Latest / Success Story with Scott Clary / Robert Croak - Silly Bandz Creator | What It Really Takes to Build an Empire

Transcript

Robert Croak - Silly Bandz Creator | What It Really Takes to Build an Empire · Success Story with Scott Clary

• 0:00
  My father left when I was 6 years old, mother left when I was 10 years old.
• 0:03
  I was living in this difficult situation for many many years,
• 0:07
  then I took over the family restaurant and that was the start of all of this.
• 0:11
  He turned a simple rubber band into a global phenomenon.
• 0:14
  Robert Croke, the entrepreneur behind silly bands,
• 0:17
  transformed whimsical silicone shapes into one of the most viral toy creases of the early 2000s.
• 0:23
  I went to a triathlon, they were giving out Armstrong the Livestrong bracelets back then.
• 0:27
  Everyone was asking me, what's that yellow bracelet?
• 0:29
  I was like, man, there's got to be something here.
• 0:32
  Cole called the Livestrong Foundation and I launched literally five or eight days later,
• 0:36
  custom silicone bracelets.com. That is what led me down the path of
• 0:41
  silicone world and then led to silly bands.
• 0:43
  After discovering animal-shaped rubber bands on a trip to Asia,
• 0:46
  launching silly bands in 2008, the product quickly became a cultural sensation.
• 0:50
  But Robert's story isn't just about a fad.
• 0:53
  It's about spotting overlooked ideas and scaling them into cultural moments.
• 0:57
  I just was scared to death at that early age of being a loser.
• 1:01
  Whenever anyone says work-life balance is important,
• 1:05
  they've never built a really successful business.
• 1:08
  He built a brand that resonated with millions.
• 1:10
  In this episode, we unpack how Robert Croke turned a novelty item into a household name
• 1:15
  and what it takes to engineer virality in the modern age.
• 1:18
  It took me till probably 43 years old to learn this fully,
• 1:22
  so if you're under 43, learn it ahead of time from this talk is...
• 1:28
  Welcome to Success Story. I'm your host, Scott Clary.
• 1:32
  The Success Story podcast is part of the HubSpot podcast network.
• 1:35
  Now HubSpot doesn't just have great podcasts.
• 1:38
  They also have great tools for entrepreneurs.
• 1:40
  Let me tell you a story. I'm sure you've all heard of the Angel City Football Club.
• 1:44
  Well, you don't just become the world's most valuable women sports franchise by accident.
• 1:49
  Angel City Football Club did it the little help from HubSpot.
• 1:52
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• 1:56
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• 2:07
  The result were nearly 350 new fan signups a week
• 2:10
  and a 300% database growth in just two years.
• 2:14
  Sure, you can be a great team in the arena,
• 2:17
  but if you truly want to build a legacy of franchise and a dynasty,
• 2:21
  you have to build a community outside of the arena.
• 2:24
  And HubSpot helped Angel City Football Club do just that.
• 2:28
  If you want to learn about how HubSpot can help your business,
• 2:31
  visit HubSpot.com, visit some other great case studies,
• 2:33
  and you'll learn how HubSpot can help your business grow better.
• 2:37
  And one quick ask.
• 2:38
  Before we dive into today's episode,
• 2:40
  I need your help with something important.
• 2:42
  I've just launched a quick survey to better understand
• 2:45
  what you guys want from the show.
• 2:47
  And your feedback is going to directly shape our upcoming content.
• 2:51
  It's only going to take a few minutes of your time,
• 2:53
  and I made it super easy to find.
• 2:54
  Just head over to scottdeclary.com slash survey.
• 2:58
  And as a thank you for helping me out,
• 3:00
  I'm giving away a free gift card to one lucky respondent chosen at random,
• 3:05
  once we hit 100 responses.
• 3:07
  So not only will your feedback help make this show even better,
• 3:10
  you might score something cool just for sharing your thought.
• 3:13
  I really appreciate your help with this one.
• 3:21
  First of all, thank you for coming down to Miami.
• 3:26
  It's going to be a lot of fun.
• 3:27
  So I think we can just start it with this,
• 3:29
  because we were talking before we pressed record,
• 3:31
  and you are a very inspiring speaker.
• 3:33
  So I'll just ask you this. What's your mission?
• 3:35
  Yeah, I would say my mission now is completely different
• 3:38
  than 10, 15, 20 years ago.
• 3:40
  You know, when I came up and we didn't have podcasts
• 3:44
  and we didn't have social media and all this stuff,
• 3:46
  you had to learn the old fashioned way,
• 3:48
  and that was by experience.
• 3:50
  And so for me, I'm very blessed now to be able to help so many people,
• 3:56
  you know, the one to many strategy.
• 3:59
  And so I've been able to really kind of cultivate this message
• 4:03
  of my 20, 30 years of entrepreneurship,
• 4:06
  making tens of millions of dollars, losing millions of dollars,
• 4:10
  and being able to put that together in a way
• 4:12
  that really helps educate the little guy.
• 4:14
  Because when I started out,
• 4:16
  raising capital was very, very difficult.
• 4:18
  Getting out there and scaling was very difficult
• 4:21
  because we didn't have all of the incredible tools we have now.
• 4:24
  So for me, it's really all about seeing how many tens of thousands,
• 4:29
  hundreds of thousands, millions of people
• 4:30
  that I can help in some way,
• 4:33
  either in their mindset, their business,
• 4:35
  or their personal finances,
• 4:36
  to help them lead a better life.
• 4:38
  That's my mission.
• 4:39
  It was harder when you were coming up
• 4:42
  because there was less access to information.
• 4:45
  But at the same time, more access to information
• 4:48
  creates confusion and a lot of noise.
• 4:50
  So now people, the barrier to entry to entrepreneurship
• 4:53
  has never been lower, but it's still very confusing
• 4:57
  to figure out who to follow, who to listen to.
• 4:59
  So I'm sure that, I mean, this is what you do with Retabits
• 5:02
  and all the content you put out.
• 5:04
  You're just a very good signal of quality information
• 5:09
  and how to do entrepreneurship, right?
• 5:10
  Not just entrepreneurship, life investing finance.
• 5:13
  That's what I, when I look at your content,
• 5:15
  it's refreshing because you're not selling anything,
• 5:18
  really at the end of the day.
• 5:19
  And I think that that's something that people should look
• 5:21
  for when they're figuring out and navigating all these people
• 5:25
  on Instagram and TikTok and YouTube,
• 5:27
  because I also didn't come up with all these thought leaders.
• 5:32
  But there's so much noise now.
• 5:33
  How do you navigate?
• 5:34
  How do you navigate someone who's done it?
• 5:37
  What's your barometer for BS or authenticity
• 5:42
  in the online guru thought leaders face?
• 5:46
  Yeah, I really enjoy this question
• 5:49
  because there is so much noise and so much confusion
• 5:54
  and so many people utilize their platform
• 5:57
  and their audience for clickbait
• 6:00
  and these really, they're trying to go viral
• 6:03
  for the vanity metrics that they forget
• 6:06
  that building the audience should be about value
• 6:08
  and building trust with the audience
• 6:10
  so they know what your message is.
• 6:12
  What hill do you stand on?
• 6:14
  And so for me, I can't stand all these charlatans
• 6:18
  and fake gurus that all they're trying to do
• 6:20
  is put out clickbait information to scare people
• 6:23
  into buying their high ticket course.
• 6:25
  And so it's very frustrating for me
• 6:27
  because you also want to look at the backstory
• 6:30
  and for anyone watching or listening,
• 6:32
  understand, do your research
• 6:33
  because you need to be very selective of who you follow
• 6:37
  and whose message you believe in
• 6:40
  because a lot of them don't have the experience
• 6:42
  or the chops to really put out a message
• 6:45
  that is flushed out that can help people in bring value
• 6:48
  and I think for me, I'm uniquely qualified
• 6:51
  because I've had decades of experience building
• 6:53
  big businesses, silly bands was incredible.
• 6:56
  Now we have the Rich Habits podcast
• 6:57
  which has gone on to be one of the biggest financial
• 6:59
  and business podcasts in America on Spotify.
• 7:02
  I've actually built stuff just like you have
• 7:05
  and when someone has this track record
• 7:08
  not a little success 20 years ago
• 7:10
  or they had an e-com store at the height of the e-com boom
• 7:14
  for every wave ever.
• 7:15
  Yeah, and now they've rode every wave ever.
• 7:18
  For me, it's who is consistent,
• 7:21
  who is putting out real content with authority
• 7:26
  but also being genuine to their audience,
• 7:29
  that's what I look for.
• 7:30
  Yeah, I think that people that lean into their failures
• 7:34
  and talk about experience through the lens of,
• 7:36
  hey, this is why I believe what I believe
• 7:38
  because I've done all the wrong things
• 7:40
  and this is what has led me to understand
• 7:42
  as opposed to somebody who's parroting.
• 7:44
  Parading like the latest trend or the latest idea.
• 7:46
  100% of content I see is just copying what someone else said
• 7:51
  and then that turns into their own content strategy
• 7:53
  versus you, you're talking about when you've made money,
• 7:57
  when you've lost money,
• 7:58
  I mean, those are hard things to talk about
• 8:00
  but that shows you've actually sort of been in the arena.
• 8:03
  Now you didn't start building a $200 million
• 8:06
  or plus company so you started way, way, way back
• 8:10
  running your grandparents restaurant
• 8:12
  and then you turned it into a rock club
• 8:14
  and then became a music promoter.
• 8:17
  So this is a fast life.
• 8:19
  So tell me about your life, your household growing up
• 8:26
  was entrepreneurship always in your family
• 8:28
  or was it something that you accidentally stumbled into?
• 8:31
  This is incredible.
• 8:32
  Everyone should ask me this question
• 8:35
  because when I was in my 20s and I was crushing it
• 8:38
  in the nightclub scene in the restaurant scene,
• 8:41
  everyone was like, oh, he was a spoiled rich kid
• 8:43
  but the real story is there was no entrepreneurship
• 8:46
  in my family.
• 8:48
  My father left when I was six years old.
• 8:50
  My mother left when I was 10 years old.
• 8:53
  So I was literally in this household
• 8:55
  that they owned with two half brothers
• 8:58
  and they were both drug addicts and drug dealers
• 9:00
  so that is what I went through all through
• 9:03
  the end of grade school and into high school.
• 9:06
  So I was living in this very violent,
• 9:09
  difficult situation for many, many years
• 9:12
  and but I was always built to be special
• 9:15
  and I was always meant to be a top level entrepreneur.
• 9:19
  And so earlier on, even as early as high school,
• 9:22
  I told everyone I believe I was switched at birth
• 9:25
  because there was no way I belong
• 9:28
  or deserve to be in this family situation.
• 9:31
  So that's it and when the start happened
• 9:34
  with the family restaurant, my grandmother had passed away.
• 9:38
  The will was not in order and I had an opportunity
• 9:41
  to buy the building and the business,
• 9:44
  which is Frankie's, it's still open to date
• 9:46
  so almost a hundred years old.
• 9:48
  Yeah, we just renovated it a couple of years ago.
• 9:50
  It's still a famous rock club.
• 9:52
  It's no longer an Italian restaurant
• 9:54
  but I was able to buy it and at that time,
• 9:57
  I was doing finance at car dealership.
• 9:59
  So I was 23 years old, fresh out of college.
• 10:02
  I was taking my series, what was it back then?
• 10:05
  Series seven license and I was doing finance at car dealerships.
• 10:10
  So my career back then was finance at car dealerships.
• 10:14
  I had a quadplex so I do practice what I preach
• 10:17
  and I was house hacking.
• 10:18
  23.
• 10:19
  23.
• 10:20
  We were already house hacking in there.
• 10:21
  I was house hacking at 23 and then I took over
• 10:24
  the family restaurant and did the full renovation
• 10:26
  and that was the start of all of this.
• 10:29
  If you didn't have entrepreneurship,
• 10:34
  entrepreneurship sort of inputs around you,
• 10:37
  what made you think differently?
• 10:40
  What made you think I have to start investing?
• 10:42
  I want to take over this restaurant
• 10:44
  and turn it into something.
• 10:45
  Like what is the thing that turns somebody
• 10:47
  from non entrepreneur and that was a pretty tough upbringing.
• 10:51
  It's not like an easy upbringing
• 10:52
  when your dad leaves at six, your mom leaves at 10.
• 10:54
  That's difficult.
• 10:56
  So what was the thing?
• 10:57
  Was it grandparents?
• 10:59
  Was it need to survive?
• 11:01
  Was it, what was it?
• 11:02
  It's a great question and I think it is probably
• 11:06
  the number one biggest hurdle that most people suffer with
• 11:10
  when trying to build financial freedom
• 11:13
  and I don't even want to say try to build wealth
• 11:14
  because there's a big gap between being wealthy
• 11:17
  and being financially free in my opinion
• 11:19
  because so many people out there
• 11:21
  and we won't name names in the Charlotteson world,
• 11:24
  they say if you don't make $400,000 a year, you're a loser
• 11:28
  or if you're not making a million dollars a year,
• 11:30
  you should be ashamed yourself.
• 11:31
  That's ridiculous.
• 11:32
  Some of the happiest, greatest people I know on earth right now
• 11:36
  make $70,000, $100,000 in $120,000 a year
• 11:40
  and they are ultimately happy.
• 11:42
  So for me, I just was scared to death
• 11:46
  at that early age of being a loser.
• 11:48
  I didn't want to grow up and not become something.
• 11:52
  And one of the things and this was going way back,
• 11:54
  this was a commercial that I don't know why
• 11:57
  but it struck me to my core
• 11:59
  and I've never lost the thought of that commercial
• 12:03
  and that is I think it was a Navy commercial
• 12:05
  or a Marines commercial way back when 40 years ago
• 12:09
  and it said if someone wrote a book about your life
• 12:11
  would anyone read it.
• 12:13
  And I have lived by that my entire life.
• 12:15
  I don't ever want to leave this planet
• 12:19
  not helping other people as many as I can
• 12:21
  so now it's great because I have millions of followers
• 12:23
  and I can really make a difference for people.
• 12:25
  Share my story, share my insights
• 12:28
  about finance and business and mindset
• 12:30
  and help them figure it out
• 12:32
  because nobody has it figured out.
• 12:34
  You see all these people and we live
• 12:35
  in a comparison based lifestyle because of Instagram,
• 12:38
  because of TikTok.
• 12:39
  So everyone is trying to compare to others
• 12:42
  but they don't see the real humanity behind it.
• 12:46
  And that's why a lot of my content is so raw.
• 12:48
  I want people to see me to job site dirty,
• 12:51
  you know, working on a house flip
• 12:53
  or at the restaurant repairing something
• 12:55
  because the replete paragraph I didn't show up.
• 12:57
  I don't care because I don't want to paint a picture
• 13:01
  that it's all rainbows and unicorns.
• 13:03
  I want people to realize what is the reality behind the curtain
• 13:07
  and that's why I share it all.
• 13:09
  Yeah, I think that one thing that I noticed
• 13:11
  with your content and your message
• 13:13
  and even sort of like your origin story
• 13:16
  is nothing came quick and easy.
• 13:18
  Like I know that you're talking about,
• 13:19
  oh, I was 23 and I was house hacking
• 13:22
  and I turned this restaurant around
• 13:24
  and then we'll talk about the silly band story.
• 13:26
  But you have to help people understand
• 13:30
  how much time and energy went into each one of those things
• 13:33
  which is now, I mean, fast forward, 40, whatever years,
• 13:37
  I don't know how old you are,
• 13:38
  you look for whatever.
• 13:39
  But if fast forward, now it just seems like a blip in time
• 13:44
  but at the moment like there was a lot of stress
• 13:46
  and anxiety and effort put into all those things
• 13:49
  and what people chase after in 2025 and beyond,
• 13:54
  they look for these quick wins all the time
• 13:56
  and that's what Instagram gurus sell them.
• 13:58
  And I think that will create so much stress and anxiety
• 14:02
  because you have all these ambitious people
• 14:03
  that do want to make money
• 14:05
  and do want to support their life and their family.
• 14:08
  And when something doesn't work after a month
• 14:10
  or two months or I invested
• 14:12
  and I hate that this exists
• 14:14
  but I've taken my last dollar
• 14:17
  and put it into a coaching program
• 14:19
  and my business didn't succeed immediately.
• 14:21
  Well then it starts to become a question
• 14:24
  of what's wrong with me?
• 14:26
  Like why am I not successful when this person
• 14:29
  shows all these great Instagram pictures of cars
• 14:33
  and penthouses in Miami, what's wrong with me?
• 14:36
  And it's just because the expectations aren't aligned properly.
• 14:39
  And that's something that you speak about
• 14:41
  because I know that you've gone through
• 14:43
  and actually done the thing for an extended period of time
• 14:45
  and that's what leads to success.
• 14:47
  And I don't see enough people
• 14:49
  sort of giving over that message
• 14:51
  that it's always gonna take longer
• 14:53
  than you expect it to.
• 14:54
  Yeah, you're spot on so many people out there,
• 14:59
  we talk about it when they can't do they coach
• 15:02
  is they get into the next shiny ball syndrome
• 15:05
  and I think shiny ball syndrome is real.
• 15:08
  People talk about it and I'm not saying entrepreneurs
• 15:12
  should always go all in on one thing
• 15:14
  because I do think diversity
• 15:15
  lends to success in many ways.
• 15:18
  But I see so many entrepreneurs that one year
• 15:20
  they're talking about crypto, the next year
• 15:23
  they're talking about Forex trading,
• 15:25
  the next year they're talking about ECOM,
• 15:26
  whatever is the hot ticket item of the day,
• 15:29
  they're selling that item.
• 15:31
  To me, that is a huge red flag.
• 15:33
  If someone doesn't have a sustainable business model
• 15:36
  and they're an expert in every new category
• 15:40
  like AI is today.
• 15:41
  Now all of a sudden you have all these charlatans
• 15:43
  that are AI's experts.
• 15:45
  And so for me, I just try to really stay in my lane.
• 15:49
  Am I and do I feel I'm ahead of the curve
• 15:51
  investing lies on AI and humanoid robotics
• 15:55
  and right now nuclear
• 15:57
  and all of these emerging sectors absolutely
• 16:00
  because one of my big messages to my audience
• 16:04
  is to get them to understand
• 16:06
  to be really successful as an investor.
• 16:08
  You don't have to be first to an investment
• 16:10
  or a stock or a crypto.
• 16:12
  You just have to be ahead of the masses.
• 16:14
  And generally you've got the thought leaders
• 16:16
  and the people that really know the space there first.
• 16:19
  You have the founders and all the developers
• 16:21
  right in that category.
• 16:22
  Then after that, you'll get the people like you and I
• 16:25
  that really understand where things are going
• 16:27
  from a macroeconomic level.
• 16:30
  And then after that you have Wall Street,
• 16:33
  then you have retail.
• 16:34
  As long as you're ahead of those last two sectors,
• 16:36
  you're going to make a lot of money in investing.
• 16:39
  And I think that's one of the things I'm really good at
• 16:41
  that I can help my audience with is to get them
• 16:44
  to understand that diversity is important,
• 16:47
  but too many entrepreneurs right now,
• 16:50
  they I feel bounced from thing to thing the thing
• 16:52
  and they never really built anything that's of scale.
• 16:55
  And so that's why they coach because it's easier
• 16:59
  to just keep building out these coaching programs
• 17:01
  and selling them for five, 10, $20,000 a piece.
• 17:05
  One thing that you mentioned that I think you'll have
• 17:06
  an interesting perspective on is you mentioned in terms of,
• 17:10
  because if we look at investing and entrepreneurship,
• 17:13
  I think we can sort of separate those
• 17:15
  because when it comes to investing,
• 17:17
  if you do understand a new emerging technology
• 17:21
  and you're not the technical person,
• 17:23
  but you're sort of like first wave, you're just curious,
• 17:25
  you're ahead of institution, you're definitely ahead of retail,
• 17:28
  you can make some good money there if you're careful,
• 17:29
  but of course you don't want to put all your eggs
• 17:31
  in one sort of new technology basket.
• 17:33
  Correct.
• 17:34
  In entrepreneurship, I always hesitate to tell people
• 17:38
  to chase trends because if you even look at that restaurant
• 17:41
  that's 100 years old, it's not chasing a trend,
• 17:43
  it's solving this forever human problem, right?
• 17:47
  And I don't know if, when you think about building businesses,
• 17:51
  you think about them differently than investing,
• 17:54
  but I would hesitate to tell somebody
• 17:57
  to build a business in a vanity industry.
• 18:00
  I would say build something that is solving
• 18:01
  a forever human problem, like entertainment, status,
• 18:06
  real estate, these are things that will always be around.
• 18:09
  So what is your opinion if you're gonna talk
• 18:11
  to a young entrepreneur, should they focus on building
• 18:14
  in a vanity business, should they start an AI company
• 18:17
  or do you recommend they start a business
• 18:21
  in something that's gonna be around,
• 18:22
  that was around for the past 100 years
• 18:24
  and it's gonna be around for 100 years in the future.
• 18:27
  That's a really great question.
• 18:29
  I think it depends on the person.
• 18:31
  So many people go to where they're told to go
• 18:36
  or where they believe they're supposed to go
• 18:37
  based on their peer group and their family.
• 18:40
  And unfortunately, that does not sustain itself
• 18:43
  and it doesn't work, that's why you see
• 18:44
  so many people go through med school
• 18:46
  or they become a lawyer and they quit two years later
• 18:49
  because it was what their parents wanted
• 18:51
  or their peer group wanted.
• 18:52
  And I think for me, it's important for people to understand
• 18:56
  just like Austin and I say all the time on the podcast,
• 18:58
  personal finances, personal, it's the same thing
• 19:00
  with your daily life.
• 19:02
  Do what works for you, not everyone is a morning person
• 19:05
  and some people like to sleep in.
• 19:07
  I like to stay up late.
• 19:09
  I do a lot of research in the evenings.
• 19:11
  I like the downtime.
• 19:12
  So for me, so for me, I haven't set an alarm clock
• 19:18
  unless I have a flight or I have to come to a podcast
• 19:20
  like this, I have not set an alarm in 30 years
• 19:23
  because I don't wanna live that way.
• 19:26
  I'm structured, but I wanna live of how my body
• 19:29
  and how my brain works for the lifestyle I wanna lead.
• 19:32
  That's why I would never be able to have a job
• 19:34
  because I would not be able to sit at a desk
• 19:36
  for 12 hours a day, hammering away on a task.
• 19:39
  I like to do what I wanna do in my creative space
• 19:42
  but then in my business space the same way.
• 19:44
  So I think everyone should build their life around
• 19:49
  what it is that inspires them to wanna do it
• 19:52
  because otherwise you're a drone.
• 19:54
  When you think about just driving here to meet you,
• 19:57
  seeing all these people walking with their backpack
• 20:00
  with their coffee cup, going to their job,
• 20:02
  they have no emotions on their face.
• 20:05
  To me, that's being a drone.
• 20:06
  You're a humanoid robotic, but you're actually a human
• 20:09
  because you didn't select a lifestyle
• 20:12
  that resonates with you to be able to do
• 20:15
  exactly what you wanna do.
• 20:17
  And I think everyone needs to find what works for them
• 20:20
  and it might take decades.
• 20:21
  So everyone listening, it might take you decades
• 20:24
  to figure it out and along the way
• 20:26
  you're gonna have all those learning lessons
• 20:28
  to figure out what does work for you.
• 20:30
  And some people figured out very early on
• 20:32
  because everything should be about setting yourself up
• 20:36
  for the future so you can retire gracefully
• 20:39
  at the end of the day.
• 20:39
  So, you know, that's simply, it doesn't matter
• 20:43
  so much as if it's your own, it's your own thought
• 20:48
  and it's your own passion versus someone else's.
• 20:52
  When you think about, I mean, we can talk about silly bands
• 20:55
  and how that came to be.
• 20:56
  And I have a little story here about a live strong bracelet
• 21:00
  that sort of led you to think about silicone bracelets
• 21:03
  and that became the foundation for silly bands to a degree.
• 21:08
  You talk about passion, but I'll challenge you
• 21:12
  because I know that you have an answer to this,
• 21:13
  but how do you find out that you're passionate
• 21:16
  about something like silicone bands?
• 21:18
  That is a, so I agree with you completely,
• 21:22
  but somebody outside looking in,
• 21:24
  understanding your story is like, well,
• 21:26
  I would never know that I had a passion for silicone bands.
• 21:29
  I have no idea anything about it.
• 21:31
  How would I ever figure out
• 21:32
  if that's something that I actually want to pursue?
• 21:34
  Because you did and you did it successfully.
• 21:36
  So, I want somebody to understand through your story
• 21:40
  how to find what your passion is
• 21:42
  when it's such a weird, strange business concept.
• 21:46
  And I mean, tell us how you figured out
• 21:48
  that this is where you want to spend
• 21:49
  like a significant amount of your life and energy in time.
• 21:53
  Well, I think it's important for everyone to understand
• 21:55
  that a really good entrepreneur
• 21:57
  might not even know what their passion is
• 22:00
  and doesn't need to really know what their passion is
• 22:02
  because I think a lot of it comes from seeing opportunity.
• 22:06
  For me, every single day,
• 22:08
  I have to corral myself in
• 22:11
  because something will annoy me
• 22:13
  or I'll see a huge opportunity
• 22:15
  and I will act on it immediately.
• 22:17
  So, for the silicone bracelet thing,
• 22:20
  I was doing triathlons at the time.
• 22:22
  I went to a triathlon,
• 22:23
  they were giving out Lance Armstrong
• 22:26
  the Livestrong bracelets back then.
• 22:28
  And so, that night when I went to my bars after the race,
• 22:31
  I'm feeling accomplished.
• 22:33
  Everyone was asking me,
• 22:34
  what's that yellow bracelet?
• 22:35
  What's that yellow bracelet?
• 22:36
  And this went on for months.
• 22:38
  So, finally, I was like,
• 22:39
  man, there's got to be something here.
• 22:41
  And we were already dabbling in Ecom
• 22:43
  and doing all that online.
• 22:45
  And so, I literally cold called Livestrong Foundation
• 22:49
  and the girl that answered the phone,
• 22:51
  whoever you are, if you remember this call,
• 22:54
  please reach out to me because you changed my life.
• 22:57
  Cold called the Livestrong Foundation,
• 22:59
  said, hey, I've been wearing one of your bracelets
• 23:01
  for a few months.
• 23:01
  Everyone is asking me about them.
• 23:04
  I think I should make them for other companies
• 23:06
  and this girl that answered the phone said,
• 23:07
  oh my God, please do.
• 23:09
  We get 100 calls a week from other companies
• 23:12
  wanting us to make bracelets for them.
• 23:13
  We're a foundation.
• 23:15
  We have a factory that makes them for us.
• 23:17
  We're not interested in making them for other people.
• 23:19
  We are here for the foundation for Lance Armstrong.
• 23:22
  She gave me their factory information on a cold call.
• 23:26
  So, literally three days later,
• 23:28
  I had already spoken to the factory.
• 23:30
  This was back when Skype was popular.
• 23:32
  This was before anyone knew what Alibaba was.
• 23:35
  This was a long, long time ago.
• 23:37
  And call the factory got set up as an agent
• 23:40
  to be able to import product from them.
• 23:42
  And I launched literally, I think eight days later,
• 23:45
  five or eight days later, custom silicon bracelets.com.
• 23:49
  And it went on to be a multi-million dollar company
• 23:51
  and we sold millions and millions of cause bracelets
• 23:55
  for other charities and foundations
• 23:57
  and schools and sports teams.
• 23:58
  And that is what led me down the path
• 24:01
  of the silicon world and then led to silly bands.
• 24:04
  So, it's creating space to be curious about opportunity.
• 24:09
  And then when something presents itself,
• 24:10
  that's when you dive into it.
• 24:12
  So, that's what happened with you.
• 24:14
  Yeah, it's creating.
• 24:15
  So, let's look today, 2025.
• 24:18
  I now have eyeballs infrastructure, contacts,
• 24:23
  experience and the team that you could tell me an idea today
• 24:28
  that you think would go viral.
• 24:30
  And if I agreed, we could be live tomorrow.
• 24:32
  That is what I have.
• 24:34
  When you build that opportunity of scale
• 24:37
  within your framework of your own life,
• 24:39
  then you can kind of go after those shiny balls
• 24:43
  a little bit, but in a way that actually makes sense
• 24:46
  because you know how to scale.
• 24:47
  You're not coming from a place of zero experience
• 24:51
  to try and chase the shiny balls syndrome
• 24:53
  like a lot of people do now.
• 24:55
  Yeah, I think that that's, so people, again,
• 24:59
  just bringing it back.
• 25:00
  A lot of entrepreneurs that ideal with,
• 25:02
  they're always chasing, again, what's new and hot right now,
• 25:05
  not thinking if that's even a good idea for them.
• 25:10
  And they're distracting themselves
• 25:11
  with these irrelevant shiny balls that society
• 25:16
  or Twitter or YouTube is saying that they should chase
• 25:19
  after dropshipping AI crypto.
• 25:21
  And then they're not leaving enough time in their day
• 25:24
  for all the other opportunities
• 25:25
  that could be passing them by.
• 25:26
  If you were only obsessed with the latest trends
• 25:30
  back when silly bands started,
• 25:31
  you would have never thought to start a company on Silicon.
• 25:34
  100%.
• 25:35
  Yeah, and I think the biggest issue
• 25:36
  with most entrepreneurs, they might have a successful business.
• 25:40
  We see it every day in our world
• 25:42
  where let's say they started in the mortgage industry
• 25:44
  or they started in the real estate industry
• 25:46
  or maybe they were a used car sales manager,
• 25:50
  whatever it is, and they get an idea.
• 25:52
  They build a company and then the problem is,
• 25:55
  is as soon as they start making real money,
• 25:56
  they get distracted.
• 25:58
  Then they go chase the shiny ball
• 26:00
  and then another chest to shiny ball
• 26:01
  and another shiny ball.
• 26:02
  Meanwhile, the company that got them there is failing
• 26:06
  because they're no longer giving it the attention it needs.
• 26:09
  I'm all about diversity, but I'm also all about
• 26:12
  not changing the game too much
• 26:15
  if you already have built success.
• 26:17
  Diversify with others not on your own.
• 26:20
  So many people I think they try to go out
• 26:22
  and build it on their own.
• 26:23
  I'm more about, and it took me till probably 43 years old
• 26:27
  to learn this fully.
• 26:28
  So if you're under 43, learn it ahead of time
• 26:30
  from this talk is I would rather take my money now
• 26:35
  and bet on other jockeys, other winners,
• 26:38
  other quarterbacks that I believe in
• 26:40
  because then that way I can keep my eye on the prize.
• 26:43
  Because you think about silly bands.
• 26:45
  When silly bands first hit really huge,
• 26:48
  that was 15 years ago.
• 26:50
  2010 was the biggest financial year for silly bands
• 26:53
  15 years ago, yet silly bands is still a viable company
• 26:57
  that does meaningful revenue.
• 26:59
  Today as we speak, it is not the big worldwide phenomenon
• 27:03
  back then, but it's still very popular
• 27:05
  and gaining popularity again like a lot of these brands do.
• 27:08
  So very fortunate for us shout out silly bands.
• 27:12
  But it's just all about I didn't take my eye off the prize.
• 27:15
  You know, I could have many times sold the brand.
• 27:17
  I could have many times sold the inventory in the IP,
• 27:20
  but I always felt it would come back
• 27:22
  like Crocs came back and other brands.
• 27:24
  So I kept it and I still own 100% of it today.
• 27:27
  You still own 100% of it today.
• 27:29
  Yeah, 100%.
• 27:30
  So yeah, it's very cool.
• 27:31
  Lingoa is a partner of success story.
• 27:34
  Look, I'll be real with you.
• 27:35
  My French used to be solid.
• 27:37
  I learned it in school.
• 27:38
  I even had decent pronunciation.
• 27:40
  But when I booked trip to France last year,
• 27:43
  it was a total blank.
• 27:44
  I could barely order a croissant
• 27:46
  without sounding like a tourist.
• 27:48
  So I jumped into the Lingoa sprint challenge
• 27:51
  and man, it changed everything.
• 27:53
  I'd take live classes late at night after podcasting,
• 27:55
  only five students max, real teachers, real conversations.
• 28:00
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  I think that the lesson there is, first of all,
• 31:32
  everything is gonna take longer than you think it will.
• 31:34
  And cost more.
• 31:35
  And cost more.
• 31:36
  And what happened to entrepreneurs
• 31:37
  you mentioned when they're successful,
• 31:39
  sometimes they start to diversify.
• 31:42
  Taking it back a step.
• 31:43
  I think the bigger issue,
• 31:45
  forget when they're successful,
• 31:46
  when they're just starting out and it's hard
• 31:48
  and they're not successful yet.
• 31:50
  And then they diversify because they're like,
• 31:52
  well, I put so much of my life into this thing
• 31:54
  but it's not working the way that I wanted it to.
• 31:56
  So what about this next thing?
• 31:57
  And then they're stuck in this cycle.
• 32:00
  This hamster wheel of starting,
• 32:02
  it getting hard quitting moving on to something else.
• 32:05
  And Hermosi talks about this a lot.
• 32:07
  And entrepreneurs can be stuck in this cycle
• 32:09
  their entire life.
• 32:10
  Yes.
• 32:11
  Because they never actually get past this point
• 32:13
  of I've gone through all the hardship and all the success
• 32:16
  and the bell curve and the hockey stick growth
• 32:18
  is on the other side of that.
• 32:19
  I mean, even if you think about silly bands,
• 32:22
  yes, there was a great opportunity with Livestron
• 32:26
  giving you the factory,
• 32:27
  but when you first started it, it was not selling.
• 32:30
  No, I don't know.
• 32:30
  It was a shelf and there was a period of time
• 32:32
  where it was hard.
• 32:34
  And at any point you could have given up
• 32:35
  and you're like, you know what, I don't need this.
• 32:37
  I can go do something else.
• 32:40
  But you are one of the stories that I found out about you
• 32:44
  which reminds me of actually Elon Musk
• 32:47
  because the story is during the peak
• 32:50
  sort of silly bands crazed.
• 32:52
  You built an apartment above the office
• 32:55
  and you were basically living there.
• 32:58
  So when somebody hears that story,
• 33:01
  they're thinking, oh my God,
• 33:03
  is this what it takes to be successful?
• 33:05
  Is that, and Elon does this with his companies.
• 33:07
  He's infamous for like sleeping on the floor of PayPal
• 33:12
  and then Tesla and now I think like at the White House.
• 33:16
  Yeah, for sure.
• 33:18
  So is that level of commitment required to be successful?
• 33:22
  I think so.
• 33:24
  You have to be a little bit of a psycho to really pull it off.
• 33:29
  So let's go back and this is gonna be a two-part answer.
• 33:32
  The silly bands stage.
• 33:34
  I had a beautiful house.
• 33:35
  I was renovating this house.
• 33:38
  Silly bands really took off.
• 33:39
  And in mind, you let me paint the picture for everyone.
• 33:42
  It started to move, started to sell,
• 33:44
  started to become popular.
• 33:46
  This was during the Facebook era
• 33:48
  and then it went ballistic.
• 33:50
  So then all of a sudden we went from selling, let's say,
• 33:53
  let's say two cases of silly bands a week
• 33:56
  to 200 cases of silly bands a week,
• 33:58
  to 2,000 cases of silly bands a week,
• 34:01
  to 5,000 cases of silly bands a week,
• 34:03
  to 3,000 cases a day.
• 34:05
  So we scaled from at that time when I launched silly bands,
• 34:09
  I had around 17, I think it was 17 full-time employees.
• 34:13
  And we went from 17 employees
• 34:15
  to 3,300 employees in the course of 10 months.
• 34:19
  And this is insane.
• 34:20
  That is insane scale.
• 34:22
  So for me to even think it made sense
• 34:25
  to drive home every night and get in my nice car
• 34:28
  and drive home, go to sleep and come back made no sense.
• 34:32
  So I'm gonna paint a picture for you.
• 34:34
  Katie Kirk wanted to interview me
• 34:36
  because of the massive success of silly bands.
• 34:40
  And they were like, yeah, we'll have you come
• 34:41
  to our New York studios, we'll do this.
• 34:43
  I'm like, I'm not leaving my office, you're crazy.
• 34:46
  So all these people that want to interview me,
• 34:48
  I'm like, if you want to interview me, come to Toledo, Ohio,
• 34:50
  this is my address, we can interview.
• 34:53
  At that time, silly bands was so crazy,
• 34:57
  they had to hire extra security at malls for stores
• 35:00
  for the UPS drop-offs
• 35:02
  because people would be waiting for the trucks.
• 35:05
  We would have, when we would open our doors,
• 35:07
  physically open the warehouse
• 35:09
  and unlock the office door in Toledo, Ohio,
• 35:12
  we would have to have 20 people there in the morning
• 35:15
  because there would be trucks lined up everywhere.
• 35:18
  So UPS would come every day with all the trucks.
• 35:20
  And because we had so much inventory coming in,
• 35:23
  we couldn't do the traditional vessel shipments,
• 35:26
  we literally joked because we had planes
• 35:28
  going back and forth every single day,
• 35:30
  dropping off inventory.
• 35:32
  And so when we would wake up in the morning
• 35:34
  and go downstairs to the office and the warehouse
• 35:37
  and turn the lights on,
• 35:38
  there would be trucks lined up down the alley
• 35:40
  because there were so many stores and retailers and distributors
• 35:43
  that would just send drivers and say,
• 35:46
  do whatever it takes to get inventory.
• 35:48
  They'd have an order in the system,
• 35:50
  but we'd say, okay, man, that order
• 35:52
  will be shipped out in four to seven days
• 35:54
  because you just place the order.
• 35:56
  They would have people bribing us in the alleys
• 35:58
  trying to get inventory.
• 35:59
  It was that crazy worldwide for 18 months
• 36:03
  during the main piece of the craze.
• 36:06
  And so whenever anyone says work-life balance is important,
• 36:10
  they've never built a really successful business
• 36:13
  because as much as I'd like to agree with them, I can't.
• 36:17
  So I got rid of my house on a Thursday afternoon,
• 36:20
  I had a meeting with my construction team
• 36:22
  because at the time I owned a construction company,
• 36:24
  I said, all right, let's go upstairs
• 36:26
  and we just had this big upstairs
• 36:27
  that was basically at a pool table, ping pong table.
• 36:30
  And I said, this has to be an apartment in 10 days.
• 36:33
  So they built a bathroom, they built a kitchen,
• 36:36
  and literally I stayed at one end and curtained off the bed.
• 36:39
  There were no walls.
• 36:41
  And then I had all of my managers,
• 36:42
  I had two or three of my managers living up there with me
• 36:45
  because it was literally get downstairs by seven a.m.
• 36:49
  Work from seven to 10 p.m.
• 36:51
  Eat, maybe watch a little TV for a while, go back to that.
• 36:55
  And we did that every single day for 18 months.
• 36:58
  It was that insane.
• 37:00
  Then we built more scale, we built more processes,
• 37:03
  but every time we got it under control,
• 37:06
  five new countries wanted the product.
• 37:08
  So then we had to take on these new countries
• 37:10
  and figure out all the logistics,
• 37:12
  who's the sales rep for that,
• 37:13
  who's going to handle it, what distributor.
• 37:15
  It was crazy.
• 37:16
  And so I totally understand the aspect of Elon Musk
• 37:21
  and what he does for these companies
• 37:23
  because you want to have all hands on deck.
• 37:26
  So then conversely about entrepreneurs quitting too soon,
• 37:29
  which I think is the biggest plague of entrepreneurship.
• 37:33
  They always say, and I always say it as well,
• 37:36
  you're one meeting, you're one email,
• 37:38
  you're one connection away from a totally different life
• 37:41
  and it is absolutely true.
• 37:43
  And I think most people quit too soon
• 37:45
  because they want the immediate return.
• 37:47
  They don't understand delayed gratification.
• 37:50
  So how is that relevant to my life now?
• 37:52
  The rich habits podcast.
• 37:54
  Austin DM me, he was like, I love your message.
• 37:57
  I love what you do.
• 37:59
  This is what I do.
• 38:00
  I'd never heard of Austin before and I didn't follow him.
• 38:04
  And he said, I want to do a podcast with you.
• 38:06
  I think it would be amazing.
• 38:08
  I'm like, great.
• 38:09
  So over the course of a month,
• 38:10
  we negotiate what we're going to do,
• 38:11
  what our message is, how we're going to do it.
• 38:14
  And after one year of episodes,
• 38:16
  my income from that one year, a year and a half of work
• 38:21
  because it took some preliminary time to get figured out,
• 38:24
  I made $583 in one year for the work,
• 38:28
  hundreds of hours of work.
• 38:30
  But now the rich habits podcast
• 38:32
  is one of the top podcasts on Spotify.
• 38:35
  And that is a lesson in tenacity.
• 38:37
  And for me, when I'm hiring people,
• 38:39
  when I want to work with people,
• 38:41
  I want people that don't have quit in their game.
• 38:44
  That's it.
• 38:45
  If you're tenacious and you're willing
• 38:47
  to see your craft through,
• 38:49
  everything takes longer and costs more to make it happen
• 38:53
  and too many people quit too soon.
• 38:55
  That's one of the most important lessons.
• 38:57
  I'm a full believer that if you can commit
• 39:02
  a ridiculously long amount of time to something,
• 39:05
  if you are a semi-smart person,
• 39:07
  you'll find a way to figure it out.
• 39:09
  100% I think that that's really the seat.
• 39:12
  I mean, even my first sort of exposure to that lesson
• 39:16
  was back in Toronto, back in Canada.
• 39:19
  And I saw like friends, dads that had very boring companies.
• 39:23
  One of them, two actually that really stand out,
• 39:25
  one of the guys had a company that installed glass
• 39:29
  for new home development.
• 39:31
  And the second guy had a company that produced paper
• 39:35
  and they'd just been doing it for like 30 years.
• 39:39
  Manchains, mansions, like just insane homes.
• 39:42
  I don't even think that in Miami,
• 39:45
  the lots are not so big,
• 39:48
  even if you spend like a lot of money.
• 39:50
  So we're talking like a home that you'd see
• 39:53
  on Golden Beach in Miami with like acres of land,
• 39:58
  like just enormous, like the type that I'm sure Ohio
• 40:00
  has homes like this, right?
• 40:01
  Definitely, I had one of those homes.
• 40:02
  Yeah, exactly.
• 40:03
  And I was just like, you know,
• 40:04
  what makes somebody successful?
• 40:07
  And the dad was, well, I've just been figuring out
• 40:10
  the paper game for the past 30 years.
• 40:12
  And this is the result of figuring it out.
• 40:14
  It's unsex, you know what else wants to do it?
• 40:16
  And I probably have, I don't know the market share,
• 40:19
  but a significant percentage of paper comes through my company.
• 40:23
  And it's just insane, but he's just been doing it
• 40:24
  for a long enough period of time.
• 40:26
  And I think that if you do anything
• 40:27
  for a long enough period of time,
• 40:29
  you start to see these people become exceptionally successful
• 40:32
  at all these boring, boring businesses.
• 40:35
  But again, it's instant gratification culture
• 40:38
  that we live in with everything,
• 40:39
  with forget about entrepreneurship with Netflix.
• 40:42
  You don't have to drive to blockbuster anyway.
• 40:43
  Right.
• 40:44
  The Amazon, the Uber, the Uber eats the door dash,
• 40:47
  we don't have to wait for anything.
• 40:50
  And I think it hijacks our psychology.
• 40:52
  And it makes it think that everything in life should be instant.
• 40:55
  And that's actually why I think that,
• 40:58
  I think that it's easier to be an entrepreneur now
• 41:00
  than ever before because of access to information.
• 41:04
  But also, because if you can just have
• 41:06
  a little bit of delayed gratification,
• 41:09
  that is such, it's a skill that's disappearing faster
• 41:12
  and faster every single day.
• 41:14
  So if you can apply a little bit of that
• 41:16
  to whatever you're building,
• 41:18
  you have such a competitive advantage.
• 41:20
  Well, we live in an era,
• 41:21
  this is the greatest moment in time
• 41:24
  to become an entrepreneur and a business owner.
• 41:27
  Because let's look at this.
• 41:28
  When I wanted to build the silicone bracelet website, for instance,
• 41:33
  custom silicone bracelets,
• 41:34
  this would have been 2003.
• 41:36
  So not that long ago, theoretically.
• 41:40
  Back then, to build a shopping cart
• 41:42
  for the back end of your website,
• 41:45
  how much do you think that cost?
• 41:47
  Oh, let me tell you,
• 41:49
  I want to get 50,000?
• 41:51
  Not quite that.
• 41:52
  But to build the back end back then was $15,000 to $20,000.
• 41:56
  A lot of money.
• 41:56
  You had a lot of money to take that bet
• 42:00
  that you were right on that product.
• 42:02
  Now today, someone can find an idea
• 42:04
  through the best sellers on Amazon or on TikTok
• 42:08
  and just look at best sellers, what's trending.
• 42:10
  They can open a Shopify store,
• 42:12
  they can get social media set up for free,
• 42:14
  they can have TikTok shop set up for free,
• 42:16
  and they can be up and running
• 42:18
  with an idea and a concept in a business for $100.
• 42:22
  So we live in an era right now
• 42:24
  where no one should have the excuse
• 42:27
  that there's not enough time in the day
• 42:29
  or they don't have enough time
• 42:30
  because they have to work their nine to five job
• 42:32
  or whatever it is, that is absolute bullshit.
• 42:35
  Because all the tools are there,
• 42:37
  all the resources are there for anyone
• 42:39
  to be able to express whatever it is they want to do
• 42:42
  to become successful and financially free,
• 42:44
  whatever that means for each person.
• 42:46
  And so for me, that is why I talk about mindset so much
• 42:50
  because I think so many people still suffer
• 42:52
  from the lack mindset in the victim mindset
• 42:57
  as to why they're not successful.
• 42:58
  They're not successful because they're not trying.
• 43:01
  There is so much out there to make it easier
• 43:03
  for people to succeed,
• 43:05
  they just have to want it bad enough.
• 43:07
  So when I look at your resume,
• 43:10
  silly bands, it was like a cultural phenomenon
• 43:14
  and Rich Habits as well grew very quickly.
• 43:17
  Now, I know that when I look at the resume,
• 43:19
  there's probably a million failures
• 43:21
  that you don't talk about as much.
• 43:23
  But focusing on the wins,
• 43:26
  how do you know when something is gonna be so culturally
• 43:29
  relevant that it's not just gonna be a little bit successful
• 43:32
  but it's gonna have this, like again,
• 43:35
  this hockey stick growth curve over, not overnight,
• 43:39
  but overnight rapid scale after you get to a certain point.
• 43:43
  What's the thing that allowed silly bands
• 43:46
  to take off the way it did?
• 43:48
  What's the thing that allowed Rich Habits?
• 43:49
  Is there like a through line between those two things?
• 43:54
  I think there is a through line
• 43:56
  and that is experience and fortitude to stay with it.
• 44:01
  Because like you said, so many people
• 44:03
  when silly bands became a worldwide phenomenon,
• 44:05
  they were like, oh my God, it happened overnight.
• 44:07
  They didn't see, it was like a cultural.
• 44:10
  Yeah, it took 18 months,
• 44:12
  literally the four cases of original silly bands
• 44:15
  sat on the shelves for 18 months
• 44:18
  where they would sell a couple packs here, a couple packs there.
• 44:21
  And then literally then it started to grow
• 44:23
  a little bit and a little bit and a little bit
• 44:24
  and the same thing happened with the Rich Habits podcast.
• 44:26
  We made episode after episode where we'd get 200 views,
• 44:30
  300 views, 500 views, and I'm like keeping it in perspective
• 44:33
  because a lot of people when they're on TikTok
• 44:35
  and Instagram, they will see a post that they did
• 44:39
  and it'll get 300 views and they'll think it's a failure.
• 44:42
  But if you put 300 people in a room to watch you,
• 44:46
  that is a huge accomplishment.
• 44:48
  I would scare the shit out of most people.
• 44:50
  And so with Rich Habits, we had so many episodes
• 44:55
  which were 200, 300, 400 views
• 44:57
  and for people to keep that in perspective,
• 44:59
  if you put 300 people in a room,
• 45:01
  that would be incredible as a creator
• 45:03
  or someone that has a message.
• 45:05
  And so I think it really just comes down
• 45:07
  to keeping everything in perspective.
• 45:09
  And for me, I just don't have any quit in my game
• 45:13
  and I believe now there's gonna be failures.
• 45:15
  I've had way more failures than I've had successes.
• 45:18
  But from those failures, I think that is what has made me
• 45:23
  as an entrepreneur and as a business owner
• 45:24
  and investor so good at what I do
• 45:27
  because you have the real experience.
• 45:30
  A lot of entrepreneurs now, they fail once,
• 45:32
  they become a coach and then they chase
• 45:35
  the shiny ball syndrome
• 45:36
  but they don't have any real backstory
• 45:38
  to what makes them who they are
• 45:40
  and why people should listen to their message.
• 45:42
  For me, I have an endless backstory
• 45:44
  and that's what makes it easier for me to feel confident
• 45:48
  in sharing my message because it is authentic
• 45:52
  and it is from experience, not from chatGPT.
• 45:57
  So when silly bands was scaling like crazy,
• 45:59
  obviously you had acquisition offers.
• 46:03
  You never entertain them because you're still 100% of it.
• 46:06
  You dealt with knockoffs, I know that there was an issue
• 46:09
  with Walmart at some point that you had to deal with.
• 46:13
  So out of all the crazy stories that you dealt with
• 46:17
  while scaling silly bands, what was the one story
• 46:21
  that you learned, the one experience that you learnt a lot
• 46:24
  from but you wouldn't wish on anyone else?
• 46:27
  I would say the Walmart story.
• 46:30
  So Walmart went through two months of negotiations
• 46:33
  with us to roll out silly bands worldwide for Walmart.
• 46:37
  And people warned me about Walmart and their tactics
• 46:40
  but I went ahead with it anyway, I was proud
• 46:42
  like my company is so big, Walmart wants us,
• 46:45
  Target wants us, everyone wants us.
• 46:47
  So then Walmart went dark on me and I couldn't figure it out.
• 46:50
  So then a couple of weeks go by,
• 46:52
  I don't hear anything from them,
• 46:53
  like this is weird, they toured our factory everything
• 46:56
  and then all of a sudden I see they're carrying another brand.
• 47:00
  I think it was crazy bands or zany bands and knockoff.
• 47:03
  So when things slowed down, we sued them
• 47:07
  for what they did for the infringement.
• 47:09
  And one of the greatest moments of my life
• 47:12
  happened in the mediation with Walmart.
• 47:15
  They brought in five Ivy League lawyers,
• 47:17
  I had my one Ohio lawyer, we went there, we had a strong case.
• 47:21
  And for hours, these lawyers chewed my lawyer up
• 47:26
  like eight of them alive.
• 47:28
  So we take a little break, I go outside, I talk to him,
• 47:31
  we go back in, I go, I'm taking over the meeting.
• 47:34
  So I go back in and sit down
• 47:36
  and I'm looking at the lawyer right across me,
• 47:38
  she's the main lawyer and she's telling her story
• 47:41
  about why there's no infringement
• 47:43
  and they're not going to settle with me and everything.
• 47:44
  And I said, let me ask you a question.
• 47:46
  I looked her dead in the eye.
• 47:48
  So let me ask you a question.
• 47:49
  We're talking about the rainforest pack right now.
• 47:52
  Do you know how many animals are indigenous
• 47:54
  to the rainforest currently?
• 47:56
  She goes, no, Mr. Croke, I have no idea.
• 47:58
  I said over 42,000 species of animals
• 48:02
  are indigenous to the rainforests of America or the world.
• 48:05
  Right now, she's like, wow, that's fascinating.
• 48:08
  And why does that matter?
• 48:09
  I go, why did you choose the same seven shapes we did
• 48:12
  in the silly bands pack for your pack
• 48:14
  if you're not knocking us off?
• 48:17
  Dead silence in the room.
• 48:19
  Dead absolute frickin silence.
• 48:22
  I look over at the judge, the mediator,
• 48:24
  and they were like, holy crap.
• 48:26
  I go, I'll be in the lobby.
• 48:27
  Let me know if you want a settle or not.
• 48:29
  And I walked out.
• 48:31
  They caught me in the lobby and like,
• 48:32
  we'll work this out.
• 48:33
  We'll settle.
• 48:34
  And that was it.
• 48:35
  It changed my life because it made me never accept
• 48:40
  what was presented to me and make sure
• 48:42
  that I always speak up and shoot my shot.
• 48:45
  So afterwards, my lawyer was like, that was incredible.
• 48:48
  How did you know that?
• 48:49
  I go, I didn't, I made it up.
• 48:50
  I have no idea how many animals are indigenous
• 48:52
  to the rainforests.
• 48:53
  I was just so pissed off because I know
• 48:55
  that they're knocking me off
• 48:56
  because they use the same shapes as I did.
• 48:58
  And so it was game changing.
• 49:01
  And for now on every day after that,
• 49:03
  I've just always realized that I'm going to fight
• 49:05
  for what's mine and I'm always going to shoot my shot.
• 49:08
  I think that's the most important thing.
• 49:09
  I love that.
• 49:10
  That's a crazy story.
• 49:11
  It's a crazy story and we did settle.
• 49:13
  Yeah, awesome.
• 49:14
  Yeah, I mean, like listen,
• 49:16
  I guess most entrepreneurs hope to have
• 49:18
  those kinds of problems at some point.
• 49:20
  That means that you're doing something big.
• 49:23
  But that's, I hear a lot about Amazon ripping off products.
• 49:28
  I guess Walmart does it too.
• 49:30
  I mean, I don't think that you can ever prepare
• 49:33
  for that, really prepare for it.
• 49:35
  I think you have to be,
• 49:36
  I think that you have to understand that as you scale more
• 49:40
  and as you grow more,
• 49:43
  you're going to have more problems.
• 49:44
  You're going to have more money, more problems.
• 49:46
  Biggest said it best.
• 49:48
  I have a friend who runs a publicly traded holding company
• 49:53
  and he does acquisitions under this pub co.
• 49:54
  And he's like, Scott, every day,
• 49:57
  I have a problem or a lawsuit or something
• 50:00
  that would just shake an early stage
• 50:02
  new entrepreneur to their core.
• 50:05
  But just understand that this is part of the game.
• 50:08
  Like everything is part of the game.
• 50:09
  Like having to fire people, getting sued,
• 50:12
  dealing with all of it is just part of the game.
• 50:15
  So I think that I don't want to throw,
• 50:16
  I don't want to throw people off.
• 50:18
  I just want them to know that what they're setting themselves up for
• 50:22
  when they're actually thinking about starting a company
• 50:25
  because it's not all,
• 50:26
  it's not all like overnight,
• 50:28
  it's never overnight success
• 50:29
  and it's a lot of stress and anxiety.
• 50:31
  I think you have to know like why you're doing it.
• 50:34
  Like why are you putting yourself through this?
• 50:36
  What's it for?
• 50:37
  And should you?
• 50:38
  And should you?
• 50:39
  And I also don't think that entrepreneurship is for everybody.
• 50:42
  And I also don't think that hyper scaling
• 50:44
  a hundred million dollar company is for everybody.
• 50:46
  I think there's many ways to play this game
• 50:50
  and I think that too many people bringing it back
• 50:52
  to one of the first things we spoke about.
• 50:54
  They are following someone else's version of success
• 50:57
  and they don't understand what their own north starts.
• 51:01
  Yeah, 100%.
• 51:02
  I agree with that.
• 51:04
  That is what creates anxiety and depression and stress
• 51:07
  and like what game are you even playing
• 51:10
  and why are you playing it?
• 51:11
  And I just wish more people sort of understood
• 51:14
  what they want to achieve in life with their business,
• 51:17
  with finances, with investing, all of it.
• 51:20
  Yeah, I think finding your north star
• 51:22
  and understanding what makes you tick is so, so important.
• 51:26
  Austin and I have a big message that personal finance
• 51:29
  is personal because so many people thinks
• 51:31
  what works for somebody else is gonna work for them.
• 51:34
  And there are some tried and true things in life
• 51:36
  that you should follow to make sure that you give yourself
• 51:39
  the best chance for success.
• 51:42
  But what works for someone over here is not gonna work for you
• 51:44
  because life gets in the way, things happen, family happens.
• 51:48
  But I think it's important for everyone to understand.
• 51:51
  Figure out the information and who you wanna follow
• 51:55
  and learn from and be cautious.
• 51:57
  You know, read the books, think and grow rich.
• 52:01
  Richest man in Babylon, the millionaire next door,
• 52:04
  there's some tried and true books out there
• 52:06
  that I think everyone should read.
• 52:07
  Follow the right podcast.
• 52:09
  So you're really learning from people
• 52:11
  that have done it and built it
• 52:12
  and that have a genuine message.
• 52:14
  And I think as long as you're continually learning,
• 52:18
  you'll find your way over time,
• 52:20
  especially if you do what I say all the time
• 52:23
  and that is take notes and take action is so important.
• 52:26
  One thing that I look for in who I like to listen to
• 52:30
  and follow are people that sort of give you agency
• 52:36
  to pursue a variety of different paths.
• 52:37
  They're gonna help you understand what they know
• 52:40
  and what they've experienced in their life,
• 52:42
  but they're not saying like, hey,
• 52:44
  you have to invest in crypto
• 52:46
  or you have to build a business of this size.
• 52:48
  Or that's the people that are almost like absolute
• 52:52
  in their advice, that's a red flag for me.
• 52:54
  I agree with that.
• 52:55
  Not every single person is the exact same
• 52:58
  and I have opinions about business
• 53:00
  and I have an opinion about how much money I wanna make
• 53:02
  and how I wanna live my life.
• 53:04
  But I also know, I know my life right now
• 53:07
  and now the podcast is kind of relaxed
• 53:09
  compared to what I've done in the past
• 53:11
  and I don't think that many people need to live that life
• 53:15
  to be happy.
• 53:16
  I don't think many people need to sleep
• 53:17
  on the floor of their office to be happy,
• 53:19
  but you're gonna have some people tell you
• 53:21
  that's the only way to live and you're a pussy
• 53:22
  if you don't do that and that's the wrong information.
• 53:25
  That's the wrong information
• 53:26
  and that's toxic information
• 53:27
  and I think that that's actually what creates
• 53:29
  a whole bunch of anxiety and depression
• 53:30
  with young ambitious people who can't figure out their life.
• 53:35
  Well, and most people think that they need more money
• 53:39
  than they do.
• 53:40
  A thousand percent.
• 53:40
  We have this message, we have this culture,
• 53:43
  this bro culture of all the guys online right now
• 53:46
  and you know who you are that scream at everybody
• 53:49
  and you're constantly building fear and uncertainty
• 53:52
  because they have this culture
• 53:54
  that you need to be a multi-multimillionaire
• 53:56
  to be successful and that's just bullshit.
• 53:58
  It's the wrong message.
• 54:00
  There are a lot of people that all they wanna do
• 54:02
  is have a nice house with a nice garden,
• 54:05
  a reasonable car so they can spend time
• 54:07
  with their children and go to soccer practice.
• 54:09
  That's an incredible life.
• 54:11
  Everyone is different and you should build the financial life
• 54:14
  and the structure of your life around that.
• 54:17
  I don't have aspirations to be a multi-billionaire.
• 54:21
  I don't have aspirations to own a private jet.
• 54:23
  I don't care.
• 54:24
  I love my life and I love having the downtime
• 54:27
  where I can do whatever I want whenever I want.
• 54:30
  You know, I think one of the greatest wealth attributes
• 54:36
  to a person's life is time freedom.
• 54:39
  I don't have to go eat at a restaurant at 12 noon.
• 54:42
  I don't have to drive and rush our traffic
• 54:44
  because I can schedule my days around what works for me
• 54:49
  to live the best life that I lead.
• 54:51
  People are always asking me like,
• 54:52
  man, you have such an incredible schedule.
• 54:53
  I see you on a beach, I see you here, I see you there.
• 54:55
  I still work my ass off, but I work around
• 54:59
  what is important to me.
• 55:00
  Yeah, and like listen, with success that you've had,
• 55:03
  you could keep pushing
• 55:05
  and you could put 100% of your life into
• 55:09
  I want to find a way to become a billionaire.
• 55:12
  And I'm going to work nonstop and I'm going to bust my ass.
• 55:15
  I mean, I think that I think that again, what's the priority?
• 55:20
  And I think that a lot of people don't think about,
• 55:23
  it sounds callous, but I truly believe
• 55:25
  that most people are so focused on money
• 55:28
  that they don't think, hey, is my wife or my husband
• 55:30
  a priority or my kids a priority is my health,
• 55:33
  a priority until it's way too late.
• 55:36
  I know, because I see it, I see people with, forget,
• 55:39
  forget a $10 million, $20 million exit,
• 55:42
  I see people with $100 million plus exits
• 55:45
  that their entire life outside of their business success
• 55:49
  has gone down the shitter.
• 55:50
  Yep, because they have not focused on anything
• 55:52
  for the past like 20 years of their life, except
• 55:54
  how do I make more money?
• 55:55
  Right.
• 55:56
  And then they wake up, because they have a big exit
• 55:57
  and they're like, shit, everything else is gone.
• 56:00
  Yep, so they have all this money in the bank account,
• 56:02
  but they don't have anything else.
• 56:03
  And I suffered from that a little bit.
• 56:05
  During the silly bands era, I didn't work out every day,
• 56:08
  I stopped doing triathlon, I wasn't running.
• 56:11
  You were athletic, that's right.
• 56:12
  I wasn't playing basketball, I wasn't doing any of that
• 56:14
  because I was working around the clock,
• 56:16
  but now I never put myself in that situation anymore.
• 56:19
  I always make sure that I leave time for health
• 56:22
  and wellness because it's so important
• 56:25
  to have that balance for me now.
• 56:27
  And I think everyone should understand that,
• 56:30
  is figure out the life that you wanna lead now
• 56:34
  and for retirement and then reverse engineer
• 56:36
  how to have it.
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  A big thank you to indeed for supporting success story
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  in terms of it should do apply.
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  Just go to indeed.com slash clary.
• 58:03
  A huge thank you to Netsuite for supporting today's episode.
• 58:05
  Now, what does the future hold for business?
• 58:08
  If you ask nine experts,
• 58:10
  you're gonna get 10 answers,
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  bull market, bear market, inflation up and flation down.
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• 59:15
  I just wanna take a quick second
• 59:16
  to thank HubSpot for supporting today's episode.
• 59:18
  Now, success story is one of the many podcasts
• 59:21
  in the HubSpot podcast network,
• 59:23
  which is the audio destination for business professionals.
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  If you like success story,
• 59:27
  you're also gonna like billion dollar moves,
• 59:29
  another incredible podcast hosted by Sarah Chen Spelling.
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  And a quick pause.
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  If you haven't had a chance yet,
• 1:00:00
  I'd love your input on our listener survey
• 1:00:02
  at ScottDeclary.com slash survey.
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• 1:00:15
  I really appreciate it.
• 1:00:16
  I love that.
• 1:00:18
  One last thought or question with silly bands
• 1:00:21
  because obviously it's you've massive scale.
• 1:00:25
  How do you decide as an entrepreneur
• 1:00:27
  when you wanna hold on to something versus when you want
• 1:00:30
  to sell it?
• 1:00:31
  Because I know that when you have that kind of scale,
• 1:00:33
  you're getting offers from private equity
• 1:00:34
  or strategic buyers.
• 1:00:36
  So what's the words of wisdom based on your experiences
• 1:00:39
  to what you should do?
• 1:00:40
  Should you start with the exit in mind?
• 1:00:43
  Should you hold on to the business long term?
• 1:00:45
  Should you sell it at the right time?
• 1:00:47
  This is a very personal answer
• 1:00:49
  because everybody has different opinions about this.
• 1:00:51
  How do you think through these ideas?
• 1:00:53
  I don't think anyone should buy
• 1:00:55
  or acquire a business solely with the exit in mind.
• 1:00:59
  But I do believe once you scale a business
• 1:01:02
  and it's life changing money for your family
• 1:01:04
  and your future, you should always take the burden hand.
• 1:01:08
  So let's talk silly bands.
• 1:01:10
  When it was at the height
• 1:01:11
  and I was getting all these offers that you talk about,
• 1:01:15
  they were pretty substantial, $35, $50, $60 million.
• 1:01:18
  And I said no to all of them
• 1:01:19
  because I felt I could take it from 100 million
• 1:01:22
  to 200 million, to who knows what?
• 1:01:24
  When you were making, when you,
• 1:01:26
  60, 30, 50, 60 million, was it like a 1x revenue
• 1:01:30
  that you were getting offers at
• 1:01:31
  or was it like multiple?
• 1:01:32
  It was like a two or a three out.
• 1:01:33
  Oh, that's not bad.
• 1:01:34
  Okay, so I thought you were like a 65 million revenue,
• 1:01:37
  65 million dollar op.
• 1:01:38
  Okay, so you were getting multiple?
• 1:01:39
  No, it was like a two, three, x, multiple, it's not bad.
• 1:01:41
  So for me, now it's different.
• 1:01:43
  I think if you're starting out
• 1:01:44
  and you build something meaningful,
• 1:01:46
  you should stay the course long enough
• 1:01:49
  that where the exit is life changing money
• 1:01:51
  and burden hand.
• 1:01:53
  One thing that I learned was silly bands
• 1:01:55
  and thereafter is that I invested too freely
• 1:01:59
  after silly bands into too many startups
• 1:02:01
  and I went backwards financially for a little while
• 1:02:04
  and that was something that I learned
• 1:02:06
  and would never do again.
• 1:02:08
  So I think it's important for people to understand.
• 1:02:10
  If you build a cool company and you can sell it
• 1:02:13
  for a real dollar amount and move on
• 1:02:15
  and really figure out the next phase of your life,
• 1:02:17
  whether it's retirement, getting in shape
• 1:02:19
  or whatever it may be, you should do it
• 1:02:22
  because you're not always going to be able
• 1:02:24
  to sustain growth no matter what your business model is
• 1:02:27
  and what type of business.
• 1:02:28
  So if you can sell it for a meaningful dollar amount,
• 1:02:31
  I would sell it.
• 1:02:32
  The peak was 200 million, right?
• 1:02:34
  Was that over a period of time?
• 1:02:36
  Over a period of time.
• 1:02:37
  That was over a period of time.
• 1:02:38
  So you rejected, are you upset?
• 1:02:41
  Are you rejected offers?
• 1:02:42
  I'm not upset that I rejected some of these offers
• 1:02:45
  because it got me here.
• 1:02:47
  I wouldn't be in this seat if I sold silly bands
• 1:02:52
  for 65 million or 55 million or $100 million
• 1:02:55
  because I wouldn't have went on
• 1:02:57
  to continue to build more and more companies.
• 1:02:59
  I probably would have bought a beach house,
• 1:03:01
  bought a couple more cars and then just retired
• 1:03:04
  and it did angel investing and never built anything.
• 1:03:07
  So for me, I really enjoy the building process.
• 1:03:10
  I like taking the idea from napkin to being online,
• 1:03:15
  to being in retail stores and to seeing that success,
• 1:03:18
  especially when I can bring others along the way.
• 1:03:21
  Like recently, we just launched
• 1:03:23
  a puzzle company, Paragon Puzzles.
• 1:03:25
  And I did that with Elizabeth
• 1:03:27
  and she really wanted to do something
• 1:03:29
  in the puzzle space, she's a big puzzler.
• 1:03:31
  So I did that and I love seeing that process
• 1:03:35
  from her brain to my brain, from napkin to in stores
• 1:03:39
  and now it's starting to grow and get popular
• 1:03:41
  and that is the coolest thing that I get to do
• 1:03:43
  every single day, other than educating people.
• 1:03:45
  I love that.
• 1:03:47
  I absolutely love that.
• 1:03:48
  I mean, you have such a good mindset
• 1:03:52
  around like sort of your life story
• 1:03:55
  and I think it's important
• 1:03:55
  because a lot of people, they don't realize
• 1:03:58
  that everything happens for a reason
• 1:03:59
  and even not selling happens for a reason.
• 1:04:01
  And ultimately, not selling could be more,
• 1:04:07
  help you be more financially successful
• 1:04:09
  in the long term because now you made some investments
• 1:04:12
  and we can talk about why a good business operator
• 1:04:15
  doesn't always mean they're a good investor.
• 1:04:16
  That's also a thing that I,
• 1:04:17
  that could be a whole episode for sure.
• 1:04:20
  But that forced you to figure out,
• 1:04:23
  okay, what's next in life?
• 1:04:25
  And you've done that like very, very well.
• 1:04:27
  Like I don't think that if you had a $65 million exit,
• 1:04:31
  would you be on TikTok?
• 1:04:33
  I have no idea.
• 1:04:33
  Probably not.
• 1:04:34
  Probably not.
• 1:04:35
  You never saw Tom from MySpace again.
• 1:04:37
  He's gone.
• 1:04:38
  He's gone.
• 1:04:39
  He's literally filming birds in the Yucatan somewhere
• 1:04:43
  and nobody's ever seen him again
• 1:04:45
  because he has all this money.
• 1:04:46
  So yeah, I think me not exiting silly bands,
• 1:04:50
  me going through all the trial and error
• 1:04:53
  and failure since silly bands
• 1:04:55
  has made me what I am today
• 1:04:57
  and I think it has helped me craft being such a good educator
• 1:05:01
  because I've done it all
• 1:05:03
  and I'm able to then extract all the good points
• 1:05:05
  and bad points from all of that experience
• 1:05:08
  to be able to help others
• 1:05:09
  because I have people right now
• 1:05:11
  that have $10,000 to their name
• 1:05:12
  and I have people that have 10 million, 20 million
• 1:05:14
  to their name, but everyone needs help along the way.
• 1:05:18
  Yeah, and using that,
• 1:05:20
  that, you know, that point is a segue
• 1:05:23
  just because you're good at building a business
• 1:05:25
  doesn't mean you're good at investing.
• 1:05:27
  So all your, most of your content right now
• 1:05:29
  is around investing and finance.
• 1:05:32
  So what happened when you made some money?
• 1:05:34
  And this happens to, it happened to me,
• 1:05:36
  happened to a lot of my friends as well.
• 1:05:38
  They start, they make a little bit of money
• 1:05:40
  and you start to go into angel investing
• 1:05:42
  and you have no idea what you're doing
• 1:05:43
  and then you lose most of it.
• 1:05:45
  And what has actually happened in my case
• 1:05:48
  and a lot of my friends as well,
• 1:05:50
  we just stay away from angel investing
• 1:05:52
  and now we're just going to real estate
• 1:05:54
  and stocks and maybe a little bit of stock picking
• 1:05:58
  because I'm not good at betting on the jockey
• 1:06:02
  and figuring out like pre-revenue
• 1:06:04
  if a company is going to hit.
• 1:06:05
  And I think that when you have a little bit of money,
• 1:06:07
  it's exciting to try all these new ways to invest,
• 1:06:10
  but I have one friend who is actually an angel investor,
• 1:06:16
  probably does 50, 60 angel investments a year.
• 1:06:19
  Outside of that, I know people that are worth
• 1:06:21
  hundreds and millions of dollars that suck at it
• 1:06:23
  and they've stayed pretty much away from it.
• 1:06:26
  And I won't name names of one guy in particular
• 1:06:29
  who's worth several hundred million dollars
• 1:06:32
  and he will not write a check more than $50,000
• 1:06:35
  because every time he does, he loses his money.
• 1:06:37
  So he's just like, what's the point?
• 1:06:38
  And then he just started going to section eight real estate
• 1:06:41
  because it was just like, it was an easier,
• 1:06:43
  it was an easier investment opportunity
• 1:06:46
  that didn't blow up every single time I tried to do it.
• 1:06:49
  Well, that's one of the biggest parts of my message
• 1:06:51
  when it comes to investing in general,
• 1:06:55
  build your base, then start diversifying
• 1:06:59
  because a lot of people want to start out,
• 1:07:00
  they get their first $20,000, they want to go buy a house.
• 1:07:03
  They want to go buy a duplex and flip it.
• 1:07:05
  You have no idea how to do it.
• 1:07:06
  If you don't have a partner that knows how to do it,
• 1:07:08
  don't do it because it is not the right strategy.
• 1:07:11
  For me, I think people generally should build their base,
• 1:07:14
  whether their base is $100,000, $200,000, $500,000.
• 1:07:17
  So that way they have compound interest doing its job
• 1:07:20
  in building wealth while you sleep.
• 1:07:23
  After that, then start diversifying,
• 1:07:24
  maybe get into real estate, try house hacking,
• 1:07:27
  get a couple duplexes, build that up,
• 1:07:29
  start building a portfolio there.
• 1:07:31
  But when you get to the phase of wanting to angel invest,
• 1:07:35
  whether it's through big platforms and startups
• 1:07:37
  or Uncle Bill's restaurant,
• 1:07:39
  you have to understand that in many instances
• 1:07:42
  like your very wealthy friend,
• 1:07:44
  money has a way of making people think they're smart.
• 1:07:48
  And it's really funny to me
• 1:07:49
  because we talk about people that are very wealthy
• 1:07:53
  with their boring businesses.
• 1:07:54
  And I think it is one of the greatest ways
• 1:07:56
  to build wealth is through boring businesses.
• 1:07:59
  And right now, there's so many businesses
• 1:08:02
  and these boomer owners that don't have exit strategies.
• 1:08:07
  So for them, they're willing to just lock the doors
• 1:08:09
  and walk away, they've got their millions of dollars,
• 1:08:11
  they've got their house paid off.
• 1:08:12
  And that is the biggest opportunity,
• 1:08:16
  I think, in entrepreneurship right now,
• 1:08:19
  is buying these established businesses.
• 1:08:22
  You can get owner financing.
• 1:08:23
  There's a lot of different ways,
• 1:08:25
  creatively, to take over these businesses,
• 1:08:27
  add in modern technology,
• 1:08:29
  modern sales strategies and really make a lot of money.
• 1:08:31
  But I think the main thing with venture investing
• 1:08:34
  and I do it now too, keep your check sizes small.
• 1:08:38
  Like you said, 50,000.
• 1:08:39
  My check size is used to range between 250,000 and 500,000.
• 1:08:44
  Now I'm 25 to 50,000 on my checks.
• 1:08:46
  I'm actually gonna leave here and go do a wire
• 1:08:49
  for a very important company in the human robotic space.
• 1:08:53
  And but I think that is the key.
• 1:08:54
  Take more shots in your investing like that
• 1:08:57
  because you're gonna have,
• 1:08:59
  I have this thesis that if you're gonna invest
• 1:09:01
  in 10 venture deals, five or six of them
• 1:09:04
  are gonna go to zero.
• 1:09:05
  Two of them are gonna do okay.
• 1:09:07
  You just need one that gets you that 50 or 100 or more X
• 1:09:11
  and that's where all the money and wealth is built.
• 1:09:13
  But don't start out doing that kind of investing.
• 1:09:16
  I think too many people start too early
• 1:09:18
  in that type of investing.
• 1:09:20
  And a lot of them are gonna go to zero
• 1:09:22
  because like you said, they don't know how to bet
• 1:09:23
  on the jockey, they don't know what's gonna scale.
• 1:09:25
  And a lot of these high-flying companies take years
• 1:09:28
  and years to become liquid and become profitable.
• 1:09:32
  And a lot of people don't understand that
• 1:09:35
  when they're investing in these types of deals.
• 1:09:37
  We introduce these deals in the rich habits network
• 1:09:40
  in our private community all the time.
• 1:09:41
  And I always reiterate to people,
• 1:09:44
  do not invest this money if you expect it
• 1:09:46
  to be liquid anytime soon.
• 1:09:48
  Because some people think they can invest in a startup
• 1:09:51
  or invest in an apartment building
• 1:09:52
  and they're gonna be able to get their money back
• 1:09:54
  or see a return any year.
• 1:09:55
  It doesn't work that way.
• 1:09:56
  So I just always make sure that I share
• 1:09:59
  the good side of everything we do,
• 1:10:01
  but also the downsides,
• 1:10:02
  but also just give people a proper understanding
• 1:10:05
  because everyone wants to build financial freedom,
• 1:10:09
  but they don't know how to do it.
• 1:10:10
  And you're gonna make mistakes along the way.
• 1:10:12
  So I think it's important to not go too fast
• 1:10:15
  in things you don't know.
• 1:10:16
  Is it figure AI?
• 1:10:18
  Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:10:19
  So one of my friends, I can name him
• 1:10:22
  because I'm sure he's very proud of it.
• 1:10:23
  So Shane Neiman, do you know him?
• 1:10:26
  Okay, so he put in money at like a $300 million valuation.
• 1:10:29
  He's been on the figure AI and for a long time.
• 1:10:33
  Yeah, and now the valuation, well, I can't say anything.
• 1:10:35
  No, no, no, with the Brett Adcock's a very impressive guy.
• 1:10:39
  Very, very impressive guy.
• 1:10:41
  Yeah, he's great, but I mean, he has a track record.
• 1:10:44
  So this is his third, I think if I'm not mistaken.
• 1:10:46
  Second or third?
• 1:10:47
  Second or third, one of the companies he took public,
• 1:10:49
  which is like a, anyway, it's a point.
• 1:10:50
  The aviation company, archery aviation.
• 1:10:52
  Very, very impressive guy.
• 1:10:53
  Now, that company's blowing up,
• 1:10:57
  but I don't think, I don't think many people have that luck
• 1:11:00
  when they're putting their check it.
• 1:11:01
  And the bigger issue is not, in my opinion at least,
• 1:11:04
  the bigger issue is not the person that has the ability
• 1:11:08
  to write $250 or $500,000 checks.
• 1:11:11
  It's the person who is pulling in a $200 to $300,000
• 1:11:14
  per year salary, and they, and they're, you know,
• 1:11:18
  they're, maybe they're in tech, maybe they're,
• 1:11:20
  but they're like, oh, angel investing is sexy.
• 1:11:23
  Let me start writing $25,000, but that,
• 1:11:25
  then it's a significant amount of their money
• 1:11:27
  that they're putting in.
• 1:11:28
  And they're putting in money into this pre-revenue
• 1:11:31
  on, you know, pre-revenue, early stage startup.
• 1:11:34
  Nothing's proven out.
• 1:11:35
  First time founder, because they don't,
• 1:11:37
  they've never done it before, as opposed to putting money
• 1:11:41
  into something a little bit more secure.
• 1:11:43
  And I think that that's the biggest issue
• 1:11:45
  that I have with angel investing,
• 1:11:46
  because just because you're pulling in a good salary,
• 1:11:48
  even if you had a, say, you had a $10 million exit
• 1:11:51
  in, you know, a state with high taxes.
• 1:11:56
  Well, you have like what, $5 million after that?
• 1:11:57
  Right.
• 1:11:58
  $10 million on paper?
• 1:12:00
  Great, great exit, amazing, amazing exit.
• 1:12:03
  But you can, you can burn through that money very quickly
• 1:12:06
  if you think that you're a good investor,
• 1:12:07
  just because you were a good upbuilding a business.
• 1:12:10
  Well, a lot of people in most entrepreneurs,
• 1:12:12
  especially male entrepreneurs, they all think
• 1:12:16
  that they're a lot better at it than they are.
• 1:12:18
  And it takes many, many years to learn it.
• 1:12:21
  I mean, even you admit that you made some mistakes
• 1:12:24
  in angel investing.
• 1:12:25
  I've had a lot of zeros in angel investing.
• 1:12:27
  But now I've learned, rather than getting in, you know,
• 1:12:32
  day one, where it's the idea and the concept
• 1:12:34
  and I'm one of the first five investors,
• 1:12:36
  I'm much more happy getting in at $100, $200, $300 million
• 1:12:40
  on a company that's having a meteoric rise
• 1:12:44
  because then I am not betting on a concept.
• 1:12:47
  I'm betting on a product that has already tried
• 1:12:49
  and true and usually built out.
• 1:12:51
  And so I think that's an important aspect
• 1:12:53
  of understanding where you're getting into the company
• 1:12:56
  as a process and understanding where that company can go
• 1:12:59
  from a market cap in the future.
• 1:13:01
  And that's why I'm betting big right now
• 1:13:04
  on humanoid robotics, nuclear,
• 1:13:07
  and still kind of the second phase of AI,
• 1:13:10
  which to me I believe is the software side of AI
• 1:13:13
  and the application side of AI.
• 1:13:15
  And that's where most of my money is going to go
• 1:13:17
  in the next three to five years.
• 1:13:18
  For somebody who does have, you know,
• 1:13:21
  some sort of windfall, some decent financial success
• 1:13:24
  and they're just trying to figure out where to start,
• 1:13:27
  this is you after learning how to invest properly.
• 1:13:31
  What's the best advice that you give somebody
• 1:13:33
  to start investing?
• 1:13:34
  Is it real estate?
• 1:13:35
  Is it a certain asset class?
• 1:13:37
  Is it just tea bills?
• 1:13:38
  Where do you go?
• 1:13:39
  I think the most important strategy for someone
• 1:13:42
  that's just getting started, build the base.
• 1:13:45
  So every person out there listening that's over 18 years old
• 1:13:48
  that does not have a Roth IRA, go do it
• 1:13:51
  as soon as you're done watching this episode.
• 1:13:53
  Get the Roth IRA, get it maxed out,
• 1:13:55
  get a basket of index funds,
• 1:13:57
  and build the base of $100 to $200,000.
• 1:14:00
  Once that is built,
• 1:14:02
  then I would say the next iteration
• 1:14:04
  would be then either start venturing into single stocks
• 1:14:08
  where you're learning some of the stocks in the companies.
• 1:14:10
  But by what you know,
• 1:14:12
  I think one of the best strategies ever,
• 1:14:15
  and this came from Peter Lynch back in the 80s,
• 1:14:17
  a very prolific investor, by what you know.
• 1:14:20
  And I always offer a challenge to people
• 1:14:22
  that really strikes a chord,
• 1:14:24
  and I think it makes sense,
• 1:14:25
  is if you're gonna go out and buy a $200 pair of Nike's,
• 1:14:28
  put $200 in the stock at the same time,
• 1:14:31
  and if you can't do both, don't buy the Nike's.
• 1:14:34
  But if you love Starbucks, check out the stock, buy the stock.
• 1:14:37
  So buy what you know,
• 1:14:38
  because then you can be proud of it,
• 1:14:40
  and you're already supporting the company,
• 1:14:42
  and it'll help you become a better investor.
• 1:14:45
  And then I would say thirdly,
• 1:14:46
  or in line with that second stage,
• 1:14:49
  would be looking at real estate.
• 1:14:51
  But I think everyone,
• 1:14:53
  I don't think anyone should buy their first piece
• 1:14:55
  of property as a primary home.
• 1:14:57
  I think everyone should do what I did,
• 1:14:58
  and what is taught today,
• 1:15:00
  and that is house hack their first property.
• 1:15:03
  Buy a duplex, buy a triplex, buy a quadplex.
• 1:15:05
  There's a lot of great loan programs out there
• 1:15:08
  that you can go out Fannie Mae
• 1:15:09
  as a 5% down mortgage program right now
• 1:15:12
  for up to four doors and $1.3 million.
• 1:15:15
  A great way to get your feet wet in the real estate industry.
• 1:15:20
  I would say that would be next.
• 1:15:21
  And then if you're younger,
• 1:15:23
  and you wanna explore into cryptocurrency,
• 1:15:26
  I think if you buy the tried and true projects
• 1:15:29
  in cryptocurrency with 5% of your net investable capital,
• 1:15:32
  I think that's a great way to add diversification,
• 1:15:34
  and then keep going from there.
• 1:15:36
  When you think about asset allocation
• 1:15:38
  at different stages of life,
• 1:15:41
  what's the general, and by the way,
• 1:15:43
  just the disclaimer is none of this is investment advice,
• 1:15:45
  but what's the general sort of recommendation
• 1:15:47
  how you think through asset allocation
• 1:15:49
  when you're 18, 19 versus 30, 40 versus 60, 70?
• 1:15:54
  That's a great question.
• 1:15:55
  And I think too many people play it too safe for too long.
• 1:16:00
  You know, when you're younger,
• 1:16:02
  you should take more risks.
• 1:16:04
  You can be more risk on with your asset allocation.
• 1:16:08
  But I think the main objective for me is just getting people
• 1:16:11
  to think like investors and not think like consumers.
• 1:16:14
  That is the number one message that I have.
• 1:16:17
  Yeah, is to get people,
• 1:16:19
  so many people never start investing
• 1:16:21
  because they don't know where to start.
• 1:16:23
  And they think like a consumer.
• 1:16:25
  And this isn't just poor people
• 1:16:28
  or people that are just getting by.
• 1:16:29
  This is the general public a lot of times,
• 1:16:33
  they just don't think like an investor.
• 1:16:34
  So when they get their paycheck
• 1:16:36
  and they have that 600, that 800,
• 1:16:38
  that $2,000 sitting in their checking account,
• 1:16:41
  to me, parked money is dead money
• 1:16:43
  because you're going backwards.
• 1:16:44
  So I never leave money just sitting.
• 1:16:47
  And I think the number one message
• 1:16:49
  that I hope I get to millions and millions of people
• 1:16:52
  is to stop thinking like a consumer
• 1:16:54
  because let's face it.
• 1:16:55
  The average American and people
• 1:16:58
  are living paycheck to paycheck
• 1:16:59
  more and more right now when they shouldn't be.
• 1:17:01
  The average American, when they wake up on a Saturday morning
• 1:17:04
  or a Sunday morning,
• 1:17:06
  they're not thinking of the opportunity
• 1:17:09
  to make their life better, make their investments better.
• 1:17:12
  And how do I build financial freedom?
• 1:17:14
  They're thinking about what farmers market
• 1:17:16
  are we going to go to, what mall are we going to go to
• 1:17:19
  because that $800, that $1200 is burning a hole
• 1:17:21
  in their pocket because it's just sitting there.
• 1:17:24
  So I think the number one key is for people
• 1:17:26
  to think more like an investor and less like a consumer.
• 1:17:30
  My issue with sort of traditional consumer,
• 1:17:36
  consumers, someone acting like a consumer
• 1:17:39
  as opposed to an investor is they default
• 1:17:42
  to trusting someone else managing their money.
• 1:17:45
  And I think that that is,
• 1:17:46
  I think that lack of self-education
• 1:17:48
  it hurts more people than it helps, obviously.
• 1:17:51
  And I see even with my own parents,
• 1:17:53
  with my mom in particular,
• 1:17:55
  she was going to like a financial advisor from a bank.
• 1:17:58
  And I wish that she would do a little bit of her own research
• 1:18:01
  and do a little bit of, you know,
• 1:18:03
  do a little bit of due diligence
• 1:18:04
  and understand like which stocks that you can pick
• 1:18:07
  and is there a real estate purchase that you can buy?
• 1:18:09
  And I feel like people just want to outsource their thinking.
• 1:18:13
  And I don't know, I just think that,
• 1:18:16
  I think that with a little bit of knowledge,
• 1:18:19
  you can set yourself up financially quite comfortably
• 1:18:22
  as opposed to paying somebody from a bank,
• 1:18:25
  a percentage of your total net worth
• 1:18:27
  to give you what like three, four percent per year.
• 1:18:29
  Like to me, it doesn't make any sense
• 1:18:30
  but this is what a lot of people default to.
• 1:18:32
  Even very wealthy, successful, smart people default to this.
• 1:18:35
  Yeah, let me break it down
• 1:18:36
  because I think it's important for your audience
• 1:18:37
  to really dig in deep on this particular topic.
• 1:18:42
  And that is, you know,
• 1:18:43
  one of the things I talk about a lot
• 1:18:44
  is make your money work as hard for you as you work to get it.
• 1:18:48
  And most people don't do that.
• 1:18:50
  They're good at making the money and getting it in their bank
• 1:18:52
  but they're not good at growing it
• 1:18:54
  and it's two different things.
• 1:18:55
  And when it comes to financial advisors,
• 1:18:58
  I think the right financial advisor,
• 1:19:00
  if you have a fiduciary and someone,
• 1:19:03
  so my family has croak capital, you know that.
• 1:19:05
  And I think they do an incredible job.
• 1:19:08
  They're really, really good
• 1:19:09
  because they are not just helping you multiply your money
• 1:19:13
  but they're helping you strategize,
• 1:19:15
  making sure you have the best tax strategies.
• 1:19:17
  You have the right implementation of LLCs
• 1:19:21
  and holding companies and revocable trusts.
• 1:19:24
  And this is where a lot of people really, really lack.
• 1:19:27
  And the worst part is, you know,
• 1:19:29
  you have these financial advisors on every single corner,
• 1:19:32
  the Edward Jones of the world
• 1:19:33
  and the Morgan stands as the world.
• 1:19:34
  And people will go in to a stranger
• 1:19:38
  or someone that they heard about from Betty Sue
• 1:19:41
  or Billy Bob or whoever
• 1:19:42
  and give them their life savings
• 1:19:44
  without even doing the due diligence to understand
• 1:19:47
  what is the fee structure?
• 1:19:48
  What is their performance been over the last five to 10 years
• 1:19:51
  with the portfolios they're putting forth for their money?
• 1:19:55
  And they just don't do this.
• 1:19:57
  And I think it is one of the biggest thieves of wealth
• 1:20:01
  in modern society in the United States
• 1:20:03
  because you're right, I deal with people
• 1:20:05
  every single day in my consulting,
• 1:20:06
  the one-on-one calls I do with people,
• 1:20:08
  is they go to an agent
• 1:20:11
  and they don't know what are the fee structure.
• 1:20:14
  And but then the flip side,
• 1:20:15
  and that's a big problem,
• 1:20:16
  but the flip side is then you have people out there
• 1:20:19
  that say you should never use a financial advisor,
• 1:20:21
  you should self-manage.
• 1:20:23
  And I think that's horrible advice as well.
• 1:20:25
  Remete does that a lot.
• 1:20:26
  And I think Remete has a good message
• 1:20:28
  but one of the worst parts of his message
• 1:20:31
  is telling people you should never pay a financial advisor
• 1:20:33
  1% of your assets under management.
• 1:20:35
  And I think that's a mistake
• 1:20:37
  because I guarantee you, if you have the right advisors
• 1:20:41
  that are helping you with all of your strategies
• 1:20:43
  in building wealth and keeping it,
• 1:20:46
  that 1%, it's normally gonna be less than 1%,
• 1:20:48
  but that 1% is worth every penny of it
• 1:20:52
  because they're gonna guide you with more than just
• 1:20:54
  how to pick a mutual fund or an ETF.
• 1:20:57
  But the other part of the world
• 1:20:59
  where a 401K is a retirement strategy
• 1:21:03
  and getting any old financial advisor
• 1:21:05
  and turning your money over to them
• 1:21:07
  that is a problem is exactly what you alluded to.
• 1:21:10
  A lot of these financial advisors
• 1:21:12
  will immediately put people into target date funds,
• 1:21:15
  mutual funds with high fees and low performance
• 1:21:18
  because their job, they wanna keep their job,
• 1:21:21
  they wanna stay at the country club,
• 1:21:23
  they wanna work on their whiskey collection.
• 1:21:25
  So they are not as concerned with building your wealth,
• 1:21:28
  they're concerned with preserving it.
• 1:21:31
  And so there's a big difference
• 1:21:32
  between growing wealth and preserving it.
• 1:21:35
  So that is why you see so many of these financial advisors
• 1:21:38
  where in a market where we're making 25%, 30%,
• 1:21:42
  they're making six because they don't take any risk at all.
• 1:21:46
  They wanna stay very risk off in bonds,
• 1:21:49
  target date funds, mutual funds
• 1:21:50
  because they wanna make sure they don't lose the person's money.
• 1:21:54
  And that is also detrimental
• 1:21:56
  to someone's future financial health as well.
• 1:21:58
  You I'll tell you a horrible story
• 1:22:00
  and this is what happened to my mom and it killed me.
• 1:22:03
  So we talk about just people not trying to preserve
• 1:22:07
  wealth, not grow wealth.
• 1:22:09
  You have to be so careful who you pick
• 1:22:11
  and to your point you have to do the same amount
• 1:22:13
  of due diligence and vetting and effort
• 1:22:14
  and work towards how you're gonna invest your money
• 1:22:16
  or who's gonna invest your money as you did making it.
• 1:22:20
  The first guy, my mom's retired now
• 1:22:22
  but she was stressed about this for a while
• 1:22:24
  and the first guy that she worked with,
• 1:22:25
  he was working for a bank in Canada
• 1:22:28
  and he kept making a plan but he wasn't investing.
• 1:22:31
  He wasn't investing, he was sitting on it.
• 1:22:33
  It was like two years of sitting on the money.
• 1:22:35
  Turns out he was sitting on the money for two years
• 1:22:37
  because he wanted to quit the bank and go start his own firm
• 1:22:39
  but he knew that if the money was invested in the bank
• 1:22:40
  then he wouldn't be able to take her as a client with him.
• 1:22:44
  So he leaves after two years of her saying,
• 1:22:47
  why haven't you like done the shit that we've spoken about?
• 1:22:50
  Right.
• 1:22:51
  And then he's like, oh, actually, I quit.
• 1:22:53
  I started my own firm, do you wanna come with me?
• 1:22:55
  And she's like, no, fuck you, no, definitely not.
• 1:22:58
  So two years, there's a dollar value attached to that.
• 1:23:02
  It happens all the time.
• 1:23:04
  And so in the crazy part for me,
• 1:23:06
  people, the crazy part for me and what I do every day
• 1:23:10
  in this process is people will spend more time researching
• 1:23:15
  what use car they wanna buy
• 1:23:18
  than they will selecting a financial advisor.
• 1:23:21
  Isn't that crazy?
• 1:23:22
  If you're going to have a surgery
• 1:23:26
  you're gonna get two, three, four opinions
• 1:23:28
  from different doctors, different centers
• 1:23:30
  to make sure you're gonna do endless research online
• 1:23:34
  of what process is best for you to fix
• 1:23:37
  whatever the health issue is.
• 1:23:38
  But you'll literally hear from a friend of yours
• 1:23:41
  that you don't know much about their financial situation
• 1:23:43
  of who they use financially
• 1:23:45
  and you'll just go hand them the keys to the castle.
• 1:23:47
  I think it is a very, very huge problem in the United States
• 1:23:53
  and more people should take the time
• 1:23:55
  because you have to look at it this way.
• 1:23:57
  If you don't use help,
• 1:23:59
  that is why so many people join the Rich Habits Network
• 1:24:02
  because they're getting the education firsthand
• 1:24:05
  in a way that's digestible so they can understand it.
• 1:24:08
  But if you don't learn some of it
• 1:24:11
  and you just hand it all over to a stranger,
• 1:24:13
  that's a huge mistake.
• 1:24:14
  But I think it's also a mistake as you're building well
• 1:24:16
  to try and do it all on your own
• 1:24:18
  because if your goal and your focus
• 1:24:21
  is to retire successfully and with dignity,
• 1:24:26
  you're gonna need help along the way.
• 1:24:28
  Otherwise you're gonna have to be the financial expert,
• 1:24:30
  the tax expert, the real estate expert
• 1:24:32
  and everything else and that's gonna distract you
• 1:24:35
  from actually making the money to be able to invest.
• 1:24:38
  And so that's where it gets tricky
• 1:24:39
  is I want people to have a base knowledge to know what to do
• 1:24:43
  but ask the hard questions and more people need to do that.
• 1:24:47
  How do you set your kids up for success, financial success?
• 1:24:51
  Start very early.
• 1:24:52
  If you own a company, get them on payroll when you can,
• 1:24:56
  whether it's sweeping, being in your pictures
• 1:24:59
  for your social media.
• 1:25:01
  So then that way you can set up a 529 plan
• 1:25:04
  or a custodial Roth IRA and start paying them
• 1:25:07
  as long as they have earned income
• 1:25:09
  and really just set them up for life.
• 1:25:11
  I grew up in a situation and most people do
• 1:25:14
  where the parents don't really do anything for you
• 1:25:16
  before you're 18 years old.
• 1:25:18
  And again, it comes down to compound interest.
• 1:25:20
  If you get your kids started,
• 1:25:22
  let's say you own a company and you have an office
• 1:25:25
  every Saturday or whatever day it is,
• 1:25:26
  they come in and sweep or open mail
• 1:25:28
  or take pictures in your social media, whatever they do.
• 1:25:31
  And you put them on payroll and do it all legitimately,
• 1:25:35
  think about what that does when they turn 18
• 1:25:38
  and you've got XYZ dollars put away.
• 1:25:41
  And another hack you can do for kids to really set them up
• 1:25:44
  and help them really understand money early on
• 1:25:46
  is make them a signer on a credit card
• 1:25:49
  as soon as they can be
• 1:25:50
  because some credit cards will let a minor be
• 1:25:54
  on the credit card as a signer and build their credit.
• 1:25:57
  So when they're 18, they already have an established credit score.
• 1:26:00
  I think that's important, but there are a lot of ways
• 1:26:04
  that are very effective and don't cost a lot
• 1:26:08
  to set your children up for success early on,
• 1:26:11
  especially just the art of having conversations
• 1:26:14
  with them about money.
• 1:26:16
  When you have them do chores, pay them for the chores
• 1:26:19
  because it teaches them that if they do something,
• 1:26:22
  they get something for it and teach them how
• 1:26:24
  to build that understanding.
• 1:26:26
  So they don't go through life being financially a literate
• 1:26:30
  because I deal with it every single day
• 1:26:31
  where there's people in their 30s and 40s
• 1:26:33
  that really don't understand finances at all.
• 1:26:36
  There's people out there right now
• 1:26:38
  that make $150,000 a year,
• 1:26:40
  but live with $50,000 in credit card debt.
• 1:26:42
  Meanwhile, they're investing in cryptocurrency
• 1:26:45
  and not paying off the credit card debt
• 1:26:46
  that's 30% interest.
• 1:26:48
  You can't out invest high interest debt
• 1:26:51
  and it's so important for people to understand
• 1:26:53
  all of these pieces of the puzzle to help them build wealth.
• 1:26:57
  What would be out of all the different sort of strategies
• 1:27:00
  that you've understood and you've used in your own life?
• 1:27:03
  What would be the most underrated tactical strategy
• 1:27:07
  for wealth building?
• 1:27:08
  It could be an investment tool, it could be a tax strategy.
• 1:27:11
  What is the one thing that really stands out
• 1:27:13
  that more people should know about?
• 1:27:15
  I would say the Roth IRA is probably the most important thing.
• 1:27:21
  So many people I think less than 40% of US adults
• 1:27:24
  over 18 have a Roth IRA.
• 1:27:26
  That is tragic because in my opinion,
• 1:27:30
  the best way to build wealth
• 1:27:32
  and we talked about this in one of the rich habits podcast episodes
• 1:27:35
  that did really well,
• 1:27:37
  there's a lot of what we call net worth millionaires
• 1:27:39
  out there in their broke.
• 1:27:41
  Because of the fact that they have all their money
• 1:27:43
  in a 401k or they have all their money in their property
• 1:27:46
  and you can't get to any of it without penalty
• 1:27:49
  because you have it in those two vehicles.
• 1:27:52
  So for me, I think all people should really understand
• 1:27:56
  have the Roth IRA so you have that tax free growth
• 1:27:59
  and you have autonomy and then have the bridge account.
• 1:28:02
  The bridge account is the success.
• 1:28:04
  It is the most important factor in building wealth to me
• 1:28:08
  because it is the money that is growing towards your future
• 1:28:11
  because you're investing it but you have autonomy
• 1:28:13
  and there's no penalties to remove that money.
• 1:28:17
  A lot of people borrow from their future to live today
• 1:28:21
  and so they never put aside the money for their future
• 1:28:23
  and they kick the can down the road for years and years and years
• 1:28:27
  and then wonder why at 55 years old,
• 1:28:29
  they only have $87,000 saved for retirement
• 1:28:32
  and they're gonna be a Walmart greeter till they're 75 years old.
• 1:28:35
  It's sad.
• 1:28:36
  It's really sad.
• 1:28:37
  People put money in it 401k and not a Roth IRA.
• 1:28:40
  Because so many people believe,
• 1:28:43
  again, this comes to financial literacy.
• 1:28:45
  They check out when it comes to making their money grow.
• 1:28:48
  I don't understand it.
• 1:28:49
  It is one of the biggest things that I work on
• 1:28:51
  with the most amount of people in my message
• 1:28:54
  is getting people to understand,
• 1:28:55
  make your money work as hard for you as you work to get it.
• 1:28:58
  People slave away 40, 50, 60 hours a week
• 1:29:01
  to get their money and then it just goes into the 401k
• 1:29:03
  and into their checking account
• 1:29:05
  and maybe a high yield savings account
• 1:29:07
  and they don't work any harder at it.
• 1:29:09
  And that bothers me because most 401k's
• 1:29:13
  underperform the general market.
• 1:29:15
  You could literally in most instances
• 1:29:18
  over a 10, 20, 30 year period, you could own VOO,
• 1:29:23
  for the S&P 500, QQQ and maybe VGT or VTI
• 1:29:28
  and nothing else and you'd outperform 90%
• 1:29:31
  of the people out there
• 1:29:33
  because you just leave the money, do its job.
• 1:29:36
  Compound interest is the most important thing
• 1:29:39
  you need to have working for you every day
• 1:29:40
  and that is why I beg and plead with the younger audiences,
• 1:29:44
  the longer you can allow your money to compound,
• 1:29:47
  the more wealthy you're gonna become
• 1:29:49
  and it's much easier when you give yourself
• 1:29:51
  a long time horizon to let your money work for you.
• 1:29:55
  That's great advice.
• 1:29:56
  I wanna pull out a couple last sort of questions
• 1:29:59
  from your experience just to really give some context
• 1:30:03
  as to what it takes just to wrap this up
• 1:30:05
  for young entrepreneurs and investors in the audience.
• 1:30:09
  So you experienced a roller coaster with silly bands,
• 1:30:11
  you've reinvented yourself to a degree multiple times.
• 1:30:15
  What's been the most surprising change
• 1:30:17
  that you've seen in yourself across your whole career?
• 1:30:21
  Giving instead of taking, when I was younger,
• 1:30:25
  I came up in an era where you wanted to own, own, own,
• 1:30:28
  buy, buy, buy, take, take, take and when I used
• 1:30:33
  to go into a negotiation, I wanted to negotiate
• 1:30:36
  to the end degree to win.
• 1:30:40
  And I've learned now in the last 15 years
• 1:30:45
  that the more people like you that I align myself with
• 1:30:48
  and the more I give back to the audience
• 1:30:50
  and the more I share my story, the wins and the losses,
• 1:30:54
  the more I receive.
• 1:30:55
  So I really do believe in so many people still look
• 1:30:59
  at mindset and a positive mindset and gratitude
• 1:31:02
  and authenticity.
• 1:31:03
  They look at it as this woo, woo thing that doesn't work.
• 1:31:07
  I am absolute proof that a positive mindset,
• 1:31:12
  authenticity and giving back works.
• 1:31:14
  So that is probably the biggest thing I've learned
• 1:31:17
  and I've changed.
• 1:31:18
  So I no longer, I really love having partners.
• 1:31:22
  I love building businesses with other people
• 1:31:25
  that are like-minded.
• 1:31:26
  And so for me, I'm always seeking out
• 1:31:28
  or they're seeking me out, people that I can align with,
• 1:31:32
  that I can go have drinks with, that I can go on the boat with,
• 1:31:35
  that I can go wherever with in doing those deals
• 1:31:38
  with people that I know want to build as much as I do,
• 1:31:42
  but in a way that is meaningful and helpful.
• 1:31:45
  The lowest point in your entrepreneurial journey,
• 1:31:48
  there was one point when shit was hitting the fan,
• 1:31:50
  probably multiple, but think of one many times.
• 1:31:53
  Many times, think of one, what was it
• 1:31:56
  and what was the strategy that you used
• 1:31:59
  to push through a persevere?
• 1:32:01
  Wow, the lowest point in my entrepreneurial journey
• 1:32:06
  was probably when I was going through my divorce
• 1:32:10
  and I had a couple of difficult years.
• 1:32:14
  A lot of deals didn't work,
• 1:32:15
  a lot of venture capital investments I made went bad,
• 1:32:18
  I had some bad partners and I just was like,
• 1:32:21
  luckily I was in a good place still financially,
• 1:32:24
  but I felt that people gave up on me.
• 1:32:27
  They didn't believe in me to the level they once did
• 1:32:30
  and I felt that that was probably the lowest point for me,
• 1:32:34
  but it was also the highest point
• 1:32:36
  because I felt free to start over
• 1:32:40
  and really rebuild myself in a way
• 1:32:42
  and that even happened even three years ago.
• 1:32:45
  I was building a project in Denver
• 1:32:47
  with some dear people that I loved and friends of mine
• 1:32:50
  and that was when I really started building my personal brand.
• 1:32:53
  I had done some speaking with a friend at JP Morgan Chase
• 1:32:57
  at this roundtable event and after the event,
• 1:33:00
  he's like, why don't you do more with your personal brand?
• 1:33:03
  Your brain is 600 miles ahead of everyone else online
• 1:33:08
  and that really shook me.
• 1:33:09
  I was like, wow, thank you, that is so amazing.
• 1:33:11
  And so he's like, you should really share your insights
• 1:33:14
  and story more, you're very gifted
• 1:33:16
  when it comes to investing in business and mindset.
• 1:33:18
  So I literally walked away, took some buyouts,
• 1:33:22
  I exited some companies and just walked away
• 1:33:24
  from a bunch of stuff and really invented myself
• 1:33:27
  over again three, three and a half years ago
• 1:33:29
  and it was the best move I ever made
• 1:33:31
  because now I'm in a place with millions of followers,
• 1:33:35
  the podcasts and all that stuff
• 1:33:37
  where I can really, truly change people's lives
• 1:33:40
  in a meaningful way by sharing my stories
• 1:33:43
  and that is the best it's ever been for me in my career.
• 1:33:47
  I love that.
• 1:33:47
  When you think about the myths around success,
• 1:33:50
  financial freedom, entrepreneurship,
• 1:33:53
  things that people don't realize it takes this
• 1:33:57
  to achieve who you are today.
• 1:33:59
  What would be the biggest myth that you wanna quash?
• 1:34:04
  I think the biggest myth and Alex Ramozy
• 1:34:07
  does a lot on this as well and I love it
• 1:34:10
  is you don't have to get out of bed at four in the morning.
• 1:34:13
  You don't have to meditate, you don't have to cold plunge,
• 1:34:17
  you don't have to read three books on five X speed.
• 1:34:22
  That's all bullshit.
• 1:34:24
  You do what works for you.
• 1:34:26
  Find the information and the strategies
• 1:34:29
  that resonate with you and do that.
• 1:34:32
  Every person is different.
• 1:34:34
  What works for every person is different
• 1:34:36
  and I'm not saying you can't learn from it.
• 1:34:38
  I'm sure they're cold plunge benefits.
• 1:34:40
  I do cold plunge.
• 1:34:41
  I'm sure there's red light therapy benefits.
• 1:34:44
  I do that occasionally
• 1:34:45
  but don't live your life around all of these massive trends
• 1:34:49
  that these charlatans and these grifters tell you
• 1:34:52
  because trust me at the end of their conversation to you,
• 1:34:54
  they're gonna sell you one of these things.
• 1:34:57
  So for me, I think the biggest myth is
• 1:35:00
  whatever you see online is not necessarily
• 1:35:03
  what's gonna get you where you need to be financially
• 1:35:07
  and in your life because there's more
• 1:35:09
  to wealth in my opinion than money.
• 1:35:12
  There is quality of life.
• 1:35:14
  There is where you live.
• 1:35:15
  What do you eat?
• 1:35:16
  What do you read?
• 1:35:18
  All of that to me, all is a blended average
• 1:35:21
  of the quality of your life
• 1:35:23
  and I think it's so important
• 1:35:24
  because there are so many myths out there
• 1:35:27
  about financial stability and building wealth
• 1:35:30
  and being successful
• 1:35:32
  and I think it's all about what works for you
• 1:35:35
  and not falling victim
• 1:35:37
  to always chasing every trend that you see
• 1:35:40
  from the fake gurus online.
• 1:35:42
  I love it.
• 1:35:43
  What would be after all the success you've had?
• 1:35:45
  What would be one surprising thing
• 1:35:47
  that's still on your bucket list that you wanna see?
• 1:35:49
  Ooh, surprising thing on my bucket list.
• 1:35:52
  One of the things other than what we've talked about
• 1:35:56
  a lot recently and that is me helping one million people
• 1:35:59
  become millionaires in the next five years.
• 1:36:02
  That is my main main goal in life
• 1:36:05
  because if I can have a million people
• 1:36:07
  within my stratosphere, in my matrix,
• 1:36:11
  all reach a million dollar net worth value
• 1:36:14
  because a lot of what I have educated them on,
• 1:36:17
  that is one of the biggest bucket list goals for me.
• 1:36:20
  And then secondarily, and this is quite simple,
• 1:36:23
  is finding the right property on the right lake
• 1:36:29
  so I can have Adirondack chairs on the lake
• 1:36:33
  and have a boat dock with my cute little boat
• 1:36:35
  so I can write and think freely
• 1:36:38
  without all the distractions of city living.
• 1:36:41
  That is the next big play for me
• 1:36:43
  when it comes to real estate.
• 1:36:44
  I love it.
• 1:36:45
  Where can people connect with you?
• 1:36:47
  Socials, website, podcasts.
• 1:36:49
  I mean, rich habits, you can get that wherever you download
• 1:36:51
  your podcast, but where else should they go?
• 1:36:53
  Yeah, at Robert Croak on Instagram,
• 1:36:55
  at Robert Croak official, all of my accounts on TikTok
• 1:36:58
  are verified so don't fall for the fake accounts.
• 1:37:01
  Obviously follow the rich habits podcast
• 1:37:03
  for anyone listening.
• 1:37:05
  You just did an episode, it was phenomenal with us.
• 1:37:07
  That was awesome.
• 1:37:08
  We can't wait to have you back on.
• 1:37:09
  And that's really it.
• 1:37:11
  YouTube, I'm starting to do more with YouTube,
• 1:37:13
  which is exciting and that's it.
• 1:37:17
  Last question, out of all the wisdom
• 1:37:19
  that you've gained over your years,
• 1:37:22
  say you can only pick one lesson
• 1:37:24
  that you have to pass on to your kids,
• 1:37:26
  which lesson is that and why?
• 1:37:28
  Whew, what lesson would I pass along to my kids
• 1:37:32
  and anyone else that would listen?
• 1:37:34
  Don't talk about it, be about it.
• 1:37:37
  Because so many people talk about things,
• 1:37:40
  but they don't act.
• 1:37:41
  And they live in this comfort zone.
• 1:37:45
  They don't ever execute.
• 1:37:46
  I have so many people in my stratosphere,
• 1:37:49
  friends, family members,
• 1:37:50
  that they have a new idea every single month.
• 1:37:53
  I have the next silly bands, I have the next this,
• 1:37:55
  I have the next Instagram, I have this,
• 1:37:57
  but they don't ever do anything with it.
• 1:37:59
  And everything is beyond your comfort zone.
• 1:38:03
  And if you don't get out of the comfort zone,
• 1:38:05
  you're never gonna execute on any of it.
• 1:38:07
  So that's for me, don't talk about it, be about it.