Making Money Matters, with Andy Frisella - MFCEO2
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Summary
In this episode of the MFCEO Project, my good buddy Vaughn Kohler joins me to talk about money and why it's not what you think it is. We talk about how to think about money, what it does to you, and why you should care about it.
Transcript
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Hey guys, what's up? It's Andy Priscilla, host of the MFCEO Project. Thanks for tuning
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in for this week's podcast. If you guys don't know a little bit about me, 16 years ago,
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I started a company with my best friend slash business partner to this day. We had $12,000
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saved up for painting the stripes on parking lots. We've since grown that into multiple
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companies, multiple revenue streams, totaling over $100 million this year. This is a podcast
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basically dedicated to cutting through all the bullshit about entrepreneurship, business
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and motivation and getting you guys the truth. We're all tired of hearing the Peter Cottontail,
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fluffy cupcake version of everything. And we're just going to get right down to the fucking nuts
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and bolts. All right. Some of you guys might be offended. Maybe it's better to go listen
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to somebody else. Most of you guys, I think I'll like it. I'm here with Vaughn Kohler. Good
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buddy of mine. He's a co-host. Say hi, Vaughn. How you doing? This episode, we're going to
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talk about money. Everybody wants to talk about money. Everybody has thoughts about money, preconceived
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limits and notions about money that they are unconsciously brought up with. And we're going
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to talk about some of those things. I think that, you know, I'm not going to tell you where
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to make money. I'm not going to tell you where to invest your money today. I'm not going to
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tell you anything like that. We're just going to talk about how you think about money. Vaughn,
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you and I talked about having this show for a while. We think it's very interesting to kind
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of dive into the way people think about money. You know, it's, it just varies across the board.
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Yep. Yep. So the Beatles famously saying, can't buy me love. Money can buy you a lot of things,
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I, you know, that's definitely something that people think, you know, I think most entrepreneurs
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out there think that, you know, when I make X dollars, I'll be happy when I make, um, you
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know, $10 million or a million dollars or a hundred thousand dollars or whatever it is. Uh, when
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I purchase this material object, when I have this and that and this, you know, they think that
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they're going to be happy. And the reality is, is no, it will not make you happy. Um, it will
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accelerate what your thoughts and I guess views and, you know, standards are of life, but it's not
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going to create purpose for your life. I think that's a big misconception that people, that people
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have. Um, one of the things money does is it brings out what's in you and gives you the power to
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express that more fully. So if you're kind of inside, if you're a good person, it'll help you
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be more of a good person. And if inside, if you're kind of full of crap, it'll help you. Do you agree
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with that or is that? Yeah, I do. Generally, I think that, you know, from my experience,
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I feel like the guys who are successful that I've met who have basically built that themselves,
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it's just brought out, uh, it's almost like adding a megaphone to your life. You know,
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you're able to do the things that you would be able to do without it. And those things are not
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going to be any different than, you know, what you would have done without it. It's just on a bigger
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scale. So it kind of amplifies everything that you're about. So does that mean that you don't think
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the money necessarily ruins people. It just, people were already a certain kind of person
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and then money gave them the ability to ruin themselves. Yeah. The thing I see about that
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though, is that the people who are like shitball people anyway, they don't ever get to where they
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want to be because what happens is, is that they're climbing up the success ladder. And when you're on
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the success ladder and you get to a certain level, everybody above it kind of sees what you're about.
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If you're, if you're about bullshit and you're about fucking people over and you're about
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all the negative connotations that people like to believe about money, those people above you on
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the ladder are not going to let you get any further. They're kind of going to kick you back
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down. So, I mean, scam artists and the kind of people that dick people over and all the shit that
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basically everybody says about successful people, those people don't get very far, you know? And
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the reality is, is that, you know, that mindset about money in terms of, you know, this guy's just
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fucked people over to get to the top and this and that, that's what people tell themselves so that
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they don't have to do the work. You know, that's something that I think that people,
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when they sell their dreams and their hopes down the river, they say, Oh, you know what? I wanted
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that, but then I saw what it really took and I didn't want to do that because it's morally wrong.
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Right. And it's fucking bullshit. I don't know. I don't know personally, anybody that is
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financially successful personally. And I know a lot of people who are morally bad people. I just don't.
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Most of them are the opposite. Most of them use it as a tool to create fulfillment and value in other
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people's lives, which is what got them there in the first place. Making money is about creating
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value. It's not about making money, you know, and that's something we'll get to here in a second.
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Yeah. Yeah. So kind of along with that, can money make you happy? I mean, let's play devil's advocate.
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You're wearing a $60,000 watch. Maybe it's not that much. I don't know, but you've, you've worn
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watches like that. I've seen your Lamborghini. Uh, I haven't seen your house, but I've seen pictures
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of it or I haven't been to her house, but I've seen pictures of it. There's a guy that comes along and
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says to you, Andy, come on. You're telling me that that's not happiness. You're telling me that
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that didn't contribute to your overall satisfaction with life. Oh, I mean, here's the reality, man.
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You know, it's the same thing, just on bigger scales. I mean, anybody here who's gotten a new
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car, do you not tell me that after four months of having that car, it's just a car for you?
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I mean, I'm asking you. Yeah, no, it's true. You bought new cars before, right? It's a law of
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diminishing returns. That's right. Your excitement fades. And then, and then what's your
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natural thought? Uh, it's usually what I'm going to, what's next. Yeah, exactly. So it's no
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different when you, it's no different whenever you're buying more expensive things. So, and that's
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where it comes down to like, you start to figure out that it's not the things that make you happy.
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It's the work that makes you happy. Right. You know, it's not, I'm going to buy this car,
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even though I do like Lamborghinis, I'm a huge fan of the brand. I'm a huge fan of the story. If you
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want to hear an awesome story about entrepreneurship, go read about Lamborghini there. It's a,
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it's a great fucking story. And that honestly combined with the fact that, you know, every
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time I drive the car, I get out of the car with like a boner. Okay. That's, that combines,
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uh, you know, I love for that brand. Yeah. Okay. Um, but I gotta be honest. I mean, it, you know,
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it, you get used to it. You know what I mean? So for somebody that's, that's just starting out
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and you say, Oh, I'm going to be happy when I have all these things. No, you're not. You're
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going to feel the same way that you feel about things that you accomplish. Now you're going to
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get to that point. You're going to say what's next. Yeah. And dude, the people that don't say
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what's next are that people that end up with all the money in the world that go out in the backyard
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and shoot themselves in the head. Right. You know, Oh, that guy had everything and this and that.
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And he was miserable. And that's another belief that people have, you know, if you have all this
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money, you're going to be miserable. Well, yeah, that's true. But if you define yourself by the
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amount of money you make and being successful and that's all you ever shoot for and then you get it
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and that's, that's all you've ever defined yourself by, you are going to be depressed
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because you're going to feel like there's nothing left to accomplish. Right. So, you know, it's not
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money that ends up making somebody happy. It's the ability to affect people with that money
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that brings value to your life. I mean, you take a guy, a guy like, I mean, you look at the three,
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the big three, you know, the big three in the U S or who Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.
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Right. Right. Do you think that they do or slash did and Steve Jobs case did what they did for the
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money? They did it because they want to change people. They want to change lives. They want to
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change the industry. They want to change the way people live. You know, Warren Buffett has, yeah,
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he's an investor, but he's an investor in some pretty innovative businesses. You know, he's done some
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really cool shit and he goes to work every day and works his ass off. It's not because he wants more
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money. It's because he wants to be good and he wants to make a change. He wants to make a difference.
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And that is the paradox that you have to get under control. And it's very hard to see whenever you're
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just starting out is that, you know, money, making money is not about making money. Making money is
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and write this shit down because this is the truest shit you're going to ever fucking hear.
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Making money and the amount of money you make is in direct relation to how much value you bring to the
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world. If you don't bring value to the world, you're not making any fucking money. If you bring a
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tremendous amount of value to the world, you're going to make a tremendous amount of money. That's it.
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Right. You know, it doesn't matter if you're an entrepreneur, a guy inside of an organization,
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you know, if you're a guy working inside of an organization right now and you say, man, I can only get
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so far. Well, I'm going to tell you what, the more value you create, the more you're going to learn,
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the more valuable you're going to be. And yeah, you might outgrow that organization,
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but you're going to be extremely valuable when you do. Right. You know, and people don't think
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like that. They think like, oh man, I'm working for somebody that could never be this. Well,
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first of all, that's a shitty fucking attitude. Right. Second of all, you know, it's about fulfilling
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your own potential, you know, and, and creating value. And if you create value, you're going to have
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income. Yeah. So, so we're, we're in the process of unfolding Andy's manifesto of money. So obviously
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point number one was it will not bring you happiness. And you, you kind of transitioned
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into point number two, which is, it's really not about money. It's about, it's about, it's
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about creating value. And you've also said, I know when we've talked, you talked about,
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about people who are successful, don't make it about earning money. They make it about being
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great. Right. So talk, talk a little bit about that. Well, here's the deal. So when I was younger
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and I used to look and read, I used to always hear the same saying, and it was do what you're
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passionate about and you'll be successful. And I used to think like, dude, that makes no
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fucking sense at all. Like that sounds like the biggest bunch of bullshit I've ever heard.
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But as I've grown and as I've had experiences and as I've become more successful and when I,
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and I don't like saying I'm successful because in my terms, you know, other people may look at
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me and say, Oh dude, you've got everything you want. In my terms, I'm not successful because
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there's so much more potential to fulfill. So like, I don't like saying that, but like,
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I get the fact that people look and say, say, Oh, it drives this kind of car, does this and that.
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And they say that's success. Well, okay. That's, that's their form of success at this point in time.
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Make sense? Right. So when I sit there and think about, you know, the, the statement,
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follow your passion and you'll be successful. I used to think it was like,
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this hocus pocus pie in the sky, like just fluffy shit that, you know, I honestly just hate.
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you're not passionate about what you do, especially when you're not making any money.
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It's very hard to dedicate the time it is to be great at what you do. You know,
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if you hate what you're doing, are you going to really put in the extra time at home to be great
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at that? No. Right. So the point is, is that everybody who earns money is really fucking good at
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what they do. And the reason they're really fucking good is because they love what they do most of the
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time. And the reason that it's important to love what you do is because for a long time, when you
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first start, you're not going to make any money and you have to get better for a reason other than
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just money. So you have to love what you do for that reason. Does that make sense? Yeah, absolutely.
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Okay. So the better you are at something, I mean, everybody always asks for the fucking secret.
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They're always like, Oh, what's the secret? What's the secret to success? Blah, blah, blah.
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There's no fucking secret. The secret is to be fucking great at what you do. That's it. Point
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at me one person who makes huge money in anything that they do and is extremely successful. That
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isn't fucking good, very good or great at what they do. It does not exist. No. So I'm going to
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have you take a detour just for a second, because I know that this is a huge part of your business
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philosophy in terms of what you, what you talk to your guys in the store about doing it. Like in terms
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of selling, you say, don't make it about the money, make it about helping people.
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That's right. Yeah. Well, that goes in right in with creating value. You know, even when
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I was first starting in business, you know, I used to always focus on how much money we
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can make. You know, I think about today's sale. It's not today's sale, man. It's, it's
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the, we live in an age where word of mouth travels so fast that, you know, I can put something
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up on Facebook or on Twitter or on Instagram and I have, you know, a hundred and something
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thousand people knowing about it instantly. You know, word of mouth is not like it was
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40 years ago when our parents were working and in business and it took a month for someone to find
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out that you didn't provide what you said you would provide. So you can look at that one of
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two ways. You can look at that in a way of, Hey, it's important that I bring value to people because
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otherwise people are going to fucking know. Or B it's important to bring value to people because
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and go way past just bringing value, but like going over the top because everybody's going to
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know, you see what I'm saying? They're going to know either way. So when you, when it comes to
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like doing the right, like really, man, the great thing about social media and the way people
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interact nowadays, you know, all the quick things, cell phones, texts, emails, Twitter, Facebook,
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Instagram, all of the new social media platforms coming up is that it's instant. Okay. So what that
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does is that weeds out people who are the old type of entrepreneur where they're like, they have
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this mindset of like, dude, we're going to sell this, this cheap product that has a lot of margin
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and we're going to market the shit out of it because that shit doesn't work anymore. You know,
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it doesn't, you can't trick people, you know, like it has been for the last 40 years with television,
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you know, new, the new medium for selling is fucking social. It's word of mouth. It's what it always
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has been, but this is accelerated at times a billion. Right. You know, so, you know, you have
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to, you have to consider that, you know, when you're talking about making money, it comes down
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to basically bring so much value to that person that they become a speaker for you just because
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you made their, whatever their experience was so great and you've solved their problems so great
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that they're going to go tell their friends about how great you solve their problem. Right.
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That's, it's as simple as that, you know, making money comes down to solving problems
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and the people who solve the problems the best and create the most value in the interaction
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are going to make the most money. Now, I know you, I know you originally learned that lesson
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because you told me about this. You originally learned that lesson in the very early days of S2
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when you and Chris, you didn't have any money for marketing. Yeah. So we were real lucky
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because we started in a time that was, we, we started in 99 and that was like when the internet
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had really kind of just started to be something, you know, um, people didn't really know how to use
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it, but it was there. There was emails and that's, people started doing business that way. They didn't,
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there was no social network, so to speak, but email was kind of the first social network. You know
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what I mean? And, uh, and then we, we were, we were just really fortunate to start at that time
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because, um, we didn't have any money to advertise because average traditional advertising was still
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very expensive. You know, if you wanted to run TV commercial or you want to run a radio commercial,
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it costs a lot of fucking money that we didn't have. So we were forced to go out and create and,
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and, and become creative in the ways almost like guerrilla marketing type ways of meeting people
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and creating value one step at a time. You know, there were days in our first retail store,
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we didn't see anybody. There were two, three days in a row. We didn't see anybody. So when that first
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person came in, you know, it, it wasn't just like, Hey, I'm going to try to sell them something. It's
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like, dude, I want to keep the guy in the store as long as possible because I'm fucking bored. So,
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you know, but, but what we inadvertently did was pay a lot of attention to people. And we talked to
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them, we got to know them, we shook their hands, we got to know their kids' names, you know, not out
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of like, we're trying to like purposely, you know, not on purpose. It was just a matter of circumstance.
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And what happened was we became friends. All right. So when you become friends,
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people want to shop with their friends. If you think about how you buy something,
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when was the last time you saw a commercial on TV and you immediately went online and bought
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something? Boy, for me, not very often. It doesn't happen anymore. It's not like that. What happens is,
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is you see a commercial for TV and you go to your buddies at the gym or wherever it is you hang out
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or, you know, and you say, Hey man, did you see that commercial for this? And the guy would be like,
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yeah, you know, I saw that. I was thinking about this too. And then the third guy comes up. He's like,
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yeah, I fucking got that. It sucked. And you immediately drop it. You don't buy it. Right. Right.
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Right. Or the third guy comes up and he says, yeah, man, I heard about that too. And it was
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fucking awesome. I love it. It's my favorite thing I ever bought. And what happens? Two fucking sales.
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Boom, boom. Cause the other two guys that just heard you talk. So basically advertising now has,
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has gone from a, something that convinced people to buy to where it's something that convinced people
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to talk. You see what I'm saying? Absolutely. And if you don't have, um, a positive outcome of that
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conversation, you're not, you're not only are you not going to sell the demise of your brand is going
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to be accelerated that much faster. Right. So we were just really lucky at, at a young point in
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business to be in a situation where we were forced to do business, quote unquote, the old way,
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which is like one handshake at a time, one friend at a time, which is honestly the way that people
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have bought since day one. Since, since, since there was marketing, that's how people buy. Right. And so,
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you know, me and my brother had this saying called make a friend, make a sale. Well, dude,
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the better you can make friends, the better value, the better you solve the problem, the more sales
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you're going to make. Right. You know, and it's just really, it comes down to creating value for people
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solving problems. It's very, very simple. And, and we were lucky to learn that in a retail aspect.
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And we've been able to keep that as part of our core values, you know, over the last 16 years.
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And I would say more than anything, that's the reason we've been successful.
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So I don't want to be the guy on the podcast whose role it is, is to simply restate the obvious,
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but, um, it's basically what you're saying is don't make it about money, make it about being great.
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But along with that is, is part of making money is, is to genuinely value people.
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Yeah, man. Uh, it's, it's, it's caring. Yeah, it is. It's, you know, everybody looks for this way
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around that. Okay. Like they look for this, how do I make a sale and the quickest way possible? And
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how do I grow a business the quickest way possible? So they look at all these fucking shortcuts out
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there like, Hey, I'm going to try and do this and it'll trick people into doing this and this and
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this. First of all, people are fucking smart. They're not stupid. Right. Okay. Assume that
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every single person, if you're in any business right now, don't assume that you're smarter than
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anybody else. Assume that they are smarter than you. Okay. So when you assume that they are smarter
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than you, you automatically have to do the right thing because you, you know, it's impossible to
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trick them. Right. So the biggest mistake I see with young business owners is there is they think
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that they're going to trick people. You're not tricking people. People aren't fucking stupid. And if they
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are fucking stupid, they're going to go ask their friends who aren't fucking
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stupid and they're going to tell them to stay away from you. Right. Okay. So, you know,
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you have to be genuinely interested and genuinely passionate about solving a problem for people.
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And the better that you're genuinely interested and genuinely passionate about solving the problem
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for people, the faster you will be successful. That's the fucking shortcut. The shortcut is do the
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fucking work, do it the right way, do it consistently, do it for a long period of time. And you're going to
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be successful. Any other thing that you do is not the fucking shortcut. And that's something that
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people have to understand from day one. Right. Right. Well, I mean, obviously from what you're
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saying, it's, it's clear that, uh, you don't think money's a bad thing. So that leads me to the next
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sort of commonly held misconception. And that is that money is the root of all evil. True or false?
00:19:56.160
Dude, that is the most laughable. When I hear that from people or see that posted, like I see,
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I see a blatant fucking excuse and I see limits that people have been brought up to believe
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generationally over time. I, when I hear that, I, you never hear about the good shit people do with
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money. You know what I'm saying? You never hear, you know, that guy that says, Oh, look at that guy.
00:20:22.620
He's driving a fucking Rolls Royce and gives him the finger, you know, of course, after he drives
00:20:26.680
away and you can't see him. Right. You know what I mean? But I can see some people in the audience
00:20:30.260
saying, wait a minute, Andy, that's in the Bible, isn't it? Doesn't, doesn't the Bible say that money
00:20:35.380
is the root of all evil? We've had this conversation, brother, and you're the pastor. You're, you know,
00:20:39.380
for you guys that don't know, this is, this is, this is former pastor Vaughn. So, you know,
00:20:45.280
you're the religious expert here. So you enlighten me on exactly what the Bible says. I know the Bible
00:20:49.720
doesn't say that, but who's going to believe me because I'm not the religious expert. Right. You
00:20:53.320
are. Right. Right. What does the Bible say? Does the Bible say money is the root of all evil? It
00:20:58.380
does not. What does it say? It says the love of money is the root of all evil. And the greater
00:21:04.080
context of that is basically saying, if you love money above anything else, i.e. people or God, then
00:21:10.600
yeah, that's evil. But it does not say that money is the root of all evil. But it's so convenient for
00:21:17.120
people to just quote the Bible and say, the money is the root of all evil. The Bible says
00:21:20.740
so. Right. To make themselves feel good. Right. How, how many times have you seen that in your
00:21:24.760
career as a pastor? A lot. A lot. So people will come to you and, and maybe not come to
00:21:29.980
you, but you see the belief of like, Hey, that guy's driving a Lamborghini. He must be a bad
00:21:33.680
dude. Right. Right. Absolutely. And that's something people have been brought up to believe.
00:21:38.100
Right. You know, that's a misquote. That is not true. It's not in the Bible. And regardless of
00:21:43.200
whether or not you're, you know, a Christian or a Muslim or anything, the belief of money
00:21:49.000
is an evil thing. Um, and, and, you know, it even ties into the thing like, you know,
00:21:54.980
you should be humble and Christ-like in the way that you live and this and that. Well,
00:21:58.420
being humble has nothing to do with driving a nice car. Right. Being humble knows that A,
00:22:03.320
you know, you have a lot to learn. You have a long way to go. B, you're not that great. And C,
00:22:07.340
you're not better than any other man. Right. Driving a nice car doesn't mean that.
00:22:10.200
Exactly. Well, I think, I think what it is is I think it's well-intentioned, but I think people
00:22:14.640
are also making an illogical leap because they're looking at their, you know, they're reading the
00:22:18.580
Bible and they say, Oh, God cares about the poor. So then the logical conclusion that they draw is
00:22:23.280
He cares more about the poor. He cares more about the poor or
00:22:25.640
You're supposed to be poor. You're supposed to be poor.
00:22:27.620
Right. Which in reality is not true. You know, let's be honest here, you know, because this is where the
00:22:33.400
objection, the reason we're getting on the religious subject here, which I really don't like getting into
00:22:37.420
because everybody has their own beliefs and I respect anybody's beliefs. I'm not saying your
00:22:41.120
beliefs are wrong because here's the reality. None of us fucking know. We don't. Okay. That's
00:22:46.200
where the idea of faith comes in. You don't know. We just have to choose to believe, but let's talk
00:22:51.360
about that. Let's talk about a lot. Vaughn, you used to be a pastor. You have a daughter. I do.
00:22:57.200
Okay. Do you not want your daughter to grow up and be as successful as she possibly can?
00:23:01.460
Yeah. Do you not want her to grow up and provide as much value to the earth as she can?
00:23:04.380
Absolutely. And if that makes her drive a Lamborghini one day, because she chooses to
00:23:08.200
use that as the fruit of her labors, does that make her a bad person?
00:23:11.120
No, not at all. Right. So, so, and I, I get caught up and I get frustrated with people who
00:23:15.880
look at it that way because that's their way of telling themselves, in my opinion, actually,
00:23:20.540
it's not even my opinion. I dude, I know enough to know this is a fucking real deal. These people
00:23:24.660
are telling themselves the reason this guy's successful is because he's fucking evil and I don't
00:23:30.100
want to be evil. So I'm okay being what I have. Right. There, there is nothing wrong
00:23:34.180
with appreciating what you have. Right. And wanting more. Right. And he's obviously not
00:23:38.620
gotten to where he is without stepping on people or maybe doing backroom deals and that sort
00:23:45.480
of thing. Yeah. And that's the thing is, like I said a few minutes ago, is that you can't
00:23:49.700
be successful doing immoral things generally because eventually people who are good people
00:23:56.160
who have been successful are going to fucking stomp you down the ladder. Right. You know,
00:24:00.560
right. Dude, being successful financially has everything to do and especially long-term has
00:24:07.620
everything to do with creating value. You're not going to find somebody who has gotten to
00:24:12.780
be a hundred millionaire, billionaire, multimillionaire, whatever you think your level of success is.
00:24:19.660
You're not going to find somebody who's been there long-term by, you know, fucking people
00:24:24.460
over. Right. Because eventually people catch on. Right. And then you lose it. Especially
00:24:27.620
in today's day and age. Yeah, man. There's just no way to hide it. Yeah. So like, dude,
00:24:30.660
say, oh, dude, that guy's evil for being successful. It's just a fucking justification for
00:24:36.120
the position you're in. And instead of thinking like, hey, that guy's, that guy's successful
00:24:41.120
because he fucked people over. Why don't you think about like, hey, you know, maybe what did that
00:24:45.100
guy do to get to that point? Really? How long did he suffer? How long did he go through a time
00:24:49.280
with no money? You know, for me, it was 10 years, almost 12 years. Yeah. You know, I
00:24:54.140
mean, people just don't, it's easy to point the finger and say, oh, that's evil. But the
00:24:58.060
reality is, is like anybody who tells you that the Bible says money is evil is fucking,
00:25:04.500
it's not true. Right. You know, for what it's worth, I used to be a director of development,
00:25:09.440
which is, you know, a fundraiser. Right. And when I first started my job, I was talking to
00:25:13.040
the guy who had done it for a long time. And I, and I told him, I said, you know, I gotta be
00:25:15.980
honest with you. I'm a little, I'm a little hesitant about work, you know, approaching
00:25:20.140
rich people. Cause I'm going to assume that they're really, you know, they're really full
00:25:23.280
of themselves and everything. And this guy who had done this for many years, he said,
00:25:26.580
oh, it's exactly the opposite. He said, the guys who have the most money are actually the
00:25:31.600
nicest. It's actually the mid tier guys that feel like that they have something to prove.
00:25:36.260
Well, it's the guys faking it. Right. It's what I call, I call them the 30, 40 K millionaires.
00:25:41.600
You know, it's the guys that are mortgaged out as far as they go to put off a
00:25:45.700
persona of that. They have a lot of things going and then they have something to prove
00:25:49.660
the guys. I know that are a real deal. Those guys, they're not trying to prove anything.
00:25:53.840
They're humble, man. They're humble. They realize like, Hey, look, because here's the
00:25:57.460
reality too, is that if you're a successful guy, you've probably been friends with other
00:26:01.180
successful people that have lost everything and you've seen it happen. Cause it happens a lot.
00:26:06.340
And dude, you know, you know that like, Hey, that could be me sometime and it keeps you
00:26:10.700
humble. Right. You know what I mean? You got to think about it though, man, instead of pointing
00:26:14.160
into like all the evil things that people, you know, you think about money, you know,
00:26:19.840
how do, how come people don't think about the good things that happen from people with
00:26:22.600
money? You know, I mean, I could tell you right now, you know, um, I mean, I could list
00:26:28.440
off a half a dozen things that, that, that we've been able to do, whether it be by employees
00:26:32.960
cars because their car was broken down for work or whether it be build our high school
00:26:36.780
weight room or whether it be, you know, helping people who truly need it that are on the street
00:26:42.220
and they need, you know, they need to get off the street. I mean, dude, we've done so many
00:26:45.540
things that nobody knows about because dude, people that have that are also humble enough
00:26:50.800
to not brag about it. Right. You know? And because, and so by, by them not telling those
00:26:56.340
stories because they're humble, people are going to automatically assume they're just
00:26:59.860
greedy. Right. You know, they see, they see somebody like me driving a Rolls Royce or a
00:27:03.900
Lamborghini and they think, fuck that guy's so fucking blah, blah, blah. Dude, I give away more
00:27:07.800
money than I keep for myself. Right. Right. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, absolutely. Well, you know,
00:27:11.820
I think what I always thought was hilarious was, you know, you go to a college campus and
00:27:15.500
you've got these, not to get into politics or anything, but you've got these far left
00:27:19.080
professors who are railing against, you know, the, the, the evil rich. And the reality is
00:27:25.280
that that guy probably has a job and that college is probably funded by those guys, funded by
00:27:30.480
those guys, those good capitalists. But you know, dude, here's the deal, man. You know,
00:27:34.680
and the whole point is conversation. Like, dude, I'm sure we're going to get emails that say,
00:27:38.280
oh dude, you're, you're, you're fucking one of the evil kind. You're just trying to protect
00:27:41.820
yourself. Dude, what if, what the fuck ever don't fucking listen then. But here's the reality.
00:27:46.140
If you're a young man, young woman, you're trying to have big, the reason we're saying this is
00:27:51.020
because I want people to understand this. If you're a young man and you're a young woman,
00:27:54.900
you want to be successful. There's nothing fucking wrong with that. People are going to try to make
00:27:58.540
you feel guilty. They're going to try to make you feel selfish. They're going to try to make you feel
00:28:01.640
like you're doing something morally wrong. And that is not true. Okay. Realize that when people tell
00:28:08.240
you that, that what's happening is, is they are telling you an excuse that they have told
00:28:13.280
themselves and made themselves believe for their own lack of work ethic or drive to be successful.
00:28:21.740
Okay. So if you're a young man, you're a young woman, it could be, and you're on your own.
00:28:26.100
You've maybe got, maybe it's just you. Maybe you have three employees. Maybe you have huge dreams
00:28:30.020
and you go tell your friends and family about them and they shit on them. Dude, that's fucking normal.
00:28:34.980
And it's okay to want to be successful. Right. Does not make you a bad person. Does not make you
00:28:40.580
an evil. Does not make you selfish. You're going to have, if you're a good person, you want to be
00:28:44.880
successful. Think of the amount of good that you can do with extra financial capital. Yeah. You know,
00:28:50.660
instead of thinking like, oh, my, my cousin says that I'm just greedy and I want to, I'm materialistic
00:28:56.040
and all this other fucking shit that people say, dude, think about the shit that you'll be able to do
00:29:00.360
that's good when you have the, the, the, uh, the means to do so. Right. And I think on that note,
00:29:06.100
I mean, I, I've known you long enough that the flip side of this is true. And I know that, you
00:29:11.580
know, you've as passionately as you feel about, you know, money can be a good thing. I also know
00:29:17.520
that you feel like the flip side is true, which is that if you have money or if you have some resources
00:29:22.000
and you're not using it to help people or to better the world, I've heard you say this,
00:29:27.340
that your life is worthless basically. Well, I mean, here's, here's the, here's the bottom line,
00:29:31.600
right? We're all going to die. Right. You know, and you've all heard the sayings, you can't take
00:29:35.440
it with you. You know, although dude, I did just buy a brand new 2015 Rolls Royce Wraith and I have
00:29:41.260
decided that I'm going to be buried in it. That's how much I fucking love the car. So if you have the
00:29:45.260
means and if Rolls Royce is listening, I'm going to be your number one fan. I used to hate him and now I
00:29:50.020
love him. And I decided that you're going to bury me in it. Not because of the symbolic nature of success
00:29:55.260
that Rolls Royce has, but because it's just so fucking comfortable. Now I'm going to lay there
00:30:00.500
for a long time. Yeah. I want to be comfortable. Yeah. Now question though, would you be buried in
00:30:04.880
it as is, or would you want them to convert it into some sort of coffin? No, man. Just as is perfect.
00:30:10.380
It's just perfect. Backseat. Hey man, if I've got it, if I've got to be there for a long time,
00:30:14.060
you know, I want to be comfortable. That's it. What color is it? It's a, I've got a two-tone black.
00:30:18.320
It's, it's called black and Jubilee silver. Okay. So it's a, I'll show you after the show I've got it here. Nice.
00:30:23.500
Um, but here, you know, the point is, is that that doesn't fucking matter. Yeah. Right. What
00:30:31.060
car I drive, what car you drive, what, how much money I have in the bank, we're all going to be
00:30:35.100
dead. So I believe my personal belief and, and, and some people might disagree, but I also think
00:30:41.660
that this is in congruency with the thought of creating value for people, you know, people who
00:30:46.520
genuinely have, excuse me, the mindset of creating value want to do good stuff. You know, it goes
00:30:53.480
hand in hand. So, you know, I haven't met anybody that fits the stereotype of the old stingy, you
00:31:02.740
know, uncle Scrooge who pulls all his money and puts it in his money bin and doesn't, and doesn't
00:31:08.820
give back, you know? And so I think it's a natural progression that good people do good things. They
00:31:14.600
create value and they create enough value and become great enough to where they, they reward it
00:31:18.940
with money and those people naturally want to give money back. And I haven't yet to meet anybody who
00:31:23.620
doesn't contribute in positive ways because a, it's the right thing to do. B, it makes you feel
00:31:27.780
tremendously good. Right. And C, you know, it's just the morally right thing to do. Right. In my opinion,
00:31:33.680
you know, some people may disagree and I haven't met anybody who disagrees with that, um, who has the
00:31:39.460
ability to give back. You know, um, I haven't met anybody who said, Oh, you know, it's all about me and
00:31:44.320
fuck everybody else. I, it's because you can't, the reason I've not met anybody is because you can't
00:31:48.560
fucking get there with that mentality. Right. So, you know, but let's say you are, let's say there
00:31:54.540
is people out there like that. I don't respect that there. What, what meaning are, what contribution
00:32:00.180
are you giving to the world being like that? You're not right. You know, which is why you see guys like
00:32:04.760
Bill Gates giving away his wealth. You know, you see, um, Warren Buffett giving away his money. The reason
00:32:10.660
people give away that money is because of their attitude that got them there in the first place.
00:32:15.900
Am I making sense? Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, it's, it's, you know, crazy. Sometimes I feel
00:32:20.420
like I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm going in circles cause like, but because I've thought about this so much,
00:32:25.080
but the reality is, is the reason that they're giving away the money is the reason they're
00:32:28.720
successful in the first place. It's the mentality that they have. Well, a lot of these things are
00:32:32.540
overlapping, but I mean, it's crazy and revolutionary, uh, hashtag sarcasm. But basically what you're
00:32:38.400
saying is that money is morally neutral. It's how you use it. That makes it either good or bad.
00:32:43.320
Right. Right. Right. And I mean, I don't, you know, I mean, sometimes you're going to go to the
00:32:47.940
strip club and you're going to donate to some young girls college fund. But the reality is, is,
00:32:52.320
you know, that's the way it works. You know? So, you know, I don't know, man. I'm, you know,
00:32:55.940
obviously I'm just kidding kind of, but the reality is, is that do good shit. You know,
00:33:01.840
when you're successful, realize that it's your obligation to do good for other people. Right. You know,
00:33:06.700
some people, you know, they don't, and that's part of the point of the show. Yeah. You know,
00:33:11.640
I'm trying to help people understand some people don't have mentors. Some people don't have the
00:33:15.940
luxury of being surrounded with success. And it's very hard for them to grasp limits outside of what
00:33:21.620
they've grown up with. So when you're a successful dude or a successful girl, you know, help other
00:33:26.540
people realize what they can do, give people the opportunity. You know, one of our biggest things is
00:33:30.400
we like to donate to our high school. Um, and the reason why is I feel like I learned a lot there. I feel
00:33:35.900
like I was, you know, people really cared about me. And are you going to say the name of the high
00:33:40.640
school? Yeah. I went to, I went to St. John Vianney high school here in St. Louis, Missouri.
00:33:43.820
And what's, what's the, what's the stereotype associated with Vianney? I'm just curious.
00:33:48.240
Well, it's all boys school. It's an all boys school. Yeah. So they all, all, what they did,
00:33:51.320
what they usually think is you can't get any girls when you go to all boys school. That's the first
00:33:55.380
question I get about it. They're like, Oh dude, how'd you go to all boys school? Well, number one,
00:33:59.120
it was awesome because like, you didn't have to like, you know, put gel in your hair and do all the shit that you would
00:34:04.360
do going to, cause I went to both. I went to public school and then private school as well. But
00:34:07.860
the number two is, is like, you have these mixers where like you have, it's you and your boys from
00:34:14.440
the all boys school and then girls from like six different schools. So like when guys ask me like,
00:34:18.820
dude, how'd you do that? What about the girls? It was like fucking great, man. It was like 10 times
00:34:22.200
as many girls as it was like at a regular school. So, right. Right. You know, that's the stereotype.
00:34:26.160
How'd you go to all boys school? But really, man, you know, it taught you a lot about camaraderie.
00:34:31.180
It taught you a lot about culture. It taught you a lot about like being a good friend. Right.
00:34:34.160
And, uh, and so you supported that. Oh, dude, I learned more there. You know,
00:34:39.460
I could never repay what I've learned. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's the truth. I mean, they got the,
00:34:44.760
the men that work there, you know, they don't make as much as they get, could make at public
00:34:48.700
school. They're there for a reason. They're there because they're good dudes, you know? And, uh,
00:34:53.420
and I, that's why I choose to, you know, support that cause. Yeah. But I'm passionate about it.
00:34:58.180
You know what I mean? And I think that when you give kids an opportunity, you know, tuition at that
00:35:02.280
school, I think is like 15 grand a year, you know, and that's a lot for a high school, man.
00:35:07.820
Yeah. You know, a lot of kids can't afford that experience. And those are the kids that need
00:35:11.000
that experience. You know what I mean? So, um, you know, just, just give back, man. Yeah. Well,
00:35:17.960
we're all about spreading, spreading around the love. So what, I mean, any other, uh, worthy causes
00:35:22.580
you think people should consider? Um, I think everybody's got their own little passionate,
00:35:27.520
you know, nooks that they believe about. And, uh, I, I think it's, I think that when you find one
00:35:33.980
that you really care about, that can be the motivation some days to get out of bed, you
00:35:36.960
know? Cause like, I don't have to get out of bed every day, man. I've got to figure out ways to
00:35:40.820
motivate myself. And, you know, it used to be like, Hey, I wanted a nice house. I want a nice car.
00:35:45.180
Now, now it's different, you know? Uh, now it's, Hey, I want my employees and the guys that
00:35:49.620
really bleed and sweat for our company to do well. Um, I want to see them achieve their goals.
00:35:54.800
And some days it is like, Hey man, I, I, you know, I'm, I'm trying to give to this cause or
00:35:59.100
that cause. And I want, I want, uh, I want to be successful because I could do that. You know,
00:36:04.080
I want to be able to still afford to do that. And I think that, you know, saying, Hey, I,
00:36:07.980
you should give to this cause or that cause that's up to you, you know? But, uh, I think that,
00:36:14.680
you know, finding something you're passionate about could be a tremendous amount of motivation to get up
00:36:19.120
and go to work every day, you know, especially once you've reached that point. And I know a lot
00:36:22.900
of people listening are not to that point yet, but trust me, when you get to that point, the
00:36:27.740
difference between ultra successful people and people who just make a little bit and maybe get
00:36:31.880
one or two toys and you know, they, they kind of just exist right on a, on a very moderate level
00:36:38.440
of success, um, is that they find reasons constantly to continue to progress, you know? And so once you have
00:36:47.560
enough money in your bank account, which quite honestly, isn't that hard to do, I mean, I know
00:36:51.360
when you have nothing, it seems like it's fucking impossible, but, and it does take a long time and
00:36:56.160
it does take, you know, effort and it does take blood and sweat and tears, you know, but the reality
00:37:03.120
is, is like, there's a lot harder things to do. And when you get to that point, you have to start
00:37:08.640
finding ways to motivate yourself outside of just what it is that you do. And so, you know,
00:37:12.860
helping people is one of the ways I do that. Um, I, I think that I, I think that a lot of people who
00:37:19.500
have gotten to that moderate success level as I have, you know, I'm not a billionaire or anything,
00:37:23.980
but we're doing okay. Um, I think that they, they all find causes that are worthy in their heart to
00:37:29.700
give to. So, um, you know, I can't really answer the question, like what should somebody do, but, you
00:37:35.440
know, they should consider where can I help and what do I like to help with? Right. Well, you build this
00:37:39.960
as a, uh, as a discussion about money and your views on it and dispelling some, uh, misconceptions.
00:37:45.320
And we have, we have covered a lot of things, everything from Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to,
00:37:49.500
uh, to the Bible and, uh, what it might mean to potentially support either a high school or a
00:37:55.660
stripper. So, uh, so, so we've, so we've covered a lot of things, but why don't you, why don't you
00:38:00.480
wrap us up? Yeah, guys, look, man, here's the, here's the reality. You know, when you're young and you
00:38:05.840
don't even have to be young when you're at a point, when I say young, sometimes I mean like just in the
00:38:09.700
beginning of your entrepreneurial, um, success journey, dude, people are going to fucking try
00:38:15.160
to convince you that you're morally fucked up. They're going to convince you that you're selfish.
00:38:19.240
They're going to convince you that you're morally wrong. They're going to convince you that you're
00:38:22.300
greedy and dude, it's just not fucking true. Okay. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be
00:38:27.080
successful. There's nothing wrong with wanting to make a good living. There's nothing wrong with
00:38:30.260
wanting more period. Okay. So when you get this, this static and this, this hesitation from people in
00:38:36.540
your lives, you have to learn how to ignore it or you have to learn how to avoid it. All right.
00:38:41.220
And I'm here to tell you, and I think anybody else who would come on the show in my position,
00:38:45.980
who has accumulated some sort of financial success will tell you there's nothing wrong with it. So
00:38:51.400
the whole point we want to talk about money is to correct the thought process that there's something
00:38:55.400
wrong with making money, right? There's nothing wrong with making money. Go out and make a lot of
00:39:00.260
money and do good shit with it. And that's really, that's really the point of the show. Uh,
00:39:04.960
this particular episode, you know, we're going to cover more as we go. We'll talk about what good
00:39:09.560
investments are and how, um, you know, to use money, to make money and all these other things
00:39:15.740
that they don't teach in school, you know, which they don't even teach you how to balance a fucking
00:39:18.780
checkbook in school, which makes no sense, but we're going to cover these, these financial aspects,
00:39:23.280
uh, more in depth, but this is more just about how to think about it. So somebody is telling you
00:39:27.680
there's something wrong with it. They're full of fucking shit, you know, and that's, that's really the
00:39:31.400
bottom line. So after this episode, uh, we're no doubt going to have questions and feedback and
00:39:36.840
probably some complaints. So why don't you tell people how to contact us? Yeah. For all your
00:39:40.980
complaints, you can contact me at go get fucked at MSEO. No, I'm just kidding. Um, complaints are
00:39:47.080
welcome. Feedback's welcome. Questions are welcome. Uh, it's, it's, uh, we have a link on the website,
00:39:53.300
the MSEO project.com hit us up. We're always looking for good topics to talk about, you know,
00:39:58.540
even if you don't agree with what we're saying, it's totally cool. We'll, uh, we'll tell you how
00:40:02.340
full of shit you are. So, um, hit us up with your questions. Um, like I said, the MSEO project.com,
00:40:10.840
uh, always welcoming feedback. I really appreciate you guys, uh, listening to the podcast and,
00:40:16.400
and you're a big part of, of what we're trying to get to. So your, your input is extremely important.
00:40:21.780
So make sure. And how do they follow you on Instagram? Oh yeah. Um, Instagram it's,
00:40:24.940
it's just Andy for Sella, uh, at Andy for Sella on Instagram. Um, on Facebook too. I don't do the
00:40:30.720
Twitter thing, so, um, I'm not on there, but, um, yeah, man, you know, if you don't post your
00:40:37.040
questions for me on Instagram, I, I'm not big on answering those up there. It's just too hard. Uh,
00:40:41.660
hit us up and, and, uh, you know, we'll, we'll take care of your questions as we go. Sounds great.
00:40:47.580
Thanks for listening guys. And, uh, we'll have a new episode for you coming up soon.