Kind: captions
Language: en
in prison uh I had a fight with two of
my homies in prison we fight for like
four hours Chase back to back I'm just
fighting one after another one like we
just fighting
um and I go to
solitary confinement and at this time
all these prisoners considered like one
of the worst Parish prisons in the
United States of America right
and I go to the sale and I meet this
white guy
that was the turning point of my life
I get myself with him and I'm frustrated
like I'm kind of bust up
um and he sees me and I guess he's in
awe of the idea
of so many black people
are in this position he says something
to me he says
man y'all playing the wrong game
and so in my mind like I'm fresh I'm
like man what the [ __ ] are you talking
about like we're like don't make me whip
your ass in here right now like he's
like no no he's like listen bro I don't
mean no harm no disrespect
but y'all like why
so I guess he's like perplexed by this
whole dynamic of all of these black men
in here and I'm like man what are you
talking about man like this this ain't
no game like this it's real and so he
says something he said that's the
problem
like y'all don't even know it's a game
[ __ ] and so when he told me that I'm
like like it's something about when you
mad and you in the moment but like
something when it makes sense it hits
you like a ton of bricks
so I'm like
what
he was like man listen man
there's a game that's being played
and you're playing a game that you can't
win
for a minute I just start thinking about
the people who I knew that was in the
streets everybody lost everybody
suffered the same fate
there was nobody in the street that I
knew had 16 at one everybody I knew had
either been to prison been shot got
killed their father like everybody
suffered the same fate so my rebuttal to
him is this well if it's such a game you
know the rules while you're here with me
it's a good question right he says
I'm in here 2.8 million dollars
embezzlement I paid 800 000 restitution
I kept two million have you ever seen 2
million
I'm like man get the [ __ ] out of here
you [ __ ] lying
so one thing about prison and in jail
you can show your paperwork like you can
lie all you want but your paperwork
tells me um
so I said let me see your paperwork day
so in in New Orleans I had a red band so
a red band means attempt murder on
robbery kidnapping call Jack and violent
offense
he has on a red and white band at the
time the Red and White Band means you're
in federal custody and it's crazy
because in prisoner in jail like if you
get a federal brand that's like a
hierarchy like you know something that
we don't know you next level right so
um he showed me his paperwork and it's
right damn black and white and
immediately he got my attention
because the red and white man makes me
respect you a different level at 16 but
then when I see it in your paperwork I
had never seen 2.8 million dollars
written down nowhere right
so that changes my idea like damn
so tell me how do I do what you do
so how do I do that he was like nice
sniping about that
so he tells me these the first three
things was he said listen man wealthy
people do three things man
they stop trading time for money
they make their money work for them and
they give as much value to people as
they can I want to stop you there for a
second yeah I know where you're going
with this we're going to go there but
one thing I love about your [ __ ]
story dude you don't say one thing that
white people do is no one thing that
wealthy people getting people to see
that to me that's the game is
recognizing that this isn't it doesn't
break along uh racial lines the way
people think it does and my time working
in the inner city showed me this is not
about that but this is about
class for sure and getting people to
understand that they can move between
classes Ah that's the [ __ ] game sorry
I just had to say that's so important
there is a shift but and there's the
exposure part so like just coming up in
the streets you only see the game from
the lowest level
and you look at everybody else in part
admiration and part like jealousy
because you see it and you're like damn
I'll never get there
right and so the only way that I think I
can get that is through Sports
a hustling
that's it that's the only a rap and
those are the only three options that
you have and so you you make a decision
on which way you want to go
right and so you look at it from like
damn and so me I'm at the time like when
I came rap damn [ __ ] when I can't play
sports so hustling is what I got you
limit yourself and nobody comes along
and teaches you anything different
so giving us three things again the
wealthy people so you say wealthy people
stop trading time for money they start
making their money work for them and
they give value to as much value to
people as they can the caveat I mean you
know we got a little deeper into that he
said
the reason why you give people so much
value is because if you give them so
much value they'll never leave you
they'll always be there for you and you
will never need for anything as long as
you give welcome value to people
and so I learned that as I got older
that part really didn't make sense to me
at the time but the money working for
you part and I was like what the how do
you make your money work for you again
all I know is how to go get money
that's all I know
so later on in that he says wealthy
people do three things so this may be in
a Cell for about 45 days so all of his
conversations now that you said it's
never was black or white every
conversation with him about money and
transition it was always wealthy people
do
it was always it wasn't white people do
it wasn't black people it was always
wealthy people who do this right wealthy
people do this and I was like damn and
now that you said that this now makes
sense to me again so he says wealthy
people
first they get into stocks then they
start a business and then they get real
estate so if when people ask me how do I
get into stocks is because I follow that
rule or like first let me if you say
real estate business I would have did
I'd have been the real estate
but he said stocks first and I was like
damn and so I just my my rest of my time
in prison
I wanted to be that
I wanted to be a part of that wealthy
conversation so in prison it's easy to
get you know I took my time I researched
the Warren Buffett's and the Peter
Lynch's and I'm not gonna lie in the
beginning that [ __ ] was like Chinese to
me right right this is a foreign
language and so what happened to me was
it started reminding me of being in the
streets
everything about it and I heard this
term one time that said the real
gangsters are on Wall Street the real
gangsters are in the government and I
was like damn
and so once I started getting into the
stock market I want to [ __ ] with that
idea for a second I'm thinking through
this in in real time so forgive me if
I'm seriously but this is one of the
things about you that I think is so
interesting when I hear so I'm good at
making money I'm not good at investing
money so
when I hear you talk about stocks you
make it sound [ __ ] edgy and cool and
makes me want to like learn about it and
get into it and there is this idea of
um
making something cool that I think
people try to uh wash it away but when
you think about the phrase the real
gangsters are in Wall Street it
hopefully it helps people break through
some idea of like oh well they were born
into that and that's why they have it
that isn't true they were taught
something which they happen to be taught
because they were born into it but once
you latch onto they were born into it
you think then it's not for me once you
realize no no it doesn't matter how or
why they got taught they got taught and
that's what allows them to move like a
gangster to give that word a you know
there is definitely some negativity in
their people in the the financial system
that really are like [ __ ] gangsters
in their [ __ ] Sinister but if people
can let go of that idea
not everybody with money in Sinister and
getting money doesn't make you Sinister
and that's why one thing that I think is
important and I know we talked about
before we started rolling you're a
little bit conflicted how much do I show
my growing wealth and I think that I
normally hate when people flex and I I I
won't say that I never flex but I never
go out of my way to flex
but it's important for people to see
that you by living the way that you live
you don't just get a talk cool you
actually live in a different way which
is really [ __ ] interesting anyway so
the real gangsters are on Wall Street
yes I love that and so and what happens
is and just let me say this right quick
the reason why people think wealthy
people are people with money or Sinister
is because that's what you kind of
taught in the hood like you kind of
taught like
the people who really have money like
they did some Wicked [ __ ] to get it they
did some backstabbing and cut those [ __ ]
to get it and you'll never get that
right and so that same mentality now
happens on a lower level right the
hustle and the dope dealing so now you
think like yo I gotta just do send a
[ __ ] to get money and then the people
who are successful in the drug game
they're looking at the people at the top
like damn I want to be that but the
people at the bottom will never get a
taste of that and so now we just kind of
living off ambition and so now the
people who are in the middle who work
and they're like all them people with
money they all Crooks they all because
being at the bottom teaches you to envy
people at the top right it just happens
it's a it's something that grooves down
there right it's kind of like you cook I
don't know if you had gumbo before right
but it's kind of when you cook food
right the base goes to the bottom and so
most people live in that bottom never
knowing how they'll get up there right I
remember so when I was working in the
inner cities I remember having this
moment where I was like wait a second
this is not an intelligence problem
intelligence is evenly distributed like
in I remember saying to my wife the next
[ __ ] Elon Musk is going to be found
somewhere in Compton the problem is he
doesn't believe in himself and so he's
not going to do anything and so I became
obsessed with this idea that
generational poverty is not about money
it's about mindset now it will manifest
as money but it is that so I remember I
had one kid come to me and and I was the
first person that told him you can be
successful like what the [ __ ] why do you
not think you can be successful it
didn't make sense to me and he was like
well my mom always told me that the
world didn't want to see people that
look like me succeed I was like I'm
sorry what I'm like even if your mom had
good intentions that is the worst
[ __ ] advice ever because if you think
you can't be successful that will govern
the way that you move right so Kobe
Bryant people that have listened to me
for a while have heard this quote a
thousand times but booze don't block
dunks the world the world can hate you
all they want but if you're good enough
think about this
the best basketball players in the world
were paid millions of dollars to stop
Kobe Bryant from scoring and the
[ __ ] scored 81 points in a
single game 81 points when you've got
five people paid millions of dollars
actively trying to stop you and they
can't because you've gotten that good
that to me is the game of money people
can not want you to succeed all they
want but if you out invest them they
can't stop you they can't stop you
they can't stop you and so getting
people to break through that so that was
the first time I realized whoa wait a
second we've got people thinking in a
way that governs their behavior such
that and now I'm going to quote you
which I had never heard this before but
this scares the [ __ ] out of me if you
want to hide something from a black
person put it in a book [ __ ]
so
that's heinous in ways I can't even
explain and I'll say that it really
again doesn't break along racial lines
it breaks along economic lines so if
people are not
encouraging you to read you're not going
to read it's [ __ ] hard in the
beginning it feels like you're learning
Chinese
how do you how did you break through
that so there's a few things where we
can get into that so there's this
economic thread that weaves itself
through
the hood
and one of the things we do got to
understand is that
there has been intentionality
when it comes to preventing
Black Culture from thriving economically
so we look at like Black Wall Street we
look at Durham North Carolina we look at
Rosewood every time affluent black
neighborhood gets in that level where
like yo we about to do it and they set
the tone for the rest of them
that get bombed it get pillaged it gets
that happens and so now that becomes
discouraging
right it's like yo like every time we
try yo like [ __ ] man right and so now
what happens with that is that mindsets
get that mindset gets impregnated in the
Next Generation for fear of survival
right like yo don't try to become this
as a collective because they're gonna
bomb this and I don't want to see you
dead so we'll low-level things like that
is intentional
what happens is now
no one now believes that it's possible
once you keep passing that down you
start accepting the lower level and then
there's a few of us or a few people who
say no I'm an outlet you're like I'm
about to go for it and then whatever
happens I'm with that [ __ ] you feel me
so for me again one of the greatest
things that happened to me was my mother
telling me like the world is raw and you
got to get this share how you live but I
also saw my grandmother be a legal
entrepreneur so I saw it from Both
Worlds the greatest thing that ever
happened to me was going to prison
because I was able to sit down
and mature in that environment whereas
had I been in the world I'm not saying I
wouldn't still be this but the path
would have been completely different did
you do all 10 years I did eight years
and nine months God damn 85 of it and so
had I still been on the street I would
have now been struggling with survival
one of the things that happens often in
the culture of black people is survival
mode you never get a chance to play
offense you're always on defense
one because of mindset because you don't
see it again the dog dealer and the
rapper everybody who's working is
struggling and so you never want to be
that
you never want to be that you're like
damn like why is everybody struggling I
need to do something different
so while I'm in prison
I I pick up a habit of reading
that was the game changer for me
on the streets I never had the
opportunity to just sit down and read
because I'm always trying to survive
imprisoned there was no longer a
survivor mode there
when we look at it from when we break
everything down we break everything down
and we look at it from a skeleton I have
a roof over my head I have a bed it's
not the most comfortable bed I have a
bed I get three meals a day whether I
like it or not I have the the essentials
right
um
I started hustling in prison so I was
working in the laundry
and so uh your clothes don't really get
clean so I found a hustle like yo I wash
your clothes when we do it but it's five
dollars or twenty five dollars a month
so that gave me a whole another set of
money and then I started being like a
numbers dude how Vegas have the numbers
the betting I became a numbers guy so I
had actually you know that's it
self-taught I used to get the USA Today
I said look at this guy Danny Sheridan
he used to put out the line and then I
would take his numbers and put those
numbers on my ticket and my ticket was
called Braveheart so now I did college
football NFL football and laundry I had
a whole thing going I checked this out
there's five units in prison I had
people in each unit
selling tickets for me as in
Distributors so the streets was the same
in there right and so in each unit there
are six eight domes so one person was
spraying he had Runners and everybody
worked for me
and so that's how I survived but I had
time now to just sit down and read
and I would rewind my first book ever
reading was Sister Soldier Coldest
Winter Ever
changed I was like damn this is dope so
I went through the reading the hood
Classics and then I jumped into like let
me understand assistant Soldier like the
hip-hop artist yeah she had a book the
coldest one to ever sure
phenomenal book
I read it and I was like damn like this
[ __ ] is dope so I went through a phase
where I was reading like the Hood books
and then I was like man I lived this
[ __ ] already no matter how many times
you tell a Hood story it's still the
same I've lived this [ __ ] for real I
don't keep me to read this and so
I used to get up in the mornings and
watch CNBC
so Mario people in prison they love to
watch The Young and the Restless
and so I would have to get up before
them to watch like Squawk Box Jim Cramer
I'd be like damn these [ __ ]
making all this money and they not
risking their life
some gotta change for me
like something got to change and so I
just started listening to him every day
and I started comparing it to the
streets a good business is just like a
good Hustler a good business has great
product
they have great clientele a great
Hustler has a great product he has
consistent clientele a good business on
the stock market has what's called a
moat a Competitive Edge that keeps his
competitors away a good Hustler on the
street is going to have that Competitive
Edge where they'd be like nah yo I ain't
rocking on you I'ma just wait to trap
come back right so there's the
Competitive Edge a good business has a
good branding my name is good right so a
good Hustler on the street yo trap got
that blue magic I'm good on you like if
I can't get trapped I'ma just go try but
trap got that blue magic that's what I'm
rocking with Brandon move right that's
it a great business on the stock market
has more assets more liquidity than debt
a good Hustler on the street is if you
don't learn how to fund your business if
you're operating well all you have is
re-up money you're not going to last
long
so those components reminded me the same
in this on the stock market or in the
world if a company's paying terrorists
that's the equivalent to a business a
dude on the street going paid draft to
go hustling somebody Hood like you can't
hustle over here unless you pay me draft
it's the same as a terror
it's the same thing yeah so once I under
once I broke the game down to a way that
I can understand it it wasn't about me
just being brilliant it was like yo how
do I make the game winnable for me
people build a business yep the business
needs something though that thing is
capital yeah it's money
so the people building the businesses in
the beginning they often don't have the
capital and so they need a way to go out
and get the capital or
it's going to get a little bit
complicated faster but I'm gonna go
through come on let's see if people can
hang something all right you're building
a business one of two things is true you
either don't have money and so you need
somebody that can help you get the
things moving that you need to then
generate the capital okay I'm sure
people have heard the phrase it takes
money to make money she's entirely true
but certainly as you scale that is very
true you have to pay employees and all
that okay so it takes money to make
money so you're building a business you
need the capital you can get somebody to
give you money early on you can make a
little bit of money and reinvest it
yourself
but what most people do is either they
need that money or they've managed to
get the company going this is what
happened to me at Quest so you get the
company going you don't have to take
money from other people in the beginning
but all of your money is in the company
so I was worth hundreds of millions of
dollars right and I couldn't access it
I'm driving a beat-up car and so it's
like I'm rich on paper but in actuality
not so much okay so one of those two
things is true either need money to get
this thing going or all the value that
I've been able to build is trapped in
equity in the company so to unleash some
of that value they create shares you're
now a public company and this is what
you're talking about so hey you've got
this JPMorgan realizes I'm not an
entrepreneur I'm not going to be able to
build something but these entrepreneurs
are in a tricky situation they're maybe
brilliant with business
but they have another need yeah and so
as they go public which is just turning
creating shares out of your company
that's a very technical bringing it down
to Pieces exactly break it into pieces
now you're going to sell those pieces to
the public
they can then buy a piece of that
entrepreneur's endeavor right a piece of
that company and so now the entrepreneur
or the business depending on if they're
selling their personal shares or if the
company's selling treasury shares either
the company has just gained a ton of
money or that individual has taken money
off the table and now they've actually
got real wealth which always makes me
laugh when people think that Jeff Bezos
has 190 billion dollars his company is
worth that he doesn't have that unless
he sells the shares right so anyway so
now it's like whoa whoa so as an average
person I can go buy a piece of these
storied companies but what I really want
people to understand
you just went and learned that yeah like
you I can't tell you how late I came to
this game you figured this out before I
did I was building businesses already
this is why I'm so [ __ ] enough when I
think about how far down the road I went
I learned the game of building
businesses you learned the game of
buying businesses
okay maybe people don't want to do the
thing that I did some days I wonder and
you went down another road which is
available to everybody okay so now the
people have their little primer and how
all of this game works right one how why
don't people do it in fact let's start
there we'll we'll definitely talk about
how to do it well but why don't people
do it I think because America has
painted this picture that is dangerous
so think about TV I'm going to lose my
money I'm going to lose my money uh
stock market crashes right and then
every show that you've seen about Wall
Street is about people that are crooked
that take advantage of people's money
and then get rich you know and so people
don't associate with that right people
feel like you know what I don't want to
be a part of that I don't know enough
about that right when investing in the
stock market isn't an IQ game it's not
about it's not about being the most
brilliant person in the world right it's
about understanding basic economics and
basic economics is what we know every
day you understand this supply and
demand right supply and demand says that
if Michael Jordan drops a shoe then the
line is going to be wrapped around the
corner right but if you find a way to
get that shoe hold on to that shoe and
then later on you can now sell that shoe
at a top tier Price Right supply and
demand right if we can understand that
you understand certain parts of business
economics right you understand that if
Michael Jordan were to release
a hundred million yep shoes
won't be worth much it won't be worth
but if he releases a thousand exactly
now price gonna go crazy and then over
time it becomes worth even more because
most people will wear the shoes lower
the value but for anybody that holds on
to them so now you've got decreasing
Supply which creates a even if the the
demand stayed steady if the supply
decreases now you've got
um a positive Dynamic 100 and so that's
and that's that's the that's the most
amazing part about investing is
everybody won't be able to build a
billion dollar business
right but everybody can invest in one
and that's why I love it right so the
three the three things in my wealth
pyramid is stocks business real estate I
believe you should have all three right
but you can get away with two how are
you differentiating between stocks and
business so when I say stocks and means
like me buying shares of a business yeah
business second is me creating a
business and then real estate third so
you think everybody should create a
business no no no that's why I say you
can get away with two out of the three
you know what I'm saying so everybody
doesn't have to create a business
because it's just not for everybody but
you can see what we do know is as
America evolves through this business
as business evolves there are some
brilliant people that says for that
business there's a problem
for that problem I have the solution
that's a business you like to invest in
right and so if we can invest in the
solutions I always say that if we invest
in the solutions we cannot help but win
invested in a solution okay making
Amazon was a solution to so many things
getting us information faster getting us
books faster getting us it changed the
game it revolutionized how we how we got
uh packages if ever it made somebody say
you know what I could go to the store
today but I'm willing to wait one day to
get this package the truth is hitting
your career goals is not easy you have
to be willing to go the extra mile to
stand out and do hard things better than
anybody else but there are 10 steps I
want to take you through that will 100x
your efficiency so you can crush your
goals and get back more time into your
day you'll not only get control of your
time you'll learn how to use that
momentum to take on your next big goal
to help you do this I've created a list
of the 10 most impactful things that any
High achiever needs to dominate and you
can download it for free by clicking the
link in today's description all right my
friend back to today's episode can I
just say for for the young people in the
crowd who grew up with Amazon yeah there
was a time you'd have to wait four times
six weeks to get something in the mail
exactly
exactly that's insane if you can order
something in the morning and get it in
the afternoon and some places you get it
the same day and so when we think about
revolutionizing the game evolving that's
what I love about investing right I'm
thinking think about Tesla and I'm not
advocating for anyone to invest in these
businesses but I'm just showing how how
the world has evolved and you can build
your wealth for me 100 if you're bold
enough to bet on the future
if you're bold enough to bet on the
future and be patient enough to let it
take place you will win and you will win
big
that is that's without a doubt so we we
see the evolution of Tesla and we see
what's going on with this business even
if you don't agree with everything that
Elon does you say okay well
Rolls-Royce just dropped its first EV
car for four hundred thousand dollars
right they're saying they're going to be
all electric by 2030. General Motors and
they're going to be all the electric by
2032 Ford is drop electric cars now what
is that telling us right now the
landscape of vehicles is changing right
so what do I say okay I want to be a
part of this Evolution I want to be a
part of not only the electric car
Revolution but the charging stations the
batteries right these are the components
the supply chain that makes this whole
um
sector possible and so for me that's
betting on the future and if we can't
understand if we can truly grasp that
that your money is not doing you know
Justice in a bank
it's not especially now right it's not
doing you know Justice in the bank why
not well because the more they print
money the more your money loses value
right the more inflation goes up the
more your money loses value so a hundred
dollars spent in 2019 that same hundred
dollars now takes a hundred and nine
dollars
right so your money is lost you need to
buy the same so buy the same thing right
so if you bought this mug for a hundred
dollars in 2019 I mean it's not in the
mouth if that's what you did but yeah it
now costs you 109 right you need that
much more money so we understand that
One Lie we've been told is sitting our
money in the bank
so that's probably should add that to
the equation earlier right putting our
money in the bank thinking that the bank
is the safest place to have our money
right that's probably the most dangerous
place because I always say a dollar
that's not moving is a dollar that's
losing right so sitting on money in the
bank is not the place to be right so
what would be how do you make your money
move how do you make your money move by
making great Investments or just
investing so I'll give you an example
for me personally I literally don't have
but like twelve thousand dollars sit in
the bank
all of my money is in the market 90 of
it is in the market so I use What's
called the vo which is the Vanguard
index fund for the spot um S P 500 I use
that as my savings account
so every month or every week I'm putting
money in a well trap what happens when
the market is going down well my money
wasn't making no money in the savings
account anyway so I'm putting it in
there right and then what happens when
the market rebounds we won't be here
forever
we won't be here forever what happens
when the market rebounds well talk to
people about realized losses versus
unrealized losses okay because I think
this really messes good that's good
that's good so unrealized loss is when
let's say I have a hundred dollars on
something and that goes down to 89 right
if I sold it today I wouldn't be able to
sell it for what I paid for but
so you you buy something at a hundred
dollars it goes down to eighty dollars
if you don't sell it you have an
unrealized loss of twenty dollars I mean
you didn't sell it your Equity just
decreased
if you sell it you realize that game you
have now made that game realistic I mean
at loss you've realized that loss you've
made that loss realistic so you've now
essentially lost that twenty dollars
right that's a uh that's a realized loss
not realize gains is the complete is the
exact opposite right so if you go up to
uh I buy something for 100 it goes up to
150 unrealized I have a hundred I have
fifty dollars in unrealized gain so it's
there but I didn't sell it it's there
realizing it is saying I've cashed out
I've cast out on it think about like you
talked about Jeff Bezos right his net
worth is what
180 something billion dollars something
like that
last time I checked 60 of his money was
an Amazon stock 60 of it so this is why
you wake up one day and you say damn
Jeff lost 18 billion dollars well that's
unrealized
because he didn't cash out
so he didn't lose it it's still there
wants to stop getting backs up he
recoups all of that and so that's the
adult part about the mark yes it
fluctuates yes it goes ups and down but
that's also the most scariest part about
the market because people who come from
a lower income working class
environments the worst thing that can
come to their mind is losing money that
I bust my butt for that's what makes the
market so scary for them and that
confusion keeps them out of the market
yeah so this is where now people have to
get into the intricacies of money
so it's probably worth
belaboring the point a little bit about
the people don't even get to the
starting line
so I forget the percentage of households
of people that live paycheck to paycheck
but it's ungodly it's astronomical it's
more than 50 72 that's so ridiculous so
this is for people even making six
figures like most people live paycheck
to paycheck 100 if you're living
paycheck to paycheck one you're not
going to survive any difficulty
financially so if you get sick and now
your hospital bills the number of people
that go broke because they're already
they have no savings and now they get
sick your car breaks down I remember
that when I was broke and your car
breaks down it's like well then I don't
have a car it's not like I can even
choose to go get it fixed so
of course people in that situation are
not thinking oh I need to
go put money into the stock market I'm
not saving money anyway so that's number
one to your point about people spend
money that they don't have so whatever a
dollar four out of every dollar that
they make
the only way I found where I could do it
where I could save I had to gamify it I
had to make it fun I had to get myself
obsessed over watching the number go up
so that I would get more of a dopamine
rush out of looking at my I used to use
mint I don't know if they're still
around into it a stock they dig at home
yeah yeah exactly well said well said so
I would because it connected to my bank
account every time I made a deposit into
my bank account my dashboard
automatically update and I'm like oh
damn like I've now got five hundred
dollars 527 and it was like cool is it
going up is it going up is it going up
and so people need to find that hook
whatever that is to get excited about
beginning to save money but that's
interesting I like that you use the
Vanguard as the savings account so do
you is your money automatically
allocated no so I do it one because I
have I found on that Financial
discipline and myself so this now is a
this is my routine how did you how did
you develop that so growing up you
realize that there's a thread that runs
through
just through
especially poverty-strick in America
right and it is that we have no
Financial structure right if everyone is
living paycheck to paycheck right so
let me go back a second for a second
Reaganomics
cause so much Havoc
to that low-income black community right
why why so let's think about this
in 1982 yeah I was born they were
written Ronald Reagan took one million
people off of welfare
he took another half a million people
kids out of a free lunch right
the economy went through a real
recession in 82. but then in 85
but I was getting into all of it
around
65 tons of cocaine pillaged
lower income Black America
in a form of crack cocaine
85 tons that came from Nicaragua which
then was a result of Ronald Reagan being
told he could not
put illegal guns in Iran
so he supported the South American
contract go look that up this amazing
story right
that wreaked havoc so a lot of times in
my culture we look at slavery and we
look at that and that's cool but this
generation can't identify with that
right they they it's too far
but what we can identify with is that
everyone from 82 to now has been touched
by the crack era
cocaine crack abuse it's separated
families and so now think about the
mindset that came with money during that
era right everything was lack right you
have people trying to work you have
functioning
families now broken up by drug abuse
followers locked up mothers now with the
term crack babies now another way to
separate black women from kids so it
pill is cracked pillaged the black
community especially in major cities La
Miami New York pillage them so now the
idea of money is separate I want you to
think about the mindset that you have to
have as a man as a as a friend I grew up
with this brother I grew up with his
mother and now his mother is buying
cracks for me
right for me to sell my friend's mother
crack
what type of mindset monstrous mindset
that has to have and then that becomes
the norm right and send them from that
error we go to Bush where now the War on
Drugs is important but how can we have a
law on drugs if we are now pushing the
drugs in this community
right and then
we get two non-mandatory minimums and
then we get to Clinton where we get
three strikes you out so now before we
can even deal with the money mindset we
got to deal with the pillage and the
breakup of the family that happens and
so now when a family is in survival mode
we can't think about money because now
we're trying to how is this next meal
possible
right
Financial trauma
Financial trauma now is anchored to who
we are so for me when I was in prison
when I got exposed to
damn I'm playing the wrong game I had to
look at the pieces on the board
like in my a night in my bishop and my
Rook I damn sure ain't the king
so I mean I'm a pawn
s always get sacrificed
so I'm always being sacrificed how the
hell can I win this game
something got to change
and so one of the things I knew that I
had to change was my relationship with
money because that's how you change what
piece you are on the board that's how
you change the piece you are
and then what happens with the poem on a
chessboard is if the pawn can find a way
to get to the other side of the
chessboard he then could become whatever
he wants
and for me it's the two things the
information and learning how to use
money I can become any piece on the
chessboard and so now for me once I
learned about money once I started
healing my own Financial trauma it was
easy for me to now start talking to
people about it but also improving my
life because now money is not the thing
that dictates me it's the vision it's
the how do I become successful for the
next Generations how do I help the
people that I know heal their financial
trial we can't even talk about money we
can't talk about wealth we can't talk
about winning in this world if we don't
disattach ourselves from the things
that's keeping us from being successful
and that is for me Financial trauma that
is a harsh pill to swallow and just a
form of that is just think about it like
this why is that a hard pill to swallow
well because if you think about it most
people like to reflect I mean deflect
right it's not my fault um
um you know
think about the years of slavery think
about this people like to deflect they
never want to take full accountability
for it right but healing that Financial
trauma saying yo check this out we
talked about it earlier if you have more
money under your bed in your closet than
you have in your investment account or
your savings account and that's
Financial trauma if you are saying
things if you're doing things like you
know you're badly making you know you
live in check the check but for
Christmas you go spend money you don't
have to say well my kids can have a
great Christmas that's Financial trauma
because what you've now taught your kid
is it's okay to spend money you don't
have to have a good time and then come
back later on and have to pay that or
digging yourself in a deep hole so
somebody has to break that Financial
trauma if not the family the generations
that follow will all follow the same
suit you need one outlier you need one
person that's disrupt disruption you
need one person to do that and if nobody
ever does that you can look at a whole
lineage of the people of a family and
realize why nobody has never changed it
and so for me to change was if I can
become Financial literary if I can
become financially conscious if I can
increase my financial fortitude then I
can not only change myself and my life I
can lead by example and change my family
and then that can have another effect
that people around my friends you know
so on and so forth but it was me being
able to heal that Financial trauma in
the beginning man that was important the
only one I hear talking about something
that I think is actually really
connected which is values and
knowledge
to get the outcome that you want
when did you start like hearing you talk
about the disruption of the family
um the more I look so
I think you know my background yeah but
so my story I saw Big Brother room for a
kid in South Central
and I'm I was just too young to
understand what was happening and so I
have no idea why he's acting out why
everything is just a mess
and start getting older
Star Quest thousand employees that
remind me of the kid that I and I Big
Brother for him for eight and a half
years so it's a long time yeah from the
time he was eight till he was 16. yeah
crazy yeah uh and
seeing then later when I was finally old
enough to understand what was going on a
bunch of people that were growing up in
the inner cities
it is
this is this is the fiery debate right
now
is it culture or is it that the deck is
stacked against me and I felt like a man
screaming into the void
trying you've you've given such a cool
analogy if people play chess so you've
got the pawns the pawns are always
sacrificed but if you get to the other
side of the board you can replace them
with something else
That's The Human Condition uh-huh
traversing the board is knowledge
but if you learn and no one can stop you
this is the age of free information if
you can learn then you really can become
whatever you want booze don't block
Donuts no one can stop you from doing
the thing that you want to do and so I
was just like screaming and screaming
and screaming like no no the only thing
that separates you and I are ideas
I found a better set of ideas and those
ideas govern my life it's what I call
frame of reference so if your frame of
reference is poverty and I remember
saying this before the internet was like
really popping off and so there was
nobody there to freak out and yell uh
but I was like the day I realized oh
poverty isn't about money it's about
mindset
I was just like whoa and then you
encounter the first person that's like
offended by that idea and I was like
whoa what do you mean I don't I
literally didn't understand why that was
offensive I'm like this means that you
can set yourself free you could do
whatever the [ __ ]
so
getting people to understand okay
there's taking it back to the family
for whatever reason
the predictive nature of a two-parent
household is crazy if you have one the
odds of you doing well are really high
and if you don't have one they begin to
decline
[Music]
why well so there is a disparity in
what poverty is
lack of information lack of resources
money is infinite they never stop
they've never stopped printing money the
problem is
getting the belief to understand that
getting a getting a belief that you're
capable
of being something nothing against
rapping and entertaining but for a lot
of people that come from my culture
that's the only way out
Stone the way out
that's it if you can't rap you can't
play sports then you're probably gonna
sell drugs or do something illegal
because 87 percent of crimes are behind
money origins of a mediocre just leave
and so nobody wants that right and so
now we we understand that there are
better opportunities in better segments
just in White America just 100 but what
happens is that can't be the defining
part
like I know what I said all right cool
but what stops me well what stops me is
me
what stops me is me playing the blame
game all my life what stops me is me
keeps saying well I'm black they White
well that's you're not going to go far
doing that what stops me as saying I
didn't have the opportunities they have
that's going to keep it from going there
if you can get past the [ __ ] inside
these are real issues but the biggest
issue is the belief of myself the
biggest issue is I need to spend more
time reading and researching than
partying I need to spend more time
reading researchers and chasing women I
need to spend more time reading and
researching then you know trying to go
hang out playing that being on Netflix
all day playing a game all day I need to
speed more time developing a skill set
okay boom as I evolve as I learn how the
game is being played as I get exposure
to their game my confidence builds up so
the reason why it is more the success
barrier is high in a two-parent home
a healthy two parent home
that's important I think though the
stats are
and I'm sure just because the sort of
average to healthy ish uh homes it just
overwhelms it is the the number but the
the statistics and I don't remember the
exact number but your odds of
living above the poverty line it's over
70 over 80 something like that if you in
a two-parent home structure
so in a two-parent home there's a form
of structure there's a hierarchy and
then there's you know there's a man
there's a woman and then there's kids so
now you have an infrastructure to when
you don't have when you don't have this
is good but you don't have a two-parent
home not saying you can be successful
but now there are so many other
different influences in your life and
I'll give myself for example right like
again I'm homeless at 16.
right but was your dad around when you
were growing I never even met my dad
never ever in my life right so now the
influences became like anybody who I saw
had so when I'm looking at the hustlers
I'm like all right yo like he got the
girls
he got the respect he got the money
that's what I want to be like
and so I'm getting that from him I'm
learning I'm getting it from the
hustlers and then boom dead jail but
because that's the only
image I have this is what I'm holding on
to right and then when I go to prison
you know you get with the OG's and they
start telling you yo don't do this don't
do that okay cool now I've pivoted right
I've pivoted from this to this because
this information is going to get me
through prison this is the information
is going to keep me alive this is the
information that's how I carry myself
this is how I talk that's how I maneuver
that's how you you know okay cool I got
it but then
you come home and I come home and I'm a
26 year old man but guess what I still
never had a father so I'm still missing
something in my life
still missing something and honestly
that void didn't feel so I had my
daughter
right but then I'm missing that voice so
now I'm still influenced by anything
that I feel has structure right so that
two-parent home even the father may not
be the best or whatever but it's
structure you understand his position in
life you understand his position in that
family structure you understand that
Mother's position structure is so
important it limits the mistakes
the less mistakes you can make on a
journey the easier it is to become
successful yeah this to me so this is a
really important idea this is what I
talk about with business and mindset I
always tell people you have to
understand how the game works and and
what I mean by that is there's a physics
to everything so there's a physics of
business so thinking from first
principles how how these things are
actually structured and I think the big
breakthrough and I've heard you say this
I think this is really smart there's a
difference between the basics and the
fundamentals yes the basics is just
one-on-one yeah so here are the sort of
words and phrases you're going to need
the fundamentals are the physics this
this is how it works and once you know
how something works then you can get
good at it but if you and and I really
think the vast majority of humanity and
I don't care what class you're in the
vast majority of humanity does not
understand how the world Works therefore
they are at the mercy of the world and
the people that figure out how it works
can change things you know I mean we'd
use a negative word say manipulate but
it really isn't that like this is power
close your eyes imagine a world better
than this one open your eyes get the
skills to make that world come true and
go actually make it come true that's
[ __ ] power and that imagine being
able to close your eyes imagine
something open your eyes and actually be
able to create it that's [ __ ] power
so to whether that's to change you know
people growing up in the inner cities
whether that's to create generational
wealth in your own family whether that's
to learn architecture and build a bridge
or a house whatever like that is the
point but to be able to do that you have
to understand
how things work and like yeah that's
that is to me what is so powerful about
you
you understand a game that a lot of
people that are disenfranchised
understand the streets and you're saying
[ __ ] this is just physics let
me show you the correlate over here it's
all the same [ __ ] it's the same that's
it and so that's that's important for me
the understanding the basics and the
fundamentals like once you start
understanding the fundamentals you give
yourself power because you now
understand like you said you see how the
machine works right and so most people
look at the machine in Marvel and say
Eva I'm like most people look at the
stock market most 98 of the people who I
know look at the stock market say yo
that's not a game I can play
I'm staying away from it and so the ways
the way it's set up is the world is set
up well listen cool I don't even want
you to play just give me your money I'll
play it for you so we look at like Banks
like we understand that Banks don't
necessarily work in our favor
right so Banks only give us 0.05
interest on the money we have there but
we can get eight percent just by putting
our money in the index fund so why would
I just set my money in a bank and let
the bank make all the money because all
they're going to do is invest the money
for you so they're not operating as the
plug
they operate now as the man who I'm
gonna front you this I'm gonna make my
money I'm gonna take the cut I'm gonna
give you just enough to keep coming back
I'm gonna go to the plug who is the plug
the stock market man right and so once I
understood the fundamentals of like the
most important thing too is we don't
understand how money works
that's a whole different language in its
own the relationship with money in my
community is you make money
just enough to pay bills and so once you
get tired of paying bills you say you
know what I need to treat myself to
something right no matter if I got to go
in debt no matter the fact I need to
treat myself to something to take this
misery away
so you treat yourself to something that
you can't afford at the time right but
it makes you feel good in the moment
and so because it makes you feel good
you say you know what I'm living this is
a reprieve from everyday struggle
let me get back on the hamster web
and so the sacrifice now becomes hard
because now you're saying I gotta work
work work and never get that reprieve
I'm not willing to do that
right and so that's the mindset comes in
and say everybody around me had the same
problem
no one represented the solution
so if I don't change something I'm only
going to end up like everybody else I
know
somebody has the solution somewhere
there's too many people out here living
the life of their dreams that I'm
watching they know something I don't
know and the only thing that they had
was access to a different type of
information
so once I went got the information I now
wanted to sing from the mountains I was
like yo look at this dope thing I found
everybody gonna be a part of it and then
when I showed it to people it was like
that ain't it bro I'm not about to do
that and so I realized how powerful it
was for me to one become economically
like powerful in my mind
the thing about investing especially in
stocks is that piece of ownership of
everything that I use now makes me say
well if I own that apple
God I don't care about buying an Apple
phone if I'm gonna wear Levi's and I'm
gonna wear Timberlands if I can own vfc
Corp then I own the stuff that I'm
buying I'm okay with that like that
subtle shift in my mindset changed
everything for me because now I was
after just owning everything that I
consumed in the beginning that was my
introduction to the game let me just own
everything I consume and then I'll feel
okay and then one dope thing happened to
me
in 2010 this Anthem home from prisoner
right I'm home from prison
um I'm back in the streets hustling
because even though I have the
information I don't have the money
right and I'm like well [ __ ] I gotta get
the money my door gets kicked in in 2010
they get uh eight pounds a week ten
thousand dollars yeah eight thousand
eight pounds a week ten thousand dollars
a 223 a 40 with extended clipping a beam
and a hundred X pills
so the cop tells me
you ain't heard your lesson
are you gonna learn your lesson and I
was like damn
that was some dumb [ __ ]
right like I got knowledge I got
information but I still fell victim to
the same [ __ ] that everybody around me
knew so therefore the knowledge that I
had wasn't powerful because it wasn't
applied
so I was fortunate God blessed me
um I wound up getting found out guilty
because it's called fruit of a poisonous
treat so they kicked in my door but they
didn't have probable cause because they
stopped me in my truck didn't find
nothing on me so they went to my house
kicked the door and with no surgery on
so now everything you find is null and
void
that's purpose man because that's not
supposed to happen right I'm thinking
for that all the time and then
um but that put me in a situation
because now even though it costs it cost
me sixty thousand dollars to beat that
charge I don't have no money
so now I get into the robbing game so
now I start robbing dope dealers right
because OG told me that a person who
works a job every day they not a part of
this game so they not fair game they you
don't mess with them but somebody who
sells a nickel bag
he's fair game a shotgun cab is a tuna
or whatever if you're in the ocean
swimming you feel that game and so I
started robbing dope dealers at the time
because I was like yo if you want you
can't call the police if you won't see
me see me I'm with it
and I got in a situation where
um I was good at it me and my partner
God bless it so and then one day I
almost got killed and I go to my pot and
I say bro I'm out like I said done deal
but when they kicked my door in
something happened
so they took my truck
they
took my money but they didn't mess up my
stock account
it didn't freeze it didn't I said hold
up
they don't think I'm smart enough for
this
in the book 48 Laws of Power it says uh
never underestimate your opponent
and at that point I realized that
America underestimates us
and it's not it's from a class issue
because we've never said we're capable
of doing this it's a game we just didn't
play
so I say okay
God what do you want me to do all I know
how to do is be a hustler
in the voice from 1999 comes in my head
and says you're just playing the wrong
game
okay start working as an ironworker
building stadiums building power plants
it's crazy because I was making good
money two thousand dollars a week that's
good money this one like yo two thousand
dollars a week yo that's it two thousand
twenty five hundred like it was amazing
I started saving and investing 70 of my
money ah damn I was living bare minimum
I was like if I'm Gonna Change I gotta
make like the hard choices it's hard for
people to make sacrifice because you
gotta now go go against and do without
some of the things that gives you that
momentary gratification that simple that
Ah that's what keeps you alive that's
what keeps you going just to go on
vacation one time a year to get these
pair of shoes that may cost me a
thousand dollars and I know I can't
afford them but
I've worked so hard I need that just to
keep giving me something
and so I was like okay and once I
started doing it man and I started
showing my homies in the street that it
was a game changer it changed my life
you're showing them your portfolio no I
was showing yeah I was like yo look I'm
about to end this before Robin Hood even
existed right so I'm on E-Trade at the
time and I'm like right check this out
and we go get we go to the club bro and
we buy
bottles Hennessy
we buy I'm a wet
we buy Louis Vuitton we buy Fendi yo we
can own that
it was like what like yo there's a stock
called lvmh Louis Vuitton wet Hennessy
but you can get it on the market it's
lvmuy because it's in France and it was
like what I'm like man look I'm like
listen bro we upgrade our iPhones every
year
we can own apple and so now we all have
we own iPod bro we wear Timberlands
every day and so that was like they got
it but it was like
I see it but I don't know and I was like
all right and so then I had an idea
I said check this out
we know the end result of being in
prison
I've been shot you've been shot you've
been shot we've did some shooting we've
all been in jail
who suffers
like your kids your moms your girl I
said at least what we got to do is if we
gonna play the game we gotta at least
reward them for us playing the game
I was like so what we got to do is
invest our money for them
so we making ten five thousand dollars a
week if we can do that if we can make
twenty thousand dollars but we got to
give them something if it ain't cash we
gotta at least put something up for them
because if we gone for 10 years what
they gonna do we can at least have that
one and then I was talking one of our
problems I was like listen bro you need
to invest the money because he was
making more money than me I said what
happens when you get knocked off because
one thing is you know is your time is
coming so you live the game until it's
your time you understand that
what happens when you go do a 510 your
bed and you come home and nobody can't
give you money
at least if you got it in the stock
market when you come home
you up your money been working for you
for 10 years five years you gotta ask
nobody for nothing you go to real man
what you got he was like damn that's
smart bro and so my idea was like how do
we get how do we start changing the
mindset and some people might be like
why would you tell them that because
what happens is you got to start
somewhere
you got to make the game winnable in the
language that we can understand and so
once you learn English now you say you
know what I want to learn Spanish I want
to learn French I want to learn that
because now you understand the Power of
Words and so once they started
understanding the power of the game it
was like okay I can play this game and
so it was powerful for me when my home
is in the street started investing in
money
that was a game changer for me when my
home is in the street who didn't finish
school who didn't go to college started
telling me man I bought some apple bruh
I bought some Microsoft bruh
I bought some Nike bro cause I'm about
to get them new J's so I'm out like that
was powerful for me yeah we made the
game winnable
dude you have a phrase Wall Street looks
like us well she looks like us now
there's another phrase you say but you
should like put that same like [ __ ]
stamp on it is I own that I own that
because you talk about stocks in a way
that sounds so rad where it's like you
refer to yourself as an owner of the
companies and and the thing is it
actually is true like you're not playing
a linguistic game it is true but people
don't think about it like that but it's
so much more powerful than having a cool
pair of kicks is to say I own the
company that makes those kicks or I own
the company that makes that phone or you
know Tim Cook the CEO of Apple works for
me right it's uh it's really really
powerful explain that basic idea of
ownership for people that might not
quite put it together that stocks really
are owning that company so I actually
got that term from Warren Buffett
um in one of his meetings I want to say
it was the 1995 shareholder meeting and
he's said that he owned great owning a
stock is like is owning a percentage of
a great business
and so once I understood that concept
I understood that the key to wealth is
through ownership
like that's what that's that was one of
the things that made it click because I
studied the wealthy people like I
studied them
um and I was like damn even you go back
to Black Wall Street old W Gurley the
reason why he bought he has the 40 acres
and those acreages one of the things he
did was he said I'm going to sell these
pieces to my people so they can have
ownership
I was like damn when you study Reginald
white one of the first black man to make
a billion dollars on Wall Street it was
about he wanted it to have ownership so
I said the key to Building Wealth is not
how much you can work
you can't work your way to wealth you
got to invest your leader in all wealthy
people black white asian Chinese they
own a whole bunch of [ __ ]
the people who aren't wealthy is because
they don't own nothing
you only have your money sitting in cash
if your money is just sitting in cash
realistically you're becoming poorer
every day right or they own depreciating
assets and that's what cash is it's a
depreciating asset because the more
money they print the more money that
money loses value so if it's just
sitting it's the reason why the bank
wants you to have your money there so
they can take it and use it and invest
it so much and be like hey assistant I'm
gonna give you 50 cents on whatever you
had in there right and so the idea of
ownership was you know we can just start
owning everything that we no matter if
it's just a stock
like that's powerful because if you can
start owning the businesses that you now
consume every day you turn a one-time
transaction to a lifetime of profit and
that was Major for me because if I go to
the store and buy a pair of Nikes
that's a one-time transaction in order
for me to get something from them again
I got to come back and buy another pair
of Nikes but if I own the Nike stock
long as I've owned it it's a profitable
um vehicle for me so that one-time
transaction can become a lifetime of
profit if I own that business if I'm
gonna buy Apple if I know I'm an Apple
user if I know I got the phone I got the
airpods I got the MacBook I got the PC I
got excited when Apple's about to drop
something why wouldn't I own it as much
of it as I can
right like if I if I understand that
concept if I know people gonna America
has one of the biggest trash problems in
the world right so if I know that waste
management is a company that's going to
be here forever because we aren't going
to stop throwing things away why don't I
own that company
because I know everybody throws things
away and so now instead of me getting
excited about Apple lime being around a
corner because it's a new phone I'm like
yo y'all about to make me some money
right so when I hear cutting like Waste
Management has bought 40 acres of
disposable land for another landfill I'm
excited about that and another great
thing about the stock market is
for me it now makes me pay attention to
the world and so now I understand what's
going on in the world I started learning
Business site was Market Cycles you know
I'm like because now I can understand yo
this is okay things are going out of
business okay we're we're in this cycle
okay people are hiring okay we're an
expansion cycle and so now I started to
take I took an economic class on my own
without just understanding the world and
so you start understanding when
something is happening in China okay
something happened in China so I own
apple apple is has 20 percent of Revenue
in China okay they might take a little
hit right now you know what I'm saying
so the stock market helped me start
understanding how the world moves the
fundamentals right right and so that's
important you can reboot your life your
health even your career anything you
want all you need is discipline I can
teach you the tactics that I learned
while growing a billion dollar business
that will allow you to see your goals
through whether you want better health
stronger relationships and more
successful career any of that is
possible with the mindset and business
programs in Impact Theory University
join the thousands of students who have
already accomplished amazing things tap
now for a free trial and get started
today
I really hope people I don't know I
really hope people pay close attention
to you because even in this interview
they're not going to understand how much
you know
and
I've listened to hours and hours and
hours and hours and hours of your
footage and I'm just like
[ __ ] so one thing I want to I want to be
on record is saying and you can play
this on a loop on your [ __ ] website
whatever is that I can afford any money
manager I want and
you are as knowledgeable as the money
manager that I have I'm very impressed
with your ability to explain these
Concepts and so that's important to me
for a couple of reasons one there there
are certain people that are only going
to listen to you so it's great so they
now have access to I'm telling you
world-class information
and then number two is the journey that
you've been on you started on the
streets we're homeless in prison like
really caught up in the lifestyle and
through knowledge you have transformed
your life and your family's life and
if they can believe that you can do it
they have what I call the only belief
that matters the only belief that
matters is this if you put time and
energy into getting better at something
you will actually get better at that and
that is true for every human now why is
that the only belief that matters
because your behaviors follow your
beliefs and only behaviors matter so if
you invest in the stock market even if
you don't believe in it your investment
could still go up if you believe in the
stock market and know it's the surest
path to wealth but don't invest in the
stock market you'll never reap the games
so getting people to believe that they
can get better because what you've done
is just read and study and research and
spend time watching CNBC and then you
look like I heard you once explained oh
I'll see a ticker symbol go by that I
don't know it I don't sit there and
waste time that I don't know it I just
go look it up yeah and so now that's
another ticker symbol and for anybody
that just heard ticker symbols like what
the [ __ ] is a ticker symbol don't look
it up yeah right so
you're such a powerful example of the
power of knowledge I think that's really
really interesting so yeah I I hope that
this is for people that didn't know you
before coming into this interview
hopefully they'll spend more time
because they'll see just how much you
know all right thank you for that and
that's I understand that uh
knowledge is what gives us leverage in
life
it's not about how strong you are
it's about what you can learn and then
how can you actively apply that I Have
This Acronym called fear
um finally exiting average reality
right and what happens is until we can
overcome the fear some people actually
fear success
success comes with a lot right but until
you can overcome that average reality
that you live in no matter what you're
on once you become comfortable there it
becomes average anyone can live in
average everyone can live in mediocrity
right then there's those outliers who
consistently push themselves to go to
the next level LeBron spends one million
dollars on his body working out eating
right agility Mobility
because he will never be average and the
thing about the human mind in the human
body it will go as far as you push it
right there is there's science that says
that Gandhi levitated before
the power of the mind so you may look at
it like man nobody can't levitate out of
your mind but there's a level of
meditation concentration that you can
lock into that can take you there as
long as you believe in it like you said
the only belief that matters is what do
you believe you can do I personally
believe that there is nothing I cannot
do and for me it's all about impact
purpose fulfillment like the money is a
byproduct of everything else that isn't
my focus my focus is I have a knowledge
and information that I know that can
change lies not just one life not just
like lives
and so the way that you change lives is
by consistently learning finding new
ways to put that information out there
being able to open up being able to be
vulnerable because people need to
connect people connect to knowledge in
the way that they can see two things
that help people imagery and vocabulary
what they see and what they hear right
so most people won't connect to a
certain knowledge because the people who
speak it
don't relate until can't speak the
knowledge in the way that they can eat
it so for me it's always about how do I
obtain as much it's always a challenge
for me how can I attain as much
knowledge as I can because I love
learning like I love learning but then
how do I take that and be able to not
reciprocate or give it to somebody who
may not understand calculus or
trigonometry but if I can give it to
them in this way they can say oh yeah I
got it and there's more people that
struggled in the world that has become
successful so struggle has to become a
language that I'm I struggle so that's
the language I'm great at so if I can
break down things into a struggle
language now I make it the game winnable
for everybody and that's the goal to
make the game winnable for everybody
who's bold enough
to step into the batting cage if you
bold enough to do that I was bold enough
to jump in a goddamn 152 foot tank with
sharks in Dubai if you bold enough to do
it there's an experience that comes from
that and that experience is so
exhilarating it will take you to the
next level because now you keep chasing
the next level of you and that is when
you start understanding life at a whole
nother concept when you start
understanding that yo for the longest I
was just low level living I was low
level thinking
now that I've been exposed to something
and I say this often whatever you
haven't been exposed to isn't your fault
once you get exposed to it you now are
accountable for it
and so once I've become exposed to so
much knowledge and information once I
expose you to it you accountable because
now you can no longer say I didn't know
what do you say to people that don't
think they have enough money to invest
so the important thing for me to tell
them is thought well you are you build a
house Brick by Brick
I mean of course you can get a house put
together all at once we live in that we
get the idea right but you build a
mansion you build an Empire you build it
Brick by Brick like you start with 25 if
and we have to understand things uh
R.I.P and nip man the great he says
something that's phenomenal he said
we're on a marathon
we didn't get into our situation
overnight
right we looking back at our situation
you see that was you inherited that
whatever it is that poverty you
inherited that that mindset that idea
scarcity that idea that you don't have
enough money you inherited that Building
Wealth becomes a revolutionary Act
because now you start saying I'm going
to go against what I was taught
right and so I said by starting with 25
if you can do 25 a month that's cool if
you can do 25 a week that's cool but
what happens is once you start
understanding the power of how your
money works you start saying yo I don't
need to do that because that's taken
away from this let me that 25 will now
become fifty dollars guaranteed that 50
will not become 100 because you're going
to start doing more with less my focus
is how do we now contribute to every
person's family increasing their
purchasing power right the interesting
yeah I gotta tell me more about it what
do you mean so you're not interested in
focusing on the wealth God that's just
the wrong thing yeah I think that's the
wrong so how can we how can we and and
so I'm always because it's about
comparison why not focus on that so well
you think about this so you say okay the
wealth Gap is growing okay well when you
look at it if someone has someone has a
200 year America as it was built right
so the slaves now have to catch up to
where the slave master was if we're
looking at it like that like that's it's
hard it's a race you can never win so if
you're coming from poor you trying to
close somebody a group of people who've
had a 300 year head start on you like if
you even if you looking at it like that
you can't win because you coming at it
from a defeatist from a victim Viewpoint
man they have four years head start on
me I could never catch up no that's not
my thing like the wealthy people already
know how to build wealth they gonna keep
on compounding it well they're gonna
keep on making sure they make the right
Investments they're going to keep on
making sure they build businesses
they're going to keep on making sure
that they're ahead of this curve okay
the economy is going to crash guess
who's going to win
more money than all in a recession the
wealthy people why because poor people
are panicking right now if we talked
about inflation going up well guess
the the average person in America spends
more money on Transportation
bills and food no matter who you are
those are the big three right well if
you're poor then now because inflation
is so high that instead of eating a 50
of your paycheck now it's eat up 75
percent of your paycheck right but if
you're already in the upper echelon you
was going to do that anyway it didn't
matter because you still have
Investments you still know how to
maneuver in this type of market so why
waste time to me why waste time on
saying yo how do we close the wealth Gap
no that's not my fight my fight is how
do we get the information that help us
participate in the game
and the values
how do we get that yeah I I see you
pushing both which I think is really
really interesting and super important
not closing the wealth Gap so it's
interesting I also think it's the wrong
place to look I won't deny so when you
look at right now baby boomers have a
lot of wealth in their bank accounts
there's about to be a huge transference
of wealth 25 trillion since my since I
was how old was I that's a lot that's a
big number that's a big number uh when I
was 21 I received the last dime from my
family that I ever received
and I graduated with college debt and my
dad literally did a countdown I'm
actually grateful to him for this so he
did a countdown five more months four
more months three more months two more
months every time you send my rent check
so basically paid my rent through
college and then that was it and he
wanted me to know the day you graduated
that's it there's no more and so when I
think about okay after that I got an
education 100 fair enough but this is
why my punch line is going to be it's
the information yes not the money so I
was literally broke the scrounging in
the couch cushions is actually a real
story at the time I was so traumatized
but now it makes such a good story I am
so glad that that actually happened
um imagine being so desperate which I
know you will not struggle with being so
desperate to put gas in your car you're
like maybe change has fallen out of
people's pockets in the couch and I can
get 75 cents or whatever to put gas in
my car crazy uh and
so I was super poor and then turned my
life around I should say I was broke I
was broke and then completely changed my
financial situation with information
so I struggle a little bit with the idea
of
um the the wealth Gap is increasing what
I would say is the compounding effect in
any one life
of knowledge and the the knowledge
that's driven from the values that you
have
that's where this gets problematic
because any one person maybe
statistically but any one person barring
a big inheritance which my parents are
boomers and I will have
I have given my parents more money than
they will ever be able to give me so
that certainly is not something that I'm
gonna reap any benefit from
but in my own lifetime I was able to you
know gazillionx my own return what was
that switch though
when I went from thinking of myself as a
finite entity that what you know is what
you know you're as smart as you're going
to be and so that's that to realizing
that I could learn and get better
and so it's a little bit like imagine so
in in poker I forget the type of Poker
where you start in fact it's it's just
like um Texas Hold'em
so your delt 2 cards and then they're
gonna lay three cards down in front of
you that is life so now you're like
okay the river 100 I've got something
and this this may suck what I'm holding
my hands May suck but how do I play it
am I good at reading other people am I
good at bluffing whatever so some
ability some luck that 100 is life but
according to the science fifty percent
of who you are is hardwired fifty
percent is entirely malleable I agree
and so it's what are you doing to make
use of the 50 and so I just want people
to obsess over that like you can get a
hundred times better at anything I'm
never going to be better than LeBron
James of basketball right
but I can be a hundred times better than
I am today if I completely gave myself
over to it was like I'm going to get
good at that one percent better every
day that's that's literally my thing
like how I'm always so this is a switch
I had to make in business
so
I had to because I see so we have this
thing like because so many people have
has have gained so much success
um during these last couple years
one of the things I did on Instagram was
I unfollow everybody
I don't follow everybody because
I started seeing how it was shifting my
vision
I started seeing how I started comparing
myself
I started seeing how like we was doing
great things we building the team up
like I'm I'm stepping into the CEO mode
you know I'm going out I'm going to the
different conferences I'm going to the
different masterminds I'm getting the
information I'm applying it and I'm
seeing the 10x results but then I'm
saying bam I'm comparing myself to this
person damn what I just did damn this
ain't enough and so what I started I
just unfollowed everybody and I said I'm
only following Fitness people and TD
Jakes that's the only person I follow
all right because Fitness is important
to me right now and then TD Jakes
because I love to get there I think he
is the greatest speaker of our era just
for me I think he's the greatest speaker
of our era the way he can deliver a
message he's not just a pastor about God
he talks about life he talks about
business
and what I did what happened to me in
that moment was
I was able to lock in on me
because what happens is we can get
comfortable I always talk about this
fear finally exiting average reality I
always talk about that because even if
you amassed so much success or you
imagine hitting different levels after a
time that becomes your average and
you'll get comfortable there
and if you get comfortable there you can
only stay there for so long before you
lose it all
because Comfort nothing happens in a
comfortable space but sleep
sit once you get comfortable you get
tired you get comfortable you doze off
and so for me
it'll allow me to
gather all my information and apply it
and then just build and then become
better and then I started looking at
again looking at people like you
studying what you're doing as I build
out this platform study people like you
study with CNBC doing studying people
who are operating at a high level and
saying what I know is nothing
and be embedded in who I was yesterday
like how do I be better than a trap from
yesterday what did I do and I do this
every day now I've been doing this for
the last 90 days at the end of my day I
analyzed what I did in that day
how much did I do to help me what did I
do that didn't help me go nowhere and
then how do I get it the next day and
attack Full Throttle
and then I came up with Phil
fear always interrupts Legacy
fail
be willing to do it be willing to get
past the fear because the fear
interrupts the Legacy that you're trying
to build that you're going after and so
if I'm going after Legacy I got to do
more than be consistent we talked about
this earlier I got to do more to be
consistent that is part of the equation
but in the consistency how do I keep
growing how do I stay motivated and what
are those tweets that I have to make
along the way I can't make those
decisions I'm always looking at
everybody else
and so I've learned to be like all right
this is how we operate high octane
high level 93 this is what we doing
every day and so now not just being a
great communicator but Building Wealth
for my family
mastering the markets like in my mind I
read a thing that Warren Buffett said he
reached 500 pages a day that pisses me
off because after about 30 pages I go to
sleep I get tired I'm like how does he
do it right so he's listening to audible
books so now that's the challenge
because he's the Apex investor
right he's the Apex investor to me like
he is top of the food chain and what I'm
loving to do I love the stock market so
if he's Apex and he does this it shows
that I have a lot of I have a lot of
stuff to grow toward right because he's
90 something he's always still learning
again we go back to information
right he's accomplished something that
most people would know he's the richest
man in the world at one point in his
life right
how that means at 40 years old I have a
whole bunch of learning to do and so I
become the learning machine how can I
read as many books as I can to become
better how can I can easily become
comfortable with what I learn and invest
in like I've we've done great things we
was a mess we've taught a lot of people
how do we get better
and if we focus on getting better every
day a Compound Effect how do I not only
compound my wealth how do I compound the
information how do I compound my growth
because who I am right now is a compound
effect of what I was three four five
years ago
and everybody needs to understand that
who you are now is not because of the
decision you made yesterday these are
compounded decisions that you've made
that evolved in what you are right now
and so now I want to compound what do I
compound to into the future
how do I compound the best version of me
in the next three years five years how I
become an apex track how do I do that
like that's that's the goal that's
that's what we shooting the aiming for
and then how do we impact as many people
as we can
how do I go in every Hood how to go in
every ghetto how to go in every prison
system and say yep I was homeless too
family yep I got shot too family yep I
went to prison for attempt murder on
Robert family yep but guess what I did I
learned how to play the market
it's the best game you can ever learn
because they don't care what color you
have
um
they don't care about none of the
excuses don't care if you got three
felonies don't care if you got two
feelings it don't care what you got can
you play the game
and if you can play the game at a high
level the return on investment is
infinite
and if we can play that like that and if
I can do that and if I can keep being
that that person that people see and be
like yup he did it
he relatable that's why he talk about
stocks but he do it in a hoodie he do it
in a t-shirt he do it with the
sunglasses on he talking in a way that
we can understand it then I could do it
too
and that's representation that's me
being the best version of myself
that's me showing that weld is
attainable one share at a time why one
becomes two two becomes four four shares
become eight shares eight shares become
16 shares people don't invest in the
stock market because they don't feel
like they got enough money
that's why my Mantra is one [ __ ] at a
time
right and then from that
it becomes attainable people people
don't want to go out the world because
they feel like it ain't fun
the belief system we talked about the
financial trauma what other beliefs that
you anchor to that keep you from being
moving forward how do we cut those
beliefs how do we unanchor ourselves
from the lack of the scarcity
how do we unanchor ourselves from that
but we got people in this world where
billions of dollars that mean the money
is there
they got information they got structure
they got community
right when I look at you look at your
team you got people right you ain't just
building this by yourself and I'm pretty
sure you thankful for them all the time
more than you know I'm becoming more and
more obsessed with this yeah yeah so
look I've I've built things in my life
and so I know the power of people but
the longer I stay in the game the more
I'm just like
dude
you the amount that you can do by
yourself is amazing it'll startle you
right but right as you get into real
scale you realize wow the amount I can
do by myself is really paltry compared
to what I really want to do
and it it really does come down to
people like how awesome are your people
and this is the hard part man
I love to see people succeed but the
problem is that leaves me open to
creating space for B and C players yep
to make me feel like they're gonna make
it they're going to change and then I'm
I'm fatiguing myself by carrying them
and that's hard that's hard
because it's like damn you don't want
people acting out of fear you don't want
them being
um you know thinking that
you want them to know that you care
about them right people don't care how
much you know until they know how much
you care word okay I subscribe to that
but let me tell you there's an advanced
class to that and people don't perform
until they know that there's [ __ ]
standards and those standards are going
to be met culture values what you
celebrate
it's it's a tricky line to walk man
that's a real tricky line to walk
because I want one I attract people that
have seen the content so someone Godly
number of our team here
saw the content first came on board so
they they saw me as a Beacon of Hope and
then they get in and I'm like yo we're
[ __ ] Warriors here we don't play
around yeah and so ah man it's uh it's
so important to make sure the people
around you adhere to a standard it's
important to give them a chance to grow
and get better
you gotta have a standard man that's a
fine line standard it is it's it's hard
like even now at this stage in my career
you'd think I like have this down pat
it's hard yeah because I I know as I'm
building you know just on my journey I
think again I'm never comfortable
right because I always again when I see
you I'm like yup he's still going and I
study the game and I think everybody
should study the game that they play um
right study the people even I tell
people that's in Wall Street like study
the game study the rules instead of the
plays right when I mean but I study the
game what is the broad goal of the game
what is the goal what is the
ramifications that's it then study the
players who's playing at a high level in
the game that in the field that you're
going because that's going to be what
you're looking at you can see the
strengths you can see their weaknesses
and then what plays do they love to run
right like every team when you think
about the Lakers you go like you're the
head coach for impact Theory you know
what I'm saying and then your team
everybody has strong suits so when I
look at when you look at the Lakers
under Phil Jackson triangle offense
mastered it right when you study Bill
Belichick he did what's called um
bam I forgot what it's called but like
every he didn't run plays they ran plays
based on whatever wherever they were on
the field and how much time was on the
clock that's how he called plays and so
you look at the players in the game what
are their strong points so when I look
I'm looking at okay Pam damn time doing
a million views all right like what is
the sauce that he's doing what is it
that they're learning what is it that he
how is he impacting people I'm always
looking when I'm looking at Investments
what is Warren Buffett really good at
what is Joel Greenback really good at
what is Peter Lynch really good at so I
can study it and then I want to study
everything they told me when they messed
up the mistakes they made like that's
how you get better this is why football
players and alleys get better because
they study film we want to become
successful investors we want to build
wealth but we don't want to study the
film we want to Freestyle our way to
vote and put 100 right here it's gonna
make me a million dollars nope that
ain't gonna happen fam I can guarantee
you that ain't gonna happen right but
how do I study the film how did you
compound to success right it wasn't one
thing how did that 10 years turn into
overnight success because that's what
people don't know you see the successful
Wall Street travel but what happened
when I was homeless like real homeless
not just I moved out my mama house we
got no homes because you don't got
nowhere to go because my mom went to
prison and because my family members at
the time they had their own thing going
on so I had nowhere to go what did I do
when I was sleeping in an abandoned
house what did I do when I was sleeping
in the corner in a crack house but
everybody smoking crack out of Coke cans
out of crack pipes I'm in a back room
like what did I do in those moments
right what did I do when I was sleeping
in an abandoned house what did I do when
I was sleeping in abandoned cars what
did I do in those moments those are
moments you don't see but those are the
moments of when I'm figuring out damn
where do I go with my business and I'm
stuck those are the moments that give
birth boom here we go what do we do then
we never gave up right and so being able
to use
those dark moments in your life
as a moment of empowerment
instead of victimizing yourself how long
will you hold on to the victim and
talent and most people are so great at
that
most people are so great at holding on
to the victim aspect of anything
when it comes to building world you can
put it up right I put up a clip on my
Instagram the other day where
um God was saying that
um you know white white Americans are
successful in America not because of
anything other than they know how to
maneuver during certain economic
um
environments politics
um
recessions they understand and I was
like and so many people in my post was
like well let's not forget about slavery
that you'll never become successful if
you hold on to that yep that did happen
but are you going to hold on to that for
400 more years
are you because if you are stayed up but
if you can say hmm
how can I learn how can I learn from
something that maybe the people before
me didn't learn from where is the gap
where is the where what did they didn't
what didn't they get when I look at
civil rights leaders like every
generation has to transform into
something else I was civil rightly when
you look at Malcolm X motherly King Fred
Hammond two of my favorite black men of
all time they didn't even have time to
get into the money component because
they thought about civil rights
right and so now when you evolve we
those leaders no longer exist no there's
no leadership and so now everyone is
trying to Freestyle their way to success
freestyle their way to freedom and all
they have to look at is the past
bam slavery we can't keep going back
down
right we can acknowledge it we can get
history and culture from it but we can't
anchor ourselves to it
we cannot I can't anchor myself to the
fact that my mama did drugs my mama so
drug I can't let that be a reason why I
don't be successful
yep it's painful yep I went through it
like imagine what it looks like to see
your mom get shot in front of you that
is a painful traumatic experience
right and then the color back of maybe
five six years later and you see your
mama overdose on drugs she didn't die
that's another painful
traumatic experience that I can anchor
my life to that and then we can add on
to the fact that I felt abandoned right
that nobody was there for me I can hold
on to that I got all the right to hold
on to it right I got another I never saw
my father if I don't know my father for
me let's hold on to that too
right and so now I've anchored myself to
all these traumatic experiences and now
I've given myself an excuse not to be
[ __ ]
I never had a father so I'm I'm not
going to be a good father to this
beautiful little girl I gave birth to
I can hold all of those traumatic
experiences in a ball and let that be my
core instead I cut that and released
that [ __ ] they say you know what
because I didn't have a father I'm gonna
be an amazing father
because I saw my mama do drugs I saw
some of my mama sell drugs that was her
traumatic experience I went through some
of it but guess what I'm gonna be better
than that and I'm gonna show my mom a
better life I'm gonna show her that I
appreciate everything she went through
but here's a better life
right because my people went through
whatever they went through I'm the
reason to say I want all of my ancestors
my I want them to be proud and say you
know what that's it right there
he stood on integrity
he stood on it he was honest he built a
different type of culture not just his
family but for the people around him
somebody got to be the Pioneer somebody
got to be a Trailblazer somebody got to
be willing to take the risk to change
and so that's what I represent that's
what I won't stand for and I'm gonna do
it my way
I'm gonna do it my way man
you know I love my kid whatever but
they're really struggling in life how
can I help them my answer is usually you
can't and then the person's like no you
don't understand like I love him so much
they're my kid like I can't give up and
I'm like okay for real for real you want
to know how you're gonna change their
life yeah yeah tell me okay cool
uh you're gonna have to kidnap them
you're gonna put trap and I actually
mean this seriously this would work it's
the only thing I know that would work
you're gonna kidnap them you're going to
take them to uh remote place in the
[ __ ] desert whatever you're gonna
take them somewhere away from everybody
else I usually say a deserted island you
can take them to a deserted island but
on that deserted island must be a group
of people that they respect
if you are around people you respect
yeah you will want to win their respect
yes to win their respect you must
conform to their behaviors if their
behaviors are honorable you're now
conforming to earn that respect to
honorable behaviors and now you get
where somebody will turn their life
around to fit in now they can turn their
life around to fit in and go in the
wrong direction just how you get
influenced on the streets or you can get
influence in the exact opposite
direction so you have to be careful
about who you emulate come on but I like
that before you go I like that because
that's even not even in with kids but
even as adults that's what I had to do
yeah like I had to get around a
different set of people who helped me
evolve because even in that
where you're being influenced you don't
evolve in that space
right you adapt and you conform to
whatever that environment is and so if
you get around that's why the old saying
around five six million as you become
the sixth one is because you start to
take on those uh values you start taking
on those principles that they stand on
right those conversations become like
impregnated in you those behaviors like
damn time gets up in the morning he does
this he does that damn I need to do that
trap does this trap does that damn I
need to do that that's why I love
mentorships that's why I love
masterminds that's why I do that I asked
you one time hey yo give me a mastermind
I can get into it's because when I'm
around successful people I'm gonna go
into the room I don't care how much a
success I've amassed I'm going into them
like I don't know nothing because that's
what I want to evolve to so that is
you're not pushing a line you're only
touching the high stoves to people who
are fighting for beliefs that don't
benefit them ah damn
most people fight for those beliefs dude
yes they do it's really interesting to
me so okay I've thought a lot about this
because I spent a portion of my life
fighting for beliefs that didn't serve
me and I really so I and I don't know if
this is a useful story to tell myself
but it makes me chuckle and it feels way
too close to the truth I'm just dumb
enough that I have to learn everything
the hard way and I'm just smart enough
to be able to figure it out so I
actually do learn and then I can
articulate it to people because I'm like
oh yeah this is what I tripped on
tripped up on so for a long time I had a
set of beliefs that were really stupid
meaning that they moved me they actually
moved me away from my stated goal they
were moving me towards a silent goal I
know you Journal I highly encourage
people to journal so you can figure out
like what are the subconsciousness
you're driving you but I what I wanted
out of life
subconsciously was to feel smart and I
valued I had a certain idea of what
intelligence was and everything that
lined up with things that made me feel
that I was intelligent in the way that I
subconsciously defined it I kept doing
so I ended up in smaller and smaller
rooms so after graduating college I was
working retail in a game store selling
video games
and like not minimum wage but like not
not a long way from it and
I remember thinking why am I doing this
and I'm doing it because
the boss of the place is like why do you
work here he's like you're too smart for
this and I was like that makes me feel
good now of course I wasn't thinking
that my head it just made me feel good
and so I kept doing it and I realized
looking back okay
what I do is I structure my life so that
people tell me I'm smart and that is
super dangerous because it's led me into
these really small rooms and so things
didn't turn around until I was like oh
wait a second
I don't read a book so someone will tell
me I'm smart I read a book so I can get
better at something
and
I really want people to understand that
skills have utility they let you do
something so if you go to get good at
investing you can make a lot of money
yes if you get good at architecture you
can build buildings you can build a
bridge that people can drive cars across
do you know how crazy that is yeah you
can be the next Elon Musk whatever
and understanding oh wait a second
I don't need to be smart I need to be
good at learning oh yes and that that
changed my life but that becomes the
value system what do I value in myself
do I value being smart or Worse do I
value people telling me I'm smart
because what if I was smart but
everybody was telling me I was dumb I
would have done different things back
then just so that people would tell me I
was smart because I didn't believe it
myself and my value system was people
that have this kind of intelligence kind
of the way that people fetishize money I
fetishized
being smart and so it was like I just
want to be smart like that I'd be so
cool and
once I realized oh that's a value system
I can change my value system and now
pursue something else and get all of the
sort of neural chemical rewards and feel
good and be excited about being the
learner and so then once I started doing
that then I actually started getting
good because I was just obsessed with
learning setting my ego aside walking in
like I know nothing and just saying oh
my God like make me better now the
reason that I got so obsessed with that
was because I realized they actually can
make me better and then I can go do
something somebody else can do and I can
get ahead in life and I can get wealthy
and I can build what I want to build and
I can control my time and I can impress
people if that's a thing and so it's
like whoa this is all about skills but
skills are controlled by values
so I I love that because
in setting yourself up for success and
setting yourself I say you have to be
intentional about something right and so
for me the intentionality was what do I
have to learn that takes me away from
that
like what do we have to learn so I don't
go back to prison what do I have to
learn that I don't become
dead before a certain age and then I I
got past that and then I'm like what do
I have to learn to become a great father
like right now I'm learning how to be a
father right how to be a great father we
talked about journaling one of the
things I tell my daughter right now is
okay write down how you feel and then we
can talk about that right it's easier
for her to do it that way than sometimes
having that conversation with me so
write it down and then we can talk about
it well those values now help me keep
evolving because if I want to be the
best version of who I am if I want to be
the most impactful person then I have to
install in me a certain set of values
integrity
right honesty the commitment to being
better why those well because where I
come from why honestly you could lie lie
if you honesty is so important because
if you tell people the truth and if you
are committed to
um understanding other people's truth
then people have no people don't like
the truth
because how it makes them feel but if
you tell the truth they have no no other
option but to face it right they have no
other option but to say damn
okay it's truth is like a harsh reality
that everybody wants but nobody wants to
give
right but honesty comes in there saying
you know what that's a value system that
so many people don't have and for me if
I can be honest then my name can go a
long way if I can be honest then my my
uh presence will precede me
right so honesty is something that that
people often don't want to do they'll
say something like a lot of you because
I love you
you know uh I don't tell you the truth
because I don't want to hurt you right
well if you're honest to me then I can
make that decision
if you're being honest I can make that
decision on what do I want to move
forward or not if I'm honest with you
then I know I can do business with this
man because he's an honest man I can do
business with this woman because she's
an honest woman because I know there's
no uh back-end stuff there's nothing
they're trying to do behind my back
honestly it's something that's so
underrated but for me even in the
streets like honesty is so
not there because everyone wants the
edge everyone everyone wants murder is
not off the table
you know what I'm saying it's not off
the table most people in the street get
killed by somebody they know
you know what I'm saying and you feel me
and so that Honesty part is not there
yeah so for me it's it's heavy on my
list of just being an honest man man one
thing about honesty that I find
incredible is so you said you can do
business with somebody that's honest
that's where I think people really get
why honesty is so critical
[Music]
if I so a relationship to work well to
be a high functioning business friendly
relationship I need
um a sort of
deposit and withdrawal system
so no you should never do it for the
deposit withdrawal but there is a
reality to be facing Human Relationships
if all you do is give give you have
given the person never reciprocates it
just humans are not wired for that and
so it won't work the relationship will
go your Separate Ways but if when I make
a deposit I'm like I'm going to be able
to make a withdrawal here at some point
in fact trap you know where I think this
comes from this is [ __ ] interesting
when I heard this laid out I was like oh
my God
think from an evolutionary standpoint
there's no refrigerator do you know how
you store calories
so let's say that you take down a
buffalo okay you can't eat it even if
you said ah everybody back off this is
my Buffalo get away from my Buffalo I
will kill you and your whole family if
you touch my Buffalo you can eat it as
much as you can literally until another
bite and the lining of your stomach will
tear okay you're stuffing your face it
will go it will rot before you can
finish eating it so now you have this
dilemma even if I want to be selfish
I can't eat the whole thing
but if I let other people eat it I don't
get anything out of that but you do
because by feeding them you're now
storing calories in them they're eating
they're full they've got fat what
happens when you don't kill the Buffalo
but they do now they're like my brother
please come to my table and eat
so it all that I'm gonna say that again
you can store calories in another human
being I like that by feeding them when
you have an abundance I like that they
get to eat and now they will do the same
for you I like that that's honesty it
builds trust that word if I feed you
you're gonna feed me next time and so
this is where you get into reciprocal
altruism where yes you're doing
something nice but
it just comes back to you and people are
I think they they feel icky when they
say part of why I do this is to make
sure that I'm taken care of but that's
awesome that's how people cooperate as a
as a group that it's give and take
always so
honestly I think the reason so many
people gravitate towards it is when I
can trust you one Evolution has made
that feel good so it just feels amazing
I've told I tell people in the company
all the time it really hurts to tell
somebody something hard it really I
don't like saying it and I know you
don't like hearing it but if I tell you
the hard things you know you can trust
me because you know exactly my mental
map of who you are and so now there's no
like unease about what's what and so I
know if you're quiet it means you have
nothing to say versus to your point
murder's not off the table it's like
well is this going somewhere bad so you
can do business with somebody when I
know if I make a deposit today that I'll
be able to get a withdrawal later at
some point
huge okay so honesty integrity was the
other one one how do you define
integrity this is the one thing I tell
my daughter doing the right thing when
nobody's looking
if I'm willing to do the right thing if
I can do it right time is my guy so I'll
give you an example so a couple friends
of mine had a huge event that they put
on and somebody hit me up and was like
yo I would like to be a part of that
event big person and I would um because
they thought it was my event and I was
like yo that's not my event I'll put you
in contact with who that event is for
that's Integrity because I could have
kept that to myself try to do something
in the middle try to make some money off
it bitter bitter man I didn't no look
it's my guys here here's the information
y'all do that don't put me in the email
no more handle your business integrity
Integrity is me being able to do
something without me even expecting
something on the back end but on a
strength that I know Tom is a good guy a
Time here's my people man here's an
alley-oop yo I don't need nothing from
it that's Integrity we talked about
business earlier and I'm sure we'll get
to but we talked about the human capital
part I mean the capital part that people
need in in building a successful
business
the next thing next to building a
successful business that's more
important to me than money it's building
integrable relationships
building relationships with other
successful people are building
relationships with people that's based
off Integrity can help your business get
to another level because some rooms you
can't get in with money some rooms you
can only get in based on who you know
there's some rooms I can only get on
because time says trap is my guy
there's some rule that that okay how
much money you got that's not the value
system here the value system to get in
this room is based on the people in here
do good business the people in here are
integrable this is the room you need to
be in money can't get you because
everybody here got money what are you
doing money is no longer the option
you're going to be based on what
integrity
and honesty truthfulness those are the
things you can be based on and so even
in business integrity and honestly is
important massively
yeah it's uh it's it's really
interesting I mean this again goes back
to culture rides in the back of values
what do we think is good what do we
think is right
and when I look at you so it's
interesting for people that haven't seen
your show come on man trapping Tuesdays
come on man uh watching it was really
interesting because you you're attacking
it from the point of value so you'll
talk about your family you talk about
your daughter I heard you tell the story
about your daughter and there was
friction at school and how you helped
her through it and you're like like I
know I haven't talked about stocks yet
and I was like you haven't but this is
why your show is doing well because
getting the value system right
understanding how to think knowing how
to sort of move becomes really important
and so that idea of that a culture is
malleable that you can create a new
culture
um
being a part of your group will have its
own culture right same with impact
Theory it's like there's a culture
there's a culture to being an employee
there's a culture to being in the impact
your University
and when you think about you've got your
your frame of reference is being built
around all of these things it's the fun
house mirror that we all see life
through there's a guy named Donald
Hoffman who says everything that you
experience is real life the only thing I
can tell you is it isn't true
at all and so we were sitting at this
very table when he explained to me Tom
when you see the surface of this table
what's true about the surface of this
table is its mass the number of photons
that are reflecting off of it all that
if you try to live life by going oh that
has a mass of this and there's this many
photons bouncing off in this part of the
light spectrum he's like you can't get
anywhere way better to go this is a
table and it's sort of Gray and he's
like that's what humans have evolved to
do but that actually isn't the
underlying reality okay so your brain is
creating a wild simplification of the
truth and this is my favorite example
that he uses and I am going to answer
the question about reading right right
uh but
the example that he uses is is let's say
that you're in a VR game of uh Grand
Theft Auto
[Music]
you think oh when I turn the steering
wheel in the game The Car Goes left if I
turn left the car goes right if I turn
right he said what's really happening is
electrical volts are toggling back and
forth a trillion times a second or
whatever inside of your PlayStation
but if you had to go toggle the
individual voltages to get the image the
pixels on the screen to move in a
certain way that it looks like a car uh
going left he was like you'll never be
able to play so you need the just
ridiculous level of simplification in
order to play the game
that's life
that's your frame of reference but it is
so
abstracted from the reality that so uh
I'll put it into my terms
I grew up lower middle class
in almost rural Tacoma so I didn't have
cows but my neighbors did yeah to give
you an idea uh and I was taught to be a
good employee to keep my head down do as
little work as possible and avoid
punishment at all costs
um that it's all about make as much
money as fast as you can you know
trading time for money like they
wouldn't have even known to say don't
trade that you are trading time for
money that's just the only way they knew
how to make money so that was my frame
of reference part of it the other part
was oh I feel good when people tell me
that I'm smart but I don't realize that
so this is the Distortion that my brain
is creating over time and I don't
realize that these are things that I've
chosen to believe that they aren't
accurate representation of the way that
the world really works and that I can
get so good that people can't ignore me
that even if I am uneducated today that
doesn't mean I have to be uneducated
tomorrow that even if I'm frustrated
that I'm not as intelligent as I would
like to be which I'm not by the way but
I can get 100 100 times better at
anything which anybody can so my frame
of reference began to shift from I'm
stuck in this brain and body that I'm
not very impressed with to oh actually
you can grow and get better that change
in frame of reference took me from
scrounging and my couch cushions to find
enough change to put gas in my car to
building and selling a billion dollar
business come on man so ideas frame of
reference so I now see the world through
a different fun house mirror it still
isn't objective reality but it's really
useful okay so you've got this frame of
reference critically important to
understand
all right so because I know frame of
reference is so important I'm constantly
trying to get new information to alter
my frame of reference however useful my
frame of reference has become I have not
reached an end state right so you can
constantly re-warp that glass to show
you the world in a way that's more
effective that's the easiest way to
think about it so effective as defined I
have a goal is my behavior my beliefs
and my values moving me towards that
goal yes or no if yes you are operating
in a way that is more true or accurate
right you you can predict the outcome of
your behaviors that to me is truth
[Music]
we could really derail on that I won't
for now uh so all right so my I'm trying
to shape my frame of reference so that
the way that I think and act moves me
more efficiently towards my goals you
get what you celebrate I think about
this a lot as a CEO that's good dude you
get what you celebrate that's good and
so if you celebrate being a badass this
is the same with inner city same with
being in prison it's like you get all
these different cultures and you're
going to get what you celebrate oh God
I'm going to keep derailing have you
read Up From Slavery no
I have not Booker T Washington I have
not controversial figure I like it I
can't figure out why but that book he
was born a Slave
and he was like
there's a way out of this
I can get so good people can't stop me
becomes the punchline but he starts a
college
trap he was born a slave he starts a
college that's still running today let
that sit in right quick uh-huh right
when I think about will impact Theory
University I'll live me about not as of
yet insane how does he do it culture do
you know that he made the students in
his university
the students in this University had to
learn jeromeo please
brick making they had to learn how to
make bricks trap why so that they could
build the buildings so that they would
have respect for the knowledge because
he was like if they just roll up and
this is all easy and he was like people
would show up outraged outraged you're
gonna I was a slave I'm sending my kids
to your University and you're making
them build bricks like what and he was
like I'm telling you right now if people
build the stuff themselves the level of
respect that they will have for the hall
the way they will hold each other
accountable and I was like forget what
the culture was because it's different
now and of course it's going to change
structure certain somebody said that at
the beginning of this episode structure
there are things that we do here and
there are things that we don't do here
he instilled a value system that allowed
them to say
because values tell you who's in and
who's out
oh you made the burst and by the way
they became known in like that region of
the South for making the highest quality
bricks so now they can sell bricks to
fund the school dude it was so insane
I'm reading the book and I'm like this
is [ __ ] genius
[Music]
values
creates a culture you reinforce the
culture by what you celebrate and what
you tolerate that culture becomes so
profound that you can defeat
Nations so going back to the slave
rebellion in Haiti I need to memorize
this guy's name forgive me I'm in the
middle of reading this book I literally
just no but I don't pronounce it wrong
and I won't be different no please
please please no no no I'm just even as
people
um I don't want to say it wrong
um I I remember because I went to DC so
I don't want to say it wrong uh say it
as wrong as possible I can't even
remember it's kind of French sounding
yeah it's a French it's a French name uh
I don't want to say it wrong
uh
I'm not going to say it wrong all right
fair enough let me say this though
please we were talking about you were
talking about watch this the bricks the
people who build the bricks
for
the college
they'd appreciate it more
the exact same thing goes with Building
Wealth
the person who builds the wealth
in the beginners I use myself as an
example
I become the pioneer I become the
Trailblazer I become the person who says
that
my family will eat for a lifetime based
on the decisions that I make today
based on the information that I've
gained and applied
because I'm the one in the beginning
stage building it I will respect the
wealth more
if I don't install those values in my
daughter
if I don't install in her the respect
for money
if I don't install it in her why
investing is important then what happens
is she inherits a lot of money but don't
know what to do with it
and so now
she may live well
but the generations behind her don't
benefit from it because they never had
an attachment to the money they never
had attachment to the wealth they just
got the wealth they obtained it and so
when I think about Cornelius Vanderbilt
we never talk about him in
the pioneers of America the richest men
in the world we never talk about him why
because after he died his son did enjoy
the money but no generation after that
did because they went broke t-shirt to
t-shirt and three generations they went
broke but we still talk about JP Morgan
we still talk about the Rockefeller we
still talk about the Rothschild we still
talk about Sam Walton who has five of
his
grandchildren and kids on the Fortune
500 list always why because there was a
culture that
the culture was about building that
Walmart brand but then but we don't
realize about passing well done is this
is not just about passing money down
it's about passing down information it's
about passing down bylaws it's about
passing down structure it's about I just
so I just lost my great aunt
um and I talked about on my last show I
just lost and she was The Matrix to my
family
right she was the major she held it
together in 11 months before that we
lost her sister right so there was they
were the last two and I honored them
they did so much for me on my journey
um
and now that both of them have now gone
our family now has to be restructured
we have to now install New Traditions
not saying it always run well but for
instance we were all good at her house
for Thanksgiving right we were all
everything she put things in place so
now that whole entire generation is gone
to the generation that's available now
is my mother's generation so it's my
mother her brothers and then I'm the
Next Generation and then my kids so on
so forth so now we have to do now is we
have to now put new values in place
we have to put New Traditions in place
we have to put a new structure in place
and because I now have the financial
literacy now I'm talking my uncle the
other day he like trapped like yup I'm
the leader
but you're up next
and that meant a lot to me in in a
minute I got scared because I thought
about yep I teach people about financial
literacy all the time I talk about being
a CEO of my family I talk about turning
My Family's last name into an asset but
now I am now because once you I always
say this once you get the information
you are not responsible
like it's okay it's not okay but I'm
saying it's using this figuratively
it's okay that I mean literally it's
okay you know you blowing money because
you don't know no better
right but once you become cognizant and
once you have the information now you
are held accountable and so for me now
more than ever I am held accountable one
because I went from homeless to being
where I am now right nobody else in my
family went through that I went from not
just once but twice
so building a business to learn how to
invest to giving my daughter a custodial
account who I'll she'll be a millionaire
before she's 15. right damn these things
are so important to me so now we set new
rules we set new rules of engagement
what are those rules and give okay so
now everybody my little cousin just had
a little boy I said bro we got to open
up a custodial account now like now he's
a couple weeks old we got to open a
custodial account up now my wife I got
to do that because because if we start
investing now we can now increase him
being a millionaire but also we can
start implementing impregnating him with
certain things right we can start
talking about money once he gets two
years old like my daughter she's six her
ABC's for me come in the form of a is
for asset BSN Bank C is for credit
right this is how the ABC's coming up
does she know the word fiduciary she
know what it means dude that's
incredible right so that's how the ABC's
and I'll talk to her e is for Equity
like that's how we now you got to give
me a okay so what does it mean now not
just the norm what does it mean now
right and so now when you go to Disney
World you you know you own stockiness
right when I bought for her birthday she
made six I said what do you want babe
she's like I want to buy some Roblox
stock right so normally for me it's
breaking down the business
going through my whole process but for
her it was like let her get the exposure
to it so yep let's buy the Roblox stocks
how many shares you want she said I want
16 and then when I pulled it up on my
phone she said no I want a hundred cool
we bought 100 shares for her birthday it
don't matter that the stock is down
right now because it was her identifying
that instead of getting me this this is
what I want so now for me it's
that my great aunt is gone this now has
to be a she's transition this now has to
be the value system that we stand on so
everybody that has a kid as soon as you
have a kid we opening up a custodial
account but then we're going to double
down with it and say when that person
has a kid and open a custodial account
everybody now is responsible of putting
the first fifty dollars to it right so
now we implementing new rules we're
implementing things now that every
family now has to take on right and now
everybody Embraces it and so changing
that Dynamic of my family implementing
new rules becoming the leader if we look
at a lot of people's family no one has a
real leadership in their family but when
we look at successful families there's
leadership there I don't care how much
more like the Kardashians or whatever
how you feel about them that mother
leaves that tribe
right and then if we look at it okay she
leaves that we look at The Waltons
somebody leaves that tribe like we look
at every Rich family and then after the
lead is gone someone has grown to step
up and take place so the family
structure doesn't fall the Vanderbilt
didn't have that and so now their
families never talked about
right so for me it's how to you know
just with my family how do I now
Implement those rules because I am not a
leader
and the most the most
scariest thing anyone can do ever coming
from lower class middle class poverty is
the the most important financial
decision you ever make is how much of
your money that you make from your
paycheck you're gonna get to work for
you
it's the most important decision you
ever meet financially because if you
never know how much money from your
paycheck that you worked hard for that
is going to work for you then you're
always going to have to work for every
paycheck
and if you gotta always work for every
piece of income that you have physically
put in that labor you have a cap on
which you can make that's just the truth
of the matter and so you know just
changing that when you just gave that
book of T Washington scenario that's
what just jumped in my mind of you the
family members don't appreciate the
wealth if they didn't contribute to
building it so now how do we set a
culture
that makes everyone contribute to
building the wealth of the family I for
me I don't want to focus on closing a
wealth Gap I'm not that's not my focus
when you say you're knocked to your
knees you're embarrassed you failed you
lost money it's just hard it's boring
you'd rather be out with your friends
your kid is sick whatever all those
things that are going to come for you
when you say why am I doing this you
better have a physical feeling to the
positive when you answer that question