Tom Bilyeu, co-founder of Quest Nutrition and CEO of Impact Theory, speaks about his formative years, growing up in a morbidly obese family in Tacoma, Washington. Dreaming about one day being rich and having six pack abs.
Despite being a relatively lazy kid and his own mother not believing he would ever amount to much. Tom left for college, where by chance he met two men who were starting a technology company, they offered him a job as a copywriter.
Placed in a back room surrounded by computer servers and spurred on the thought of making his dreams come true. It was here Tom learned something about himself, he was willing to grind it out, he could endure an absurdly intense workload that would crush lesser men. Driven by his desire to get rich, Tom went “all in” and began working insanely hard, without much regard for any other aspect of his life.
The One Belief That Helped Millions & Made Billions | Tom Bilyeu’s Story
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Tom continued to grind daily, when one day, he noticed he hadn’t taken a day off in over six years! But he forged on for a few more years, until finally he got so mad & so unwilling to do it anymore, he walked into head office and sputtered “I’m miserable, I quit.”
Tom discovered the cliche was true, money can not buy happiness.
He was so intensely focused on the promise he made to himself as a kid, that he would get rich. He never thought to ask himself “Why do I want to get rich?”
The questions you ask yourself, will determine the course of your life. | Tom Bilyeu’s Story
So he changed the question, and started asking, “What would I do and love every day, even if I were failing?”
It dawned on him, he had drive but no purpose.
He thought back to his morbidly obese family in Tacoma, and his uncle who ate himself to death, when Tom was still a teenager.
It was then Tom made a decision to start a company, based on passion, and adding value to peoples lives.
Quest Nutrition was born. It’s unlikely birth place? Compton, downtown Los Angeles.
Surrounded by crime and people struggling to survive, due to the Great Recession, Tom did the only logical thing.. He told everybody in the neighbourhood “I don’t care if you’ve been convicted of a crime. I just want to know if you’re willing to bust your ass to change your life, and if you are, you’re going to get an interview. And I’m not going to ask about your resume. I don’t care about your resume. Your resume tells me where you’ve been. It doesn’t tell me the price you’re willing to pay to be somebody new.”
Wearing a hair net and a lab coat every day, Tom’s employees were former gang members, ex drug dealers and felons. But they shared a camaraderie, a common goal.. They wanted to change their lives and help others change theirs.
Quest Nutrition grew 57,000% in 3 years.
Every belief that you have is a choice. | Tom Bilyeu’s Story
Tom’s unshakeable belief that human potential is nearly limitless was the belief that changed his life, he learned it’s not about who you are today, it’s about who you want to become, and the price you’re willing to pay to get there.
“I promise you, the day that you’re willing to pay any price, you will achieve what you want to achieve.” | Tom Bilyeu’s Story
Transcript | Tom Bilyeu’s Story
My parents biggest frustration was that I was epically lazy, and if they handed out gold medals for being lazy. I would of won, I assure you, hands down. Because even though I was a slightly chubby kid growing up in a morbidly obese family in Tacoma, Washington.
I always knew two things about myself. One day I was going to be rich, and I was going to have six pack abs. Those were the two things, as that kid that was jiggling his belly thinking..
“One day I’m not going to have to suck in my gut.”
When I left for college, my own mother, who had always been my biggest cheerleader, quietly assumed I was going to fail.
These two guys that were successful entrepreneurs and bodybuilders happened to walk into a class when I was a teacher.
They were just starting a technology startup, and they said “Hey, we need a copywriter. Why don’t you come be a copywriter?” I was just young enough and just dumb enough, and I went all in. They literally out me in the room with all the computer servers. But starting from there, I knew I could wow people, because I was willing to grind it out.
We all have a superpower and my superpower may be the willingness and ability to endure suffering. I had suffered a lot. I hadn’t taken a day off in six and a half years, because I was so hell-bent to get rich.
Then I realized, almost eight and a half years in, I had finally had enough. I had hit my breaking point from suffering, and I got so mad, and I was so unwilling to do it anymore I turned to my partners and I said “I’m completely miserable. I quit.” I realized I was living the cliche of money can’t buy happiness. Along the way, I had become so myopically focused on this promise I had made to myself as a kid, that I never stopped to ask, “Why do I want to get rich?”
The questions you ask yourself, will determine the course of your life. | Tom Bilyeu’s Story
I had been asking myself, “What do I need to do to get rich?” And it left me really unhappy.
So I changed the question, and I started asking, “What would I do and love every day, even if I were failing?”
Life is too short. This is your one go-round, so what are we going to do? We’re going to build a company that’s predicated on value. We’re going to build a company that’s predicated on passion.
I started thinking about my mom and my sister, that they were profoundly overweight. I started thinking about my uncle, who ate himself to death when I was twelve years old, and how much that scared me, and it made me sad.
And it made me sad to see that there were millions, if not more than a billion people, that were in the same kind of abusive relationship with food that my mom and my sister were.So I said
“I don’t know if it’s a big business, but I know it’s a big problem.” And that’s the problem that we’re going to solve.
So we decided to build a totally new kind of company. We started Quest Nutrition in 2010, just as we were coming out of the Great Recession.
I was wearing a hair net and a lab coat every day, and my employees were former gang members, ex drug dealers, felons.
We were in Compton, and we literally told everybody in the neighbourhood, “I don’t care if you’ve been convicted of a crime. I just want to know if you’re willing to bust your ass to change your life, and if you are, you’re going to get an interview. And I’m not going to ask about your resume. I don’t care about your resume. Your resume tells me where you’ve been. It doesn’t tell me the price you’re willing to pay to be somebody new.”
Every belief that you have is a choice. | Tom Bilyeu’s Story
I choose to believe that human potential is nearly limitless, and this was the belief that changed my life. Because once I realized, so it’s not about who you are today, it’s about who you want to become, and the price you’re willing to pay to get there. I promise you, the day that you’re willing to pay any price, you’ll achieve what you want to achieve.
If you truly believe that human potential is limitless, what do you want to become? and what price are you willing to pay to get there?