In Search Of Excellence - Mat Ishbia: From Basketball To Billion-Dollar Business | E85

Episode Date: October 31, 2023

Welcome to In Search of Excellence! We are happy to have Mat Ishbia as our guest today!Mat is the Chairman and CEO of the United Wholesale Mortgage, the largest wholesale mortgage lender in the United... States, which had a $931.9 million net income in 2022. Mat owns 71% of the company shares that are worth $5.9 billion, which places Mat at 156 on the Forbes 400 in early 2023. Mat and his brother Justin bought a majority stake in the NBA, Phoenix Suns, and WNBA, Phoenix Mercury. Mat was a member of the Michigan State Spartans basketball team that went to three Final Fours and won the NCAA championship in 2000. He is the author of the book “Running the Corporate Office: Lessons in Effective Leadership from the Bench to the Boardroom”. Mat is also a very generous philanthropist who has given away more than $50 million. 01:26 Mat’s background- Born in Birmingham, Michigan, in a Jewish family- His mom was a schoolteacher and his dad lawyer and serial entrepreneur- From mom learned structure and accountability- From dad learned good work ethics and taking care of people 04:07 Mat’s life as a kid- Always competitive- Didn’t like to lose- Pretty good at school, loved sports 05:03 Sacrifices are essential for success- You can’t be good at everything- Focus and dominate one thing- Life’s goal should be happiness 09:58 Figuring out what to do as a student- Expose yourself to as many different internships, people, and networks as possible- Find what you are passionate about- Mat has a passion for competing and winning 14:01 How important is having a great personality and sense of humor for success?- Matt’s basketball career in the Michigan State team- The most popular guy on the team- It’s important to be who you are, genuine, kind, and caring- Every team needs camaraderie, leadership, culture, family atmosphere- The team is bigger than the person- A good team needs a balance of talent and chemistry (fit)- Different roles in Phoenix Suns 19:35 Deciding to choose his future career at 23- Wanted to be a basketball coach- Decided to join his dad’s mortgage company- Applied his basketball experience to the mortgage business 21:57 Is money the number onbe factor when choosing your career?- Opportunity to grow should be the no.1 factor- Also your dreams and aspirations- People focus too much on the money- Be great and successful in what you do and money will follow 24:27 What's cool or sexy about mortgages?- Became the CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage in 2013- Two years later, UWM was the no.1 wholesale mortgage lender in the country- Mat loves competing, improving, winning- Be great today and build on that tomorrowSponsors:Sandee | Bliss: BeachesWant to Connect? Reach out to us online!Website | Instagram | LinkedIn

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Where do you want to live? I always tell kids, where do you want to live? You want to live in Chicago? You want to live in Michigan? You want to live in Indiana, Illinois, California? Pick where you want to live and then find a company that provides opportunity for you to grow. I don't care if your job is $35,000 a year or $75,000 a year. You don't need that much money to start. Too many people make decisions based on money and they always will regret it the rest of their life. You got to make decisions on what you enjoy doing, what your goals and dreams and aspirations are. I'm trying to be great every single day. Money follows success. Go win. Go be successful. Money will follow you around everywhere you go. Welcome to In Search of Excellence, where we meet entrepreneurs, CEOs, entertainers, athletes,
Starting point is 00:00:43 motivational speakers, and trailblazers of excellence with incredible stories from all walks of life. My name is Randall Kaplan. I'm a serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and a host of In Search of Excellence, which I started to motivate and inspire us to achieve excellence in all areas of our lives. My guest today is Matt Ishbia. Matt is the chairman and CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage, the largest wholesale mortgage lender in the United States, which earned $931.9 million in net income in 2022, which as of this morning has a market value of $8.37 billion. Matt owns 71% of the company, shares at our worst $5.9 billion, which places Matt at 156 on the forest 400 in early 2023 matt and his brother justin bought a majority stake in the nba's phoenix suns and w nba's phoenix mercury in a deal that valued the team at an nba record four billion dollars that was a member of the michigan
Starting point is 00:01:39 state spartans basketball team that went to three final fours and won the NCAA championship in 2000, is the author of the book Running the Corporate Office, Lessons in Effective Leadership from the Bench to the Boardroom, and is a very generous philanthropist who has given away more than $50 million. Matt, it's a true pleasure to have you on my show. Welcome to In Search of Excellence. Well, thanks for having me. Glad to be here with you.
Starting point is 00:02:04 You were born and raised in a Jewish family in the great town of Birmingham, Michigan, which is also where I grew up. Your mom was a school teacher. Your dad, Jeff, was a lawyer and entrepreneur. Can you tell us about the influence your parents had on you and the values they instilled in you, including your Jewish heritage? And as part of that, can you tell us about your dad's yellow notepad? Yeah, so my parents are great. They still live in the same house I grew up in. It's about two miles from where I live right now. I learned so much from them about my mom, about structure and accountability with schoolwork.
Starting point is 00:02:37 She's a teacher for 25 years in Pontiac, so all I knew was she was a fifth-grade teacher, and I had to do my homework and follow up with stuff. Then my father was all about doing right by people and an amazing work ethic. And so he was, you know, he's an attorney, still an attorney, still goes to work every day. He's 75 years old and learned from him about, hey, always take care of other people. Do right by other people and good things will come back your way. And if not, you still did good. You took care of people.
Starting point is 00:03:01 You did the right thing. But also the work ethic of my dad used to go to work every morning before I got up, and he came back, you know, have dinner with our family, coach me and my brother in sports. And then he'd go back to, as you mentioned, the yellow notepad. He's a lawyer, so he'd start, you know, back then they didn't even have computers, so he'd just be working again when me and my brother went to bed. And so that work ethic, that drive is all I ever knew was you work hard to have success. And that's really was the foundation of what has helped me be successful in business and in life, along with my older brother, Justin, too. We'll talk about the mortgage business in a little bit. And the fact was only 12 people when you took it over, but he had a number of different businesses. What other businesses did he own? And what were you learning about him always
Starting point is 00:03:42 dabbling and starting this business in that business yeah my dad is a serial entrepreneur he loves business he loves people he loves trying things he loves you know he started he had an alarm company he tried to eventually try to title company he had a restaurant um all while still being a lawyer all day every day um and so uh just you know i learned is like listen you can try things and sometimes they work great and sometimes they don't work and you can adjust. My dad bought a couple of buildings and tried to rent them out. And like, he just tried to do everything. He was constantly hustling. And so I saw that as a kid.
Starting point is 00:04:14 And all I knew is like, my dad works really hard. He's always trying to find ways to make money and provide for his family. And he did a great job. And my mom was a teacher. So she was steady with great health insurance. You know, my dad was out there trying to, you know, health insurance. And she was a teacher making an impact on kids. And that's just all I knew.
Starting point is 00:04:30 And so you learned a lot. That's when you, you know, you learn about your surroundings. Like my kids see what I do and they learn from me. And you kind of learn from your parents in a lot of respects. And my parents were great people to learn from. We're going to talk basketball in a minute, but tell us what you were like as a kid, kind of from the time you were 5 years old to 15 years old, before you picked up a ball and started playing seriously.
Starting point is 00:04:55 You know, as a kid, I was always competitive. I always wanted to play. I wanted to play against anybody and anything, whether it was checkers, whether it was basketball, whether it was football. Like, I just liked to play and compete, and I didn't like to lose. So I'd always work hard on it to try to be the best. That's why basketball became my thing was because I didn't need someone to play with me. I didn't need my brother to play with me or my dad or my mom. I could just go shoot baskets or dribble by myself. And that's what I used to do all the time. And so I was a kid that loves sports. I did okay
Starting point is 00:05:23 in school, pretty good in school. But really really that's because my mom required that of us. But I just loved competing and loved playing sports, and that's what I did all the time. After school, you just play in the neighborhood, play sports against the neighbors, compete in anything I could do. So you loved basketball. That was your thing. And as a local and state level, you were an amazing player.
Starting point is 00:05:42 You played for Detroit's youth Maccabee team from 13 to 16 years old. You played on the Michigan Mustangs amateur athletic union team, the AAU team, which finished second in the nation. As a senior at Sehome High School, which is a mile from where I grew up and where my brother went, you were scoring 23 to 24 points a game. Were named Jewish athlete of the year by the Detroit News. And were one of the top players in the state.
Starting point is 00:06:06 When your friends were going out on Friday nights, you focused on your game because you had a dream of playing in the NBA. I do a lot of mentoring and coaching, particularly with college students and young professionals. Many of them are not only going out on Friday nights, but are also going out on weekday nights as well. How important is it to our success to make sacrifice and give up short-term happiness for long-term happiness, regardless of where we are in our career?
Starting point is 00:06:31 Yeah, it's a great question. And that's actually the key to success, in my opinion. There's a couple of things you've got to hit on there. One is you have to sacrifice. You can't be everything to everyone. So even my mortgage business, I talk about like we have singular focus. Be the best mortgage originator. Wholesale mortgage, we're the number one mortgage company in America. We focus on one thing. I don't try to do 88 different businesses. I try to dominate one thing. It's hard to be great at everything.
Starting point is 00:06:55 So it's hard to be a great basketball player. You want to be a great basketball player one day. But you also like to go out every Thursday, every Friday, every Saturday. You like to go to, you know, on vacations. You like to, you know, be the best TV show connoisseur, you know, every TV show that's ever been on. You can't be everything. You got to focus. You got to focus on something. Like, so I believe, like for me, it's my three children. I focus on the three children every single day. My kids, I coach them. I'm involved with, I'm not with them. I'm running my mortgage business or now the Phoenix suns and Mercury. That's it. I don't have that much fun. I'm not like, like, it doesn't
Starting point is 00:07:27 mean I can't go out and have a drink. Doesn't mean I can't go out to dinner and like, and have enjoy life. But you like, if you want to be great, you have to sacrifice what everyone else gets to do. For years of my career, like for 15 straight years, 17 straight years, I would get up and be in my office suit and tie. Like I am right at 4 a.m. 4 a.m. here in the office every day. Stay till 7 p.m. I went home and, you know, finished up my day. And, you know, back then I didn't have kids, even though I did have kids. I have dinner with my kids and put them to bed. That was it. Well, you know, no one cared on February 19th, 2014, that I was doing all these things before anyone knew who I was. but I had been doing it for 10 years already, sacrificing, staying up late, sacrificing, going out to parties, like sacrificing
Starting point is 00:08:10 to get to where I'm at today. And it takes years and years of sacrifice to be great. And so sacrificing a Friday or Saturday night, if you want to be great, now you just got to prioritize what matters more. Some people, and by the way, it's perfectly fine, love their Fridays and Saturday nights and love going out and drinking every week. Like, that's cool. Like, do whatever you do. But you can't have both aspirations. You can't do them both.
Starting point is 00:08:30 When I was at Michigan, we could joke about Michigan, Michigan State. We'll talk about Michigan State in a minute. The grades were very important to me. I thought, all right, I want to go to graduate school. I ended up going to Northwestern Law School. But grades were critical, and it would allow me the opportunity to get great jobs. I was in the law library, Matt, every night till 10 o'clock when we had nothing going on. I didn't cram for a test. I did sacrifice. I would go out, not as much as my friends did, but I would sit there and think, all right, is this really worth
Starting point is 00:08:58 it? Telling myself, I think at the end of the day that it was worth it. And at the end of the day, in fact, it was worth it. It allowed me to go to a really good law school. It allowed me to get a good job right when I graduated. And it was interesting. I was visiting one of my daughters at Wisconsin week before last. I just came back from Cornell. My daughter, they're twins, they're seniors, and they go out a lot. And it's very different. And I was telling them, I had a very different college experience than you did, but they're great students. They get along. They're very well adjusted. But at some point I thought, all right, maybe I went too far to the extreme,
Starting point is 00:09:35 not having as much of an experience in colleges. Maybe some of my friends did. And certainly what they're doing, they have a, they have a good life. They're having fun. Yeah. Well, listen, let's make sure it's clear. I know what podcast, what it's about, but life's goal is not money and success and power. It's happiness. And happiness can be achieved by many different ways. Some can be by success in business. Some can be by going out three nights a week with their husband, wife, girlfriend, boyfriend, or just buddies. And that's cool too. Like you've got to find, like before you can even try to be great in anything, you've got to figure out what your goal is
Starting point is 00:10:06 and what makes you happy. And then you work towards it. But if you say makes me happiest to be able to do X, Y, and Z with a business, then you can't do all these other things. And I'm not saying you can't ever. It's not like I don't go out and have fun. But like, you've got to balance it.
Starting point is 00:10:20 You've got to prioritize. My kids are my priority, then my business. And then a distance third is all those other things. You've got to balance those things. This episode of In Search of Excellence is brought to you by Sandy.com. S-A-N-D-E-E.com. We're a Yelp for beaches and have created the world's most comprehensive beach resource by cataloging more than 100 categories of information for every beach in the world. More than 100,000 beaches in 212 countries. Sandy.com provides beach goers around the world with detailed, comprehensive, and easy-to-use information to help them plan their perfect beach getaway at home and abroad
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Starting point is 00:11:20 I have five kids. I have three in college. The most worrisome aspect of their life is no one really know what they want to do. They have anxiety in their future. And it's really takes a central center focal point in their college career. And even in the young professional life, what's your advice to most of the college students out there who really don't know what they want to do? How do they deal with their anxiety? Well, so I hear this a lot when I speak at college, people are like, I got to figure out what I'm going to do. Like do they deal with their anxiety? Well, so I hear this a lot when I speak at college,
Starting point is 00:11:47 like people are like, I got to figure out what I'm going to do. Like, you don't have to figure out what you do. You're 21, 22, 25 years old, 30 years old, still young. You have plenty of time to figure these things out. What I figured out is like, what do you like doing? And it's not necessarily like people are like, oh, I like teaching. No, no, like, like I find like the actual things I like, like I like winning. I like competing. I like like there's sure. And so then it's like, okay, so my business happens to be a business where they show the numbers, the biggest mortgage lender. We weren't in the top 10,000 and now we're number one. Like, so I, I found a business and a thing that I like and I can see the results. And so you got to find out, you don't have to find out like I want to like, and also people don't know,
Starting point is 00:12:22 kids don't know. Like I, back to the thing, someone's like, I love teaching. That's what I want to do, Matt. I'm sure. But I'm like, great. Okay. So what are you going to do? Well, but the problem is I don't want to teach at a school. I'm like, well, listen, I have a company of 7,000 people. We have 65 trainers who teach adults. Like, do you love children or do you love teaching people things and skills? Because you can, like, people don't realize there's so many jobs and opportunities out there. They only know what their parents may tell them or what they grew up around rather than exposing themselves.
Starting point is 00:12:55 So the big advice to me is expose yourself to as many different internships or people and networking as possible, and then find out what you really like. Because most people don't really like teaching. They might love kids. That might be a different path. Then if they like teaching, then maybe it's training. And maybe it's coaching. Maybe it's learning new things. And maybe it's like, gosh, I love learning new things all the time. I want to be in a, and you find something that is your path. And the last part I'll say is like,
Starting point is 00:13:19 90% of the people I talk to, they're young. They're like, they're pressured to like, know what they're going to go do with my major and all this stuff. But what I tell them is, and they always end up happy, is that find a company that you are aligned with and is in like a fun place to work with other young people. You have 35 summer interns at your company. That's a fun place to work. Like you're around other people that are like you.
Starting point is 00:13:42 Go there. Don't go to like the big corporate job that doesn't have other people that are your age, that are trying to work. Like you're around other people that are like you go there. Don't go to like the big corporate job that doesn't have other people that are your age that are trying to grow. Like you got to find a place. The more important than finding what you want to do is finding what you'd like to do as in like the being competitive or, and where you want to live and where you want to be at as a company. You mentioned Fawn picking a senior company.
Starting point is 00:14:02 Where does passion calculate into this? You get the advice, you won't be successful unless you're passionate about what you do. Is that true? And what if you can't find passion and don't know what it is? Well, see, people, that's what I'm trying to explain. It's a hard time to explain it. Passion is like, you could say, Matt, I have a passion for basketball. Matt, you have a passion for mortgages. But I promise you, I didn't wake up with a passion for mortgages. That's not the fun thing to do. And so what you find is I have a passion for competing and winning.
Starting point is 00:14:33 And so people like, if I close my mortgage company tomorrow, and I went and figured out I would start a business where I could track my numbers, see where I am versus the competition. And I try to win. I try to find innovative ways to be the best in the world at what I do. That's my passion, winning and competing. It's not mortgages. It's not necessarily even basketball. I love basketball, but it's not like I could go do, I could, we could have done a football team. Like I like to just compete and win. And so I guess I take a step back from like what that passion is. My passion is art. Okay. Is it art or is it creating things? And if it's creating things, let's talk about like, and then
Starting point is 00:15:10 you start to figure out things that you really enjoy. And that's just what's worked for me. Going back to high school, you graduated C home and could have played D3 division three basketball. And instead you went to Michigan state where you were a walk onto the basketball team, which at the time was one of the best basketball programs in the country under their amazing coach, Tom Izzo. Your first three years, you went to three Final Fours and won three Big Ten championships. And you won the national championship in 2000
Starting point is 00:15:34 against then number five Florida by a score of 89 to 76. In your four years on the team, you won 114 games, which I think is the winningest four-year career in Big Ten history. Academically, you graduated with a 3.6 GPA with a degree in finance and were a three-time academic All-Big Ten honoree. On the court, you said that you were the 14th best player on your 14-person team. And while you may not have lit it up on the court and very rarely played, you were considered the most popular guy on the team. You were the guy who lifted everybody's spirits and were the team comedian.
Starting point is 00:16:09 You imitated your coaches. You would lie in your roommate, Brandon Smith's bed, who hated that. And your room was the central meeting place for all the guys when you were on the road. How important is it to having a great personality to our success? And how important is it to have a great sense of humor to be a leader? Yeah, so I think those are great questions. I think it's important to have a sense of humor and a personality, but it's also important to be who you are.
Starting point is 00:16:32 And my personality is I like to engage with people. I have to earn the respect of my teammates. I still have to earn the respect of my 7,000 teammates here at UWM, and now my teammates out in Phoenix with the Mercury and the Suns. And so I have to earn everyone's respect by outworking everybody, by being that guy, as in like the guy that I say I'm going to be on time, I show up on time or I show up early. You've got to do all those things. You've got to be someone that cares about other people. Like you actually got to take time to get to know his husband or his wife or her husband or vice versa,
Starting point is 00:17:00 like whatever it may be. Like you have to get to know people and know their kids in the world I live in today. Back then, I didn't know what mattered to these guys and spend time and relate to people, just be myself. And so I think being humorous and personality, not all that matters, but really what matters is be who you are and people like being around people that are friendly and caring and check in with them.
Starting point is 00:17:23 And so I think so often people are like, hey, so, you know, I got 700 leaders here at our company that lead teams of six, eight, 10, 12 people, whatever it may be. Like, how do I show someone that I care? I'm like, show them you care. You actually got to care. You can't show someone you care. So I care about my teammates. And then what happens, you know, they care about me back. And we built this relationship. And that was part of the culture at Michigan State basketball, fostered by tom iso and matine cleaves and that we now carry on to uwm the mortgage company and now we're doing in phoenix with the sons and the mercury one of the reporters who wrote a piece on you for the detroit news in 2000 and ted said that
Starting point is 00:17:58 every championship team needs a guy like you to win and relieve the pressure and help bring the camaraderie and the DNA together. Do the sons have that guy today? Yeah, I think so. So like, you know, I think the sons, I think every team needs camaraderie,
Starting point is 00:18:15 leadership, culture, family, atmosphere, caring about one another, and also realizing that the team is bigger than the person. And that's hard in pros. Even in college, it's hard.
Starting point is 00:18:25 Because in college, you're trying to make it to the pros. And pros, a lot of them are trying to get that contract, that opportunity. Like when you realize that we can be greater than some of our parts, that's when you're really special. Because there's a lot of really talented basketball teams in the NBA and the WNBA. And it's not always the most talented team wins. It's the team with the most talent and the best chemistry combined wins. And chemistry or fit, however you want to call it, that matters. And sometimes having all
Starting point is 00:18:51 superstar players doesn't win if everyone's out there for themselves. And sometimes having everyone that's all about the team, but you can't, you got a bunch of mad-ish because they aren't that good of players, you're not going to win either. So you have to have that balance of talent and fit or chemistry, some people call it. And I think that's really important. And so the Suns have that. Now, does that mean we win a championship? No.
Starting point is 00:19:13 It means you still got to play it out because other teams might have that too. And you got to compete. And, you know, I think we're in a position to compete at the highest level, but it does not guarantee anything. Just like at Michigan State, we had a lot of those things at Michigan State, but it didn't guarantee we won a national championship. But we got to the Final Four three straight years and we had a great, great run
Starting point is 00:19:29 of success. In my fourth year, we had a lot of fit and chemistry. We lost a lot of players in the NBA. We didn't have the talent. And that's why we didn't make it to the Final Four that year. So who in the Sons would be considered the glue, the core of the team? Is it the captain? Is it a role player? Is it someone that isn't playing very much? You know, I don't, you know, we, we got a lot of new guys. And so
Starting point is 00:19:50 I've only been out there for a week of training camp and I haven't got a chance to spend time with them. And Frank Vogel might be able to answer that better or Devin Booker, who's the leader along with Kevin Durant. So everyone's kind of figuring out their, their role. And, you know, we got, we got great veterans like Eric Gordon, who've been around the league a long time. We got great young players that have come in and actually show some leadership skills and have done some great things. We've got everything in between. And so, you know, I don't have that player to tell you about right now as I spend more and more
Starting point is 00:20:15 time and see the season evolve, that will happen. If we want to have a chance to be the best. And I think that will happen. And it starts with Frank Vogel, the leader of the program on the court, as the coach, but then Devin Booker, who's 26 years old, about to turn 27, who's one of the best players in the NBA. And hopefully going to be here for the long term, along with Kevin Duran and all, we got all these great guys, Brad Beal. And so we'll see how it all comes together right now, but that's part of that gelling time in training camp preseason. And then as the season starts. Are you looking for your next great gift to surprise a friend, colleague, or loved one? Bliss Beaches makes the perfect gift.
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Starting point is 00:21:28 during the games. After that, you had an opportunity to join the coaching staff of Mike Garland at Cleveland State University, which would have made you one of the youngest Division I basketball assistant coaches that year. At that point, you're 23 years old and sort of at a crossroads in your career deciding if you wanted to take that job or join your dad's small 12-person mortgage business. So like a lot of people, you went to somebody whose opinion you respect for advice. What did Coach Izzo tell you that impacted your decision? And what lessons did you learn playing basketball, sitting on the end of that bench, that contributed to your huge success?
Starting point is 00:22:05 Yeah, so a lot of things in there. The first thing is, you know, Tom Izzo is a great guy. He cares about his players. And when you care about your players, they care about your back. And I respect him still to this day. Talk to him quite frequently. And, of course, I have my father as well, my mother, but my father from the business side talking about what to do.
Starting point is 00:22:26 So when I met with Coach Izzo about it, you know, to go and be an assistant coach in division one in college would have been like unbelievable. And, you know, going through the things with him and figuring out and then seeing like what my dad, you know, has in his life and like, gosh, what do I want? What matters most to me? And at that point, you know, Coach Izzo said something interesting. What if you could take some of the things you learned from basketball and apply it to business and be something bigger than a head coach? And I thought to myself, what's bigger
Starting point is 00:22:50 than being a head coach? That's the best job in the world. Like that, that'd be the dream. And so, but then I talked to my father and I saw some things that he was going to say, gosh, maybe I can go try this for a year and go learn. I got to know what a mortgage was, a mortgage company. What does a mortgage company do? It's boring. But I took the competitiveness, the drive to be great, the work ethic, the positive attitude, and I've applied it to the mortgage business. And next thing I know, I fell in love with that. And my passion isn't mortgages, but my passion is getting better every day, inspiring people, leading people, coaching, and winning. And that's what I was able to apply to. So I actually wrote a book about the things I learned from Michigan State basketball and applied at the
Starting point is 00:23:32 business. And, you know, there's so, cause I could talk for hours and hours about that stuff. How much money were you going to make as an assistant coach? And how much money did you make your first year at the mortgage company? And as part of that question, what's your advice to everybody out there, especially young professionals, kids coming out of college on the importance of money, where it's often the number one factor in deciding where they go to work. It's such a silly factor. People,
Starting point is 00:23:58 I get it. Like I was 23. Also, I made $18,000 a year out of college, college degree playing basketball. Right. I think the college basketball000 a year out of college. College degree, playing basketball, right? I think the college basketball job would have been maybe like $35,000, $40,000, $45,000. Like, it would have been more money. But you have no responsibilities when you're 22, 23 years old.
Starting point is 00:24:17 If you have no kids, you're not married. Like, you don't have to take care. Like, if you are literally, like, you got to go out and you have seven, eight years to build, to build your life and to build yourself. Like money should be third, fourth or fifth opportunity should be first, right? Where do you want to live? I always tell kids, where do you want to live? You want to live in Chicago? You want to live in Michigan? You want to live in Indiana, Illinois, California, pick where you want to live and then find a company that provides opportunity for you to grow. I don't care if your job is 35 grand a year or 75 grand a year. Like you don't need that much money to start. Like,
Starting point is 00:24:49 like I got, I got debt, man. I got debt from student loans. Like you'll figure it out. Like too many people make decisions based on money and they always will regret it the rest of their life. You got to make decisions on what you enjoy doing, what your goals and dreams and aspirations are. And I know it sounds like I know people can eat. I can eat ramen noodles, too. Like I go to McDonald's still to this day, and I have enough money not to go to McDonald's. Like stop worrying about money so much. People focus on money so much more, even in my business.
Starting point is 00:25:19 I run this company all day, every day. We don't talk about money. My CFO, great guy. I look at the financials for like 10 minutes a month. I know I'm a public company. People don't want to hear it. We don't talk about money. My CFO, great guy. I look at the financials for like 10 minutes a month. I know I'm a public company. People don't want to hear it. I don't give a shit. Like we're out here trying to win. I'm trying to be great every single day. Money follows success. Go win, go be successful. Money will follow you around everywhere you go. Don't go chase money. Money is just the, it's just the wrong thing. I don't understand any money to pay
Starting point is 00:25:42 bills. I do too. And I did back then when I was making 18 and 30 and then eventually 60,000. I got married in 2007. I'm divorced now, but I got married in 2007. I was making $60,000 a year as a 27-year-old man and getting married. And that was fantastic. That was enough money to pay for everything.
Starting point is 00:26:00 I didn't want for money. I wanted for success and money follows. Thanks for listening to part one of my amazing conversation with Matt Ishbia, the owner of the Phoenix Suns basketball team. Be sure to tune in next week to part two of my amazing conversation with Matt. you

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