From 300 Pounds to $419 Million: How Mike Fata Built Success Through Health and Community

From 300 Pounds to $419 Million: How Mike Fata Built Success Through Health and Community

Kelly Kennedy: Welcome to episode 194 of the Business Development Podcast. And on today's expert guest interview, it is my pleasure to welcome Mike Fata, best selling author, sold his business for nine figures, and now he helps entrepreneurs everywhere. Not to mention, he wants to talk to us about how to live our best day, every day. Stick with us. You are not going to want to miss this episode.

Intro: The great Mark Cuban once said, Business happens over years and years value is measured in the total upside of a business relationship, not by how much you squeezed out in any one deal. And we couldn't agree more. This is the business development podcast based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and broadcasting to the world.

You'll get expert business development, advice, tips, and experiences, and you'll hear interviews with business owners. CEOs and business development reps, you'll get actionable advice on how to grow business. Brought to you by capital business development, CapitalBD.ca let's do it. Welcome to the business development podcast, and now your expert host, Kelly Kennedy.

Kelly Kennedy: Hello, welcome to episode 194 of the business development podcast. And today we have an absolutely exceptional individual to bring for you. Today. We're chatting with Mike Fata. Mike is a visionary entrepreneur, renowned for co-founding Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods in 1998 and leading the company as chairman and CEO until its strategic sale to Tilray for $419 million in 2019.

His journey began with personal transformation in 1995 when he lost over 100 pounds and dedicated his life to studying and practicing natural health. Over the past 25 years, Mike has become a best selling author, keynote speaker, and a media fixture, sharing his expertise on natural health, nutrition, and sustainable business practices.

His leadership and innovation have earned him numerous accolades, including Young Entrepreneur of the Year and EY Entrepreneur of the Year awards. Currently, Mike is the CEO of FATA and Associates, Chairman of the Board for Nuts4Cheese, and Global Growth Advisor for Mid-day Squares. He continues to inspire and mentor entrepreneurs through his top ranking podcast, Founder to Mentor, and his free mentorship program, Fatafleishman.org. Mike's latest venture, his best selling book, Grow! 12 Unconventional Lessons for Becoming an Unstoppable Entrepreneur, encapsulates his ethos of passion, integrity, and community. From his humble beginnings to multiple nine figure business exits. Mike Fata's story is a testament to the power of resilience and innovation in creating lasting impact.

Get ready to be inspired by a true pioneer in the world of natural health and entrepreneurship. Mike, it's an absolute honor to have you on the show today.

Mike Fata: Yeah, thanks very much. Thanks for having me, Kelly. And thanks for the intro.

Kelly Kennedy: First off. I finished your book, Grow, and we talked about this really briefly before the show, but man, I, you really are, you know, you really are something special.

And it was very humanizing. I was really surprised because the book isn't so much just about your journey and what you've done, but about the change and impact that you want to leave in the world. And that was really what I took away from it. It wasn't so much of, look what I did. It's look what we could do as a community.

Mike Fata: I love that. Look what we could do. Yeah, that's for sure. You know, it's not my legacy is not what I've done. It's, it's what I'm inspiring other people to do. My family, my friends, my community, and then, and then a a broader audience.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah, yeah. And obviously you've accomplished so much, right? Like, your name precedes you, obviously, right?

Anybody coming to the show probably already has a pretty good idea of who Mike Fata is. Like, as a Canadian, you've accomplished more than most. And first off, just let me congratulate you on your success. I know it didn't come easy. It's come with a lot of pain and a lot of sacrifice along the way. And I just want to say, you know, congratulations on your exits, multiple exits.

Mike Fata: I appreciate that. And you know what? I feel like I'm just getting started Kelly. So that's, that's the that's the interesting thing about life and entrepreneurship, you know, it I don't rest on on what I've done. I'm always, you know, what's my next, what's my next stage of growth. What's next for me.

And it's just the mindset I've had. And I think that is a winning mindset and I share that with other people, but that's, that's authentically how I, how I see it.

Kelly Kennedy: Well, yeah. And that's what I gathered as well, is that like at this point, you know, you are so dedicated to continuing to help the entrepreneurial community.

And, you know, I, I can say like, from my standpoint, that's what I aim to do as well. So I definitely align with you on my goal. And. You know, it sounds like not only can you, but you now have the means to do so, you know, however you like. And I think that that's a really cool place to be. And I'm really excited to chat with you about that as we go on.

But, you know, for the listeners that have come here, maybe they haven't got to the book yet. Who is Mike Fata? How did you end up on this journey?

Mike Fata: Yeah. You know, I'm a Canadian based in. In Winnipeg, Manitoba, and I've been an entrepreneur for over 25 years, I found my passion for health after losing 100 and diving deep into the world of making myself better.

And that led me to get into have interest in and get into the hemp food business, commercializing hemp hearts and some of the first hemp food products in Canada. And I was just super passionate about, okay, I built my best. Me that I could be now. Can I build the best business that I can build? And and that's what kind of got me kicked off.

And I've been doing that for 25 years now. We were successful in growing Manitoba Harvest to 100 million revenue business and then selling it five years ago now. And over the last five years, I've reinvented myself as an investor, an advisor, a mentor, you know, author, speaker. It's. All really focused on growth and, and personal and professional growth.

I can't turn that stuff off. You know, that's just who I am.

Kelly Kennedy: Man. There's a lot of people, Mike, that would say like, dude, you sold your business. You walked away with probably a good chunk of change, a lot more than many people do. And yet you still jumped right back into business. Like I always say, entrepreneurship is just a part of who we are.

You can't, you can't escape it. And so many successful people, people look at them and say like, You just walked away with, you know, hundreds of millions of dollars could do anything he wanted and yet finds himself right back in the business world. Can we talk about that?

Mike Fata: Yeah. You know, I'm a recovering entrepreneur, so I'm, I'm not operating a business.

I mean, I operate my, my family holds cone investment company. But any of the portfolio companies that I'm invested in, I. I advise the founders sometimes I'm involved with the, on the board as a chairman or, or a director helping them with governance and, and just good business practices. But I'm not, I say recovering entrepreneur because I'm not prepared to to eat the shit sandwiches every day of, of actually operating a business again.

And so, you know, I, I use my, but you know, I, I realized early on that, that. I can't do nothing, you know, I need to be personally and professionally growing and I want that for everybody else. And so, you know, nowadays I just feel like I'm, I'm time wealthy and the way that I like to spend my time is, is helping other people be their best self and build the best thing that they can build.

Kelly Kennedy: And you know, like health has been something that I have struggled with and many Canadians struggle with right like, you know, I was listening to your story and you kind of took both swings, you know, you you had you had an eating disorder, which led to a lot of weight gain, and then went the complete opposite way and ended up with another eating disorder that led to anorexia.

I was just like, Oh, dude, like, I've been there. I get it. Like, I've struggled with my weight since I was 13 years old, man, and I, I still struggle with my weight to this day, and it is just one of those things that, like, internally, ugh, I resonated with that, dude. It really looks like now you've got it all together.

Like, can we talk about that journey a little bit?

Mike Fata: For sure. Yeah. You know, I was uneducated about health when I was young and I grew up with a poor single mom. And so cheap food and, and fast food was just part of the part of the program. It was like the basis of it. And so I was just never educated about health when I, when I had enough at 18 years old, after weighing 300 pounds and being sick and tired, like all the time.

And I was literally sick and tired of being sick and tired. I, I jumped onto the health journey and. You know, I, I didn't know anything about health and so I had to learn everything. And yeah, so I went through a number of what I would call fad diets. Like the no fat diet was very popular in the mid 1990s.

And so I, I read the, the, the book, Dr. Nathan Pritikin and understood, okay, you don't eat fat and then you, you'll lose your fat. And, and so I started eating a no fat diet and working out and exercising and two. But then I, I just, I learned the exercise and the different things that I was doing was great.

But the diet that I had chosen that I thought was. Was, was the best thing was, was actually not sustainable. I don't think for anyone, I don't think anyone should be eating a no fat diet, essential fatty acids, which weren't that popular then you know, are, are now people understand Omega threes and good healthy fats.

But that kind of led me down the next stage of my journey and, and exploring more, you know, more diet protocols and, and other wellness protocols and, 25 years later, people see now what it's been for like two decades of stacking that on top of each other. You know, I do live a really healthy lifestyle.

I'm well educated on health, both from nutrition and diet, but also exercise and healing modalities, natural healing modalities. And, and I practice all of that on a regular basis.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. Yeah. And you know, obviously at this point in your life, you can really just. Focus on how can I be the healthiest version of myself possible?

And I want to chat a little bit about that because. You know, in a lot of cases, I think people get there when they suffer some type of illness or ailment. Right. I guess on a certain level, you kind of did when you were 300 pounds, right? Like on a certain level?

Mike Fata: I, I and I give people different perspective, but you're right.

There's usually a catalyst that that, that gets someone jumped off on their journey. Like my little sister she got cancer when she was 21 years old and thyroid cancer, and then went a full natural. Lifestyle, natural diet. And thankfully you know, after some surgeries and stuff, she, she, she kicked the cancer.

But then it became super passionate and went back to school and became a naturopathic doctor. But that was her aha moment. You know, my aha moment was, you know, literally when I was 300 pounds, I just, I, I didn't feel well every single day, you know, and, and I just had enough. There was a, it was a straw that broke the camel's back.

So thankfully, no major. Illness or disease, but like that, that situation that my, that my body was in and where my kind of mind and emotions and even spirit were at was, was rock bottom, you know?

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah, no, but I look at you now and I just think like, first off, like, you know, no one can see you. It's a podcast, but like, you're incredibly fit.

Like, you know, I mean, no one would ever look at Mike and say, Mike was 300 pounds, right? Like you completely changed it around, obviously went through a lot of adversity, like losing 100 pounds, losing 200 pounds, whatever is a lot of weight to lose. It is not an easy task for anybody. You know, can we talk about that journey?

Like, I imagine the mental resilience that you built from that experience was really the catalyst for starting Harvest Hemp.

Mike Fata: Yeah, you know, I think a lot of discipline obviously, but it gets it gets easier when you feel shitty and then you start doing things on a daily basis. That make you feel better than you want to feel better.

Right. And I just went down that, that rabbit hole. So yeah, there was a lot of discipline, especially around a diet and, and and understanding what I was putting in my mouth, because, you know, let's face it, that's 80 percent of of it for, for most people, like the human body is an amazing machine, it will.

It can heal itself and you can get, you can go from obese and illness and disease to, to athletic, you know, it, you just can't, it takes time. And so, you know, it it takes time and, and discipline. A lot of people suffer because it's not, there's not all this information that's just that everyone has.

So you have to learn and then practice and experiment on yourself and see what really works for you for, for a healthy lifestyle that is sustainable, that you're going to do it actually every day.

Kelly Kennedy: Oh man. And that's obviously like the part that we all struggle with, right? All of us have been on fad diets.

All of us have taken that jump. You know, I look back to being a young man. I smoked too. You talked about it in the book. I smoked until I was 25. And I remember just like you, I hit a wall where I was like, I can't do this anymore. Like I can no longer smoke. This is not what I want to do. And dude, like you, like you said, you tried to quit like 18 times.

I'm sure I'm right there with you. I swear to God, dude, it took me like at least 15 to 18 times or more to like quit smoking. Like it was so hard, but I remember the resilience I felt when I knew that I had finally Kick the habit that it was really a part of my past that I wasn't going back to that. And dude, I think I owe the person and like the strength I have today and the bravery I have today in a lot of ways to 25 year old Kelly who kicked smoking, which seems really ridiculous, but it is those.

Those seemingly minuscule obstacles that give us so much strength.

Mike Fata: Well, quitting smoking tobacco isn't a small obstacle. I mean, people have likened it to harder than quitting like heroin or hard drugs, just because of the habitual and chemical you know, addiction to it. But I think you're right in, and I talk to people all the time, like, if you can If you could stack up little wins, like if you're in a place that you don't want to be in your life, you're, you're overweight, or you're not, your mood's not good, or you're feeling depressed, or you're not in the job that you want, or, or you don't have the family and the community that you want, the friends group, like any of that, right, you can take steps to you.

Make that. So you have to have a clear vision of what you want and then, and then take baby steps because when you do start getting these little wins, it brings more confidence and then when you have confidence, you can get more little wins and keep stacking those up until you get to a place which I.

Call living your best day ever right being in full control of your health, your well being the work that you're doing and and and you know, doing exceptional work. It's something that you love and then having a very strong, robust community, you know, both internal, like with your family and friend group and then and then external as well.

And it's all very, very possible. It's just, you know, you got to get clear that you want that and and then start working at it, start chipping away at it.

Kelly Kennedy: I loved your, I loved your concept of best day ever. I'm not sure that I've had it yet. I don't think so. But I've definitely struggled with balance.

Mike, I have, you know, like, especially since I became an entrepreneur, I feel like I have. I've gotten out of balance with my own health. There's no question there. I've talked about it on the show plenty of times. Like I've struggled with going to the gym and doing my daily workouts and looking after myself and still feeling like.

I've gotten everything work wise that I wanted to get done in my day, right? And yet, I know, I know, like, I've talked to so many people like you, who's like, Kelly, get it together, like, you gotta figure out how to balance this stuff. But I know I'm not alone, dude. I know I'm not alone.

Mike Fata: Yeah, I love the word balance, you know, I've actually just declared a war on the word balance.

And balance means something different to everybody, and I get what you're saying. But I, you know, life's not always balanced, right? Like, You know, look at, look at it out in the animal kingdom and, and when a when a tiger is like hunting prey and they're just running and running and running and running for the full day or multiple days to catch their prey and then, and that's their work, you know, and then, and then they go into like, relax mode, hibernation almost, and just sleep for like, you know, two thirds, three quarters of the day, is that balance, you know, or, or is that just understanding the rhythm of life?

Because as entrepreneurs, like you have to understand the rhythm and, and the rhythm needs to be sustainable. That's why if you're your best self and you take the hour in the morning to do a wellness routine, practice and do some workouts, get the, get the body right, you know, or take, take a half an hour in the day to, to, to shop for good groceries and, and make, you know, get, get a diet going of like whole foods, you know, like healthy whole foods.

It's very. That will make you 10 times more effective in your work. You know, that'll make you enjoying yourself more. And then you could wake up and do that day after day after day. So I think about that as like, what's the rhythm that you need to take to, to, because I worked multiple, multiple like years.

Of hundred hour work weeks, you know and I wouldn't say that was balanced, but I kept, it was sustainable for me because I had the right rhythm.

Kelly Kennedy: Sure. Sure. What were you like, man, a hundred hour. Wow. I feel you. That's crazy. You know, talk to me a little bit about that. Like, obviously as entrepreneurs, In our own organizations, we're very driven to make them successful, and we do tend to put in what it takes, and sometimes that's straight to burnout.

Like, you know, I've talked to plenty of entrepreneurs on the show who have worked themselves straight to burnout, ended up hospitalized, like, we do that to ourselves, and you know, how were you able to, how were you able to do that? And still, you know, keep to it. And I know you talked in the book that originally, like when you eventually left Manitoba Harvest Hemp, you were ready to leave, like that was, you'd put in the time, you were ready to make that leap.

And obviously it took a lot of time. You guys were very successful. It made a lot of sense financially, but you know, for the young entrepreneurs, the ones who are maybe they're in their first, second, third, fourth, fifth year. And you know, they're, they love what they do, but they're, they're tired. They're struggling.

You know, can we talk a little bit about that? Mike?

Mike Fata: Yeah. You know, I started Manitoba Harvest when I was 21. Right. And I, I believe now and I'm 48 now. And so I, I believe that, you know, in your twenties and even into your thirties is the time that you could take big risks in life and you can push the needle, you know, you just can't, it gets harder.

The older that you get, right? But when you're, when, when you're in your twenties, you, you could for sure dive into that. And, and, but I go back to like health, health, health, you know, the, the, the reason that I could work a hundred hour work weeks was because I was personally taking care of my health, even though a hundred hour work weeks is very, very stressful.

That, that part's not one, one wouldn't say that's not taking care of your health, but say, well, look at like professional athletes, you know, someone that is at a national level or even an international level that, you know, the athletes that are going to the Olympics, they're working their butt off, you know, they're working their body, their mind, their emotions, like they're, they're just going full tilt.

The reason that that that sustainable is because they eat really clean, they sleep, they hydrate, they have some de stressing exercise, like a meditation, maybe some breath work, right? Like they do therapies physical therapy, massage and stuff emotional processing therapy. They have a coach that they talk to, like.

And entrepreneurship is very much like being an athlete. You need to perform your best, learn the new trick of the day of the week of the month, perform it excellent and get better at it all the time. And so the things that you can control about being your best self. are really the foundation for setting you up to build your best business.

And, and, and even if it does feel kind of stressed and you're doing the work, like it should be sustainable.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. Yeah. And it sounds too like, you know, what I got from the book was that it came across very authentic. Like, you know, with the vibe I got From the book was that Mike is incredibly authentic.

He's not afraid to speak his mind. He's not afraid to talk about his challenge. Was that always you? Is this a new development as time went on?

Mike Fata: Yeah, I don't think it was always me. When I was young, I was, I was scared, right? Because I, I, I wanted people to like me and I was, I didn't want to tell people like that I grew up with a broken family and just grew up with my mom or that we were poor, you know, and then after I chose to drop out of high school, I wasn't so proud to tell people that I dropped out of high school because people said, Oh, you're going to be a loser.

They had all this judgment, right? What I found though, and it was, it was about the time that I started really going to therapy on a, on a regular basis. Yeah. Which has been like 20 years. I remember the therapist asking me a question, like, what was my biggest fear? You know? And I, and I responded after kind of like, you know, just the having a body moment of my biggest fear is regressing to the person that I was before, you know, like out of overweight, out of shape, not in control of my emotions and stuff.

And. And she said, you know, how does that feel? How does that feel to, to hear those words coming out of your mouth? And I said, I mean, it sounds ridiculous. And she's like, exactly. That's kind of what I thought, you know, but it was speaking those words that were the moment of my worst fear coming to life and it's not so bad.

And so then I realized that. And this got intensified as I got into social media here over the last number of years is when I share a piece of myself, like my concern, my fear, something that I, that was a challenge for me that I got past. Like, it makes me stronger. It brings more confidence to me. I don't, I don't worry about what people are thinking about me.

You know, and so I encourage people like don't, Don't hide in the shadows of your darkness, stand in your light, you know, even if it's, even if it's like sweeping out the, the dark stuff from your past or, or, or some of the things that you feel are holding you back, like bring that into the light because we feel best when we're standing in our light, not, not, not hiding in the shadows of our darkness.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah, no, for sure, for sure. And I've struggled with that. Honestly, like it people, people hear this show now and they're like, Oh, Kelly, you know, you're out there, you're out there in the world's like, you have no idea how challenging it was for me to come out here and start to have these conversations and put myself on the line.

I, I'm very introverted, dude. Like I grew up, you know, same playing video games, building models, like I was that nerdy kid who liked to work alone and do my own things and kind of live in my own world. And I became a lot more extroverted, more so out of necessity when I kind of ended up in the sales world and ended up in business development, but like deep down, I'm still very introverted and there's still parts of me that has a lot of fear with regards to being out there in the world.

But what I kind of recognized was that I had to challenge myself. I had to get out there because that's what I needed to do. And it's gotten easier and easier and easier. But like, I'm one of those people hand up where it's like. I, I still feel nervous

Mike Fata: sometimes. I still get anxiety out of the world, you know, I think here's, here's my learning on that because I do as well, right?

Like feelings are just an emotional response, so it's, it's, it's very possible for us to feel things, but then you know, we're not our feelings, right? And we're not even our, our brain or our body, right? We're, we're, we're, we're the being. And, and so. What is that being have the ability to do it has the ability to witness those feelings and and even those thoughts and if you create that separation and a little bit of gap, then yeah, hey, I go on stage and I'm talking to 500 people the butterflies in my stomach, so to speak, or the nervousness before used to paralyze me when I was just first starting out.

Now I'm, I'm been able to, you know, I have a kind of a pre routine for anything new and stressful that I'm doing a couple breaths and just get myself in the right mind space and then I can feel the, I could feel the pressure still, but I witnessed that pressure and so I have a separation from it. So it doesn't, it doesn't you know, it doesn't throw me off my game.

And again, I like, I love analogies that, you know, bringing other parts so that people can, can think about it like sports. When you hear that professional golfers, okay when they're taking a very serious putt to get the, to, to, to win a championship or, or to win a round or even to win a certain hole, their heart rate can be up at like 140 or 150 beats a minute, which is like, you know, they're, they're running a marathon kind of pace, you know, and, and Because your body has that ability to kick up into high gear really for the benefit so that you're on your point, you're on your game, you're sharp, you're, you're focused.

And so it's best to like let those feelings happen, but just practice being a witness to it. And when, and when I say practice, I'm getting at the like key thing there. It's all about repetitions and repetitions and repetitions, you know, put yourself out in those situations where you're going to get.

More chances to try whatever you're intimidated by.

Kelly Kennedy: Man, okay, I want to spend some time on this with you because you have a lot of public speaking experience. You've been in front of big crowds, you know, big company full of people. Oh man, so many people, like you said, get debilitatingly angry. Anxious about that scenario.

I look at myself and like, I'm, I'm almost a little bit embarrassed to admit it, Mike, but like as a kid, sometimes I'd be going to job interviews and same thing. I'd be like pouring sweat. I like nervous as could be like, to the point of like, almost not being able to talk Talk to me a little bit about like, how do you overcome that?

Because it's a physiological response. Like some people, I would say in those moments, I didn't have control, or at least I felt like I had no control over how I was feeling. How have you been able to overcome that? You know, I talked to public speakers a lot. And that's one of the questions I always want to know, because When it feels out of control, how do you take control back?

Mike Fata: Yeah, I, well, I think that it's, it's in preparation, right? Is the is the key thing. And, and the best thing we could do to, to prepare from my experience is visualize what we want the outcome to be. So visualization exercises, I've learned a lot about them over the years. I practice it on the, on a regular basis.

I practice, My days, you know what? I'm visualizing my days, what I want them to be. But for sure, if I'm I'm in a new circumstance, I want to spend some time visualizing what I want the outcome to be. And if I'm if and if I'm, you know, talking to someone, a mentor, a friend that's done whatever I'm trying to do before.

I will even ask them what good looks like, like what, what would they want out of it? What, so that I can even visualize that even clear, because I believe if, you know, we can't do, there's no dress rehearsals in life, but visualization. Is the closest thing to address rehearsal. And I put a post out on LinkedIn the other day about it, because one of my favorite quotes, Shaun White, snowboarder, Shaun White, gold medalists, renowned, you know, he said he was the first person to do a 1080, flip trick, right?

Which is like three rotations on the board. And this is many years ago. But he said he, he visualized himself doing that trick successfully over a thousand times in his mind before he actually landed it the first time. And so you could do that, you know, like you, you could, before you walk into the meeting, you Be prepared with like, what do you think you're going to say?

What do you think they're going to say? What are you going to say back to them? And like, have that storyboard play a little bit. If you're going to go into a public speaking event, doesn't matter if it's like five people or 500 people, like visualize what it's going to feel like on stage and, and obviously what you're going to say.

But like, yeah, it becomes, those are, there's, those are ways to do repetitions without actually stepping into the circumstance yet.

Kelly Kennedy: Do you rehearse every one of your speeches or do you go by talking points?

Mike Fata: A little bit of both. I mean, I've been, it's been 20 years of me talking corporately, right.

To promoting our business to our customers, to consumers, to government. And so, you know, a lot of it is a mix of storytelling and, and and, and marketing, right. When it came to the business, you know, at my own personal story it's very, obviously very familiar to me. So I think about the preparation for, for a speech is usually with the organizer, what are they trying to, what do they want?

Like I have a, we could talk about, you know growing a business or, or pieces of the business. How do you build culture in your organization? You know, how, how do you, how do you bring on new customers or innovation of product? But a lot of times if I'm, if I'm talking about my journey, From high school dropout to 100 million CEO and now an investor, author, speaker you know, it's just ingrained in me.

So I, I, I prep only on kind of the chapters that I'm going to share, you know, and not so much like, what are the words? I think what I've seen from other people and I've experienced it myself, if you're going to give a talk is if you write the talk out and you try to go the memorization approach. Usually fails, right?

Because it's really hard to it's really hard to memorize. Whereas if you're giving the same talk and you just give yourself like 10 bullet words and the bullet word reminds you of what you're going to jump off and say for that portion of the talk. Works much, much better.

Kelly Kennedy: Awesome. Okay. Awesome. I really appreciate that because I actually had an interview a while ago with Carmen Leibel.

So ex news anchor who she now teaches public speaking, and she does recommend that you rehearse the whole speech and I was like, Carmen, I don't know if I can do that.

Mike Fata: Well, you can, don't get me wrong. Like rehearse the speech, but the speech doesn't have to be the same every time. Memorizations, memorized speeches are the worst, you know, because it sounds robotic and everyone listening to it goes, Hmm, it doesn't feel like it's, you know, it's really real.

But. I'm not saying don't practice your speech. I actually like I like practicing just to shoot video and watch myself on video. And it's more so for, you know, yes, you'll, you'll, you'll understand. Did I bring the most emotion to that? Statement that I wanted to share. Did I have my hands in my pocket?

And how, well, how's my posture? You know, those kinds of things that, that just watching, watching video and whatever you're doing, whether it's whether it's public speaking or, or you're playing a sport or, you know, it's just very helpful to, again, witness yourself in, in, in third person.

Kelly Kennedy: I'm happy you took it to that because I wanted to chat about that because you're right, you have amazing videos.

I really love your videos by the way. And I do, I do watch them all the time. And one of the things that I wanted to chat with you about is. I get very nervous in front of camera. I have my whole life. I'm just like that. So I'm learning that I'm recognizing that for me, that's a weak point of Kelly. And that's the part where I need to work on my own.

It has nothing to do with me. With what I'm going to say it has so much to do with me as a person Feeling uncomfortable about that situation and I've kind of stayed out of it You know I've done it i've done a show for like two years at this point by the time the show comes out And most of the shows have been audio more so because that's what I believe a podcast should be but too because I've, I've been a little nervous behind the camera and I'm starting to realize that I need to do more on that front.

I've had amazing guests who like, Kelly, why don't you, why don't you don't like you to your LinkedIn all the time, putting out videos? I'm like, I just, I've been uncomfortable with it. Can we talk about that? Like, what was it like for you? Was that the same experience for you and you had to work on that or were you just immediately good to go?

Mike Fata: No, I'm not a natural at at anything I do. If I'm, if I'm a natural, it's, it's I have a natural finance mind. You know, I think my mom was an accountant and numbers come easy to me. So that part of business is more natural. Everything from a sales and marketing, putting myself out there is, is all is all practiced, right?

It's just, it's just more and more repetitions. But I think, listen, I think about it this way. Our brain's job is to keep us safe, generally. Okay. So your brain's really smart and we'll do everything it possibly can to keep you safe. And if that means after you shoot the first video that you start running thoughts through your head, Oh, Kelly, you know, I, you didn't have enough energy there.

Oh, I don't like the way you look like all those thoughts, whatever they are, we'll cut, we'll play in our mind so that. We don't do it again. Right. And then we're safe, you know? Yeah. And and so you have to overcome that. And again, go back to like, yeah, you could think it or feel it, but you're gonna do another 10 reps anyway, you know?

And because think about it this way, if you're outta shape, you're, you're a, you're a, you're, you're either over overweight or you're a small, skinny guy or gal. And you walk into the gym and you want to start working out and get into better shape. Well, after one day or two days or three days, a week, two weeks, whatever, you're not going to have any results, right?

But you're going to have a lot of opportunity for your brain to tell you, Oh, I don't fit here. I don't belong. We should just not go there, you know? And so I bring that to every day. Exercise I'm doing in life and, and media is no different. Like four years ago, I wasn't on social media, right? I wasn't telling my story like up until like a year, a year and a half ago, I wasn't doing any video.

Now I have. Multiple shows and, and, and sharing a bunch of pieces. And, and I feel like I've done so many repetitions so far of it that I don't have to really prep. I just, I can show up and I know, okay, I'm ready to play now, you know?

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. And, and I get that because that's how I feel about podcasts now.

And in the beginning, it wasn't like that dude, episode three was just about the end of the show.

Mike Fata: When I first got my studio, all the pieces of my studio, I was so, I was so like, how do all these things work? You know, cause it's a lot to learn lighting camera, whatever. And and those can all just be distractions too.

And so when I, when I think about something and, you know, I launched 62nd pitch is my latest a show where I'm, where I'm profiling entrepreneurs. And, and I told myself when I, when I did that, that I was going to do a hundred of those. Episodes before I really, really said, Hey, is this working or not working?

Do I enjoy this? And, and because that would give me enough time and that, that, that's like probably two years worth, right? A year and a half, two years worth. And and now we're like episode 20 or 20, 22. And I'm already like, okay. And we're advancing it and, and, and making changes and stuff. But I just know that that's the best way to, and I don't think it's just.

Tricking myself that way. I think, I think that's a, that's a good place to put the carrot for a number of people. If they're, if they're starting out on something new, that thing is, is totally foreign to them.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. Yeah. And you know, there was something about COVID that, and you know, obviously COVID changed a lot, but I think there was something that.

That COVID changed with regards to how business is going to be done. How, how, how important personal branding is. It's like, I feel like there wasn't a big spotlight and then COVID happened. And now it was like, you need to figure out how you are going to be you in the world. It's no longer just about the company that you have.

People want to know who are you, who's the person behind the company. And so, It was 2022 when I realized that I needed to do something. And I love podcasts. I listen to them all the time. So for me, it was like, okay, I'm going to try that. I'm going to see how that goes. I could have picked YouTube. It was on the list of things that I was thinking about, but.

I loved podcasts. And so that's why I started this and thank God. Cause I, I apparently have a voice for it, but yeah.

Mike Fata: It's one of those. So, I mean, I, I felt again, I wasn't into social media and my personal brand because when I was working and when I was, when I wasn't working, I wanted to be home with my family.

And I, and I just, it, that changed for me after and the pandemic was a driver for that. Like when our trade shows got canceled that spring. Thanks. I was, how am I going to see all my friends and check out new products and stuff? And so I took to LinkedIn, but I think you're right. I think what the, what the pandemic did, and especially the times of lockdown were give you a view into everybody's home, so to speak, and that's where.

You know, the people's interest in theh, you know, of other authentic people, like Sally likes cats. She has cats. You can see the cats in the background and in, in her videos. Okay. Well, that's cool. That's not a weird thing. Like, Hey, 10, 20 years ago in business, people thought you had to wear a suit and tie and you had to look a certain way.

And obviously there's still industries that do that, but more of the world is just changing to it's not casual Friday. It's be yourself every day. You know be appropriate, of course, for business, but like be yourself every day, because us being our authentic self is our superpower. That's what really, what we bring to businesses and bring to opportunities.

And, and I just felt that the more than I'm myself, like I declared to the world, like I wear board shorts, you know, every day of my life, it doesn't matter. Summer, winter. Hopefully more sometimes on the beach in the, in the winter. But like, you know, I just, it's, it's comfortable for me. And and, and I've realized the more that I'm my, and that's one little example, but the more that I'm myself, the war, the more that the world accepts me, right.

Because when we try to, to, to mask ourselves or, or try to be somebody else, that's when we're not being authentic and people can just smell inauthenticity like a mile away. Right. Especially nowadays.

Kelly Kennedy: Yes. And I look at like, I look at being a kid. And it was Hyde who you were. You know what I mean? Like, we, me and you, like, you're 10 years older than me, I'm 35, I guess you're 48, so we're like, we're right in there, but I was like a little kid when you, when you launched your first company, but like, I feel like I spent so much of my life trying to be someone else.

You know, and it's, it's so weird because it's like, you're right. It's kind of like a light switches has flipped. And it's like, I was always this tough kid who like did what I need to do. And I sucked up my feelings and I wasn't very authentic. You know, it's a really weird thing to like recognize now that it's like, we have this free pass to be who we were, but yet we've lived so much of our life hiding it.

Mike Fata: I think that's why, again, I think that's why therapy is good. You know, I, I've learned that the, the, the best, the best athletes and entrepreneurs and executives and artists in the world have, have coaches, right? Performance coaches. If people like the term performance coach over a therapist, Then let's make it a, but let's make it about performance coaches, right?

But performance coaches or therapists can, can bring us to a place of, of healing and growth that we're not going to get to ourselves, you know? And that, and that, that's why I'm a big, a big fan of it. And the more that we heal ourself and we feel proud about ourself, the easier it is to be our authentic self.

Right. And so the journey for many is really going to start with, you know, healing your emotional child and and, and becoming really, really comfortable with who you are as an individual and then shine that out to the world, shine that light.

Kelly Kennedy: Dude. Yeah. I went to therapy for the first time during COVID.

I'd never been to therapy in my entire life. And I remember feeling, man, I was nervous. Like I was like. I don't need therapy.

Mike Fata: Yeah. Brain, brain, brain trying to protect you again. Yeah. Well, everyone, everyone needs it. I, I, I, I share a lot about it. I'll just make a big impact in my life. But people saying that they don't need therapy are usually full of shit.

That's like saying you don't need to go to the gym. Right. And, and people realize that generally too late in life when they, when, or, or later than they, than they, they would choose. And when they're out of shape physically or they have a, a mental or emotional, you know, Problem or, or even breakdown, right?

But it is, it's, it's scary because there's nowhere to hide with a good therapist, you're going to be working through your own stuff, you know?

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah, yeah, no, I I did end up enjoying the experience. So for those of you who are on the fence about therapy, just go, it's it's not as bad as you think, and it doesn't make you weak if anything, it makes you stronger.

Mike Fata: For sure.

I mean, now we're living in the time of knowing that, but yeah, or reframe it as Reframe it as going to visit your performance coach and who doesn't want to perform better in all aspects of their life.

Kelly Kennedy: Totally. I know there's a lot of people, Mike, that are listening to this show. They've searched you and they're like, this dude has done amazing things.

Like he couldn't have suffered through that much adversity. And yet in the book, There's an eight week period of your life and I don't mean to like make this has been such a great conversation I don't want to take it to a downer But I think that there's a there's lessons to be learned here for a lot of people You had an eight week portion of your life where you lost your mother.

U were going through a divorce And you were, I believe you were selling your company or the deal had closed?

Mike Fata: Yeah. Yeah. Call it the triple grieving effect, you know, and, and, and a lot of entrepreneurs don't realize that, you know, when they sell a business, not only is it positive, like you have money in the bank, but there's a, there's a hardship, there's a grieving process.

Portion of life is dead. You know, like I literally, after we sold the company the next day, I couldn't go and show up at the office anymore and talk to my team of, of team members that I built over 20 years to relationships together. And it just so happened that yeah, within the two months my ex and I have 15 years decided it was time to separate and be the co parents to our kids and my mom passed away unexpectedly.

And so I kind of hit the triple grieving where. You know, I couldn't show up to to the office because I wasn't welcome there anymore. I didn't have my kids every other week, and so I couldn't be a dad. I couldn't even have my dad hat on at those times. And I could no longer go and talk to my mom, and I didn't feel like I got closure there because it was, it was sudden, her passing.

And yeah, it was a really, really challenging time in life. And I'm thankful that that I had enough, I had done enough work on myself over the years, you know, workshops and therapy and health practices and all that, but I knew what I had to do and what I ended up doing was going into monk mode which for people aren't.

I'm familiar with that. You can Google it. Like monk mode is a real thing where you just intensely focus on your health and being your best self and, you know, making sure you're sleeping good and you're eating good and you're hydrating and you're working out and all these things that I knew. But like, really, really, that was my focus for, for a number of months.

Until I felt like, I had processed all the grieving, you know, because for the days and then the weeks, even I would just an emotional mess. You know, every, every, every thought that I turned to had a dead end and it was no longer. And so yeah, now I, I tell people about the journey of building your, your best day ever, like building your, your, your practices to become your best self and do your best work and build your best community.

Because not only is that unlimited amount of upside. But it's also downside protection to that when you do find yourselves in times of challenges or times of grief or what I would say, you're, you know, you're in the valley chopping wood and carrying water instead of being on the peak, like, you know, those practices and those habits that you formed are, are, are really, really important.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah, well, let me just say, first off, I'm, I'm, I'm really sorry about the loss of your mother. I think any one of us can relate to how horrible. And painful that is no regardless of how you're doing in life. That is not an experience. Anybody wants to have happen and obviously the loss of your relationship which would have also been devastating at that point and yeah, dude, like I just want to say like person to person I am very sorry about that and I think that you've done amazing things and came out the other side and have a positive I took something that is incredibly painful And used it to inspire other people.

And I just want to say that that was a part of the book that when I read it, I I felt for you. And I just wanted to say, I do, I am sorry.

Mike Fata: No, no, no. I appreciate it. And really, you know what, I I don't have any hard feelings over it. This is the thing about grief is. If you take the time and and, and it's different for everybody, so I acknowledge that, but like you put some process to grief and grieving you can feel all those feelings, have all those thoughts and, and, and your body can process it and then, and then, you know, ultimately get to a place where you let yesterday die.

But the opposite is it can be scary where people like are grieving, but they push it down and they bottle it up, you know, and they, and they don't process and they don't talk about it and that can, that can be with you negatively for the rest of your life. So, you know, I, I took the time to to, to actually go through and, and, and properly grieve and heal in that way.

And, and so I, I, I don't have any negative attachment to it. And I feel like I did the work that I was supposed to do.

Kelly Kennedy: Amazing. Well, and now you use it to inspire the world. And so what a positive spin on a, on a, on a bad situation, I guess.

Mike Fata: Yeah. Well, everyone's going to, everyone's going to experience it.

You know, I say none of us are coming out alive, you know?

Kelly Kennedy: So that's right. Mike. I I gotta ask you dude, like, I come from a lower middle class family, same thing my parents were divorced when I was 12, so, you know, lived in a, lived in a single mom household as well, so very, like, relatable to that, and, you know, always had the dreams of what would I do if I had, you know, unlimited money to do what I wanted to do, I just gotta ask you, like, are you living the life you thought you would live?

Like, or that you dreamed of, is it really like, what is it like to have enough money to do anything that you want to do almost any day that you want to do it? Like, talk to us. Like, you're talking to a lot of entrepreneurs who are dreamers. Like that's what we are. Yeah. All dreaming of you've accomplished it.

Was it everything you hoped for?

Mike Fata: Yeah, I think I'm a simple guy, right? Like, and part of it's because I did grow up poor and, you know, we just didn't, we didn't, it was a simple things, right? We didn't have a good food to eat. I had hand me down clothes, especially when I was overweight, I couldn't buy new clothes.

And so, you know, after I created success and, and, you know, we've had multiple exits of success now, but even the first time that we sold the business the majority of the business. You know, I just, I paid off my house and I could buy whatever clothes I wanted to. And and I could buy as much healthy food as I wanted to, right.

Sounds very simple, but that's what I wanted. And, and but it was a big stress reliever where I realized how much stress we live in. When we owe someone something, you know, Oh, the bank, the mortgage, or like, you know, Oh, someone, your time, just so that you can, you can buy that next healthy meal. But that, that, that's really, was it in the kind of simplest form when we sold the business again, and then we've had the third nine figure exit, it's given me enough resources where.

You know, I can invest in other, other people. I can, I can invest in other entrepreneurs and help them grow their business. And it's not going to affect my personal lifestyle. So, you know, I'm not someone that's that, that aspires to fly on private jets and live on the yacht and, and have fancy watches and stuff.

And I, and nothing against anyone that, that is what interests them. That just doesn't interest me. You know, I could be. I could still be out in nature at the beach or in the woods or at the lake with nothing and just some sunshine and, and water and some healthy food. And I am just fine, you know? So I'm, I'm used to living that simple life, but but I'm grateful for all the, you know, health practices and, and all the healthy things that I can afford and have in my life.

Kelly Kennedy: And I guess, like, for me, I look at it as If I was you and I'd accomplished as a mate like what you've accomplished, I would be seriously and you know, it sounds so stupid.

It's like I should be caring right now about my long term health. But I see that as being like when you achieve that, that is the next thing. It's like, how do I look after myself? as good as possible. What are some of the things that you've learned since then that have really changed your life?

Mike Fata: Yeah. Well, I wouldn't wait on that.

I could tell you that, you know, nowadays, Hey, I have a, I've, I've been into the health practice for 30 years, right? Since I lost the a hundred pounds, it's all health for me. You know, nowadays I have like two and a half hours or three hours of a health routine every morning where. Yeah. You know, I get up and I have my coffee moments and I do some breath work and some stretching.

Then I, then I work out and I have a gym at home, but I, I work out or I do some cardio, some biking or swimming, and then I go into the massage or into the sauna and, and and into cold plunge, like doing some hot and cold therapy. And by the end of all that, it's like two and a half or three hours, right?

But I've had that routine. for like 25 years. I just didn't always have three hours. Sometimes I had one hour. Sometimes I had 45 minutes. Sometimes I was getting up for, for a couple of years there at like five o'clock in the morning or 5:30 in the morning instead of like 6:30 or my normal time now, you know to, to make sure that I put that wellness routine in.

But I would just tell people don't sleep on your wellness routine. It's a trap. You know, it's a trap to think that you're it. You're, you're taking the extra time to work on your business or you're working your business together. Like you will not enjoy it if we're healthy, we could be focused on a thousand things, right?

If we're not healthy, we can only focus on one. It doesn't matter how much money you have, how much time you have and stuff. So it's just not, it's not worth it. I wouldn't wait until after one created success to start focusing on, on, on being your best self, be your best self first and always. And that will.

Help you be become more successful in the work that you're doing, whatever that work is, if you're working for somebody else, if you're becoming an entrepreneur, like being the best at your, your craft.

Kelly Kennedy: I love that. I love that. I think, I think we all just struggle with it though, because we all feel a little bit invincible at a certain level, right?

It's like, we're not, it's a dumb thing to think. But I think at a certain level, I know I've caught myself where it's like, ah, well, you know, I could go to the gym, but. Yeah. I also want to finish the show notes, or I want to do this, or I like, I think what it is, Mike, is that, you know, just like a lot of entrepreneurs, I'm very busy.

I do more than one thing. This podcast is something I love to do, but it doesn't pay all the bills. And there's other things I have to do in business development world to do that. And I'm sure like we're getting there. Like reality is that there will come a point where this podcast does pay the bills, but it takes effort to get there.

And I think for me, I've just kind of like relinquished. I know I'm not alone in this. I've just kind of said, like, look, this is what I have to do in this moment. But what you're saying is, look, it's It's not going to matter.

Mike Fata: For sure at both. It's not going to matter if you're successful and you and your health is shitty and you could look to the to the most successful people in the world that had poor health and then died and that was everything that they communicated in their last words, you know, but also that is a trap that your mind puts you in.

Right? Because the reality is of you taking. I don't care if it's 20 minutes in the morning to do a little hit workout and do some jumping jacks and some pushups and, and stretch. And then, and then, you know, like get yourself into it. And so maybe some breath work, like get yourself into a good spot. It takes no time.

It's not the time, you know, if anything, it'll add back time to your day. But yeah, it's easy to say, Oh, I have to do this. You know, I have to check off these 10 things on, on my on my business to do list. And those are all those are all things Kelly that I think about is like, that's working in your business instead of working on your business or just, or just living your life instead of working on your life, right?

We have to work on our business and we have to work on ourselves on our life, which is having a solid plan. Like, and then you just don't break that plan. If, if you, if you're going to work out five days a week. Make that a plan and then that there's not a, Oh, I'm going to sacrifice. I'm going to sacrifice that for work.

No, that's just, that's part of the, that's part of the playbook. You have to, you have to check them all off for the day, for the week, you know? Much healthier way to think about it.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. I love that. I'm doing a lot better. I'm doing a lot better at trying to like be more present in my life. Cause I have felt that way.

I've felt like, okay, today's the time that I need to sacrifice and I have not been living in, in my life. You know, like, it's a very weird thing to say because it's like, of course you're living your life, but no, Mike's right. That's exactly what happens. You end up in this, like. Weird circle where you're not really living.

It's hard to, it's hard to explain.

Mike Fata: Yeah. You're not maximizing what's, what's, what's possible. So and then again, this Hey, my mom worked as a single mom, 42 years of her life. I'm glad that I got to work with her for, you know, I hired her at Mandible Harvest for the last seven years. But the day after we sold the business, she retired at 65 and and three weeks later, she, she had a heart attack and died.

And so her saving up was saving up for her retirement. Like, Oh, I'm going to, now I'm going to be able to go and do these things. And that, and that, the, the, the message there is that, that, that doesn't always come right for a number of people. So you, you have to, you have to live in a sustainable fashion and the number one, Important piece of living in a sustainable fashion to is, is working on your health, like every single day, you know?

Kelly Kennedy: Your best day, every day.

Mike Fata: Best day, every day, you know, best day, every day, simplified, being your best self, doing your best work and, and building your best community.

Those three things, if you, if you, if you like work on those aspects of your life and have a plan for it, you're going to get to your best day ever. If you just silo yourself in one thing and say like, Hey, I'm going to sit at this desk for 14 hours a day. You know, it's, it's, it's not going to be as as fulsome and enjoyable as you think it's going to be.

The outcome is going to be negative.

Kelly Kennedy: No, that's amazing, dude. This has been a, this has been a really great conversation. I really appreciated your time. You know, Obviously, Mike, we're talking to a lot of entrepreneurs right now. Some of them, maybe they haven't even taken that jump. Maybe they are still working in their job, but they have that great idea.

They're, they're you a very long time ago and it's time to take that leap. You know, what type of advice might you give those people who are on the fence?

Mike Fata: You know, I think sometimes you need to take the The, the moment in time to really weigh the odds and, and a lot of people are, are maybe rushing into the decision or not giving themselves enough time to think about it.

So I like scheduled thinking time where you say, and, and some people like, you know, again, there's some greats that formalize this, like go away by yourself. You know, for one day and bring a journal and a notebook with you and then reflect on what you're thinking right now from the job that you like, you know, do you like the job that you're that you're doing?

Or maybe you want to change, change careers. That's a major transition. Maybe you want, do want to start that business, but that time to reflect and turn that reflection into a plan is the most important thing you could do. It's kind of what we talked about earlier. You know, have a vision. And then turn that vision into a plan and then and then act that plan that that's that's the the the most sustainable thing you could do and and and there's less risk that way, you know?

So that's, that's, that's what I would, you know, that's another example of working on your life and right. Instead of just, and just working in your life or working on your business, even before you start it.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. Yeah. It's like, you know, what we end up in is like autopilot, right. Where it's just like, I'm doing the thing that I do every day and, and we call it.

Success or we call it, this is, you know, what I have to do, but on some levels, we're kind of just hiding behind it. Aren't we?

Mike Fata: Yeah. Yeah. You know, your brain is great at autopilot. Everyone has that feeling like, you know, those days you just, you wake up in the morning and you, you get ready and you get in the car and you drive yourself to, to the office and, and, and all of a sudden you're like, Whoa, how did I get here?

I don't even remember that whole first part. You know, like it could just, that could happen over and over and over and over again. Right. Where, where if you, if you schedule a time to really reflect how your life's going, like I'm a big believer in an annual plan on my annual plan. Thanks. And my growth plan is not only for our business, but it's also for my personal life, like me personally, and then, and then my community, which includes my family and then, and then extended community, right?

Having a plan of like, what am I trying to accomplish? And and especially if there's. Like major transition stuff in life, like I would say now I've become more of an expert in transition because I've had so much of this transition. I could see it when other people are thinking about transition, like thinking about changing their job or their career, thinking about starting that business, thinking about, Oh, my God, I have to wind down my business that I started and then go back to work for someone else or start another business like some of these things that are major transitions like it's you want to be well practiced in, in reflection and having a plan, even if it's a very simple plan, you know, so I'm a big believer in, in have a plan and then live the plan and then check and readjust your plan and then, and then live your plan again is, is, is not only in business, but in life, that's a way to develop great success.

Kelly Kennedy: You know, one of the things that I've noticed is that It's really hard to see the future, right? I can tell you I've planned for plenty of things, both in my personal life and my entrepreneurial life, and amazing things have happened, but usually not in the order or the timeline that I thought they would.

How much of entrepreneurship is just being prepared for the future? To do something new or to try something you've never tried before to take that opportunity as it presents itself versus planning for the whole thing.

Mike Fata: Yeah, I'd sum it up to say, you know entrepreneurs are, we're making something out of nothing, right?

So it's about as close to a magician as you possibly can. And I don't, I don't think you could, you could. You wanna be prepared, but I don't think you can ultimately be prepared for every instance, every obstacle. Which is why it's like a it's, it's why you have to be athletic. It's, it's a, it's a contact sport.

You're gonna get, you're gonna get punched in the face and what do you do? Do you stay down or do you get back up? And, and I think highly successful entrepreneurs just keep getting back up over and over again. Right. And, and, and why I think you should, it's, it's a, why you need to really enjoy what you're doing.

Like overall the theme of what you're doing, I think you need to enjoy it because there is going to be plenty of hurdles, plenty of barriers, and even brick walls in front of you as you grow your business.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah, it's definitely not easy. I would say that entrepreneurship is not the easiest path taken by any means, but it has been the most rewarding path I could have ever imagined.

Has it been, would you, would you say the same thing? Amazing, Mike, that takes us to the end of our show today. But before we do. I know that there's a lot of people listening right now who are like, okay, could I hire Mike as a coach? And I think the answer to that is yes. Are you still doing coaching, Mike?

Mike Fata: I have a couple hours of coaching a week on my calendar, which it was, it was a request from, from, you know, I did a number of years of mentorship, and then I got all these requests for mentorship, and I literally don't have enough time in the, in the day or the week for mentorship. And so I do have a couple hours a week of coaching.

On my calendar for coaching and it's self serve. You can go onto my website and book an hour. And, and and it's really a growth coaching, like helping people figure out the next step of growth for their business or their business and their, and their personal life. And so that is available for anyone that that wants that.

www.Mikefata.ca.

Kelly Kennedy: Amazing. And then you also. are not just doing that, not just paid services, but you have a whole bunch of free services that are amazing. Can we chat a little bit about that?

Mike Fata: I think, you know, from my, I'll call them tools of mass mentorship, whether it's, you know, connecting on, on social media, on LinkedIn, my newsletter, my podcast, and then www.fatafleishman.org, which is a toolbox of Basically over a thousand forms and tools and templates that I've used to start and grow my business with my friend, Greg Fleishman. We put out all those out for, for free. You can go and sign up for a free account at fatafleishman. org and and utilize all the tools. It's, there's thousands of entrepreneurs that use it on a regular basis and it's just a great resource.

Kelly Kennedy: Dude, like one of the hardest challenges when I started my company was what forms do I need and how do I get them? Like, Amazing. Thank you for doing that. And I will be sharing the crap out of that on all these posts, because I know so many entrepreneurs are spending thousands of dollars having the same legal documents or whatever else drafted up by lawyers over and over and over again.

Mike Fata: How to start a business, you know, how to incorporate your company, how to, you know, templates for running your first budget.

HR documents like interview questions and, and and employment agreements and you name it across all departments in the, in the business. And I don't believe that those you know, these are all things that I would have wanted when I was a younger entrepreneur. And so it was my give back, Greg and I's give back to to make them available for free.

Kelly Kennedy: Amazing, Mike. No, that's that's really great. And thank you for doing that. And obviously, you know, we've been talking to Mike Fata. We've talked a little bit about his book, but. Guys, just get it. It's an amazing book. I picked it up on Audible. I imagine it'll be available on Amazon and I will be sharing the link along with this show.

So come on over to to LinkedIn. You'll be able to find it there. And the book is called Grow, 12 Unconventional Lessons for Becoming an Unstoppable Entrepreneur. It is not just about Mike's story, which is an amazing story, but It's about inspiration. It's about changing the world and it will motivate you guys.

It really is a great book, Mike, and I loved it a lot. So thank you for writing it and thank you for coming on with me today. Yeah. Thanks again for having me until next time. This has been the business development podcast, and we will catch you. On the flip side,

Outro: this has been the business development podcast with Kelly Kennedy.

Kelly has 15 years in sales and business development experience within the Alberta oil and gas industry and founded his own business development firm in 2020. His passion and his specialization is in customer relationship generation and business development. The show is brought to you by Capital Business Development.

Your business development specialists. For more, we invite you to the website @ www.capitalbd.ca. See you next time on the Business Development Podcast.