hello everybody and welcome to another
YouTube hangout really excited to be
here with you guys and I have a special
guest he’s a former NFL player for the
Chicago Bears mr. Thapa Jefferson has
branched out from his NFL career to be a
serial entrepreneur when a whole bunch
of awards focusing on the senior care
market with one of his businesses
especially called amata and we’re going
to talk today about how the paranoid
survive in business tyfa welcome aboard
man thanks for having me i really
appreciate it so so for people watching
can you just give a little bit of the
back story about how you went from
athlete to entrepreneur and what that
experience was like yeah you know I was
fortunate enough to just be given the
god-given talent to play football you
know I growing up one of four boys they
grow them big in my family you know I’m
part Polynesian half african-american
and you know I was always a basketball
player but got introduced to football my
senior year in high school and I enjoyed
it i love the contact element you know
and i was able to earn a scholarship and
when i went off to college i I knew I
wanted to be an entrepreneur like my
father so he was he was an influence on
me at a very early age and so as a young
boy just kind of watching him grow his
business and seeing kind of the pitfalls
of the challenges and the successes it
rubbed off on me so after playing a
little bit of college ball I got the
chance to go to the Big Dance the NFL
which we call not for long and I love it
great you know it was great you know a
great experience for me and there are a
lot of things that I learned in being a
student-athlete you know being on time
being diligent with you were carrying a
high workload multitasking working out
and traveling so Sports has always been
good for me but after a brief cup of
coffee as I would call it in the NFL I
knew that I was
call to do something with myself with my
life I knew that there was a purpose I
knew that I wanted to do something with
meaning and I was prepared to do
something about it you know and so how
did you branch out why this of all the
businesses why senior care you know you
know again I firmly believe that in life
we have a lot of influences right
underneath our nose and you know for me
I always even to this day I take
inventory of the relationships that I
have around me the friends that I have
that the company that I keep my mother
was a caregiver so I had that aspect of
my dad being an entrepreneur than my
mother being a caregiver and you know as
a young boy I just had seniors in my
home on holidays we’d have you know
three or four elderly women sitting at
our dinner table you know carving the
turkey my mom cared for them you know
and it was a part of who she was and you
know I I wanted to grow up to be just
like my father and my mother and when I
was when I finished playing for Chicago
I uh my mother approached him one day
said son you know what are you gonna do
with yourself and I said I want to you
know go into business and she said you
may want to look into starting your own
caregiving company and that’s all she
had to say I knew from that moment I
said you know what let me investigate
this let me look into it and I I looked
at it as kind of a project I said you
know what what the heck you know what do
I have to lose and so I did some due
diligence I did some market research and
I found out that there was certainly a
void in the marketplace there was an
itch that demographic would be growing
you know as it is today 10,000 baby
boomers turning 65 each and every day in
the next couple of years it’s going to
be 15,000 going up yeah easy that’s
great yeah big number so I saw that
there was a need I had a lot of
confidence in my ability to go out there
and execute and I remember like
yesterday there was a company called
kinkos I went and made photocopy
I had a free sample of Earth lengthy
that was mailed to my house I downloaded
the free sample of earthly got on the
the internet started doing some research
on how to create a job application and I
was out the gates you know love it see
it see your mom was your biggest
cheerleader in this thing yeah she was
she was and my father was too they have
both been there and they see now that
you know we have a national footprint
across the country and we have tens of
thousands of employees that are out
there and it’s just kind of neat to see
for them to see the business kind of
grow from you know starting in there and
in one of their children’s bedrooms you
know I started this company in my moms
you know basement if you will and you
know we’ve been successful and growing
the business I love it well we see all
the awards and recognition and
everything behind you from the success
you’ve had so congratulations on that
okay and your message for entrepreneurs
the title that we have here is that the
paranoid survive so let’s talk about
that what does that mean to you what’s
the advice for entrepreneurs who are
starting up why why do we need to be
paranoid yeah you know I think there’s a
lot that we can learn from just paranoia
right um you know it’s just being
delusional if you will right having this
idea that there’s there you’re always
surrounded with fear there’s fear of
failure right there’s fear that people
don’t understand the language that
you’re speaking they don’t understand
your purpose your desires and you know
to a certain degree you got to be okay
with that I remember vividly several
people early on when I said you know I’m
an entrepreneur I’m starting my business
and they laughed you know and I didn’t
take it personal they just didn’t
understand me they didn’t understand my
call and they didn’t understand what I
needed to do in order to be successful
and I was okay with that but you know I
think with a lot of entrepreneurs there
is that the there’s that fear failure
and you know you just have to be okay
with failing I think that failing in
business
so long as you learn something from it
as a very valuable valuable tool you
know it builds character it builds grit
you know there’s a certain amount of
stick-to-itiveness that but you have to
have if you’re going to start a concept
whether you’re selling a widget or
service of products I don’t care what it
is you just have to have faith and so
you know and and you know for me it’s
like I’ve always had faith you know and
if you understand really the root of
fate what is faith it’s believing in
something that you can’t see feel or
touch right and so if you can have faith
and believe in what you need to do and
you’ve been called to do a certain thing
you just need to put the pieces in place
in order to accomplish it so you know
there’s a certain element of paranoia
that even I have to this day right you
know we have we’ve built a medium-sized
business you know and i will always
dream big but think small my business
will always be small because I want to
be gritty you know cuz I understand and
know that there are guys are out there
who’s just as hungry as I am um and I
never lose sight of that fact so I stay
up at night I worry about the things
that could potentially harm me or my
business or get in the way of our
objectives I’m always doing that SWOT
analysis in my head like what are the
threats that can potentially harm us as
a company what about what are our
weaknesses you know what are our
strengths how can we build you know on
our strengths so you always have to have
that mentality to stay on edge you know
and when when or if you get to a point
to where you’re not thinking and
behaving in that in that way um that’s
dangerous you know that’s dangerous
another what well you’re getting a lot
of great feedback in that from the live
viewers tayla saying great conversation
toughest incredibly inspiring sigh Ravi
saying wow that makes a lot of sense so
you’re you’re getting some love from the
live feedback that’s right on that topic
of you know taking a jump taking a risk
doing the betting on yourself when the
people around you say that
this is a bad idea or you shouldn’t be
doing it a lot of entrepreneurs or
wannabe entrepreneurs have that their
friends and family may not be support
over they may see them like they may see
hey you know what you’re a great
football player but you’re not
entrepreneur come on man you know you
have a business guy and for all the
people who have that stigma of maybe not
being an athlete but you’re just this
like you fit in this box and you can’t
go do that you know how do you get the
courage to break through and even though
you believe that you can make it you
still have that self-doubt like maybe
these guys are right how do you how do
you take action on that there’s a thing
as is self-doubt will kill you you know
you have to feed yourself positive
reinforcement daily it’s like eating
breakfast it’s like it’s like a food to
your soul and again my father always
taught me you are a product of your
environment when you’re having a great
time take a look around you and see who
your company is right take inventory of
your friends to know who you’re you’re
surrounding yourself with right and I do
that all the time you know if they again
they don’t understand me it’s okay you
know I’m just you know we’re just not
connecting and and maybe you know I need
to go associate with people who I want
to be more like and I think my words of
advice entrepreneurs is you know dream
big but take action but also know that
you know if I’m five foot three and I’m
dreaming to be a NBA star for the
Cleveland Cavaliers realistically that
it probably won’t happen right and it’s
okay but that doesn’t mean that I can’t
be five four three and go work in the
front office that doesn’t mean I can I
can’t be five four three and be an
athletic trainer that doesn’t mean that
I can’t be five foot three and be the
head coach of NBA team so for me it’s
like you need to take if it’s painful
enough and if you want it bad enough go
out and do something about it it comes
down to accountability and taking action
well people are Adrian’s writing in
really resonates
with the dream big but think small it’s
wedding on it going you go in a little
more detail on the execution of that
dreaming big and then thinking small
yeah absolutely you know when you dream
big and you think small when I say think
small you know you can’t have your head
in the clouds all the time thinking
small means what are the analytics
behind what I’m doing do I have the
skill sets to pull this saw is there a
need with my business my service or my
product um you know am I pricing my
services accordingly what’s my messaging
to my consumers you know who are my
consumers so you know when I say small
it’s kind of like that 6040 ratio sixty
percent of the time I’m thinking big I’m
very creative I’m wondering how can i
attack different verticals with in my
wheelhouse right but also you know we
have to measure put waypoints in place
to measure well does this work or does
this not work does this make financial
sense for us to do this or execute on
this strategy um and chances are yeah
you know things things will work out
right how many sales calls do I need to
make in order to generate a lead how
many leads do I need to generate in
order to produce a sales what are my
products and services costing me what
are my cost of goods sold so when I say
dream big things small never leave the
data off the table and you always have
to be aware that you know business is
business and if it doesn’t make sense it
it’s got to make money too right so you
know but also stay sharp you know when
you grow your company always know that
there’s someone else behind you that’s
willing to take your market space your
market share guys like me that are even
in my existing space we deal with the
likes of very large organizations um but
my whole goal is to displace every
client that I possibly
get through offering a better service
and differentiating myself in the market
space so you know I’m not really too
concerned with competition uh you know
it’s it’s it’s kind of like you know my
biggest competitors myself you know and
if I live myself in the way that I think
each and every day that hurts me you
know what one of the things I wanted to
talk about was you know having a mental
agility you know when you’re when you’re
an entrepreneur starting off your own
business you have to have what I call
mental agility it’s just the mental
toughness to push through adversity
right and what does that account for you
know are you passionate enough or is
this just a part-time thing that you
want to do is a side gig are you willing
to take the risk quit your job be
prepared to quit your job and do this
full time have you prepared yourself to
put yourself in the financial position
to then take that calculated risk right
so you know are you mentally prepared to
do what you’re about to do of being an
entrepreneur there’s a there’s a lot of
risk involved it’s a very dangerous
adventure right i think it’s an
adventure it’s wrought with risk but you
have to take calculated risks as well
because there’s nothing like going off
and start an adventure and not having
the proceeds to sustain yourself did you
do a business plan right have you a plan
for unforeseen events right that can
derail you are their internal forces or
external forces like regulation that can
come along and just wipe your business
out so you have to plan and be prepared
for stuff like that but have the mental
agility to kind of push through those
things I love it so I mean I’m a sports
fan myself my-my Toronto Blue Jays are
way off so tonight’s a big game for us
there’s been so many athletes who after
their career they go
often want to do businesses in so many
crash and burn out and you think there’s
a lot of similarities with you and that
you know they’re competitive they have
drive they know how to work hard they
hustle they work in a team like all the
great stuff that you can bring from
athletes from from being a professional
sports team but they’re crashing out and
I’m wondering what do you think has made
the difference for you well you’ve had
success where a lot of others haven’t
you know everybody’s different you know
I I try to stay positive and I’m a huge
risk taker for me it’s like high-risk
high-reward baby it’s like let’s do it
i’m a gunslinger and it’s like I’m not
afraid to fail sometimes people it’s
like a little child going up to an oven
you know they burn their hand they
understand hey mom that ovens hot right
um you know it’s for me I’m okay with
failure I really am okay with failure
because every time I fail I learn
something I stored in my memory bank and
I’m like okay well what did I learn from
that did I burn a lot of cash going down
that path what can it what information
can i gained from that experience and
how can it make me better now that
doesn’t mean that I’m gonna chase down
every new flashy you know object you’re
saying that comes my way I have to be
very selective in what I do um because
my time is so valuable you know the most
valuable thing that I would say to any
one starting a new ventures respect your
time you know my time is so valuable I
don’t want to spend my time chasing down
something that is not going to have a
good return on my investment um so you
got away those things but you know for
me you know are you willing to fail time
and time again right sometimes people
fail once they wrap it up shop pain
cleats up we’re done I’m gonna go get a
nine-to-five and punch time card um that
that’s not me that’s not who I am and
and you know another thing is I look for
people who think and breed and behave
and want to do the same type of
things those are the people that I’m
attracted to as well those are the
people that I want to seek wisdom from
those are the people that I’m even to
this day I sit down with entrepreneurs
who I’m always garnering tidbits of
information that I can use to help me
build my business what are some of those
because maudlin success and mentorship
I’m sure through the air you know
athletic career you had coaches and
players that kind of give you some
knowledge and help you become a better
player now moving into the
entrepreneurial world what are some of
the lessons that you learn from some
people on the path that really made an
impact for you you know one of the best
things that any entrepreneur can do is
pick up a book there’s a famous coach
his name is Vince Lombardi right and
Vince has just had such an impact on
sports in general the great I call them
gods of sports you know like the bill
Waltons the Woodson’s you know all of
these guys who have really really made
an impact and they’re just special
people and for him you know winning was
everything and he was kind of looked at
as a crazy psychotic coach but the
difference was is players bought into
his messaging they worked as a team and
so for me you know again it gets back to
feeding your body right what are you
feeding yourself are you you know
watching you what are you watching at
night you know what are you eating are
you training are you building muscle
your your mental muscle right um it’s
just like we need to consume you know
good foods I love cheeseburgers I’ll
have one every once in a while but now I
find myself eating kale salad right I’m
fine i find myself drinking blueberry
shakes and and what not um same thing
the same principle applies when you’re
trying to go out on your own what are
you feeding your mind and for me Vince
Lombardi has had a huge impact
on what I do how I think and the way I
operate it’s like you know every day I
get up I’m ready to run somebody down
I’m ready to chase it down number i want
to win I want to win so bad it hurts you
know and so if you are not waking up and
feeling the sense of anxiety getting
back this paranoia if you’re not feeling
a great sense of urgency you know um
anxiety angst you know you got to
question yourself you know what am i
doing what’s my purpose you know I’m in
am I happy and there’s nothing wrong
with people being happy and content with
with their situation it’s okay to be
satisfied but there’s there’s a few guys
and gals who answer the call you know
you got to answer the bell and listen to
your gut is this what I’m here to do and
so again it gets back to what advice
would have have I learned over the years
is for me winning is everything you know
you got to wake up every day ready to
eat someone’s lunch that’s what it comes
down to I love the fireman was there was
there a specific book from Vince that
you read that you like or you just auto
biography and just you can go online and
pull off different different quotes but
you know it’s just who he was his
persona he’s very stoic very quiet right
but he was a beast the man was a beast
and he was very well respected and but
again he had the know-how to execute you
know he ran that sweep like no one’s
business and other teams knew it was
coming there’s just nothing you can do
about it you know you can stack nine in
the box he didn’t care he’s running and
you know what the crowd knows it that
the teammates know it and they’re just
gonna ground and pound you know so it is
what it is I love it i mean i’m going to
look up that book i think has a ton of
great quotes I i know but i haven’t read
is out of biography people want to know
when that when the taffa jefferson book
is going to be coming out Oh
you know I I don’t know I I walk around
like a crazy man I’m spouting off quotes
all the time we can’t dropping a lot of
knowledge here people are liking it so I
we need your blood to come at some point
I’ve never thought about writing a book
but you know maybe I should it’ll be a
book of famous quotes you know and i’m
not i’m constantly making up stuff in my
head so you know I’m kind of half crazy
I like if you do your book let me know
we’ll have you back on the show with do
another facility for digging it um a
question coming in I’m wondering if he
knows any other former pro athletes he’s
influenced to go into business for
themselves after their sports career
yeah you know last year I was asked to
come and speak at Annabelle at the one
of the NFL conventions it was actually
in conjunction with the NBA and you know
as many people know sometimes as you
transition out of professional sports a
lot of players are not prepared to deal
with you know out transitioning from you
know I call it the locker room to the
boardroom you know and so they called me
and I was able to speak on that topic
and as a result we made some connections
and there are several active NFL players
I won’t mention their names but who are
considering joining you know our company
and starting our arsenic your business
um a lot of these guys you know you know
they’re living in the moment you know
and for the most part they haven’t
gotten sound advice with planning for
their future um some of them have you
know you have the Shaquille O’Neal’s you
see you know the paint manning’s of the
world who’s promoting Papa John’s right
now um but you know for the most part
some of them are blowing through their
money they’re not planning for the
future sometimes you have an injury that
happens it’s that’s unforeseen and
there’s no contingency plan put in place
but now some of the players are starting
to think in those terms I was identified
as being
one of the only you know professional
athletes to not only start my business
but then start a franchising division um
that and that’s why they called me in to
say hey what exactly are you doing why
did you do what you did and honestly it
was just a natural progression of me
just growing my brand and scaling um it
just came naturally you know it I didn’t
plan this I’ve always wanted row bigger
better stronger faster and this is just
a way for us to have a larger footprint
across the country yeah I mean you read
a lot about athletes who want to after
their career they go in they buy
franchises but not start a business and
then franchise it that’s a big
difference yeah talk about that business
model why why did you decide the
franchise instead of creating your
locations simply because it’s just pride
of ownership you know we tried we built
a very strong business model here in
Southern California that’s where our
corporate offices are and for years we
tried expanding into a different market
and we did that with employees and you
know it just it failed miserably you
know and it was kind of like you know I
touched the oven and my hand got burned
I’m like ooh okay maybe the only way I
can grow my business is by me going in
that market building the business up
putting my team in and then going into
another market and it just took a lot
longer than I had anticipated but with
the franchising model it’s it’s it’s
beautiful because what it allows us to
do is it allows us to bring someone who
is very like-minded who has similar
values we hand select the people that we
bring in and if they got fire in the
belly and they’re saying put me in coach
and they’ve planned and they’re
financially in a situation where we can
plan for contingencies we bring them in
we train them and we deploy them so for
us it’s kind of like you know we were
able to grow our business model across
the country by standardizing our our our
model you know just like McDonald’s if
you go as in China the other two years
ago doing some market research there’s a
huge problem with
seniors in China there’s essentially no
no one to care for them because of the
laws that they put in place but as I was
doing some market research I walked into
McDonald’s it was the same cheeseburger
that I have down here in San Clemente
California right so everything’s
standardized across the board so for us
you know we can bring someone in our
franchise system we can replicate that
in other markets very quickly literally
overnight so you know three years ago I
had one location i’m closing in on 85
within the next you know a month or so
so we’re able just to scale much bigger
and faster and there’s pride of
ownership the the people that are coming
in take ownership and responsibility and
they’re incentivized to grow the
business as well I love it well people
want to know about some of the quotes
that are inspiring you and if you have
other taffa isms this is we created a
new word here taffa is about it is a tie
for instance of people to live by if you
have some suggestions yeah you know
what’s funny is is I am I wrote right
quotes down all the time and I’ll share
some with you I I keep them in my in my
iphone here so I have a ton I’m just
constantly collecting quotes and maybe
that’s something I should do here’s a
quote right here by Muhammad Ali that I
took recently to think easy to think is
easy to act as difficult to act as one
thing’s is most difficult right to act
as as one thinks is most difficult you
know also another one one always has
time enough if one applies it well right
speaking to how valuable is your time
are you going to spend you know six
hours at night watching Netflix are you
going to feed yourself and stay up
because you can’t sleep because you’ve
got a fire in your belly and you need to
execute right those types of things
there’s another one in here that I like
to share with you that says your smile
is your logo your person
is your business card how you leave
others feeling after having an
experience with you is your trademark I
like it who said that one um Jay dansie
the giant dancing all right now like it
so it’s like you know in every
experience that we have you know we
leave a carbon footprint behind we leave
an impression behind we’re doing
something I’ve been called to do this
because I think that this is my ministry
helping families secure caregivers find
you know access to resources and it just
gives me such great satisfaction and
what I do and now I’m able to not only
provide jobs in my community I’m able to
provide put food on the table for our
caregivers I’m able to show business
owners how to build a
multimillion-dollar business and grow it
and leave their situation again it gets
back to you need to answer the bell
answer the call you know if you know
that you haven’t reached your potential
and you’ve got more to do in this life
you know be realistic with yourself stop
creating excuses don’t create what I
call this confusion of saying well you
know maybe I should do it maybe I
shouldn’t maybe I should look into it
you know it’s just excuses you know just
be realistic with yourself you know tell
yourself the truth you know if you’re in
a bad situation you’re in a bad
relationship you’re in a bad business
deal just have a truthful conversation
with yourself and say you know was this
is this am I in the right situation is
this healthy for me am I going to grow
versus you know you go to the break I
missing I knew that I should have broke
up with him or her you know years ago it
was just a bad relationship it’s like
why didn’t you listen yourself to
yourself you know two or three years ago
when you were going through this grind
you just wasted two or three years of
your life you know so be truthful with
yourself and answer the bell i like i
like i said this is my ministry i love
that man this is my ministry i love well
you’re getting lots of love people love
your quotes
great quotes love that quote enjoyed
those quotes now we’re getting here it
is come on time for write that book
that’s you know Tamara see no excuses
tap it on the book you get lots of love
man do you spread that message out and
expand that ministry it’s crazy how
quickly half an hour goes mana really I
want to preach at the time and the
insights what’s the best way for people
to reach out to you or learn more about
your business what you’re all about
where are they going you know you can
reach out to us at a modest senior com
just visit our website and on the right
hand side there’s a franchising tab that
you can click on also you know I love
hearing from entrepreneurs you know my
email address is tava Tafa at a modest
EU caricom no stalkers please but if you
have a questions or if there’s anything
that I can help you out with you know I
be I’d be more than happy to do so my
job is to help others and although I’m
in senior care really my purpose is to
build people up right show them how to
go after and capture and realize their
potential so so I’m in the people
development business developing people
to start an opportunity create jobs have
a secure financial future for themselves
but more importantly my job is just to
help others as others helped me you know
go out and find a mentor a connect up
with someone who you who you respect
that you can meet on a regular basis
with even if it’s a monthly cup of
coffee go out and seek them and again if
I can just give me any words of wisdom
just answer the bell be truthful with
yourself I love it may well will last
comment it will give it over to Taylor
Holland yes I pay for a book by taffa !
so leave it on that half a man thank you
so much of the time probably guys
watching thank you for tuning in go
check him out continue to believe or
whatever your one where it is and we’ll
see you soon take care
YouTube hangout really excited to be
here with you guys and I have a special
guest he’s a former NFL player for the
Chicago Bears mr. Thapa Jefferson has
branched out from his NFL career to be a
serial entrepreneur when a whole bunch
of awards focusing on the senior care
market with one of his businesses
especially called amata and we’re going
to talk today about how the paranoid
survive in business tyfa welcome aboard
man thanks for having me i really
appreciate it so so for people watching
can you just give a little bit of the
back story about how you went from
athlete to entrepreneur and what that
experience was like yeah you know I was
fortunate enough to just be given the
god-given talent to play football you
know I growing up one of four boys they
grow them big in my family you know I’m
part Polynesian half african-american
and you know I was always a basketball
player but got introduced to football my
senior year in high school and I enjoyed
it i love the contact element you know
and i was able to earn a scholarship and
when i went off to college i I knew I
wanted to be an entrepreneur like my
father so he was he was an influence on
me at a very early age and so as a young
boy just kind of watching him grow his
business and seeing kind of the pitfalls
of the challenges and the successes it
rubbed off on me so after playing a
little bit of college ball I got the
chance to go to the Big Dance the NFL
which we call not for long and I love it
great you know it was great you know a
great experience for me and there are a
lot of things that I learned in being a
student-athlete you know being on time
being diligent with you were carrying a
high workload multitasking working out
and traveling so Sports has always been
good for me but after a brief cup of
coffee as I would call it in the NFL I
knew that I was
call to do something with myself with my
life I knew that there was a purpose I
knew that I wanted to do something with
meaning and I was prepared to do
something about it you know and so how
did you branch out why this of all the
businesses why senior care you know you
know again I firmly believe that in life
we have a lot of influences right
underneath our nose and you know for me
I always even to this day I take
inventory of the relationships that I
have around me the friends that I have
that the company that I keep my mother
was a caregiver so I had that aspect of
my dad being an entrepreneur than my
mother being a caregiver and you know as
a young boy I just had seniors in my
home on holidays we’d have you know
three or four elderly women sitting at
our dinner table you know carving the
turkey my mom cared for them you know
and it was a part of who she was and you
know I I wanted to grow up to be just
like my father and my mother and when I
was when I finished playing for Chicago
I uh my mother approached him one day
said son you know what are you gonna do
with yourself and I said I want to you
know go into business and she said you
may want to look into starting your own
caregiving company and that’s all she
had to say I knew from that moment I
said you know what let me investigate
this let me look into it and I I looked
at it as kind of a project I said you
know what what the heck you know what do
I have to lose and so I did some due
diligence I did some market research and
I found out that there was certainly a
void in the marketplace there was an
itch that demographic would be growing
you know as it is today 10,000 baby
boomers turning 65 each and every day in
the next couple of years it’s going to
be 15,000 going up yeah easy that’s
great yeah big number so I saw that
there was a need I had a lot of
confidence in my ability to go out there
and execute and I remember like
yesterday there was a company called
kinkos I went and made photocopy
I had a free sample of Earth lengthy
that was mailed to my house I downloaded
the free sample of earthly got on the
the internet started doing some research
on how to create a job application and I
was out the gates you know love it see
it see your mom was your biggest
cheerleader in this thing yeah she was
she was and my father was too they have
both been there and they see now that
you know we have a national footprint
across the country and we have tens of
thousands of employees that are out
there and it’s just kind of neat to see
for them to see the business kind of
grow from you know starting in there and
in one of their children’s bedrooms you
know I started this company in my moms
you know basement if you will and you
know we’ve been successful and growing
the business I love it well we see all
the awards and recognition and
everything behind you from the success
you’ve had so congratulations on that
okay and your message for entrepreneurs
the title that we have here is that the
paranoid survive so let’s talk about
that what does that mean to you what’s
the advice for entrepreneurs who are
starting up why why do we need to be
paranoid yeah you know I think there’s a
lot that we can learn from just paranoia
right um you know it’s just being
delusional if you will right having this
idea that there’s there you’re always
surrounded with fear there’s fear of
failure right there’s fear that people
don’t understand the language that
you’re speaking they don’t understand
your purpose your desires and you know
to a certain degree you got to be okay
with that I remember vividly several
people early on when I said you know I’m
an entrepreneur I’m starting my business
and they laughed you know and I didn’t
take it personal they just didn’t
understand me they didn’t understand my
call and they didn’t understand what I
needed to do in order to be successful
and I was okay with that but you know I
think with a lot of entrepreneurs there
is that the there’s that fear failure
and you know you just have to be okay
with failing I think that failing in
business
so long as you learn something from it
as a very valuable valuable tool you
know it builds character it builds grit
you know there’s a certain amount of
stick-to-itiveness that but you have to
have if you’re going to start a concept
whether you’re selling a widget or
service of products I don’t care what it
is you just have to have faith and so
you know and and you know for me it’s
like I’ve always had faith you know and
if you understand really the root of
fate what is faith it’s believing in
something that you can’t see feel or
touch right and so if you can have faith
and believe in what you need to do and
you’ve been called to do a certain thing
you just need to put the pieces in place
in order to accomplish it so you know
there’s a certain element of paranoia
that even I have to this day right you
know we have we’ve built a medium-sized
business you know and i will always
dream big but think small my business
will always be small because I want to
be gritty you know cuz I understand and
know that there are guys are out there
who’s just as hungry as I am um and I
never lose sight of that fact so I stay
up at night I worry about the things
that could potentially harm me or my
business or get in the way of our
objectives I’m always doing that SWOT
analysis in my head like what are the
threats that can potentially harm us as
a company what about what are our
weaknesses you know what are our
strengths how can we build you know on
our strengths so you always have to have
that mentality to stay on edge you know
and when when or if you get to a point
to where you’re not thinking and
behaving in that in that way um that’s
dangerous you know that’s dangerous
another what well you’re getting a lot
of great feedback in that from the live
viewers tayla saying great conversation
toughest incredibly inspiring sigh Ravi
saying wow that makes a lot of sense so
you’re you’re getting some love from the
live feedback that’s right on that topic
of you know taking a jump taking a risk
doing the betting on yourself when the
people around you say that
this is a bad idea or you shouldn’t be
doing it a lot of entrepreneurs or
wannabe entrepreneurs have that their
friends and family may not be support
over they may see them like they may see
hey you know what you’re a great
football player but you’re not
entrepreneur come on man you know you
have a business guy and for all the
people who have that stigma of maybe not
being an athlete but you’re just this
like you fit in this box and you can’t
go do that you know how do you get the
courage to break through and even though
you believe that you can make it you
still have that self-doubt like maybe
these guys are right how do you how do
you take action on that there’s a thing
as is self-doubt will kill you you know
you have to feed yourself positive
reinforcement daily it’s like eating
breakfast it’s like it’s like a food to
your soul and again my father always
taught me you are a product of your
environment when you’re having a great
time take a look around you and see who
your company is right take inventory of
your friends to know who you’re you’re
surrounding yourself with right and I do
that all the time you know if they again
they don’t understand me it’s okay you
know I’m just you know we’re just not
connecting and and maybe you know I need
to go associate with people who I want
to be more like and I think my words of
advice entrepreneurs is you know dream
big but take action but also know that
you know if I’m five foot three and I’m
dreaming to be a NBA star for the
Cleveland Cavaliers realistically that
it probably won’t happen right and it’s
okay but that doesn’t mean that I can’t
be five four three and go work in the
front office that doesn’t mean I can I
can’t be five four three and be an
athletic trainer that doesn’t mean that
I can’t be five foot three and be the
head coach of NBA team so for me it’s
like you need to take if it’s painful
enough and if you want it bad enough go
out and do something about it it comes
down to accountability and taking action
well people are Adrian’s writing in
really resonates
with the dream big but think small it’s
wedding on it going you go in a little
more detail on the execution of that
dreaming big and then thinking small
yeah absolutely you know when you dream
big and you think small when I say think
small you know you can’t have your head
in the clouds all the time thinking
small means what are the analytics
behind what I’m doing do I have the
skill sets to pull this saw is there a
need with my business my service or my
product um you know am I pricing my
services accordingly what’s my messaging
to my consumers you know who are my
consumers so you know when I say small
it’s kind of like that 6040 ratio sixty
percent of the time I’m thinking big I’m
very creative I’m wondering how can i
attack different verticals with in my
wheelhouse right but also you know we
have to measure put waypoints in place
to measure well does this work or does
this not work does this make financial
sense for us to do this or execute on
this strategy um and chances are yeah
you know things things will work out
right how many sales calls do I need to
make in order to generate a lead how
many leads do I need to generate in
order to produce a sales what are my
products and services costing me what
are my cost of goods sold so when I say
dream big things small never leave the
data off the table and you always have
to be aware that you know business is
business and if it doesn’t make sense it
it’s got to make money too right so you
know but also stay sharp you know when
you grow your company always know that
there’s someone else behind you that’s
willing to take your market space your
market share guys like me that are even
in my existing space we deal with the
likes of very large organizations um but
my whole goal is to displace every
client that I possibly
get through offering a better service
and differentiating myself in the market
space so you know I’m not really too
concerned with competition uh you know
it’s it’s it’s kind of like you know my
biggest competitors myself you know and
if I live myself in the way that I think
each and every day that hurts me you
know what one of the things I wanted to
talk about was you know having a mental
agility you know when you’re when you’re
an entrepreneur starting off your own
business you have to have what I call
mental agility it’s just the mental
toughness to push through adversity
right and what does that account for you
know are you passionate enough or is
this just a part-time thing that you
want to do is a side gig are you willing
to take the risk quit your job be
prepared to quit your job and do this
full time have you prepared yourself to
put yourself in the financial position
to then take that calculated risk right
so you know are you mentally prepared to
do what you’re about to do of being an
entrepreneur there’s a there’s a lot of
risk involved it’s a very dangerous
adventure right i think it’s an
adventure it’s wrought with risk but you
have to take calculated risks as well
because there’s nothing like going off
and start an adventure and not having
the proceeds to sustain yourself did you
do a business plan right have you a plan
for unforeseen events right that can
derail you are their internal forces or
external forces like regulation that can
come along and just wipe your business
out so you have to plan and be prepared
for stuff like that but have the mental
agility to kind of push through those
things I love it so I mean I’m a sports
fan myself my-my Toronto Blue Jays are
way off so tonight’s a big game for us
there’s been so many athletes who after
their career they go
often want to do businesses in so many
crash and burn out and you think there’s
a lot of similarities with you and that
you know they’re competitive they have
drive they know how to work hard they
hustle they work in a team like all the
great stuff that you can bring from
athletes from from being a professional
sports team but they’re crashing out and
I’m wondering what do you think has made
the difference for you well you’ve had
success where a lot of others haven’t
you know everybody’s different you know
I I try to stay positive and I’m a huge
risk taker for me it’s like high-risk
high-reward baby it’s like let’s do it
i’m a gunslinger and it’s like I’m not
afraid to fail sometimes people it’s
like a little child going up to an oven
you know they burn their hand they
understand hey mom that ovens hot right
um you know it’s for me I’m okay with
failure I really am okay with failure
because every time I fail I learn
something I stored in my memory bank and
I’m like okay well what did I learn from
that did I burn a lot of cash going down
that path what can it what information
can i gained from that experience and
how can it make me better now that
doesn’t mean that I’m gonna chase down
every new flashy you know object you’re
saying that comes my way I have to be
very selective in what I do um because
my time is so valuable you know the most
valuable thing that I would say to any
one starting a new ventures respect your
time you know my time is so valuable I
don’t want to spend my time chasing down
something that is not going to have a
good return on my investment um so you
got away those things but you know for
me you know are you willing to fail time
and time again right sometimes people
fail once they wrap it up shop pain
cleats up we’re done I’m gonna go get a
nine-to-five and punch time card um that
that’s not me that’s not who I am and
and you know another thing is I look for
people who think and breed and behave
and want to do the same type of
things those are the people that I’m
attracted to as well those are the
people that I want to seek wisdom from
those are the people that I’m even to
this day I sit down with entrepreneurs
who I’m always garnering tidbits of
information that I can use to help me
build my business what are some of those
because maudlin success and mentorship
I’m sure through the air you know
athletic career you had coaches and
players that kind of give you some
knowledge and help you become a better
player now moving into the
entrepreneurial world what are some of
the lessons that you learn from some
people on the path that really made an
impact for you you know one of the best
things that any entrepreneur can do is
pick up a book there’s a famous coach
his name is Vince Lombardi right and
Vince has just had such an impact on
sports in general the great I call them
gods of sports you know like the bill
Waltons the Woodson’s you know all of
these guys who have really really made
an impact and they’re just special
people and for him you know winning was
everything and he was kind of looked at
as a crazy psychotic coach but the
difference was is players bought into
his messaging they worked as a team and
so for me you know again it gets back to
feeding your body right what are you
feeding yourself are you you know
watching you what are you watching at
night you know what are you eating are
you training are you building muscle
your your mental muscle right um it’s
just like we need to consume you know
good foods I love cheeseburgers I’ll
have one every once in a while but now I
find myself eating kale salad right I’m
fine i find myself drinking blueberry
shakes and and what not um same thing
the same principle applies when you’re
trying to go out on your own what are
you feeding your mind and for me Vince
Lombardi has had a huge impact
on what I do how I think and the way I
operate it’s like you know every day I
get up I’m ready to run somebody down
I’m ready to chase it down number i want
to win I want to win so bad it hurts you
know and so if you are not waking up and
feeling the sense of anxiety getting
back this paranoia if you’re not feeling
a great sense of urgency you know um
anxiety angst you know you got to
question yourself you know what am i
doing what’s my purpose you know I’m in
am I happy and there’s nothing wrong
with people being happy and content with
with their situation it’s okay to be
satisfied but there’s there’s a few guys
and gals who answer the call you know
you got to answer the bell and listen to
your gut is this what I’m here to do and
so again it gets back to what advice
would have have I learned over the years
is for me winning is everything you know
you got to wake up every day ready to
eat someone’s lunch that’s what it comes
down to I love the fireman was there was
there a specific book from Vince that
you read that you like or you just auto
biography and just you can go online and
pull off different different quotes but
you know it’s just who he was his
persona he’s very stoic very quiet right
but he was a beast the man was a beast
and he was very well respected and but
again he had the know-how to execute you
know he ran that sweep like no one’s
business and other teams knew it was
coming there’s just nothing you can do
about it you know you can stack nine in
the box he didn’t care he’s running and
you know what the crowd knows it that
the teammates know it and they’re just
gonna ground and pound you know so it is
what it is I love it i mean i’m going to
look up that book i think has a ton of
great quotes I i know but i haven’t read
is out of biography people want to know
when that when the taffa jefferson book
is going to be coming out Oh
you know I I don’t know I I walk around
like a crazy man I’m spouting off quotes
all the time we can’t dropping a lot of
knowledge here people are liking it so I
we need your blood to come at some point
I’ve never thought about writing a book
but you know maybe I should it’ll be a
book of famous quotes you know and i’m
not i’m constantly making up stuff in my
head so you know I’m kind of half crazy
I like if you do your book let me know
we’ll have you back on the show with do
another facility for digging it um a
question coming in I’m wondering if he
knows any other former pro athletes he’s
influenced to go into business for
themselves after their sports career
yeah you know last year I was asked to
come and speak at Annabelle at the one
of the NFL conventions it was actually
in conjunction with the NBA and you know
as many people know sometimes as you
transition out of professional sports a
lot of players are not prepared to deal
with you know out transitioning from you
know I call it the locker room to the
boardroom you know and so they called me
and I was able to speak on that topic
and as a result we made some connections
and there are several active NFL players
I won’t mention their names but who are
considering joining you know our company
and starting our arsenic your business
um a lot of these guys you know you know
they’re living in the moment you know
and for the most part they haven’t
gotten sound advice with planning for
their future um some of them have you
know you have the Shaquille O’Neal’s you
see you know the paint manning’s of the
world who’s promoting Papa John’s right
now um but you know for the most part
some of them are blowing through their
money they’re not planning for the
future sometimes you have an injury that
happens it’s that’s unforeseen and
there’s no contingency plan put in place
but now some of the players are starting
to think in those terms I was identified
as being
one of the only you know professional
athletes to not only start my business
but then start a franchising division um
that and that’s why they called me in to
say hey what exactly are you doing why
did you do what you did and honestly it
was just a natural progression of me
just growing my brand and scaling um it
just came naturally you know it I didn’t
plan this I’ve always wanted row bigger
better stronger faster and this is just
a way for us to have a larger footprint
across the country yeah I mean you read
a lot about athletes who want to after
their career they go in they buy
franchises but not start a business and
then franchise it that’s a big
difference yeah talk about that business
model why why did you decide the
franchise instead of creating your
locations simply because it’s just pride
of ownership you know we tried we built
a very strong business model here in
Southern California that’s where our
corporate offices are and for years we
tried expanding into a different market
and we did that with employees and you
know it just it failed miserably you
know and it was kind of like you know I
touched the oven and my hand got burned
I’m like ooh okay maybe the only way I
can grow my business is by me going in
that market building the business up
putting my team in and then going into
another market and it just took a lot
longer than I had anticipated but with
the franchising model it’s it’s it’s
beautiful because what it allows us to
do is it allows us to bring someone who
is very like-minded who has similar
values we hand select the people that we
bring in and if they got fire in the
belly and they’re saying put me in coach
and they’ve planned and they’re
financially in a situation where we can
plan for contingencies we bring them in
we train them and we deploy them so for
us it’s kind of like you know we were
able to grow our business model across
the country by standardizing our our our
model you know just like McDonald’s if
you go as in China the other two years
ago doing some market research there’s a
huge problem with
seniors in China there’s essentially no
no one to care for them because of the
laws that they put in place but as I was
doing some market research I walked into
McDonald’s it was the same cheeseburger
that I have down here in San Clemente
California right so everything’s
standardized across the board so for us
you know we can bring someone in our
franchise system we can replicate that
in other markets very quickly literally
overnight so you know three years ago I
had one location i’m closing in on 85
within the next you know a month or so
so we’re able just to scale much bigger
and faster and there’s pride of
ownership the the people that are coming
in take ownership and responsibility and
they’re incentivized to grow the
business as well I love it well people
want to know about some of the quotes
that are inspiring you and if you have
other taffa isms this is we created a
new word here taffa is about it is a tie
for instance of people to live by if you
have some suggestions yeah you know
what’s funny is is I am I wrote right
quotes down all the time and I’ll share
some with you I I keep them in my in my
iphone here so I have a ton I’m just
constantly collecting quotes and maybe
that’s something I should do here’s a
quote right here by Muhammad Ali that I
took recently to think easy to think is
easy to act as difficult to act as one
thing’s is most difficult right to act
as as one thinks is most difficult you
know also another one one always has
time enough if one applies it well right
speaking to how valuable is your time
are you going to spend you know six
hours at night watching Netflix are you
going to feed yourself and stay up
because you can’t sleep because you’ve
got a fire in your belly and you need to
execute right those types of things
there’s another one in here that I like
to share with you that says your smile
is your logo your person
is your business card how you leave
others feeling after having an
experience with you is your trademark I
like it who said that one um Jay dansie
the giant dancing all right now like it
so it’s like you know in every
experience that we have you know we
leave a carbon footprint behind we leave
an impression behind we’re doing
something I’ve been called to do this
because I think that this is my ministry
helping families secure caregivers find
you know access to resources and it just
gives me such great satisfaction and
what I do and now I’m able to not only
provide jobs in my community I’m able to
provide put food on the table for our
caregivers I’m able to show business
owners how to build a
multimillion-dollar business and grow it
and leave their situation again it gets
back to you need to answer the bell
answer the call you know if you know
that you haven’t reached your potential
and you’ve got more to do in this life
you know be realistic with yourself stop
creating excuses don’t create what I
call this confusion of saying well you
know maybe I should do it maybe I
shouldn’t maybe I should look into it
you know it’s just excuses you know just
be realistic with yourself you know tell
yourself the truth you know if you’re in
a bad situation you’re in a bad
relationship you’re in a bad business
deal just have a truthful conversation
with yourself and say you know was this
is this am I in the right situation is
this healthy for me am I going to grow
versus you know you go to the break I
missing I knew that I should have broke
up with him or her you know years ago it
was just a bad relationship it’s like
why didn’t you listen yourself to
yourself you know two or three years ago
when you were going through this grind
you just wasted two or three years of
your life you know so be truthful with
yourself and answer the bell i like i
like i said this is my ministry i love
that man this is my ministry i love well
you’re getting lots of love people love
your quotes
great quotes love that quote enjoyed
those quotes now we’re getting here it
is come on time for write that book
that’s you know Tamara see no excuses
tap it on the book you get lots of love
man do you spread that message out and
expand that ministry it’s crazy how
quickly half an hour goes mana really I
want to preach at the time and the
insights what’s the best way for people
to reach out to you or learn more about
your business what you’re all about
where are they going you know you can
reach out to us at a modest senior com
just visit our website and on the right
hand side there’s a franchising tab that
you can click on also you know I love
hearing from entrepreneurs you know my
email address is tava Tafa at a modest
EU caricom no stalkers please but if you
have a questions or if there’s anything
that I can help you out with you know I
be I’d be more than happy to do so my
job is to help others and although I’m
in senior care really my purpose is to
build people up right show them how to
go after and capture and realize their
potential so so I’m in the people
development business developing people
to start an opportunity create jobs have
a secure financial future for themselves
but more importantly my job is just to
help others as others helped me you know
go out and find a mentor a connect up
with someone who you who you respect
that you can meet on a regular basis
with even if it’s a monthly cup of
coffee go out and seek them and again if
I can just give me any words of wisdom
just answer the bell be truthful with
yourself I love it may well will last
comment it will give it over to Taylor
Holland yes I pay for a book by taffa !
so leave it on that half a man thank you
so much of the time probably guys
watching thank you for tuning in go
check him out continue to believe or
whatever your one where it is and we’ll
see you soon take care
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