The School of Greatness - The 3 BEST Habits Of Rich People [MASTERCLASS] EP 1299

Episode Date: July 29, 2022

Today’s episode is a masterclass around wealth and building a successful business with three experts on the topic of money who share their perspective and advice to aspiring entrepreneurs.In this episode, Patrick Bet-David, entrepreneur, investor and content creator, shares the importance of managing your relationships to reach the full potential of your contacts.Barbara Corcoran, businesswoman, investor, and television personality, tells us the top qualities she sees in successful entrepreneurs.Billionaire Tilman Fertitta, businessman and owner of the Houston Rockets, teaches the importance of positivity and how to not get caught up in the due diligence that doesn’t matter.For more, go to lewishowes.com/1299Full EpisodesPatrick Bet-David: https://link.chtbl.com/992-podBarbara Corcoran: https://link.chtbl.com/766-podTilman Fertitta: https://link.chtbl.com/859-pod

So I value the relationship. I ask them, what do you need from me? How can I bring things to you? You can't just sit there and look at relationships that you never know the potential of a contact. You have to know every contact could take you to some place that... Welcome to the School of Greatness.

My name is Lewis Howes, a former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin. Welcome to this special masterclass. We brought some of the top experts in the world to help you unlock the power of your life through this specific theme today. It's going to be powerful. So let's go ahead and dive in.

I'm curious, what are the three things that poor people do that rich people don't do? Or you can reverse it. What are the three things rich people do that poor people don't do. Or you can reverse it. Three things rich people do that poor people don't do. Well, I can tell you they have the intuition of how they judge people because everything is about the whole intuition part, right? You're sitting there, who you choose to befriend, who you choose to have relationships with, you know, and how you water those relationships. Because if you want to have a relationship together and it's just take, take, take,

nothing's going to happen. I remember I'm a 24-year-old kid. I don't know nothing about business. I've done some stuff in sales, but I really don't know nothing about business. I'm a 22-year-old kid. I go and I take this guy, I go to a job interview at the advertising group. Shout out to Jamie Hepp. And I watch this guy.

He interviews me. I'm at that time working at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, but I'm trying topp. And I watched this guy. He interviews me. I'm at that time working at Morgan Stanley Dean Woodard, but I'm trying to see what else I want to do. So I got started the day before 9-11, but I'm still interviewing. I sit with him in the interview, and the way he interviewed me, I sat there and I said, I will never work for this company because it's just not what I want to do, because they were selling Xerox machines, and business to business. I said, but I want to have a relationship with you. I said, do you mind if I get your business card?

He said, yeah, sure. I said, okay, great. So he gives me his business card. Year and a half later, I get a job, I'm doing good at this point, I'm making some income, 23 years old, I call him up. And I said, Jamie, you don't remember me, but I want to take you out to lunch, and I want to pick your brain if you don't mind. I told you a year and a half ago that I wanted to do this with you, and you said yes.

He says great, let's do it. So we go to Macaroni Grill, somewhere in Culver City, right around here like Victory, Overland, somewhere around that area. So we go there, he brings this drop dead gorgeous girl that works for him. I think her name is Natalia or Natasha or something with an, right? And she's beautiful. Short skirt, perfect legs, flawless, beautiful face. She's sitting right there and I know what he's trying to do.

He's trying to woo me to go be one of his sales guys. And I said, look, with all due respect, you're beautiful, but I have no interest in you. My interest is in you. Is it fair if we just talk business for an hour? He says, yes. So I went. Okay? Now, at this point, he's making a million.

I'm making 50 grand a year. I'm a nobody. Okay? We have lunch again. I'm taking notes, taking notes, taking notes. I offer to pay. He doesn't let me pay. He pays.

He says, I got it. No problem. When I leave, I send him a book. We had this meeting that we did every three to six months together at this restaurant, Argentinian restaurant called Bamboo, which they had this beautiful soup. Every time we would have dinner with him or we'd go to lunch, I would always send him a book. Ten years later, he says, every time I meet with Patrick, a book is on its way.

So I valued the relationship. I asked him, what do you need from me? How can I bring things to you? Years later, he gives me one referral. That one referral he gave me helped me open up Florida. If he doesn't give me that referral, that Florida office wouldn't have been opened up. One contact opens up a whole state. So another relationship I can tell you about is I was going to churches and I said, let me see what's going to happen with these churches. And I was going to churches and I said, let

me see what's going to happen with these churches. And I'm going to churches and I'm going to these different places and I'm studying Scientology, I'm studying LDS, I'm studying Jehovah, Judaism, I'm studying everything. At this point in time I was obsessed with religion. So all I want to do is study, study, study everything about religion, right? And I'm 24, 25, I eventually find this church called Shepherd ofded Hills, which is ran by a guy named Dudley Rutherford. And I go to this place. And I'm an atheist.

So it's not like I'm going in there. I'm just trying to see what's going on over here. You're trying to learn. I'm just trying to learn. I'm not trying to do anything. I go to this place and I'm like, okay, I like this guy's style. Typically, you go to church. If you don't do this, you're going to hell.

I'm like, dude, I don't need to know I'm going to hell. I know I'm going to hell. I just want to have a shot in heaven. You know what I'm going to hell. I just want to know I was shot in heaven. You know what I'm saying? So this guy's energy was, you have a shot at heaven, right? I'm like, okay, cool. This is my tryout. I feel a little better, right?

I know to screw up what I've done in my life. Let me see. Maybe I've got a shot over here. So I go there, and I'm sitting in the back. I watch him once, twice, three times, four times. I'm like, wow, I like this guy. So then I sent him an email. A little bit of an arrogant email, but I'll tell you what the email was.

I sent him an email and I said, listen, my name is Patrick Bedevi. You don't know who I am, but I'm going to be somebody in the world. And I know you are somebody in the world, but I promise you, if you give me your time, I will always bring value to you. It will not be a waste of your time. I'm not doing anything at that time at 25. I've got a small little office operation, nothing crazy. We go have lunch together at Black Angus.

Black Angus off Canoga or Topanga. We go to Black Angus, we sit down and we talk. After the meeting is over with, I say, what can I do for you? Nothing there. We go out again. What can I do for you? Nothing there. What can I do for you?

Nothing there. Eventually, something happened with my son at Moore Park Basketball, and I made a phone call to the coach and I spoke to the guy anonymously because I didn't like the way this whole situation was handled. He probably doesn't even know the story. I know the people may know, but he may not even know the story. So I make the phone call. We get closer. He marries my wife. We change our wedding to Friday. It was set up on Saturday to Friday so he can wed us. Anyways, in 2008, 2009, he introduces me to Tom Ellsworth. You know how I talked about Tom earlier? He introduced me to Tom. And Tom comes. In 2009, he introduced me to Matt Sopala. Matt Cipolla and Sheena, I got introduced to in 2009.

They just got promoted this last week at West Palm Beach to the Chief Distribution Officer of PHB. He is now the CDO. We've paid him in the first six months of the year over a million dollars. They're doing very good at what they do in the business here. But if I don't have that contact and I water him, what his needs are, not what I can take. If I give the needs, I don't have those contacts. So I think too many times when, you know, you build a relationship with somebody, it's immediately, what can I do, you know, what can I get from you?

Yeah, and I remember how you were the first time we met. You know, when we were done, you and I went to Earth Cafe with Jen, and I think we even went and looked at some furniture, and there was like a Google shop that we went to. I don't know if you remember that. Yeah, we walked around. Right across to Earth Cafe with Jen, and I think we even went and looked at some furniture, and there was like a Google shop that we went to. I don't know if you remember that. Yeah, we walked around. Right across from Earth Cafe. And you said, Pat, how can I help you?

What do you need from me? You know, what can I do for you? It was on the corner after we walked around. Exactly. Exactly. So we walked around. Babe, I really like this Louis guy. I like his approach, how he is.

That's the dynamic that you don't see behind closed doors. People may see School of Greatness. People may see the books. But behind closed doors, the context is. That's the dynamic that you don't see behind closed doors. People may see School of Greatness. People may see the books. But behind closed doors, the context is about what can I do for you. So you asked three things. I'd say the biggest one is figure out ways to strengthen relationships and take them deeper. Because you never know. Just like everybody thinks you're one sale away or one opportunity away, you're one contact away from your life changing.

If you start valuing your contact like a book of business, everything changes. That's true. What I heard you say there was intuition, study, and relationships. Sure. Yeah. Does that cover those kind of three things? And I think when you think about people that aren't making the money that they want and don't have a rich life, whether that be quality of life, they probably aren't discerning their

decisions and being intuitive about who they should spend time with. life, whether that be quality of life, they probably aren't discerning their decisions and being intuitive about who they should spend time with. They aren't researching more ideas and expanding their mind and they aren't giving in those relationships. I would agree with that. Yeah, I would agree with that. And I think sometimes it's also not knowing what something could lead into. You know, a guy one time came into Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and a Harley Davidson

bike and he had tattoos and he looked rough, very rough. No advisor would take him. He says, I'm looking for an advisor. No advisor would take this guy. Yeah, I need an advisor. And like, oh, there's a bank downstairs. Financial advisor. Financial advisor. Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Glendale. No one wants to take this guy. This guy's got no money, no potential. Yeah, so the guy comes out, he sees, he says, oh, just give him to somebody else. I'm good. The guy in the corner office that has a couple hundred million dollars under management, he leaves. Then the new guy takes him.

Then the guy comes to have $50 million to invest. He got an inheritance. That one account was $50 million. Changed his life. Changed his life. Yeah. And he put the $50 million, the rookie broker got a $50 million money under management. You're getting one or two points on that.

That's great. Life changing. For life. For life. Every year. Every year, generational wealth. We're not talking about like a small thing here. So you can't just sit there and look at relationships that you never know the potential of a contact.

You have to know every contact could take you to some place that you don't know. It's like a movie. You don't know the next scene. So you can't just assume what that contact's going to lead into. Sometimes the smallest contact can lead into something big. One of the things I love about you, Patrick, is you remind me of my dad so much and my childhood. My dad, I think I told you, my dad was a life insurance salesman for 32 years until he got into a brain accident. He got in a car crash.

And he's still alive today, but he had to stop working. And he also became an entrepreneur, launched the health insurance vertical in conjunction with Northwestern Mutual. And he does everything you do. And my whole business model and just the way that I live is based on what I witnessed him doing. And this was pre-social media, pre-internet. He would just remember names like nobody's business. He was so giving, so thoughtful. And he was always thinking in the long term. He wasn't like, how can I sell

you now? But how can I give you now? He would do this every day. He would read the newspaper and he would cut out the newspaper every day and write long letters and put in envelopes and send it out to people that were clients and people that are not clients. If it was someone's kid in sports that, you know, was, Hey, they had their best game ever. Hey, I just wanted to send you this clipping of the newspaper to just people in the community. That's on a whole different level though, man. That's incredible. Handwritten letters and just send it to them and say, Hey, you know, if I can ever help with anything, let me know. And it was that kind of old school mentality but he would always just show up for people just take meetings to take them and wasn't always trying to sell but just trying to

serve and that's really kind of how I built my business early on was when I had nothing at all I was just like what can I learn from someone and how can I ask them what they need and then deliver on that need as fast as possible and not ask for anything in return. And I think that's one of the reasons why I've been able to grow is because of the relationship building. You know, Ben, our producer, I met him nine years ago when he was a student at Columbia Journalism School, getting a master's, right? And he was working on a documentary about handball.

I was in handball at that time in New York City and really liked the way he made the documentary and followed his journey over the last nine years, stayed in touch every year. We needed a head producer to really build our content. And I reached out to him and the timing right, the sequencing was right. And we had the relationship where it made sense,

at least for now, maybe he leaves at some point, but it's been great so far in the last four months. And I think you never know where the relationship will go. Even if it didn't work out, it's still worth building relationships. No question. Even if we never work together. Because you just never know who that person might introduce you to, who might say your name behind closed doors,

where it unlocks some opportunity you never know. So you remind me a lot of my dad. That's a big compliment some opportunity you'd never know. So you remind me a lot of my dad. That's a big compliment, man. I appreciate that. Thank you. And I think if more people came from that place of how can I just care about people and help them solve their problems, you're going to gain a lot back in return long-term, whether it's with that person or not. And you talk about money a lot on your show you have an amazing video about your top I think it's your top 20 rules on money I'm curious since we're going to the rich poor conversation what would you say are the top three to five rules

on money if you could boil it down to three to five it's a game the number one rule is it's a game you're playing a game it's that simple you know if you if you look at it as a game just like like anything, you can get better at it. Whatever game you play, if you play Uno, if you play Monopoly, if you play Clue, if you play Jenga, if you play Fortnite, anything you play, you're going to get good at it. I remember in my time, I was playing Fester's Quest. I played Zelda. I used to play Final Fantasy 1, and I would play, obviously, Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat. But it was also, what was the Mario Kart as a Super Mario Kart and you know how you would do the three jumps and a BAM it's going fast and I would

beat this time 32 seconds I was so proud of it but I played it 50,000 times right so the game with money it's it's exactly what it is once you learn how to play the game with money then it has to do with timing then it has to do with different kind of things. Like you know, a year ago I get a call from a guy who needs cash. It's okay. He needs an investment. He has something he has to sell immediately to get cash in return. Because he needs the money right away.

So it's okay. So what are you selling? He says it's the two greatest Wayne Gretzky cards. I said, okay. Signed or unsigned? No, this is a PSA 10 1979 OPG Topps. Signature? No sign, but it's the Holy Grail. So the OPG one sold in 2016 for $453,000. Okay. Wow.

And just five years prior to that, it sold for $92,000. So from $92,000 to $451,000 in 2016, and he calls me. And it top sold in 2016 for $205,000. So two cars combined sold in 2016 for $600,000. He has them both. He has them both. And he wants to sell it to me. And I said, okay, what do you want to sell it for?

He's like, $600,000. Yeah, of course. I said, I'm not going to pay you that. I mean, you know,, of course he wants to. I said, I'm not going to pay you that. I mean, you know, he wants $650,000. I'm not going to pay you that. But we talked about it. And eventually he gave me a number, right? And it was still a number.

I had to still cough up, you know, half a million dollar check to the guy. But we met at the PSA headquarters. Classy guy. Total gentleman. We sat down. Transaction happened. The CEO of PSA came, showed us the poster on the PSA headquarters, I think it's in Newport, of the card is on the wall. It's the most

expensive hockey card in the world, right? Okay, no problem. And you're a hockey fan? I'm not a hockey fan. I'm an investment guy with hockey. But I've interviewed Wayne Gretzky six years ago. Wow. So I like greatness. I like anybody that just goes and crushes it with their game, right? So I buy this card. So I buy the card. I don't think much of it.

One card, not two. Two cards. It's both of them. I bought both of them. So the other guy who owns the card wouldn't sell his card for a million dollars if you paid it to him. So here's what I do know. So two guys own the card?

Me and the other guy. There's only two of us. You paid a million, he won't sell it to you. So that means there's only one in the market, because it's me, because I'm willing to sell it. Right? So it's on eBay, right? If you go on eBay right now, you type in Wayne Gretzky OPG, it's on market right now for

a million dollars. Right? Wow. One of them is on the market for a million, the other one's on the market for $400,000. So you ask me for a rule of money, I have cash. If I don't have cash like that, I can't double my money that quickly. So we just talked about three of them. Money's a game. You need cash, opportunity is going to come up and it's a

doubles game. A doubles game? It's a doubles game. Everything about money is a doubles game. What's that mean? A doubles game to me is I pay you $1,000. Can we double it in six months? No. How long in 12 months? Okay, no problem. I'll do a double in a year. Here's $1,000. I get a double back. So if you take $1,000 and you double it, every year what happens? $1,000 goes into 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 2, 56, 5, 12, 1 million. $1,000 is 9 doubles away from 1 million. Now you take 1 million and see what

happens if we double it 9 times. 1 million goes into 2 million, 4 million, 8 million, 16 million, 32, 64, 128, 2, 56, 5,12, a billion. A million is 10 doubles away from a billion. How do you find the doubles? Well, that's the game. That's the part of the game. That's what I'm trying to tell you. So the doubles now becomes investment opportunities. You know, what you buy into.

Do you start a company where it has a high value, you know, you can really scale it and finding something that can scale. Do you invest into things that are going to give you 6%, 8%, 10%? Or are you going to go play ball and take the risk? That's the game that you're going to start learning. Part of my money is going to be hedged and I'm going to buy some gold because I'm not going to become a billionaire off gold, but I'm buying it because gold is money and something happens to the economy, I'm protected with the gold.

But you know what, I'm going to put some of this money in mutual funds because I know long term I'm going to make 8% to 12% on this, I'm protected with the gold. But you know what? I'm going to put some of this money in mutual funds because I know long-term I'm going to make 8% to 12% on this. I'm fine with that. I might do a real estate deal because long-term I may do some money, although right now commercial real estate may be an interesting dynamic because I think Zoom crushed commercial real estate. The commercial real estate model, it's been crushed. And by the way, it may never come back the same way ever again. Commercial real again commercial real estate years from now or something who knows i don't even think i think it's gone really here's what i mean look we have this space right okay you got this space if did you get in the last four months how long can we have before

coven okay so six months before but if you get this today if you get this today right right now office space in dallas office space nationwide companies are looking at their business models and they're just saying, why do I need 100,000 square feet of office space? Why do I need it? But if you go out there and you look at the numbers, you're like, okay, I don't know if I'm into commercial real estate. But if I team up with an investment banker, if I team up with a guy that's managing money, and I go with a VC team, and this is a guy that's flipping opportunities fairly quickly, and I dump a million dollars with him, and within five years, he turns a million dollars into five million.

That's five X in five years. That may not be a bad idea. So you've got to find those. And they're out there, by the way. They're out there. So Ray Dalio plays a game of doubles. Warren Buffett's a doubles game. All these guys are doubles game.

All that's investing in businesses. Yes. I'm a business guy. I'm not a real estate guy. There are people that are by the way, that doesn't mean real estate doesn't work I mean wouldn't make any sense for me to say there's real estate billionaires everywhere Our president is a real estate billionaire. So for me to knock real estate would would have no value to it but for me, I'm more about I Have an idea. What do you guys? Me and Tiffany are thinking about starting a marketing company. Okay, how can this thing scale?

Well, let me tell you what we got. We got three packages. Boom, boom, boom. We're going to be target audience. We're going to be targeting people in this world. Okay, interesting. How much are they going to pay? We foresee us doing $6 million in revenue within 24 months.

What have you done to be able to earn this? I'm a Columbia guy. I'm a this, I'm a this. How much money do you need? I need $2 million. I can't give you $2 million. Can I come in for $100,000? I put $100,000.

The next thing, this thing sells for $200 million. That $100,000 all of a sudden became $2.2 million. That's a victory. So those opportunities are out there. You just got to focus. And then the last one I would tell you with the money. So we talked about what?

We talked about game. Money is a game. You need cash. It's a doubles game. Doubles game. Yep. And I'll tell you with the money, so we talked about what? We talked about game. Money is a game, you need cash, it's a doubles game. Doubles game. Yep. And I'll tell you one more would be you have to be maniacally, maniacal about being patient. I mean you have to be patiently aggressive.

You know, patiently aggressive. It's so tough to do. Because you want your money to double now. Exactly. It might take 10 years. Yeah. But if you are willing to do the 10 years, it may double 40 times. It may double 30 times. You know, like when Bezos said, just hang tight. I'm not going to give you dividends. Just trust me on this. Trust me on this. Right. And at the the beginning if you've heard the story where he goes and raises two million dollars From he gets fifty thousand dollars from forty people. That's what two million dollars, and he gives them 20% Wow

Twenty percent twenty percent of the million 20% just for two million dollars. You know what that 20% is worth today 200 billion dollars that's the point. So can you imagine 1994, Amazon gets started, forget about you put $2 million. Just say you put $50 million. Just you put $50,000. What is a half a percent of a trillion dollar company right now? A half a percent? You're still a half a billionaire.

Your $50,000 is worth $500 million, give or take whatever the numbers we're doing right. The point is, that is a massive victory. The guy who put $10,000 and he gave it to Berkshire Hathaway in 1974, I don't know if you've heard this story. You know, Warren Buffett is starting, he says, I'll give you $10,000. Never touches the money. Goes back to his regular job, makes $100 grand a year.

You know how much that $10,000, have you read this article? No, tell me. The $10,000, if go on business inside of you, pull it up, is worth 780 today. 780? Million. Million.

Never did anything to it. So that's the part about patiently aggressive. Yeah. It's very hard to do. But the doubles get bigger later on, not early on. The doubles are bigger year 15, 20, 25. That's what Bubba talks about.

Just like his success is he's lived longer. You know, he's just stayed around longer to let the money continue to compound and that compounded interest is where it's at. I don't think I'm the type of person that is brave enough to admit I've made a mistake honestly because I think things have not worked out along the way, where things just didn't work out as I had hoped or dreamed them to be. But I don't see them as a mistake, because as quick as you're thinking, oh poor me, you start to see the light of the door that is opening that couldn't have opened without it.

So I don't have a regret of this was a big mistake or that was a big mistake. But I have to also say, I have my whole life been very cognizant of doing anything and exposing myself to anything even when I didn't want to do it because I'm deathly afraid of feeling like I would regret. Like what if I don't do it? That's more of a motivation for me than doing. You know just like well will I look back? Like for example, with Dancing with the Stars, I did not want to do it. I'm an old babe. The last thing I want to do is practice four

hours a day. You were great. You think I was so great? Not the judges. They didn't think so. I was the number one person on Dancing with the Stars last season. Number one rejected. Now there's a record. So you might say that was a mistake with all the work that that led up to and it was a social embarrassment I thought I'd be rejected maybe number three or five or six but number one I never saw it coming and so I was kind of a little mortified on that one but you know what I'm so thankful I

did it and the minute I recovered by the next morning I'm like thank God I did it thank God it's over it's a lot of work. It's a lot of work. Because I didn't want to, I said yes because I didn't want to wonder what it would have been like, you know? What did you learn from the experience

about yourself? I learned I'm not a good dancer. I swear, I've looked at the tapes now one year later when I thought, same tapes I looked at a year ago,

I thought, you know, I really got this. But I look at them one year later and I'm like, I'm stiff as a board. What was I thinking?

Missing steps. So what I learned from that is that I can't dance well, but inside my body I feel like I'm a good dancer, and I'll get out on any dance floor and do my own makeup steps, and people really smile as I'm dancing because I don't really give a crap. And I look like it, you know. Yeah, but what did I learn? I learned the same lesson I learned again and again, which is thank God I did it.

Thank God. And the injury of, oh, God, you did so poorly, dissipates quickly. But there's an echo to not trying something that's going to sting you, I think. Not that I know that because I really don't do that but i'm afraid of it it's like it's like fear of a nightmare that might happen i don't know why because i don't really have that in my life but i'm fearful of it yeah i think that'll sting you for a long time too that fear of regret of like oh i had the opportunity to do this dance with the stars and I didn't do it how many years would you think about? Yeah, you know what maybe a year but still a bad year, you know You know what regret does I think and and why I've been able to build up my personality and

Whatever I can get out of and give to life as best I could What regret does is it quietly takes down your confidence a notch. Because in short, you're a coward. You shied away. Even if the right decision is to shy away. Once you shy away, you quietly, without even consciously thinking, think a little less of yourself. Now, I say that from experience because I've watched many people get stronger

or people where life makes them weaker. And there's a lot that goes into that. But I really believe that that regret piece is not given enough due. You really have to try everything and try your best because even, and listen, two out of three things I try don't work out, you know, but people just remember the success. That's what I want. But I know what the failures are. But still, I got confidence out of failing each time. A little notch up, a little notch up. So then you conduct yourself with more power in life because you feel better about yourself. And ironically, you have more to give. You're a better package

to give more because you've put a lot into that basket by just trying, trying, trying, trying. Do you feel like you're more confident even though you're the first one out of Dancing with the Stars that you did it? Absolutely. Absolutely I'm more confident. I got a lot of confidence out of that because every female friend and male friend I had that was even close to my age. They were like, I can't believe you even went for it. They said, you're discouraging, you're out of your mind, da-da-da-da-da. But I won all their respect and they constantly say, that was amazing.

That was amazing. So even my friends that kind of took me for granted think better of me. I went up a notch in their head. It takes a lot of courage to do that. It takes a lot of courage to publicly fail. But I happen to be very good at public failure. Really? Because I've done it my whole life, and that doesn't bother me.

at public failure. Really? Because I've done it my whole life and that doesn't bother me. I think what I didn't want to happen was that I would look foolish or old dancing with a 24-year-old ripped stud on the floor until I realized it feels really good to lean in on that guy

and let him spin you around that floor and how my girlfriends are having to dance with anybody like that lately. There you go. That's a good way of looking at it. What would you say, why are you not afraid to fail publicly? Because the truth is that people, most of all, are thinking about themselves. So just when you think the limelight's on you and everybody's going to say, God, is

she stupid? God, why would she say that or do that? The minute they've given you that one moment of attention, they're back on to their own problems, their own selves. So it's like overstatement of your ego to think you're really that important. You know, you could just move right on. We could distract people. You try the next thing, their eyes on that if you're lucky.

So no, it doesn't really amount to anything. It doesn't really amount to anything. It's self-ego that is not really true that's interesting because you say that most people are focused on themselves so when you mess up publicly or you fail publicly they'll think about it for a moment but they're on to their own thing if you're lucky and they notice if you know most people will notice it just feels like everyone knows yeah definitely what a shame right exactly yeah what about when you want

people to have the attention on you for the things you're doing good? How do you keep the attention on you, the relevancy of yourself as an entrepreneur, an individual, when people are focused on themselves so much? How do you keep them thinking about you, your brand, your business, your work, your mission? You have to think of a way to grandstand. What do you mean by that? Good old-fashioned grandstanding. Like I built my Corcoran Group brand on the backs of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post, without a doubt.

I would think of all kinds of crap to get media attention, as long as my brand name was in there. Really? The single best thing I thought of, which was really just an attempt to get media attention, okay, as long as my brand name was in there. The best, single best thing I thought of, which was really just an attempt to get publicity when I couldn't afford advertising because it was a bad market, was my Corcoran report. And all that was was a one-page report giving the average sale price of apartments in Manhattan is how I labeled it. I was too stupid to know that that was the wrong label.

It was just my 11 sales. But it was stupid to know that that was a wrong label. It was just my 11 sales. But it was on the front page of the real estate section and I was quoted on the first line. And boy, that was an eye opener. That's how I learned that publicity can build a brand. Today's version of publicity that I look for in all of the entrepreneurs I invest in is how good are you at social media? I don't care if you're in the sock business, if you're in hardware, what's going on, how good are you at social media, what's your following? Those are the key questions now. How good are you at building attention through social media? Because that's the new free ride, not really free, but to a large degree free, just like the New York

Times and the Wall Street Journal were my free ride. So you have to be creative, I think think in thinking of how you can grandstand and so what's uh like i don't know i'm thinking what's a business right today like well i don't want to use cousins we already talked about uh cousins like um grace and lakes which is a start out as a baby sock company phenomenal entrepreneurs i have just the long like the long lady stocking yeah with a little lace on top i bought some of those for a girl before, yeah. And they make girls look sexy. They make them look great. And they're well-priced and they're beautifully made. They're nice, they're elegant, they're sexy. Well, now it's a full fashion line

and it's, I think, $17 million in sales this year. Wow. But what are they particularly good at? There's a husband and a wife team. Melissa, the wife of the team, has gorgeous long legs. You may remember her from Shark Tank. Her husband's more of a nuts and bolts guy, but great at business. What she does is she constantly models and talks directly to the camera. She has so many people that love her. She has limited editions.

She's out constantly, constantly. She's great at social media. She knows how to primp herself, look sexy talk to the ladies and get sales Okay, she uses her assets asset, but she does on social media and that's built their entire business social media Yeah, and did I answer your question because I feel like I somehow got lost in my how do you stay relevant? When things are going good Because when your things are going bad, they'll look at you for a moment, maybe,

where it seems like everyone's looking at you, but then they forget. How do you stay relevant while you're growing or while things are kind of going the same? I'll give you another example. I have a company I just bought in this past season. I was out of my mind to buy into them. It was two guys with a product called Comfy.

It was a sweatshirt blanket. You slip into it, it's like a sweatshirt, but it's actually a blanket blanket. Why I say it was crazy to buy into it, and none of the sharks, they were smart enough not to, is because they're two loudmouthed guys having a good time pitching their product, and they had no inventory. They had handmade their own product two prototypes had no idea what would cost to make what they'd sell for who they sell to they had none of the answers but they're great salesmen and I

said I'll take 15 or 40 percent whenever I got it boom just because they're great salespeople right and what they have done is they've done in their first year 11 million dollars in sales. They found a way to produce it and sell it. But a couple of weeks ago, it was very quiet. They have had social media coverage to the moon and back. But it was very quiet, and they hand-delivered, and I wish I could remember the famous actress' name.

Sexy, cool, long-legged actress. I'm so bad with names. Whoever she was, I think she was the same actress who closed the Oscars the other night. I might be telling you. I didn't watch it. Ah, shame on you, my man. I watched the highlight videos. Oh my god. Oh, come on. Well, anyway. I saw your little party, watch party on Instagram. So lonely. But anyway, they sent hand-delivered to her front door how they found it in Hollywood, the package. And she put on video of her jumping on her bed in it.

They, quicker than a second, started a social media campaign. People competing with the jumps. They had Johnny on the spot. That's smart business. They're causing attention. They made it happen. And then they're going to write it again. And it's going to be all over social media all over.

They're annoyed with me that I'm here because I don't have their product because they want me jumping on the beds. You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to put the hood on. I have one girlfriend that has gorgeous long legs. There you go. I'm going to Photoshop my head in to her long legs, and I'm going to win the contest.

Perfect. I like that. So grandstanding now is like more influencer marketing if you can find creative ways to find people with an audience maybe it's a micro audience or a large audience. Or create an audience of your own one by one but you really have to be able to grandstand. I know you talk about the keys to entrepreneurial success a lot but for those who haven't heard you talk about it what are what are you think some of the smart ideas in business right now the smart industries to go into if someone's maybe talented maybe they sold a company or they're

trying to start as an entrepreneur what's an industry you really like a product section you really like you know software is it coaching is a consulting is an agency is it physical goods what it coaching? Is it consulting? Is it an agency? Is it physical goods? Food? What's the type of category you really think is smart? You know, really none of the above. Okay?

It's not my cup of tea to think of an industry that you can, there's certainly leading industries. I don't believe that's where your head should be if you're thinking of going into business. I think your head should be is what do you enjoy? What are you naturally inclined to be good at? What were you always good at? These abilities don't change much.

If you're gregarious as a young kid, you generally don't wind up as a bookworm. When you get older and get a head on your shoulders, you're still gregarious. So I think what you have to do is think, what would suit me? What could I visualize myself doing where I could picture a happy picture of myself? And I think most people are capable of dreaming that up.

I don't think it's an analytical kind of left brain kind of thing where you apply yourself to your best shot, like going and playing blackjack and putting your chips on the right thing. No, I think you have to figure out, you're the table. Where should you put your chips? What's on you? What's true to you, okay? And so for me, it took me 22 jobs to find real estate,

but the minute I was out opening keys, opening the doors and chatting people up and it didn't feel like work and I was the boss. I knew I was going to be the queen of New York real estate. I knew it as sure as I knew my middle name was Ann. I just could see it in my mind's eye. I never had that vision when I worked my other 22 jobs.

And the other thing, it's sort of related to what you asked, I think it's such wrong thinking that you have to choose your spot. I think you find yourself little by little. It's very hard to sharpshoot. It's not that kind of a thing. And you know, often the people, I know so many entrepreneurs well beyond or well before Shark Tank, peers of mine in many industries that have succeeded, no one ever went out for that industry. And so that's what I want to do. But you know what made the biggest difference in a myriad of those, if that's a word, a selection of those people that made the biggest difference was they came along someone they worked for who believed in them. Getting one

good boss that gives you an opportunity is worth a million intellectual thoughts and Harvard MBAs grouped up in a pile because you kind of can sometimes need somebody else to see that light or you get into something you never thought you'd be interested in and you really love your job and then that winds up being what you do for a lifetime and so I don't believe that you've named the big industries that's more of more Cuban stuff he's like high-level investment strategy stuff but I'll put my businesses against his any day one to one because I think I'm so good at seeing who's got that talent that matches where they are you know if someone's approaching you for investment

or to partner with you and you could choose only three qualities that you would dream that they would have that's you know never giving up a grid positive energy whatever the quality may be and you could say if they had these three qualities it doesn't matter what business they're in maybe timing and the economy might play a little bit of part here and there but like if they had these three qualities, I would bet on them any day. Yeah, well, that's what I do every day on Shark Tank.

And I've gotten better at it because I've learned to hone in on those. I could think of two. Maybe I'll come up with a third if I keep talking. All right, number one is salesmanship. I have never succeeded with any business where the principal didn't know how to sell. I mean, sales is the guts of every business.

If you don't have sales, you're not in business. Any business applies to everything. So selling is number one. The other thing I look for, and maybe it sounds weird to you, but I've learned it to be a great almost insurance policy. I look for injury. I look for anger in the individual if I could find someone and this is true of all my successful business interesting enough if I could find someone who had injury at an early age and has something to prove I got myself a winner it's like insurance okay so when I say injury meaning they were dunce in school

Like three out of four three out of five sharks were dunces at school there. They're out to prove, you know I Have I don't want to out them so I I'm inclined to use the names, but I won't I have entrepreneurs usually successful Never had a father and then when they went on shark tank their father after 35 years was back into how insulting it enraged them okay i have entrepreneurs who were sports figures uh almost going to be professional sports people had an injury but were fiercely competitive with someone who wound up in their space they hate that person because they played against them in ice hockey crazy all i have to do is name the other person their sales go up yeah so i think uh anger improving uh is very much part

of a lot of successful stories out there it's an over compensation over proving over driving like i'll show you give me the i show you something that went wrong earlier. And you've got a motivated person. And it gets you through hard times really well. And then I'm coming up with a third. There's a million other ones, but none of them as serious as that. It's those two. You have to be able to sell. And if you have injury to prove something, it's a wonderful insurance policy.

How important is a positive attitude with those two things? Like if you were negative. Oh, you don't, let me tell you. You're not even gonna get out of the gate. Well, there's negative people. All right, you know what's- You might be trying to prove people wrong and always nasty about it.

Forget it. Let me tell you what's true about a negative person. You won't meet them in the entrepreneurial space. You know why? Because they are far more comfortable criticizing the next guy than doing. Negative people are bloodsuckers. They just suck your energy away. You know the nicest thing I did for all the people that work with me over the years was get rid of negative people the minute I spotted them. I didn't care

if I had cause. They were out. You know why? Because it's like letting the enemy quietly into your camp and giving them free reign. Negative energy is the enemy of all business, especially I've always been in sales-related businesses. You let a negative person into a sales force, they have a pity party, all of a sudden they need one more person to feel sorry for them or to point out what's wrong. It's terrible. I would spot them my way, feel their vibe.

Do you have a few minutes on Friday? I'd love to have a chat with you. Because I felt like I was saving my good people. You know, they were good, positive people. I don't mean criticism. It's invaluable in business. You need to have your criticizers to let you know when you're off and what you could do better. But I'm just talking about real bloodsuckers, you know. You know, everybody's met a few. I hear you a few Now sales is number one for you if they were great salesmen You would bet on them if they are great salesmen with something to prove that's like the golden ticket It sounds like so how does someone train to be a great salesman if they don't know how to?

Is it something they can learn or is something you just have to? Be a part of your energy Or is it something you just have to be a part of your energy? Well, you had a question about positive. That's the blood that goes through a great salesman, seeing the positive side of anything. And a lot of people see that as baloney. I don't. It's just like you show me a negative and I'll say, you know, you're right, it's a negative.

But I can tell you what the upside of that negative is. So you have a bend toward being positive. So you must have that, okay, to be a salesman. If you don't, you'll never become a salesman. I don't care how hard you try. I think it's an intrinsic quality of personality trait. I know you're not supposed to say that. Everybody's supposed to believe you could become a salesman. I think if you're inclined to be outgoing and positive, you can become a better salesperson. But the real phenomenal salespeople that I have worked with and I've made my living my whole life in different venues with phenomenal salespeople. I am telling you, they come out of the gate, maybe not out of the womb, but they come out of the adolescent gate as salespeople. It's very hard to teach that.

It's an artistic gift to be able to sell really well. Because think of how complicated it is. You have to read the situation accurately. You have to read the person and think of how you could use them in the way that they want to use themselves and thank you in a thank you note 12 hours later thinking it was their idea. That's a complicated little thing, right? You're so competitive consistently over decades where most people go in for three to five years, something doesn't work out, and then they stop their competitive edge. So how do you keep that

edge? You know, it's really interesting because I did an interview yesterday with somebody who's really popular right now. And they're very young. And yet they said they already have those valleys where they went into a funk, like they were burned out. Right. After like two years of working hard or something. Yeah. And I just said, you know, what's funny is I've never had a burnout ever. And I've been going like this for a long time. Decades. 35, 40 years even. I mean, I started going at it in my teens hard, and I never had that burnout. And I think that's kind of a state of mind that you're going to get burnt out if you want to get burnt out.

But I always was going like this, and so I just kind of felt like I'm so fortunate to have it going. Why should I ever let the momentum go the other way? And then, of course, one of my great sayings is there's positive people and negative people. And when you're with a negative person or you're with a positive person, one of two things is going to happen. The negative person is going to make the positive person negative, or you're going to take the negative person and make them positive. So I've always paid attention to who I've always been around also. And I never wanted to be around people that didn't want to achieve. But I've never even come close to saying, I'm done. I'm burnt out. I'm not doing this anymore.

How do you spot the people who are truly wanting to achieve and who have that positive energy? Because sometimes people, you could bring people on your team and they could have that in the beginning, but they can kind of lose that or they can spin off a negative cycle. Are you very loyal to the people that you have in your companies that can give them multiple chances or is it like, okay, enough is enough? Like, come to growth. What a great question that is because I even list a bunch of people

at the front of this book who really helped make me become who I am. Because even though I'm the leader, I'm the bull, you are dependent on people when you build a company my size of 60,000 people. That's it? Pretty small.

And I truly probably have 25 vice presidents that average 25 years. Wow. And I tease my people about this all the time. Wow. I go, I never, ever in the last 35 years have probably lost direct answers to me, maybe one or two people. And so why are y'all losing them every year? Right, right. And so when people ask me, what are you most proud of?

And I think it's the people that truly deal with me on a day-to-day basis. Even my assistants. I have one for 27 years and I'm one for 26 years. Wow. You know, that truly grew up with me on a day-to-day basis. Even my assistants, I have one for 27 years and I'm one for 26 years. Wow. You know, that truly grew up with me, you know, that were young girls. Right, right, right, right, right, right. And so, and I think it is, if they'd tell you, they'd say, that's the hardest son of a bitch to work for in the world, but I would not work for anybody else.

Wow. I think that's what they would all tell you. I mean, in a world where it seems like everyone wants to change jobs every year or two because they want something new and exciting, how do you cultivate that culture or environment where they're like still excited every year? Is it because you're acquiring new companies all the time? I think that's part of it is that they know that we're the bull and that, you know, even in tough times, if I call them into my boardroom,

it's not, hey, we're getting bought out. It's who are we buying because we eat the weak in bad times. So I think it's leadership, respect. It's knowing that we're the bull out there in our industries. For those who don't know what you mean by the bull who haven't read the book, what does that mean to be the bull out there in our industries. For those who don't know what you mean by the bull, who haven't read the book, what does that mean to be the bull? You're the ones always that everybody else is worried about. We bought a couple of companies in the last week, and it's because we were opportunists, and we're the ones who can always deliver.

Wow. And we're the ones who have the funding, the due diligence to do it quickly. We outwork people. A lawyer of mine who handles all the M&A, he was at the office from 9 a.m. Sunday a week ago till Monday night at 9 p.m., 36 straight hours, getting a deal done. It's just a culture of we are the best. And not that there's not great companies out there. And, you know, we're just still in the whole world, you know, a company. Right. But in what we do and doing mergers and acquisitions in the restaurant business or gaming business or whatever, aquariums, amusement parks.

But we outworked everybody to get the Houston Rockets. I mean, my team during Hurricane Harvey, when everybody was flooding, was still at the office trying to get that contract signed because we wanted it done by Monday of Labor Day. During the big flood in Houston. Yeah, 100%. But the Houston Rockets went on the market on July 17th, and we signed the deal up on September the 5th for the most money ever paid for a professional sports team. And so it's just saying we're going to get it done before anybody else can. Now, why pay the most premium? Why not try to, like, create the win-win, get the best deal for yourself?

Why say I'm going to overpay? Maybe it's not an overpay in your mind but why do that and when everyone's telling you maybe that's a little too much you know because i i i listen i listen and i'm going to tell you what i heard i heard from some very very smart people and this is one of the reasons that the book's titled Shut Up and Listen is because I do listen. And I had some really smart people who know a lot of people who went after sports franchises say they quit too soon. It's the biggest regret they ever had. Meaning they sold the franchise?

No, no, no. They went after, say, the L.A. Clippers. They went after the Golden State Warriors. They went after, and people that could afford to do it. And they just said, oh, I'm not going to pay that extra $100 million or $200 million or whatever. And then they had to go buy a team in the years to come somewhere else, not in their hometown.

Right, right. Or a minor league team or something. Or whatever. And so I was told there's never been a team sell for less in sports. And it's just a mistake you don't make. And so I listened to people and said, you could regret this. And it's kind of funny, but I already knew I was not going to lose, okay? I was not going to lose, okay? I was not going to lose this opportunity. And when other people, I even had the Tad Brown, who I've known for years, who runs the business side of the team,

even today, call me at one point and said, y'all weren't in the room kicking tires like some of the other people. Are you losing interest? I said, no, Tad, I haven't lost interest at all. I said, everybody else is in there trying to justify how do you pay $2 billion? Because they made it really clear that they wouldn't sell it for under $2 billion. Wow. They're all trying to figure out how you pay that for it. I was out there making sure I could raise the money. I like that.

No, seriously. You weren't even thinking. You said, I'm going. Right. I knew that the team on a bad year is going to make $40 million and on a good year is going to make $90 million. Okay. I knew that. Okay. And I'd known Tad for 15 years. But if you start trying to say, okay, if it makes $40 million or it makes $80 million,

do you pay $1.9 billion or $1.8 billion or $2.2 billion? It has nothing to do with it. And so while everybody else was doing due diligence that way, even people that have a lot more money than me, they're trying to get there and they missed the box. They were looking at the wrong thing instead of realizing this is a 10-year play. And I can promise you one thing. I bought this team in 2016. In 2026, it will be worth $3 billion.

Really? Yes. Okay. It's already moved up in value. It's just the feel and knowing what to do and not getting caught up in the due diligence that doesn't matter. I think one of the reasons I've been successful is because nobody does due diligence on an acquisition more than my team does. But it's just don't get caught up in the things that don't matter. Like price of a

few hundred million. And then, and you know what's so funny? And then you know how it got their attention? Everybody else wrote letters. They said, okay, we want everybody's letter of intent today. Everybody had all the potential buyers. Everybody had all kinds of ins and outs and everything. And you know what I did? I said, I'm going to put up $100 million non-refundable. I love that. No financing contingency.

No NBA approval contingency. And if something happens, I'll walk away and lose it. Okay. With the previous owner. Yeah, with the previous owner. Wow. No one else would do that. Nobody else would do that. But that's the second time I've done that and it it. Okay. So that previous owner. Yeah. Wow. No one else was going. Nobody else would do that. And you were willing. That's the second time I've done that network for me

because of my great casino in Lake Charles, right outside of Houston. I did the same thing. 50 million, right? Or 40 million? 50 million. Yeah. So it's worked for me twice. I hope I have the opportunity to do it again. I want that bad. What is the things that people should be looking at? You mentioned people are looking at the wrong things. They're thinking about the price or the other things. What should they be thinking about if they want to acquire something? Whether you're a small business owner that wants to acquire something for $100,000 or you're a billionaire like yourself trying to acquire something for $2.2 billion,

what is the thing they look for? Well, if it's something that you really, really want and you can afford and it doesn't really matter, you should just go get it. Why? Is that for the peace of mind? It's just for the peace of mind and so you never regret it. I can go back 20, 25 years ago, and I've been asked this the last few days. I had a chance to buy this unbelievable car collection about 25 years ago that had great muscle cars

right when they were coming. It was unbelievable and I was really buying it at a bargain because the father had died, the son was selling it, didn't give a damn. And I lost a deal over a couple hundred thousand dollars that today if I own that I would just walk in there and say this is mine I just love it and and I learned a lesson and and 25 years later that's the one deal that comes back and haunts me because I negotiated a little bit too hard for something that really mattered now it's something out let's look at in box of a real business deal you can't get caught up emotionally there's always another deal and I walk

away from deals all the time really all the time because there's there's always another deal but you know what there's only so many great car collections there's only one NBA team and you're on hometown okay and so there's certain things you don't worry about and that's where you have to be smart and say there's always another casino to buy or another restaurant company to buy, but keep it right. Know what's in the box and know what's out of the box. Thank you so much for listening. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and it inspired you on your journey towards greatness. Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for

a full rundown of today's show with all the important links. And also make sure to share this with a friend and subscribe over on Apple Podcasts as well. I really love hearing feedback from you guys, so share a review over on Apple and let me know what part of this episode resonated with you the most. And if no one's told you lately,

I want to remind you that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter. And now it's time to go out there and do something great.