Dan Martell - Once You Make Money, Upgrade These 7 Things ASAP

00:00:00.000 Most finance content tells you what not to buy. Today, I'm going to do the exact opposite because

00:00:05.620 there are seven things that you should upgrade once you start making money. Now, normally my

00:00:10.060 advice would be to spend money to buy back your time, not stuff. I even wrote a whole book about

00:00:14.720 it. But these seven upgrades take things to the next level. This is what the top 1% spend their

00:00:19.840 money on. These things don't just save you time. They change how good life feels day to day. So

00:00:24.760 let's get into it. The first thing on this list is something almost every finance guy would tell

00:00:28.780 you not to buy something completely useless. When I was 22, I was working 100 hours a week.

00:00:34.360 I was this frenetic energy ball. And I thought that was my edge. My body honestly said, stop.

00:00:40.540 I ended up getting sick. I got diagnosed with adrenaline fatigue. I even got shingles on my

00:00:45.800 back that almost turned into a whole moment. Luckily, my doctor caught it in time. I could

00:00:50.900 not turn it off. And I thought that approach was the right way. But it was costing me my business,

00:00:56.380 in my life, in my relationships. And then I found some hobbies. Snowboarding, mountain biking I fell

00:01:03.220 in love with, now wake surfing. It allowed me to disconnect from the work, and it turned out that

00:01:09.340 it made me a better person. And surprise, surprise, it gave me more energy to actually do more output.

00:01:14.960 Somebody smart said this a long time ago, but you can't pour from an empty cup. And look,

00:01:19.980 science backs this. A study published in Social Science and Medicine tracked 19,000 adults over

00:01:25.320 50 over eight years. What they notice is that if they had a weekly hobby, their depression,

00:01:31.280 if they had any, would dramatically drop over the next two years. All the top guys literally have

00:01:35.800 hobbies. The mistake is most people think that hobbies drag us down or take from our time,

00:01:40.020 and the opposite is true. And in the age of AI, this matters more than ever. One of my favorite

00:01:45.440 books is called Die With Zero. Bill Perkins wrote a masterclass in how to think about this. He looks

00:01:50.740 that money as a store of energy, which means nothing until you convert that energy into an

00:01:55.400 actual experience. He calls this memory dividends. Money is useless unless it's used to purchase

00:02:01.820 memories. And look, you don't want to wait for this. This is the homework. Go back to when you

00:02:06.980 were 12 or 13 before practical existed. What would that kid beg for today? Maybe you used to love

00:02:13.820 going to the ski hill. Maybe you're going to go buy a ski pass. Just buy the small version and go

00:02:18.160 do it this week. I like to use this model called the three Fs. Something fun that you can do

00:02:23.380 frequently with friends. For example, fun, I love to wake surf. Frequently, I do it every day,

00:02:30.780 sometimes twice a day. And friends, I'm bringing my team members, new friends that I don't know

00:02:35.740 that well on the boat. This right here will change everything. It will make your life more fun,

00:02:41.300 which means you'll have more to give. The second upgrade might sound even worse. I want you to buy

00:02:46.620 something that makes you lazy on purpose. Decision fatigue is real and it drains everybody the exact

00:02:52.940 same way. There's actually a study on parole judges. Imagine you're in front of this judge

00:02:56.560 and you're like wanting to get out. Early in the day, 65, 70% chance he's going to approve

00:03:01.900 that you get out. Closer to lunch, the approval rate drops to nearly 0%. Then he takes lunch and

00:03:08.080 he comes back, it shoots back up. That's crazy. Same cases, same judge, wildly different outcomes.

00:03:15.000 purely based on his decision fatigue throughout the day making a decision is like burning little

00:03:21.020 battery packs in my brain and the least amount of decisions i have means i have more battery

00:03:25.660 juice to make big decisions so i'm trying not to waste my battery packs in my brain on little

00:03:30.980 things so that i have more juice for the big things and look top one percent people they've

00:03:36.240 known this that's why you've seen jobs wear the same black turtleneck for decades emerald blue

00:03:40.480 shirt it's not because i'm like trying to do a video thing it's because i don't want to think

00:03:44.300 about it. Obama said it himself. He only bought two suit colors and it saved him bandwidth when

00:03:49.180 it came to real decisions. Zuckerberg, same thing, same gray t-shirt. Actually, lately,

00:03:53.360 he's kind of upped his swag game. I've noticed, bro. Nice work. Look, it's not lazy. It's on

00:03:59.220 purpose. I've been doing this for years. I learned it when it came to my health, specifically around

00:04:03.880 food. My trainer looks at my numbers and he makes decisions on what I should eat. That gets put in

00:04:08.740 a spreadsheet, sent over to the local meal prep company. They look at the spreadsheet. They make

00:04:13.360 the meals, the meals get delivered to my office twice a week. I never have to think about it.

00:04:17.960 Every day at lunch, I open the fridge, my meal's there. Instead of focusing on what I have to eat,

00:04:21.720 I can use that to be more creative, to come on here and shoot better videos, to be better for

00:04:26.300 my team. And guess what? I stay the same weight all the time. I never have to stress about it,

00:04:30.860 and I'm never hangry. The most disciplined looking people aren't the most disciplined.

00:04:35.680 They've just automated boring choices so discipline never has to show up. Set it and

00:04:40.560 forget it. This is implementing a system to not create decision fatigue. So I'm encouraging you

00:04:45.740 to be lazy. So here's what I need you to do. Pick one daily decision that you will pay to automate

00:04:51.960 and eliminate it. And it doesn't have to be expensive. My recommendation, meal prep services.

00:04:57.060 It could be cleaning for years. It could be grocery ordering. It could be wearing the same

00:05:01.280 blue shirt every day. And if you're a business owner, the best way to do this is just to get an

00:05:05.820 assistant. Which side note, if you've been thinking of getting an assistant or you have one and you

00:05:10.020 want to learn how I've worked with mine over a decade, I have a 42 page document that covers

00:05:15.140 everything from the inbox structure to the templates to the calendar management, all of it.

00:05:20.480 If you want it, just find me on Instagram and message me the word YouTube EA and I'll send it

00:05:24.560 your way. Now that we bought something that's going to make you lazy, we want to buy something

00:05:28.580 that's going to make you not lazy too. When I'm out in the world, the watch people always ask about

00:05:35.300 this watch. My favorite thing is when kids ask about it, they go, hey, is that a Richard

00:05:40.180 Mill? And I'm like, yeah, bro. And they go, how much is it worth? And I'm like, do you

00:05:43.900 really want to know? They go, yeah. I said, it's worth a half a million dollars. And they

00:05:48.940 freak out a little bit. And I usually, unless I'm worried they're going to run away, I take

00:05:52.220 it off and I give it to them. I said, hey, try it on. See it. See how it fits. Now, I

00:05:55.920 don't wear this to tell everybody I have a half million dollar watch. I wear it to remind

00:06:00.760 myself what i'm trying to do with my time see i have a goal to reach a billion dollars in enterprise

00:06:07.000 value not for ego not for money but to be an example of what's possible considering where i

00:06:11.640 came from which was zero actually worse in a whole and watching my life become this incredibly blessed

00:06:17.800 opportunity that i get to live i want to have a symbol with me that forces me to ask the question

00:06:23.480 am i doing the thing that creates the probability of that outcome and for you it might be your car

00:06:28.760 it could be your house, it could be your cottage. It is what it is. Sometimes we need to make

00:06:33.340 investments. Buy something that actually stretches us. When Jay on my team said, hey man, should I

00:06:37.500 buy that Porsche? I knew his financials. He could afford the Porsche. Barely. But buying that Porsche

00:06:43.420 forced him to work for it every single day. And if you ask him today, his revenue has gone up.

00:06:48.580 That car created the forcing function for him to focus, to not be lazy. The constant reminder

00:06:55.060 to create. It's easy to get caught up in life and lose sight of what we wanted to create in the

00:07:01.680 first place. And that's exactly why you need something to force you to see this every single

00:07:06.960 day. That's what this watch actually is. Not a flex. It's a reminder I can't look away from.

00:07:12.420 The next thing to buy was huge for me and I can't recommend it enough. You need to buy yourself a

00:07:18.000 new identity. When I was 22, I saved all my money and I got on a plane and I went to Australia.

00:07:24.300 And what's funny is that even though I learned about different cultures, I traveled and I

00:07:29.300 backpacked with other people from all over the world, the thing that I learned that I didn't

00:07:33.560 expect was that I had the opportunity to reset. In our day-to-day lives, people have perceptions

00:07:39.760 of who we are and that creates our identity. And then I go to Australia and I have none of that.

00:07:45.160 And then I get to choose who do I want to be? Maybe I was a little quieter before. Why don't

00:07:50.080 i be loud why don't i try it on it's like a jacket try it on see if it fits if it does i keep it off

00:07:55.300 if it doesn't take it off that was the first time i ever got on a road bike and i started biking 50

00:08:00.040 kilometers every day i'd never biked in my life to that point but nobody was like oh dan you're

00:08:05.160 not a biker why are you biking they were like wow it's really cool that you're a biker you're

00:08:08.160 inspiring me i'm like oh that's interesting i did all these things that i wasn't before because my

00:08:12.940 identity kind of made me feel like i'd be judged for it with this new location this new place i

00:08:18.380 could choose who I wanted to be. Spending money to create this for you, the better version of you,

00:08:24.080 awesome. A couple of years ago, I decided to spend five days by myself in a van. My friends

00:08:29.120 called it the Dan Van Passana. It's like a meditation retreat. But I just went by myself,

00:08:33.880 no device, no internet, no phone, no plan. And I just had fun. I walked around. I talked to myself

00:08:39.540 a lot. Have you ever been in the woods and you're just like talking to yourself? You're like, hey,

00:08:43.260 Dan. This is interesting. Why are we here? Why are you saying we when it's you? Why am I here?

00:08:49.620 Hmm. I didn't have to be Dan in any of these moments. I could have literally gave myself a

00:08:54.380 new name. Sometimes you need to discover who you are again. It teaches you humility. It teaches

00:09:00.540 you communication. It teaches you social skills. You get the time to think, to reflect. How do I

00:09:05.900 want to show up in this world? Now, you don't need to do a multi-month road trip to Europe or to

00:09:10.640 Australia, or wherever. You can do this yourself by jumping in your car and just going to a

00:09:14.840 different city by yourself. What I'm going to ask you to do is open up your calendar sometime into

00:09:19.340 the future, six to 12 months, and put that trip in there. But remind yourself when you're there,

00:09:24.960 you get to invest in your new identity. You get to try on some different behaviors and see how

00:09:29.880 that fits. And if you like it, that becomes a new version of you. You get to invest in a new

00:09:34.960 identity if you give yourself permission. Next, we need to invest in something most people say

00:09:39.640 money can't buy. You need to buy yourself some friends. Now, I know you're going to be like,

00:09:44.700 this sounds stupid. Do you tell your kids go buy some friends? No. I read this incredible book a 1.00

00:09:49.480 long time ago called Never Eat Alone by Keith Perazzi, and it changed my whole philosophy

00:09:53.940 on relationships. His point, very simply put, was that you are the byproduct of the people you spend

00:10:00.280 time with. Your net work is your net worth. His philosophies at the time freaked me out. He would

00:10:06.520 say in the book i recommend for your business relationships to invite them to do things like

00:10:11.640 a workout and i'm like who the would want to come work out with an introverted programmer

00:10:17.640 and sweat it out inside of some spin class he's literally like go do jazzercise i'm like i've

00:10:21.800 never been i don't even want to go why would somebody i don't know want to come with me

00:10:25.720 it was such a boring concept that it was laughable eventually i learned oh through the right

00:10:32.520 conversation you get somebody to come for a workout it could be a walk it could be a run

00:10:36.760 i would organize dinners and pay for them with people i wanted to build relationships with i

00:10:41.320 would spend time and money get on a plane and pay for hotels and go to seminars to potentially

00:10:46.680 meet somebody that might be part of my life forever my rule was if i went to an event my

00:10:50.920 only job is to find one or two people that i could be friends with for the rest of my life

00:10:54.760 and when i look at my peer group and the people that are closest to me the folks that i do like

00:10:58.920 couple date nights with, or family vacations with, these are all people I met at events by

00:11:04.000 investing in relationships. Even my wife, I met her at an event. Getting to spend time at Richard

00:11:10.200 Branson's house, I met through a friend where I hosted one of these dinners. Having Mark Cuban

00:11:14.460 invest in my company was a byproduct of inviting another guy to a dinner. Today, I've been hosting

00:11:20.320 a founder's hike that's gone global. People all over the world are doing their own versions of

00:11:24.300 this. Every Tuesday in Kelowna, BC, and you're all invited, thousands of people have come,

00:11:29.740 but it all came from the concept of buying friends, investing in relationships. Here's my

00:11:35.840 process. It's called the five by five rule. You reach out to five people every day and you provide

00:11:40.880 five times more value than you're asking for. And then host dinners, hikes, gatherings. You can pay

00:11:47.400 for it. Maybe you all go Dutch, but it's really cool if you can pay to create a space. A lot of 1.00

00:11:51.980 people are like, well, what's the occasion? Just say, I'm trying to get people like you together

00:11:55.540 so that you guys can all meet. It's just a connect. It's just a support. There's no agenda.

00:11:59.160 I've got nothing to sell. I do this every week times five. That's how I've been able to build

00:12:04.620 the relationships in my life. So make sure you buy yourselves some friends. Next, we got upgrade

00:12:09.740 number six. We need to buy ourselves some money. When I exited my first company, Spheric, I had a

00:12:16.300 ton of money in my bank account. Now, a great mentor of mine said, hey, take half, put in your

00:12:20.660 next big company. And the other half, you need to invest it. You need to learn how to make the

00:12:25.060 money make you money. That's where not only did I invest in low fee index funds, but I also invested

00:12:29.740 in other companies. Those angel investments became worth tens of millions. One of my company's

00:12:34.660 intercom slash fin just sold for 3.6 billion to Salesforce. Most people would just sit on that

00:12:40.660 money. They'd be like, so worried. They're just keeping their bank account or put it in some GIC

00:12:44.720 because it's comfortable and it's not scary. But the truth is money just sitting there

00:12:48.360 loses value every single day 1.00

00:12:49.900 because of this stupid thing called inflation. 1.00

00:12:52.340 Your money today is worth less than yesterday 1.00

00:12:54.780 and it'll always be the case and it's getting worse

00:12:57.240 so you better learn how to do this.

00:12:58.980 The money I put into my investment

00:13:01.300 has generated a lifestyle where I don't have to work

00:13:04.800 if I don't want to.

00:13:05.880 You don't have to learn how to trade stocks.

00:13:08.920 You don't have to learn how to buy and do puts and options.

00:13:12.260 You can start with, like I said, a low fee index fund.

00:13:15.320 You just have to be in the market.

00:13:16.600 Maybe it's in your primary residence in real estate.

00:13:20.140 Maybe you wanna buy some stocks in companies

00:13:22.200 where you are already a customer.

00:13:23.960 And if you're starting off,

00:13:25.480 the number one investment is skills.

00:13:27.960 How do you increase your earning potential?

00:13:30.520 What are the skills that I could invest in to learn

00:13:33.080 that's gonna make me more money?

00:13:34.500 That return could be 50 to 100% per year compounded.

00:13:39.700 The key is don't let your money sit in a pile.

00:13:43.120 Put it to work.

00:13:44.220 consider it like little soldiers out in the world doing work on your behalf and a interest rate from

00:13:50.380 your bank is not what i'm talking about so you got to buy yourself some money this next upgrade

00:13:55.580 might even sound a bit illegal but you can actually buy yourself love people might say

00:14:02.380 wait you can't buy love dan you can't here's how i learned when i was 11 i got put on adhd medication

00:14:10.060 because somebody told me there was something wrong with me that my energy was too much for

00:14:15.100 the classroom and that decision to put me on medication led to me sliding into a depression

00:14:21.420 making a series of bad decisions hanging out with people twice my age got introduced to drugs and

00:14:26.540 almost taking my life at age 17 i had somebody incredible named brian sit me down and invest in

00:14:32.940 me with their time and words i never forgot what that felt like that became my everything

00:14:40.060 It became the foundation for my Kings Club program, where I mentor young youth.

00:14:44.520 It became the foundation of the Martell Legacy Foundation, the kids that I meet at detention centers.

00:14:50.100 As I travel the world, I was just back at the place that saved my life, this rehab center called Portage, talking to these same kids.

00:14:56.600 These 15, 16, 17-year-olds.

00:14:59.440 And it's crazy because this kid came up to me and said the only reason he was in rehab was because his mom had been showing him videos that I publish, share my story with them.

00:15:10.600 That appreciation, that love that I felt, to me, that's everything.

00:15:15.480 See, most people say, well, I would give to charity, but it doesn't feel like I get anything in return.

00:15:20.480 And I would argue when you give, you get back love.

00:15:24.380 Every year, my wife and I have a giving day where we have the opportunity to gift other organizations that work with troubled youth.

00:15:32.540 And I will tell you, when I show up with a check to help an organization serve these kids and they're in tears, the love I feel, it makes every dollar I invest worth it.

00:15:44.540 And it's my why.

00:15:45.920 Look, Nietzsche said it best.

00:15:47.220 He said, he who has a why to live can bear any how.

00:15:51.760 And I'm not saying that I do these donations because I need this love.

00:15:55.720 I'm just reminded when we help other people, who's really getting the help?

00:16:00.620 Who's feeling the love?

00:16:02.120 It takes both people.

00:16:03.500 That's why I don't just give my money.

00:16:05.180 We show up with our time, our influence.

00:16:07.480 So if you want to do this yourself, ask yourself, who did you need in your darkest days?

00:16:12.300 What pain did you go through that you would like to help other people avoid?

00:16:15.460 If you could be the resourceful person that you needed most, if you could be the purpose

00:16:19.600 for somebody else and show up with a small donation in a tough time, you'll feel that love

00:16:26.160 and don't wait till you feel like you can afford it. If you can't give when you got a little,

00:16:30.740 you're not going to give when you have a lot. You have to build that giving muscle. So look,

00:16:35.140 freedom is not found in your bank account and it's not found in your calendar. It's found in

00:16:40.460 the things you invest in to bring more life into your life. Most people that have a hard time

00:16:46.620 winning is because they made life hard if you invest into these things it will make your life

00:16:52.060 full that is what success is really about and remember if you want my executive assistant

00:16:56.700 playbook just find me on instagram and dm me the word youtube ea and i'll send it over

00:17:01.580 now none of this matters if you're still trying to make money in the first place so if that's you

00:17:06.460 Watch this next video. It's exactly what I do to hit my first 100k a month.

Dan Martell - September 02, 2026

Once You Make Money, Upgrade These 7 Things ASAP

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