← The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
Becoming a Capital King: Brad Blazar’s Blueprint to Scale Any Business Fast
00:58:58
Loading summary
Transcript160 lines
- [00:00]
Brad Blazar
So many people come on a shark tank and they're brilliant people, PhDs, engineers, and then they leave without a deal. Why is that? They haven't convinced us sharks they could execute. There was a young kid that showed up. He said, I'm just getting started in real estate. Hadn't raised any money. Fast forward three years, he's got almost $90 million in real estate.
- [00:17]
Paul Alex
Wow.
- [00:18]
Brad Blazar
Mastered the craft of attracting a community of people. Started learning how to underwrite. He's creating that legacy. I just value relationships more than money because I know the money's easy to get. They're like, yeah, we've been very successful, Brad. You know, we have a real estate company with about 500 billion in real estate, and we need your relationships. We want to get to 2 billion.
- [00:45]
Paul Alex
Hey, guys, and welcome back to the level of podcast. My name is Paul Alex and we have another phenomenal guest here. He goes by the name of Brad Blazer. Yes, such a great name. But he has helped raise over $2 billion in capital, guys. But it didn't start with a silver spoon. Brad actually went from building an oil company at the age of 23. Imagine that, guys, okay. He's to teaching thousands on how to use other people's money, OPM to scale real estate and business deals. He's also the founder of Capital School, a knighted entrepreneur, and a mind behind the art of beliefology.
- [01:17]
Brad Blazar
We'll talk about that.
- [01:18]
Paul Alex
I love that. Where mindset meets millions. So if you guys are ready to raise big money, rewire your beliefs and become the people, the persons, investors trust, this one's for you. So let's level up with Brad Blazer. Welcome to the show, brother.
- [01:31]
Brad Blazar
It's great to be here, buddy. Dude, dude.
- [01:34]
Paul Alex
It's been a long time coming, man. So, Brad, this podcast is based on self help and also people's come up story, man. Oh, I love it. So how did it start for you, man, before you got into, you know, raising capital and helping people with this knowledge?
- [01:50]
Brad Blazar
Let's just say when I was 23, I did not know any better. I was a cocky, confident little kid that always wanted success, really didn't know where to find it or how to get it. But I think growing up, what really planted that seed for me is I had a very rich, wealthy uncle, kind of like Kiyosaki talks about in the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Yeah, that was my Uncle Henry. And he had been orphaned. And so growing up, he didn't have parents, but found a path to success and built a very, very successful multimillion dollar business. And certainly I realized, okay, this guy's life is very different than our life with my parents. So I always kind of wanted that, like, you know, the Rolls Royce, the chauffeur, you know, a couple houses and everything. So when I was in college studying to be an architect, I actually got sidetracked and ended up working in the oil and gas business just part time, you know, for a small little oil company, getting on the phone, pitching investors. And here I was working maybe 12 to 15 hours a week between classes and after school, and I was already making six figures. And I'm like, holy cow, if I'm making this kind of money just working 12 to 15 hours a week, what could I theoretically do if I just did this full time? So without telling my parents, who like most parents, scrimped and saved their entire life, that put me through school, I just quit showing up, doubled down, went to work in the oil and gas industry, really learned the business. Then I went to work for another small company only to find out that that second company were just a bunch of criminals and they were raising money, they weren't even drilling the wells. And so I basically organized all the investors and we collectively came together and filed a class action lawsuit, which we prevailed in. But all these investors had never met me because I'm doing most of the stuff on the telephone at that point. And so they looked at me and they go, brad, what are you going to do now? And I had no idea. But I saw this huge opportunity with a bunch of investor capital and I said, why not? And so I just printed up some letterhead, got an office, very nice, and started raising Kaplan. Over the course of about a decade, just built a pretty nice size, small little oil company. And it was really just, you know, investing in myself and not really questioning or asking whether I could or couldn't. It's just, I just did it.
- [04:00]
Paul Alex
Yeah, and I love, I love that concept that you have where, you know, you took an idea, you saw that.
- [04:08]
Brad Blazar
It was working, and you double down.
- [04:09]
Paul Alex
Man, you're, you're like, I gotta go all in. Who taught you that? Was it your parents? Did you have a mentor when you were growing up? Where do you think you got that from? Most people, they're very indecisive.
- [04:21]
Brad Blazar
It wasn't really having a mentor, you know, it was really just looking at, you know, the whole self help industry, you know, listening to Zig Ziglar, really reading books about success, obviously, you know, I'd say that my uncle was probably somewhat of a mentor. Even though he wasn't coaching me, was someone I definitely looked up to and really looked at the way he carried himself, some of the things he did. But it's really just one of those things where you have to be intentional and really be focused on your goals and what you want. And I think one of the big struggles that a lot of people have is they all have their dreams, they all have their wants, but they aren't intentional and they don't pursue them. And so, as Tim Grover, who, of course, you know, coach people like Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, says, you think the price to pay for success is big.
- [05:09]
Paul Alex
Yeah.
- [05:09]
Brad Blazar
Wait till you get the bill for regret.
- [05:11]
Paul Alex
Wow.
- [05:12]
Brad Blazar
And that hit me because you will get to a point later in life when you realize that you don't have the same choices that you do when you're much younger. Because when you're younger, you can take those risks. When you're much older, you know, and you got a wife and you got a family and you got all the obligations, it's much more difficult to do that. So the message is, you know, take the chance, invest in yourself, and let's.
- [05:36]
Paul Alex
Talk about personal beliefs. So what personal beliefs did you have to destroy to start making those seven figure deals, man? Because for everybody, especially in this podcast, man, that's our number one thing that people want to know is how can I become better every day?
- [05:53]
Brad Blazar
I think really for me, like I said, I was just this cocky, little confident kid at 23. As I've matured and I've grown, there's a couple things. The one thing that I've learned is you can't listen to the noise. You don't really want to think about what other people care about you and about what it is you're doing. Just show up, do what you do, and, you know, prove to people that you can become a success. When I wrote my first book, which is the one over here, the Wings of Eagles, you know, learning to soar in Life, I came up with this concept and we actually trademarked it, and it's called the Art of Beliefology. And the Art of Beliefology is basically like this philosophy that says in order to create the lifestyle that you want to live, you initially have to create the habits that will support that. Right. And so basically understanding that our habits are what lead to long term success, it's showing up and doing the things that you don't want to do every day.
- [06:53]
Paul Alex
Yeah.
- [06:53]
Brad Blazar
Let's face it, you know, most people don't work out every day. You should. I choose to but it's the incremental effort that compounds over time that gives you the dramatic results. And what happens with a lot of people is they'll get started in something. That's why we have New Year's resolutions. People fall off the bus after a couple weeks. They give up because they don't see the change. The change doesn't take place until sometimes many months or many years later. And so, you know, the art of beliefology says, get the habits. The habits over 20, 30 days will then foster a new belief system in you. And then that obviously translates to the outer person and the person that you ultimately become. And it's really kind of cool because I was coaching this guy, and it was interesting. Every time we got on Zoom, he never turned on his camera. He wanted to be a coach, and he was always frustrated. How come nobody's hired me to coach him? And finally one day, turns came. Dude was 480 pounds.
- [07:47]
Paul Alex
Wow.
- [07:47]
Brad Blazar
And I said, jason, the problem is you can't take care of yourself, let alone, how are you going to coach other people? And so I trained him over the course of three months to work out every day, to go to the fitness center. And literally, in the span of about 90 days, he lost close to 100 pounds. Now the dude's about 220, looks great. He actually now is a fitness coach.
- [08:06]
Paul Alex
I love that.
- [08:07]
Brad Blazar
But what happened over the time is the habits of running and working out created in his mind the belief that he was an athlete. That created his outer identity, and that's ultimately the person he became. Pretty cool.
- [08:18]
Paul Alex
What do you think? What traits make someone successful in life?
- [08:23]
Brad Blazar
You know, that's a really great question. I think there's probably a couple of traits or a couple qualities. I think one is consistency. I think that's probably the most important you look at any successful person. It's the consistency. I think the other also is going along in the same direction, finding something that you're really good at and then just continuing to do that. And, you know, with a lot of friends that obviously have reached certain levels of success, you ask them, you know, what allowed you to reach that pinnacle of success or what allowed you to do that. And it all comes down, really, to just, you know, number one, being passionate about what you do, so that when you show up and you do it, it almost doesn't feel like work. I love what I do. It doesn't even feel like work to me. But I think the other is just an attitude of, I'm not going to give up. Yeah, you know, and as an entrepreneur, I mean, you know, obviously, you know, you're an entrepreneur. There are ups and downs. There are days where you're like, you know, stress and, like, you know, oh, my God, you know, bank accounts down, cash is not coming in, and you're freaking out. You got payroll, you got rent. But if you just show up every day, it seems to work its way out. And I think that's one of the big keys is just, you know, show up, be consistent, and don't give up on your goals and your dreams.
- [09:39]
Paul Alex
Was there ever an incident where you almost gave up?
- [09:42]
Brad Blazar
Oh, yeah.
- [09:43]
Paul Alex
In your career, like, early stages in your 20s, where you were like, this might be it. I might. Entrepreneurship. What would be a good story to resonate with the audience?
- [09:51]
Brad Blazar
You know, I think really there were. There were times early in my career where, you know, you know, market was down, and so, you know, my bank account's down or, you know, my retirement accounts down. You're looking at all these things going on. The thing really that kept me so focused was really the end game. It's the delayed or the deferred gratification of knowing what we were building, why we were doing what we were doing. And I think that's big problem that a lot of kids have is, you know, they want the Rolex, they want the fancy car, they want what they see, when in reality, none of that shit's important to you. You know, I mean, yeah, I drive a nice vehicle, but I waited and worked hard to get what I drive today. But, you know, you have to reinvest back into yourself. You have to hire a coach and a mentor. Because I think the advantage of working with mentors and coaches is what they're able to is give you the blueprint that they used and take what could be months and in some cases years, and turn it into days.
- [10:53]
Paul Alex
Yeah.
- [10:54]
Brad Blazar
And so, you know, I tell people, basically, what you are paying me for is my knowledge, right? My knowledge is what's going to build your future. And so, you know, how do you think it looks in your business to have a gas race? $2 billion has the Rolodex, has the blueprint, knows how to do that. And, you know, a lot of people don't understand that. They just, you know, they go off to college, they get a job, and then they wonder in their 50s or 60s why they don't have what other people have that are half their age. It's because the kids that were half their age decided to invest in coaching and mentoring.
- [11:29]
Paul Alex
And that leads to my next Question. So right now we have anywhere between 25 year olds all the way up to about 55 year olds. That's my demographic. Probably some people that are like, man, I think I'm going to go back to college. I think I'm going to go back to school. Okay, let's go back to what you know now compared to what you knew in your 20s. If you were to do it all over again, would you do anything different?
- [11:51]
Brad Blazar
I think that having a college education is important, but I don't really know that a college education leads to long term financial success. I think really what it does, it teaches you how to cope with people. I think it teaches you how to be analytical, it teaches you how to relate with others. What I really admire are the kids that are in college that, that have already figured out to a degree what it is they want to do to create that wealth. So while you're in school, you're investing in real estate.
- [12:21]
Paul Alex
Makes sense.
- [12:22]
Brad Blazar
Or you know, when you're in school you're investing basically in ATMs. So it's not necessarily that it's the side hustle, it's just that you've already figured out what that vehicle is that might potentially work for you. Yeah, I mean, I see a lot of people in real estate and I tell them, look, there are ways to make real estate where you don't need a lot of money. You can become a wholesaler.
- [12:40]
Paul Alex
Yeah.
- [12:41]
Brad Blazar
Find the deals and then sell the deal to an investor and walk away with 10, 15, $20,000. And I've got friends that are literally making millions a year just wholesaling because I've got a team of people now and they've actually perfected that business model. So I think that, you know, there is definitely an importance to college, but don't look at going to school as the key to long term success.
- [13:03]
Paul Alex
I love that. I love that. So let's go ahead and switch it up to capital raising. Now what is the biggest mistake that entrepreneurs when trying to raise money for their business?
- [13:14]
Brad Blazar
Oh boy. I call it premature presentation. The problem most new people have when they try to raise capital is they've got a deal, they've got, you know, a project, they need to raise capital. There's usually a deadline looming on the horizon, the closing date or whatever, and they meet somebody that is potentially an investor and they start talking about the deal way too early in the relationship. Raising capital comes down to building trust and building a relationship. And so, you know, if you're pitching, for example, if I was telling you about my deal, or I was telling you about this great opportunity when I finish pitching you, or talking about it more out of respect for me and just because it's the natural thing to do, you're going to say something very similar to, it sounds pretty exciting, Brad. You know, can you send me some information so I can take a closer look at it? Well, that's what everybody says. Right. And so now we send them everything, and then they give you every excuse not to invest. Right. And really what's happening is the person is communicating without essentially saying it. We just met. We only went out for one or two dates, and here you're asking me to walk down the aisle. So what I like to explain to people is you got to slow down to speed up, you know, spend two or three meetups with that person, whether it's in person, whether it's on the phone, whether it's on zoom. Really build the relationship first and then present the opportunity. You'll know when the right time is. So I think that's really the biggest mistake that most new people make is they just pitch way too early in the relationship, and as a result, they stub their toe and they never raise capital.
- [14:54]
Paul Alex
So your strategy ties into the long game, nurturing the relationship. Absolutely big.
- [15:00]
Brad Blazar
Yeah, absolutely.
- [15:02]
Paul Alex
What would you say about this for someone brand new? Okay, maybe they just got their LLC. How would you coach them to raise their first $50,000?
- [15:15]
Brad Blazar
You know, I think there's a couple ways that you can go about raising 50 or even a half a million, whatever size you need. There's power and proximity. And so I always tell people, if you're not networking, if you're not going to these events to meet investors or to sit down with, you know, family offices and connect in person, you're missing a huge opportunity. A lot of people choose to raise money initially with family and friends. Personally, I've never done it, probably never will. And the reason is, I know having been a business owner and just witnessing so much, sometimes bad things happen to really good people.
- [15:55]
Paul Alex
Wow.
- [15:55]
Brad Blazar
There are events that will take place throughout your life that you have absolutely no control over. And so, you know, a great example is Covid. Look at what Covid did to so many businesses, just globally. And so if you had invested in one of those businesses that were adversely affected, is the business owner to blame? No, that was an unforeseen event that affected the outcome of that industry or that particular business. And I just value relationships more than money because I know the money's easy to get.
- [16:22]
Paul Alex
Yeah.
- [16:23]
Brad Blazar
So the way to get, you know, your first 50 or your first hundred thousand dollars is start to build a network, lead with value first. I always tell people, if you're going to go and approach somebody that has a lot of money, the way to approach them is ask for their opinion first. So you know, hey, I'm thinking about doing something and I really value your opinion poll. And so you bounce kind of the idea off that person, you listen to what they say and what that does is it gets buy in. Now the person has an interest, they're contributing, and then you continue to build a relationship and then eventually you ask that person if they would have an interest in moving forward because now they've actually contributed to the idea and there's more buy in to actually do that with you. Wow, that makes, always lead with value.
- [17:12]
Paul Alex
That makes a lot of sense. So for example, let's say if you have somebody who's brand new, they're building a wholesale company, what would be a couple of steps, let's say, like the first three steps in order to find a networking event or to, to get investors to start growing their business. What would you, what would you recommend that.
- [17:29]
Brad Blazar
Well, in any city there are always going to be investor meetups. You know, if you go to Google and you just Google investor clubs, here in Miami, there's literally hundreds. They're meeting to talk about real estate, they're meeting to talk about crypto, they're meeting to talk about the stock market. And so just become aware of the local investor meetups that are in your community and just start attending them. And you know, if I'm over here in real estate, as a real estate entrepreneur and there's a group over here meeting every month to talk about the stock market or talking about crypto, do I really care? No, because everybody at that event, by definition is an investor. And so once they learn what I'm doing, if they understand the importance of diversification, some of them are going to raise their hand and say, hey, what you're saying really resonates with me. You know, can we grab breakfast or can we meet for lunch? Sure. And so you start networking and you start finding out and identifying who you know has got money, who the investors are locally, and you start building your network and you start building your community of followers that way. That's how I actually started. When I was in my 20s, I started going to meetups in Austin, Texas, which is where my oil company was based, and just started meeting people. Now granted, they were much older than me, but I had built my network and I could show them, hey, I've got a team, I've got a securities attorney, I've got an accounting firm, I got geologists, I got the whole team together. And so what they were really investing in is not me as a solopreneur. They saw this kid that had built and assembled the team that could execute on the strategy. And that is a key word in any business. When we had Kevin Harrington from Shark Tank as a keynote at the event we did a couple of years ago, he, he basically said, look, you know, so many people come on a shark tank and they're brilliant people, PhDs, engineers, and then they leave without a deal. Why is that one word? They haven't convinced us Sharks they could execute.
- [19:22]
Paul Alex
Wow.
- [19:23]
Brad Blazar
That's the key.
- [19:24]
Paul Alex
That, that, that's a gem right there, man. So do you think that when people are looking to buy into, let's say, a six, seven figure, even an eight figure deal, man, that it is the person behind the vehicle or is it the actual vehicle?
- [19:38]
Brad Blazar
Oh, it's definitely the person behind the vehicle. You know, it's definitely the ability to show others that you are not, as Mark Cuban would say, a wantrepreneur. And I love that word so much. I think the problem with so many people is they vacillate in indecision. It's like they're on the fence and they start doing something without a system or without a plan or structure. And the biggest problem so many people have is, I call it randomness in motion. You're doing all these things, but they're not moving you in the direction you're trying to go because you don't understand that you're presenting too prematurely in the relationship with that person. You don't even have, you know, your investor relations set up, or you don't even have a pitch deck. And so you're going through all of these motions and you're frustrated as hell. You're like a little gerbil on a little wheel in a cage, going around and around and around because you have this randomness in motion. And, you know, it's sitting down and saying, okay, I'm here at point A, I'm trying to get over there to point B. Between point A and point B is this vast unknown. And one thing I actually learned from one of the business coaches that I work with is don't go to Google and say, how do I do this? Google will tell you. Ask the question, who can show me how to get this done? Somebody out there. I Guarantee has done it. For example, if I wanted to go out and buy a bunch of ATMs, you're the dude that I would hire tomorrow to show me that business model. Because you've done it. Yeah. And so it's asking the who, not the how.
- [21:20]
Paul Alex
I love that, I love that. So you talk a lot about building trust before pitching a deal.
- [21:26]
Brad Blazar
Yeah.
- [21:28]
Paul Alex
Number one, what does that look like in real time? But then also number two, let's say based on the example you gave us, you know, you Google, basically if you guys are in Miami for our beginner, you know, entrepreneurs here that are starting a business and you guys are looking for investors for your company or for, for whatever vehicle that you guys are in, how does that look like? Like what would you do when you go into that network event? How would you approach? Do you go ahead and more try value towards what they're talking about or do you start talking about your idea? How would that look like?
- [22:03]
Brad Blazar
So one of the cool things is having done this for so long, you know, almost 30 years, 2 billion is a big number. I've got all of this knowledge and what I tell people is I have the unique ability to take what's up here and codify it and create key concepts. And the reason that is so important is that people can grasp hold of a concept. And so in our coaching model I have used what I call building blocks. One of them is actually called the trust sequence and it is a six step process on literally how we build trust in other people.
- [22:38]
Paul Alex
I love that.
- [22:39]
Brad Blazar
And so this actually came out of a book that I read many years ago called the Trust Economy, written by a psychologist that understood as we develop relationships there is something that takes place first in the mind. And so the very first thing that I talk about in raising capital in this six step process is perception. A potential investor's perception is going to create the reality. And so if you were trying to pitch me on a deal or an investment, the second we meet and shake hands, I'm sizing you up whether you like it or not. Right. And I'm in my mind creating a perception of you, how you dress, how you shake hands, the quality of your market materials. Then I'm going to go to Google and I'm going to take a look at your website. So everything I see is that outer perception creates the appearance. And so as we move through perception. I like it, you look successful. We get to phase number two, which is temptation. By asking great questions and being a great listener, we will actually uncover what will move that person forward to ultimately invest.
- [23:42]
Paul Alex
Wow.
- [23:43]
Brad Blazar
Because every investor has a need for their money to do something.
- [23:47]
Paul Alex
Correct?
- [23:48]
Brad Blazar
Right. And so as I'm starting to talk to you, I might ask certain questions like, Paul, what's important to you? Or better yet, what are you trying to do with your investment capital today? Now, you might say something to me like, well, you know, I've got two kids that I'm going to be putting through college in the next four to six years. I'm going to pick up on that.
- [24:05]
Paul Alex
Right.
- [24:06]
Brad Blazar
Or you might be a doctor that's making a lot of money. And you might say, you know, Brad, my biggest problem as a surgeon is I make a lot of money. So taxes are my biggest issue. I'm going to pick up on that now a couple of meetings later when I'm pitching the opportunity, I'm selling the benefits, and I'm tying it directly to your need. Can you see how the appreciation of this real estate, Paul, is going to help you put those kids through school in a couple of years?
- [24:31]
Paul Alex
It's huge. You're hooking them in now you're nodding.
- [24:33]
Brad Blazar
Yeah. See that? You know, and so it becomes so easy to really get people to invest if you uncover the temptation. Because money will always change hands when problems are solved. I learned that from Grant.
- [24:47]
Paul Alex
That's amazing.
- [24:48]
Brad Blazar
Money will always exchange hands when problems are solved. So find out what the problem is, what they're trying to do with their capital, and then offer the solution to that. Right. And then as we work through temptation, we get to step number three, which is connection. You're going to start connecting with people, and then we get to validation. That's the most important thing in raising capital. You need to validate that the person trusts you enough to move forward to the next step before you actually pitch.
- [25:15]
Paul Alex
And Brad, is this part of your beliefology framework?
- [25:20]
Brad Blazar
Not really, but it is to some degree. Because if you don't believe it yourself and you don't utilize it, you're going to struggle in raising capital. So you really have to be very, very confident in what it is you're doing. And you've got to realize that whatever that deal is, whether it's real estate, whether it's buying a business, whether it's something like raising capital for a movie, you've got to be so convicted on that as an opportunity. Because if you're not convicted on what you're trying to get people to invest in, why in the world would they invest?
- [25:52]
Paul Alex
Yeah, absolutely. They have to be a believer.
- [25:54]
Brad Blazar
You have to be a believer. So it comes back to the beliefology. You bet.
- [25:57]
Paul Alex
I love that, man. So let's talk about beliefology. You created something powerful called the art of beliefology. Number one, what is it and how can someone use it to rewrite their story?
- [26:10]
Brad Blazar
So beliefology, kind of like we alluded to earlier, is really kind of a philosophy or framework and it really comes down to three things. Habits, which over time support beliefs. Beliefs then create a new identity. Right. And so it works in any area of life. And I think the biggest problem that a lot of people have is they don't have clearly defined habits, they don't have rituals, they don't have things, things that they do that are moving them to success, you know, and so if you talk to or you look at very successful people, they'll tell you, oh yeah, my day starts exactly the same every day. It doesn't matter where I am, if I'm traveling, there's a fitness center at the hotel or whatever, you know, and it's kind of your daily routine. But that's what contributes to their long term success.
- [26:58]
Paul Alex
Yeah.
- [26:58]
Brad Blazar
So the habits. And here's where a lot of people fall off the bus. Studies have been done that show how long do you need to do something before it becomes a habitual ritual in your life?
- [27:12]
Paul Alex
And how long is that?
- [27:13]
Brad Blazar
They say it's 21 days, 21 days. Now I believe it's actually a little bit longer because if you studied what Fritzell has done with 75 hard, 75 hard is 75 days. But it's probably somewhere between that. Right. The challenge is most people start something with good intentions, but then they fall off the bus, that pattern gets disrupted and they go back to their former self. But if you do something consistently, you know, for, let's just say, you know, let's just say 30 days maybe, eventually it starts to become a habitual ritual in your daily life. And so by doing that, whatever it is daily, that creates that habitual ritual, that starts to foster and create a new belief system. And then that belief system starts to contribute to the outer identity. And so getting back to the story of that young kid Jason, who I kind of coached, you know, here's a 480 pound guy. And as I was coaching and mentoring him, I kept reminding him of the importance of positive affirmations. Right. Looking at yourself in the morning and saying things to yourself to inspire and motivate you. He admitted to me one day he couldn't think of anything to say because he hated himself for getting to that point in life. I Mean, imagine that. That you can't think of anything positive in your life as an affirmation to say to yourself. But after spending about a month getting him on a nutrition plan, getting him to start walking, and then eventually jogging, he got to a point where finally one day we were talking with Zoom. He said, you know how important you've been telling me that positive affirmations are in my life? And I said, yeah. He said, finally today, I was able to say something, and I'm like. I'm like, here it comes. And I said, what was it for you today, Jason? He said, I looked in the mirror and I said, I'm becoming an athlete. I love that. And I started crying.
- [28:56]
Paul Alex
Yeah.
- [28:57]
Brad Blazar
Here's a dude that was 480 pounds that now is looking at himself after losing 100 that says, I'm becoming an athlete. And I said, I have no doubt that you're going to shed the next hundred pounds, because now your belief system and who you are and your outer identity is you're an athlete. And what do they do? They show up every day, they work out, they eat nutritious. And like I said, you know, now the guy's down at like 200. He looks good, he's ripped, and he's living a great life. It's because the habits that I had started, which was the nutrition, the working out, we kept that up, created that belief. That was the affirmation to create the outer appearance of that individual and who he is today, he actually became the.
- [29:39]
Paul Alex
Greater version of himself.
- [29:40]
Brad Blazar
Himself. Exactly. Through the art of beliefology. Yeah. When we trademark that.
- [29:43]
Paul Alex
I love that, man. I love that. That's. That's straight up powerful. Can you share? And I know you already shared a transformation story, but do you have another transformation story that you could share with us that is close to your heart, man? You know, this is the level up. So we. We care about folks, we care about our audience. We want to inspire them right through storytelling. So someone. A transformation story from someone who applied your belief framework and actually changed their life.
- [30:10]
Brad Blazar
Yeah. You know, we did an event literally right, like during COVID I was amazed. We had close to 200 and some people that flew in from all around the country. And, you know, we had Sharon Lecter there, if you know who she is. She worked very closely with Kiyosaki and the whole rich dad, poor dad, just a phenomenal literary genius. We had, of course, you know, Kevin Harrington there, some other phenomenal speakers. And there was a young kid that showed up named Renato, and he said, I'm just getting started in real estate. You're on my coach. You're going to teach me how to attract and rescout. Well, and the kid basically was just brand new, hadn't raised any money. Fast forward three years, he's got almost $90 million in real estate.
- [30:51]
Paul Alex
Wow.
- [30:52]
Brad Blazar
Mastered the craft of attracting a community of people. Started learning how to underwrite. You know, that was another coach that taught him how to evaluate deals. And then he matched that with the capital, which is of course what we taught him. And so, you know, that transformation in this young man's life of now not having to live the rat race of a nine to five, now being able to travel. He just had a kid. So now being a new, proud parent, you know, he's creating that legacy. And one of the things that I tell people is that in the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki talks about the relationship he had with his, quote, rich uncle, where he learned those lessons about investing intangible assets. But he said, here's the key, the key to creating legacy wealth. And I'm talking about the difference between retiring with 3 million, 5 million. I'm talking about hundreds of millions.
- [31:47]
Paul Alex
Oh, yeah.
- [31:48]
Brad Blazar
Is mastering and understanding the OPM game, understanding that there's money around you every day. It's just the ability to connect and talk with people. You can capitalize any venture you want to by learning how to raise capital. Yeah. You know, and once you understand that, you start looking at people. I've got many of them as clients that I coach, that when they come to me, they're like, yeah, we've been very successful, Brad. You know, we have a real estate company with about $500 million in real estate. I'm like, what do you need me for? Like, you've already got 500 million. Like you're wealthy. Yeah, we want to get to 2 billion. And we need your relationships, we need your knowledge, we need your network in order to grow from where we are to where we want to be. But, you know, these aren't public companies. These are privately held businesses. You know, you look at a guy down here in Miami, Ben Mala, you know, Ben's worth a couple hundred million dollars. And it's all because he learned how to raise capital from investors to buy and put together this huge real estate portfolio that he has today. And so when you see that and you understand that that's what keeps you going, that's what inspires you to start building relationships and start talking to people. And the reason that we launched our Whole educational platform is. When I retired after a very successful career and I wrote my first book, people started calling me. And as I was talking to them, I would always ask them one question, and I would say, paul, if you weren't doing what it is you're doing today, what would you want to be doing? Right? And people would always share that dream they had. Oh, you know, I've always desired to start a restaurant, or I've always thought about being in business, or I've always thought about being in real estate, like you. Why you're not doing that. You know what the answer was? 99.9% of the time.
- [33:36]
Paul Alex
The money.
- [33:38]
Brad Blazar
The money. They didn't have a limiting belief that they could or couldn't do it. It always just came down to the one thing. The money. And here I was as a guy that raised over $2 billion through my efforts and the efforts of teams I built, and I'm like, man, I got a knowledge that can change a lot of people's lives. If I could teach you how to attract and raise capital, I become the catalyst to making your dream become a vision. Oh, yeah. And so that's how we launched our platform over four years ago. Now we've blown to 28 countries around the world, and we've lost count to the thousands of people that we felt. And some do, some don't. It all comes down to the commitment to show up and listen to the coach and apply the knowledge. We all know knowledge without action is meaningless, but we've literally built many, many, many multimillionaires.
- [34:24]
Paul Alex
I love that, man. It's very powerful what you're doing, because you're doing it with purpose. You're doing fulfillment, dude. You're already retired. You're really well off. So what pushes someone who's ultra successful, like, you know, the people that you've been talking about during this podcast, at half. 500 million, and they want to get to 2 billion. What is it that drives them?
- [34:45]
Brad Blazar
Man, you're gonna love this. Yeah.
- [34:46]
Paul Alex
Because there's a lot of people are going to be listening to this, and they're just struggling to start a business, a simple business that they want to get going. But the thing is the money.
- [34:54]
Brad Blazar
Yeah. My personal coach that I've known for many years, who's now become a personal friend, We've collaborated. Coach Michael Burt, if you don't know, Coach Burt out in Nashville, Tennessee, talks about something called Prey Drive. Prey drive. He heard a phrase a couple of years ago from a Navy SEAL who said, we as SEALs have something that we call a prey drive. And he's like, wow, I love that. Like, what is it? He said, well, you know, if you think about the big cats, the lions, the tigers, or even your dogs, they see something with the eyes and they pursue it to its logical conclusion. That is the kill. He said, humans have a prey drive. You see something in your mind or you see something with your eyes. But the problem is, for most people, the prey drive has not been activated. They don't pursue something. They start it and then they give up. So he said the prey drive has to be activated either by an outside force that is a coach or mentor, or it has to be from within. So the big question is, how do you self motivate, which a lot of people don't do. And there's a couple ways that you can do this. One is just competition. Another is basically what he calls subtraction. He works so hard because he's afraid if he doesn't, he will lose all of the things that are attributed to him that he's been able to accumulate in life. I won't be able to make the mortgage on this beautiful home.
- [36:18]
Paul Alex
Yes.
- [36:18]
Brad Blazar
On my Rolex. Might have to give up the lease on that nice Maybach. Whatever it is. It's the subtraction by not hustling every day. So I think that part of the goal is these people have this intrinsic drive to remember that the clock goes to zero every day. Doesn't matter what I did. Yes. I mean, I've had days where we've made hundreds of thousands of dollars. Tomorrow the clock starts at zero. And so it's the showing up and it's the leveling up and the hustle. And I think that's really the difference between the super successful people is they don't care what it is they have now. There's always something bigger.
- [36:59]
Paul Alex
Oh, yeah.
- [37:00]
Brad Blazar
Always something to be chasing and pursuing. It's like Matthew McConaughey said, I don't know if you ever saw it. When he won the Academy Award, he thanked a bunch of people. And then the very last thing he said is he said, I really want to thank the version of myself that I'm chasing every day when I look at myself in the mirror. Because I want to show up every day and create a much better version of myself. And if you never heard that speech, Matthew McConaughey, when he accepted the Academy Award, one of the best speeches I think on self development I've ever heard. Because he's chasing himself. He's not chasing Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise.
- [37:35]
Paul Alex
He's staying in his own lane, and he's chasing the greater version of himself. And, you know, it connects with me, man, because it's the same thing. You know, right now, I'm expecting my first baby boy.
- [37:46]
Brad Blazar
Oh, wow. Congratulations.
- [37:47]
Paul Alex
The next three months. Thank you. And, you know, I'm already envisioning how his life is going to be, and I want it to be better than I was when I was a kid. Right. And I need to recreate myself again and again and again to get it to that level, man, because now I'm getting into fatherhood.
- [38:03]
Brad Blazar
Yeah.
- [38:04]
Paul Alex
So I love that. I resonate with you. So I like to call you a Renaissance man because you've been in multiple countries, man. You travel quite a bit, you train people. And now over 28 countries, okay, it might be higher. We might be wrong here.
- [38:18]
Brad Blazar
Okay.
- [38:19]
Paul Alex
And you just got knighted, man. Okay, so how do you stay grounded while playing at that level?
- [38:24]
Brad Blazar
You know, you have to be really humble. And, you know, being knighted was obviously pretty cool. You know, here in the United States, of course, we don't recognize nobility like we do in other countries, so, you know, it's not as important. But, you know, being knighted, you know, and brought into a royal order with others like Paul Abdul, Tony Braxton, you know, Ray Parker Jr. It's pretty humbling because you're recognized at a level where you're brought in to a true royal order based on what they call meritorious honors, honors, and merit. And so when I was approached and went through the selection process, the first thing I asked the guy that called me was like, is this, like, Knights of Columbus? Like, is this like, the Masonic lodge that my grandfather was part of, where I got to pay dues? He's like, no, no, this is like the real deal. You know, you're being brought into an order that recognizes leaders at the very highest level. And I'm like, all right. So he went through the process. But I think, really, it's just to be humble with yourself and understand that you're always pushing, you're always setting the example, and you're always wanting more. And, you know, it's really very humbling and kind of magical. My daughter, who's now 14, this goes back a couple years when she was much younger. We were just having a daddy daughter date. And I just asked her because I was curious. You know, she knows I'm an author. She knows about the books, and I just wanted to find out. I said, what do you tell your friends when they ask you what your Daddy does for a living. And she just kind of smiled and she said, I don't know, my daddy's famous. And I just stood there. This little, you know, 11 year old girl at the time sees her daddy on tv, hears her daddy on the radio, sees me up on stages. And so for this little kid, you know, she thinks her dad is like the Rock. Right? I'm famous.
- [40:04]
Paul Alex
Yeah.
- [40:05]
Brad Blazar
And so that was really, really a cool experience. I'm certainly not as famous as I'd like to be. Maybe after your show I'll become even more.
- [40:13]
Paul Alex
Oh yeah.
- [40:14]
Brad Blazar
But you know, it's really just that message of not necessarily look at me. But it's like if you had told me five years ago that I'd be sharing stages with people like, you know, Floyd Mayweather, Brandon Dawson, Jesse Itzler on shows like yours, or on, you know, dropping bombs with Bradley, I would have laughed at you, like, yeah, right. Flying private jets. But it's the consistency, it's the showing up and it's the relentless pursuit of always wanting to do something bigger. Right. Like when I told my wife a few years ago I was going to charter a private jet to fly from Houston to Miami, she looked at me like, you're crazy. And I was. Because I had no idea what it was going to cost. It was almost 35,000 plus dollars. I could have gone first class for 1800. But as I was sharing that story with you before we started recording, I ended up flying for free because we sold the other seats as a mastermind so that people could be with me and the other seven and eight figure entrepreneurs and so that they could all meet the people that were there at the event. The Brandon Dawson's, the Bobby Castros, the Floyd Mayweathers. And so for them it was a cool experience. And so for many of these entrepreneurs, it's like that's a no brainer, like, sure. And so, you know, we flew on a beautiful private jet, round trip, made some great connections and some wonderful cool things have happened out of that. We collaborated, we stay in touch, I've invested with some of the people, but I think it's really just, you know, realizing that what you do as you start building is creating a legacy. I want to be remembered long after I leave this planet. And so the big question is, what will I leave behind? Obviously there'll be a bunch of books, there'll be kind of a legacy and more importantly, kind of like you said earlier, Paul, I'll have something for my daughter to kind of maybe step into. But I Think for her, it's realizing that there's just so much more than, quote, just going to school and getting a job.
- [42:08]
Paul Alex
Absolutely. So would you say your why is your daughter.
- [42:12]
Brad Blazar
It's really family? Yeah. I'll tell you a great story. This actually made me cry, and I've actually brought entire audiences of thousands of people to tears. I look out and like, everybody's sobbing. But it is a true story.
- [42:22]
Paul Alex
Yeah.
- [42:24]
Brad Blazar
What really resonated with me when I started speaking from stage as I heard a guy speak and he said, in the coaching business, we hear so much about your why. There's nothing more important in life, folks, than your why. And he said, I want to share a story. And so he told a story about his family where on Christmas Eve, his wife's sister came over with their family. And so they've got sister in law, you know, brother in law, kids. And he went upstairs in Texas. We have what we call the great room. You ever in the great room? It's the big TV magic room, right? And so they're watching the Dallas Cowboys. And he said, my brother in law fell asleep on the couch next to me. And so here I am watching the game, he's snoring away, and all of a sudden he leaps out of the couch like he'd seen a ghost. And I'm like, are you okay? And he was sweating. He's like, yeah, I think so. And so, you know, Matt. What's his name, Matt Monero, says, well, you know, I was watching. He said, can I share something personal with you, Matt? And he's like, yeah, man, you know, like your family. You're my brother in law. Sure. And he said. He put his head down and then he looked up with a stare I'll never forget. He said, I wanted to let you know tonight that I was just diagnosed with cancer.
- [43:34]
Paul Alex
Oh, no.
- [43:35]
Brad Blazar
Christmas Eve, mind you. And so Matt's like, oh, geez. Like, man, that's like the worst thing I wanted to hear. Like, you know, is it curable? Like, is it, you know, something like prostate? He said, no, Matt, it's. It's pretty bad. It's stage four. They've given me about six months.
- [43:50]
Paul Alex
Wow.
- [43:51]
Brad Blazar
Matt said, oh, geez. What does Susie say? That's the wife downstairs in the kitchen. You want to take a guess at what the answer to that one was? He hadn't even told her yet. That's what he said. He said, matt, I haven't even told. He's like, you haven't told your wife that you've got terminal Cancer, like, what's wrong with you? And then he started to cry. He said, I'm 48, I don't have a will. I didn't plan for this. I've got a family. And Matt said, let's time the man up. He literally took his brother in law downstairs on Christmas Eve to man up and tell his wife that he was dying of terminal cancer. And so, as you can imagine, every emotion that we can empathize with came out that night. Hugging, crying, you know, not knowing what the future was going to be. It wasn't even six months. Three months later, there was a funeral. And they said their goodbyes. Now here's the interesting part of the story. The next day after the funeral, Matt's wife Cookie came downstairs and he could tell she had been crying. And so he said, what's wrong, honey? And she said, I'm thinking about my sister. She's got a boy family, she's got the house. She's probably going to have to go back to work, maybe get two jobs, go on welfare. You know, they're not like us, meaning privileged people. And he just was getting ready for work and he said, I know it's going to be a bitch, honey, but you know, God works miracles. Things will work. And so that day he called his sister in law to check in and she was crying and he said, I'd like to invite you guys over this weekend for some barbecue. Let the kids play in the pool, they'll be out in the backyard. And so that weekend they came over and at the end of the evening, as they were all hugging and saying goodbyes, he opened up the lapel to his sports coat and handed her a Hallmark gift card. When she opened it, she broke down in tears and she said, I cannot take this from you. He said, oh yes you can. And more importantly, you will. Because on the insurance policy your husband never had, inside that envelope there was a check for $3 million made out to her to guarantee that she would never have to worry about a penny the rest of her life. And then of course, he worked with her to invest it and create the income. People were bawling their brains out. I'm almost crying just telling the story. But he said, folks, that is your why. And then he said, who here in the audience wants to be like Rich Uncle Matt? Who here in the audience, if you're a lady, wants to be like Rich Uncle Cookie? All the ladies. He said, folks, that's why you bust ass. It's to be the bedrock and the foundation for those that you love. And I was like, wow. And so, to get back to your question about family, it's not just for my wife and my daughter. It's for my siblings.
- [46:24]
Paul Alex
Yeah.
- [46:24]
Brad Blazar
It's for my friends. It's for people that come to me that I really care about so that I can be that privileged person to say, don't worry about it. We'll take care of it for you.
- [46:31]
Paul Alex
You know, And I did. I mean, a story. I'm thinking about my family. I'm thinking about my wife. I'm thinking about, you know, like, my sisters, my mom. And, you know, I told one of my buddies this the other day. I was just like, hey, you know, I just moved to Puerto Rico about, like, four months ago. But my next better version of myself, man, because I feel like the last seven years, I've just been growing rapidly, but then everybody around me, and that's what it's about. I have a big heart, man. Everybody I meet, I always want to provide so much value. So, like, it's not only me growing, but to them growing as well.
- [47:03]
Brad Blazar
Absolutely.
- [47:03]
Paul Alex
And for. For my siblings and, you know, for my mom, I've been able to retire my mom. I've been able to go ahead and take care and buy my older sister's first home. I've been able to transition my. My younger sister from being a registered nurse to now being a CEO, one of my portfolio companies.
- [47:18]
Brad Blazar
Wow.
- [47:19]
Paul Alex
And. And now I want to go even deeper, man. I want to build, like, an entire little community just for my family in Puerto Rico.
- [47:26]
Brad Blazar
People do that, man.
- [47:27]
Paul Alex
They do.
- [47:28]
Brad Blazar
You, like, gay, the community. You got mom over here and her. A little hacienda, and you got over here.
- [47:32]
Paul Alex
And that's the thing, man. I actually met an entrepreneur.
- [47:35]
Brad Blazar
Yeah.
- [47:35]
Paul Alex
Out in Puerto Rico. Crypto. And that's what he did.
- [47:39]
Brad Blazar
He.
- [47:39]
Paul Alex
He literally constructed his entire. A couple of homes for his family.
- [47:44]
Brad Blazar
Yeah.
- [47:45]
Paul Alex
And I was like, dude, that is the dream.
- [47:46]
Brad Blazar
Yeah.
- [47:47]
Paul Alex
I was like, wow. Wasn't even thinking about that last year. And I was just like, I need to do that. I need to make that happen.
- [47:53]
Brad Blazar
Yeah. Right.
- [47:53]
Paul Alex
So that's a new goal for me, to keep pushing me to build other great things.
- [47:57]
Brad Blazar
Yeah.
- [47:58]
Paul Alex
But, dude, I love that story, man.
- [47:59]
Brad Blazar
That's powerful.
- [48:00]
Paul Alex
And that's very powerful. Very powerful. Okay, so here's a deep question. If you lost everything today, okay. What's the first thing you do to rebuild your empire from scratch?
- [48:13]
Brad Blazar
AI, that's the answer that everybody expects nowadays. You know, really, I'd probably go back and do what it is. I'VE already done, realizing that, you know, investor capital is the catalyst to really build anything sizable, you know, yeah, you can go out, you can invest in real estate, you know, you can flip houses. But to really scale and get where you want to be much faster, it's all just the opium game. So I, you know, figure out what business I'd want to be in, probably real estate or like we're doing now, you know, data storage. And I would just start raising capital and essentially just recreate what I've already done to get back where I am today, because I realized that that is the quickest, fastest path to success.
- [49:02]
Paul Alex
Yeah.
- [49:03]
Brad Blazar
You know, and so it's really just, I think, you know, getting back to what we write about in the book Winning at the Capital Game, you know, and so many people that are in business realize that that is the one missing piece. It's. They don't know how to raise capital. Well, that is one of the biggest things that any entrepreneur needs access to. And the problem is so many people will go to their bank and they'll get turned down because they have marginal credit or they have a blemish past or they don't have the track record or whatever it is they need. And then they go over here, oh, yeah, I'm going to go get an SBA loan. Well, you know, that's a long, lengthy process. And if you get an SBA loan, you might not realize that you're partnering with Uncle Sam. And if you choose to not pay that back or the business gets disrupted, you're personally liable. They can now take your home and your business assets. Investors don't have those same rights. They're accredited investors. They understand the risks of any investment. So if the deal goes sideways or it doesn't work out quite the way planned, they might not be happy, but they can't physically come and take your assets. They can't physically do the same things that a bank can do. And so I've always believed that the knowledge of knowing how to attract and raise capital to build, buy and scale your business or just do something bigger in life is really the key. So the answer to that question, I would just basically just replicate what I did. Might not get into oil and gas like I did earlier, probably just dive right into real estate, but that's what I would choose to do.
- [50:27]
Paul Alex
I love that, man. I love that. And then for everybody who's actually listening to this podcast or watching us on YouTube, where can they find you?
- [50:37]
Brad Blazar
They can find me pretty much anywhere on the Internet. You just Google my name. Brad Blazar. B, L, A Z, A, R. Just if you're going to find me, don't put any e's in there. It's all A's. Blazar, you know. And you'll see our website, you know, you'll of course see me on Amazon with all of the books. We're coming out with book number four here hopefully shortly. That's being edited and finalized. But just Google me, you know, and you'll see, you know, podcast episodes I've been on. You'll see, of course, the books and, you know, just DM me. We're an open book. We got a big team of people, obviously, taking calls, talking to people about what we do, about our upcoming events that we host, live webinars, boot camps, things like that. And we'll be in Salt Lake City next month speaking at a huge event out there. So I'm pretty easy to find if you start looking for me.
- [51:22]
Paul Alex
I love that. I love that. And then, so since this is the level of podcast, what is a couple of actions or words of motivation that you want to give to the audience and leave off here?
- [51:33]
Brad Blazar
Yeah, so a couple great words of motivation. Number one is be consistent. Consistency is so important, I can't tell you. Number two, really be intentional, know what you want and then pursue that with a tenacity and a perseverance where you're just not going to give up. I mean, yeah, there'll be days, like I said, and I'm sure, like you and your background, where you're, like, frustrated and you're wondering, why am I doing this? But just keep doing it, man. It's amazing how consistency and small incremental efforts to slowly compound. It's like getting a six pack, you know, you don't wake up and roll out of bed and have a six pack. No, it's the consistency of a couple of months working at it that give you the results you're looking for. And so when I see people on the beach that are a little buff, I mean, I high five. I'm like, dude, I know what it took to get that. And I really compliment them. The other thing I think also kind of like we've talked about on this episode is really embrace your family, love on them, spend quality time with them. I find that so many fathers are absent parents. You really got to have that balance in life, you know, kind of like in the movie Jerry Maguire, you know, the Quan. And there's actually a word that I heard, I forgot where I heard it, but I've shared it with so many people and it really resonates with. I was actually Rock Thomas, who's actually a Canadian, that used it first. It's the life that I want to live is one of a fifth billionaire. Isn't that a great word?
- [53:08]
Paul Alex
Oh yeah.
- [53:09]
Brad Blazar
Oh yeah. You want to be fulfilled. You want the wealth, you want the lifestyle, you want the friends. And so to all of you out there that are listening, strive to become a fifth millionaire and just live a balanced, happy life and just go out there and crush them.
- [53:23]
Paul Alex
There you go. And guys, that is the level up. I love it. Thank you for coming on the show, brother. I appreciate you. Wealth of knowledge. This is not going to be the last time that you hear from Brad, guys. And make sure to pick up one of his books, Winning at the capital Game. We have on the wings of Eagles and then we also have put some thrive in your hive. I mean phenomenal books. You have your fourth book. Do you really know the name of the fourth book?
- [53:47]
Brad Blazar
We do, absolutely. The fourth book, basically it's actually kind of a spin off of this one right here, which is more a mindset. It's called a blueprint for your better self.
- [53:55]
Paul Alex
I love that. I love that people are going to go ahead and look at that. And guys, make sure to Google Brad. He is everywhere. I mean he has a wealth of knowledge. He's been able to raise over $2 billion in capital investments and he's been able to level up so people throughout his career. Guys, he's a great wealth of knowledge. Guys, we are currently ranked number one in the business category on Apple podcast where you're currently ranked number 15 on all categories. Get us up to next to Rogan, please. With that being said, I mean there's going to be 3 million downloads on this episode, dude, when it comes out, it's going to be phenomenal. You know, it's going to be good. With that being said, guys, leave a five star review. Share this with someone that you care about.
- [54:37]
Brad Blazar
Okay.
- [54:38]
Paul Alex
Your why right at the end of the day, everybody starts from somewhere and if we could do it, you guys can do it too. This is Paul Alex with the Lebel podcast. I'll catch you on the next one.