Evan Rugen’s Playbook for Funding Any Business Without Revenue

Summary

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The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex

Episode: Evan Rugen’s Playbook for Funding Any Business Without Revenue

Date: August 17, 2025
Host: Paul Alex Espinoza
Guest: Evan Rugen (Founder, Let's Get Funded)

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Episode Overview

In this rich and actionable episode, Paul Alex sits down with Evan Rugen, founder of Let’s Get Funded, to break down the truth behind funding any business—even if you have no revenue and limited experience. Evan shares how he turned financial adversity into a funding empire, offers deep insights into personal and business credit, and provides a practical playbook for anyone looking to access capital and build wealth. With real-life stories, step-by-step strategies, and raw advice, Evan demystifies the world of credit and shows listeners how to use OPM (Other People’s Money) to build real businesses and freedom.

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Key Topics and Insights

Evan’s Background & Journey to Funding Mastery

• From Humble Beginnings:
  • Grew up in rural upstate New York (“a town of one traffic light”).
  • Moved to NYC at 19 with only $500, started in real estate.
  • Nicknamed “The Frat Whisperer,” made $3M in revenue at his peak in NYC real estate.
• Turning Point:
  • Pandemic hits; Evan rethinks his goals, aims to be owner/operator rather than broker.
  • Bought and renovated first property in upstate NY using business credit, immediately saw the power of leverage.
• Personal Struggle with Credit:
  • Despite Instagram success, couldn’t get basic bank loans due to bad credit.
  • Fixed his own credit, accessed over $1.1M in business funding without ever providing a tax return or paying interest.
  • Quote: “To this day, I’ve gotten $1.1 million of funding without ever providing a tax return or a bank statement and without ever paying a dollar of interest.” (02:46)

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Financial Literacy & Self-Education

• Education Void in Schools:
  • Evan’s high school senior thesis was on financial literacy.
  • Systems are built to create employees, not teach financial independence.
  • Quote: “They don’t want you to learn financial literacy because you go to high school to get a job. Right. That is the number one way to get out of your job. So that’s why they don’t teach it.” (04:01)
• Learning by Necessity:
  • “My back was against the wall... I typed in ‘fix my credit’ on Instagram. Messaged 15 people, paid a guy $1,000.” (05:01)
  • Bought more courses, began to master personal and business credit.

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Evan’s Playbook: Step-by-Step Credit & Funding Strategy

• Step 1: Fix Your Credit
  • Remove old addresses and inquiries, build clean credit profile.
  • “After you fix your credit, you build out your file, then you can get access to business funding.” (06:15)
• Step 2: Build Out Your File & Get High-Limit Cards
  • Add rent to your credit, ensure Tier 1 banks are on your profile.
• Step 3: Leverage Business Credit (OPM)
  • Use business credit even if your business has no revenue.
  • “All you need is a 700 FICO or above, and you can get access to $100,000 at 0%.” (10:40)
• Step 4: Community & Digital Money
  • Left real estate headaches behind to build digital “money” businesses.
  • Founded Let’s Get Funded in 2023, now serves clients globally.

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Insider Tactics & Common Mistakes

• LLC Name Matters:
  • Avoid high-risk keywords (real estate, dispensary, construction); banks prefer “safe” consulting names.
• Not Just “Bad” Credit Folks:
  • Many with 740+ don't realize poor credit “hygiene” can kill funding chances (too many addresses, inquiries, Tier 2 banks).
• Credit is Foundational:
  • “Money is only an issue in the absence of value.” (18:24)

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Overcoming Skepticism and Building Trust

• Skeptical About Courses:
  • Evan was a skeptic, too (“Courses are scams.”) until he saw real results.
• Proof Through Free Value:
  • Free community of 20,000+; everyone gets an inquiry removal for free so they see immediate results.
  • “People doubt what they’re told, but they accept what they conclude themselves.” (14:31)
• Scaling Impact:
  • Helped single moms, employees, and everyday people achieve life-changing results through foundational credit repair and funding guidance.

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Business Models: Where to Invest After You’re Funded

• Don’t Chase Competition:
  • Skip over-saturated, “sexy” models (Airbnb, laundromats) – look for high-demand, low-desire services.
  • “Go into ChatGPT: what are 10 businesses no one wants to do but everyone needs?” (16:16)
• Evan’s #1 Pick:
  • Build an online community—massive recurring revenue, early mover advantage, low cost.
  • “Started this year at $1,500 recurring, now we’re at $50,000, aiming for $100,000 by year-end.” (18:13)
• If You’re Camera-Shy:
  • Build faceless brands using repurposed or AI content; Evan showed 3.7M views in 30 days on a faceless Instagram account (21:38).

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Community Support & Education

• Programs for All Levels:
  • Free onboarding, $97/month membership (done-for-you credit repair), white-glove funding, and “start your own funding company” package.
  • “You need an internet connection—that’s it.” (28:49)
• International Solutions:
  • Helping anyone, anywhere build US credit via ITIN (even VAs in the Philippines).
• Weekly Live Calls:
  • Credit repair, credit card points, VA hiring for $5/hr, SBA loan navigation, and Instagram growth—each with specialist coaches.

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Memorable Stories & Quotes

• Power of Small Wins:
  • “If your client isn’t getting a small win within the first 30 days, your conversion rate just drops.” (25:09)
  • Daily wins: hard inquiry removals, credit swings of 20+ points (“That’s the difference of $30,000 over your loan!”)
• Creative Marketing:
  • The story of buying MMA tickets to wave a flag behind Trump—landed 100M+ organic views, 5,000+ new followers, and millions in future client funding (23:38).
• On Getting Started:
  • “No one gives a shit about you. No one cares. You have to go all in, attack your strengths, and at the end of the day, no one’s watching.” (30:51)

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Success Stories & Client Impact

• Helping the Overlooked:
  • Fixing credit for single moms, giving people from marginalized backgrounds a shot—“I love giving people a chance that are often overlooked or marginalized.” (33:28)
• Real Client Results:
  • Client stuck at $5k funding, grew to $175,000 at 0% interest for 18 months—with zero bank statements or tax returns. Used it to expand sober living facilities. (31:56)
• Big Picture:
  • From fixing $200 collections to engineering generational wealth through property and business ownership.

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Evan’s Vision & Let’s Get Funded’s Future

• Next 12 Months:
  • Doubling headcount, expanding international programs, and sticking to what works (“Just keep pressing the button”).
  • Growing a culture of servant leadership – hiring and uplifting overlooked talent worldwide.
• Advocacy for Culture:
  • Flew to the Philippines to meet VA teams in person—proof of belief in people-first culture. (“I call it sort of diet VA, you know, Colombia, Uruguay, India... Greatness can come from anywhere.” 38:15)

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Actionable Takeaways for Listeners

• Get Serious About Credit:
  • “People are trying to start businesses but building them on a poor foundation. Level up your credit, or your life will be harder.” (39:01)
• Don’t Wait for Permission:
  • “No one is on their deathbed thinking, ‘That guy embarrassed himself by trying a new venture.’ Go all in!.” (30:53)
• Free Community Resources:
  • “If you have time but not a dollar, let me earn your goodwill. Fix your credit for free, the information’s in there.” (41:29)
• Foundational Requirement:
  • “All you need is a 700 FICO, and you can get started.” (31:57)

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Notable Quotes and Timestamps

• “I’ve gotten $1.1 million of funding without ever providing a tax return or a bank statement and without ever paying a dollar of interest.” – Evan Rugen (02:46)
• “They don’t want you to learn financial literacy… that is the number one way to get out of your job.” – Evan Rugen (04:01)
• “All you need is a 700 FICO or above, and you can get access to $100,000 at 0%.” – Evan Rugen (10:40)
• “People doubt what they’re told, but they accept what they conclude themselves.” – Evan Rugen (14:31)
• “If you want to make a lot of money, do what everyone needs but no one wants to do.” – Evan Rugen (16:08)
• “Money is only an issue in the absence of value.” – Evan Rugen (18:24)
• “No one gives a shit about you. You have to go all in, attack your strengths… No one’s watching. Go all in. You have one life. Attack it.” – Evan Rugen (30:53)

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Important Timestamps

• Evan’s origin story: 01:41–03:18
• Credit repair and turning point: 03:52–05:34
• Three-step playbook for funding: 06:15–07:17
• Launching Let’s Get Funded & global reach: 07:17–09:19
• Top reasons people fail at funding: 09:29–10:32
• Who qualifies for zero-interest funding? 10:32–11:16
• Overcoming online cycles and skepticism: 12:29–14:55
• Building a free, high-value community: 15:12–15:55
• Choosing the right business after funding: 16:08–18:24
• No-following, no-camera social media growth: 21:09–22:06
• Impact story: Trump, MMA, and $10M in funding: 22:15–24:08
• Clients’ small wins and life-changing funding: 25:09–27:40
• Program, pricing and full-service options: 27:51–28:49
• Motivational closing and “why” behind the mission: 32:39–34:17, 39:01–40:27

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Where to Find Evan & Let’s Get Funded

• Website: letsgetfunded.com
• Instagram: @BoweryBoi
• PBS Documentary (coming soon)
• School Free Community: Just search “Let’s Get Funded Free Group”
• Google: “Evan Rugen”

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Final Motivation

“Level up your credit, level up your finances, and it will make whatever opportunity you go after just a lot easier. 90% of businesses fail because lack of access to capital. If that isn’t optimized, you’re swimming upstream.” – Evan Rugen (39:01)

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Summary by: [Podcast Summarizer AI]
For: Listeners eager to take action, access zero-interest funding, and rewrite what’s possible on the path to financial independence.

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Transcript

[Evan Rugen]

You say you'll never join the Navy, never climb Mount Fuji on a port visit, or break the sound barrier. Joining the Navy sounds crazy. Saying never actually is. Learn [e-mail] America's Navy forged by the.

[Paul Alex]

Sea welcome to the Level up podcast. I'm your host, Paul Alex. I went from being a cop to an eight figure entrepreneur that helps average people like you and me make money every single day.

[Evan Rugen]

Day.

[Paul Alex]

I created this podcast to help you get motivated and to crush your goals. Let's win together. Remember, I have your six. Get ready to level up right now. Hey guys, and welcome back to the Level podcast. This is Paul Alex and guys, here is the latest update with our ranking. We are currently top 19 in all podcasts and all categories, guys. Which is phenomenal. We wouldn't be able to get up there if it wasn't for you guys, the listeners and the viewers. Thank you again. With that being said, guys, we have another phenomenal guest here. As you guys know, we bring the best of the best in every single industry. He goes by the name of Evan, guys. Okay. He is one of the founders and owners of let's Get Funded, one of the fastest growing funding companies out there. So, guys, if you guys are looking to get funding for your business at 0% interest, oh my God. This is the man you're going to want to listen to, guys. So we're going to talk about a little bit about his background and more about what he can offer for you value based entrepreneur guys. Evan, welcome to the show.

[Evan Rugen]

Thanks for having me, brother.

[Paul Alex]

Good to be here, dude. I'm pumped to hear how you guys could get people opm, dude, other people's money. Because that's what it's about, dude. Leverage, right?

[Evan Rugen]

Yeah. Million percent.

[Paul Alex]

So tell us a little bit about yourself. Where do you come from before getting into business, brother?

[Evan Rugen]

Yeah, so I'm originally from upstate New York. Grew up with a town of one traffic light. Very, very rural. Right? So every single human, every single person I come across, everybody has something, something to offer, right? But yeah, originally from upstate New York, moved to New York City when I was 19 with $500 in a duffel bag. Started selling real estate. Started selling I think my first year like $19,000 at my peak. The New York Times called me the frat Whisperer. Did about $3 million in revenue. And I'm like, this is getting out of control. Little thing 2020 happened called Covid where I took, you know, took a little sabatical, came down to Florida, thought about my life. I'm like, all right, I want to get to the other side of the transaction. I don't want to be the broker anymore. I want to be the owner, operator, developer, right? So started doing that, bought my first deal in upstate New York, bought for $58,000, renovated it, put in $200,000, used business credit. The bank's like, all right, this house is now worth $450,000. I'm like, okay, this is pretty cool, right? Did that at scale. You know, real estate's interesting where money is everywhere but in your pocket. And like, all right, I need a way to get access to capital. Didn't know how to do it. Got a collection. My car. Report on this big guy flex on Instagram with all this, you know, millions of dollars of real estate. But I can't go to a bank and get $5,000. Like, I have to fix this. Yeah, right? So I fixed my own credit, built on my credit profile, got access to business funding. To this day, I've gotten $1.1 million of funding without ever providing a tax return or a bank statement and without ever paying a dollar of interest. Wow. And I'll put that record against anybody. I've never met anyone who's gotten more funny than myself. And now I just teach other people how to get access to that capital to grow or scale their business.

[Paul Alex]

Dude, I love that, because, number one, you're leading by example, dude. You actually did the thing. You did the social proof. You did the work, right? So you have the actual history to back what you do. I love that. So where exactly, okay, did you learn about money and credit? Did you learn it growing up? Did you learn it? Did you have a mentor? Dude, because I'm really big on self education, man. Right, so as you're going through your real estate venture, right, did you have, like, a friend? Did you have a spouse? Did you have a mentor that was like, yo, this is. This is the sauce.

[Evan Rugen]

Well, it was always a little bit in the background, right? I mean, my. When I To graduate high school, you make do a senior thesis. I don't know if you had that. My course was financial literacy. Should be a required course to graduate from high school.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[Evan Rugen]

But, you know, later on, I realized they don't want you to learn financial literacy because you go to high school to get a job. Right. That is the number one way to get out of your job. So that's why they don't teach it. But no, it was really just like, my back was against the wall. I was in Minnesota. I think it was the date was April 12, 2022. Again, I had, you know, six, $7 million real estate, bunch of rentals, whatever. And I look at my credit karma, my credit score is down 60 points. Like, what is going on? That's insane. My girl. And I was like, oh, my God, do you have a stroke? I'm like, yeah, this is my lifeblood. This is how I, you know, because I have a bunch of bridge loans, whatever. I need my credit score. Because for every 10 points, your credit score is lower. On average, you pay an extra $30,000 over the course of your loan. So, like, you know, you're swimming upstream.

[Paul Alex]

That's great information, man.

[Evan Rugen]

Right?

[Paul Alex]

I never knew that.

[Evan Rugen]

Right? Yeah. It's like, it's not even about the business money. It's like, yo, build out your credit score. Your life is more difficult if your credit score is not built out. But anyway, back against the wall. That's how I do best. Right. I need to refinance all these high leverage bridge loans and I have all these investors, I mean, flexing on Instagram. But then of the day, like I said, I can't go to a bank and, and get money. So I'm like, I need to learn how to fix my credit. Right. I never bought a course, never bought anything online. I think one day I'm like, yo, I'm going to lose my properties unless I figure out how to do this. So that's step one.

[Paul Alex]

What year was this?

[Evan Rugen]

This is 2022, so not that long ago.

[Paul Alex]

So 2022, right after Covid. I mean, everything's getting sort of back to normal, sort of relative.

[Evan Rugen]

I bought the properties during COVID you know, and I, the, the properties were on a two year bridge loan where you, you know, renovate, refinance, all that stuff. But I needed to refinance. Yeah. And all the loan, the loans were coming to maturity. I'm like, I need to get out of these loans. Yeah. But I couldn't because I had that bad credit score.

[Paul Alex]

Wow. Wow. Okay, so what was the next step that you did?

[Evan Rugen]

So, I mean, to, to be real, I messaged, probably I was in crisis mode. Back against the wall. I'm like, all right, I've been putting this off. I'm losing sleepover every single night. I'm walking around town with a 600 credit score. I think I, I typed in fix my credit on Instagram. Message 15 people. One guy got back to me. I never bought a course before. I was, I was always, oh, courses are scams. Paid that guy a thousand dollars, taught Me how to fix my credit. I think the next month I bought like 15 courses and my courses are aw, fix my own credit. I'm like, okay, this is, this is a real thing, right? My score went from. And the cool thing about credit is you have a scoreboard which is your credit score, right? I think it's a pre qualification to get into credit. You actually have to display your credit score at all times. I have an 828 credit score. Yeah, but it wasn't, it wasn't always like that. So step number one, fix my own credit, right? Step number two, I'm like, all right, this, this is cool. How can I, how can I build this out? So get high limit credit cards, add my rent to my credit, remove all my previous addresses, remove my inquiries. And then, you know, I'm like the, the hot girl at the bar. You know, I can walk into any bank and get anything I want, right? Because that's step three is after you fix your credit, you built out your file, then you can get access to business funding, right? So I fixed my credit, I saved my real estate portfolio, I got access to more business funding, right? To purchase more real estate, renovate more properties. And then a funny thing started happening where more people were, were reaching out to me for my real estate, for my funding and credit services because we actually fulfill, we actually get it done than my real estate services. And I'm like, you know what? It's a lot easier to fix a hyperlink than it is to fix a pipe, right? I don't know if you have any real estate exposure, but pipes are breaking, tenants aren't paying you, you're getting sued, all this crazy stuff. But you know what? Let's try this digital money.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[Evan Rugen]

And that was, that was about two years ago when we launched let's get funded.

[Paul Alex]

So around 2023, you have an epiphany, right? And you're like, dude, I'm in real estate. I love it, I'm good at it. But at the end of the day, I'm going to take the path of least resistance.

[Evan Rugen]

Right?

[Paul Alex]

Digital money.

[Evan Rugen]

Correct.

[Paul Alex]

And that's what everybody wants to learn, right? I feel like digital money is what I like to call nad, which is the new American dream.

[Evan Rugen]

Absolutely.

[Paul Alex]

It truly is. Right? So you go ahead and you start, let's get funding. Okay, tell me more about that. How does that help people?

[Evan Rugen]

Well, the first thing to backtrack a little bit, we were lvl Group and I was, you know, something I call, I like to call domain hunting, right? And I saw let's go, let's get funded. It was about to expire. About to expire. And I have this domain broker who, you know, just chubby guy with a ponytail. And I was using him to get this domain right. And I was able to purchase let's getfunded.com for one whole payment of 1999, less than $20.

[Paul Alex]

That is awesome.

[Evan Rugen]

Yeah. And since, since then, I've been offered well into the six figures to buy the domain. Never selling. Right. But I, you know, use that funnel to help people again, get access to money, fix their credit. Even if you're a Canadian citizen or you don't have a social, we're actually helping people build out their itin, build out their business credit profile internationally, still get access to funding, and it sort of speeds up their route to citizenship in America.

[Paul Alex]

So you're able to help everybody in the US in any state.

[Evan Rugen]

Correct.

[Paul Alex]

And then you're able to help Canadians.

[Evan Rugen]

And anyone in the world. All my Philippines, I have about 20 VAs in the Philippines. We're getting all of them itins, so they can get American Express, you know, chase all that stuff. They're gonna be flexing out there.

[Paul Alex]

Dude, that's amazing.

[Evan Rugen]

Yeah. Well, I was walking in the Philippines a couple weeks ago and I looked up and I'm like, oh, the biggest tower in downtown Manila is the Amex tower. Yeah, like, they must, there must be something going on here. Sorry. And I looked it up and I'm like, yeah, all these people can be funded. They just need to build out something called an itin, which is, I think, international tax identification number. You need to build that out. But you can still get 100, $150,000 without a social.

[Paul Alex]

Wow. Yeah, that's amazing, man. You know, a lot of people don't know what companies to trust, what companies to go with, what companies are going to fulfill. Like you said, we actually fulfill.

[Evan Rugen]

Yeah, that's important. Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

Right. So let me ask you this question. What is the most common issue that people that have bad credit, what are they facing based on what you guys see?

[Evan Rugen]

Well, it's not even bad credit. You know, there's so many guys that, that come to us with a 740, 750, you know, credit score, which is great. But the thing you have to understand about business credit is, look, you buy, you know, real estate, the collaterals of real estate. If you don't pay, they take that back. With a car, the collateral is the car. If they don't, you know, pay for the car, they Repossess the car.

[Paul Alex]

Right.

[Evan Rugen]

I feel like that happens a lot in Miami with these Lambos.

[Paul Alex]

Absolutely, it does.

[Evan Rugen]

But with business credit, there's nothing they can take back. They can't take you back. So it's not only about fixing the credit. It's making sure you're verifiable. Make sure you don't. When the bank looks you up, they're like, okay, this is a real human being. This is an identity theft, right? So it's a small things. Removing all previous addresses off your file, right? Removing all inquiries off your file, making sure you have a Tier 1 bank on your credit, like a Chase, like a Bank of America. Because at the end of the day, you know, that small difference, right, can be the difference of you getting approved for $75,000 at 0% or denied.

[Paul Alex]

That's powerful, man. And then what qualifications do people need to get? Let's say funded or money at 0% interest. How does that work?

[Evan Rugen]

It's completely predicated on your personal credit score. You don't need to build out your business credit. You don't need to have a business that's. That's making revenue, yet it's completely predicated on your personal credit score. All you need is a 700 FICO or above, and you can get access to $100,000 at 0%. I mean, myself personally, I've gotten $1.1 million and never paid a dollar of interest. But I don't set the expectations that high. But that's who they're learning from and working with.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah, no, absolutely, man. You're definitely leading by example. I mean, you're showing your social proof. You're telling people, hey, I was able to get $1.1 million in funding with zero interest, which is phenomenal.

[Evan Rugen]

Never paid a dollar of interest.

[Paul Alex]

It's phenomenal.

[Evan Rugen]

Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

You know, and I'm pretty sure you're promoting that on social media saying, like, hey, guys, I want somebody. I want to challenge every. You should, dude. Yeah, I'll be awesome. Yeah. So let's say if someone has a job and no business, right, can they still get funded?

[Evan Rugen]

Yes.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[Evan Rugen]

I mean, the first step is forming your llc, right? And again, obviously, that's very easy. A lot of people, that's where they even mess up. They're all right, forming LLC and it's, you know, KJ's Construction or Rick's Dispensary. Banks don't want to lend money to a high risk industry, which is, you know, real estate dispensary. They love, you know, consulting you know, technical consulting, because it doesn't cost money to talk to somebody. Right. It's a very high margin business. So you can't really help yourself with it, with the name of your llc, but you can only, you know, hurt yourself with it. So there's a lot of very. There's about 75 different things that you can do or say that can lead to an automatic decline.

[Paul Alex]

No, absolutely, man. And my audience, so, you know, yeah, man. Right now this is very important. Why? Because we talk to so many people, dude. We get about 100,000 downloads a day on the podcast. Right? But a lot of people, they just. They're not believers, dude.

[Evan Rugen]

Right.

[Paul Alex]

They're not believers. Did you always believe in, like you said, what stopped you from getting a course in the very beginning? Remember in the very beginning, you were like, dude, I thought courses were scams.

[Evan Rugen]

Right.

[Paul Alex]

Why was that?

[Evan Rugen]

I mean, just popular conviction I've seen online, you know, just. Just people talking about them. And. And then I realized, you know, I think, you know, college Enrollment is down 25. Where are those people going? They're getting information from somewhere.

[Paul Alex]

Correct.

[Evan Rugen]

Why not getting information from someone who has that specific information? And to be completely real, ball is that there are a lot of scammers out there.

[Paul Alex]

There is.

[Evan Rugen]

There's a, you know, and my background, a little bit. My dad's a chiropractor. My uncle's a chiropractor. Actually, I have two uncles that are chiropractors. My grandfather, chiropractor. I'll be real, like, I'd say 2, 3 out of 10. Chiropractors are maybe even higher. Are just quacks. They're weirdos. Right? So some people hear about chiropractic doesn't work for me. Blah, blah, blah. I have a guy in your office right now. Yeah, right. He had an injury 10, 15 years ago, and no one's ever been able to fix it. He had the suction cups in the back. All this different stuff. I'm like, my dad's never made six figures. And I asked him, you know, why? He's like, well, I fixed their problem. There's not money in real chiropractic. Right? Like, jeff, please go up there. Right? This is a month ago. And he came back and he's like, that. Your dad is a master of his craft. He feels better. He's helped, you know, and it's the same thing with financial literacy and courses. It's like, it's very much in my power. I'm able to help these people. So I have no problem doing it.

[Paul Alex]

So. So now what do you tell people that tell you, hey, man, I'm not sure of doing business with you. I'm not sure about these other people that are selling courses or programs or services. Now that you're on the other end of the table, dude, how do you handle this type of object?

[Evan Rugen]

And that's a completely real objection. I'd say, join my 20,000 person free community, get free value as soon as you're onboarded. We do absolutely for free. We remove all your inquiries on one bureau. So you see real results. You get the nice text message, hey, blah, blah, blah. We just removed all your hard inquiries of these bureaus. Then we have the scoreboard, which is credit, which is your credit report. They see your credit score go up and they're like, okay, this is real. Because people doubt what they're told, but they accept what they conclude themselves. Yes. So they join the free community. They're okay, this is real. Right. Okay, I can get access to capital. Where do I, you know, invest that money? Maybe a venture, like cash swipe, you know, something like that. So I'd say for those people, join my free community, get some free value.

[Paul Alex]

I love that, man. Yeah, you're providing value. You're providing them with a service, Right?

[Evan Rugen]

And we lose money on that service.

[Paul Alex]

I was gonna say because you have to hire employees, right? You have to hire somebody to process that. Right? So that's amazing, man. And how long have you had that community for?

[Evan Rugen]

About a year and a half.

[Paul Alex]

That's phenomenal.

[Evan Rugen]

We're top 10 in school all time, dude.

[Paul Alex]

20,000 members in a year and a half. That's amazing, right? Congratulations, my friend. I love. I love that, dude.

[Evan Rugen]

That.

[Paul Alex]

That means you are a servant leader, dude. You are actually providing value for that many people to come to your community, brother.

[Evan Rugen]

Yeah. I mean, what is the quote? A leader is a distributor of hope, right? And they have to see those results. And when they see the results, like, okay, wow, this is a real thing. We've had, you know, so many people where we've changed their lives, whether it's getting funding to finish even my own employees. I had this one guy, he was stuck on a fix and flip. He was $100,000 short. He just didn't know where to go. We got him the 150. He finished the renovation, refinanced. He's just a better life, like, very much my power, I can help these people with.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah, no, absolutely, man. And also of helping people with their credit repair, getting funding. Do you offer Any type of, like, coaching, like advice that you can tell and direct people to, to how to properly use the funds.

[Evan Rugen]

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, like I said to you earlier, if you want to make a lot of money, do what everyone needs, but no one wants to do.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[Evan Rugen]

So commonly people come to me, it's an epidemic right now. I want to buy an Airbnb. I want to buy a Laundromat. Sure, those are great vehicles. You make money, anything. But when there's extreme competition in something, all the revenue gets competed away. So I'm like, hey, man, go into ChatGPT, type in that quote, what are 10 businesses that no one wants to do but everyone needs? You know, waste management, you know, Johnny Robinson, cleaning, cleaning services. Right. Your venture, cash swipe. All these things that you don't even think about. Right. Don't go for the low hanging fruit of, you know, of Airbnb. Everyone's doing it. Right. Airbnb in particular, it's a great product, don't get me wrong. Great for tax benefits. But you have so much competition. It's a smart and sexy business. Guess what? You have smart and sexy competition. Right. I'd rather compete with a garbage man than I would with a, you know, you know, interior designer.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah, no, absolutely, man. And that, that makes a lot of sense. So be. Besides the, the communities or, I'm sorry, the. The vehicles that you stated.

[Evan Rugen]

Right.

[Paul Alex]

Okay. If you were on the other end of the table and you just got funded.

[Evan Rugen]

Right.

[Paul Alex]

What would be the top three businesses you would do right now?

[Evan Rugen]

Well, I mean, to me, if you have the personality for. I'd say, I don't know about top three, but, you know, like.

[Paul Alex]

Or the number one. Let's go with number one.

[Evan Rugen]

Number one is building a community and online community. Again. If you have the, if you're a bland person and you don't want to talk to anyone, maybe don't start a community. But you want to look for things where you're early. You remember Instagram years ago or Snapchat or TikTok? It's easiest to grow when you're early on a platform. Think about all these platforms that just came out where you're monetizing your followers. I think the top three are school WAP fan bases. Correct. All these platforms are coming out to monetize your audience. I started this year at I think fifteen hundred dollars recurring every. Every single month. I'm like, oh, fifteen hundred dollars pays for half my rent, you know, now we're at 50,000.

[Paul Alex]

I love that.

[Evan Rugen]

You can't I mean, that's in six months. The fact that you can go from zero to 50,000 dol. Recurring revenue. Right. Think about how much money in real estate you need to buy to get $50,000 in recurring revenue.

[Paul Alex]

A whole lot, brother.

[Evan Rugen]

Yeah. And because I respect you, I'll tell you, yeah. We're halfway through the year. By the end of the year, we'll be at a hundred thousand dollars recurring.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[Evan Rugen]

When I see you at the holiday party, like, hey, man, remember, you know, I. I made a challenge for myself.

[Paul Alex]

I'm a believer. I'm a believer, dude.

[Evan Rugen]

Because value is. Is. Or, sorry, Money is only an issue in the absence of value, as you've seen with your offer. Yeah, right.

[Paul Alex]

100%, man. And when you're providing that much value, when you have the proof and it works over and over again. Oh, yeah, dude. It's no brainer.

[Evan Rugen]

Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

You know, it just. It just makes sense.

[Evan Rugen]

Copy and paste.

[Paul Alex]

So you also help people start online communities, right? Okay, how does that work? What is the process? Let's say if I was a client, you just funded me, dude. I got, you know, $50,000 to invest into an online business, because like I said, it's the new American dream, dude. People want to build a digital product, right? What would be the steps that I would go through with working with your team?

[Evan Rugen]

I mean, really, exactly what we just described, but in not so many words, you know, understand, you know, what your skill set is. You know, what your lead magnet is. How are you going to, you know, again, you give away the pretzels so people will buy the water. You know, what is that? Lead magnet. Get people through the door so they can see, okay, this is a real thing, right? And then what is your upsell? What is your downsell? What are your channels? You know, what is your fulfillment look like? Right? Very simply, any info, any online product. And, you know, this is advertising. Setting, closing, fulfillment. Right? Advertising, letting people know you exist. Right? Setting, getting them conditioned, getting them ready to buy, like through a lead magnet. Closing, you know, getting them over the finish line. Fulfillment. Actually getting what they paid for. If you look at, like a restaurant, for example, let's take Red Lobster, by the way, that CEO is doing a great job.

[Paul Alex]

Yes, he is.

[Evan Rugen]

He gets on. Because I know that one in four lobsters right now is purchased by Red Lobster, right? So that's what Advertising, marketing, letting people know that you exist. Setting, getting you ready. Maybe the reviews online of Red Lobster, what it looks like outside when you walk in. Hey, do you want to be Inside or outside? If it's a really nice restaurant, like the place you got married. Oh, it's good to see you again, Mr. Paul. You know, you're set. You know, the clothes is the waiter. Hey, upsell, upsell, upsell. Do you want a martini? Do you want a steak? Right? But a lot of issue that a lot of people fall into is they have this great advertising setting closing, and there's one guy in the back cooking all the food, you know, doing all the fulfillment, right? One, like, little dude. You need, like a whole staff, right, to take care of that fulfillment. And you can only bring your offer as far as your weakest link, right?

[Paul Alex]

Absolutely.

[Evan Rugen]

One chef in the back and you have a prep cook, and you don't have food being distributed in. You're not going to make any money.

[Paul Alex]

No, Right? No. You're going to hit the roof, dude, and you're going to be, like, capped. Yeah, you're going to be capped. And you're not going to be able.

[Evan Rugen]

To grow by your week is like. No.

[Paul Alex]

And that makes perfect sense. I mean, client acquisition, sales, and fulfillment is everything. Those are the three main needle movers, I always say. Dude, so you're spot on, bro. So let me ask you this, and I get asked this all the time because limiting beliefs, right? Online offers. Oh, man, I don't know if I could do that. I'll try being on camera, but what if I don't even have a following, man? Can I still do it?

[Evan Rugen]

Yes. So I. My personal Instagram. And I'll show you, so it's verified. Gets about right now, I think over the last 30 days, we've gotten 8 million views, right?

[Paul Alex]

Wow.

[Evan Rugen]

You're not at the camera. That's real, right? But you might say, oh, Evan, because you're on this podcast you're talking about, but I made another Instagram that my face is not on one time, right? Completely with repurposed content, faceless content. You can, you can. You can tell them, right?

[Paul Alex]

Wow. 3.7 million views, guys, in the last 30 days, right?

[Evan Rugen]

So with. With, you know, marketing, you have to go very, very broad, like if you want to sell wedding rings, right? Talk about weddings. So that content, you know, is all about money, finance, you know, cool stuff to get people into the funnel, to get people familia, you know, broadly what you're doing, right? And then obviously I have the lead magnet in the, in the, in the bio. So if you're someone who doesn't want to talk on camera, guess What? We've gotten 4 million views. Over the last 30 days, with content that's completely rebranded, ran by someone in the Philippines for $6 an hour.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah, yeah. So this is your strategy to grow your following, and then you end up converting those people that go through the pipeline?

[Evan Rugen]

Well, it's. Here's another story for you. You'll. You'll appreciate this. And I don't know if you know this about me, but a friend of mine called me in November. He's like, yo, John, do you follow mma?

[Paul Alex]

Yeah, I do. I was just at the Max Holloway fight in New Orleans.

[Evan Rugen]

Okay, cool. So Jon Jones, he was the headliner, blah, blah, blah. And Trump had just gotten elected, right? It was after he got elected, but before he went to the White House, he's like, hey, man, you got to buy these tickets. I'm not an MMA guy, right? I'm built like a piece of paper, so I wouldn't compete very well. But he's like, yo, you got to buy these tickets. Front row. They're right behind Trump, okay? He's like, I think the perceived media value of this is at least $250,000. And this guy, he always has this intel. Like, that's. That sounds crazy, but he always has this intel and whatever. Shout out, Gabe. Whenever Gabe tells me to do something, I do it. So I bought the ticket. I never did MMA put down the 5k just to be behind Trump because it's a historic event, right? And so he calls me, like, three hours later. He's like, yo, mayday, mayday. Like, Trump, Secret Service switched him. He's on the other side of the mma. You're across from him. So I'm playing I tag, you know, with Trump all. All day across the. Across the Baron, and I'm like, all right, what can I do? So I bought an American flag before going in, because I know they always show the guy waving the American flag. And I snuck it in, got past Secret Service, right? Got in the mma, and Trump comes out. I pull out the flag, I start waving it, right? They show Trump, they show Ellen, they show Joe Rogan. I'm the next guy on camera waving the American flag. I have, like, 300 texts. The clip got over 100 million organic views. And, yeah, yeah, I can show it to you later. But just, like, stuff like that, right? Where it just got brought so many more people that they were aware of me. I got probably 5,000 followers just on wearing my logo right here. And they could. They could see it a little bit on the. On the camera frame. You know, I'd say The perceived value of that. A lot of those people started with me in November. They just showed my page from the Trump clip. I probably funded that group of constituent of people. Probably $10 million.

[Paul Alex]

Wow. Yeah, that's amazing, man. And that's really think outside the box box.

[Evan Rugen]

Right?

[Paul Alex]

That is a creative marketing right there.

[Evan Rugen]

Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

So let's talk about some wins. Okay. What is one small win? And I always, just to give you reference, man, last year I was part of Russell Brunson's inner circle. So it's like 20 marketers. There were Russell Brunson and Boise, Idaho, right in the snow. I'm freezing my butt off in there, dude. You know, enjoying some Buffalo wild wings. And I'm listening to Russell speak. And for you guys that are listening right now, because we do have a lot of nine to fivers that are in digital marketing. Russell Brunson owns ClickFunnels. ClickFunnels is a household name. He is an OG when it comes to digital marketing. Russell talks about small wins and he's just like, guys, if your client isn't getting a small win within the first 30 days, your conversion rate just drops. So I'm a big believer in small wins.

[Evan Rugen]

Right.

[Paul Alex]

You got to help people that have limiting beliefs win in life, dude. That's how you grow a massive organization. So what is one small win a client of yours had that really made you proud?

[Evan Rugen]

Yeah, I mean a small win. I mean I'm going to pull up my phone and show you every single day because it's, it's all about receipts, right. So if you have more than. And I'll show you. Look at, that's a live Slack notification. If you have more than three hard credit inquiries in your credit report, you're seen as a high risk lender. Right. We have small wins every single day. Look at that guy deleted four inquiries. I got it. Let's see all of the.

[Paul Alex]

I love that, man.

[Evan Rugen]

Yeah, here's another one. Five, five, five inquiries delete. So every single day that's, that's the smallest win. But again that's the difference. There's another two Inquiries deleted. There's another one. Inquiries deleted. So that's the difference of someone getting a mortgage rate of 7% or 6 and a half percent. That 10, 20 point swing, which is the difference of $30,000 over the course of your loan. So in terms of small wins, I mean we truly have so many. In terms of big wins. Again, what people don't understand about credit repair is you are a consumer in America when it, when it comes with your credit. Right. So you have all the rights in the world. A lot of people, I don't know if you've seen this, a lot of people have gotten late payments, collections on their student loans that just, you know, happened because of something in the administration. People are freaking out to close in a house. The credit scores dropped 100 points. Well, and here's just an example. Right?

[Paul Alex]

Right.

[Evan Rugen]

If you live in an area where there's a natural disaster, I'm not talking Hurricane Katrina, I'm talking a 15 mile gust of wind sometimes can be classified as a natural disaster. You can cite that, put it on your credit report and say, hey, I was affected by this federal event. It's a federally backed loan. You cite that, you state that with the cfpb, the bbb, the ftc, Right. Those student loans would be wiped off your credit report. So you not only wipe the debt, you wipe the negative remarks. Their score goes back 100 points. They can close in their house. Everyone, everyone is happy.

[Paul Alex]

So you're literally changing lives. You're actually building generational wealth when you look at it, man. Because, you know, Getting somebody from 600 to 7 is night and day.

[Evan Rugen]

Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

You know, it's, it's, it's whether they can go ahead and rent that apartment they need to for their family or whether they can afford that mortgage to live in that neighborhood they've always dreamed of. Right.

[Evan Rugen]

Or very simply, you know, someone went to buy a car and they got six credit inquiries and it dropped their score 20 points. And because of that, they can't qualify for a first time home buyer.

[Paul Alex]

And that happens all the time.

[Evan Rugen]

All the time.

[Paul Alex]

And they tell you not to take out a car when you're taking out a mortgage.

[Evan Rugen]

It's a, it's a, literally my team, it's a, it's a, they will have results in 24 hours.

[Paul Alex]

Wow.

[Evan Rugen]

Right? And just a simple lack of information.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah, yeah.

[Evan Rugen]

That's what a lot of this, you know, that's what info is. You're selling information.

[Paul Alex]

And, and then with your offer, is it more like a done with them or is it more like a done for you?

[Evan Rugen]

We, we offer any single person that comes into my funnel, you know, Russell Brunson, there's a way they can, they can go, I'll run from, from the lowest tier all the way to the top. So if someone comes in, they have no conviction, they have no idea who I am. They came from a Facebook ad. We have free onboarding every single day where you can get one bureau removed. Off your inquiries. If you want to take the next step, you're like, hey, I want to do the funding myself. Right? You can join our paid community. It's $97 a month. I probably break even on that. We do all the credit repair for you, we remove all your inquiries for you, and then I give you every single play I've used to get $1.1 million of funding.

[Paul Alex]

Wow.

[Evan Rugen]

Right? Every single play. The data points, who I spoke to, who to call, what website browser to use if you want to do it yourself. The next level above that, if you want to work with my team, we will do the funding for you. Right. We will introduce you to our relationship managers who we know at these banks. Right. And give you the. The actual sauce. If you want to go above that. Right. We can teach you how to launch your own funding company.

[Paul Alex]

Right, Nice. So you can actually teach someone how to start their own funding company.

[Evan Rugen]

Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

Do they need experience? No, no.

[Evan Rugen]

They. They need an Internet connection.

[Paul Alex]

I love that. Emilio, start another business, brother.

[Evan Rugen]

Well, there's so many, there's so many, so many different things you can do within credit, right? I'll list a few. You could have a company that just removes inquiries. You could have a company that just builds out credit profiles for people internationally. By the way, that's a huge blue ocean market that, that only I'm the only person. I've seen us doing it, you know, building out credit profiles like I said, for Canadians, people in Mexico, people in the Philippines. Right. You could. There's offers that are strategically that help people navigate how to get the best credit card points possible for flying. And that's what we have in our community. We show up every single day. Every Monday, we've. We have a call on how to get the best flights possible. I have a guy, my guy Kyle. Shout out Kyle. He just flew back from Maldives. $8,000 flight he got for free.

[Paul Alex]

Wow.

[Evan Rugen]

He teaches how to do all that stuff. Every Tuesday, we have a call how to source virtual assistants for your business for $5 an hour. We have a guy running that call who has over, who's placed over a thousand virtual assistants. Shout out Franco in the United States offers. And again, these people, you know, very, very high level people, like over here, I'd be paying like a quarter million, but you know, you can get them for 10, 11, $12 an hour. Every Wednesday I have a call, for example, with a lender last night that ran over all the different SBA options, anywhere from $100,000 to $5 million. Every Thursday, we Have a credit repair call going through all the different forms, what's going on with your file. And then every Friday, we have a call that shows you how to level up and blow up your Instagram. Right. Without ever showing your face.

[Paul Alex]

And that's huge, right? When you think about it.

[Evan Rugen]

Yeah. So we know it's the funding, but we're also giving them all the tools to actually blow up their own business.

[Paul Alex]

Wow.

[Evan Rugen]

Wow.

[Paul Alex]

That. That's amazing, man.

[Evan Rugen]

Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

So since this is the level up, we help people here that basically are fighting themselves, man. And what I'm talking about, it's. It sounds cliche, but it's you versus, you know, 100. Right. You ever heard that?

[Evan Rugen]

Yeah, it's true.

[Paul Alex]

So what advice would you give someone who's scared to start?

[Evan Rugen]

No one gives a about you. No. No one cares about you. You have to go all in, attack your strengths, and at the end of the day, no one's watching. No one is on their deathbed. Think, oh, wow, that guy embarrassed himself by trying the new venture. Didn't work out. No one's paying attention. Yeah, go all in. You have one life. Attack it.

[Paul Alex]

No, absolutely, man. Do you have a client success story you can share where they were scared to start and then you were able to help them overcome beliefs and start with you?

[Evan Rugen]

Yeah, we. I mean, there's. There's so. There's so many. We have a. We have a guy, for example, who had gone through a funding company, didn't get results. You know, essentially what many of my employees have said after we've hired them is like, oh, wow, you guys actually have strategy. You go to this bank and do that. A lot of people are just shotgunning credit card applications like, no, we have to remove all your inquiries. You have to remove your address. He was very, very reluctant to start because he had gone. I think he gotten $5,000 in total. We brought him to our relationship managers, you know, right. Spot apply with this relationship manager, apply here, blah, blah, blah. Because it is a strategy. Right. I think he got $175,000 at 0% for 18 months.

[Paul Alex]

Dude, that's fire.

[Evan Rugen]

18 months without producing a tax return or a bank statement. That's a biggest thing, like, to qualify for this. Truly, guys, don't overcomplicate it. All you need is a 700 score, right? That's it. You know, we don't. We're not talking about business plans or anything of that yet. Just a 700 FICO. But yeah, we got him $175,000. He's based in New Orleans and he did it to scale his. He has sober living facilities and he's scaling and I actually like that, like that.

[Paul Alex]

That's, that's, that's a great cause. Yeah, it helps a lot of people, right?

[Evan Rugen]

Yep.

[Paul Alex]

I love that, man. So let me ask you, let's get more into self development, man. What is your. Why, why do you do this? Why do you want to continue to grow?

[Evan Rugen]

I, you know, I know I'm a white male in America and my life is probably pretty easy to most and I would agree with them, but I definitely grew up. I mean my nickname on soccer was run. Like I was the runt of the living. Run, right? Yeah. Run. Yeah. So it was like very, very commonly overlooked. And you know, I just like to give people an opportunity, you know, and, and to, to a fault. You know, many people have screwed me over and I've given many of the, the top performers on my, on my team the same opportunities other people and they, they couldn't step up or couldn't do it. But I love, you know, just giving, giving people a chance that are often overlooked or marginalized and giving them a chance like, hey man, like this is your shot, you know, Take it. Whether it's they're overlooked because they, they look funny or they talk different or they didn't go to this college or they know the right people, just giving them an opportunity to succeed.

[Paul Alex]

And that's what fulfills you?

[Evan Rugen]

Yeah, yeah. Like when I can have a single mom come to me and she's on the balls of her ass just trying to stay afloat and I'm able to fix her credit and I'm able to put her into a vehicle where she's launching a. For example, we had a client launch a remote cleaning business through Johnny Robinson and she came to us as a credit repair client. We got her the funding. She's like, what do I do with the 50,000? She's like, oh, I'm thinking about doing this. I'm like, no, no, no, don't do that. Go over here and do this. And she actually followed the directions. Now she, you know, she, she didn't, she doesn't want to become a CEO. She just, let's make like 10 to $15,000 a month to support her babies. And she's able to do that. Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

I mean, simple concept. Not everybody wants to be a multimillionaire. Not everyone wants to run a massive organization. But what I see what's so powerful about let's get funded is you guys help everyday People with obtaining their goals, dude.

[Evan Rugen]

Correct.

[Paul Alex]

Because credit is big in America. Yeah, getting funding is big in America and some people just don't know who to go to, bro.

[Evan Rugen]

So many people are just locked out unfortunately, you know. You know, again, just based on a lot of people come to us, they can't even open a bank account.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah, it's true.

[Evan Rugen]

Check systems, they're in early warnings, we can help with that as well. But you know, primarily what we do is, is the funding aspect. But you know, again we can get the people from the credit repair building up their file, but primarily our bread and butter is getting them the absolute best available capital to grow or start their business. Not, not talking about MCAs or that gross stuff because that doesn't help anyone in my opinion, you know, but truly 0% or very low interest capital for people looking to start or grow. You know, we have plenty of, you know, seven, eight figure entrepreneurs that got funding to buy the next location or hire more staff. Right?

[Paul Alex]

That. No, that's awesome man. So let's talk about the future. Right? What do you see? Let's get funded. Where is it headed to? Are you guys working on any new solutions, any new services? Where do you want? Let's get funded to be here in the Next, let's say 12 months.

[Evan Rugen]

Yeah, I think if, when we're, when we're chatting in 12 months, I think we go from you know, our 35 employees now to you know, at least double that. And you know, maybe you feel this in your own business. It's really just doing more of what's working. You know, it's like Trump and it's Diet Coke button or just keep pressing the button. If it's hitting right, why not? Why stop? Everyone is, is very happy people getting fulfilled. You know, let's do our international credit program bigger. Let's do our, our credit card points product bigger. Let's do our funding solutions larger. Let's find out more vehicles like cash swipe to put them into where they can, you know, multiply those, those, those dollars. Right. Not, not a financial guarantee by the way. But you know, results may vary but yeah, just doing it bigger. And not only the people we help, man, but our, our staff, you know, it's giving them more opportunities to succeed. We've had, you know, we have several people on our company that were former, you know, were maybe incarcerated or they're coming from a not great scenario or they're an Uber driver and they were just overlooked by society and they just needed a chance to succeed. Yeah, I Have just as many people that I gave those opportunities that, you know, screwed me over. I'm like, all right, you know, see in church, have fun. You're not working here anymore.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[Evan Rugen]

But, you know, not only enriching our clients, but just finding more people for our tribe and, you know, growing our own company.

[Paul Alex]

How much do you believe in culture? Do you believe culture helps build a great organization?

[Evan Rugen]

Yeah, absolutely. And especially when you're just trying to get it off the ground, that's the most difficult. You know, once you have your, your, your culture setters, you know, your managers. Right. It sort of happens, you know, organically and it's very easy to know, okay, we're at X amount of dollars per month. How do we get to, you know, the next level? It's like, we bring on this tier, but it's really, you know, high level management that's sort of setting the culture. It's not like, oh, we're going to throw you a pizza party once a quarter. That doesn't work. Right. It's like bringing them out, hanging out. You know, I went to the Philippines and hung out with, you know, a lot of our contractors and look, we have 35 employees. I'm not an ego driven guy. A lot, like probably 20 of them are based in the Philippines and they're like, oh my God, I can't believe you're hanging out with us, dude.

[Paul Alex]

It's huge. I never hear of a business owner from the US going to the Philippines to hang out with a virtual.

[Evan Rugen]

Why not? They're awesome. And I feel even bad saying virtual assistant because they're human beings and they're, they are, they're so cool and so talented.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[Evan Rugen]

And you know, like again, Franco leading our, you know, all of our hiring, or Gene, you know, leading all of our credit repair or our cto, you know, our payroll, you know, all that processing. Right. It's, it's handled virtually.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[Evan Rugen]

Not just the Philippines, you know, we've, I call it sort of diet va, you know, Colombia, you know, Uruguay, we have a few in India. So that's the beauty of the Internet. And a lot of these guys were just turned online with Elon's Starlink. So a lot of these people have access to Internet now. It's a whole new wave of contractors. We just hired a, I just hired a 16 year old over a MBA graduate level guy because frankly, it wasn't very impressive. We brought in a 16 year old from the UK to, to sort of be a setter on our company. So greatness can Come from anywhere. Yeah. It doesn't matter where you are in the world, right?

[Paul Alex]

No. And you need a servant leader like yourself, dude, to believe in those type of people and to help them grow, dude.

[Evan Rugen]

Right.

[Paul Alex]

It's very important.

[Evan Rugen]

Give them the tools to where they can go away, they can leave and do another company, but give them the culture to where they're going to want to stay at your company.

[Paul Alex]

I love that, dude. Give them the culture where they want to stay in your company. That's awesome, dude. So, Evan, what words of motivation do you want to give to the 3 million listeners that are going to listen to this podcast when it comes out? Dude, how can they level up in their life in 2025?

[Evan Rugen]

That's a extremely broad statement. But I'll tell you, you know, my. My personal story, you know, I've gotten over a million dollars of funding without ever paying for. Without ever paying a dollar of interest. I haven't paid for a flight since 2021, 2022. And on the. On the money I do have, I have the absolute best rates available on my lines of credit and business credit cards. So I would just say get your finances in order, right? People are trying to start a business, but, you know, they're building their business on, you know, a poor foundation because they haven't optimized their credit. They haven't fixed, you know, that Best Buy collection that they got when they were 20 years old, right? So level up your credit, you know. You know, if that isn't optimized, you're swimming upstream. Your life is going to be more difficult. And I'm not even saying more difficult. I'm like, you know, I remember tossing and turning in bed like, oh, my God, that $200 collection. Or counting down the days, Paul, on the amount of bad inquiries on my credit, I'm like, okay, it comes off after two years. Count it, okay? Only 100 more days. All that stuff can be removed. So level of your finances, you know, and it will make whatever opportunity you're going to go after just a lot easier, right? 90% of business fail because lack of access to capital, right?

[Paul Alex]

Absolutely.

[Evan Rugen]

When you have that million dollars like I do behind me, where, hey, business isn't always going to be up and to the right. Or if you have a down month, what if your best employee quits? What if something changes with the offer, right? You're not, you know, you know, you're not bankrupt. You're like, okay, I'm going to rely on that line of credit, right? And I'm gonna Hit it harder next month.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah, yeah. More options, more resources to make it happen, guys.

[Evan Rugen]

Absolutely.

[Paul Alex]

So Evan, where can they find you?

[Evan Rugen]

They can find [e-mail] you can find me on my Instagram. Bowery Boi Bowery Boy representation, New York City. We have a documentary coming out on PBS on Monday. You can see me there. I don't know if they can really reach out to me, but we also have a free community hosted on school that's let's get funded free group. We also have an inner circle. I would say if you can't find me online, I can't help you. We are, we are everywhere and we have people answering all different vehicles, emails, all that stuff.

[Paul Alex]

I love that, guys. And there you guys go. Evan from let's Get Funded guys. If you guys need help with credit repair funding, zero interest, you don't know what to do. You need the experts to help you get funded at any stage of the game, guys. Evan and his crew are right there to help you guys. He's a servant leader. He's here to make it happen and make sure to take advantage of his free community, guys. Over 20,000 members and he's able to actually provide some free resources in that community.

[Evan Rugen]

A lot of free resources. If, if someone goes on there, there are resources that show you exactly how to fix your credit for free if you have time, but you don't have a single dollar. I fortunately did very well financially in previous careers to where we can give away these resources for free. Let me earn your goodwill. Fix your credit for free. All the information's in there, right? If you want to, if you want to build out your credit, right. All that information is in there. But again, if you're going to get funding, like you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube, sure, you can go directly. We had a guy a couple weeks ago, I know I could have got him $100,000 from TD Bank. I know he had a great business. Like he's wholesale imports, exports, whatever. He came, came, we talked. He's like, no, whatever. Two months later he's like, I'm ready for funding. I look at his credit report, I see that inquiry from TD bank and I'm like, dude, did you go directly? He's like, yeah, they gave me a $2,000 limit. I'm like, I can't retroactively, like go back and change what you say. So again, I would say, yeah, that's a great next step. Join our, join our free community. Get some free value.

[Paul Alex]

And Evan, where can they find you?

[Evan Rugen]

They can find me on my personal Instagram Bowery Boi. They can find me on our website. Let's get to our free community hosted on school. Just type in let's get funded on Google. Type in my name on Google. Evan Rugen. I would say if you can't find me, you're doing something wrong. We are everywhere.

[Paul Alex]

And there you guys have it. Make sure to take care of yourself. Make sure to actually take advantage of that free community. Guys, over 20,000 members. You're going to get all the resources, all the information for free. I mean, dude, wealth of knowledge. He knows what he's doing. He's been able to get funding for 1.1 million. Dude, that's the highest I've ever heard ever, bro. Yeah, so.

[Evan Rugen]

And I have an 827 credit score.

[Paul Alex]

Boom, there you guys have it. So if you guys want to learn from the best of best, you got Evan right here. Founder of let's get funded. Guys, make sure to tune in on Spotify, Apple and YouTube. Guys, make sure to leave a five star review on Spotify and make sure to share this with a family friend, someone you care about. Guys, help them get some free funding. OPM guys, zero interest. All right, guys and I will catch you on the next one. Thanks for listening up to the Level up podcast. If you enjoyed today's episode, make sure to share with a family friend and everyone you know who's ready to level up. Leave a five star review on Spotify, Apple podcasts and wherever you tune in. It really helps spreading the word. And don't forget to check out officialpaulalex.com for more episodes and resources to kickstart your journey. Let's level up together.

[Evan Rugen]

You say you'll never join the Navy, that you never track storms brewing in the Atlantic and skydiving could never be part of your commute. You'd never climb Mount Fuji on a port visit or fly so fast you.

[Paul Alex]

Break the sound barrier.

[Evan Rugen]

Joining the Navy sounds crazy. Saying never actually is. Start your [e-mail], america's Navy forged by the sea.