Next Level Pros - #14: Dan Lok - Founder Of The Dan Lok Organization, Serial Entrepreneur, Speaker.

Episode Date: June 30, 2023

Join Chris Lee on another engaging episode of The Founder Podcast as he sits down with the renowned entrepreneur and business influencer, Dan Lok. With over 10 million followers across various social media platforms, Dan Lok has built a national brand and is currently involved in Dragon X capital, among other ventures. In this epic conversation, Chris and Dan delve into the changes they have witnessed in their respective businesses over the years. Reflecting on their initial meeting at Funnel Hacking Live, where both entrepreneurs were making significant strides in their businesses, Dan discusses how his motivations and goals have shifted over time. Initially driven by a desire for recognition and fame, Dan's perspective has transformed, leading him to question the significance of followers and material possessions. He shares his personal journey of self-discovery and how he realized that external achievements did not bring the fulfillment he had anticipated. The conversation dives deeper into the realization that the pursuit of goals can often be accompanied by a sense of emptiness once they are achieved. Dan shares how he found clarity by focusing on what truly motivates him and brings him joy. Today, he is driven by his passion for business and helping others succeed, rather than using it as a means to feed his ego. With a simplified approach to life and a newfound emphasis on family, health, and personal projects, Dan finds greater fulfillment in the journey itself. Join Chris and Dan as they explore the lessons learned from their entrepreneurial journeys and the importance of aligning personal values with business pursuits. Discover how shifting priorities and finding intrinsic motivation can lead to a more fulfilling and purpose-driven life. The Founder Podcast is a must-listen for aspiring and established entrepreneurs, providing insights, inspiration, and practical wisdom from industry leaders like Dan Lok. Tune in to gain valuable perspectives on building successful businesses while finding balance and personal fulfillment along the way. HIGHLIGHTS
 "The pursuit of goals can often leave us feeling empty once they are achieved. It's important to find joy in the journey itself and align our personal values with our business pursuits." "I've simplified my approach to life and now focus on what brings me true fulfillment – family, health, and personal projects. Business is no longer about feeding my ego, but about helping others succeed." “Entrepreneurship is not a solitary journey. Surround yourself with like-minded individuals, seek mentors, and build a supportive network. Collaboration and learning from others is crucial for growth and success." TIMESTAMPS 00:00: Introduction 00:53: Dan Lok 04:12: Growth With Experience 12:43: Living & Breathing Money 19:51: Happiness & Motivation 28:26: The Up Hill Battle 33:51: Great Habits 42:36: Advice For Todays Youth 🚀 Join my community - Founder Acceleration https://www.founderacceleration.com 🤯 Apply for our next Mastermind https://www.thefoundermastermind.com ⛳️ Golf with Chris https://www.golfwithchris.com 🎤 Watch my latest Podcast Apple - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-founder-podcast/id1687030281 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1e0cL2vI1JAtQrojSOA7D2?si=dc252f8540ee4b05 YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@thefounderspodcast

Welcome to the Founder Podcast, where we explore the journeys of some of the most successful and inspiring entrepreneurs from around the world. I'm your host, Chris Lee, a serial entrepreneur with a passion for building and growing businesses. Throughout my career, I founded multiple nine-figure businesses and learned a thing or two about what it takes to succeed in the world of business. I want to share those lessons with you by searching out the coolest guests on planet earth and have them share their own incredible stories. But this podcast, it's not just for entrepreneurs. It's for anyone that's

looking to be inspired by these stories of people who have overcome incredible odds and create something truly remarkable. So join me on this journey as we explore the fascinating world of entrepreneurship and meet the founders that are shaping it today. Let's dive in. Yo, yo, yo, welcome to another episode. Today, I am joined by Mr. Dan Lok himself. So Dan, many of you guys may have seen him on social media. He has over 10 million followers across all the different channels. He's on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, you name it. He's there. Dan has built a national brand involved in sales. He's now doing DragonX Capital. He's got really cool things going on. I'm really excited to dive in and get to know a little bit more about Dan, the man, the myth, the legend himself.

Welcome to the show, Dan. Well, Chris, just being on the show makes me feel cooler already because you only interview cool people. That's right. The coolest people on earth. Yes, sir. So Dan, um, you, uh, I know a lot of what your, the direction of your business and whatnot has, has changed a lot over the years. And I know back when we first met me and Dan, uh, kind of give you guys our history. We met at a conference called funnel hacking live. This was, uh, I don't know, four years ago, I'd been in business about a year and a half with a soldier in my business at the time. We had just closed out a $25 million a year.

Dan ran a podcast. He was there also getting recognized for doing eight figures in his business. And so we shared the show a little bit for his podcast. You were building a sales brand in which you were teaching high ticket sales and those types of things. What are some of the changes that you've seen over the last few years since then?

Well, I think a lot. And because of that hyper growth and you experienced the same thing in your company as well, right? And I think for entrepreneurs, for most of us, we started our business for different reasons. For some, maybe we want more freedom, right? For some of us, because we want to provide a better future for our family. For some, because we couldn't stand our boss and we say, hey, I can do this better. Screw you. I'm going to start my own business our boss. And we say, hey, I can do this better.

Screw you. I'm going to start my own business for revenge. And we got into it for different reasons. And I think initially, which is, I think Who I Am has also shifted example where when I started off on social media, when we met at Funnel Hacking Live, I think I was still very much driven to build bigger followers. Like, hey, I want more followers. I want more people viewing my content

and all of that stuff. Example, fast forward today, I'm just talking kind of personal journey, right? That becomes a lot, like I don't really care about that much anymore, like to build a follower, to have more followers and, you know, when is enough enough. So I don't care about that. Second is, would be to just make more money, right? And after a while, I also learned, hey, you know what? Yeah, it's good. You have the nice things. You've got a house. You've got a car. You've got this stuff.

You've got the stuff, right? And then I learned that, hey, you know what? That doesn't float my boat that much either, right? So I think as an entrepreneur, I think I've kind of evolved over the years where in the last few years that I have changed. I think for someone, if anyone follows my content, they will see the type of content I put out or the way I put out content has also shifted, right?

I think people can also pick up. It's a little different perspective and different energy as well. So that's from a kind of personal side, right? So dive into that a little bit deeper. So you've evolved evolved you've changed like what what is like changed inside the mind and the heart of dan lock over the last couple years so you're not as focused on the material things the followership like yeah what what's kind of some of that personal journey i think when when i got on social media the the the drive

kind of the motive was more like i you know what? I want recognition. I want fame, right? I want people to know. Because at the time when I went on social, there were only basically three main business influencers, right? Three. And I thought it could be fourth one, right? I thought I could have a different voice. And I would have this idea of I want to have more followers than so-and-so. So who were the other three? So at the time, I think it was Gary V. Gary was big. It was Grant.

And then it was Tai. Tai Lopez, three. Basically three Ming. And I was like, there has to be a spot for fourth, right? I think I could build that. And I have a different take on things. And maybe I could do that. And I did, right?

But it was much more like, you know, someday I want to have more followers on YouTube than so-and-so than Disney Gary, right? And it was a lot of those things Chris I think was driven by insecurity and insecurity manifests as ego and I remember the day

still like when my YouTube followers bypassed Gary's number and I thought oh man finally I did it man I did it what I realized that day I'm like mean, I did it, man. I did it. What I realized, when I hit, like, that day, I'm like, yeah, right? I did it. I worked so hard.

Well, my wife didn't care. My team didn't really care. And I think my followers didn't really care. And I'm certain Gary didn't care either. Right? He probably didn't even know. No, he freaking didn't care. Like, who's this guy?

Like, it doesn't matter. But it's all my own little insecurity, ego, competition, all that BS. And I thought, huh. Then maybe I should revisit in terms of like, look, within, what are some of the things, like why do I feel this way?

Like why do I need to compete or why do I feel this ego, this thing? So would you describe that feeling of like after you accomplish that kind of empty? It just wasn't as fulfilling as you would imagine. It's emptiness and it's insignificant. It doesn't matter. No one cares. It's not suddenly something has – it's not something someone just, hey, here's an award.

You just did it. No one cares except little me, right? And a lot of these goals with money, the same thing. Yeah, it's so interesting. You bring up like such an imperative principle that people really need to understand is like we put so much around the arrival of our goals, right? And we, you know, at least I do. And I've seen others do this as well, right? Like we become obsessed with like, oh, life's going to be different when I have a million dollars in my bank account

or life's going to be different when I have 10,000 rental units or 10 million, 100 million, right? Like we put this feeling that we're chasing attached to a goal and we think that that's what we're going to feel. And then you get there and it's not. And a lot of times it's opposite of the feeling that you were chasing,

which is great. And I think what I learned through a journey is like, hey, it's kind of looking within what actually motivates me and what makes me happy and what makes me take. And if I don't have to worry about all this, it's kind of expectation or in some cases, I would say that it's like distraction illusion, right? When I kind of get rid of all that stuff, then who I am as a human being and what I enjoy doing. And that just gives me so much clarity. It gives me tremendous clarity. Okay, so now, moving forward, what do I, what do me, Dan Lok, what do I want to do, right? If I'm not thinking

about all this stuff, right? What do I enjoy the most? So if I was- So what is it? What is that? So what is it that drives Dan Lok today? So if you ask me for, let's say, four years, right. When we, when we talk, right. I have certain numbers. I want to get to a certain amount of goal. You know, I want to get to, you know, a billion. I want to get half, whatever it is. Right. You asked me today, I actually, I would tell you, Chris, I don't, I do not have a personal goal. So what drives you? What, what excites you? What gets you out of bed now, right? It may not be a goal, but what are you passionate about now?

I still love business. I like to do business, right? But not using business as a way to fulfill my ego. Not using business as a way to get to somewhere, finally, I feel good. It's just something that I enjoy doing. I've been doing it for a long time. I enjoy building things.

I enjoy building a team. I enjoy working with people. I enjoy coming up with strategies and helping business grow. I want to do more of that. If I have all the money in the world, I still would do that. It's like, if you have all the money in the world,

would you still do this? If you do, then good. Do that, right? I like to now, I prioritize with, you know, of course my family. My mom is now in here. So I spend time with her. Family, that's important, of course, my family. My mom is now in here, so I spend time with her.

Family, that's important, right, with my wife. I prioritize my health since I've lost about 30 pounds since we met, right? Yeah, you look a lot better. Thank you. I'm in better shape today at 42 compared to when I'm in my 30s, so health-wise, right? And I'm the happiest. I'm more fulfilled. Now, I health-wise, right? And I'm the happiest. I'm more fulfilled.

Now, I just pick on, I still, I love businesses, but I just pick on projects I like to work on. I like to work on certain things. And I want to see what I can do business-wise, just like an artist, right?

You're painting the next nice painting. What is the next thing I could create? So I just enjoy the journey, just like an artist, right? You're painting the next nice painting. What is the next thing I could create? So I just enjoy the journey, but I do not, believe it or not, I do not have a certain financial goal of, if anything, now I think my life is simpler. I have less stuff in my life where I actually don't need that much, right?

I was actually joking with Jenny, my wife, the other day. You know what? I haven't really bought anything in a long time. Like, you know, like anything substantial. Right. Anything. I'm like, I really, I have no interest. Like, I don't want another watch.

I don't want another car. I don't want, I just, it doesn't interest me, right? Right. She's like, like yeah you haven't and then my wife is is like but maybe i should you know give me that new head bag yeah yeah it's like just redirect the conversation maybe i should maybe you should but i don't i haven't thought of anything uh and and that just shows like oh now i'm i'm doing what i like to do working with entrepreneurs i want to work with. But funny

thing is, Chris, we kind of talked a little bit about this, right? That money, when money goes to people who don't really need it, who are not desperate for it, right? And it seems that when you're in this state of mind, opportunities, money, or wealth, it just flows to you with less effort right so that's that's what i'm working on today yeah yeah there's a there's a book it's called how will you measure your life and and it talks about how there's motivating factors and then uh i forget what the the word he uses but essentially he compares money to oxygen right when you don have it, it's the only thing you can think about, right? Like if I can't pay, pay my rent, I can't pay my bills, right? Put food on the table or whatnot. Like it's the only thing that occupies same without oxygen, right? If I'm drowning, like the only thing on my mind is how do

I get the next breath of air? And then once you get enough of it, once you have enough of it, once I have oxygen, I no longer think about breathing. Right. And once I have enough money, I no longer think about like, and so it fails to be that motivating factor. Like initially it can drive you, right? Like it can push you. Right. Right. But, but, you know, later it's like, wow, this no longer drives, this no longer motivates. The accomplishment is in something completely different. And that's what we're in this book he refers to as the motivating factors, right? Like being the best version of yourself, taking, you know, finding joy in the growth of others and creation or whatever, whatever it may be. And, and when we focus on those motivating factors, just like you're sharing the money automatically, money follows value creation, right? When we chase money, it seems to elude us,

but when we chase value creation and things that motivate us, money automatically comes and, you know, whether we like it or not and uh that's yeah that's that's a beautiful principle that i that i think like both you and i would share with all people that are out there chasing it right like go and you you have to go through it you have to kind of get it out of your system like i tell young people hey don't don't get that lamborghini don't get the ferrari they don't freaking listen, right? They got to go through to get out of the system and then they realize, okay, that's not the thing.

Then they will search, okay, then what is the thing, right? And they may be thinking, oh, no, it's not this one. Let me get the second car. Okay, get the second one, fine, right? And then, oh, that's still not it. Then they would come to their realizations, oh, there is something else this this is not it right and then and i go through the same thing there's nothing wrong with that yeah yeah to your to your exact point i think one of the

best philosophies that i've ever uh heard on money is like get rich as fast as humanly possible. Like go and make as much money as you possibly can as fast as possible, because then you'll realize that's what it's not all about. Right. Because the people that don't get rich, they spend their whole lives chasing this, right. This empty feeling that they think that they're going to just accomplish but then they made some day at the age of 70 get there and like wait what this is what i was chasing for the last 60 years of my life and so if you can go and get rich in your 20s or your 30s you're going to quickly figure out like, this is not what life's about, right? It's not about the money. There's so much more to life. And then you'll be able to find joy in

everything else that all these other people are only finding pain in, right? They don't find the joy in the journey. They don't find the joy in the relationships. They're just enduring because they're chasing that almighty dollar, thinking that somehow their life is going to completely change only to find out that their joy should have been in that whole path all the way up. And something, and we recognize some things, it's the little things in life,

in lives that, that brings us happiness. It's the little things. Oh yeah. It seems so simple, right? You don't need to, I'm not saying go,

go for it, go for it, build that. You don't want don't need to. I'm not saying go for it. Go for it. Build that. You want to chase that 100 million? Go for it. Absolutely. But then the little things is like yesterday, I was just with my mom.

I spent, you think about, I spent my whole day just not working with my mom yesterday, right? That's awesome. And I do that once a week. And I would just go out, have a little dinner. I take her to buy little groceries, right? Now, you think about in terms of hour per dollar, it makes absolutely no sense.

Right. Right? It's like, for an entrepreneur, it costs us so much money when we're not working, right? But then at the same time, like, you know, my mom is very happy. I spend time with her. Like, all these little things.

I think if you asked me many years ago, I wouldn't do that. Like, no, no, I got stuff to do. My time is too valuable. I don't have time for that. And now it's like it's not about that it truly is not about that so yeah because because if you were chasing the almighty entrepreneur if you were if you were chasing the almighty dollar you would have you would have hired somebody to take your mom grocery shopping go and pick her up the food right and be like you, I took care of my mom. I did my duty.

Yeah. It's efficient. Right? Let's go for efficiency. What's the SOP, right? You know? But then that's not, and I'm not doing it all, I'm supposed to do it because I'm a good son. It's not like I want to spend time with her. The little things with her, like, you know,

we're sitting there talking about this apple for five minutes. Again, it makes no economic sense. But I know for her, it's such a big thing for her. It puts a smile on her face. And I love spending time with her. So all these things I think I've evolved over the years. So example, Tris, I'll give time with her. So like all these things I have, I think I've evolved over the years. So example,

Tris, I'll give you an example. Like even my social statistics, whatever follows, I haven't looked at it for probably a couple years, honestly. Wow. That's awesome. I don't know,

like you asked me how many views. Before, I would be, hey, click through rate, watch time. I mean, I want to track freaking, and we still track everything.

Just my teams look at it. I don't look at it because I don't care. Right? Like, oh, this video is going, I don't want, I don't care. How many people download my thing? I don't really care. I don't really know.

They would know better than I do. Right? Right. No, it's interesting because, I mean, really what we're all changing is a feeling, right? We're chasing joy. We're chasing happiness. We're chasing exhilaration.

And you can get those things in so many different ways, right? And so, which is so funny, like some of the things that bring me so much joy, like you bring up like spending time with your mom or going shopping. It's funny. The other day I was, I was taking a shower. Right. And, and I went and I, I went to like, you know, put my shampoo on my hand and it was out. And, you know, and then I remembered I had two more bottles sitting in like a closet and that gave me so much joy. It was, it was so, it was so funny. It was just like, I'm so happy that like, I don't even have to worry about now I got to go to the store again or whatnot. Just the fact that I have two extra bottles of shampoo sitting in my closet,

like that, that brings, that brings me, that brings me happiness, you know? And, and, and there's, and there's so many different ways that, can achieve happiness and really figuring out what motivates you, what drives you. Is it pain? Is it reward? There's so many different things that once you stop focusing on money and you get down to the root of it, then you just become a true value creator. Correct. Correct. Correct. true value creator. Correct, correct, correct. And then I think part of it also,

to circle back to your question, where knowing what your, kind of what your gifts are, like what your strengths are, right? When you can spend most of your time kind of in that zone that, hey, example, I know I'm very good at teaching, right? Because I've done it for a number of years, right? That's people who like my training, they like my programs, just the way I teach. So like, hey, you know I'm very good at teaching, right? Because I've done it for a number of years,

right? That's people who like my training. They like my programs, just the way I teach. So like, hey, you know what? It doesn't matter. You give me a billion dollars. I still want to have a portion of my time teaching because that makes me happy. I see people getting, like transforming really, getting those light bulb moments. I like that, right? I like to study business. I like to synthesize and simplify certain concepts for my own business, for my partners, you know, for my students. I'm like, I like, I enjoy doing this. So it's intellectually stimulating, right?

If you ask me to say, hey, Dan, I want you to go to the mall and do shopping for a day. And like, that would drive me crazy because it would blow out of my mind, right? You tell me, hey, you know, I want you to be in your library, you know, come up with some business frameworks and concepts i'm like yeah i mean i'm like this is great this is awesome let me do that don't bother me right so i enjoy doing that so i want to do more and more of it so i that part i enjoy right so i think knowing what

what you are good at and what people recognize you for and what you enjoy doing. Just do more of it. I know, I know what Chris and I were talking, what we're talking about on the show is so simple. It sounds so, Oh, come on guys. Like,

I mean, it's so simple, but I think once you get to a high level as an entrepreneur, you will then appreciate what we're talking about. Although it seems simple, but it is the art profile. Absolutely. Dan,

you've, you've obviously done some incredible things throughout your life what made you you like what were some of the hard things that you experienced early on in your life in your career that really were shaped who you are today i think a number of incidents example when my mom and I immigrated to Vancouver, Canada, to a foreign country where I don't speak a language. I was 14 years old as a teenager, had no friends. And then I think the divorce, when my mom and dad got divorced when I was 16. So that was, I think, a pivotal moment in my life because suddenly I realized, hey, I had to grow up, man up, mature, take care of my family. I was the only son in my family. I got to take care

of my mom. I need to be resilient. I need to just grow up. So that, I think, taught me something. When my father went bankrupt at 17, couldn't take care of us, couldn't send us money, allowance anymore. I learned it because before then I wasn't interested in money. It's not something I think about. Oh, suddenly, oh, it's like what you were talking about, oxygen. I need oxygen. So I learned the importance of money.

I think that was a pivotal moment. Going to school, getting bullied, getting beat up, that was like a shit, man. People sometimes are not so nice, but I think that gave me the initial motivation in life to say, I want to be

something. I don't want to be pushed around. I don't want to be bullied. I need to be strong to take care of the family, take care of the people I love. right? It's almost like revenge kind of determinedly. Like, I'm going to prove you wrong, right? I'm going to be somebody so no one can mess with me kind of thing, right? But later on, I think that shifted to more, it's a different, it's like an automobile, a car, right? Think about, you could have hate, fear, and revenge as motivation, but they're kind of like diesel.

It works, but it's just not good for the environment, right? But later on, you can switch, hey, I still want to make the car go, but maybe I want to change to electricity, right? I want to use something that's a bit more healthy, right? You know, I love that analogy. Diesel, it works, but it's not good for the environment. But I do think it is important. I think everyone has to go through a stage in which pain is the driver, right?

I agree. Where it motivates them. And it's interesting. It doesn't necessarily even have to manifest in the environment. You can use it just to draw on like, Hey, you know, I don't ever want to be in this position ever again. Or I remember when it was like this, right? Like, and those, those types of things can push and motivate you. Um, for me, I am motivated by pain, but I try not to like, as you're talking about, um, use something that hurts the environment.

Uh, but I, the, my personal environment, but try to use things like, uh, punishments that keep me going because I know I'm more motivated by a punishment than I am by reward. Right. And so like for me, if i want to lose weight right if i want to lose weight hey assistant i'll pay you a hundred dollars for for every time i eat a bite of sugar right like and i just want that that pain that's going to keep me in line but but yeah you bring up you bring up a great point like there's there's different times of life different seasons in which you use different levels of motivation. Yes, yes.

And I think a lot of that and why I think for the first 10 years, let's say call it 10 years of my career, where because a lot of things was more ego-driven. Because insecurity, again, right? People who are egotistical usually because of insecurity. So because I was insecure, so a lot of the business decisions making, things I would do,

it's more because of the ego, right? When we strip away our ego, now kind of our true self could show, right? Now it gets manifest in our business. How would we do things, right? What business, how would we conduct business and the way that we do things? So I think that, how would we conduct business and the way that we do things? So I think that, I think I learned a lot

just through that process. But circle back to your question. So it's a number of these things, right? Business-wise, of course, starting businesses, failing in businesses, all of that, which we've all gone through, right? That's learning from those lessons. And I'm still learning.

I'm still learning. The difference is i think chris i think the biggest takeaway that i have learned is i'm no longer chasing you know i'm no longer chasing something it's it's interesting and i want to applaud applaud you for this you know when we first met and talked four years ago, that was a different Dan. I can see it just in our conversation that we've been able to share over the last couple hours. You're a new dude. And I love that you recognize that, hey, I was insecure and I was all about ego.

And that you've made that shift. I can tell there's so much more passion now and so much more like just wholesomeness, like, like the value that you're creating now is so much greater than just smoke and mirrors and for the show, you know? And so I just want to, I just want to applaud you for that. Cause I can feel the, the genuine that you have now compared to four years ago well thank you i appreciate that appreciate that and still of course always work in progress and and i just i think i like the new me a lot better i think i think my friends love the new me a lot better and i'm just happier and more fulfilled i'm simpler and i enjoy what I do. And it's great.

Like, it's just, I don't know how to describe it, just great, right? And things I do and we get to connect. And this is why you say, oh man, let's connect. Let's connect. Let's see, you know, let's chat. And it doesn't matter. I mean, you have a podcast, no podcast.

I'm just happy to chat, to catch up, to see what you're working on. Because I can learn from that as well. Because part of what I enjoy is business, right? I want to hear what you're working on and what are some things I could learn from that as well. So yeah, I would say just I'm happier human being today. That's so cool, man. Congratulations for making that shift, man,

because that's a hard shift for anybody to take, like recognizing that like, hey, my insecurities were manifesting my ego and to, to take, like recognizing that, like, Hey, my, my insecurities were manifest in my ego and to make a shift, like most people never get there. And so congrats, congrats on that. Um, you know, obviously you've been through a lot in your life. Like you've, you know, being an immigrant, coming in and learning a new language, uh, you know, building up senior parents go through divorce. Like these are, many hard but yet phenomenal things that allow for real growth and putting down roots and everything.

So what is driving you today? What's next for Dan Lok? What business are you working on? How are you creating value today? I asked myself, and this is an exercise I take through some of my advisory clients and something I think would benefit your audience as well. I take them through this exercise. And the exercise is called, what if you have a billion dollars?

And I basically walk them through it. It's kind of like this. Okay, now imagine you saw your company. You've done something. You have a billion dollars in your bank account right now. What are you going to do with that money? And what they would tell me, and they would have different answers, right?

Oh, I'm going to buy a big house for my family. I said, okay, how much is the house? $5 million. I said, okay, how much is the house? $5 million. I said, okay, great. What else? I'm going to buy a car. Which car? I'm going to buy a Rolls Royce.

Buy two. Okay, a million bucks. What else? Right? And then they go through this. After they say they bought everything they want, right? Oh, you still have $950 million. What are you going to do with that money? And then you will see people after a while, they struggle with, I'm going to donate

to charity. Okay, which one? How much? Oh, I'm going to give $10 million to this charity. Okay, you still have $940 million, right? And let's say you just put that in the bank and just for interest rate, you still have this much money every year you got to spend. And it shifts their minds. And suddenly like, huh. What it does is a few things, right, Chris? One, people recognize

they actually don't need as much money as they think. Because sometimes you know how you talk to people. I need as much money as they think. Because sometimes, you know how you talk to people, I need this much and this much. But at the end, it's like, what are you going to do with it? You actually don't need

as much as you think. To live a very good life. I'm talking like a very good life, right? You don't need, oh, I need 100 million. Do you really need 100 million? Do you know what I mean? Like for most people,

if you're like netting a few hundred thousand dollars, you live a pretty good life. Seriously, right? Absolutely. Pretty good life. And the second thing is they recognize, huh, if money is not part of the equation, what would I actually do? Right. And the truth comes out. Because if you have the money already, what would you do? And then you get some funny answers, right? You get some funny, oh, I would travel the world.

Where? Oh, I would go to Europe. Okay, how long? One month, and then? Oh, I would go to Asia. Okay, where? I would go to China. Okay, for how long? A month, two months.

Then? And then after a while, they would stutter, right? They would be like, there's nothing going on. Okay, good. You traveled the whole world one freaking year.

Now what? Right? And then suddenly, it gives them so much clarity. It gives them so much clarity. It gives them so much clarity. Okay, the things I want, maybe I don't need as much money as I think. The things I want, they're actually closer than I think. They're not so far distance.

Maybe I don't need a billion dollars in order to travel. Maybe I could travel a month, once a year. For 10 years, I could go to all these destinations that I wanted to go, right? It gives them that aha moment. And number three is like when money is not part of the equation, then what would you actually do with your day? And that gave me the clarity, right? And I said to myself, if I could do that,

if I am 85 years old as an old man, right? I still want to do business. I want to hang out with young entrepreneurs. I want to have conversations. I want to be able to maybe add some value, provide some advice. I would do that until I'm 85. Then it clicked for me.

Then why don't I do that today when I'm 42? Why don't I do more of it? And then how do I structure my business in such a way that gives me that, give me that all day, every day. I love, I love that. I love that exercise because, you know, a lot of, a lot of people wonder like, why does Warren Buffett still work every day? Right.

Like why, why is Warren Buffett still living in the same house that he, that he built or bought 40 years ago or whatever. And it's to your exact point. You realize that the finances don't change the game, right? It's still, it's still the game. It's still fun. It's still enjoyable to, to be investing, to be involved with entrepreneurs,

to be passionate about something. And so that's a, that's awesome. What, what would you say are some of your habits that, that really have helped shape and form you? I have a few, I guess, interesting habits I've developed over the years. I share that with, again, just a few of my investment partners and things like that. I'll give you a few. So one, we know most people don't get what they want because sometimes they procrastinate, right? Like I'm supposed to do that, but I don't

do it. And I operate my life based on always believing how you do anything is how you do everything. How you do the little things is how you do the big things. So it's an example. When I get up in the morning, most people, they get up in the morning, they'll be like, you know,

grab the cell phone, you know, kind of sit in the bed, and kind of roll it around, and you know, for 30 minutes, and then they get, I don't do that.

All these years, the minute I hear the alarm, I jump out of bed. Like the second I hear it, there's no, maybe, no, boom, I get up, right? Immediately. So I train myself, I condition myself to do that. That's number one, right?

So how did- A second thing. Let me ask you that. How did you get to that point where the alarm goes off? Like what games do you play in your mind? Like what got you to the point where you created that into a habit? I just made the decision to do it. Just made the decision.

It's like I just made a decision. It's like people don't smoke. I just made a decision not to smoke. That kind of thing, right? Love it. I just made a decision. Hey, alarm goes off, I go. So that's number one.

That's just who I am. Yeah. The second one is we all know, let's say, we're supposed to drink eight glasses of water a day. So at home, what I have, one of the habits is this big jug of water next to me. So I know, okay, this is like one liter of water. I need to finish two of these a day, every day. But if I'm grabbing a cup, I know it's a silly mind game that we play, but stay with me.

So let's say I'm going to grab a glass of water. So what I do, I go to get the water dispenser. First, I just fill it up. If I'm going to get one glass, I'm going to fill it up. I'm going to drink the whole thing first. Then I fill up the second cup, then I bring it back to my office or whatever it might be. So I got my one cup in already,

then I drink the second one. That trains me to always, you would say, over deliver and go the extra mile kind of thing. Yeah. I love that. Just little things like that. Yeah, yeah. So James Clear in Atomic Habits, he talks about having triggers, right? That you habit stack.

And so essentially what you've created is this habit stack of when I go to fill water, I always drink a glass so that I can get an addition. Right. And it's like your reward system or your stacking of habits that gets you to ultimately the two liters of water or whatnot. That's exactly it. That's exactly it. That's exactly it. Like little things like that. Yeah. Like, and I have a lot of these little habits that I have, that I have created over the

years. I read every single day. So that's another habit I have. What are you currently reading? Right now I'm reading a book on venture capital, of course, right? I'm reading a book on venture capital, of course. I'm reading a lot on venture capital. And I call Venture Deals, which I've read before, but I'm just revisiting again.

It's a very, very good book. But at least, I would say, an hour a day. That's part of my habit, like reading every single day. And I can speed read, So I can read quite quickly. So a lot of books in my library, but also on Kindle. If I have any kind of dead air time,

like dead air time, I always, if I'm reading something, I'm waiting for someone, I'm reading from my phone. If I'm driving, I'm listening to some sort of podcast, some sort of training. sort of podcast, some sort of, some sort of training. Um, I don't listen to music except when I'm working out, I listen to music, but then other than I don't just little things like that. I love that. Those are, those are all great habit stacks,

right? Like you're in the car, you automatically turn on the audible or the audio book or whatever, whatever it may be. You, you go and you fill up the water, you automatically do this. You, you never listened to music. Yeah. And, uh, I mean, those are really the keys to success is one having habits, but to creating stacks and triggers that, that puts you into those habits every single time. And so I appreciate you sharing those with me. Um, so you talk about, talk about reading books or whatnot. Have you ever written a book or do you plan on writing a book? I have. I have written quite a few books.

Yeah. Awesome. Which one would you recommend to my listeners that they read? I would say that this is actually the perfect example of that. So many years ago, I talk about ego. I talk about ego. I think that was, this gotta be more than 10 years. I don't remember, but more than 10 years ago,

that was my most popular book out there. It's called F.U. Money. It's called F.U. Money. No title is more egotistical than that, right? Right? That's pretty disgusting. And then a few years later, a few years ago,

I wrote my latest book, which is called Unlock It. And I think from there, you will see the transformation from F.U to unlock it. And part of kind of the conversation we're having today from that ego person, right. To,

to someone who is a little bit different today, right. Learning about myself. So I would say unlock it would be my, the most accurate representation of kind of how I see things in life currently, right? That was a couple of years ago. I've evolved since then,

but that would be quite accurate of kind of my journey. Cool. So where, where can my audience find that book on Amazon? Where's it? Where's the Amazon? Amazon can get it. Yeah.

Audible version. It's called unlock it. Unlock it. Yes. And spelled LOK, I'm assuming. Oh oh no just l-o-c-k but it has that hidden meaning in there yes yeah yeah cool cool i love it i love it so um do you plan on writing another book or is that it i don't know. Maybe I will when I am a little bit older now because I just felt that I'm more like a work in progress.

I'm learning about myself. I'm doing a number of things. So I'm like, I don't feel like I have a, I need to grow a little bit more, right? To have kind of the, to have something that is like something that's pivotal. It's like, hey, maybe, I don't know,

maybe I'm 60, maybe I'm 55. I don't know when the moment is. Like, hey, I got a different message that I want to share and I think it's the right time that I will do it. But currently, I don't feel that there needs to be.

And plus, I'm distributing just my content and all that and people can get that anyway. But maybe a little bit later, I felt that, hey, it's a different part of my journey. And I don't know how that will evolve. I love that. I think you're exactly right. A book should be written at the right time.

I think a lot of yes a lot of entrepreneurs try forcing it they do it you know they do it through a ghostwriter or they just do an audio thing and it's just kind of halfway written you know that that serves a certain purpose but i think you're at your point your career where it's like okay you like you need to be ready for the message and i and i agree that. Yeah. Like I'm almost waiting for a sign, like, you know, from the universe and from like, hey, you know, it's time for you to do, you know.

And I think if I am doing my next book, that will be my final book, right? Like that would be like, this is going to be the most important things. I don't know what the theme would be. Like it could be something complete. I don't know. But I'll see what download I get.

But I would say that that would be, I i need a sign i need something that calling from within hey it's time to put that on paper and share with with people right awesome i haven't had haven't received that yet awesome so dan i know i know you've been through a lot of ups and downs and whatnot every entrepreneur has in their career had a lot of success some failures or whatever it may be. What is some advice that you would share for maybe a young entrepreneur or even an old entrepreneur that's maybe going through a rough time right now? You know, the economy and stuff are down, interest rates are high. You know, there's a number of businesses that are kind of struggling

to get through what's going on right now. What, what kind of advice do you give to that guy or, or lady? I mean, I mean, you and I, we can talk business all day. I mean, you can, you can,

you can talk, we can talk team building, we can talk social media, we can talk marketing, lead gen sales. I mean, we can do a 10 hour podcast on sales, right?

So a lot of those things, I'm sure your audience, they could get it from many, many places. They get from me, they get from many, many places, right?

You know, we don't. But I think I'll give you a few key things. I think first, if you are, let's say you're stuck in business, meaning you're not where you want to be, you get a certain level, you're not going to the next level, or your revenue is not growing as fast. I think most entrepreneurs, they get into this mode of, oh, okay, I got to solve this problem. But I think most entrepreneurs, they don't spend enough time identifying what actually is the

problem. So it's not the problem, it's how you think about the problem. So it's not the problem. It's how you think about the problem. So let's say someone comes to me and they seek advice and say, oh, I'm not making enough. My sales is not growing as fast. You know, I need more sales. Well, that's not the problem, right? And then when you unpack it,

kind of look under the hood, okay, what is the problem? Oh, it's actually my salespeople are not performing. They are not closing their sales. Okay, that's not the problem either. Why are they not closing sales? Do you have a problem recruiting? Do you have a problem interviewing? Do you have a problem with the scripting? Do you have a problem role-playing and training them? Do you have a problem with the scripting? Do you have a problem role-playing and training them? Do you have a problem with your compensation incentivizing them to have the right behavior? Do you have a sales management problem?

Your sales manager can't manage them? What is it? So we don't think about that. We go into, oh, let's go into the fighting mode versus kind of take a step back. What is actually the problem? And that is very hard to do. Easy to say. very hard to do easy to say right very hard to

do um and i think what you're i think what you're demonstrating there is like ask a question dig deeper ask another question like deeper dig dig dig dig dig until you get to the root because yeah most most people never get to the root of anything problem goals anything right so i love that i'll give an example i'll give you a perfect example so one of the entrepreneurs i'm advising running a pretty decent sized business and he came he comes to me say hey dan i have people problems my my team is not performing the way i want ah many people have their problem i mean my team, they're no good. Well, that's, why are they no good? I don't know. They just don't perform. They don't behave.

They're lazy. Okay. What happened? Well, and then you notice, and I did, you know, I said, who hired them? I did. Who interviewed them? I did. Why did you hire them? Well, because they seem good and all that. I go, what's very interesting though, Chris, fascinating. I said, no one has people, no one has people problem. Every single person has a leadership problem. Absolutely. Right? Because you choose to hire the person, recruit the person, retain the person and keep the person, all that. And then I said at the very end, that is still not the problem. You have a leadership issue. Do you recognize that? Yeah, I do recognize that. Where does it come from? Oh, now the truth comes out. So it turns out he has an internal problem of trusting people.

Because I don't want to go into the whole thing, but he's got family issues, so he has problem trusting people because of family. Yeah, and probably deep roots into like a childhood issue. Yeah, crazy. Childhood, like abusive issue, all that stuff.

So he has a problem trusting people. I said, hey, do you see that? So you don't have a people problem. Unless you solve this root problem, you as a CEO, you will never get good people because you never trust people. So when you don't trust people, you hire people that are like mediocre. You feel like you can control and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Well, let's solve that thing first.

So you know what I mean? So that is a very deep thing versus a surface. Oh, let me get you a better job description. Has nothing to do with it. Right. Right? Oh, man. You know what I mean?

But they would ask, give me a better job description. That's not a problem, right? And the second kind of thing that I could share is, I call that 3S, right? And this would help any entrepreneurs. Doesn't matter what stage you're at.

You know, you're doing a few hundred thousand dollars a year. You're doing a few million, doing tens of millions, hundreds of millions. It doesn't matter. And it ties into what I just shared with you. It's not the problem. It's how you think about the problem.

What's the root? Now, when you look at it, I say there's three S's. Is it a strategy problem? Is it a skill problem? Or is it a system problem? Is it a skill problem? Or is it a system problem? So in other words, if it's a strategy problem, meaning, hey, I'm stuck.

I have this problem in my business. I don't know what to do. I don't know the right strategies to actually solve this thing. Example, we are not getting enough leads. Well, should we do door knocking? Should we do Facebook? I'm not sure if we should do Facebook

or we should do YouTube or we should do pay-per-click or we should just cold call. I don't know which is the right path, what to do. I'm lost. A strategy issue, right? If that's the case,

we need to have clarity, extreme clarity, before we execute. So that's strategy. Now, the second thing is, if it's not strategy, meaning we know, example, like with your company, we know we are supposed to do Facebook. That's the thing that we're going to do. That's the blue ocean. I am certain that is 1,000% the right strategy. Now we look at skill, but we don't know how to do Facebook. And Chris, what you did, you invested $2,500 into Facebook,

locked yourself in a room. I'm going to figure this out. So you're bridging the gap. So what is skill? Skill is the ability to execute on a strategy. So now I know the strategy, but I don't have the skill, so let me go get the skill so I can execute on a strategy. Great.

So now I learn how to do Facebook, how to lead gen for my business. I have the skills, so let me go get the skills so I can execute on a strategy. Great. So now I learn how to do Facebook, how to lead gen for my business. I have this skill. Awesome. Once you have that, then you look into, okay, but I'm the one that's running all the Facebook ad. I'm the CEO. I don't have time.

I need to have some systems in place so that my team would know how to do it. They would know how the ads work. They would know how to do the inbound, how to pick up the phone, or how to reach out to customers, how to follow up, how to do the quote, all of that, right? So that's the system thing. So when you break it down and say, okay, I'm not happy with the results. Is it a strategy thing? Is it a skill thing? Or is it a system thing? Now, what most entrepreneurs do is when they are supposed to be focusing on skill, they're chasing strategy. So they go to workshop after workshop.

They hire consultant after consultant looking, give me the perfect strategy. And they do have the strategy, but they cannot execute or their teams cannot execute. So now they actually have a skill issue, but they try to solve that with strategy. That's not what it is, right? Or they have the skill, but it's not duplicating,

it's not replicating, it's not scaling, because they don't have the systems to keep repeating those successful actions. So then it's actually a system thing, it's not a skill thing. But when you have that clarity and just sit down with executive team, hey,'s actually a system thing. It's not a skill thing. But when you have that clarity and just sit down with the executive team,

hey, is it a strategy thing? Is it a skill thing? Or is it a system thing? Or is it a system thing? Or let's go into that mode. But if your strategy is clear, you don't need to overthink or procrastinate,

overanalyze. Like, hey, this is the right thing to do. We just need to get the skill so we can just go full like beast mode on execution and i love i love that man that's i mean that's perfect gold right like those those three things is it is it strategy is it skill is it yeah is it a system is it is it scalable right like And so, man, I think any, like you said, any entrepreneur at any level of the game can take that and apply.

Man, I appreciate your time, man. You've dropped some incredible gold. Dan, where are the best? I mean, obviously you're all over social media. Where's the best spot to find you? Where are you dropping the most content today? I think YouTube is always big,

but my website, if you go to danlok.com, it branches out to all the social media anyway. Awesome. And if they want to see my latest insight, pick up the book,

unlock it. It's on Amazon. It's on my website as well. I mean, that would help them as well. Very, very cool. I appreciate your time. Thank you so much today for being on here.

Until next time.