“I can be as risky as I wanna be, I can think as big as I want to think, because it fails, “what’s the worst that can happen?” I end back right on this floor.”
When the market crashed in 2008, Tay lost everything – his house, his car, and his income.
He had to file bankruptcy and moved back to his mom’s house – sleeping on her living room floor.
Tay was 21 years old but he felt lower than a child…
Because he didn’t even have a bed to sleep on.
Deep down, he knew better. He was pissed.
“I knew I should have been an entrepreneur and create my own economy.”
That’s when he did whatever it took to get out of his mom’s house.
He had this invincible feeling inside of him but had to control it because, where Tay lived, it could have gotten him into selling drugs or robbing people.
However, he knew life had a bigger purpose for him.
It started with him working at a gym for 3 months – sweeping and mopping floors for free.
That’s how Tay got into the fitness industry.
He was 320 lbs overweight, had diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and eczema.
And knew that if he didn’t do anything about his health, he wasn’t gonna be here for long.
That’s what led him into veganism and becoming certified as a trainer and nutritionist.
Tay dropped 120lbs and his health issues were down the drain.
That’s when he realized he could help people…
Veganism wasn’t as cool and popular 12 years ago as it is now.
So it was tough for him to get clients.
He took his fitness business online, branding himself as “The Vegan Trainer”.
Clients started coming in from his YouTube channel, Facebook, and Instagram.
Fast forward years later, The Vegan Trainer became a million dollar business.
At the same time, he got into the world of trading in the stock market.
Tay spent 5 years profiting from day trading and was making enough money to exit his Vegan Trainer business.
Now, he shows people how to make their “F-U Money.”
When the market crashed in 2020, Tay was still profiting.
People wanted to know how he was doing it and because the demand was so high…
He started teaching people how to trade in the stock market.
Since then, he’s helped over 10 people become millionaires and a couple hundred people earn multiple 6-figure incomes.
Tay has a relatable, mind-blowing rags to riches story that I had the honor to interview him and learn from his entrepreneurial journey.
Now, I’m excited to share all of the golden nuggets with you….
So, if you read this article to the end, you’ll learn how Tay went from filing bankruptcy to sleeping on his mom’s living room floor to creating a million-dollar fitness brand and now helping people make their F-U money.
Tay’s Top 10 Character Traits That Shaped Him Into the Man He Is Today
Success isn’t just about the achievements you’ve made, it’s about WHO you become in the process.
- “You don’t know what you don’t know.”
Tay believes that seeking out mentorship and coaching is the first trait to becoming successful.
If someone stripped away everything he had right now but kept his mindset…
The first thing he would do is seek out the right mentor to get the shortcut to reach his goals.
Don’t mistake this for getting a “quick-fix”…
Because when it comes to fast-tracking your way to success in any area of life – there’s a high chance someone has already figured out the blueprint to get what you want.
Don’t try to reinvent the wheel, find a mentor who has what you want and learn from them.
- Reading Books
“The more you learn, the more you earn.”
It’s a cliche saying but if Tay hadn’t read books, he wouldn’t have ever sought out a mentor.
Tay suggests reading the books and free content for the people you’d want to mentor you.
It’s the easiest and most affordable way to get into the mind of a successful person.
- Diet and Exercise
People focus on making money so much that they forget to take care of their body.
It doesn’t mean you need to be a bodybuilder, it means you need to feed your body with healthy food and exercise daily.
If Tay stayed 320 lbs and overweight with multiple health problems, he wouldn’t have started his Vegan Trainer business.
Every successful person knows that focus is crucial to getting things done.
Feeding your body with healthy foods and exercising is a great way to train your “focus muscles.”
“Health is Wealth” as the saying goes.
When you take care of your body, you tend to take care of other areas of your life.
- Sleep
Sleep is extremely underrated because we’re living in a “hustle 24/7” culture.
But, that isn’t sustainable and leads many entrepreneurs to burnout.
“If I stay up trying to finish something. I am not as productive than if I just took a 2 hour nap and then wake up and finish the project.”
Entrepreneurs deal with lots of stress and pressure.
Sleep allows your body to rest, recover, and process everything, so if you’re showing up half asleep to your team, you’re only operating at half the potential you could be.
- “Your network is your net worth.”
It sounds cliche because we’ve heard this quote dozens of times…
But, it’s true.
It goes back to the saying of “You’re the total sum of the 5 people you spend the most time with.”
So, if you want a higher net worth, surround yourself with people who are “making things happen.”
- Happiness
“All of this means nothing if you’re not happy.”
We can wake up, build a business, work on our bodies, and impact people’s lives…
But, let’s not forget about our happiness.
Tay believes every entrepreneur should do something for themselves everyday.
Because it’s easy to forget about our happiness when we’re deep in the trenches of growing the business and building our team.
- You need a team
If you’re growing any kind of business to a high level, your team is a crucial part of your success.
“I would be nothing without my team.”
As your business grows, you’ll need to hire and delegate tasks so you can focus on the tasks that grow the business.
Build a team and they will build your business.
- Seek fulfilment and purpose
“A lot of people ask how I do it. I say it’s because I have a strong passion and purpose.”
It’s easy to forget why you’re building your business and impacting other people’s lives.
As human beings, we need a purpose, a passion that continues to drive us everyday.
So, we can build our business empires and impact people’s lives from a place of fulfillment and congruence.
- Meditation and getting Quiet time
Entrepreneurs are always “go, go go.”
“Everybody needs quiet time, the best decisions and ideas come when you’re quiet.”
Entrepreneurship is like lifting weights.
It’s a balance of going extremely hard at a project or task…
But, also knowing how to take a step back to recover, think and strategize.
If you tried to lift weights for 30 minutes straight without taking 1 minute breaks in between sets, you’d burn out.
That’s why it’s important to schedule in your meditation or quiet time to think and strategize so you can make smarter business decisions.
- Be Friendly
It sounds so simple but it goes a long way.
One thing that Tay noticed along his entrepreneurial journey is that the people who treated others like crap tend to have more hardship and fall out.
Like Tay, I’m a big believer in karma.
The more negative energy you put out in the universe, the more negative energy it’ll give you.
And the more positive energy you put out, the more positivity you’ll get back.
Tay has neighbors in Puerto Rico that are financially successful but aren’t friendly.
In Tay’s words, “don’t be shitty.”
Financial success is only an amplifier of who you are, so don’t forget that…be friendly to people.
There’s Always Room For Growth
When Tay’s clients start getting success from day trading…
He likes to “shake them up a bit.”
Why?
I believe many entrepreneurs get comfortable after they’ve reached a noticeable level of success and take their foot off the gas.
But, there’s always room for improvement and more growth.
Stay Down Until Your Come Up
When Tay was banking multiple 6-figures a year before hitting millionaire status….
He didn’t spend his money on a Lambo or Mercedes, he drove a Toyota Camry.
“Reinvest the money you have and keep growing.”
Keep More Of What You Earn
“It’s not about how much money you make, it’s about how much you keep.”
Once you reach a high level of financial success, you’ll face problems that you’d probably never expect.
Tay helps his clients maximize their taxes – so they can keep more of what they earn.
And helps them be more efficient with their time.
Like hiring an assistant and team members to take over the “lower dollar” tasks that take up too much time.
So you can focus on doing money making activities that bring in the high dollars.
Budgeting Your Time and Money
This means budgeting your day, scheduling your day the night before, and budgeting your time properly.
Tay notices that many people waste their time doing things that drain their time.
One of the books he recommends for this is “Deep Work” by Cal Newport…
Where he explains that you’ll be more productive and get things done faster if you focus on one task at a time…
Instead of trying to multitask and do 3 things at once.
Where in your schedule can you be budgeting your time more efficiently?
Who Has Rental Space In Your Head?
One of the reasons why people become entrepreneurs is that they want to prove people wrong or they want to impress someone.
People have so many thoughts running through their mind, people they’re trying to impress, and expectations they want to meet…that they can’t focus.
This is why Tay recommends that every entrepreneur needs quiet time to clear the mind.
So you can focus on getting the things done that get you to your goals instead of worrying about impressing people.
Reward Yourself With A Vacation.
“Once you got the money figured out, you’re not a shitty person, you’re giving back, take a vacation.”
Reaching a high level of success is cool, but when it consumes your entire life…
It becomes a challenge to unplug and know how to have fun.
“You lose the skill of unplugging and having fun so learn how to have fun because it makes you even better once you go back in.”
Because if you don’t take time off from work, you’re not fulfilling the other needs in your life.
That’s why many entrepreneurs get depressed, overweight, and even lonely because they’re not integrating the other aspect of life…which is having fun.
Which brings me to the next point…
If You’re Struggling to Take Your Mind Off Work, Here’s Tay Sweat’s Best Tips For “Unplugging” From Work
“For me, it was, if I stopped then it’s gonna be a shit storm of stuff I gotta take care of when I get back. And I’m not gonna be able to fully enjoy everything because it’s gonna be in my mind ‘I have to do this’, ‘I gotta do this’.”
Maybe you can relate?
I know many entrepreneurs do.
So, what Tay does and has his clients do is…
Experiment With Unplugging From Work
“I wanna experiment with it. Let’s figure out if that’s right or not. Let’s see how bad it is. Take the phone. Leave it. Don’t work. And let’s see if your mind is right. Let’s see if you’re gonna have a crazy amount of work to come back to – that’s not manageable.”
Now, if you come back and there’s a crap load of work to do…
It’s not the vacation that’s the problem.
“The problem is that you can’t do all of that by yourself. Now we gotta start building a team. Or systems, even if it’s not a team.”
The solution is to build a team and set systems in place…even if you don’t come back from a ton of work.
Why?
Having systems in place will help you run the business so that you CAN relax and take your mind off of work.
Tay’s Thoughts On Dating & Romance As An Entrepreneur
“Make sure you find the right mate. Find a partner that’s invested in what you do. And invested so much that they’re willing to help you, that’s a big thing.”
Because it can be a pain in the butt when you’re an entrepreneur dating someone who doesn’t understand what you’re going through.
It’s best to find a mate that understands you and is supportive of your mission.
Now, if you’re a single guy with massive goals….
“For me, men should not date when you’re building what you’re trying to go after. If you want to build a business, be successful, be wildly rich, you need to be single.”
And Tay backs it up with 2 reasons (he also understands the everyone is different):
- Time
For many entrepreneurs, especially in the beginning and when you’re in your 20s, you’re cranking out 80 hour work weeks or longer.
Every entrepreneur is different, however the point is:
Building a business takes a lot of time.
And having a relationship takes time because you need to give attention to your partner.
Most partners would feel neglected if most of your time is on business and not them.
So, it can cause a lot of unnecessary problems.
- Relationships usually lead to Marriage and Kids
Now, this is under the context that you’re dating a mate in a long-term relationship…
The next thing it usually leads to is marriage.
And then kids come after marriage.
“I don’t suggest it when you’re after a BIG goal and I say that, kids are gonna come next. And you’re not gonna be the father you need to be if you’re banging out 80+ hours a week. It’s hard to do.”
The decision is always yours.
Tay Sweat has a stunning relationship with his fiance so I thought I’d share his perspective on this topic.
Final Words From Tay
What I love about Tay’s story is that he came from a rough place financially and with his health, however he didn’t play victim to it.
Tay Sweat is one of my best interviews.
So, I want to leave you with some powerful words of wisdom and encouragement from Tay:
“Deep down, we all want a little F-U money.
F-U money is not really being wildly rich, ‘oh you need a hundred billion dollars’, that’s not F-U money. I mean, it can be.
But, F-U money is making enough to take care of your lifestyle, have enough money to give back, and enough to comfortably start saving for retirement.
If you can cover that on your own terms, that’s F-U money. So, what I mean by you have it on your own terms…
You don’t have a boss to answer to, you don’t have any one-sitting you need to be in – you could do your job wherever you wanna be, that to me is true F-U money.
Because you can dress the way you want to dress, talk the way you want to talk, you could do whatever you want to do, and you can still cover the necessities. And have a little bit left over for your lifestyle.”
If you’d like to learn more about Tay, you can go to his Instagram page here.
