0 (2s):
Lights that sparked fire nation. JLD here with an audio master class. We are calling from professional bodybuilder to e-commerce multimillionaire in three years in foreign nations dropped these via bombs. We have brought Michael Walding Jr. On the mic as the oldest of three siblings. And growing up in a middle-class home, Michael had to navigate his own path to success. He had always been a dreamer and one to think outside the box, more than anything, this created some pushback and negativity from people close to him because they didn't understand his way of thinking. Once he broke away from those people and surrounded himself with people willing to think big and take massive action. It helped him get closer to living up to his potential.

0 (44s):
And today fire nation. We'll talk about what it takes to win at a high level. Michael's transition into e-commerce what it's going to take to win in e-commerce in 2021 and how fire nation you can reach your potential and so much more. When we get back from thinking our sponsors fire nation, are you looking for a step by step roadmap to financial freedom and fulfillment? Will I have some great news for you? My first traditionally published book, the common path to uncommonsuccess is available for pre-order. Now visit uncommonsuccessbook.com to pre-order today and lock in the incredible bonuses that are going away soon.

0 (1m 24s):
Uncommonsuccess,book.com Michael, say what's up to fire nation and share something interesting about yourself that most people don't know.

1 (1m 36s):
Hey everyone, thanks for having me on. I appreciate it. Let me see. It's something good about something people don't know. So, you know, I, I come from a bodybuilding background actually before e-commerce. And before that I was actually a sponsored skateboarder in middle school. I had long blonde hair. I had the skinny jeans and a shoestring belt on, and I actually started a clothing company called focus when I was 13. And I came up with that with my best friend, because we agreed, you know, what's the one thing you need to be great at anything. And we both agree the word was focused. And it's funny because bill Gates and Warren buffet were both asked one time, you know, that a piece of paper in front of them and the interviewer said, what's one word, you need to be successful.

1 (2m 24s):
And they wrote it down and they held it up at the same time and they both had the same word focus. So yeah, it's a, it's something that stayed with me or into bodybuilding obviously, and then into e-commerce. So it's something, you know, I believe strongly in, since I was a kid.

0 (2m 37s):
I love it. It's a word actually I say on entrepreneurs, on fire a lot, because for me, it's an acronym which is follow one course until success focus. So I'm obsessed with it for the same reasons. And quick question, be honest with us. Do you still have an APAC? I would say it's about six now. It's still jealous, still jealous and fire. As I shared, we were talking about how Michael has gone from a professional bodybuilder to e-commerce multi-millionaire in three years. So let's start by talking about your past career in bodybuilding. Talk to us about that

1 (3m 13s):
Kind of a random story. As you know, when I was skateboarding, I was probably, I was the skinniest kid in my entire school and everyone called me that runt. Right? So I was super small. I think I was about 115, 119 pounds. So pretty little guy. And I remember crying to my mom one day, you know, middle school was pretty torturous and I said, Hey, I'm, I'm done being the small. I'm going to be big. You know, of course my mom's looking at me. I looked like a twig and pats me on the head. And of course, honey, you're going to be great. Right. But that's, that really helped. Right. I don't know if my mom actually believed it, but it doesn't matter because then I did. Right. So what I ended up doing is I stopped skateboarding altogether that day, but weights with whatever money I had saved up.

1 (3m 56s):
And also it was, I believe it was Christmas at that same time. So I got some weights in the garage. I started going to, you know, I'm dating myself here, but this was what 17 years ago. And we didn't have Instagram and to read all this stuff. So I went into the store and got magazines, you know, muscle and fitness and all these other bodybuilding magazines. And I, I started clipping out the diets and I started clipping out pictures of people. I wanted to look like. I wanted to know what's my goal. I always had to have a goal. I'm just a goal oriented person. If I don't, I kind of wander around all day, literally wander around. And so I, I put, took pictures of these guys, put them on my wall, started following this diet.

1 (4m 36s):
I started bringing to school sandwiches, Turkey sandwiches, just Turkey and bread. And I didn't know any better at the time. Right. It wasn't horrible. But I ate seven of those every day. One between every single class, whether I was hungry or not, and having weight gain or shakes in the morning and at night. And by the time I was 25 years old, I was a professional body builder and I weighed 240 pounds. So yeah, it stayed with me and I had a relentless work ethic. And even though I didn't know how I was going to reach this goal when I was 14, I had no idea how I was getting there. I just decided it was fact I believed it. You know, that goes into my subconscious. And it's something that that's was unwavering faith in myself, no matter what happened.

1 (5m 19s):
Of course there were ups and downs. It wasn't a straight shot to 240 pounds. Let me tell you, but you know, I actually got hurt one of the times and you lose about 30, 35 pounds. It's quite the emotional roller coaster.

0 (5m 32s):
Although most people were like, Michael, you're complaining about losing 35 pounds. I would die to lose 35 pounds. So we get what you're saying. We're dying, trying to gain. Totally, totally get it. I love that word relentless, by the way you used it. And I think it's such an underused word. I mean, relentless fire nation, you just set that goal. You have that focus and you are relentless in the achievement of that. And you will get there. You're going to have the ups and the downs. You're going to get hurt. You're going to lose 35 pounds. You're going to gain 35 pounds. You can do this. You can do that. Relentless. That's the word. And Michael you've won at a high level in bodybuilding, and now you've wanted a high level in e-commerce. So beyond goals and focus, which we've talked about a little bit already, what does it take to win at a high level?

1 (6m 14s):
Winning at a high level, I think requires sacrifice and discipline and the reason, and I obviously you have to have a work ethic and there's other things I think that just comes standard, but I don't think a lot of people realize that sacrifices involved. So, and that could be anything as much, especially with bodybuilding. The name of the game is sacrifice. People think it's the gym. I only spend an hour and a half in the gym at the most, right? I mean maybe when I'm competing, waving, when I'm getting ready for a show, but most of it is, Hey, Friday night, let's all go out. Well, not me, right? I didn't go out bodybuilding. Wasn't a sport. It was a lifestyle. So you can't wake up and go bodybuilder for a little bit and come home and go do whatever it is that you want. I ate seven meals a day and trained once or twice a day, depending on the time of the year.

1 (6m 57s):
So it was a sacrifice of giving up a lot when I turned pro. And when I was 25, the four months leading up to that, that was called your a contest prep about 16 weeks. So for 16 weeks, I didn't hang out with anyone. I didn't see my friends. I didn't talk to them. I went and just became a recluse and nothing in my life. I didn't allow anything in my life that didn't have anything to do with bodybuilding. Right? So if it was, if I watched TV, it was mostly just YouTube. Lot of bodybuilding, motivational videos. If I read a book, it was probably Arnold Schwarzenegger's autobiography. And that was it. I would cook clean, go to the gym, come home and just become obsessed with it. I think Connor McGregor said it best is. He said, I don't believe in talent.

1 (7m 38s):
I'm just obsessed. And I think when you can get tunnel vision, right? And we coming back here to focus and relentless, all these words kind of tie in together. When you have all of these things going, that's when you become successful is you'd block out everything else. You have laser focus and you sacrifice everything else to have that that's when you will become great.

0 (7m 57s):
I love that. We keep coming back to relentless is just the, it's going to be a word that I actually work into my vocabulary, more fire nation, because it is just such a powerful visual and verbal thoughts. And just talk, I just love it. Now you were able to transition into e-commerce from being, you know, a very successful bodybuilder. Talk about that transition. I want to know like why. And then of course the house

1 (8m 21s):
Originally was sponsored by vitamin shop. And so they had me busy. I also couldn't find a job that will allow me to eat seven meals a day and also train twice a day. When I felt that it was time to train, right. I also went to, I went to a few job interviews with a cooler of food and they loved it, but I realized that it wasn't for me. I realized that I needed to find something that would allow me to continue on with my passion. And so the only thing I had was my computer. So originally it started with eBay and then Shopify, you know, there's ups and downs. I learned, I had some great businesses. I had some that failed miserably, right, but you don't lose. You just learn. And eventually I found my way to Amazon.

1 (9m 2s):
And when that happened, I hung up the posing trunks. I was done with bodybuilding. I canceled my contract with vitamin shop. I stopped completely in one day and realized what I wanted to do. And so if it wasn't for bodybuilding, I don't think I would have ever found e-commerce would have never crossed my mind to find something on a computer as I'm a very social person. And yeah, I ended up with Amazon and of course, just by bodybuilding, I went 110% and I cut out all the other hobbies I had and just went what I say head first, right? Not, not feet first head first into this, 110% above and beyond and just became obsessed.

0 (9m 36s):
And that's one of the very powerful things for our nation. I don't think a lot of people realize is so many people just spend all their lives, just piling more things on their plates. And they don't realize that, Hey, if you are going to be great at something, you've got to limit your focus, you've got to be really drilled in discipline. And of course, that words are going to be using multiple times again, relentless. And I get people all the time. He's like, John, you should really try kiteboarding, John, you should be doing this. Johnny's tried this. And I'm like, no, because right now my life is full of a couple things that are very important to me. I'm obsessed with running my business. I'm obsessed with pickle ball. I'm obsessed with saying is healthy and working out on a very consistent basis. And there's only so many things I can do and be great at those core things that are important to me.

0 (10m 19s):
Now, if I ever want to add something to that, I'm going to be taking something away. That's currently in my life. And when I want to make that trade, I will. But until I do, I'm not just going to keep adding things to my plate. And that's why you hear so many people. I'm just so busy. I can never start X, Y, or Z. Well, of course you can because you have so many things piling on your plate in fire nation. What are we talking about? What it takes to build a successful e-commerce business in 2021 and how you can actually reach your potential. When we get back from thanking our sponsors, what's up fire nation. I'm so fired up for the launch of my first traditionally published book, the common path to uncommon success. Right now you can pre-order your own copy and lock in some incredible bonuses that will be disappearing soon by visiting uncommonsuccessbook.com for all of 2020, I've worked tirelessly to create this life changing book.

0 (11m 10s):
The common path to uncommon success has 17 crucial, yet simple steps that will guide you to your version of uncommon success. To sum it up. The common path to uncommon success is your roadmap to financial freedom and fulfillment. Also I've convinced 17 of the world's most successful entrepreneurs to contribute their genius to these 17 steps. We're talking about entrepreneurial all-stars like hel Al rod Selena, Soo, John Morrow, Billy Jean, Leslie Samuel, Sean Stephenson, Jeff Walker, Amy Porterfield, Russell Brunson, Stu McLaren PatFlynn Rameet Satie and many more by your nation. The time to take control of your future is now visit uncommonsuccessbook.com. And pre-order your copy today pre-orders will help so much in making this book launch a success.

0 (11m 51s):
So if I've added value to your life in any way over the years, it would mean the world. If you pre-ordered this book today and locked in your amazing bonuses, uncommonsuccessbook.com. So Michael, we are back in, let's go a little bit more into your story about e-commerce like what was really the first major traction you got? How'd you turn that traction into a multi-million dollar per year business. And then of course, we're going to wrap up this portion of the interview with how fire nation could become successful in e-commerce in 2021, based off of what you've learned and seen

1 (12m 29s):
What you said a minute ago about, you know, you have a few things that you do. And after that, you know, it starts to get crowded. W my business coach calls that channel capacity, right? It's actually statistically proven that your brain can only handle about three things. Right. And I don't mean three tasks in one time in one sitting, I mean, three things that you do, right. And that's literally the number it is. So in preferably one, two, or even better. But yeah, I completely agree. And I'm limit mine to three as well. You know, and now, as far as where were my first wins, my first wins was, you know, when I opened up my own store and realized that I could do it without spending any of my money. Right. So we weren't, we didn't have to spend any money. I didn't have to go buy a bunch of inventory.

1 (13m 10s):
And so when I saw that started working, my parents had lost their business, right. And so I was supporting them financially. And it was pretty hard on me as well. And once I realized I could run this, I started running one for my parents as well. Now they're both happily retired. And I think when I saw that, when it gave me a huge boost of confidence and also your friends see that when, and they went in and then everyone. So then I started building a team and now we have a team here in Miami of 30 people and in software and all this stuff, now that help us run all of this, where originally it was by hand. And, and so I think that, that my parents' store really was the turning point of knowing that I could do this for someone else and help others.

1 (13m 54s):
Do you know who Marcus Limonus is? By the way? Yes. The profit. Yes, yes, yes. The profit. Yeah. So Marcus is worth about a billion dollars. And so he doesn't need the show. He doesn't need these other companies, but what he does is in order to get him to the next level, which is the name of my company, is to bring other people up with him and to win, right? So he buys, you know, give everyone a background. If they're not familiar, he buys about 50% of failing businesses and he takes them up with him. So he wins and they win together. So I believe, you know, John Maxwell said it best. If you help other people get what they want, they'll help you get what you want. So that's something I've tried to live by. And then eventually, you know, I brought my friends and family in first, and then we brought it to the public.

1 (14m 37s):
And now, you know, we've grown this pretty massively. And you know, a few short years, you know, this is a eight figure business.

0 (14m 44s):
Now, of course, you know, everybody's going to be running a different business in e-commerce with different products or services or fill in the blank. But what do you think are some keys, you know, as we're in 2021, when it comes to actually being successful, e-commerce if somebody is going to be starting from scratch, what would your recommendations be?

1 (15m 2s):
One, I would go to YouTube, right? You want to use it mostly free resources as you can. So there's tons of people that have been there before you, and that posts all of it on YouTube. When I first started, I still watch YouTube videos. I still watch them. I actually, actually, I was watching some yesterday. You can always learn. You never know more than everyone else. There's always someone that can teach you something. So, and also in the beginning, if you're not cashflow positive, you want to try to get as much free information as you can. Other than that, you want to make sure that you vet your suppliers and you want to make sure that you're also testing, right? You're not going to get it right the first time. So don't be discouraged if it doesn't say whatever you have, isn't selling right away. It's okay. It takes time. And you know, the three rules of marketing are test, test, test.

1 (15m 44s):
So it's going to work the same. We're going to have to test. You're going to have to throw a few things at the wall. You want to just do your research ahead of time. And I believe in the saying a smart man learns from his mistakes, but a wise man learns from others. So if you can go and watch these videos and talk to these people and also reach out to some of them, ask them to help you as a mentor, right? That's something I want to get involved in is helping other people who are like me, who didn't know where to go. They just knew what they wanted. Right. So I always had a big goal, but I didn't know how to get there. So I think with e-commerce, it's the same as any other business, do your research take advantage of free information and try to go find someone that's been where you want to be and model after that person.

1 (16m 25s):
And then just add your creative touch to it

0 (16m 27s):
And fire nation. What's your unique advantage? Like, do you have a unique advantage? You have unique knowledge, expertise, passion that you can bring to what you're starting or doing. How can you build a moat around that? Because I'm sure what Michael has found is he's been able to be successful because he's not easily replicated. Like I can't just be like popping up a million competitors right away, because he's doing something so simple. I like that phrase so much that the higher, the barrier, the lower the competition. So go after something that is challenging in a way, because your competition will be so much less. If you do that, build a high barrier, lower your competition, have that moat around your business, your e-commerce. So it just can't be snapped. The fingers replicated by everybody around the world.

0 (17m 8s):
And let's talk now about how fire nation can reach their potential. I mean, we've been talking about being relentless, sacrificing, and goals and discipline, all critical things. How can fire nation reach their potential in 2021 and beyond

1 (17m 26s):
Worked for me and reaching your potential. And what I think are, like I said, one is really try to find somebody and this could be in books. It doesn't have to be in person. And, you know, I mean, I would love to have Elon Musk as my mentor, but what are the chances of that? Right? So, but what you can do is I read a lot of biographies or autobiographies, whatever it is to study after people that you want to be like and see what they've to get there. And also really look for their pitfalls, look what they've done wrong. And so you don't make those same mistakes. So I found a mentor, his name's Bob Proctor. I'm sure some of you guys might know him and something that he helped me that I realized that I was doing. And just wasn't conscious of it is you need to have a big goal, right?

1 (18m 9s):
And a lot of times people, if you go to go to any person, right, that said they want to be successful and ask them, what's their goal, right? They don't have a clear, concise goal. They say, or let's say, for example, someone says, Oh, I want to be rich. That's not a goal. That's not a, that is not an attainable number because that's perspective, right. Rich to you is probably different than rich to me. But I think when you set a big goal, it's basically the destination of your life. When you go to get an Uber or you go to get into your car, do you just drive? Probably not. You should know where you're going. There might be some people that do that, but it's not a great strategy. Right? You go and you get an Uber and tell them, yeah, I want to go. I want to go to the mall. I'm going to say, well, which one? The mall, I don't know.

1 (18m 49s):
Just take me wherever I need to go. He's going to tell you to get up. Right. Cause it makes no sense. It makes no logical sense to drive around in circles to get to your destination, that you don't even know where you're going. So I think a lot of people do that in life. They have no clue where they're going. They go around in circles, they waste all their gas. Then they're out of gas on the side of the road and they're miserable and depressed and sad. And now they have, they can't figure out why though. Right? And so what I would do is set a goal, a clear, concise goal. And then you have to have the actions to back it up, right? You're not going to be a multimillionaire sitting on the couch, watching Netflix. Right? So have the, have the goal, have the faith that you're going to get there and the relentless attitude, and then have the actions to back it up.

1 (19m 31s):
So your thoughts do become things, but you have to go out and work for it and not, you know, and never say, give up

0 (19m 37s):
Michael wilding Jr. That was a mic drop rants. I loved it. I know fire nation loved it. So how can we find out more about you? How can we follow you, connect with you. Any call to action you have for us share that now, brother,

1 (19m 50s):
I think the best way for people to get ahold of me so they can also interact with me. It would be through my Instagram. It's where is Walding? W H E R E I S. And then Walding is my last name. W A L D I N G. Where is Walding? And if you guys go on there, you'll see a link to my website and how we help people, you know, open up their own Amazon and Walmart stores. And if you guys go on there and want to book a call, just mention the podcast that you saw me on here, and we'll give you 25% off

0 (20m 21s):
Fire nation. You know, this should the average of the five people you spend the most time with. You've been hanging out with M w J and J L D. So keep up that heat and head over to eofire.com type Michael in the search bar, in his shield on spiritual Papa, with everything that we've talked about today, best show notes in the biz, timestamps links galore. And of course, make sure you follow Michael over at where is wilding on Instagram. That's where his welding and click through. Check out a site book. A call mentioned entrepreneurs on fire. Twenty-five percent off all the greatness. Michael, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, you are value with fire nation today.

0 (21m 2s):
For that we salute you and we will catch you on the flip side. Thanks guys. Hope to hear from you soon. Hey, fire nation today's value bomb content was brought to you by Michael and successful entrepreneurs. They accomplish big goals, huge goals. That's why I created the freedom journal to guide you in accomplishing your number one goal in a hundred days. And we're talking step-by-step so visits the freedom journal.com use promo code podcast for a $15 discount. And thank you for listening to my podcast and I will catch you there, or I'll catch you on the flip side. Fire nation. Are you looking for a step-by-step roadmap to financial freedom and fulfillment? Well, I have some great news for you.

0 (21m 43s):
My first traditionally published book, the common path to uncommon success is available for pre-order. Now visit uncommonsuccessbook.com to pre-order today and lock in the incredible bonuses that are going away soon. Uncommonsuccessbook.com.