Logan Stout – Founder & CEO of IDLife

“If I could do it over again, I would enjoy the people and the process more.”

Logan Stout is an accomplished business owner, philanthropist, entrepreneur, best-selling author, keynote speaker and leadership trainer. Having generated billions of dollars in revenue throughout his career, Logan’s credibility and track record of leadership, team building, and success principles not only continue to drive his current ventures, but also make him one of the most sought after keynote speakers in the world.

His most recent business venture is directed in the area of health and wellness. Since its launch in May 2014, IDLife, LLC has grown exponentially with partners such as Troy Aikman, celebrity trainer Jen Widerstrom and billionaire Darwin Deason. They are joined by nationally recognized authors and fitness ambassadors on a journey to educate people on the importance of health and wellness and to provide the highest quality nutritional products. In 2016, IDLife was named one of the 100 Solid Top MLM Companies in the world.

Logan is passionate about helping others build quality leadership skills. In 2013, he published “Stout Advice: The Secrets to Building Yourself, People, and Teams” with intent to empower and inspire readers, while leaving a lasting impact on those striving to reach their God given potential. This book was endorsed by renowned entrepreneurs Barbara Corcoran and Daymond John from ABC’s Shark Tank.

He has also partnered personally with motivational speaker and Inc. Magazine’s “Most Popular Leadership Expert in the World”, John C. Maxwell, to bring leadership and personal development training to all 196 nations in the world. Maxwell expresses, “Logan’s success speaks for itself. His leadership and thoughts are clear indicators this book will add value to your life. Read, absorb and implement these principles.”

Logan is also the founder and CEO of the Dallas Patriots baseball organization, where he focuses on mentoring and leading youth. This organization is now one of the largest in the world, providing select teams ages six through eighteen years old with world-class instructors, coaches, training and mentoring. Every graduate of the Dallas Patriots baseball organization has earned the opportunity to play college baseball and many are MLB draft picks each year.

He regularly makes appearances on television, radio and at live events. He has been featured in numerous publications such as Philadelphia Life Magazine, The Dallas Morning News, The New York Times and various print and live media outlets. He has been on CBS Radio, The Fan, The Ticket, FOX and was named “Man of the Year” by Philadelphia Life Magazine.

Logan Stout and his wife, Haley, have two sons and reside in Frisco, Texas. They are patrons and honorary chairs of the Boys and Girls Club of Collin County, the American Heart Association of North Texas, founders of Youth Athletes Foundation and other charitable organizations.

Where did the idea for IDNutrition come from?

I did an interview on Fox Business News about my book, Stout Advice, and several of my other business ventures. At lunch one day, a gentleman recognized me from the interview and said that Zig Ziglar’s personal doctor would like to meet me because he had created the world’s first ever customized vitamin program. He went into details about how all of the ingredients are naturally and organically derived, non-GMO, hormone-free, gluten-free and soy-free. As a former professional athlete, nutrition has always been an important part of my life, so this instantly piqued my interest. Long story short, I met with the doctor and acquired the asset, which we now know as IDNutrition.

What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?

I am a very systematic person. My days are pretty much the exact same every single day, Monday through Friday. I wake up, drink an IDLife Shake and take my morning vitamins, followed by an IDLife Energy drink to get my day going. I’m an old-school guy, I read the actual newspaper and then I go have quiet time. For me, I read my bible and have a daily devotional every morning, then I do a personal development reading. That’s how I start my day. Then, I wake up my twin boys, who are almost 5, and get them ready for school. I work out and then I work in my home office for a couple hours. This allows me to really focus without any distractions. I’m typically at the IDLife corporate office starting at noon, sitting in meetings as long as I need to be, then I’ll pick my boys up from school. That’s a priority for me. We have dinner and family time before the kids go to bed, then I usually get a couple more hours of work done. Then my wife and I wind down, read a good book, and go to sleep.

How do you bring ideas to life?

I love ideas. Brainstorming is one of my favorite things to do. For me, it’s about getting as many people in a room that you respect and openly collaborating. There’s no such thing as a bad idea because I believe each idea leads to another one. I look at all the great ideas that I’ve been fortunate enough to be a part of and it’s not because any one person just came up with the idea. It was a team effort, a brainstorming session. One person had an idea and then we asked ourselves, how can we make this better? And then how can we make THAT better and better and better until we go, this is it! That’s the creative process. I don’t believe any one individual can be even remotely as effective as a group of people who are equally aligned can be in a brainstorming session.

What’s one trend that really excites you?

That’s an easy one, health and wellness! When you look at the baby boomers, they’re all wanting to look younger. You look at all the millennials and they’re all understanding the importance of eating clean and taking care of themselves. When you look at everyone in between the baby boomers and the millennials, it’s either the message is going up or the message is falling down, but either way the message is across the board that people want transparency and authenticity. You know, even before I started IDLife, I was looking for a wellness company to invest in; something clean, that wasn’t fake. I didn’t even know the concept of customized vitamins existed, so, for me, I’m a part of that trend that I’m most excited about.

What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?

I start my day the same way every day, and that’s feeding my mind. I believe thoughts lead to actions, actions, lead to habits and habits lead to results. It’s the foundation of my mentoring business at LoganStout.com. It’s the foundation behind all of my Stout Advice videos. The number one key to productivity for me is rebooting my brain every single day. I believe you either make your way into the world or the world will make its way into you. Ultimately, thoughts are going to lead to what you do and what you don’t do and how well you do it and how effective you are at doing it. Success is an uphill journey and you have to have uphill thoughts to go uphill. I think most people have downhill habits with uphill hopes and that’s why there’s a disconnect between what they want in life and what they currently have.

What was the worst job you ever had and what did you learn from it?

I worked in construction before I was old enough to even drive. I was the only one in my teens, everyone else was in their 30’s and 40’s. We had to be on the job site from 5am until 6pm and with the Texas summer, it was usually 100+ degrees and humid. It was one of the best workouts I’ve ever had! Day in and day out I listened to the other workers complain about life and missed opportunities and what I learned is I didn’t want to be in construction! It showed me the value of chasing your dreams and doing something that your passionate about, so that’s what I’ve been doing ever since.

If you were to start again, what would you do differently?

If I could do it over again, I would enjoy the people and the process more. I’ve been fortunate to have a lot of accolades and a lot of wins and successes, but I never enjoyed them. Every single time as soon as we accomplished the goal, I was ready for the next one. Achievement addiction is what they call it. I still suffer from it, but as I’ve matured and especially since I’ve had kids, I’ve learned to just stop for a second and value the people and the production that’s taking place. I’ve got a long way to go, but that’s the one thing I would do over.

As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?

I recommend that everyone invests in personal development. To me, it piggy backs on one of my previous answers. Thoughts lead to actions, actions lead to habits, habits lead to results. As an entrepreneur, the world will try to force its way into your brain, that’s just the reality, especially with all the distractions that we have. There are so many over-hyped under-achievers, distracted people and people that don’t have quality relationships or quality friendships. As an entrepreneur, the thing I do over and over again is read. I don’t LIKE to read, but I like the results of reading. One of my best friends is John Maxwell and I’ve read every book that he’s written. Dale Carnegie, Napoleon Hill – there’s a whole list of authors and books that I’ve read and recommend over at LoganStout.com. For me, as an entrepreneur, you have to think differently. It’s the old statement that “if you do what everyone does, you’re going to get what everyone else gets”. On the premise of thoughts lead to actions, if you don’t want to do what everyone else does, you have to think differently than everyone else does. That’s the thing I would encourage people to do; really take mental inventory. What kind of expired thoughts or expired ideas are still taking up valuable shelf space in your brain? Throw the expired thoughts out and put the good thoughts in there. The only way to do that is by being around the right people and reading the right books and having the right experiences that make your life better and ultimately make your results better.

What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business? Please explain how.

Pouring into people has hands down helped grow my business. I believe every concept and every company is only effective when you have the right people involved. The better the people, the better the production. The better the people, the better the culture. The better the people, the better the outcome. I’m really big on helping people becoming better versions of themselves. Helping people bridge the gap from where they are to where they want to be. For me, it’s critical. Whomever I have the honor to lead or to be a part of their life, I want them to say, “he makes me better”. They may not always like me, but they’ll say, “You know what, he stretched me beyond what I thought I could do and he made me better”. It’s important that you value people. Individuals play the game, teams win championships. The better the people, the better the team. The better the team, the better the results.

What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?

I did a 50/50 partnership with a guy. I ended up making money on the deal, but I would call it a failure because ultimately, we had to split. I didn’t do my due diligence on who I was entering into business with. He wasn’t who he portrayed himself to be and didn’t have the financial ability or resources that he said he had. This learning really helped me get to where I am today because I grew through that failure versus just going through that failure. I try to encourage people to do that. Failure is not a bad thing as long as you learn from it. Experience is not the great teacher, evaluated experience is the great teacher. From a pure business standpoint, it was a failure, but from a life circumstance, it was a great success because it helped me adopt my philosophy. Any business that I take on or any investment that I make, I now look at the “who” first, then I look at the what. Do I really believe in what the product or service is? Then I look at the third thing of if it’s going to be a profitable venture. I think a lot of people get this backwards. A lot of people look at the money first and they don’t care what they’re selling or who they’re doing business with. You rarely see that work out in a positive way. I think the “alignment before assignment” principal is critical. Believing in what you’re doing and what you’re offering to the public is imperative. If those things are right the money will take care of itself.

What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?

Well if I had a great business idea, I’m an entrepreneur, so I would’ve already put it in place, so that’s a tough question. Here’s what I will tell you. I believe a great trend is how can you simplify and beautify the baby boomer generation. In other words, how can you make their lives more enjoyable and more fun as they’re hitting that retirement age? You see assisted living homes exploding. That’s one example of how people are capitalizing on that huge generation and population of people, but there’s many more out there.

What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?

I’m not a spender. I grew up very simple. My mantra is: live simply, love abundantly, give generously, and pray daily. I don’t really need for much. So, I think the best money spent recently was when my wife and I chose to support a young girl starting a non-profit organization. She suffers from an illness and is clearly passionate about helping others. It was more than $100 that we gave, but I think the principle is the same.

What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?

I recommend everyone should read the bible. Whether you are Christian or not, you will benefit from this book by studying Jesus’s leadership style. He was the greatest leader of all times and had the largest number of followers, even thousands of years after his death. He connected with people. He cared and loved people, regardless of who they were. He’s the one who embodied the leadership principal of humility and I think everyone can benefit from learning his story.

What people have influenced your thinking and might be of interest to others?

John C. Maxwell has had an enormous influence on my thinking. He was named Inc. Magazine’s “most influential leadership expert on the globe” and is a NY Times bestselling author. I proudly call him a friend. My full list of influencers and books that I recommend are available at LoganStout.com

Key Learnings

• My mantra is: live simply, love abundantly, give generously, and pray daily.
• I believe every concept and every company is only effective when you have the right people involved. The better the people, the better the production. The better the people, the better the culture. The better the people, the better the outcome.
• If I could do it over again, I would enjoy the people and the process more. I’ve been fortunate to have a lot of accolades and a lot of wins and successes, but I never enjoyed them. Every single time as soon as we accomplished the goal, I was ready for the next one. Achievement addiction is what they call it. I still suffer from it, but as I’ve matured and especially since I’ve had kids, I’ve learned to just stop for a second and value the people and the production that’s taking place. I’ve got a long way to go, but that’s the one thing I would do over.

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