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I'm looking at Uncle Warren, right?

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He's got 150 billion in cash sitting right now.

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He's not worried about it.

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I'm like, hmm, he's seen more cycles than I have.

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So he's got 25% of his entire company value

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sitting in cash because he's waiting.

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Welcome to the game where we talk about

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how to get more customers, how to make more per customer,

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and how to keep them longer,

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and the many failures and lessons we have learned

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along the way.

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I hope you enjoy and subscribe.

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I want to get granular in some of this advice

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because again, when I started this show,

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I was sailing right into the perfect storm of the recession.

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I got my ass handed to me,

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and then had to climb back out of the pit

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that I've jumped into basically.

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And I wanted this to be the solution for me,

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and it turned out to be exactly what I needed,

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but also for a lot of other people.

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What's a deeply held belief that you had maybe three

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to five years ago, and it can be business or personal,

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but like something you really held to be true

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that you no longer believe.

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Like do you still trust people the way that you did?

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Sounds like I know nothing about psychology

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except through my own research and therapy and all that.

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It sounds like you had a very codependent relationship,

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especially with father figure in your life, right?

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So naturally you had this very trusting character.

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Did that change over time?

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Do you still have that strong trust?

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So I think that a lot of the revelations

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I think came in retrospect more than were active decisions.

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I'd say the vast majority of the things

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where I made mistakes and stumbled into the right way

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and then tried to think like what was different

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than last time.

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And I think one of them that you touched on is trust,

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but a different version of that

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is like the give-take in relationships.

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And I think I am naturally,

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like if there's a on a scale from one to 10,

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like one being the taker and 10 being a giver,

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I'm naturally a 10, and 10s get run all over.

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One's don't get opportunities

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because they're always just trying to take

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and people just get tired of them.

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The vast majority of people are tit for tatters.

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So you give I give, which is like the fives,

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which is the vast majority of the population.

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It's transactional.

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And I think that what happened over my career

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is that I shifted from a 10 to like an eight.

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And they've actually done a lot of game theory research

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on this and found that like eight out of 10

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is the proper amount of give-take for optimal outcome.

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Really? Okay.

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So to be clear, you're saying you used to be a giver.

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10 out of 10.

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And now you've rationed that down to eight out of 10.

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And that's about the right range, you think.

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Yeah, you just have to know

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when it is your turn to take.

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Right, and also I would guess,

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because I can speak from that same experience,

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I'm very relatable.

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I'm sort of right there with you.

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And I was gonna ask this for personal selfless reasons too.

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Sometimes I feel like I'm always the one giving.

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But then I remember that if you're truly giving

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without the expectation of return,

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then I shouldn't have those feelings, right?

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Because you give it, and then if it's without expectations

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and it's not transactional, then you shouldn't care.

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You know, it's interesting,

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because I spent a lot of time defining words.

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And so I think it's worth looking into

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what the word give means,

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because what is the difference between giving and donating?

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One has no expectation of return.

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I would imagine with donation.

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Giving might not necessarily have no expectation.

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I don't know.

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It's like, these are the things that I jam on.

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You know what I mean?

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So I don't know.

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I would normally pull my phone with like,

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let's go look the word up.

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Well, I love riffing on this,

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because I think it depends on the person,

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and it's also, it's all about intention.

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It's the same reason, you know,

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some people give to a certain charity,

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and they want to be known for status or conscience,

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or maybe it's like brownie points in the life after,

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or maybe it's to feel good right now,

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because you know, maybe your life is trash,

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and it's like, if I do a little bit of good,

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that'll offset my feeling.

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There's lots of different motivations, right?

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That's very interesting.

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So you think that you've changed the most

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in the giving category.

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You've ratchet it only down to an eighth, though.

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I think it's behind it.

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Oh, yeah, I mean, yeah, I mean,

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you've consumed some of my stuff.

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Like it's still very, very, very much give centric.

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Yeah, the thing you say in every video is,

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I have nothing to say.

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So it's like, you know,

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the books 99 cents, the courses are free.

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Like, you know, at this point,

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I just, I would like, and you know,

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is there selfishness in the giving?

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Sure, I feel good.

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You know, it makes me feel better.

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I do gain status from doing it.

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Like there's plenty, like there's always ways

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I can pull back to being, you know, selfish.

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And I probably would define it rather than like giving

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and taking is I think that from a strategic perspective,

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I have now noticed that it's give, give, give, get,

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rather than give, give, give, take,

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or give, give, give, ask is probably,

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I think Gary's is give, give, give, ask.

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I do prefer give, give, give, get,

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because I think that that has happened,

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and that might seem contrary to what I just said

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about 10 and 10 givers.

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I think the 10 at a 10 giving is giving

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without understanding boundaries.

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It's like not holding your own space.

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Yeah.

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It's like you get, like I will give this,

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and I will give that because I have agreed that for me,

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this is something that I'm willing to give,

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and I will give it, you know, relentlessly.

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But it's when you are allowing other people to take

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from you, things that you were not planning on giving,

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and then you choose to rationalize why it's okay.

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Right, or like your partnerships, you know,

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totally screwed you, and then, you know,

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you went back for more.

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Yeah, and I just qualifying, like, I meet,

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like, I own those, like those were my mistakes,

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I did not know how to structure partnerships,

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I did not know what to look for.

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Yeah.

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You know, and they were all lessons for me,

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so I'm, you know, I'm grateful for them.

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Well, but also in your defense,

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it seems like you have high moral character,

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you have a big heart, and you wanna give people

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a second chance maybe, or the benefit of the doubt,

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at least, tell that story about the deal you did

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with someone who you lent money,

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and then you invoice them, or something,

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and it ended up being the wrong calculation, tell that story.

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Yeah, so I am in wholesaling,

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you try and get a building under contract, right?

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And so someone had found a really dilapidated building

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that they could buy from the bank,

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I think, for $3 million.

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And so they called me up, because they're like,

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we need $3 million, but we need it tomorrow.

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Yeah, the bank of Alex.

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Right, bank of Alex, and I tend to always have

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a lot of cash on me, so I was like, sure.

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And they were gonna pay a really good interest rate,

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which was $100,000 a month, as long as they carried the money,

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which was like 48% a year, so I was like, cool, I mean,

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and from a security standpoint,

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it was security against the building,

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which had already been valued at 5.6,

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they already had an offer with earnest money on the table.

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So they'd already lined up both sides.

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How'd you done business with this person before?

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Okay, so.

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So that's why that was so important.

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First, brush, okay.

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Right, so they both personally guaranteed it.

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I was first lean on the, like this is stuff

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you learned over time, right?

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I was first lean on the property,

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and they had earnest money down from a new buyer.

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So like, all my sides were more or less covered.

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Took all the risk out of it for you.

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No writer.

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So I wrote the check.

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So my real estate lawyer, which was actually a new lawyer

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I was trying out, sent the invoice over.

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Once they said, hey, we've got received the funds,

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like we'll send it to you with the interest, whatever.

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And he had miscalculated the amount of interest

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that we had accrued.

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Because they did very well on the sale.

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Yeah, they did, yeah, they did.

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I mean, they did, it was a great job for them, right?

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Yeah.

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They borrowed three for, you know,

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they, I think, carried it for three months,

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it was like three and a half months,

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so they paid 330 or 350 thousand in interest.

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They sold it for five, six on someone else's money.

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So they made two, six minus the 300.

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So they made two, two point three for 90 days works,

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not a bad deal.

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So anyways, they sent us the money on the invoice

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and they're like, hey, thought this didn't make sense

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because the agreement we had was this.

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And so we're actually just going to send you

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the correct amount, which is higher than what you

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invoiced us.

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Calculation was off.

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Yeah.

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So they was like, I think they, they invoiced 280

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and it was 330.

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I think it was the actual numbers.

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And so it was down by 50 grand.

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And I obviously, you know,

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the communicator of my lawyer that I was disappointed

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that he had not thought through it,

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but I probably should have looked better too.

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I just didn't think about it.

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And his lawyer, the guy that sent the money

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had advised him to not send the extra 50 grand.

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He said, listen, that was his invoice,

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send him the money and you'll, you know,

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thank you, make the grand extra.

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He said, you know what?

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Like, I want to do deals with Alex in the future

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and this feels like a very short-sighted move.

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And so he sent the money and he did end up getting more

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goodwill from me from that move.

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And so, you know, he was the one who ended up

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saying something to me when he flew out to like,

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we did like a solitary dinner.

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He said, you know, my dad always told me

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that you only get one name.

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So, invest in it accordingly.

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And I always thought about that.

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I thought it was a really good line.

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Just like, you only get one name.

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Like, you can change your companies,

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you can go bankrupt, but like your name stays with you.

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Yeah.

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And so that can either be an asset or it can be a liability.

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Yeah.

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And why not have it be a huge brand,

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have brand power in it of itself?

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Yeah, it would set line like integrity

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is what you do and no one's looking.

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Yeah. Right?

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And who know, you could have been sending him up.

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I could have.

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Right? And then what happened to that lawyer

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that you hired?

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Oh, yeah, he's gone.

262
00:08:50.400 --> 00:08:51.400
And how about his lawyer?

263
00:08:51.400 --> 00:08:52.440
He's also gone.

264
00:08:52.440 --> 00:08:55.800
So, I mean, that's a super good lesson about.

265
00:08:55.800 --> 00:08:57.800
You talk a lot about in your videos

266
00:08:57.800 --> 00:09:01.320
how you hire people, not based on skill per se.

267
00:09:01.320 --> 00:09:03.960
First, it's all about moral character.

268
00:09:03.960 --> 00:09:04.800
Yeah.

269
00:09:04.800 --> 00:09:06.560
Refresh us on what those are.

270
00:09:06.560 --> 00:09:09.520
So we look at, I mean, for us, the values

271
00:09:09.520 --> 00:09:10.560
that we have at Acquisition.com,

272
00:09:10.560 --> 00:09:11.960
and I think it changes by the type of company

273
00:09:11.960 --> 00:09:15.560
that you are, for us, it's unimpegable character

274
00:09:15.560 --> 00:09:18.680
since your candor and competitive greatness.

275
00:09:18.680 --> 00:09:20.160
And so there's the only three things.

276
00:09:20.160 --> 00:09:22.240
And we look for them pretty much in that order.

277
00:09:22.240 --> 00:09:24.200
So, and most people flunk the first one.

278
00:09:24.200 --> 00:09:26.040
So we don't have to really look for the other two.

279
00:09:26.040 --> 00:09:28.320
But when you think about unimpegable character for me,

280
00:09:28.320 --> 00:09:31.840
I like the Navy SEALs test that I was told in this mayor.

281
00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:33.680
It may not be true, but I like the test either way,

282
00:09:33.680 --> 00:09:35.840
which was not only like in their world,

283
00:09:35.840 --> 00:09:37.800
it's like, will this guy give me, give his life for me?

284
00:09:37.800 --> 00:09:40.080
I'm not, that's not what I'm expecting my teammates to do.

285
00:09:40.080 --> 00:09:42.440
But bear with me.

286
00:09:42.440 --> 00:09:44.280
He said, but that's the ticket to entry to be Navy SEAL.

287
00:09:44.280 --> 00:09:45.960
He's like, but team six,

288
00:09:45.960 --> 00:09:47.920
it's, do I trust this guy with my wife

289
00:09:47.920 --> 00:09:49.880
when I'm not there for a long period of time?

290
00:09:49.880 --> 00:09:52.400
Do I, if I give this guy a huge amount of money

291
00:09:52.400 --> 00:09:55.080
and just say, I'll be back for it, I'd like,

292
00:09:55.080 --> 00:09:56.880
I don't know when, but I'll be back for it.

293
00:09:56.880 --> 00:09:58.720
We'll be there 10 years later.

294
00:09:58.720 --> 00:10:00.800
And so if you ask those types of questions,

295
00:10:00.800 --> 00:10:02.280
like harder questions, and the favorite one

296
00:10:02.280 --> 00:10:03.280
that I have for more and buff it,

297
00:10:03.280 --> 00:10:05.120
that he got from a Holocaust survivor

298
00:10:05.120 --> 00:10:08.400
was, you know, during the Holocaust,

299
00:10:08.400 --> 00:10:10.240
like, with this person, let me in.

300
00:10:10.240 --> 00:10:12.560
And so I think that, like, those are hard questions, right?

301
00:10:12.560 --> 00:10:14.200
And I'm not saying that I'm expecting a teammate,

302
00:10:14.200 --> 00:10:15.320
but they give you frames on like,

303
00:10:15.320 --> 00:10:17.200
how deep someone's character can go.

304
00:10:17.200 --> 00:10:19.840
We assume that there will be hardship in business

305
00:10:19.840 --> 00:10:21.560
because it is a hard game.

306
00:10:21.560 --> 00:10:23.000
And so that is guaranteed.

307
00:10:23.000 --> 00:10:25.280
And so it's just a question of when, not if,

308
00:10:25.280 --> 00:10:28.040
and so we try and run out the risk on teammates

309
00:10:28.040 --> 00:10:30.680
and portfolio companies by asking ourselves

310
00:10:30.680 --> 00:10:34.600
the hard questions before they are in urgent need.

311
00:10:35.480 --> 00:10:40.040
Would the Alex now hire 20 something, Alex,

312
00:10:40.040 --> 00:10:41.800
under the same scrutiny?

313
00:10:41.800 --> 00:10:46.680
From I would, I would probably just ask me a lot of questions.

314
00:10:46.680 --> 00:10:49.800
So I probably would have found that it was not.

315
00:10:49.800 --> 00:10:51.640
I would have noticed that he probably

316
00:10:51.640 --> 00:10:53.480
saw me as a father figure and was like,

317
00:10:53.480 --> 00:10:56.160
this is probably not healthy for this kid at this point.

318
00:10:56.160 --> 00:10:58.920
And given the level of ambition that I think he has,

319
00:10:58.920 --> 00:11:02.720
I think he will outgrow the role in a very short period of time,

320
00:11:02.720 --> 00:11:05.080
I would either have to time into some sort of,

321
00:11:05.080 --> 00:11:06.920
some, I don't know, I would have to figure something out

322
00:11:06.920 --> 00:11:08.760
where I would say, listen man, I think,

323
00:11:08.760 --> 00:11:10.240
like why don't we do a one-tier internship

324
00:11:10.240 --> 00:11:13.080
or something like that and just like going your own?

325
00:11:13.080 --> 00:11:15.280
Or I would probably, it would just really depend

326
00:11:15.280 --> 00:11:17.960
on what the little Alex wanted.

327
00:11:17.960 --> 00:11:20.440
But I mean, he would just be asking questions honestly.

328
00:11:20.440 --> 00:11:21.680
I mean, it sounds like you're saying no,

329
00:11:21.680 --> 00:11:22.920
that you wouldn't hire him.

330
00:11:22.920 --> 00:11:24.360
It's because I know him.

331
00:11:25.800 --> 00:11:30.560
And so I mean, I think that some people need to be number one

332
00:11:30.560 --> 00:11:32.520
and we look for that.

333
00:11:32.520 --> 00:11:36.160
And if that's a need, then I would probably pass.

334
00:11:36.160 --> 00:11:37.160
Right.

335
00:11:37.160 --> 00:11:39.680
Have you ever been wrong about someone's character?

336
00:11:39.680 --> 00:11:40.520
Yeah.

337
00:11:40.520 --> 00:11:42.280
I mean, like now, now that you're more.

338
00:11:42.280 --> 00:11:43.200
100%.

339
00:11:43.200 --> 00:11:45.120
You know who's unbelievable?

340
00:11:45.120 --> 00:11:46.320
Leila.

341
00:11:46.320 --> 00:11:48.360
Girl does not miss.

342
00:11:48.360 --> 00:11:50.360
Like I am still more trusting.

343
00:11:50.360 --> 00:11:52.640
I am still more like, you know what, he was having a bad day.

344
00:11:52.640 --> 00:11:56.480
Or like, maybe I still will try,

345
00:11:56.480 --> 00:11:58.800
because I think I empathize a lot with people

346
00:11:58.800 --> 00:12:00.160
who are in difficult situations,

347
00:12:00.160 --> 00:12:02.840
because I have been in them and I understand the difficulty.

348
00:12:02.840 --> 00:12:04.240
Leila just doesn't give a fuck.

349
00:12:04.240 --> 00:12:05.760
Leila just sees there are people.

350
00:12:05.760 --> 00:12:07.000
It's crazy.

351
00:12:07.000 --> 00:12:08.720
Like I mean, even when we like check in

352
00:12:08.720 --> 00:12:10.600
with our portfolio companies, like this just happened,

353
00:12:10.600 --> 00:12:12.400
we had a portfolio company recently,

354
00:12:12.400 --> 00:12:14.560
we check in regularly and whatnot obviously.

355
00:12:14.560 --> 00:12:16.920
And the CEO is on, we're like, anything to report,

356
00:12:16.920 --> 00:12:19.360
what's new, you know, he gave us normal stuff.

357
00:12:19.360 --> 00:12:20.720
And we got off the call and choose like,

358
00:12:20.720 --> 00:12:22.200
he's not telling us something.

359
00:12:22.200 --> 00:12:23.720
I was like, what?

360
00:12:23.720 --> 00:12:26.880
Like, you know what I mean, it's fine to me, right?

361
00:12:26.880 --> 00:12:29.640
And then lo and behold, we like, we find out

362
00:12:29.640 --> 00:12:31.280
that there was some, there's a big problem

363
00:12:31.280 --> 00:12:32.360
that they hadn't told us about.

364
00:12:32.360 --> 00:12:35.040
And it's just like, she just like doesn't miss.

365
00:12:35.040 --> 00:12:39.200
And so I do lean on her a lot with that stuff.

366
00:12:39.200 --> 00:12:43.160
So our single rule of marriage that's helped tremendously

367
00:12:43.160 --> 00:12:46.360
has just been, if we both don't agree, we don't do it.

368
00:12:46.360 --> 00:12:47.760
Whatever it is, whether it's an investment,

369
00:12:47.760 --> 00:12:50.040
it's a hire, it's a strategic decision.

370
00:12:50.040 --> 00:12:52.440
I have overridden her one time.

371
00:12:52.440 --> 00:12:54.680
And it was when I was starting Al in the software company,

372
00:12:54.680 --> 00:12:55.960
which was our third company after just,

373
00:12:55.960 --> 00:12:57.040
we had a gym launch, a procedural app,

374
00:12:57.040 --> 00:12:57.800
such as our software company,

375
00:12:57.800 --> 00:12:59.600
and then we had Alan in the software company.

376
00:12:59.600 --> 00:13:02.080
And I really wanted to pursue this opportunity.

377
00:13:02.080 --> 00:13:04.400
And she didn't think it was smart,

378
00:13:04.400 --> 00:13:06.120
given the resources and the team we had at the time,

379
00:13:06.120 --> 00:13:08.400
so they were stressed too thin, et cetera.

380
00:13:08.400 --> 00:13:10.960
And I kind of bulldozed and was like, we're doing this.

381
00:13:10.960 --> 00:13:11.800
And it blew up.

382
00:13:11.800 --> 00:13:13.280
I mean, we were at 1.7 million months,

383
00:13:13.280 --> 00:13:15.000
within like six months in a business.

384
00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:17.880
So I felt very validated that I had made the right call.

385
00:13:17.880 --> 00:13:19.680
But on the longer term, time horizon,

386
00:13:19.680 --> 00:13:22.320
she had seen that there were some flaws in the model

387
00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:25.000
and some things that I hadn't foreseen.

388
00:13:25.000 --> 00:13:27.280
That ended up, you know, embodying us in the ass.

389
00:13:27.280 --> 00:13:29.680
And so I go back to what I said originally,

390
00:13:29.680 --> 00:13:31.520
which is that we don't, if we both don't agree,

391
00:13:31.520 --> 00:13:32.400
I think it was the other way too.

392
00:13:32.400 --> 00:13:33.760
It's just I tend to be the S guy.

393
00:13:33.760 --> 00:13:36.160
Yeah, that's healthy.

394
00:13:36.160 --> 00:13:38.200
I actually got the same advice when I got married,

395
00:13:38.200 --> 00:13:41.640
because, you know, you either succeed together

396
00:13:41.640 --> 00:13:42.840
or you fail together,

397
00:13:42.840 --> 00:13:45.880
and either one can actually be great.

398
00:13:45.880 --> 00:13:46.720
Yeah, it's together.

399
00:13:46.720 --> 00:13:48.160
You're never divided.

400
00:13:48.160 --> 00:13:49.480
Can I ask a personal question?

401
00:13:49.480 --> 00:13:51.320
So do you guys have joint bank accounts?

402
00:13:51.320 --> 00:13:53.240
I gave her my bank accounts two weeks in a day and a half.

403
00:13:53.280 --> 00:13:56.000
Okay, so they're completely joined.

404
00:13:56.000 --> 00:13:56.840
Yes.

405
00:13:56.840 --> 00:13:58.520
And she takes care of the money,

406
00:13:58.520 --> 00:13:59.520
because she's good at that.

407
00:13:59.520 --> 00:14:00.360
Yeah, okay.

408
00:14:00.360 --> 00:14:01.360
So you don't have separate accounts,

409
00:14:01.360 --> 00:14:03.160
and you don't have a login.

410
00:14:03.160 --> 00:14:04.440
I don't even know how much money I have.

411
00:14:04.440 --> 00:14:05.280
I really don't.

412
00:14:05.280 --> 00:14:09.400
I get one email from her EA every week

413
00:14:09.400 --> 00:14:11.160
that just has our balance totals

414
00:14:11.160 --> 00:14:12.960
between all of our assets.

415
00:14:12.960 --> 00:14:13.800
And that's it.

416
00:14:13.800 --> 00:14:14.640
And I just scrolled about it.

417
00:14:14.640 --> 00:14:16.560
I look at the number and I'm like, cool.

418
00:14:16.560 --> 00:14:17.880
She could make it up for all I know.

419
00:14:17.880 --> 00:14:19.000
I have no idea.

420
00:14:19.000 --> 00:14:19.760
I could be four.

421
00:14:19.760 --> 00:14:20.520
I could be broke.

422
00:14:20.520 --> 00:14:22.400
And I could just somehow, somehow I just like live

423
00:14:22.400 --> 00:14:23.240
and my card card always goes through.

424
00:14:23.240 --> 00:14:24.200
So I have no idea.

425
00:14:24.200 --> 00:14:25.600
So I don't think that's true.

426
00:14:25.600 --> 00:14:28.400
You're like the optimist and she's the realist.

427
00:14:28.400 --> 00:14:30.760
Like you're out there seeing the vision what's possible

428
00:14:30.760 --> 00:14:32.640
and she's like bringing you back down the earth like,

429
00:14:32.640 --> 00:14:34.720
hey, let's get real with this.

430
00:14:34.720 --> 00:14:36.080
Yeah, depends on the circumstance.

431
00:14:36.080 --> 00:14:37.400
It depends on what we were talking about.

432
00:14:37.400 --> 00:14:39.880
So I think the subject matter matters.

433
00:14:39.880 --> 00:14:41.960
Whether it's people, whether it's friends,

434
00:14:41.960 --> 00:14:44.440
whether it's a business decision,

435
00:14:44.440 --> 00:14:46.640
I think some of those matter like we tend to,

436
00:14:46.640 --> 00:14:48.120
but I would say maybe in general,

437
00:14:48.120 --> 00:14:50.960
I think it'll go the very broad brushstroke with exceptions.

438
00:14:50.960 --> 00:14:54.880
She tends to be more conservative, I would say.

439
00:14:54.880 --> 00:14:57.920
And we always joke like if there were only Laila,

440
00:14:57.920 --> 00:14:59.320
we would never have any businesses.

441
00:14:59.320 --> 00:15:01.400
And if there were only Alex, we'd have too many.

442
00:15:01.400 --> 00:15:04.480
Yeah, well, that seems like complimentary skills

443
00:15:04.480 --> 00:15:06.720
in the Yang and I'm guessing also

444
00:15:06.720 --> 00:15:08.640
that she doesn't like surprises or uncertainty.

445
00:15:08.640 --> 00:15:11.520
No, and I think we, I will say this though,

446
00:15:11.520 --> 00:15:14.760
I think we now over index to both of those polls more

447
00:15:14.760 --> 00:15:16.560
because we know the other person exists.

448
00:15:16.560 --> 00:15:19.520
So like if Laila somehow were hit by a bus tomorrow

449
00:15:19.560 --> 00:15:22.440
and we're taking over all of our affairs,

450
00:15:22.440 --> 00:15:24.640
I know that I would correct towards the middle.

451
00:15:24.640 --> 00:15:25.840
I'd be like, I want to do this.

452
00:15:25.840 --> 00:15:28.280
She probably, I have a pretty good gut feel

453
00:15:28.280 --> 00:15:29.320
for what she would say as to,

454
00:15:29.320 --> 00:15:31.760
but I'll still push it just to get,

455
00:15:31.760 --> 00:15:32.760
and sometimes I'm surprised.

456
00:15:32.760 --> 00:15:33.600
I'm like, oh, you are?

457
00:15:33.600 --> 00:15:34.760
You do think this is good?

458
00:15:34.760 --> 00:15:35.760
I'm like, all right, let's do it.

459
00:15:35.760 --> 00:15:37.480
Sometimes I just throw them out there as soft balls

460
00:15:37.480 --> 00:15:41.400
for her to swap down so that when I really want one,

461
00:15:41.400 --> 00:15:42.240
you know what I mean?

462
00:15:42.240 --> 00:15:43.240
I'm like, you did say no to all these other ones.

463
00:15:43.240 --> 00:15:45.560
I was like, so I feel like it's time, you know.

464
00:15:45.560 --> 00:15:46.400
I love that.

465
00:15:46.400 --> 00:15:48.600
I don't see like little dialogue bubble.

466
00:15:48.680 --> 00:15:49.640
What would Laila do?

467
00:15:49.640 --> 00:15:52.320
Yeah, that runs through your calculation.

468
00:15:52.320 --> 00:15:53.440
Or pickers unbelievable.

469
00:15:53.440 --> 00:15:55.240
Like I think we have a very like a Warren Buffett,

470
00:15:55.240 --> 00:15:56.520
Charlie Munger,

471
00:15:56.520 --> 00:15:58.000
Dina obviously, you know, we're married,

472
00:15:58.000 --> 00:15:59.800
but like Charlie always says no.

473
00:15:59.800 --> 00:16:00.680
Warren wants to pursue it.

474
00:16:00.680 --> 00:16:02.800
It's just like, I think that it's very natural

475
00:16:02.800 --> 00:16:04.600
to have somebody who's gonna try and pursue opportunities

476
00:16:04.600 --> 00:16:06.960
and somebody else who's like, is it core?

477
00:16:06.960 --> 00:16:08.600
Is it, does it align with where we're trying to go?

478
00:16:08.600 --> 00:16:09.440
Yeah.

479
00:16:09.440 --> 00:16:11.360
No, I love that story of, you know,

480
00:16:11.360 --> 00:16:14.520
you basically got married for business first

481
00:16:14.520 --> 00:16:16.600
and then figured out how to navigate the rest.

482
00:16:16.600 --> 00:16:17.680
That's super cool.

483
00:16:17.920 --> 00:16:19.840
We were living together five weeks after we met

484
00:16:19.840 --> 00:16:22.800
in Motelz in one room.

485
00:16:22.800 --> 00:16:24.560
Okay, Alex, here's the one for you.

486
00:16:24.560 --> 00:16:26.120
You talk about competitive advantage.

487
00:16:26.120 --> 00:16:29.000
How do you create competitive advantage?

488
00:16:29.000 --> 00:16:31.400
The easiest is just information.

489
00:16:31.400 --> 00:16:33.760
Like just no more than the other person.

490
00:16:33.760 --> 00:16:35.560
And how do you do that?

491
00:16:35.560 --> 00:16:37.080
I mean, aside from,

492
00:16:37.080 --> 00:16:38.800
it's usually doing more and doing more research.

493
00:16:38.800 --> 00:16:40.280
It's both things and a lot of times doing more

494
00:16:40.280 --> 00:16:41.480
is the research.

495
00:16:41.480 --> 00:16:44.800
So like if you think about every business that exists,

496
00:16:44.800 --> 00:16:46.240
and that's a very broad statement,

497
00:16:46.240 --> 00:16:48.440
but I think I can back it up.

498
00:16:48.440 --> 00:16:50.320
They all exist based on information over charge.

499
00:16:50.320 --> 00:16:51.800
One party knows more than the other party.

500
00:16:51.800 --> 00:16:54.200
So even if you're like, I remember I said this

501
00:16:54.200 --> 00:16:55.680
and there's a bunch of comments

502
00:16:55.680 --> 00:16:58.080
and they're like, well, I own a cattle ranch.

503
00:16:58.080 --> 00:16:59.360
How is that information over charge?

504
00:16:59.360 --> 00:17:02.200
I'm like, you know how to farm, you know how to raise steer

505
00:17:02.200 --> 00:17:04.480
and you sell it to people who do not know how to do that

506
00:17:04.480 --> 00:17:05.840
as profitably as you do.

507
00:17:05.840 --> 00:17:06.880
You do need.

508
00:17:06.880 --> 00:17:08.440
Yeah, you know how to run that business

509
00:17:08.440 --> 00:17:09.600
and you know how to do it profitably

510
00:17:09.600 --> 00:17:11.160
and you sell it to people who don't know how to do that.

511
00:17:11.160 --> 00:17:12.720
And because if they did have all the knowledge you had,

512
00:17:12.720 --> 00:17:14.160
then they would just do what you're doing

513
00:17:14.160 --> 00:17:15.000
and do what they're doing

514
00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:16.840
and then they would swallow up the supply chain.

515
00:17:16.840 --> 00:17:18.360
And that's what vertical integration fundamentally is,

516
00:17:18.360 --> 00:17:20.240
is you eat up all the other aspects of the supply chain

517
00:17:20.240 --> 00:17:21.760
for within your vertical.

518
00:17:21.760 --> 00:17:24.680
Well, and information arbitrage is an interesting

519
00:17:24.680 --> 00:17:28.240
and spot on, but also it makes me think sometimes

520
00:17:28.240 --> 00:17:30.920
making it more efficient or time saving is a key.

521
00:17:30.920 --> 00:17:32.480
Maybe you know all the information is about,

522
00:17:32.480 --> 00:17:34.280
I know how to get six pack apps.

523
00:17:34.280 --> 00:17:35.120
All right.

524
00:17:35.120 --> 00:17:36.240
Okay, I just haven't done it yet.

525
00:17:36.240 --> 00:17:37.080
Yeah.

526
00:17:37.080 --> 00:17:37.920
Right?

527
00:17:37.920 --> 00:17:39.560
So I know probably as much as you do

528
00:17:39.560 --> 00:17:42.840
about how to get six pack apps or how to, you know,

529
00:17:42.840 --> 00:17:43.680
get the guns.

530
00:17:43.680 --> 00:17:44.680
Yeah.

531
00:17:44.680 --> 00:17:48.840
But maybe you've got a shortcut or you've got,

532
00:17:48.840 --> 00:17:50.640
which would mean I would know more.

533
00:17:50.640 --> 00:17:51.480
Yes.

534
00:17:51.480 --> 00:17:52.920
Yeah.

535
00:17:52.920 --> 00:17:53.760
Yeah.

536
00:17:53.760 --> 00:17:54.600
You're right.

537
00:17:54.600 --> 00:17:57.000
But I say that in terms of information arbitrage

538
00:17:57.000 --> 00:17:58.760
between a buyer and a seller,

539
00:17:58.760 --> 00:18:00.920
in terms of how to create value, that's a different question.

540
00:18:00.920 --> 00:18:01.760
You know what I mean?

541
00:18:01.760 --> 00:18:02.920
Like how do I communicate value to a prospect?

542
00:18:02.920 --> 00:18:05.880
That's the entirety of persuasion and all that other stuff.

543
00:18:05.880 --> 00:18:08.280
In terms of like, how do we pursue opportunities,

544
00:18:08.280 --> 00:18:10.160
which is the subject that I'm going to write a whole book about?

545
00:18:10.160 --> 00:18:12.840
But like opportunity itself, which is just like this big word

546
00:18:12.840 --> 00:18:13.680
that people like to throw around,

547
00:18:13.680 --> 00:18:14.680
like what is opportunity?

548
00:18:14.680 --> 00:18:17.200
How do you have a good opportunity versus bad opportunity?

549
00:18:17.200 --> 00:18:19.160
The number one YouTube I have, a video I have on my channel

550
00:18:19.160 --> 00:18:21.240
is I touch on the topic.

551
00:18:21.240 --> 00:18:22.800
But I see it as three variables.

552
00:18:22.800 --> 00:18:26.280
So you have the total number of potential units to sell,

553
00:18:26.280 --> 00:18:27.600
which some people call it tam, right?

554
00:18:27.600 --> 00:18:28.440
Total just one market.

555
00:18:28.440 --> 00:18:30.960
But how many units of this widget could I potentially sell?

556
00:18:30.960 --> 00:18:31.920
Number one.

557
00:18:31.920 --> 00:18:36.400
Number two is what is the value to cost discrepancy?

558
00:18:36.400 --> 00:18:38.680
So how much profit can I potentially make

559
00:18:38.680 --> 00:18:40.560
solving this particular problem?

560
00:18:40.560 --> 00:18:42.800
And then number three is what are the competitive dynamics

561
00:18:42.800 --> 00:18:43.680
within that marketplace?

562
00:18:43.680 --> 00:18:45.760
So an example that has two of the three

563
00:18:45.760 --> 00:18:48.760
would be like, what if I wanted to sell a cell phone service?

564
00:18:48.760 --> 00:18:50.440
Lots of people need it.

565
00:18:50.440 --> 00:18:52.160
How much it cost me to add an additional customer

566
00:18:52.160 --> 00:18:54.960
is very low, so very high gross margins.

567
00:18:54.960 --> 00:18:56.600
But what are the competitive dynamics?

568
00:18:56.600 --> 00:18:58.640
Well, there's a lot of really entrenched players.

569
00:18:58.640 --> 00:19:00.480
It's very hard to get into that, right?

570
00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:02.240
And so when I'm looking at an opportunity,

571
00:19:02.240 --> 00:19:03.080
I want to see all three.

572
00:19:03.080 --> 00:19:05.920
Now, the difficulty with using those three

573
00:19:05.920 --> 00:19:09.360
is that that equation can evolve over time.

574
00:19:09.360 --> 00:19:10.960
And so if you're starting a business right now,

575
00:19:11.040 --> 00:19:13.960
you might not have self-something that everyone in the world

576
00:19:13.960 --> 00:19:14.800
can buy, right?

577
00:19:14.800 --> 00:19:16.080
Actually, there's probably not many things

578
00:19:16.080 --> 00:19:17.720
that everyone in the world can buy.

579
00:19:17.720 --> 00:19:20.160
I was talking to a, they sold king and water.

580
00:19:20.160 --> 00:19:22.040
It's like an alkaline water.

581
00:19:22.040 --> 00:19:24.160
And I was talking about their tam and they're like,

582
00:19:24.160 --> 00:19:25.640
everybody drinks water.

583
00:19:25.640 --> 00:19:28.480
I was like, yeah, but no one's buying a $2,000 water machine.

584
00:19:28.480 --> 00:19:29.640
So the tam isn't everybody.

585
00:19:29.640 --> 00:19:32.240
It's people who are fufu enough to buy a $2,000 water machine,

586
00:19:32.240 --> 00:19:35.320
which is a much smaller of the 7 billion people on Earth

587
00:19:35.320 --> 00:19:37.160
where 80% of them don't have internet.

588
00:19:37.160 --> 00:19:39.680
I don't think your tam is as big as you think it is, right?

589
00:19:39.720 --> 00:19:42.320
But as you get into business, you learn more

590
00:19:42.320 --> 00:19:45.360
and then you realize that you can expand your market

591
00:19:45.360 --> 00:19:46.200
in one way or another.

592
00:19:46.200 --> 00:19:47.840
And I could get into the different ways

593
00:19:47.840 --> 00:19:48.840
you can expand your market.

594
00:19:48.840 --> 00:19:50.080
Yeah, give us a little taste.

595
00:19:50.080 --> 00:19:52.800
So the one thing I remember from maybe one of the things

596
00:19:52.800 --> 00:19:57.680
that you taught me was to think about the scalability of things.

597
00:19:57.680 --> 00:19:58.680
Yeah.

598
00:19:58.680 --> 00:20:01.480
And the scalability comes, there's the entrepreneur component,

599
00:20:01.480 --> 00:20:03.320
which is like, you know, scale straights beliefs,

600
00:20:03.320 --> 00:20:05.080
which we can hint not if you want.

601
00:20:05.080 --> 00:20:07.360
But then there's the scalability of the deliverable,

602
00:20:07.360 --> 00:20:09.440
which is like, how do I create a double deliverable

603
00:20:09.520 --> 00:20:10.520
that is more scalable?

604
00:20:10.520 --> 00:20:12.680
If you think about my trajectory,

605
00:20:12.680 --> 00:20:16.080
I first, and I had a job, right?

606
00:20:16.080 --> 00:20:19.360
And then I started selling fitness services

607
00:20:19.360 --> 00:20:21.320
because I was a skill that I learned.

608
00:20:21.320 --> 00:20:24.480
And then I got other people to do fitness services for me.

609
00:20:24.480 --> 00:20:25.680
So this is all levels of leverage.

610
00:20:25.680 --> 00:20:28.560
So like, opportunity is just a fancy word for leverage.

611
00:20:28.560 --> 00:20:30.800
And then after that, I sold licensing,

612
00:20:30.800 --> 00:20:32.400
which was with media, right?

613
00:20:32.400 --> 00:20:34.520
So my incremental costs were basically zero, right?

614
00:20:34.520 --> 00:20:35.960
Every new customer was very low for me

615
00:20:35.960 --> 00:20:38.800
to didn't cost me much to add them, right?

616
00:20:38.800 --> 00:20:40.200
Compared to how much money I can make from them.

617
00:20:40.200 --> 00:20:42.520
And so with, you know, the different iterations

618
00:20:42.520 --> 00:20:43.840
of fundamentally the same skill set,

619
00:20:43.840 --> 00:20:45.360
I knew how to get people in shape.

620
00:20:45.360 --> 00:20:46.640
That was the skill set, right?

621
00:20:46.640 --> 00:20:48.520
I added in learning how to market, learning how to sell.

622
00:20:48.520 --> 00:20:50.200
And those were things that added value, right?

623
00:20:50.200 --> 00:20:52.760
And that was when we get into the entrepreneur skill

624
00:20:52.760 --> 00:20:54.640
straights beliefs, like that was from that side.

625
00:20:54.640 --> 00:20:57.120
But that is why I was able to climb the opportunity ladder

626
00:20:57.120 --> 00:20:58.440
and gain more leverage on the opportunity

627
00:20:58.440 --> 00:20:59.280
that I was pursuing.

628
00:20:59.280 --> 00:21:01.920
And with regards to how do you increase your total

629
00:21:01.920 --> 00:21:03.120
adjustable market like?

630
00:21:03.120 --> 00:21:04.560
So there's four ways to increase it.

631
00:21:04.560 --> 00:21:05.760
There's five ways to adjust it.

632
00:21:05.760 --> 00:21:07.840
So the first four are the same.

633
00:21:07.840 --> 00:21:09.520
Don't worry, the fifth one's just the last one.

634
00:21:09.520 --> 00:21:12.480
So you can go up market, which means you're selling

635
00:21:12.480 --> 00:21:13.800
to bigger versions of the same thing.

636
00:21:13.800 --> 00:21:15.760
So let's say I was helping hair salon owners.

637
00:21:15.760 --> 00:21:18.160
I could help people who have chains of hair salons

638
00:21:18.160 --> 00:21:19.400
or I could help franchise orders

639
00:21:19.400 --> 00:21:20.680
or license orders of hair salons.

640
00:21:20.680 --> 00:21:24.080
It's a much smaller demo, but they'd be much bigger clients.

641
00:21:24.080 --> 00:21:25.480
They'd be enterprise, right?

642
00:21:25.480 --> 00:21:28.560
I could go down market, which would be selling smaller versions,

643
00:21:28.560 --> 00:21:31.160
which would be like, I could sell hair stylists, right?

644
00:21:31.160 --> 00:21:32.120
If I want to go down market from there,

645
00:21:32.120 --> 00:21:34.000
people who aspire to be hair stylists, right?

646
00:21:34.000 --> 00:21:35.400
So it's a good pyramid.

647
00:21:35.400 --> 00:21:36.640
So you go down market, you can go down market,

648
00:21:36.640 --> 00:21:38.520
you can go adjacent market, which is what's similar

649
00:21:38.520 --> 00:21:40.680
to hair stylists that probably has similar wants and needs.

650
00:21:40.680 --> 00:21:42.480
So I'd probably be like, lash salon, or...

651
00:21:42.480 --> 00:21:43.320
In hair salon?

652
00:21:43.320 --> 00:21:44.160
Yes, salon.

653
00:21:44.160 --> 00:21:45.000
Yeah, exactly.

654
00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:46.160
So that would be an adjacent market.

655
00:21:46.160 --> 00:21:47.480
Or I could go broader.

656
00:21:47.480 --> 00:21:49.880
So broader is where you take all adjacent markets

657
00:21:49.880 --> 00:21:51.760
under one umbrella, which would be beauty, right?

658
00:21:51.760 --> 00:21:53.640
So I'd be like, I help all beauty,

659
00:21:53.640 --> 00:21:55.000
type brick and mortar businesses, right?

660
00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:56.120
That would be going broader.

661
00:21:56.120 --> 00:21:58.200
And so there's the four ways you can increase

662
00:21:58.200 --> 00:22:00.040
the total adjustment market of whatever thing

663
00:22:00.040 --> 00:22:01.000
that you're serving.

664
00:22:01.000 --> 00:22:02.440
The fifth is you can go narrower.

665
00:22:02.440 --> 00:22:04.240
So I say that you can increase it four ways.

666
00:22:04.240 --> 00:22:05.080
The fifth is you go narrower.

667
00:22:05.080 --> 00:22:07.440
You get more specific about the constraints

668
00:22:07.440 --> 00:22:10.080
that you apply to the requisites to become a customer.

669
00:22:10.080 --> 00:22:13.920
The reason that most times with businesses that I take on

670
00:22:13.920 --> 00:22:15.640
in the portfolio, it's actually the first step we do

671
00:22:15.640 --> 00:22:17.920
is we actually narrow it most times.

672
00:22:17.920 --> 00:22:20.240
And it's because they don't even know who they serve.

673
00:22:20.240 --> 00:22:21.680
And they don't know who they serve best.

674
00:22:21.680 --> 00:22:23.440
And so when you're starting out,

675
00:22:23.440 --> 00:22:25.400
one of the best practices you can do

676
00:22:25.400 --> 00:22:27.920
is the fancy word is a common factor analysis.

677
00:22:27.920 --> 00:22:29.640
But basically, what are all the best clients

678
00:22:29.640 --> 00:22:30.680
we have having common?

679
00:22:30.680 --> 00:22:32.960
So if we take 100 clients and we look at the top 20%

680
00:22:32.960 --> 00:22:33.800
because there's a Pareto,

681
00:22:33.800 --> 00:22:35.920
there probably responds for 80% of the revenue anyways.

682
00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:36.680
We look at that 20%.

683
00:22:36.680 --> 00:22:38.160
We say, what do they all have in common?

684
00:22:38.160 --> 00:22:41.480
And then what if we only sold that amount of people

685
00:22:41.480 --> 00:22:42.880
and we sold now the same hundred,

686
00:22:42.880 --> 00:22:44.560
but they were all of that 20%.

687
00:22:44.560 --> 00:22:45.960
Well, we would five XR revenue.

688
00:22:46.920 --> 00:22:50.280
Same operational drag because it's the same size company,

689
00:22:50.280 --> 00:22:51.840
but we're selling better customers.

690
00:22:51.840 --> 00:22:53.480
And get on with entrepreneurs all the time.

691
00:22:53.480 --> 00:22:55.520
And they're like, I think I've saturated my market.

692
00:22:55.520 --> 00:22:57.440
And I'm like, all right, what's your revenue?

693
00:22:57.440 --> 00:22:58.840
They're like two million bucks a year.

694
00:22:58.840 --> 00:23:00.200
I'm like, okay.

695
00:23:00.200 --> 00:23:02.200
Well, the market you're serving

696
00:23:02.200 --> 00:23:03.880
is a $60 billion industry.

697
00:23:03.880 --> 00:23:05.720
And you are making $2 million a year.

698
00:23:05.720 --> 00:23:06.560
Little room of ground.

699
00:23:06.560 --> 00:23:07.400
Do you feel?

700
00:23:07.400 --> 00:23:09.560
Do you feel like you might be premature

701
00:23:09.560 --> 00:23:12.640
or you just don't know how to get more customers?

702
00:23:12.640 --> 00:23:14.040
I'm like, well, I guess I don't know any more customers.

703
00:23:14.040 --> 00:23:15.720
Like, that's a problem that's solveable.

704
00:23:15.720 --> 00:23:16.880
So let's solve that, right?

705
00:23:16.880 --> 00:23:18.480
And so then we can break down

706
00:23:18.480 --> 00:23:19.560
there's a million ways to get customers.

707
00:23:19.560 --> 00:23:21.440
So I can break that down to a few.

708
00:23:21.440 --> 00:23:24.440
Yeah, is there a certain type of business

709
00:23:24.440 --> 00:23:27.240
or industry that you gravitate to for the acquisition?

710
00:23:27.240 --> 00:23:28.080
And what is that?

711
00:23:28.080 --> 00:23:30.720
So we work with business services, consumer services,

712
00:23:30.720 --> 00:23:33.800
ideally, businesses that are e-learning,

713
00:23:33.800 --> 00:23:36.080
course, like I love licensing models.

714
00:23:36.080 --> 00:23:37.120
So I love.

715
00:23:37.120 --> 00:23:38.080
Love overhead.

716
00:23:38.080 --> 00:23:39.280
Yeah, high cash.

717
00:23:39.280 --> 00:23:40.080
Yeah, exactly.

718
00:23:40.080 --> 00:23:43.640
And the problems that those companies typically have,

719
00:23:43.640 --> 00:23:45.400
and we take them on usually between three and 10 million

720
00:23:45.400 --> 00:23:46.920
is when we, like in top line sales,

721
00:23:46.920 --> 00:23:49.240
is when we start working with them.

722
00:23:49.240 --> 00:23:51.520
The problems that they usually have is it's too founder,

723
00:23:51.520 --> 00:23:53.720
let it's too personality brand driven.

724
00:23:53.720 --> 00:23:55.840
They don't have enough customer lifetime value

725
00:23:55.840 --> 00:23:57.080
as in they sell something one time

726
00:23:57.080 --> 00:23:58.280
and they can't get people to keep buying,

727
00:23:58.280 --> 00:24:00.440
they can't get people to stick, they have high churn.

728
00:24:00.480 --> 00:24:01.680
But they typically have high cash flow

729
00:24:01.680 --> 00:24:03.640
but it's very dependent on usually one

730
00:24:03.640 --> 00:24:05.680
or maybe two channels of acquisition.

731
00:24:05.680 --> 00:24:08.080
And so we will kind of lay out our five year plan

732
00:24:08.080 --> 00:24:09.560
to getting them from basically a company

733
00:24:09.560 --> 00:24:12.520
that has almost no value to getting to like 30 to 50,

734
00:24:12.520 --> 00:24:14.840
maybe $100 million in enterprise value.

735
00:24:14.840 --> 00:24:16.640
And a company that has multiple acquisition streams

736
00:24:16.640 --> 00:24:17.920
has an extended LTV.

737
00:24:17.920 --> 00:24:19.880
The LTV allows us to have all these

738
00:24:19.880 --> 00:24:20.880
different acquisition channels,

739
00:24:20.880 --> 00:24:22.680
but it depends on the order,

740
00:24:22.680 --> 00:24:25.160
if you solve them depends on the business.

741
00:24:25.160 --> 00:24:27.160
Would you have to pay for the domain acquisition.com

742
00:24:27.160 --> 00:24:28.000
was it expensive?

743
00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:29.440
Yeah, it was 400 grand.

744
00:24:29.480 --> 00:24:30.880
Wait, not that bad actually.

745
00:24:30.880 --> 00:24:34.280
Yeah, I looked at marketing.com was 5.6 million.

746
00:24:34.280 --> 00:24:35.120
Okay.

747
00:24:35.120 --> 00:24:35.960
I thought about that.

748
00:24:35.960 --> 00:24:38.120
I told Layla, I sent her a proposal.

749
00:24:38.120 --> 00:24:39.360
I never email.

750
00:24:39.360 --> 00:24:40.640
I don't email, I don't check email.

751
00:24:40.640 --> 00:24:42.240
If anyone ever email, I will read it.

752
00:24:42.240 --> 00:24:43.520
So just let me know.

753
00:24:43.520 --> 00:24:45.040
And I literally said a proposal, I was like,

754
00:24:45.040 --> 00:24:46.040
so I was thinking.

755
00:24:47.000 --> 00:24:49.520
So I price anchored with marketing.com.

756
00:24:49.520 --> 00:24:51.480
And I was like, we could also get acquisition.com,

757
00:24:51.480 --> 00:24:52.320
which is 400 grand.

758
00:24:52.320 --> 00:24:53.680
She was like, well, that seems much more reasonable

759
00:24:53.680 --> 00:24:56.640
because I anchored 5.6 but marketing.com,

760
00:24:56.640 --> 00:24:57.840
I still sometimes think about

761
00:24:57.840 --> 00:24:59.720
because I do like that.

762
00:24:59.720 --> 00:25:00.560
I like that domain.

763
00:25:00.560 --> 00:25:02.480
But the reason I ended up doing acquisition

764
00:25:02.480 --> 00:25:03.640
wasn't even for the money.

765
00:25:03.640 --> 00:25:05.240
It's because the type of people

766
00:25:05.240 --> 00:25:07.120
and portfolio companies that I am looking for

767
00:25:07.120 --> 00:25:08.480
use the word acquisition.

768
00:25:08.480 --> 00:25:10.920
People who don't know business, not don't know.

769
00:25:10.920 --> 00:25:13.120
But like everyone knows the word marketing

770
00:25:13.120 --> 00:25:14.920
means or thinks they know what the word marketing means.

771
00:25:14.920 --> 00:25:17.440
Right, it's a little bit more general.

772
00:25:17.440 --> 00:25:19.520
Right, people who are trying to scale their companies

773
00:25:19.520 --> 00:25:21.280
talk about cost of acquisition.

774
00:25:21.280 --> 00:25:22.720
And so it also had the double entendre

775
00:25:22.720 --> 00:25:25.920
of we acquire minority stakes in the companies

776
00:25:25.920 --> 00:25:27.480
in addition to helping with acquisition.

777
00:25:27.960 --> 00:25:29.160
I kind of like that component too.

778
00:25:29.160 --> 00:25:30.160
Yeah, 400 grand.

779
00:25:30.160 --> 00:25:32.360
It seems like a steal because I think

780
00:25:32.360 --> 00:25:36.600
I was like, 5 or 6 years ago, Zuckerberg bought fb.com

781
00:25:36.600 --> 00:25:39.080
for like $8 million or something like that.

782
00:25:39.080 --> 00:25:41.280
Just like, probably also a great deal.

783
00:25:41.280 --> 00:25:43.120
In retrospect, yeah.

784
00:25:43.120 --> 00:25:43.960
Interesting.

785
00:25:43.960 --> 00:25:45.960
I got a couple more zings.

786
00:25:45.960 --> 00:25:48.200
I'm telling you, I could sit for hours.

787
00:25:48.200 --> 00:25:50.040
I think a lot of people want to know this,

788
00:25:50.040 --> 00:25:51.160
the answer to this next question,

789
00:25:51.160 --> 00:25:55.200
which is, what is the fastest road to financial freedom?

790
00:25:55.200 --> 00:25:57.320
You talk about everything you're doing on YouTube.

791
00:25:57.320 --> 00:25:58.600
I have nothing to sell.

792
00:25:58.600 --> 00:26:01.520
I'm doing it to help people who you know are broke.

793
00:26:01.520 --> 00:26:05.440
You've got assuming 10 plus million dollars

794
00:26:05.440 --> 00:26:06.480
sitting in the bank today.

795
00:26:06.480 --> 00:26:09.880
Maybe thanks to Leila, closer to 15, I'm guessing.

796
00:26:09.880 --> 00:26:14.880
Oh, I win, we're in the cash, we win.

797
00:26:14.880 --> 00:26:15.720
Okay.

798
00:26:16.920 --> 00:26:18.160
And talk about that too.

799
00:26:18.160 --> 00:26:22.280
Like why, why I think everything's really fluffy right now.

800
00:26:22.280 --> 00:26:24.360
So I mean, I sold three companies last year

801
00:26:24.360 --> 00:26:25.880
and a house and two cars.

802
00:26:25.880 --> 00:26:26.960
So I sold everything last year.

803
00:26:26.960 --> 00:26:27.800
Okay, yeah.

804
00:26:27.800 --> 00:26:31.320
So you're looking at what's happening, predicting.

805
00:26:31.320 --> 00:26:32.520
There's inflated pricings.

806
00:26:32.520 --> 00:26:34.480
I mean, a lot of people are really afraid of inflation

807
00:26:34.480 --> 00:26:36.640
and I think that's super warranted.

808
00:26:36.640 --> 00:26:37.480
I don't know.

809
00:26:37.480 --> 00:26:39.520
I think it's just like, that's a purely like,

810
00:26:39.520 --> 00:26:42.000
this is like looking at Uncle Warren, right?

811
00:26:42.000 --> 00:26:44.520
He's got 150 billion in cash sitting right now.

812
00:26:44.520 --> 00:26:45.920
He's not worried about it.

813
00:26:45.920 --> 00:26:48.200
I'm like, he's seen more cycles than I have.

814
00:26:48.200 --> 00:26:53.280
So he's got 25% of his entire company value sitting in cash.

815
00:26:53.280 --> 00:26:54.400
He's waiting.

816
00:26:54.400 --> 00:26:56.480
And that means it's, I mean, to be clear,

817
00:26:56.480 --> 00:26:57.360
it's not working for you.

818
00:26:57.360 --> 00:27:00.880
It's not earning, I mean, it's earning a tiny bit of interest

819
00:27:00.880 --> 00:27:05.640
compared to what you could have in stocks or investment properties.

820
00:27:05.640 --> 00:27:07.800
So a little inflation's not going to kill me,

821
00:27:07.800 --> 00:27:09.960
but like when you look at the NASDAQ during the crash

822
00:27:09.960 --> 00:27:13.360
in whatever O1 or whatever the year was,

823
00:27:13.360 --> 00:27:14.920
it dropped by 78%.

824
00:27:14.920 --> 00:27:15.680
Right.

825
00:27:15.680 --> 00:27:17.800
So that would be significant.

826
00:27:17.800 --> 00:27:19.000
It would be significant.

827
00:27:19.000 --> 00:27:21.560
And so I think just given the timing,

828
00:27:21.560 --> 00:27:23.040
I'm willing to wait a little bit

829
00:27:23.080 --> 00:27:24.320
and see what's going on.

830
00:27:24.320 --> 00:27:26.240
And I also am very close to a transaction.

831
00:27:26.240 --> 00:27:27.880
So I'm not going to like immediately allocate all the money

832
00:27:27.880 --> 00:27:29.400
that sounds like a bad idea.

833
00:27:29.400 --> 00:27:30.840
And so that is why I have more cash

834
00:27:30.840 --> 00:27:32.440
than I probably would normally.

835
00:27:32.440 --> 00:27:33.600
Yeah.

836
00:27:33.600 --> 00:27:34.840
Do you see yourself coming,

837
00:27:34.840 --> 00:27:36.080
like do you see yourself,

838
00:27:36.080 --> 00:27:38.560
they talk about this scarcity mindset?

839
00:27:38.560 --> 00:27:42.000
Do you think that's rooted maybe in your family story,

840
00:27:42.000 --> 00:27:45.720
which is, you know, your dad basically had to reinvent himself

841
00:27:45.720 --> 00:27:48.320
as the doctor coming over from a different country?

842
00:27:48.320 --> 00:27:49.920
I think he has scarcity mindset.

843
00:27:49.920 --> 00:27:50.960
I don't think so.

844
00:27:50.960 --> 00:27:52.760
Wasn't that the reason he was worried about you

845
00:27:52.800 --> 00:27:53.600
choosing this path?

846
00:27:53.600 --> 00:27:54.720
It's because I thought it was scarcity.

847
00:27:54.720 --> 00:27:55.640
I think it was fear.

848
00:27:55.640 --> 00:27:57.040
I don't think they're necessarily the same thing.

849
00:27:57.040 --> 00:27:58.120
Fear of losing anything, right?

850
00:27:58.120 --> 00:28:00.480
Like fear of not being able to provide or...

851
00:28:00.480 --> 00:28:01.320
I'm not being sexy.

852
00:28:01.320 --> 00:28:03.760
I mean, I think my dad was afraid of what me being a failure

853
00:28:03.760 --> 00:28:04.600
would reflect on him.

854
00:28:04.600 --> 00:28:05.680
I don't think anything knew with scarcity.

855
00:28:05.680 --> 00:28:06.960
I think it's just like he was afraid

856
00:28:06.960 --> 00:28:08.240
that it would look bad on him.

857
00:28:10.360 --> 00:28:11.680
Any more as an Asian quick break,

858
00:28:11.680 --> 00:28:12.800
just to let you know that we've been starting

859
00:28:12.800 --> 00:28:15.560
to post on LinkedIn and want to connect with you.

860
00:28:15.560 --> 00:28:16.400
All right.

861
00:28:16.400 --> 00:28:17.760
So send me a connection request and note letting me know

862
00:28:17.760 --> 00:28:19.920
that you listen to the show and I will accept it.

863
00:28:19.920 --> 00:28:21.680
There's anyone you think that we should be connected

864
00:28:21.680 --> 00:28:24.320
with tag them in one of my relay lists posts

865
00:28:24.320 --> 00:28:26.400
and I will give you all the love in the world.

866
00:28:26.400 --> 00:28:27.240
All right.

867
00:28:27.240 --> 00:28:28.560
So let's get back to the show.

868
00:28:30.560 --> 00:28:34.840
So then back to the quickest road to financial freedom.

869
00:28:34.840 --> 00:28:36.920
I mean, the first answer that can't like the bullet,

870
00:28:36.920 --> 00:28:39.240
like the quick answer was knowing thyself, right?

871
00:28:39.240 --> 00:28:41.040
Which is a lot of people,

872
00:28:41.040 --> 00:28:43.280
because right now entrepreneurship is cool.

873
00:28:43.280 --> 00:28:44.720
There won't be cool in a few years

874
00:28:44.720 --> 00:28:46.520
when it really loses everything.

875
00:28:46.520 --> 00:28:47.640
And so that'll probably,

876
00:28:47.640 --> 00:28:49.760
it'll probably calibrate a little bit.

877
00:28:49.760 --> 00:28:51.160
And so I think it's just,

878
00:28:51.160 --> 00:28:53.560
the one thing that you can always protect yourself with

879
00:28:53.560 --> 00:28:55.680
that, and this is something that I have learned

880
00:28:55.680 --> 00:28:59.960
from my, you know, Iranian family is, you know,

881
00:28:59.960 --> 00:29:02.280
when the revolution happened in Iran,

882
00:29:02.280 --> 00:29:03.720
who talk about legacy,

883
00:29:03.720 --> 00:29:06.760
lands, buildings, houses, bank accounts,

884
00:29:06.760 --> 00:29:08.560
everyone just says those are ours now.

885
00:29:08.560 --> 00:29:10.400
That's it. There's your legacy.

886
00:29:10.400 --> 00:29:11.560
Go on.

887
00:29:11.560 --> 00:29:12.680
That's why I'm like,

888
00:29:12.680 --> 00:29:13.960
and people were like, I want to build a legacy.

889
00:29:13.960 --> 00:29:15.160
I'm like, you asked why not even me

890
00:29:15.160 --> 00:29:16.640
the super power in 500 years.

891
00:29:17.560 --> 00:29:20.360
Your kids, your kids might be in Bangladesh.

892
00:29:20.360 --> 00:29:22.560
Who knows, India might be the hotspot 500.

893
00:29:22.560 --> 00:29:23.760
No one knows, right?

894
00:29:23.760 --> 00:29:25.960
And so that was a touch on legacy.

895
00:29:25.960 --> 00:29:29.920
But skills are the only thing that we'll always appreciate

896
00:29:29.920 --> 00:29:33.040
in time and work in compound,

897
00:29:33.040 --> 00:29:34.280
compound in concert.

898
00:29:34.280 --> 00:29:35.800
So when they work together,

899
00:29:35.800 --> 00:29:36.720
if you know how to do math,

900
00:29:36.720 --> 00:29:37.880
then you can learn how to do accounting.

901
00:29:37.880 --> 00:29:38.720
If you learn how to do accounting,

902
00:29:38.720 --> 00:29:39.720
you can learn how to do tax work.

903
00:29:39.720 --> 00:29:40.560
If you learn how to do tax work,

904
00:29:40.560 --> 00:29:41.560
you can fair how to insurance works.

905
00:29:41.560 --> 00:29:42.400
If you're in insurance works,

906
00:29:42.400 --> 00:29:43.400
then you all of a sudden you're a CFO

907
00:29:43.400 --> 00:29:44.680
and you can prepare companies for sale.

908
00:29:44.680 --> 00:29:46.920
Like the skills stack on top of each other.

909
00:29:46.920 --> 00:29:49.720
Specialized skills are valuable,

910
00:29:49.720 --> 00:29:52.040
independent of the currency or the economic climate.

911
00:29:52.040 --> 00:29:53.240
And so if you are good,

912
00:29:53.240 --> 00:29:55.720
you will always have a place to provide value

913
00:29:55.720 --> 00:29:57.720
because people want good stuff.

914
00:29:57.720 --> 00:29:59.600
Prices may vary, currencies may vary,

915
00:29:59.600 --> 00:30:02.600
but people will want the things you have if you are good.

916
00:30:02.600 --> 00:30:04.720
And the only way to get good is to work.

917
00:30:04.720 --> 00:30:08.440
And so I think that a lot of people spend a lot of their time

918
00:30:08.440 --> 00:30:09.960
in paralysis trying to figure out

919
00:30:09.960 --> 00:30:12.160
what the, quote, ideal opportunity would be

920
00:30:12.160 --> 00:30:14.880
when you won't know what the ideal opportunity is

921
00:30:14.880 --> 00:30:16.440
because you don't have a baseline.

922
00:30:16.440 --> 00:30:19.200
And I believe that research is done through doing.

923
00:30:19.200 --> 00:30:22.040
And you learn a lot more by doing stuff in action.

924
00:30:22.040 --> 00:30:23.360
And then you will gain the insights

925
00:30:23.360 --> 00:30:24.840
of where the opportunities lie,

926
00:30:24.840 --> 00:30:27.720
which is why why commentator comes up again,

927
00:30:27.720 --> 00:30:29.720
what they look for in past founders,

928
00:30:29.720 --> 00:30:31.640
one of their criteria for successful businesses

929
00:30:31.640 --> 00:30:33.520
past experience in the industry.

930
00:30:33.520 --> 00:30:36.080
And that can be, I just wrote a tiny blur

931
00:30:36.080 --> 00:30:37.480
about this in the book that I'm writing.

932
00:30:37.480 --> 00:30:38.400
That can be tangential.

933
00:30:38.400 --> 00:30:40.800
Like if your dad owned a mechanic shop or was a mechanic,

934
00:30:40.800 --> 00:30:42.200
you probably know a lot more about cars

935
00:30:42.200 --> 00:30:45.000
than you then like to you, it seems obvious.

936
00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:48.000
But like, I don't know anything about cars, nothing.

937
00:30:48.000 --> 00:30:49.640
Nor do I really have the interest.

938
00:30:49.640 --> 00:30:51.040
But like if you wanted to get in the space,

939
00:30:51.040 --> 00:30:53.520
you probably have some level of knowledge.

940
00:30:53.520 --> 00:30:56.160
Some people look at just the whole world and they're like,

941
00:30:56.160 --> 00:30:57.840
I don't know anything, but this is maybe a good,

942
00:30:57.840 --> 00:30:59.920
like, but I think it's better to have some level

943
00:30:59.920 --> 00:31:02.120
because usually we have learned stuff in our lives,

944
00:31:02.120 --> 00:31:03.520
whether we like it or not.

945
00:31:03.520 --> 00:31:06.720
And starting in the, in every industry

946
00:31:06.720 --> 00:31:08.920
that your parents, your cousins, you worked in,

947
00:31:08.920 --> 00:31:10.920
there was massive opportunity.

948
00:31:10.920 --> 00:31:12.840
It just depends on how you structure it, right?

949
00:31:12.840 --> 00:31:15.480
So like, let's say my first job was,

950
00:31:15.480 --> 00:31:17.440
I was a blender tender at Smoothie King.

951
00:31:17.520 --> 00:31:18.560
First job I got.

952
00:31:18.560 --> 00:31:21.640
Blender tending, not a very good opportunity, right?

953
00:31:21.640 --> 00:31:23.680
I'm probably not going to scale that, right?

954
00:31:23.680 --> 00:31:25.800
Managing there, probably not either.

955
00:31:25.800 --> 00:31:28.880
Owning the location, a little bit more leverage

956
00:31:28.880 --> 00:31:31.360
because now I've leveraged on labor, right?

957
00:31:31.360 --> 00:31:34.680
Owning the franchise, much more, right?

958
00:31:34.680 --> 00:31:37.880
And so like all industries, if you go high enough up

959
00:31:37.880 --> 00:31:39.280
and this is the rule of thumb for anyone,

960
00:31:39.280 --> 00:31:42.240
if you want to see where opportunity exists,

961
00:31:42.240 --> 00:31:44.920
look at the businesses that have been here the longest

962
00:31:44.920 --> 00:31:46.160
because they make tons of money.

963
00:31:46.160 --> 00:31:47.880
The only reason they would exist is because they can,

964
00:31:47.880 --> 00:31:49.040
they can exist during downturns.

965
00:31:49.040 --> 00:31:50.160
The only way you can exist during downturn

966
00:31:50.160 --> 00:31:51.880
is you make tons of profits all the time

967
00:31:51.880 --> 00:31:53.280
so that you can weather it.

968
00:31:53.280 --> 00:31:56.760
JP Morgan's been here for longer than anybody's been alive,

969
00:31:56.760 --> 00:31:57.600
right?

970
00:31:57.600 --> 00:31:59.160
Some of the big insurance companies.

971
00:31:59.160 --> 00:32:00.480
Why is insurance so profitable?

972
00:32:00.480 --> 00:32:02.720
Because you pay them for nothing, right?

973
00:32:03.760 --> 00:32:05.720
Like pay hundreds of, I mean, depends on what it like,

974
00:32:05.720 --> 00:32:07.720
pay thousands and thousands of thousands here

975
00:32:07.720 --> 00:32:09.880
for something that may never happen.

976
00:32:09.880 --> 00:32:12.120
And they just know how to appropriately value risk,

977
00:32:12.120 --> 00:32:13.440
assess risk, excuse me.

978
00:32:13.440 --> 00:32:15.560
And so wonderful business, right?

979
00:32:15.560 --> 00:32:16.640
Insurance.

980
00:32:16.640 --> 00:32:18.680
The point is, is like, I've now learned to see this

981
00:32:18.680 --> 00:32:20.760
is like when I see big businesses,

982
00:32:20.760 --> 00:32:22.400
the bigger the business, the more I realize

983
00:32:22.400 --> 00:32:24.920
that there's probably a very high gross margin opportunity.

984
00:32:24.920 --> 00:32:27.320
So you look at the biggest companies on the stock market,

985
00:32:27.320 --> 00:32:29.080
look at what they're doing, the base unit

986
00:32:29.080 --> 00:32:31.640
that they're selling typically has tremendous.

987
00:32:31.640 --> 00:32:33.240
Like the biggest company in the world right now

988
00:32:33.240 --> 00:32:35.480
in terms of profit is like Exxon.

989
00:32:35.480 --> 00:32:36.320
That's the number one.

990
00:32:36.320 --> 00:32:37.840
In terms of nefricational that's created.

991
00:32:37.840 --> 00:32:38.680
Isn't that crazy?

992
00:32:38.680 --> 00:32:40.480
Like people are like Facebook, no, it's Exxon.

993
00:32:40.480 --> 00:32:41.320
Why?

994
00:32:41.320 --> 00:32:42.680
Because they drill water out of the ground

995
00:32:42.720 --> 00:32:45.720
and they sell it for however many hundred dollars per, right?

996
00:32:45.720 --> 00:32:48.920
It's not water, it's oil, but it works the same way, right?

997
00:32:48.920 --> 00:32:51.360
And so, and that's a massive over generalization,

998
00:32:51.360 --> 00:32:52.320
but like you get the idea.

999
00:32:52.320 --> 00:32:54.320
And so Facebook sells eyeballs,

1000
00:32:54.320 --> 00:32:55.800
which cost them basically nothing.

1001
00:32:55.800 --> 00:32:57.920
Google sells eyeballs, they cost them basically nothing.

1002
00:32:57.920 --> 00:32:59.560
And so all of these types of businesses,

1003
00:32:59.560 --> 00:33:02.080
and this is where people get into the ethics around capitalism

1004
00:33:02.080 --> 00:33:04.200
and whatnot, but like you sell for what the market values

1005
00:33:04.200 --> 00:33:05.160
it at, period.

1006
00:33:05.160 --> 00:33:07.560
And your goal as a business is to drive your crossdown

1007
00:33:07.560 --> 00:33:08.960
as much as you can, right?

1008
00:33:08.960 --> 00:33:10.680
As long as you're still long-term greedy,

1009
00:33:10.680 --> 00:33:11.800
which is if you drive them too low

1010
00:33:11.800 --> 00:33:13.080
or you don't pay, people are enough,

1011
00:33:13.080 --> 00:33:15.000
you introduce new levels of risk,

1012
00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:16.960
which then long-term you actually lose money.

1013
00:33:16.960 --> 00:33:19.040
So that's when you get into the long-term foreterm

1014
00:33:19.040 --> 00:33:21.320
like CEO ship of public trading companies and stuff,

1015
00:33:21.320 --> 00:33:22.320
which we don't need to get into.

1016
00:33:22.320 --> 00:33:24.400
But like if you were to only own the company

1017
00:33:24.400 --> 00:33:26.120
and you could not ever exit

1018
00:33:26.120 --> 00:33:29.360
and you made your decisions with long-term greed in mind,

1019
00:33:29.360 --> 00:33:30.800
then you usually make the right calls.

1020
00:33:30.800 --> 00:33:34.240
And I'll say one last thing about how to get freedom.

1021
00:33:34.240 --> 00:33:36.600
Biggest mistake that I see young people

1022
00:33:36.600 --> 00:33:38.280
or people who are young in the game making

1023
00:33:38.280 --> 00:33:40.880
is that they want to become millionaires in 90 days.

1024
00:33:40.920 --> 00:33:43.800
And when most times you could guarantee

1025
00:33:43.800 --> 00:33:45.840
that you could become a millionaire in a decade,

1026
00:33:45.840 --> 00:33:48.320
but you have to be willing to not be a millionaire

1027
00:33:48.320 --> 00:33:50.600
for nine of those 10 years.

1028
00:33:50.600 --> 00:33:52.600
And if I had ever one side of contract that said that

1029
00:33:52.600 --> 00:33:54.240
when they were 20, they could all be millionaires

1030
00:33:54.240 --> 00:33:56.520
from their 30, but no one's willing to do that.

1031
00:33:56.520 --> 00:33:58.400
And so what happens is for the rest of their lives,

1032
00:33:58.400 --> 00:34:01.120
they keep chasing the shiny object over and over again

1033
00:34:01.120 --> 00:34:03.840
and keep battling the same boss and losing.

1034
00:34:03.840 --> 00:34:07.800
So you're talking about taking a $1,000 paycheck

1035
00:34:07.800 --> 00:34:11.560
and taking 300 of it and putting it into savings

1036
00:34:11.560 --> 00:34:15.960
and living under your means for nine years

1037
00:34:15.960 --> 00:34:17.880
and that compounds and that, you know.

1038
00:34:17.880 --> 00:34:19.080
I mean, there's the investment side

1039
00:34:19.080 --> 00:34:21.880
and I'm not, despite having a high net worth,

1040
00:34:21.880 --> 00:34:23.400
I'm not a newer investor.

1041
00:34:23.400 --> 00:34:25.280
I've made my money with businesses.

1042
00:34:25.280 --> 00:34:26.640
I haven't made my money investing.

1043
00:34:27.600 --> 00:34:30.040
And so for people who are starting out,

1044
00:34:30.040 --> 00:34:32.520
the know thyself pieces, am I going to be somebody

1045
00:34:32.520 --> 00:34:34.240
who has entrepreneurial tendencies

1046
00:34:34.240 --> 00:34:35.960
and could potentially own a business?

1047
00:34:36.000 --> 00:34:39.200
Business ownership is the best way to create wealth.

1048
00:34:39.200 --> 00:34:41.440
It's also the best way to lose wealth,

1049
00:34:41.440 --> 00:34:44.320
so which I hopefully illustrated in the beginning of this.

1050
00:34:44.320 --> 00:34:46.560
And so it's high risk, it's high reward.

1051
00:34:46.560 --> 00:34:50.720
And so yes, it is the way to, it is the way to the most wealth.

1052
00:34:50.720 --> 00:34:54.080
It may not necessarily be the way to the fastest wealth.

1053
00:34:54.080 --> 00:34:56.360
So like if you're, like I think most,

1054
00:34:56.360 --> 00:34:58.160
most guys who have entrepreneurial tendencies

1055
00:34:58.160 --> 00:35:02.360
could make 200,000 a year, 300,000 a year,

1056
00:35:02.360 --> 00:35:04.520
becoming excellent at sales.

1057
00:35:04.520 --> 00:35:06.200
Like if you just learn that skill and that skill

1058
00:35:06.200 --> 00:35:07.920
translates to all aspects of life.

1059
00:35:07.920 --> 00:35:09.680
Most people who are in business know how to sell.

1060
00:35:09.680 --> 00:35:11.240
At some level, they know how to sell investors,

1061
00:35:11.240 --> 00:35:12.560
they know how to sell, their teams,

1062
00:35:12.560 --> 00:35:14.200
they know how to sell, someone to recruit

1063
00:35:14.200 --> 00:35:16.040
to bring on the, like you have to sell.

1064
00:35:16.040 --> 00:35:19.120
And so I think for most people gaining that,

1065
00:35:19.120 --> 00:35:21.720
I think those initial jobs are undervalued

1066
00:35:21.720 --> 00:35:23.480
for your ability to learn.

1067
00:35:23.480 --> 00:35:26.200
And so a lot of guys are just looking for the perfect job.

1068
00:35:26.200 --> 00:35:27.920
When the perfect job is the assembly

1069
00:35:27.920 --> 00:35:29.720
of maybe through four jobs that you have

1070
00:35:29.720 --> 00:35:31.640
to gain skill sets in different areas.

1071
00:35:31.640 --> 00:35:33.000
And I think Warren Buffett said it best,

1072
00:35:33.000 --> 00:35:35.000
there's probably a good wrap up, which is whenever

1073
00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:37.040
you're working, you should either be learning or earning.

1074
00:35:37.040 --> 00:35:39.000
So either you're working for the paycheck

1075
00:35:39.000 --> 00:35:41.160
because it's material to you,

1076
00:35:41.160 --> 00:35:43.720
or you're working because the incremental increase

1077
00:35:43.720 --> 00:35:45.040
in knowledge is material to you.

1078
00:35:45.040 --> 00:35:47.440
But it should check one of those two boxes.

1079
00:35:47.440 --> 00:35:49.880
So this show is called Behind the Brand.

1080
00:35:49.880 --> 00:35:52.600
What do you think the definition of a brand is?

1081
00:35:52.600 --> 00:35:55.640
And how do you build a brand?

1082
00:35:55.640 --> 00:35:58.440
So I see brand as reputation.

1083
00:35:58.440 --> 00:36:00.400
And I see reputation as what people say about you

1084
00:36:00.400 --> 00:36:01.920
when you're not there.

1085
00:36:01.960 --> 00:36:03.440
So that is your brand.

1086
00:36:03.440 --> 00:36:04.560
I think a lot of people take a lot of time

1087
00:36:04.560 --> 00:36:06.520
to try and build their brand.

1088
00:36:06.520 --> 00:36:09.360
But I think you build your brand inside out.

1089
00:36:09.360 --> 00:36:11.320
So what is the Alex Ramozi brand?

1090
00:36:12.320 --> 00:36:13.280
Well, I mean, I would say it's a line

1091
00:36:13.280 --> 00:36:14.880
with the values that we have.

1092
00:36:14.880 --> 00:36:17.000
It's an impeachable character.

1093
00:36:17.000 --> 00:36:17.800
It's sincere candor.

1094
00:36:17.800 --> 00:36:20.480
I try and be honest with as much as I possibly can.

1095
00:36:20.480 --> 00:36:22.640
I try and do the right thing as much as I possibly can

1096
00:36:22.640 --> 00:36:24.160
and competitive greatness.

1097
00:36:24.160 --> 00:36:27.400
Within the rules, we will play and we'll play to win.

1098
00:36:27.400 --> 00:36:30.600
And I don't need to know your current net worth.

1099
00:36:30.960 --> 00:36:32.640
I'm sure you shared it.

1100
00:36:32.640 --> 00:36:33.560
We're back on.

1101
00:36:33.560 --> 00:36:34.400
Yeah.

1102
00:36:34.400 --> 00:36:36.040
And so you can say that.

1103
00:36:36.040 --> 00:36:39.800
Well, so do you have your sights on a particular goal?

1104
00:36:39.800 --> 00:36:42.480
Are you trying to get to a billion or?

1105
00:36:42.480 --> 00:36:44.520
Yeah, so I have two goals on the horizon.

1106
00:36:44.520 --> 00:36:47.080
The first goal is to get Leila on the Forbes 100

1107
00:36:47.080 --> 00:36:49.520
for self-made richest women.

1108
00:36:49.520 --> 00:36:51.480
So we only have to have 250 million together there.

1109
00:36:51.480 --> 00:36:54.680
So that's like the, like the immediate goal.

1110
00:36:54.680 --> 00:36:55.520
OK.

1111
00:36:55.520 --> 00:36:56.920
How far away is that?

1112
00:36:56.920 --> 00:36:57.920
150.

1113
00:36:57.920 --> 00:36:59.440
I mean, like, is it a year away?

1114
00:36:59.800 --> 00:37:02.320
No, I think realistically, I think we'll get there

1115
00:37:02.320 --> 00:37:03.640
in like 36 months.

1116
00:37:03.640 --> 00:37:05.720
Yeah, I think we'll get there in 36 months.

1117
00:37:05.720 --> 00:37:08.560
The next goal would be, would be billion.

1118
00:37:08.560 --> 00:37:11.600
And that's just because like if you look at how the high net,

1119
00:37:11.600 --> 00:37:13.840
this is actually kind of funny for anyone who's curious.

1120
00:37:13.840 --> 00:37:17.600
The way net worth is broken up is you have high net worth.

1121
00:37:17.600 --> 00:37:20.840
So high net worth is 1 to 5 million in assets.

1122
00:37:20.840 --> 00:37:22.040
Investible assets.

1123
00:37:22.040 --> 00:37:26.000
Very high net worth is 5 to 30 million in investment assets.

1124
00:37:26.000 --> 00:37:30.600
And then 32 billion, big range is ultra high net worth.

1125
00:37:30.600 --> 00:37:32.280
And then above a billion is a billion.

1126
00:37:32.280 --> 00:37:37.120
Those are the four net worth categories that exist, right?

1127
00:37:37.120 --> 00:37:38.880
So for me, it's like we're all trying to worth now.

1128
00:37:38.880 --> 00:37:41.600
And so getting to the billion, I guess, is the next thing.

1129
00:37:41.600 --> 00:37:44.880
But all the while, we realize that we're doing it

1130
00:37:44.880 --> 00:37:49.200
for no real reason other than for the love of the game.

1131
00:37:49.200 --> 00:37:51.920
And because the mission of the company,

1132
00:37:51.920 --> 00:37:53.360
and so like if you just talk about brand,

1133
00:37:53.360 --> 00:37:55.440
I'll tell you about our values, but the mission is

1134
00:37:55.480 --> 00:37:57.120
to document and share the best practices

1135
00:37:57.120 --> 00:37:58.360
of building world class companies.

1136
00:37:58.360 --> 00:37:59.720
And so that's why we make the books.

1137
00:37:59.720 --> 00:38:00.800
That's why we make the YouTube.

1138
00:38:00.800 --> 00:38:02.320
That's why we make the courses.

1139
00:38:02.320 --> 00:38:05.160
That's why education will be a core to everything we do.

1140
00:38:05.160 --> 00:38:08.720
Because what we're doing also, that matters most to us.

1141
00:38:08.720 --> 00:38:10.760
Let me ask you a follow-up question, which is,

1142
00:38:10.760 --> 00:38:15.760
why is that Forbes 100 list important to you for her?

1143
00:38:15.760 --> 00:38:17.480
Or is it her goal?

1144
00:38:17.480 --> 00:38:19.280
I think it's more, it's definitely my goal.

1145
00:38:19.280 --> 00:38:20.480
Why is that important to you?

1146
00:38:20.480 --> 00:38:21.400
I think it's cool.

1147
00:38:21.400 --> 00:38:24.280
I think for really no other, I think it's cool.

1148
00:38:24.280 --> 00:38:26.080
Yeah, I think it's a vanity metric.

1149
00:38:26.080 --> 00:38:26.920
Sure.

1150
00:38:26.920 --> 00:38:28.200
I think it's a trophy, yeah.

1151
00:38:28.200 --> 00:38:29.240
Why not be awesome?

1152
00:38:29.240 --> 00:38:30.000
Like that'd be cool.

1153
00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:30.840
Yeah.

1154
00:38:30.840 --> 00:38:32.720
And I think that's a good enough reason.

1155
00:38:32.720 --> 00:38:34.000
Because it'd be cool.

1156
00:38:34.000 --> 00:38:35.040
Okay.

1157
00:38:35.040 --> 00:38:36.920
Final parting words of advice.

1158
00:38:36.920 --> 00:38:38.880
Dan Sullivan said something that I really like.

1159
00:38:38.880 --> 00:38:41.720
He said, wanting something is reason enough.

1160
00:38:41.720 --> 00:38:43.840
A lot of people trying to ask you to justify why.

1161
00:38:43.840 --> 00:38:45.000
Why do you want that?

1162
00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:46.040
Why do you want to date that girl?

1163
00:38:46.040 --> 00:38:47.040
Why do you want to start that business?

1164
00:38:47.040 --> 00:38:48.080
Because I want to.

1165
00:38:48.080 --> 00:38:50.280
Like that is the reason I want to.

1166
00:38:50.280 --> 00:38:51.120
Yeah.

1167
00:38:51.120 --> 00:38:52.520
Or maybe because you can.

1168
00:38:52.520 --> 00:38:53.360
Yeah.

1169
00:38:54.880 --> 00:38:56.640
What was the last question you said?

1170
00:38:56.640 --> 00:38:57.960
Final parting words of advice.

1171
00:38:57.960 --> 00:38:59.880
Oh, parting words of advice.

1172
00:38:59.880 --> 00:39:00.880
You're writing this new book.

1173
00:39:00.880 --> 00:39:02.400
Maybe let's ramp into it that way.

1174
00:39:02.400 --> 00:39:06.120
So the last book you sort of left off

1175
00:39:06.120 --> 00:39:08.680
where some of your last videos are, give us a preview

1176
00:39:08.680 --> 00:39:11.440
into what the next chapter is, what the next book is about.

1177
00:39:11.440 --> 00:39:15.520
So the next book tentatively is titled $100 million leads.

1178
00:39:15.520 --> 00:39:17.640
Because most people had to fix their offers, which is the title

1179
00:39:17.640 --> 00:39:20.120
of which is $100 million offers is the first book, which is,

1180
00:39:20.120 --> 00:39:21.760
what are you actually going to present to a customer

1181
00:39:21.760 --> 00:39:23.280
in order to get them to give you money?

1182
00:39:23.280 --> 00:39:25.040
The second thing that happens after people have that

1183
00:39:25.040 --> 00:39:26.800
and people start giving the money is they want more.

1184
00:39:26.800 --> 00:39:28.200
And so they want more people to present to.

1185
00:39:28.200 --> 00:39:30.000
And so they need more leads.

1186
00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:32.160
And so the subject of that, the title of the book is leads,

1187
00:39:32.160 --> 00:39:34.080
but the subject of the book is advertising,

1188
00:39:34.080 --> 00:39:36.040
which by the definition is to make known.

1189
00:39:36.040 --> 00:39:38.000
So how to make known.

1190
00:39:38.000 --> 00:39:40.840
So you've made a shift recently, which is, you know,

1191
00:39:40.840 --> 00:39:44.320
you used to basically buy leads or buy advertising.

1192
00:39:44.320 --> 00:39:46.640
You know, advertising by definition

1193
00:39:46.640 --> 00:39:49.200
is to spend money to make known, right?

1194
00:39:49.200 --> 00:39:51.560
By definition, it's to make known, not to spend money.

1195
00:39:51.600 --> 00:39:53.800
Just because it's an important point.

1196
00:39:53.800 --> 00:39:54.640
It's fair.

1197
00:39:54.640 --> 00:39:56.560
My interpretation is there's two paths.

1198
00:39:56.560 --> 00:40:01.040
There's direct marketing or direct response advertising.

1199
00:40:01.040 --> 00:40:02.440
And then there's branding.

1200
00:40:02.440 --> 00:40:06.760
And I think I've heard you say, if you were 80, 20 advertising

1201
00:40:06.760 --> 00:40:10.480
or direct marketing before, you are now flip the script

1202
00:40:10.480 --> 00:40:11.720
and you're more into branding.

1203
00:40:11.720 --> 00:40:13.000
Why did you do that?

1204
00:40:13.000 --> 00:40:15.600
And why do you think that's better now?

1205
00:40:15.600 --> 00:40:16.520
It's because you're more established.

1206
00:40:16.520 --> 00:40:18.600
You have the money in the bank, you've done the business.

1207
00:40:18.600 --> 00:40:21.520
I think that having the money to make enables for branding.

1208
00:40:21.520 --> 00:40:23.840
And so I actually think that branding

1209
00:40:23.840 --> 00:40:28.320
is a higher return on advertising over a longer time horizon.

1210
00:40:28.320 --> 00:40:29.160
Me too.

1211
00:40:29.160 --> 00:40:32.120
And so it just takes longer to come to fruition.

1212
00:40:32.120 --> 00:40:34.680
And if you are patient and have money,

1213
00:40:34.680 --> 00:40:36.480
it's by far the superior strategy.

1214
00:40:36.480 --> 00:40:37.240
Right.

1215
00:40:37.240 --> 00:40:39.640
But when you don't have money, you need to make money today

1216
00:40:39.640 --> 00:40:41.440
to pay for your advertising in general,

1217
00:40:41.440 --> 00:40:43.680
whatever those efforts are, to make known.

1218
00:40:44.920 --> 00:40:46.080
Then having a direct response.

1219
00:40:46.080 --> 00:40:48.320
So I think people do end up shifting over time from,

1220
00:40:48.320 --> 00:40:50.040
like Seth Godin was famous for being a hardcore

1221
00:40:50.040 --> 00:40:52.120
direct response marketer and then being all about branding now,

1222
00:40:52.120 --> 00:40:54.560
Gary Vee was more direct response built on,

1223
00:40:54.560 --> 00:40:57.840
built the Y library on PPC from Google is all about branding.

1224
00:40:57.840 --> 00:40:59.640
And I feel like I've made a similar transition.

1225
00:40:59.640 --> 00:41:02.120
But I think you have to, like, yeah, it's almost like

1226
00:41:02.120 --> 00:41:05.960
you have to discover it yourself rather than be told it.

1227
00:41:05.960 --> 00:41:08.080
Like it doesn't, it has to become real for you.

1228
00:41:08.080 --> 00:41:08.960
And then it has to click.

1229
00:41:08.960 --> 00:41:10.840
And so for me, I feel like branding has clicked

1230
00:41:10.840 --> 00:41:13.960
in terms of my understanding of its value overall.

1231
00:41:13.960 --> 00:41:15.760
It is more difficult to measure.

1232
00:41:15.760 --> 00:41:19.200
But it is absolutely, like when you look at Louis Vuitton

1233
00:41:19.200 --> 00:41:21.720
and Bernard, I don't know who's the owner, right?

1234
00:41:21.720 --> 00:41:24.160
He's worth $150 billion or whatever it is now.

1235
00:41:24.160 --> 00:41:25.320
He's the only one who's not a tech guy.

1236
00:41:25.320 --> 00:41:26.800
He was all at the top of that list.

1237
00:41:26.800 --> 00:41:27.880
And it's because he's built a brand.

1238
00:41:27.880 --> 00:41:29.120
He's able to sell a purse that costs

1239
00:41:29.120 --> 00:41:31.000
some $100 for $8,000.

1240
00:41:31.000 --> 00:41:32.000
Right.

1241
00:41:32.000 --> 00:41:34.240
Simply because of a brand.

1242
00:41:34.240 --> 00:41:37.080
And that's, like, so what is his return on

1243
00:41:37.080 --> 00:41:39.000
on advertising, probably higher than people

1244
00:41:39.000 --> 00:41:42.000
who are at the hardcore direct response, you know, funnel,

1245
00:41:42.000 --> 00:41:43.080
you know, upsell, downsell, blah, blah, blah.

1246
00:41:43.080 --> 00:41:46.480
Like, by two persons for one off, like that's direct response.

1247
00:41:46.480 --> 00:41:48.160
Whereas it could just, you know, branding could just be

1248
00:41:48.160 --> 00:41:51.880
a picture of LeBron with a Louis Vuitton handback

1249
00:41:51.880 --> 00:41:52.720
or whatever.

1250
00:41:52.720 --> 00:41:55.480
I mean, so your opinion, you're right.

1251
00:41:55.480 --> 00:41:58.200
Aligned with what I've heard from everyone else.

1252
00:41:58.200 --> 00:42:00.240
And I had this conversation with Seth many times.

1253
00:42:00.240 --> 00:42:01.080
Yeah.

1254
00:42:01.080 --> 00:42:02.080
Yeah.

1255
00:42:02.080 --> 00:42:04.400
Well, I said that direct response is sort of like

1256
00:42:04.400 --> 00:42:05.800
the tortoise and the hare.

1257
00:42:05.800 --> 00:42:08.760
So it's the hare's race is the advertising

1258
00:42:08.760 --> 00:42:10.040
or the direct response.

1259
00:42:10.040 --> 00:42:10.840
And you're right.

1260
00:42:10.840 --> 00:42:12.640
Sometimes you need to fill the funnel

1261
00:42:12.640 --> 00:42:14.800
because you got to keep the lights on or you're, you know,

1262
00:42:14.800 --> 00:42:17.200
you're bleeding out $3,000 a day.

1263
00:42:17.200 --> 00:42:20.160
And he got to get those leads that convert to sales.

1264
00:42:20.160 --> 00:42:22.240
And then if you can do branding,

1265
00:42:22.240 --> 00:42:24.320
it's like the tortoises race, slow and steady,

1266
00:42:24.320 --> 00:42:26.000
but it ends up winning the race.

1267
00:42:26.000 --> 00:42:28.000
And he said, if you want to know whether or not

1268
00:42:28.000 --> 00:42:31.240
you have a brand or not, you know, people

1269
00:42:31.240 --> 00:42:34.560
will pay extra premium for a brand.

1270
00:42:34.560 --> 00:42:37.240
And he said, if you go into most hotels and you don't look

1271
00:42:37.240 --> 00:42:40.000
at the marquees, look at the carpet around the walls,

1272
00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:43.240
if you don't know where you are, you can't smell it,

1273
00:42:43.240 --> 00:42:45.360
you can't see it, you can't taste it,

1274
00:42:45.360 --> 00:42:48.160
then you don't have a brand, you have a logo.

1275
00:42:48.160 --> 00:42:51.480
And a brand is, you know, he used the example of Nike

1276
00:42:51.480 --> 00:42:54.320
and the story goes, you know, if Nike builds a hotel,

1277
00:42:54.320 --> 00:42:56.200
you could kind of imagine what that might look like

1278
00:42:56.200 --> 00:42:58.240
or smell like or feel like.

1279
00:42:58.240 --> 00:43:01.280
And, you know, same goes for our personal brands.