 Boom welcome back to the 21 convention 2021 15-year anniversary being held in Orlando, Florida at 21 summit Our next speaker is a first-time speaker to the 21 convention stage Recommended highly to me by many speakers of our event such as Jack Donovan and Tanner Guzzi. He's the co-founder of Attila's gym You've probably seen him all over the news in 2020 and even 2021 Tucker Carlson stuff like that This guy by the way is the author coming bestseller to dumb gym owners But what I do want to say about this man before he joins the stage is like our founding fathers This man has put his balls his money his life and his masculinity on the line to stand up for what he believes in They stand up for freedom and to give a good example to American men of what it means to be a fucking man Without further ado, please help me walk them for the first time ever the 21 convention stage Ian Smith Thank you, sir 21 convention I'm happy to be here Everybody in the audience everybody streaming it My name is Ian Smith I am one of the co-owners of the Attila's gym of Belmar, New Jersey along with my business partner Frank Trombetti and today I came here and I'd like to share our story story that Frank and I what we've been through over the past 20 months and What our gym has been through and what the people that have supported us have been through in the past 20 months and My hope is that you'll find some lessons in this story I'm gonna leave you with some that I think that are important, but after the story. I'm gonna open up to a Q&A and Ask away because it's an interesting story, but what's really interesting about it is it's about two Regular guys. There's absolutely nothing inherently special about Frank and I And I think that's probably the greatest lesson so Frank and I we bought a dumpster fire of a gym called Attila's gym Belmar We had worked together for several years alongside Frank has owned a nutrition store in the area for 25 years Rock-bottom nutrition. He's an expert what he does He's one of the best in the business and I had the opportunity as a young Independent trainer to work alongside him in his facility renting my own space being able to build my business and Eventually we decided to buy Attila's gym Till us Jim when we found it had about 90 members a day coming through it was empty. It was a hostile environment for Most people especially beginners and women and it was a failed business but Frank and I knew That we had what it took we had a vision we knew that we would work hard and we knew we would be dedicated and those were the American principles that we have been raised on hard work dedication to do the right thing and You will wind up in a better spot than where you started so we bought Attila's gym and Got right to work. We were working about 80 hour weeks and within a month the gym was profitable The environment had changed and we were on an upward trajectory Up until March of 2020 now we had heard whispers coming in February About this new novel coronavirus that was supposed to be the be all end all of humanity the Media cranked up the fear. They played 24-7 coverage about it and That order came to shut down and suspend Business small business non essential business in New Jersey in March Now Frank and I were not excited about this prospect for several reasons. We were a brand new business We had only owned the gym for about nine months at that point and we had a lot of work left to do and we were very skeptical of the idea of allowing government into our lives and Suspending our rights in this so-called emergency Nonetheless, we didn't know enough to confidently stay open and We decided to close our doors just like most of America did Never stopped working Came right into the gym the next day there was a lot Lots still to do we still had a a dumpster of a gym is no longer a dumpster fire but we still had plenty of work to do and Frank is Probably the hardest working man. I have ever met He jokes a lot, but it's true He said the only thing that anybody has ever given him is a hard time He's earned his way in this life and it's probably one of the most redeeming qualities that he has So, you know, we didn't take any time off. We were right in we were working working. We had upgrades to do We were fixing stuff but what we started to do was pay attention and that was probably the first time that we had really paid attention to what was going on in the world around us and It was pretty shocking Payed attention to two things paid attention to the science behind all of this and the politics behind all of it because we knew that these two things were probably going to shape our World and they had already started to Almost right away. There were red flag after red flag after red flag Frank has a Incredible understanding of the human body. It's why he's been in business for 25 years That's why he's been able to as a small business brick-and-mortar nutrition shop be able to compete in the world of GNC and vitamin shop and bodybuilding.com and Amazon So we were learning everything we possibly could How the virus was transmitted, you know, how to mitigate risk how to treat it What were what were the actual numbers behind these deaths in these cases and very quickly? Things weren't making sense And Frank would be able to break all of that down and to this day. He's been right pretty much all along the way So we started to get very very skeptical now Common sense told us That a lot of this wasn't making sense, you know, we would go and we were we were working during the shutdown and on day one We had finished up some work and Attila's gym is a 15,000 square foot facility so on day one we were finishing up some work and I decided to get a little workout in and Somebody took a picture from our front window of Me working out in my gym My 15,000 square foot gym and reported it to the health department They sent the Belmar police over and they threatened us on day one for me working out in my gym that I own a $50,000 fine and a revocation of our business license So right there that was big red flag number one There's absolutely no way that you could justify that for any reason And that really put us on the tail of the politics behind us because we started to ask we called the health department Nobody could confirm or deny that that was true. There was no paperwork of any of this It was all people at the top just making it up as they went along So on day 11 Congress passed the single biggest economic stimulus bill in the history of the United States to the tune of I believe It was 2.6 trillion dollars And in that stimulus bill, which was about a thousand pages, so I'm sure none of them actually read it There was the incentivization of people to stay home and not work with an extra six hundred dollars a month Or excuse me six hundred dollars a week unemployment for 16 weeks when we were supposed to be staying at home for 14 days and getting back to business that was the original plan and To us that didn't make a whole lot of sense to us that was Politics being politics the moving of the goalposts which we We knew what was going to happen from day one and that was all the evidence that we needed right then and there We made our final decision that we were going to reopen. We had talked about it before Frank wanted to file a lawsuit on day one, which is most of the original law the lawsuit that we have going on now For multiple constitutional violations, but that was the that was the straw that broke the camel's back for us Wasn't wasn't making sense and we were three days away from when we were supposed to be reopening with no plan being presented by any governor Or any elected leader? So Frank and I Made the decision there that we were going to reopen. We were going to take our time We were going to learn everything we possibly could and we were going to be so over prepared When we reopened that it would be laughable to shut us down When you drive by a Walmart and there's not a single parking space left open So we put together a 15-point safety protocol going so far above and beyond we had contact tracing systems We had a temperature scanner at the door. We had people signing health waivers We had spray bottles for each and every person that walked through the door so that they could carry it with them and Spray them wipe equipment as they went using a non-toxic peroxide based cleaner We had hydroxyl air generator or air filters coming in Technology that the government could have put in every single building in America with all that money that they spent That purified the air up to 99.9 percent virus and bacteria free using peroxide So We got our plan together We doubted our eyes we crossed our teas and We got ready to step into the unknown because we didn't know what was going to happen when we swung those doors open We picked a date that date was exactly two months to the day that they asked us to shut down They gave or they asked for two weeks. We gave them two months. The gig was up. We were opening our doors so I went on my social media I did about a seven minute video and I Wanted to we wanted to explain to people what we were doing Why we felt we had to do it and and how we were going to do it safely and effectively And we also wanted to make our plan public because we wanted to show Every business in the country every church in the country every school in the country that was shut down that you could Reopen safely using some sort of variation of what we're doing here So I made that video and Caught the attention. I believe that it was truly right message at the right time people were tired of This 14-day lockdown that just seemed to be extending and extending and extending And it caught the attention of a local radio show he gave us about 15 minutes his name is Rich Ziolly and we talked about our plan and that night the phone rang and Tucker Carlson said you want to come on my show and I said absolutely So I went on to Tucker Carlson and Announced to the world that Attila's gym was going to open one week from that night Soon as I walked out of the station that night My phone was smoking with notifications the gym phone was going off and There was a tremendous Amount of support coming our way people were so excited that we were going to do this And I remember being on Tucker Carlson show and he He said as I'm looking at the camera, you know, you can't see him You're just looking into into a camera and you hear him in your ear and he said you guys are about to defy The governor of New Jersey. Are you ready to do that? I said absolutely and that was that moment that that trigger pull So one week from that day Frank and I along with some volunteers The Belmar police were instructed not to let us into the building on Monday morning So Frank and I along with some volunteers our family our friends members of the gym We chained ourselves in on Sunday night We covered the windows up with brown paper and we chained ourselves in the building Early on Sunday evening slept through the night not many of us slept, but we we prepared We had no idea what was coming. We didn't know if we were gonna get arrested We didn't know if the police were gonna be there Knowing the government. We didn't know if the army was gonna be there And Through the night you could hear the crowd gathering You just you heard people and we were looking through the cracks and you saw American flags and you saw Gadsden flags and The noise and the energy was building in the parking lot at like 3 a.m. 4 a.m Then the news anchor showed up and there was a news truck from every every major news agency in the country including the local news national news the Spanish Channel everybody was there and Time approached it was about seven o'clock and Frank and I stood at that door. It's actually in the book Frank and I stood at that door in front of the brown paper with a big chain wrapped around it and We looked at each other and We had made the promise before That if we were going to do this it was all the way through We weren't going to stick your toes in the water and decide it was cold We were going to do it and that was it Frank and I looked at each other right there said until the wheels fall off and we opened the doors and Right before actually we said to the wheels fall off and Frank looked at me and goes. I sure hope somebody came to work out And those doors swung open And Pete Hegseth from Fox News was there with an interview on national television right then and there Because he understood how important it was just like Tucker did and we gave that national interview Police in the parking lot Probably about six seven hundred people at the parking lot And the most important part was wrapped around the building were all of our members and the members that were there are some of the best men and women that I know they are some of the most honest and genuine people who are looking to take control of their lives and to To be rugged individuals and to take care of themselves in in their own manner And they truly embrace what this country is all about a lot of them are veterans active military They're members of the community that police fire nurses doctors They were a blue collar town and these are just the nitty gritty people that make up this country the good people of this country and We opened our doors so we had this extensive protocol in place and You know, we we had a very busy first day Frank is the numbers guys, so I'm gonna estimate it. I think we had about four hundred people come that first day or something to that effect Everything went well round noon time The Belmar police approached they were in the parking lot at first just kind of watching making sure everything was good and we quieted the crowd down and the captain at the time Approached us and the crowd was was sort of expecting him to do something bad and we quieted them down and He said to us as there's this large group of people just gathered around waiting for him to say something He said you were all in violation of an executive order and he took this long Dramatic pause and he said on that note be safe and have a nice day And he turned around and he walked away and we had thought we right there We thought we won we there was this eruption in the crowd and there was this moment where we're like we did it and Governor Murphy saw that because it went viral and 15 minutes later. He called the He had the attorney general called the Camden County Prosecutors office the Camden County Prosecutors office called the township of Belmar police department and said if you do not get in There and close them down. We are going to furlough the entire department for two months without pay So needless to say the captain did not come back He was pretty much on his way out. Anyway, he had done his time in the police force He was ready to retire and I think that was probably the last thing that he needed to get out the door and Second lieutenant stepped up We still call him lieutenant. He doesn't like us very much, but we refuse to acknowledge his rank as captain His name is lieutenant dram Came and gave us our first set of tickets We took them out in the open in front of the cameras Standing there. We took our tickets. We said nothing to them and the gym stayed open Day two same tactics then they went after the people who were leaving the gym So as our as our members were leaving cops were following to their car asking their names writing citations again violation of a governor's order is this ambiguous charge Many of our members got citations that day one of our members got arrested But the gym stayed open When as they came around They no longer wanted to give people citations in front of the media because the media was still there so they set up a camera in the Parking lot and parking lot. They were pulling people over as they were leaving out of the eyes of the media We had that camera removed. It's a private parking lot. They had no permission to do it camera came down show goes on They started mailing us our tickets because they don't Frank and I would happily stand out in front of the cameras and smile as they gave us ticket after ticket so they resorted to mailing because The media was just not doing them any favors at that time and we knew that we knew that when we opened we knew that We needed some visibility We knew that we were probably up against something that We had no idea what these people were capable of or to what extent that they would go but we knew that they We knew that they were going to pull punches and we were totally okay with that as long as we could show the entire world The extent to which these people would punish you to ensure your compliance Government's supposed to work with the people This is not an example of that. They never came to talk about our safety protocol We announced publicly we put our protocol out there And all they wanted to do and all they've done is try to punish us Nonetheless Thursday in the middle of the night Or excuse me the middle of the morning the health department came by Pulled up in a white van in the middle of night and slapped four pieces of paper on our door That basically said you're shut down because coronavirus Once again never took a look at our safety protocol nothing Never even stepped foot inside the building didn't even send an email So on Thursday, we weren't quite sure what to do, you know Frank and I Weren't looking for trouble. We were looking for solutions and we had a good one and we still have a good one but We stayed shut down for that day. We weren't sure of the legality of it And we were doing our best to play nice We were doing our best to respect the institution of this country and the systems therein Friday we said screw this we're opening so we opened up again After we read the health department shutdown that was based on a Registered nurse who is the head of the health department in New Jersey a registered nurse not a virologist not an epidemiologist and RN So we decided to ignore it on Friday we opened we had probably our most normal day of that week and at the end of the day we had all gone home and our lawyers got a call from the Attorney General and Right before the closing bell Governor Murphy put a motion For a contempt or excuse me a court order for us to shut down Governor Murphy uses a Judge named Judge Robert Lugie in the state of New Jersey. We do not have elected judges We have appointed judges these judges do not answer to the public. They answer to the politicians that put them there Not only do they get appointed but most of them are tenured So they're like a bad teacher And they do not respect the law because they do not have to there's no standard at which they have to do their job because there's no accountability So judge Robert Lugie. He's an interesting character in this story. We'll just call him governor Murphy's lap dog from here on out Judge Robert Lugie put a court order for us to shut down and They came in the middle of night and they changed the locks on our business Without our permission our business where we where we have paid our rent or we are up to date on our bills They came and they locked our doors So at that point Frank and I we decided we were gonna play nice We turned it over to the courts And we made our protest We put a little bit of faith in the system And we thought that the courts would offer the checks and balances that they are supposed to offer They didn't We grew weary and We decided that we were gonna reopen Thankfully rock-bottom nutrition is inside there and technically that's an essential business Once they found that out they handed the keys back over And In the meantime we were taking our gym equipment outside every single day. We were pulling 30,000 pounds worth of Machinery squat racks bench presses dumbbells barbells you name it We pulled the entire gym out into the parking lot every single day and put it back every single day And we were having 300 people a day show up in the middle of June on the black top to work out Just to prove a point just because they wanted to So on July 4th, we had enough And we figured that was a good day to get arrested Independence Day, so we said no more outside everybody back inside Unfortunately didn't come arrest us that day that would have been good headline news But they did put forth a motion to hold us in contempt of court And of course they did we were in contempt of court a judge told us shut down. We said no At that point things escalated pretty quickly we started getting fined $15,000 per day $15,497.76 per day for every day that we were in operation And we are a again. We are a gym we are a Small gym that charges people $30 a month and at the time wasn't even charging people To date we have not charged any of our members Since the shutdown we operate entirely off donations Because it was never about the money. It was always about the principal $15,000 a day fine. They took $172,000 from our bank account In the middle of the night in the middle of ongoing litigation Trying to shut us down In August they stripped us of our business license We were never found guilty of a crime We still not have been found guilty of any crime and they never put any evidence forth that we were any danger to the public We had plenty of evidence that contact tracing system At the time I think we had about a hundred thousand visits with no outbreaks linked to our facility to date We Sometime next week, I believe we're up in the 290,000 mark. We will break 300,000 visits to our little gym in New Jersey with not a single outbreak linked to our facility We have a nice stack of paperwork about this high by five feet by five feet And we like to take a picture next to it every time we hit a hundred thousand So we make sure Governor Murphy sees that and nonetheless nobody's ever come to look at that pile because there are no cases in there We've been arrested Our members have been arrested. We've been persecuted. They've tried to shut off our electric We've caught people out back messing with our plumbing seven different times costing us thousands of dollars And the premise was really simple. There was a really simple game plan for Frank and I Open the gym Open the gym Open the gym no matter what that was our mission. It was simple. We didn't over complicate it They weren't going to come into our lives and tell us that we couldn't provide for ourselves and our families So we just kept opening the gym They came to shut our doors again And this time we we weren't quite sure What we were gonna do And I was messaging a friend another gym owner who kept his gym open his name is Lou Yuredell California and you know all of us small businesses who were Openly defying these orders. We were all spread out all over the country and unfortunately each state or each municipality was using different tools To shut people down so we couldn't help each other all we could do was communicate And I text Lou and I'm like, you know, they're coming to lock our doors again and Lou text back and he goes take them off And it was it was one of those moments where you laugh at first and then you're like Wait a second and I walked over to Franken and I said I said at the Franken he kind of looked at me and you know next day I know I hear the drill going and the doors come off. So At that point Things had just continued to escalate And we weren't going to back down They had they had proved the hunch that we had we thought these people had bad intentions And if they had good intentions, they would have worked with us, but they just kept escalating So so did we Because now it's personal Now you're trying to ruin my life. You're trying to ruin my business partners life And that's just not gonna happen. It's not Nobody was coming to save us Except ourselves And that's a really scary thing when you first Have to come to terms with that big elephant in the room That nobody was gonna fix this problem for us. There was no bailout. There was no politician Who was going to wave a magic wand to make this all go away? The only people that were gonna get us out of this scenario was Frank and I so he took the doors off We opened the gym for 24 hours a day seven days a week Until they finally came and arrested us And boarded the doors up Frank and I took a little break after we got out of the holding cell. I think we took about two days off and You know the plan was open the gym so We called the national media we called Tucker Carlson and said we'll have a story for you tonight We we put out the Sound of the alarm to our supporters who have been incredibly good to us Not only around the country, but especially the people in and around New Jersey, Pennsylvania who would show up in our parking lot anytime we asked them to put the word out and Frank and I decided that we were gonna reenact the movie 300 and we stood in front of the flimsy plywood that they stuck in front of our door Which I don't know why they didn't use at least something a little bit better knowing that it's a pretty heavy-hitter gym And we kicked the doors in we turn the lights on we turn the music back on and we resume business right back inside and That has led us 19 months down the road of This game of tit for tat with a government that is not only unwilling to work with people But feels like it doesn't have to And there's something fundamentally wrong about that It's not what this country was founded on And so far from what this country was founded on that it's actually pretty scary Right now Jim is still open every single day They've never been able to successfully shut us down For more than a day or two Jim is open every day. We have no less than 500 healthy happy people come through our facility still don't charge our members We still operate entirely off of donations. We're in the process of getting business license back. We sell a lot of t-shirts People wanted to support us But they also wanted to represent us we weren't even make I think we had like one t-shirt out before this And to date we've sent t-shirts to all 50 states hundreds of times over and to 20 countries around the world We get pictures from around the world. We got one not too long ago It was this guy in Australia standing down or standing in the in the face of a police line waving the Australian flag I think he was wearing this shirt actually wearing the Belmar for everybody's shirt And we have a hat that says make politicians afraid again and this guy in Australia was wearing it And that's how we've been able to maintain, you know, we don't We don't make a lot of money, but we make more than enough to continue on with the fight And the fight is the most important thing to us because to us it means absolutely everything It wasn't just about a gym wasn't just about feeding our families. I can remember very early on You know Frank Frank is a little bit older than me. He's 52 years old. He's a family man He's got five children a wife Frank lost his mother during this and He said You know if I if I were gone tomorrow I wouldn't be comfortable with the world that I'm leaving my children and that's that really stuck with me because The gym was always the vehicle that we were Moving through for the fight. There's never about keeping a gym open. We love our gym. I Would never want to lose our gym We built it one of the most normal places on earth right now But it's never about the gym. It's always been about the bigger purpose that Government has no place in our lives the way that they are today and The fight continues on stories not done A book was written about us It's actually part one of two because the story just keeps going on And we had to get the first one out. So it's a two-part. It tells us everything From the inside from why we made the decisions we did the things that we struggled with along the fight dealing with the pressure dealing with Just life in the process of this huge battle that we've been fighting It's been a wild 20 months But it was easily and I I know I can speak for Frank when I say this it's the best thing that we have ever done It's not over, but it is a battle that we will win I'm a hundred percent sure that Neither of us would fight a battle that we think that we would lose Or one that wasn't worth fighting So we are now In four places in court making progress very slowly the story continues We were stuck in state court for a very long time in front of The lapdog judge There wasn't a single Lawyer in the country who would have won in front of this guy in court He said and this is a quote. He said it twice if you're here with a constitutional argument You are in the wrong courtroom That's the type of stuff that we're dealing with with these elected judges. We did get some good news We were finally heard on our municipal charges, which is the the ones in the beginning We have somewhere around 90 of those at this point They were postponed and postponed covid's always the excuse, you know, we can't open the courthouses Finally, we were heard we were actually in a different Municipality because we have legal action against the township of Belmar. So there's a conflict of interest. So last week we were heard on our municipal charges and It was our first not loss We've been to court probably 20 times and lost every single time in front of this judge We were from the new judge who looked at our case and pretty much laughed at it so Our lawyers told that early on that the way to victory would be from from the Municipality all the way up. So we have a path forward. We did get some good news But it doesn't change anything the gym stays open every single day Now the reason I tell the story It's a funny one. It's a good one, but there's a lot of lessons for men in that story you know and as Men Frank and I I think we have grown Tremendously from this experience. It's easily the hardest thing we've ever done as well, but we've learned some incredible things and There's lessons all throughout it about how to be a better man how to be a stronger man how to be a more powerful man how to be a Man that you like a man that you respect So I'll leave you with Three lessons that I've learned and then I'll open it up to a Q&A and you guys can ask away And I'm more than happy to tell you anything about the story any detail about the story the first lesson is The importance of brotherhood if it was just me Or if it was just Frank This would have never happened. We would have never been able to bear the load You can be the strongest Best version of yourself But at the end of the day, you're always stronger with brothers You're always stronger with brothers who are on the same page and about the same mission You know Frank and I have an interesting relationship brutally honest Even when it's not fun We challenge each other We hold each other accountable we watch each other's backs and Without that and the brotherhood goes beyond Frank and I The brotherhood is actually a tribe because it does include women too in our gym But we've got this tribe this community around us that that we are responsible for building but that is essential to our success and survival and Ability to be great If it was just Frank It was just me or if it was just Frank and I and we weren't able to build this community of people of a like mind of People who people who identify as a tillist gym We would have failed miserably because it's not Life is too big of a task For yourself and you're not always gonna have all the answers not always gonna have all the energy You're not always gonna have all the motivation to do the things that need to be done But when you surround yourself with brothers with a tribe They will pick up the slack when you can't and they'll pick you up and they'll get you moving forward I can't tell you how many times I wanted to quit this can't tell you how many times You know, I was feeling bad for myself You know, why why do I why do I have to go through this? Why me? You know, everybody's living their lives and and we're we're working 12 hours of 14 hours a day. Why? Frank was always there to tell me shut up Because Frank will work 14 hours and he won't even bat an eye And he holds me to that standard, you know, and if it was just me I probably wouldn't do that Lesson number one lesson number two is that The world Needs strong men Traditionally strong men those values that I know you guys already already know Men who stand up for what is right no matter what the cost Men who will do the right thing even when that's the hard thing Men who are unafraid of criticism men who are unafraid of Sacrifice whether that be their time their money their energy their lives When we first did this We blew up we went from two gym owners to a national international story to political figures And we started getting invitations to help other movements and I would show up to these protests And it would be nine to one women to men And I can't tell you how many women I've come across who are crying out for men to step up and start being men again Somewhere along the way We've lost a lot of who we naturally are It's a societal thing. It's a cultural thing whatever it is It's not right. You can link it to to 50 different other things Progressive is whatever toxic masculinity. We've all heard we've all heard There's a reason They want men to be soft. There's a reason They want men to be agreeable. It's because agreeable men Leave weak legacies and agreeable men sit and watch the world turn And they do nothing to change it. You weren't meant to be agreeable You were meant to be combative. It's a good thing. You were meant to ask questions. You were meant to challenge authority Even if it's authority within your own group Look at pack animals. Look at dogs. The alpha is always being tested Keeps order. It keeps things energized keeps things fresh Keeps everybody on their toes and it moves everybody forward They've told us and they've they've told us that's bad. They've told us competition is bad They've told us almost every traditional aspect of masculinity is bad and Ever since they've been telling us that we've been on this downward slide Don't be an agreeable man best thing I ever did was Stop that was stop worrying about the criticism and and through this I got the the practice of Or the the experience of dealing with the outrage mob and and dealing with the the criticism and People digging up dirt on you and and just all of it. We've heard it all there were periods of time where our phone would ring Every second of the day and it was people screaming at us all day all day every day when we when we put out We put out a tweet one time and you know We were watching the news and Frank Frank saw that Krispy Kreme was giving away a free donut for a vaccine and He said let's give away free memberships for for natural immunity And we put that tweet out and you would have thought that you know I had just said the most horrific thing ever our phone was ringing nonstop people calling us murderers for giving out free gym memberships But you learn once you feel that heat that it's not really so hot Looks hot sounds hot. It's not hot and you know, I've I've read a lot of good stuff recently and One of the things that helped me get really comfortable with The uncomfortable nature of being a man is that It doesn't matter what anybody says unless you care about them we've we've We've lost that we're so afraid to be criticized as men from people who have absolutely zero influence and impact Or weight in our lives And they did that on purpose So you would sit down you would shut up and you'd watch the world turn last and Probably the most important one Is that as a man Your word is everything Frank and I when we started doing business I walked into Frank's store at the time several years ago And I was a young trainer in the area who had gone out on his own and was training people in parking lots and somebody had introduced me to Frank and said he had some extra space and Walked in the store introduced myself said I needed to use some of the space in the back for training Frank handed me a key to his business And he said don't screw me over Shook his hand looked him in the eye He made a deal Never put anything on paper when we opened our gym We did the same thing when we bought the gym. So you want to buy a gym? So yeah All right, we did it We already understood What was going along with that without even saying it I Understood and Frank understood that that meant 80-hour work weeks Because we bought a gym we're gonna make it work the details were irrelevant Bought a gym. We were gonna succeed Whatever it took Kept their word and then one more time. We did it till the wheels fall off look each other in the eye made a promise And said we're gonna do this no matter what it takes I tell you all that for those crazy details because I want to illustrate what it has taken to get here It's been hard but a thousand ways we could have quit but I Know Frank wasn't I didn't have to worry about somebody quitting on me because I knew I knew his word was good And he didn't have to worry about somebody quitting on him because he knew my word was good. So There will be an update at some point The story is not over We'll call that part one With the rate that the courts move, maybe I'll be here next year to tell you the rest And on that I want to open it up to Q&A anybody who has any questions about anything go right ahead I'm happy to answer all of them Ian. Thank you so much for sharing the story. It's really really inspirational My name is Calvin. I wanted to have you seen this being contagious Have you seen other businesses that took your lead and stayed open? Yes. Yeah, there were by no means were we the first business We just were the loudest and that was Mainly because of the media attention we got particularly Tucker Carlson. We were able to ride that wave But there were a lot of businesses who opened before us there was Shelley Luther who was the Dallas salon opener Who opened her business and was jailed for it? There was Lou Yuredell. There were a couple other guys and Much more followed as a result of that and much more are now continuing to follow Unfortunately with this kind of stuff. There's a very slow learning curve People want to believe in the good and in the best and there were a lot of business owners Who just kept complying and complying because they wanted to do the right thing Now they're starting to see it and now you're seeing a huge uptick in businesses that are defying it and you know Whether that was because of us or somebody else it is contagious 100% Hey, and thanks for sharing again. I was actually living in Philly at the time in that area Didn't even know about the gym till this blew up and I was kind of impressed that that was right in my backyard But I wanted you to talk a little bit about The support that you've been getting and a lot of times the reason I bring that up is because in This culture with the media controlling the narrative Overwhelmingly we sometimes forget these people are out there or they're silent. You can feel it sometimes But could you just talk a little bit about the support that you've gotten and how you feel that There is or is not an overwhelming mass of people willing to Back you up if only you stand up as a man and actually do it Yeah, actually well said you kind of gave me a segue right into the answer there at the end, you know The media to address the first part media entertainment Government all of this you know working in in sort of lockstep with each other have gotten really good at Creating a reality for their their viewers or their consumers When you are actively censoring and shutting down voices that oppose you and At the same time turning up the volume on the voices that go along with this narrative So what they do is they shut down the sort of the the the strong pro-American pro-liberty voices of common sense and they turn up the volume on the crazy And what that does especially to the to the degree at which they do it You know these people have been been running media for years. They're not figuring out how to do it now They're executing a skill set that they've developed over a long time It makes it creates the appearance that you are isolated Because you're not hearing all of the voices around you that are thinking the same thing you are People are thinking it. They're not either either they're saying it and they're not being heard Or they're not saying it because they won't they don't think they'll be heard or they're afraid of the consequences of the outrage of their their opinion because They're having the same experience that you are where they feel like they're the only one who's Hearing it or thinking it But When you turn that off when you live in the real world, you know, we've we've been living at the gym It's very clear What the majority is the majority is The people who will support you for all the hatred we got we got ten times as much support And for all the hatred we got It lasted It's it's gone in a flash These people that will criticize you these people that will try to shut you down whatever they have the attention span of a flea They're on to the next thing almost immediately because they're emotional. They're not rational These are people that get riled up by the media and it's it's mad. It's manufactured emotions So it's not substantial and it won't stay But the proof is in You know what we what we've done You look at any business in the country that tried to stay open and they got support Even without the type of media you had people Another example is Basilico's restaurant in San Diego. He's been open His business is packed every single day, you know when when we were I Told you at the beginning 90 some people a day were coming through Attila's gym When we shut down we were at about 250 during coronavirus. We were doing 800 to 850 people a day So the support is there You won't see it Until you do something that's worth being supported, but there are people everywhere who are waiting To support something the world isn't made up of leaders Well, the world it'll never be doesn't work like that But if you're if you're in an area where you're not seeing that Then you create it you create something to support and you watch people will come out of the woodwork left and right Thanksy, and there's more of us than we know sometimes Far more far more. What's up, Ian? I worry Getting better by the minute dude So for a lot of the men maybe around here that don't follow your story And don't know about like how you kind of proceed through Non-masking going through the airports and other things like that can you know who want to sort of Not following your footsteps, but they want to start doing the same type of things Can you speak to the consequences that you face because they're we know there are but like on a daily You know like being turned away being shaken down because when you do stand up people are gonna want to shut you down so can you give like some specific examples just to you know allow them to and in us all of us To to see how it's not so hot as you describe it. Yeah, um You know you the problem with where we're at as a whole is that we collectively we are refusing to draw the line in the sand because Everybody's exchanging they're making this exchange of Keeping keeping some sort of semblance of comfort in the short term So that they don't have to address the elephant in the room where they don't have to fight the battle now It's it's short-term sort of pleasure and comfort in the exchange for long-term discomfort. It's a slow Slide and you can you can see that I mean look at look at what we've given up All right, and it's we're not it's always like this. We're always in this constant like Back up back up little by little, you know, but the second that you Draw the line in the sand and say I will not tolerate any of this is the second that You now have to be completely responsible for yourself, and that's a really scary thing You have to be responsible, and you have to you're sacrificing your comfort in The moment in the exchange for comfort down the line, and that's that's a symptomatic thing We see all the time and the easy examples credit cards people spend money on credit cards. They don't have you know That's that's one of many examples That's a that's a trait a cultural trait that we all are kind of dealing with you know as and not just as men but particularly as men in this case so You draw that line in the sand You're you're declaring your perimeter, and if somebody crosses that perimeter then then you have to get uncomfortable and people Need to get comfortable being uncomfortable you know it's It's okay. It's not gonna hurt. You know what I mean like I go through the airport Sometimes I fly Sometimes I'm walking out of the airport booking a rental car, you know, but I I won't do it I won't wear the mask I Won't I won't take part in the theatrics anymore, you know, there's there was a an incident at Newark and the The TSA would not let me through they didn't say I didn't have a mask on I'm standing here in the TSA line Sorry, you need to put it on so I haven't had one on the whole time I'm just gonna walk through and that they're 20 feet of Security set up the guy said this is my jurisdiction. I laughed at him Okay But What would have been the easier thing to do in that situation? I could have put the mask on I could have appeased, you know officer doofy here and Walked through and then I could have taken it off and I could have gotten on the plane and instead of driving to Michigan I could have flew I could have been there in two hours. I could have been having dinner and a drink instead of Flying through Ohio at a hundred miles per hour you know but That was our line in the sand, you know, we said no to the mask because It doesn't work and they're using it to control people and you have to just be brutally honest You know, I mean if it if it's BS Why why are you allowing it? You know, what does that say about you as a man when you know something is wrong? Right, and you're allowing it anyway and it sucks like Now Especially flying. I'm on a TSA list. I have to get to the airport three hours early because they do a random search on me every single time I fly They go through my bags. They test everything for explosives. I get a pat down. I get everything happy ending at the end But it's Nobody can control me now It I can I can walk into a way and say I'll drive you can't force me to do something and as stupid as a mask is If you can't say no to a mask How are you gonna say no to something bigger than that? When they knock on your door and say it's time for your booster shot How are you gonna say no to that? So you need to get that practice in now with like I mean if if you're worried about the 70 year old lady at Walmart telling you to put a mask on and that hurts you then you need to take a look at Where you're at because that's you're not gonna be able to fight bigger battles if you can't fight that one And it seems meaningless, but it's not because you're not gonna be ready for something much bigger down the line And it's important to get ready You know part of part of being a man is being ready being ready for action whenever and if you let those skills grow rusty You're gonna you're gonna wish you hadn't Thanks, brother quick question about Location and the fact that you stayed in Jersey right now you see a huge Exodus of people coming into Florida, Texas and stuff like that and I know a lot of people are probably on the fence about living in their hometowns and home states and Just wanted to get your thoughts on like Why you you chose to stay there, especially with what's going on in Jersey how close it is to New York City and Any advice to people that are kind of on the fence in like bluer states and stuff like that and how you would determine whether it's time to hold you know Hold the ground or make a move You know, I think that's a good question But I think it's also a question based on the individual You know, there's a lot of there's a lot of factors in there that you have to weigh in You know If you're a man with a family and you're in this blue state and and your life is miserable And there's an opportunity in a red state to provide a better life for your family and and you can Be stronger from that position Sure for us That it made no sense to cut and run, you know, we had we still have a battle to fight the battle is not over and it's To come this far and sacrifice this much just to retreat That that would be an abysmal failure for us and that's it, but that's just personal, you know I also love New Jersey. I just hate the idiots who run out, you know, I love my state I live on the Delaware River in a nice tiny little house, you know I just don't like the fact that I pay six thousand dollars, you know property taxes for a piece of property That's about as big as this room But I don't I don't want to leave I want to change it, you know, that's My area So it's an individual question, you know, and that's it's something you have to weigh yourself and think about You know, is it do you have any loyalty to the area? And if you don't go, you know, but if you do stay fight Figure it out make it work Thank you Looks like we have time for one more maybe awesome Hello again, so Just for your own knowledge guys. I saw this guy eating a pizza in the cafe and I couldn't believe he was actually hanging out there just chilling by himself and He's the most genuine dude. I've spoken to and probably my entire life and very humble very respectable and Help me with a personal Question I had earlier, but I have a very simple question for you now your shirt. Does it run small large? They've run very true to size got a good athletic cut on them and they don't shrink so Thank you, sir. All right guys. Thank you very much for listening. I appreciate it