When it comes to the fitness business, one of the best ways to make money is to get into the supplements game. Few have done it better than Andy Frisella. He’s the CEO of 1st Phorm International, a supplements company that makes $175 million per year. As of 2023, Andy Frisella has an estimated net worth of $30 million. He’s become a motivational speaker as well, so his story is well worth reviewing.
Early Days
Frisella definitely wasn’t very ambitious as a child, and there were no signs that he would go on to become a multimillionaire. The 38-year old fitness entrepreneur was born in Missouri in 1984, and he describes himself as unmotivated when it came to school and education, not to mention not being the “cream of the crop.”
He was drawn to side hustles, though. As a kid, Frisella sold baseball cards, lemonade and snow cones, and he even went door-to-door selling light bulbs.
Success Story
Given those kinds of jobs, it was perhaps only a matter of time until Frisella got into the supplements game. It happened in 1999 when Frisella was attending Southwest Missouri State. Andy started a supplements and fitness business with a friend, but the early returns were poor.
But Frisella and his friend, Chris Klein, kept at it, opening more stores and buying up businesses that were struggling. In 2009 they started making their own products, and these days 1st Phorm is a nine-figure business. They sell gear, apparel and accessories, with their products supported by sponsored athletes.
The motivational gig was the logical next step for Frisella, and he’s excelled at it. He’s perhaps best known for his popular podcast, The MFCEO project. The podcast features interviews with fellow CEOs and wild stories about Frisella’s hard-driving approach, including one in which he got stabbed in the face.
His approach is definitely high-octane, in your face and then some. Frisella is seriously hardcore with his no-nonsense credo, which involves scaling his business, hitting personal goals and mastering challenges that increase mental toughness.
Frisella is in-demand as a motivational speaker, and he’s even done children’s books to teach kids what he considers the proper values and mindset for success.
His speeches are sprinkled with tough-guy profanity, but he’s clearly found his audience in the testosterone-fueled world of fitness. He was named Entrepreneur of the Year in 2016, and he’s been featured in Forbes, Inc. and other prominent business magazines.
Personal Life
In many ways, Frisella’s philosophy when it comes to enjoying the wealth he’s accumulated is “work hard, play hard.” He owns a fleet of exotic cars he enjoys, even though some of them rarely get out on the road, and he has three bulldogs, which isn’t exactly a surprising choice of pets for someone with Frisella’s approach to life and work.
Frisella’s marriage also reflects his devotion to fitness and entrepreneurial success. His wife Emily is a healthy living chef who has four businesses of her own. Emily is a successful business coach and speaker who is passionate about supporting women who want to follow in her entrepreneurial path.
