Trading Secrets - 41: A-Rod’s therapy, suspension and self development. The side of A-Rod you haven’t seen…

Episode Date: February 21, 2022

In Part 2 of this week’s two-part episode, Jason continues his conversation with MLB Legend and business tycoon, Alex Rodriguez, as they discuss the biggest challenges Arod has endured, how he overcame them and his biggest learning lessons from those mistakes.  From pre suspension to post suspension, therapy and more, Arod trades all of his secrets. He dives deep in his investments, the strategy and operations of his very successful company, A-Rod Corp, and how his team competes against the big dogs on Wall Street. He provides our listeners investing tips, tricks and rules! Imagine cold emailing Warren Buffet and asking Magic Johnson to lunch in your early 20s…Arod shares his networking stories! He talks through his largest brand partnerships too! Have you ever wondered if the greatest athlete in the history of baseball suffers from imposter syndrome like many individuals do on a daily basis? Or maybe what the sharks on ‘Shark Tank’ are like when the cameras are off? Or how you could sell Arod to be your shark!?! If you’re looking for actionable investment advice, tips on delivering the perfect pitch, or strategies to run and grow a company, then it's another episode you can't afford to miss. Pre-order The Restart Roadmap: Rewire and Reset Your Career TODAY!   Sponsor: Masterclass.com/secrets for 15% off an annual membership    Host: Jason Tartick Voice of Viewer: David Arduin Executive Producer: Evan Sahr   Produced by Dear Media.

The following podcast is a Dear Media production. Welcome back to another episode of Trading Secrets. I'm your host, Jason Tardick, and we have the A-Rod part two episode coming in hot. Now, if you haven't listened to Part 1, go check it out. we put it out last Monday. This is part two. And if you remember, at the end of part one, where we concluded was when I asked Arod, not professionally, is there anything you wish you would have done differently personally?

This, part two, is an episode I can say with confidence you cannot afford to miss. Arod part one, we talked a lot about the dollars and the baseball content. contracts, and it was impressive, and there was a lot of insight. But this is next level. If you enjoy this podcast, please make sure to subscribe, give us five stars, put a review in there, we're reading them, and share with a friend. Before we wrap and ringing the bell with A-Rod Part 2, my book, The Restart Roadmap, Rewire, and Reset Your Career is now on presale. And it would be such an honor if you were to purchase a copy. You can go to Amazon.com, just type in the restart roadmap and purchase a copy on pre-sale. If you do, take the receipt and email it to me,

the restart roadmap at jason tardick.com. Email me the receipt, the restart roadmap at jasontardick.com as we have some sweepstakes for those people who have bought the pre-sale book. Thank you for your support. Without further ado, let's ring in. A-Rod, part two. Personally, with everything that you've achieved at this point, your World Series, the huge contracts, everything we've already mentioned, is there anything you wish you might have done different, just personally, or as far as managing career, or maybe even finances? Yeah, I mean, look, there's a bunch of things, Jason. When you're running so far, fast, like Mark and I were running fast. You're running blind sometimes. And you don't know what the

hell is, you know, when you look back, talking about hindsight being 2020, it's more like 10-10. It's just like you cringe as some of the mistakes that were made. But part of like being progressive and being a pioneer and, you know, the largest contracts and all these things that come along just comes with incredible pressures. They come with incredible velocity. And I don't think you have the luxury to do that and also be extra cautious. Right. You can't be in sixth year and in park at the same time. And some people like to be in park and they go to Neutro and they go to one, two,

three. And guys like Mark and I like to go to six year, right? With that comes volatility and recourse, whether it's family, whether there is finances. So I would say in a blanket, I look back and cringe of some of the crazy things. Sure. But I also am very proud that I've taken a lot of those experiences. and learn from them, and I apply them to my life today. Yeah, and so many things you said will resonate with so many people there, especially

about sixth gear. You can only get so many places if you're moving in that first or second gear. For someone that also might have hit six gear, and they're not Mark Lory and they're not A-Rod, and they're trying to rebrand themselves, or maybe reposition their business, or they just hit rock bottom. What type of advice would you give for someone that mistakes come your way? here's how I would suggest that you battle back for those. Number one thing is self-awareness.

You know, the first thing I look for, we've all screwed up. I've screwed up in a much bigger stage of most people. At some level, we've all screwed up, right? Privately, publicly. Maybe people screwed up and you weren't called on it, but you know you screwed up, right? I think what I look for, and this came for me after seven, eight years of therapy, of having to go into deep therapy and rewiring of the brain is not like I'm going to put some, you know, a lipstick here and I'm going to paint the house.

I needed to tear the whole house down and start again. And the first thing that I try to look for is perpetrating or victim. And a lot of people will couch their apology with some type of and or butt or, you know, and to me, like, it just tells me that person's not ready to go to the next step. The first thing that you need to do is say, I screwed up, that's how I did it. There's how I'm going to fix it. I'm terribly sorry for it. there was no excuses.

Like that ground zero is the first step to jump on your trampoline to the next step. If not, you're still stuck in the past. You still have victim and victims are not champions. Yeah, well said. And I think for you to bring awareness to even talk openly about the therapy you underwent is so massive because we see these baseball players,

we see these pro athletes and they work out their muscles, but like the most important organ is right in between our ears. And for someone with like your masculinity and success to talk about that is, is extremely, extremely impactful. I commend you for doing that. Now, I want to talk a little about a lot about a baseball. I know you're a big BBB guy. We're going to business. So you make huge transitions. One of the things people might not know about you is that in your early 20s. I think it was 22. You said you bought your first apartment building. So one of the things about that

is you're only three years into your contract. Obviously a lot of success, but you're taking some W2 liability and then redeploying that towards real estate. Those single family houses come to multifamily houses, then come to complexes, you then build an empire. What advice do you have for someone that is struggling with taking on the risk of some of their W-2 income and deploying it to something because they only have so much cash flow and the concern of building that type of investment is worrisome? First of, I think you have to understand the rules of engagement, right? And, you know, one of the things that we advocate here at Arod Corp is all our, all our team members are investors. I don't care if it's 500 or 2,000 bucks, but we're going to get into the sport of

getting your at-bats because I got 15,000 at bat at the big league level, but I was pretty horseshit in my first hundred, right? And I think, you know, you get more reps, you get more and you start understanding more and you start creating financial, you know, liberty for yourself. I think understanding as a young investor the difference between a liability and an asset. And I guarantee you that a large percentage of our listeners tonight don't know the real difference. Well, let me try to explain it. Poor dad teaches you that a house is an asset. So you see athletes, they get a lot of money, they're buying and acquiring houses.

Sure. Right? An athlete has five, six houses. Those are five or six liabilities. The reason they're liabilities is because every month you take money, out of your pocket to support these homes. Now, compare that to an asset, which is an apartment building or commercial real estate that puts money in your pocket. Because one is putting money in your pocket that is an asset. The one that takes money out of pocket is a liability. So

understanding those two things are super important, right? And then I would say if someone makes $50,000 a year, you know, there is a percentage of that capital. that you can put to work. So for me, I would start with 5% or 10%. So if you're making, you know, $50,000 a year and you're paying taxes and you come home with, call it $35, I would take $3,500 every year and then try to invest it in some type of cash-producing investment, right?

I will stay away from the extra vacation or really a fancy car. But if I put $3,500 to work and I do that every year, and then the next year I make a little bit more money than I put $5,000 and then I put $7,500. at some point, the refinances are going to start coming, you're going to start appreciating, you're going to start paying down debt, and all of a sudden, your net worth is going to get bigger and bigger. But it starts with small investments.

The notion that you have to be super wealthy to start investing, and not only is counterintuitive, but it's stupid. Like, why not invest when you're poor and young? That's why you should get into it. Our team has such an advantage. In their 20s, I am forcing them to, and I say to them, if you lose it, I'll make it up to you. So you have no downside. You have no downside. Upside is all yours. Downside is all mine. And they go, well, really? Can I invest more? I'm like, no, you can't invest more? That's good enough.

There's limits. But the point is, it starts giving them some courage, right? Through my experience, and because I say, I'll back the downside, they all of a sudden get excited about it. And that excitement is what you need. And you getting invested early at 22, think about how much further you are ahead today at 46 and instilling that on your employees and everyone here listening is just pertinent to economic growth. A question I have for you then is those are some investments that are some advice that you're suggesting, build assets, build liabilities, but we live in this world. There's a lot of stuff going on. You got the Redits, you got, you know, you have retail investors and there's a lot of NFT buzz and crypto buzz. Is there anything in the Arod Corp specifically that you might steer away from

and or just isn't in your trajectory based on what you are seeing out there as far as an asset is classified? Anything that says, I want to get rich fast, we run the other way. Yeah. We really like the Berkshire Hathaway model. Invest into great companies that generate great cash flow that over time you can take that cash flow and redeploy it. And we're all relatively young here.

And we want to own businesses for 100 years. And obviously, sometimes you have to pivot. And the advantage that we have at Arod Corp is we can do a deal as large as 10 billion or small as 1 million. And having that type of ninja flexibility, a lot of the competition that we go up against, whether there's a Blackstone or a Black Rock or a KKR, they're like cruise ships. And sometimes it's very hard for them to move at the pace that we move. And because of that, we're like ninjas. And my team is trained that we're able to move fast. And, you know, I think that's an incredible competitive advantage.

And no matter how we scale this thing, we always want to keep not only a family culture environment here, but also one that can move very quickly. Move quickly, family culture. And I will tell you, this office is unbelievable. Another perk for Arod Corp. For anyone that hasn't heard of Arod Corp, can you think of maybe like one portfolio company or one success story that, like, defines what you guys are doing? I think, look, when we look at our legacy business is real estate, is multifamily. I started with a duplex and, you know, grew that to at one point over 12, 13,000 apartment units. We're sitting at probably 8,500 units today.

We've kind of sold from the bottom. We have this incredible portfolio. And it generates tons of cash flow. And what's interesting is the world's kind of falling apart here in the tech world the last three weeks. Yeah. And our real estate has never done better, right? So we're completely hedged. And again, what I talk to my team about is if you have a dollar, you know, maybe $60,000.

cents goes into real estate, cash flow producing. You take about 20% and do some great tech that we do. So at ARACorp, we do real estate and we do venture. But a big piece of us is more than Berkshire Hathaway. We're generating a lot of cash. I love it. Berkshire Hathaway, we've heard Warren Buffett. And so obviously that is access that you generate from a cold email. I've also heard that Magic Johnson was a big part of your mentorship. So I'd love to hear more about what that mentorship was like and some of the biggest takeaways you had because he's had extreme success in the business world too. Yeah, Irvin Johnson has been magic, such an incredible influence in my life. He was so generous. About 25 years ago, we sat down for dinner and it was supposed to be

20 or 30 minutes coffee and a drink and magic doesn't drink. So we ended up having like a three and a half hour dinner. And through that dinner, I asked him years later, why did you give me so much time. He goes, you had like a notebook of, you kept writing notes. I'm like, man, this guy was saying I'm really important. He's writing all these notes. He said, he never met with an athlete. They brought a notebook and a pen. And I never walk into a meeting without a notebook and a pen. And either this is my team. Right. If you go into a meeting, we want to see your notes. We want to feel like we were in that meeting and never missed on your numbers, right. Jason, what was that number? Two point five? Make sure that two point five is right. So I was kind of

completely like an investigator and he kind of gave me his format. And the thing that resonated the most for me from being a great basketball player, Hall of Fame basketball player to a Hall of Fame businessman was what he did was he connected Wall Street to the urban community. And I felt that resonated with me because I can do that with the Latino community. And he kind of gave me his process and ultimately his plans on how his blueprint on how he created Magic Johnson Enterprise. And we followed that for the last 20 years. to a T. So Magic's my mentor, my guy. That's pretty cool. But I'm thinking about you. I'm like picturing this. You as a kid with the notebook going in with Irvin. At any point are you like imposter

syndrome is a real big thing. And the things that you had to do at an early stage, 17 and on, at any point like is imposter syndrome is intimidation? Like is that any part of a rod? And if so, how'd you overcome that? Always, always, always. Imposter syndrome has been such a big part of my life. but ultimately I have this, you know, for better or worse, a blind spot to just believe in myself that I can actually do it. And what was interesting about Irving Magic Johnson was he looked a lot like me. He had brown skin. He didn't graduate from college, even though he went to Michigan State. He left as a freshman. He started from an NBA court. I'm starting from a major league baseball field. And what happened, much like with Rich Hoffman, he showed me a way and a path

that if he did it, why couldn't I do it? Sure. So a lot of times when I go back and talk to our athletes or athletes in general or my community, you know, it gives young people hope that I hope they're saying just like magic did for me that I can do for the next generation of young athletes or young people out there, that they're big. obstacle is what's in between their ears. Yeah. And you touching young people has been a part of what you've been able to do a lot lately. And one way you've also done that as we talk a little bit and wrap up a lot of your business journey is you've done it through the Corp podcast with Barstool Sports. So was that part of your thought process and partnering with Barstool?

This is another way that I can have accessibility to a big audience that I can make an impact. Yeah, that's a perfect example. Our young team was very influential in that decision. So my former CEO, Jeff Lee, who's a very close friend to me personally, to Ashley and to our firm, came with this idea that they had kind of a stranglehold on the young demographic of America. And I said, what does that mean? Well, if you go to any college, anyone would know who these guys are? And I'm like, well, who are these guys? And sure enough, through a few months of negotiations, we created this podcast. podcast with, you know, Dan Katz and I. And it's been a wonderful success. And it's funny, when I go to campuses today, they're screaming in me like Barstool the Corp. Nothing about the Yankees, nothing about championship or home bonds. Rebrand. It's, it's, so it's been really good for us to kind of tell our story and, you know, connect with that next generation. And I don't think I've seen you post about that since August of 2020. Can we expect maybe some more episodes possibly? We're working on some surprises. We're working on some prizes. I love it.

Just a few more questions for you, but one thing is Rob Grunkowski has talked a lot about the fact that he would spend his endorsement money, but he would save all of his NFL money. And still to this day, he saved every penny that's come through the NFL. And I know you've done monstrous deals with Nike, Louis Slugger, Rawlings, Pepsi. And so I'm just curious. And we do deals in our world, too. I'm just curious how someone at your level decides what is the right fit for an endorsement. And who helps you with those decision-making? Because being aligned with the right brand and what they stand for, especially in the world we live in today, there's a lot of liability with that. There's a ton of liability and is such an ever-changing world in that space, right? Like back in the day, it was the Gatorade's, the Nikes, the state farms, all the blue chippers. And those still play today. Those I believe are evergreen. But what's happening now in this world of crypto, NFT, all these kind of starting companies, you know, starting companies. you've seen LeBron do a wonderful job.

You saw Kobe before he passed do a wonderful job with different beverages companies and beads and stuff like that for LeBron. So I think the landscape has changed a lot. I think it will continue to change. But I would say there's two layers. The first layer is the blue chippers and people are always going to do those.

I mean, Michael Jordan still represents, you know, haines and, you know, gatorade and all of that. And then there's this place where we're still trying to figure it out and do people pay you a fee, or do people give you equity in a company or phantom equity? So I think a lot of that is still being reshaped and developed and is excited to see where that lands. And for you, is there one brand deal that you did that was the marquee? Can you think of one that was like the big deal?

You know, I think the one I'm probably most proud of is my 25-year relationship with Nike and Phil Knight. And I'll never forget this. You know, Phil Knight is such an incredible man, such a great. leader and I'll share you my breakfast with Phil Knight. When we were in Texas, we said to Phil like, why isn't our contract, you know, longer term, why isn't it better? Why don't I have my own shoe? What don't we do more? And he said, look, Alex, I make your promise. If you end up going to a primary market like a New York, like a Boston, like an L.A., I promise I will redo your deal. and we had that breakfast in L.A. at the four seasons. And I thought he would never, like, remember that. And sure enough, when we get traded to the Yankees, we call up Phil Knight. And we said, Phil, do you remember that breakfast we had? And he said, we sure do. And within the next 48 hours, he did the deal. His handshake and his word was gold. There was no paperwork, so he didn't have to honor it. And Phil Knight was a man of his word. And to this day, I'm a Nike person. And I will always be a Nike.

person. That is a great story. I love that he came through with it because you don't see handshake agreements come to fruition these days. Two more things I got to finish up with here. I can't leave without asking you is shark tank. So we've had some sharks on the show, huge personalities. We've talked a lot about deal flow here and success stories and failures. What has been the most surprising thing that you have noticed now being in the shark tank and being a shark? Well, for one, how real it is and how competitive the sharks are. I mean, they are sharks. I mean, we're all friends behind our closed doors. But when we're out there, we're competing for the companies and we get after it and it's exciting. And you know, what I've also learned, Jason, the art of telling a story. And for the

young entrepreneurs, the one thing that Warren Buffett has always talked to me about is investing in your communicating skills, both in writing and storytelling. And every one of those sharks are supreme black belt communicators. Well, I was going to ask you if someone came into pitch you, they see the sharks, they want A-Rod. What is going to sell A-Rod? What is it? I think energy, self-awareness, I don't like, usually I don't like a straight line of perfection. I like somebody that's had some volatility because that shows grit and toughness. And I think a lot of young people run away from it.

I lead with it. Because just put it out on the table. And if they're going to say no, I always say to them a quick yes or a quick no, it's better than a slow maybe and people really appreciate that and from their point of view is like just lead with it there's no BS and then just get into your story right and so many people have so much anxiety because they don't want to talk about it sure but if you start with it and just take the elephant out of the room I think you serve yourself well I love it and the people that always do well and I'm sure the people that I think find are relatable like they're laughing at themselves they realize it's

with anxiety-driven situation, and they could just, like, keep it real. One more thing, and don't take yourself so seriously. Yeah. Like, you have to be able to introduce levity into your life, especially into the business life, because business, sports, parenting, everything is so hard that if you take everything so seriously, you just, like, put more pressure on yourself. One of the things that I learned pre-versus post-suspension, pre-suspension, I was so uptight. it was a gladiator success was like winning in contracts and home runs and post through my therapy

what I realize is it's not that serious don't take yourself so seriously take a step back breathe laugh for yourself a little bit and success look more like building teams being a great father being a present father you know if you hit a home run great if you don't you don't right you get the next one so levity into a business person's life it's is vital especially in the business this world, I think there's such a lack of vulnerability and humility that everyone's got to be the smartest. You got to be the IV. You got to know this stuff. And I think sometimes when you admit that you don't know and you can build the personal connection of like, I'll find out for you type thing, it goes a long way. I mean, that's huge. The last thing I got to ask you about Alex's

is this, of course, Mark Laurie deal, right? One point five billion dollar deal. Takeover ownership of Timberwolves. I believe you took a 20% stake with upside. I don't even know where to start. with this, but I'm going to start with asking, I heard the deal happen quickly. How does someone buy a team? Like, how does, like, is it brokers calling each other? Attorneys, P.E. Get involved. Like, where does it even start? This is, like, such a high private society world, like, this ownership stuff. It's like, when you're in outside, like, I had no idea. Like, even as a player, I had no idea how to walk into that room and talk about imposter syndrome. Like, like, like, one of 30 owners. Like, that's a next level. And these are usually the smartest people

in their industry, their tightens in their space. And you find yourself in these rooms and you're like, okay, what am I doing here? I'm an athlete. I'm not supposed to be an owner. But I think what happened with us, Jason, is we took a very aggressive run to acquire the Mets. And in a period of about seven or eight months in the middle of a world pandemic, we raised close to two and a half billion dollars. And ultimately, we fell short to Stephen Cohen, who was much richer and he can write one check.

Sure. So lesson number one is don't try to go up against the rich in the world. And look, he's incredibly passionate about the Mets. He's a huge Mets fan. I think he's going to be wonderful for baseball. But ultimately, we were the second winners. And because we were so kind of season and kind of in mid-season form, when the Timber Wolves deal came about, we looked at it very quickly. and we said, well, we know all the levers, a lot of the levers to pull.

We like the economics. We like the NBA. We think it's a global sport. It has tremendous tailwinds, fantastic leadership with Adam Silver. And by the way, is a billion dollars less than the Mets. It's kind of a little bit of a no-brainer. Now we've got to just pay for this thing. That's how Mark and I kind of came together.

And Mark called me, he says, hey, are you serious about this? I said, I am. Are you serious about it? I am. and within a three or four minute conversation, we go, hey, let's go, let's march, let's do it. And how many days did it take for this deal to be turned around? Probably, like, agreed.

Once Mark and I both went to see Glenn in Naples, probably seven days. Back of the envelope, literally, like, old school. And for us, being Glenn Taylor and Becky Taylor's partner has been really a dream come true. They've been stellar. They've been best in class. And Glenn is a great mentor to Mark and I. and we're super thrilled with the partnership. That is beautiful.

And would you ever think about investing in another sport other than basketball? Obviously, baseball was one. But, you know, you look at the sports, the soccer franchises now, the upside is huge. Do you have your eye on anything else? Or you just kind of content with what you got? Well, it's funny about, you know, me getting into basketball is I look at Irvin, my mentor, and he's a basketball legend and owns a baseball team. Here I'm a baseball player and we own an NBA team.

So that's kind of funny. But the other thing is really this is really not about sports teams. These are about owning platforms that are media, sports, entertainment platforms. And with a holding company like that, you've seen what the Fenway group has done. You see what Josh Harris and Blitz and Michael Rubin have done with their group. And it allows you to scale once you develop that. Right. So I would never say never, but right now we're super focused on bringing a world champion. to Minnesota. And the growth in those areas is tremendous. I don't know if you saw it. Buffalo Bills, Kansas City game, they had 35 million people tune in to a divisional round, blue ratings away, and NFL is up big time with their ratings. So there's huge upside in that. Before I get your trading secret and we wrap, and a trading secret, as you know, is a lesson someone can get from you financially, professionally, or personally that they can't find in a textbook or learn in a classroom. The last thing is a buffalo-born guy, I got to say, is there even 1% of Buffalo Bills Mafia in Alex Rodriguez?

Do we have even this? Do we have a fingernail? Yeah, a fingernail. And I'll tell you what it is, is Jim Kelly, the great Jim Kelly, is an alum at the University of Miami. Oh, okay. We'll take it. All right, we had to really backdoor our way into that one, but we'll take it. That is awesome. Alex, this has been such a pleasure. a day I'll never forget. If you could leave us with a trading secret, one that you could pass on to our listeners that they couldn't find in a classroom or a textbook, we would love that. Well, I think when it comes to investing, nobody can predict what's going to happen in the next six

hours or even the next six months in the market. So I would think about investing as a long-term proposition. Think about owning a small piece of a great company that you think is going to be around and do really well and has growth of the next five, 10, 20 years. The other part is I would think about investing in kind of sweaters and tan tops, meaning that you have a diversified portfolio enough that when it's really cold like in Buffalo, your sweaters do really well. And when it's really hot in Miami, you know, your tan tops do really well. So you have some protection. And then the last thing I would say is when you think about investing, think about having five to ten great companies versus having a hundred average companies. So think a little bit longer and harder about

what investments you want to make, whether it's Amazon or Facebook or Apple or whatever. whatever, you know, Berkshire Hathaway or Starwood. But just think about if I have 10 great companies and I can only have 10, your due diligence on how you approach these 10 stocks are going to be better diligence, better concentrated, and sometimes diversification is overused. I much rather have, you know, 10 Michael Jordans than 100 average players. It's so well said. And this is advice, guys, that is coming directly from someone who's doing it every single day at the highest dollar amount. I mean, when you look at the sweater and tank top comparison, it's exactly what you talked about when you talked about tech taking a beating in your real estate appreciating.

That was an unbelievable trading secret. I honestly think our listeners are going to be able to write a book on all the stuff you gave. I'm not kidding. We really appreciate it. Alex, if anyone's living under a rock that's listening here and doesn't know who Alex Rodriguez is or where to find you, where can they find everything you do have going on. Well, they can find me at, let's see, A-Rod on Instagram. same thing everyone on Twitter. Yeah.

And we're not very public when it comes to how you can find us, but call Ashley. She'll find me. Ashley will find you if every new questions. Thank you so much for your time. Alex, this has been such a pleasure for myself, and I know everyone that listens to this. Well, thank you for all that you're doing. I think what you're doing is really God's work. I think more people need to understand financial literacy, and the more they learn.

This is truly where knowledge is power. We need Americans and people from around the world to understand financial literacy. you a lot more. Because once you understand it, you're going to have a lot more fun and you're going to be able to provide for your family. And there'll be a ripple effect into communities to do well as to do good as well. So thank you. So well said. Awesome. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. This is great. podcast. So, David, last time we brought in a legend himself, Emmy Award winning Ryan Rucco. And I know you and I had so many things we wanted to even just like banter about the way

you and I always do. So I left this segment for that. I want to talk all things, business, your take on some of the stuff that Arod said. Maybe some of the questions you have, because he talked about a lot of very, I would say, elementary 101 type. I say elementary weird, deal with it, type business stuff and some complex stuff. So this will be a recap, unlike part one's recap, but it'll be a recap with the one and only, the curious Canadian, Dave Ardwin and I. So Dave, let me kick it to you, A-Rod part two. And even if you want to talk about part one, bring it in, what do you got for me? Yeah, I think there's a lot to cover. I'm excited we get to do this again and talk about A-Raw, because like you said, so many things left on the table.

overall I thought he did an amazing job of like you said giving our listeners great investing and relatable tangible advice even though he's like the head of a rod corp I mean he is a rod but I got to ask you I was watching the video interview as I was preparing for this and I saw right before you guys hit play like you looked nervous like you looked like I've never seen you look before so I got to ask you how did that interview right before compare to like any big sporing event that you've ever played in your life Well, now I've got to ask you, what about me to look nervous? Tell me more. I don't know, man. You're just in a hot seat. Like, I think you did an amazing job, by the way.

Like, you've really got this hosting thing down. I thought your questions and your transitions were great. But I just, you just had that look in your eye being like, oh, my God, it's about to start. Holy shit, is this really happening? Like, I'm about to interview A Rod, let's go. But I don't know. You're usually a really confident guy. But I just saw it was like, deer in headlights. I'm like, is he going to, is he going to like have an M&M moment or he just like can't talk? All I was thinking about with that intro, calm, collected, get through it, and let's just go. The biggest thing about that interview is, first of all,

you're in front of Arod, which is intimidating. He is a very, very intimidating presence, I will say. But as intimidating as it is, it's because of who he is, because he's also so warm and welcoming, and you could hear that in his voice. I would say it did. It felt like, you know, there are times I talk about this in my book, which is now available on pre-sale Amazon,

on go order it, the restart roadmap. It would literally mean the world to me. But I talk about like these panic, anxiety, situational experiences I had. And those were so different than kind of this excitement. Because when some of those panic situations I had that I talked about in the book, it was because I felt as though I had to put on a front and be something that I wasn't. I felt as though I was acting in a role as opposed to being myself. And here, the beauty of this interview is I get to just be myself. So to your point, it didn't feel like nerves and anxiety, like I'm going to start sweating. It felt like Eminem. It felt like excitement, like dialed in. I got to be ready. Here we go. Let's do it. So I was excited. I will say there are different parts throughout the

interview where I was a lot more comfortable and a lot more nervous. And where this podcast started when I asked him, you know, is there anything you wish you did differently, not professionally, but personally, you know, we started to get into some of those more challenging conversations. And Arod talked all about, you know, his pre-suspension, post-suspension. He talked a lot about his therapy work. He talked a lot about his deals. So this part was where we really got into it. And I will tell you, like, behind the surface in the brain, there were times where anxiety had a little few more spikes than part one. And we're going to touch on a lot of that stuff that you mentioned, but like I said, I was just in awe.

When he said that you guys were podcasting in the room that he signed his first contract, I had chills. So I couldn't imagine what it was like to be there and great job bringing some Presente in there. That was a clutch move by you. But that's how it was at the start. And then I'm going to start right at the end.

He says, Jason, you're doing God's work. And I just think for him, Arod, to say that you, Jason, are doing God's work. Like, yeah, there is that feeling of like, I'm just being myself and fucking. and rights. Like, I'm doing it. So he said, you're doing God's work because you're giving people financial literacy. And as a curious Canadian, it wouldn't be me if I'm still financially illiterate. So I'm going to start off by asking you some questions that of some things that were

brought up that I think that there will be people at home that might not understand like I didn't during the interview. So can we start there? We can. But I want to touch on one thing you discussed is the president. So you might be hearing David say that and not think twice about it. We brought in a 12 pack of Presidente Beer. It's really important to think through this. No, I didn't just bring in some beers to go shoot the shit with Arod and, you know, Papa Soda. Presidente is a company that Arod is invested in and is also the chairman in. So obviously, it shows due diligence, right? We show up with Presidente. We did our research. He knows that we're buying something and bringing something to the table that he's a part of. And it just leaves a first impression.

I would tell any of you, if you're trying to make a first impression, you got one shot to do it. think through it be proactive and be prepared so that's a big one and then david it sounds like someone who came out of a limo before who had to make a first impression one time so not my first rodeo not my first rodeo and then i think to the god's work stuff i mean it that was such an incredible honor for him to say something like that i feel as though we are doing god's work we're touching over a million eyeballs every single week through the restart community and trading secrets as it relates to professional finance, professional navigation, and personal finance. So, David, with that said, what an honor for Arod to say it.

You fire away with your questions. Let's go. So I've heard this before, but I truly didn't know what it is. And he mentioned like the Berkshire Hathaway model. Yes. Is it a company like a Facebook? Is it like a conglomerate, like a Dow Jones? Like, what is it? Yeah.

So Berkshire Hathaway, it's this massive, massive holding company. And the big thing that everyone should know about Berkshire Hathaway is that it's run and owned by Warren Buffett. And it has been since the 1960s. It started like in the textile business. I think they started in 1955. And then what happened is they moved to the insurance business. So think about insurance, David. We pay these premiums, right?

But the only time insurance has cash outflow is if a catastrophic event occurs. So you get all this cash inflow. and then you can invest it and invest it and build and build. And that's what Berkshire Hathaway has done. And think about this. This is crazy what they've done and how they've done it. But you can buy this company. You can be an owner in Class A shares, okay?

You guys can go right now. Go to your little Apple stocks area. Type in BRCA. You'll see it. But you'll see the price tag. For one share, it's 475. thousand dollars. Wait, what? $474,000. In 1980, this stock was about $300. And Warren Buffett has a model to generate cash.

He loves companies that pay dividends, but his big thing was to shareholders, I'm not going to pay the dividends back to you. I'm going to use the return and keep investing in different companies. And one of his big, big purchases was, was fruit of the loom. He bought it for $835 million when it was getting crushed. And so that's what he's done. He's bought big businesses as they needed help and they needed cash. And so right now, and by the way, that's a very high level summary of what they're doing because I could do a whole podcast on it. But right now, their market cap, if you look it up, is $705 billion. And that's why Warren Buffett has earned the respect of one of the best investors to ever walk on the

planet. And what he's doing with ArodCorp is emulating this model. Is he doing it at the level they are? No. But he's doing big deals. And he's using this model as a benchmark. And so anyone that wants to learn more about this model, I think the best resource out there's investopedia.com to just search it, Berkshire-Hathaway model. And you can learn more about it. Well, it sounds like a pretty damn good model to try and emulate. So A-Rod's smart guy. The next one I got is he talks a lot about his endorsements deals on top of the contracts that he had. And he said some staple companies, a Pepsi and Nike estate farm is an endorsement example of something that's evergreen. What did he mean by evergreen? Yeah, there's a lot of things I found interesting about this

conversation because one, that Phil Knight conversation regarding Nike, how he's been with Nike for that long and Phil came back to the table once he got to a major market. That was fascinating. But you also remember him talking about Kobe and LeBron. He was talking about the blue chip companies. And he also talked about how they're paid, right? He talked about a blend of equity and cash. So in our space, right, like in our little bachelor influencing space, it is always a premium to get a blue chip evergreen company, which he's referring to. What is that? Okay. That's like a Walmart. That's an Amazon, right? A Wells Fargo, an Apple, a Nike, the big companies. If one of us little guys can get something like that, it's a big deal, we'll actually take a pay cut to get it. So we as

influencers will be paid less to get deals that are blue chip companies. At his level, right? It's not that they're paid less. It's that they're actually only, setting the expectation in some cases to only get the biggest and the best blue chip deals. They won't even look at it otherwise. And so Evergreen and what he referred to Fruit of the Loom, like a Michael Jordan, think about how long Michael Jordan has been associated with Fruit of the Loom, right? 20, 30, maybe 40 years. That's Evergreen. It's ever existing, evergreen, a blue chip company that's always there and always on, like it has notoriety and not. so much of a liability to be associated with them. Does that answer your question? That actually does.

That actually does. That was a good breakdown right there. There we go. Another breakdown is something that he said and it kept, you know, really stuck in my brain was when he talked about the ability or really the notion of being in park and trying to be in sixth gear at the same time. And it just kind of stuck with me. I thought it was like so interesting. So he kind of started with a quote that said the notion that you have to be super wealthy to start investing is not only counterintuitive, but it's stupid. So I'm going to ask you, can you give me an example of being in park when it comes to investing and then being in sixth gear when it comes to investing and maybe how long that transition can take to get from park to sixth gear when it comes to just investing?

First of all, I love this segment and I'm glad you brought this up because he talked about the fact when he looks back at his life, there are so many cringe moments. Like he said that. But he said, you know what, you're going to make mistakes because you don't have the luxury of being extra cautious when you're in six gear. And his exact words were, you can't be in six gear and park at the same time. And with that comes volatility. I love it. I love it. And I honestly need to do this more of my life. Because when you live a life in six gear, you're going to accomplish and achieve so much. You're going to make the most of every single minute. and every hour and every day and every week with your family, with your friends, with your

businesses, with your investments. But when you're running full speed, you're going to fall on your face. It's inevitable. But you're still running full speed and you're still going to outpace the person that's in first gear in park. And that's what he's saying here. I'll give you an example of someone in park. Someone right now in park is it's related to investments is worried about what they're

going to buy next. So they look cool on their credit card. They're racking up credit card debt. They're not managing the student debt and their cash that they do have. is sitting in their bank account doing jack shit for them. Someone that's in sixth gear, full speed ahead. A guy by the name of a DJ Blow. That was the first person I thought of.

I met him through the Grunkowski brothers, big DJ. He was struggling, right, during the pandemic because there were no events. He does massive events. He went full speed into the NFT space. He created his own projects. He was one of the first people there, full speed ahead. he now has created a multi-multi-multi-million dollar NFT fund.

He's being named by Forbes as some of the best innovators. Full speed. Saw an opportunity. No looking back. I'm going to fall on my face. I'm going to do it. I'm going to go get it. That's sixth gear.

All right. So if we have some listeners here who feel like they may be in park or they want to get from park to first gear, what are the first steps, I guess, like really quick. Like, what are the first steps to get out of park into first gear? First step is looking at yourself. Like, it's like, what is, what's the deal? Why are you in park right now? Why are you spending the money you're spending?

Who are you trying to impress? Why haven't you put your cash to work? Why are you not worried about your wealth? What the hell's going on? There's, I mean, a word we heard a lot from A-Rod. And this is a guy who has seen the highest of highs and the lowest of lows in the public eye, self-awareness and take ownership, right? Yes.

And when he talked about victims are not champions, right? That's where you start. That was probably my favorite. When he's like, you know, I love when he talked about the, I'm getting fired up right now, David. When he talked about the couch apology, right? It's the apology with the and or the butt. No, look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself, why the hell you haven't done anything? Why do you keep doing it?

Because until you understand yourself, until you can connect your emotions with your behaviors, you're not going to change anything. And that's not just finances. That's every aspect of your life. I have it in bold. I actually already texted my guy that I coach hockey with that exact quote. Like victims are not champions. And the fact that he talked about going to therapy to rewire his brain

and self-awareness is one of the most important aspects on the path to success. Just incredible, incredible takeaway there. So I fired up with you right there. It was incredible. And I think the cool thing, David, too, is when he talked about, I didn't think we would get into this at all, right? This was a very business-focused podcast. But when he talked about his pre- and post-suspension,

which you already just alluded to with his therapy, first of all, I mean, like the definition of masculinity, this guy, right? Top athlete to ever exist. Absolutely jacked, absolutely good-looking, huge dude, super successful in every way most humans would define success. And he's sitting there saying, therapy was the best thing that ever happened to me and that suspension

I learned so much about myself and it's not about when you fall on your face it's how you pick yourself up and how you become better I mean this is a guy who was suspended what ended up happening was he was suspended for taking performance enhancing drugs and he was part of a group that was accused of being tested positive

for banned substances between 2001 and 2003 and so there was a lot of back and forth like he refuted these claims and he took ownership of these claims. He definitely was given a certain amount of games he would have to miss. It was like 211 regular season games plus postseason games. And then he also went through a plea process to have that reduced. And it effectively was reduced to 162 games of suspension.

And so he was suspended from what he knows best and where he can channel all this massive energy. And it sounds like that was one of the best things that ever happened. him. And he came back, and he came back not only a more balanced human, but like he said, a better person, a better teammate, and a better father. And those are lessons. No one should forget. And people at home, 162 games in baseball is a full season. And judging by his contract, that's probably $25 to $30 million that he didn't receive. And it's really incredible to hear this interview and this podcast with them and understand what he's been able to create when he was not very well liked in the public eye.

He was a villain. He was a cheater. He was suspended. He was all these things. But he's done the self-help to recognize and admit his wrongs and his cringe rhythm moments to get to where he is. And this guy is insanely humble, which I never, ever thought I would say about him. I mean, Jason, we look at him like cold emailing Warren Buffett, sitting down with a notepad

with Magic Johnson for three hours, like looking up to. to all these people, as mentors, like, just really, like, you talked about having that imposter syndrome where he's Alex Rodriguez still sitting with these people, like, just not even getting on their level, like looking up to all these people, not taking anything for granted, just as a fan of his growing up in the baseball community and now seeing what he's able to do as a human and his business life, it's just so incredible, the power of therapy and all the things that he's done. Totally. And the one takeaway that all of us should always think about is when he said, I needed to tear the whole house down and start again. And I talk even about this a lot in my book

is without that foundation, you cannot build anything. And so I ask, you know, you David and myself and anyone that's listening to this, are you in a position that you've got to tear that whole house down? And if so, are you willing to do it? Because if even A-Rodk, do it, like you said, right? I mean, a guy that is literally the pinnacle of all success, but he's still always working on himself. Meeting with Magic Johnson and an opad, never goes into a meeting still at 46, you know, without a paper and pen, empowering the people that work for him. If he can still check himself, why the hell can't we and why the hell can't you? Just some crazy stuff. What else, David? I mean, there is so much in this podcast. I'm just

curious if there's anything else that are like really stuck out to you or questions you might add. This is a question because I think if some people like me heard this, they want to know how, how to better themselves. He had an unbelievable line when he talked about the art of like the need to be successful, the art of telling a story. He talked about really important thing that Warren Buffett told him is to invest in his communicative skills, writing a storytelling. He said the sharks at Shark Tank are Supreme Black Belt communicators. I just thought that was incredible. That and like how we talked about being a ninja and cruise ships, how other companies can't pivot as fast.

But I'm going to go back to the communicative skills. I truly believe in relationships and in your career and in your personal life with your friends and your family. Communicative skills are so important. And they're really learned throughout your experiences as a human. But if Warren Buffett is telling him to invest in his communicative skills, how does one invest in their communicative skills? As a listener at home invest in their communicative skills.

It's a brilliant question, David. a guy who's been able to interview almost every shark other than Mark Cuban. Let's go, Mark. We're waiting on you, buddy. The request is out there. Go shoot him a DM, guys. Mark Cuban. Get him on trading secrets. We just said A-Rod. Actually, one funny thing, we emailed

Mark, and he responded, because we told him we had Kevin O'Leary on. We'd love to have him on. And his comment was like, oh, man, you muddied the waters with Kevin. I was going to come on until you told me he was on. But I could tell you, after speaking to all of them, Damon, Barbara, Kevin, they are unbelievable communicators.

And when I think about them, I think it's about the game of chess. They are eight steps ahead of the conversation before the conversation happens. And they can corner you with wit, comedy, intelligence, acumen at any moment. And I couldn't agree more with the black belt comment. So here are some things that you can do to become a black belt communicator. This is a big one. This is a really, really big one, one that I worked on a lot in my 20s, is really focus on your storytelling. Now, you might say, okay, Jason, everyone says that, but here's the test. When you go

and tell your significant other, or your mom, your dad, or your kids, what you did today, how do you speak? How do you tell that story? Are you blurring your words? Are you speaking articulately, have you captured the attention to your partner? Or is he or she just bored out of their mind as you're speaking? That was a big eye-opener for me. Is when I would tell people things about my day or an achievement or a failure, I wasn't really getting their attention. And so that is the best time to practice. Next time you're sitting with your significant other or good friend, tell them a story. And your job is to keep them fully attentive, the word, you're using, the pauses, the highs, the lows, have you hooked them in? Do they want to know

what's next? And it's the easiest way to practice, and it's also the most humbling because when you pay attention to it, you realize how poor of a storyteller you may be. And I think that is the first place to start. How are you communicating when a mic is not to your lips? How are you communicating with peers and friends? And can you actually paint the picture and recreate a story that you lived and have the attention of someone else while you're telling that story. That's where you got to start. You know, what's a hilarious example of that that I just thought of while you're talking about it because it's the truest thing ever? Yeah. What? Do you remember when you were like single and dating? Yeah. And you'd go on these like random dates with people that you went,

however you got connected with them, you're on a date with someone. And just how boring the person could be or how captivated they could be based off their story. Who are you? What do you do for living? What are you looking for? How did you get here? I just remember being like sometimes just being so bored and being like there's no depth. There's no story. There's not like what am I dealing with. I just like like you talk about whether it's a family or friend or in that situation, your ability to tell a story at the end of the day sells who you are, what you're about and what you want. And in life like that's that's really it's what it's all about. It's important. It's how you get. It's how you captivate those around you. A hundred percent, man, as you're telling, that's why I'm thinking about those days

or a single. Remember those dates you'd go on where you'd literally ask 1,000 questions, and the answers were so limited that you're like, I have nothing, I have asked every question, I've received not one question back, there's no storytelling, there's no way I can connect with this human. I mean, do you remember those days? Oh, yeah. It was just torture. I mean, torture.

But then the best dates were the ones where it was like, you could ask them one question and then you don't have to ask another question the whole time because of the stories you two have like now there's sub questions that are happening that are natural because that's what a good story does right david that's also not only a selling tactic when you're in the sharks and not only a dating tip that is the best interview tip i could ever give if i tell you right now i just met you or i'm interviewing you which we're in the process of doing right now we're interviewing someone for operations role tell me about yourself you better fucking and nail that first two minutes. If you can't tell me about yourself and sell me on your story

and who you are and where you've gone and why you're there and why you're in front of me and then two, three minutes, what can you tell? Right? That's a good start too. And a great place to practice while you're driving or when you're in the shower. Those are the two places I practice as well. I love this podcast. I just think that there's so many tangible takeaways from this, from Arod, from us, from the recaps. I mean, people, just bring a notepad everywhere you go. I just like something as simple as that. I was like, okay, I now have a better tangible takeaway to be a more successful person

from this podcast. And it could be as low level as that. I just, I thought it was really, really incredible. The fact that we're having people like A Rod on, it's a testament to, you know, the preparation of the work that you've done to put yourself out there. And it's obviously getting well received. So I just, you know, it was definitely a pinch me moment. moment, but when you look three to six months away, like there's going to be more like this.

And it's just a process of being prepared and taking advantage. And like he said in the first episode, a lot of luck, but that just means that we're prepared. Exactly. Well said. A lot of luck. And that's really what's helped us get to where we are is the preparation, luck in preparation, which has made him one in eight billion. I love when he talks about that he used to be this uptight gladiator for success. Success was winning and home runs. But now he's realize not to take himself so serious laugh. Success is being a great father. Success is being a great teammate and being self-aware. So many takeaways, David. But the biggest takeaway of him all, at least from this guy, is a Buffalo Bills fan. We got one percent of Arod part of Bill's Mafia

because he supports Jim Kelly University of Miami. Guys, thank you so much for tuning. If you've enjoyed this episode, please remember to give us five stars. on Apple. We have some great guests coming up and relevant guests. David, I don't think I've told you yet, but have you ever seen that documentary? The Tinder Swindler? Yeah, I'm obsessed. We have some of those individuals coming on to tell the full story. So we're trying to get the relevant guests. We're trying to get legends like A-Rod. If you could give us five stars, we would appreciate it. If you could go to Amazon right now and type in the restart roadmap and purchase my book that is on pre-sale, it literally would mean the world to me. And if you do so, take a screenshot of your

receipt and send it to restart roadmap at jason tardick.com. And you'll be entering some fun sweepstake giveaways we have going. That being said, David, you are the man. Great questions. Thanks for joining me. A-Rod Part 2. Can't even believe we're saying that. A-Rod part 2. We're closing in bell and David and I hope this was another episode you could not afford to miss. We'll see all you traders next Monday. Thank you. Thank you.