Dan Martell - Why Dumb People Make More Money Than You

00:00:00.000 Have you ever wondered why dumb people make more money than you? 0.99

00:00:03.300 Like, how are people with no degrees building multi-million dollar empires 0.99

00:00:07.860 while straight A students are working 9 to 5s?

00:00:11.040 Because it turns out, the richest people aren't actually that smart.

00:00:14.280 In fact, the average millionaire only has a 2.9 GPA.

00:00:18.240 And I know this from personal experience.

00:00:19.840 I did horrible in school.

00:00:21.560 I didn't go to university.

00:00:22.800 And today, I live my dream life traveling the world,

00:00:25.760 all while running multiple businesses.

00:00:27.400 So in today's video, I'm going to show you the three reasons why your intelligence might 0.99

00:00:32.220 be keeping you broke, the psychology behind it, and I'm also going to give you three dumb 0.68

00:00:37.160 strategies that will make you richer than you ever thought possible, regardless of your 0.97

00:00:41.500 IQ, starting with uninformed optimism. 0.99

00:00:44.940 The first reason dumb people make more money is they don't know what they don't know, and 0.99

00:00:49.200 they don't care. 1.00

00:00:50.320 They have an unreasonable amount of confidence because they literally don't second guess

00:00:55.100 themselves.

00:00:56.000 Smart people have this tendency to overanalyze.

00:00:59.480 They doubt themselves. 0.99

00:01:00.780 Dumb people just act. 1.00

00:01:02.580 So there's this thing called the emotional cycle of change. 1.00

00:01:05.360 It's the rollercoaster of feelings that people experience

00:01:08.100 when they choose to make a major change in their life.

00:01:10.420 In that first stage, the uninformed optimism is the best one.

00:01:13.860 Research shows that 93% of Americans

00:01:15.900 think they're above average drivers,

00:01:18.240 which is statistically impossible.

00:01:20.000 It's also called the Dunning-Kruger effect,

00:01:22.180 which means that most people

00:01:23.240 think they're smarter than they are.

00:01:24.580 The problem is, is that when it comes to making money,

00:01:27.480 people that are intelligent make up a ton of reasons

00:01:30.180 of why the thing won't work.

00:01:32.180 You miss 100% of the shots you don't take.

00:01:34.100 The smartest people overthink their shots

00:01:36.120 and never even take them.

00:01:37.940 So confidence is one thing, 0.99

00:01:39.320 but there's a second reason dumb people win, 0.93

00:01:41.400 and it's the one thing that keeps smart people 0.99

00:01:43.900 playing small their entire lives. 1.00

00:01:46.700 Reason number two, they're scared to look stupid. 0.99

00:01:49.960 Most people don't try, not because they're scared to fail, 1.00

00:01:52.320 they're scared to be seen failing.

00:01:54.580 So why does a smart person do this?

00:01:56.420 It's because they want to protect their smart kid identity.

00:01:59.400 In the book, Mindset by Carol Dweck,

00:02:01.720 she talks about this, that there's a study

00:02:03.500 where children that have been praised for being smart

00:02:06.520 will eventually get to a point

00:02:07.760 where they will avoid challenging situations

00:02:09.820 because they're afraid of losing that smart kid label. 0.99

00:02:14.380 Dumb people aren't scared of looking anything. 0.99

00:02:16.880 They're like, I don't care if you think I don't know, 1.00

00:02:19.120 I don't know.

00:02:20.000 I need to know the answer, you have the answer, 0.97

00:02:22.020 so I'm gonna ask the question even if I look dumb

00:02:23.800 because then I'll have the answer 0.94

00:02:24.820 to be able to make a good decision.

00:02:26.540 I remember one time I was coaching this woman, Jessica,

00:02:28.520 and I noticed she never asked questions.

00:02:30.760 And I called her out on Instagram.

00:02:32.060 I literally messed her on Instagram. 1.00

00:02:33.020 I said, hey, you haven't asked a question in a while.

00:02:34.920 And then she admitted, she's like,

00:02:35.900 well, I just don't want anybody to think

00:02:37.380 that I don't know what I'm doing in my business.

00:02:38.860 I said, here's the deal.

00:02:39.960 You don't, that's why we're working together.

00:02:41.960 And if you ask questions, you'll learn more.

00:02:44.220 Next call, she asked a really simple question.

00:02:46.660 Everybody might've thought it was basic,

00:02:48.300 but I told her how her competitors

00:02:50.160 are using an automation tool to solve her problem,

00:02:52.560 which cut her costs in half.

00:02:54.960 And not only that, she doubled her business in 90 days 0.99

00:02:56.900 because she was willing to look dumb. 0.99

00:02:59.420 The smartest people in the rooms 1.00

00:03:00.900 are the ones that are willing to look stupid. 1.00

00:03:02.780 So here's what we're gonna do. 1.00

00:03:03.980 Grab a piece of paper or anything to write in.

00:03:06.180 I want you to write down your honest answers

00:03:08.640 to two questions.

00:03:10.280 One, what's one thing that you avoid doing 1.00

00:03:13.540 because you're scared you might look stupid 1.00

00:03:15.400 or incompetent while you're doing it? 1.00

00:03:17.060 Second question is,

00:03:18.360 who are you trying to impress by not doing it?

00:03:20.980 Write those things down

00:03:21.960 because we're gonna come back to them. 0.94

00:03:23.420 So we've established that the fear of looking dumb 0.97

00:03:25.960 keeps people stuck.

00:03:27.360 But here's a third reason smart people stay broke

00:03:29.800 and it's all about how you see risk.

00:03:32.200 Number three, bad risk radar.

00:03:34.700 I once read a study that showed

00:03:36.340 that people with lower cognitive scores

00:03:38.620 were willing to take risks in a controlled test.

00:03:41.800 But when it came to real money being involved,

00:03:44.300 they became less conservative than the average person.

00:03:47.360 Smart people overestimate the risk and play it safe.

00:03:50.840 And the truth is, it's not about making the right decision.

00:03:53.640 It's about making a decision, then making it right. 0.94

00:03:56.760 So here are two examples of smart versus dumb risk. 0.93

00:04:00.100 Smart. 0.95

00:04:01.200 Yahoo passes on Google twice.

00:04:03.980 Literally, in 1998, Google offered to sell Yahoo

00:04:06.600 for $1 million.

00:04:08.100 $1 million.

00:04:09.380 Yahoo said, nah.

00:04:11.420 Four years later, Yahoo comes back

00:04:13.300 once they see the traction and offers them $3 billion.

00:04:15.980 Google says, okay, but they came back at $5 billion.

00:04:18.880 Yahoo passed again.

00:04:20.100 Today, Google's worth way more than a trillion.

00:04:23.640 Two chances missed by overthinking. 1.00

00:04:26.260 Dumb, the FedEx gamble. 0.97

00:04:28.340 1973, the founder of FedEx, Fred Smith, he's got no money. 0.97

00:04:32.380 He can't even pay a 5K fuel bill.

00:04:34.300 He takes 5,000, all they have left in the bank account,

00:04:37.420 goes to Vegas, gambles, blackjack. 0.99

00:04:40.160 Now, most people think that's dumb. 0.99

00:04:41.980 Guess what? 0.97

00:04:42.820 He turned that into the 27 grand you need.

00:04:45.040 He got to survive and he became a global shipping giant.

00:04:48.880 The biggest risk is taking no risk.

00:04:51.800 I'm not promoting gambling,

00:04:53.060 but I want to emphasize the concept of taking risks.

00:04:56.520 So here's how we fix your broken risk radar.

00:04:58.660 I call it the ratios of risk.

00:05:00.680 There's three questions you gotta ask yourself.

00:05:02.680 First off, you ask yourself,

00:05:03.780 what's one investment that scares you right now?

00:05:06.360 Some people it's like hiring somebody,

00:05:08.640 hiring a coach, full-time employee, going pro.

00:05:12.160 There's something about some way

00:05:14.120 you wanna spend your money.

00:05:15.200 Write that dollar amount down.

00:05:16.460 Like, what do you think that costs?

00:05:18.760 The second is, is what's the percent

00:05:20.520 of your annual income in that?

00:05:22.980 Are you putting like your whole life savings

00:05:24.760 or is it a small percentage?

00:05:26.120 Third is if you knew you couldn't fail,

00:05:28.500 would you make that bet?

00:05:30.080 And what I want to inform you

00:05:31.820 is that you have to recalibrate.

00:05:34.280 When I started in business,

00:05:36.140 spending $18 for a book felt like a serious investment.

00:05:40.740 And then I got to a place where I noticed

00:05:42.400 that every time I made an investment, my life got better,

00:05:45.200 but the size of the investment had to go up

00:05:47.800 in a relation to the level of risk. 0.99

00:05:50.260 Dumb people realize that it's not an absolute dollar amount, 0.99

00:05:54.480 it's a percentage. 0.99

00:05:55.900 They'll put a lot more money behind the things

00:05:57.980 that smart people won't even pay for.

00:06:00.000 Smart people are like, I got a $20 gym membership,

00:06:02.460 I feel good about myself. 0.96

00:06:03.800 A dumb person goes, well, if I don't pay you 250 to go, 0.99

00:06:07.140 I know I don't trust myself, I won't go, 1.00

00:06:09.140 but if I pay you 250, I wanna get my money's worth,

00:06:11.160 so I'm gonna do that instead.

00:06:12.680 Do you see the difference?

00:06:14.120 Because when people don't pay, they don't pay attention.

00:06:16.760 If you're not willing to put money at risk

00:06:19.900 to get a reward proportionate to the reward you want,

00:06:22.940 then you won't get it.

00:06:23.980 The truth is the biggest risk you could ever take

00:06:26.540 is not having the time in your calendar

00:06:28.840 to do the thing that's gonna make you the most money.

00:06:30.720 Most people need an assistant. 0.99

00:06:32.080 Most people need a virtual assistant, executive assistant,

00:06:34.500 even somebody in your home to help you clean.

00:06:36.400 The challenge is the most smart people

00:06:38.160 wouldn't even know what to ask them to do.

00:06:40.080 So if you want my internal EA playbook, the whole thing,

00:06:43.460 It's 42 pages of exactly how I work

00:06:45.700 with my executive assistant.

00:06:47.100 Just find me on Instagram and message me, YouTube, EA,

00:06:50.260 and I'll send it right over. 0.99

00:06:51.300 Now you have the three reasons why dumb people 1.00

00:06:54.280 make more money than smart people. 1.00

00:06:56.300 They're overconfident, they're not scared to look stupid, 1.00

00:06:59.020 and they underestimate the risk, 0.99

00:07:00.980 which gets them in positions to get big returns.

00:07:04.040 But here's the good news. 0.99

00:07:05.400 You don't need to actually be dumb to win like they do. 0.99

00:07:08.600 You just need to dumb things down and keep it simple. 0.98

00:07:11.640 The three strategies I'm about to show you

00:07:13.560 all have one thing in common.

00:07:15.460 They eliminate complexity and make success way easier. 0.76

00:07:19.460 So let's start with dumb strategy number one,

00:07:22.080 model, then modify. 1.00

00:07:24.480 Dumb people just go, you're the expert. 1.00

00:07:26.980 You taught me how to do something. 1.00

00:07:28.420 I got your blueprint.

00:07:29.460 I'm just gonna do what you did.

00:07:31.540 Smart people get the blueprint, look at it and go,

00:07:34.200 this won't work for me because I'm a magic snowflake.

00:07:36.460 So they tweak it.

00:07:37.380 And then when they start doing it,

00:07:38.580 it didn't work the way the person

00:07:39.920 that gave it to them used it.

00:07:41.640 Why? They changed it way too early.

00:07:44.700 The research has shown this,

00:07:45.940 that entrepreneurs who copy existing business models

00:07:49.100 have a 20% higher chance of survival

00:07:51.440 than those who tried to innovate from scratch.

00:07:53.620 I think of my buddy, Felipe, he literally sells houses.

00:07:56.200 He's like, I wanna start coaching people.

00:07:57.780 How do I do it?

00:07:58.680 I showed him my model.

00:08:00.000 He didn't change it, he didn't tweak it,

00:08:02.440 he didn't try to make it his own.

00:08:03.900 He copied it, literally step by step.

00:08:07.400 A month later, he's making so much profit he can't believe it.

00:08:11.080 And everybody's like, how did you do it, Felipe?

00:08:13.000 He's like, I just follow what Dan told me how to do.

00:08:15.740 And this is the crazy part is somebody's been successful,

00:08:18.720 they're leaving clues, stop ignoring them.

00:08:21.220 Remember that thing I asked you to write down earlier,

00:08:23.000 that thing that scares you a little bit?

00:08:24.240 Here's what we're gonna do with that.

00:08:25.840 The first thing is you're gonna find somebody

00:08:28.060 that's already doing that thing 0.97

00:08:29.540 that you wanna do successfully.

00:08:31.560 The second thing is you wanna study exactly

00:08:33.640 what they did for three days.

00:08:35.320 Then this week, copy their first three steps exactly.

00:08:39.120 Don't try to be original yet,

00:08:40.680 just copy and start.

00:08:42.020 So for example, if you wanna get into YouTube

00:08:44.100 or creating content, just go back to my old stuff.

00:08:46.860 Write down the process, see what I did, follow my steps.

00:08:50.500 I have people that ask me all the time

00:08:52.480 about my social media strategy.

00:08:54.460 It's public, and I just say, do what I do.

00:08:58.280 Right off the bat, I'm publishing twice a day

00:09:00.400 on my Instagram, and you're not.

00:09:02.200 Why don't you copy that?

00:09:03.720 Model then modify.

00:09:04.780 If you want my results, literally copy me.

00:09:07.680 I want you to know this, by the way.

00:09:09.100 I care more that you win than you copying my stuff.

00:09:12.100 So if I do anything that you think is smart,

00:09:14.520 feel free to copy it.

00:09:15.680 It's yours to keep, you don't have to give me attribution.

00:09:18.280 I don't care.

00:09:19.600 I literally wanna see you win more than I care about that.

00:09:22.340 Now, copying someone gets you moving, that's awesome.

00:09:25.240 But you can still fail if you're copying the wrong thing.

00:09:28.100 So here's how to make sure you're on the right path 0.95

00:09:30.400 as somebody that's acting dumb. 0.99

00:09:32.720 Dumb strategy number two, zone of genius. 0.99

00:09:36.060 The zone of genius is deciding 0.96

00:09:38.300 what is the thing that you do

00:09:40.240 that creates the most value in the world 0.98

00:09:42.320 and actually strategically being dumb about everything else. 1.00

00:09:46.280 Dumb people do this fun thing where they're just like, 1.00

00:09:48.780 that's about my pay grade and they don't get involved 1.00

00:09:51.200 like finance or just stuff that doesn't matter.

00:09:53.480 So for example, if you didn't know this,

00:09:55.580 I don't approve anything that goes live on social media.

00:09:58.860 I see it the first time you see it.

00:10:01.300 I got dumb to the need to verify what you're editing.

00:10:05.620 Look, for the one or two times a year

00:10:07.860 that something gets published that was private,

00:10:10.300 that shouldn't have been included in some content,

00:10:12.240 I just hit archive.

00:10:13.400 It might be seen by a few thousand people,

00:10:15.060 but sometimes you just gotta let go.

00:10:16.940 And because you're too smart, you hold on way too long.

00:10:19.860 See, smart people think they gotta be good at everything.

00:10:22.540 I choose to only be good at the thing that needs me

00:10:24.840 and everything else.

00:10:25.680 I literally act like a three-year-old.

00:10:26.980 People ask me questions about stuff

00:10:28.340 and I'm like, I don't know.

00:10:29.700 Of course I know.

00:10:30.540 But if I answer the question,

00:10:31.700 they'll always come to me for the next question.

00:10:34.380 I don't wanna be having that conversation.

00:10:36.200 I wanna have the time to do the thing only I can do,

00:10:38.660 my zone of genius.

00:10:39.880 So to figure out your specific zone of genius,

00:10:42.180 you need to answer four questions.

00:10:44.100 And this comes from the Japanese methodology, Ikigai.

00:10:47.100 The first question is, what do you love doing?

00:10:49.420 Like, what do you do when you want to procrastinate?

00:10:52.840 What would you do with your friends?

00:10:54.240 Like, what do you truly love to do?

00:10:55.760 The second question is, what are you naturally good at?

00:10:57.940 You know, what's the thing that other people say,

00:11:00.040 oh, you're really good at that.

00:11:01.400 And you might not even consider it that special,

00:11:03.620 but other people comment on it.

00:11:05.460 That's the answer for number two.

00:11:06.820 Number three is what does the world need?

00:11:09.080 You might have a desire to do something

00:11:11.040 because you really enjoy it,

00:11:12.020 but there's no need out there for it.

00:11:14.080 And number four, what can you get paid for?

00:11:16.900 People might like something,

00:11:18.820 but they won't pay for something unless it's a real pain.

00:11:21.820 So what do people already spend money on in this area?

00:11:24.780 That's the answer for number four.

00:11:26.360 If you think of those four questions,

00:11:28.700 the overlapping center of that diagram

00:11:32.100 is your zone of genius.

00:11:33.720 That is where you should go all in, okay?

00:11:36.840 Look at the ratios of risk of where you're taking risks.

00:11:40.080 Is it aligned with your zone of genius?

00:11:42.300 If not, that's where it needs to be

00:11:44.040 because that's exactly what your next level requires.

00:11:46.980 But here's where smart people screw it up.

00:11:49.040 They just complicate it. 0.99

00:11:50.460 Here's how to keep it stupidly simple. 1.00

00:11:52.920 Dumb strategy number three, simple scales. 1.00

00:11:55.980 This is my mantra in life. 0.95

00:11:58.200 It's our core value at my company.

00:12:00.420 It's what I talk to at all my executives.

00:12:02.140 objectives simplify simplify simplify okay you can't scale chaos you have to keep it simple 0.99

00:12:07.660 dumb people are rich because they keep it stupidly simple you know i was in a finance meeting 0.95

00:12:13.100 recently with my team and they were trying to explain to me some decisions on some investments 1.00

00:12:17.040 and i was like you guys are over complicating it the truth is draw me a picture treat me like i'm

00:12:23.160 in seventh grade smart people literally try to over complicate it because it makes them feel

00:12:28.280 smart, where dumb people keep getting richer because they get information in a way that

00:12:32.800 allows them to make decisions faster. And my favorite story of this is the story of Sriracha. 0.99

00:12:37.300 David Tran, the founder, came to America with nothing. And his dumb plan was pretty straightforward. 0.98

00:12:42.900 Sell one type of hot sauce. While big companies were trying to give him advice and everybody 0.99

00:12:47.600 coming in, you need to do this, you need to do that. He said, no, I'm going to do one thing

00:12:51.980 and I'm going to do it really well. I'm going to make sure everybody knows about it. And it's

00:12:55.980 become such a cultural phenomenon.

00:12:58.380 The green cap bottle for 40 years, Sriracha.

00:13:01.680 He didn't overthink it or try to be a genius.

00:13:04.500 He did one simple thing perfectly.

00:13:07.540 Now he's a billionaire. 0.99

00:13:08.740 The dumbest solution is usually the right one 1.00

00:13:11.660 because it's the least complex. 0.99

00:13:13.660 Here's why complexity always sneaks in

00:13:15.520 is because adding stuff makes you feel productive.

00:13:18.280 It costs nothing to add.

00:13:19.700 It makes you feel like you're doing something,

00:13:21.660 but subtracting makes the system actually work.

00:13:24.700 Right now, you've got your zone of genius.

00:13:26.840 You know what you gotta do.

00:13:28.300 Now I gotta teach you the scaling credo

00:13:30.320 so you don't overcomplicate it.

00:13:32.240 It requires these five ones.

00:13:34.500 Here's how it works.

00:13:35.680 The first thing we have to do is pick one target market,

00:13:38.380 okay, who can I serve the best, who I wanna serve,

00:13:41.180 just pick one.

00:13:42.540 The second thing is one product.

00:13:44.820 What's the one thing that you know will give them value?

00:13:48.700 What would I sell if I knew I only got paid

00:13:51.520 if they got the result?

00:13:52.700 Third is one conversion tool,

00:13:54.700 the one way you get them to buy.

00:13:56.880 If it's through partners, if it's through paid,

00:13:59.180 if it's through creating content,

00:14:00.880 what's the one way you get their attention

00:14:03.040 and sell them something?

00:14:04.380 Number four is one channel, one place to go find them.

00:14:08.040 Where are they hiding?

00:14:08.880 Are they going to events?

00:14:09.740 Are they on Facebook?

00:14:10.580 Are they on TikTok?

00:14:11.420 One traffic source.

00:14:12.920 You wanna go all in on one.

00:14:15.480 And the last one is one year.

00:14:17.600 If you commit to these four things for 12 months

00:14:21.100 without distractions, you put blinders on.

00:14:23.200 You will blow your mind on what you can accomplish. 1.00

00:14:26.000 Dumb people kick smart people's asses 1.00

00:14:29.340 because they don't get distracted. 1.00

00:14:31.500 They don't add a bunch of stuff 0.98

00:14:33.220 and they're able to do a dumb thing,

00:14:35.740 which is to sell hot sauce with a green cap 0.97

00:14:38.560 for 40 years to become a billionaire.

00:14:40.800 Do you care how you become a billionaire, you smarty pants?

00:14:43.680 You see what I'm saying?

00:14:44.680 I love you, but stop over-complicating it.

00:14:47.220 If your goal is to be rich,

00:14:49.260 the strategy I just shared with you

00:14:50.920 the highest probability of you getting rich so write those down that's your entire focus for 0.99

00:14:56.760 the next year you now have everything you need okay you know why dumb people are richer than 0.99

00:15:01.880 smart people you know what you need to do so that you can incorporate their dumb strategies so that 0.98

00:15:06.440 you can get rich don't over complicate it don't overthink it just go and i know some people are

00:15:11.960 going to watch this and they're still going to want to over complicate it and here's why

00:15:15.320 overthinking feels safe because it delays the responsibility making things complex to start

00:15:21.560 means there's nothing to start to get feedback on that you can fail at and action feels risky

00:15:26.920 because it creates truth you now know i've always said that the business plan never survives first

00:15:32.280 contact with the customer the only thing you need to be doing is selling something to a stranger

00:15:37.000 yet we all add this complexity i gotta get the name i gotta get it patented i need to get a

00:15:42.040 trademark i need to get the domain it's like all this noise to just start people feel like they

00:15:47.480 need clarity to make a decision clarity is the reward for movement making decisions it's not a

00:15:52.760 prerequisite that needs to be there so what i need you to do below in the comments just tell me one

00:15:57.880 area of your business you're going to dumb down is it taking action is it hiring is it marketing

00:16:03.560 is it sales what are you just going to simplify and dumb down so you can get richer i need you

00:16:08.920 you to leave a comment below. And just remember, if you're a business owner and you're trying to

00:16:12.980 get past seven figures and you want my internal EA, Executive Assistant Playbook, just find me

00:16:18.200 on Instagram, Dan Martell, 2Ls Martell, and message me YouTube, EA, and I'll send you the link right

00:16:23.140 over. And if you want to get rich without talent, luck, or a freaking trust fund, just click here

00:16:28.380 and I'll see you on the other side.

Dan Martell - March 09, 2026

Why Dumb People Make More Money Than You

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