Next Level Pros - #83: Going From Bankruptcy, To Changing The World: David Meltzer, the Real Life Jerry Maguire

Episode Date: March 11, 2024

Welcome back to The Founder Podcast! Get ready for an inspiring conversation with David Meltzer, a true example of bouncing back from setbacks to achieve greatness.  In his early twenties, David rose to success, making millions and flying around the globe for speaking gigs and business ventures, including becoming known as the “real life Jerry Maguire.” But in his thirties, despite his wealth, everything crashed, leaving him bankrupt. Determined to find his way back, David discovered the secrets to his earlier success: gratitude, empathy, accountability, and effective communication. Armed with these principles, he not only recovered but thrived even more.  Now, he's on a mission to share his wisdom, guiding others to triumph in their own lives and businesses while having a blast along the way. Tune in as David shares his journey's ups, downs, and invaluable lessons, igniting your own resilience and empowering you to lift others up. Highlights:  "Your good behavior has an instant result. It's called good progress. And bad behavior has an instant result, bad progress."  "Nothing is more important than our relationships. My wife saved my life." “I hate myself. I am a liar. I am a cheater. I am an overseller, a backend seller, a manipulator. I hate myself. I need to take stock in who I am and what I want to become." Timestamps 00:00 - Journey of resilience with David Meltzer. 02:47 - Unexpected Beginnings 04:59 - Learning from Loss 08:43 - Facing Bankruptcy 12:45 - A Wife's Ultimatum 17:43 - Embracing Change 20:25 - The Power of Faith 22:56 - The Healing Journey 26:00 - Unconditional Love 29:42 - Lessons Learned Live Links: Join my community - Founder Acceleration ⁠https://www.founderacceleration.com  ⁠ Apply for our next Mastermind:h⁠ttps://http://www.thefoundermastermind.com ⁠ Golf with Chris h⁠ttps://http://www.golfwithchris.com ⁠ Watch my latest Podcast Apple - ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-founder-podcast/id1687030281S ⁠Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1e0cL2vI1JAtQrojSOA7D2 ⁠ YouTube - @thefounderspodcast

And if I can share that perspective with people that you can't understand what's going on today, the only thing you have is your control of your behaviors. And I will tell everybody out there that your good behavior has an instant result. It's called good progress. And bad behavior has an instant result, bad progress. And so if you focus in on your behaviors and align those to where you want to be or better, you're going to progress to where you want to be or better. If you're not aligned, you're not going to be where you want to be or better. Yo, yo, yo, welcome to another episode of the Founder Podcast. Today, I'm joined by Mr. David Meltzer. We are in his beautiful backyard here in Orange County,

California. Thanks for having me, David. Welcome to the bubble, Chris. I've been waiting a long time to finally get to meet you. We've swam in the same pools for so long, same friends from D to D to content to podcasting. It's just exciting to have you here at my home. Oh man, it's great to be here. So for those that don't know David, he is a incredible entrepreneur, comes from the sports world, as a sports agent, runs Sports One, and was Jerry Maguire, the movie, was actually based off of the agency that you founded, right? CEO of Lee Steinberg, yeah. So he got a lot of fun stuff.

And even before sports, understanding, I don't even know this, I went to law school, got out and got into technology and that's how i got into sports which is really important as an entrepreneur and you know this because you've had an eclectic background i've always focused in on my skills my knowledge and my desire so i graduated law school to be an oil and gas litigator because i wanted to make a lot of money and that was the area of that was paying a lot of money yeah oil and gas and i found the internet in 1992 told my mom the internet existed in 92 for some reason i don't remember it existed exactly in fact my mom said the internet's going to be a fad and i was making the biggest

mistake of my life justice scalia when i started working because we put legal research online in 92. We exited in 95 for 3.4 billion. But Scalia told me in the interim, between there, Justice Scalia told me straight out, people will never do research on a computer. You need books. Are you kidding? And it's a valuable lesson about ignorant arrogance that even the experts in the world,

when you are stuck into a vacuum of circumstance and knowledge, it limits your, unbelievably enough, your own self-image. It limits your own capability of expanding and growing. And I see that today with AI. Yeah, I was going to ask you if you think the same thing is with AI right now. Yeah, absolutely. I see it all the time. People see AI as a master, so they become afraid of it instead of utilizing as an incredible servant but i've always looked at things in a more expansive manner and always looked within to figure out what i want to do outside of me and so did lee steinberg and the reason i got hired

went to law school frustrated athlete maybe kind of like you right i wanted to be a pro ain't gonna happen and i probably look like the other 2500 resumes that lee saw every month and i know that because when i was ceo of lee steinberg i saw 2500 resumes that look hey i'm a lawyer i like sports i want to be a sports agent but the reason Lee hired me 48 hours after meeting me was because of my technology background. He saw the future. I raised a lot of money as well later on in my life in Sand Hill Road, from Sequoia to Texas Pacific,

got into venture side of stuff. But what was interesting, Lee saw the future of sports in venture capital and technology. And I was the only one that he ever had met that had the law degree, had the sports desire, agent kind of Jerry Maguire love, but also was really a finance guy and more importantly, a technology person.

And that's how I ended up with my dream job, not trying to get it, not thinking I would ever be ceo of a sports agency let alone the most notable one which led me for two decades now to you know i get old so they call you you know legendary sports executive so you got your law degree did did you so did you practice never never practiced i never got your bar i took my mom so my mom didn't believe in technology so the deal that i made with my mom was that i would take the bar just in case the internet didn't work i passed i passed that sounds like what most uh college students are doing now hey get it just

in case whatever you actually love and want to do yeah it doesn't work out i don't mind hedging a bet and i don't mind learning. One of the things also, you know, a good friend of mine, a lot of good friends of mine, but a lot of guys like I think Gary Vee are misunderstood in the entrepreneurial space because they talk about not going to college. I think they're misinterpreting some of what my friends believe in,

which is... Continuous education. Yeah, there's different kinds of education. friends believe in, which is continuous education. Yeah. Just there's different kinds of education. I promise you, you follow Chris Lee around or you follow Dave Meltzer around or Gary V around for a week. You'll learn what you need to do more about being an entrepreneur than going to college for four years. Absolutely. But there's other things of value of going to, my girls all go to college. Yeah. Two are entrepreneurs. Yeah. You know, college can be for you, can't be for you, right? Like, I think the biggest key is, like, that there's not a one-size-fits-all for anyone,

but that continuous education is absolutely necessary for the rest of your life. And it's so accessible and inexpensive. You know, you're an investor like I am. Yep. So I always say the one great lesson that I learned from losing everything, which may be something that you have some experience with going bankrupt. My crowd definitely knows about that. All right, good. So I lost over $100 million.

Yeah. Right? Went BK. So tell me about that. So you've made hundreds of millions. Yeah. Lost over hundreds. How does that go down?

I mean, I can imagine how that goes down, but how did that go down? Yeah, well, ego edging goodness and gold and greatness out of my life. I thought that I knew everything. So from the time I graduated law school, I made a million dollars nine months out of law school, made hundreds of millions in gross revenue, netted over $100 million myself in all types of different investments. So I thought I was Midas because everyone thought I was Midas. Yeah. Yeah. Everything was working. And I never asked for help. People ask me, what's the best piece of advice that you would give your 18 year old self? It's the same

thing. I remind myself humbly every morning, may God put in front of me 10 people that I can help and may God put at least 10 people that can help me as well. And I don't ever forget to ask for help because you know what happened to me is that I had a very large line of credit at a private bank in San Diego. And so about $40 million unused, unused. That's a large line. So I get it. I have a lot of real estate, 2007 and eight. I have to draw it.

All my properties are doing well, by the way, I bought right. Even through the bad time, I wasn't, I was in a great position. I got into a lawsuit. I needed cash. I also wanted to infuse some capital in some other projects because I was going to, my philosophy of real estate is never have to sell and you'll never lose money. Absolutely. It literally is. It's a great philosophy. Right, and you've been in real estate. So what happened is I go into my private bank. I've been with them over 10 years. I was one of their youngest millionaires that put the money into the bank early. And I go in to get my guy, Chris,

who I'd been with for 10 years, and they're like, oh, Chris is gone. He's no longer here. Right. So then some dude comes out, and he's like, can I help you? I'm the new sheriff in town. Right, I'm like, well, I'm Dave Meltzer and he's like can i help you i'm the new sheriff in town right i'm like well i'm dave melzer oh how can i help you i'm like well i just need a five

million dollar draw on my line i'm in a little civil lawsuit and i need some cash to fund this and that oh nobody called you like no no one told me chris is gone no no no nobody called you the bank's not doing well okay i'm gosh. I'm like, oh. So unless you want to reapply, we have a million dollars for you. It goes from 40 to one. To one. Oh. Now, people I know, this is first world problem shit.

Yeah. Okay, that's fine. I get it. And most people, including me, had no clue. Right. But when you think you have that much money, liquid, besides what you have liquid, it changes your perspective very quickly and your strategy very quickly.

And then when you're in a downturn place where people like you and I are losing everything, in that 2008 period to 2009, things move really fast. And so you may have over a hundred million dollars on paper with real estate, but when you start not meeting your obligations and you start leveraging your relationships with other people and they're not doing well, you fall below the line into what's called blame, shame, and justification. Not only can't you get more money, but everyone starts blaming you because they can't provide or get money either. And then shit starts falling and more people blame you. It is a vacuum of, it's a vicious

cycle. It's terrible. And the worst, my worst part of it, and Chris, you may have had this when you went bankrupt. I did not want anyone, I never wanted to take money. You started your company with no money. Yeah. Very successfully. I get that because that's the way I was. But I had friends were like, Dave, let me just give you 10 grand. Everything you touch turns to gold. No, no, I don't need 10 grand. Yeah. Right? That's not a big, no, no, I want to be able to participate in this. I'm like, all right, fine. Those were the people that hurt me the most. You know why? Why is that?

Because they ended up losing everything themselves, their million dollar houses, their boats, their planes. But because I was more of a public figure, right? And I had taken investment from them. They never mentioned it was only 10 grand, but they went around my hometown. Dave Meltzer is the reason I went bankrupt he screwed me he screwed me he lost my money in that deal he never said it was 10

grand oh yeah but I still have people today going yeah you know so-and-so uh doesn't like you well I'm glad he doesn't because he's protecting and promoting me from people like him that I don't need in my life that's rough that's. So how did you make it through that? I mean, that is a terrible thing to have to go through. So you don't, you're going through this lawsuit. You start, everything just starts seizing up. I mean, and no matter where you were, whether you were worth a hundred million bucks

or $10,000 back in 08, I mean, everybody saw this, right? Like credit card lines going from like, I have $15,000 available on my credit. Then all of a sudden the credit card companies decided, no, you don't. You have zero and you go to get your groceries and whatever. Like this happened on so many levels for so many people. So how did you get through that? Yeah, well, first, my wife.

I know you and I value our marriage. Absolutely. And nothing is more important. My wife saved my life. She started to change my mindset, my heart set, and my handset two years before the bankruptcy. Before all this shit really hit the fan, my wife threatened to leave me. She told me I was lost. Really?

Yeah. How old were your kids at this time yeah so three kids under ten at the time all daughters I hadn't had my son yet so imagine this I come home at 530 in the morning with a guy named Little John the rapper we went to the Grammy Awards together and I'd lied to my wife about having a business meeting because she had said to me earlier don't go you're partying too much you're not paying attention to the family or your business I'm concerned about you so I lied to her and I went with John to go party at the Grammy Awards I came home at 530 wasted I

walked in the door the woman of my dreams who I've known since the fourth grade who has always just told me the truth as hurtful as the truth is, has always been the reflection of my insecurity and my strength told me I'm not happy and I'm leaving you and you better take stock in who you are and what you want to become or you're going to die. And I can't have me and my girls witness this. You need to change. How did that make you feel in the moment?

I told her I hated her. Now, here's the interesting thing as I look back. I had told earlier when I turned 30, my dad and my mom, that I hated them. Because they pointed out to me. My mom pointed out that I didn't believe in God. And I said, I don't believe in God. And she, and I, and I said, I don't believe in God. She said, yes, you do. You believe in the wrong God. Then my dad, who I hadn't talked to in 10 years, my parents, my dad left when I was five, he gave me a jacket with no pockets to be buried in for my 30th birthday. And I told him, he said, you're just like me, son. I'm

worried about you. Money's not your God money does not buy love and happiness you need to change this jacket is to remind you it had no pockets that you can't take anything with when you gone I said to him I hate you I hate you I'm nothing like you you're a liar a cheater a manipulator overseller and backhand seller I'm nothing like you I have my world why do you what do you think you responded that way because I knew it was true six years after that I'm running Lee Steinberg my best friend I invite him to the Masters with Joe Montana Wayne Gretzky Warren Moon all my guys going back in the cabins with Curtis strange going to the wheels up party all the things private

net jet party and private jet in and he tells me he doesn't want to go with me because he doesn't like who i've become and who i hang out with i told him i hated him so now here i am two weeks after that truth was hurting yeah yeah everyone else loved me by the way except for my mom or at least my dad perceived the perception was that yeah well you got that my mom my my best friend Rob, and now my wife. The only four people I perceived hated me. That actually mattered. Were the only four people who truly loved me.

Wow. And so I'm sitting there and I tell my wife I hate her. I go to bed. I wake up in hate thinking about how I'm going to steal her joy and happiness by taking all the money and my kids, all the stupid things people think about when they're hurt. Cause hurt people hurt people. We know that from social media. I'm sure all your comments are all positive. Mine. And so anyway, this is how God stepped into my life at that time. As I was thinking all these hurtful thoughts,

all these fears that I had and that was manifesting itself in anger i look over in my closet and for the first time in years what do i see a jacket i i still get choked up today because i i looked at it and i thought to myself i don't hate my mom i don't hate my dad i donate my best friend shit, I don't hate my mom. I don't hate my dad. I don't hate my best friend. And I certainly don't hate my wife. I hate myself. I hate myself.

I am a liar. I am a cheater. I am an overseller, a back-end seller, a manipulator. I hate myself. I need to take stock in who I am and what I want to become. You started embracing the truth. myself I need to take stock in who I am and what I want to become you started embracing the truth for in ironically my faith grew stronger and stronger see I believe there's a distance between behavior and results and there's two

necessary requirements in shortening the distance that appeases human nature meaning that the faster we receive the results that we want are better from the behaviors that we perform the easier it is to continue the behavior. Yeah. That's why negative behavior is so easy to continue because we don't see the negative results. Right.

So we think the positive results of today are part of the negative behaviors. So as I look there and realize I need wisdom and I need faith, I need to find people who sit in a situation I want to be in, which is the exact way you became a success. You told me your story, how you found someone. Everyone else is there to make money. You found someone there to give you directions to where they are. And then two, faith. And my faith is simple.

There's something bigger than me that loves me more than my mom. And it applies to every theory, philosophy, religion, and spirituality that I've ever seen. Yeah. Most people, and I don't need to define it in those terms. So for me, I'm a simple best option faith guy. I believe in an omniscient, all powerful, unified, infinite system source, God that loves me, protects me and promotes me at all times even more than my mom would yeah and bam wisdom and faith got me to where and through that bankruptcy i wasn't scared in fact the biggest fear my wife had throughout this whole experience was that i wasn't afraid when i lost everything because i had wisdom and i had faith. Right. And that shortened the distance between my recovery as well.

So if you don't mind, let's dive a little bit deeper into this with your wife. So you tell her you hate her. Yeah. Right? She's leaving. She's leaving. Where do we bridge the gap to getting to this wisdom and faith that actually got you out? It's so interesting because I do so many interviews like you,

both sides of them. And it's interesting when I get a question that nobody asks that I know I got a great interviewer, when someone asks me a question that I've never heard. So the way that I got through it is that I actually did what my wife said, which is I took stock in who I was and what I want to become.

And I came up with four values, which still today is the foundation, the founding interview here. Gratitude was missing from my life. I had lost the perspective to find the light, the love and the lessons in everything. Forgiveness. I had lost the ease that forgiveness and empathy had given me in order to effectuate the source, the power, the omniscient, all powerful that I was connected to and through. Which I believe forgiveness is one of the hardest things. It's what I study every day. Right. Yeah.

Like gratitude's fairly easy. Everyone has it. It's innate in our being. Right. But forgiveness, it takes like concerted effort. Yeah. And it's shortening the distance and understanding at what level are you willing to forgive and why and for the sake of what are you forgiving right

accountability was another uh which has evolved over the years but accountability to me gave me back the control in my life instead of giving away my control to other people by this big void shame justification right i am versus this is what i want people to think I am yeah it's a huge void for our kids today yeah right you go from I want to be or I want people to think I am too I am happy healthy wealthy and worthy what am I doing to interfere with it how am i responsible accountable attracting or perceiving this and what am I supposed to learn from it and then the effective communication side that it wasn't just my ability like you

to effectively communicate, obviously innate in our energetic and genetic inheritance. We can sell, we can connect to people, but it was that connection to source or God that changed my life. And how is that allowing life to come through me? Not to me as a victim, not even for me, like a lot of optimists out there,

buying shit I didn't need to impress people i didn't like but through me in appreciation acknowledgement and asking for more not living in a zero-sum game where i'm trading and negotiating everything but a value-add world where there's more than enough of everything for everyone abundance abundance exactly and so i went to my wife and said will you help me would you help me how long did it take from saying i hate you till you said those words so initially when she was packing up so i had to say something yeah and so i said will you please stay and help me you don't have to stay married to me you can still file or separation or whatever but i hear you will you help me i need help with gratitude forgiveness accountability and inspiration and i can't do it without you so if you love me

will you stay and help me? I'm not asking you to stay married to me, but will you just stay and help me to save me? And she said yes. And she saved my life. She saved my marriage. And it allows me the greatest thing in faith to know that when outcomes happen in my life, I don't see I don't believe human beings have the ability to understand or know outcomes that's why faith is so important and wisdom is so important and so take the worst day of my life two years before I went bankrupt I was protected and promoted so when I went bankrupt I was protected and promoted. So when I went bankrupt, I was protected and promoted. And I will tell you today, those two days, here I am 15 years after bankruptcy, 17 years

after my wife was going to leave me. To this day, the defining moments of my life, the meaning of my past, of the defining moments of my life, are two incidences at the time when they occurred that most people would have felt so punished they would have thought of even taking their own life. But instead, it has revealed itself as the greatest protection I've ever received, the greatest promotion, and the greatest love I've ever received in my life.

And if I can share that perspective with people that you can't understand what's going on today, the only thing you have is your control of your behaviors. And I will tell everybody out there that your good behavior has an instant result. It's called good progress. And bad behavior has an instant result, bad progress. And so if you focus in on your behaviors and align those to where you want to be or better you're going to progress to where you want to be or better if you're not aligned you're not going to be where you want to be or better i love that thank you uh i don't uh i don't usually get

emotional while i'm doing while i'm doing the interview so you know i i've been as an interviewee i got an emotional sharing my story and and I appreciate you being vulnerable and sharing that. It touched my heart. Thank you. It also reminded me of a few instances in my own life going through similar things. It's a harsh realization when you realize that your loved ones aren't happy with you. Yeah. For good reason.

And that they're right. Yeah. And, you know, I can just think back of different times in my life where I was full of ego, full of, you know, and wasn't aligned with my wife, wasn't aligned with my family, and how it hurt to hear the truth. And so I appreciate you, you opening up and sharing that. It was interesting because forgiveness is a reflection of love and we can't forgive everything. In fact, I believe, you know,

the ego always exists. And so understanding what you and I have experienced and everyone in the world is that we're afraid. We're afraid of two things. We're afraid of our past and afraid of our future. The human being, its capability created a thing called the ego that protects us from that fear. So it prescribes needs to protect you from that fear, need to be right, offended, separate, inferior, superior, anxious, frustrated, guilty, resentful. And so the better that we get of understanding, we can't get rid of fear and we can't get rid of ego. But what we can do is utilize time to shorten the distance between fear and ease.

And so if we look at the clues of fears and identify the patterns of the ego, we can actually reduce the amount of time we spend interfering with the omniscient, all powerful, all knowing source that I am, what am I doing to interfere with it? So I'm very pragmatic in my spirituality and my emotions that I am constantly in the practice of identifying fear. And instead of going over it, under it, through it, around it, lying, cheating, manipulating and denying it i just stop and breathe remind remember and recollect who i am and what walks with me and

inside of me and i just try to figure out what i'm doing to interfere with it and then i roll in the right trajectory with the right behaviors that creates the right progress to get to where I want to be or better utilizing wisdom learning lessons of the past and faith that I'm part of this unbelievable unified abundant infinite source value add world of more than enough yeah I mean you clearly have a lot of incredible frameworks that you've studied and shared and practiced right I mean, they're just rolling off the tip of your tongue, which is phenomenal. And I think too often in life, people never reflect and create, right? Like you've clearly reflected on these instances

and created the steps to go through the frameworks that have allowed you to go through difficulties like this, losing $100 million, right? Like that's, anybody listening on this, like that's hard for them to imagine, right? Most people will never experience that as a net worth, let alone have that completely stripped from them. You want to know what the hardest part, and some people, this may resonate with them regardless, because zero, zero when you go bankrupt. Yeah.

And. Is it chapter seven or 11 11 yeah yeah so i had to go when i went bankrupt and tell my mom that i lost everything my mom had warned me about ego she had warned me about my hubris she had warned me about my faith and she was right and so i had to go tell her, but imagine this, as I walked over, the only reason I wanted to be rich was to buy my mom a house. She, single mom,

raised six kids, five of them, not me. School teacher, right? School teacher, five of them, right, education was our way out of the projects in Akron, Ohio. Five of them went to the Ivy Leagues, graduated not just from the Ivy Leagues,

but got scholarships and graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa. They're amazing. Harvardvard penn columbia she obviously did something right did something right i had to go tell my mom the only reason i wanted to be rich was to buy her that house initially then it got into buying things to be happy more things to be happy different things to be happy buy things i don't need to impress people i don't like. She, I come to the door and I realize not only did I lose everything, but I did not take my name off of my mom's title when I bought her second house. So I lost her house and she had to move. So I had to tell my mom as I knocked on the door,

mom, I lost everything, but we have to make a plan for where you're going to live. I lost your house when i told my mom i thought she was gonna drop down like in the old you know red fox elizabeth i'm coming you know like i thought i was gonna destroy her yeah and there was my mom she said are you okay i said wow huh she said do you need I said, mom, I don't think you heard me because I was crying. I said, I lost everything, but mom, I lost your house. You're going to need to be evicted and moved. Therefore closing on your home. I heard you. What can I do? How can I help you, sweetheart? You'll be fine.

I still, the unconditional love, the lesson that I learned from standing at that door and facing my greatest fear, not just admitting that I lost everything, because I'm sure you had this fear when you went bankrupt. What is everybody going to think of me? How am I ever going to make money again? Nobody's going to trust me. Everyone thinks I'm a loser. Everyone's going to think of me how am i ever going to make money again nobody's going to trust me everyone thinks i'm a loser everyone's going to hate me everyone's going to blame me even my mom it's going to kill her but that's not what happened what it did it

was separated the people that truly love me and those that were manipulating using me cheating me stealing from me and bleeding me so in that moment when she said that, how did that make you feel? Well, after I got done crying, I had never experienced unconditional love like that as a grown man. I'm sure as babies, as a dad, I know that I'm sure I did. And that's why my siblings and I are how we are. But as a grown man, to experience unconditional love was an incredible thing to aspire to. I can definitely empathize with that. When I went bankrupt, my dad was an investor in my business,

and he was a schoolteacher that had nothing. He put half of his life savings the stock market had got cut in half and then he took it all out and took half of that and put it into my business which ended up failing and you know when uh when i when i had to go to him like he uh he said i know you'll make it right. Yeah. And, you know, like those type of experiences are like some of the most powerful when you realize it's not about money, right,

that this person actually loves me for who I am, not what I have. And, you know, I had a different experience with a different investor that, uh, wasn't quite as, as gentle or loving. Uh, but, but yeah, like, uh, that is like one of the most powerful experiences that any human being can go through. I had another one that's interesting. And, you know, as a founder, I think it's important for people to know it's both sides. I have a theory. You speak around the world like I do. And I get a lot of new speakers.

Fenster was one of them we had on your podcast. And they all get to their first speech. And there's about 100 people there. And they're always speaking for free. But they're lying to everyone that they're paid. And they get there in front of 100 people. And what happens is 10 people come up to them after they speak and they say,

oh my gosh, I love your, they may even say beyond I love your speech, you changed my life. And this mathematical equation is one that I think is important for all founders, all entrepreneurs and all speakers and coaches and everyone. What is happening is that everyone has a frequency.

And this is true on social media and podcasting especially. 10% of the people are going to love you no matter what. Not unconditionally like our mom and dad. 10% of the people, though, are going to hate you. They're not going to come up to you when you're speaking either and tell you. They might DM you later. Chickens. But 10% of everyone is going to hate you.

And then through repetitive execution and communication, you can get more and more of the 80% in the middle that just aren't aware of you. It's interesting. In sales, we call this the 10-80-10 rule. 10% will say yes no matter what. It could be the worst presentation ever rule right 10 will say yes no matter what right it could be the worst presentation presentation offer anything frequency 10 will say no no matter what you could show up with a bag of gold and they won't take it right no strings attached and and 80 are fence sitters they're they're still up in the air where am i where am i going to fall so yeah that's uh that

rings true for me yeah and but when you get to the real deal the one that is unconditional and inspiring when i lost everything my wife i've known since the fourth grade hated me i asked her to go study at sixth grade camp my friend rob who i mentioned asked her for me because i was too afraid so she embarrassed me and said no tell him to ask me himself he yelled it to everyone so i threw an egg at her my wife hated me till i was 25 and then we finally dated at 26 uh so anyway when i lost everything i caught my wife crying in the kitchen to her uncle who was the father of one of my best friends growing up who i constantly annoyed to try to get me to go out with his cousin. And he was always like, she hates you, dude. Don't even try. So this uncle who's known me since I've been nine as well is Julie's uncle.

He's seen everything. And she's crying. I'm really afraid. Do you think he's going to be able to pull this out? And she doesn't know that we have a very large house in Rancho Santa Fe that I'm witnessing this because i'd come in and there and i'm heartbroken that my wife has doubt and fear of me and my capability and he looks at her and she's crying and i'm crying while listening like fuck i've screwed this up excuse my language he looks at her and he, I've known this kid since he's been nine.

I cannot wait to see what he does with his back against the wall. And man, my tears. I still, when things get tough, no matter how good you think people have, you don't know what's going on in their thoughts, in their mind, in their life. But when things get tough, I think of standing in front of my mom and the unconditional love belief and feeling she has for me but i also think of my wife's uncle just that cheering for you exactly my back's against the wall now when i start my speeches a lot of times i'll ask and i'll do this at aspire coming up this week with the other guests of yours I'll always

start with who here grew up with nothing raise your hand and half of the people raise their hand and I always say I feel sorry for the rest of you it's true because they will not know what Julie's uncle was talking about because they've never been there and you you've been there. You've been there. And there is a freedom and there is an inspiration that comes when your back is all the way against the wall. And that's where you have a choice. You know, in football, you were a football coach. And in wrestling, I think this is true. There comes a moment when you get those first kids and you coach high you coach high school for years and you see the first time playing football vincey glenn 11 year vet who was worked for me and

it was one of our guys played for the chargers and the saints he he told me this there's a moment for each kid and they get hit for the first time and you can see it in their eyes they either say if i can look up i can get up and they get up and they're ready they love it and then they're the other ones that never want to get hit again never want to go through that yeah i'll tell you i'm a try me guy not a why me guy i love that there there's a lot of power in getting hit you know some people just never even fully experience that like going to zero i always say is like my superpower yeah right like the the fact that you and i have both gone through this you know experience the highest of highs and lowest of lows but for me and i i'd assume you'd agree

with this when you go through the lowest of lows you realize it's not as bad as I thought it was going to be not even close and it's the my favorite book is the monster at the end of the book the sesame street book with Grover yes that's what going losing everything is it's the monster at the end of the book all you find there's a monster at the end lovable cuddly david right yeah and and i think like that is what has made you successful like the you know the fact that you realize hey it's really not that bad so if this is the worst it can get what's the top what's the top look like and and what risk am i willing to take now yeah and also what else do I think is the worst because it's probably not that bad and to here's the trajectory of time

that I've learned I say a lot of Einstein I said a lot of relativity I study applied mathematics and what's called theoretical physics so you don't have to get down and dirty in fact most people don't realize that even Einstein in the mathematics sense in the the physics sense, wasn't like a down and dirty scientist. He was an applied mathematician in the theoretical physics, metaphysics, quantum physics, and physics. And so I followed that path through my idea of find someone who sits in the situation you want to be in and ask him for directions. And so within the context of that, what I've learned is that I want to find

out where the limits are. So the limits of my past are determined by the meaning I give it. So I'm constantly looking, is the meaning of the failure, successes, mistakes, pain, defining moments, historical relevances in successes, are they aligned with where my self-image is and where i want to become and because it's the meaning of my past that limits me right and then even more importantly as i apply the meaning of the past to the daily activities i have which is limited by 24 hours which is easily applied in math and i good at you know the typicalovey-esque or Napoleon Hill type of utilization of daily activities in time and productivity, accessibility, and gratitude. But where most people fail is where the freedom of bankruptcy takes you. We will never overachieve our own self-image. And if we give

that meaning to things that don't exist, the monsters at the end of the book, we're going to limit our self image. And then we're going to limit our experience and journey in the level in which we can utilize our awareness and frequency and vibration to achieve even more. Look at the greatest people. Most of the greatest people that achieve the most are crazy because they are going beyond their, their reality goes beyond most people's imagination. Elon Musk, Branson, Gates, they, their, their reality goes beyond most people's imagination. Absolutely. And that's what I utilize time and relativity. What meaning am I giving to my past according to the activities in today to increase my self-image? So that I can achieve more of what I think I want and learn from it. I love that

So, you know, I'm a firm believer that every single person on the earth was put here with a specific calling and has a specific value that they can add to the world that is unique and different and the other might be some similarities what would you say yours is oh that's easy i'm on a mission to empower over a billion people to be happy defined by the ability to make a lot of money help a lot of people and have a lot of fun to enjoy the consistent persistent pursuit of their potential in doing so so what i'm looking for is actually why i'm here on a saturday morning not playing golf but talking to you i'm looking to empower someone like you that's going to empower a thousand to empower a thousand because if i can

empower a thousand chris lees in the world to empower another thousand to empower a thousand. Cause if I can empower a thousand Chris Lee's in the world to empower another thousand, to empower another thousand, a thousand times, a thousand, a million, million times, a thousand, a billion. And here's the interesting thing. If I can empower over a billion people, cause I don't limit myself over a billion people to do this, to live in abundance, to make a lot of money, help a lot of people and have a lot of fun. That's one eighth of the earth. So humbly, I'm put on earth to change it for the better. I'm put on earth through gratitude, forgiveness, accountability, and inspiration to utilize kindness as my guidepost in order to effectuate abundance,

a value-add world for more people simply to be happy. And I know this about applied mathematics and physics, by the way, that one particle of light overcomes a million particles of darkness. You see, I want everyone to know this about social media because you hear a lot of negativity. In fact, our subconscious holds 40,000 thoughts. 80% of those thoughts are negative in our subconscious. Unfortunately, 90% of our thoughts are repetitive so you're gonna get a lot of negativity in absolutely but here's what I know about negative actions words thoughts beliefs and feelings they're loud but they're weak

so true people can see through they're weak man so I'm trying to liberate people to show their light because one particle of that light will overcome a million particles of that darkness in a scientific manner. And so I am put here on earth to change the earth one Chris Lee at a time to empower them with not only the values, but the daily practices and the execution of the values of the daily practices in order to aggregate, accelerate and compound exponentially the light. I love that. Well, I'm excited to help you achieve that because that's exactly the mission that I want to achieve. And that's really what it's about, right? Like empowering others. And so I'm stoked.

And if you will allow me me i want to offer your entire community which is continually growing i am one of the few people i give away my book i don't know if you know this so i will give away my book to your community i will sign it send it pay for shipping and the book to anyone in your audience if they just email me directly david at d melzer dot com david at d melzer.com, david at dmelzer.com, put it in the notes. But anyone listening to this, e-book, audio book, or signed copy, I will pay for everything, shipping the book. Just send an email.

I want to change the earth. I know that my book goes and reviews a lot of the values and daily practices that we discussed today and more. Which book is this? Connected to Goodness. Connected to Goodness. Guys, if you heard that, we're going to be dropping that in the notes on the show go ahead and send an email to david he's going to send you a free

copy appreciate that that's a ton of value where's the best place to uh follow you on social media just google me because i'm on every platform at david melzer where would you say you're most active instagram everywhere everywhere instagram tiktok youtube linkedin facebook and everyone's Instagram, everywhere, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook. Everyone's dying to know, is that you running it or is that a big team running it? That's great. So I have a big team. And so I don't post, I create, and my model is capture what I do guys, modify it to every single platform, which is why I say that's the best place to see me is where you like to be. I coming into your house i love it and then amplify it through partners like you and other people that resonate at the same frequency and then let's create a perpetual rabbit hole so that

when people say hey have you heard of david melzer they go to their favorite platform and they go down to david melzer perpetual rabbit hole that either 10% will love automatically, 10% will hate automatically. And luckily that 80% are on the fence. If you don't have the perpetual rabbit hole, you're not going to capture the 80%. All you're going to get is 10% that love you and 10% that hate you. David, first of all, thank you for your time. I know it's valuable. Thank you for stepping away from the golf course i can resonate with that i love golf and so the only with my son only time i play i fat the fact that you sacrifice some of that this morning to spend some time with me i that that means a ton and uh i mean this interview was one of the most heartfelt and i mean hit hit me home and and i

appreciate you opening up and being very vulnerable well Well, two things. Number one, I have to have you on my podcast. So we've done over 1,700 episodes with the greatest minds in the world. And you are part of that community. And then two, please let me know how I can be of service or value. I have a huge network of people from doing so many shows and so many things in my life. I know you have met several of my friends, but I have so many more that need to meet you and to help you as well so please reach out and ask for help i appreciate you so much thank you mr david until next time