- You do you, but don't say you're going to be great
unless you realize you have to become obsessed.
Like you can't be the best at something
in the world passively.
(upbeat music)
Yo, what up bro?
You're here with Aubrey Marcus, and I.
What's your name?
Where you from?
- [Alex] Uh, my name's Alex Drouning,
I'm from Athens, Georgia.
- Its's awesome man, - What's going on?
- Thanks for calling.
What can we answer for ya?
- [Alex] Um, so I am a firing chef,
I'm in culinary school right now.
I'm trying make a side also sharpening knives.
Where do you think the best,
how do you think the best way to approach this is?
- Well, what do you mean?
Like you want to get paid for sharpening knives?
- [Alex] Yeah, going around to every restaurant,
it seems like it's going to be the best
way to continually make money on the side.
- I love this idea.
I'm gonna give you tremendous piece of advice
that too many people that are ideological
and don't actually play in the game
push against but I believe in it the most.
You should go sharpen knives for five restaurants for free.
- [Alex] For free? Okay.
- Yup, like I spoke for free for the first thirteen,
no actually I paid for the first one
'cause that's how it also,
for thirteen of the first fifteen times I ever spoke,
I spoke for free.
Including paying for my flights.
It's one thing to do free work.
It's another thing to do free work with heavy strategy.
(synthesizer music)
When I do free work, I try to think of two things.
How much exposure is it?
Like Tyler will tell you sitting right here,
one of the only times I still do free work is
if it's massive exposure.
There are 49,000 people in the audience
I'm like mmhmm, that's a lot of exposure.
(chuckle)
Like it's live on,
you know it's during the Super Bowl.
Like I'll pay somebody to put me in a Super Bowl commercial.
Right? - Ya.
- Like when I get exposure or
and that's where I'm at now.
For you, when you pick these five restaurants
let it be the biggest restaurants in your 30 mile radius,
let it be the kindest,
let it be somebody who has the biggest Instagram following,
and maybe like, you never want to give with expectation
but it's okay to ask.
You're like, hey, I'd love to sharpen your knives for free,
and then you get in there and the vibes are feeling good.
Maybe you're like, hey, listen, hope you enjoyed it.
Would you mind taking a picture for my Instagram,
which then makes them say, oh, we'll put you
on our Instagram.
You can be thoughtful and do it the right way,
but if nothing else, if you do it for free for five people,
you've established that you do it.
Word of mouth is a remarkably fascinating thing.
(synthesizer music)
- And sharpen the fuck out of those knives too.
Kill it, like kill it.
Make sure you're the best fucking knife-sharpener there is.
- Great point by Aubrey.
The amount of people that have gotten into my inner circle
have sat right out there, they're now on the cusp,
but then aren't here nine months later because
they weren't good at their craft, or they didn't
squeeze the fuck out of their opportunity,
that happens too, and I think
sharpen the fuck out of the those knives really matters.
Look bro, hard fuckin' work's appreciated everywhere.
Hard work is the cost of, there's nobody that's ever
been successful that made it that didn't put in hard work.
There are people that inherited money,
like there are people that have money that didn't work hard.
There's nobody who's made it.
They made it.
The merit of them making it,
that didn't put in ridiculous hard work.
That person does not exist, that person does not exist.
(synthesizer music)
- But for whom matters too.
These things fuckin' matter.
You sharpening the fuck out of those knives
for a restaurant owner who was just thrilled to get
some knives sharpened for free, feels no guilt or
has no interest in cosigning you,
and it dies in that kitchen that night,
and nothing happens, also fuckin' sucks.
But I will say this: somebody's always watching.
So let's play this out.
You go and sharpen it,
this is why I fully believe in the sense of,
You go to the number three restaurant,
you sharpen the knives.
The owner's a dick face, got nothing for you.
Doesn't say it to anybody, doesn't put you on Instagram,
doesn't even thank you correctly, and you're out.
But the sous-chef was watching how hard you worked,
and she in three years opens up the number one fucking spot,
and now she, do you understand?
Somebody's always watching.
(synthesizer music)
Funny, you look at, there's people out there,
whether it's Kobe, it's definitely what I push,
there's people out there saying look, you do you,
but don't say you're gonna be great unless you realize
you have to become obsessed.
You can't be the best at something in the world passively.
- Yup.
- You have to punk everything.
- Yup.
- And if you don't want to be the best in the world
or a Top 100, that's amazing.
And then you can canoe in the afternoon
and go to a coffee shop and just chill.
But if you want, to me, it's just,
make your actions map your words.
- Yeah.
- You don't need to work on your craft 18 hours a day,
but then also, don't have the audacity to ever say
you're gonna be great or all-time.
I keep telling people, Magic Johnson,
two hours before he took the bus at, as a kid,
that's why his sisters always tell that story.
Larry Bird taking a billion shots in that crickety old,
again, and I'm gonna say it again
because it's very real to me, when I go 'rage sale,
as a hobby on a Saturday, and wake up at 5:30
after fuckin' working super hard,
and this is supposed to be rest and this and that,
that four hours of garage saling,
you're negotiating and seeing what's popping.
I'm working my craft.