Dan Martell - June 22, 2026


28 Brutal Truths I wish someone told me in my 20s

Topics
rich business invest ladder learn earn
Hosted by
Dan Martell
Mentioned
YouTube Scorecard John Maxwell Mike Brown
$100M Investor Explains： How to Invest in 2026 This AI Brain Will Make You So Smart It’s Almost Unfair

Episode Stats


Length

8 minutes

Words per minute

208.53

Word count

1,859

Sentence count

144

Harmful content

Misogyny

1

sentences flagged

Toxicity

4

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

I m 46 and today I own a portfolio of companies that does over $100M a year, but there was a time when I was dead broke. If I could go back and sit down with my 20-year-old self and talk to him about money, here s what I would tell him: Never charge for your time, always charge for the outcome. Time has a cap, outcome doesn t. You can get paid a lot of money for a result, but you can only make so much money with your time.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
00:00:00.000 I'm 46 and today I own a portfolio of companies that does over a hundred million dollars a year
00:00:04.420 but there was a time when I was dead broke and if I could go back and sit down with my 20 year
00:00:09.520 old self and talk to him about money here's the 28 things I tell never charge for your time always
00:00:15.200 charge for the outcome time has a cap outcome doesn't you can get paid a lot of money for a
00:00:20.960 result but you can only make so much money with your time you don't pay for things with money
00:00:25.240 you pay for it with the time it took you to make the money.
00:00:28.360 That $5,000 vacation isn't 5K,
00:00:30.900 it's the 100 hours you put in to make that 5K. 1.00
00:00:33.880 You probably would stop buying stupid 1.00
00:00:35.760 if you knew how much of your life you gave up 1.00
00:00:37.960 to have to pay for that thing.
00:00:39.460 Broke people spend time to save money. 0.99
00:00:41.640 Rich people spend money to save time.
00:00:44.140 If you burn an hour to save 20 bucks,
00:00:46.940 you value yourself at $20 an hour.
00:00:48.960 Do you know how many people I've seen
00:00:50.040 drive 45 minutes out of the way to save seven cents on gas?
00:00:53.680 Know what your time's worth and stop doing things
00:00:56.520 that you could pay other people to do
00:00:58.040 to buy it back to reinvest in yourself.
00:01:00.720 Solve bigger problems, make bigger money.
00:01:03.460 The size of your income literally matches
00:01:05.980 the size of the problems you solve in the world.
00:01:08.600 Digging a ditch doesn't get you paid.
00:01:10.520 Building a billion, you make millions.
00:01:12.600 You don't have a money problem, you have a focus problem.
00:01:15.740 Where your attention goes, your money flows.
00:01:18.560 If you don't focus on things that make you money,
00:01:21.000 instead you get distracted,
00:01:22.020 You're getting involved with the news
00:01:23.620 and the girlfriends and the boyfriends.
00:01:26.060 And that's the problem.
00:01:27.280 Just show me your calendar
00:01:28.440 and I will show you your bank account.
00:01:30.680 Don't lean the ladder against the wrong wall.
00:01:33.180 Can you make money doing that feels a little gray area?
00:01:37.200 Yep.
00:01:37.760 When you get the top of that ladder,
00:01:39.040 are you gonna wish that ladder
00:01:39.820 was leaned against a better wall?
00:01:41.840 100%.
00:01:42.320 Climbing fast doesn't matter
00:01:44.400 if you're climbing against the wrong thing.
00:01:46.620 That's just gonna shatter once you get up there.
00:01:49.000 Inspect what you expect.
00:01:50.320 An expectation of making money without an inspection is just hope.
00:01:54.700 If there's no money in the bank account, look at it.
00:01:57.300 Understand it.
00:01:58.180 And look, if you're a CEO and you want to learn the most important metrics to track
00:02:01.740 in your business, I built a whole CEO scorecard for exactly that.
00:02:05.180 Just DM me the word YouTube scorecard on Instagram and I'll send it right over for free.
00:02:09.440 Speed is a competitive advantage.
00:02:11.580 Most people take too long to make a decision.
00:02:13.960 By the time they do, the opportunity is gone.
00:02:16.020 The fast people win.
00:02:18.160 Money loves speed.
00:02:19.420 It doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to be done.
00:02:22.280 Done at least gives you an opportunity to make money.
00:02:24.300 Thinking about it, never gets you paid.
00:02:26.260 If you can't sell,
00:02:27.900 you will always be working for a person who can.
00:02:30.560 The person who can tell a better story always wins.
00:02:34.220 Salespeople tell great stories.
00:02:35.820 And the closer you are to the money,
00:02:37.740 the more influence you have.
00:02:39.780 The more hands you shake, the more money you make.
00:02:43.040 The more people you know,
00:02:44.180 the more opportunities are gonna fly into your life.
00:02:46.660 You're gonna be saying no
00:02:47.800 more than you're gonna be saying yes.
00:02:49.340 Don't play not to lose, play to win.
00:02:52.660 Default to trust in the fact
00:02:54.060 that the future is gonna be brighter.
00:02:55.580 Trying not to lose is why people stay broke.
00:02:57.920 Instead, convince yourself you're gonna win
00:02:59.980 so that you get ready, you have the expectation of winning
00:03:02.520 and that changes your whole day.
00:03:04.140 Be the smallest person in the biggest rooms.
00:03:07.440 If you don't feel like an imposter
00:03:09.800 around the people you're spending time with,
00:03:12.320 find a bigger room.
00:03:13.780 Surround yourself with people that are playing,
00:03:16.080 thinking, acting way bigger.
00:03:18.120 It's the fastest way to get richer.
00:03:20.420 The best investment you can make is in yourself.
00:03:23.580 See, skills compound faster than money every day.
00:03:27.240 So forget about mutual funds
00:03:29.180 and the market and other businesses.
00:03:31.180 The first place you should be investing your money
00:03:32.900 is in yourself.
00:03:34.080 Stop preserving wealth, start creating it.
00:03:36.460 If the money doesn't flow out,
00:03:38.160 it'll never be able to flow in.
00:03:39.820 That hoarding nature of like,
00:03:41.460 I got this and this is mine and my house is mine.
00:03:43.700 None of it's ours.
00:03:44.840 It's all just a resource.
00:03:46.320 It's come and it'll go
00:03:47.480 and if you know how to use it, it can grow.
00:03:49.620 Wealth is a ratio, not a number.
00:03:52.480 It's the difference between how much you have
00:03:54.980 versus how much you need.
00:03:56.780 If you keep increasing what you need
00:03:59.380 based on how much you have, then you'll never be rich.
00:04:02.040 If you spend a million and one dollars
00:04:04.040 and you only made a million dollars, you will be broke.
00:04:07.040 Be patient with results, but wildly impatient with action.
00:04:11.000 Most things will work out if you just stick with them.
00:04:14.560 People give up all the time,
00:04:16.000 seconds before they were about to strike gold. I'm just the byproduct of doing the thing over
00:04:20.260 and over again when everybody else would just stop. Set God-sized goals. If you actually know
00:04:25.880 how to achieve your goal, it's not big enough. And you got to get to the point where it's so big,
00:04:30.880 it would be impossible for you to do it without somebody supporting you.
00:04:34.360 My mentor, John Maxwell taught me this. He said, I need to create goals that surpass my human
00:04:39.280 ability to achieve them. And in that collaboration, that's where the magic happens. That's what they
00:04:45.140 called miracles. And miracles are nothing more than a shift in perception. 10X is easier than
00:04:50.720 2X. It's not only one of my favorite books, but the philosophy is just so true. Some people's
00:04:56.120 problem with getting rich is their goals are too small. When you expand what you're after,
00:05:00.040 all of a sudden you make a different series of decisions that makes making money way easier
00:05:04.840 because it forces you to change everything. Most people just want to have like, I just want to make
00:05:08.880 10% more money. Guess what? That's like doing the same thing you're doing, but a little bit better.
00:05:12.500 If you wanna 10X your money,
00:05:14.200 you're gonna have to tear it down to rebuild it
00:05:16.320 and that's where you get rich.
00:05:17.880 You'll never attract a penny more
00:05:20.100 than you think you deserve.
00:05:22.000 If you feel like you deserve the money,
00:05:24.060 that you're worth it, you won't be afraid to ask for it.
00:05:26.560 Some people have it all and should ask and never do
00:05:29.580 and they wonder how the others get rich and they stay broke.
00:05:32.660 If you feel guilty about getting rich,
00:05:35.320 you just haven't given enough money away.
00:05:37.140 Guilt is hoarding your money.
00:05:39.160 Generosity dissolves it.
00:05:40.440 I mean, the truth is if you don't give a little,
00:05:42.500 when you got a little, like maybe right now,
00:05:44.280 then you won't give a lot when you've got a lot.
00:05:46.140 The more you give, the more you get.
00:05:48.300 Simple scales, complex fails.
00:05:50.720 Most businesses are trying to sell to too many people
00:05:53.240 too often, do too many things.
00:05:55.040 It's the ones that say, we do this really well
00:05:57.620 and we do nothing else.
00:05:59.220 I'm more impressed with what you say no to than yes.
00:06:01.960 You can't scale complexity.
00:06:04.480 Your business will die from indigestion
00:06:06.720 before it will ever die from starvation.
00:06:08.900 You take you with you for the rest of your life.
00:06:12.500 So that's why you want to invest in your skills,
00:06:15.100 your reputation, your relationships,
00:06:17.020 because those are irreplaceable.
00:06:19.340 If you took everything from me,
00:06:21.140 but left me with my reputation and my relationships,
00:06:23.760 I'm back in business within three years.
00:06:26.560 Pre-sell before you build, always.
00:06:29.740 The biggest risk to your life
00:06:31.380 is building something that nobody wants.
00:06:33.720 You can do all the things, get the business ready,
00:06:36.280 get things going, but the moment you ask for a credit card,
00:06:39.100 that's when things get real. 0.90
00:06:40.080 After you ask for the sale, shut the up.
00:06:43.260 I've seen so many people talk past the close
00:06:46.200 because they're so nervous and they can't believe
00:06:48.320 they just said the number and the person hasn't said yes.
00:06:50.920 So they talk themselves out of a deal.
00:06:53.240 The next person who talks loses.
00:06:55.540 If your business stops the moment you leave,
00:06:58.400 you don't own a business, you own a job.
00:07:00.820 That's freelancing, that's self-employment,
00:07:03.440 but that's not a business.
00:07:05.120 The point of owning a business
00:07:06.480 isn't to make a sh** ton of money,
00:07:08.040 it's to build an asset that's worth something someday to somebody else. So that's where you
00:07:12.000 create your real money. And you can't be the reason the thing runs. Build the people. The
00:07:17.340 people build the business. You can only do so much, but if you invest in the people around you,
00:07:21.760 you coach them, you teach them, you train them, then they will show up and do the work better.
00:07:26.000 The customer's happier. You make more money. Rinse and repeat. My rule is I hire the soul,
00:07:31.360 the right person, and I train for the role. This is from my buddy, Mike Brown. You were born to
00:07:36.120 be rich. The only question is whether you have the courage to remember. Most people spend their
00:07:41.440 lives chasing the proof that they're worth it. You were born valuable. There's nothing you have
00:07:47.700 to do to be worthy of receiving anything you want. Get rid of the shame. Get rid of the need for
00:07:53.260 achievement. You're allowed to just receive. Your biggest expense is not doing the thing that makes
00:07:59.680 you the most money. A lot of people stay busy because it feels good. They don't do the thing
00:08:04.280 that scares them that would make them the most money.
00:08:06.560 Start your day by doing those things
00:08:08.420 and you will get rich.
00:08:09.620 And every second you're not doing those things,
00:08:11.880 it's money down the drain.
00:08:13.360 Here's the thing.
00:08:14.380 When people pay me a lot of money to coach them,
00:08:16.960 I know what they're buying.
00:08:18.280 They're buying perspective.
00:08:19.540 They're buying beliefs that they don't currently have.
00:08:21.920 And the way you can get them for free
00:08:23.860 is to bathe in this information.
00:08:26.480 If you watch this,
00:08:27.700 I know you're the kind of person that can be rich.
00:08:31.680 And the only decision you have to make
00:08:33.240 is how many times am I gonna listen to this?
00:08:35.800 Not just come once, but put it on repeat.
00:08:38.420 That person is gonna win.
00:08:40.420 So leave a comment and let me know out of the 28,
00:08:42.720 which one resonated the most with you.
00:08:44.360 And remember, if you want the CEO scorecard,
00:08:46.460 just DM me, YouTube Scorecard on Instagram,
00:08:48.900 and I'll send it over for free.
00:08:50.340 Now, if you wanna learn the only 25 ways to make money,
00:08:53.400 click here and I'll see you on the other side.