BigDeal - #23 How to Stop Caring What Other People Think (and make way more money)

Starting point is 00:00:00 When you say your worst parts aloud, I do think you're uncancellable. And when you say the thing that you are feeling inside, like me talking more about faith, and thinking that faith and money might be incredibly connected. Bigger purpose actually leads to bigger pockets. That if you want to become a millionaire, become a missionary. And the truth is, like, people aren't going to like everything that you say. And so I think say the quiet part out loud about yourself, and that's how you become uncancelable and willing to stand up as a soldier for the things you believe in.

Starting point is 00:00:25 For instance, I'm an intense boss. I believe in faith and freedom. I have failed and lost money many times. I have won and made millions without shame. I'm happily married, but once I was divorced, I've been a true friend and I have been a true enemy. And I don't bow to propaganda. But I've been wrong, and I've also been wrong.

Starting point is 00:00:41 I just do not care what non-builders think. I love this podcast because I love talking to friends about how they made their millions and helping business owners solve their problems. It's fulfilling. I love sharing all the secrets. But when I can't meet in person, there's only one tool I use. It's called Riverside. Riverside ensures I can talk to someone anywhere in the world,

Starting point is 00:01:01 recorded in 4K so the quality of the video matches the quality of the humans you're listening to. Riverside records separate audio and video tracks so we can easily cut out those awkward interruptions that are my least favorite part of interviews. They have in-platform editing software based off a 99% accurate AI transcription. If that's not simple enough, they take AI one step further for their show notes. It summarizes your entire content into an SEO optimized description and chapters all automatic saves me a ton of money. So you can use Riverside for podcast interviews, panel discussions, presentations, webinars, more. And best of all, it's simple. Try Riverside for yourself with link in the description.

Starting point is 00:01:34 Use code Cody for an exclusive discount. I get a deal, you get a deal. Hey, and welcome back to all those who put in the work. It's Cody, and this is the big deal podcast. For those who don't just want to be rich, but free, and are willing to do what it takes to get there. All right, I am calling this week, I do not care, and I'm on one. Do you guys want to get ammed up?

Starting point is 00:01:52 Do you want to go down a rabbit hole with me today? Tell me in the comments if you like this episode style, because I'm going to add a weekly rant, I think, because I feel like all of us kind of need that lately. All right, here's the thought. The world's kind of fucked up right now. You know, I think we all feel that in some way, shape, or form. And we're simultaneously mathematically the richest and live the longest we ever have.

Starting point is 00:02:12 And yet we're the most unhappy and angriest. Maybe we've ever been, or at least that's just watching TikTok. So to me, it's not enough to talk about making money and getting rich. You know, I increasingly feel called to share more on faith and freedom and sort of the big why behind it all. If that bothers you, I'm probably not your girl anymore. Does I think money without morals means just about nothing? There's a quote from the Bible that is, what good is it for someone to gain the whole world yet forfeit their soul,

Starting point is 00:02:37 which is Mark 836? I think a lot of people are feeling cold towards some sorts of faith lately, whatever that may be for you. I am tired of the internet and humans everywhere trying to shame us into submission. In the immortal words of Drake, I love this quote, by the way. He says, I would have so many friends if I held back the truth and I just gave out compliments.

Starting point is 00:02:57 done with it, not interested. For instance, Amber Rose spoke at the RNC, which is the Republic National Convention. She's not historically been the beacon of values and morals. She has something called a slut walk that she used to run, basically like women celebrating promiscuous sex. And she has a giant forehead tattoo, which is like probably not great long-term thinking, most likely with both of those. And yet, she's now a mom. She's sort of changed her tune. And she's literally been through some shit coming out on the other side, saying,

Starting point is 00:03:27 you know, I want to be better. And what do people do on the right when this happens? Well, they berate her for not being saintly and conservative enough to be on their stage. And on the left, they berate her for leaving the party and she must be an idiot and a traitor and don't listen to her. And I'm just done with all of that. I am done. I think if you want to change your life and be a better person, let's celebrate that shit. Who cares if you were a young idiot or an old idiot? Young Cody went to school at ASU, Arizona State. Harvard of the West said nobody, partying more than I studied, said dumb things all the time, made bad decisions, literally lived Brat Summer for four years plus. Also, if you're not following the Brat Summer phenomenon, I gotcha.

Starting point is 00:04:07 I'm going to explain that later. I'm not convinced we're not living in a simulation. I have made all the mistakes, though. And yet, slightly older Cody is wiser, shocking. You know, of course we can get smarter and wiser after decades if we choose to, and we can come around to faith. And I was talking with my husband yesterday about God. Welcome to what small talk in our house. It was like. And I used to think zero about God candidly, or the meaning of life or being a good human. Why? Because I was broke and trying to figure it out. And I felt like growing up when I went to church, it was a place where dreams go to die on Sunday. And I mean, if you haven't been to a traditional Catholic Mass where the wooden benches and kneeling blocks are nothing short of torture chambers, it was all just so boring and pointless and talking about names I couldn't even pronounce and stories about sacrificing animals and attempting to apply that to like Brad not liking. me in high school, kind of tough. But if you stay with me here for a second, when I look back at it, man, what an insane story? If I was a church and I was doing the PR for the Catholic Church, I'm available, by the way, I would tell the story like this to kids. There is a war going on

Starting point is 00:05:11 between angels, aka the good guys and demons, aka the bad guys. It's all around us. And you, little kid, you're a soldier in it. Every kid wants to be a soldier. You're important, critical. And you choose the side of the builders or the burn it downers and figure out which side you want to fight on. It's a story sort of as old as time, and it's actually better than most of the things we watch on TV. What I think is cool is that we actually live it. You know, it's in the shadows and your decisions every day, and at some point in your life, you'll figure out why you were uniquely put here. And just like any soldier, you get an assignment. And mine is that I believe ownership leads to responsibility.

Starting point is 00:05:50 Responsibility leads to self-respect. Self-respect leads to helping those around you. Why? Because when you respect yourself, you believe in yourself more. When you believe in yourself more, you realize you have more to give. And when you have more to give, you actually give it. Thus, the cycle. I call this the belief to relief framework.

Starting point is 00:06:08 Your beliefs leads to others relief. And I think that more people need to think about this. You can tell me in the comments what you think about it. So I buy businesses, I create owners, I help us take back our communities, I believe that. our communities, I believe the single greatest thing you can do is to find your assignment. What will you labor on? Because there is dignity in all labor. There is not dignity at all protest. I think you should build something instead, stand for something and instead of telling me what you stand against.

Starting point is 00:06:37 So I'd encourage you to do something with me. When you say your worst parts allowed, I do think you're uncancelable. And when you say the thing that you are feeling inside, like me talking more about face and thinking that faith and money might be incredibly connected, that like bigger purpose actually leads to bigger pockets, that if you want to become a millionaire, become a missionary. And the truth is, like, people aren't going to like everything that you say. God help you. Go read my Twitter comments. I mean, people are psychopaths on there.

Starting point is 00:07:05 And so I think say the quiet part out loud about yourself. And that's how you become uncancelable and willing to stand up as a soldier for the things you believe in. For instance, I'm an intense boss. I believe in faith and freedom. I have failed and lost money many times. I have won and made millions without shame. I'm happily married, but once I was divorce,

Starting point is 00:07:23 I've been a true friend and I have been a true enemy. And I don't bow to propaganda. But I've been wrong. And I've also been wronged. I just do not care what non-builders think. Because I think you and builders are built different. But today, I also think building isn't enough. And every war, there are weapons.

Starting point is 00:07:41 And today's weapons are media, which is probably why I built my media company. It's truly something that I increasingly think I got called to do because it's certainly not the place you make the most money, but I do think it's the place you have the most meaning. One of the greatest weapons, though, are not the participants, but the platforms, aka not me, but Facebook, mainstream media, Instagram, TikTok,

Starting point is 00:08:03 and I'm going to explain to you exactly why. But before I do, there's another community that's really important to me, and that is our contrarian community. This is the community where we bring the truth about business ownership what others want. We actually are doing something really incredible, which is bringing the next generation of business mentorship programs online, providing 10 steps to buying building and selling businesses and doing it to create owners and challenge the systems. So join us in the fight for financial freedom and community if you are thinking about

Starting point is 00:08:33 buying a small business at www. contrarianthinking.co. Okay, contrarian idea. Brat Summer. Let's get into this. I want to talk to you about weapons and movements, but a different type. First of all, do you know what Brat Summer is? I'm like too old. I had to look this up. It's basically taking over TikTok and the election, which just maybe further shows we are living in that simulation. Here's what happened. I'm on TikTok. I don't know why. But I'm on TikTok and Kamala Harris gets announced. And then almost immediately, this song pops up for me. Listen to this for a second. Okay, here's the thing.

Starting point is 00:09:35 This is a remix of Kamala Harris's rather infamous line, Did You Just Fall Out of a Coconut Tree? You exist in the context, which, you know, back then, everybody was like, what the fuck is she talking about? But I quickly realized that this song slaps, which means it's good. That's what the kids say these days. And next thing I see are remixes of it everywhere. Then I get like down the Twitter rabbit hole or the TikTok rabbit hole,

Starting point is 00:09:59 and they have 100 million views combined on these videos. And kids are then doing this dance. Visit BetMGM Casino and check out the newest exclusive. The Price is Right Fortune Pick. BetMDM and Game Sense remind you to play responsibly. 19 plus to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly.

Starting point is 00:10:21 If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2-600 to 6. speak to an advisor. Free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. For you people on the audio, I don't even know how to explain this dance. Just picture. There's a young guy, his name's Freddie. He's walking into his mom's kitchen. She looks like a nice Midwestern mom. Freddie turns on that song and all of a sudden starts dancing like a noodle in front of his mom. And the craziest part about this is there are 4,785 other versions of it. Before you know it, I've watched about 20 of these. You cannot tell me the TikTok

Starting point is 00:11:10 is not a drug. It is. So basically, if you're not 22 and a TikTok addict, here's how this works. Brat Summer means that each summer, young women have been picking a theme. So I don't know if it sounds familiar. There was Hot Girl Summer, Farrell Girl Summer, which meant like instead of being Han put together, be a little gnarly, nasty, you know, do you girl. This summer, it's Brat Summer. Now, how do they choose this? I don't know, like young single women convention. But part of it is this girl, Charlie X-C-X, a singer who put out an album called Brat. And if you had to define it, let's use Charlie's words. So, excuse the verbiage here. She says, you're just like that girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb things sometimes, who feels herself, but maybe also has a breakdown, but kind of like parties through it. Is very honest, very blunt. To be honest, that's basically me when I was in college at ASU. Brat also is this like intense lime green color with these big blocky letters. So if you see that anywhere and you see other brands using it, that's a play to Charlie XCX. Lord help you if you go listen to all those songs and dances on TikTok, I don't dance, but they're all over the place.

Starting point is 00:12:18 The Too Long didn't read version is Kamala is now cool with Gen Z. She is Brat, as they say. I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. Like do we want sort of a party messed up, not that together president? I don't know. But she went from being a joke to being pretty damn cool, pretty damn fast. And what that makes me wonder, what weapon is TikTok? For so long, we've had so many people tell us that TikTok was something that was going to be weaponized to make our use, maybe push back against the establishment. But watching how fast a character that got one of the lowest percentages ever in a primary, Kamala Harris, two, now front and center in Brat, be thinking about TikTok as our deal of the week.

Starting point is 00:13:02 What's fascinating about TikTok is, TikTok was created in 2016. It's actually created one month before Donald J. Trump won the presidency. But look at this chart. TikTok goes from zero users to 1.6 billion by 2024. And oh, by the way, that's like 3x Twitter and Snapchat and almost the same as Instagram, slightly less.

Starting point is 00:13:30 However, it is the fastest growing social channel ever. With 10x the growth trajectory, look at the speed at which the line goes up compared to the rest of the social networks. What this makes me wonder, though, is, is this lasting? So you guys might remember those Bernie Sanders memes back in the day? You know, like the mittens, the mask, the I don't give a fuck energy. Play that image right now. It's just so good.

Starting point is 00:13:52 The problem with Bernie, though, is he went super viral too, but his voters online were like Taylor Swift fans at her concerts. They were losing it. But then our voters in real person were emptier than a, I don't know, Nikki Haley rally in real life. The memes and the young people who are, rying at rallies didn't actually translate to voting. The question in 2024 is, will dances and remixes instead drive voting?

Starting point is 00:14:14 And here's a crazy thought. Let's get out of the elections for a second. Can music and dancing make you think and do things? How can we apply this to business? Well, in fact, one huge conglomerate did. So Harvey Nichols flagship store in London, staff have noticed a new and unusual behavior among shoppers. So customers strolling through the displayed designer collections are starting to hold their smartphone is aloft, like using music discovery apps like Shazam to identify whatever song is playing

Starting point is 00:14:43 on the store's system. Other tech savvy people are asking members of the staff what's playing. Want to know why? Well, I did some dig it for you. So from their research, what they know is that if you create an atmosphere visually from a scent point of view, and most importantly from a music point of view, customers will stay longer. If you and your store increase the amount of time people will say you're going to increase your sales. Think about horror movies for a second. So music's so powerful that a new study has found a connection between horror movies music and the screeches of young frightened animals. Get this. Researchers believe that there are biologically ingrained reasons why sudden dissonant sounds and minor chords make us scared,

Starting point is 00:15:28 worried. As a prime example, you guys remember the Spielberg film Jaws from 1975 has this like sinister feeling of suspense with these chilling chords. And in the original trailer for the film, right here, listen and see how it makes you feel. It will attack and devour anything. It is as if God created the devil and gave him jaws. So the cords start slicing at about 33 seconds, and then they're followed by this big, bad cord, hear as the innocent swimmer gets yanked under at 35 seconds. And then you hear this high-pitched chaotic sound of the lifeguards whistle. Textbook example of the kind of dissonant noise researchers found in the study in horror films. And if you keep watching it, the trailer uses the same

Starting point is 00:16:26 technique of like these sudden jerky chords when the children get attacked at the beach and when the sailors batt at the shark from the boat. The leading scientist on this music study said that he's an expert on distressed calls of animals. And while studying young Mormons, he noticed that baby Mormons often screamed when the researchers caught them. These screams are classified as nonlinear chaotic noise. And this dissonant chord, like a babies cry, a baby animal screams, triggers in the researchers and in any listener a biologically ingrained response by making us think our young are threatened. So it makes us think our babies are being eaten.

Starting point is 00:17:05 We're going to be eaten by the shark. So if you ever wonder why those sounds are in our horror movies, it's because of the they scientifically know that it will make us scared, it will give us anxiety, and the movie doesn't even have to coordinate with it. So some of those screams and jaws were actually baby mormons manipulated. And they made our biology feel one way or another, and that's why it's the top grossing horror movie of all time on an adjusted basis. So maybe my thought here is, TikTok music may be more powerful than we think. And if you own a restaurant and want tables to turn over faster, maybe put on some uptempo music. If you want people to sit,

Starting point is 00:17:41 and hang out over their dinner, maybe make it a little bit slower. So if you think about it, TikTok might not be as dumb as it sounds. It might be a whole lot more powerful. Now, speaking of power, I want you to remember something. Here, don't be greedy. Share the pod with the needy. Let's hit that share button and make this thing go more viral than a middle-aged woman dancing to a coconut song. Make this world make sense, guys.

Starting point is 00:18:02 All right, story time. Quick rant aside here. If you are a business owner and you think politics doesn't matter for you, I just want to rein that in for a second. So I had a business in Argentina, part of my business in Argentina. Let me tell you what happened. A new president, Christina Fernandez, came in and outlawed foreign investors overnight. My business completely died. Had to leave the country, no business any longer. I had a business in money markets at State Street. The government changed regulations, made an

Starting point is 00:18:29 entire industry unprofitable, and made that business shrink to about the third of the size it was at its peak. I had a business in cannabis. Government created something called 280E tax regime, making only illegal operations profitable, which basically meant that most of our portfolio companies were profitable. And to this day, look at what the cannabis index is at. For those of you guys who can't see it, it basically looks like, yeah, yeah, yeah, we're going up, we're going up on the top of a roller coaster, and then we're diving down to the bottom. We're just going to stay there forever, which is what's happened since they haven't changed regulation in cannabis and kept 280E on top of it. I also had a business joint venture in Brazil. This business JV in Brazil had regulations

Starting point is 00:19:09 that mandated local co-owners could take over your entire business. And that's what happened. The business was killed. They took over the business. They ran it profitably. This at the time seemed like no big deal. But if we check in on those companies now, politics kill businesses all the time. In fact, there's two truths, I believe, that your real competitor is in the mirror and that asymmetric risk is the one thing you should always be looking out for.

Starting point is 00:19:34 Where is the thing that can kill you? and owners and builders need to care. All right, now I want to hear from you guys. What's your deal? Let's get into Q&A. All right, let's start with the Real Fields family asks. Is it intimidating being a woman in an industry full of male figures? This question is hard for me.

Starting point is 00:19:54 To start, let's be honest, yes. I cut my hair short. I wore really boxy, awful suits. I tried to fit in with the guys. I wasn't feminine. I didn't wear makeup. up, I did everything basically wrong because the truth of the matter is, despite what people say on the internet these days, I can never be a man. So me pretending to be kind of an approximation of it

Starting point is 00:20:14 wasn't good for my career. I should have just been exactly who I was. The truth of the matter is, if you look different, what is true? You will stand out. And so I don't think there's anything wrong with being a woman in a male dominated industry. As long as you're good and you're not around bad people, but good people, most people don't care at all. That's my answer for the real Fields family great question. Thanks, you. James Fahmach says, underrated channel. Love your stuff. Thanks, James. Appreciate you. I think it's underrated too. We're growing, baby. Okay, July, I don't know how to round that. J-A-L-A-I-U-SOR says. Thanks. Random sidebar. Have you considered medical attention for your nasal blockage? For a long time, I thought you had a cold or realized you

Starting point is 00:20:58 have like congestion. Well, I got a nose job. I look cuter, but the passage still not fully open. So as much as I want to go get punched in the face again and have them break my nose, I'm going to skip that. And I'll be a little nasally and you're going to have to deal with it. Valu Live says, is it too late for someone in their 30s working a regular 9 to 5, not making much at all to buy or build a business? Where does one begin? No, it's never too late until they put you in a box underground. Until that moment, we have 90-year-olds hiking Everest. Like, think about that for a second. There's a rule that, I can't remember the name, but we'll put it in the show notes, about basically there was one speed at which a track race, I think it was the mile, was ran for a

Starting point is 00:21:44 long time. And that speed, people would say, never ever will a human beat this speed? And then one runner came along and they beat that speed. And then what happened? Immediately after that, a ton of other runners did the exact same thing. Humans sometimes feel like it's hard to be what we cannot see. And so if you think in any area of your life that you cannot have the thing, go find somebody who has the thing. Find a few people who have the thing. And I think you'll quickly realize that just about anything is possible. And that's really, really liberating. Last question. Ray Phil Wong says, amazing intro. You're right. No need to romanticize entrepreneurship. It's hard, a lonely road, and more downs than ups. Good on you for telling people. Word.

Starting point is 00:22:31 father's best line. You're not in the game unless you at some point of bed, head in your hands, dead of the night, all alone, wondering what to do next. That is the truth of entrepreneurship. But it's also worth it. Thanks for being builders in a world of consumers. I see you guys. You're a big deal to me. Remember, don't be greedy. Share the pod with the needy. Maybe give me a little tag on Instagram with your favorite part so I know what to do more or less of. Open the feedback and the red pin, if that's what you guys prefer. Also, if you guys are looking to buy a small, business. I want to know you. Go to contraryingthinking.co. We have more resources than you could ever imagine there for buying a small business. We also have courses in a community for the

Starting point is 00:23:10 serious. Thank you all for being a big deal.

BigDeal - #23 How to Stop Caring What Other People Think (and make way more money)

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