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Hey there. My name is Brian Beers. I do this podcast to help ordinary people make life changing money by owning franchises. I own a portfolio of franchises. I help people buy their first franchise. I partner with people to scale their franchise. It's literally my life. So if you want to learn more about making money by owning franchises, go to brianbeers.com I have a weekly newsletter where I share very tactical advice on everything that I talk about here on the podcast. So let's go. These are 37 life lessons from a 37 year old millionaire. Number one is bias for action. Rich people act fast. They do things, they learn from them and they keep going. So don't wait too long in ideas. The world moves fast and so should you. If you wait too long, you'll lose your chance and others will take what could have been yours. So the quicker that you can move from an idea to action, the more you'll get done, even if it's not perfect right away. So act fast, learn fast and keep moving forward. Number two is build a business that serves your life. Some people let their business control their life, but it should be the other way around. Your business should enable you to live the life life that you want to live, give you freedom, not take it away. But it doesn't happen on its own. You have to be very intentional about building a team and replacing yourself out of the day to day. Number three is to recognize there are three types of fears. The fear of failure, the fear of being judged, and the fear of it not being worthy. It stops so many people. But for each fear, there is an equal and opposite power. You could fail, yes. Or you could be wildly successful. People might judge you, or they might admire you. And you may not feel worthy. But abundance is a birthright and you have the right to go out get it. So face your fears and move forward. Number four is that real estate is overrated. Real estate is great for preserving wealth, but it is not good for getting wealthy. Many people who are rich have made their money in business and then they invest it into real estate. The order matters. So if you're just starting out, focus on building cash flow through a business first. And then later you can invest in real estate to protect the money that you have made. Number five is to learn from every setback. Every hard thing happens for a reason. So when a challenge hits you, don't ask, why me? Be the victim. Instead you say, what can I learn from this? Because everything has a lesson in it. You'll be able to spot bad deals faster. You'll know who to trust. Every challenge makes you better at seeing problems earlier on and handling them in the future. So just learn from every mistake. Number six is to be resilient. When that bad stuff happens, it's critical to stay positive. Control your feelings. Don't let the highs make you lose focus and don't let the lows crush you. Because if you let your feelings take over, you're going to miss on seeing the bigger picture. So stay strong and don't let the tough times bring you down. Number seven is brilliant in the basics. Mastering the basics can bring great success. It's easy to get distracted by new ideas, new trends. But the biggest wins come from focusing on the basics. Whether it's customer service, sales, operations, it doesn't matter. The basics are boring, but they are powerful. They lay that foundation for long term success and will help you grow. Number eight is to focus on less than obsessed. Don't try to do everything at once. Pick a few key items and go all in on your focus. The fewer things that you have to think about, the better that you will get at them and the faster that will happen. And over time you can shift your focus. Things change, right? But 00 in on what matters the most right now. Number nine is progress over perfection. Perfection doesn't matter. If you want to be perfect, you will get on this hamster wheel of thinking it is never right and it'll be hard to get off. Instead, focus on making small steps forward. Whether it's in business or life. You don't need everything to be perfect the first time. Just get an iteration, get progress moving and you learn as you go. And the better that you get at this, the faster you will ultimately improve. Number 10 is to think big. It takes the same amount of time, energy and effort to execute a small idea as it does a big one. So why not think bigger? Whether you're buying a $1 million business or a $10 million business, the steps that you have to do to buy the business and due diligence and set everything up and onboard employees and integrate and all this stuff, it's exactly the same. But the rewards on the $10 million business are much bigger. So don't aim small when you can aim big. So take that time, energy and effort and work towards something that will have a greater impact. Number 11 is that franchising is underrated. I've built a $45 million per year business through franchising because franchising offers a proven path to build wealth, especially in the need a new idea. You don't need to start from scratch. You can just figure it out and rinse and repeat. Many people think that franchises are just like fast food or fitness, but there's so many options out there to explore. Number 12 is to replace yourself as a leader. Growth happens in stages. First you're gonna do all the work yourself. Then you start to delegate and finally your team handles things without you. Now the secret to growing a business is to replace yourself. Learn to let go of those small tasks so you can focus on bigger and bigger decisions that will help your business grow. 13A players attract a players. Top talent wants to work with tap talent. Great people want to work with other great people. So you want to build a culture where high performers can not only thrive, but they help attract a players because your team's talent will compound. And the opposite is true if you have an A player surrounded by a bunch of season Ds that a player is going to leave to go to another organization that is surrounded by a player. So you need to get rid of the bad people just as much as you need to bring in the good people. Number 14 is simple lucrative compensation plans. Keep your pay plans for your team as simple as possible. Your team should be able to figure out how much money they can make on a napkin. And the more money that they make for you, the more that they they should earn. So keep it straightforward, keep it rewarding and you will motivate the hell out of them. Number 15, fire C&D players ASAP. Those bad workers mentioned earlier, they bring down your business more than you think and they're going to bring down your energy. They're going to be cause a cancer organization, so fire them quickly or you're going to lose your best people. So protect your business and culture by getting rid of those low performers fast. Number 16 is to invest heavily into personal education. Coaches, courses, masterminds, groups. All this stuff can save you years of learning. Other people have already figured out what you're trying to do and they are willing to share that knowledge with them. So don't waste your time time trying to figure out everything on your own. If you can find a shortcut, buy it. Surround yourself with other people who have done what you're trying to do. Their experience will help you go faster, open more new doors and opportunities than you had ever imagined. There's a lot of scammers out there, so you want to make sure you do your due diligence and find the right people. 17 have a 100% do to say ratio. In other words. Be accountable. Always do the things that you say you're going to do in business or life. Being reliable builds trust. So if you promise something, keep it and surround yourself with other people who follow through and that you don't have to like chase them down down to remind them to do the things that they said they were going to do. So keep your word and others will too. 18 sales solves all problems. If you are stuck, focus on sales. There's nothing another million dollars in sales doesn't solve. Increase your sales by raising your prices, improving the quality of your leads, hiring better salespeople, having payment solutions for customers, your sales process. If you are struggling, take time to dissect every single step in your process and you will find answers. 19 cash is king. Keep a close eye on your cash. Be ruthless when cash flow gets tight. Any expense that is not essential for running your gets cut. Look at your pricing. Can you raise your prices? Find lower cost vendors. Try to get extended payment terms on vendors. Take whatever actions necessary to stash cash. 20. Reinvest capital back into your business. There is no better investment than your own business. Investing in the stock market could give you a 10% return over the long term, but it's nothing compared to the returns in your own business. I invested $50,000 into my own business in 2018, buying a new location that has created $4 million of value in just six years and will continue to produce for years after. 21. Use smart debt, cash flow and assets. Not all debt is bad. Smart debt is used to buy assets that make you money, like businesses, new equipment, real estate. Dumb debt is spent on things that decrease in value, cars, boats, watches, like whatever it is to use smart debt to build wealth and avoid the dumb material. Debt number 22 is little banks over. Big banks build relationships with local banks and credit unions. They are chartered to keep the money within the community they serve. Wells Fargo, bank of America, td. They don't care about you. You're just a number on some spreadsheet. But with a local bank you'll get to know the loan officers, the decision maker, maybe even the owners of the board members and they are usually easier to work with once you build a relationship and are more flexible in terms. 23. Seller financing is the best way to grow. Seller financing allows you to buy a business without needing a lot of cash up front, where the seller acts as the bank and everything is negotiable. It is how I've grown so quickly and it is especially helpful in franchises where the buyer already knows the Business very well and there could already be a relationship. This is how you can expand quickly. Number 24 is to build a personal brand. Start sharing your ideas online, whether it's on LinkedIn or X or Instagram. Instagram. Building a personal brand brings new opportunities and I know it'll feel weird at first, but as your network grow, so does the opportunities. And eventually you're going to attract people and deals simply by being a thought leader in your space. Number 25 is to understand the tax code. Do not rely only on your accountant to save you money. They have multiple clients and they won't be as proactive as you try to find ways to cut your taxes. So I'd recommend to learn the basics. Depreciation, amortization, all these other things. Bring ideas to your accountant and then work together to figure out what will work for you. Number 26, to invest in time, not things. So as you start to make more money, don't waste it all in stuff that you don't need. Buy things that give you time. Because time is your most valuable asset and you can use it to grow. Number 27. Be present with your family. Building a business can be demanding on your time there, especially in the beginning. But remember why you're doing it. So when you're with your family, be 100% present. Put your phone away. Focus on what matters most. There will always be time for work later. Number 28. Think twice before selling your business. Selling your business might seem like the ultimate goal, but then think about what comes next. After selling, you're likely want to start something new. That's a lot of work to build something off the ground. Instead, build your business to run without you so that you don't have to start again. Number 29. Bigger than your world. As your business grows, you create more opportunities for the people who are within it. Because every time you grow, you open up new roles, you launch new projects, you build new locations, and your success lifts everyone around you. So keep growing your business and let the people within your world progress. Number 30. Ask for more, get more. Picture a world as an ocean of opportunity. And some people walk in with a tablespoon, others a five gallon bucket. And some, like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, show up with industrial size pumps. Because the more that you ask for, the more that you get. If you ask for small rewards, that's all you're going to get. And if you ask for big things, you'll be surprised how often you get them. So don't be afraid to ask for what you deserve. Number 31. Every problem is either a math or mental problem. Business problems are math or mental. Math can be solved with money, like buying more equipment, hiring more people. Mental problems are the fears that you face. It's the things that are in your head that block you from moving forward. So know which one is which so you can deal with it and move forward. Number 32, don't force a deal. If the deal feels like you're forcing it. It's like a round peg and a square hole. It's not the right one. So don't do a deal just because it's there. Stay true to your long term goals and only do a deal that fits. Number 33, create a vivid three year vision. You want to have a very clear idea of what you want to be in three years. Write it down. Picture yourself, your business, your life in detail. Much money are you making, what kind of life do you live like, what does your daily schedule look like, what kind of car do you drive, how old are your kids? Then what kind of vacations do you go on? Writing all these things down in as much vivid detail as possible helps kind of create this image in your mind and gives you very clear focus on where you are going and then it's easier to then back into that and figure out how you have to get there. Number 34, wake up early. For me, at least early in the morning is the best time to do the most important work. Before all the distractions hit, the emails, the phones attacks, all the stuff. Like you can sit down and have focused work and really think about the deep super stuff that it's hard to get in a rhythm throughout the day. So waking up early is a great way to get ahead and stay clear minded. 35. Hard work is rare. I got asked the advice the other day for like a high school kid, what does he need to get ahead? My answers are simple. Work hard. It's still the fastest way to get ahead. There's so many people who are lazy these days and brilliance in the basics, hard work, showing up, being accountable, just being a good person who wants to improve and wants to improve themselves in the business goes a long way and that hard work will get rewarded over the long term term. Number 36, the three fund portfolio is the best investment strategy. So I like to keep my investments extremely simple. So for long term investing I invest in one US stock fund, one international stun fund and one bond fund. I use Vanguard. They're super low cost. I've tried day trading and options and commodities and forex and all this stuff. I lost a bunch of money and it created like time if I'd be like checking my phone to see all this stuff. So stick to the basics just dollar cost average. Avoid the urge to do all these other things and stay focused on building your business. Number 37 consistency compounds success doesn't come overnight, just like money doesn't. But put in work every single day adds up and the more consistent you are, the bigger returns that you're going to get in whatever you're trying to do. Whether that's build a business, become better golfer, build a personal brand, be better at life. Whatever it is. If you show up every day consistently that you will see compound results. And there you have it. 37 life lessons learned as a 37 millionaire. If you want to learn more about the methods that I've used to become a millionaire, build this big business, check out my newsletter in the description below. Every single week I write about how to find, operate and scale franchises which been the path for me and I'll see you in the next next video. Cheers.