Peter Straub is a BJJ black belt, and the general manager of Easton Training Center Littleton. In this episode, Peter sits down with Eliot to have a vulnerable conversation about their past together, personal growth along the way, and share stories about an Easton martial arts school in Littleton, CO that started with zero members and grew into a thriving, vibrant community all in about a year.

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Transcription:

- Guys, here we are, another episode. Easton Online take two. It's been a morning, Peter. It has been a morning, and I am here with one of my very best friends. Everyone's been one of my very best friends so far, so another one of them. Peter Straub, GM of the Littleton Academy.

- Yes sir.

- [Eliot] What's up man, how are you?

- I'm well.

- [Eliot] How's your coffee? We always talk about coffee first.

- Incredible, thank you very much, yeah.

- [Eliot] Incredible, I told you no Starbucks, right?

- No Starbucks, you told me very explicitly.

- I say, you know, I give everyone a warning. Don't you come to my house with Starbucks. I will make you coffee, even if we have to run a little late.

- That's right, it's good, thank you.

- You're welcome, you're welcome. So I know you've thought a lot about what you wanted to talk about, and you actually came a little prepared, which is out of my realm. I'm going to let this go. I don't feel very comfortable right now, but this is not my podcast.

- Well, I appreciate that.

- [Eliot] This is our podcast, the whole academy's.

- This is for us.

- [Eliot] This is for us.

- It's in that spirit that I wanted to, like I prepared something. I felt really inspired to write it down.

- [Eliot] Okay.

- And so I wanna share it with you. And I appreciate you steppin' out of your comfort zone here a little bit, so.

- [Eliot] Let's do it.

- We good? All right.

- [Eliot] Let's go, go ahead.

- So, as I mentioned, I know this is being recorded, and I thought it might be something that people would want to listen to. Afterwards if you don't like it or don't want it in, we'll just edit it out, and pretend like this never happened. And you can do things the way that you have already planned.

- [Eliot] Jamie, do we edit out?

- [Jamie] Rarely.

- Rarely, well, we'll see, see how you feel.

- [Eliot] Go ahead.

- I know you have a kind of a script or an outline for this, and I definitely wanna stick to it. But first, I have a request and I'd like to read it so it comes across the way that I intend. I want to provide some context before I ask it. The context is this. I've known you for over a decade. When I met you, we worked at the Foundry together. You had just come back from Ultimate Fighter. You were the first person I ever knew who was on TV. And you were a black belt. You were a UFC fighter. You were a big, funny, charismatic character. You were larger than life, and you were my hero. I wanted to impress you. I wanted to gain your approval, and to be good enough for you. Something I've grown to learn about myself is that my underlying limiting belief is that I'm not good enough. But you helped me feel like I am. It took time and it was a struggle, but through jiu jitsu and martial arts, over time you helped me replace my insecurities with confidence, and you helped me start believing that I am good enough. Sorry, this is, I learned a lot from you. But I've also learned a lot about you by listening to all your stories and watching so many of your interactions around the academy. I've come to believe that one of your biggest fears is that you won't be loved. And I think that this comes from your underlying limiting belief that you're not lovable. So I think that you created this persona, The Fire Marshall, and he's the superhero that I idolized. He's loved by everybody and this is true. He's very effective. He knows how to connect with people, and he's very skilled. He knows how to talk to people. He's almost mesmerizing. I know personally, I've found myself agreeing with you in the moment, only to later realize that I didn't actually agree. But I've also been alone with you. I've had heart-to-hearts with you. I've shed a lot of tears with you, and I've met the real Eliot. He's not the same as The Fire Marshall. He listens deeply, he cares. He's loyal and kind and compassionate. And recently we've had some rocky times. I've been frustrated with you, and I would bet that you've been frustrated with me too. We've had some hard talks, but they've been good ones. It is because of these talks that I feel comfortable asking you this request. When you invited me to do the podcast two days ago, I was really scared to do it, because I don't want to do it with The Fire Marshall. My request is just that I wanna do it with the real Eliot, 'cause I fuckin' love you and I believe that you're lovable, even if sometimes that you don't.

- Thank you. We have a long pause.

- [Peter] It's okay.

- Everyone's nervous to do the podcast, I will say that. Mike was nervous, everyone, you know? Woo, I guess we're gonna get into, am I lovable? I mean, you brought it up.

- We can, yeah, we can.

- You brought it up. So yes, right? And Jordan, I guess we can cut this out if we want to or not, 'cause it's a little, it's not, I don't know how business-oriented it is, but maybe we'll get there, okay? So yes, I had a interesting life, right? I had a interesting life. I had great parents, a great everything. But there comes a point in your life where your parents can't do it for you anymore. And at that point in my life, nobody was there to do it, right? Like it just didn't exist, and pretty much there was only like one person, maybe two people, but they weren't in my every day. They weren't in my school, right, so I had to seek that out somewhere else, like my school, like my high school, right? Because most of us make these friends in high school, where it's like, these are my homies and I love them and we love each other and blah blah blah. And, we think this, and we're gonna be friends forever. And, I mean, most of us know that's not true now.

- [Peter] Right.

- Right, but I never got any of that. So, yeah, it sucked. It was awful, go read my book. I describe it everywhere. And then I moved to Colorado, and I can remember on the plane crying, because my friend, like I said, I had two friends. And the one guy, his name's Steve, he took me to the airport, because my parents had come early. Like they were visiting and they fucked up. They let me stay home by myself for the last week I'd ever live in the house.

- Oh, man.

- [Eliot] What the fuck were they thinking ? You know?

- Yeah.

- Yeah, my uncle, oh we could do a podcast just on that week . So I can remember crying on the airplane. Like he gives me a hug, I start crying. Because I was his only friend too, right? It was like the two of us, but we didn't live near each other. We lived like 20 minutes away. So both of our lives were about to fuckin' explode. Or shrink, you know?

- [Peter] Yeah.

- And I can remember sitting on the plane and being like, crying, this person looking next to me like, are you okay? You know, you're 18 years old, you shouldn't be crying. And I think he even saw me hug my friend, so he thought maybe I left my boyfriend, right? I don't know what he was thinking.

- [Peter] Obviously very emotional.

- Very emotional, I was like, man, I get to start all over. You know, I get to start all over. And I would say through the next 20 years I developed both The Fire Marshall, this persona. I don't think they're that different, but they, they're.

- It's like Eliot on steroids.

- [Eliot] It's Eliot on steroids.

- In every sense.

- Yeah, it's Eliot on steroids, for sure. It's the Muhammad Ali Eliot.

- But to me that is just almost overwhelming, to the point where it's really hard for me to want to sit down and talk to you, because it can be just one-way traffic.

- [Eliot] Right.

- And you said something about how you didn't think this was necessarily business-oriented. I think this is just the people side of business. And, you know, we talk about authenticity and candor and having real talks. And that's kinda why I wanted to start it with this because for me, just being open and honest about what we're even doing before we even do it, there's no better way to start out the conversation than just kinda put all your cards on the table. And like, look, this is me. This is how I think. This is what's goin' on right now. Now you know where I'm at.

- Right, and definitely for you, I guess I could see how starting at the Foundry, I mean, where we were like,

- [Peter] It was the Wild West, bro.

- It was the Wild West, man. We could do whatever we wanted. We could, it was the opposite of Easton.

- In so many ways.

- In so many ways.

- In almost every way.

- In every single way, right? And forget about the drinking part of it, just like.

- Just the structure, the culture, the rules, the way that we treated people.

- [Eliot] Everything.

- Nothing I'm proud of, to be honest .

- I met my wife there, and now I have these kids. So, all right.

- [Peter] For sure.

- I'm good, you know?

- [Peter] Yeah, I think you came away from it better than me.

- But everything else, yeah. Everything else, nothing that I'm proud of. You know, not a single thing.

- Not the way you treat people, not how you learn to probably talk to yourself and like, you know. At least some.

- [Eliot] Find worth.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Right, find worth.

- In all the wrong ways.

- Here, girl, have a free shot. You know, like all of that. All of that, all of that, we all know what we do in our 20s. So, and I would say the Foundry was that on steroids 'cause we were the fucking shit.

- Mm-hm, in all of Boulder.

- [Eliot] Right?

- The whole college town of 100,000 people.

- And when you met me I just got off T.V. I was on T.V.

- [Peter] I'm cold. You were like already big and then just getting exponentially bigger.

- And then getting bigger, right? And then, I mean, we were having viewing parties for me at the Foundry.

- [Peter] And that's right when I came in.

- That's right when you came in.

- And if you remember I thought that I was super tough and I took an MMA fight without really training for it. And I was so excited to tell you about it and you were like, dude, you're a fucking idiot. Like don't do that unless you're gonna train. Thank god you said that. That was probably the single best piece of advice.

- Ever given you.

- Well, anybody probably, 'cause you probably saved my life, literally. 'Cause I really thought that I was like, and it wasn't based on anything other than, talk about a whole nother podcast, but it was based on everything that I felt, like my self-preservation I created this ultra-macho tough guy with these huge high walls. And the Foundry was perfect for that 'cause I could just explore all those, unlimited.

- Dude, the Foundry, go ahead, sorry, you can finish.

- No, so, when you told me don't do that unless you wanna come do it, like that's what I do. This is my whole life, like martial arts. If you didn't bring me in I can't even imagine where I would be, you know? But, I know it wouldn't be anywhere good. Like this, to me, martial arts was the best possible outcome that I can imagine. That doesn't mean it's possible, but the ones I can imagine, man, it just like really righted the ship. And, you know, you're the one that brought me in to it. So, obviously, you kinda like, for better or worse, you get all the credit. You get put up on this pedestal. And we talked a little bit about that.

- A higher pedestal than probably even everyone else probably put me on.

- Probably, yeah, I mean at least as high. Like, I don't know.

- I was everything that you were maybe striving to be in your mind.

- In a lot of ways, yeah. Literally.

- [Eliot] And I'm not trying to say that conceitedly, right.

- No, I know, but I just told you that. I idolized you and that's not fair. That's not fair to you, certainly not fair to me or my expectations.

- [Eliot] Right.

- And those are, you know, if you start out like that it's only setting yourself up to crash.

- But here we are.

- [Peter] Here we are.

- But here we are.

- But I really think that's because we also had this relationship through martial arts. Like a healthy good relationship of a student and an instructor and kind of a removing the egos that were just so built up from the Foundry, for me at least. You had probably some other ways, but for me it was like the Foundry was, you know, what I thought the culmination of self-preservation looked like. And you helped me really knock those walls down. I mean, if you talk to anybody that knew me from Boulder, So, I trained in Boulder from 2008 to 2011, talk to any of those people, they just think I'm a fucking asshole. Just an angry, bitter, grumpy person. I've heard that over and over and over. And, you know, that's not something I like hearing.

- [Eliot] Oh, I've, yeah, I get it.

- It's something that I'm so embarrassed of, but at the same time, I'm so grateful that, I really feel like I can appreciate what I have now because of it, you know? I don't know if you can really appreciate having a calm mind if you've never had a really out of control ego. You know what I mean? Like some people, it doesn't seem like that appeals to them so much, but for me it was like that's exactly what I thought I wanted. And jiu jitsu really helped me right that ship.

- Yeah, I mean. So, I didn't witness all the 2008 to 2011.

- Well, you were fighting and you were traveling a lot.

- But I knew it, because I remember when it was time to open Littleton and Mike was like, no.

- Let's talk about that because that was, I would love to the extent you feel comfortable sharing.

- [Eliot] I'll talk about anything, yeah.

- Yeah, I would love to hear. I know Mike had huge reservations.

- [Eliot] Mike was like you've lost your mind.

- Mike and I were kinda, you know.

- He didn't really like you.

- Yeah, we were kinda like frenemies a little bit. He respected me to the extent he could beat the shit out of me and I would keep coming back. I wouldn't like, but I know, yeah, we had you know.

- You had like a bro friendship. It was bro.

- [Peter] Yeah, yeah.

- Right, like the person you call to go out drinking with. Even though that's not what you were doing, right?

- Well, we did sometimes.

- [Eliot] You did sometimes.

- And got in dumb trouble with that too.

- But, the person you call to go out drinking with, but not somebody you call to go to dinner with.

- [Peter] No, no.

- Different, different, right? No like double date with your girls or nothing. So we all can explain, so that was you and Mike. And Mike probably took some role in that too.

- Well, yeah, I think he was in a much different place than he is now when all that was happening. And so, then, I moved to Denver and he really didn't hear much from me 'cause he was running Boulder.

- Yeah, he just fired you.

- And I was down here.

- Right? Was that before Mike or after Mike?

- I think it was before.

- [Eliot] Okay.

- So that was like, I wanted to actually bring that up, too, 'cause that's something that I've spent a lot of time thinking about. It's like, what changed or why was I like that? So, for some context, I wanted to be part of jiu jitsu. I wanted to take on a bigger role. And there wasn't really anything for me, so they're like, you know, you can assist kid's classes. And that's probably, there's a funny quote in the office, but he's like, "The smallest amount of power "that's ever gone to somebody's head." That was me, you know? I was like fuck yeah, look at all these little kids that have to listen to me. And then, you know, there's all insecurities, all just me, like the old me or whatever, the Foundry me, taking advantage of any situation I get. And I was like.

- [Eliot] Do you want me to turn this fan off?

- No, I'm good now, thanks.

- [Eliot] Okay, yeah.

- It was me, just another example of how I was. And so, I remember I was at 24 Hour Fitness and Amal called me and he's like, yeah, I think we're gonna go a different way. It's just not working out with you as a kids instructor. And I was like.

- [Eliot] Amal called?

- Amal called.

- God damn it, I fucking love Amal, but confrontation is not he's thing.

- Yeah, well, I could tell it was hard for him and then it's hard to hear, too, because I still was like very cocky and arrogant. And I was like, what the fuck, I didn't do anything wrong. That kid's a little softy.

- I remember talking to you about it. You're like I didn't do anything. Because I saw none of this Peter. I saw this Peter that just did everything I said.

- Well, yeah, and that's all I wanted to present to you 'cause I was so desperately seeking approval. And like, you know, really self-worth, but kind of getting it through your approval. You know, like man, if Eliot thinks I'm doing good than I actually am.

- It's probably why we might have struggled later sometimes.

- Yeah, well, it changed us a lot.

- I have to let you down. There's no way I can live up to that. There's no fucking way I could ever live up, anybody.

- And that's all, I mean, that is on me. I won't say it's all my fault, but it's on me to, you know.

- [Eliot] No, it's 50% my fault.

- No, I wasn't even gonna say you. I was just gonna say like kind of the, you just happened to be the person that I aimed that at. You know what I mean? But, there was a lot of things that happened early in my life that I didn't have control of that kind of set me up for that. But now, as an adult, it's for sure my responsibility to look back at those and work through them and have hard conversations and talk to you about it. And talk to a therapist about 'em and read books day and night. That's all I do anymore, is literally like, you know, I'm like a junkie almost.

- [Eliot] Reading?

- I love it. Reading and listening to podcasts about things that are gonna improve me. And not because I don't think I'm good enough, but because really, I think I have some amazing gifts that I can really harness and help a lot of people with. And I can't do it if I'm still gonna be the way I was.

- Once you realize how much you don't know, I think you go two ways. You go shut it down.

- [Peter] Shut it down, nope, don't wanna know.

- Shut it down, I know everything, right? And lie to yourself.

- [Peter] Right.

- Or you go, oh my god, I just need to get, I don't know anything.

- [Peter] Gotta go. I don't have time to waste.

- I can't possibly learn everything, but, man, I'm gonna try.

- [Peter] Right, yes.

- It's two ways and it's super interesting how some people go one way and some people go the other. And you went this, just give it to me, give it all to me. And I think all of us really kind of do that.

- Most of the people that are in the roles that we're in, yeah. I think you have to.

- [Eliot] Yeah, you're not gonna keep up.

- There's no way.

- You're not gonna keep up. And I don't even care, and I've tried to talk about this before with people, I don't even care what it is you're learning, but you gotta learn.

- [Peter] You gotta learn something.

- But, like really dive in and delve in, you know?

- Yeah, well, yeah. Talk more about what Mike said and then how things changed.

- [Eliot] He just told me that I must be crazy.

- Based on what he knew, you would, you would be.

- He's like you're crazy, man. He's a piece of shit, is basically what he said, right. He's like, he's a bully. He basically said there's no way. He's like, "Eliot, this isn't even taking over an existing school."

- [Peter] Yeah, this is starting from zero.

- "This is starting from zero. "He's gotta come in and make "these really deep relationships. "What's he gonna do, just beat everyone up?" You know, I remember, and I was like, Mike, I promise you he's different, I promise you. And he's like, "What do you mean he's fucking different?" He's like, "Six months ago." I was like Mike, okay, six months ago one thing, right? Where maybe like the old Peter, like we all flash. You still flash, right?

- For sure, yeah.

- [Eliot] I still flash. It's not like oh, I'm this whole changed person. I still struggle with these things everyday. Most of the time I'm successful in dealing with them. Sometimes I'm not.

- You saw me flash yesterday.

- Yeah, yeah.

- And it wasn't even my doing at first, but then here I go, fuck it, let's go. Like ready to scrap, as far as it was gonna go, I was not gonna back down. There was no way I was backing down.

- Yeah, it's crazy and very frustrating in some ways 'cause you feel like you do so much work and then it's like that's all it takes? Just one little thing? I get frustrated with myself.

- Oh, I get so mad, I was so mad at myself.

- Yeah, 'cause it's you know, it's not on them they're just providing the obstacle is the way thing. They're just providing you with the example of how you're not doing what you need to do and what you need to work on.

- They're showing you that you're not God. That you're not perfect.

- [Peter] It takes you down a little bit, for sure.

- Right, just that you're not perfect in the sight. But, I love that idea, that I'm not perfect.

- I think, amen, the sooner you can embrace that, the sooner you can actually work on some things. 'Cause if you're perfect you don't have anything to work on.

- You have nothing to work on. So, yeah, he was just like, you've lost your mind.

- [Peter] And then what happened?

- I was like talk to Ian. 'Cause he always trusts Ian's opinion.

- He does.

- [Eliot] Everyone trusts Ian's opinion.

- I don't know how you cannot, man. Ian is that man. I've gone to Ian with so many things. I'm like, damn it, how is he so good at this? So good.

- The amazing thing about Ian, this is the story I always tell about Ian, is you should see him vent.

- Oh, I have, I've seen the other side of him. I've seen behind the curtain when it has nothing to do with me. Yeah, then I'm like, oh my goodness. He's gonna kill somebody.

- The first time that we had a problem in Denver when he was the GM. We're in the office and he's fucking as red as this thing right here. Like, so fucking mad. And I'm just like, oh my god, I can't let him do this. Like he's not allowed to go talk to this person.

- No, he's staying here.

- We hired the wrong person, right. Like we hired a Mike on steroids, right? Like, what the fuck? And then, the person walks in the office and he's like, "Hi, how are you? "Good to see you, man. I'm really glad that you came today." And I was like, how'd you do that? How did you do that? He just has to get it out.

- Yeah, just get it off his chest.

- And he does it amazingly.

- Yeah, he's literally one of the best conversationalists I've ever met.

- [Eliot] Yeah, he's so good.

- Empathetic and compassionate, listens. Yeah, Ian's the man. So then Ian talked to Mike?

- [Eliot] Ian talked to Mike and Mike then entertained.

- Gotcha. Thanks, Ian, appreciate it. Good looking out, buddy.

- You know?

- Yeah, will I know like you told me to just go to Arvada and spend time with him. 'Cause he was helping Jeff in Arvada.

- [Eliot] Yeah, we'd just opened Arvada.

- And then this was like, we didn't even know when we were gonna get into the building. But, we were like we gotta figure it, if I'm gonna be able to do it.

- [Eliot] Oh, for the Littleton school.

- For the Littleton. If I'm gonna be able to even be the one to do it we gotta figure that out sooner than later. So, before you even signed anything, I had to go to Arvada like two or three days a week and just hang out with Mike.

- [Eliot] Yeah, you didn't even know if you were gonna get the job.

- No, it was just like, you know, you gotta, you just gotta go do this. So, I went and spent a lot of time with Mike in Arvada and we taught some kids classes together. I hadn't really, hadn't taught kids since the incident. Since I'm sitting on the treadmill getting as gently yelled at by Amal as probably imaginable.

- [Eliot] It doesn't exists, Amal doesn't yell.

- He didn't yell, but he was like trying, it was hard for him. He did a good job at that conversation, now looking back. But, that was the last time I had any kids. I was like man, I don't know if I can do this.

- And you were just a noon teacher in Denver.

- Just a noon teacher and I was fighting most of the time. So, I was like, most of the time in Denver. But once you came down, I quit my job at the law firm and got a bartending job so I could work on the weekends. And I was like in the academy all day every day, everything. But as far as teaching members, that was just, yeah, noon. I didn't teach any kids, I didn't. I did intros for a little bit and like whatever else needed to be done, but yeah, that was basically it. But it was cool. Like the noon program had, I think, for up and coming instructors the noon class is an amazing little micro academy that you get to start learning how to build a culture. 'Cause it's none of the same people that come to night. So, you don't get your help and Ian's help. It was like it was up to me to kind of learn how to make sure everybody's in line.

- [Eliot] You have to build the culture.

- You have to build the culture.

- And I think you brought it back after Boyle. 'Cause it took this huge dip, right?

- And it was hard because people wanted me to be him. And so a lot of those people ended up finding other instructors and stuff 'cause I'm not him. John's the man, John, I love John. He just set such an amazingly high bar for noon class and morning class.

- [Eliot] And morning, yeah.

- And so then when I came in, it was not, yeah, it dipped pretty hard, but then over time I started building it up. But kind of from new members, more than.

- [Eliot] Boyle members.

- Yeah, not Boyle members.

- Not Boyle members, but we know what we're saying here. People really love him. That's hard for people sometimes when they lose their instructor. When they feel like the person who's their instructor, because I wasn't their instructor, right? Because I wasn't teaching the noon class. And like you said, they only came to noon.

- It's mostly the same people. It's like 30.

- Working, working people. A little older cause they can't come at night 'cause they have to be at home with their families.

- Yeah, so you get a really good opportunity to build a little mini-culture. And you should make sure that you're still going to night classes. And I was coming to all your classes, so I knew that I was tapped in. But then I was just basically the conduit to take the night culture and almost try to recreate it for the noon people. But, it looks differently.

- And you did a great job of that.

- [Peter] I appreciate it.

- Well, it's the only reason I was like telling Mike. So then it grew from there with you and Mike. And he said, okay.

- Mike and I just really really clicked well the second time we started engaging.

- Even when we opened he wasn't sold all the way.

- No, Mike had a really hard task ahead of him because he had all this built up ideas of who I was and he has like you and Ian telling him something else.

- Mike's not a forgiver.

- It takes him a very long, he wasn't really willing to just take your word for it. He was like I'm gonna be skeptical until I have a reason not to.

- Hold on. Sorry, I don't mean to say that about Mike. Not that he's not a forgiver. When he rages against somebody, he really didn't like you. When it's that, it's so hard for him to come off because he's a super emotional guy. And he loves Easton so much.

- And, at that time, I was not acting in line with Easton, so therefore, he's like I can't, you know.

- I can't even say you weren't acting in line. There wasn't really, there was not this culture yet.

- [Peter] Okay.

- Fair enough? But you for sure weren't acting in line with what we were now.

- [Peter] What we do now, no.

- Right, like no fucking way.

- And that's what he was making up in Boulder for all these years that I was down here. So, he had this standard of what he wants all of the GMs to be like and he has all this memory of me just being an asshole and then he has you and Ian being like no, he's different. And that's gonna take some time to really chip away at the memories of how I used to be. But, we had, Mike and I had some also really hard conversations and some long walks up around the academy. Like, we gotta get out of the academy 'cause one or both of us is gonna cry or yell or something, you know? So, we would just go for a walk up the street. Man, if I think about those defining moments of where Mike and I's relationship really deeply connected was during that time. We'd already opened Littleton. Like you said, he wasn't quite sold. He was sold enough to do it, but then, I mean he was down there with me everyday. Like now, I joke around with him, I'm like dude, I just need to go open another academy so you can come down and hang out with me everyday. I miss him, it was so much fun. We really got along great after some of those really really raw conversations.

- I'm gonna bring it up now. It's got nothing to do with you. Mike and I are arguing a little bit, right now. Well, I wouldn't say arguing, we're disagreeing. And his stupid quirks are getting on my fucking nerves and my stupid quirks are getting on his nerves. It's because we're only doing it over this god damn thing.

- [Peter] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Right? This piece of shit in my hand, right. That's so amazing and so terrible. And Ian gave us a suggestion. He's like, why don't you guys just hang out, right? Because I'm not going away. Like I know Mike's the boss, but I'm not going away. I'm not just letting things go because he says so.

- Yeah, no, you have a very strong opinion and it's rooted in some great facts and great ideas and great experiential data that you've been doing this for a very long time.

- [Eliot] And he's not going away, I hope not.

- He's for sure not going away. I hope not too.

- [Eliot] Oh Jesus, Allah, Mohammed, Buddha, whatever the fuck you are up there, don't let Mike go away.

- Don't let Mike go. Yeah, so that's hard. I think Ian, once again, Ian knows everything. He's the man, he's spot on. Go hang out.

- [Eliot] Go hang out. So now, Mike's gonna come hang out every other week.

- Nice.

- So, we get to like walk through it. You know, because we get to be friends. We get to talk about things.

- Well, yeah, you don't disagree on everything. You agree on most things.

- No, we agree on most things, but we're only talking about the things we disagree on. And we're not seeing each other. And when this whole thing was formed, he was only in Boulder and we were going to lunch all the time and we were, it's like train, lunch, boom, go to Denver, everyday. So, we'd like shoot the shit, talk about ideas, da-da-da, you know, and that's how we figured all of this out. And now, like as it grows, the people part moves away. And then you start only talking about problems. And then you start, well, I think we should and then, you know, so. It's not even like we're mad at each other. But, I'm not mad at him at all and he's not mad at me.

- Right, so you just disagree, but I think that's a great way to solve it, for sure.

- People, what made me think of it is you guys were hanging out all the time. You wanna open up another school so you can hang out with him.

- [Peter] Yeah, sort of just so I can hang out with him.

- And I feel so bad for everyone that watches sometimes and is like, man, I'm gonna get the nuggets. I am gonna learn how to run my academy. And we just, I mean, Jordan, how long are we gonna talk about the same thing, right?

- [Jordan] It keeps coming up.

- It's the only thing we do though.

- [Peter] People.

- People.

- Yeah, yeah, you and I have talked a lot about this. If jiu jitsu was playing cards then we would open casinos. The jiu jitsu is literally just the vehicle that helps us build these relationships. But it's the people that, like if you're not people focused I don't know what you're doing.

- Yeah, I don't know what to do. And for sure, like look, there's all these particulars, but how do we sell? We sell a certain way.

- [Peter] Yeah, but it's not revolutionary.

- How do we teach a class? We teach our class a certain way, it's structured. How do we follow-up? How do we do this? How do we do that? How do we train? Blah-blah-blah.

- Yeah, none of those things though are things that, I really think you could take all of those systems and if you don't understand why those systems are in place and how they work. It's not the system that's magic, it's the application of the system across relationships. To me that's like, the reason you're following up every two weeks, four weeks, six weeks, whatever, is because you care about these people and you're checking on them. And they're embarking on something that's really difficult.

- You might not care about them. You want to care about them.

- Well, you have to build the relationship. You can't just care about somebody you don't know. But, that's like kind of a structured way to build a relationship, build up some good faith. Like man, this guy keeps checking on me, whether or not it's his job or not, he's still doing it and I appreciate it and this is hard and I don't know if I should quit, but he keeps saying no, come back. And okay, I'm gonna give it a shot. That's why we do those systems, right? It's not just like if you automate it and have somebody just send a text to everybody, it wouldn't be the same.

- Yeah, there's way cheaper ways to do it then what we do it.

- [Peter] Yeah, for sure.

- And way more efficient.

- If it was just they system, that's my point.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, if it was contact everyone that hasn't been here for four weeks and then, we all get generic fucking text messages to our phone.

- [Peter] You just block the number.

- You block the number, you ignore it.

- I really try to make sure my texts come across as I'm a real person, don't block me. 'Cause we have to text, well, we don't have to, but we use the same number, like the phone number.

- The Google Voice, or whatever, right? What do we use now? Text Us.

- Text Us, mm-hm. So, it's the same number as you can call, right. So, I'm like, look, I'm not a computer. This is really me. I really am checking on you. Because that's such a turn-off to them, once they feel like they're just a number or just a dollar sign or whatever, they start getting treated like they don't matter, they're gonna be out. 'Cause this is way to hard to do. Like that's the thing, that's the other thing, jiu jitsu is so hard.

- Muay Thai, martial arts, right? You only have jiu jitsu.

- I only have jiu jitsu at my academy, so I kind of talk in that. But yeah, any of them where they're really testing your ego and challenging you and breaking you down in those types of ways it's brutal. But, if you don't have a support system, you don't have met any friends, you haven't talked to anybody. Man, I had a bunch of friends in jiu jitsu, I can't tell you how many times I quite jiu jitsu. In the shower, like fuck this, I'm never. Why do I even do this? And then, you know, I'd talk to Ian. Ian talks me off the ledge, here I am again. You know, standard. Once a year, at least, I quit jiu jitsu in the office.

- It's so interesting, man, I was thinking about it last night. I think a lot of it has to do with losing.

- [Peter] You lose so much more than you win.

- You lose so much more than you win. Think about my neighbor over there. When do you think is the last time that they lost?

- Almost never, you shy away from it your whole life.

- That's something other than a board game?

- [Peter] Something that really mattered?

- Yeah.

- 20 years, I don't know.

- [Eliot] 20 years.

- Probably.

- We leave it.

- And martial arts makes you face it over and over and over. You can't run away from it.

- [Eliot] It's right there

- Right in your face.

- It's right in your face.

- And yet, you figure out how to deal with it or you quit.

- You can try to make all the million excuses you want about who did this and why that and it only comes back to one thing, you. You lost, so yeah, it's so hard. It's so hard, it's so difficult. And we're not talking about being a champion. We're just talking about walking in the door.

- Just getting through an intermediate class. In a fundamentals class you're not really training alive. You're not really forced to look at yourself like man, I suck at this. I don't know anything. And you get to take your first intermediate class, you're speaking a different language. Basically, under water, some unfamiliar environment. And everybody's better than you. And how long do I have to be that, like the worst person in the room? And that's not a good feeling, but you have to get through that. 'Cause you're gonna be the worst person in the room.

- For a long time.

- [Peter] Until somebody else comes in and you're like thank god.

- Imagine if you're tiny.

- For real, that's like, yeah.

- I have these couple girls that are coming to my intermediate class now and they're like 110 pounds. And I'm like, why won't you just, and I have to keep telling myself why won't you just relax and not be so fucking nervous? And then I'm like, wait a minute, Eliot, this is so easy for you to say.

- [Peter] You weigh two and a half times what they weigh.

- Even when I came, I could just push somebody around and win.

- Yeah, you get away with it. I talk to my, we have kind of a big group of bigger strong guys that are all white belts and just getting their blue belts, soon. I talk to them all the time and it's like, man, you guys have a much harder learning curve 'cause you're gonna have to force yourself to do something that you don't have to do. Like the girls, and not just the girls 'cause there's a bunch of smaller men and just anybody that doesn't have those physical advantages, it's not like they get to decide whether or not to use 'em. It's not on the table for 'em. So, they have to learn the techniques. They have to learn resilience. They have to learn all the things that we say jiu jitsu or martial arts teaches you. Like, you know, being comfortable being uncomfortable. Those big guys don't have to do that. They have to put themselves in it. They have to take the power, take the speed, take the strength all the way down pretend like they're 100 pounds and then, how does your technique work? 'Cause otherwise, you know.

- [Eliot] Right, you end up like me and you. Right?

- Yeah.

- Man, for me the girls are my measuring stick. Like, I always look at my class and be like alright, how many girls do I have in my class?

- Man, that's so funny that you say that 'cause I just had a really good talk. I have a purple belt coach, Coach Gayle, she comes to a lot of my classes and she helps out a lot and all this. But, I had a great talk with her, I think it was Monday night, and I'm like man, I don't know. I agree with you 100% that that is the measuring stick of the culture. Are we a meathead culture? Where only the big strong guys want to be here and nobody else wants to be here?

- Especially for me, I feel like because I'm 250 pounds. I'm loud. Like I'm the anthesis of what smaller girls, I mean I scare dudes.

- Yeah, you scare all of us if you want to.

- I scare dudes with my Fire Marshall, right? So, I can't imagine what I do to some of the girls, right? And so, I have to really work hard when I'm Fire Marshaling, you know? Which the whole school hears when it's happening.

- You can't not.

- So I have to work really hard to get over that. I could probably not Fire Marshall as much, but fuck it.

- No, don't do that, for sure it's not that.

- You laughing too?

- [Jordan] Yep. I'm taking notes and laughing at the same time.

- So, yeah, 'cause I mean, I am super scary. You know?

- Yeah, but if you're still making them feel welcome and they're still getting something out of it obviously, 'cause they keep showing up. I think that's a great way to measure. It's one of the most important measurements of having a martial arts school versus a fight gym.

- Tell your Gayle story and then I have a.

- [Peter] Oh, which Gayle story?

- No, the one you were just telling about you talked to her on Monday.

- [Peter] Oh yeah.

- When she hated us?

- Talk about a whole new podcast. Hi Gayle.

- Hi Gayle. How many times have you hated me and Peter, Gayle?

- More than once, let's say that.

- Go home Gayle, why you here?

- No, Gayle and I just had a really good talk. I think that Gayle has some great perspective. She's come up in a completely, on the professional side, she's come up in a male dominated environment and culture, so I think she's really learned how to thrive in those and that's what makes her, I think, so appealing to so many people at jiu jitsu. It's like man, she's just a really strong badass woman. I look up to her a lot. But, not everybody's like that. Not everybody has had to cut their teeth in a really hard male dominated society like she has. That's why she's still here and a lot of other people aren't is because they haven't had to learn how to deal with that. And so, that's one of the things that is kind of on my radar, now, is to make sure that I'm more aware of it and then making real tangible improvements towards that. Without watering it down, without placating to weakness and it's not okay to just have a separate class where everybody plays patty-cake. That's not what we do.

- No, we're not doing that. No, we're not doing that.

- Yeah, it's such a challenge. And especially as a man, it's impossible for me to say I know what they go through. There's no way.

- [Eliot] There's no way.

- I have no idea what it's like. But, I see that they struggle and I can empathize with that and then it's up to me to figure out what I can do to help. And, you know, that's back to conversations and relationships.

- I have to say, you said it, like watering it down. I have to say that was one of the most proudest things for me about AECC. I was like look, we can get here.

- Yeah, we still have two guys, it's not just one outlier. I mean, you guys are both outliers, I guess.

- Sure, we're outliers right now, but we're not gonna be. Right, we're not gonna be.

- We have a solid group of guys coming in and girls.

- So, we can get here and we can have this, right? Like scared, petrified.

- Little kids that come in with their shoulders hunched over. Won't even look you in the eyes. And next thing you know their yes, sir, is loud, confident.

- That kid, we got both. 'Cause most do one.

- Right, you either have a bunch of killers and nobody else makes it or it's watered down.

- Or it's watered down. That was one of the things that made me the most proud for us.

- For sure, because we have a lot of other data that supports what we're doing for most people. But, then you always wonder, are we watering it down just pandering to the masses so everybody will do it.

- So everyone will do it. And that's just the common theme that other people will say, well, you just fucking, yeah dude. You're a fucking Mc Dojo.

- That would be the accusation, but we have the other side of it to support it. Yeah, I agree, that was really cool.

- So, that for me was a super proud moment on a personal level and a professional level. Right, both.

- [Peter] Yeah, definitely.

- But oh, the story I was gonna say.

- [Peter] The Gayle story?

- No, not Gayle, it's not Gayle, it's another girl. And I'm gonna leave her name out.

- [Peter] Yeah, that's fine.

- Gayle's in it enough that we can say Gayle, I would say, right.

- [Peter] Yeah, yeah, everybody knows Gayle.

- Man, I try to talk at the end of class, right, inspire. And I try to gage the room as I'm doing it. And as I'd gage the room, I'm trying to make eye contact with people. And this person would always, everyone, I try to make eye contact with everyone, they'd always like look away. And I was like god damn, that girl fucking hates me. And then we'd do the belt whipping thing in Denver.

- [Peter] Oh yeah, how does that go over?

- She wouldn't do it, you know. I was like

- Yep, she hates me.

- I was like wow, she really fucking hates me. I'm like oh well, you know, a little bit. But, I would still try to be nice to her. And then she was sitting on the couch a month ago and she was like, hey, I think I really wanna come try your class. And I was like, really? I got so excited.

- Oh, oh, so at the end of class you lined everybody up. So, it was not your student yet. Yeah, okay, that makes sense.

- I'm sorry, let me explain that more. So, at seven o'clock I have my advanced class. At 7:30 Chris Meirswack has fundamentals. A fundamentals an intermediate.

- [Peter] So, it's only gonna be white belt.

- White belts, so I'm not teaching her.

- That don't know anything about you.

- But, at six o'clock I am teaching an intermediate. And you have to have two stripes to get into that intermediate class. So, I know that she has her two stripes. And one of the things that I always say to some of the two-stripe people is I'm always like, hey guys, look, you have to come to intermediate class. I know fundamentals is safe and it's nice, but intermediate, come on, right. If you have two or three stripes on your belt I don't want to see you over there. I wanna see you coming to me. But, again, I'm intimidating, I'm this, I'm that, right, and I get that. Most everyone's probably going, well, don't be so fucking intimidating, asshole.

- Again, not,

- [Eliot] A little bit is just my presence.

- Yeah, for sure.

- Henzo's fucking intimidating. Go be around Henzo. And he's not my size, but he's intimidating. And he loves everyone. So, anyway, so yeah, that's the situation. She's not in my class, but we're closing up at the same time. And then she said that to me and I was like, oh my god.

- [Peter] Like, really?

- I was like really? No way, no way. And I was like okay, come on Eliot, you gotta make this happen. You gotta make her have the best fucking class if she comes. And she came and, excuse me, I can still see it's a struggle for her, you know?

- It's still a struggle for a lot of people, you know?

- 'Cause I can't water down the class because my class.

- [Peter] They're hard classes.

- They're hard classes. I'm demanding.

- Yeah, yeah, you have high expectations for how people are gonna get it.

- Especially with the jiu jitsu. Like we're gonna do, like you know.

- Like technically, you mean?

- No, not so much technically, but I do it with the flow. And like, I'm not teaching the flow all the time, so sometimes it can be a little.

- [Peter] Yeah, so you gotta kind of get it as you go, pick it up as you go.

- Right. You have to tell them look, you just gotta keep coming. 'Cause in three weeks you're gonna get the flow, in two weeks.

- 'Cause it doesn't change that much, a little bit every week changes, but yeah.

- So, right now, I know, you just learned 30 fucking moves.

- [Peter] Yeah, but it'll be the same ones for awhile.

- It's gonna be the same 30 moves in six months. But, we're gettin' there, we're gettin' there.

- [Peter] So, she's still coming?

- She's still coming. She was just there yesterday. So I was like, fuck yeah.

- [Peter] Yeah, that's great.

- And again, it's a people thing. Like, I have to try to relate and you have to try to relate to these people that are nothing like us. But, there's something.

- We all have something alike.

- Physically nothing like us, right? Like, their so different than us. But, yeah, so, there's all these tricks. And I think this conversation started with there's all these tricks of sell like this, teach like this, do marketing like this. But, if that person doesn't feel like you really care about them.

- [Peter] It doesn't matter.

- 'Cause we're in a not care world.

- [Peter] For sure.

- Like with me and Mike, we're in a this world, right.

- I mean, that really is all we do, is just the connections. Everything else is supplemental to that. It's building relationships with people making them feel like they're part of a community, like they're part of something bigger than themselves and that they have a place in it. That they matter, they belong and it's super empowering to be plugged into something like that. And it feels really shitty when you're not. And I really think that that's what keeps more people coming and what keeps people coming back is that side of it.

- I'm gonna ask you a question. When you went and opened Littleton, you came from this tight community in Denver. And I remember you talking to me about this, like dude, this is fucking hard because I don't have my brothers.

- I don't have anybody, right? So, I came from, like you said, I was teaching noon classes plus I was taking all the night classes. Even I came in last night to drop off that scanner and say what's up. I still see everybody.

- Everyone's like hey, Peter, yo. Yeah, you're homies.

- You go from that to 15, 20 minutes away, it's not even that far away, but you're alone. And there were classes where nobody showed up. So I'm just sitting there. And then the classes that people do show up, there's a couple transfers, but for the most part, I think there was maybe, at most, 8 or 10 people transferred, maybe, of all my members.

- And they're not even like your homies, though.

- No, it was people that lived closer. I for sure didn't get to bring everybody with me and it was really hard. It was a challenge because I felt really lonely and missed all those people and I didn't have any of my connections, so I thrive off of it too. I'm the same as everybody else in the sense that I want to be part of something. Now I'm not part of anything, now I'm creating something. That was really difficult. And it took some time for me to let go of Denver and be like, look, Denver isn't my home. 'Cause I would try to like hang on to it. And, you know, I'd be like, well, I'll do this thing in Littleton, but then when I need to get recharged I'm gonna go to Denver, be with my people.

- I'm gonna go see Mom and Dad, I'm gonna yeah, yeah.

- But, I had to let that go and be like Littleton is my, these are my people. This is my home. This is where I'm gonna plant some new roots so that I have some support here because otherwise this is not sustainable. I'm not only failing myself, but I'm failing everybody else 'cause who else is gonna create that culture. Who else is gonna start it down there if not me? That's why you guys sent me down there. Otherwise, you'd just take any random person that doesn't understand how things work. You believed that I understood it enough to go make a satellite version of it. And as soon as I kind of let go of the idea that it was gonna be Denver, like this is gonna be Littleton and we're gonna have our own identity and we're gonna have our own community. And these are gonna be my, man, I've made some amazing connections, some great people. It's so cool. I'm so lucky to have all those people.

- Dude, I called you after the ceremony, the one year anniversary. Holy shit dude, it was amazing. It was amazing.

- [Peter] That's how I feel too. I was blown away.

- It was amazing. Those people love you. It was so evident, like the kids, their parents, the adult students. I was like hell yeah.

- Yeah, there was like so many people there. Most of those people are not members. I think at the time we had maybe 100, 130, under 150, I think. Or maybe right around 150 members. So, half of those are kids, yeah, you know.

- [Eliot] Dude, it was so cool.

- There were like two or 300 people there.

- I was like man, he fucking hit a home run.

- It feels, I mean, it feels like it's really becoming something that, like I was talking about. Like really becoming its own little community.

- And when I say you hit a home run, how much money did you put back in my pocket? Do you know how much money you've put back in my pocket?

- I don't know, but it's not a lot. I would have to look at it, but yeah, almost none.

- [Eliot] $5,000.

- 5,000, nice. You're welcome. Is that good?

- [Jordan] He doesn't want me to be Fire Marshall. I know, and he's just like $5,000.

- Yeah, right, okay.

- [Eliot] $5,000. On a much larger investment. And I'm talking back and I haven't made my investment back at all.

- [Peter] No, this is 5000.

- This is 5000 back towards my feeder money. You know, and 5000 to Amal, right. So, but that was a home run to me. You hit a fucking home run, man. Because, god damn, that was so cool. You couldn't stop giving people hugs.

- Yeah, the whole time that's all I did was walk around and give everybody hugs and smiles and talk.

- Like your ribs must have been sore from people squeezing you. And I thought that was so amazing, you know? That was so amazing, I was driving home, and my wife was even mad at me that day. We got in a huge fight. But, that made my day so much better, you know?

- [Peter] Yeah, thanks man.

- Yeah, man, because that was just, I'm not even, like, I know if you can do that and if you can keep doing that then the rest of it's gonna take care of itself. Like my investment back and all of that it's gonna take care of itself. You know, because, who doesn't want that today? When all we hear is how terrible we all are.

- [Peter] How different we are.

- How different we are. You voted for Trump, right.

- It's just so polarized.

- You voted for Trump, you're pro-choice.

- Just to be clear, I didn't, but yeah. Gotta be careful there.

- All of the breaking news when you turn on the T.V. is about how bad the other people are.

- [Peter] They're other.

- The other. And I guarantee you you have 50% of the people in your school voted for Trump. That's what the statistics say.

- Yeah, statistically, yeah probably half of them.

- [Eliot] Let's say 40%, let's say 35, that's still a bunch of people.

- It's still a bunch of people that I probably don't really agree with on a lot of things.

- Forget you, forget you, because they're gonna look up to you, right? They're gonna look up to you. They're gonna put you on a pedestal. But then you have these other people that voted for Hilary.

- [Peter] And they're all training together.

- They're all training together and somehow you're glue, you were the glue. So that was just amazing to me. Especially in this day and age, right. I know I keep fucking, I play with this all the time. I'm sorry. It was so cool to me, man, and they loved you so much, it was just so fucking badass. Because you're the one, you're the glue. You know, you were the glue and that's what we're doing, man.

- That means a lot. It meant a lot to me when you called me and it means a lot to me know that you say that because I feel the same way. But, I mean, I'd be lying if didn't think that your approval of that mattered. Does that make sense? It still matters to me. I still want to be doing what you think is right. But, it's just that I don't view you the same way in some senses, but in other senses, you've also done this for a long time and you've been around a bunch of jiu jitsu academies. And you've been around a bunch of different environments and so for you to say that this is like we're doing it right that still means a lot. It's different from how 10 years ago how I would have been like oh my god, I'm just fucking, I just won, I'm done life, I just made it. I don't feel like that now. I still feel like I've plenty of work to do, but I still really value your opinion so I don't want that to get confused. I still do value you a lot and like I said, I love you. I just don't have such high pedestal expectations from you. I really feel like we can have these deep real talks now and I'm super grateful for that. But, I still value what you have to say.

- I appreciate it. I think I've just fucked up enough for you and let you down enough.

- I mean as anybody would. It's not like you've done it more than somebody else would. You're just not perfect. And nobody is.

- [Eliot] And nobody is.

- Yeah, but it was hard for me to accept that. 'Cause I was like no man, Eliot, like I literally would have fucking ran into traffic for you, literally. I'd be like fuck this sucks, but all right, here we go. Try not to get hit. You're like really? Damn. I mean, I was thinking a little bit more about this too. You were very very hard on me, way harder than anybody else. You would make me do death matches after every freakin' practice and I hated it. I was like god, this sucks, but all right, I'm doing it. Eliot says I'm doing it, I'm doing it. I'm grateful for that too 'cause that really taught me how to dig deep and you know, when I did not want to do shit, I still can do it. I don't know.

- It forges the soul a little bit.

- Yeah, exactly. It made me a strong person. So I'm grateful for that.

- Nobody wants to do death matches.

- No, they suck. I would be more nervous about how I'd do than at a tournament. The in-house things are hard on your psyche 'cause like all your homies.

- Yeah, a death match. Let's explain what that is real fast. Nothing counts until somebody taps.

- Yep, just no points, just go. Just slap hands and go.

- And sometimes, I think Jeff and Mercado, they went twice for an hour and a half, right? I think they're one and one.

- [Peter] I think so.

- I think they went twice for an hour and a half. And I can remember one time with death match, we're gettin' off track here a little bit. We went through three death matches in like five minutes. I was livid. I sat everyone down and I was like what that fuck are you doing? Death match.

- That's not how this is suppose to go, yeah.

- Don't die, right.

- Well, Tyrone put me to sleep one time in a death match, that was cool.

- That was cool.

- [Peter] I was like a blue belt death. He's like, hey Tyrone, come do a death match with Peter. I was like fuck that, Tyrone is not tapping me. And he didn't. It doesn't count, I didn't tap. He just put me to sleep. Yeah, that was rough. Those were hard times, but like I said, that's really what I'm grateful for is like the building of the confidence. 'Cause you can't be insecure and keep doing those things. You have to find something that is real inside you because shit sucks.

- You gotta find something.

- Yeah, and it has to be from you. 'Cause nobody else is helping you. They're all just sittin' there like oh, that sucks.

- And I used to make everyone watch.

- Yeah, everybody circles up and then, yeah, me and Tyrone, black belt, he's been a black belt longer than you I think or as long.

- Yep, yeah, he's got four stripes right now.

- 'Cause he's a monster pro-fighter and I'm this little blue belt that's like, Eliot, I don't wanna fight. You're like okay, go do a death match with Tyrone. I'm like damn it. But, that's what I think I took away from it the most is like how much more confident I am. And I don't have to be such a bully. I don't have to put up these high walls and make people think a certain way about me. I can be more open 'cause I have a deep confidence in myself that I'm enough. I'm good enough, I'm smart enough. I'm you know, whatever.

- Well, you just got 100% embarrassed in front of the whole school.

- Yeah, yeah, you better.

- [Eliot] So you better find something else.

- You better find something 'cause nobody else is validating you at all.

- [Eliot] Alright man, how did I do?

- Dude, amazing. This is all I wanted. I just didn't wanna come on and get the Fire Marshall because I know you too well. And like, we were joking about it right before we started this. You're like, this is not the Gospel Fire and I was like yeah, I know. I don't want it to be. It was funny that you said that 'cause you're aware of it. But, for me it was really important and that's why I wanted to write it down so it would come across 'cause sometimes I think better when I'm writing than when I'm talking. Sometimes I just can't articulate it the same way. So, thanks for letting me read that.

- Yeah man, of course. I knew you wanted to read something.

- [Peter] He didn't have any idea.

- I was like man, will you send it to me please and you were like, nope. I was like.

- I almost didn't even wanna tell you, but I need to tell him something. I would like you to let me read it so I have to tell him something.

- So yeah man, I even try not to Fire Marshall on Gospel Fire. It doesn't help the authenticity of the conversation.

- I 100% agree with that.

- I definitely Fire Marshall more in big groups.

- Right, like the personality that can capture a big group has to be a personality that's bigger than the real one-on-one Eliot. So, that's where that comes from.

- It's got it's place.

- It does and it did an amazing job for you for a long time of helping you be who you are and get where you are. It served it's exact purpose. But, for me, I've seen both of them.

- [Eliot] You like the other one better.

- I like the other one better, yeah. 'Cause it's real, it's authentic, it's honest.

- I think most of our students, so Denver, right, I think everyone that comes on Tuesday and Thursday nights and takes my classes they know the real Eliot. Even though it's a lot of Fire Marshall.

- They've seen little glimpses of it, yes.

- But they see glimpses everyday, right. But, whenever somebody comes to visit, I'm like look, I'm an acquired taste, okay? You're not allowed to write a review until you're here for a month, okay. So, no one star on Yelp yet. If in a month you still think it's a one star then go ahead. But it's like what Jared says, right. Man, everyone starts out with god damn I hated that mother fucker.

- But see, I didn't. I did not start with that.

- My wife did. She went out with to win a bet, man. To win a bet, yeah.

- [Peter] That's fucked up.

- Yeah, it's fucked up. And she won the bet.

- Hey, but you won the war 'cause you have two beautiful kids and this house.

- I know, I know. She loves me too.

- [Peter] Jokes on her.

- Yeah, she loves me too, man. But, she definitely was like you are such a fungus. That's what she says to me.

- You just grown on ya.

- She actually bought me that shirt for my fucking birthday one year.

- [Peter] What?

- I'm like a fungus, I grow on people.

- It's not wrong. Cool man. Well, I really appreciate you having me on here. I hope that other people get some value out of it. But, for me, I got a lot of value out of just getting to sit and talk with you.

- I know, we just don't get to do it that much like this. I think I love it so much, I love podcasting.

- Yeah, that makes sense. This is awesome, this is cool. I've been on a couple of them, but never with like my friends, like my homies. It's cool to just get to hang out.

- I love all of them because I don't like, even when I do the Gospel Fire and I talk about like MMA and stuff. Like with an MMA person, I don't care about the MMA part. I don't wanna talk about that.

- You just have a common thing, but then you go down it.

- Then we go down it, right. You start with the common linker and then you get into the.

- [Peter] It's a great jumping off point.

- Yeah, let me see who you are. Guys, Easton.online, right Jordan?

- [Jordan] Yeah.

- Yeah, Easton.online. Hopefully, we're gonna have this course out for you. First Impression Specialists which is gonna be all about sales. All about how to get someone from being a prospect to a committed loving member. The whole process, how we do it. There's no gimmicks to it. There's no sales tricks to it. There's nothing. It's just sitting down and explaining and talking to someone like an actual human being. Like we all like to actually do. So, that's gonna come out hopefully by the new year. Man, hit us up, hit us up, hit me up. Hit Peter up if you have any questions.

- Please, please feel free.

- I don't even care if I don't know you. If I don't know you, but you got a question. I don't need your money, I don't need anything. Hit me up and I'll do my very very best to answer your question. Fire Marshall 205, Peter Straub MMA. So, we love doing this.

- [Peter] It's what we do.

- It's what we do. Alright, guys, thanks everyone.