Valuetainment - December 10, 2025


＂You Can't Teach Hungry＂ - Billionaire Attorney REVEALS What Separates America’s Top 0.1%


Episode Stats

Length

10 minutes

Words per Minute

184.11089

Word Count

1,864

Sentence Count

165


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

In this episode, Ron Perlman talks about how he went from being a lawyer to becoming one of the most successful people in the world. He talks about the events that led him to where he is today, how he became a billionaire, and how his brother's accident changed his life forever.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
00:00:00.000 Before we get into all these stories, for someone to go from where you were at to now
00:00:05.740 having this great success story that you have, maybe walk us through how the whole thing
00:00:09.420 happened.
00:00:09.820 How did you go from wanting to become a lawyer to a law firm to where you have today?
00:00:15.060 Well, it started when I was a sophomore in college.
00:00:20.700 I got a phone call from my dad.
00:00:22.140 My brother, Tim, was a lifeguard at Disney World, been in an accident, was a quadriplegic,
00:00:28.020 drove in, hit his head on a thing, and I got called, I went home, and that changed our
00:00:35.540 lives forever.
00:00:36.960 During that process of his injury and his problems, I got embroiled in the whole legal process.
00:00:48.280 We were very poor people.
00:00:49.480 Our mother had already left.
00:00:50.820 Our dad kind of had a drinking problem.
00:00:52.620 I was the oldest, so I was kind of the quarterback of it all.
00:00:55.280 So I got very engaged in his injury.
00:00:58.200 How old were you at that time?
00:00:59.380 Sophomore in college, 19.
00:01:00.960 So you're 19 years old.
00:01:02.360 You're not thinking about being a lawyer.
00:01:04.060 I'm thinking about being a lawyer because I suck in science and math.
00:01:07.720 So that was out.
00:01:09.780 Doctor was out.
00:01:10.720 CPA was out.
00:01:11.740 Scientist was out.
00:01:12.760 Astronaut was out.
00:01:14.020 So I was thinking about being a lawyer, but I didn't know what personal injury was.
00:01:17.660 Who were you in high school?
00:01:19.140 Winter Park High.
00:01:20.560 Well, who were you in high school?
00:01:21.780 Who I was in high school?
00:01:22.460 Were you the athlete?
00:01:23.780 Were you the debate guy?
00:01:24.780 I was the treasurer of the – I did magic at Walt Disney World in high school.
00:01:29.500 I was that guy.
00:01:30.420 I was like Steve Martin.
00:01:31.420 Got it.
00:01:31.520 Yeah, I was a magician at Walt Disney World.
00:01:33.940 Entertaining, personality.
00:01:35.360 I was very popular in high school.
00:01:36.860 Okay.
00:01:37.160 You know, I was at the cool table.
00:01:39.720 Makes sense.
00:01:40.240 You know, and –
00:01:42.740 So this event happens to your brother.
00:01:44.600 It happens to my brother.
00:01:45.460 He becomes a paraplegic because of the accident?
00:01:47.780 He's quadriplegic, yes.
00:01:48.380 Quadriplegic?
00:01:48.700 And then it all begins, the process.
00:01:52.620 And Disney was so rough on him and so tough on him, and so I got in that process.
00:01:58.320 And the thing about that process, when you're on the other side of it and you're poor and
00:02:03.640 you're helpless and you're hopeless and you're powerless, you can't imagine the frustration.
00:02:10.000 And I became enraged.
00:02:13.200 And as it all went down, I said to myself, you know, I was going to be a lawyer, but now
00:02:18.260 I know what I want to do.
00:02:19.720 So when I went to law school, I knew what I was going to do.
00:02:23.260 I knew I was going to come back and take care of the people like my brother Tim against the
00:02:29.440 corporations like Disney and those types of people.
00:02:33.140 So that's how it all started.
00:02:35.540 That's how I got into personal injury was my own brother's personal injury.
00:02:39.960 And look, it all worked out for him.
00:02:43.000 I mean, he became a super quad, so he was able to drive a car.
00:02:46.100 He passed away a year and a half ago, unfortunately.
00:02:49.800 When the doctor came, when I met with the doctor, when he was being discharged, the doctor said,
00:02:54.620 he will not live to 30.
00:02:58.100 And I said, you are effing wrong.
00:03:00.540 I got up, I walked out, he lived till 65.
00:03:03.520 Wow.
00:03:04.060 But he also came and worked inside my business with me.
00:03:07.520 So every day in my business life, my brother Tim, you know, we ended the day talking about
00:03:13.420 the day.
00:03:14.640 And so it's, his injury is the most devastating thing that ever happened to me because, you
00:03:20.740 know, I was trying to manage the medical, trying to manage the lawsuit.
00:03:25.340 And then, but later in life, you know, he came to work with me and him and his dog would
00:03:29.780 come up every day to say goodbye.
00:03:31.540 And it was a wonderful thing.
00:03:33.200 That's cool.
00:03:34.120 And do you notice that as a pattern, you know, you made it at the highest level business-wise,
00:03:40.140 you're successful, you're a billionaire, you've done very well for yourself.
00:03:43.320 And you have friends who are at that same level who have made your kind of success.
00:03:48.020 Do you notice a pattern with a dramatic, like, especially not for millionaires, not
00:03:53.660 for deca-millionaires or hectare, but mainly billionaires.
00:03:56.440 Do you notice a pattern with extreme amount of pain at a young age?
00:04:00.800 What do you notice with specific, the top 0.0001% of America, which is only what, 1,200,
00:04:08.780 1,300 billionaires in America?
00:04:10.280 What do you notice a pattern with them?
00:04:12.940 Well, here's the pattern for people my age.
00:04:15.620 I've got a new book I'm writing called Life is Luck, the Paperboy.
00:04:21.780 One pattern I understand is this, especially my age.
00:04:25.680 I'll meet people my age and I'll say, were you a paperboy?
00:04:28.720 And they'll say, yeah, why?
00:04:31.140 I can tell.
00:04:32.560 There's a genetic seed that goes in to the paperboy because the paper has to be delivered
00:04:38.780 every day in the snow, in the sleet, in the cold.
00:04:41.380 You have to get up and do it.
00:04:42.800 Warren Buffett was a paperboy.
00:04:44.060 Oprah Winfrey was a paperboy.
00:04:45.920 Walt Disney was a paperboy.
00:04:47.460 Have your viewers Google famous paperboys.
00:04:50.300 So I think the one pattern is there's a genetic entrepreneurial seed.
00:04:55.140 You have it.
00:04:55.640 I could tell when, as soon as I walked in, like, this guy, I don't know if you had papers,
00:04:59.220 but I guarantee you something when you were 11, 12, 13, you were hustling something.
00:05:03.520 I don't know what.
00:05:04.900 Today, everybody's on YouTube and coding and all that.
00:05:07.740 That's the new paper route.
00:05:08.660 So that's the one thing.
00:05:10.500 And then the next thing is what I wrote a book about called You Can't Teach Hungry.
00:05:15.920 There is something inside of you when you're poor that I talked about, that helplessness,
00:05:22.300 that powerlessness, that hopelessness that makes you hungry.
00:05:26.600 And it can't be taught.
00:05:28.700 You just, you can't, like your guy that I met coming in, the comedian, you can't teach funny.
00:05:33.560 There's certain things that cannot be taught, and that's the pattern I want.
00:05:38.520 Usually, there's an entrepreneurial bent.
00:05:41.060 You know, Mark Cuban, you know, we're pen pals.
00:05:43.660 We talk about him.
00:05:44.200 He was selling, like, trash bags door to door.
00:05:47.140 His brother was a paperboy.
00:05:48.960 And so those are the things that I notice most.
00:05:52.400 Rob, can you pull up the list you just pulled up, which was a very interesting guy?
00:05:55.720 Benjamin Franklin, paperboy.
00:05:57.300 Thomas Edison, paperboy.
00:05:59.300 Eisenhower, Truman, MLK, Saranoff.
00:06:02.400 Joe DiMaggio was a paperboy.
00:06:04.060 Walt Disney was a paperboy.
00:06:06.460 Buffett, paperboy.
00:06:07.300 Tom Cruise, Bob Hope, John Wayne.
00:06:09.560 Who else you got there on the bottom?
00:06:10.820 David Simmons, very interesting on the paperboy.
00:06:13.500 It's unbelievable.
00:06:14.600 How old are you?
00:06:15.360 I'm 47.
00:06:16.400 Okay, so you might be too young to have been a paperboy.
00:06:18.940 I don't know.
00:06:19.640 But I don't know what you did at 11, 12.
00:06:21.940 Tell me.
00:06:22.360 In Germany, I used to go to the local swimming pool refugee camp we lived in,
00:06:27.720 in Erlangen, and the owner of that pool, you know, guys would drink a lot of beer.
00:06:32.200 And I was the one that would go there first thing in the morning,
00:06:34.460 and I would collect all the beers at this.
00:06:37.580 If you type in Erlangen massive swimming pool and you go to images, you'll see it.
00:06:42.180 I saw it the other day.
00:06:43.100 I may be visiting Germany to go see this place.
00:06:45.940 But I was always out there selling, hustling, selling hats, selling baseball cards,
00:06:52.560 collecting beer bottles and Erlangen to buy a Super Mario Brothers at Kowfowl.
00:06:58.120 But there was a hustle in there always.
00:07:00.320 You're born with a hustle.
00:07:01.640 Yeah.
00:07:01.860 You're born with that hustle.
00:07:02.960 And it's not necessarily like Warren Buffett's dad was a congressman and a, you know, stockbroker.
00:07:09.400 And so it's not necessarily, but there's that hustle that you can't teach.
00:07:14.560 You're born with that hustle.
00:07:16.100 The FLB shoes.
00:07:17.080 By the way, I am officially on, let me see this.
00:07:20.480 I'm on day 57 out of 58 that I've worn these shoes.
00:07:24.260 Love wearing these shoes every single day.
00:07:26.740 I think Vinny's got it on.
00:07:27.860 The other night we went to dinner.
00:07:30.020 Vinny was wearing this black pants, white shirt with the FLB shoes.
00:07:36.280 We walk into the restaurant.
00:07:38.260 Seven girls lined up waiting to meet with Vinny.
00:07:41.060 One girl was crying.
00:07:41.980 She was crying.
00:07:42.680 She was shaking.
00:07:43.280 She was crying.
00:07:43.900 She was shaking.
00:07:44.380 The shoes.
00:07:45.060 I was like, I can't.
00:07:45.840 Are you Ringo Starr?
00:07:46.880 So for those of you guys that are asking about getting the shoes before Christmas for your husband or your sons or your friend,
00:07:56.240 this is what you want to be thinking about.
00:07:57.860 Size black and brown.
00:08:01.340 Size black and brown.
00:08:02.740 Let me see this thing here.
00:08:03.640 If I'm like, what's available?
00:08:07.780 So size black and brown, if you want to get them, size 9, 10, and 11 are available to get before Christmas.
00:08:14.960 White, all sizes are available except for 7, 7 1⁄2, and 8 1⁄2.
00:08:19.380 Navy, 8, 9, 9 1⁄2, 10, and 11 are available before Christmas.
00:08:23.520 Of course, after Christmas, shipment is coming.
00:08:25.780 That'll be here in New Year's.
00:08:26.540 These things, we can't even keep these on the shelves, to be honest with you, with the shoes.
00:08:30.020 Once you put them on, just go read the reviews, with people writing reviews when they bought them.
00:08:35.480 Once you put them on, you'll realize why this has become as hot of an item for us as we expected it.
00:08:42.400 It took us two years to do this.
00:08:43.520 Rob, if you want to play the clip on that, we'll get into the stories.
00:08:45.560 Here's the FLB Shoes.
00:08:46.940 Go for it.
00:08:47.380 When we set out to create a shoe that blends comfort, function, and luxury, we had the choice to make it fast, we had the choice to make it cheap.
00:08:57.240 We chose neither.
00:08:58.840 Instead, we chose Tuscaneiro.
00:09:00.520 We chose true Italian craftsmanship, each pair touched by 50 skilled hands.
00:09:06.160 We chose patience, spending two years perfecting every detail, and we chose the finest quality at every step.
00:09:14.120 Introducing the Future Looks Bright collection.
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00:09:22.020 Rather intentional, luxurious, timeless.
00:09:26.340 I love it.
00:09:31.240 Design in Florida, 100% made in Italy.
00:09:34.120 Folks, if you haven't yet ordered one, we had two guys yesterday that ordered four of all colors, and one of them was from UK.
00:09:44.020 The other one was from Belgium or something like that, ordering these shoes.
00:09:47.200 If you want to find out how it matches against everybody else, go to vtmerch.com.
00:09:50.640 On the homepage, you'll see the shoes.
00:09:51.900 Just click on the link to go learn more about the shoes and place an order for your husband, for your spouse, for your son, for somebody maybe that works for your company as a recognition, and go to vtmerch.com to place your order.
00:10:02.020 If you enjoyed this video, you want to watch more videos like this, click here, and if you want to watch the entire podcast, click here.