If you were to talk to your 10-year-old self right now, what would your 10-year-old self say to you? Dream frigging bigger. Find what you love. Yeah, you’ll never work a day in your life. Do you think you could have achieved roughly the same amount of happiness? You are responsible for your own success. That was a golden opportunity. Robert, what happened? Ideas are cheap. Execution is hard. If you have nothing to sell, sell joy. We all gotta eat and we all gotta start somewhere. Please welcome today’s guest. He’s one of the pioneers of the cybersecurity industry. He’s been the star of Shark Tank for 17 seasons. Robert Herjavec, welcome to Hustle Meals. Woo. So excited to be here, Josh. Thank you for having me. Do I get to eat? You absolutely get to eat. Yes. And all you have to do is, uh, pay me in conversation. Got it. Which some people would rather just do cash, uh, not today. Do I have to tip you at the end? I do work for tips. I have Venmo. I’ve already actually extracted the information from your phone, not the cybersecurity expert. He thought he was. Uh, no. For real. I’m really excited for what we’re doing today. We are going to be walking you through the journey of your life through the lens of food. So first, we’re starting off with your childhood struggle meal. Then go into your hustle meal that you ate while you were building your business. And then to the meal that you eat to really celebrate your success. Have you ever looked at your life through this lens before? Um, kind of. Food was always a really, I mean, Eastern European immigrants food was like the center of our world, right? Like my dad would come home every day, like first words outta his mouth, “what’s for dinner?” Like, so it was always a big part of our life. And I love this show, how you guys do it through the food. And it was really interesting when you sent me the questions, it made me think of my grandmother. And it was such a special time in my, I mean, it was so long ago. – Cause I’m 98 now. – This is a 41-year-old man and I’m 39. We’re roughly the same age. Yes. We’re, I’m, yes. We, um, no, it really, it, you know, it takes you back. I think food is important to. Everyone, obviously now as I’m getting fitter and trying to really be lean and watch what I eat, brings back lots of memories. I’m excited to ruin a little bit of your diet ’cause I think this first course is gonna be a little heavy. Robert, for the first course, we have your struggle meal from childhood. This is a plate of pierogis. We tried to do it the most Croatianly way as possible because you spent the first eight years of your life in what is now Croatia. What was then Yugoslavia. Before moving to Canada and spending a lot of time in a family, friend’s basement, it’s a heck of a story, man. What is the significance of pierogis in that? So, I grew up in Croatia. We didn’t have a lot of money. I grew up on this little village, uh, dirt floors, the whole nine yards. Is it pronounced Zbjeg? It was really hard, only in hindsight, like I didn’t know we were poor until we came to Canada. But yeah, uh, that’s where I grew up and my grandmother used to make these, my mom had to work and so my parents sent me to my grandmother’s little village, uh, to raise me Crazy story. They would send me back and forth on a train when I was six years old and they would pin a note to me and say, hi, my name is Robert. I’m very nice. If I’m lost, please help me. And my grandmother, uh, God bless her, would make these for me. And it just. Felt like comfort. That’s such a beautiful image. Please, I don’t wanna make you wait anymore. Dig in. Do you go knife and fork or you going hands? Oh no, no. I cut ’em. And you gotta have sour cream. Gotta have the sour cream. That is most of the Eastern European diet is various forms of sour cream. And I love it. I grew up eating pierogi cause my family’s from, uh, like the Allentown, Pennsylvania area. Oh my god. Hmm. Ours didn’t taste like this though. These are amazing. Yeah, a lot of immigrants in uh, Pennsylvania, right? I have to ask though, you did get the opportunity to invest in a pierogi company on Shark Tank, and you did not take that opportunity. You and I we’re just two businessmen here eating pierogis. I say that was a golden opportunity, Robert. What happened? Maybe I was fool that day. You know, over 17 years we’ve seen so many businesses. Yeah. And one of the biggest fallacies of the show. The people come up to me and they say, I can’t start a business because I don’t have a great idea. Mm-hmm. And the reality of it is ideas are cheap. Execution is hard. Yep. So how many food companies have we seen on the show? How many, you know, whatever companies, but the ones that make it are ones that can execute. Mm-hmm. That’s just a reality. A hundred percent. If you can think about like an alternate reality. In which you never came to Canada. You never ended up in the States. You never ended up building businesses and you just lived as a farmer in Croatia. Do you think you could have achieved roughly the same amount of happiness? I’m not talking about wealth, I’m not talking about possessions, but actual just. Happiness, living that life? Or do you think there is something intrinsic happiness about this? About, you know, the, the wealth mindset Whoever wrote that question for you needs an Emmy nomination. ’cause that was a, that was off the top man. Really? Yeah. 98% of the time I’m a pretty happy guy. What I’ve learned over life is the other 2%, the world doesn’t really care how you are. So even if you ask me how you’re doing in those 2%, I would say I’m wonderful. Yeah. Because when I started out in business, I didn’t have a background in business and I learned very quickly if you have nothing to sell, sell joy, because that’s what people will remember. They’ll remember that you made them feel better. I think I would’ve been just as happy. I don’t think I would’ve been as financially successful. Partly ’cause it was a communist system. But the struggles coming to Canada is what made me want for more. Mark Cuban and I were talking about this one day, and uh, I said to him, when you were 12, what did you want to be? He said, oh, when I was 12 I wanted to be a billionaire. I wanted on a basketball team. I went, I’m like, crap. Wow, that’s so great. And he said, what did you wanna be when you were 12? And I was like, I just didn’t want to be poor. What was it specifically about that poverty? Was it the feeling of being treated as an other by like these kids in Canada at the time? I just didn’t wanna be taken advantage of. Mm-hmm. I didn’t wanna feel like I wasn’t in control of my own destiny, my own world. Mm-hmm. And it wasn’t for me at that age. It was for my parents. Yeah. So my parents barely spoke English. So I had to read all their contracts for them when they bought a house, when they bought a car, I had to go to the dealerships with them, and I have this very clear memory. We were like 12 or 13, and I come home and my mom is there and there’s this brand new vacuum cleaner in the middle of the floor. Hmm. And our apartment is tiny, but we have this vacuum cleaner with every possible option on it. Yeah. And I have no idea why it’s there. And my mom explains to me in Croatian that she bought it. A salesman came by and sold it to her. And as I’m thinking about this, my dad comes home, looks at this and says, what is it? And the monthly payment for the vacuum cleaner was like a third of our rent, like some crappy salesman. Conned my mom into signing this agreement to buy this vacuum cleaner. And my mom’s crying and my dad’s really upset. And I read the contract and I’m like, oh dad, we can go. We can send it back. And my dad was such an honorable guy. He said, no, we signed it. We’re gonna live up to it. But it was really hard for us, and I realized in North America you have to have the ability to take care of yourself. You don’t have to wanna be a billionaire or a millionaire. But you have to make a certain amount of money. To take care of the ones that you love. Robert, for the second course, this is your hustle meal. This is your classic yogurt bowl with just all of the fixings. We put some chia, some flax, some honey, some granola, some peanut butter. So you had a brief snit as a TV producer, and then you convinced somebody that you would work in tech sales for free for six months. And then you eventually started your own company and sold it for $30 million, $36 million. – Who’s counting? – What’s 6 million between friends? Shave some off the top. I actually had a company before that I sold for 265,000, and I sold the next one for 36 million. And the last one I didn’t fully sell, but it’s worth over a billion. So they all, they all got a little bit bigger. What’s the deal with the yogurt bowl? So, first of all, um, it’s probably the only thing I can cook. It’s super simple. Second, I, uh, am trying to be extremely fit. Mm-hmm. You won’t know this because you’re 19. True. Um, I’m in my sixties now. I know. It’s shocking ’cause it looks so good. It really is. Um, but all joking aside, um, as I’ve gotten older, and especially when I was in those years, I didn’t have a lot of time. Mm-hmm. So I used to eat a lot of fried fast food. Yeah. Because it was easy and I said. Okay, I gotta change this. And so love peanut butter, love granola, love yogurt. And somewhere I read the chia seeds are really good for you and how good do they look? And they’re like cute and everything. They really do. I also eat a lot of yogurt. Not to say that, you know, this is also my – But non-fat yogurt… – Non-fat Greek yogurt. The one with just 30 grams of protein. Yes. So these, everybody in here has seen me eating just the most horrifying yogurt slot bowls. Oh. how good is that? Hmm. And it fills you up. ’cause in those years you’re not thinking about quality. Yeah. Of time. No. You’re thinking about speed, grinding, hustle. Mm-hmm. And I had to do something that was really easy and fast and gave me energy. How did you have the courage to tell somebody that you’d worked six months for free? Because I feel like so many people now. We’ll say never work for free under any circumstance, but also knowing how much I’ve also worked for free in my career, that really, really helped me. I had this desperation at 21 that the world was gonna pass me by and I was gonna be a loser. My life was gonna be over. So I’m in this interview and you had to have sales experience or computer engineering experience. I didn’t have either, and the guy slowly getting up to basically tell me to leave, I’m like, you have to hire me. Yeah. I was desperately pleading. Yeah. But it disrupted him and it made him pause and he said, I can’t hire you. You have no experience. Yeah. Somehow I reached out and I put my hand out and I said, oh, no sir. You can depend on me. And he was like, okay, um, I’ll hire you for six months if it doesn’t work out, that’s it. And I said, great. And as he went to put his hand out, I said, but here’s the deal. If at the end of six months I can do the job, you’ll pay me what you would’ve paid me if I had the experience. And I was like, probably thinking, this guy’s never gonna work out this way. And he hired me. So I run out of the interview and I’m like, woo, I got a job in computers, whatever that is. And I’m like, oh crap, how am I gonna pay my rent? Yeah, I’m working for free. So I drove from that interview, uh, to the fanciest restaurant in Toronto and got a job as a waiter. I think so many people, when they talk about the idea of hustle culture and all that, they think of this idea of like exhaustion and working yourself into the ground, which certainly happens for some, but I know the hardest that I’ve ever worked. It’s always been within the things that I’m the most passionate about. It’s the only thing that I want to do. All I want to learn about in my life is just food and its history and its science, and then how to communicate that to others. It’s such a cliche, but it’s so true. Find what you love. Yeah. You’ll never work a day in your life. And even the times when I do get kind of in my feelings, I’m like, this sucks. I’m so tired. It’s like, what would you wanna do? Data entry? Would you rather be doing that? – No, man, this is exactly… – Do you use that voice in your head when you talk to yourself? Yeah. It’s this little, this little child. But I’m, I’m still the size of a man. Just the voice of a 3-year-old. Robert, for your final success meal We have a fresh garden salad, lightly dressed in a vinegarette. And then we have the filet mignon, grilled to medium and the best dang fries in the game with a glass of 2020 Barolo. – Can I pour you a glass? – Please? My favorite Barolo, by the way, do you know why I love Barolo? Why’s that? Years and years ago, I knew nothing about wine. To the point of intimidation. I go to restaurants and I see all these… Cheers Cheers. Oh, so good. That is wonderful. My lawyer is a world class sommelier, and every year I hold a charity auction for sick kids hospital. Mm-hmm. And I’d buy all his special wines and we’d go, and I knew nothing about them. Like I’d literally serve it to people and go. Oh, this is blah… Yeah, and he like describe it and I’m like, it’s wine. And so he took me aside and he goes, your knowledge of wine is embarrassing to me and your friend. Honesty is key. I’m gonna teach you a crash course for everything you need to know about wine. Mm-hmm. So, okay. He goes, when you go to a restaurant and the sommelier who can be very intimidating comes over says, which wine do you want? Just say this in a very confident voice. Slightly chuckle. Well, you know, I don’t really know my wines, but I do love a good Barolo. And everybody at the table will go, oh, he knows his wine. Mm-hmm. And that’s how it started. And then after a while, I just really love Barolo. Uh, please dig into the steak. – So this represents… – Do you love french fries? I do love french fries. I can’t stop eating french fries. It’s the greatest food ever created. Can I pour some? Can I pour some? Uh, we have like a red wine sauce for your steak. – You like it? – Ooh, please. Why are french fries so good? – It is the perfect combination… – Is it the salt? …fat and carbohydrates Somebody brought this up. They said that any restrictive diet works, because if you’re taking out either the fat or the carbohydrates or the salt. Then none of it tastes good. If it’s fatty and carb-y and there’s no salt, it’s still not that good If it’s carby and salty, but there’s no fat, you wouldn’t just eat boils potatoes and salt. Well, I might eat boiled potatoes and salt, but it’s the Eastern European coming out. But you’re right, the uh, the salt. Have you ever had ’em in duck fat? Yeah, I think that might be, that might be the, the best fry. Oh, it’s such a good steak. See, I can’t make this. The reason this is my. Really success meal is if I made this, it would be burnt on the outside and pink in the middle. I just don’t know how to do it. What was the moment where you felt most successful? Was it after you sold that first company for $267,000, or was there any moment, say, on Shark Tank where you’re like, now I’ve like fully, fully ascended to my final form? The moment I felt the most successful or the best thing I ever bought with my money. Was, uh, something for my dad. Hmm. So you have to picture this Eastern European man wearing the Russian balaclava, thought he spoke perfect English, didn’t speak a word of English. We come to Canada, we’re walking down the street and we see this thing come down the road. And I say to my dad, what’s that? And my dad says, you no mind. That Cadillac, and I’m like, what’s a Cadillac? And he says, you no mind that for rich people. Oh, wow. So I didn’t know what rich people was. I didn’t know what Cadillac was, but I wanted it. Fast forward many, many years later, I’d buy a car. I take it to my dad’s house. I remember I bought a really old used Corvette and I had taken it to my dad and I said, Corvette Sports car. And my dad would come out and look at it and go, is nice. Not Cadillac So one day I call him and I said, look, I got, I’m building a fence. I need you to help me go buy some wood. I’m the least handy guy in the world. And we go driving and I pretend we’re lost. And my dad’s like, you idiot. Look at the map. Your dad merged with Jerry Seinfeld on that one. I know, right? He’s a Croatian. Jerry Seinfeld. Yeah. My dad was the Jerry’s dad. So we go to a coffee shop, we’re sitting there and there’s a Cadillac dealership across the street. Yeah. So we go across the street. We opened the doors. Massive dealership. Mm-hmm. Only one car in the middle, a white Cadillac sedan. Deville in that pearly white color that only Cadillac made. We go up to it and I say to my dad, why don’t you sit down? And my dad says, no, my pants dirty. And I’m like, it’s okay. So I open the door. He sits down and. It doesn’t matter what success is to you or to anybody here. To my dad, it was getting a Cadillac. Yeah, it may make no sense to anybody else in the world, but it meant everything to him and he puts his hands on the steering wheel and all that pain and sacrifice and being made fun of and being in jail and all of that like. In that moment, that was success to him. Yeah. And I say, what do you think? And he says, one day, and I flip the visor and I give him the keys and I say, today’s the day. Incredible. That is in that moment, everything made sense. In that moment, all the sacrifice for me. People always say, what’s the best thing you’ve ever bought? And I say, A 1989 Cadillac. I’ve never heard somebody phrase it so succinctly of it doesn’t matter what success is for you. Success for this person that really, really mattered and sacrificed a lot for you was that Cadillac. And I think so much of us, obviously we are where we come And you know, Josh, I think it’s symbolic. I think it’s… people always think it’s a million dollars or something. Yep. But success is really personal. It’s what drives you and, and the desire for pure money fades. Yeah. But. The passion for purpose never fades, and for sure it was a Cadillac, but it just, my dad knew in his lifetime for him to get a car like that, all the other things would have to be taken care of. Mm-hmm. Me, my mom, the house. And for me to be able to do that for him, it meant the sacrifice that he made was worth it. It doesn’t matter what your thing is, you just gotta have a purpose for it. And it’s the same internal mechanism for all that somebody getting their family out of, say a situation which they’re living in a shelter and into a stable apartment. It’s that same mechanism of success of you did it, of you are validated in that moment. So you’ve taken care of the people. One of my best friends is a priest and he has a great. Saying it told me years ago, which really stuck with me. ’cause he knows I love to play. I mean, I love to play at everything. And my problem is I’m good at everything but not great at anything. And so I play at everything and he said to me one day and my flurry of constantly doing things, uh, you’ll never find anything in life as fascinating as another human being. Mm-hmm. Look at what you do on the show. You find out so many great stories. I think when you get an opportunity to spend time with people, take it. If you were to talk to your 10-year-old self right now and tell him about the life that you’ve built, what would your 10-year-old self say to you? Dream frigging bigger. Yeah. People from poverty or people on the streets, or poor immigrants, they don’t even think about a future. They think about tomorrow. Yeah, it’s really hard to build something great. When you don’t even know where your next paycheck’s coming from. So if I had to look at my 10-year-old self, I would just say dream bigger. I couldn’t imagine anything in my life that I couldn’t touch. Yeah, there was a grandma making pierogies and there was a farmhouse in Zbjeg What’s the best answer you’ve gotten to that? You’re the first guest, so that was easily the best answer, Robert. That is, well, I’ll keep you posted in the future, but truly this has been a magnificent meal. Cheers. Thank you. Cheers. Absolutely. Thank you for having me. Everyone. Make sure to check out Robert on Shark Tank airing over on ABC and Hulu Season 17 right now. Yes. It’s a heck of a lot of seasons, man. It’s a lot of seasons. 17 more. Cheers. You’ll be 58 by then. Yes. Cheers. Good Mythical Evening is blasting off on October 23rd at 10:00 PM Eastern, 7:00 PM Pacific. So get your tickets now at goodmythicalevening.com.