Everyday Warrior Podcast Episode 8: Brad Womack

Men’s Journal’s Everyday Warrior With Mike Sarraille is a new podcast that inspires individuals to live more fulfilling lives by having conversations with disrupters and high performers in all walks of life. In our eighth episode, we talked to Brad Womack, entrepreneur and former contestant on The Bachelor.

Listen to the full episode above (scroll down for the transcript) and see more from this series below.

This interview has not been edited for length or clarity.

Mike Sarraille:
I’m excited to have you here.

Brad Womack:
I’m honored to be here man, especially just having a conversation with someone of your caliber. Talking about me, man, I’ve read your bio. It’s wildly impressive. Thank you very much for having me. I appreciate it.

Mike Sarraille:
Likewise enough. Thanks. This is… We are live from Whiskey Tango Foxtrot down in Austin and actually your bar is the next bar over.

Brad Womack:
Yes, sir, it is. But this one’s much busier. So, I don’t know, these guys do a great job, man. I love this venue.

Mike Sarraille:
Hey, and they speak highly of you. So, one thing I’m going to ask is, as you look at your bio, you have had an interesting life man.

Brad Womack:
I appreciate that.

Mike Sarraille:
And you continue to have an interesting life and again, despite all you’ve done and you can sense it right now and you can hear it in your voice, you are a humble, man. I can tell you’re still trying to… You’re still seeking growth, which I’m all about. So, for the audience, let’s get into your background. I mean, born, raised your family and what brought you… Let’s go this way. What brought you up to The Bachelor?

Brad Womack:
Okay. Some of those mimosas you were talking about but no, so I’ll make a long story short. So I was born in Atlanta, Georgia, then my parents got divorced when… So I have a twin brother and he and I were 12 when they got divorced and we moved to Livingston, Texas, a real small town in east Texas. Absolutely love that town. I love the small town feel.

Mike Sarraille:
Was there a culture shock at first?

Brad Womack:
Yeah, there was actually. Yeah, it’s hard to explain, my mom’s husband was… We were in an area of Atlanta that he prospered. It was that we didn’t, he did. So anyway, and then we went to Livingston and we had literally nothing. And so it’s a hell a learning lesson actually. So yes, a culture shock, small town, but again, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I am definitely a small town guy and frankly, I don’t think I belonged in Atlanta. I definitely belonged in Livingston, Texas and loved it.
So, after I got out of high school, moved to Austin, I’ve been here 26 years and absolutely loved this city. So yes, you asked about The Bachelor, I guess we’re fast forwarding a little bit and thank God, you mentioned that I spent some time in the oil field.

Mike Sarraille:
Well, that’s what I want to hear about man. I’m sure that… Well let’s back up. So, your brother Chad is your twin brother now know you have an older brother Wesley. So you and Chad are business partners as well, correct?

Brad Womack:
We are. Yes, sir.

Mike Sarraille:
Is he your best friend?

Brad Womack:
He is. Yeah. In fact, we’ve done literally everything together, successes, failures, life lessons, all of that good stuff and in fact, some of those I could have made it through him without him. And so even in the oil fields, he worked in the oilfields with me. So, again, make a long story short when you’re in Livingston High School you do one of two things, you either go to school, college, or you get a very hard somewhat decent paying job. So I wasn’t quite ready for school and I worked in the oil field for 10 years.

Mike Sarraille:
What was this after Texas state?

Brad Womack:
Well, so I went to Texas state, I’m sorry, Texas state for one year, realized I just wasn’t ready then and then went to the oil fields and then the rest is history. And so-

Mike Sarraille:
Don’t feel bad, man, I lasted about a semester and a half-

Brad Womack:
No kidding.

Mike Sarraille:
Colorado before I enlisted in the Marine Corps.

Brad Womack:
Okay. Well you did just fine, man.

Mike Sarraille:
Eight years in the oil field and a lot of people don’t know much about the oil field, but that is hard freaking work.

Brad Womack:
It is but the thing about it, you’re around in my humble opinion, some of the best people out there, we’re all working hard, they’re there to support their families. I mean, that you get up, you go to work, you eat dinner, you hit repeat. And there’s not much it’s… I don’t want to say mindless because that’s a derogatory term but you just grind. But I like that and I’ll still to this day think or still say that was the most fulfilling job I’ve ever had. I miss it at times. I really do. I don’t know why, but I miss it.

Mike Sarraille:
So I’ve heard that about, well, I know that about oil workers, I mean roughnecks to the core. Is there anything you learned on the oil field and I’m sure you had just tough rough mentors that lived what they preached.

Brad Womack:
Yes, sir.

Mike Sarraille:
Was there anything you learned from there that transitioned over to the business world?

Brad Womack:
Absolutely. I think if you’re direct with somebody, if you don’t sugarcoat anything, I think it resonates more. That’s just my experience. And you hit the nail on the head, out there you’re measured by your work ethic and without work ethic, you’re literally nothing and so they get rid of you really quickly. So a lot of it is, wanting to impress your mentors, but also just wanting to come into your own, man or woman, just want to be the best you can be.
So anyway, I think that transcends into business of course, I’d like to think that I’m fair but I’m honest to a fault and I’m direct very, very direct but our management team, we couldn’t do any of this without them. So now they’ve learned they can be direct with us too. So anyway, I feel privileged to be around those guys.

Mike Sarraille:
Yeah. The direct approach, there’s a lot of similarities between the oil field and the military, I mean-

Brad Womack:
Yes, sir.

Mike Sarraille:
Both blue collar work in essence that direct approach doesn’t always work in the private sector I’ve noticed interesting enough. So while you’re an oil driller, you start to bartend on the side. Is that correct?

Brad Womack:
No, sir. I didn’t have time, man, in fact, I’ll tell you this and so my twin brother, even in high school, I think we saw a cocktail or something wanted to be Tom cruise I don’t know but he had always wanted to be in the bars but after-

Mike Sarraille:
You just dated yourself with that movie.

Brad Womack:
Oh man.

Mike Sarraille:
You just… So I knew what you’re talking about. People are like, what is that?

Brad Womack:
But you know what? There’s no shame in it, it is what it is. I’m an old guy but anyway, he had always wanted to be in the bar business. So I remember, and he did little stints in the oil fields too but he did go to work and I remember him vividly calling me and said, “Hey, I think we could do this but we have to start at the bottom.” Think of the conversation calling my mom and saying, “Hey, I’m 27 years old. I’m getting out of the oil fields. I’m going to bartend.” And she’s saying, “Okay, whatever, this ain’t going to work out.” But we started from the very, very bottom and that work ethic and stuff like that and I think it paid off a little bit.

Mike Sarraille:
So when you say you started from the bottom, went to work at someone else’s bar.

Brad Womack:
Yes, sir. Working the door, working behind the bar, did anything I was told to do. I think you have to start from the very bottom in anything you do. And so just to learn it, do it the right way. Yeah.

Mike Sarraille:
You know what, I see that a lot when you have a certain man that owns a business and maybe his kids are coming up and he says, Hey, we’re going to avoid the nepotism and you’re going to go work on the floor and you’re going to work hard for the next few years, if you want to take this over from me.

Brad Womack:
Absolutely.

Mike Sarraille:
When you and your brother were working the bars, I mean, did you guys know like, Hey, let’s learn everything about this industry and we’re going to do this on our own or did that come later?

Brad Womack:
No, from day one, that was the plan and I kid you not, I mean, I really kid you not, we worked literally seven days a week. We saved every penny we had. I had a little, little bit of money, not too much at all from the oil fields but we’d seized an opportunity. It’s such a long story but one of the bars that we knew of had been closed down by the comptroller of all things. So, there was not much money for a buy in, and that was our opportunity. And we still, even when we owned the bar, we worked seven days a week. We didn’t pay ourselves one single salary check. It was all tips. We saved the money to put back into the business. We bought a second bar the next year and it just snowballed after that.

Mike Sarraille:
Let’s go back to the first bar because I love this and you just said you didn’t pay yourselves. So where was the bar? Was the bar here in Austin?

Brad Womack:
Yes sir. It was on sixth street.

Mike Sarraille:
Sixth street.

Brad Womack:
Yeah.

Mike Sarraille:
Which bar was that?

Brad Womack:
I’m almost embarrassed to say this, it was called Chugging Monkey and it used to be [inaudible] retired surface. Oh, well, you said you familiar? Nice. Okay. Very nice. So I imparted the name please, I know it’s sophomoric but it sold merchandise. That was the thinking behind that. So yeah, we capitalized on an opportunity in no way. That’s a true story. We literally didn’t take a salary check for an entire year.

Mike Sarraille:
I love entrepreneurs.

Brad Womack:
Well, I appreciate that and coming from you, of course you do, because you’re one of them.

Mike Sarraille:
Well, I’m still there. My wife’s in the crowd, she knows we haven’t been taken a paycheck from one of my current businesses and we’re still three years in.

Brad Womack:
Nice. Okay.

Mike Sarraille:
Well, but we know it’s going to pay off in the long run.

Brad Womack:
Yes sir.

Mike Sarraille:
You still own the Chugging Monkey?

Brad Womack:
No, we sold between that and another bar called the Dizzy Rooster, we sold those as a package deal about five years ago.

Mike Sarraille:
Dude, congratulations.

Brad Womack:
Well, I appreciate that it’s… and we sold it to a friend and anyway, it was one of those things, it’s a natural progression. And we wanted to focus on some other concepts and things like that and he wanted to get into that part of sixth street and so it worked out for everybody.

Mike Sarraille:
I’m sure for all the employees you had in that first bar, they watched you and your brother and you guys they’re just like these two who rhyme.

Brad Womack:
Well, I appreciate that and the thing about that, I hope they did watch us because again, there were nights that we’d revolve, I’d work the door he’d bartend, we’d have one or two other bartenders. And that was it and I’m telling it was seven days a week and that lasted for about 15 years. And so-

Mike Sarraille:
No kidding.

Brad Womack:
Yeah. It hits the bags under my eyes and these days, my night’s out, they’re not at bars, man I’ve spent so much time in a bar that… but I wouldn’t have it any other way, man.

Mike Sarraille:
So I’ve got to assume there was a point in the early years where you and your brother looked at each other and probably like, Hey, we don’t know if we’re going to pull this off?

Brad Womack:
Oh man. We still do. I mean, we still do, I’ll tell anybody, we still have those conversations, but yes, sir, you’re six months in and rents due and you’re hungry and AC breaks and things like that and payroll comes up, absolutely, there were times. But I’ll tell you though, that’s what I mean about learning lessons the hard way. Again, I wouldn’t have it any other way because you appreciate when you do pay rent and when you do fix the AC and you’re thinking, okay, we can eat pretty decently tonight and so yeah, it came around.

Mike Sarraille:
The greatest lessons and I know we’ve got the crowd here looking is always failure, it always comes from failure. If they were all sunny days, you’d have no appreciation for the bad ones.

Brad Womack:
Could not agree with that more.

Mike Sarraille:
Even if they suck pretty bad.

Brad Womack:
Could not agree with that more and we’ve had plenty of failures. I’m sure we’ll still have many failures and again, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Mike Sarraille:
So, we’ll get to COVID because I know that was a huge challenge for let’s say the restaurant and bar industry. But you see bars shut down so commonly, I think people open bars for sometimes the wrong reasons and I’m not trying to sound crude here. I’ve had buddies that basically opened bars because they thought it was a route to meet ladies.

Brad Womack:
Sure. Yeah.

Mike Sarraille:
And then the other thing I hear is, often the guys are like, well, if I could just get the bar to this level of income, to this level of revenue, well I can just get mailbox money and just coast from there and that is the most, there’s just no coasting in life. The second you stop grinding, you see these bars change ownership and shut down and you guys have held on to your bars and your bars have stayed open. Is that a Testament to again, I mean the work ethic you guys put in, you constantly pay attention to them?

Brad Womack:
We definitely constantly pay attention. No doubt about it and I would like to think that yes. One thing I can honestly say, man, and I mean this with 100% sincerity is, we’ve never done anything for money. We’ve never looked at anything and said, “Hey, we can make this amount.” It’s always doing something we love. So even in the worst of times you mentioned COVID, I know we’ll get into it or you open up a bar and it’s just flat lining and there’s no one coming in the doors, we’re still doing what we love.
I still, working with my twin brother is something I love working with Jason, Carrie, our other business partner. I love and Ginger. So anyway, the four of us were very like-minded and so it makes it real easy to grind. But I will say, I don’t want to fail at anything, I’m not talking financially. I just don’t want to fail at anything, man and so it keeps us going everyday.

Mike Sarraille:
Yeah. That’s a good motivator. So, we will get into The Bachelor, we’re going to dwell on The Bachelor. What year was the first year you went on The Bachelor. It was the 11th season. Correct?

Brad Womack:
It was. Yes, sir. So that was now I’m really going to date myself, it was 2007.

Mike Sarraille:
2007.

Brad Womack:
Yes, sir.

Mike Sarraille:
Okay. By this point you own how many bars?

Brad Womack:
I think we had four at that point. Yeah. I think we had four.

Mike Sarraille:
Damn, dude. Damn.

Brad Womack:
I don’t know if you even care, the only reason that show came about, I want to say-

Mike Sarraille:
Yeah, I want to [inaudible]

Brad Womack:
Let’s get into this. So, I do feel lucky to be asked to be on it but I don’t want to define myself by it.

Mike Sarraille:
Yes, absolutely.

Brad Womack:
My brother and I, we had a very rare Sunday off, we were day drinking. I kid you not we were at a bar downtown in Austin and a girl just came up and I think it was before they recycled people from the bachelorette and everything. And just said, Hey, would you be interested and this is a true story and I promise, I won’t curse I just said, “Hell no” is exactly what I said. She said, well, we can be convincing. So the rest is history.
I never had aspirations to be on TV but I was talking to my brother and I was a single guy and thought, okay, I could never afford to travel the way they travel, meet some cool people, the experience and everything. And so, I said, “Let’s do this man an opportunity.”

Mike Sarraille:
So, it was the experience?

Brad Womack:
It was.

Mike Sarraille:
This is going to be a one hell of a life experience.

Brad Womack:
Yeah, absolutely and another thing I’m shy to a fault and so I figured if I did something like that, it would force them. I mean, you talk about full throttle buddies, once they have you, they have you. So they’re no slowing down. I figured, well, I can break out of this box and then figure out what happens.

Mike Sarraille:
Well, funny enough and we’ll get into it one week before this podcast that we’re hosting, I met Chris Harrison and I’ll tell you that story, it was actually pretty embarrassing. Here’s, I can understand the lure and I don’t really watch reality TV, but my wife Jordan does and-

Brad Womack:
Sorry.

Mike Sarraille:
No, no, no, it’s okay. I mean, well, hell, we were at war at the time the most TV we could get over there other than movies was we’d catch the NFL games or MLB or NBA.

Brad Womack:
Yes, sir.

Mike Sarraille:
Let me change this question so it’s not so male-centric. Even if a woman was approached and they said, Hey, we’re going to throw you on a show with 30 men, I would have to believe her response is, you got to be out of your mind.

Brad Womack:
Oh yeah.

Mike Sarraille:
That sounds like so much drama for guys that have ever dated maybe one or two girls or maybe three or more that is a lot of work but 30? That’s a hard hell, no, for me.

Brad Womack:
It was going to be for me, but they can be convincing.

Mike Sarraille:
Oh yeah.

Brad Womack:
The thing about it, it’s one, you don’t see all of the drama that’s going on back at the house until you’re watching it as it airs. So, I wasn’t privy to all the dramatics or whatever that were unfolding and you hear little stories about it. Another thing and I kid you not, I don’t date around much and that’s another thing. I don’t know why the hell they picked me. I really don’t and so… But it is, it’s such a good way one, it’s a study and sociology, of course, and that’s social study.

Mike Sarraille:
It is a study in psychology.

Brad Womack:
Psychology, that’s exactly what I meant and me included, I mean, we’re all crazy but it was a lot of fun and no regrets, I guess.

Mike Sarraille:
No, none, you should have none. You didn’t find your match and I know you took a lot of criticism.

Brad Womack:
Oh man.

Mike Sarraille:
Let me say this, regardless of what you do, if you put yourself out there, we’re in an era of keyboard warriors that will destroy you. But even when I wrote a book, wasn’t a great book. I did my best but I took criticism. I mean, I got some nasty notes.

Brad Womack:
No kidding.

Mike Sarraille:
I mean, that still affects you. I mean, I care what people think sometimes I’ll be unapologetic about it, it’s not going to throw me off, but I do care about what people think that had to play on your psychology somewhat.

Brad Womack:
Oh yeah, of course. Yeah. So the first time you’re right, I didn’t pick anybody and I was crucified, I was crucified. and because it went against protocol of course, and who does this guy think he is? The thing about this whole thing is honesty is 100% of importance to me. So I didn’t want to lead the women on, I didn’t want to sell out. I didn’t want to do any of that and I knew what I was getting into by saying, by not picking anybody or I thought I did. But that wave man. So, yeah, but I’d be lying if I had sat up here and said it didn’t affect me some of the comments and it was a storm man, it was tough and court of public opinion can be brutal.

Mike Sarraille:
The court of public [inaudible] yes. And the mob, let’s be honest, the mob can absolutely rule the court of public opinion.

Brad Womack:
Well, anyway, and thank God it’s behind me now but I’ll tell you this, I wouldn’t change anything about that decision and we’re all better for it. Those girls are so much better without me, man and so it’s all good.

Mike Sarraille:
I’m sure some of them disagree and I’m sure you made some great friendships. We talked about Chris Harrison and I sent you the text and I sent my wife to the text as well. I was so embarrassed because again, I don’t follow the show, but I saw him at the culinary kickoff hosted by Porsche and the Superbowl and we were hosting it for Men’s Journal and I’m like, I recognize that guy and I saw the drama unfold all he know is my wife was reading me into this and I watched the interviews and the way he conducted himself and I’m like, you know what? That guy is a class act.

Brad Womack:
Yes he is.

Mike Sarraille:
I’m going to say it, I don’t care what Hollywood says, I’m not here for that, he got screwed.

Brad Womack:
Yes, he did.

Mike Sarraille:
He got screwed by the world culture and he’s… So I went up to him at the party and I said, I didn’t know his name. I’m like, “Hey, sir, I just want to say, I’ve seen you on TV, the way you handled yourself as a class act,” and I said, “do you mind if we do an interview?” I said, “I apologize, remind me of your name.” And I don’t have my hearing aids on and the party was loud and I thought he said Chris Harris.

Brad Womack:
Okay.

Mike Sarraille:
So we started the interview and I’m like, “I’m here with Chris Harris.” He’s like, “Let’s cut right there, it’s Chris Harrison.” And I’m like…

Brad Womack:
He got a kick out of it. You know what, he doesn’t mind. He really doesn’t mind. He was honored to speak with you. I can guarantee that.

Mike Sarraille:
He was so nice and testament to his character. You come off the show, you’re taking criticism and then you reset for another season, they approached you for another season.

Brad Womack:
Well, that was three years later.

Mike Sarraille:
Three years later.

Brad Womack:
Yes, sir. So that was in 2010. I had written off the show and not in a bad way, meaning I thought they had written me off and it was Chris ironically, that called and I kid you not verbatim he said, “Hey, Chris, how you doing?” He said, went right into it, “Everybody I’ve spoken to and said, you’re going to say no to this, but I want to hear it myself. Would you be willing to do another season?” And I said, “Well, if you’re asking, let’s talk.” And so there we go.

Mike Sarraille:
So if someone else had called it, would’ve been probably hard enough.

Brad Womack:
Probably. I really trust Chris. I know he has a job to do but he and I got along really well. I’ve always said he’s a salt of the earth guy. And even with that job to do and the parameters he has to stay with him, he was always very fair to me. Even if he was beat me up a little bit, he was fair to me. So, I knew what he was telling me. There was no smoke and mirrors. So I just wanted to hear it from him. So let’s sit down and talk then. And so there I went.

Mike Sarraille:
The way you just described that was during the first experience, was he a bit of a mentor to you?

Brad Womack:
Oh, absolutely. Well, let me… I’m going to sing his praises, he’s a mentor to everybody that participates in that show. Everybody. So it’s a nerve-wracking thing. I mean, you take a dude that I’m serving beer for a living Mike. I don’t belong on TV, I’m not the most eloquent speaker as we can all I’m sure surmised by now but anyway, he does, he takes all of us under his wing. So absolutely is a mentor. And I say this in such a complimentary way, he’s one of the most unaffected human beings I’ve ever met. Here he is, he’s got so many people around him and he’s basically the star of the show everywhere he goes but he is very unaffected and I like that. I respect that.

Mike Sarraille:
So, I think he was Warren Buffett.

Brad Womack:
Yeah.

Mike Sarraille:
That said and this applies to both fame and money. If you’re a jerk before you have money and you make a lot of money, it only amplifies it.

Brad Womack:
Sure.

Mike Sarraille:
So when you see somebody who has a national, if not international spotlight, like Chris, and he treats people with such respect and kindness that he got accolades in my book. I’ll be a Chris Harrison fan for the rest of my life, man.

Brad Womack:
Well, it’s genuine. He’s genuine guy.

Mike Sarraille:
Authenticity is huge.

Brad Womack:
It’s everything.

Mike Sarraille:
So you go on a second time, you get engaged but it’s just not right. When it comes to love, there is no playbook. We both know this.

Brad Womack:
Absolutely.

Mike Sarraille:
We’ve got to do what’s right for the other person. Divorce in, this is coming from a guy who’s divorced and I stayed in a marriage way too long probably five years more than I should have because I cared about my children. And when it comes to love, no one else’s opinion freaking matters.

Brad Womack:
Yeah, man.

Mike Sarraille:
It’s what’s right for you and you probably did Emily, a huge favor by not continuing on with that and she’s actually married now?

Brad Womack:
She’s married and as happy as ever. Let me tell you and just to set the record straight, she was the one that cut ties. And then I respect her, there was so much surrounding that relationship and when we got back home, we didn’t have a single sacred moment between the two of us. You know what I mean? I mean, we were followed and we were scrutinized and so we really didn’t have a chance.
Frankly., We were two different people in hindsight you see that but she is an amazing, amazing woman and I’ll tell you, man, I was broke up. I hate to admit that as guys, we have pride and well, women have pride too, obviously, sorry, of course you do. Yeah, she broke my heart for a little bit, but I needed to learn that lesson. Again, she is so happy. She has everything she wanted and humbly speaking, I’m a happy guy right now. So I wish her nothing but the best man, I really do.

Mike Sarraille:
I’m sure that warms her heart to hear that man.’s

Brad Womack:
Well, I mean, I’m sure she doesn’t want to hear from me. I’m kidding. But no, no, she doing just fine, man and I’m happy for her. I truly am.

Mike Sarraille:
So, we’re done talking about The Bachelor.

Brad Womack:
Thank you, sir. Okay, let’s go.

Mike Sarraille:
Yeah, we’re done. Let’s start drinking.

Brad Womack:
All right.

Mike Sarraille:
But I do want to ask one question.

Brad Womack:
Yes, sir. Sir.

Mike Sarraille:
We’re going to take a break here of what you learned about yourself from that experience. But before we get there, we’re actually going to take a break but before we take a break on the Everyday Warrior podcast, we ask what we call a few hard questions.

Brad Womack:
Okay.

Mike Sarraille:
Prepare yourself. Let’s go, what’s the hardest decision you’ve ever had to make?

Brad Womack:
Hardest decision I ever had to make? The hardest decision I’ve ever had to make? Oh man, that’s put me on the spot and I want to answer it honestly, the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make one, and not to bring it back to The Bachelor but one was saying no to both women. I’ll tell you why and I can’t say too much about it, but there was some incentives thrown the first season and it was difficult to stand up to the powers that be.

Mike Sarraille:
Oh, I can only imagine.

Brad Womack:
Okay. So yeah, that’s the best way I can put that, man and trust me, I’m not trying to be purposely vague, but it was very difficult to stand up to the powers that be. That was a tough day.

Mike Sarraille:
Bro, you’re talking to someone who was in the military where I got bullied.

Brad Womack:
Yes, sir.

Mike Sarraille:
Yeah. I actually got investigated the day I retired from the military.

Brad Womack:
You’re kidding me.

Mike Sarraille:
No, but when the military has a way of coming down on you usually cave, unless you are just high in moral courage, which I wasn’t weak in moral courage but sometimes for your career and for your men, there’s a time to cave. Man, that’s amazing. I can only amount imagine the pressure they tried to put on you.

Brad Womack:
There was some pressure no doubt. Yes, sir.

Mike Sarraille:
Let’s talk about, what’s the hardest thing you’ve ever had to face in your life?

Brad Womack:
Hardest thing I’ve had to face, I mean, and I think we’re going to get into this, but the SEAL Kokoro physically was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. My dad and I… I stood up to my dad one time and my dad is not in our lives at all and he left when we were young and trust me I’m not going to get too deep, but telling him I’m a man too-

Mike Sarraille:
How old were you at this point?

Brad Womack:
I was 16.

Mike Sarraille:
16.

Brad Womack:
Yes, sir and he would’ve wiped the floor with me. Yeah, no doubt about it. But the hardest thing is actually standing my ground and saying, nah, this isn’t going to go on anymore. That kind of stuff. Yeah.

Mike Sarraille:
So that’s the bravest thing and I know what you’re referring to, based off the research we did.

Brad Womack:
Little bit.

Mike Sarraille:
Yeah. And then after that, the relationship changed?

Brad Womack:
Well, there was never relationship to begin with and let me clarify, because I think I know what you’re talking about. It wasn’t physical abuse at that time, this was more of the games, the mind games, the scaring acts.

Mike Sarraille:
The mental act, mental abuse.

Brad Womack:
Yeah. Yes, sir.

Mike Sarraille:
Which is worse than physical.

Brad Womack:
Absolutely. It just wasn’t going to happen anymore. So yeah.

Mike Sarraille:
Well, again, the amount of moral courage that it takes to stand up to a father, whether they’re in your life or not is…

Brad Womack:
Well, I appreciate.

Mike Sarraille:
It is amazing.

Brad Womack:
Maybe more courage. It wasn’t physical courage, buddy. I was shaking in my beard.

Mike Sarraille:
Yeah, no, no, we’ve all been there. I weighed, I think I graduated high school at about 120.

Brad Womack:
No kidding.

Mike Sarraille:
Yeah. I got, well, I stood up to bullies quite a lot I got my ass beat down but quite frankly that’s what made me the man I was, and believe it or not that was probably the best prep for the Marines in the SEAL teams that I could have had. So with that, we’ll be right back. And we are back with Brad Womack, entrepreneur, bar owner. Yeah. He was on The Bachelor. We moved past that though. But we did say before the break, we were going to ask, were there a few things that you learned about yourself from that experience?

Brad Womack:
I did. One thing I learned that I can do okay in crowds, just okay but more importantly, I always stay true to yourself and it’s a strange thing when a camera’s on you and I think I did a pretty decent job of just being me and for better or worse, I mean, sometimes I would watch that I would cringe, man. It was so bad. But yeah, I mean, just stay true to yourself as cliche as that sounds and I’ve tried to stick with that.

Mike Sarraille:
I think that’s the greatest lesson that you can learn and pass on to other people. I’ve been on a number of podcasts, I speak for a living on leadership development and I never watch my videos. I cringe my voice, my wife will tell you, cringe at the sound of my own voice.

Brad Womack:
Oh, come on.

Mike Sarraille:
No, I do, absolutely cringe. I hate hearing myself. What, dude, I have to ask this one question because I’m still trying to figure this out at the age of 44. Did you learn anything about women?

Brad Womack:
Oh, no. Not a thing. Not a single thing, I’m mean nothing and I don’t think I ever will, combined with both seasons, there was 60 women and you would think I would learn something, not a single thing. Nothing. I mean, I’m still single man. So, I failed miserably at that. You know what? Truthfully, learned that they’re very independent can be and when they see something they want, they go after it, I guess. I don’t know how to answer that question really. But did I personally learn anything about them? No, sir. I did not. Unfortunately.

Mike Sarraille:
Well, if you do, please call me and let me know.

Brad Womack:
Buddy, you’re doing just fine. You have a beautiful wife. You’re happy. You’re doing just fine.

Mike Sarraille:
You say that on my face is telling me? No, I’m joking. I’m joking. I am. I am. so I’m sure after that experience, they wanted to put you in the limelight, they wanted to get you a PR agent, but you said no and to this day you are not on social media.

Brad Womack:
Correct.

Mike Sarraille:
You are a private individual.

Brad Womack:
Yes, sir. I am and it’s not for any specific reason. You’re right, I’ve never been on social media ever in my life ever. Yes, I was approached by agents for whatever, I mean, I want to have no talent whatsoever when it comes to acting or anything like that.

Mike Sarraille:
Good, we have something in common.

Brad Womack:
Frankly, man, I had my feel of it and I am a private guy for no other reason than I just like to keep to myself.

Mike Sarraille:
So, we talked about, as I said, in the intro, we work out in the same place. You are a beast in the gym and I’ve seen you multiple times. The only reason I said hello, I think was a week and a half ago is because we contacted each other and said, Hey, let’s do this podcast but you are in the zone. Your face says don’t bother me and I love that face. It’s the same face I tried to put on is like don’t bother me while I’m working out because you are focused.

Brad Womack:
Okay. I hope that’s not standoff. It’s just not that at all but I’ll tell you this, I just really like working hard. I really, really, really like working hard. I mean, I’m talking to a guy that’s a Navy SEAL Marine, I mean, I’ve read your bio and Jesus, the list is amazing.

Mike Sarraille:
It reads better than that in reality.

Brad Womack:
I kid you not, I’m not saying this to get points here but when I look to guys like you, I try to emulate the grit and determination. So yeah, absolutely. I love to train hard, I don’t like being comfortable in any facet of my life.

Mike Sarraille:
All right. We’re diving in there. Let’s go. This is where we’re. This is where we’re diving because-

Brad Womack:
Okay.

Mike Sarraille:
Again, storybook life highly successful. You do well for yourself. I know that.

Brad Womack:
Well, thank you.

Mike Sarraille:
The public knows that and let’s be honest, probably 90% of men that have had the success you had, they start to get complacent, they start to get a little overweight. They stop working out and brother, you’re jacked, you’re in good shape. You’re not letting up and you continue to find ways to put yourself in these situations that you just said, I don’t want to get complacent. I want to get comfortable with being uncomfortable and you recently did an event and I’m sorry, pronounce it for me. This is the-

Brad Womack:
Kokoro, yes, sir.

Mike Sarraille:
This was a 53-hour endurance event. No sleep, I’m assuming?

Brad Womack:
Correct. Yes, sir.

Mike Sarraille:
Why in your age, would you put yourself through that?

Brad Womack:
I was hoping you’d ask this question. I’ll tell you why because it actually relates to you a little bit and so very, very briefly, so SEALFit was formed by commander Mark Divine, retired Navy SEAL commander. I have a profound respect for all military personnel but much more importantly, special forces and one that’s higher Navy SEAL. I always have, man, always have.
I need to say this to you, man, that the aura that you guys have, of course it’s physical, but I think there’s a certain caliber of human being, that’s a Navy SEAL I think it takes a certain amount of mental tenacity and just morality so, long, long, long, story short, frankly, I wanted to see if I had a fraction, literally a fraction of what it takes to be even in the conversation of you guys. And so why Kokoro was started was, is commander Divine did this for guys with contracts, going into the BUDS that had sealed contracts.

Mike Sarraille:
So you’re surrounded by guys who are in their later [inaudible].

Brad Womack:
Well, yes and no, there was one guy with a contract, but so he was so successful with the guys going into BUDS that he opened it up to civilians, but here’s the deal, he said, “If you sign up for this, you’re going to sign your life away. You’re getting the real taste of it. This is exactly what we go through in 53 hours. Now, granted, it’s not hell week. I can’t do hell week, I’m not Mike Sarraille at all but I’ll tell you that 53 hours, there was a wake up call and I’m telling you they do not pull punches. So I trained for a year and a half for it. I think I don’t know if you read the first time I went through it, I was-

Mike Sarraille:
So this is what’s insane, so you gave it a shot the first time and it just didn’t work out.

Brad Womack:
Well, I got pulled, I had rhabdomyolysis, I wound up in the hospital for four days and long story short, no one wants to hear about this, but I did not want to fail, man. I could not live with myself about that.

Mike Sarraille:
Well, this goes to SEAL training.

Brad Womack:
Yes, sir.

Mike Sarraille:
The highest amount of respect I had for guys that became SEALs, were the ones that came back to BUDS the second or third time. I lucked out and made it through the first time. There is an element of luck but for any human being to go a first time and it doesn’t work out and they sign up for that torture again has nothing but respect in my book. And quite frankly-

Brad Womack:
Oh, thank you.

Mike Sarraille:
We’re not going to get into the specifics here, but the guy who saved my life by jumping on a grenade, it didn’t work out on the first try. He came back for a second time and the third and had he not done that I would’ve perished without him. So the fact that you had the resilience, which again, I’m going to go back to your childhood, your time in the oil fields, time being entrepreneur were there times you just wanted to say, Hey, we need to cash out and take the loss is a testament. Walk us through that 53 hours, man. How was the second go round?

Brad Womack:
Sure. Can I say one thing really quickly. Another reason that I went back is, all of the instructors, all retired, Navy SEALS, I couldn’t let those guys down, man. I’m telling you this too, people like you I don’t want to let down. And I think you need to hear that from guys and women that respect you guys so much. Anyway, so I just needed to say that I wasn’t going to let those men down.
So the 53 hours, it’s everything that I think that you went through, I think. So you check in, and as soon as you check in, you grab your gear, you’re fully clothed your in fatigues, boots, fatigues, the whole nine yards, you grab your gear and you run, there’s no van transport, there’s nothing. So that you run with your gear, I think it was about four miles. And then the welcome party comes and it’s three hours of the most intense, well, you think it’s over but it literally doesn’t stop. I don’t want to bore anybody with the specifics but-

Mike Sarraille:
I assure you’re not boring anyone.

Brad Womack:
Well, we did the entire stretcher carries. We did surf torture or I think they call it surf conditioning now because it’s a PR world, I don’t know. But we did that. We did rugs with 15 miles and God knows how many pounds on our backs. And we did that three or four times but yeah, you cannot sleep, you can’t sleep a wink. There were 15… Oh, and by the way, it was, as far as I know, we did this in March, it was the coldest Kokoro on record. So, I’m saying that for-

Mike Sarraille:
In San Diego.

Brad Womack:
In San Diego. Yes, sir. So I’m saying that for a reason, we started with 15 people, six of us finished, two of those were pulled for hypothermia. I mean, it was that bad. You’re soaking wet the entire time. They do feed you every once in a while. And it was so sandy and gritty but I tell you it’s… The reason I wanted to go through that, I think anybody, literally anybody can do it physically. You can do anything physically, if you train for it, mentally is another game, man. It is, when you see just some really, really tough people on the exterior but just mentally break one, your heart breaks for them but also you feel pretty good about, Hey, I’m still hanging in there. So anyway, I just wanted to see if I had what it takes.

Mike Sarraille:
So you bring up an interesting point and this is whether it’s that type of training or anything else, or even entrepreneurship or starting a business or anything in life is they always told us, Hey, we’re going to tell you right now. Yes, SEAL training is physical. Special forces training is physical but your mind will quit long before your body does. Your body is a pretty, especially when you’re younger, is extremely resilient but what gets guys is they get in their own heads and then they ring that bell and they’re gone.

Brad Womack:
Absolutely.

Mike Sarraille:
So, I know you’ve continued to put yourself in these events. You said you just did one in Whitefish. What was-

Brad Womack:
I did, it was one of the Spartan ultras. It’s a 31 mile ultra race and so in elevation, things like that. But I think what… So I have my site set on GoRuck selection and the reason I’m bringing this up is some of the guys that secured Kokoro the last time they’re doing that. I believe it’s in October. I don’t have time to train for it this year. I just don’t because that’s something just like Kokoro, just like any of those events that you really have to sacrifice, literally everything else and mind and body you just train for.
But anyway, I do have my sight set on that but I’m also a realistic guy. So, I’m getting older, man, and we’ll see, and they tell you, I think you, I see you nodding, but they tell you, it’s not something you try. You need to commit and so I’ll be ready to commit but they only have it once a year. So hopefully I’ll be able to do that.

Mike Sarraille:
I know GoRuck is run by predominantly army special forces guys, a community, a high, I highly respect. I respect all the communities.

Brad Womack:
Me too.

Mike Sarraille:
When people talk about, well who’s better the Green Beret or SEALs I’m like, it’s just a flawed question from the start. I mean, I had Tim Kennedy on, I’m not going to look at Tim and say, no, the Navy SEALs are better. There’s great dudes in every single community. So, you’ve demonstrated this just desire to continually put yourself in opportunities to grow. What did you learn from that event? I mean, what are the parallels to everything you’ve done in life that you took away from that event?

Brad Womack:
Look, and again, another cliche statement you can do, literally anything, you literally can do anything you put your mind to man, and at your darkest moments, I mean, dark, dark, dark moments, whether it’s your business is failing, but where Kokoro is concerned, you’re limping through the second day and you think your ankle is fractured, whatever. You literally can do anything if you want it badly enough.
Another thing though, I learned that anything worth a dime is not easy to achieve and I’m dead serious and anything. So if you come by anything easy, whether it’s love, anything. I’m a firm believer that it can go just as quickly if you get something easily and quickly. So, I learned that it’s good to put your head down and work for something, man. So that’s transcended into business and things like that. Hopefully I can put that into my love life a little bit. Jesus man, these women are resistant. No, that can be a heartbreakers. Anyway.

Mike Sarraille:
Hey bro, I don’t mind saying it doesn’t make me less of a man, the woman that gets you’re going to be a catch for her and she’s going to be a lucky lady.

Brad Womack:
I appreciate it, man.

Mike Sarraille:
For the listeners too, again, you can’t say this enough and I don’t know why it’s so lost and that we have to repeat it. Is anything worth earning is tough.

Brad Womack:
Absolutely.

Mike Sarraille:
Even with a business, Hey, if we get to this revenue point, if we get to 10 million, we can just coast that does not exist.

Brad Womack:
You’re exactly right.

Mike Sarraille:
In fact, it’s actually, when you got to turn it on to a different degree.

Brad Womack:
Mike, my business partners and I, to this day have to have conversations about not becoming complacent and I couldn’t agree more you. Yeah. I mean, but another thing I’m not comfortable being comfortable, if that makes sense. I like the grind of literally every day, just grinding man. And maybe I’m a strange guy but it sure does feel good whenever you achieve whatever you’re going after, when you’ve actually earned it.

Mike Sarraille:
And it’s even more invigorating when you fail.

Brad Womack:
Absolutely man. I’ve failed many times and I’ll fail many more. Many, many more.

Mike Sarraille:
100%. You said something, Hey, I’m getting old and I’m one hip replacement deep. And it’s interesting. One of my buddies said, the worst part about getting old, especially from the line of work we did is that people don’t view you as dangerous anymore.

Brad Womack:
Yeah.

Mike Sarraille:
It’s yes, we’re getting old, I’ve learned that life is more about modifications. You can’t throw on 345s on each end of the bar and press it anymore. You just got to find ways to keep moving that your body can tolerate that you can still put your body under stress and continue growing a lot of people once they can’t do that, they give in man.

Brad Womack:
Well, man, let me tell you on that note, I look at you and see a dangerous man. So you’re doing just fine.

Mike Sarraille:
I appreciate man.

Brad Womack:
You’re doing just fine.

Mike Sarraille:
Thank you. My wife just gave me a wink. So before we go to and this is always dangerous, we’re going to let the audience ask questions. What are your daily routines right now from fitness because I know you’re you were a big Onnit Gym which Onnit is here in Aubrey Marcus was the founder of that. I know they’ve got the total human optimization approach with some amazing trainers. But what is your day-to-day or weekly fitness routine look like? And then what does your diet look like? Because apparently you’re crushing it dude.

Brad Womack:
I appreciate that. So fitness routine is, I try to start out with lifting and weight, something like that but it’s usually, so I think I told you I’m nursing and injury talking about getting old and I’m fighting a hip flexer injury. But anyway, the only reason I’m bringing that up is, workouts are a little light right now, but typically, I’ll train for two, two and a half hours. And it’s a mixture of literally anything, whether it’s kettlebell sled, strength, conditioning, functional fitness, all of that.
And then most days, well, not most days, four days a week, I’ll do two a days and I’ll do some runs. I’ll do some long runs just to get conditioning and stuff like that. But to answer your question as far as all of the training goes, just anything that’s really, really difficult and makes me feel alive and as far as diet, I eat as clean as any human being on this planet I would think-

Mike Sarraille:
No processed foods.

Brad Womack:
No, sir. I don’t need much seasoning, I don’t need much of anything. I’m a pretty regimented downright, boring guy, but it suits me.

Mike Sarraille:
So to the point that you’re counting macros or just because it’s become so regiment that?

Brad Womack:
Yes, sir. Exactly. I’m a meat and potatoes kind of guy but it’s lean beef and stuff like that. But it’s no, I don’t count macros. I think life’s a little short for that and I’m not in competitions or anything like that but I eat for fuel. So I eat a lot and I eat consistently and so try to hover around 4,000 calories a day.

Mike Sarraille:
When you can make that mental paradigm shift that food is just fuel it’s not for pleasure. That’s when things start to change.

Brad Womack:
Sure. Yeah.

Mike Sarraille:
I know for some people they have to count macros at first but then when you become regimen and you’re like, oh, I know that chicken breast is 40 grams, five grams or carbs and nine grams of fat. You’ve got it down.

Brad Womack:
I’m curious. Do you mind me asking, do you count macros?

Mike Sarraille:
So it ebbs and flows.

Brad Womack:
Yeah.

Mike Sarraille:
It ebbs and flows and trust me, the first person to tell me if I’m going, I want to say pudgy is my wife. We’re very direct in our family. We can’t do, we talk about it. We’re like, we can’t do that with our kids. We’ll make our kids, that’s body dysmorphia whatever. We’re not going to do that. But for us, that’s the way we operate. But yeah, sometimes I’ve got to go back to county macros because I lose my way just you maybe business schedule changes. How about alcohol man?

Brad Womack:
Okay. That’s a great question. So it’s funny, leading up to Kokoro, I drank probably more often than I should, I had some fun. As soon as I decided to train for Kokoro I cut it out completely. Not a single drink-

Mike Sarraille:
Just cold Turkey right away.

Brad Womack:
Not a single drop. Frankly, man, it opened up so many doors and you would think those doors would close. I’m talking socially and things like that. You’d think they would close and they didn’t. In fact, I found myself to be much happier, much more productive but I don’t want to sound like an angel man, like I said, I did go through some phases. I was drinking heavy, I mean, hell I’m in the bar business for Christ’s sake. But now these days I very, very, very rarely drink. It’s just, I don’t know, man, I find that I can have more conversations of substance without alcohol. And I’m a complete idiot when I’m drinking anyway, let’s face it. So, I try to just not abstain completely, but it serves no purpose right now, man.

Mike Sarraille:
The alcohol is by far in my opinion not backed by empirical data is the number one challenge for a lot of people. Once you cut out alcohol, you’re not binging. You’re not coming home from the bar and ordering Taco Bell or well, the new one for my wife and I is Crumbl. You need to try this thing.

Brad Womack:
Come on, man. Okay.

Mike Sarraille:
You know what I’m talking about? Crumbl.

Brad Womack:
Everybody in this room knows Crumbl. It’s so good. It’s so good.

Mike Sarraille:
So people are like, what, I-

Brad Womack:
It’s so good.

Mike Sarraille:
I don’t know what you’re talking about. No, yeah, you know what we’re talking about?

Brad Womack:
I may or may not have ordered Crumbl for myself and like, oh wait, really? Anyway. It’s so good. It’s so good.

Mike Sarraille:
Yeah. Amazing company. Stay away from it. Don’t download the app. They were very brilliant, great business model with the app.

Brad Womack:
Yeah, absolutely.

Mike Sarraille:
And delivery.

Brad Womack:
Yeah. It’s good stuff.

Mike Sarraille:
Well, Hey, at this point, we’re going to get a little dangerous. We’re going to open it up for questions from the audience. I see already see one hand here.

Craig Dunagan:
My name’s Craig Dunagan, Austin, Texas.

Brad Womack:
Yes, sir.

Craig Dunagan:
Do you have any particular events in life that you regret you go back and do it over? What would it be and why?

Brad Womack:
That’s a really, really good question. Some events in life that I regret, frankly, there are maybe one or two really, really solid women in my life that I was maybe too immature to realize that what I had. So, I regret that and another thing, maybe The Bachelor, I’m kidding. I had to say that, but no, I mean, I want to take your question very, very seriously. Maybe saying goodbye to people in my life that I shouldn’t have at the time and not being mature enough to realize that this is a really good human being and maybe I was too full of myself.
Maybe I had blinders on for business, whatever it’s called or whatever it may be and a true loss for some people in my life. So that’s not necessarily an event but I hope I answered your question and I appreciate the question very much.

Mike Sarraille:
Yes ma’am.

Lauren Dunagan:
Hey, Lauren Dunagan, can you just give a brief summary of your seven-day workout? Just what you do in the gym.

Brad Womack:
Sure.

Mike Sarraille:
You didn’t hear that, the seven-day summary of what your workout is?

Brad Womack:
Absolutely. Okay. So I’ll typically go three days on one day off. So, meaning one day I’ll do strictly weights, but I’ll also, I say strictly weights. So, I’ll start with weights, whether it’s lower body to strike all the… But then I’ll always do a conditioning piece afterwards. So, again, I’m trying to answer your question. So a seven-day work, let’s say Monday is lower body and then I’ll do 35 to 45 minutes, max calories on the Airdyne bike and then the next day I’ll do some upper body and then a weighted ruck that evening, I love to go do a weighted ruck. The green belt, I’ll go 16 miles, let’s say 60 pounds, something like that.
So, long story short, I don’t really have a clearly defined, Hey, this is… but I always try to do strength training to begin with conditioning afterwards, hit repeat, take a day off and then go. So, I typically train six days a week with one day off.

Mike Sarraille:
Do you have a trainer?

Brad Womack:
So you mentioned Onnit, I trained with Juan Leija for two years at Onnit and his brother before him, Eric Leija.

Mike Sarraille:
They’re both studs.

Brad Womack:
They are amazing guys and amazing coaches and I train with them for years and so now I don’t only-

Mike Sarraille:
But you know their structure. How to… Yeah.

Brad Womack:
Yes, sir. So, a lot of programming with kettlebells and things like that but they’re really, really big into the conditioning piece as well.

Mike Sarraille:
One thing I tell people is, if you are not a fitness professional, we always went out and found people that were experts in what they did. If they were the best snipers in the world are not military snipers. They’re civilian snipers and so we’d go train with those guys.

Brad Womack:
Oh, that’s interesting.

Mike Sarraille:
Oh yeah. No, no. So, if we wanted to go do mountain climbing, we’d go find the civilian that was the best in the world. Same thing, if you’re getting to fitness, go find a credible fitness professional that understands the science of it and follow what they do. I mean, I still use Nick Shaw of RP strength. I mean, he’s trained Rich Froning, the world’s strongest band for a good period of time. The guy is science based. And even though I know how to structure workouts, I follow professional who tells me what to do.

Brad Womack:
Man, on that note, I mentioned Juan and Eric, both. Training with a coach for me is so much better only because I can never push myself without that leadership. And both of those guys were really tough on me and I respond well to that. I mean, we were friends before and after the session but during that session, he was strictly a coach. And I really respected that. He was good to train under.

Mike Sarraille:
Good. I see we’ve got time for one more question.

Brad Womack:
Yes, sir. Matt:

Matt Will, hi, Austin, Texas. Brad, Mike’s Mike’s wife couldn’t believe that a guy your age could stay as lean as you are without counting macros and being more stringent with your diet. Could you run us through your diet and what you do or, I mean, do you intermittent fast? Do you do anything like that? Or you just shoot from the hip all day?

Brad Womack:
That’s a really good question. No, I never intermittent fast. I’m a firm believer me personally that food is fuel meaning because of the conditioning that I try to do, I think that eliminates some of the calories that I take in. And so I think I mentioned before, I’ll lead up to 4,000 calories a day but it’s always really, really clean food. I very, very rarely eat sweets or anything like that. Again, I’m not an advocate for depriving yourself. It’s just for me, I don’t mind at all and that it just works. That kind of diet works for me.

Mike Sarraille:
So, one people can’t go follow you on social media, if you’re eating 4,000 calories a day and as lean as you are, then I, 100% believe that you were eating whole foods, no process, no sweets, no sugars. You said you don’t even use seasoning.

Brad Womack:
That’s correct. Yes, sir.

Mike Sarraille:
That’s insane, man. That’s insane. Matt, thanks for great, great question.

Brad Womack:
Thank you, sir.

Mike Sarraille:
So before we say goodbye, we like to end this podcast with a few of our own questions.

Brad Womack:
Okay.

Mike Sarraille:
In this one and bro, since I’ve retired from the military I’ve had nothing but time to reflect on my experiences. I see my old man in the reflection he’s going through now in his late 70s. You’ve got a lot of adventure. You’ve got a lot of expeditions left in your life and I can tell that and you’re going to live them. At the end of your days, how will you measure your life and whether you’ve lived well?

Brad Womack:
How will I measure if I’ve lived well? If I’m truly genuinely happy, I will think that I’ve lived my life very well. And because we let so many factors influence happiness. I think it’s not bank account, it’s not the house on the hill for some people it’s not a family. I don’t know but if I’m genuinely happy and at peace with myself and yeah, I’m going to make some mistakes along the way, I’ll make tons but if I can genuinely wake up and think life’s just fine, I’ve done. All right, man. I don’t need much in my life. I just want to be genuinely happy.

Mike Sarraille:
On this next one and for all the listeners in me, educate me, man.

Brad Womack:
Yes, sir.

Mike Sarraille:
What are a fuel maybe, maybe, if it’s even one rule or code, let’s say keys to success by which you live your life.

Brad Womack:
Honesty, man. You’ve got to be honest. You have to live your life, honestly, you have to run a business honestly, never ask anyone to do something you wouldn’t do. Say what you mean, mean what you say. To me a handshake means a lot, man. I think that takes you far. Again, man, just live with integrity. And so that way, if you really screw up, at least you can say, Hey man, it wasn’t a scheme, I messed up. I made a mistake and I can live with those mistakes. So, I think live with honesty.

Mike Sarraille:
That is a great rule to live by. Is this still hard for you to be honest sometimes?

Brad Womack:
No.

Mike Sarraille:
When you know what it’s going to maybe hurt or come off wrong with the other person?

Brad Womack:
Mike, I kid you not, I can’t lie. I’m not kidding.

Mike Sarraille:
I love that.

Brad Womack:
I cannot lie. I cannot lie and it’s almost a fault and I mean even little white lies and hell, you can ask some of my ex-girlfriends man, we I’m brutally honest, but I also like that brutal-

Mike Sarraille:
You like it as well.

Brad Womack:
Yes, sir.

Mike Sarraille:
You expect it.

Brad Womack:
But no, I do not find it hard to be honest, I find it impossible to be dishonest.

Mike Sarraille:
That’s a good quality and that must be again, your upbringing and all your life experiences that have brought you to that.

Brad Womack:
Thanks.

Mike Sarraille:
Well, Brad, I can’t thank you enough for joining us. I know the listeners have loved this podcast. They’ve learned a lot. I’ve learned a lot. Thank you and until next time, this is Brad Womack and Mike Sarraille out here. Thank you for joining us on this episode of the Men’s Journal Everyday Warrior. Don’t forget to subscribe to the show and pick up a new issue of Men’s Journal magazine.

Men’s Journal magazine has features on health and fitness, adventure and travel, style and my favorite, the coolest gear hitting the market today. Until next time, I’m Mike Sarraille and thanks for listening.