Dan Martell - 8 Money Rules I Wish I Knew in my 20s

00:00:00.000 When I was 20 years old, I was broke, overweight, and hated my job.

00:00:04.660 Today, I run a 100 million a year company in the best shape of my life, and I love what I do.

00:00:10.820 But if I had to give my 20-year-old self honest advice to transform his life twice as fast,

00:00:15.780 here's what I'd say. The first piece of advice is you don't have to work harder,

00:00:20.700 just work smarter. See, back when I started in business, I was working 80 to 100 hours a week

00:00:26.520 to the point where my fiance left me.

00:00:29.480 I was burning the candle at both ends.

00:00:32.220 I thought the way you win is to go all in.

00:00:35.600 And here's the challenge with that.

00:00:37.180 Longer hours doesn't equal productivity.

00:00:40.140 Now I work less than 40 hours

00:00:42.380 and make 40 to 50 times more.

00:00:44.680 See, the game isn't to grind it out.

00:00:46.660 The game is to do things that expand you,

00:00:49.640 that push you, that scare you.

00:00:51.640 When people say they're hustling

00:00:53.060 and all they're doing is just working 16 hour days,

00:00:55.480 they're not hustling because they're doing things

00:00:57.500 that are simple and easy.

00:00:59.100 If you wanna grow your life and you wanna grow your business,

00:01:01.800 work on the business rather than in the business.

00:01:05.120 Learn to build the machine, not be part of the machine.

00:01:09.140 That's the game of buying back your time,

00:01:11.120 focusing on only the work that you like doing

00:01:13.880 that makes you money.

00:01:15.220 Anything else that's just busy work

00:01:17.040 is actually gonna hold you back from achieving your goals.

00:01:19.980 Most people just put their heads down and grind it out

00:01:22.400 because that's all they know how to do.

00:01:24.020 they feel like they're doing something

00:01:26.140 which is better than nothing.

00:01:27.280 When they're confused about the path forward,

00:01:29.760 they go and reorganize their office supplies.

00:01:32.660 They go and process their emails.

00:01:34.600 They go and respond to messages on social media.

00:01:37.540 Not saying that those things are bad.

00:01:39.560 I'm just saying if that's what you've been doing

00:01:41.380 for two, three, four, five years,

00:01:43.840 thinking you're gonna get rich,

00:01:45.420 that's not the winning strategy.

00:01:47.140 Every time you wake up, you should ask yourself,

00:01:49.500 what scares me?

00:01:50.980 What makes me feel uncomfortable?

00:01:52.880 What gives me anxiety about what I'm about to do today?

00:01:56.600 Because if it does,

00:01:58.260 then you know you're on the right path.

00:02:00.280 If what you're doing is the same thing you did last year,

00:02:02.480 then I can tell you, you're never gonna be able to grow.

00:02:04.780 Because if you wanna grow,

00:02:06.080 80% of your calendar in 12 months

00:02:07.720 has to be completely different

00:02:09.000 than what it looks like today.

00:02:10.280 Which brings us to number two,

00:02:11.760 which is to create like you're rich,

00:02:13.480 but spend like you're broke.

00:02:15.300 Even when I was making millions a year,

00:02:17.360 I was still only paying myself 50K a year.

00:02:19.940 Why?

00:02:20.260 I didn't need a lot to live.

00:02:21.620 I was in my late 20s, I didn't have anybody else to impress

00:02:25.200 and I just saved my money.

00:02:27.100 It just felt like a better strategy

00:02:29.000 than trying to expand my lifestyle to keep up to people

00:02:33.060 that I didn't even know or honestly like

00:02:35.300 to impress them with things that I didn't even need.

00:02:37.680 So my whole philosophy now is to live on 10% of your income

00:02:41.480 because if you can go long periods of time

00:02:44.100 delaying gratification,

00:02:45.780 that is what's gonna allow you to win.

00:02:48.240 Some of the wealthiest people,

00:02:49.700 they didn't need anything fancy.

00:02:51.120 when you look at jeff bezos from amazon in his office he made his desk out of used doors there

00:02:56.960 was no fanciness if they needed stuff they bought second hand there was nobody to impress there was

00:03:02.400 work that had to get done there was skill sets to acquire there was the person that they needed to

00:03:07.760 become most people want to spend the money as soon as they get it so then they don't have any cash

00:03:13.760 available to take advantage of opportunities i mean i had literally a million dollars cash in

00:03:18.320 my bank account i was still driving around in a 12 year old volkswagen jetta which i loved wasn't

00:03:24.240 as nice as my friend that went to college and got a really nice job driving around in a fancy bmw

00:03:29.440 3 series but the money i saved by not wasting on those things ended up making investments that

00:03:35.680 paid a hundred times over which brings us to number three which is don't run away from problems

00:03:41.280 face them head on i have a friend every time they run into an issue they ruminate on the problem

00:03:48.400 they talk about it they go over it with anybody who's willing to listen it spirals literally out

00:03:54.000 of control because they keep repeating the story over and over again and there's this great saying

00:03:58.960 that says misery loves company and it turns out the people that are willing to listen to the story

00:04:03.520 are also people that are negative that ruminate that just spiral out of control see most people

00:04:09.680 make problems worse by ignoring them the game here for me is speed to decision if there's an

00:04:15.280 issue you have to ask yourself what is the next action step that i can take to solve this problem

00:04:21.120 that is it if you get clear on the next action even though you may not know how to solve the problem

00:04:27.120 and then just do it it will literally resolve the emotions that are coming with it while everyone

00:04:32.880 else is still thinking about how to solve it you've already moved on to the next one it's a

00:04:37.920 massive upgrade in your life most people run away from problems because they love to tell them

00:04:44.080 stories about why the problems exist i've seen people in love with setbacks in love with being

00:04:51.760 held down in love with blaming other people for what's happened in their life and because they're

00:04:57.200 they're literally sold on those stories their identity of who they are and the challenges they

00:05:02.080 face they just sit with these problems over and over again because they feel normal they would

00:05:06.960 actually the question to ask themselves is who would you be if you didn't have this problem

00:05:11.040 who would you be it sounds crazy but a lot of people are not willing to literally let go the

00:05:16.000 story that they've told themselves about who they are with that problem which brings us to number

00:05:20.400 four which is no one cares about your story until you win so go win i see people coming up to me all

00:05:26.880 the time and they're like dan here's what i went through here's the impact i want to have in the

00:05:31.040 world here's what i want to go do and i'm like that's cool but you're not going to be able to

00:05:36.080 help as many people as you just said if you don't go and succeed first just because you went through

00:05:41.440 a setback and you haven't shown to the world that you've taken those lessons and those learnings and

00:05:46.480 applied them to your life to go and win in life then you don't have the complete story nobody's

00:05:52.000 gonna watch a superhero movie about a superhero that doesn't defeat the villain and until you go

00:05:57.840 win massively you haven't become that hero yet when i left rehab i had one mission stay sober

00:06:05.440 just stay sober everybody that was doubting me that was thinking i was going to relapse

00:06:09.680 i just had to overcome the doubters so they couldn't doubt me anymore i had to stay sober

00:06:14.640 for so long so that it was undeniable that that was just my new future that was how i was going

00:06:20.160 to be and everyone goes through hard times and in those hard times i kept stepping forward i kept

00:06:24.720 making better decisions i kept showing and proving to everybody around me that that was who i was

00:06:28.800 going to be but that wasn't enough because then i'm just normal i may not be in jail anymore i may

00:06:33.840 may not have a drinking problem anymore,

00:06:35.660 but I'm still not successful in the eyes of other people.

00:06:38.920 The difference is, is upward spiral or downward spiral.

00:06:41.940 Here's the massive difference.

00:06:43.500 In life, you're either spiraling upwards

00:06:45.780 or you're spiraling downwards.

00:06:47.300 And what's crazy is,

00:06:48.780 if you realize you spiral downwards so far in your life,

00:06:51.800 there was a day where you made a decision

00:06:53.980 that started that negative spiral.

00:06:55.780 Every day you wake up to try to win,

00:06:58.080 you keep the upward spiral going.

00:07:01.180 Knowing that your story of winning

00:07:03.320 could be the most valuable thing

00:07:05.120 that you ever create in your life.

00:07:06.960 Your ability to overcome setbacks,

00:07:09.760 that narrative will be one of the most powerful tools

00:07:13.220 you have to support and change other people's lives.

00:07:16.140 Here's what I believe.

00:07:16.980 The worst thing that's ever happened to you

00:07:19.060 could be your biggest motivation to achieve,

00:07:21.840 to win, to tell that story.

00:07:24.120 And I know for some of you guys, that's crazy,

00:07:25.660 but my experience has been is your purpose in life

00:07:29.420 could sit right next to that worst thing

00:07:32.460 that's ever happened to you.

00:07:33.760 Which brings us to number five,

00:07:35.640 which is don't shrink yourself

00:07:37.020 to make other people feel comfortable.

00:07:39.200 This one hurts my feelings

00:07:41.060 because watching you play small

00:07:43.980 to not make somebody else feel less

00:07:48.100 is literally hurting you and it's hurting them.

00:07:51.760 See, if you truly love somebody

00:07:53.240 and you wanna see people win,

00:07:55.420 then the most powerful thing you could ever do for them

00:07:57.820 is to inspire them and people playing small never inspired anybody here's a crazy story when i

00:08:04.540 finally gave myself permission to buy a supercar at 38 the reason i hadn't done it prior is because

00:08:10.140 i was worried how it would make other people feel i didn't want anybody to feel less than

00:08:14.700 or uncomfortable or feel like i was showing off and then i realized after i drove it for a couple

00:08:20.300 weeks is that the truth is is my real friends were happy for me and the people that weren't just

00:08:26.460 showed me who they were and that was an incredible lesson because what i've learned over the years is

00:08:31.900 your good friends will be your biggest cheerleaders so don't dim your light to make other people feel

00:08:37.180 brighter shine yours as much as you can to inspire a select few don't play small i i love saying this

00:08:45.020 that if you're too much let them go find less because the too muchness is appreciated from

00:08:50.940 other people that are on that journey i love your too muchness i want you to be that person

00:08:56.380 and you have to be willing to go long periods of time being misunderstood see people that get

00:09:01.180 upset with you it's because your truth shows them where they've been living a lie the way you show

00:09:06.220 up in the world will demonstrate to them where they haven't stepped up you winning shows them

00:09:11.660 where they gave up and that will hurt they will respond by taking shots at you but understand

00:09:17.420 that's showing their character not revealing yours which brings us to number six which is

00:09:22.460 don't blame anyone or anything go look in the mirror so here's what i've learned when i was

00:09:29.260 growing up i grew up in a really challenging environment and for a long time i blamed my

00:09:34.140 parents for that life i blamed them for the hardship for putting me on ritalin when i was 11

00:09:39.740 diagnosing myself with adhd putting me in group homes foster homes crisis centers because they 0.97

00:09:44.700 didn't know how to deal with me not visiting me in jail when i ended up there two times before i

00:09:49.420 I was 17. And then at one point when I looked at my life and I realized all the good that was there

00:09:55.220 that I had forgotten to blame my parents for the good. See, if who I am is a byproduct of who I was

00:10:01.320 and my parents were the reasons I was blaming them for shaping my life, then I have to give

00:10:07.000 them credit for who I've become, which sounds crazy. But the person in the mirror is responsible

00:10:12.500 for the life. Take responsibility for everything. Have extreme ownership. And I know this sounds

00:10:19.120 absurd but if i was walking down the street and i got hit by a car i would first off go why was i

00:10:24.560 walking down the street because i could have decided to go on a trail i could have decided

00:10:28.320 to drive i could have decided not to be out at that time and that for some people they don't

00:10:32.560 understand if something happens to me i want to be a hundred percent control into my response

00:10:36.800 i can't control what happens to me but i can control my meaning i give to that and what's

00:10:41.440 cool is that if you do that people around you will change you know when i finally got sober

00:10:46.640 in my 20s, I started looking around and my little brother, my other brother, my sister, they all

00:10:52.020 started making different life decisions. Was it because of me? I don't know. But here's what I've

00:10:56.940 learned. When you heal yourself, you heal other people around you indirectly. And you're the only

00:11:02.280 person that can affect that change. It's easier to blame other people than to say I'm accountable

00:11:07.220 for my situation. You know, it's easier to say I can't do this because of these reasons than to say

00:11:12.840 hey, I haven't gotten these results

00:11:14.360 because I'm not good enough yet.

00:11:16.660 You know, I had a friend of mine

00:11:17.660 and he was talking about growing his business

00:11:19.260 and he's saying, well, why would I grow my business

00:11:21.240 to have more time to spend with my kids

00:11:22.920 when I have the time now

00:11:23.780 if I just don't wanna grow my business?

00:11:25.640 And I laughed, I said, the truth is,

00:11:27.160 is you can have both, but you're just not good enough yet.

00:11:29.540 You see, instead of him being accountable

00:11:31.420 for not getting that result,

00:11:32.960 he was trying to blame some other situation.

00:11:35.540 He's trying to blame that, oh, I'd have to sacrifice

00:11:37.940 all this time with my kids to get this result.

00:11:40.120 And I'm saying, no, you just have to be accountable

00:11:42.320 that you're just not good enough yet.

00:11:44.440 The cool part is, is you can get good.

00:11:46.380 You can resolve that.

00:11:47.580 You are in control of your perspective,

00:11:49.600 your life, your energy, your emotions.

00:11:51.500 And the person who is accountable for that

00:11:53.460 can actually affect change and grow faster.

00:11:56.420 Not being accountable at 100%.

00:11:58.080 Some people are 60%, 70%, 80%,

00:12:00.680 but 100%, you get to move a lot faster through the world.

00:12:04.300 Which brings us to number seven,

00:12:05.780 which is don't compare your chapter one

00:12:07.560 to somebody else's chapter 10.

00:12:09.520 When I was coming up,

00:12:10.620 I realized comparing myself to other people was taking joy out of my life, was making me feel

00:12:17.020 insecure, was making me feel unhappy. And then I decided, you know what? I'm just going to compare

00:12:23.460 myself to one person. And that was me from yesterday. If every day I woke up today and said,

00:12:30.120 am I a better version of me? If I look at myself compared to a week ago, a month ago, last year,

00:12:35.920 can I say honestly to another person that I am better today?

00:12:41.360 If I continue to compare myself to me from yesterday,

00:12:43.960 then I can take action against that.

00:12:46.140 And see what happens oftentimes,

00:12:47.480 especially in the entrepreneurial world,

00:12:49.180 people compare their chapter one

00:12:51.280 to somebody else's chapter 17.

00:12:53.340 You know, in the entrepreneurial age,

00:12:54.780 it's not actually how old you are,

00:12:56.440 it's how long you've been doing something.

00:12:58.420 And you see these people with overnight success

00:13:00.720 and maybe a new business, a new venture,

00:13:02.500 not realizing that they've been doing something

00:13:04.380 in that industry for 20 years,

00:13:06.160 that's just the new version of their company.

00:13:08.220 Everyone has their own path and journey.

00:13:10.540 And I've been building businesses for 27 years.

00:13:12.780 And honestly, what I've built is not that impressive

00:13:15.440 considering how long I've been doing it for.

00:13:17.740 So imagine what could you do in 10 years, 20 years,

00:13:21.460 30 years, if you just decided to focus.

00:13:25.100 You know, I always say

00:13:26.000 there's two types of people in this world.

00:13:27.780 One is successful, the other one is distracted.

00:13:30.620 Dedicate a decade, go all in on you

00:13:33.760 and compare yourself to you from yesterday.

00:13:35.900 And I'm telling you,

00:13:37.000 that consistency will unlock your success.

00:13:39.620 Which brings us to number eight,

00:13:41.320 which is that it's okay to ask for help.

00:13:43.360 Back when I was starting my first company,

00:13:45.220 I was a couple months in

00:13:46.300 and I realized that I wasn't able to make payroll.

00:13:49.720 I was freaking out.

00:13:50.940 This is my third company, first two complete failures.

00:13:53.820 And I'm only a couple months in

00:13:55.240 and I tried to do everything right.

00:13:56.780 I had some money saved up.

00:13:58.240 I hired these people.

00:13:59.260 I had customers ready to go building this software.

00:14:01.720 and I'm looking at my cash and my bank account

00:14:03.860 realize I'm not gonna be able to make payroll.

00:14:05.820 So I swallowed my pride and I called my dad.

00:14:08.080 And I'll tell you, having the attitude

00:14:10.300 to wanting to build this business

00:14:11.940 without anybody else's help, especially my dad,

00:14:15.200 it was a tough pill to swallow.

00:14:17.560 But I gave him a call and he gave me some great advice.

00:14:20.000 He said, you know, you can factor your receivables.

00:14:22.920 So I had customers in the US who had bought some software,

00:14:25.600 but the way the payment term works, it took a while.

00:14:28.200 And he taught me that I could sell those invoices

00:14:31.160 to somebody else that would take a big piece of this cut but at least i'd have the money to be

00:14:35.240 able to make payroll so i listened to his advice swallowed my pride sold my receivables and was

00:14:40.680 able to make payroll if i didn't ask for help i would have never known that was even a thing what

00:14:46.520 i've learned over the years is most people will not ask another person for help they don't want

00:14:51.240 to bother them they don't think they're worthy of it they feel like it would cost them money they

00:14:55.320 make up all these reasons why they don't ask anybody else for help but what i've learned is

00:15:00.200 people who've done it before will literally shave years off your learning curve finding somebody

00:15:05.480 who's already gotten the result you want and getting them to give you the strategy will save

00:15:10.040 a third of the time just think about anything you've done maybe you're a musician an athlete

00:15:14.440 etc if you had to start from zero know what you know now how much faster could you teach somebody

00:15:18.600 else that skill that exercise that business think about for yourself if somebody came to you starting

00:15:24.040 from scratch and you're an expert at something how much faster could you teach them to get to where

00:15:28.840 you're at knowing what you know now for most people it's three times faster so here's the deal

00:15:34.360 if you want to just go as fast as possible and get a bunch of bumps and bruises then go alone

00:15:38.920 just go as fast as but the problem is it's only going to get you so far it's going to be a small

00:15:43.000 outcome but if you want to go far and you want to create something massive and you want to not

00:15:48.040 have all these small little setbacks from things you could have learned from somebody else

00:15:51.640 go find the people that have been there before and ask for help that was my honest advice to my

00:15:56.920 20-year-old self that many of you need. If you want to learn my 17 rules of success,

00:16:01.860 click the link and I'll see you on the other side.

Dan Martell - August 13, 2024

8 Money Rules I Wish I Knew in my 20s

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