Dan Martell - From Refugee to $1B Empire [Patrick Bet-David Interview]

00:00:00.000 In Germany at the refugee camp, a kid got shot, we're running around and hiding in a bathroom to make sure we don't get shot.

00:00:05.360 What do you think that period of your life taught you that's been valuable for you as an entrepreneur today?

00:00:11.000 You're one decision away from ruining your life.

00:00:14.060 One night I came home, we were expecting our first.

00:00:16.900 Jennifer's in tears, it's 1.30 in the morning.

00:00:18.820 She tells me, see, I had a miscarriage.

00:00:20.320 I'm like, God, what are you doing?

00:00:21.740 That anger, is it still there?

00:00:25.240 Oh, my God.

00:00:26.460 I've made a lot of stupid mistakes in my life, but as you're going,

00:00:31.480 you're just hoping you don't make the same mistake twice.

00:00:35.620 But why should people be thinking billion?

00:00:38.060 It's not a job for everybody. It's not.

00:00:40.320 So for me, why do I need to make a billion dollars?

00:00:47.040 Welcome everybody to the show. I'm here with Patrick Bet David, PBD.

00:00:51.460 Patrick, my first question, I was just actually with Adam at the vault.

00:00:54.760 I'm sorry for you, by the way.

00:00:56.460 he's like who are you i i i i recognize this yeah that's with the logo i said well we do some

00:01:02.660 content but i asked him i was leaving i said i'm about to go have a conversation with patrick

00:01:06.980 what's a question i should ask that most people don't ask and we were talking about some of the

00:01:12.080 work i do at risk youth yep and he goes patrick essentially is who you just described if you

00:01:18.480 don't mind i know you've shared the story about you know coming from iran and stuff but like

00:01:22.580 you know one a guy asked me once he said what did your childhood smell like

00:01:26.440 i thought that was an interesting way you know to yeah you know middle eastern they sweat a lot

00:01:33.240 what do you want me to tell you about what the childhood no but i would tell you so for me

00:01:37.560 uh till 10 years old mom and dad lived together and my dad was always my hero since i was six

00:01:44.280 years old when the teacher asked me what do you want to be when you grow up i said i want to be

00:01:46.700 a dad one day because i just want to be like the guy when they got a divorce germany refugee camp

00:01:51.820 i experienced what it was to not trust everybody and you can't think everybody wants what's best

00:01:58.560 for you and i got stabbed the first time with a fight with a couple afghani kids and we were with

00:02:03.860 czech kids and yugoslavia myodrag and anna maria and polish and all these guys i'm like okay i'm

00:02:10.160 by myself now it's me my sister who's six years older and my mom and then came to the states

00:02:16.040 lived in glendale and uh refugee you know welfare all this we never had a car we would always go

00:02:22.940 different places my mother got a car at the tail end of it so i would always walk to school and

00:02:27.180 back and then you're around gangsters you know all these different guys that are in gangs drug

00:02:32.440 dealers and all these guys and i didn't touch drugs i only i never touched drugs because i was

00:02:36.860 afraid of a god my mother even though i didn't believe in god she would always tell me the one

00:02:41.360 that very effective she would say i may not know what you're doing but god knows if you use drugs

00:02:46.880 okay my best friend was the number one guy selling weed in clandell he's no longer with us i took him

00:02:52.800 to uh rehab and his uh drug that took him out was vicodin 50 a day he he yeah i took him to bible

00:03:02.080 study we took him to tarzana medical center rehabilitation center and boom um love that guy

00:03:08.320 probably my favorite guy to just hang out and talk and enjoy just a real guy we liked

00:03:14.720 you know he was a tupac guy anyway so that's that part so at 14 years old my dad's trying

00:03:20.800 to kind of change my life and he introduced me to this guy named vladimir who's now pastor in

00:03:24.720 torlock a syrian guy whose father was like my guy who i wanted to be like i wanted to be an

00:03:29.440 entrepreneur luther al jose who had a house in uh uh upland california san antonio boulevard right

00:03:37.360 right next to Snoop Dogg.

00:03:39.200 And I would go to this guy's house, 7200 score for it.

00:03:42.360 I'm like, what a fricking house.

00:03:43.840 One day I went, he would have pictures of his family

00:03:46.400 in the white pool table, picture with Al Gore, liberal guy.

00:03:50.960 I'm like, okay, so office here, bedroom,

00:03:53.200 had a jacuzzi, big pool, basketball.

00:03:55.760 Like, I don't understand any of this stuff, man.

00:03:57.080 I want a life like this.

00:03:58.000 He would sit there with his kids, always push them.

00:04:00.120 Jesus wasn't real, even though he believed it.

00:04:02.560 Let me tell you, money is bad.

00:04:03.960 And like, what are you talking about?

00:04:05.400 You do good with money.

00:04:06.360 it was always heated debates with his kids and i loved it his son uh brought me to a league called

00:04:12.260 the new century city basketball association in echo park it's guys from blood crypts uh ms 13

00:04:20.820 uh black diamonds i believe all these guys we were all just you know hoodlum kids one time there

00:04:27.080 was a shooting my dad was there uh kid got shot we're running around and hiding in a bathroom to

00:04:32.580 make sure we don't get shot so then after high school i'm like dude nothing's gonna happen i'm

00:04:35.720 working at Burger King. It's not like I got a straight path to doing something big. I said,

00:04:38.500 I'm going to go do 20 years in the military. And military is when I flipped. Drill Sergeant

00:04:43.560 Green got a hold of me. And there's a famous picture with me standing like this next to my

00:04:47.780 drill sergeant and my dad. And after that, I'm like, yeah, I can't live life like this anymore.

00:04:54.360 And boom, 180. What do you think that period of your life taught you that's been invaluable

00:04:59.580 for you as an entrepreneur today? You're one decision away from ruining your life.

00:05:05.720 And we're watching a movie the other day, the kids and I, we were watching Ray Allen's movie with Denzel, the basketball game.

00:05:12.680 What is it? What is the Ray Allen movie with the you got game?

00:05:16.780 Is it you got game or he got game? Something like that. One of those things, you got game.

00:05:20.680 And the back and forth on how the father ended up in jail and the governor comes in, wants him to recruit his son to go to the local school.

00:05:31.200 and if you do, I will reduce your sentence

00:05:33.660 and some guys are following him

00:05:35.080 and we're just sitting there.

00:05:36.980 We're like, look at this guy.

00:05:38.220 So he's dating this girl

00:05:39.520 that he's hooking up with all the time

00:05:42.860 and she's trying to get paid

00:05:44.640 to get him to a certain school

00:05:46.000 and one by one by one,

00:05:48.040 you're realizing that some of the people

00:05:49.600 don't want what's best for you

00:05:50.680 and all the motives of certain relationship, right?

00:05:54.480 And there's nothing wrong

00:05:56.680 with people having a motive with you.

00:05:58.300 Your wife has a motive with you.

00:05:59.800 You have a motive with your wife.

00:06:01.200 your kids do with you, you with them. There's motive here. There's motives that's selfish for

00:06:06.340 him versus you versus me. This here, there's motive, both sides. But you have to know,

00:06:12.000 is the motive coming from a negative place? Is it coming from a positive place? You just did an

00:06:17.140 event with John Maxwell. One of the best quotes I heard John Maxwell once say, he says, when you

00:06:21.540 learn to persuade, be very careful to not flirt with using that ability to manipulate.

00:06:27.520 because when you learn how to persuade you can also manipulate right because manipulation is what

00:06:34.040 me when you lose and so that's the motive where you got to learn with all the other guys and

00:06:38.680 i was blindsided like oh that guy wants what's best for me you don't want what's best for me

00:06:42.540 no this guy doesn't like yeah this is lopsided i gotta figure this stuff out with human nature

00:06:46.680 and motives and all this stuff and that took many years to figure out but that was probably the case

00:06:50.180 because it was so chaotic it's like ah so much going on i'm like yeah no i'm good i got it so

00:06:59.540 a lot of the chaos between my mom my dad refugee camp you know glendale all this stuff

00:07:06.480 is why in business you can kind of be like no we got it's gonna be fine we're gonna be good

00:07:14.100 we got this you don't get trained that later on in life musk handles chaos well why because his

00:07:22.220 upbringing was way more chaotic than what he's going through today so today for him is a very

00:07:28.000 safe place to be so that's probably what it taught me at that time what was the scariest moment as a

00:07:33.400 child for you oh no longer seeing the footsteps of my dad coming upstairs so we lived in iran

00:07:39.880 and we lived on the fourth floor

00:07:41.520 and my favorite part of the day

00:07:44.580 was he would come home around 8.20, 8.30

00:07:46.680 and I would see his head

00:07:48.260 go like this

00:07:49.460 and there was a glass door that we had

00:07:52.040 glass was like this

00:07:53.220 and it was blurry, you couldn't see it through

00:07:55.740 but when he would come up I would see his head go like this

00:07:58.200 it was the best part of my day

00:07:59.300 that means dad's home

00:08:00.320 and he would open up, we'd run up

00:08:03.640 wrestle, hang out

00:08:05.480 and have 15 minutes with him because he always wanted us

00:08:07.680 to go to sleep at 8.30, boom, you gotta go to sleep

00:08:09.860 but uh the last time i saw that head coming up uh stairs i was 10 years and some eight months old

00:08:22.940 nine months old that's probably the scariest part that's the last time i saw it i was afraid of no

00:08:27.780 longer having that man in my life and who am i gonna learn from being a man so in germany at

00:08:33.900 the refugee camp i didn't have any men around me it was just my mom and my sister and i gotta

00:08:37.640 so i had to age very quickly to protect my sister and my mom and then when i came here i saw my dad

00:08:46.240 two days a month for six years and then i joined the army and then when i got out of the army i'm

00:08:53.760 like listen if i'm going to be roommates with anybody at 21 years old my dad and i became

00:08:57.180 roommates that's crazy so we made up for all the years we didn't live together as a kid i lived

00:09:02.400 them from 21 to 28 you know my dad was my roommate from 21 to 28 years most people don't know this

00:09:08.880 my dad and i were roommates from 21 to 28. what is it about your dad that you

00:09:17.040 admire emulate today yes why did you love him so much so you ask me a question when i'm

00:09:26.000 interviewing and i ask sometimes tough questions of people or i'm you know challenging or whatever

00:09:30.640 To me, when I ask it, I don't think I'm being a bad guy and I don't think I'm trying to, you know, disrespect the person.

00:09:43.760 It's very natural to me.

00:09:46.040 Why?

00:09:46.540 Because that's how he was.

00:09:48.240 So he had a very interesting way of unbelievable, unconditional love, but straight up accountability.

00:10:00.640 and it's like as a boy growing up holy moly you need that like if a boy has unconditional love

00:10:09.920 but also you're getting your ass handed to you never physically it was always like making excuses

00:10:15.380 why are you being so lazy why this and da da da da da and then it's it's like this right so

00:10:20.740 like dude this guy one of the most annoying things he set the example of as a father

00:10:26.320 If he told you he was going to do something, take you to the bank.

00:10:33.820 I'm 45 years old.

00:10:35.840 I'm going to be 46 in two months.

00:10:38.480 Till today, when I tell you this, I'm not being sarcastic.

00:10:42.960 My dad has never once told me he's going to do something that he's never done.

00:10:48.380 Tell me that's not weird.

00:10:49.600 That's crazy.

00:10:51.120 It's annoying.

00:10:51.840 honestly even more than crazy it's it's annoying because i got four kids now so i can't have the

00:10:57.680 kids see this because kids if you see this i'm joking it's a joke so don't hold that same

00:11:03.220 accountability to your dad but a part of it is that standard gets with you and either you hate it

00:11:10.360 and you say i don't want to live by that standards and i'm going to make sure my kids get everything

00:11:15.220 so easy and they don't have to earn everything or you're going to be like it worked so i'm going

00:11:21.000 to pass it down so that's the part about this guy that this man that today now he lives with us

00:11:26.720 is downstairs has been with me now living in our house for three years and my kids are super close

00:11:32.960 to him my brooklyn tico dylan he he takes uh my oldest to kickboxing every night he used to take

00:11:40.380 them to jiu-jitsu for two years now he wants to do kickboxing he's involved 82 years old still

00:11:45.500 drives on his own and happy as can be but uh yeah he very influential in my life you tell a story

00:11:53.580 often about how your dad was in the hospital and they weren't treating him right and that was a

00:11:59.320 moment that anger because i used as a kid i used to get in these moments where i felt slighted

00:12:05.400 and it was just like i saw red

00:12:07.180 did that propel you to then build and then did you have to figure out how to work through those

00:12:14.500 emotions because obviously you can't show up like that and like have you worked through that

00:12:18.280 is it still there do you use it for good god i just know my story my juries well you told me

00:12:26.940 your story it's unbelievable yeah but uh yeah you know what it's like craziest analogy here for you

00:12:34.600 whether this makes sense or not what button does the president have access to the nuclear button

00:12:42.060 What happens if he presses that button?

00:12:44.380 What can he do to the world?

00:12:46.640 Mayhem, chaos, destruction, World War III.

00:12:52.420 Why has no president ever pressed it?

00:12:56.300 So the thing with anger is some of us have more, some of us have less, but we all have it, right?

00:13:02.780 You can use that button.

00:13:05.040 But whenever you use the button, you better be ready for what comes with it as well.

00:13:08.540 chaos if a president does that you indirectly lose trust with other countries that are allies

00:13:17.560 you cause division between other countries your own people who believe in you are no longer going

00:13:23.640 to trust you with the button you ain't getting re-elected your family will question some of

00:13:28.280 your decisions that you made it may kill some of your family members if you press that button

00:13:32.600 because the backfire coming back to you so those are the things as a kid you don't think about

00:13:37.900 that as you get older, you think a little bit more before you press that anger button, okay?

00:13:43.200 We all sometimes, maybe not an anger button, maybe it's just kind of like a small little

00:13:46.760 thing that you do that's, you know, temperament goes up and down. It's not like we're going to

00:13:52.020 stay here for the rest of our lives. There's going to be some interesting moments. But the more you

00:13:56.680 look at the, you know, reasons why we get angry, you know, I'm either having a conversation with

00:14:04.780 somebody, and we have a debate. All of a sudden, I'm cornered with an issue. Well, you're an idiot.

00:14:11.740 Why'd you call him an idiot? Because you don't have a rebuttal. Oh, so your lack of knowledge

00:14:16.700 led to being afraid of not having a rebuttal to look like an idiot. So the immediate reaction was

00:14:23.560 anger, and that anger led to danger. You just lost a relationship. You look like a clown.

00:14:28.060 got it so guess what let me do some research hey can we verify what you just said

00:14:35.600 okay you sure about what you're saying let me go do some research and get back to you

00:14:40.000 I got to go get better on this topic because I don't have enough intel yet

00:14:42.580 so then when we ask why do we get angry you're not controlling the situation

00:14:48.600 you're cornered because you don't have the information you're getting caught lying

00:14:53.160 they're identifying a move that you have that maybe they're exposing and your anger reveals

00:15:01.460 that they're right instead of staying calm the more situations like this you're in hopefully

00:15:08.660 eventually become more aware that this is what typically happens for you when you get angry now

00:15:14.080 anger is a god-given you know he gave you gave why'd you give it to us what's the why'd you give

00:15:18.260 it to me if it's so bad why'd you give it to me right there's a took my kids to go watch this

00:15:25.800 movie Deadpool I don't know if you've seen Deadpool and Wolverine they can't people can't

00:15:29.720 stop talking about it I gotta go 12 year old son so I said let me take so my kids son finally

00:15:34.500 convinced me to take him so we go there and there's this scene Ryan Reynolds freak we're

00:15:39.800 talking about right what a stud of a guy yeah there's a scene by the way you know his wife's

00:15:43.780 in the movie as well oh I didn't know she was in yeah so the other good looking guy good

00:15:48.240 looking deadpool that shows up as apparently his wife and jennifer lawrence is in the movie and

00:15:52.420 apparently matthew by the way ridiculous they spend 200 million i think it's at 1.1 billion

00:15:57.620 right now give or take there's a scene in the movie that he says look the human body has 206

00:16:05.220 different bones and if i'm watching such and such show i officially have 207 bones

00:16:10.040 and my 10-year-old son looks at me says dad do I have that 207 bone and then Tico says dad I got

00:16:20.840 that joke that's hilarious he's 12 and Tico's Dylan says which bone is that you'll know in

00:16:26.580 about two years what a hilarious situation you're right but what's funny is when these guys were

00:16:37.040 six and four years old, one day we're in the shower. I'm like, hey, whose is that? Whose is

00:16:43.280 that? Whose is this? I said, this is mine. That's yours. That's yours. God gave it to you for you

00:16:52.440 to play with it. Okay. Nobody else plays with it because you're teaching them like in school,

00:16:57.140 they're doing some stuff. One day, maybe a girl will play with it till then you get to only play

00:17:03.000 with it. Does that make sense? And Jennifer runs out. She's like, this is too uncomfortable.

00:17:09.660 I said, okay, now I play with mine. And you know, one day you're going to find out who else plays

00:17:15.440 with that because you guys are here. Who? I'll tell you later. That's a different story. I said,

00:17:20.220 for however, and so we're kind of going through this process. Where am I going with this? This

00:17:23.700 is a weapon as well. I can do good with it. I can do bad with it. Anger. God gave me this.

00:17:30.660 You got one. I got one. God gave us it. Why did he give it to us? It's a weapon. It can do good,

00:17:36.560 bad. It can do a lot. If used properly, it's for pleasure. It's for procreation. It's for a lot

00:17:41.440 of different things. But it can also ruin a lot of different things, right? Anger, same thing. So

00:17:46.580 as you're going through life, man, and by the way, I'm not a guy that walks on water. God knows

00:17:50.320 I've made a lot of stupid mistakes in my life. But as you're going,

00:17:55.740 you're just hoping you don't make the same mistake twice. When my guys in the companies I run,

00:18:00.660 or operate or my kids make a new mistake, I'm like, okay, listen, this is a pretty bad mistake.

00:18:06.260 This is a royal F-up. We just lost a lot of money. But it's your first time doing it. Second time

00:18:11.820 you do it, you're fired, but this is the first time you're going to be fine. Same with kids.

00:18:14.800 But we have to sometimes hold ourselves to that standard as well. And over the years, I know

00:18:18.860 I used to use my anger to try to get change in my life, but it created emotional shrapnel.

00:18:27.520 And I know you talked once about having people on your team.

00:18:30.740 There's different types of people.

00:18:31.760 And you talk about drivers.

00:18:33.440 And some people might be good at one thing, but you want a guy that can go into a room, diffuse the situation, but also agitate sometimes.

00:18:41.480 Like, is that kind of how you think of the emotional side when it comes to leadership?

00:18:45.060 Like, talk about what a driver – because you have a unique perspective that I'd love the audience to understand.

00:18:49.820 Because some people think, well, I've got to be calm all the time.

00:18:52.060 No.

00:18:52.580 No, I'll give you a perfect analogy.

00:18:54.340 And I hope none of my guys see this video.

00:18:56.180 No, let's go.

00:18:56.740 but if the few of them that will see me they're gonna text me and they're gonna say you mother

00:19:01.860 you know what about i'm like i get it i have a role to play so you walk into a negotiation

00:19:09.860 you're sitting with a team think the movie air air sonny vicario phil knight they're trying to

00:19:16.340 negotiate to get michael jordan to not go to converse or uh is it puma it's converse adidas

00:19:22.420 and instead sign with nike they have a meeting to prepare for the negotiation okay the shoe

00:19:29.220 designer is there sonny vicario is there phil knight is there the team is there they invite

00:19:35.380 michael to come to the headquarters luckily because he goes visits them michael michael's

00:19:41.540 mother and father all show up they're sitting at the table first guy gets up is saying they say

00:19:48.900 Phil, you have to show up late.

00:19:51.080 I'm not showing up late.

00:19:52.020 I'm the CEO of Nike.

00:19:53.240 If you show up on time, it means that you don't have a lot of business.

00:19:57.400 If you show up late, that means you have a lot of business.

00:20:00.180 Show up two minutes late, okay?

00:20:02.900 So, he shows up two minutes late.

00:20:05.380 He says, I'm so sorry.

00:20:06.040 I got all these other business meetings I'm doing.

00:20:08.860 I'm so sorry about being late.

00:20:10.480 Oh, it's totally fine.

00:20:11.560 Great to meet you.

00:20:12.320 No, totally fine.

00:20:13.100 We're just having a record-breaking year.

00:20:14.380 It's so great to meet you guys.

00:20:15.380 You have to see the scene, right?

00:20:17.120 Have you seen a movie?

00:20:17.980 no i've seen it but i don't remember you gotta see it so then so then they say you're gonna show

00:20:22.700 the video and this guy's showing this video and a minute two minutes the video goes it's the worst

00:20:30.380 video ever made to recruit michael so finally the whole thing is falling apart

00:20:37.020 sonny says stop the video stop the video he looks at michael this is michael i just got to tell you

00:20:42.460 you look at the end of the day if you go to converse is this if you go to adidas is this

00:20:50.560 this entire thing is about you here's what we believe you can be i believe you're the greatest

00:20:56.500 player in the world and i believe you're going to be the greatest player this game's ever seen

00:21:00.200 he says but all the mvps you're going to win all the all-stars you're going to win all the all-star

00:21:05.540 mvps are going to win all the championships you're going to win you're going to fall and when you

00:21:09.820 fall and all the people are going to come after you the critics we're going to be there in your

00:21:13.260 corner because we know what i mean i watched this scene i'm like i had to first week the movie comes

00:21:21.100 out i watch it three times i took all our leadership team here employees here we went

00:21:25.420 and rented out the theater we watch it together rented out a theater and i took 300 of my guys

00:21:30.380 in my insurance company we in the first week the movie came out we did that with the movie there's

00:21:34.060 only a couple movies i've done that with this was one of them the other one i did it with was ford

00:21:37.740 versus ferrari so i'm like look at this scene how prepared they are when they go into this meeting so

00:21:43.660 let me give you the whole stage here i'm in vegas last week i'm at this insurance conference

00:21:51.740 could very likely be my last one ever i'm the founder i love these guys absolutely love these

00:21:58.060 guys now we go in the first meeting i call a meeting for all my runners who know who they

00:22:05.900 are without them we would have never built this company every one of them knows who they are

00:22:08.780 there in the room and i go through a list of mistakes they can make and potential things to

00:22:14.860 look for in the future and i poke them in the most logical way possible and i straight up told them

00:22:23.340 here's the mistakes you're going to make you all need to know this if you do this is the results

00:22:28.540 period gave them each a deal toy a deal toy when you sell a company with a group you know what a

00:22:34.540 deal toys you've done many so i give them each a deal toy the room is emotional we're crying

00:22:40.460 talking great moment my role is to make sure the new buyers are being handed over a business

00:22:48.780 that's going to continue and they're not going to quit because i'm the founder founder always

00:22:53.180 wants their business to grow because you can say i was the founder to help xyz right now i'm also

00:22:59.260 aware when a founder leaves the people that are in the company there are three different camps

00:23:04.800 there are those who secretly can't wait for you to leave because they're sick and tired of your

00:23:11.140 bullshit and driving and agitating and disturbing and getting them to be like this guy never stops

00:23:17.700 i'm so sick and tired of this bullshit and vision knock it off right there's the guys in the middle

00:23:23.080 that are kind of like, you know, will be like, yeah, I'm going to get to work no matter what.

00:23:30.160 And the guys that are always going to be grateful for you. But there's guys that also, when you

00:23:33.560 leave, they're going to be like, now that I'm no longer making money with you, I don't need you

00:23:36.600 anymore. I want to be here. I don't care what my relation with you is going to be. I'm going to go

00:23:40.540 here. So they revealed themselves that it was all about money with you. Anyways, the relationship I

00:23:47.540 had a founder can't be emotional and offended by that some people are going to do that but a

00:23:55.000 founder's affinity is going to be with certain people that long term are going to always say

00:23:58.520 we would have never gone to what we got to without this guy that relationship is 45 years right

00:24:03.240 so there goes award ceremony at award ceremony he's got we had a great lineup ludicrous opens

00:24:09.760 it up with a concert he just posted it on his instagram saying i've never been to a concert at

00:24:15.960 corporate event that was this wild this energetic never you should see ludicrous couldn't believe

00:24:21.800 it says thank you he couldn't stop thanking us for the event that we have together when you

00:24:25.480 see his instagram post if he goes on it right now looks at it room packed standing up singing to

00:24:32.520 area code singing to all these weird songs right then bill belichick hits the stage

00:24:40.200 great conversation will back with bill backstage he goes up there then you got a couple other guys

00:24:45.400 that are at the event then it's my turn to come up so i tell all the guys when my turn comes up

00:24:52.200 this can't be about me i'm not sitting here being like oh sentimental crying no this has to be about

00:24:58.600 hey matchmaker you're now married you guys got to find a way to work together and you're edifying

00:25:04.680 both and you're challenging the people that the new buyer cannot challenge right now because i

00:25:09.560 can be the bad cop they need to be the good cop because they're going to be doing business together

00:25:14.200 So I go on a 30-minute message calling out every single biggest ego in the room that needs to be called out.

00:25:22.940 In front of everybody.

00:25:23.260 In front of nearly 10,000 people in the room.

00:25:27.140 Recorded.

00:25:29.560 It's like, yeah.

00:25:30.660 By name.

00:25:31.220 By name.

00:25:32.220 Looking at them.

00:25:33.400 One by one by one by one by one.

00:25:36.000 Calling out all their names.

00:25:38.180 I leave.

00:25:39.260 Record-breaking amount of registration to their next team.

00:25:42.500 12,000 tickets sold for an event that's nearly a year from now, seven months from now.

00:25:47.820 And they've come out of the event, record-breaking way of leaving an event.

00:25:52.740 Guess what?

00:25:53.420 Here you go.

00:25:55.520 You know, it's like your daughter got married to a man.

00:25:58.760 You can't try to be the man for your daughter or else she's going to leave her husband to come to you.

00:26:03.440 This is your new husband.

00:26:04.900 Go make it work.

00:26:05.900 I'm always here.

00:26:07.200 As long as you respect me, I'm always here.

00:26:09.380 I love you.

00:26:09.940 I respect you.

00:26:10.600 Go.

00:26:11.480 So very interesting question you asked.

00:26:15.740 That sometimes, you know, we're so concerned about us being the hero all the time that we're afraid to make the tough calls of agitating and pushing that we need to be doing.

00:26:25.240 And that's because we're too much about, I have to be liked by everybody.

00:26:28.660 And I'm a leader amongst leaders.

00:26:29.900 And leaders amongst leaders make different types of decision that's not a popularity contest.

00:26:34.400 them and but it's interesting as i've seen you do that the pushing and then you have this beautiful

00:26:41.280 way that i don't i don't do it as well as i should of asking people's opinion you do it on your

00:26:46.280 podcast like controversy i'm like i know what patrick's thinking but you don't say it first

00:26:50.100 you're like what do you think adam what do you think did it and it's just it's really cool to

00:26:54.120 see because you build that consensus and then and then you and but it allows everybody to feel heard

00:26:59.320 and seen so it's that's why i say like some drivers being one dimensional is just not i'm

00:27:03.900 talking to people that can produce the 10 million 100 million in your organization like real leaders

00:27:08.000 they have to have those other skills that you talked about why a billion dollars we just had

00:27:13.500 a conversation you kind of challenged me a little bit a lot um which i love but am i right 100%

00:27:21.220 you're right we have a by the way we have a i can't tell you what it is five years five year

00:27:24.780 is beautiful but why should people be thinking billion because like people right now it seems

00:27:30.240 like it started at the 10k like but why a billion they don't have to be thinking billion uh and so

00:27:35.680 here's here's how life works okay and i had to learn this the hard way um you know when i was

00:27:45.120 coming up and at 27 28 years old my wife would tell you that's when we started dating first i

00:27:52.520 was 28. I had known her for five and a half years, but we were always in different relationships.

00:27:57.300 The only time we were single for a two-week period was the time when I asked around. And

00:28:03.140 that's when we were together for a year and a half, and then we got married. But in 2007, 2008,

00:28:08.640 it's a very weird year for me. Talk about temper. My temper was out of control because I was trying

00:28:14.620 to figure out what I'm going to do in the next 20, 30, 40 years. So I had a meeting with my pastor,

00:28:19.540 with one of my advisors

00:28:21.260 with a handful of guys in business

00:28:23.660 I respect a lot and I flew him in

00:28:25.160 and we had a meeting at the office

00:28:26.880 and I said, so

00:28:28.480 what should be my next move?

00:28:31.720 I've learned how to make money.

00:28:33.300 I'm in financial services.

00:28:34.920 I'm going to make a lot of money in this business

00:28:36.640 and I'm very good at what I do,

00:28:38.700 but it can't be just for money.

00:28:40.640 It's not going to drive me.

00:28:42.120 So I said, Pastor Dudley,

00:28:45.780 you think I'm supposed to be a pastor?

00:28:47.880 He says, no.

00:28:49.540 I don't think you're meant to be a pastor.

00:28:50.980 He said, I think you can make a bigger impact in business than wanting to be a pastor.

00:28:54.320 I said, okay, great.

00:28:55.380 Boom.

00:28:55.940 Off the list.

00:28:56.920 What do you think I'm supposed to be doing?

00:28:58.280 What do you think I'm supposed to be doing?

00:28:59.520 Do you think I'm supposed to go into politics?

00:29:00.840 Do you think I'm supposed to go into...

00:29:01.580 What do you think I'm supposed to be doing?

00:29:02.380 And I'm kind of like at that phase that I know I'm going to go until 80, 90 years old.

00:29:06.840 I just have to make sure I know my next move is crystal clear.

00:29:10.380 So I leave.

00:29:13.240 I go.

00:29:14.300 I have dinner with George Will at Miramar Hotel Santa Monica.

00:29:19.540 2009 he's speaking pat boone is at the event all these guys are at the event george will gets up

00:29:25.380 talks about how lawyers are ruining america and then right afterwards a man named bill vogel

00:29:30.180 introduced me to george will and says george patrick wants to find out what his next causes

00:29:33.860 for his life you know what do you think should focus on and he says so tell me about your

00:29:38.740 background where are you from iran tell me about your parents why don't you study capitalism find

00:29:43.380 out why so many people come to america why does america have 40 million immigrants coming here

00:29:47.140 or not other countries.

00:29:48.400 Why is there only the American dream?

00:29:49.680 Why is there no Russian dream?

00:29:50.780 Why is there no China?

00:29:51.880 Look, all right.

00:29:53.280 So I leave.

00:29:53.880 The next day, I'm giving a sales meeting

00:29:55.620 at Northridge off of Balboa Boulevard in my office,

00:29:59.180 8550 North Balboa Boulevard.

00:30:01.020 I get up.

00:30:01.860 I'm giving a talk.

00:30:03.360 Everyone's looking at me saying,

00:30:04.780 what the hell is wrong with this guy?

00:30:06.340 Like, we're in an insurance office.

00:30:08.160 Why are you talking like you're running for office?

00:30:10.500 That's March.

00:30:12.080 Three months later, I get married June 26th of 2009.

00:30:15.300 July 15th, I put an event together at J.W. Marriott Palm Desert,

00:30:18.960 Saving America, Doing the Impossible, Stephen's in name.

00:30:22.480 And I'm dressed as George Washington.

00:30:24.260 My wife is dressed as Lady Liberty.

00:30:25.860 This picture's all over online.

00:30:27.720 40-foot Mount Rushmore, 40 American flags.

00:30:30.100 Ronald Reagan's son is speaking.

00:30:31.900 Larry Greenfield from Claremont Institute is speaking.

00:30:34.880 And Dudley Rutherford is speaking about the same pastor that told me not to be a pastor.

00:30:38.360 He's speaking, and he's talking about the Star-Spangled Banner.

00:30:40.940 I come out.

00:30:42.040 Three months later, we start the company.

00:30:43.300 The company's crusade is called Saving America by Bringing Back the Free Enterprise System

00:30:46.900 and Hope to American Families.

00:30:48.780 We go from 66 agents to 50,000 agents nationwide, a few hundred offices.

00:30:52.480 We sold the company a couple of years ago.

00:30:55.060 So, okay, why do I need to make a billion dollars?

00:31:01.520 For us to build that company, it doesn't happen without my wife.

00:31:06.880 I told her this the other day, first time I told her this,

00:31:09.040 because, you know, I want it to mean a lot.

00:31:11.700 And she broke down crying.

00:31:12.740 I said, it's me and Tom, we're backstage, and I'm telling these guys to their faces,

00:31:18.980 I say, hey, guys, we build an incredible company.

00:31:21.800 Look at the amount of people's lives we've changed.

00:31:24.020 This is a very special company.

00:31:25.660 Look at all their faces.

00:31:26.540 Look at their kids.

00:31:27.960 We're looking at all their kids, the smiles, the kids so happy.

00:31:30.380 It's so awesome seeing Rodolfo with his kids backstage, you know, seeing all these guys.

00:31:36.280 It's just awesome when I see these guys, right?

00:31:37.720 I'd seen Jose just choked up when I'm looking at Jose and my Hector's, Erica, and all these guys.

00:31:45.420 I'm watching these guys.

00:31:46.460 I'm like, look at what we built.

00:31:47.600 This is awesome.

00:31:48.480 I said, well, I got to tell you guys.

00:31:50.000 I said, who do you think are the top five most important people that helped me do what we did here?

00:31:55.160 And Jennifer says, field or home office?

00:31:58.580 I said, doesn't matter.

00:32:00.700 Field or home office.

00:32:02.140 So they start giving names.

00:32:03.980 I said, no.

00:32:05.100 I said, no.

00:32:05.920 I said, let me tell you number one.

00:32:06.900 who's number one I said you I've never told her this oh man this should have been recorded

00:32:14.860 so Jen is like oh my she's like it's you know breaking down I said babe you were freaking

00:32:22.360 doing payroll a day after our first son was born in hospital while you're in the freaking bed

00:32:27.440 yeah second kid is born you're at the office the next day he's on the floor you're at the office

00:32:35.000 you've always had an office right next to me for 15 years the only year you've never worked is when

00:32:40.960 our fourth baby brooklyn was born you asked if you can stay home for a year and now today her

00:32:44.900 office is right next to my office i said we've moved 12 times in a house 13 times in an office

00:32:50.920 and we have four kids born in three states both states we moved to texas and florida were five

00:32:58.320 months pregnant every single time we moved yeah we wouldn't be able to do this without you okay

00:33:03.120 I told Tom, you helped me raise the first million dollars. You helped me raise the second 10 million

00:33:08.620 dollars. I don't know how to raise money. I said, you played such an important role for bringing a

00:33:13.100 million and a 10 million dollars in. What if you don't? The sales process, you closed the deal

00:33:18.100 when we went through it. I gave you the MVP. I gave you that Rolex watch. I gave you that

00:33:22.860 Ayrton Center in front of everybody to tell you, without you, that deal doesn't close.

00:33:26.080 While we're in Monaco, you're going on four hours of sleep in a week. You did that. And Tom's

00:33:30.280 emotional. And then I'm going through the sales process with the Sopalos that she and I'm at

00:33:34.300 Sopala, what Rodolfo Ambargis said, Palayo being the first, Caetan being a cruiser. All these guys

00:33:39.000 you go through, but it's the role you've been chosen to play. The billion is purely if there

00:33:47.800 is a cause behind it, where you are the guy that has to have the highest level of pressure.

00:33:54.240 It's not a job for everybody. It's not. There's a lot of people that would love to have that.

00:33:59.480 that's simply not your part to have.

00:34:02.740 Paul George one time said the most craziest thing

00:34:05.040 I talked about on the podcast today.

00:34:06.420 Paul George, he's made a few hundred million dollars

00:34:09.120 in the NBA.

00:34:11.460 And MVP, you know, candidate every year

00:34:14.440 and broke his leg when he was going for a dunk

00:34:17.380 when he's playing for the Indiana Pacers.

00:34:19.140 I say he'll never make a comeback.

00:34:20.820 Came back, killed it, became another MVP candidate.

00:34:23.980 He said this two years ago on his podcast

00:34:25.640 with Dallas Rutherford.

00:34:26.680 He says, you know what I learned?

00:34:29.120 What's that?

00:34:30.020 I'm never going to win a championship being the number one.

00:34:33.820 Who says that?

00:34:35.820 AI never won as a one.

00:34:37.480 Westbrook never won as a one.

00:34:39.680 You know how many named Carmelo Anthony never won as a one?

00:34:42.680 Even Kevin Durant never won as a one.

00:34:44.480 It was still Steph Curry when he was at the Golden State Warriors.

00:34:48.980 Kyrie's never won as a one.

00:34:51.360 Jimmy Butler, as amazing as he is, he's never won as a one.

00:34:55.040 So it's so hard for somebody to finally sit there and say, dude, you're not a one.

00:35:02.900 You're going to keep trying to be a number one.

00:35:04.560 You're not a one.

00:35:05.260 You're a great two.

00:35:06.420 Yeah.

00:35:06.880 At a two, you're a nine.

00:35:08.100 When you play a two, you're a nine.

00:35:09.380 When you're a one, you play three.

00:35:10.600 Yeah.

00:35:11.080 So you only bring out the three in you.

00:35:13.020 You do so well when you're a two or a six or an eight.

00:35:15.440 So, and trust me, sometimes being a one, it's kind of like, I don't want to be a one.

00:35:19.320 I never wanted to start an insurance company.

00:35:20.900 Never.

00:35:21.160 The only reason I did is because three people offended me in the former company.

00:35:24.060 I wanted to be the CEO of that company.

00:35:25.520 I don't want to be a founder.

00:35:26.320 I had a great life.

00:35:27.660 I didn't need to deal with lawyers and lawsuits and losing carriers and business and six months

00:35:32.160 of travel every year.

00:35:33.180 I could have leveraged other people traveling to my offices all the time.

00:35:35.920 Now I have to do this six months away from my wife and my kids.

00:35:38.500 I don't want to do any of this stuff.

00:35:39.860 I want to.

00:35:40.480 So I didn't want to be a founder.

00:35:42.320 I was forced to be a founder.

00:35:43.780 Now that I am, I take the responsibility very seriously.

00:35:46.420 So for me, the conversation of the billion isn't because my life is going to change dramatically

00:35:53.640 Everything I want to buy and have, I pretty much have.

00:35:57.080 My dream wasn't to have a jet or have a million-dollar car or live in a, you know, $30 million house.

00:36:03.620 I live in a $40 million house.

00:36:05.460 I have a great life right now.

00:36:07.860 Everything is within a three-mile radius.

00:36:09.680 We bought this place.

00:36:10.800 This place was empty for how long?

00:36:12.300 A year?

00:36:13.160 Nothing.

00:36:13.580 We just bought it.

00:36:14.040 We're like, we don't even know what we're going to do with this.

00:36:15.400 One day I'm like, let's turn this into a club.

00:36:18.800 Let's put two bars here.

00:36:20.160 Let's build a cigar lounge in the back.

00:36:21.720 let's build a VIP yeah let's do this and let's have a production team back yeah let's see what

00:36:27.840 happens here RFK's done a town hall here Vivek's done a town hall here uh Dennis Quaid was here

00:36:34.060 last week was that Wiener interview here yeah Anthony Wiener was here uh Giuliani's been here

00:36:40.640 Dave Smith and Chris Cuomo debate was here Candace Owens and Chris Cuomo was here you know how many

00:36:45.160 stuff we've done here yeah we've done so many different things but so now are you gonna fully

00:36:50.420 go for vision or was it really all about money if i slow down now internally to myself it was really

00:36:56.580 all about money wasn't about this i can't do that no as last question i want to land the plane i was

00:37:02.980 just with john maxwell you brought his name up and we were sitting down we were talking about

00:37:07.220 our faith and he's he has friendships with people from different backgrounds and yet he was talking

00:37:12.820 about a um an atheist friend of his and he and he said to her he says you know i know you don't

00:37:18.260 believe in god but i bet you sure do missile and it got me

00:37:25.380 what does god mean to you yeah well i mean highest level of my confidence where i'm at

00:37:34.340 to so you you know visionaries are like oh here's what we're going to be doing okay

00:37:38.980 Okay. Maybe where you want to go is clear, right? But you've never been there before,

00:37:51.580 right? You never know what challenges you're going to face, what new enemies are going to

00:37:57.260 come after you. And the bigger the vision gets, the enemies get more formidable.

00:38:01.320 The enemies get stronger. The enemies have better phone calls to make to ruin your life.

00:38:05.260 the enemies have better publications to call to write a hit piece on you the enemies know

00:38:11.540 better executives at bigger companies to make algorithms you know the enemies get more powerful

00:38:17.160 political enemies financial enemies regulation enemies a lot of weird enemies so how are you

00:38:23.340 going to become those enemies what am I going to say I'm going to rely on people I know no

00:38:29.120 I'm only going to rely on the man upstairs, period.

00:38:32.840 Every time I hit a wall that I didn't know how it was going to get solved next,

00:38:38.560 because I was loyal to the cause and I was loyal to him,

00:38:42.720 he somehow, someway introduced me to the right person,

00:38:45.060 who introduced me to the right person,

00:38:46.340 who introduced me to the right person, and things just happened.

00:38:50.000 And one night I came home.

00:38:53.360 We were expecting our first.

00:38:54.880 Jennifer's in tears.

00:38:55.680 It's 1.30 in the morning.

00:38:56.560 she tells me she had a miscarriage and she's all emotional in the room i'm like oh my god i'm down

00:39:01.580 to my last 13 000 we're living at the summit in woodland hills marriott i go out i walk around i'm

00:39:09.900 listening to my 80s playlist foreigner i want to know what love is it's a weird song to listen to

00:39:14.620 but i love that song and i'm like god what are you doing if you don't like what i'm doing make

00:39:21.420 this whole thing bankrupt. If you don't want this thing to work, take it away. I'll go get a job

00:39:27.680 and work at Bally's. I don't care. If you think this is that bad and I'm working 80 hours a week

00:39:33.020 to make this, if you honestly think this is that bad, please, I'll stop right now. Make it go

00:39:37.980 bankrupt. I'm still going to work 80 hours every single week. But if you don't think this is going

00:39:42.740 to happen, don't put the right people in my life. Don't have a miracle. Don't do nothing. I'm okay

00:39:46.620 with that because you don't think this is a worthy company to build. But I'm convinced it is

00:39:52.180 because I think the values and principles we're teaching, what we're doing with families, what

00:39:56.280 we're doing with bringing in husband and wife to build a business together in an industry that's

00:40:00.020 not focused on women, that's not focused on teaching the right values. We are encouraging

00:40:03.740 people to go to take all these people to church. We baptized nearly 3,000 people at this local

00:40:08.700 church here over a 20-year span. I'm like, I think we're doing the right thing. But you tell me,

00:40:14.620 what do you want me to do what do you want me to do and it's like a father and son having a

00:40:18.820 you know private uh you know argument and i walk away my god i don't know i'm still gonna go up to

00:40:26.900 work early in the morning i'm gonna do my best but you tell me next week it's like a 50 or 100

00:40:30.580 thousand dollar bonus check we got from aihe i'm like oh we needed that and then boom oh we needed

00:40:38.180 that contracting oh that is so okay so it was like the weirdest miracles would keep happening that i

00:40:46.180 had and then the confidence came about as long as i'm being aligned and the purpose is the right

00:40:53.540 purpose he's got my back and that's where the fear the lord comes in so my confidence comes from

00:40:59.860 having that fear in him it's beautiful i can't describe it to you pbd appreciate the time really

00:41:05.140 Really enjoyed it.

00:41:06.140 That was amazing.

00:41:07.140 Really enjoyed it.

00:41:08.140 Yes.

00:41:09.140 Everybody follow his stuff.

00:41:10.140 I'll see you guys soon.

Dan Martell - October 29, 2024

From Refugee to $1B Empire [Patrick Bet-David Interview]

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