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The School of Greatness
5 Money Beliefs To Rewire Your Mind For Wealth
01:04:53
This powerful episode features financial experts Jaspreet Singh, Codie Sanchez, and Glennda Baker sharing their journeys from struggle to abundance, offering practical strategies for transforming limiting money beliefs, investing in "boring businesses," and building generational wealth through real estate to make financial freedom accessible for everyone.
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- [00:00]
Lewis Howes
I have a brand new book called Make Money Easy and if you're looking to create more financial freedom in your life, you want abundance in your life and you want to stop making money hard in your life. But you want to make it easier, you want to make it flow, you want to feel abundant. Then make sure to go to make moneyeasybook.com right now and get yourself a copy. I really think this is going to help you transform your relationship with money this moment. Moving forward, we have some big guests and content coming up. Make sure you're following and stay tuned to this episode on the School of Greatness. Fuel your greatness with Wonderful Pistachios no Shells Wonderful pistachios is a great source of protein with zero guilt. Each 1 ounce serving has 6 grams of protein, giving you over 10% of your daily value. Pistachios are known for their prote power, fiber and better for you unsaturated fats for a combination that may help keep you feeling fuller longer. And now there's a new way to snack strong with unsalted no shells holding the salt, not the flavor for a snack that packs a protein punch. Visit wonderful pistachios.com to learn more. Good News Spring Savings Are Back at the Home Depot the Home Depot has everything you need for that spring project you spent all winter planning Save on top brand cordless power like mowers, leaf blowers, trimmers and more that you'll need to get started. And yes, you can use the same battery to power them all. And you can find them at the Home Depot. Whether you've got big plans for your backyard or you want to get patio ready with colorful flowers, planters and outdoor lighting, the Home Depot has you covered. Shop Spring Savings now at the Home Depot if you've listened to the School of Greatness podcast for a while, you know how important acceptance is when it comes to personal growth. And you know who else is big on acceptance? Discover. You see, Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide. That's a whole lot of places and a whole lot of acceptance, which is great for Discover, but even better for you, based on the February 2024 Nielsen report. Learn more at discover.com credit card in a moment of time when it seems like inflation is rising higher than ever, it seems like people are more in debt than ever, and it seems like we don't know who to trust. The government seems like some of them could be lying to us potentially about the economy. There are so many wars that are causing Transfers of money that we're not sure where the money is going, student loans, debt is at an all time high and it's harder and harder for people to make money these days. We brought on one of the leading experts on the Internet today, Jaspreet Singh, who is a trusted individual and advisor to millions around the world about money, managing money, making money, understanding money in their lives. I'm confused and I feel like a lot of people are confused around money. Can you give us any insights on how we should first emotionally navigate the money troubles that millions of people are dealing with today?
- [03:17]
Jaspreet Singh
There's a lot to unpack there. So I think the first thing is understanding now how money plays a part in your life. And I know we've talked about this before, but I really think the key here is understanding that, number one, money is important and understanding your personal relationship with money. And what I like to define that is there's a few things that you have to understand is number one is that it is my duty to become wealthy. Number two, money is a tool. Number three, money is abundant. And number four is I will become wealthy.
- [03:51]
Lewis Howes
Number. Can you say those one more time?
- [03:52]
Jaspreet Singh
Sure. Number one is it is my duty to become wealthy.
- [03:57]
Lewis Howes
Yes.
- [03:57]
Jaspreet Singh
Number two is that money is abundant. Number three is that money is a tool. And number four is that I will become wealthy. And the reason why I say this is because you really have to understand that you can do it now. There's, there's a difference between now what I'm talking right now and thinking and growing rich. Because if we kind of now dissect this, everybody wants this outcome. And the outcome is I want financial freedom, I want to be rich, I want to be wealthy, I want cash flow. You can use whatever term you want for that outcome, right? We want some sort of financial freedom. In order to receive this outcome, you have to go back a little bit, which means I have to take certain actions, right? I have to do things about money. I have to do things to achieve this outcome. But let's go back even more. How do you get that action to happen? I have to have a thought, to go out and do something with money, right? I have to think I need to invest, have to think that I can become wealthy. And this is where most people think that you have to start, right? Think and grow rich. If I think rich, I can take the right actions and have the right outcome. But that's a lie. Because what you'll realize many of us have this is in the back of our minds, might have this Little voice saying, I know this is not true. So you can sit there and say, I'm going to grow rich and try to manifest this wealth. I'm going to grow rich. I'm going to become wealthy. Money is going to fall into my laps, but it won't happen. If that voice in the back of your mind is saying, I know I'm just doing this so I can have this outcome. I don't know if it's true. Somebody like me can't become wealthy. Somebody that looks like me can't actually do it. Somebody from my background, somebody with my upbringing, somebody with whatever circumstances I have can't do it. And when you have that back of that mind thought, it doesn't matter what you're thinking, you're trying to just, you're trying to outspeak your mind. It doesn't work like that.
- [05:50]
Lewis Howes
So your mind and your words and your actions need to be in congruency and alignment.
- [05:55]
Jaspreet Singh
Right? And that's where we need to go one step back.
- [05:58]
Glenda Baker
Right?
- [05:58]
Jaspreet Singh
We talked about, we want this outcome. You need to take an action to have that outcome. You need to have a thought to have that action. But what's before the thought? I call this your subconscious or your pre thought, where this is now really getting into your, your, your true beliefs. Not just your thought, your true subconscious beliefs. And that's what you have to work on first. That way you can actually think the right thing so you can have the right outcomes. Because what ends up happening if you're, if you're just thinking this with the frontal part of your mind, and I don't know which part of your brain does this, I'm just saying this if you're just thinking this, but you really know deep down that money is evil, money is bad, I can't become wealthy. You're never going to actually achieve the outcome that you want. Which is why you have to start with really that deep understanding of your relationship with money and why you have that. Because the real reason why generation or poverty is generational isn't because of the circumstances that you're dealt with externally. It's because you grew up being told, we can't have this, we can't afford nice things. We don't have money for this. We're not rich like them. Rich people are evil. When you grow up hearing this, you grow up living life thinking this is true, believing it, you believe it. And why wouldn't you? That's what you were told. Everybody around you said that. People in your school probably said the same Thing. You live this life thinking that, you know, money is limited, it is taboo.
- [07:23]
Eduardo
It is.
- [07:23]
Jaspreet Singh
It is bad. And we can't have nice things because we're not rich. Okay? No big deal. That's what's normal now. You grow older, you get a job, maybe you're making some decent money, but you're going to have those same money beliefs. And then maybe you start having kids. I know your kids want to have the nice P.S. 4, 5, 6, whatever. We're on. And what do you say? Oh, we can't afford that. We can't afford the nice things. We don't have money for that. That's where rich people. We're not rich. And so now this starts to get passed down. And this is where now the first step, but we've talked about this many times, the first step to building wealth is to start with the money mindset, the beliefs that you have around money. And understand, number one, that you can become wealthy. Not just that you can become wealthy, you will become wealthy. And that money is abundant. There's a lot of money in the world. Right? When people start to enter this financial education space, we start to assume that if you're rich, I can't be rich. If you have money, I can't have money. So it starts to create that jealousy or just this negative association with, oh, my God, I don't want to tell you my business idea, because what if you feel it and take my money? Well, both of us can have money because there's a lot of money in the world. If you look at it from a financial perspective, the Better Reserve bank is printing trillions and trillions of dollars. There's a lot of money out there. You just need a small sliver of it and you can have millions and live a life of true financial freedom. And not just that, understanding that money is a tool. Because the reason why we put these smoke screens around money, that money's bad, it's taboo, it's evil, is because many times people are insecure about their own money. And so when I can't go out and buy that nice vacation for my kids, I can't buy my husband that thing that he wants. I can't buy my wife that YSL or Gucci purse that she wants. I can't go on the nice vacations. Well, you know, money is bad. We shouldn't stress about money. It's these stupid vacations. We don't need those. We can enjoy our time here. It's such a scam to go out there and sit on an all inclusive beach and have food delivered to you.
- [09:29]
Eduardo
Right.
- [09:29]
Jaspreet Singh
I mean, we start to create these smoke screens where, oh, why would, why would anybody want to have an expensive car like that? Why would anybody want to have these nice and expensive things?
- [09:37]
Lewis Howes
Judging people who have money. Yeah.
- [09:39]
Jaspreet Singh
And so now it's, you know what? If you don't want it, that's completely fine, but make sure you can afford it. And understanding now, money is not going to make you a good person. It's also not going to make you a bad person. It's just a piece of paper. It's fuel. It amplifies who you are. When you have more of that money, you can do more of the things that money can buy. One of those things. Have freedom, have options. Options to choose what you want to buy, options to choose where you want to eat, options to choose when you want to go on vacation, not just can you go on vacation, and options to choose how you want to live your life. And not just that, unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, it also can influence what type of health care you can get, what type of healthcare your parents can get, what type of healthcare your kids can get, what type of college your kids can go to, what type of education your kids can go to. It. It matters. And so now at the end of the day, you can hate it or you can understand it. And so we create these smoke screens without really understanding how money plays a part in our life. Because at the end of the day, money talks. And the people who have money will get to be able to live that freedom. And the people who don't, you become subservient to the people who have money. And I don't say that to be mean, I say this to be factual.
- [10:54]
Lewis Howes
They're facts. Yeah, right.
- [10:55]
Jaspreet Singh
The rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and the middle class has been shrinking because most people don't understand money. They don't know how to use their money. They don't understand what inflation is. They don't understand how the system works. The system is designed to produce inflation. And you can say, well, how do you know that? The Federal Reserve bank says this. They publish this all the time. They say that we want a 2% inflation target.
- [11:18]
Lewis Howes
Why?
- [11:18]
Jaspreet Singh
Why not 1%? But why not 0%? Why do we want inflation in the first place? Because that's the way our economic system works. Our economic system runs on spending. And inflation increases the monetary supply, right? It increases the amount of dollars out there. That means the government has more money to spend. If the government has More money to spend. They can continue spending money and giving people jobs. Right. If they. If they go out and give a contract to greatness so you can produce some content where you can go out and hire some people to go out and do things. But the question is, how are they paying for that? Because if I'm paying you to do that, I have to make a profit or I have to generate revenue from my business. Right. To go out and write you this check. The government can just levy a tax, or they can just get the money printed, which is a whole lot easier. And so then one of these things can create more inflation in that sense. And that's why, again, our system is this way. We talk about why is financial education so important? Because it is designed to benefit the financially educated, is designed to benefit investors. And anybody can be an investor. But we're never taught to be investors. We're taught to go to school, to get a job and spend our money. We're never taught what to do with that money. We're never taught to start a business. And we're never taught how to take this money that we're earning and convert it into wealth. We're taught to turn this money into cars and clothes, flashy things, vacations.
- [12:41]
Lewis Howes
So would you say then that the government is designed to keep people poor unless they're willing to invest in financial literacy and education and make the right choices to get them into creating more wealth?
- [12:58]
Jaspreet Singh
Our economic system is designed to keep people poor. The government continues to spend money, which creates inflation, which keeps people poor. And this is where now, in order for you to break out of that system, you have to, number one, learn the system. Number two, believe you can do it. Number three, do something about it.
- [13:18]
Lewis Howes
Yes.
- [13:19]
Jaspreet Singh
And do something about it means you got to stop spending all of your money, which is uncomfortable, right? Because we want to have the nice things. But I'm not saying don't ever have a nice thing again. Don't ever go to, you know, Starbucks or go to Gucci. No, what I'm saying is go through the decade of sacrifice of spending less, earning more. It's tough financially, but that's going to give you some more money. Now, when you take this money, you're going to start investing it. You're going to be very disappointed in the first couple of years because you see no returns, you don't see anything happening, but you got to stick with it. Yes. And you keep doing it. You built your financial education, learn more about how to invest. You start studying the financial trends, you keep building the financial preparedness. Maybe you see a market downturn, it creates more opportunities for you to invest, but you just stick with it. Then what's going to end up happening? You go through the decade of sacrifice because now you turn around and you don't recognize the person that you were 10 years ago. You won't even recognize yourself three years ago. But this is where now you will start to build this real wealth fund for yourself. And now you can start spending more money, but it's not necessarily coming out of your paycheck. You can start having nice things. You don't have to worry about the price because the money is being funded by your investments. And that's why. Now understanding the system is designed to keep the majority of people broke. And the reason why is because they want you to spend all of your money and they want you to spend money you don't have because that means you get to spend more money, right? If I make 50 grand a year, I only have $50,000 worth of buying power. You would think. But no, you have more because of credit. We live in a credit based economy. So if I can only spend $50,000, I mean, I can only stimulate the economy by $50,000. And that's where this clever financial strategizing came in and said, well, how do we get somebody making $50,000 a year to stimulate the economy by $80,000 a year? Credit cards, lines of credit, other forms of debt that way. Now what is debt? You're taking next year's income, spending it today, and then you pay it back next year, plus interest. So now you constantly, you're working just to make everybody else rich. You're working to make your bank rich, you're working to make Gucci rich, working to make everybody else rich except yourself. And this is where that's what the system is designed to do. But if you want to build wealth, you got to, number one, learn and stop spending a lot of money.
- [15:34]
Lewis Howes
Who should be most afraid? People that are making under $100,000, people that are making it from 100 to $500,000 a year, or people that are making 500 to $1 million a year over the next few years? With the elections, the economy, wars, inflation, who is at the biggest risk financially?
- [15:57]
Jaspreet Singh
Well, I think it's everybody. I wouldn't say one over the other. It depends on the percentage of money you're keeping for yourself versus spending. Because if you make a million dollars a year and you're spending 110% of your money a year, but you're making 50 versus somebody else is making 50 grand. I'm living off of 75,000. I'm more worried about the million dollar a year person because you are one bad step away from bankruptcy versus if you're making 50 grand a year. But you're smart with your money, which I've met a lot of people doing that. You are, you're ready for whatever happens and you say bring it on because I'm going to find the opportunity. It's a very different mindset.
- [16:34]
Lewis Howes
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- [16:58]
Eduardo
Earn a business degree on your terms at Capella University. Our Flexpath format is available in select programs and lets you learn on your schedule. A different future is closer than you think with Capella University. Learn more at Capella. Eduardo I've never felt like this before. It's like you just get me. I feel like my true self with you. Does that sound crazy? And it doesn't hurt that you're gorgeous?
- [17:28]
Jaspreet Singh
Okay, that's it.
- [17:29]
Eduardo
I'm taking you home with me. I mean, you can't find shoes this good just anywhere. Find a shoe for every you from brands you love like Birkenstock, Nike, Adidas and more at your DSW store or.
- [17:43]
Lewis Howes
Dsw.Com and you're not living in, you know, you're not living out of your means. So you're, you figured out how to have a comfortable lifestyle, a lifestyle that suits you, that it aligns with your, your financial income. And you're not choosing to overspend.
- [17:59]
Jaspreet Singh
Right.
- [18:00]
Lewis Howes
And I've met a lot of people who have, you know, who rent, who have great relationships, who have good family ties and community that are able to use their time without having to spend money to have fun.
- [18:17]
Jaspreet Singh
Yeah.
- [18:18]
Lewis Howes
To enjoy their life.
- [18:19]
Jaspreet Singh
Yeah.
- [18:20]
Lewis Howes
Beyond, obviously you got to buy food and you got to pay rent and bills and expenses, but they don't need to overspend. They can go in nature, they can go on walks, they can be with their dog or their friends or family and do things and activities that stimulate more fulfillment and joy than spending on watches and clothes.
- [18:39]
Jaspreet Singh
You know, the first, my wife Grew up with a very tough financial upbringing. And when we got married she, you know, I was expressed that she would want to, she'd always wanted, you know, a designer purse or some other things like that. And so she went out and I wanted to make sure she had whatever she wanted. So she got, you know, the designer purses and all that nice stuff. And then pretty quickly she realizes, okay, this doesn't really give me much fulfillment.
- [19:10]
Lewis Howes
Now what?
- [19:11]
Jaspreet Singh
Yeah, now what? I can buy my purses. But it doesn't. The attraction to these things are the highest. When you can't afford them, when you can comfortably afford it, you no longer really crave that stuff. Now you realize, well, what's something bigger? What's going to really give me that fulfillment? What is going to give me those memories? And it really goes back to what you were just saying, which is a mindset shift because everyone says, oh, it's going to suck living smaller, it's going to suck doing this. Well, it doesn't have to. When I'm sure when you were starting your business you were working hard but you were probably having the time of your life.
- [19:47]
Lewis Howes
It was a. Yeah, it's a thrill. I mean there's ups and downs, there's.
- [19:51]
Jaspreet Singh
Ups and downs, but it's, it's. When I was first getting started, when I started my party promotion business, I knew nothing about anything. I was a naive 17 year old kid. I mean I was really, I mean financially dumb. But I knew I wanted to start building some income and start doing more things in my money. And I had two other guy friends that were doing this with me that were kind of like partners that we worked hard with and we were working around the clock but we were having the time of our lives. It was tough. I mean we were working hard but we were having so much fun. People were laughing so much because we were just having fun. And it's really like can be exciting.
- [20:30]
Lewis Howes
Too, all this new adventure.
- [20:31]
Eduardo
Yeah.
- [20:32]
Jaspreet Singh
And it's really. That might again people mindset.
- [20:34]
Lewis Howes
People also need perspective. I think you gain a mindset when you experience a perspective that wakes you up. We're just talking about, you know, Indian culture. I've been to India, I've been to Guatemala five times. I go to Mexico all the time. Even in, you know, wealthy areas of Mexico. You know the thing that breaks my heart the most and gives me a lot of perspective and a lot of appreciation for my life is when I see seven year old girls walking in the street, nine year old boys, four year old girls walking by themselves. With little candies, working all day and all night to survive that day because their parents don't have money. And their parents are out working as well, selling whatever they can sell. And you see a girl trying to get 20 pesos for a little piece of gum or something or a little candy. And that is her life. Every day she's walking the streets in Mexico or Guatemala or India or whatever it might be to survive that day. And it puts your mindset in perspective. Yeah, when you're eating at a nice restaurant, you're getting your cup of coffee and you're spending $8 for coffee, and you see a child working 12 hours a day because she needs to support the parents to live that day. It puts your life in perspective. It makes you realize, oh, okay, maybe I can be more fulfilled with what I have. Maybe I can make some different choices. Maybe I can appreciate where I'm working right now, or I can appreciate, you know, what I've created for myself far. Maybe I don't have to be so jealous of everyone else around me, of what they're buying and consuming or where they're going on their trips. I can value my life in a different way. And I think perspective like that wakes you up in a big way.
- [22:34]
Jaspreet Singh
It's a cultural shift too. I mean, it's, it's. When you grow up in a country like America where resources are plentiful, it's hard to sometimes see them because in other countries they're not always there. And people, you know, unfortunately a lot of people don't realize that when you're in a country like America, like, if you can understand the words that I'm saying, you have the opportunities to build wealth. You have the opportunities to do whatever you want. Where you might not get those opportunities in other parts of the world. And when you have so much, we'll call it privilege of being able to speak English, of being able to be in a first world country, you start to then create victimizations yourself and you start to create these. Like, it's difficult for me because of X, Y and Z versus other parts of the world. You might not have that privilege again. I make a lot of mistakes, so I would definitely not want to put myself as, you know, a perfect person or anything even close. I make a lot of mistakes in every which way. But I think the goal is always just to buy, to be a little bit better every day. You can improve no matter where you are. I think all of us, myself included especially, have a lot to improve. There is opportunity and availability for you to go out and live a life financially of more freedom. But that requires you to, number one, breathe, understand as possible, take action. And even when things get tough, you keep going. And you know, beyond that, right? You got to make those financial sacrifices. That way you can do more of the financial things, travel, spend money and not have to worry about the price. Because now you have the money, right? The goal is not to ever enjoy the nice things, is to be able to afford the nice things without having to worry about the price. Because you've put in the work and now you earned it.
- [24:29]
Lewis Howes
What is the personality type, do you think that is for starting or buying a business versus a personality type that is not for owning a business?
- [24:37]
Eduardo
Yeah, well, I don't think you can spell rich without risk. And so if you really want richness in your life, like if you want to be very, very rich, you are not going to get there if you take no risk. Unfortunately, I've never seen it done that way. Maybe you guys could tell me if I'm wrong. So, and if you want to get rich, here's the stats. One thing that's cool stat, 79% of all millionaires in the US are self made. That number shocked me because if you heard in the news, you'd think, no, no, it's all handed down, you know, but 60% of all millionaires own a business. So you immediately know, well, I have a 60% higher likelihood of becoming a millionaire if I own a business. And if I want to make crazy levels of money like 30 million plus, 88% of people who are worth 30 million plus own a business. So first you got to be honest with yourself. What do I really want if I want to be a millionaire and if I want to be worth 10 million plus, hard to get there without having some version of ownership or equity and.
- [25:37]
Lewis Howes
Taking risk and working your butt off non stop.
- [25:40]
Eduardo
100%. Like, I giggled because another YouTube video did a video of me and it was like, make millions. It's easy. No work title, passive.
- [25:49]
Lewis Howes
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [25:50]
Eduardo
I was like, I'm pretty sure I've never said that in my life.
- [25:52]
Lewis Howes
How many hours do you think you work a week?
- [25:54]
Eduardo
Oh, a lot. I mean, when I was in finance, I was working 70, 80 hours a week. I remember one of my colleagues, Eduardo, we were walking back from a, we were in New York at the time and we were walking back from, from work one day super late at night and he just passed out in the middle of the road and I was like, holy hell, Eduardo, are you okay? What's, you know, what's going on? And he just, he was exhausted. He, it was like passing out from.
- [26:18]
Lewis Howes
Exhaustion from working 80 hour weeks for years probably.
- [26:22]
Eduardo
Yeah. And he was young, so analyst program. I was only there for like two years. He would have been about the same. But just that compounding. Plus you know, it's a work hard, play hard environment.
- [26:31]
Lewis Howes
And that was an employee job. You're an employee, but you're making a lot of money as an employee. But that was what it took to put in the time to have a skill set at the right business, to be able to deliver results, to get that type of income. It took you 78 hours a week.
- [26:45]
Eduardo
Yeah, for sure.
- [26:46]
Lewis Howes
So you can't do it with like 40 hours a week just kind of casually showing up and expect like multiple six?
- [26:51]
Eduardo
I don't think so.
- [26:52]
Lewis Howes
Do you know any business that's paying someone to just do the bare minimum?
- [26:56]
Eduardo
No. Unless you are the capital. That's where you start.
- [26:59]
Lewis Howes
Unless you have the money.
- [27:00]
Eduardo
Once you got the money, then I have many businesses that I do no work for now.
- [27:04]
Lewis Howes
Right, right, right.
- [27:04]
Eduardo
But that's because I did risk. I put money down.
- [27:07]
Lewis Howes
And you could lose it all and.
- [27:08]
Eduardo
I could lose it all. And the only way you get around that is you work really hard as an employee for somebody else and you get a percentage of the company, which is something that we do for our employees and I think really important. But you gotta become valuable enough to do it.
- [27:22]
Lewis Howes
How valuable do you need to be? How much do you need to be earning for that business? Like bringing in for that business?
- [27:28]
Eduardo
Well, there's two ways that you can actually get equity in businesses that we learned in private equity that I think are useful for people. The first way is you can ask to buy in. So you can say, hey, I don't have a lot of cash, but we're going to do this deal over here. Could I put $10,000 into this business deal? Hey, you're going to do this partnership? Could I like buy into the partnership for 10K? And we don't, we're not taught how to do that as normal people and we should think that way because what is that telling me? That's like, hey, you're willing to put a little risk on the table and also you're not trying to sell me that you should get XYZ entitlement. You're saying, let me put some skin in the game.
- [28:03]
Lewis Howes
That's the worst.
- [28:04]
Eduardo
Right. So that's. And that's how most private equity guys make their first Dollars is they are just allowed to put some skin in the game, which is great. And then the second way is you become so valuable that the business can't see itself operating without you. And this is typically how startups do. So it's like, hey, you're so valuable. You're going to do the first stage of XYZ of the company. Because of that, we're going to give you a percentage and every single year you'll get a little bit more of that percentage over like three to five years. So two ways to get a percentage of a deal, and we teach one in the book called partial acquisitions. And so basically, if right now you're working, let's say somebody's working for you or me, Right. And if you're working for a company right now, today, and you love what you do and you want to stay there, but you want to get some income on the side, you have a skill set. You're a photographer, I don't know, you're a videographer, then what could you do? You could go to other companies that have that need, your skill set and you could say, hey, if I can increase the revenue of your business, if I could decrease the costs of your business, or I could decrease your pain of the business, could I get a percentage of the business? And you could do that both for distributing equity. That's where you cash flow or regular equity. This is what I'm teaching a lot more people to do. Because there's a stair step way to buy a business. Maybe you're not ready to go all in. We'll learn how to get a small percentage instead. Yeah, yeah.
- [29:30]
Lewis Howes
So if you're not a personality type that doesn't like risk.
- [29:33]
Eduardo
Yeah.
- [29:34]
Lewis Howes
You shouldn't be a business owner.
- [29:35]
Eduardo
Not outright. Not. All right. I don't think you're going to want the call on a Friday night when you're going to run out of cash.
- [29:41]
Lewis Howes
How many hours do you put in a week on average as a business owner versus when you're an employee?
- [29:47]
Eduardo
Well, I like work, so I just worked a lot both times. I think I was probably working from 7 until 7 or 8 or 9.
- [29:55]
Lewis Howes
As an employee.
- [29:56]
Eduardo
As an employee.
- [29:57]
Lewis Howes
And now as an owner, I'm probably.
- [29:58]
Eduardo
Working from 7 until 6 as an owner, but a little bit on the weekends. And maybe when I was an employee, I wasn't working on the weekends. And I think when you're an owner, your schedule kind of looks more. I think when your name's on the door, it's easier to work more hours. Let's be honest, it's just easier.
- [30:16]
Jaspreet Singh
Yeah, it's yours, it's yours.
- [30:19]
Eduardo
But when you're the owner, it's also easier when you set the hours to work more of them. And so for me, I got no problem taking four weeks off and going to Europe, and I'm checking on stuff every day a little bit, but they're mainly running the business. When I was an employee, that wasn't an option. But when I did go on vacation as an employee, wasn't checking. You know, I was like, good luck.
- [30:43]
Lewis Howes
Bye.
- [30:44]
Eduardo
So it really depends on how you want to run your life, you know, too. But I think the one thing that I do want to impress upon people is like, there is nothing wrong with being an employee. Being an employee is amazing. It means that you do not carry all the risk, and you can actually become massively wealthy as an employee if you understand how to become so valuable that you get a piece of multiple. For instance, right now, we're hiring a president for one of our companies, and he's from a huge company. So do we have a right? Like, it's not really reasonable that he would come and do this for one of my companies, given what he's done in the past.
- [31:19]
Lewis Howes
And you couldn't pay him the salary where he's making in a bigger company.
- [31:23]
Eduardo
Maybe one fifth of that. And so why would he come work for me? Because I'm like, listen, you could go work for this one company and have one shot at goal. If that company wins, you're going to win big. But the founder's got to sell at the right time. You guys got to hit these huge milestones. The investors got to get paid. You've got one bet. Or with me, you can come into this company and you can take an equity bet on this company, but also a bunch of these other little bites. That's why I think private equity is so interesting and why people stay as private equity employees for decades. I mean, I have a friend, let's call him Frank, who's probably one of the richest guys I know, and he has been an employee in a private equity firm for 30 years. He's like dating celebrities, has a plane, he's an employee, but he gets little bites at the apple. And so I'm trying to really explain this to my employees.
- [32:11]
Lewis Howes
And less risk.
- [32:12]
Eduardo
No risk. The only risk is getting fired.
- [32:15]
Lewis Howes
Right, right.
- [32:16]
Eduardo
You know, and that you have to work a lot.
- [32:18]
Lewis Howes
He's not managing payroll. He's not having to hire and fire people necessarily. Or maybe that's his job, but he's not dealing with having to bring in all the money constantly to keep the business running.
- [32:28]
Eduardo
Right. Well, and let's talk about the truth of the matter here is that 90% of startups fail in a 10 year period. Most startups fail in the first three to four years. And in those first three to four years you make zero dollars. In fact, you spend on average 30 to $50,000 a year attempting to make money.
- [32:45]
Lewis Howes
Oh, man.
- [32:46]
Eduardo
And then when you eventually do make money in year three or four, the average entrepreneur pays themselves anywhere from 40 to 60 thousand dollars a year in salary.
- [32:53]
Lewis Howes
So you go five years making no money essentially.
- [32:55]
Eduardo
Exactly.
- [32:56]
Lewis Howes
Working more hours than his employee.
- [32:58]
Eduardo
Right.
- [32:58]
Lewis Howes
And what's the benefit then if you spend a half a decade of your life where most likely you're going to fail?
- [33:04]
Eduardo
I think that is the question we have to ask ourselves.
- [33:06]
Lewis Howes
It doesn't seem exciting, Ness? No.
- [33:08]
Eduardo
That's why I get excited about boring businesses. Because what are the two reasons that most businesses fail? Well, 60% of businesses fail because they don't have product market fit. Which means, like, I had an idea. I wanted to sell these graphic months. These graphic months are amazing. I asked all my buddies, you gonna buy one, Louis? Like, yeah, of course, of course. Great idea. You should go be your own CEO.
- [33:26]
Lewis Howes
Everyone thinks it's the best idea ever.
- [33:27]
Eduardo
You're gonna sell millions, right? Then you go and create the company. And all of a sudden Lewis is a little cheap. Nobody's buying my mugs. Right. So the market didn't actually want what you were selling. And then the second reason most businesses fail, which is about 20% of the reason, is lack of cash flow. So you have this big idea, nobody wants it, you run out of cash before you get to figure it out. And so I think we've been sold a total lie about business creation and startups, which is that employment sucks. And also we should go start a business instead. And what often happens, and I hire a lot of these people, is they go start their business. They're like, oh my God, this is worse than employment and I'm not making any money. And so if you're going to play the odds, if you're going to go gamble, you can play the slots and know that you have the worst odds out there playing the slots. And if you're going to gamble, you at least are probably going to play blackjack if you're good at it, because you know that's where you have the best odds. Business is very similar. The best odds is somewhere where the business already has product market fit and the business is already cash flowing.
- [34:28]
Lewis Howes
It's already making money, it's already profitable.
- [34:31]
Eduardo
And it's been doing it for years. So that's why I'm obsessed with this idea of boring businesses and buying them. Because statistically it has less risk and it has more ability for you to earn over time. It's not no risk, but it is less risk than a startup and nobody imagine what's possible in your business career when learning doesn't get in the way of life. At Capella University, our game changing flexpath learning format is available in select business programs and lets you learn at a time and pace that works for you. That means you don't have to put your life on hold while earning your business degree. Instead, enjoy learning your way and earn your degree without missing a beat. A different future is closer than you think with Capella University. Learn more at Capella. Edu.
- [35:19]
Jaspreet Singh
This season, let your shoes do the talking. Designer Shoe Warehouse is packed with fresh styles that speak to your whole vibe without saying a word. From cool sneakers that look good with everything to easy sandals you'll want to wear on repeat, DSW has you covered. Find a shoe for every U from the brands you love like Birkenstock, Nike, Adidas, New Balance and more. Head to your DSW store or visit dsw.com today.
- [35:49]
Eduardo
Talks about that what are.
- [35:50]
Lewis Howes
The main reason people are selling their profitable businesses then? If a business has been profitable for five or 10 years and it's so hard to be successful, why sell the business?
- [35:59]
Eduardo
There is a huge gap in education between asset value in business owners and ability to sell your assets. Think about it this way. If you owned a house anywhere in the country and that house was too small for you and it was still livable, it's still a house. Maybe it's not the nicest house. It's not really what you want. You would never just go, let's just light that fire and like walk away, right? It would be. That would be crazy. You'd be like, okay, well let's sell it for whatever it's worth or let's put a renter in there or let's do something with that asset. We think about a house like an asset in the US we do not think about our businesses as assets. We do not think about our business lines and divisions as assets. And so what do we do instead? We just walk away from a house that somebody else could live in. And so, you know, there was a who was I talking to? Oh, Shawn Rad, Founder Of Tinder. So him and I were chatting the other day.
- [36:50]
Lewis Howes
Yeah, he's a buddy.
- [36:51]
Eduardo
Love him.
- [36:52]
Lewis Howes
I got him connected. He's lost a lot of weight in the last year because I got him set up my trainers.
- [36:56]
Eduardo
No way.
- [36:57]
Lewis Howes
Yeah, so he's been, you know, just transforming his health. He's been doing great.
- [37:00]
Glenda Baker
Oh, good.
- [37:01]
Lewis Howes
I got it.
- [37:01]
Eduardo
I didn't tell. I'll have to tell them that we're buddies. So he was funny because I was explaining this to him and he's like, you know what's interesting, because I went into a. I might mess this up slightly, but let's say that he went into like an old bookbinding shop and in this book binding shop in la, he looked over to the left and there were like these racks and racks and racks of books. And he was like, these are some cool vintage books. And so he was going through them and he was like, hey, I want to buy a couple of these from you. And she's like, no, I don't buy them. You can just take them. And he's like, no, no, I'm going to. I want to pay you for them.
- [37:33]
Jaspreet Singh
What's the deal with you?
- [37:34]
Eduardo
Why do you have thousands of books here? And she's like, oh, well, my husband had a bookstore and he died or they got divorced and so we shut down the bookstore. So what are all of those books? Those are assets. And if they had been thinking about their business as a house, what would she have done? She would have done an appraisal. Had somebody come out, look at what the books are worth. She might have had somebody come and look at what the lease was worth for the business. She might have sold the whole business or done an asset sale. And so Sean ended up buying a bunch of one off books. And then he was laughing. He's like, God, I felt bad because I went and checked them later and I'm like, totally underpaid for these things because they were worth something. And so people sell their business because they don't understand the value of the business and they don't think it's sellable. Then like an example that I would probably give you is like, you've done it like you've had a business line before, right? Let's say your education business. And you're like, this isn't serving the current business right now. I'm going to shut it down. Reasonable. You're like, I'm the face. It's not set up to sell. You haven't prepped a business that you created to be A business you could sell because most business owners do not know how to do that. And so you shut it down because you're like, well, reputational risk, all of these things. But let's say that you went through our program that we teach and we talk about prepping a business for sale like a cake. You would have done all these tasks, which meant that you would have removed yourself as key man and you would have had a business that somebody else else could take over. And the benefit there is somebody else gets to steal your 10,000 hours and you don't have to close a 10 year asset build.
- [39:08]
Lewis Howes
Sure.
- [39:08]
Eduardo
That you have.
- [39:09]
Lewis Howes
I did that with my first business. And the person that took it over, it was kind of like all my online courses before I launched School of Greatness. And the person that took it over ran it to the ground.
- [39:19]
Eduardo
Did you sell it?
- [39:20]
Lewis Howes
Yeah, I sold it to him. But then it was also a sell over like three years. So he ran it to the ground after like four months.
- [39:26]
Eduardo
Did you get your cash out of it?
- [39:28]
Lewis Howes
First few months, that was it. Okay, so that was a challenging thing, but it was a lesson, you know?
- [39:33]
Eduardo
Yeah. But I think this is a perfect example. So I bet if third party people looked at that, they'd be like, why would Lewis sell this business he's making? I'm going to make up making $100,000 a year from the business. That's a great business. Nobody would sell $100,000 a year business. But why would you sell it? Because you had a million dollar opportunity over here. And so you have opportunity costs.
- [39:52]
Lewis Howes
Yeah, Exactly.
- [39:52]
Eduardo
So there's $900,000 that's waiting on Louis to make a sale. Right.
- [39:56]
Lewis Howes
Well, the big lesson is kind of what your big was, it sounds like was, you know, it was a. It was a partnership that wasn't working out.
- [40:03]
Eduardo
Yeah.
- [40:04]
Lewis Howes
And we weren't seeing eye to eye for like many months, probably six to nine months. And it was exhausting trying to be in partnership with someone where we just didn't have the same vision.
- [40:12]
Eduardo
Right.
- [40:12]
Lewis Howes
I'm not blaming him or myself. We just weren't aligned and we didn't ask those questions early on. I didn't ask those questions, he didn't ask those questions. And so we didn't. We had clarity over, like, let's go make some money over the next year. But we weren't thinking years in the future. We were assuming, yeah, the other person wanted the same things, and that created a lot of stress.
- [40:31]
Eduardo
Yeah. Well, there's a whole chapter in there about partnerships and how to not them up. It's not perfect, but I have, like 12 key lessons about partnerships that are really important in selling it. But I bet. Did you do that sale with seller financing? Was that like, largely. Hey.
- [40:46]
Lewis Howes
A percentage of future profits.
- [40:48]
Eduardo
So he sounds like he actually got a pretty good deal out of you.
- [40:51]
Lewis Howes
He got a great deal.
- [40:52]
Eduardo
Yeah. Because he was able to talk you into his vision of the future.
- [40:56]
Lewis Howes
Because I knew he was going to pay me up front.
- [40:57]
Eduardo
Right.
- [40:57]
Lewis Howes
He wasn't able to do it. And he was like, I'm gonna use this money to do the marketing and the ad spend. And he just ran into the crowd.
- [41:02]
Eduardo
And you probably didn't do a real deal process to have multiple people come in and potentially vet your business.
- [41:07]
Lewis Howes
Yeah, exactly.
- [41:08]
Eduardo
But why would.
- [41:08]
Lewis Howes
And I was also just like, exhausted. You know, it's like a lot of people are exhausted running their business for years. They might sell it on the cheap because they just want to get out.
- [41:17]
Eduardo
That's exactly right. That's the seven Ds, which is death, divorce, distress. Oh, I always forget this. You move death to force distress. You move locations. You have disagreement. So that would be like a business partnership. You have debt. Yeah, that's not the exact one, but we could use that one because we fill it in, since I'm forgetting it and somebody on the Internet will tell me what the seventh is. But for most small business owners, they're in the pain cave when they're looking to sell. In this case, largely retirees, because 60% of all small businesses are owned by people. 65 plus in the U.S. which is wild. So a lot of them just want.
- [42:08]
Lewis Howes
To retire, and they've been running it for 10, 20, 30 years. Maybe some of these businesses.
- [42:12]
Eduardo
Right. But a lot of these business owners, too, just have the same thing you have, which is opportunity costs running this landscaping business. But this roofing business is really taking off.
- [42:21]
Lewis Howes
Exactly.
- [42:22]
Eduardo
So I think that's. I think that's a beautiful story to share because a lot of people don't think it happens. It happens all around.
- [42:29]
Lewis Howes
It can be exhausting. And that's. I mean, not to be opportunistic, but that could be the time where you could swoop in and find a business that is distressed.
- [42:36]
Eduardo
Yeah.
- [42:37]
Lewis Howes
That's struggling, or a partnership is falling apart and they need to sell.
- [42:40]
Eduardo
Yeah. It's one of the seven, slash, three and a half days.
- [42:42]
Lewis Howes
Here's a question that I thought would be perfect for you. I was actually getting a coffee last week, and I went in this coffee shop. There's a couple People sitting there, but no one was in line. It was like at 3:00, right? So after the kind of the, the rush of the, the afternoon and for whatever reason, I like to talk to a lot of people when I meet them. You know, I like to say hi to people at stores. I'm from the Midwest, so I'm just kind of like welcoming most of the time. Not every day, but most of the time I'm just like, hey, what are you grateful for? I just kind of have these questions and I could tell this woman who was behind the desk making coffee was not having a good day. The energy was low. She's probably in her mid-20s, maybe late 20s, I'm not sure. Her name was Phoenix. I don't know her last name and I won't say where she was working. But I was just asking her a few questions. I was like, what's going on? And she goes, I'm just tired. I'm not enjoying the job. The pay isn't that good. You know, things aren't going in my favor in life. Like there's a lot of stress and it feels hard to get out of it. For someone like Phoenix, who's listening or watching right now, who is just at a job they're not enjoying, they're not making the money they want and they don't feel like things are going their way, what's one thing they could do to start shifting their energy and start seeing the world differently so they can have more of a positive experience rather than a soul sucking experience.
- [44:08]
Eduardo
So good. Go make something a little bit better at the job you have right now. Step number one, if that coffee shop isn't giving you what you want out of it, you're not making enough money, you don't love what you're doing. How can you actually give more to the business? Which sounds counterintuitive, but I would come up with every single day. What's a little bit more that you can be doing? Can you be going around and seeing if anybody wants some additional orders? Try to take note how much the business is making each time that you're on shift and then how much it makes. After you start making these changes, create a little list of the things you did to affect your will on the world. Show that, hey, you actually know how a business works and you want it to grow. Small little changes. Maybe you go outside, you're starting to say hi, you hand out a little coffee sample to people. Think like an owner. Have an ownership mindset. Because when you have an ownership Mindset that transfers to ownership eventually. Then the second that you do that, I want you to go to the owner of the business and I want you to tell them, just a little brief, hey, here's the stuff I've been doing at the business. No ask. I've been doing this little list of things. It seems to be working. Here's some of the experiments I've been trying. First of all, they're going to be shocked. Nobody's going to ever have done something like that to them. You are already now the 1% second step. You do it for a few more weeks. At the end of a few weeks, you go, hey, I've been doing these extra things. I'd love to make some additional money here. Is that possible? Can you show me what a career progression looks like here for me to move to the next step, for me to make additional money? Here's the thing. If they say nothing, this is Starbucks. We don't hire this way. You're stuck here. Then that's a bad company and you need to start looking elsewhere. And you need to, as you're looking for your next thing, not just have a resume, but have some case studies. Here's what I did in my last business that they didn't ask me to do. Here's how I realized that I could provide positive value. I can promise you one thing only. That capability is so rare, and desire is even more rare. And so if you can show those two things in the world, you will go from having an owner's mindset to an owner one day.
- [46:09]
Lewis Howes
I think it's 80% of businesses fail within the first five years, and the other 20% barely are holding on or struggling. It's really rare to succeed in business, and it takes a lot of luck and timing, all these different things. But a lot of people, you hear horror stories in the stock market as well as in real estate for people they went out and bought their first home and they lost all their money, or it took so much time and energy, it just exhausted them that they gave up. Maybe they tried to start a business, it failed, and they just feel like, God, every angle I go to try to earn money, I struggle, I spend so much time and I get defeated. What wisdom can you share to someone today on whichever route they want to take on how to emotionally and mentally overcome the obstacles that may come their way?
- [46:56]
Glenda Baker
Don't ever put yourself in a position to have to sell. If you never put yourself in a position to have to sell, you're never losing money on real estate. I haven't sold a house in the last 30 years that hasn't sold for more if the person was able to wait and sell it when they wanted to. When you put yourself in a position, you over leverage, you buy in an area that is transitioning or that is high crime, that is a gamble. Those people, you're going to lose money. But when you put yourself in a position to never, ever have to sell, you're always going to make money in real estate. Now, I don't know about you, but those people who bought Blockbuster, it doesn't matter how long they wait, they're never getting that money back, are they? And that's the difference between real estate and stock. People say, oh, well, you know, Glenda, if I had, If I put $130,000 in this stock, it would be worth a zillion dollars, correct? But if you put down $6,500 on $130,000 house, you only have $6,500 in it, right? If you lost it, you only lost $6,500. You didn't lose $135,000. That Blockbuster stock, you lost all 135,000. People don't think about it from that perspective. You talk about appreciation. You bought $150,000 house in 1975. That house is now worth a million dollars. Guess what? You also had a place to live, okay? Or you had an income generating, generating assets. So that's the thing is, like the last time I checked, those stocks aren't doing that for you. And all I know is real estate, like, I, I'm old. I want to see, touch, feel my money. When I want to be able to get my money out, I want to be able to get my money out. I don't want to be at the mercy of the stock market. So while I have stock market investments, that is not where I keep my money. I keep my money in houses where I can see, touch and feel it. And the worst case scenario is that you have it rented out and it's renting for less than your payment. Okay? So this is the worst case scenario. Your payment is $2,000 a month, and you're only getting $1,500. That's a $500 savings deposit that you're making per year into that account. And if you keep that house and you sell when the market is high, you're going to make all of the money that you put back in it, right?
- [49:35]
Eduardo
Imagine what's possible in your business career when learning doesn't get in the way. Of life at Capella University. Our game changing flexpath learning format is available in select business programs and lets you learn at a time and pace that works for you. That means you don't have to put your life on hold while earning your business degree. Instead, enjoy learning your way and earn your degree without missing a beat. A different future is closer than you think with Capella University. Learn more at Capella Eduardo hey, it's.
- [50:08]
Jaspreet Singh
Me, Paige desorbo, and I'm so excited to share my new shoe collection at dsw filled with my favorite styles and trends for spring.
- [50:16]
Glenda Baker
Because if you know me, you know I'm kind of obsessed with shoes.
- [50:19]
Eduardo
And by kind of obsessed, I mean head over heels.
- [50:23]
Glenda Baker
You're going to love these shoes.
- [50:25]
Jaspreet Singh
So snag super cute styles like cute flats, fun heels and cool sneakers from the Paige to Sorbo collection right now.
- [50:32]
Lewis Howes
At your DSW store or dsw.com.
- [50:37]
Eduardo
Right.
- [50:38]
Lewis Howes
What about if someone says, well, what if, you know, I've got to fix all these things and there's all these extra costs and expenses that I have in the house over a few years and it just maybe I chose it wrong or maybe the realtor, I didn't see these things. The inspector missed something, whatever it is.
- [50:52]
Jaspreet Singh
Yeah.
- [50:53]
Lewis Howes
And I got to pay $20,000 for a new AC, the roof, the this, the bathroom. And it's like I'm in tens of thousands of dollars more, hundred thousand dollars more than I have or want it to be. And now I've got to hold onto this for 20 years to make a profit. You know, how does someone wrap their mind around that and not feeling like they're losing money? They don't have access to that cash and they have energy invested into a house versus kind of just that money in the bank or in an index fund.
- [51:21]
Glenda Baker
Right, exactly. So what happens is, is it's critical to understand what you're buying. It's critical to do your homework on what you're buying. Not just having a great real estate agent, not just having a great inspector, but getting in the weeds with it. And what I mean by that is driving through the neighborhood, getting lost in the neighborhood. Did you do your own recon in the neighborhood? And that's what I want people to do, is don't depend on somebody else to tell you everything. I want you to understand how to do it. And so a lot of times when I'm with buyers, I'll put them in the car and we'll just drive around, get lost, turn off the gps, eat in the restaurants, shop in the grocery stores. And this is such a simple thing that a lot of people don't think about. If the grocery store has great produce, that means that people are spending money in that grocery store. That means that people are concerned about what they're eating. They're probably going to take care of their house. Nobody ever talks about stuff like that. You probably never thought that if I have good grapes at my grocery store, it probably means that I'm living in a neighborhood that's well kept. If you're concerned about the food that you're eating, what you're putting in your body, you're probably concerned about how you're taking care of your house.
- [52:46]
Lewis Howes
What would you say are five things people should look for when finding a great deal or an investment in real estate?
- [52:52]
Glenda Baker
The best investment in real estate. Grandma's house. Okay. Something that needs cosmetics, not infrastructure. Infrastructure may not sound sexy, but infrastructure is a wonderful thing to have. Number two, look for an area that is not at the top, but that is growing, that you can kind of see, like, oh, wait a minute, they're doing work here. There's a dumpster in the driveway here. And do that kind of research. Understand, like, what direction is the neighborhood going in? Number three, I would probably say when you're looking to invest, make sure that you understand what you're buying. A lot of people don't understand, like, is this house on a two lane street? Is that a problem? Does this back up to the retention pond? Are there mosquitoes? It's Atlanta, Georgia. It's hot as hell. There's all kinds of mosquitoes. Do you understand how much less you're going to take for a house that's on a retention pond? So that's why I always want people to understand exactly what it is that they're buying. I hammer on that a lot. And again, I don't want you to get caught up in your ego. A lot of people buy for vanity.
- [54:07]
Lewis Howes
Really? Oh, what do they, what's the ego mean when they invest in ego?
- [54:11]
Glenda Baker
Because they want. They want you to drive up, pull in the driveway and say, what a nice home. Oh, my stars. You don't want that literally.
- [54:20]
Lewis Howes
Unless you're living in it.
- [54:21]
Glenda Baker
Maybe not. You don't even want to win. You're living in it. Literally. You want to live in the house that works the best for you and your family. Like, do you want to, like out here in l. A, It's a little bit different, but in regular markets, like, think about it and I'll talk about Trey Young. I Love basketball. Trae young bought a $20 million house out here in LA, signed a contract for $215 million. Praise the Lord and pass the money. Right? Do you know how much the taxes on that house are? $600,000 a year. Okay. Do you know how many houses, investment properties you could buy with $20 million? So you could have bought a fancy five million dollar house in Atlanta, Georgia, which would have been the same as a $20 million house out here, for God's sake. Then you could have bought some investment properties and built generational wealth. Not that his $215 million isn't going to be generational. But ask Evander Holyfield how that works out. That's the thing you look at, look at Evander Holyfield, a fighter who sacrif well being his quality of life, made hundreds of millions of dollars in his career and loses his house to foreclosure. And think about that. So that's when I, when I talk about vanity. Anytime that you're trying to impress somebody else with what you have, I just going to ask you, just, let's just rethink that. Just, just for a second.
- [55:54]
Lewis Howes
When did you really learn about how to manifest in your life? Was there a time or a season or a decade where you started to think a certain way when it came to either attracting the right clientele as a realtor in terms of attracting the right homes that you wanted to buy and invest in, in terms of business deals that you wanted to do. Was there a season or time that you learned about manifestation?
- [56:20]
Glenda Baker
Making mistakes was probably the biggest teacher for me really. Not just making mistakes in my real estate business, but making mistakes in my personal life cost me so much time really and so much money because. And I think the reason that I'm passionate about it is because like I went out and bought the Mercedes. I made $137,000 on one house. I went out and bought a Mercedes. I went on a shopping spree and within 12 months I was selling my Rolex at a pawn shop.
- [56:58]
Lewis Howes
Really?
- [56:59]
Glenda Baker
Yes, really. I was selling my car, my Mercedes. I was selling that Mercedes and buy. No, no, no. I didn't sell it first. I didn't sell it at first, at first. Sit down. It was paid off because, you know, I made all that money. What you really don't realize, I went.
- [57:16]
Lewis Howes
Down in half after a few months.
- [57:18]
Glenda Baker
Well, what you don't realize is that you got to pay taxes on all that money. But anyway, so I buy the car and I realize I have a cash flow issue. So what do I do? I go get a tote. The note at 27%. So you want to talk about. Oh, Glenda, what would you do when I talk to you? I'm just telling you straight from the horse's mouth. I made this mistake. Don't make the same mistake I did. I went out and bought the fancy Rolex. That's why I have the $130 ring from Ross Simons. I mean, it looks fancy, looks nice. It works and matches my outfit today. So that's what I want people to focus on, is like. Is like the mistakes that I made. Don't. Don't do what I did. Learn. Learn from me. And so that. I mean, how do you manifest it? When I sit, when I never will forget, I saw this agent who sucked as a real estate agent, and that guy was making more money than he could count.
- [58:26]
Lewis Howes
Really? What was the secret?
- [58:28]
Glenda Baker
He was a good talker, but he was investing in pos. Houses. He was investing in these little houses, and he was fixing them up and selling them and fixing them up and renting them. And I remember thinking to myself, somebody that is not as good as I am at real estate is doing a thousand times better than me. And every time I thought about going out and pissing the money away, I thought about that guy and it pissed me off. It made me so mad. It just made me crazy. And every time that I think about doing something that's probably, you know, impulsive or ego driven, and I think that a lot of times you get caught up in being ego driven because it feels good when everybody looks at you and they think that you're successful. But for me, every single day, I focus on what moves me from here to there. And here is freedom for me. Freedom with my children, freedom with my family, freedom with my little grandchildren. My one and only goal is to be able to do whatever I want to do, whenever I want to do it, and not have to worry about going up another set of steps, not worrying about what next house I have to sell. And what turns me on is helping people, inspiring them. And so I just say to myself, every single day, my name is Glenda Baker. Only amazing things happen to me. My name is Glenda Baker. I'm a woman of action, and my name is Glenda Baker. And everybody's going to know my name. And all I want to do is just help people build generational wealth through real estate.
- [60:19]
Lewis Howes
Wow, that's beautiful.
- [60:20]
Glenda Baker
And inspire them through my mistakes.
- [60:22]
Jaspreet Singh
Sure.
- [60:22]
Glenda Baker
Because we don't all need to make the same mistake. Let me have been the guinea pig.
- [60:27]
Lewis Howes
What would you say the three most painful mistakes in business that you've made over the last 30 plus years that really taught you an important lesson. Maybe you had to learn it over and over again.
- [60:40]
Glenda Baker
I didn't pay my taxes. That was probably, that was, that was probably the most eye opening, really thing because I mean, I grew up with a single mother. Like, I didn't have anybody explained, like, I didn't even know you, that when you only got paid when you sold a house. I'm in real estate school and the teacher says now when you sell a house, you make this much money. And I'm like, like you don't get paid on Friday.
- [61:07]
Lewis Howes
Like you have to sell to make money.
- [61:09]
Glenda Baker
Like, I mean, I didn't know, I didn't know that. And I even tried to get a job as an assistant. Nobody would even hire me because, I mean, I'm barely out of high school, didn't go to college. And so, you know, I didn't understand about paying taxes. I mean, I made $137,000 on that one house, for God's sakes. Like, how much could the taxes be? Right?
- [61:28]
Lewis Howes
A lot.
- [61:29]
Glenda Baker
A lot. Had no clue. So the biggest financial mistakes in business I have made have been I didn't pay my taxes. I made purchases based on ego. I let people that didn't matter influence me to make purchases that I shouldn't have.
- [61:50]
Lewis Howes
Really?
- [61:50]
Glenda Baker
Yeah. Because you mean people you knew or.
- [61:53]
Lewis Howes
People you didn't know?
- [61:56]
Glenda Baker
I think it was a little bit of both. People that I knew and I thought, oh, well, you know, they're, they're doing, they're doing well and they're putting all of their money in this. Maybe I should do that. Or I believed all of the, I believed all of the hype and I think that, that, that was a huge mistake. Just, just believing all of the hype that wasn't really the truth.
- [62:25]
Lewis Howes
Yeah.
- [62:26]
Glenda Baker
Not being able to discern well enough.
- [62:30]
Lewis Howes
Yeah.
- [62:30]
Glenda Baker
But being distracted, probably one of the biggest money sucks of my life is being distracted.
- [62:35]
Lewis Howes
What type of distractions over the last 30 years?
- [62:38]
Glenda Baker
All kinds of distractions, but mostly for me, I've been distracted by the shiny penny. I've been distracted by feeling like that I needed to be married to somebody, to be somebody. For many. I mean, I remember it so like vividly in my head that I wasn't going to be worth anything unless I was married to somebody really. Some big person like, you know, like Ted Turner. Like, you know, I'm thinking like, oh, I Should be married to some, like, big shot person. I wouldn't be worth anything without that.
- [63:20]
Lewis Howes
Where did that come from?
- [63:21]
Glenda Baker
I don't. I don't. You know, I don't know. I think about, like, I think about in my head. I was the only child in my school whose parents were divorced.
- [63:36]
Lewis Howes
Really?
- [63:38]
Glenda Baker
And I remember, like, seeing Mr. And Mrs. Meyers and Mr. And Mrs. Bourgeois. And I remember seeing them and thinking, you know, they had the two kids, the three kids, the dog, the house with the swimming pool. Like, the mama stayed at home and the daddy took care of everything. And I remember thinking to myself that I was so cheated that I didn't have that life. And here was my mother. First off, she was old because she was 44 when I was born. So my mom was the oldest mom. She was the only divorced mom, single mom. My dad wasn't really in my life, and so here I am. And then on top of that, I have to have this back surgery, and I'm in a body cast for a year in seventh grade. And just everything, it just. And I've got this big accent, which I don't think I have, but lots of people think I do. But it just. I mean, there was just so many things. And I kept thinking that I was, like, the odd man out. I was like, I was different than everybody else. And rather than appreciating that difference, I worked so hard to be like everybody else.
- [64:58]
Lewis Howes
People pleasing, trying to fit in, doing whatever. Others.
- [65:01]
Glenda Baker
Oh, yeah. Trying to fit in. I mean, I. You know, here was the last kid picked on the playground, and I wanted to fit in so bad.
- [65:09]
Lewis Howes
Yeah.
- [65:10]
Glenda Baker
And I could never figure out how to get those pieces of the puzzle together. Back when I was in school, I mean, I graduated from high school in 1984. You didn't call it bullying. Like, today you would say, oh, she was bullied as a child. She didn't call it that.
- [65:30]
Lewis Howes
Then Wouldn't call it that.
- [65:31]
Glenda Baker
You didn't call it anything. Tough enough.
- [65:33]
Lewis Howes
Normal life.
- [65:33]
Jaspreet Singh
Yeah.
- [65:34]
Glenda Baker
Suck it up, buttercup. You know, And I think that for me, a lot of. A lot of the distractions were just trying to be like everybody else, get somebody's attention and prove that I was worthy.
- [65:54]
Lewis Howes
I know that feeling. And you felt like you only had worth based on who you were with. It sounded like, yeah. Or who you're friends with or who you were dating or who you were married to.
- [66:04]
Glenda Baker
Who I was associated with, who I was attached to, was what defined my worth.
- [66:09]
Lewis Howes
Wow.
- [66:10]
Glenda Baker
And I think that that was huge. Once I realized that My value was determined by me, was a turning point in my life.
- [66:22]
Lewis Howes
When did you learn that?
- [66:23]
Glenda Baker
2017.
- [66:24]
Lewis Howes
Really?
- [66:25]
Glenda Baker
Yeah. Not that long ago.
- [66:27]
Lewis Howes
What made you think that and what made you realize and actually start to believe that?
- [66:35]
Glenda Baker
I stopped. I struggled with drinking, and I stopped drinking at the end of 2015. And I think that that really started giving me a lot of clarity. I think that that alcohol had been. Had disguised a lot of issues that I had. But I think that when I stopped drinking and I tried, I was focused on being my best self. That helped. And then I went to a Tony Robbins event, and he talked about just being present and these moments. Just being present and building these moments. And I went with my son. My son was really struggling at that time.
- [67:17]
Lewis Howes
How old was he then?
- [67:19]
Glenda Baker
He was 16 years old.
- [67:21]
Lewis Howes
Wow.
- [67:22]
Glenda Baker
And he was really kind of going through a difficult season of his own life, and I took him to the UPW for him.
- [67:32]
Lewis Howes
Yeah, right. You got more out of it than he did, probably.
- [67:35]
Glenda Baker
And we're there four days, and at the end, and my son's tall, and he puts his arms around me and my ear is right at his heart and I can hear his heartbeat. And he leans down and he says, I'm never going to forget these four days with you.
- [67:58]
Lewis Howes
Wow.
- [68:01]
Glenda Baker
And I remembered in that very second, in that moment, like, here was this child watching me like you. He deserves it. He deserves your value. He deserves you to be worthy.
- [68:18]
Lewis Howes
Wow.
- [68:19]
Glenda Baker
And so I said. I left that moment and I said, my life, skull, is to string together moments of a lifetime just like that one that I could just feel. And I just. Everything I do, every single thing I do is built around how I can build a moment in time for, like, my life, my children, and the things that the people that I love.
- [68:47]
Lewis Howes
That's beautiful, Grandma. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and it inspired you on your journey towards greatness. Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a full rundown of today's episode with all the important links. And if you want weekly exclusive bonus episodes with me personally as well as ad free listening, then make sure to subscribe to our Greatness plus channel exclusively on Apple Podcast Podcasts. Share this with a friend on social media and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts as well. Let me know what you enjoyed about this episode in that review. I really love hearing feedback from you and it helps us figure out how we can support and serve you moving forward. And I want to remind you if no one has told you lately that you are loved, you are worthy and you matter. And now it's time to go out there and do something great.
- [69:44]
Eduardo
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Jaspreet Singh
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Glenda Baker
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Eduardo
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Jaspreet Singh
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Glenda Baker
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Jaspreet Singh
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Eduardo
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