296 Mike Fata

Jeffrey Feldberg: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Deep Wealth Podcast where you learn how to extract your business and personal Deep Wealth. 

I'm your host Jeffrey Feldberg. 

This podcast is brought to you by Deep Wealth and the 90-day Deep Wealth Experience. 

When it comes to your business deep wealth, your exit or liquidity event is the most important financial decision of your life. 

But unfortunately, up to 90% of liquidity events fail. Think about all that time and your hard earned money wasted. 

Of the quote unquote "successful" liquidity events, most business owners leave 50% to over 100% of the deal value in the buyer's pocket and don't even know it. 

I should know. I said "no" to a seven-figure offer. And "yes" to mastering the art and the science of a liquidity event. [00:01:00] Two years later, I said "yes" to a different buyer with a nine figure deal. 

Are you thinking about an exit or liquidity event? 

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After all, how can you master something you've never done before? 

Let the 90-day Deep Wealth Experience and the 9-step roadmap of preparation help you capture the best deal instead of any deal. 

At the end of this episode, take a moment and hear from business owners like you, who went through the Deep Wealth Experience. 

Mike Fata, the author of Grow: 12 Unconventional Lessons for Becoming an Unstoppable Entrepreneur, is the Chief Executive Officer of Fata Associates and the co founder of Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods. As a recipient of numerous awards, a multiple nine figure entrepreneur, a certified holistic health coach, and a growth coach, he motivates and inspires people to discover their authentic business passions [00:02:00] and live their best daily lives.

Welcome to the Deep Wealth Podcast and you heard it in the official introduction. We have a fellow business owner and not just any business owner, someone who has had three nine figure exits. Success leaves clues, but you have to know where to look and what to ask. So, stop your search. We found the entrepreneur right here today that you'll hear in this episode.

And at the risk of a rhetorical question, because you know me, I love my rhetorical questions. Would you love to know Mike's secret sauce of how he did it not once, not twice, but multiple times with his nine figure deals. And that's exactly what we're going to do with this episode. So Mike, I'm going to put a plug in it right there because you're in the house.

Welcome to the Deep Wealth Podcast, and Mike, I'm curious, there's always a story behind the story. What's your story? What got you from where you were to where you are today? 

Mike Fata: Yeah. Thanks for having me. My story is I was unfit and unhealthy when I was young, fell prey to fast food, found myself weighing 300 pounds and one day became sick and tired of being sick [00:03:00] and tired and decided to do something about it. And those changes that I made in my lifestyle and in my diet led me to not only lose over a hundred pounds, But to get super interested in health and I got into the health food business after falling in love with hemp and hemp seed,

Jeffrey Feldberg: Wow, so here you are from someone who's not feeling so well, you're up there on the weight side and then you turn things around , but it's not so easy. We've heard countless stories of people who've been in the exact same position, but they haven't received that success or taken their lives to the level that you've taken it to.

So what was it? I'm just curious, Mike, what got you from where you were? To where you are today. Was it one thing specifically? Was it a series of events? Mm

Mike Fata: No, it wasn't one =thing and I'm a believer and it's never a one thing. It's, a million little wins that really stack up to the big win , but it started out for me really putting discipline to changing my, life. And I've seen it time and time again. Maybe a good example for people is like athletes, people that [00:04:00] are professional athletes and even professional athletes to the Olympic level of athlete, sacrifice a lot in life and put a lot of discipline to their training, to their health and everything focused around that lifestyle.

And that's the journey I really started, but it was from a place of pain and suffering and I didn't want to feel like that anymore. But I sacrificed a lot of things so I could put my focus on a very healthy lifestyle and that's what really was the catalyst that started things.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And what's interesting, and I'm gonna go a little bit out there, but we'll circle it back from really your desire to make a difference in your life. You then started the company Manitoba Harvest Hemp and so many other successful business owners that we've had on the show, you had a very successful liquidity event and did some wonderful things with that.

But before we get there, Why don't we go back to the beginning? So when you look at where you were and what got you there, what were some of the factors with that? Because today, more than ever, when we look around, you speak to people, [00:05:00] yeah, Jeffrey, I'm short on time, I have so much pressure, I'm working it at both ends, and health seems to go by the wayside, even though, Mike, I don't think you'll disagree with this, when it comes to our wealth, health is our first wealth.

So what got you in that position in the first place?

Mike Fata: Well, a couple of things. One I grew up with no knowledge about health, really, in my family. I grew up with a single mom. We were pretty poor. She was raising my brother and I, and so we were eating typical lower quality food and macaroni and hamburger helper and things that when you have a pretty restrictive budget are the foods to eat.

I also had, emotional traumas from my parents separating when I was young, when I was two years old, and I didn't really understand that. moved to a different city and so I had some trauma of fitting in at school, which got really intensified when I started to become overweight and wasn't like the rest of the kids.

 and so it was a long healing journey. Not only people would see the physical healing that I've done, losing over a hundred pounds and [00:06:00] getting really into fitness and health, but there was a lot of emotional healing that that I had to work through and really rewiring in my brain how I mentally thought of things of that, I wasn't limited.

The world wasn't happening to me, I was happening to the world, was unlimited, and so what did I really want to be focused on? And as soon as I got that with health, lost that first five pounds and felt better, a little bit better, went all in, dove down that rabbit hole.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so when you felt that first time where, hey, you know what, I'm feeling better, I want to do more of this, this is making a difference, I want to specifically speak to the listener out there, Mike, they don't know we're speaking to them just yet because they think when they wake up. It's the new normal for them and maybe they're in pain, maybe they're not feeling so well but they've just gotten so accustomed to that and everywhere they look and everything that they see and they hear out there in the social media, it really supports that.

So to that listener, what would you say to them of [00:07:00] how feeling better, our health, not just on the personal side but also on the business side, the difference that it made for you that it could also make for them? 

Mike Fata: We're forms of energy. And when you start operating at a lower vibration and you don't necessarily notice it, but when you make changes and you start increasing your energy, you definitely notice it. And especially as an entrepreneur I think it's one thing to be low energy in life.

If you're low energy as an entrepreneur your business is going to struggle more. and most people feel like they, something's off, or maybe they're not feeling optimal, but yeah, they think, oh, I'm older now, I'm in my late 40 now, or I'm 50 now, whatever the age is drawn to it, but they don't realize, oh, you know, if you dissect it They haven't been giving themselves enough opportunity to sleep well.

Maybe they've been enjoying alcohol too much. They've been eating fast or processed foods and that's gumming them up or just not being optimal for their diet. And taking the moment, whatever that is for you to go into a reflective kind of space and think about how [00:08:00] your lifestyle a good starting point. There's even opportunities for intensive of that. And some entrepreneurs and business owners intensive is maybe even better. there's workshops or healing retreat centers that you can go and check yourself in for a week. and it's like a spa, but it's also a little bit more, focused on you.

Cleansing and being your best self and then you can walk out of there a week or two weeks later and really feel what the new, bound energy is for you regardless of what your age is.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Hey, Mike, for the listeners out there who are hearing you and saying, yeah, Mike, okay, that's all fine and good, and yeah, I hear you, but I'll just keep on doing what I'm doing. You've really defied the odds. You've had three nine figure liquidity events, three nine figure exits, so say what you want about the first one, and I'm going to round up a little bit.

It was approaching half a billion dollars. That's nothing to blink at that's, successful, hugely successful, and then again and again. And so when you look at your success in business, also on the personal side, For all the business listeners out there, what would you tell them? Hey [00:09:00] guys, health, it's a KPI, just like we have KPIs in the business in different areas.

But what did that really mean for you, Mike? If you weren't healthy, what would you have achieved? What wouldn't you have achieved? Comparing to where you are now from, you know, where you started.

Mike Fata: Yeah there's no way that I worked many hundred hour work weeks to make my success and I focus on my health at the same time. And those two don't, aren't always, don't go well together. Too many entrepreneurs sacrifice their health and say, you know what, I'm not going to work out today, but hey, I'm moving this ball down the goal line of business success.

The challenge is I've seen a number of friends that. created ultimate success, but then they have a stroke, they have a heart attack they're struggling to have enough energy to get through a, normal day. They can't go out and surf or ski or do these other active things in life, even after they have the time and they have the money.

And so, because I had reached that pinnacle of unhealth for me at 18 years old, weighing 300 pounds, I already knew what, Shitty feels like, and it doesn't feel good. I always put a focus on health, and I always[00:10:00] govern myself even in the times that I was had the extra workload in business.

But there's no way that I would've been able to run the 20 year cycle of our business that it took to, to grow the business to over a hundred million dollars without focus on my health and putting myself into a place where I was energized. So just keep working at the business even into the long hours of the day or long hours into the weeks.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so what I'm hearing you say, Mike, is that from a health perspective, your health really gave you Yeah. More of my words, you can tell me if I'm on base or off base, but the clarity, the energy to see things through, to grow the business, how am I doing with that?

Mike Fata: Yeah, I was fortunate enough that my passion for health was both personal and it was business. We're in the business of health given that we're selling hemp seed, and hemp seed is a really rich source of plant based protein and essential fatty acids. And so. it was health all day long for me, fortunately. Everywhere I turned, whether I was at business, our company, people were interested in health there. We were hanging out at consumer health events because those were our [00:11:00] customers. I was hanging out and reading and networking on new nutrition articles and people that were interested in pushing the health objective forward.

And it was my personal passion, but it wasn't like turning on. Turning off my personal passion to go to work and they were, and so if you could find that in life and whether it's a health food business but it, or not, it's just something that you legitimately are so interested in, you want to do it in your free time and you can align your business or work around that that's one of the ways to become unstoppable.

Jeffrey Feldberg: It sounds like that old saying, when your work is play and your play is work, you really have a rich, wonderful life ahead. And so Micah, I'm wondering, we're here on the Deep Wealth Podcast, I would be remiss when you look at the liquidity events that you've done in terms of lessons learned. What could you share with the audience?

I mean, What really worked for you? When you look back now, is there one or two, maybe three strategies looking back that really moved the dial for you, that made the difference that you can share with our listeners? 

Mike Fata: Yeah. I think we were highly differentiated, which [00:12:00] we did that because we started a new industry. So not everyone has that luxury of starting a new industry, but I think it's really important when you go into business that you are different than what's out there already, or you're different than your competitors.

You have a competitive advantage. I think that's number one. we focused on quality. And maybe that's not the best strategy for every business. I don't know. I'm a quality minded guy. And so I wanted to make the highest quality products. I wanted to have the highest quality relationships.

And I adopted a strategy of our whole business, every aspect of our business being world class. And so we got certified. To the highest level of quality certification in the world for our processing facilities and the transactions and the way that we did business with our customers and our consumer was with a world class focus.

And so, you know, when you build something to world class you're likely going to have and you decide it's time to sell your business, you're likely going to have a number of suitors maybe even outside of your home country that are interested in buying your business because you built it up to a global standard or to a world [00:13:00] class standard.

And to do that, the third part of that is you need to build team and culture highly focused around that. You can't, that's something you just can't. You can't just talk the talk and not walk the walk, both as a leader but also as a team. And, we had a team up, over 200 team members it was focused effort by everybody involved to grow and uphold that standard of world class quality.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Mike, congratulations with that. And for our listeners, listen to what Mike is saying. And Mike, with what you're saying, we use different words, but it's really one and the same. And when I'm hearing you talk, I'm hearing the words world class, and team, and culture. And at Deep Wealth and the Nine Step Roadmap, we call those X Factors.

Areas that really differentiate you from everyone else in the marketplace. And if I can dive into that for just a moment, Mike. With the team, with the culture, it sounds like the two really reinforced one another with your attention to quality and being world class in every area, but can you share with our listeners how that gave you that competitive edge on the team side and how the team [00:14:00] played a role in the culture and the culture likely played a role in the team and the two just uplifted each other and even helped you get bigger success?

Mike Fata: Yeah, again, ideally it starts with the founder or sounds, it starts with the owner or the founder, the entrepreneur I'm a big believer, you don't manage people a manager of the culture, what the business stands for, the best way to do that is be an example, a living example.

I took on the example of living continuous improvement mindset, both personally and in business, and understanding what the best quality, the highest level, the top shelf, however you think about it, is, and setting that standard. And then, I could recruit and retain and grow talent on the team that we're all had the competency and the experience, but most importantly, the fit to that mission and to that mandate.

And see that Entrepreneurs struggle with that, that either they're trying to lead their team, but not through brand and culture and then they get caught by bringing the wrong people on their team that aren't the right fit for the [00:15:00] business. But they haven't scoped and defined that in the first place of what the business is really going to stand for.

And I'm a big believer, like print that on the walls, print it on t shirts that people wear around. I'm like. It like embody the culture personally as an entrepreneur founder and then make it really easy for people to identify and share that the world. Because I can tell you this, The number one reason that people came to work at Mental Harvest, great people, great team members was the opportunity for growth.

They saw where the business was going and they wanted to grow personally and professionally. The number two reason is that they were very proud that they could go home and tell their families that they were working at a business that was making a difference, literally making the world a healthier place by Getting better at hemp farming, hemp manufacturing, and the branding, sales, and marketing activities focused around our products.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Love that. And for our listeners, in the show notes, there'll be a link to Mike's book, 12 Unconventional Lessons for Becoming an Unstoppable Entrepreneur, [00:16:00] and with the book title Grow. And so Mike, it sounds like lesson number seven, empower your team. I love what you said earlier in terms of how you looked at the individuals and how you looked at yourself.

You want to be the change. Yourself, to set the example, personally and business wise, and I suspect that's probably lesson number 11, let your change the world. But that was one of your, secret sauce to your success. How am I doing with that? 

Mike Fata: You're right on. And I, like how that looks to other entrepreneurs. I want to have an understanding of what each one of our team members was working like. because I started the business at zero, and we grew it to a hundred million dollars of annual revenue. I literally walked a mile in each one of our team member's shoes.

I did that job, whether it was janitorial and sweeping the floor and keeping our, facility and our equipment clean, which which I thought was the, because we were in the food business was the most important job, or it was in a sales role and I was traveling around visiting our customers or it was in another form of operations our team going out and auditing and working at.

And in long hours with our [00:17:00] farmer producer partners, when they were seeding and harvesting the crops. And so I think when you can actually understand the job that you're asking people on your team to do, and you would do it yourself. So you're not asking anyone to do something that you wouldn't do yourself.

That's where people really follow the leader. They see the vision and the mission and they want to be part of it because they know that what you're asking is, in normal course.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And it sounds like I'm going to tie lesson five and lesson six, make friends first and then believe in your own vision. Let's tie that back to what you said with the team and the culture, because you said when people came to the company, they wanted to work there, number one, they can see themselves growing.

Personally, they saw where the company was going, and the company was making a difference out there in the world. Absent from what you said was money. Hey, Jeffrey, people were coming to the company for the money. That wasn't said.

Mike Fata: No some people took a step down from where they're working, especially when we got to the point where we were recruiting great team members from say, big, large food companies like General Mills and Kraft, that they actually were taking a little bit of a pay cut, a [00:18:00] sidestep in their career or a side back step in their career because they valued the potential future growth and what the company stood for.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Absolutely love that and Mike, off to the side, but related to this, when you started the company, while you were running it, were you bootstrapping it in the beginning and all the way through? Or did that change or what did that look like for you?

Mike Fata: You know, I never grew up with any money, so I had a little bit of money saved from when I was working before we started the business, and so we, did bootstrap for the first a couple of years, but then we brought our friends and family in, and we had a sort of a friend's family angel around By the time we hit year 10, we were about 10 million in revenue is when we raised some institutional capital, venture capital, and that helped us grow from 10 to uh, 200 million.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Love that. And for our listeners, they know that I'm all about what I call the cockroach startup mindset, where you're bootstrapping, particularly in the early days, and that's where resilience trumps resources. And so for our audience, Mike, who are out there, they're bootstrapping you right now, they're trying to figure things out, it's always a little bit more challenging in the beginning, what can you tell them about [00:19:00] resilience?

What did that look like for you when you? You couldn't write the check and you had to become really creative of, okay, we're going to do this but in a different way we're going to get there. Can you share some stories or some insights with us?

Mike Fata: Yeah I think maybe that part came a little bit more natural to me because I grew up with a poor single mom and what my memories from when I was younger were. My mom paying kind of all the rent the minimum credit card debt, and we had 20 left for two weeks for food. And she was very open with my brother and I, teaching us about the family budget and how things worked and how much money she was making and what that meant to us from a lifestyle standpoint.

And so we got really creative in those days saying, okay, we'll get 20 for food. Here's what that, here's what that recipe here's what the, here's what the grocery shopping list is going to look like and the recipes that we can make with that. And. And so when I got into business, no different. We had to be scrappy.

I'm actually, I don't care how much money you have. The worst case scenario is if you're not scrappy and then you go raise capital. Those are all the headlines you see that aren't so good that [00:20:00] companies like spend all this money, their sales are growing, but their deficit and their loss is growing faster.

And then they go bankrupt, you know, very, very large companies too. And so, you know, I think, it's really about, as a founder, and this is why I'm a big believer ideally starting a business, going to work for a business, or starting a business that you're really passionate about, that enjoy that.

And again, whether it's health, food, products, or you're constructing new homes, Or it's something to do with sports a soccer business. If you're really interested in the business, you're going to be really interested in becoming excellent at all parts of the business. And I think you're also going to have the grit and the persistence just to do it every day.

And take time out of the equation, take how much money you're making out of the equation. And to most entrepreneurs that I've found that have made outstanding success in their life, that is the recipe. That's the recipe of success for them.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And speaking of the recipe of success, what's fascinating, you grew up with very humble beginnings, 20 you're sharing with us for the week to figure it out, make things work, [00:21:00] didn't have a lot. And then here you are all these years later, you have your first nine figure deal, your first nine figure exit, and you're now on the other side.

So what was that like for you when the deal closed? You had all those zeros in the bank account. Did life change for you? How did you handle that? What was that like for you?

Mike Fata: Life didn't really change. You know, I, I think there's some good science or studies around it that if you're making under 100, 000 a year life becomes better and you become more happy when you make... Up to 100, 000 a year. Maybe it's a little bit more than that from a standard, but beyond that, it's proven that it doesn't matter.

Money, can buy you things, but it won't buy you happiness. And so I had already been working on what makes Mike happy, you know, like what is my, and I use the term best day ever. What is my best day ever look like? How do I want to construct my life? So that I'm living my best day. And a lot of that best day is focused around health.

I want a good, solid, sound sleep at night. I want to be able to exercise and do my workout routine during the day. I want to work on projects and things that I like to work on and with [00:22:00] people that I want to work on. and I love food. So I want to go out and source and get great tasting food and prepare it or share it with friends and family. And you'd probably realize that nowhere in there did I talk about money, right? That I wanted to go fly on a jet plane or do this and that. And so that was my foundation, even when the first deal closed and the bank account got a lot bigger I was already in a place where I was living mostly my best day because I had good food to eat.

I could exercise when I wanted. I slept soundly at night. I was hanging out with loved ones already. And I didn't have this aspiration to go buy a fancy watch or things. And that's no judgment for anyone that, is driven by that. That doesn't change.

It doesn't do it for me. won't, it's not a desire for me.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Mike, I love what you're saying. And for our listeners, what Mike is sharing is, I say not all that often, it's not gold, but it's platinum. Because Mike, I'll share with you, I was not as smart as you. And after my nine figure exit, had I done a tenth of what you did, I would have been so much better off. I was on the opposite end, and I didn't [00:23:00] really know, I didn't prepare for what that would be like, what I should be doing.

And so for our listeners out there, the takeaway, part of Mike's success, not just on the business side, but in his post exit life. Mike, you knew what you wanted before you kept on doing that. It had nothing to do with money. You took your time and your energy from the business and you put that into other areas of your life.

And so when the deal closed and you had to walk away from the business at one point, you still have momentum in your life. You still have other things to focus on, a purpose, a passion, my on base with that, off base with that. How, what would you say?

Mike Fata: Yeah, you're right. had a lot of building blocks already built because, and it goes way back from changing my lifestyle and becoming healthier and losing that first hundred pounds but that's not to say that it was easy. I do think that I've realized not a lot of entrepreneurs prepare for life after the event.

I because there is grieving that happens and I was hit with really a triple form of grieving because when we sold the business my ex wife and I decided it was time to get divorced and my mom died unexpectedly all within six weeks [00:24:00] of each other. And so. I went grieving, grieving, grieving, all of a sudden, I couldn't show up to my team of 200 people that I was used to I didn't have my kids half of every other week and I couldn't go see my mom and so I really sat with myself and actually went into more monk mode for six months trying to figure out what is next for me.

I was grateful that I had a bunch of the building blocks of my best day ever life, but that kind knocked me out at the knees and I had to rebuild. And after taking time I decided that, what I wanted to do was, and this came from my most helpless space, was to be helpful and just help other people and help other entrepreneurs that, that were in our space and helping make this world a healthier place.

And fast forward now four years and that's what people see. You say, oh yeah, look Mike's invested in these great companies and also had more now nine figure exits because of those investments in the right companies and right products and right people. But I do a lot of work on mentoring both one-on-one and then through mass mentorship, like my newsletter and my [00:25:00] podcast and the book.

And so that all came from the. From the grieving process of getting to the end of the journey as a founder, entrepreneur and really having to figure out what's next.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Mike, I would say, I mean, while you went through a really rough time, perhaps even hitting rock bottom, the loss of your mother, and then your whole marriage side of things going in that direction, and perhaps it was because it was at the lowest times, that's when we're brought down to our knees, that's when we're humble and we're open.

But you took what many people could have taken, that negative situation, and just spiraled and had excuses of it's not my fault, or look at this, look at that, but you did something productive with that, and I would say helping people, whether it's in the health food industry, or the health industry, or whatever industry in general, as entrepreneurs, as founders, That's what we're there to help enough people solve their problem and eventually, over time, we'll be able to get what we want when enough people get what they want.

And it sounds like you really took that, channeled that, and made a win for everyone involved.

Mike Fata: Yeah. And I've learned [00:26:00] that it's impossible to feel helpless when you're being helpful. So anyone that's listening to this, that they may be in a challenging time and feel a little helpless in some parts of their life best way to combat that is go and be helpful help out some other people out.

And you can't feel helpless when you're helping other people.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And Mike, if we take something that you said a little bit earlier and let's expand really our listeners worldview, because when we listen to social media or the so called news or other areas... We're really getting a very narrow set of, I'm going to call them opinions, not facts. When it comes to the health side, speaking strictly for yourself, where you weren't healthy, now you became healthy, and if we look to health really as KPIs, if we're healthy on the inside, our business is going to be better, our personal life is going to be better, can you share with us, from a health side, specifically what you're doing to keep you at the top of your game health wise?

Mike Fata: Yeah, I do a lot of things now and happy to share for sure it starts with sleep for me. I've learned a lot about sleep especially over the last [00:27:00] three or four years and studied sleep, read some, Why We Sleep is a great book if anyone hasn't read that book and is interested, tracking my sleep with a, with an aura ring.

So it starts with a good eight hours, eight and a half hours sleep for me.

To repair the body hydration, I drink mostly water, but make sure that I am hydrated where I need to be. I eat a diet of, whole foods I don't eat generally processed foods. realized that food cooking and whole nutrition is the foundation for my body to work properly.

I exercise, and that's a combination of cardiovascular exercise. I like to jog, I like to walk on the treadmill. I like to do some rowing and some swimming and some biking. But I also do weight training for all aspects of the body. I've been experimenting with and things that work for me, all these modalities thermotherapy has been a big one for me.

So sauna I've been in the sauna for years as part of my, you know, at the end of my workout, but I've added in over the last couple of years doing cold baths at the end of sauna. So you get hot and then you get cold, has such a [00:28:00] therapeutic effect on the body. And now there's more and more science pouring out on that.

and then, taking time through creating space in my mind and mindfulness through breathwork and meditation and because that's, the area that I really learn what's right for me are areas that I can improve myself. Thinking physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, and that's the whole gamut for me, and but it I've just been a guinea pig on myself and reading what works for other people, experimenting on myself when it comes to health and some of these health modalities, and now I have the benefit of 25 years later, this full health practice.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Absolutely love that. And it never, Mike, ceases to amaze me how very small but intentional decisions on the health area that we do day over day, we look back in the weeks, months, years, decades later, what a compound effect is that compound interest, what a huge difference it makes. And the flip side of that's also true When we don't make these planned [00:29:00] decisions, just unintentional decisions you know what, I'll cut out on the sleep today, you know what, everyone's gonna sleep when they're dead anyway, so let me burn the candle at both ends and I'll do this, or I'm not gonna walk today or exercise today, done day over day, week over week, also has huge negative effects, but let me ask you this, I love what you're doing for your health regime, if you could pick your top one or two things from that entire list, so in other words, if a listener could only do one or two things, what would it be?

Health wise, what moves the dial for you the most that you'd recommend? 

Mike Fata: Definitely sleep. I gave you the list from top to bottom. People need to focus on their sleep. And I'm coming from a place, I did that, when the business was growing so rapidly, you know, we grew from, 40 million to 100 million in like five years. And I got to a place thinking, oh yeah, I'm one of these like superpower CEOs now.

I can just sleep five hours a day, six hours a day. Oh, the occasional day I only got four and a half hours sleep. okay. I could just go at it. But it's a law of diminishing return. Tired is the new stupid. Like your brain doesn't work properly. Your muscles can't heal. Your body is just not going to [00:30:00] function if you don't sleep well.

And so when I started focusing and prioritizing sleep things changed, I was clear, I was making better decisions. Now there's lots of science even on your glucose tolerance, like how your body reacts and responds is much better when you just have a proper night's sleep.

And the number two is hydration, drinking enough water. We know that like over half the population, it's almost two thirds, is dehydrated on the regular or chronically dehydrated. And when you're dehydrated, we're mostly made up of water, and yeah, you need water every day and you need enough of it, and most people don't drink enough of it.

So those two things are free. Jeffrey, they don't cost you anything. They just cost you focus and attention to it. if people commit to sleep eight hours a day and get enough water in after a month, those are two foundations that you can say, okay, now I'm going to go to the next step.

And I think the next step for me would be foods and cleaning up your diet taking food ingredients and processed foods generally out of your diet. 

Jeffrey Feldberg: And within those foods, where do seed oils sit with you in terms of

what you're eating or not, 

Mike Fata: yeah, I'm [00:31:00] not a big fan of seed oils, processed seed oils. There's so much coming out now I have a Mediterranean background, my dad's Italian. So like olive oil has always been a staple on my health journey.

and so I predominantly use olive oil, I haven't eaten like a canola oil or corn oil, like bringing it into my house for many years, if you think about foods that those products, those oils are in.

I don't eat like that. I generally don't eat packaged foods. some people would think about it as like the athlete diet, where you eat, nice healthy carbohydrate brown rice or a sweet potato and then you have vegetables and then you have a clean protein, like make clean foods, which are.

Actually, lower cost when you go and shop them at the grocery store and make them yourself too. So there's a benefit saving there if people are on a budget, but thinking about the macronutrients and the micronutrients that the body needs and staying away from all these processed foods and colorings and flavorings and all that, because it is a disruptor at a cellular level.

I've done enough experimenting on myself to know personally, but there's a tremendous amount of science out there if [00:32:00] people want to read it.

Jeffrey Feldberg: I absolutely love that you're experimenting, you see what works, what feels right, what doesn't feel right for you. And just to put some closure to it, because it is so important, and I couldn't agree more, sleep is the biggest underrated superpower that everyone has, and to your point, Mike, it's also free.

And yet, it's something that we tend to overlook. So on the sleep side, just as we round this out on the health side, and we'll go back onto the business and eventually get into some wrap up mode questions here, but on the sleep side... What does that typically look like for you? So how do you set your day up right that you're going to have a good sleep at night?

And can you walk us through what your sleep hygiene is like 

Mike Fata: so a fixed bedtime starts with a fixed bedtime for me. As an entrepreneur, I used to think that I could burn the candles at both ends and I'd stay up late. I just got to get these things done, so I'm going to stay up late. And then we know, you're not effective at the projects you're doing when you're tired at nighttime, and so just go to bed.

And so I typically go to bed between 10 every night. and then to set myself up for bed I have a nighttime routine but I also have a routine that would be a late day routine [00:33:00] I drink coffee, but I won't have coffee after, I usually have one coffee a day in the morning, but Sometimes there's a second one, but I won't drink coffee, in the afternoons.

I know that caffeine will keep me up. I eat my dinner. If I'm going to go to bed at 10 o'clock, I'll eat dinner at five o'clock. So I have plenty of time to digest food. as I get closer to, and probably that last hour of before I go to sleep. I stay off of screens. You know, I generally, it's a time where I'll read a book because, the screens I've realized just keep my mind active night time.

I have a fully dark room, so I have blackout blinds because, you know, and could be light, especially in the summer, really early in the morning or really late at night time, so I have blackout blinds in my room. I've turned the temperature down the house. I've experimented realized that when it's cooler, probably, in the 18 degrees or in the mid sixties or something I sleep better that way.

And so I add that all together and, and I stay consistent with it. and probably, the piece in there of not snacking at night or not eating dessert I like drinking a glass of wine, but. The second glass of wine, if I had it, will affect my sleep.

So I'm conscious of all the [00:34:00] things that, because I've measured my sleep with an Oura Ring, but you could do it with the Apple Watch, or do it with a number of different tools. seen what building blocks and that nighttime routine give me a good sleep patterns, and then I stick to that.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And for our listeners, you may be thinking, my goodness, Mike, that sounds so limiting and so regimented what you're doing. I would say it's absolutely the opposite when you have what I call rituals. Rituals are freedom. You don't have to think about it. You know what you're going to do. You know what you're doing.

It's a betterment for your health. You'll have a terrific day full of energy and clarity and you can come up with those big ideas, move that dial, change people's lives for the better because you had a good night's sleep, because you're exercising, because you're hydrating.

Mike Fata: Yeah, do all that and if you get to sleep like that, what I found is I get up at six o'clock in the morning-ish without an alarm, I have so much energy and I'm raring to go, where I go and have a coffee and I go to the gym and I have energy to do a workout that's going to fire me up for the rest of the day instead of.

What I used to, [00:35:00] okay, I'm going to push this project, I'm going to stay up now, I'm up till midnight, and I go to bed, and my sleep window is inconsistent, and then I'm waking up to an alarm at maybe even seven o'clock, and I'm groggy and now I'm like reaching for sugar or more caffeine to fire me up, that's just not me.

So many people go through that same pattern, right? And how do you break the pattern? got to be intentional with it, And it's only the mind telling you that it's limiting because that's one of the mind's ways to trick us in. No, don't change because change can be so hard, but after you get through that change all the benefit really shines through pretty quickly.

And then as it relates to business and entrepreneurship, you're just a more effective entrepreneur, you're a more effective leader, you're sharper and it feels better to be in that way. You're winning more.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Now, Mike, for our community, they may be saying, Geoffrey what are you doing, Geoffrey? You're talking about business here and now you're talking about health sleep and how Mike's doing all these things. But for the community, this is from the trenches. Mike's a successful, multi time, nine figure exit entrepreneur.

This is not theory. He's lived it. This is really his secret sauce. He's sharing this with you. He [00:36:00] don't often hear this. This is a narrative that we typically don't hear out there because, Mike, to your point, A lot of this is free, and these big companies can't make money off of free. And so for our listeners, this is your jet fuel for your success.

Listen to Mike. He's done it. He's been down this path. He's sharing with you what's really worked for him, it can work for you. And Mike, for the listeners who are hearing this, maybe even for the first time, because your message is very different than what we typically hear out there, what would you say to that listener in terms of today, making today the first day they're going to go in a different direction?

Any insights or advice for them?

Mike Fata: Yeah, I think, we need a plan to be successful and so I'd encourage you and again I use the term best day ever you're going to have your best day ever, you need to write a plan and that plan will be, again, how much you want to sleep, the foods you want to eat, how your day looks, and then you can do a little of assessment of kind of where you have to be intentional with it.

You got to write it down. these goals do take some focused [00:37:00] attention and persistence and consistency and discipline to achieve and it starts with that plan.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Absolutely love that. And for our listeners, again, Mike has done this. I remember Mike shared with us, Mike, he came from very humble beginnings. For our listeners, 20 a week is what he and his family had. His mother at the time for food and he was overweight, but turn that all around into an incredible success story.

And Mike, I don't want to put words in your mouth. If you could do this, can our listeners do this as well? What do you think?

Mike Fata: I think everybody has within them. Again the world's not happening to us. We are happening to the world. We have to be very prescriptive with what we want and start putting the focus and attention and the work there to get it.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And Mike, perhaps an unfair question I'm going to ask you, because the 12 lessons that you share in your book, and it's almost like saying, Mike, these are your 12 children, I want you to pick your favorite child, but I'm going to ask it anyways. If you could pick one of the lessons that you can highlight for our community, which lesson would that be?

Mike Fata: I would say it's [00:38:00] lesson number four. Knowing your passion because I hear it all too often that that people are doing things that they don't really like to do for money, whether that's a business that they started that they're in or they're working for somebody else. I also hear from people that they don't even know what their passion is.

And so I think the most important thing is getting to know your passion, because when we're kids, we know what we're passionate about. That's what we're drawn to doing and kids do that all the time. It gets trained out of us from, school maybe or the responsibility of being an adult and then getting into all these situations like having a business, having a family and so on.

So I encourage you to go back and to think about what you're passionate about. And some people say well, I don't know what I'm passionate about. How do I do that? It's very much like. Expanding your palate with food. You have to nibble on and try all these different things to understand, is that a hobby that you want to do?

Can you turn that hobby into a business? Or, how do you reframe your life to do more of the things that are inherently in you that you'd want to study and [00:39:00] research and work at all the time? And that's really focused around your passion.

Jeffrey Feldberg: So find your passion, experiment, it's okay, maybe it didn't work out, try it again until you finally tune into

Mike Fata: Yeah, and you don't need to blow up your life to do that. could do that on the side of what you're doing right now, and just give yourself permission to do that put a little plan together so that you go and whether that's going on your first hot air balloon ride or you're actually going to take time to go and Have coffee with a friend when you normally don't do that.

Take yourself out of your comfort zone and go and try to experiment on things that inherently your mind and body are telling you that you should do. If you have that itch that's a great way to say, hey, is that something that I have passion and long term passion about?

maybe I can incorporate more of that into my life to live more of my best day ever, every day.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And you know what I love about what you're sharing, it really goes back to, hey, if you follow your passion, the success is going to follow, not the other way around. And in your case, Mike, how fortunate were you, you became passionate for yourself about something that you then took that. Found a way to [00:40:00] channel that into a business helping other people, and then not that the rest took care of itself automatically and just because you showed up, it didn't.

You put a lot of hard work in there, but you had that foundation to really lead the way through those challenging times.

Mike Fata: 100 percent I truly believe, I've coached and worked with and mentored enough entrepreneurs that are doing just that. They've found that passion spot for them, they've found their niche in that, they've started a business they're putting in the reps and the time And through all these different scales of success already I've seen it not only for myself, I've seen it for dozens and hundreds of other individuals that are in the same space.

So I know it's within everyone to find that for themselves.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so Mike, before we go into wrap up mode, let me ask you this. Are there any topics that we haven't covered? Are there any questions that I should have asked that perhaps I didn't ask that you'd like to share with the community? Any points that you'd like to put out there?

Mike Fata: I just want to double down and make sure that people know the resources that I offer for free to help encourage, inspire and provide some tactical information for them to grow personally [00:41:00] and professionally. I write The Unstoppable Entrepreneur.

newsletter. I have the Founder to Mentor podcast where I interview successful founders bring forward their growth stories. wrote a book, which you mentioned, Grow 12 Unconventional Lessons for Becoming an Unstoppable Entrepreneur. Greg Fleischman and I put together a mass mentorship toolbox where we've taken all of our Forms and tools and templates strategy planning documents, everything that we've had to grow our businesses from zero to a hundred million dollars and made it available for free at fatafleishman.

org so people can go onto the site and at fatafleishman. org and sign up for an account and all of that is available at mikefata. ca is the one stop shop to see kind of everything that I have out there. So hopefully. People take advantage of some of the free mentorship and mass mentorship that I've put together because I just really want to see more and more people win.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And for our listeners, all of that, every one of those resources and more that Mike has shared, it'll be in the show notes. It doesn't get any [00:42:00] easier. And you're hearing Mike himself saying, hey, don't be a stranger. Check out these resources. Mike, he's walking the talk. He's been down this path multiple times.

It really doesn't get any better. And again, it's all in the show notes. But Mike, let me ask you this. We're going into wrap up mode. I have both the privilege and the honor for every guest. It's a tradition here. It's our ritual to ask this wrap up question. It's a fun one. Let me set it up for you. When you think of the movie Back to the Future, you have that magical DeLorean car that will take you to any point in time.

So Mike, now imagine it's tomorrow morning, and you look outside your window. This is the fun part. You look outside your window. DeLorean car curbside, Door is open, it's waiting for you to hop on in. So you hop in and you're now going to go to any point in your life. Mike, as a young child, a teenager, whatever point in time it would be, what are you telling your younger self in terms of life lessons or life wisdom or, hey Mike, do this but don't do that?

What would that sound like?

Mike Fata: I know the time because, and I mentioned my mom died unexpectedly and it was three weeks after she retired and I [00:43:00] never got closure because it was unexpected and the message I would tell myself is don't leave any loose ends with anyone or any relationship in life because you just don't know when it's going to be over.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Wow. Don't leave any loose ends. I absolutely love that. Just get some closure and, Mike, as you're saying that, I'm just thinking back of... When all of us, unfortunately, we've been to funerals and people get up and whether it's a eulogy or afterwards, they're saying such nice words. At the back of my mind, what I'm always thinking, did the person who recently passed away, did they hear you say that?

Did they hear these words? Or did they not? So I, love that advice and for our listeners, words to the wise, don't leave any loose ends, whatever's on your mind, share it. Or if you haven't spoken to someone. Really, you love or you have respect or admiration for, reach out to them and let them know how they feel and how you feel and get that whole kumbaya thing going.

It sounds like everyone's the better for it. would you say, Mike?

Mike Fata: Yeah, for sure. And, even as simple as, Hey, the next time that you're going to leave one of your loved ones, whether that's to go to work or, hug them, like you mean it, tell them that you love [00:44:00] them, be really thoughtful and sincere. We can get into kind of autopilot mode in everyday life and not take advantage of those opportunities.

And then the opportunity could leave you and you may never get that opportunity again.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Yeah, that's life. You know what? The only thing that's constant is change itself. We never know what tomorrow brings. So, Absolutely, and some terrific wisdom and advice. Mike, it's official. This is a wrap and I really want to thank you. You've been completely very open and vulnerable with us and sharing your journey, what's worked, what hasn't worked.

And as we wrap things up here, as we love to say here at Deep Wealth, Mike, may you continue to prosper and thrive while you remain healthy and safe. Thank you so much.

Mike Fata: Yeah. Thanks again for having me. 

Sharon S.: The Deep Wealth Experience was definitely a game-changer for me. 

Lyn M.: This course is one of the best investments you will ever make because you will get an ROI of a hundred times that. Anybody who doesn't go through it will lose millions. 

Kam H.: If you don't have time for this program, you'll never have time for a successful liquidity 

Sharon S.: It was the best value of any [00:45:00] business course I've ever taken. The money was very well spent.

Lyn M.: Compared to when we first began, today I feel better prepared, but in some respects, may be less prepared, not because of the course, but because the course brought to light so many things that I thought we were on top of that we need to fix. 

Kam H.: I 100% believe there's never a great time for a business owner to allocate extra hours into his or her week or day. So it's an investment that will yield results today. I thought I will reap the benefit of this program in three to five years down the road. But as soon as I stepped forward into the program, my mind changed immediately. 

Sharon S.: There was so much value in the experience that the time I invested paid back so much for the energy that was expended. 

Lyn M.: The Deep Wealth Experience compared to other programs is the top. What we learned is very practical. Sometimes you learn stuff that it's great to learn, [00:46:00] but you never use it. The stuff we learned from Deep Wealth Experience, I believe it's going to benefit us a boatload.

Kam H.: I've done an executive MBA. I've worked for billion-dollar companies before. I've worked for smaller companies before I started my business. I've been running my business successfully now for getting close to a decade. We're on a growth trajectory. Reflecting back on the Deep Wealth, I knew less than 10% what I know now, maybe close to 1% even. 

Sharon S.: Hands down the best program in which I've ever participated. And we've done a lot of different things over the years. We've been in other mastermind groups, gone to many seminars, workshops, conferences, retreats, read books. This was so different. I haven't had an experience that's anything close to this in all the years that we've been at this.

It's five-star, A-plus.

Kam H.: I would highly recommend it to any super busy business owner out there.

Deep Wealth is an accurate name for it. This program leads to deeper wealth and [00:47:00] happier wealth, not just deeper wealth. I don't think there's a dollar value that could be associated with such an experience and knowledge that could be applied today and forever. 

Jeffrey Feldberg: Are you leaving millions on the table? 

Please visit www.deepwealth.com/success to learn more.

 If you're not on my email list, you'll want to be. Sign up at www.deepwealth.com/podcast. And if you enjoyed this episode, if it added value, if you walked away with some new insights and strategies, please leave a review on your favorite podcast channel. Reviews help us reach new listeners, grow the show. And continue to create content that you'll enjoy and as we wrap up this episode as always please stay healthy and safe.