How To Become Iconic - Kris Whitehead

SPEAKER_00 0:04

This is the Beyond the Story Podcast, a show that goes way beyond the story. Sebastian Rum. Chris Whitehead, what's up, dude? How you doing, Sebastian? Thank you for having me on your show. Let's rumble, baby. Let's do it. I'm feeling kind of iconic this morning. So you speak my language. Perfect timing. This thing just showed up in the mail. Awesome, brother. I want to hear your feedback after you read that thing. I will absolutely give you my feedback. So it's great to great to see you again. Great to connect with you again. You and I met a very short time ago, a couple weeks back in uh in Dallas at an Apex Live event. Uh, in passing, really. I just walked up to you uh during the happy hour and said, Hey, listen, you were one of the individuals that really stuck it out in my mind uh from from this experience the past you know day or so, and I'd love to connect further. So we had the opportunity to do that, had a great phone call before. And well, here we are. I wanted to get you on the show. I wanted to talk about your story. I am all about going back a little bit and add some context to how your story actually became your story uh and what you got going on with iconic. I know that you're in in the trenches, pun intended, uh, with uh Ryan Souman and the team over at Apex and the whole Apex family there and helping to continue to build that overall machine that helps uh individuals build their machine and represent what winning looks like uh at all times. But let's help our listeners better understand uh a little bit about the backstory. What where did this whole venture and business begin? And then where was the transition from, well, I've had some success doing what I'm doing, but there's more. And then the I can't the iconic movement, the iconic movement uh was birthed. So let's go back to the beginning of the story a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

So, you know, I was working as a lifeguard at 16, which required a gauntlet of experience and qualifications to get to, only to find myself sitting on a chair, you know, eight feet above a pool, trying very hard not to fall asleep for three dollars and fifteen cents an hour. And, you know, I thought that it was going to give me the transition of being part of the popular crowd because I saw the lifeguards and I saw how all the girls looked at them, and that was cool. Well, there was nothing fucking cool about that entire experience. So uh it just so happened that my dad lived in northern Virginia and he got me some lawn mowing jobs. And I found out that I could make $35 an hour mowing a lawn or $315 an hour sitting on a chair. I said, let me mow lawns, and that led to cleaning a few cars and just doing some stuff on the side. Um at 20 years old, I was about 13 credits away from graduating college and I could not get a freshman-level class. Uh, and so I went to talk to the dean and he canceled the meeting three times, which definitely made the class pass by. And I said a few choice words and I didn't get another meeting with him. So I said, the hell with college. And I ended up working at Radio Shack, and I quickly became very, very successful, not just inside of my own, you know, little store, but in the entire eastern region. And I still was hitting my head against the ceiling of making 25 grand a year. Like it literally did not matter how many hours I worked. It's like the magic number stopped at 25k to be a salesman. And so I looked up and I saw the district managers and I saw that they were making a couple hundred thousand dollars a year for about seven days a week of life-giving uh experience, and they were always wearing a suit and they had this plastic Jesus smile painted across their face. And I don't know what was resonating in my gut, but I was like, that's not me. I'm not gonna do this shit. So it just so happened that somebody from Amway came into my store and they started drawing little circles on a board for this multi-level marketing company. And I said, That makes a lot of sense to me. All I have to do is go talk to people and they buy shit, and we make a lot of money, makes a lot of sense. Well, um, for the next two years, I built Amway, but I could not afford the time to do that and be a manager of a Radio Shack. And it just so happened that some of the people in that were corporate people that had decided as a husband-wife team to maybe start cleaning houses, uh, new construction homes. And this was down in North Carolina. And so I walked into my uh company one day and I quit. And then I went and told my wife that I quit. Pro tip, don't do it that way. That's not the successful way to do anything, but that's what I did at 22 years old, and I started a quote unquote remodeling company. No idea, no nothing about nothing. And I was a desperate salesman flipping through this thing called the Yellow Pages Children. They don't have them as much anymore, but this is a big book that used to be able to see everybody that owned a business. And I started cold calling people and I landed on a realtor, and uh, they said I'd like a countertop installed, and the game began. And with zero experience, um, other than helping my dad build a couple decks with zero business experience, I mean nothing. I launched this thing and um here we are today. We own a multi-million dollar remodeling company. It's one of four companies that I run. Um, and what I have learned in the process is what works in one company when done with integrity, those standard operating procedures, those core values, when you display them, no matter what product or service you sell, you can not only build it, you can scale it. And so that's what we're doing. And the change, the question that you asked is when did the change occur? Well, in 2007-ish, um, I walked into a Walmart. And a lot of times in Walmarts or in Lowe's, they'll have like the 4-H or the you know, the Boy Scouts, you know, collecting money. Well, there was a gentleman there collecting some money for a halfway house. And I gave him five bucks or 20 bucks or something at the time, and we struck up a conversation. And in the process, he was like, you know, I like your story. Would you like to come speak to my people in the halfway house? And it kind of reminded me of listening to Brian Tracy on stage. And I had had this idea in my heart that that guy changed my life when I listened to him. I would like to change people's lives too. And here's a really good place to start. I'll go to a halfway house where men are struggling to get out of addiction and struggling to keep out of the laws, you know, long arm, and they're getting ready to transition back into life. I can go talk to these people because I owned a remodeling company. And I don't know if anybody knows this, but a lot of times the people that are gonna will are willing to do construction have had some knocks in life. So I related to them. And um, and so I went in there and spoke to them for a couple hours. And when I left, I knew two things. Number one, I had a lot of work to do if I was gonna get good. And number two, I'd never been more thrilled in my life to give in that service. And so my years since then have been learning internet marketing, have been learning personal development, have been learning how to get out of my own way and stop putting profits in front of people and truly start learning how to bless people with information that can change their lives and understanding that if I play long ball, if I stick in that trench long enough, that eventually I'm gonna build no like and trust with enough people. And in the process, they're gonna be more than happy to reciprocate me with income in order to continue to teach them. And here's the most beautiful part, brother. My job is to constantly evolve to the next level of where I'm going. Because if I'm raising leaders up, leadership is always stolen. It is never given. And if I'm raising leaders up and I'm not staying ahead of them with my own learning, they will surpass me and everything that I'm doing will stop. So it becomes an entire business and personal development journey that I'll be on for the rest of my life. Not trying to beat people, but I use competition. I have testosterone, I want to win. I use that energy to continue to propel me into new and scarier, you know, unseen places in life so that I can become better and bring that information back to my people so that they can become better. And what I'm noticing is I level up, the people that I'm associated level up. And as I level up to the next level, they level up to the next level. And that's how we're growing business, and that's actually how we're starting to change the world. And my mission now is not about the income. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for it. Um, but I've realized that there's more than enough money in the world. It doesn't really even exist. It's just an agreement that we all have anyway. That's a whole different conversation for a whole different time. But what is something that is eternal is Sebastian. If I reach through you through the education that I give you, and it changes your son's life, it changes your daughter's life, that I'm creating a legacy. And that legacy is maybe something that I will never fully know that I've done. But I get to lay my head on the pillow at night because I'm in a purpose that's much higher than my own belly. I'm in a purpose that is something that might just save my children because of your children. You just don't know how this game works. But I'm loving living in a place where I'm willing to be 100% authentic, 100% who I am. When I fuck up, I share it. When I win, I share it, all in hopes of connecting with somebody to can to tell them until you get there, just keep moving forward. And in the process, I'll stand beside you until you get that lesson. And it's a great, great way to live life. I recommend anybody on earth do it. And it just so happens because we're doing that from a pure place, we're doing it with integrity, that it is created a movement. I mean, it's created a pretty big movement and it's only going to continue to grow. So thanks, man.

SPEAKER_00 10:08

Yeah, I I really think you should focus on trying to do work that matters, Chris.

unknown 10:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:13

Yeah, I'll try harder.

SPEAKER_01 10:15

I'll try a lot harder, Sebastian.

SPEAKER_00 10:17

You know, to to that, you know, to that bit of humor there. Uh what would the world look like if everyone thought like this? I know that I do. I know that I don't really care about the monetary success while it is incredible and it affords life's luxuries. It's great and it's a necessity, absolutely. But watching someone go from I can't do that to I'm doing it, and whatever that is, whether that's life, whether that's business, whatever maybe is an unbelievable feeling and it's extremely fulfilling. And it allows us to, and knowing that, wow, this isn't the only person that's gonna be impacted. This is gonna be an ongoing ripple effect. I heard a quote not too long ago that ripples become waves. And I think about movements a lot when I think about that, and that yeah, that small ripple effect. We think about when we were kids, we would go skip rocks and we'd see you know how many ripples it would create uh and what a ripple effect will actually can do. But when a what happens to a ripple effect when there's a movement involved with it where people are perpetually shifting on a daily basis and becoming who they were designed to be? But I think it takes individuals and leaders like yourself to be the catalyst, the Stumans of the world, the Chris Whiteheads of the world, to be able to say, hey, listen, the force of average is real and and readily available if you choose that path. But there's also an opportunity to leverage what winning looks like at all times or damn close to it. You know, life's life's got its fair share of challenges on there. But um, you know, I love I love I love this. And I love the fact I knew there was a rhyme and reason for me, you know, going up and approaching you to say, hey, we need to connect. We've there's a lot of alignment here with our thought process. You are, you know, you're you're in places that I would like to be. And I think there's just such an incredible um magical thing that happens when we align with people that we can constantly learn from and feed back and forth from. I feel like I've known you way longer than a couple of weeks.

SPEAKER_01 12:12

Uh well, and that's that's the way it's supposed that's the way it's supposed to work, bro. When when people that are aligned on core values meet, it's you came to your core values the way that I did. I've come to the way that I've done them. The difference is, is I displayed them a little bit longer so that it attracts people to say, hey, I want to talk to this guy. And then I get on the phone and I'm the same guy that wrote the post. I get on a stage and speak, I'm the same guy there. Then I get off the stage and I talk to you, I'm the same guy there. I say, I'm gonna get on a podcast with you. Don't have to come chase my ass down. I made a commitment, I'm gonna be there. And the way that it began was this. And this is what I want to leave everyone listening to this with. Look, I was standing on the sidelines and I had a choice to make. Do I want to make a lot of money? And what does that lead to? Okay. That's like Christmas after I've opened up all the presents. It's fun, but it's not long-term fulfilling. Okay, that's not quite it. But I'll I need it in order to survive, so I've got to add that in there. But I kept searching for something, and eventually I decided that I'm gonna be doing this thing called entrepreneurship for the rest of my life. And if that's the case, I want to make it mean something. And it's not about me. I've got employees, I've got hundreds of people that are counting on what I do, and I'm either gonna let that eat me up in stress, or I'm gonna become the kind of person that can truly lead those people to the success that they're looking for. And I understand it's a confusing process. I understand there are lots of options to choose from in life, but I this is just me. I believe in God, and I started weighing my own stomach against these bigger principles and what I read and what I understand, and what my gut told me, and what my prayers told me, and what the people I resonated with told me, they were doing things that were selfless, yet they were not unsuccessful. And I wanted to understand what that looked like, and I wanted to stop being on the sidelines, I wanted to stop being a bystander. I wanted to not only be a participant, but I wanted to be a leader in that. And maybe you listening, you're not a leader in that yet. Maybe you're not meant to be a leader in that. That's okay. Participate in something that is greater than you. The return on that investment is a hundredfold compared to the energy that you give it. And that's living a life well. That's living a life in purpose, on purpose. And as you read that book, you're gonna see a lot of those things in there. But I'm just calling people to live in the space that they were created. Because I promise you one thing: you exist, there's the only one of you, it will never come again, exactly like you, and there is music in you. Don't you want to share it? Don't you want to not leave it inside of you before you're gone forever? And if so, today's the day to start because you don't know about tomorrow. And I finally made that commitment and it has been painful. I have struggled, I have gone through more shit, but I was the cause of it. And I just slowly but surely started to learn how to get out of my own way and start loving and caring other for other people more. And what I found is that the law of reciprocity does work. When that gravity, specific gravity in that cup is full to the brim, and you just keep pouring it in that cup, everything that spills over the sides is for other people. And as long as you keep filling that cup up, you keep having more to give, and more keeps being given to you in return. You just have to be willing to do it long enough to get the cup full and flow flowing over.

SPEAKER_00 15:53

That's all right, right, exactly. You got to be able to put that time commit in there. I love what you said that maybe, you know, a lot of you maybe are not cut out for leadership, but neither were this, what neither were the disciples either. Those guys just did what they were told. And they just showed up. They they really were. They were ragamuffins. Jesus exemplified leadership, of course, but those that followed him did not. Those guys were, you know, they they were as jacked up as we are, thank God. You know, so we're almost out of time. Let's talk about the book real quick here. Uh Becoming Iconic, written by yours truly here, Mr. Chris Whitehead. Make sure you pick up a copy on Amazon, digital, or if you like the old fashioned print copy like I got here, uh, you can grab that too. There'll be a link in the show notes, by the way. Let's talk about the book real quick as we wrap up.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

Sure, man. Uh, that book, as it begins, is saying, hey, you're an entrepreneur. I get it. It's a hell of a road that you've chosen. It's also the most beautiful road, in my opinion, because it's not what we do for money. It's truly a lifestyle. And what I mean by that is that entrepreneurship is a jealous mistress. If you do not pay attention to her, she is going to let you know that you're not doing it right. And so that book is a mindset piece to how to be someone that while you're not getting the results that you want, how do you wake up every day grateful? How do you wake up and be willing to change and to learn and to grow and to overcome what you have to overcome until you start achieving those goals? And then the book dives into did you pick the right goals? Let me talk to you about how that looks. And we have all sorts of free resources at chriswhitehead.com, kriswhitehead.com, or at iconicalliance.com. I give I used to sell it for thousands of dollars. Now I give those digital resources away for free because I have no idea what the ripple effect of that is and what waves that's gonna create. And at the end of the day, I'm giving it away because I felt by my father I was told to give it away. And I want to see our world a better place for our children and our children's children. And that's not gonna happen by bitching and moaning and complaining on social media. It's gonna, it's gonna happen because we choose to do something about it. And the book is an introduction into how you can live a life on purpose. So I appreciate you bringing it up, man.

SPEAKER_00 18:11

Yeah, I'm uh I'm excited to read it. I'm excited to dig in. There'll be a link to both Chris's website and a link to grab the book. Uh, take advantage of both of those resources. I'm sure your life will be changed for the better with them. Chris, it's such an absolute pleasure to be connected with you, to be associated with you, to be in the family of Apex with you. And I'm really stoked and excited to see what's to come uh in the in the very near future. I feel in my spirit there's some really great things on the horizon yet. But like life and like generations to come, we don't know the outcome, but we do know how we can show up today when we get out of bed and what kind of decisions we make uh for today to forever alter the path of not only ours, uh ourselves, but those around us. Brother, keep up the great work. Uh, you have to come back to the show sometime soon here. And again, I'm stoked for what's next.

SPEAKER_01 18:59

Appreciate you, Sebastian. I'll talk to you soon, man.

SPEAKER_00 19:01

Thanks again, brother. Until next time, friends. Thanks so much for tuning into this episode of the Beyond the Story podcast. Be sure to appreciate it. If you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to the show. This way you'll get updates as new episodes become available. If you feel so inclined, please leave us a review. We sure do appreciate it. Signing off from the podcast, launchlab.com studios. We'll talk to you next time.