Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast - How Scammers Outsmart Victims Using the 48 Laws of Power

Episode Date: January 31, 2026

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Law 25. Reinvent yourself. For me, going to prison and coming out, like, I had to reinvent myself. How did I do that? In my case, you know, I went to prison as this infamous con man, and my fear was I'm going to get out of prison, and that's all I'm ever going to be. Most con men in prison are trying to run away from their image that's out there. And I was thinking, well, I just need to kind of reinvent my image, right? Like, I need to alter it. And the way I did that was, I thought, if I got out of here, and I said, hey, this guy is an infamous con man who's now writing true crime. I can work with that.

Like, I can do that. Like, don't run from your old image. Own up to who you were. And then say, yeah, that is who I was, but this is what I'm doing now. Like, that was something that happened in the past. I agree. Horrible thing. But this is what it's turned into.

And so I reinvented myself while I was incarcerated. And all the other con men I met in there were trying to figure out. how to, they're trying to figure out how to change their name or they're trying to figure out how to go on reputation.com and get all the bad press out there shoved down and they're, how can I, how can I get rid of my criminal record? And it's like, what are you doing, bro? So I was like, no, why I want to own up to it and just reinvent yourself? And that's why I think this one's perfect. Yeah. Because I mean, this is really, honestly, this is like a massive amount of my success. And I think anybody can do that. I think anybody can do that. I think anybody

can do that if they own up to what they've done. Because otherwise, it just comes back. Like, how many celebrities get to be huge and then you find out something horrific happened in their past. You know, how did they just address? Or then they deny it. Had you just addressed it up front or owned up to it, it would very quickly pass. But the moment you start denying it, that denial goes on for the rest of your term. Absolutely. And I think it takes, it takes that power of what's my greatest weakness and turn it into a strength. Yeah. Turn in a bad situation. Okay, what can I salvage out of this? What bones and meat can I offer this plate? So that falls along that, yeah.

Law 26. Don't dirty your hands. Always shift blame using scapegoats and employ intermediaries known as cat's paws or fixers to perform undesirable actions. Love it. Right. Okay, why? Because it's like a football team, basketball team. So you have a crappy, the head coach doesn't get fired. We start firing offensive coordinators and your place and blame.

But that's the position of power. Right. Like us as the little goddamn, you know, messed up. We know the truth. Like you're a bad head coach. But when you have power, you know, let's get rid of this, that, and let's retweak what's down here. I'm the leader. It's not about avoiding the responsibility. I'm powerful enough to shift the blame. Right? But it falls along everything of courting,

courting, what is it, courting attention at all costs and all of that. It's all about your image. Yeah. All about the image. I don't see that as a negative. So I was going to say, you know what it makes me think of? Crash Test Dummy. Like, I'm not going to. into the bank to cash the check. You can go in the bank of cash to check. I've had that, listen, I've had that happen, you know, multiple times where it was like, look, here's what you're going to go into the title company and you're going to sign for this person and you're, you know, so. And as the head of that snake, right, like, you know this, that and that and you're delegating the responsibilities and when that guy falls, hey, listen, I can bond you out. You don't need me to

fall, I can bond you. I can direct you to get those charges probated and, and you're not, you're not knowledge, in this case, power, but there's saying power, but in this case, you're not knowledgeable enough to pull this whole thing off. Like, I know every aspect of this entire scam. You only know one a thing. You're going in and you're signing. Otherwise, I don't need you to be involved at all, you know, and, and what your risk, what you're, for you to take part in, in the scam or in the proceeds, then that's the risk you take. So, but I agree with the other stuff that you said. It also, it also lends to being able to say, you know, what are you talking about?

Like, I didn't say that. John said that, you know, so people doing that kind of thing. I think that's, that's just politics in general. In general. I mean, you never really, unless they're backed into a completely backed into a corner where they got no choice but to say. Video evidence. Okay, I did it. I made that call.

It was a fucking major mistake. And I'm sorry. Other than that, they just don't do it. Shift in the blank. All right. Hold on. Law 27. Create a cult. Following now, this law delves into the psychology of followership,

teaching how to form and manipulate a devoted following for power. By offering a vague but enticing cause and mimicking religious structures, one can inspire people to rally around a charismatic leader. Historical examples like Franz Mesmer's Mesmerie, illustrate how spectacle, hierarchy, and fabricated enemies can be exploited to create a cult-like following. While effective, the approach comes with the risk of backlash if the deception is unveiled. Who do you think is a great, a great example of this? Did he?

No, oh, that's probably true. Yeah, that's true. But you know who is a great one? It too is Trump. Yep. He has like and even he said it even he said it where he's been remember when he said What do you say like I could? It's like I could I could shoot someone in the middle of the street and he's like and I wouldn't lose any Any uh not only any any following any of you he get yeah he said I gave I probably gain a few um

but yeah it's it's you get that that cult like and the same thing with like even running this channel there are people that like every time somebody calls me every single time uh it would even today talking to a guy and it was it was probably one of the first times that one of the first things that people said he didn't say was yo bro man I follow all your stuff I'm a huge fan like he didn't say that he was like hey man I just want to talk to you about this and we talked for like 20 minutes and then just as I was like okay well send me the stuff well and I'm getting off he's like hey by the way real quick I just want to let you know like bro like I love what you're doing I watch I was like oh my god like it's just constant people come up to me and they and you do you

build this cult-like following where people, they get this image of you in their mind. And I don't know that it means that you can do no wrong, but they have this image of you. And you've heard the term, never meet your heroes, right? Like, because they're not going to live up to the image. Right. And every time these guys tell me that, that's the first thing I think of was like, bro, like, I'm not the guy to think is amazing. I'm not like everything you've probably have me built up in your mind as is probably wrong.

You know, but I'm always very, no, no problem. I appreciate that. I try and get them off the subject, quiz, but it does. You get a cult like following anybody who has attention or, you know, is out there. If, in a, I guess, well, maybe even in a bad way, right? Even, I guess, Diddy in a bad way, you tend to get. I think people identify with something. Right.

And I think people have an innate sense of wanting to be led like that. those are the more of the sheep. Right. I think it's a percentage. 85% are the masses. And then there's a 5% of the teachers and 10% of the ones that know type of thing. That's a little 5% stuff. I think people will be led if you have a direction.

And I think that's why you get those evangelists and stuff like that. Like if you have a message and you have some charisma behind it, we're going to hop on that boat and ride that ship. Well, I think people want, they want to be a part of a movement or a following too. And that's what always kills me when I talk to people and they're like, bro, what you're doing is so inspiring. And I'm always like, what am I doing that's inspiring? Like, bro, I'm doing YouTube videos. I'm trying to make a living at YouTube. Like, I'm not trying to inspire you.

You know, I guess, you know, a lot of them. And when I ask people that, they're always like, no, bro, the fact that you got out of prison with nothing and are building something, like. Which is 98% of the fantasy of these guys that have been through it and coming out and trying to get it in. What if I could just talk about my crazy life that I've, you know what I mean? And you're doing it. And you were. So people.

identify with that. You know, it's funny about that, too, just off the subject is like I'm constantly, like, I was just like with Zach. I was constantly trying to get him to do it and everything. And I've been, this has been going on for years where I've been trying to get people to do, you could do this, you could this. And then they want to do it. And then they never do.

And then I'm always like, I don't understand. Like, I've did everything. Like, I signed you up for the program. I'm calling you. I'm scheduling people. You won't even return the calls that I'm asking you to call the guy and schedule something. To touch on that, I feel like it's effort. effort it is everything like in this country you could literally you know commit murder do your time

get out and become almost whatever it is that you want with effort with the right amount of effort like there's the the rock guy um i forget what his name is but he had did the murder bid cut out and did the tv show he's an actor he was on aliens ball head oh yeah yeah yeah yep he did all of that time And that's just one example of people who have fallen from great heights or not even the great heights. Just rose above the ashes with effort. What was the guy, Tooltime? Oh, yep. Tim, the actor.

Comedian went to jail for like four years for selling Coke and ended up, got out, started becoming an actor. And then when he wrote the pilot for Tooltime in jail, wrote the idea. Yep. I didn't know that. What I knew was when it was going to become a huge success. and they were green lighting it, he had to go to like his agent and be like, listen, there's an issue. And they're like what?

He's like, here's what's happening. My fear is they're going to find out. They were like, fuck. You know what they said? Let's get in front of it. Let's go out now and tell them we'll make it a part of the comeback story. And that's what they did. If they had buried it and hoped they didn't find it, like so many.

They had torn up. Six months into the first season, they had torn him apart and the whole thing would have been canceled. But because he got in front of it, then that ties into the effort. Like, he had to do more than the next... Reinvention, too. It ties into reinvention. It ties in the reinvention.

So... And doubly in the effort. Like, yeah, and even in the job field, when I'm working, like, I don't check the convict box. Right. I leave it blank. If I absolutely do, I don't fill in anything I will explain at the interview or whatever. So I want to explain and let this be a part of my story. Right. Like I did this in the past because I'm intelligent. I thought I could beat the system. Oh, whatever it is, whatever my, but I have to work that much harder. So I don't use that as an excuse. I'm interview, I'm in an interview locked and loaded. I'm attentive. I know I have to study extra hard and get some background on the company. I got to give, I have to put that much extra effort in than the next man. You can get, you can have whatever you want. You can do whatever you want. It's all in the effort.

Law 28, act boldly. Boldness disguises weaknesses, intimidates opponents, and sweeps others along. Hesitation leads to doubt and obstacles. Many are timid due to a desire for approval, but practicing boldness, as Napoleon did, yields power. Entering everything with boldness, it's creating the spectacle. It's being the alpha in the room. everything you do is with because it portrays confidence right and all of this is about gaining that building the the strong man woman that alpha that sigma um so that's what i everything i do

is with boldness yeah i think i was going to say i think that when i was running you know like a scam it's funny because it's exactly the same thing when you talked about going to where the fbi had the where there was the fbi and you went in to go get your bag and come back out and you stopped and you were like, hey, you guys be safe. Like, hey, you guys, I got to do that. You know, you walk right up because an innocent person, I mean, I'm sorry, an guilty person is not going to show up. They are not going to go up and talk to the FBI.

They are not going to ask them to, hey, man, I got to go grab something real quick inside. I got a bag. It's no big deal. No problem. Then they're certainly not going to stop, have a conversation with them. And they're not going to do the whole, hey, you guys be safe out here, bro, appreciate what you're doing and then walk away. Same thing.

When I would walk into a bank, like I walk in, I'm like, you know, I don't sit there and, I need to talk to. I walk and say, him and I need to talk to somebody about getting a loan. Like, I'm, here's what I do. Here's, here's my job. Here's where I work. You need to pull my credit. Confidence.

Eye contact, control in the conversation. You need to get this house. I got plenty of money in the bank. I have another bank account plus the money in this bank. Like, I'm 100% all in. Because you really put yourself at a disadvantage in my opinion. It's like going up to a girl in a bar. You go up and you're all, you know, and I was just wondering, hey, how are you doing?

I was wondering if, or you just walk up, walk right up and say, hey, what's up? Can I get you a drink? Do you need anything? People that are bold or confident are infectious, and people want to be around them, as opposed to someone who you don't feel can carry the crowd. Yeah, carry the conversation or is confident in themselves. Like, that's not somebody that makes me feel confident anywhere at any time. So people want to be around people that are bold or in this, you know, or bold in this case,

or, you know, I use the term confidence, but whatever. Assertive. Law 29. Plan the ending. Green advises always anticipating potential pitfalls, avoiding improvisation and focusing on your clear firm. Local news is in decline across Canada. And this is bad news for all of us. With less local news, noise, rumors, and misinformation fill the void.

and it gets harder to separate truth from fiction. That's why CBC News is putting more journalists in more places across Canada, reporting on the ground from where you live, telling the stories that matter to all of us, because local news is big news. Choose news, not noise. CBC News. The secret to Charlotte Cardin's captivating eyes?

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People's experts who guide you on everything, from product selection and ordering to payment. Join today at staplesprofessional.ca and get expert solutions tailored to your business. That was easy. Goal. Exceptions are few. A flexible plan is essential to adapt to unforeseen developments, but a clear goal and a far-sighted plan are crucial for success. Oh, I hate to give the example, but it's, I'm always thinking just down the road. what's the worst that can happen?

So I give an example. I'm going to use a generic example because Jess will know what this specific one is, is, hey, I was thinking about doing this. And she was like, like, that would be fine and it wouldn't cost anything. And I went, yeah, but wait a minute. Here's what's going to happen. Something goes wrong. They claim it on the insurance.

The insurance is on you. You'll be paying the extra insurance for the remainder of the time. We both know that this person is not going to take care of that. they are going to do this. There's going to be an insurance claim. And that's the best case scenario. So what the better bet is, is to do this, place it in that person's name, have them get their own insurance.

And if things go wrong, well, that's on them. You did what you could. I'd rather pay extra to put the liability on that person and their own mistakes than have that liability be placed on me because it's going to affect me for the long term. And I'm a responsible person. So let's do the same thing, but let's arrange it in a way that if something goes wrong, it does. I'm not paying for it for the rest of my life.

And so it's the same thing. It's kind of like, Jess and I give it another example. We were both dating and we both were on probation. And so we had at some point, you have to tell your probation officers, hey, I'm dating a felon. So we've been dating for whatever, four or five months. So at some point when we realize like, hey, this is official. Well, now at this point, we have to tell them because now if we get caught, we're screwed. Right.

So I said, here's what we're going to do. We're going to wait until just before the end of the month, just before we're supposed to fill out our reports, right? Our probation reports. We'll both contact our probation officers and tell them at this exact same time because they're going to want to talk to each other. And she goes, okay. And I said, so we both call them and we call them and they both were like, hey, okay,

that's fine. Because we just said, hey, we've been dating about a month. That's why we didn't tell you last month because I hadn't been dating. He was all, I met him on the second. But it's been a month. I like the guy. I want to keep seeing him. So Jess was 100% positive.

It was going to be okay. And I was concerned about my probation officer. I was like, I don't think she's going to be okay with this. And so Jess calls me up. She's like, my probation officer. Like he was giving me a little bit of a hard time. He's going to contact your probation officer. I don't know.

I'm like, okay. Same thing. Mine's kind of the same thing. And she's like, oh, my God, what if they do say no? What are we going to do? I said, okay, here's what we're going to do. what we're going to do is this. We're going to wait about a month and a half.

We'll keep seeing each other, but we'll wait a month and a half. And then you're going to go get, I have a friend that's his wife's pregnant. We're going to have her do a pregnancy test. It's going to fail or fail positive, whatever you want to call it. It's going to be a positive pregnancy test, E.PT test. You're going to take a picture of it. You're going to send it to your probation officer. You're going to say, listen, I got a positive E.P.T test.

I have to talk to Matt Cox. he's then going to say, okay, because he can't stop you from talking me at that point. Then we're going to talk. Once, I said, then we'll talk. We'll go back to them and say, listen, we're going to obviously keep the baby. We're going to go to the pregnancy. I obviously want the father to be a part of this. I said at that point, that gives us a few months to date.

If things still go good, we'll move in together. Once we move in together, because they can't stop us at this point. Now, she goes, yeah, what happens in six or eight months when they go, you're not pregnant? like what's what happened with the baby, you just say, look, I don't want to talk about it. We're going to try again. It's too late. We're living together. We're in an apartment on a lease.

It's too late. They can't stop. At that point, they say, oh, you got to break up. They can't do it. It's too late. So, you know, she looked at me. She's like, wow, like, you really thought this through. Like, of course.

I mean, but, you know, I'm good at seeing the long-term advantages and disadvantages and coming up with solutions. Sometimes there's no solution. I'm not saying there always is. But if you can think. things through in the most positive and negative aspects, you can usually make very, very good decisions long term. That's something that's very difficult for people.

And that's, Brian Camerino has been my lawyer for the start of my criminal career. And I'm always pleading out. I'm always guilty. And his tactic has always been weighted out, weighted out, weighted out, weighted out. and we sit down and work out three scenarios of sentencing. Right. Like every time I've gotten sentenced, it's something that we've already discussed, and it's usually a long time in advance.

And it has to do with like drug programs, probation, minimal sentencing, two years type of thing. But like we look at these scenarios because we both know, the ends and out of it. Like I tell him everything, so he knows exactly what's going on with the case and what's defensible. It's always work because there's always that choice one,

choice two, choice three. Right, as opposed to just walking in there, cold turkey saying, man, I need probation. I got to get back home to my baby mama and my dog. You've heard that one. All right, let's get going. Law 30.

Make it seem easy by concealing the labor behind your accomplishments, you inspire admiration and anticipation. Mastery lies in making the difficult look easy, as demonstrated by talented performers and great artists. Avoid revealing the hard work and effort as it diminishes the magic and generates contempt. Yeah, I love that. Of course, I would do that all the time. Oh, that's not a big, it's not a big deal. It's nothing. People like, oh, man, I read this book as amazing. You know, that's just, to me, it's all it was, it's not that you could do it.

You never let them see you sweat. Right. That's, yeah, exactly. And like in my life and in the things that I do, like I'm, you know, I work for myself. Right. And I do so many things to accomplish the ends, to make the ends meet. Right. And I try to make my efforts seem effortless.

Right. Like, it's magical, you know, my friends or whatever just come around and things are just paid. Things just happen. Dukotis just pull up and jaguars and stuff. And so I don't like to put all these stressors. Dang, I got, I only got 500 on the, you look human. But if every thing is just running with oil and grease and you've got the faith, it makes you seem, again, there's the confidence, there's the, and there's your, brand. Your brand is effortless. Your brand is strong and gone. I've got 37 bucks in my account,

but I look fantastic. I was thinking, like, we'll have like a check show up for like a couple grand. I'm like, what is this for? I don't remember this. What is it? You know, and then we're like, I don't. What? Did I? Oh, that's right. This is for that thing. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, you've been waiting for that check. Half and that's already spent. Did you check the mail? He's usually around 10 o'clock. Is it possible that she might come twice today? Law 31. Set up a phony choice. With this law, green outlines creating a seemingly meaningful choice

while subtly controlling the options to benefit your agenda. By limiting options, you give the illusion of choice without overwhelming individuals. Like, I can see that, like, or, you know, limiting the choices. Well, that's the skill for art of negotiation. Right. Like, you know, I need you to move the car. You don't want to move the car. Right.

So listen, and I understand you don't want to move the car. And I sympathize with you. Let's come up with this. And the three options I give you, one, I'm giving you options. Right. So that helps with the negotiation. Two, the other two options, knowing you, I know you don't want to move the car four times as a deal that we make. car. So I give you these other two options and the third option is moving the car out of the three options.

Yeah, or not being not moving the, not moving the car. And having it get towed and then you can't drive the car. You know, so I mean, I get you could do that or you could, you know what I'm saying? You, you're given these options. The only real option is for you just grab the fucking keys. Go over there and move the car. And the false options would be, man, yeah, they toll. They tow out here. You can keep it there, giving them the option. Keep it there. They tow. Right. So, um, You're rich. So you don't mind the toe. It's about two hours up. But if we call ahead, they're usually pretty good about. Right.

I was going to say, or, yeah, I was going to say, I mean, that's perfect where you say, look, you know, that's fine. We can do that. Here's the issues with that. Give them the issues with their choice and then give them the pluses with the choice you want them to make. And then it's how you get the issues. Right. Like you're conceding. I understand where you're coming from.

Well, and then you give them choices. So in any argument, I feel like once you start, I feel where you're coming from. Or you do have a point. So once I open that up, then I give you these options. But the options are all leading to the one. Well, I was going to say, I always have this. I always get this. I always get these guys that contact me.

And they're like, yo, bro, like if you did this, you get a million, you'll get a million views. You know, like, really? Now, I'm thinking to myself, like, I. I've been doing this for four years, and I know that I don't know anybody that can guarantee a million views. So you're telling me you're sure, absolutely, bro, if you would just go and you know, and you'll go, if you go and you do this and you do this, you're going to make this much money. You're telling me I'm going to make $50,000 if I do that. Absolutely, bro.

Are you sure? Man, I guarantee it. You know what we ought to do then? How about we do this? You go ahead and give me, I'll do it right now for 10 grand. Give me 10 grand. I'll go do it and you can keep the other 40. And when it's paid off, I'm going to pay you that immediately.

I have that money direct deposit right into your account. Or, you know, we can go ahead and set it up so it goes straight to your account. How about that? How about that? Oh, I don't. I don't. No, but I'll do it. I mean, you said, you know what I'm saying?

So it's like, okay. You were 100% sure. Oh, it's not so guaranteed now. Right. The numbers change now. Okay. Okay. So, yeah.

So, I mean, I definitely, I can definitely see given the alternate scenarios on how things may fault may not work out or limiting their ability, your ability, limiting the choices you have. Just like you said, just giving someone choices already is putting everything in your favor. Because now we're laying out the choices. You got to pick one. Okay. And it reminds me of. It makes me think of the Fed.

Everybody always says, like, the president determines who's president in the Fed, right? Or who's the chairman of the Fed, right? But the truth is, the Fed goes to the president and says, listen, here's 10 choices. that we've cleared. That we've cleared. So you're the Fed, you're okay with these 10 choices. You just said all these guys, we're good with pick one. But the way they portray it is the president choose, he determines, no, he doesn't.

You gave me 10 choices. You were okay with any of them. And probably literally, it's probably three choices that you know. Right, yeah. There's probably always seven of them that are horrible. They're like, I can't believe you want you were okay with this guy. That he's not going to do it. Jerome Johnson.

and here's one of them. Right. And yeah, you get down to it and you're like, yeah, these three are the only real choices. Excellent choice. Yeah, but in the end, they're like,

oh, the president chose the chairman of the Fed or whatever he's called. It's like, no, you didn't. Right. Law 32, fulfill others' fantasies. People are drawn to attractive fantasies that offer instant transformation, adventure, peace, harmony, or resurrection.

By presenting these fantasies at the right moment, you can attract followers, wealth, and power. Well, I think it's fulfilling people. Like, when they meet Matt Cox. Right. And, you know, when you show up and you're in this black-on-black Mercedes and you've got this larger-than-life air and, hey, how's it, a little smug air.

You know, that's how people may perceive you because you have X amount of subscribers. This guy, this YouTuber. So when they finally see you... I'm kind of a big deal. Well, you kind of are. Kind of a big deal. In your own house. I'm running these things.

I'm running this place when Jess lets me. Go ahead. But yeah, you know, you feel that fantasy of who Matt Cox is. Right. The way I read this is telling people what they want to, kind of what they want to hear. Like you're like being a politician and say, you know, I'm going to lower gas prices. I'm going to make housing affordable. Sorry.

I'm going to raise. you know, your wages. I'm going to, you know, and so you're playing to their fantasies or your, but you're saying in this case, you think it's being the person. Yep. That can. So it's the, and they, like, when you see that celebrity and you finally meet, they fulfill your, because they're bubbly, they're nice, they're friendly, they're, they're, they're, you know,

they go to talking to you. They're hugging up. So they want you, they're saying, fulfill that like he's larger than life. He's. Well, you know, what's funny about that is that. That's, for me, that's super easy to do. And I do that all the time. So when people talk to me, they're like, you know, this is one that.

And yet everybody laughs every time. They're like, do you prefer to be called Matt or Matthew? And I go, bro, I go by many, many names. Which one do you want to call me? We can go with Matt if it's okay, if you want. And they're like, oh, yeah. You know, and then when I do like the keynote, my keynote speeches, like there's certain things I say. or do during the course of the keynote speech, right?

And at one point, when I get to the point where I'm like, at this point, I decided and I go, oh, God, I'm like, listen, I know how this is going to sound. I know this is bad. And I go, I decided to start surveying homeless people to get their identities. And inevitably, you know, people kind of shift in their seat and I'll find someone and I'll, you know, in the crowd, I'll look at them and that's close and I'll go, I see you judging me. I see you judging me. And then everybody, they're like, you know, everybody starts laughing.

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That's the powerful backing of Amex. Conditions apply. I was guilty of multiple skin care crimes. Two counts of sleeping and makeup. One count of using disposable wipes. I knew my routine had to change. So I switched to Garnier-Missler water. It gently cleanses, perfectly removes makeup and provides 24-hour hydration. Clear away the evidence with the number one Missler Water worldwide by Garnier. So there are these certain times in the speech where I can make these jokes, and they're the same jokes over and over again. And then people ask the same questions over and over again.

And I have the same funny responses sometimes. Sometimes they're serious. But yeah, I'm being exactly the person you want me to be in those moments. And again, this 48 laws is about. building yourself like these are some key laws to becoming the better person. And I think fulfilling people's fantasies act as if and the rest will follow. So if, you know, once you're building this brand and you've got this persona, it's important to fulfill those fantasies because acting will soon make it become a part of you. I think this is another law, but it reminds me of it.

It's acting like you're 100% positive of the outcome. And that gives people like a false confidence. You ever done that? Like, no, bro, I'm telling you, you walk in the bank. I've got to fake ID. You walk in the bank. You give it to them. They're going to run the check.

The ID is correct. They have the number. It's a good idea. They're going to cash the check. Exactly. And you're like, bro, I've done it 10 times. You don't want to. I'll go in and do it myself.

I'm trying to get you so money. You came to me to ask me for money. If you don't want the money, I'll do it myself. I have a fake ID. No, no, no, no, no, no, I'll do it. I'll do it. Are you sure? Are you serious?

Right. Of course, I know. I've done it a thousand times. Thousand times this week. Boom. As they're sitting there, you see two cop cars pull up, you go, I got to get out of here. Right. I don't know what he got himself into.

I guess that didn't work. I mean, I thought it seemed like he was going to work. Every blue moon that happens. That's crazy. What happened, bro? Blue moon. I gave him that idea. They walked in the back and they knew I got a handcuffed.

That's crazy. That's crazy. Sometimes that happens. That never happened to me twice. Okay, let's go. Hold on. Welcome to the Huberman. Motherfucker.

Motherfucker. Science-based tools for everyday life. Law 33. Use others' weaknesses. Everyone possesses vulnerabilities, be they insecurities, emotions or hidden pleasures. Identifying and manipulating these vulnerabilities

offers leverage. Disguised weaknesses are most useful to target. Conversations, body language, and subtle cues reveal them. Exploiting emotional voids like insecurity wields control. Manipulating potent feelings such as greed or fear yields power. All of this is about being powerful and being big. So whatever I'm trying to gain...

I thought it was about getting to be powerful. Absolutely. And in that climb, every alpha has to have that dog. in them. Like, you know, you don't have to literally step on others. You have to have the propensity to step on the next person in your way to gain that goal. If you want to make supervisor, there's got to be a vacancy there. Like, you're getting it because someone else, preventing someone else from getting it. So if you're in the race for it and I'm going after trying to be better than you,

you know, I'm going to exploit you, I'm better than him at. Right. I can, you know, I'm trying to get you to do, in another scenario, I'm trying to get you to do something. I'm trying to convince you. I'm going to hit your weak points. Like you like motorcycles, you like such and such.

And I'm going to attack those points to try to gain your favor in whatever it is, attack and weaknesses. Japan does that real, like Japanese like their concept of business is so different than our concept of business because they do it like they attack things like war, skillful manipulation. They attack other companies differently than we would smear campaigns and all of that. Business is war to them.

And I feel like everything is war in attacking people's weaknesses, companies, business, ideas. Okay. I'll go with that. I'm not really an attacker. I do feel like exploiting people's weaknesses to me is like, if I know that I need you to do something, you know, and I know that you need money, well, then obviously I'm going to say, hey, listen, you know,

I can make you some money. Here's what we're going to do. And now you have my undivided attention. Right. So if, you know, if there are certain things that I know you need or you're interested in, that obviously that's something we're going to lean into and try and help fulfill that need so that I can get you to do what I want.

Like, hey, I'm willing to do this for you. Can you do this for me? It's in everything. When I used to refinance mortgages, I was just, you know, another guy in the room. And then I started targeting old people, right? Sounds horrible. And it is. But my schmeel was, you're not going to see the end of this mortgage.

Right. Would you rather leave, you know, this $2,300 a month debt or refinance with me? You can leave a $1,300 a month debt. I can put some money in your pocket. You can go overseas for, you know, on us. And I'm really taking all that equity into the, you know, we'll put $10 grand in your pocket. But I'm exploiting that weakness of, you're not going to see the end of this mortgage. This is never ending.

I was going to say how many times people, I would hear people. say stuff like, you know, like, bro, I can't, I can't afford the mortgage. I can't, so you're saying you, is it that you can't afford the new payment? Like, no, I can't, yeah, I can't afford it. Why? Well, because I just can't afford it. You go, okay, well, what if I could make it affordable? And they go, well, what do you mean? What if we did this? What if I borrowed an extra $15,000 and I, and we paid off your car, and now your car payment, you don't have that $350 car payment anymore. your payment just went down, your monthly nut just went down $150 or $200. And they would go, um, okay, uh, yeah, that sounds good.

What about this? You also have $5,000 on this card and $5,000 on this one. That's an $80 month payment on both those. Another $160 bucks. If I pay those off, you're, now you're granted your mortgage payment goes up by, by, you know, 40 bucks, but you eliminate $160 worth of minimum payments. And those payments are, that, those cards are paying. off now.

Yeah. And then they go, Hmm. Yeah, bro. I'm saving you a total of $500 a month now. Now do you want to do the mortgage? And those attacks the weaknesses in those arms. Right.

But here's the thing. Do you know what just happened? You just... Your car was going to be paid off in three years. It's not going to be paid over 30 years now. So we just took that three-year payment and we dragged it over 30 years. They don't think like that. though. So they're like, yeah, bro, that's a good deal. It may be a good deal if it's getting, yeah,

it might be a good deal if it gets you to the, to your desired result of maybe pulling out 40 grand and doing something with that 40, but it also really just stretched out your payments a lot longer. So it's more manageable, but it's a lot longer payment. One time I was, we were trying to refinance a piece of property. And we went to the, to the, you know, you have to go where they talk, where it's basically going to go in front of city council. And this is I was on the run. And my, the girl I was dating, the company was in her name, she's refinancing these two pieces of property, right? We're trying to get it to go from single family to a mixed use. White chick. She goes in front, well, we're in a black community. Listen, we're walking the room. There's 80 people there. They're all black.

They tear her apart. So the next time we went, we did two things. One, we put the, we have to put a sign on the name of when the next meeting is, we put the wrong date. And people still showed up because some people knew about the meeting for other reasons. But the people that were going to go and complain about us rezoning, those people aren't necessarily showing up. Second thing we did was we had our general contractor get up and talk for the company. He was a black guy. He had dimples.

He was very good looking. He got up. Nobody had a problem. His name was Tracy. Nobody suddenly all these women There weren't there weren't 20 women there to talk about it Not wanting it They were like three people

And they all seemed perfectly okay with him So because one of the things they said When my white girlfriend was standing there Was you white people are coming in this neighborhood Running up all of our taxes You can't identify Yeah and it was like Okay so the weakness is

You don't want white people here You don't want your taxes running Let's get Tracy up there Tracy got up there and had any problems with Tracy. He smiled at him. Boy, he was a charmer, bro. It's not the message. It's how you deliver it. 34.

Act like royalty. Act regally to command respect and power. Exude self-assuredness as if destined for greatness akin to a king's aura. Such confidence influences others enabling requests to be granted. Distinguish yourself, adhering to regal norms and diggered. dignified behavior. Listen, the way I behave, every time I talk to somebody and I meet somebody, they have no idea I've been in prison. No idea I do anything wrong. They have no idea. Me too. You know? So it's just it's just the way I speak and the behavior.

It's confidence. It's kind of royalty is that confidence. Like I, just the way I walk, I chest high, a chin up, you know, and it doesn't, irregardless of what's going on in life and whatever. Like, you know, I wake up, dress appropriately. like getting in that mood and just your aura brings about better things in life, better circumstance. Don't be a complaint. It's funny. The whole time I was in prison, very concerned. In prison, in the halfway house, very concerned about what I was going to do in life.

And even if I did complain, everybody was like, yeah, bro, you're going to make money. You're going to be good. You're going to be. It's like, I don't know. If I don't know that, how do you know that? And a guy like you, you're going to make a bunch of money. How do you figure that? Like I'm, you know, not, I'm not putting on a false bravado.

I'm sitting there going, bro, I don't know what I'm going to do. And they're like, bro, you're going to be fucking rolling in it. And it's like, you're crom thinking, this guy, you're nuts. But it didn't matter. It was the way I held myself. They just assumed I was going to get out there and kick ass. And you can see it in people. Like you can see some people are just driven different, you know, built different.

But you also know that a lot of times that it is false bravado. I'm extremely insecure. Jesus, I'm extremely insecure. You know what I'm saying? I'm laying in bed at night, like, in having cold sweats thinking, what's going to happen to me? What am I going to be able to do? How am I going to make a living?

And because of that, you get up every morning. You're pushing this. You're emailing that. When you're not doing that, even back reflecting in those days. I'm conniving. I'm thinking about long-term. What about this? What if I do this?

Like, I'm going through all the various scenarios. Because, but yet when people, so then when people talk to me, I'm like, oh, well, I'll do this. What if this is that? Well, I can do this. What about that? I can do that. So I seem like, wow, he's got it all laid out. But the truth is, I don't know if any of this is going to work.

I'm terrified. I'm toiled over the same things trying to get this plausible. I understand totally. I feel like a lot of it's fake. Like a lot of it, I walk in and shake hands and do this and we're going to do this and let's do this. And I feel like a lot of it's fake. I mean, the only person ever hears those insecurities.

And very seldomly, very. seldom do I let that concern leak out. Law 35. Get the timing right understand powers rhythm. A lie with rising forces, anticipate reactions and shift allegiances. Stay patient, seizing moments. Longview offers strategic insight, letting rivals stumble before you act. A systematic, flexible, and less emotional approach prevails. Force your adversary's hand, slow them down or hurry them up to disrupt their timing. Lastly, act swiftly and decisively to conclude when the timing's right. It's funny too because it's one minute it says act quickly and the other one sometimes it says like wait. I think life is like that. And it depends on the scenario.

But successful life is. Yep. So I'm big on like, you know, body language and and conveying the right image and all of that. And sometimes, you know, When you're speaking and you're doing this, sometimes it's very offensive. But in certain key scenarios where you're speaking that conveys a little more power and all that. So I think when it shows different sides of stuff, it's very applicable to certain things. And the other side is very applicable to other things. And they can be totally opposite in views. Law 36. Ignore small problems.

Ignoring minor problems showcases power and superiority. Responding may worsen matters, attract undue attention, or elevate minor foes. Withholding attention frustrates attention-seekers, sustaining your control. Dedicating energy to trivial matters invites pettiness and can elevate opponents. Avoid provoking sympathy or magnifying errors by leaving them be. When desired outcomes remain elusive, they appear uninterested. Yeah, don't sweat the small stuff. Yeah, I feel like this is the same thing, right? People will be so tied into these trivial, man, my baby mama, such, such, such,

such, such, and such, and such, and such. And none of that, if you cash it all in, you can get a nickel. Right. Half a snicker. Right. All that complaining, it's not doing it. Yeah, put all that in a box, and we'll deal with that on the weekend. Yeah, I can see exactly that.

To me, it's like, it's like people that get, that are concerned about what other people are thinking about them or, let's say you were going to pick up your kid and you go to pick up your kid and the whole time you're, you know, like you said, the baby mama is sitting there screaming and hollering, oh, you this and you do that and you need to do this. I don't know what you're thinking. And to have an argument with her is completely irrelevant. It could just be like, you're right, you're right. I messed up there.

You're right. I'm doing my best. I'm sorry. I screwed up. I'm a fuck up. You ready, Jr.? Let's go. You know, get in the car, put him in the car, right, right, right, right, right.

Get in the car, get in the car, boom, all right, I'll have them back by eight, see you around, and leave. Because arguing. Looking to simplify this new year? How about the simple sounds of neutral vodka soda with no sugar added for the next 15 seconds? Neutral. Refreshingly simple. With her is irrelevant, you know. It's walking by some guy in the mall and having him bumping into somebody and having him say, oh, you bumping

into me. What you've got a problem? You know what? That's my fault. My bad. Even if he bumped into you, it's my fault. Absolutely my fault. It's, it's, there is no reason to have an argument, a dispute over something so trivial. It's very minor. I'm on a mission to go here and get this. I'm not going to get an argument or fist fight in the middle of the mall because some jerk off bumped into me. It means nothing in the grand scheme of things. In the grand scheme of things, this is, it's a blip. So it's better to just the boy to keep going. Like what I read it somewhere, probably one of these programs. But it was like if the situation 24 hours later, if that situation isn't big, then it really isn't anything.

Right. And I'm like, I'm horribly describing it. But it's that principle. Like there are so many small things that we got going on. If we wrote down all of that stuff that's the baby mom. Is it going to be anything in 24 hours? Is it going to be anything? If we write down all of this stuff that we got going on and there's 12 things.

And like you look at the list, there's really only two pressing issues there. Right. That's going to prevent you from prospering. It's like I'm trying to make a million dollars here. And you're telling me that some guy cut me off in traffic. I'm going to follow him home and get into an argument with him. What am I going to do? I'm going to scream at him in front of his kids.

I'm trying to get to this meeting so that I could get a million dollar deal. And that took precedence. The great thing is, is that does take precedence over a lot of people's lives and they never make that meeting. That's why it's so easy like someone like me or you to get ahead because there's so many knuckleheads making bad decisions. And focusing their energies on things that are irrelevant. Yeah.

As an irrelevant to your prosperity, like moving forward. Like leave that other stuff alone. Let's worry about getting the car paid. That's more about that rent. And then let's worry about, like, getting my bank account situated. So whereas when my bills are paid, I have money there. So I'm making money to replace money, not bills, and I have nothing. Right.

Like, that's where we should be. We shouldn't be worried about, you know, my home boy said that, and that's that bullshit. Because on Instagram, like, all of that stuff. It's irrelevant. Yeah, you put it in a box. Can't get a nickel for it. All right. 437. Put on a show visuals and symbols wield greater impact than words alone.

Employ compelling images and symbols that resonate emotionally to reinforce power. Connect with followers through evocative symbols, blending old and new associations. Shape these elements into a captivating spectacle that distracts and mesmerizes, fostering awe. What do you think of that? Same thing? It's the same thing. You're not going to put on YouTube, you know, just a picture, a couple work, you're going to put on the show. There's going to be a great thumbnail. There's going to be my handsome face on there prominently in front of yours.

Yeah, it's a, yeah, packaging. It's better branding, better packaging. Better, yeah, absolutely. I always wondered, too, you know what's so funny about that is, I remember there was a, there was a, and this was when I was 15 or 16, there was some country music and there were two. women and a guy. And I remember they got really, really big. And one of the women just ballooned up. She just got bigger and bigger and bigger. Yeah. And I just remember thinking, I mean, your image is a huge part of who you are and you are ballooning up. Like you're huge. Like if you're, you know, work, if you need it, you got to, you could have a full time. I remember thinking,

you could have a full time chef. You know, like, what are you doing? Jeff and I bitched each other if we gain five pounds or 10 pounds. We're constantly like, what did you wait today? What did you wait today? I don't know, man, I got to lose some weight. I got to lose some weight. I don't lose some weight, bro. Just don't touch me right now.

Yeah, yeah. You're way too big. So, yeah, so I mean, I think images, it is, it is, unfortunately, it is, unfortunately, it is, unfortunately, it is, unfortunately. It is, unfortunately, it is, unfortunately. It is, it doesn't matter what somebody looks like. Yeah, it does. It matters how they behave, how they act, how they look.

I mean, unfortunately, that's the life we, we, that's just society. You want to be attractive. Yeah. And that's more than just your mate. Like you want to be attractive. Employee, as in your skills are attractive. You want, you know, everything, the law of attraction. Oh, yeah, yeah.

If you're a good-looking chick who sits there and can't even answer the phone, yeah, I'm not interested. It's got to be the overall package. Well, there's guys that's interested in great-looking chicks that can't do anything. but post really pretty pictures. All right, let's keep going. This is Law 38. Law 38. Go along to get a long refrain from openly flaunting unconventional beliefs or behaviors

as it can provoke retaliation. Instead, assimilate by concealing differing views and sharing them selectively with like-minded individuals. The act of appearing conventional allows you to navigate social norms smoothly. Even if you inwardly dissent, outward conformity is essential to prevent unnecessary conflicts. But you have to do that with you two. Like, you know, we'll be speaking on such or such and, well, I'm not going to get into that like that. I have to do that in just in general and life.

People don't do that. Right. Like, they will express themselves in Churchy's chicken. Yeah. And get to an argument. It's like, what are we doing? In Walmart's line as the third person. person in line and we're going to hold you up so I can get my point out, you know, here, as opposed to like, and I love this law, because you have to, there's a certain point of conformity.

Yeah. Like, you know, especially like, like, prime example, where I live. My neighbors, I'm always going to have my neighbor face. Right. Always, regardless, your kid busts my window. I'm, you know, damn it, because I want where I live to, there to be a comfort level. Yeah.

I'm always smiling, you know, I just got in a wreck, get out the car, I'm smiling out my name. I just want that to be a great place where I live. And I think in society, you have to be that. There has to be a certain level of conformity, like when you're in public. And because it's a society. Like, I can't drive home unless we all cooperate. Everyone's on the right side of the street.

Do we stop when there's a red light? there's a conformity and there has to be like like you have to get along and and you know yeah well also for yeah it's it's that and i mean it's it's like you know just in general for people in general like i typically very seldomly ever give political opinions and the other problem is this is that i you know when i grew up you could give your political you get your neighbors could all be democrats and you could be a republican and you all just got along and it's just you know nobody's not sure screaming at you for. And it was fun to be. Yeah. But now, now it's like people are ready to sell their house and, and pull their kids out of school. And it's like, what do you? Because the neighbor is a,

yeah, because the neighbor put a Trump flag in their front yard. They're going to your yard, going up telling you, you have to remove this. It's bringing the neighborhood down. It's like, what are you talking about? Like, what are you doing? I don't, if you want to Biden or, sorry, Harris, like, put it up. I don't care. Expressionism is different than interpretation of expressionism now to when you know, you were a kid because you're way older than me. It's different. People's opinion is different and the expression of that opinion is different. You know, you can identify as anything now.

Well, it's never going to get, here's the real thing is it's never going to, you're never going to win. Even if you're, even if the president embodies everything that you believe in politically, bro, I promise it. four to eight years to 12 years, there will be somebody going the other way. The world's not going to end. They're not going to come and yank you out of your house and execute you in front of your children. Like, it's going to be okay. People don't think that. They're insane. Well, good thing you live in this country. Yeah. God bless America. All right. Watch this. Here, we're going on. We're going to 39. Law 39. Rattle your opponents. Deliberately triggering opponent's anger can expose their instability or incite foolish behavior.

Employ tactics such as targeting pride or vanity to unsettle and exploit their reactions. Remain composed while your opponents falter, showcasing your ascendancy. Remember, Napoleon's decline due to losing his temper and how Hyle Salasi used provocation strategically to defeat an adversary. Approach with caution and ensure control when provoking others. Well, that's a difficult one, because if you're rattled. And you don't want to stir hostility. But as one of these alphas, you want to rattle.

You know, you want to keep things stirred up. Well, I don't really know that where I have enemies. And this is talking about your opponents and your enemies. And I'm lucky. You have opponents in everything that you do. I feel like I. You're not the only true crimes. Yeah, but that's the thing is that's what I like about YouTube is that I feel like a lot of

these guys help me and help each other out. And the people that don't, I don't think much of. You know, like, I don't, you know, like, I just don't, I don't deal with you, you know, even when, even if, let's say, there's somebody who I know doesn't specifically like me. What's funny about me is, you can completely despise me. And I'll still go to you and say, hey, man, that guy that was on your program the other day, his name was Rick, so-and-so. You think you can give me his information so I can get them on my program? And I know guys that will, won't, they don't even respond. They just send the email or send the guy's email.

They don't even say, yeah, sure, no problem. Hey, how are you doing? Boom. Just send the email. That's it. Or the phone number. Like, they don't even, like, they're disgusted, but, but they still send the email. It's, it's like, I can have lunch with, I always say, I could, I was, I was, I was

just saying, I could have lunch with Adolf Hitler and Stalin and have lunch and be like, so, how are you guys doing? What's going on with such and such? Hey, what happened with that was with that automobile? thing. Like, when did you start that? Like, I have a whole conversation about it, you know, and not have, not, and be able to eat and have no, have no problem, get up and leave. Like, this is irrelevant to my life, who you guys are and what you've done or whatever. We were in the halfway house when I, with Jess, and I would go and sit at the table with her because she's sitting there. I want to

sit at the table with this chick. I like this chick. I need to be around this chick. I need her to like me. I need to be around her. But the other three guys at the table, hate my guts. I mean, they despise me. This rat motherfucker, piece of shit, garbage. But I knew you won't say it to my face.

You're not going to say it to my face. I know when I leave. And Jess has a soft spot. And I knew she wouldn't appreciate because she doesn't talk about people. You don't like people talking about people. I knew if they talked about me

in front of her, it would make them look bad, make me look good. Uh-huh. So I go and I sit down and I'm super nice and joke and I ask the guy's questions and I include them in the conversation even though they're disgusted to be sitting with me. And the moment I got up the left to leave, they would badmouth me and she would go, you don't even know this guy. Why do you?

What do you care? What is the problem? You don't know anything about his case. I'm like, that's exactly what I want. Because I don't care that they don't hate me. Their opinion is irrelevant. It's irrelevant. Ready?

I don't know if that even has anything to do with what we were just talking about. Law 40. Use money as a tool. Money is a powerful tool in the pursuit of power. Use it to create alliances, obligations, and reputation. Receiving free gifts implies obligation, a power dynamic you can use. Employ gifting to build an aura of generosity

and disarm others while in high. your influence. Beware of money-related weaknesses, such as greed, obsession with bargains, hardball playing, and excessive generosity. Spain's gold pursuit and the Duchess of Marlborough's mistakes underscore how money can distract from real power building. I have a buddy in prison, and he would do, he was big on this. And this sounds bad, but I like the guy. But anyway, I started realizing it right away. This is, actually, that's not true. I don't think I realized it for a while before I was like, what he would do is to endear himself

to you. As soon as you walk in, he offers you something to eat. Or you know, some that we'd be out on the compound and we'd be talking and there's guys selling stuff. Keep in mind, they're selling stuff for like a stamp. So this is nothing, right? He's got plenty of money. So he'd go, hey, you want a Pepsi?

Hold on. Jimmy, so, you know, and he'd get you a Pepsi because he knows it costs nothing. But you start to think, wow, he's so generous. Like, he's really generous. And I would go, no, no, no, bro, I can't pay for that. No, no, no, he's a, bro, I got it. I got it. So he's giving you these gifts.

Well, when it comes time for him to ask something from you, you feel overwhelmingly obligated. And I think that that can also be by doing things like that. Now, in a way, I got to a point where I don't know if he's consciously doing it as being manipulative. Oh, absolutely. You say, well, then again, he was there for... Because it's like the mafia in old times. We didn't do it for... You do that.

I'll pay you $200,000. It was a favor for a favor. Right, right. And it's a handshake deal. Like, and being from New York and being around Italians, I've heard. I've never dealt with the mob. But, like, they didn't deal with the hood. And, you know, the blacks, let's just say, because in the old days, because a lot of their ways were handshake deals, right?

It was for favors. And I guess it gets away from money to, but that favor is important. Like, I'm going to do this for you. I'm going to keep doing, don't worry about it, Jimmy. You know, don't worry about such. But I keep on doing it. It's just like the government. Like the feds.

So the feds don't actually control the state, but there's such an influx of money that comes from the feds. And you're eating and they're giving you this and that and loaning you. Well, and some, I mean, there's lots of instances where they will. They'll give you money, but you have to do this. Absolutely. So a lot of times it's specifically like, hey, we can, we can, you can apply for this grant and we'll give you this grant, but part of that money has to do this.

this and you have to stop doing this in your state. And it's like, well, fuck you. You know, and there was a big thing in the, in the, in the late 80s after they changed the laws, they were saying, look, we're going to give you free money to build prisons. You know, really? Because our prisons, nobody wants to give money for prisons. You're going to give us free. Yes, but you have to revamp your, your system to mimic the federal system.

And so a lot of, half the states took. the money. Florida took the money. And that's why Florida has 85%. Their system almost mimics what the federal system is. And then other states were like, no, fuck you. I mean, we're not, we're not taking that money. We're not, because first they realized this is going to triple our incarceration, you know, so we're not doing that. Because in the end, we have to run these prisons. What the real cost is running the prison, not building it. So there's lots of those types of things where they come in and say, hey, we'll give you money for this, for these sidewalks, but you have to start doing this.

And the money justifies the influence. If you're spending, you know, the rent in this huge house of yours is $3,000. And me as your buddy, every month I'm giving you a grand, my opinion is important. Right. And I, hey, man, you know, I think you need to put a big fence around. around that place. Right. And I'm pushing for it.

My opinion is important because my money is a viable thing. Well, I think those. Yeah, absolutely. So money definitely. That's why everybody thinks, well, oh, well, these people give to political parties. And they immediately think, you know, oh, well, they're going to protect them or owe them. And that's not necessarily the case. But it's certainly, that's certainly the feeling.

Influence. But there's anything. And in gifts, gifts can be the same way. Like, gifts can really sway people. I give you a great example. Just, just happened. Jess and I went to Las Vegas. We sent out 10 or 15, what?

10 postcards? About 10 postcards. I'm going to use Wade. So I sent a postcard to Wade. People don't send out postcards. They just don't do it anymore. But we sent one to my buddy Wade. Wade's wife gets on the phone, thanks me for the postcard, and tells me I am shocked.

She's nobody ever does that. She's like, you have got a fan. Like, this is not something people do anymore. It's one of those lost pleasancies that people don't do. I'm just, I'm telling you, Matt, she's like, I didn't know what to think of you before, but you have absolutely got a fan now. I think, I think what you, this is great. And, you know, it was so simple. That very small gift, that gesture of appreciation.

Yeah, just a slight gesture can change some, can really win somebody over. The outcome of, yeah. Law 41. Chart your own course successes. Following in the footsteps of great leaders or famous parents face challenges living up to the legacy. To break free from their shadow and achieve power, they must carve out their own distinct identity and style. Disparage the past to create contrast, using symbols and rituals to distance yourself physically. Reject precedent and embrace bold decisions. seek voids to fill with your unique approach and remain adaptable. Avoid slipping back into the past and stay vigilant against rising rivals.

It's about that plan. And I feel like charting your own course in keeping with what we discuss with plan A, B, C, D. But don't let life, don't be in that boat with no paddle and you're just going with the flow. Well, I mean, chart your own course, blaze your own path. In the book, I know they were talking about like being, if you were like with a political party, right? They were like, don't, they were like, don't stay with the status quo. Or if you were born, and I think this is just kind of, if you were born and your family was extremely wealthy, right? Like Howard Hughes's family had tons of money, right?

They were super. But Howard Hughes, what he did was he became a film producer. He wanted to do his own thing. He wanted to like, like, he's not saying, oh, keep your money. But he's, he inherited all this money. And they built tools, right? Like, I think that's what they had, they had these massive manufacturing plants that built tools. Right.

So he took that money and he started making films. He wanted to be a Hollywood producer. And he had a bunch of successful films. And then he also became an aviator. And then he started building planes. Like, these are things that, like, he says nothing to do with what your family, what you're, so he wanted to blaze his own course. So he went in a completely different direction. He could have kicked back and said, I'm just going to keep collecting.

him money from the tool, but instead he made his own money. And there's lots of people like that. Bill Gates. Bill Gates's family had money. Like they already had money. He could have kicked back on into the family business. You know, I think they were in finance. He didn't do that. He said, no, I'm going to go into computers. I'm going to start my own company. I'm going to go into programming. It's like, you're going in a completely different way. And so there's lots of families that do that. They blaze their own course because they don't want to have to kick back and have everybody saying the rest of their lives, well, you're only rich because you were born into it. They want to be able to say, no, no, I made my own money.

Now, I personally think that's kind of bullshit because if you were born into a family that was worth $20 million, like it's not that difficult to be successful. When you can get a million dollar long. You can go to daddy and get some money. So you had a huge leg up. But anyway, you still, because listen, let's face it, most people kick back, they just spend the money. Yeah, they just live on the money.

they never do anything. So, you know, it's like winning the lottery, like, you know, and everybody being impressed by you're like, what's impressive? You picked five random numbers. Probably a quick pick. Yeah, I'm not impressed. Like, you didn't do anything to earn this other than walk in and pick some numbers. That's not impressive. Law 42. Squelch, the troublemaker. Trouble makers in groups can so discord and jeopardize your power, identify and isolate them to prevent their influence from spreading. Trouble often starts with charismatic complainers who gain followers. Separate them from their power base using political, psychological, or physical means.

Employ distraction and deception to remove them from the group's context. Do you remember in the first movie, the godfather? Remember the godfather? It's the very first movie. Remember, his father gets killed. He leaves. He was a little boy. He had to leave Sicily and go to, he had to go to America because the guy was trying to kill him.

The guy, his father had a dispute with the main mobster in Sicily. The mobster, I think, killed him and then wanted to kill his son. So the son is sent off to America. Almost, God, if I hope, I hope I didn't get that wrong. But at the time, I remember thinking, man, it's just a little boy. Like, what are you doing? But the truth is, remember in the movie, he, this. This is in the second movie, I think.

In the second movie, he grow, this is the second one. They go back. It's a prequel. They go back in it. So he, he gets older and starts ordering oil from the guy's factory and builds a relationship with the man that had killed his father. And at some point goes there to do a business deal to get close with him. And he guts him and kills him.

That guy was right. Do you see what I'm saying? Like the, initially it was like, oh, my gosh, you're trying to. killed this little kid, this is horrible. But the truth is, he knew he would grow up to be an adult and come back on him. The problem with this, this law kind of conflicts with the law that says to hire, like hire your enemies and make them, you know, so I kind of a semi agree with that in a way. And in this, and I think you have to go with your gut feeling in this, but to me, whenever I've kind of had people that have sown discourse in, let's say, when I owned a mortgage company,

those guys, no matter how much I went out on my way to kind of placate to them, in the end, they always just tried to do damage to the organization or even leave and try and take my brokers or it was like what I should have done was just a moment I heard you talking shit, I should have just fired you. You know what I'm saying? Like, that's what I should have done, was fire you or crushed you, and then gone out of my way to make sure you didn't get any loan. to talk shit about you, and, you know, I tend to not do that, but I probably should have done that because all these guys, these guys, it is, they just so discourse, they just cause trouble, and they never really come back.

No matter how nice you were good to them you are, it's, it's very difficult to make them an ally. But I think there's a difference between an antagonist and an enemy. Like, I think your enemy would be the other. realtor that's trying to steal your business and that's doing the undermining stuff or just siphoning some of your work, your business to you, where as opposed to, you know, just somebody that's a hater. Right. In this one, they're trying to, they're saying they're trying to get people.

Well, in the other law that Zach and I went over, they were saying, like, hire that person, like make that. If you hire them, then they'll work harder for you. I believe that. Okay. I've used that specifically. And, okay, and like I said, I think it's a gut thing. You have to figure that out.

Like in this, what you're saying is like the moment. You could look at it like this. So this person isn't necessarily your enemy, but it's somebody who's talking shit. So maybe in this instance, you just, this is saying like you just, you go straight to them and just face them and bring it straight to their attention. This is what I heard. This is what you're talking. This is what you're saying. I don't appreciate it.

If you fucking do it again, this is like, maybe. you go straight at them. Of course, they're saying, like, remove them from the situation. I'm not sure how to apply this in just everyday life because not everybody has 65 employees. It's hard to. Well, in your circle, I think it's talking about. Maybe your friends, some friends talking shit about you. Your friend group, your circle of life, that you may have a circle of, you know, some toxic family members and this girl and such a such. Whatever your circle of life is, there's that.

one person that isn't that beacon of light or is that dark patch in your circle, kind of need to deal with that. Just isolate them. Isolate that. I don't go to their parties. I don't deal with them. If they're at the party, I disagree. I stay away from them.

Even though he's in your circle. So he's your friend's friend and you always see him. And when you invite people over to the barbecue, he comes. But there's just that he's the one always getting drunk and causing something or. Right. talking shit about you. And it wasn't warranted. You know, that piece of whatever deal with that.

Right. Troublemaker. Right. You know that. Law 43. Win hearts and minds. To maintain power effectively, winning people's hearts and minds is essential. Force may work short term, but voluntary compliance is more sustainable.

Understand individual's psychology and emotions, targeting strong feelings like hate, envy, and love. Stir emotions by acting unexpectedly or addressing fears and despair. Effective strategies include symbolic gestures, appealing to self-interest and building broad support. I get that. Like if I'm the boss and, you know, it's bonus time or whatever, instead of giving out, you know, $50 checks or something, there may be like a party.

And in that party, we've got, you know, the good stuff. stuff and you know for the women we've got teddy bears and stuff so they can really enjoy that time and the camaraderie and you know shift different because if i'm going to reward i might as well reward with something that resonates with the employees or maybe it's also maybe it's a little bit of shmoosing like you know if you remember oh absolutely yeah something like when you're you know you're you know that this guy likes football you know that this guy has some problems with his kids so you just kind of went over their hearts and minds like, bro, how's your, how's your son doing, bro? Like, whatever happened with that such and such? I've been wondering about that. Start to make them think, wow, he's a

really nice guy. Like, he really cares about me. That sort of thing. Addressing people by name, hey, what's up? Matt. I'm horrible at all that, by the way. That's a big thing. Like, when you remember a name and address someone and speak their name, that resonates personally. Right. It does. Your name is, okay. Am I Right? I'm bad at it. I'm like, I'll walk away from a conversation and I don't, I didn't ask that person one fucking thing about themselves. No one has to know that. But in your, but in your research of the person, and especially me, like if I'm about to approach someone or I'm dealing with someone and I research and I'm, what the heck was this guy's name again? And I make sure to know that. And then when I deal with that person, it's extra personal because I'm addressing them by name. Do you know when I do that? Literally like, they, they.

There will be time. This is just this got her hand over. Like literally the doorbell will ring or Colby will sometimes be like, hey, who is this guy? I'm like, fuck, I don't know, bro. He did something with eBay or, I don't know. Hold on. And I'll check. Or sometimes we're sitting there talking the doorbell rings.

Colby goes, who is this guy? And I'm like, shit. I'll look him up and I'll be like, um, in and out of prison, life and crime. That's all I've got. And then I'll, I'll, you know, walk over, open the door and be like, bro, what's man criminal history is insane on you come on in can't wait to talk have a seat man what's up how many prison sentences uh terms have you done he they're like oh 12 12 yeah okay i don't fucking that's what i remember that's what i remembered 12 yeah so law 44 mirror others emotions utilize the mirroring technique to influence

and control others by reflecting on opponents actions or emotions you confuse their strategies and distract them. Apply this method to charm, manipulate and deceive. Instead of dominating conversations, mirror the feelings, interests, and values of others. This creates a sense of understanding and connection, making them more receptive to your influence. I feel like this is the same thing as the other one where it was like keep your opinion to yourself. Yeah, that's not really me. I'm not really a sympathetic or even empathetic person. My value as a friend and confidant and all of that is my stability. You know, I'm more of the rock guy.

I'm not the shoulder. My shoulder is kind of stonish. So don't come to me for the sympathy. Come to me for that rock. Well, I don't think, I think this is more like it's saying, I think it when it's saying mirror something, I think it's like when it's trying to win someone over, if they say, listen, this was a big thing, by the way, on, I forget his name, is a guy that sold the Eiffel Tower like twice. Unlike him already.

Yeah, he, he, oh gosh, Victor, Victor, I'm going to say, Lusting. I almost said Luddlich, Lusting, Victor Lusting. And he had like the, he called it the, like the con man rules or something. He had like eight of them or seven. Do you know what it? No. Anyway, he had a bunch of them. And one of them was, it was basically keep your mouth shut.

was the first rule. Don't talk. He said, don't drink. Don't drink. Don't do drugs. Keep control of yourself. And he said, and keep your mouth shut. When you're, the person you're speaking with, your victim, or whoever it was, when they start, if you say so, you know, oh, yeah, what are you doing? If they happen to say, oh, I went to church yesterday, go, oh, my God, well, where do you go to church? You know, oh, wow, I go to such and such. And you play into that. I go to church too. I also am Catholic. Oh, where do you? What Catholic church do you go to? Oh, I go to the Catholic Church near us.

It's St. Anthony's, whatever. You know, so you play if whatever, he said, like, ply them for their political opinions and agree with everything they say, wow, it's so hard to find a guy like you. So you're building this whole, you know, this whole, huh? Us. Us. We share a common view. We're together on this. Now, we're the other one, he was saying, like, don't share your opinions and everything.

I feel like these are kind of the same thing. It's very similar. Like, don't come up with, don't, don't be opinionated. Like, oh, bro, I disagree. I don't even believe in God. You don't believe me. I don't even believe in God. Like, what are you doing, bro?

You're talking to a guy who goes to Catholic Mass every Sunday. Yeah. And you're going to have an, really? Like, is this somebody who at some point you're going to need something from? Are you at a party? Is this a family member? Is this somebody that you should kind of be ingratiating yourself to? Is this somebody that's got to talk to other people in your circle that wants, like, what are you doing?

There's no benefit to this at all to say this. So, and if you're trying to win the person over, then he has all these rules on how to win people over. And he was supposedly amazing at it. That's difficult for a lot of people. I got friends that that's coming into mind where, like, they have to be right or they have to convey their image upon whatever the scenario is. Like, I got to be heard. My personality or my whatever has to be dominant in this. So that's why they become like argumentative and combative and stuff like that.

I'm constantly, there are times when, I mean, I don't typically do the whole, because typically I don't need you to agree with me. You know, and so I'm not typically, like in this, in this phase of my life, like I'm not trying to get people to agree. But what I do do is I water down my opinion because I'm not. trying to create enemies. And, and what I'll do is, you know, sometimes if you have a just completely different opinion of me and I don't want the viewers to think that I'm okay with that opinion, I'll sit there and I'll like, right, right, right. Okay, well, I mean, I kind of disagree with some of what you said, but anyway, let's move on. Like, I'll throw it out there, but we're not going to, I'm not going to get a debate about it. I disagree that we should have

four wives and 16 children and that that is going to be is going to make society better. Sorry, bro, I disagree with that. But I hear you. I get it. That's your take. I understand. Let's move on. You know, so I'm not going to, I don't want to get into a huge argument about it.

So I'll just say, oh, okay. And that's a very good way to disagree with someone. Right. Because otherwise, I lose, you know, you lose 10,000 followers because we had a debate or an argument on film. And you, you, you, you, you. alienate people that way. And the funny thing is, is that this is America and it's great, and you can't believe that. Good for you. I hope that works out. I find that like in my advanced years, like I've learned that you're not going to change anyone's opinion. Right. It's very hard.

And like I've stopped trying to sway your opinion. Like I feel this way about this. And I'm not just because we disagree, that's not like an opportunity for me to try to change your mind because I'm, I'm right. And I want you to see the error in your ways. Like now in my advanced years, like, you know, that's okay, like that we share different opinions and you believe 100% how you feel and I feel the way it, you know, that's okay. Yeah, unfortunately, most people don't feel that way. But anyway, yeah, I hear this. This is definitely a way to win people over. Law 45, enact changes slowly. While change is necessary, sudden upheaval can incite resistance. People cling to routine and familiarity.

Gradual change with nods to tradition and comforting appearances garner's acceptance, publicly revere past values and create new rituals linked to history. So I immediately think of really like Catholicism or, you know, they just said, you know, Mao and then I think of Hitler and I think of Stalin did this. of people will, they'll, they, you know, you get in on one thing, right? They get into power on one thing. And then what they do is they slowly start enacting these things. And a lot of these things, they try and connect to, um, they try and connect to religion. Well, it's, in some cases, religion, you know, like, look, if you take the Catholic religion or, or, you know, the Christian

religion, a lot of the stories are actually older stories from all these other, from other religions that are just slowly kind of, they're altered slightly, yeah, it's altered slightly and then incorporated into Catholicism or whatever, the Christian faith. Same thing with a lot of people, like Hitler gets into power saying one thing, and then he slowly shifts, like, and he would do everything, they did everything like this. They would say, hey, we're going to open up these camps for these, for the communists, because the communists are trying to take over and they're trying to destroy our country. We're going to open it up for the communist.

And for, then it became political, you know, political, you know, kind of like terrorism. Then it, before you know it, it's Jews. You see what I'm saying? Like, come on, brother, there's not that many people. Like, how many camps are we opening? Before you know it, it's political adversaries, anybody who disagrees with us. we're going to put anybody who's got a mental illness, criminals, we're going to put in Jews, gypsies, anybody we think is not a, is not contributing to German society.

We're going to put in these camps. But it started off as, hey, the rice, I think it was the rice, whatever the name of that building was, the rice star or whatever, this building got burned down. And it was like a Jewish communist. that did it. And so that gave them the right to put this new bill in to say, hey, let's build these camps and put all these, these communists in there because they are going to destroy our country. They said, yeah. And then what do you do? I got it. We expand it. And that's exactly one of those things. You get in with one thing. You expand it. You slowly, very slowly,

he didn't march to power and say, I'm going to take all the wealth from the Jews and burn their houses down and execute them. He never says that politically. Right. It's, you do something, you do it very slowly and you expand it. Yeah, you do it for anyone. You know what it is? It's, have you, and I don't know, is this a, is it a grasshopper or is it a, not a grass, is it, I think it's a centipede. I think they say like, or, or might be a frog or something.

I forget what they call it. But they say basically like, if you drop, if you place a frog into a pan and you, if you drop a frog into a hot pan, he'll jump out immediately. If you place them in a hot pan and slowly turn up the temperature, he'll just sit there and fry to death, bird of death. So if you can do anything slowly. Keep in mind, I always love this. We dumped, you know, the Boston Tea Party was fought over, I think, a 2%. You've heard that. I mean, we're paying 25, 30%.

There. Willingly. And I'm being taxed and then retaxed and taxed again. And the people that I pay are getting tax. I mean, if you look at it like, it's literally you're ending up with like 30%, 40% of the money. Of the earned money. Ridiculous. And just my point on that stuff, I saw it as a very small over.

You went kind of big where like I see. One macro. I'm a micro guy. Not that micro. I don't know what that means. Okay. Go ahead. So I look at it like exercising.

Exercising for me, like, you know, it's a big thing. And everyone's like, I'm going to start working out. Well, I don't feel like, okay, Tuesday, I need to go to the gym and spend an hour or two hours. I think that's a slow, gradual thing. Because, like, if you don't work out and now I'm ready to work out. So, like, take it slowly. Like, okay, I'm going to start now. And I'm going to start with 20 push-ups.

Right. And I'm going to do it now. And then maybe later today, I'll do it later, you know, another 25. And it's that gradual thing, but it's every day. and it's changed. And then now, of a sudden, that forcing myself becomes routine, becomes habit. Yeah, before you know it, you're squatting 405 and benching 350 and, yeah. You've seen my numbers? That's funny. All right. Next.

Law 46. Watch for Envy Success breeds envy, as others inflated self-worth gets punctured by your achievements. Recognize signs of jealousy, subtle criticism, excessive praise, or quiet, undermining, especially from close ones. To diffuse envy, admit flaws, emphasize luck, or downplay talents. Beware of envy's potential harm, forestall it to avoid destructive outcomes. This is if you're cultivating your image. Right. So, and you're trying to deal with the envy that you're generating because you're becoming successful. I'm on the opposite end of that spectrum Because I know that there's going to be haters. Yeah.

You are not doing anything if you're not generating that hate. Who was it, Napoleon, that says a great man is judged on his enemies, the size, you know, of his enemies. So, like, I relish the horrible comments and, you know, or I relish whatever's going on out there because I'm doing enough to garnish that, especially in this day and age. where people can see your work and just decide to just comment. And that comment goes unchecked. It's anonymous. And, you know, so there's opinions everywhere. So there's going to be envy.

There's going to be jealousy. There's going to be hate. There's going to be all of that. So I accept it. I don't try to garnish my look and brand to appease and downplay. So I don't garnish a bunch of envy and jealousy because it's going to come. because of how I operate. It doesn't matter what you do.

People are going to be haters. I could be the most passive Christian. And there's going to be another Catholic in the church, Christian in the church that's, you know, he's too humble. He's hiding something. So you're going to garnish envy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's coming. I say live in it. Expect it.

Live in it. That's more fire. more fuel for that fire. Law 47. Know when to stop. After achieving victory, the impulse to push further can be perilous. Resisting this urge and halting to consolidate gains distinguishes the powerful. Victory introduces risks due to emotional recklessness and the allure of unchecked expansion. Beware of others encouraging overreach.

Success involves reason, acknowledging Luck's role. and adapting to changing circumstances. This is our problem. Knowing when to quit. No one when to quit. Yep. How many times? When we first start, man, I get 50 grand.

Oh, yeah. Oh, that's, what else do I need? Yeah. And then you're knee deep with Zach, and now you're churning, you know, 100 grand here. You've got five accounts. You don't even know the numbers in the accounts. It's just coming.

And it's a stop. And it's not enough. After Christmas. Yeah. Because Christmas has got to, you know, I'm going to make this a good Christmas. And then after my birthday and then the game, obviously, I have to fly to Philly to watch the Eagles. I mean, how else am I going to watch them? That's, yeah, I always talk about that.

People always ask, like, you know, was it greed? And I always say, well, I assume, initially I thought it was, you know, out of necessity, not greed. But then I'm like, it was like, if I could just get my bills caught up. Then it was if I could just get 50 grand in the bank. Boy, that would be great. Then it's like if you could just get a couple hundred grand, then it becomes a million. Then it's two million.

Two million I'd be set. And then after this other house, I'm going to get this other house. And then. And then you just stop. You generally just start saying, you know, this is just what I do. This is what I do. I'm just so good at this. I'm just going to keep doing it.

I'm going to outsmart everybody. Yeah, that's not going to happen. But all right, I hear you. Law 48. Be elusive. contain an edge, be fluid, flexible, and unpredictable, shapeless. This thwarts enemies from understanding or countering you, ensuring maneuverability. Shunning rigid systems adapt based on circumstances.

T.E. Lawrence applied formlessness in guerrilla warfare, confounding enemies in World War I, employed beyond war, formlessness hamper's foes by presenting no clear target, control emotions and embrace unreadability. I'm a formless type of motho. I think it deals with like, you know, in my head I envision this blob of that jelly and you've got this bat and you're trying to beat it and break it or as opposed to like a block and it's hard and it's rigid. Right.

So if you have that formlessness, it's harder for your enemies to get the upper hand, get the edge on your edge on your. you so and especially like what I do when my you know there there's so much movement to you know this is working that's working let's go here I'm kind of the master of none but have all the the trades and and so I think um yeah this is important to me this is kind of how I rock yeah I was going to say this is it's two things one it makes me think of um the art of war by sensu where he was like, you know, if you're a large army, then you know, you've, then you're powerful and you move forward and you gobble up more armies and, you know, that sort of thing. If you're small, then you're agile. You know what I'm saying? So, so your strength in a large army is that

you're, that is your strength. There's a, you can bully over things. But if you're a small army, then you're agile and you can move quickly. And so you can attack in multiple places and keep attacking to wear down that larger army. So there's all these different things that, like, you have to play to your strength. You have to be able to shift and pivot depending on the situation. You can't be rigid in your thinking where I refuse to change. Well, if you refuse to change, then you end up becoming, I use this all the time, is a, you end up being blockbuster.

Stagnant. Yeah. Well, you become blockbuster. And the guy walks in the room and says, listen, I think we should start. sending using CDs or I'm sorry DVDs and they say no we're not going to do that because we make too much money we make good money on the rewind charges or or you say and then the next guy comes in and says listen I'm thinking we should maybe start putting our stuff online and streaming it and they say that's never going to take off next thing you know you're you're too big you're you don't

change with the times and you die by the time you realize it it's too late you're paying for all these fucking stores. There's all these little mom and pop startups like this Netflix character. Yeah, Netflix. They're running it out of a fucking apartment. You know, there's 12 guys running out of an apartment. They're destroying us. Like, and it's too late.

By the time you say, okay, let's go that route. And people stop going to your stores. You still got all these leases and you go under. Now Netflix has a. Right. And people and blockbusters, deterr blockbuster is like a joke. But yeah, there's there are those people that refuse to change or move. It was the same thing when I got out of prison.

It's like, look, I'm going to try all of these things. And whatever which one I start seeing has a return and is working, then that's the one I'm going to focus on. And that's what happened. Like I started a bunch of things. And some things were paying, but they weren't paying much. And other things I could see the potential in the payment coming. And so I said, I'm going to wait and, you know, the YouTube and the true crime.

So it was paying more and more. And I realized, hey, I need to stop with the paintings. The paintings, I'm not getting nearly as much of a return on the paintings as I am on YouTube. And YouTube has an endless amount of possibilities. And I can only sell these paintings for so much. You were painting? You didn't know I paint? I think you told me that and I automatically assumed it was like painting houses.

That's, that's. So do you see, that you saw like the Snoop when we walked? Remember what you came here and you see the Snoop painting and then you, there's a bunch of paintings behind the. I didn't remember seeing Snoop. Yeah. You painted that. Yeah. I've paid all kinds of stuff.

And you're backing that. Yeah. We had paintings over the couch. We had paintings. This is what I did for years when I got out of prison just to pay my bills because I didn't have. So if you hit it big, your paintings are going to go. Is that an original? Oh, my God.

That is hilarious. Because we actually had a friend that had one of my paintings. and this guy walked into his house and said, he saw my painting in his house and he goes, is that an original Matt Cox? And the guy looked at him, he said, is there a black market for Matt Cox? He goes, yeah.

He said, bro, he said, I watch his channel. I've seen his pay. He's amazing. And he goes, do you want to talk? He's like, I know him right now. He called me on the phone right there and I answer the phone. He's like, listen to this. It was a cable guy, a guy putting in cable.

He was a cable guy. And he's like, oh, my God, bro, I watch your channel. I just showed six a bunch of my paintings. So I would sell a bunch. I'd sell the paintings. But here's a problem is that those paintings should be selling for honestly six or seven thousand, to be honest.

And who puts that value on? Right. Well, I mean, just in the market in general for a painting like that, here's a problem. Is that to do that, you have to get like, let's say, 20 or 30 paintings. And you have to have an exhibition. And although I had galleries that were reaching. out to me saying, hey, we'd be willing to do an exhibition. The problem is, well, I don't have, you know, they want a minimum of like 15 paintings or so, right, 15, 20. So I can't afford to

not make any money for six months to do 20 paintings, to then do your exhibition, put them up there, sell them for $5,000 or $6,000. And then they take like maybe 30%, right? So let's say, let's say I sell a bunch of all of them for $7,000. So I would make a ton of money and it'd be like, okay, wow, this is way worth it, but I can't survive for six months. I can't pay my bills. So it's like, do you paint this painting, sell it right now for $900 or $1,000, or do you starve to death and never get to the 20? And that's what was happening was I was never able to build up enough of a surplus to go that route. And I realize this is almost, it's almost impossible for me to get to that point. That's interesting. But at the same time, YouTube started paying off.

and I had book sales from YouTube. So people buy my book, even though I don't advertise it or anything, they're buying, they're going to Amazon because the links in the description. People look into me and they realize I have got a book and they'll buy it. So I'm selling book sales. So what do you do? Paint and nobody hears about you and you have a little Instagram channel and maybe someday you build up enough paintings on the side.

Maybe in two years I've got, I put aside 15 or 20 paintings, then I can do an exhibition. maybe that works. Or you're doing YouTube and it's starting to pay off. And you can see what's happy. You can see it's going every month that it's going up. What do you do? You become fluid and you say, hey, then I'm going to go with YouTube because YouTube's making money.

And I can see that this thing is inexhaustible. It's huge. It's massive. Like you'll never, there may be a ceiling, but that ceiling is outrageously hot. So you have to put in the effort. Right. And what am I going to do? Let's say you said, hey, you're selling your paintings for, you know, 20,000 piece.

It's still, they still, they're still sealing there. You know, so. And, you know, yeah. So that's what happened. So I think that's, Jess wants us to wrap it up. I can see it in her face. I see it in her face, too. It's the stretching, the yawning for me.

Yeah, I get it. It's fun. Remember, go to Sixth Gear, like and subscribe. Follow me on Instagram at Six Gear, C-Y-X-G-E-A-R. Hey, you guys, that was 48 Laws of Power. Thank you very much for watching. If you like the video, do me a favor. Hit the subscribe button.

Share the video. Please hit the bell so you get notified of videos like this. A lot of people don't get notified. Even though they've hit the bell, I don't know, maybe you got to turn it on, turn it back on. I don't know. And I have Patreon with Patreon exclusive content on Patreon. So if you want, it's $10 a month. I really do appreciate it.

It helps Colby and I make videos like this. Thank you very much. I really appreciate you guys watching. See you. You don't think that looks like me at all? No. Jesus God. That could have been like your younger brother.

Oh, you know. I'm not aged that much in the last four or five. Your much cooler younger brother of my dad. What a jerk. So there's that. Oh my God.