We go through life in a quest for fulfillment. However, we often fall into the trap of thinking about how working ourselves until we burn out is the only way. Life and business strategist Ed Fordyce begs to disagree. He helps people create a more fulfilled life by addressing the different areas in our lives, both personal and professional. In this episode, he talks to Chris Swartz about his principles of raw, authentic, unfiltered fulfillment to equip others with the skills to overcome burnout, find their true passions, and create sustainable change within their lives. Ed shares with us how he moves someone from being inspired to inspiring them to take action. He then shares the secret to the question: why do most millionaires come out of down markets? Join Ed to learn more!
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Ed Fordyce – Raw, Authentic, Unfiltered Fulfillment
I am here with Ed Fordyce. Ed, how are you?
I’m doing awesome. Thanks for having me, Chris. It’s great to be here.
Thanks for taking the time to jump on the show. I appreciate what you do. For everyone reading, Ed is a Life and Business Strategist. unpack that for us. What does that mean?
It’s a people business. When I deal with people in life and their business, I look at every aspect of their life, physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, their relationships, and financially. From that, in a series of questions, usually what we find and we’re all in it is there’s an area in our life that we aren’t executing at the highest level. Typically, my clients are successful in the business world but their health isn’t where it wants to be. The question that I ask a lot of times is, “Is your family getting the best of you or the rest of you?” I help them build their schedule around that, also their heart, soul, fitness, wellness, and family life. With that, they live a more fulfilled life. It’s awesome. It’s magic.
You and I have connected through some great people. In a couple of brief meetings, I’ve been able to experience a little piece of that. I appreciate what you’re doing. That’s why I wanted to have you on. As what we do here on the show, we’re going to get a little bit into Ed’s fuel. You’re doing all this stuff, helping people and changing lives.
If you’re okay, we’re going to go down and talk about your journey and how you ended up here to help thousands of other people, inspire, motivate, get people out of the rut and financial burnout, or whatever it is to where they are. How did that journey start for Ed? You’ve been in the real estate world with coaching, mentoring, and consulting since 2004. Where did this journey start for you?
I like that word fuel, like what fueled me. When I was about eleven years old, I didn’t know it at that time but I have a number couple of things. Number one, I was shy. I didn’t have a whole lot of courage. I started developing an addiction to alcohol and drugs. I was 13 or 14 years old when it started to take off. At the same time, I was the captain of the football team and everything. I was the all-American boy. That progressed quickly. I don’t have to go through the whole story. I’d be happy to at some other point.
What happened was it kept progressing. Into my mid-30s, I feel like I was physically dying. I was not in good health. I could not stop drinking or doing drugs. One night, I would say not clinically because nobody showed up but I’m quite certain that I overdosed and my heart stopped. I prepared myself to die. My chest was heaving and I heard my brain shut down like a hard drive. I hit the ground. I didn’t want whoever to find me dead to find my head split open and in a puddle of blood.
Crazy enough, as I was going down, I was holding on because I want them to find me just dead, not gruesome dead. What I came to was I made that call. I had enough and we called a spiritual awakening. I said to a buddy of mine, Kenny, “What do I do?” He goes, “A bunch of us are meeting at Vanos Pizza on Boot Road in West Chester, PA. Me and Sarah are going to do some work together.”
When I walked in, there were 5 or 6 guys my age. The one dude looked at me and goes, “Welcome. You’re going to be okay. You’re just like us. You can’t put booze and drugs in your body.” As simple as that sounds, that started my journey but because of all that, we lie to ourselves, our families, and our friends every day. What that does is it chemically degrades us inside, so I had to do a lot of rebuilding.
In 2004, I attended an Anthony Robbins event. It was at that moment that I realized I have a gift and I didn’t know what to do with it. I started speaking, talking, and coaching for free. I kept on that personal growth development that I’m still on. My question to myself and others is we have no clue what we are capable of. My passion is helping to pull that out of human beings, also coaching, mentoring, and advising many millionaires. My question to them is, “Are you a millionaire father or husband? Are you a millionaire in your community? Do you give back?” That’s what fueled me. It’s evolving.
You have some high-level clients and huge corporate clients that I see you working with. It’s cool. It’s one of these things too. You never notice the car, then you get the new car and you’re like, “He’s got the same car. Did you see the car?” It’s everywhere. That’s what Ed Fordyce is in my world. I might have heard your name here or there but I see you everywhere.
I’m in the mortgage world so I’m working with real estate agents all the time. All of a sudden, it’s like, “There’s that over there.” You’re working with awesome people. That’s got to be fun and fulfilling to go from where you were and to be able to take that to the highest level. Helping millionaires or anyone that needs help and being able to pour into them like that has got to be awesome.
What’s great about it is I get to learn from them too. I love looking for heart and the ingredients with somebody just starting in their life or somebody that’s rebuilding their life. Like your friends at KW Philadelphia, I get to learn from their journey a lot of times. That’s the cool thing. This new thing I’ve been working on is the word accountability. Quite honestly, I didn’t even know what that meant. I’ve always gone, “The only person that can hold me accountable is me when I look in the mirror.”
On top of that, I know one thing. I’ll use the word men, who are husbands or who have a significant other in their life that’s a business person, when we get together, I call it the Navy SEAL mentality. I’m going to hold myself accountable for you, not for me. I want to show you what’s possible. I don’t want to drop the weight because if I drop mine, you might drop yours, and then I’d be letting you down. It’s a whole new world of accountability that I’m teaching this tribe that I have. Let your children catch you in the act of excellence. Let them look at you and go, “Look at my mother or my father and what they’re capable of.” Our kids will catch from us more than we can teach them.
Our kids will teach us more than we teach them. Click To TweetThey’re always watching. That’s been one of the biggest things for me. Part of how this show came about is I’m in the mortgage world doing real estate bill mortgages and helping people. I’m getting fuel energy from that but I start to realize that I want to do more. My gift is not calculating debt-to-income. I’m good at that though. It’s helping people get from where they are to where they want to be.
I stumbled in 2005 into the mortgage business but I’m using the skill of helping people get from where they are to where they want to be. Through some self-exploration, I’ve been to a lot of coaching events and all these things. I’m going to Tony Robbins’ Date With Destiny on December 2022. I’m super excited about that, so I poured into all these things and I’m like, “I want to do more.”
FUEL is an acronym for Foundations Under Extraordinary Lives. The amazing people I come across in my world all have a story. To share that story and be able to inspire others is so powerful. Why I do the show is super selfish. It’s my fuel to hear Ed’s story and put that out there. Who knows where it ends up? It’s on iTunes, Spotify and YouTube. You share it. I share it. I resonate with that. I get emails all the time and that’s why I love doing this and we’re here.
What you described was intense. You thought you were dying and you had it planned out. You’re like, “This is how I’m going down.” I don’t know but I’m going to go out on a limb and say that it doesn’t get much lower than that if somebody’s reading. That’s down there. I find these buzzwords annoying, such as inspiration and motivation. The words don’t mean anything. They’re powerful if executed. Inspiration is needed but how do you take it from, “I’m at Tony Robbins. I’m inspiring someone to take action?” How do you do that?
There are a couple of ways. Number one, it’s all mindset but here’s the deal. Mindset is a muscle that needs to be built every single day through motivation, inspiration, visualization, emotion, and looking at what you’re capable of doing. Two things motivate human beings, pain and pleasure. Usually, it’s the pain that makes us take action.
My question would be to anyone is, “What is this costing you? In their business, health, wealth, relationships, spirituality, self-image, sleep, diet, contribution to the world, personal growth, peace of mind, and parenting, out of all of that, what is your lowest score on a scale of 1 to 10? If that doesn’t change, who is going to pay the price for that?”
I used to say, “I’m not hurting anybody with my drinking and using. I would go do my thing. I was in the restaurant business at that time and I would pass out in the restaurant and then go about my day the next morning. I wasn’t hurting anybody.” No. I was hurting people. I was showing up probably as a father and a husband at that time maybe at 30%. Accountability with love is how we get change. I will always see the human beings that are in an audience with me. I have two goals, to always see them bigger than they see themselves and to tell them to tell the fucking truth on yourself.
Look in the fucking mirror and tell the truth on yourself. If your kids were older and they saw what you did in private, would they be proud of you or they’d be like, “I didn’t know that about my father or my mother.” It’s real and raw. That’s why I love your show. Everybody has three lives. We have our personal life, which is who we are, the little league coach, and the guy that likes CrossFit.
We have our professional life. That’s the real estate thing, the investor or the guru. We then have a secret life. It’s that fucking secret life that we don’t want anyone to find out about. It’s right here when we wake up and it’s right there when we go to sleep. That’s what needs to be dealt with because if we don’t, we will never live a life without limits. A life without limits is total freedom, physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, in our relationships, and financially. It is a beautiful thing. I want more people to experience that. It’s to have the guts and the courage to go into their darkness and heal it. It’s freaking awesome.
I’ll dive into a little bit about why this show started too. I own my business. I have all of these things that people look at me and say, “Do you know how hard and stressful it is at times?” Interest rates are getting annihilated, the market flips upside down and all this stuff but they’re like, “Is that so fun?” People look at that one life that’s out there but for me, there was so much pain. I got some stuff on the website and different things in my early life. It was raw pain that I went through as a child and my journey to get to where I am.
I share it and there’s a three-minute mini-TED Talk of Chris in a nutshell. If you looked at that, you would be blown away by the trauma and the stuff that went through that. I’ll say, “I’m here now. I got two beautiful girls. I got my wife. We got everything we need. The kids are doing great.” To let somebody know that that was painful, you wouldn’t wish that on your worst enemy’s kid.
I learned through all these coaching and different things that you can sit around and say, “This happened. I was in foster care.” It happened. I can’t change it. I can’t sit around, cry about it and tell you, “This is why I’m this way. This is why I do that. I learn from that. I’m way stronger than you and 90% of the other people out there.” Not you, Ed.
I went through that pain. I want to take that pain and say, “That’s my fuel. That the foundation under the extraordinary life that you perceive that I live.” Tell other people you might have experienced something similar and had the best life ever. It doesn’t matter. You don’t have to have that pain but you still have a foundation that makes you who you are and that puts that real you that you got to deal with in your face. I love that you said that because that’s what changes lives. That’s why you’re doing what you do. On the surface, it all looks good. Social media is a beautiful thing. Everybody’s life is perfect.
I love what you’re doing. I’ve gotten some feedback from a competitor. I don’t believe in competition but I’ve heard this statement, “Ed is a life coach. He’s not a business coach.” I don’t do it for this but for my average real estate client, the average production is $40 million a year. I’m nontraditional. First of all, the only meaning something has is the meaning we decide to give to it. Do you decide to give that trauma a meaning that empowers you?
The only meaning something has is the meaning we decide to give to it. Click To TweetI’m getting to know you. You refuse to be a victim. We are all victimized somehow in our life and some of it is horrific but we have a choice to make. We can either be a victim or a victor. I would highly recommend every human being on the planet needs to read Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. He was a survivor of The Holocaust. Go do that.
One thing I know is some people have a pain level here and because of that, their pleasure level only goes here, the yin and the yang. For those of us who have experienced this much pain, the other side of that is immense happiness, joy, and fulfillment like, “I am so grateful for the pain.” Not just the addiction but the shit that came after it when my brain was scrambled. Depression, anxiety and not wanting to live served so many people.
This is what I’ve learned and I’m going to say this three times. With what you went through, you were powerfully positioned to serve the person you once were. I am powerfully positioned to serve the person I once was. All of that shit, darkness, suffering, and pain were my Master’s degree in Psychology and Transformation. There’s a great video and it’s called The Struggle. My buddy coach Vince sent it to me and it helped align everything with what I had been through and what I was going through. It’s my fuel man. I love it.
It tees up in so many ways into this thing. For me, on the surface level, it’s a great word but the deeper meaning for me is that foundation puts me in a powerful position to help other people. You and I are sitting here talking naturally through our sphere. Your world is a lot of real estate clients and I’m in the mortgage business outside of this. We’re probably going to be in a market where there’s some pain. We got some pain coming. What would you say if people are looking down and saying, “The market shift, Ed. The interest rates are going up. What am I going to do? What’s that pain going to do to me?” How do they get through that, come out on the other side, and experience what you said?
The winners are already skating to where the puck is going. They are already adjusting and have a plan because it doesn’t matter. There’s going to be an agent out there that’s going to do 30 deals next month. There’s going to be somebody in the mortgage world that’s going to do 30 deals in the next month, maybe even more. That’s what separates everyone. The broker-owners, team leaders and, OPs are going, “We’re pulling back.”
I’m going, “No. This is the time to invest. Are you crazy? Double down on this shit. Whenever 100 people are going left, you better be going right.” The mistake we make when we go into, and we’ll call it a market, is we think that we only need to change one thing but the reality is we have to change everything like our heart, strategy, numbers, budget, and schedule. We can’t just change one thing.
Whenever a hundred people are going left, you better be going right. Click To TweetI’ve told my wife and family, “We’re going to make some changes. You’re going to see me doing things differently.” It’s time to put the fucking war paint on. That’s where we’re at. There’s no margin for error. One of the nice takeaways I had from one of these and you’ve probably been to so many of these big events was I went to this event with Setema Gali. Setema is an amazing, powerful dude. He played in the NFL. He’s coaching, inspiring, and training others.
One of Setema’s things that he said that never left me was, “Nobody is coming to save you.” It was a simple thing. It’s like, “Nobody cares if the market shifted. Nobody cares if you curl up in a ball of wine about it. What are you going to do about it?” I’m looking at this market shift as a mortgage lender like, “There’s so much opportunity here.” I’m a mortgage broker. We got some different advantages that maybe were okay in a normal market but didn’t matter.
I’m like, “Look at this. I’m going to have some different conversations with people.” Other opportunities are going to come out of that. A lot of my competitors are going to leave the business. They can’t survive on what’s going to happen. Where does their business go? It’s there. There’s still something so there’s an opportunity. Coming from the background of getting it done, no matter what, you have that survival instinct. Failure is not an option.
You don’t have to be in real estate. The stock market is not having a party. There’s a lot of stuff going on. We want to hit people to say, “Look for the opportunity. Look around you. While everybody else is going right, go left.” Everybody who’s doing right is freaking out. They’re watching the news about the economy and inflation. Most millionaires come out of down markets. Why is that, Ed?
This is why they outserve everybody else. While everybody goes into fear, they go into love. I don’t care what industry anybody is in. If you’re in some service industry, whether it’s a mortgage, coaching, speaking, training, or real estate, outserve everybody else. I had a real estate team that was looking to recruit at a very high level in Bluebell who reached out to me to come to an event.
What I realized was three-quarters of the room were guests from other companies. I know that five agents are going to join her company in the next 30 to 90 days because she gave them a gift. That gift happened to be what I bring to the table. What I’m telling anybody that has a mortgage company or real estate company is, “Now is the time to serve. Serve your community. The economy is getting hit. People are probably pulling back on a little money. Go to your local pizza shop and interview the owner. Go to the hair salon and interview the owner there. Promote your strategic partners at the highest level. Serve and outlove everybody.”
Back in the day, in my heavy recruiting days, I didn’t recruit anybody. I gave away 100 free coaching sessions. That was my recruiting plan. We were ranked number eight in the United States of America out of all real estate offices. I’m glad that I had that experience because I was still told that I wasn’t doing my job. I’m like, “You got to think outside the box. I’m pretty sure that number is pretty cool.” It has nothing to do with me but it has to do with what we are after.
The shift is coming up. It’s here and it doesn’t matter. I’ll serve. That’s what I mean by everything has to change. I’ve been blessed to quit my sugar addiction. Part of that is because I know I’m going to have to have the energy to perform. With the people that I’m serving, I take that as a huge responsibility. If I don’t bring this energy every day, I’m not serving them at the highest level. Sugar was the one little health vice that I was holding onto. I would do intermittent fasting all day with the protein, macros, micros, and all this stuff, then I would do four scoops of ice cream, a bowl of Mini-Wheats, and a bag of burritos. Now I see it. The energy is like, “Bring it. Change everything.”
Now is the time. If you’re reading, look at what you’re doing. Is it serving you? Is it serving the people around you? It’s going to be a time when there’s some pain for people but it doesn’t have to be you. I’m talking to so many people in the mortgage industry because that’s what we do. I love people. I love to talk like, “How’s it going with you?” “This is crazy.” We’re talking and I’m like, “I got to stop talking to these people.”
Some people are going to experience a lot of pain. If I keep talking to these people, I’m getting programmed to feel the pain. I’m like, “They’re not me. They don’t have this. They’re not doing this.” Don’t think, because this market is going to shift, whether you’re in real estate, stocks, or whatever it is, that you have to feel this pain. You might feel it for a little bit. Maybe there are some people out there who like to feel pain but I don’t like to feel pain for a long time. I want to figure it out. If you are experiencing some pain, figure out, “How do I make this shift?” Ed, this is your world. Is there a quick nugget that they can do to make that shift and take that first step?
Ready, fire, aim. Start with action. We can’t think our way into things. Motion causes emotion. If we sit and overthink the people that we’re in competition with, the winners are already taken action. The imitations have gone out. We’re trying to think this when it’s an action thing. Out serve. It’s a simple call like, “How can I help you? What’s your biggest challenge? Can I hire a coach for you?” It’s about action and service. Start moving and figure it out as you go.
I experienced this with what I’m doing and with my expansion into Florida. I’m no great business person. I’m building a team to help support me but I’m already booked out through the end of October 2022. I’m nailing people and saying, “You got to listen to me. The one thing I know is human behavior. This is the time to cash in and invest.” Get out of your head. Get into your heart. Start making a difference in other people’s lives. Raise your community up. Become micro-famous in your community. Every company, business, school, and organization needs to know who you are and what you stand for.
Thanks so much for taking the time to dive into this. That little takeaway right there, if someone can grab onto that, make a difference. Double down. I probably said this on the show a handful of times but my Economics teacher in college said, “With any market, there are always winners and losers. If the market is down, somebody is making money.” We hope that through this journey that you took with us on the show, you’re going to be a winner at the end of this. Ed, if people want more, connect with you, find out more about what you do, or take that next step and take some action, where can they connect with you?
I’m on social media. You could search Ed Fordyce. My website is EdFordyce.com. You could text me at (610) 246-6852. Email me at Ed@EdFordyce.com. Probably the simplest way is social media messenger. I’m doing some great stuff and creating a brotherhood, which is just men that are looking to take everything to the next level. That’s some deep work that we’re doing that has taken off and some great people are involved in it. Reach out to me. Let me know how I can help.
I greatly appreciate our connection. I have to give a shout-out to our mutual friend Chris Stevens for connecting us. It’s such an honor to be here and be connected. We’re going to continue this conversation and our relationship. I’m so grateful for the opportunity and for having you on. I got rapid fire for you before I let you go. There are three quick fun questions. One of them you already answered but we’ll see. We got another one.
Here’s the setting, Ed. You’re stuck on an island. You’re not getting off the island. We want to know whom you’re bringing with you. We’re going to throw the disclaimer, family, and friends. We know they’d come with you, your closest family so we’ll give you a pass. We don’t have to say grandma, grandpa, or mom. We’re going to go big here. Who are you taking with you, Ed?
God, SEAL Team Six, and my girl Tracy.
Here’s the second one. You already dropped one book for us. Let’s get another book that you want to drop to our readers that’s made a difference that you think everybody needs to read.
Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself by Dr. Joe Dispenza. It’s about neuroplasticity. We got to change our brains.
The last one is we know there’s no sugar. If you’re on the island, what do you want to have? What’s your guilty pleasure or favorite food? What do you get to have on that island for you?
I go into survival mode so I’m thinking water, broccoli, and beef.
On that note, Ed, it’s been a pleasure. Thanks.
Chris, this has been awesome. Thank you so much. You rock. You’re awesome. Keep doing your stuff. More people need you to do what you do in transforming lives. You’re making a difference. I love to watch you doing what you’re doing.
I appreciate it. For everybody out there reading, if you got something from it, please go ahead and share it with somebody else. Give us a five-star rating on iTunes. On that note, we’re out.
Important Links
- Ed Fordyce
- Date With Destiny
- iTunes – FUEL with Chris Swartz
- Spotify – FUEL with Chris Swartz
- YouTube – FUEL with Chris Swartz
- Man’s Search for Meaning
- Ed Fordyce – Facebook
- Ed@EdFordyce.com
- Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself
- https://www.TheInspiredTribe.com/
About Ed Fordyce
Over 20 years ago Ed Fordyce decided he had enough of the emotional, professional, and emotional monotony of life. Instead of remaining stagnant, he took hold of his life and has spent the last 20 years empowering others to do the same.
Whether it is utilizing his 15,000 sessions of experience, expertise as an Anthony Robbins crew member, or his network of hyper-local experts, Ed Fordyce follows his principles of raw, authentic, unfiltered fulfillment to equip others with the skills to overcome burnout, find their true passions, and create sustainable change within their lives.
Built by professionals for professionals, coaching with Ed Fordyce in any capacity means receiving the understanding of where you are, where you want to be, and the tools and skills to get there.