Digital Social Hour - How I Built a $40M Company Without a College Degree | Matt Sapaula DSH #906

Episode Date: November 20, 2024

🚀 From Marine to $40M business owner - Matt Sapaula shares his incredible journey! 💰 Discover how he built a thriving company without a college degree and learn his secrets to success. 🎓 Matt reveals: • How he climbed the ranks at PHP Agency 📈 • Why he values capitalism and performance over tenure 💼 • His unique approach to parenting and education 👨‍👧‍👦 • The importance of building a recession-proof business 💪 Don't miss out on Matt's insights on entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and the power of values-driven leadership. 🔥 This episode is packed with valuable advice for aspiring entrepreneurs and established business owners alike! Tune in now to hear Matt's thoughts on: • The future of AI and its impact on business 🤖 • Why he believes nuclear energy is the next big investment opportunity ☢️ • His experience interviewing Bill Belichick 🏈 Join the conversation and learn how to think like a millionaire! 💡 Watch now and subscribe for more insider secrets on the Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly. Hit that subscribe button and stay tuned for more eye-opening stories! 🎥 #DigitalSocialHour #SeanKelly #MattSapaula #Entrepreneurship #FinancialLiteracy #BusinessSuccess #PHPAgency #financialeducation #skillstacking #retirementplanning #makemoneyonline #financialindependencestrategies CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Intro 00:30 - PHP Agency Conference History 01:00 - Climbing to the Top of PHP 04:00 - Recruiting Tips for Agents 06:30 - Cycle of Strong and Weak Generations 06:40 - Economic Impact on Business 07:30 - Effects of PHP Sale 11:40 - Patrick’s Children 15:55 - Importance of Entrepreneurship Education 17:05 - Cell Phones in Educational Settings 17:43 - Your Body as Your Business 21:15 - The Bush 20-20-20 Strategy 23:10 - Retirement Financial Planning 25:09 - Future Economic Trends 26:30 - AI and Job Market Changes 27:30 - Building a Recession-Proof Lifestyle 29:40 - Discovering Your Purpose 31:18 - Patrick's Meeting with David 36:44 - Sal's Future Plans 39:32 - Bill Belichick Interview Insights 41:13 - Finding Matt Online APPLY TO BE ON THE PODCAST: https://www.digitalsocialhour.com/application BUSINESS INQUIRIES/SPONSORS: [e-mail] GUEST: Matt Sapaula https://www.instagram.com/moneysmartguy/ www.youtube.com/@7FigureSquad https://moneysmartguy.com/ LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-social-hour/id1676846015 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Jn7LXarRlI8Hc0GtTn759 Sean Kelly Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmikekelly/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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or like me, a $1 small coffee and a $2 small latte. Available now until November 24th in Ontario only. Woohoo! Because I want to call out the hotel and get you in trouble, right? But you're like, yeah, party, right? And so, no, hey bro, click, click,

click, clicking with the cards. Shrip club, strip club, strip club. Nah, bro. The top guys that are company, married, love God, love their wives, honor their biblical responsibility in terms of how to run and build a family. We love having kids.

And the weird part about that brother, is I talk about those Morse vales bros today, were considered weird. Ha ha. All right guys, Matt Sipala of Seven Figure Squad here today, just coming off a big conference man Congrats. Thank you. Appreciate it I saw the lineup that was stacked. It was amazing. We had close to 9,000 people. Holy Yeah, well done. Do you how long has that been conference been running for we've been I've been there since 2015

I've been part of PHP and C4 going on nine years now with you know mentorship the CEO founder of that company called PHP He's called Patrick but David right and you built your way up to the top of that company, right? Yeah, it's all about capitalism, that company. It doesn't matter when you start with the company, if you're not performing, if you're not doing the fundamentals of the business, growing your organization, understand what your KPIs are, and focus on the fundamentals,

you get passed up very quickly. So FOMO is a big part of our culture there, PHP. I love it. That's a good thing, though, right? Very good thing, because it gives hope for the new guy. Anybody can come into the company. There's no, what do you call that? Entitlement. There's no, what did the teacher say? Tenure.

Right. You know, it's all about, hey, can you perform today and keep it sustained? So there's no tenure bonuses? Zero. If you're there for five years, ten years. Zero. None. Wow.

Zero. So you think that's a good thing. So you think that's a good thing. Very good thing. Because don't you want to reward loyalty? Well, you reward loyalty if they're performing. Right. You know it's earned both ways. If you're there thinking that oh I was here you know for example I see guys now in my ninth year of the company rise up in a company they're passing me up in certain

categories. Really? But good for them. Michael Jordan can be dunked on. Just because I was in the company nine years and slam dunking everybody doesn't mean that I can in return get dunked on. If're not performed I mean capitalism this thing is such a very funny thing if you're not improving You will be passed up and you can't get mad that the person that wants to outwork out and strategize out Improve and outlast you're done. Right? Yeah, they say if you're not improving you're going backwards actually. That's right Yeah, if you're not growing you're dying, right? I agree. How many years did it take you to get to the top? That's right. Yeah, if you're not growing you're dying, right? I agree How many years did it take you to get to the top? Well took us my progression PHP first six months made 50 grand there nine months hundred thousand fourteen months 250

17 months 500k Wow 37 months a million. Holy crap. So there's big jumps. Yeah In three years you made a million profit Yeah, so I've been able to build a $40 million top line revenue company in nine years. And that's within a company, so this company's massive. Correct, I have a company within a company. For me that's a benefit of partnership, damn. And the model is just to get agents under you, right? Yeah, I mean any business, right?

You're recruiting, I was just talking to your recruit, your ma right here, and she formerly worked at Netflix. One of the things that Patty McCord did with Reed Hastings is on a commute from the city into Where Netflix is looking so I'm 45 minute drive the entire drive that they had coming in was all about who we were recruiting from Who Wow who we're coming from Twitter who we come from Facebook

We got to get the best people over here And we got a complete compelling offer wanting to come here and they have a beautiful thing online Everybody had access to called the Netflix culture deck And that place called it was the biggest download thing about how Netflix builds their culture because in business, culture attracts people and culture eats talent for lunch. Wow. So you might not have, you might have the best talented people there at your company, but if you don't have culture, you don't have fun, you don't have excitement, you don't

have the spirit of competition and not working out, lasting out, improving, et cetera, the next guy's coming, he's gonna be challenging to take your spot. Right, because if you don't have culture, you can even offer more money and they'll deny it. That's right. Exactly. And sometimes, just because you get paid somewhere else

doesn't mean it's better for you over there. Right. Sometimes, for example, in free agency and football, sometimes guys get paid higher to go from team to team, but they realize that culture, that system, that locker room really wasn't a fit for them. And so as part of the recruiting process, if I'm an NFL player, if I'm an NBA player and I'm talking to my agent, I'm looking for the best culture for them and necessarily

the best paycheck. Right. What's some recruiting advice you give to your clients under you? Am I tracking clients or recruiting agents? Agents. Yeah. So I got to tell them, listen, where you at? What's your outcome over there in the insurance industry? Sadly, it's the oldest riches, but sadly on

Disrupted, you know the technology lags in the life insurance industry So if I'm looking something for somebody what type of financial technology or what we call fintech Combination of you're using to build your business over there What type of social media are you allowed to have at your financial services from where you're at? What type of compensation, what are we incentivizing you? Are you gonna be incentivizing your current firm to build and scale an agency, to build your passive income long-term,

to build an asset, or just a glorified salesperson? So these are some of the conversations we'll have with folks. And by the way, 95% of the people that we recruit don't come from a financial services background. All these insurance companies are coming to poach other insurance companies. 99% of my guys, my personal team at PHP, my personal team, don't come from the insurance industry. Hmm.

I got a guy that's a former engineer. I got a guy that's a former breakdancer. What? I got a guy that's an Apple executive. I got- BetMGM, authorized gaming partner of the NBA, has your back all season long. From tip-off to the final buzzer, you're always taken care of with the sportsbook Born in Vegas.

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and authorized gaming partner of the NBA. BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. Must be 19 years of age or older to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have any questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor

free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. As a Fizz member, you can look forward to free data, big savings on plans, and having your unused data roll over to the following month, every month. At F Fizz you always get more for your money. Terms and conditions for our different programs and policies apply. Details at Fizz.ca. I've got another guy that's selling newspapers in a kiosk at them all. I got you know a bunch of guys not from the financial services industry but we do have however at our company with major traction for us to come over to our

firm is that we believe in values, principles, we believe in our faith, we believe in capitalism, we love America, we love families, we love our individuality, but being able to work together, that's attractive for a lot of people. I mean, we're just out of conference, 9,000 people, we're talking about Jesus, we're talking about faith, very openly and confidently, not to push the Bible down anybody's throat, but hey, listen, this is what I stand for, and these are morals, values and principles, why I love America, and why we love building our family under these principles. And we're here in Vegas, not once brother, you just see us gambling. Not once you see us taking a bump. We're in the bathroom, you guys, we got a party over here.

Party over here, what good for you. Wait, people did that? Oh, in the bathroom. Wow. Right there, at the, I'm not gonna say the hotel, because I want to call out the hotel, get you in trouble, right? But they're like, yeah, party, right?

And so, nah, hey bro, click, click, click, clicking with the cards. Strip club, strip club, strip club. Nah, bro. The top guys that are company, married, love God, love their wives, honor their biblical responsibility in terms of how to run and build a family. We love having kids.

And the weird part about that, brother, is I talk about those morals values principles today We're considered weird Yeah, you're right. I don't know right now. It's discipline times are changing though. I'm glad people are opening up on stage about their faith Yeah, a hundred percent. It's a faith and personal stuff. What's that saying? Good times creates Weak men right right and tough times create strong men strong men right and it's that whole cycle right going back and forth So that's not so because we're in tough times right now. It's a very tough. We're about to be in a recession potentially I've not impacted your business at all

Negative times bad times bad economy actually help us really yeah during pandemic during during kovat our business shot Oh, wow, what happened to stock market last week major drop in market? You know four point one trillion dollars. None of our clients lost any money. Zero. Not because we're great financial advisors, because that's not what we are. We're insurance agents. And what insurance agents do, they

provide an insurance policy called annuities, or insurance policy called indexed universal life, or fixed life, where it's safe, guaranteed, backed by bonds. So none of our clients are ever in any risk. So there's contractual guarantees with the inside policies. Sometimes there's contractual guarantees what you're going to earn in the next five, 10 risk. So there's contractual guarantees within site policies It's a crack sometimes a crack contractual guarantees what you're gonna earn in x5 10 years So it's very predictable. There's a lot of people need they need a financial foundation what to expect And once they have that financial foundation what to expect they could be a little bit more adventurous a bit more risky

And other things they do outside the core way of how to build a financial house All right So when PBD sold the same did that change up your world at all actually we grew oh, yeah Actually, we're already doubled our company size after PEP. Whoa. Yeah. And by the way, I'm not saying that, because Patrick gave us the tools, the systems, the strategies, the culture,

the values and principles, and we doubled our company since Patrick sold the company. We're close to half a billion dollar company right now. Dude, that's impressive, because sometimes when you sell and the leader leaves, I don't know if he's still involved. That's why there's pride in the people that take over. For example, Tim Cook, there's pride when he took over from Steve Jobs.

There's pride when the CEO of Uber, right? Travis Connick steps down and a new CEO comes in, right? He takes it to the next level. Asatya from Microsoft, there's pride when he took over Microsoft, because right now, what's his name? The former CEO of Microsoft? He owns the Clippers right now. Oh Bomber yeah bomber right now is richer

Than Bill Gates And he was a 30th employee at Microsoft right and same thing at Facebook the twin brothers are richer than Zuckerberg check that out, right? Yes, it's it's an amazing thing. So just because you weren't necessarily the founder, the CEO, even an employee or an intrapreneur as we call sometimes, right? Because an intrapreneur is somebody that may not take the risk of the finances or the reputation of going business, but they take the same

entrepreneurial habits of value, of creating his space with inside the company being invaluable, unfirable, right? They're gonna find a position for that person. That's an entrepreneur. Right. Right, an employee, eh, just kind of kicking around, all good, but if you are an employee with an entrepreneurial mindset,

we call that an intramurder. And I actually recommend people to get that type of job or consulting job or whatever before they become an entrepreneur because to jump straight into entrepreneurship is tough. Big time. I failed at it for years. Big time. I mean it's not easy if you don't have any knowledge.

It's hard because you not only have to have the basic fundamentals of why your product or service is awesome, but the other 90% of stuff of operating a business, that's where people get hung up on. Right. Right? Chefs cook great plate of food, but bro, you got to have people at the front of the house back of the house you have inventory You know you gotta have a refrigeration for your your food don't over by don't under by right you got HR Yeah, people quit on you. They don't show up to work anymore. You got to be the cook the chef the host Wear a lot of hats. Yeah customer service is the worst man. I used to do that

If I were customer service is the reason why people come back So if your customer service experience is poor, then you're not going to have referability or repeat customers. Agreed. Visa and OpenTable are dishing up something new. Get access to primetime dining reservations by adding your Visa Infinite Privilege Card to your OpenTable account. From there, you'll unlock first-come, spots at select top restaurants when booking through open table

Learn more at open table dot ca forward slash visa dining And a lot of people neglect it too. Hey, they do dude. I just ordered I don't want to call anyone out, but I ordered a mattress. It's been eight weeks. Damn I've been sleeping on like my old mattress Eight weeks, dude. I emailed them four times, no response. Isn't that crazy? And this is a big brand that's promoted on podcasts. Wow.

Yeah, it's pretty nuts. I would never reorder or recommend that brand. And I spent four grand on this mattress. That's a good point, Rick. So you can attract a lot of people. For example, I had those agencies, like the advertising agency for our digital ads. Great marketing, the people are brilliant, great ideas.

Great reason why we shoot a business with, bom bom bom bom, it's like you're impressed for them to be now working on your stuff. But the customer service experience once we got in there, horrible. They promised us one thing, never delivered. They promised us one thing, then never followed through their promises.

And then he says, here they say, we don't care, we're gonna find another client anyway. The reason why, by the way, our company, Patrick sold it, a company worth between two or 15, 300 million dollars. Now we're done with the company. Do you know how much advertising we've done online?

Do you know how much advertising we've done on social media, on regular billboards and newspapers exactly zero why we built a 300 million outcome which is now 500 million dollar company purely on word of mouth crazy client experience customer experience I've paid my guys in the last nine years in terms of commissions commission life insurance agents a hundred million dollars in the last nine years wow we've served and helped families They paid their bills expanded their their kids education to the private school because you know, it's crazy to be in Yeah, and I know speaking to kids you got five right I do

Kids and then I get to you know kids cuz I was married before okay So my oldest son is now 28. He made me a grandfather Wow, and so he grandfather He made me a grandfather. Wow, and so he's a grandfather. I'm a grandfather. Yeah I'm 50. Okay. Yeah, and so my twins are 23 and have a 13 or than a 5 Mmm, what have you seen the difficulties of each one as social media has been introduced and all that the old ones not so much I chose the three older ones not to Think that going to college was the only way for you to make money. Oh even when they so 28 that's my age So that wasn't a normal way of thinking back then it's right to not go to college correct so so I'm in the counselors

With the advisors there and like my kids are there you know this college get this second your SAT I see whatever test me. She's got a big Notre Dame thing behind her. It's a coke Can I can I offer some feedback? She goes, sure. Hey, girls, son, do you think that going to college is the only way for you to make money? Why do you got to go to college? Just because she went to college or anybody else

that went to college? What classes of entrepreneurship and capitalism for enterprise do you teach her? She's like, open. She couldn't respond. She's like, she used lip lock for 10 seconds. Right? So that's the thing. She couldn't respond. She's like she's lip-locked for 10 seconds. Right? So that's the thing. Your father has built his way through his life with a 2.2 GPA in high school. I have a PhD, a public high school diploma. I built my business

through sales. I built my business through customer service. I built my business through building a reputation. I'm a single father of three kids that raised you in this neighborhood so you can have options better than options I had and a college degree they didn't bring me there. So it's up to you. Now college is a great place to go but if you want your outcome is to make money there's other ways to make money. You don't want to be a doctor, you don't want to be an engineer, you don't want to be a scientist. The STEM subjects, kids aren't very good math and science, then there's other ways for you to make money. And fast forward, my son right now, he runs a stretch clinic. My daughter owns a esthetician business. My other daughter's still

trying to figure it out, but meantime she's got a job in Green Valley, not being a burden at the house. But none of them have stood alone debt. I asked them, so how are your friends? Poppy, they're all hundred thousand dollars in debt. You know, I didn't like it when you said that when I was in high school, because, you know, everybody's going to college. But I'm so thankful you coach me and guided me not to go to college. Cause all my friends are six figures in debt working in nurse rooms. Retail.

Yeah. It doesn't guarantee a job anymore. Like it used to. Yeah. My third, uh, my 13 year old, he's great in sports. His mother, my wife, she was a D1 athlete played softball yet at University of Pitt Mm-hmm, so he's it we've been feeding him that language nice, and he's like hey dad You know I want to be a d1 athlete and after that I want to be an agent and PHP

So he's getting paid a thousand dollars This summer for reading three core books for doing 150 shots with your right on the 55 shots with your left 150 free throws Run a mile. And I want you to do it during the hottest time during the day. Wow. That's some Goggin stuff right there. And he doesn't wait for me to tell him. He does it.

He sends me his long text message. Dad, I wrote this book, In the Game of Tennis, wrote this book, Entrepreneurship for Kids. I wrote this book, Rich Kid, Poor Kid by Robert Kiyosaki. Dad, I'm waiting for my $1,000. Because he's asking me, what's the next book? What's the next book? He's going to do it before the because I'm incentivizing to do before the deadline if you do before the deadlines another 500 bucks mm-hmm to read three the books so I want him strong mentally. I'm a strong physically as it coming up

It'll be going into a eighth grade here coming up. Let's go so you saw it. Yeah, he's gonna be thinking differently Is he in public school? No Christian school. Oh nice Yeah, yeah, I'm either doing private or homeschool. I am 100% agree 100% Yeah, it's not even like a question at this point. What am I one of my agency builders in Memphis? She felt so bad about the public school system using the skills. She used in entrepreneurship She went out and rallied three thousand votes So she's now the new school board commissioner Wow unseats the incumbent and she's bringing a whole new team of people to run the school. That's awesome Because she's not a school board commissioner

So entrepreneurship is a vehicle to have positive influence in America people think it's just about money No, your business is a way for you to magnify the values and principles what you're about Because people can work to you and God can work through you and she became a schoolbook school board commissioner. That's amazing Yeah, there should be an entrepreneurship class in every school. Well, do you think that an entrepreneurship class? Would benefit because just like most classes academia, you don't really like entrepreneur you learn about entrepreneurship because you did it Because you you said right? That's a good point. Yeah, so I was structured like this. I would bring in entrepreneurs to speak That'd be great. Yeah, 100% That's like this. I would bring in entrepreneurs to speak. That'd be great, 100%. That's how we got recruited into the military.

Oh yeah. Because an army soldier walked in, joined the army, listening to the Marines. But I was inspired about serving our country through the lens of an army soldier that formerly went to high school. Exactly, like I would listen to that if I was in college, rather than the professor teach out of a textbook.

100%. Like if a nine figure entrepreneur came in and talked for an hour, that'd be amazing value. You know, like imagine you speaking to college kids. You know, moral authority and leadership, by example, is a big thing. I mean, I was asking my kids when he was going through public school,

so when's gym class? What time? Tuesdays and Thursdays. Wait a minute, not Monday through Friday, only Tuesdays and Thursdays, and we wonder why America today is an obese generation because the public school system has even removed Physical education Jim from a school system and even the gym class itself is a joke I mean you just stand around for 30 minutes, right? They don't actually work you out. You're not sweating at all

I think one of the worst things they did with kids is to allow cell phones in class They should put the cell phones in the locker You know don't put it You know to make it an easy thing for kids to access because what are they doing? And I'm observing, because I go to some high schools that teach financial literacy, like what you were saying. And I'm just sitting in the back watching these kids, what they're doing.

They're playing video games on their phone. They're listening to the teacher. They're playing chess. They're listening to the teacher, playing chess with one another. They're playing games with one another in the classroom. They're not paying attention. So I think the way for people

to educate their children or academics just has to be reformed and they have to find a different way. It's more doing it, and that's why private school and homeschooling is really, I believe, the way to go. That's the move. So were you a D1 athlete? Nah, I was in the Marines, bro.

I was in the Marines and I was too tall, too skinny. You were skinny? Oh, bro. Yeah, it wasn't until I left the Marines and I was I was too tall too skinny, you know, we're skinny. Oh, bro Yeah, it wasn't until I left the Marines because in Marines I was even skinny, but I was in shape and I'm strong I'm a late bloomer. I didn't start blooming toss 44 45 years old and I'm at any muscle and tells 44 44. Yeah, I throw up some old photos you on the screen Yeah, I mean we showed it at the screen I'll send them to you. But 2017, because my body, you know how sometimes people are obese and they're fat and they're out of shape?

And their obesity and their body fat will show that. Well, I would say the opposite, too, as well for certain body types. I caught it because I was skinny fat. I was out of shape. I was skinny. But I didn't have a lot of body fat. But I was out of shape.

I had chronic pain, arthritis, I had gout, all these different things. My fingers were all messed up from the military. I felt bad, I felt poor about myself, until I invested in my health to fix my problems, to take the right medications, to eat the right foods. Because in business, you need a lot of energy.

You actually need to be in shape. I got a t-shirt out there called hashtag Entrepathlete. As an entrepreneur, I'm actually looking at it as an athlete looks at their sport. Study game tape. Know my competition. Know the X and O's of my industry.

Recruit talent, retain talent. I'm an Entrepathlete. The same disposition and intensity of people approach their sport, athletes approach their sport. The same disposition, I'll approach business. And so that's the attitude and the character of why I created that hashtag. Absolutely. Mark Cuban said business is the biggest sport in the world. 100%.

24-7. Yeah, exactly. Because you don't shut off after three, three and a half hours. You're on game all the time. And that's the stress sometimes people. But I love the stress, because I don't even call it stress. I call it pressure. So most people who have a job, they don't control the odds, they don't control their boss. That's stress.

No wonder they have cancer. No wonder they have a heart attack. No wonder they, what's the stat? Most people have a heart attack on Monday morning, eight o'clock. Really? Because people dying to get to their job.

Wow, I didn't know that. They're under stress, right? But a lot of entrepreneurs, if they don't take care of their health, stress will come in versus pressure. Pressure to me is like you throwing on plates on the barbell, but you ask for it. But at least you can ask for a spotter,

or you can remove their weights and start lifting the reps you can handle. To me, that's pressure. To me, that's entrepreneurship. Yeah, I love pressure too. Forces you to grow. Yeah, you're in charge. You got to adopt. You're in control. Yeah, but stress is, I love pressure too. It forces you to grow. Yeah, and you're in charge. You've got to adopt.

You've got control. Yeah, but stress is, I've had burnout too, so you've got to play that balance. Correct, correct. Well, you also have to be passionate about and love what you're doing. You've got to love that you're improving all the time. You've got to love that if you're not improving

your competition, that's the excitement of it. But then again, if you are operating your business in ways, because a lot of guys that I knew in Chicago, they were way ahead of me in business in my 20s, in my 30s, they were way ahead of me. Like I find out, they're cutting corners. They're burning bridges. They're taking advantage of clients.

They're not building a solid reputation. Even though they were a lot ahead of me, five, 10 years ahead of me in terms of, or five, 10, 20, 30, 100 million dollars ahead of me, today they're back to square one because they burned those bridges. From 20 to 40, no big mistakes, man. This is the way we interviewed George Bush, the 2020 plan, 20 to 40, no big mistakes.

Don't get the wrong girl pregnant, don't get arrested and get in jail, thrown in jail, don't go to prison, no DOIs, no big mistakes. Mistakes that take years away from you. The next 20, from 40 to 60 make your money get married take care of family take care of kids Compound your wealth 40 60 then from 60 80 dedicate your life to public service They get your life to a purpose bigger than yourself. That's the 20 20 20 point You're playing the long game out here

Most people don't want to wait till 40 to make money like that My staff was my social media staff younger. I recruited 21, 22 years old. I'm 45 at the time. My whole staff is in their young 20s. They were giving me a hard time while I was going hard in my podcast and my company with PHP, with crypto. They were giving me a hard time of why I was going hard in NFTs because I had the lens of the long game. I seen this play before. It just comes in package differently. I saw this played in real estate. I saw this played with 07, 09, great recession. I saw this played in 01 with the dot com bubble.

Everything dot com dot com is being bought in 01 when the internet was coming alive. The same attitude, behavior and spirit I saw with crypto. I saw with entities and I saw people selling their homes to put everything in crypto, getting their retirement plans into crypto. And they see now they lose everything in crypto. Yeah. Fast money.

They lost everything in NFTs. My clients, they lose stuff. Why? Because we set up our clients with a foundation. Once you build a foundation, you can get excited about other things, but make sure you build your money so you know down the road it's going to be there because it has to be there. Because America today, bad shape of the retirement America brother 10 23rd years right now America's all broke America's all broke

the average 50 year old today 60 year old day has less than six figures in retirement savings how long is that gonna last in retirement you see at the Costco Walmart grocery store how many 70 year olds are sadly still working up because they want to, because they have to? And one of the things we take for granted in our 20s, 30s, and 40s are our ability and capacity to work. When you're 60, 70, by the way, you go like this, you blink like this, you're 60.

Life just passes by in a flicker. You're like, shit, I didn't save nothing. Inflation, I couldn't save nothing. So that's why we're encouraging a lot of people, if you don't have a business today, at least start some form of side hustle. You have to go up 100%, go in business 100%, but start a side hustle,

something that can help you earn the same amount of income part-time as you do your full-time job, and then you got options that a lot of people don't have with their boss with their job. Right, so how much money are you recommending your clients to retire with at 65 right now? Well, it depends on what type of income they want to live. We have a rule called the 4% rule. So whatever

you got to save up, don't want to draw more than 4%. For example, if you've got a million dollars saved up, don't want to draw more than 40,000 because you don't want to kill your principal. You don't want to kill the- 40,000 a year? 40,000 a year. That'd be tough to live up. No shit, right? So let me ask you, what are you comfortable living on? A year I would need at least 400,000, dude. That's right, so the four percent math. You actually need, if you want to retire and not play the entrepreneur route, you need in retirement savings, 10 million dollars.

Right. 10 million dollars, four percent, is that number? And that's assuming that the 10 million is making money, right? That's correct, because you're hoping that whatever you drive four percent, whatever you're investing in is growing at five, six, and above what you're pulling out. Right. That's the idea. So you can whatever you drive 4% whatever you're investing in is growing at 5 6 and above

What you're pulling out right? That's the idea so you can't take a big hit on that money or else. It's tough That's right, but right now a lot of stuff is taking 30% hit stocks crypto Yeah, 40% hits even a theorems down 40% this week. That's right and by the way I don't think that people realize that those things are great make Make your money, I'm not saying don't go into crypto, I'm not saying even that, even NFTs, go put your adventurous, risky money there, knowing that potentially you might lose. But people putting the whole entire portfolio

inside these things. Because they're thinking like it's a lottery ticket. That, you know, and probably says what money gets quickly and not earning it is something that's going to fail down the road. Kingander wrote that right obviously I'm paraphrasing But if you looking for always get rich quick get rich quick trying to cut corners You know not think about long-term wealth and eventually is gonna catch up to you And that's what I fear the mindset of my generation is very get rich quick kind of mindset because I think partially because of social media

Well, I think your generation to is very innovative. I think your generation too finds many... I hire a lot of 20 year olds. Oh yeah? A lot. I love hiring 20 year olds. The future of our country is gonna be based on a 20 year old, right? The president of our country eventually will be some form of 20 year old in this generation. He'll eventually be 40 and 50 from the things he learns in his 20s. So I think this generation is gonna deal with AI very quickly. I think AI is going to, in the next 24, 36 months, is going to take on more of a crazy upswing in companies. Because what's the major expense of a company? Staff.

Correct. So guess what? That company is looking to replace eventually using AI. Staff. What does that do to the profitability of the company? Skyrockets. What happens to the stock value of the company? Skyrockets. So I believe the play value of the company? Skyrockets.

So I believe the play, next five, 10, 15, 20 years, is not real estate, it's equities. Growth, nuclear, because AI's coming in, and all these EVs are coming in. Right now in Texas, we have a power shutdown. And if everybody starts plugging in their Tesla, their electric car in California, California's powers gets shut down.

Wow. We cannot base the future of EV, we cannot base the future of AI on its current electric power grid. We have to have nuclear. And so to me, that's one of the things I'm looking at in terms of my investments. Nuclear? Energy. Interesting. New generation of energy.

Are you telling your kids and your employees that you might be replaced in a few years? So you need to develop a really good skill? The cool thing about the insurance industry, it's that high talent type of operation. AI actually enhances a lot of our operations. The other thing we foresee ourselves in the future is going to explode the insurance business. Because tough times, fear sharpens listening.

Tough times, none of our clients have lost any money because of insurance policies. And the insurance contracts is based on, because insurance companies, some of the brilliant investment managers in the world are managers of investment firms' finances. Because they have to promise a client, you will not lose and will pay your death benefit,

pay you an interest rate guarantee, contractual guarantee by what we promised five, 10, 15, 20 years ago. Investment management insurance companies can't get risky. They have to be stable. They have to be secure. Otherwise they get bad ratings from the rating agencies. And we have bad ratings from the insurance agencies.

Or the financial agencies. Correct, no client wants to go there and put their money in that insurance company. Dude, I love the way you built your lifestyle because you're recession proof. I am. That's incredible. It's really hard to get to for most people. And pandemic proof too. Right, a lot of people got wrecked during that.

Yeah, and so when Stock Market goes down, my second book, Gotcha, it's a best-selling book. It talks about my favorite client. For 21 years, 22 years now, she hasn't lost any money, withdraws her money from her retirement account without paying a dime in tax. Her and her husband are now retired, now living this next golden chapter of life in dignity, even though they have to pay $5,000 a month into a retirement community,

because they can't get up and down their house in Chicago anymore because of their age. Selling their house, they move into a retirement community, not retirement home, retirement community where there's activities. Every day, they look at it, like look at the schedule. It's a cruise ship on land. Having, make new friends, enjoying this chapter of life.

Why do I talk about this client so much in my book, Gotcha? Who's safe and secure in this world today? When I talk about that client, that's my mother. So I've made sure, I got involved in financial services business to help the people I love and care about, and that first person client, that's my mother. So I've made sure I got involved in the financial services business to help the people I love and care about. And that first person at that time was my mom. Because I'm seeing this financial firm and this insurance firm helping these strangers.

I'm like, man, I'm thinking about my mom that way. How come I'm not helping my mom? How come I'm not helping my family? So that's one of the selfish reasons I got involved in financial services outside the great money that you make. I want to take some of the values and principles and strategies while people are getting

wealthy to help my own family because people today the middle class income generation this is the general or the the the demographic that I serve the multicultural middle income demographics said will never get rich but they don't deserve to be broke agreed they're never gonna get fancy with crypto they're never gonna fancy they're gonna get sophisticated their investments inside their 401k but they don't deserve to be broke. Agreed. They're never going to get fancy with crypto. They're never going to get fancy. They're never going to get sophisticated in their investments inside their 401k, but they don't deserve to be broke. They need to deserve, all their life, not retire at 60. They deserve having consistency, not having stress.

Where's my money coming from? Inflation is kicking my ass. So if I have aging parents, if I have aging relatives, I should care about their finding situation, because if they're not taking care of themselves, guess who's gonna be asking for help? You. Kids, grandkids.

Yeah, you really found your purpose, your mission, it sounds like. It's exciting. Yeah, it's great. Yeah, dude, that must be a terrible feeling. Imagine working your whole life, and then you're worrying about, do I have enough money to live out my days?

Ain't that crazy? It probably takes years off your life. I think about this, Sean, when you get older. What do we lose when I was younger? I got invited slide birthday parties graduations weddings When I say 38 40 years old guess where I started experience my invitations were from funerals correct And the people that you grew up with the people that you assign with two days ago one of my good friends sadly 40 years old four kids, passes away. On vacation, he's financially free,

financially independent, on vacation, passes out, can't be revived. Four daughters he leaves behind. So you look at life today, it can be gone in a flicker. And so when you look at that scenario, when we get older, we start losing our associations, we start losing our friends, we start losing our partners, we start losing our family. Imagine being 60 our friends. We start losing our partners.

We start losing our family. Imagine being 60, 70-year-old and everybody you grew up with or everybody you've had befriended in your business or your career is dead. They're gone. And you're sick, 70, 80, and you're lonely. See, the thing here, John, is that most people, sadly, in their entire life, after high school or college

or even in the military, you know what they don't do in their adult life? Make new friends. They don't build a you know what they don't do in their adult life? Make new friends. They don't build a new network. They don't build new associations. As we said before in business, if you're not growing, you're dying, same thing happens too with your personality. Absolutely. Your personal life.

If you're not self-improving in that category, investing in new friendships and relationships, sadly, emotionally, deep down inside, you're starting to die. Oh yeah. Yeah, I've gone through phases where I was very lonely, had very little friends. It eats at your health physically and mentally. Yeah, for sure.

Yeah, you need that support group. How did you meet PBD? Was it in the military? I got introduced to him by Pastor Dudley Rutherford, who I met four years prior to actually with that introduction. My sister worked for Shepherd Hills Church in LA, and she was... My sister, it was an Orlando Magic Girl, she thought she was going to LA to be a Laker girl, she found Jesus instead. Goes to the church, I meet Pastor W. Rutherford, he goes, you need me to meet the Iranian version of you.

He's PBD, because PBD was going to his church. He goes, you need me to meet the Filipino version of you. So Pastor W. Rutherford, God bless you bless you massive shout out because that introduction changed my life That's hilarious. You two talk very similarly. I could tell you hang out a lot Yeah, I watch his podcast and you guys talk the same way dude. It's been honored to be mentored by a once-in-a-generation I would even say once in a lifetime type of CEO. Oh, yeah founder leader. Yeah, he's different. Yeah Yeah, he's only 45 brother. What's his only 45? Do he might be the goat by the time he's done easy Wow easy Yeah, his shift into politics was brilliant and behind the scenes. He was always feeling that way really we were going trips

How do you feel about this? I feel that suppose really leaning politically. I don't care about politics I care. No, you should care Why because he knuckleheads create policies that affect all of our lives they affect their business so I'm not trying to tell you to vote for anybody, just be aware of what's going on and make your analysis there, make your vote count for an educated decision. Now, I'm coming into political season,

I got five policies that I'm prioritizing, not personalities, policies. American tech is so damn sensitive. Like, I see Trump today, to me he's okay, he talks shit. So what? I'm used to that in the military, I'm used to that growing up in Chicago. People are so damn sensitive.

If he's calling out somebody because they're not performing or a country because they're not performing, yeah, you're right, you should talk shit. I know it's not presidential, and maybe he definitely needs to policy that up. Maybe a little bit more diplomatic. But that's his thing. But to me, that doesn't affect me.

But when I look at potential candidates, I'm like, first for me is economic policy. Do I have you in my way, government? If you're in my way, the regulation under Sarah high income taxes, you're disincentivizing me to be an entrepreneur. And I wonder if that's what they're trying to do. But America was founded on life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Government should not be big. The number one employer, Sean, who's the number one employer in America today? Is it Google? No, it's the federal government. Oh, really? It's the federal government. Is that a good thing? Is it a bad thing?

I don't know. It's not a federal government. Oh Federal government is a good thing is a bad thing I don't know it's not a good thing you and I throw a tax are funding the largest employer in America the federal government It's expensive is expanding. I don't know. That's a good thing. Yeah, they just hired a bunch of IRS people, right? Have you gone to the DMV? Yeah, how months wait and packed? How would you like our health care to turn that way? Healthcare is already a shit show. Imagine it being run like a DMV. Yeah, it'd be bad. ER, emergency room.

You'll get away from a point, come back for your heart attack appointment. You'd die right there in the ER room. So when government takes over things, it becomes a shit show. It becomes inefficient. It's too bureaucratic. Because there's no incentive in the federal government to improve. Wow. There's no, matter of fact, when I was in the military, I'd order things from our suppliers.

A hammer of $10 at Office Depot or Home Depot will cost $50 if you go through a federal approved contractor. Damn. Because these companies, they get the contract to sell their products and services to the government. They see that, ha, federal government, we can overcharge, and they won't care. So they abuse the system. Toilet paper, I'm ordering supplies when we're deploying.

Toilet paper is costing 50 bucks for something you can buy at Walgreens or CVS for four, five, six bucks. 60 bucks going through our supplier, federal government approved. So companies out there have been taking advantage of the federal government, and that's where you need oversight. That's where you need regulation.

Like, huh, this doesn't make sense, we're spending too much money here. Nobody cares about overspending in the government. Nobody cares about efficiencies in the government. You know who cares about that type of stuff? It's entrepreneurs. More entrepreneurs need to go in there, but here's the downside of an entrepreneur

going into the government, it's pay cut. And nobody listens. Huge pay cut. At least as an entrepreneur I can hire and fire and track the people I want to build. And so the bureaucracy is people got voted in. They're embedded in. So that's the institution that we're up against.

Trillion dollars in debt right now. No, my gosh. It's horrible. The stat in America, 1.4 trillion, just credit card debt. Holy crap. So if America is not allowed to make its own money, they drain down to save it or don't even save at all Which means down the road they depend on federal government And fellow government Social Security or some form of government program now you dependent on the government said being independent

And we don't control your income your life is controlled by somebody else Here she that controls your income controls your life and it is you making it right? So if you don't not control your income You don't have your freedom your autonomy You're controlled so that being said you use credit cards of course I do but you just control it. I control it I love credit cards. I fly for free. I'm not yeah, I mean my friends at the Amok Centuria lounge Yeah, right, but that doesn't mean I carry debt. Hmm. You paid off a such right? Yeah, it's a tool

Yeah, some people just spent a ton on cards, and then never pay it off, and then the interest is 10% Right, but that doesn't mean I carry debt. You paid off ASAP. That's right. It's a tool. Yeah, some people just spent a ton on cards and then never paid off and then the interest is 10%. That's why it's mindset over money. If you don't train your mind and your attitude and your disposition, how you view money, then you'll always be broke. Absolutely. What's next for you?

What's next for Seven Figure Squad and PHP Agency? PHP Agency is building a billion dollar company. We just partnered with a company called Integrity Marketing Group. And their CEO and their chief distribution officer was just at our conference, very inspired and impressed by what we're doing. We're very inspired and impressed by them. Nice. Just let me share with you a quick servant leader type

of scenario. I was sitting down. By the way, we had Ludacris. They were doing a concert. Oh, yeah? So I sat down, and somebody spilled their drink, their coffee. And I was kind of straddling, because there's no napkins

or whatever. And I was just kind of because there's no napkins or whatever. And I was just kind of sitting in my chair straddling the spill. They say, you know, this billionaire, Brian Adams, comes out with a towel that he asks one of the people get, and he wipes the spill in front of me. Wow. He's a billionaire.

Tell us what you're doing wiping the spill in front of me. That's servant leadership, man. If you don't get a guy or people around you that wants to help you, for example, What is he doing wiping the spill in front of me? That's servant leadership, man. If you don't get a guy or people around you that wants to help you, if you're giving another example, backstage, Patrick was there with his family and the kids around were talking about a Trump documentary

that he had his kids watch and the political documentary on the left side, because he wants his kids both informed on both sides. And I'm sitting here and I realize Jen, his wife is walking in, all the seats are taken. What do I do as a husband, too? I said, Jen, I get up. Jen, sit down.

Right? She sits down. He notices I'm up because I'm preparing to interview Bill Belichick. And he knows I'm focusing on my notes. Guess what I find? He taps me on the shoulder. So, Paul, sit down. He comes behind with two different chairs.

Like, Patrick, you don't have to do this. I'm so blessed to be around servant leaders. Patrick O'David, who's a servant leader, he just sold his company, and now it's worth about half a billion dollars, giving me a chair to sit down. I get a billionaire carrying off about how I'm sitting over a spill to bring a towel and wipe it up.

You kidding me? These are the type of leaders I'm just blessed to be around. That's powerful, because some leaders lose touch with their customers and with their staff and everything that's right in eroding the customer client experience, right? Thereby eroding their referability or ability to attract or recruit people Some brands some companies attract you just by reputation not by what they put on indeed or monster Because I'm gonna work for that company. I guess you know the good things about the kind of work We're working that company. Hey get a foot in the door for me

So give me a job. Right? And that's the way we've built PHP. How to create a client experience. Now, are the people that come into our sales organization and quit and badmouth the company? Of course. But they're gonna quit.

I've never met, I've never met, ever met a winning quitter. Why? Because quitting is a habit. Now, I'm not saying that you stop and move here because you want to improve your skills. But if you go from one tough decision to another instead of pushing through it and learning through and innovating and improving through it but

you quit that's a habit. Right. And your entire life when times get tough you got quitters blood and guess what you're giving to your children you give your children quitters blood. You pass down generational quit quittedness. Not generational wealth. wow that's crazy that was Bill's first interview since retirement right was it I think so I haven't seen him on a pod or anything I had some very cool I have very cool question I can't wait for the interview to come out but I can't wait to see that one will that be on seven figure squad it will be it will be up his own either

that or a PHP we just gotta get everything approved through his camp this picture congrats on that one that That's huge. It was amazing. I mean, because earlier this year, we interviewed Patrick, interviewed Tom Brady. I saw that one, yeah. So I said Patrick was told some of the things that you learned too. So I combined my questions for Bill.

No one was like, hey, Bill, was Tom wanting to get a seventh ring to beat you or to beat you? You asked him that? Wow. That's a blunt question. There was a lot of media drama over that split, I remember. Yeah. Right?

Another question. Bill, you're about to have a perfect season 2007. You won all 16 games. You won every playoff game. You're in a Super Bowl. You're about to have a perfect season. Nothing that's been happening since 1972 with the Dolphins. You're one minute away from winning.

It's 14 to 10. You're up. Eli Manning spins out from his sack, chucks it down to Tyree. Tyree catches the ball off his helmet. Four plays later, score a touchdown, beating you in the last minute in a Super Bowl, destroying your perfect season.

It's like, man, thanks for making me feel bad. He probably couldn't sleep for a year. But I'm wondering, how do you deal with the loss? Some people have a bad day. They're, right? Oh, this business sucks. My wife sucks. My husband sucks and they quit. Hmm this guy Answers to this question. I can't I can't release it right now, but it's answer that question shock the shit out of me Wow Chuck the shit on me. I'm like what? Okay, I don't give too much. No, that's fire. I can't wait to see that one

When does it come out and unlike a month depends on when we get the approval? I don't wanna give too much. No, that's fire. I can't wait to see that one. When does it come out in a month? Depends on when we get the approval. Got it, cool. Matt, where can people find you, man, and see what you're up to?

Very simple. Money Smart Guy all over the place. Money Smart Guy on X now. Money Smart Guy on X. Money Smart Guy on Instagram. MoneySmartGuy.com. My YouTube channel is called 7 Fair Squad because my YouTube channel is dedicated

to helping people think like a millionaire, strategize like a millionaire. So down the road, they can be a first generation cashflow millionaire thanks for coming on man that was awesome Sean thank you yeah thanks for watching guys always see you next time