve got too much time on my hands and I'm not building something, I get in trouble and start getting complacent. So, I want to hang out and drink with your buddies or whatever, and go to the pool and just pop open a Stelter or whatever. It’s like, dude, I'm just so focused. I'm doubling down, man. I know you are. We're doubling down. Every business guy, I know we're doubling, tripling and 10-folding down on every aspect of the business. [10:14.9]
Cory: Yeah, I know you have to. Especially, what's so funny is the in-home dumbbell workouts that I did really for people that were traveling or that were entering into some of my programs, that's the most popular stuff, and that’s what's so wild.
It's amazing how your business can shift and adapt, and if I wouldn't have shifted and adapted—this is just awareness of the business—if I would have been going to the gym that I own by myself doing the same workouts that no one has access to the equipment, why would they follow?
Instead, it's one of the workouts that I took kind of a low amount of time to in the beginning—I just kind of threw it as an added extra—becomes the most popular thing in the whole business, and then I start releasing them every week, every two weeks, because I want people to be like, Man, this dude over delivered when I was the most bored and the most unmotivated. He brought me out of that and added more value to my life. [11:07.7]
And so, that's the way I keep thinking of things. It’s like, with my skillset, how can I enrich someone else's life during a time when their brain could be going all different directions? Because when people have a lot of time away from entertaining themselves, that's when the real thoughts and the battles, and the things they haven't really handled, which a lot of us have handled because we develop ourselves all the time, that shit is real right now, man. I think it's interesting because the entertainment level, even though we still have the internet and our phones, it’s still at a low level because you can't interact with nobody.
Mark: Yeah. G, could you imagine us dealing with this with zero internet?
Cory: Ugh, in my trailer, bro, I’d be so bored.
Mark: We would all be in trouble. We’d all be in trouble.
Cory: Ay, I would’ve been just putting some hours in on them sand weights, boy.
Mark: Guys, you guys have got to check out CoryGFitness.com. G, that's like the best deal in the century. It’s like a hundred bucks a year. That's like a joke and I was telling, “Dude, you need to charge more. This ain’t got it.” [12:06.5]
Cory: Yeah, 8.99 was priced because my crowd originally, and now I've been on Barstool a couple of different times and some other things, I have some younger crowd, but I priced it so everyone could afford it, Mark. So, I had a lot of college kids that followed me early. I have a lot of young professionals building stuff, and I was like, You know what? 8.99 is something everyone pretty much can afford. I know I'm doing an unbelievable value for that, that I'm going to continue to over deliver.
Once again, I've even doubled down on that, creating them more content. I challenge myself to write one quality article a day for the whole year. I’ve easily done, I'm actually probably about 12 or 13 days ahead still for the year. We put a video. There's 1,600 videos on that site. I mean, it's actually my life's work of 20 years that loaded up, and since 2015, when I actually started the website, I put stuff up there every day. And it's not just some little bullshit curls. I'm putting thought-provoking, I believe, life-changing type stuff. People come to me because they want abs, but I'm trying to teach them a whole better way of operation, Mark. [13:14.6]
Mark: No, I mean, that's what it's about I think, too. If people don't know you and follow you, you're always working towards a goal, too, right?
Cory: Yeah.
Mark: You're trying to--
Cory: Get on the calendar.
Mark: Yeah, get it on the calendar, set up 90 days, 30, whatever it is, trying to jump higher, trying to dunk. I'm trying to do this. I'm trying to run faster. I’m trying to lunge.
Cory: Yeah.
Mark: Whatever it is, I mean, it truly is. I think you’ve got to gamify it to keep you intrigued and keep you pushing forward, and have it show progress. Someday, dude, as you know, we all have bad days. We all do. And if you have that target, you know that like, Hey, I gotta wake up tomorrow and hit it again, you're going to have a bad year, a bad century.
Cory: People don't have a level of commitment to themselves. That's what I started to realize. Because obviously I'm a professional at it, so I'm going to do bodybuilding shows, powerlifting meets or set dates to do certain things. [14:03.6]
I've done that since I was 17. Literally, I've had multiple dates on the calendar every year since I'd competed in my first powerlifting meet when I was 17 and I've just followed, and then the content follows and the motivation follows, and the push follows. What I started to realize is that no matter what, entrepreneurial kind of crazy self-talk commitment isn't real normal for a lot of people.
So, I was like, How can I start to get these things that can gamify, whether it's lunch and learn, whether it's…? One, I'm getting them to commit to something that's difficult every day when they have bad days, and I'm getting them to commit to something that's quality listening material that will hopefully sharpen up their craft or them as a person, or whatever they need to work on.
And when you get them to commit to a mind and body thing, man, a lot of things start becoming real clear. Especially when you get that endomorphic release at the end of any type of training, you get a moment of clarity when you're coming back from them lunches or your morning walk or whatever it is. You're like, All right, and then that confidence starts to build. And then, you start to say, Well, motherfucker, why can't I do that? Why can't I? Why can't I go write a book? Why can't I start a business? [15:13.4]
And so, I really think that's kind of the path I lead people down, man. I'm real passionate about it. I couldn't stop it if I tried, Mark, to be honest with you. I think you know that. You’ve known me long enough.
Mark: Dude, the only way we're stopping is when we're dead.
Cory: Yeah.
Mark: And the truth is we actually ain’t going to stop even then because we're creating content so deep, it's going to keep living.
Cory: That, and that is the plan. I had a friend. I was on a podcast called Barbell Shrugged a really long time ago and it's a really big fitness podcast, and the guy on that cast, he passed away six months later and this was in, man, probably, I don't know, 2010 or ’11. And I remember him having young kids, man, and he had 250 episodes of that show on video and on audio, and I'm thinking, This is how his kids are going to know him, bro. And I started taking podcasts and content real serious after that because I'm going to leave a library of information that could teach my grandkids or their friends or whatever. [16:05.6]
And I’ve just always made up this thing in my head where I'm going to be like, Grandpa is the G. He set it up for us. Not necessarily from a financial standpoint, but financial IQ, motivation, understanding they can do whatever they want. Because when I was up in that trailer, man, talking about being an exercise guy, there was no one that knew anybody that did that. There was no internet web search you could do. That shit didn’t exist, Mark.
Mark: I know, man. I love it. I think what's cool about it, too, and I think the biggest thing is what's awesome about what you're talking about is documenting. We're not trying to sit back and write the best podcast show ever. We're just trying to document our conversation experience, and like you said, that gets handed off. All of that takes a lot of stress away, too, because it’s not to create; you're just documenting. We're just talking.
Cory: Yeah.
Mark: We would talk normally anyways.
Cory: No, dude, we had these conversations back in my personal training studio when we were 22, 23 years old. The other thing is that I'm just understanding that I'm uncovering things constantly, right? We're always studying. We're always finding new ways to do things in that part of my experiences can help people maybe get to a point faster, understand things better. [17:12.7]
Me and my mom talking about it. This is the craziest thing. She's calling me talking about it. Ay, have you been paying attention to the Nokia stock? They’re about to get bought out I think. I'm like, What? You don't understand, we never heard in that trailer margin, stocks, capital gains. We never talked about dividends. I never heard any of these terms. I had in one day, Mark, and this is what I love about what I kind of embarked on, which was to change generations both ways, and I know you've done the same.
When the generation above you has had different life experiences, more definitely financial security and then their IQ on top of that, the things that they're spitting at you about dividends, I'm like, Oh shit. [18:00.7]
And then, on the downside or the generation below me, my kids, I'm giving them stock for Christmas and then teaching them. They're like, Dad, how much is it? I saw Amazon has done good. I was looking on my app on my phone. I'm like, Yeah, we bought Amazon at 1,337. Today it's $2,400. You'll probably be able to buy your car when you're 16 with that if you want or leave it in there until you're 50, you know what I'm saying? Those type of talks. Or my kid asked me what my margin was on my tee-shirt in Max Effort. That right there because--
Mark: Bro, I think I’m going to cry and you're like, Yes, that's fine.
Cory: I was like, When you're fucking poor, no one's teaching you this stuff. Someone has to be the guy or the gal that says it's me. And now I'm going to then teach these wealth principles, how much I know them, and that right there is really a super passion of mine, man. It's cool.
Mark: Dude, if we don't do it, I really think this and I'm not talking bad about anybody in my family, if I don't do it, who's going to do it for them?
Cory: No, that's the fucking truth.
Mark: Talking the truth. We know it's real. We know we can do it. We have like, If we don't do it, then who does? I think it's our responsibility once you identify it. [19:07.3]
Cory: Once you identify it and once you know you're willing to do what it takes, I think I was able to make my mind up to know like, All right, we grow up watching these amazing sports stars, Jordan, Kobe, Tiger, all these guys that have this all-in winning mentality, and you start to think like, If I can apply these, plus this work ethic I'm learning from the coal mine and a passion that I love, and it helps people on top of it, it’s like if I go with such a passionate amount of work that I'm willing to sacrifice and do, and put in and believe in calculated risk, some amazing things. I don't know, I think I was just ready to say all chips in until it works. And until you do that, I don't know that it will work at the level that you really want it to.
Mark: And that's the thing. G, you know this. There's levels of levels. [20:00.3]
Cory: Yeah, that’s for sure.
Mark: And I think what we're chasing now that we're past the money thing. We still want more money, by the way. I'm not knocking the money part.
Cory: Of course.
Mark: We want more. But once you get to a certain level, it becomes where you're like, Oh my God, if I can do that, I can imagine what I could do if I get here. What if I got here, here, here? You realize how much we're capable of.
Cory: It's wild because one thing I fought through a lot, I watched this guy named T. Harv Eker speak a long time ago. You know who he is, right? Of course, you do. And he talked about this internal blueprint that everyone has from just the way you grow up, and some people never escape it, right, that you almost have to rewrite it. That was a ceiling for me for a little while in my career and I'm in these positions with these you high-level people in all these numbers, and I'm thinking, Man, am I really supposed to be here? What's the…? I think I had to get past that belief that, yeah, you are supposed to be here. You did earn this. And, yeah, you’ve got to continue to up your game the bigger the zeros get. [21:03.4]
But, yeah, man, I think that limiting belief for me was a little bit of a struggle for a period of time, but then once I broke through that and, honestly, any time around Arnold, man, Arnold has zero ceiling, so you come away from dealing with him and he's just like…you just know he has no cap on his existence and you come away thinking like, Man, I need to open up my horizons a little bit. And I think I’m a very outside-the-box big thinker, but his is even just so crazy, so having that impact on me every time I’ve seen him around a couple times a year definitely helps.
Mark: Yeah, I mean, I think it's called and I call it borrowing belief, right? You can get around Arnold and you borrow his belief, and you're like, Fuck, if he can think that big, I can only imagine. You kind of go into it and lean into it.
Cory: I like that.
Mark: And then, all of a sudden, you just pop through a ceiling and people do that around us, too, sometimes. We've done that around other people.
Cory: For sure.
Mark: But then you think about that and you're like, That guy's a dipshit. If he can do it, I can do it. [22:00.5]
Cory: No, I think I like the borrowing belief. I've never heard it said that way before, Mark, so that's a cool way. Because I know that I'm attempting to do that with my young cats that are at the gym and the 4:00 AM crew, a lot of young business entrepreneurs, and they get around me, and the ones I know that won't be haters, I'll let them in on numbers, so they can understand what's possible, or the ones that are pursuing business that I know won't turn because when they actually figure out how I really operate. I always say that if the haters really knew how I operated, they’d hate even more.
But, at the end of the day, I think one of the biggest things any buddy can do for you if you're an intern is show you a little bit under the hood, just the roles in the background. Once what's there, it's like, Wait a second, this dude's doing that, and, yeah, 20 years I get, I put all these things in my head, but, all right, this isn't as scary. It's possible.
Because when you hear, All right, this dude built multiple seven-figure businesses, that seems so scary, right? But then when you see how it operates, you're like, Wait a second, it's only a couple people really working in this business and this is the way they market and this. [23:06.0]
And so, I think that that right there, kind of understanding that is a big part of it. So, I think people can borrow that belief probably like, This dude believes in what he got going on. Why don't I believe in me? and then start to develop that. And that's a dig-deep process, though. Some people aren't ready for that.
Mark: Yeah. No, man, not only that. What I always get excited about is guys around me that I do love under the hood and they look at me and they're like, Dude, if Evans could do it, why can't I take this to nine figures? Because he's playing small. I hope they could take that. That's what we hope for our kids and everybody.
Cory: Sure.
Mark: That's what every parent's dream is. In my opinion, it’s we want our kids to always do better than us.
Cory: For sure.
Mark: I can only imagine where my kids going to be like, our kids, they hear these conversations like you're talking about like, Mark, what's an asset? What's a liability? What's an option? What's a [sound dropped]? What’s plug? Blah, blah, blah. They know these things, dude, and subconsciously this is all they hear all day.
Cory: And think about that. If that's the norm, right? The norm is Dad's talking about numbers that he's trying to reach for the month. The norm is talking about margin, talking about marketing, talking about building YouTube subscribers, talking about creating content, talking about dividends, talking about creating. [24:13.2]
All these things, it's wild, but that is the normal dialogue that has been replaced from “money don't grow on trees,” strikes in the coal mine, not being able to pay payments, going from job to job, just that mentality of really trying, doing everything in your power. I always talk about my parents. They worked really hard. It's just that they were just trying to survive, man, and that right there, I wouldn't change it because I'd never be me if I didn't witness that and experience that kind of pain of what that feels like and I just never wanted that feeling, Mark.
Mark: Dude, 100 percent.
Cory: I just never wanted it.
Mark: I get goosebumps even hearing it because I literally feel like I'm that seven-year-old boy in that room, listening to my parents fight about it. [25:00.9]
Cory: Yeah, because that's the thing. That's the thing most people fight about. It’s financial hardship. And my old man had a little bit of a lottery problem, too, which is another broke way of thinking. So, there's all those things that kind of shaped me. It's why I don't really gamble a lot because, shit, I'd rather buy stuff, man. If I'm going to spend the money, I'm supposed to get something back for it.
Mark: Absolutely.
Cory: And I'm not going to leave my stuff to chance. I mean, I'm willing to work and put in the time. I have a lot of gratitude, Mark, for what's happened to me and what I've experienced and what I can teach, and I've often asked myself like, Is it enough? When is enough? Is it a number? Is it a lifestyle?
That's really something that's been kind of interesting for me most recently and as I've actually, I would say, let off the numbers gas, meaning not even ultra-concerned with it, it opens up even more, which is interesting. Right? Because I to be analytical to some degree, but when it comes to being creative in content and putting stuff together, the stuff has just been heading my direction because of how in it I've been from that standpoint from a value, so it’s wild how that works. [26:12.3]
Mark: Yeah, I mean, sometimes there's no direct correlation to action versus revenue immediately.
Cory: Sure.
Mark: For example, your Dumbbell Shred shit. That wasn't a huge thing when you created it. Now it's ginormous. That's what's going to try maybe on another level.
Cory: It’s that. It's absolutely, because it's not like people are going to run back to the gyms tomorrow.
Mark: No, a hundred percent, if they're even open.
Cory: Yeah, and they're not currently, including mine, and people have hit me up like, Yo, I think I’m about to save on my gym membership. And this is what I knew had happened. I needed people at a certain number of level that were on the fence, I call them, to give me a chance. This gave them a reason to give me a chance, and now they're like, Yo, I'm getting a better workout in my front room with these 20-pound dumbbells than I was at the gym anyway. Why the fuck am I going back? So, this'll change the gym, home gym culture I think a lot for a while, which lends to my skillset, so I feel blessed about that to have that opportunity. [27:06.1]
Mark: Yeah, and real quick, two things, the borrow belief thing. My boy, Jonathan, is the one that introduced me to that concept, which is a huge thing.
Cory: Right, it makes so much sense.
Mark: It's powerful, right? It's a very powerful thing, because I never…I'm not that smart to think of those things on my own. I just want to be clear.
Cory: I'm stealing that, though. I like it.
Mark: And then second thing, a lot of people might hear us talk about our parents and this and that. Just to be clear, guys, we're not knocking our parents. Actually, we're grateful for our parents. I love my mom and dad. I think they've given me so many things. They still give me so much love, amazing gifts, and if I didn't have that, I would not be here. I wouldn't even be a 10th of the person I am today.
Cory: No. Dude, I’d tell my mom don't ever trip on that. When I'm telling these stories, you should never feel less than. What you should understand is that I watched you do everything in your power to keep the fucking ship floating. It's my job now to make some shit different.
Mark: Absolutely.
Cory: Don't even stress all of that. To me, that's not even a negative thing. It was a developer for myself to be this person I was meant to be. [28:09.3]
Mark: Yeah, but where I'm going with that, too, G, is, at the end of the day, a lot of people use their past as an excuse not to succeed.
Cory: Oh, we could have gone either way, Mark, both of us.
Mark: Yeah, so it's like we see it as an opportunity to develop and grow. They see it as no way that's going to happen. I can't do that. My mom and dad yelled at me or I got beat up, whatever. They're using the past as a reason why they can't move forward. You’ve got to get to a point when you're an adult and you're like enough is enough, dude, because the truth is if you use that as an excuse, they're still winning. I want to know. You’ve got to push forward and change.
Cory: That's part of that blueprint that I talked about. That's your blueprint of growing up, all the dialogue you heard, the actions you watched, but that doesn't have to be you. That was their choice. That's not your choice. And I think when people start to understand that, you can take a whole… [29:01.3]
I think people just have this hard time in the belief factor or the confidence, and I think that's where I'm trying to preach. It’s like you have to work on the confidence-building every day, whether it's body or mind. So, then when you start to see those spots or feel that vibe that you want to really go do something, then you do have that confidence. Not everyone…most people are not born with confidence. I was not born with confidence.
Mark: I was.
Cory: I started building confidence when I saw the first muscle pop out, you know what I mean? And then, when I started having a little bit of success in certain things, and it's that builds and builds and builds, and I still develop it every day because, and that's what I had a lot of people ask me like, Why are you so confident in all the things you're doing? I'm like, well, first off, I'm like a vet. I've been doing this shit 20 years, so I've been working on myself and my craft for this long, so I’d better be confident at this point. I'm like Vince Carter out here, you know what I'm saying? I’m about to be 42 years old.
So, I think, at the end of the day, I've intentionally—see, that's the word—I'm intentionally trying to build my confidence every day. In my understanding, that's why it comes off this way because it ain't fake. It's real because I worked on it. [30:10.4]
Mark: Dude, a hundred percent. I think the biggest thing about confidence is what people are trying. What you guys don’t realize, Cory and I are not looking for confidence from outside in. We're looking from the inside out. If we work on ourselves, when we say we're going to get up at 3:00, we get up at 3:00. When we say we're going to eat right, we eat right. If we work out… By the way, I’m talking about Cory because I'm not eating right, but Cory G. is. But all these things.
Again, the truth is, if anything, I have a confidence issue. I try to be overconfident myself. Ultimately, when I do step in, I know I got this. I’ve got my game on lockdown. There’s nothing that person could say to me. I'm overconfident, so when he comes at me or she comes at me, I'm like, Nope, I got this. They can't. They can't get me, you know?
So, just like you're doing, we're talking about compounding our efforts, compounding our confidence, compounding our development. It all starts with us. Everyone's seeking it. That's why they're wearing the belt. G, you and I could work, roll up in mesh shorts, torn up tee-shirt, and can go and pull up in the Rolls, smoking cigars and we don't care. [31:09.1]
Cory: I do that most of the time. I won't smoke them. I won’t smoke in mine, though. I know you're fucking crazy.
Mark: It's common. It's common. But, no, I think what people don’t understand, dude, we're not trying to impress anybody. I'm just trying to impress myself and my kids. That's it.
Cory: I look at material items quite a bit differently to a lot of people and it may be I thought about these things. When I'm in that trailer, I thought, “Man, I'll get me a Rolls and a Rollie and all these things, all the things I'm watching on MTV raps that one day that fulfills you.”
What I use material items as, one, it's good to have a goal I think for things that you're into. I grew up…my dad was a major car guy. He had all the GTOs, and a lot of the coal miners make good money, so they drove nice cars when they were at least working, and so I kind of grew up in that type of culture. Even though I was on a monkey wrench, I don't really work on stuff, but I would always hear that type of dialogue of cars and motors and things, right? But I liked more of the luxury rap star type of shit. [32:05.9]
And so, I always thought if I ever can achieve things like this, that really is two things. One, that I was able to buy a liability and not ever really think about it because I wouldn't overstretch myself to get it. Two, that it would remind me of the way I need to operate.
See, that's something different. I expect a certain level of operation of the way that I am, whether it's content creation, whether it's a schedule, whether it's the discipline, and I really shouldn't be driving that car or wearing that watch or these things that I aspired to have if I don't continue that level of expectation.
See, mine's not “Yo, I made it. I'm here. Come, look at me.” Mine's like, This is how I operate. Yeah, motherfucker, I drive this to the grocery store to get a thing of milk because that's my car now. You see what I'm saying? Everybody always trips out like, Dude, how many miles you got on that thing? Oh, I see you driving it. I didn't buy it to leave it in the fucking garage. [33:03.3]
Mark: Exactly.
Cory: You know what I'm saying? It was one of those things where, for me, it was just reconfirming that this is how I need to keep my level of discipline if I want to continue to operate and be like this, and that's what I've always wanted for myself. So, I don't know, I look at material items as rewards, but as reminders of how you should be operating at a certain level, not now you're there and let's fall off.
Mark: Yeah. I mean, dude, I'm right there with you. The truth is what people don't realize is by the time we get the cars, we could have bought that car a hundred times over.
Cory: Oh yeah.
Mark: The watch. I talk about thought-auditing. G, you do this. I know you may not call it that. But the thought of like, I want the watch. Oh shit, it cost a lot of money, but the journey to get to it, the journey. It's like you did that video. It's a story. When I look at my watch, dude, that has nothing to do with it. I don't care if you know about it. I don't care if you talk shit about it. It's my watch. It's my story. Everything, it took me so many years to get to this. You see it as a watch. I see it as a timepiece. I see it as an accomplishment. I see it as so much more. [34:09.0]
Cory: I see it as my grandkid will probably wear it one day.
Mark: Exactly, yeah.
Cory: Hopefully, they don't pawn it, you know what I'm saying? But that's the way I look at it, too. I wanted to create this legacy of something great. In my story in my head of wealth-building, that was my kids end up with precedentials from their old man one day that maybe then their kids end up with precedentials from their old man one day, and that that is their expectation now. It's a material item they didn't work for, but I want it to represent hard work for our family, that somebody that changed things.
And so, will it motivate them at a level? I don't know, but I hope with the amount of content and dialogue and stories I've been telling that they'll understand what it means, because there'll be someday that may be my grandkid will get this watch right here and be able to watch that video that you just spoke about and be like, All right, he had a purpose for all this stuff, you know what I mean? [35:09.7]
Mark: Yeah, aspire that they could buy it because Grandpa could buy it. He bought it and he has, like you said, a purpose behind it and he could put a story to the whole product. He could wear it proudly knowing that he's supporting your vision and then now he's giving it. It's small. It’s so deep. And I think like the cars, the truth is when I bought the car, I'm like, Oh, okay, cool, what's next? It's not like, Oh, I’ve got to get another goal. I’ve got to get a bigger goal. I gotta. I gotta focus. You’ve got to step your game up, you know?
Cory: Yeah, there was one thing. I was talking to somebody about stuff like this one time and they pulled it all the way down there like, It’s just a car, just to watch. It's just whatever, and agreed. It feels like that after a while. I think that people think it's going to do something for you more than it does, but that's because they never reached it.
So, I understand that it's, Oh, it's easy for you guys to say it because you’ve got these things, right? But you really uncover you along the process to those things and things or the way the biggest thing I've aspired to is the way that my life operates. It has nothing to do with the material items in it. It's the freedom. [36:11.1]
That's the actual thing that everyone's searching for, and then, hopefully, that generational change that we're pushing for. The stuff that comes along with it is just luxury items to remind you, Hey, I didn't have this once. I do now, but if I want to fucking keep it, I’d better keep my shit together.
Mark: It just shows you what we're capable of. Again, it's like, Okay, I’ve got this watch now. Once you discover a watch and you pay 20 Gs for a watch, you're like, there's watches that go for 2 million.
Cory: Oh yeah, there’s levels.
Mark: It’s endless. It’s literally endless, but it's all imagination expansion. And just because of my watch doesn't mean I have to take away from something.
Actually, what I think people don't realize because I've been approached when I'm in the Rolls and they're like, Yo, you know how many families you could feed with that and blah, blah, blah. I’m like, What are you talking about? I’ve fed a lot of families. There's a lot of people working at the Rolls Royce store and community and all that. [37:00.8]
And then they’re getting a brand new Toyota Corolla and I'm thinking, Dude, if you're worried about that, why aren’t you riding a bike? Why aren't you walking everywhere? It’s a game you can't play because you're assuming I buy a $300,000 car and it takes away from everything else I'm doing. I think and I believe this because I've experienced it, when I buy it, it actually grows everything I'm doing.
Cory: Yeah, there’s a level of prosperity beliefs that just a lot of people ain't hip to, Mark.
Mark: Abundance.
Cory: Abundance, yeah. I try to kind of stay out of those talks, man, as much as possible, but you are asking for them when you're riding around like that. But my thing is I always like to tell the motherfuckers right out the gate, Yo, no one gave me this, so you know what I mean? I don't feel bad for taking risks and being so stressed. My fucking head would hurt for a week straight and almost losing everything multiple times, and having to stand back up after major things happen. No, man, I don't feel bad.
One of my friends told me a long time ago, “Never feel bad for making money, G.” Don't ever feel bad for making money, especially if you aspired for this. You put in the skills. You put in the time. you know luck ain't really a thing. That's when the preparation meets that. Why feel bad? [38:15.9]
Mark: Yeah, dude, I don't feel bad at all either. I'm the same way, man. I've never apologized about getting wealthy and I'm getting wealthier. I want to be so stupid rich, wealthy, you know what I mean?
Cory: Yeah.
Mark: Not due to the money, but for what I could do and what I could do with it and blah, blah, everything else.
Cory: Oh yeah, there's nothing like… There's been some local families that I couldn't even get a tax deduction from because I gave families where parents got in a car wreck and one of them got cancer and they can't pay their mortgage for three months or something. I've had social workers come to me enraged that know us, and I've helped a lot of families out that I'll never meet. Bro, I’ve bought Christmases for their whole families and stuff like that, but that really doesn't have anything to do with it, right? But when you have the ability to do those things, it feels amazing and you want to do those things. [39:09.2]
So, yeah, I always believe that if I had more wealth, I would so even more people right. But I also am like I'm not content because I'm always pushing but also I'm in areas that I dreamed of but I really didn't understand what they were, you know what I mean? So, I always have this kind of conflicting kind of view on like, Man, am I just chilling and golfing? Am I good or should I keep pushing a maniac? Do I know any other way? Because then, every time I have that thought, I'm right back in the trenches, looking for new opportunities, pushing business. I think it's just my DNA.
Mark: Exactly. I don't think it ever gets out of us.
Cory: Yeah.
Mark: I think this is the life we've been handed and I think there's no other way, but I think we're going to be like Warren Buffett, 80-something years old, pushing every day, reading books, hopefully, lunching and learning every day. [40:01.5]
Cory: Yeah, I think that's what it is.
Mark: Yeah, I think the world has been sold this thing that, hey, retirement looks like the golf and playing. We might do that for two days and be bored with it and real quick.
Cory: I can see because even during this time, most people are working less. I would probably argue I’ve worked more.
Mark: Me too, hundred percent.
Cory: You know what I mean? And really because some businesses are closed down right now, because I own five or six businesses, some are doing really well, but my thought was, Man, I’ve got to double down on the stuff that's working, plus to make sure the other ones that can't provide as much as they had in the past that there might be some lopsided kind of numbers for a little bit.
But, yeah, I don't know, I went in a whole nother gear, gladly, too, because I really felt like the overwhelming support that was coming back like, Yo, I really need help with what I got going on. This is the only thing I've access to equipment, I just knew people really needed help and they would value somebody that was giving them something. Not giving them me and they're paying for it, but it's such an inexpensive fee for what they're getting back. [41:09.6]
Mark: Yeah, if you're not willing to spend 8.99 on yourself a month for a better life, I can't help you.
Cory: A lot of people don't. You know what I realized a long time ago, Mark? It was that the amount of people that do personal development, though, or they invest in whether it's mind or body is actually maybe increasing a little bit, but when we started in this game, it was low, bro. People didn't read about developing themselves. When I would talk about personal development, people looked at me twisted up like, What are you talking about? I'm like, Uh, self-education, and especially from a guy that never read any books in high school.
So, I don't know, it’s weird how now I think there's just so many more resources. People maybe even do it on accident sometimes, but I don't know. I think we're at a unique phase of the game because a lot of things just got weeded out with this problem and the people that were sources of inspiration during this time I think will continue to grow their businesses, and I think it was actually an interesting opportunity for guys like us. [42:09.0]
Mark: So, Cory, what are some good tips? We've got a lot of people here. Tips for business or health and wealth, like sit there. One, get over to Cory's website, CoryGFitness.com and sign up, but, I mean, tons of stuff. Anabolic fasting you're huge on, obviously.
Cory: Yeah, I think it's like having a strategy, Mark, just like we do for our business, right? People don't have a body strategy or a physical strategy at all. They’re not prepared. They don't understand it. It's just anything else. When you do a business deal that you're nervous about, it’s probably because you're uneducated about it.
So, if I go to do exactly what you do, I'm going to be super nervous about it because it ain’t what I do, right? I have a base understanding, but I don't have a real understanding of how you make each dollar, right? And you probably do for me, but you probably don't really know unless you come on roll with me, right? And so, you could smoke in my car, I guess, if you came to roll with me, but… [43:03.5]
So, it's one of those things where I think it's the same with the body. What I try to do a really good job of is teach my approach and strategy, and it's life. I like to eat wings on Friday and still drink beer. I like to do… I'm a normal dude, right, and so that just happens to be in really good shape because I figured out a better strategy.
And so, what I've really done is over videos, not just some printout, really taught that strategy so people have a better understanding of it, so when they're done dealing with me, which sometimes they never are—it's just Netflix. They keep the membership—but, at the end of the day, I'm evolving and teaching and they are continuing to grow, and then it's not so scary.
I know if I eat this at night for the next seven nights, that's not going to contribute to my goals. When you understand, and then you're choosing those things, that's wholly different than not really having an education based around it. And I really think people just don't have base education on what's actually healthy or not because they're listening to what maybe the government or TV is saying, Oh, this is healthy. This is what, and you're like, This shit is…this, that. [44:05.4]
I think that's the biggest thing. It’s being more educated about the process, which is what I do, and having a quality strategy to actually achieve the results. So, I think that's one.
I think having daily habits that you can subtract and add from that lead to success, like people ask me why I'm so dedicated to my morning routine and I'm like, Well, check this out. I've only grown. I've only grown.
My entire life, I've progressed in business, in life, in uncovering things about myself in a new environment. So, why would I then stop the process I know that does all that? I know what the yield is, so I'm going to continue to be dedicated to it. If not, I'm going to even be more dedicated, require more time, add more things, subtract. I'm constantly working that process to get it to where I know it's lights out.
I think that's why those are two main keys. It’s be more educated about those subjects, so you don't feel so weird about them, and, two, have a real good morning routine that adds value to your life. [45:08.8]
Mark: It just sets the day, man, and keeps score. I'm making it a game, man. I'm keeping score. If I get up late, I'm like, Ugh, it's not good, and I always feel behind the eight ball that day.
Cory: Ain’t that weird?
Mark: That’s what I feel. It’s like you're anxious. Even if it's 30 minutes off, you just feel like you just lost 30 minutes of your life.
Cory: I feel that, man. On the weekends I try to sleep in. I get up at 7:00 and, man, I just feel like it hits noon and I'm like, Damn, I ain't even doing anything yet. I'm normally looking at it, all right, if the afternoon is light, I'm about to chill it out a little bit or do something really fun with the kids or whatever, so I get a heavy amount of stuff done early.
But, yeah, I don't know, man, I'm super dedicated. I'm a weird kind of solo, disciplined type of cat, so I can operate. It's crazy because I look at some of the things I disliked about my father that I have traits of—I think we all do that with our parents—and my dad was a solo operator, kind of a quiet dude, really operated a lot on his own. He was a truck driver and a coal miner, so he by himself a lot. So, I require a thousand percent an amount of time with my own thoughts. [46:16.3]
Now he wasn't studying. I don't know what the hell he was doing, but this time I'm using a genetic passed-down thing that could be a negative. And sometimes I have to fight because with family and things like that, I could see the genetic patterns that I'm trying to not make happen again where you'd be trying to get your dad to do something and he's trying to be by himself. But I'm getting what I need and then I'm using it for a positive thing in the mornings to grow everything.
And so, I know that about myself, even though I'm extremely outgoing—I'm on social media all the time. I don't mind speaking on camera, all those things—but if I don't get that time in the morning, which I've used in a positive manner, then I'm a little off, man, and I just know that about myself. So, I think that awareness is huge. [47:05.6]
Mark: I'm the same way, man, thought-auditing in the morning, sitting there and journaling, thinking, growing, expanding, finding out where you're vulnerable, where the opportunities are, what your strengths are, all this stuff. The more you do this, the more aware. Again, you realize. To me, it's strength. It gives you strength, knowing your weaknesses.
Cory: No question.
Mark: Like being able to say, No, man, I suck at this. I'm good with that. Back in the day, when I was broke, man, I thought I was good at everything.
Cory: Yeah.
Mark: So, now I'm like, Yo, I suck at this. I'm good at about 2 percent of the stuff. Everything else, I'll need to outsource and hand off or hire someone.
Cory: We need help, man. I talk about that stuff all the time. I try to put people around me that are really good at the stuff I suck at because I'm not going to get exponentially better at those things. It's just what it is. I don't know why people have such a hard time telling people the things they're not good at.
Mark: Yeah, because I talk about this with Magician vs. Mule. You got in trouble if he asked for help in high school. [48:01.5]
Cory: That’s true, yeah.
Mark: It's called cheating. I would ask the girl next to me, Yo, what's the answer to C? That's cheating. I thought it was collaboration. I didn't think it was working. Now I'm actually getting praised, but I got money in the bank now but back then we’d never been taught it, man.
And at work, one of the hardest things, my company is in real estate, right? So, I'd have to go to the team and say, Hey, listen, it's okay if you fail. What have you learned from it? It's work. That's the opportunity. It's okay. How many bosses have told you it's okay to fail? Hey, it's okay to ask for help. Hey, if you need to grow here, let me hire someone to help you. Let's hire consultants. Most people, like you said, they're not doing this. They're not uplevelling. They'll spend money on a lottery ticket, but they won't spend $10 a month on what you're doing.
Cory: I think the ego gets in front of you just saying you need help. “Help” is an extremely powerful word people are scared to use. And I use it a lot, and so when I ask people for help that are, let's say, at maybe a lower position on the totem pole within the company or maybe what they think in life, they're tripped out, but I'm like, Yo, I'm not good at this, but I see you're good at it. [49:05.5]
So, I already know what I'm good at, right? And I'm trying to continue to double down on that. I think that's just a mind shift away from an ego where people will think that you've got to be great at everything, and I just knew I wasn't really that good at a lot of stuff, ay, including math.
Mark: Yeah, one plus one equals four, right?
Cory: Yeah.
Mark: But, no, I think at the end of the day, guys, using help, asking for help, it's a sign of strength to me, not weakness. Again, if you ask the wrong person, that's weak as well. They might try to talk shit to you to make you feel weak, but the truth is that's because you're talking to the wrong person. Just like you don't share your dreams with everyone because not everyone can see what you see, and they might not help you unlock it. They might actually talk down to it. And if you don't have that mental fortitude to push past that, you're actually going to get stuck in their box and their dream level. [50:00.0]
And, G, you and I, when we first met, we were talking about helicopters and all this shit. We're just pushing and thinking and talking bigger stuff. Everyone's having conversations. The question is what are you talking about? Who are you talking about it with?
Cory: I think we realized real early that we were just on a similar wavelength of aspirations and that we don't run into a lot of people like this, and that's why we're continuing, why we're still friends. You know?
Mark: That’s right.
Cory: I mean, that's it. It's been all these years and we've always kept in contact, at least often enough to understand what everybody's got going on. And I remember, Mark, you brought a Phantom actually to my office one day, probably a decade ago and you were like, Yo, G, check this out, blah, blah, blah, and I was like, Man, let me drive that bitch. I need to feel it. I had never gone out and drove it to understand what it felt like, and I needed that next level of visualization. And I remember pulling downtown in the town I live in and being like, Yeah, this is me. This is how I operate. This is what I expect. I want this to be an easy decision one day. Oh yeah, let me go and get that, go ahead and pull that off the fucking showroom. [51:06.2]
I wanted that feeling because, straight up, my parents had problems getting financing for a house that costs half as much as that car did, and that's just the fucking truth of it. And so, there's some vindication in that type of work to achieve something like that, but then, once again, that expectation of like I remember thinking to myself, Yup, this is how I'm about to operate one day.
Mark: That's awesome, man. I remember it.
Cory: You remember that?
Mark: Yeah, dude, we went to your office and everything.
Cory: Yeah, and then we drove it around. I went with the Ghost, though, because the Phantom is a little big, but you never know, I might go to that one day. But, at the end of the day, it was more about that understanding of, whether I was wearing mesh shorts or not, how I wanted to feel on a day-to-day basis and the expectation.
Mark: Again, what you see in that is it's just the operator. I'm capable of this. If I can do it, I can achieve it. This guy can and that guy, whatever. This is who I am. And, again, this could be a Prius if that's what you're into.
Cory: It doesn’t matter, yeah.
Mark: We're not judging the car. It’s just where do we want to be? Where do you operate? Levels on levels. [52:07.8]
So, G, people can see you at Max Effort. By the way, I’ve got your 100mg of CBD. I've never taken that stuff.
Cory: 1,000.
Mark: I’ve got the cream and I got the sherbet flavor.
Cory: Hell yeah, my dude, I love it. Yeah.
Mark: I decided to try it. I've never done anything like that. Good stuff.
Cory: Oh my gosh, CBD has helped so many people, Mark. What's so crazy is I've been in health and wellness and supplements for a long time. This was the first time that we had an opportunity to create something and be involved in something that helped with a lot of anxiety. I mean, I use it mostly for the anti-inflammatory properties. I take it before bed. It helps me with a deeper sleep and I'll wake up feeling good, but a lot of people use it for anxiety, and that was the first time I had had something that would help people that. And the over amount of kind of messages we got for people giving it to their family that were supplement buyers for the normal supplement line, it's been wild. [53:01.8]
And seeing, let's call it, the bodybuilder then transition into CBD because of the sleep quality, recovery quality and anti-inflammatory, it's been a really cool all the way to my mom using the cream on her foot, because she had broken her foot and had some inflammation there, and my grandma using it on her hands. It really opened up the demo, yeah, really big. It's kind of wild.
Mark: That is wild. So, did I get a good flavor? Strawberry should have I got?
Cory: Hell yeah, all the flavors taste good, man.
Mark: There’s a sour flavor. I was thinking about the sour one.
Cory: Yes, Sour Gummy is good. I don't let...so the one thing that I learned from the previous business because it was so big that things sometimes got out the door a little too quick, meaning they should have been not tested longer, but the flavor-testing longer. And so, one thing I'm not willing to do is nothing goes out the door unless it's unanimous across the board with the co-ownership of me and John saying, Yo, this is a hundred percent. We would take this. We're into it. Everything tastes good.
Now, some people might not like watermelon in general, so they might not like the watermelon flavor, but if you like a certain flavor of something just normally, you're going to love any of the flavors that we put out, I believe. [54:09.8]
Mark: I mean, you've always come out with great products, man. That's never been a thing.
Cory: No, because I'm a consumer, man. Nothing’s changed. I'm still a gym guy, consumer. I'm making stuff that I know I would take or I would want my clients to take, and that’s why.
Really, across the platforms, we have MaxEffortMuscle.com, which is the overall supplement brand. I've got John Fosco, myself and Jason Newlan have CBD Social, which is actually a retail location down on King Street in Charleston, so CBDSocial.com and we do just CBD products. So, they’ve got dog treats and all kinds of stuff down there, which is awesome, including some high-powered oils. And then, CoryGFitness.com, which is all the training and diet and motivation. And then we have the Business & Biceps podcast, which a lot of people listen in to each week. And you might not know this, Mark, but I'm pretty proud of this on iTunes charts, all time entrepreneurship number nine, all time. [55:02.8]
Mark: Wow.
Cory: So, every entrepreneurship podcast that has ever been on iTunes, Business & Biceps has ranked ninth overall, and so I'm pretty proud of that, man. There are some heavy hitters in that category, Tim Ferriss and Gary V., Barbara Corcoran, and you’ve got little old Business & Biceps right there down on the top 10. But we've been on this grind for five years, man, and we really enjoy it.
Mark: You're putting in the work, man. It's showing. It's amazing to have you here, but I didn't know your boy was from Charleston. I like Charleston.
Cory: So, he originally spent time there as a kid. He grew up in Chicago, but he lives in Charleston and loves it, yeah.
Mark: It's amazing. I used to live out there in Charleston.
Cory: It's cool. No, it's real cool. No, I’ve been there and we're right in the heart of it, man, right in King Street where it's popping. Well, not right now, but will be again.
Mark: Awesome, man. I'm excited to have you, G. I don't want to take up your time. I know you've got stuff going on. You’ve got the world to conquer. But, man, I appreciate you. Guys, check out CoryGFitness.com. What is it, CoryGFitness.com?
Cory: CoryGFitness.com. Thank you, Mark.
Mark: You’ve got Max Effort Muscle. Get the products, guys. He's always got deals going down. Follow him over at CoryG on IG and all that stuff. [56:06.1]
G, by the way, before I go, that last video you did when someone asks you about like…you went bananas on it. I loved that.
Cory: The Flamethrower?
Mark: Yeah, I loved that shit because I think people don't realize that's how we function internally.
Cory: I know and, Mark, I'll tell you this. I'm trying to do a better job because I'm a reserved kind of low key cat, except for in the weight room, right? So, I showcase. You see me come out of a 500-pound squat and I'm fucking going crazy. That’s me in my own environment, acting how I want to act, right? I'm trying to do a better job for people to understand what the real fire is in here, and I let it out every now and again, and, yeah, it always gets shared crazy and I get tons of feedback, because I want people to understand the intensity that's really in here. And even my own wife sometimes would be like, Man, that dude is kind of scary. I'm like, But that's how we got here. That’s what I don't think people really get and I'm trying to do a better job of showing that, so people understand that's really what it takes. [57:03.2]
Mark: No, I'm the same way, man. I'm kind of like, Yeah, it's cool. People see this kind of stuff, but, dude, when we're off, What the fuck? Let's go, let's go. And, by the way, we're doing that to ourselves.
Cory: No, it’s all to ourselves.
Mark: G, you remember this I think, but when I went to the thing, the gym, and I didn't have my shoes with me, you were like, What size are you? You’re your shoes off and throw them at me. Get on the fucking treadmill. I'm like, Okay, and that’s what you want, man.
Cory: Now it’s that life!
Mark: We do that to ourselves, guys. I think people think success is just super vanilla. Dude, you're working. You're pushing. You're plodding. You're going to get punched in the face. How quick can you get up? It doesn't end. But, yeah, I love that kind of fire in The Flamethrower. I was watching it. I watched it 10 times. I'm like, This is what I'm talking about. This is going to be hard. If you don't think this is what real life is like in this world, you're lying yourself. You don't know.
Cory: I'm telling you, that's exactly what it feels every day, Mark, so I'm glad you saw it.
Mark: Love it, G, man. Thank you for being here, buddy. I appreciate it. Guys, follow G. Follow Cory over at CoryG Fitness. Check him out. If you guys need anything, hit us up. Appreciate you guys. [58:04.5]
Cory: Appreciate it, homey.
Mark: Yeah.
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