5 Quotes From Quest Nutrition Founder, Tom Bilyeu
The Friday Five
Takeaway: Tom Bilyeu started Quest Nutrition and sold it for $1 Billion seven years later. In this article, I pulled five hard-hitting quotes from Bilyeu and added my own interpretation of them.
Quest Nutrition catapulted into the market a little over a decade ago with their protein bars. At the time, nutrition bars were tasteless, tough, and not enjoyable. (Trust me, that was my experience during my weight loss transformation.)
(If you want to skip the backstory, scroll down to the first quote.)
The Backstory
Quest bars were the first protein bars that actually tasted good, and began what became the “golden era” of protein snacks. Since Quest, there are now countless varieties of protein bars that taste as good as, or better than, many candy bars.
Tom Bilyeu, a struggling screenplay writer, started the company after his first screenplay was adapted into a feature-film that he hated. The studio had changed so much of his original work that it was unrecognizable.
Struggling with doubt, he received some advice from an entrepreneur who told Bilyeu, “If you want to control the outcome, you have to control the resources.”
Tom realized if he wanted to make the films he liked, he needed to pay for them himself. So he set out to build a business.
He settled on protein bars (and later other lines of snacks) after witnessing his mother and sister constantly struggling with weight issues. They’d commit to the hard, tasteless bars of the day and hate every bite of them. Tom wondered if his mother and sister would be more successful if they actually enjoyed the food they were eating. Could he create a protein bar that actually tasted good?
And thus, the Quest bar was born.
Tom worked full-time in Quest until he sold the company seven years later for $1 Billion.
Below are five quotes (and my interpretation of their meaning) from Tom Bilyeu to give you something to think about.
"The level of effort you tolerate from yourself will define your life.”
My interpretation: It’s your responsibility to create the life you want.
Most people don’t care if you’re happy. People don’t care if you’re unhappy and living in a dingy apartment. People don’t care if you’re having the experiences you want to be having.
If you want to be truly happy, you will need to raise the expectations you place on yourself.
If you tolerate complacency, that’s what you’ll get and no one will stop you. If you settle in your life, no one will try to talk you out of it.
The weight of an amazing life rests entirely on your shoulders.
“Don’t let joy be an accident. Create it.”
My interpretation: Most of us think happiness lies on the other end of a big accomplishment.
Happiness is the accumulation of moments of joy. Joy is embedded in the small, often overlooked moments of your day.
Joy is everywhere, if you know where to look.
The cup of coffee in the morning with your spouse. The smell of freshly cut grass. The cool, crisp air of an autumn morning on football Saturday.
If you can train yourself to slow down in these small moments and enjoy them, you’ll experience more joy.
“It’s about identity. Be the kind of person that gets things done. Even when it’s hard.”
My interpretation: Once you figure out the type of person you want to be, place emphasis on taking action.
It’s easy to talk the talk, but action is the currency of change.
Become the person that takes action on their goals. Train yourself to embrace difficult challenges by breaking large goals into smaller chunks. Check the boxes, little by little.
Above all, get out of the door and take the first step. Your actions are what matter most.
“The way to build a big business is to take care of people.”
My interpretation: Customer service is always number one priority.
I’ve embraced this idea in my own business. At A-Team Fitness, customer service is so engrained in our culture that colleagues look at us like we’re crazy for going so far out of our way for clients.
This is my belief:
We are there to help the individual in front of us. Even if the help we provide in any particular moment falls outside of fitness, I empower my coaches to use their judgment to provide assistance. (As long as what we do is not illegal or endangering the client.)
If it will help them live a better life then it falls under our purview.
> We’ve given scholarships to clients who were going through rough financial situations and couldn’t afford our services.
> Our coaches have helped their clients find a new job when they expressed being unhappy in their current role.
> I’ve personally hopped on late-night calls with clients who were having a hard time and needed someone to talk to.
You never lose when you take care of people.
“Decide who you want to become. Make that the center of your focus.”
My interpretation: What kind of person do you want to be? What experiences do you want to have? What do you want a typical day in your life to look like?
Once you can answer these questions, be unapologetic at bringing them to reality.
You want to build a business? Cool. How does that bring this vision into existence? Make sure you’re always moving in the right direction for what matters most.
You want to get in shape and have a healthier lifestyle? Great. How does that move you closer to fulfilling the identity you want to embody?
There is only one person you spend your entire life with, and it’s yourself. That is the most important project you’ll ever have.
What did you think of the quotes and my interpretations of them? Have something to add? Post a comment below or reply to this email.