Today’s episode is a keynote by Garrett Akeson on the company he bootstrapped with his wife: Kindred Bravely. He shares a mountain of examples on how they company managed different aspects of growing a business out of Amazon.

 

Tune in for some practical tips on how to run a remote team, why culture matters and how much money you need to actually run ads!

 

Key Takeaways

[2:58] Garret introduces himself and his brand Kindred Bravely.

 

[4:54] Launching a business can have a clear path but it’s rarely smooth, this talk will cover 7 areas to help you navigate growing a business:

1. Brand

2. Telling a story

3. Vision

4. Timing

5. Hiring

6. Culture

7. Remote teams

 

However, Garrett’s overarching advice, will always be focus.

Brand [6:10] it matters from the very beginning, but don’t be afraid to change if it doesn't feel right — Kindred Bravely was called Davy Jeans for the first three months!

Story [7:56] is what you use if you and to get out of Amazon, and that story is how you connect with your customers and how you build that relationship. So the first thing you have to do is get to know your customer, the numbers are there: use the information and identify the core values your customers resonate with.

Communicate your story and your values everywhere you can. Use imagery to create emotional connection and make sure all of your copy is brand coherent — you can outsources ads, but you have to keep your content in-house, no one can talk about you better than you!

Vision [13:08] is how you shape what’s to come, build a vision for your company that projects far into the future, make it detailed and share it with the whole team so that everyone aims in the same direction.

Timing [15:11] means that there are never any guarantees. So getting off Amazon may not lead to greener grass. Garrett shares some indicators that the timing may be right for you.

At less than 200k per year on Amazon, don’t bother with anything else, focus on increasing sales. When you hit 100 to 200k a month, now might be the time to start thinking about building your off channels.

 

You will need deep pockets for Facebook and Shopify ads, Garrett recommends no less than 100k dedicated in cash. Acquiring a new customer on Shopify averages 23$, you will burn through money to test your funnels, and your ads, and get your target audiences right. Let Amazon foot the bill for that, launch all your new products there!

Hiring [23:22] people that love what you do will ensure they require less management! When Kindred Bravely posted their first job application, it was a flood of their own customers that came, a flood of moms.

Garrett shares some tangible tips on hiring practices:

1. Use long form questionnaires that get really specific, this will enable you to screen out people that are not right for the job — Kindred Bravely uses a google form they developed in part from Topgrading questions.

2. Do skill specific testing — Kindred bravely does typing and phone typing tests since most of their work is with social media online.

3. Do group interviews to see people dynamics and immediately compare and grade applicants — Zoom is a good tool for this.

4. Don’t be afraid of hard questions, they give you insight on the type of person you are meeting — Garrett shares the last question he always asks and what kind of insight it gives him.

5. Keep your 2nd, 3rd and 4th choices as potential employees on future positions.

Culture [28:39] ties in to vision and core values. By attracting applicants that identify with the brand it’s much easier to build that internal culture and brand. Empower your employees to embody the vision and values both at, and outside of work — Garrett shares the Kindred Bravely monthly giving program initiative.

Remote teams [30:27] means that people rarely get a chance to meet, so you have to pay extra attention to building and fostering connection, support and growth for your employees in order to drive success.

Garrett shares how he adapted Ryan’s TRIBE 5 into his own company culture and rembraded it BRAVE (Body, Relationships, Assets, Vigilance and time, Expansion) as well as integrated The One Thing’s “One Thing” to implement quarterly 90 day goal sprints for his employees. Kindred Bravely also uses GetGuru as a way to centralize all company workings information including, vision, mission and values so that the employees always have something to measure up against.

[39:06] Garrett wraps up with details on Kindred Bravely’s progression and talks about SBA loans — have a business plan and remember it’ll take about 4 months to get the loan, Amazon lending — with high enough sales, and after having 3 years of financial history, you can get a traditional Bank loan.

Q&A [43:36]

Q. How do you figure out and reconcile salary ranges for full-time and part time positions in a remote setting?

A. Ask how much the applicant would expect to make for the job! Set yourself up into a negotiating position by asking 2 simple questions:

1. “How much would you like to make now or?”

2. “How much would you like to get in a year from now?”

 

With the answers to these, you get a range to work with.

[45:40] Max invites listeners to share feedback and suggestions for the show by sending him an email at max@brandbuilderstrategy.com. If you enjoyed this content, subscribe and review the podcast!

Mentioned in this episode

 

Kindred Bravely

Book: Double Double: How to Double your Revenue and Profit in 3 Years or Less by Cameron Herold

A. A. Milne

Sun Tzu

Topgrading

Zoom

Dan Sullivan

Book: The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan

Slack

TRIBE 5

GetGuru

Shopify Live View

SBA loan

Amazon Lending

 

 

Ricardo Pero launched a business that lends money to e-commerce companies to fund their inventories.

 

Most business owners will buy inventory with their own money, and with all of their capital tied up, they have nothing left to do but stress out.

 

But there is another way of doing things which is use other people’s money to fund inventory, so you still have your own money to invest into growing your business (advertising, product diversification, systems, people, etc.)

 

Tune in for a great conversation on the challenges people run into while funding their own inventory and how SellersFunding can help you do things differently.

 

Key takeaways

[6:12] Ryan talks about an idea he had a few years ago and introduces the man who beat him to the punch! Ricardo Pero, Founder and CEO of Sellers Funding.

 

After working in investment banking for years, Ricardo saw how inefficient traditional credit models were at accurately assessing e-commerce business risk. He saw an opportunity.

 

[8:14] Traditional business owners usually rely on their own resources (bootstrapping), and tend to be overly conservative in the way they borrow. They don’t have an ROI mindset.

 

In a lot of cases if you’re going to spend X$ on inventory, it’s X$ you can’t put into anything else. However if you fund it, you will pay interest but because you get the same amount of money when you sell the product your return will be much higher.

 

A tool for planning cash flow [13:29] The SellersFunding sales prediction model looks into cyclicality and sales performance and provides you with this information so you can make more informed decisions.

 

You will know exactly when you need to order more inventory, how much of it you need and how much it’ll cost you.

 

[14:14] Ricardo talks about why he chose to divert his career from investment management to focus on this new enterprise. The main question was always how can I best apply my knowledge of investment management?

 

E-commerce has the largest dataset to work with in terms of investment evaluation and, as a sector should outperform brick and mortar by a wide margin.

 

Once he had chosen the e-commerce industry, he had 2 options for building this company he wanted:

1. Partnering with sellers and providing support for their working capital needs

2. Make direct investment into brands

 

 

Ricardo decided to move to the credit side because the client pool is much wider.

 

The cash flow gap problem [19:00] is in essence the problem that SellersFunding solves:

 

Between the purchase order and the moment the product is available for sale is this gap which — if your products are sourced from abroad — can take up to 100 days for that first sale to happen.

 

In order to bridge this gap, SellersFunding offers an interest only grace period of about 60 days from the moment the order has been placed. In this manner, the business retains control over as much money as possible and the loan payment can theoretically come out of the profit margin.

 

Braingasm [21:54] e-commerce businesses are essentially recession-proof.

 

Qualifying for the capital [22:10] is a slightly different process. You will be evaluated on the traditional business metrics, cash flow metrics, structure costs and inventory levels but — and here’s where it gets interesting — also on Amazon business reviews, customer feedback and account health.

 

Those metrics are actually more important to SellersFunding because they are a better indicator of your commitment to your customer and ultimately your future performance.

 

Getting the capital [25:10] SBA loans take many months before funding is received, Amazon lending requires a year’s track record, how does SellersFunding compare?

 

SellersFunding only needs 6 months of track record. The application form takes about 5 minutes and is then run into the pre-qualification model of 3 million sellers. Depending on the length of your track record, running the model takes a few minutes to an hour. Within the day you will get your answer and within 48 hours, your money.

 

[28:00] Ryan asks Ricardo where do the funds come from, what his biggest loan cheque to date has been and what the terms look like for a loan.

 

The biggest sellers get about a year to pay off the loan and the average interest only period is about 60 days, the amortization schedule is matched to the marketplace payment cycle.

 

Theoretically, you could manage to pay off your loan faster than the term and not pay any more interest, and once you’ve paid off 50% of the outstanding transaction, you’re eligible to apply for a new loan.

 

[34:54] There is no one specialised in e-commerce! SellersFunding wants to become the leader in e-commerce lending and is looking to partner with clients for the long run.

 

[39:44] Ryan climbs on his soap box and reminds all physical products entrepreneurs to break out of their cash restraints and go fund their inventories with other people’s money: keep your own money to invest and build up your business!

 

[44:52] Ryan thanks Ricardo for coming on the podcast, recaps some key elements to remember and encourages listeners looking for funding to follow this link: www.capitalism.com/sellersfunding.

 

Mentioned in this episode

Capitalism.com

Sellers Funding

LendingClub

 

 

 

Today Ryan shares some tips on staying motivated, even when entrepreneurship becomes hard, lonely business.

Tune in for 3 practical things you can do to keep yourself on track as well as some down-to-earth real life examples of how those practices helped Ryan through some tougher moments.

 

Key Takeaways

[:28] Dopamine floods your brain when you start a new business, you are full of energy and drive, but it doesn’t stay there long term so today is going to be about sustaining momentum.

 

[1:42] First things first, entrepreneurship is very hard and it will demand more of you than you could ever imagine. So it’s virtually impossible to sustain momentum and stay motivated when you’re building a business that you don’t like or building it with someone you don’t like, there’s really no fixing that.

 

But if you do love your business, here are 3 practical things you can do to keep momentum (there’s a bonus at the end, too!)

 

1. 1. Focus on the people [3:39] Take the time to be plugged into the people giving you attention and money, or the people you want to serve. The way you get rich and the way you sustain momentum is giving. Quick tip: run a poll or survey to get feedback on your people ask them what you are doing that resonates with them.
2. 2. Plug into a network [8:10] entrepreneurship is lonely, and you will need a community of people you can talk to about your difficulties, other entrepreneurs who will understand what you are going through. Join masterminds, online communities and build a list of people you can count on: every opportunity comes from others and having a network facilitates that.
3. 3. Compare yourself [13:10] but only to yourself! Look at how you did today, and plan how to do better tomorrow. Ryan tries to be transparent about how it can suck so that people who do compare themselves to him can have a more holistic view, but be careful, not everyone does this. You can use other people’s experience as models but won’t be motivation, what will motivate you is your own growth.
4. Bonus! Follow a plan [18:00] you will not always feel motivated and on the days when you don’t feel good you will need to rely on that routine to drive you forward, Ryan uses Tribe 5. This will help you track if you’ve done what you were supposed to do today, and if not? It happens. We are motivated by progress so it’s hard to follow a system and stay unmotivated for very long.
5. Thank you for listening, and If you want more like this: subscribe to our channel.
6. Mentioned in this episode
7. Tribe 5

Ryan talks with Hal Elrod about what life after cancer taught him and how we can all adopt these learnings, ensuring we focus on what’s important to us.

Key Takeaways

[:43] Ryan introduces his guest, Hal Elrod as well as why he thinks it’s important to hear his insights on life, success, money and how his battle with Cancer taught him.

 

[4:27] A year ago, Hal Elrod was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a rare cancer with a 10% survival rate. He emerged on the other side of his worst and best year with a clean bill of health, and a fresh perspective on what is important.

[11:00] Hal shares a key aspect of what his brushes with death have taught him: if you cannot change something, there is no sense in wishing you could, or laying blame. The only thing you can do when you encounter a tragedy is to grieve but never to extend that to where it becomes detrimental to your mental and physical well being. Only you have power over your emotional states.

[13:10] Hal’s perception of life has changed through this experience with Cancer and the things you have to do to live your best life are as follows:

1. 1. Identify what matters most to you and be clear on it
2. 2. Evaluate how you are living in regards to what matters most
3. 3. Commit to changing the things that don’t align (baby steps!)
4. Hal shares his Unbearable, Uncomfortable, Unstoppable strategy for changing habits that don’t align, a bit later in the podcast.
5. [14:40] Hal share the 2 things that matter most to him: health and relationships. He also dives deep into the evolution of his diet in the face of both his Cancer and new evidence from plant based to keto.
   Ryan and Hal discuss smoothie recipes!
6. [20:00] Most entrepreneurs get their emotional needs met through money and work, especially when you love your work. During his time in the hospital, unable to work for weeks at a time, Hal realised that the most important thing for your family is your passive source of income. So to establish financial security, two things are important:

1. 1. Have multiple sources of income. This means you have a contingency plan and financial security. If one stream of income crashes you have one to fall back on. What’s more, you are in a position to transition into that secondary income stream on a full-time basis.
2. 2. Have a team in place who continues to drive your business ventures and ensures that income and revenue continues to go up.
3. [28:22] Success if the freedom to do what you love with the people that you love. How do you get there? You give, for real. Hal shares a personal and very emotional story of how his perspective changed and how his son showed him the importance of being with the people you love in the way they need.
4. [35:07] So how do you change the habits that don’t align with what matters most to you? The most effective way to change habits is to commit for 30 days and look at these 30 days as three 10 day phases. If you’re making a change that is going to be a game changer, can you bear anything for 10 days? The answer is always yes.
5. Phase 1 (Days 1-10) Unbearable, this phase is is self explanatory, but you have to muscle through, sometimes though, the excitement will make it easier.
6. Phase 2 (Days 11-20) Uncomfortable, The second 10 days are the transition phase where you’d rather do the old thing but have made the commitment.
7. Phase 3 (Days 21-30) Unstoppable, The final 10 days are where the magic happens. Somewhere in those 10 days, you’ll go to do the new habit and it will be effortless. You won’t even think about it. There’s no resistance and you don’t have to overcome anything.
8. [41:37] Ryan asks what Hal would tell his younger self:

1. 1. You mean more than you think to your family
2. 2. Look through the eyes of other people and be a better, father, husband, friend, boss, man.
3. [47:10] Ryan reflects on what this conversation with Hal has brought him in terms of how he wants to show up in his own life and how his use of Tribe 5 has helped him grow.
4. Mentioned in this episode
5. The Miracle Morning
6. Healing Cancer from Inside Out: A Practical Guide to Healing Cancer With the Rave Diet and Lifestyle by Mike Anderson
7. Designs for Health
8. Julian Bakery
9. Psycho-Cybernetics: Updated and Expanded by Maxwell Maltz
10. The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan
11. Eben Pagan Training
12. Tribe 5

Today’s episode tackles the question why is Capitalism the #1 solution to the world’s problems?

Tune in for what drives people to the marketplace, what happens when governments intervene and the white was better than the moldy red this week, or was it…

Key Takeaways

[:40] JP asks Ryan and Clement permission to ask Ryan a question, it is granted.

[1:04] Capitalism is the #1 solution to the world’s problems, explain.

[2:07] The scale of incentive is important for generating desired outcomes.

[3:10] Force incentive vs choice incentive.

[4:27] Let’s agree to agree.

 

Mentioned in this episode

Grant Cardone

Aubrey Marcus interviews Daniel Moran

Today’s episode is a presentation Max did on how to increase your pricing by focussing on your ideal customer and serving them the way they are looking to be served.

Tune in to learn about the story building process that works across every single industry, how to push past some of Amazon’s restrictions, and why going from product to people will open up a world of marketing opportunities.

 

Key Takeaways

[4:30] Parental advisory: Max will be poking fun at Amazon despite it being the best place to launch products profitably, acquire cash flow and scale a new business, sensitive ears beware.

 

[6:20] Creating a consistent customer experience and making sure that that every touch point with your customer tells your brand story is the only way to ensure success at the same level as major brands.

 

[8:33] The very first step of any good brand building process is to target and attract your ideal customer, the one that will ensure your future success. And in order to do that you have to get to know everything about them. Everything.

 

[14:15] So you have your archetype human, now you have to understand how they will look at your product: they will put it in a pyramid reminiscent of the Maslow’s pyramid of needs.

 

Pyramid base: Basic product requirements. In every product category there is an ante to be paid, a set of basic requirements your product has to have in order to be considered acceptable as such — wheels and a chassis for a car for example.

 

Pyramid middle: Product features. Once those basic requirements are met, you may add value — product features, customer service, options packages, etc. — keep in mind that this added value is not your brand and you should never build around them: they can be copied.

 

Pyramid top: Brand story. This is where the good stuff is and it’s where the right brand story can take you: higher prices, customer loyalty and positive word of mouth.

 

[17:12] Amazon lets you compete at the product feature level — middle of the pyramid — with keywords. But they keep control over the emotional drive to purchase with ratings and reviews: how your product makes customers feel is the brand. In essence, Amazon lets you sell products that ultimately strengthen their brand, and Jeff Bezos is laughing all the way to the bank with your money.

 

[18:35] Customers use products and brands to tell stories about themselves to others. You need to participate to that in a meaningful way, and at every opportunity: customer relationship are built on consistent experience delivered over time.

 

[21:35] So how do you get to the top of the pyramid?

1. 1. Communicate with your customers any way you can — if you can talk to them it’s great, in person is even better. Get to know who they are as human beings, what their goals and aspirations are. Address their concerns and don’t reduce them to a set of attributes.
2. 2. Establish core values and beliefs as a composite of what your customers care about and want and the promises your product makes in addressing those — it goes without saying you should never make unrealistic promises. Be certain all your products align with these and adjust or get rid of the ones that don’t.
3. 3. Put it everywhere the foundation of your brand experience is your core values and beliefs and for that message to be strong, it needs to happen at every touch point with your customer. Apply it across every channel.
4. [26:45] If you’ve done all this you will be able to increase your prices. Keep in mind some customers may be lost — Deal seekers have a functional relationship with a brand, you wont keep them around — but it shouldn’t affect the overall profit margin.
5. [27:23] Max wraps up his spiel and thanks the audience. Ryan jumps on the opportunity to brag about Max and invites listeners to check out the video of Ryan and Max building Ryan’s personal brand story.
6. Mentioned in this episode
7. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
8. Max and Ryan Video
9. Max Kerwick’s instagram

Ryan Danger Moran welcomes you to The One Percent! Today’s episode is very special, and features the much anticipated interview with none other than Gary Vaynerchuk — the other half, along with Brian Lee, of who Ryan wants to be when he grows up.

Don’t miss this one for some rare insight into Gary’s bubbling strategic mind, how he only ever plans for the long game, a surprisingly sharp lightning round, and the way this conversation has updated Ryan’s mindset about ho to best approach the next decade.

 

Key takeaways

[:39] Despite still reeling from the depth of the experience interviewing Gary Vee, Ryan introduces today’s episode and shares a bit about how this discussion altered the way he will plan for the future.

[7:30] Gary often says “You have to learn to love your losses” and being a staunch Indians fan offered Ryan a singular opportunity to finally understand what that means. This leads Gary and Ryan to nerd out on sports.

[11:30] What is this incredible Rosé? Ethical Wine, Gary’s 40$ wine for 20$.

[12:58] Ryan shares a vulnerable moment in his life when he began to question weather the actions he was taking were truly reflective of the man he wanted to be and if those goals even still made sense.

[14:58] Gary gives insight into his own moments of doubt, highlights that these mind shifts are required for growth and a vision for the future — and he thinks Ryan is cooler than him.

[17:08] Adversity is foundational to success and Gary was raised in a way that fostered huge amounts of self-esteem and zero entitlement. His mother never fostered delusion, an enormous pitfall parents seem to fall into nowadays — which scares him : he explains how delusion creates entitlement.

[20:02] Hustle porn and overworking yourself is absolutely delusional and contrary to what some people seem to think, Gary is not about that… He’s about finding happiness, being self-aware and dominating life.

[21:00] Successful people are special in a very straightforward way: they obsess over the work but it’s because they love it and are happy doing it. If you work at something you don’t love, somebody else will love it, they will work harder and have an advantage.

[22:00] Ryan tries his hand at explaining Gary’s strategy: his audience and the free content he puts out give him connections, leverage and exposure.

[23:49] Gary interjects with a very important nuance: hustlers are killing him in the short term, but in the long term the play is always building Vaynermedia to sell the brands he has and will have in the future. Give to your audience without expecting any returns — be grateful if there are any at all — and ask people you have no idea who you are to buy your product. The person who can build a framework that doesn’t look to monetize their audience, wins.

[27:14] Braingasm: You want to be happy? Give without expectation. You want to be unhappy? Think you’re getting something for your actions. You want to be really unhappy? Do shit for the sake of something else happening. Which is what everybody does.

[27:43] Ryan has a humbling moment as he realises that he believed there may be something off about his own strategy when in fact he had been hanging on to expectations — when he so often gets recognised by people in the streets who say his content has helped them build 7 or 8 figure businesses.

[30:00] Braigasm: Gary Vee may or may not be an influencer on his brands, it doesn’t matter at all… Do Vaynermedia clients signing million dollar cheques give a shit how many followers he has on instagram?

[32:47] Ryan touches on something that really struck him in one of his previous interactions with Gary, his lack of ego. Gary explains that even though he may seem like he IS ego, his actions in the last 20 years attest to the fact that he is predicated on humility.

[37:30] Gary often says he is doing for everybody what his mother did for him  — but today, on this interview, he has a realisation and for the first time ever, voices the way his father shaped him and that influence is helping him shape the world.

[41:29] 10 years ago Ryan decided to follow Gary. Today, he feels ready, whispers away from where Gary was 10 years ago. So he asks Gary to poke some holes in his strategy.

[43:00] If you keep giving to entrepreneurs in a way that addresses their short term wants and needs and helps them achieve 7-8 figures, you will give yourself disproportionate leverage to own a significant percentage of their business. And don’t make your audience the source of your livelihood.

[44:40] Because time is short, Ryan invites Gary into a lightning round of trend predictions:

1. 1. 2020 election: Gary thinks Donald Trump is likely to be elected but Joe Biden could beat him, and America could be looking at a 4 party system in 50 to 100 years. We didn’t pay the piper in 2008 and the gift keeps on giving.
2. 2. Marriage: Gary believes the shadows of our society, infidelity, prostitution, strip clubs have been massively important to the maintenance of marriage and he is curious to see what will happen.
3. [51:20] How will Ryan change as a result of this, and Brian Lee’s meetings, the two people who represent what Ryan aims to be.

1. 1. People who get really big and really respected are ones who do great things. Both Brian and Gary are good business owners and operators, and Ryan has missed running businesses...
2. 2. The long game is the only game, and in order to grow, things have to be built outside of yourself or else you are always the bottleneck.
3. Ryan thanks listeners and invites them to send him their comments on Twitter @Ryanmoran and Instagram @RyanDanielMoran.

Freedom is not money, freedom is doing the things that make you happy. The purpose of money, the only reason money matters, is to sustain the life you want.

If you want to be free, then you have to know what you want. But asking the questions that will lead you to figuring out what it is you want is a very hard job.

Like Ryan did, most people will go after the money believing that once they have that, they can make a grab for freedom. The troublesome thing that happens when you do that though is that the money itself becomes the purpose, and your life has none.

Ryan has boiled financial freedom into 5 steps to follow so tune in to learn the way — but do be careful, these steps need to happen in this exact order for the system not to break.

 

Key Takeaways

 

1. 1. Decide [4:17]: you are absolutely required to decide, what you want your life to be like and be clear about it, don’t make it someone else’s life or belongings — don’t covet. Decide what you want and pull it into the present.
2. 2. Cut out [6:26]: you don’t get without giving up, the universe requires you to make a trade to create the room for something new. Nowadays we have an overabundance of everything, but your primal brain doesn’t like to cut things out, it only processes the immediate loss, not future gain. To counter that, you have to be very intentional about what you want (step 1) and start cutting out things that don’t align (step 2) to give yourself space for step 3 because you don’t get to expand until you have made the room for it.
3. 3. Expand (you have just created the space!) [11:07]: what are you expanding into? New businesses, new relationships — we are the 5 people we spend the most time with — learning, reading, listening. But this expansion, in order to continue, will require you to keep giving up things, it’s a positive feedback loop. What from the past will you decide to bring into the future.
4. 4. Invest [13:13]: skip the short game and plan for long term results. Follow Ryan’s Tribe 5 areas of long term investment Time, Relationships, Income, Expansion.
5. 5. Give [15:52]: it sounds silly but it’s true. You are never ever free if you are in a take, scam, hack or extort mentality. You need to find what you have to give be it money, time, knowledge, anything really, and invest it!
6. People always want the hack but the only thing that creates financial freedom is you deciding that you want a different life, cutting out the things that are not in accordance with that life, expanding into new possibilities, investing for the long term and constantly giving.
7. You want to build the life you want? To get happy? To be free of the game? That’s how.
8. Mentioned in this episode
9. Intentional community
10. Dan Sullivan
11. Robert Kiyosaki
12. Tribe 5

Ryan talks with James Altucher, a successful hedge fund manager, entrepreneur, bestselling author, venture capitalist, and podcaster.

In this episode of the Freedom Fast Lane podcast, James shares how to achieve real freedom following four guiding principles for a healthy lifestyle, as well as the investment strategies he would have told his 20-year-old self to follow.

Key Takeaways

[2:46] James talks about where he started out. How after he sold his first company building websites for a lot of money, he figured “if I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere!”. He was wrong, he lost every penny. And then he was wrong several times again.

[4:04] So what was the problem? Why was he having such wild success and such brutal failures? He explains how he set out to find and rectify the cause of this uneven keel and what he managed to distill from this research.

The 4 pillars of health

 

1. 1. Physical health [4:52]
2. It’s one of the most basic but most important aspect of overall health for high achievers. If you don’t have the energy to get things done, they won’t happen. Eat well, don’t drink or do drugs, stay in shape.
3. 2. Emotional health [5:12]
4. You are the average of the people you surround yourself with, and life is short so be cut-throat about the people you love, value, and spend time with.
5. 3. Creative health [6:40]
6. You need to be creative everyday, if you wait for inspiration you’re already too late. Write your ideas down, think about how to execute them. Do fun, unique, new and stimulating things.
7. 4. Spiritual health [7:15]
8. It’s your fault, no matter what. If something negative happens, take ownership: improve, learn, evolve. Life goes on, so make sure it goes on the way you want it to and move forward.
9. [8:26] If you are healthy and creatively doing things you love around people you love, you will automatically find things to sell, people to work with, businesses to build.
10. Being a choice-ist
11. [9:11] You make 10,000 choices a day from the most mundane to the most important. Most of them will be inconsequential or negative. Being a choice-ist means that that you aim to have the highest amount of the choices you do make in a day be ones that you enjoy making and care about.
12. [10:21] How can you become more of a choice-ist in your own life: delegate the choices you don’t like to make or are not knowledgeable enough to make, to trustworthy people. Setting up these systems may take time, but they will reward you in the end.
13. [12:25] James shares some practical tips on increasing the quantity of enjoyable choices you need to make. Every experience should be a source of earning, what did you not like, what would you want to do more of. Focus on that, make decisions that will serve that goal.
14. [14:00] Money is never the critical factor in freedom. James takes Elon Musk as an example to illustrate this point.
15. “Elon Musk has to wake up at 5 a.m., run six companies, deal with spaceships blowing up, deal with government subsidies to run his solar panel business. He’s making a big bet on the future of energy — a good bet, but a scary one nonetheless — and he’s got to manage thousands of people from 5am to 10pm.”
16. What might be good for Elon may not work for you! You need to think about the lifestyle you want and decide what will make you happy and fulfilled and make choices in your life accordingly.
17. Investing
18. [15:54] James shares advice he would have given his younger self on investment.

1. 1. The Plus-Minus-Equal rule [16:27]
2. PLUS: Find the people that are better than you and learn from them. Read, read, read, read: learn everything you can about investment and everything relating to it, history, related fields, people, etc.
3. EQUAL: Find people at your own level that can constantly challenge you. You’ll be surprised how fast you can evolve alongside a community of like-minded people.
4. MINUS: If you really think you know something; teach it. It’ll remind you of all the basics, and people just starting will ask questions that you might have overlooked.
5. 2. You are the biggest stupid idiot ever [21:24]
6. This alone has reduced James’ chances of failure from 95% to 10%. Despite all that you’ve learned in step 1 you should never invest in anything thinking you are the smartest person in the room. You aren’t.
7. Look up at who is investing alongside you, do you trust them, do you look up to them, are they successful? Trust your “plusses” and talk to you “equals”. You can only bet on people.
8. [29:50] James shares his endgame.
9. Mentioned in this episode
10. James Altucher
11. Mike Massimino
12. Jocko Willink
13. Elon Musk
14. Berkshire Hathaway
15. Warren Buffett

Today, Ryan drinks along side Dr. Clement Wan, Coran Woodmass and Max Kerwick and touches on the difference between the manager and investor mindsets, what is required for a brand to be attractive to buyers, how to drag yourself out of a funk, and why you should focus all your business energy on an archetype.

Key Takeaways

[1:04] Making decisions from an investor’s standpoint versus a manager’s standpoint will be lucrative but benefit both positions! Dr. Clement Wan explains that when you start thinking as an investor you will strive for making your business a more valuable asset, and as a result alleviate some of the management workload.

 

[2:38] What do we say instead of generating sales? Build assets!

 

[2:59] Ryan taps into the law of attraction — does a bit of voodoo really — to call on someone who can comment on the current state of physical products on the marketplace: Coran Woodmass! resident Acquisitions Specialist and brand new American!

[4:00] Coran Woodmass talks about a recently launched deal and the reason so much money is flocking to it. It’s a real niche brand that can be scaled outside of Amazon, and it’s got a huge amount of user-generated content to boot!

 

[5:44] What do we say? Instead of being a content creator, be a content curator!

 

[7:05] The market is evolving and growing, but growing at the top end — the 8 figure exit is the entry point now — and the guys at that level are really need to spend the capital. So would you please build something worth buying, I would really like to buy your asset!

 

[8:50] Feeling down on your luck? This is the model to use to turn everything around.

1. 1. Make a list of 20 to 50 people that you look up to, people you want to do business with, people who are ahead of you
2. 2. … Call them
3. 3. Talk about them — don’t make it about you — look for ways to help them and neve, ever pitch on the call
4. [10:33] Max Kerwick is summoned to the hot seat and gets coached on how to hold his hands on camera (it’s all about the hands people). But really though, Max is here to coach us about what the biggest brands in the world have in common: an archetype customer. Don’t be theoretical or squishy, build and focus your entire business around a specific customer.
5. Thanks for listening and letting Ryan and his guests invade your thoughts and world for a bit.

In today’s episode, Max Kerwick shares a keynote from the Capitalism Conference by Tom Bilyeu — the man behind Quest Nutrition and Impact Theory — a 60 minute compilation of all of his most valuable business secrets.

Tune in to hear what he learned on the path he took from hand-making protein bars in his garage to a multi-billion dollar brand.

Key Takeaways

[03:00] Tom introduces himself and explains how he was not a born entrepreneur: he even went so far as to deliver papers for free because he was afraid to ring the doorbells to collect!

[05:30] The two childhood goals Tom had zero idea how to achieve.

1. 1. Become rich
2. 2. Have 6 pack abs
3. [06:20] The king of menial jobs… So much so that everyone expected him to fail.
4. [08:10] Who is your white rabbit. Tom talks about his two very muscular rabbits.
5. [09:23] Tom’s superpower — Nietzsche said it best to the people he cared for — suffering.
6. [13:40] After Tom endured his work and his riches without meaning, he quit, so he could start asking different questions. Failure and sadness are the only guarantee.
7. Know the odds, while you’re striving for success and happiness, and do something you love.
8. [19:36] A unicorn company is a formula, the before and after pictures are there. But there ares difficult parts: being afraid, feeling stupid, lost and hopeless.
9. [20:49] To build your own unicorn company you have 2 jobs. Job 1:

• - Develop your mindset and understand that what you believe is a choice: the Matrix has you, it’s time to lift the limiting veil.
• - Keep listening for job 2!
• [30:00] From a decidedly utilitarian perspective Tom shares his method to develop usable new skills.

• - Be an eternal student — you are not yet the person you need to be to accomplish everything you want to accomplish
• - Meditate
• - Be open to change, don't just talk about it
• - Execute
• - Develop grit
• [34:00] Have an ego, everyone does, but have it about the right things. Make certain you pride yourself on things that will drive your goals, don’t pride yourself on being right.
• [36:45] Grit is sustained effort over time, persisting through your boredom and suffering, develop this faculty and learn to tell the difference between lack of grit and disinterest.
• [38:24] One of the questions Tom hears most frequently is how do you find your passion? Like for building a Unicorn company there is a formula: Interest + Mastery = Passion.
• [41:41] We said keep listening and here it is: Job 2, build your business, Tom breaks down the how to’s:

• - Find your why and make it blindingly clear
• - Be transparent
• - Focus on value, it’s the only sustainable thing
• - Be authentic
• - Connect with your audience — Tom’s tricks, get the green light from thought leaders and engage influencers to access their 1 000 screaming fans
• - Add value (customers hate your content)
• - Finally, execute and grind baby grind because it starts with a willingness to persist long after it’s boring.
• [1:01:30] The central mantra of Tom’s life is “Just because you’re incapable of something today, it doesn’t mean that you’re not capable of learning that thing. It’s about who you want to become and what price you are willing to pay to become it”.
• Mentioned in this episode
• Quest Nutrition
• Impact Theory
• Book: The Will to Power by Friedrich Nietzsche
• Book: Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win by Jocko Willink
• Book: Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder (Incerto) by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
• Book: Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth
• Book: Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek
• Joy Remetta Super Fan Award
• Jenna Marbles

If you mixed Brian S. Lee and Gary Vaynerchuk together, what you’d get is who Ryan wants to be when he grows up. Don’t miss this game changing interview with Brian Lee, the incredibly humble man behind 3 different billion dollar companies.

How does he identify opportunities and build exciting companies? Tune in for an in-depth talk about his philosophy for bringing together people, products and capital.

 

Key takeaways

[5:22] Brian’s latest project recently launched, he talks us through how the idea turned into what is now Art of Sport. Shopping for sunscreen and realizing there were no mission-driven sports body care brand out there started it all.

[8:56] In a pile of thousands of entrepreneurial ideas how does one pick? it’s all about the idea that sticks with you, the one that keeps coming back.

[9:44] If you’re going to make and sell a product, make it the best possible product. Vet the formulations, the ingredients, the scents. When your idea or product resonates with someone, that’s when you can get them involved — that’s how Art of Sport attracted Kobe Bryant as well as a long, long list of other athletes — always focus on the product.

[11:52] The “Producer Mindset” is a good key, and it helps to palliate all of your weaker areas. Be the architect of your project, find and bring together the pieces and people you need for your business: product, capital and audience.

[13:18] Sometimes though, producer mindset won’t help you, only good ‘ol grind and hard work, that’s how Brian’s Legalzoom was started. The Honest Co. was a different story...

[15:36] Brian needed to decide if he wanted to be a CEO, again, after doing it for so long, so he thought about how and where he could bring more value to the capital he had raised.

[16:26] Most people want to build companies to sell them so they can leave but Brian wants to build sustainable, generational businesses.

[17:44] How does Brian define success? Am I Henry Ford, Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, have I reached the pinnacle, changed the world, revolutionized the game and will I transcend time? It’s a tall order, he’s still working on it. Ask him if he is fulfilled and satisfied instead.

[20:26] Go for audience first, what else is there? When considering who to partner with to launch consumer brand its about the relationship between the market and influencer, it’s got to relate. There needs to be a 1:1 relationship between what the person is marketing and what the audience expects them to market.

[23:07] BAM Labs is a place for Brian to start his own companies. BAM Ventures is a seed stage fund: we have to love the entrepreneur and not hate the idea. Too many investors fall in love with ideas. How does Brian chose his entrepreneurs? “Tell me about your best friend and I’ll get an idea of your character, passion, fire, smarts and and trustworthiness.

[26:50] The surprisingly simple way Brian funds the companies he starts.

[28:53] Brian shares an investment story from Legalzoom. Sometimes just 750$ will do it.

[29:29] Ryan asks for Brian’s advice on where to go next.

 

Mentioned in this episode

 

Brian S. Lee

Art of Sport

The Honest Company

Legalzoom

Seven Spark

Churchhome Global

In today’s globalized yet isolated world, the pressure to perform, create and provide has fallen squarely on the individual, and the loss of community has exacerbated the weight of this task.

 

Ryan’s last quarterly meeting turned into a profound philosophical realization on the importance of fostering partnership and a network of support for your team so that they can in turn derive purpose and growth from this communal journey.

 

Can the means, and the ends that justify them, be added unto you when there is no meaning behind any of it?

Your relationship with your customer is like a bank account. Make no mistake: every time you ask someone to buy something, you’re making a withdrawal against relational equity.

Since it can’t be all withdrawals, listen in to Ryan Deiss to master 4 fundamentally human ways to build up — make a deposit in — your relational equity vault: laughter, tears, belonging and generosity.

Ryan and Marx talk about the dynamic nature of life and happiness, and how speaking less and less in a universe that has reciprocity coded in has had painful results: hurt people hurt people.

Are you serving a person or are you serving Amazon? The more value you give the more money you get, focusing on a person and giving them what they want will drive you forward, no cat (you’ll have to listen in to get that one!)

Max Kerwick — BBP co-host and brand building secret weapon — speaks to a select group at the 8 figure exit workshop at Ryan’s home. Who is your singularity, the figurative customer who is most predictive of your long term success?

Be weary of “busy moms” or “25 to 35 year olds” and their variance, establish your bullseye and aim for it. Tune in for some insight on brand design methodology: building an archetype on goals and interests, identifying its variants and gathering data.

Sean’s first engaged quarterly retreat was an epiphany for the whole team. What happens when you go from “being” the brand to building a brand? Your business becomes greater than the sum of its parts.

And when the brand needs to grow beyond you, how do you shift your leadership style? Clarity of purpose will engage your team in a meaningful way and drive them through that first dip in the sigmoid growth curve. Preach your why and rally the masses.

After meeting with Gary Vaynerchuk, 3 time billion dollar brand builder Brian Lee, and going through a therapy workshop in LA Ryan Daniel Moran shares his insights and breakthroughs about business and life.

Ryan shares an insightful conversation from a recent 8 figure exit event he held at his home. Matthew Fichtner explains his perspective on the world as a veteran, and why he now sees that we are seeking military solutions for issues to which opportunity is a better answer.

Tune in for a chat on creating safe spaces for people to build for themselves because the best thing you can provide hopeless people is opportunity to build for the future and building something without knowing what you want effectively translates to scaling unhappiness.

Jesse Itzler shares what magic dust he uses to scale businesses quickly and sell them before jumping into his next enterprise. Check the box and move on.

Tune in for some great insight on the importance of a network of authentic relationships to propel your business forward; how challenging yourself can move your kids and loved ones to chart their own path; and how the amount of days you have left needs to factor into how you choose to live.

Is emotional intelligence innate or acquired, and why is it even important? You make decisions based on emotions, and so do other people: learn to use that to your advantage.

At an earlier Capitalism Conference, Gary Vaynerchuk said that it’s all about people EQ skills. Tune in to find out how to increase your emotional intelligence: your body, your habits and going further than empathy.

If you don’t brand yourself, your customers will brand you. Max Kerwick talks to Steven Black about social listening, a great tool to begin or improve your ongoing market research processes.

Tune in for some serious advice: your social media channels are not secondary sales channels, engage with your customers! The importance of customer retention, abandoned cart sequences and stop apologizing for being in business.

Ryan shares a resonant keynote from the Capitalism Conference, Bedros Keuilian gives tangible advice in 4 areas of business strategy: Vision, Mission & Values; The 3 R’s; Scaling your business; and Leadership.

Tune in for a profound conversation on the nature of entrepreneurship and find out how Bedros deals with fear, stress, pressure and the internal struggles of building and growing a business.

Who is Charles Crawford? The advertising ninja. Ryan Daniel Moran probes and prods at the best Facebook advertiser in the world, to find out, among other things, what it is that makes him the best.

Charles is working for a billion dollar exit, but where does he derive meaning from? What’s his mentality and what shaped it? Can he fail? Can you? Listen to this titan dissection.

If it seems unlikely at first glance, an employee-less million dollar company is possible. You don’t have to have everything figured out to start your business, but there are a few key things to consider if you’re going to go it alone.

Your business is a means to an end, your ‘end’ is ultimately the lifestyle you want, and so that needs to be the first thing you establish. Find out what non-employee options exist out there. Tune in for an expert breakdown of what is required to launch and grow your one-person show.

Some people are natural born leader and some less so, but leadership is a skill and so it can be developed. In this episode of Freedom Fast Lane, Ryan Daniel Moran breaks down what you need to do.

Tune in for a deeper understanding of what you have to practice to develop your own leadership. Own your own life, make decisions, set boundaries and communicate your expectations but above all of this: have a vision and cast it.

First, have a great product and customer experience. Second? Ryan details the 3 steps you need to take on your journey to beating out your competition.

Should you simply try to outrank your competitors, are there different things to try? Tune in to hear how to play a higher game and win: build something meaningful, sustainable, scalable and sellable.

80% of Amazon sellers are not entrepreneurs, they’re hustlers — and Ryan loves hustlers! But what if you want to go from hustling to building an 8 figure exit business?

Can you walk away? That is the difference between an income stream and a business. Don’t waste the opportunity you have built, turn your business into a brand. First, start transitioning from operator to owner, then listen in for the next steps.

In this episode of Freedom Fast Lane, Ryan Daniel Moran talks about the habits you need to develop to help you in maximizing your life.

Listen in to learn the 7 principles of freedom and how these can help you build better results for yourself and your business. Become a real capitalist: responsible, creative, generous, sagacious, coalescent, transparent, healthful.

Take the time to listen to this important episode and find out what Ryan understood when he hit rock bottom, and what thoughts he had about himself at the time.

Ryan talks about the fact that there is no shame in mental illness, there never was: we all have junk! The people you surround yourself with is very important, but the confidence you have in who you are and what you want will set you free. And take care of yourself, body and mind.

You sell on Amazon but you want a brand, can the shift be done and if so, what steps should you take? Ryan Daniel Moran breaks down for you.

First, mindset: you are not just an Amazon seller, you are a brand. Second, identify: find out who and where your customers are. Third, diversify: get out of the Amazon platform and get to your customer!

Max Kerwick plays it differently today by tackling a common listener question: “it’s great to build around an ideal buyer, but how do I market to multiple types of people?”

Do you really have to speak to different customers? First, diagnose and second, decide if you need to segment. Listen in to find out how to do both of those things efficiently.

Ryan Daniel Moran is interviewed by John Crestani for an honest, gritty take on why Ryan won’t apologize for his success, what path he took, and what prices he paid to get where he is today.

Listen in for some fundamental insights on how human contact can and will propel you forward, who you surround yourself with will change your biology, and success is a tribal event: it benefits everyone.

In this episode of Freedom Fast Lane, Ryan Daniel Moran talks about the idea of freedom and how that notion can literally change all aspects of your life.

Tune in to gain practical tools to figure out what your compelling future is, and why knowing what you want to be free to do is just as important as being free of the things you don’t want to do. Find meaning in this new world where the “hunting/getting of meat” is less and less what we biologically understood it to be.

Listen in to this wildly popular talk by Ezra Firestone and gain some insight on how to scale your online business quickly and effectively.

Find out how to target and attract your audience with the use of a wide variety of consumer data-points. Learn the best attention-grabbing advertising strategies on the market and discover how to use Facebook Messenger as an potent tool to scale up your business.

Ryan Daniel Moran talks about the reasons why some entrepreneurs manage to break the million dollar cap and how some just don’t.

Find out how Ryan chooses what companies he will invest in — the ones he sees breaking the million dollar mark — and what he advises to do with the other ones! Will following a recipe get you beyond the million dollar plateau?

Ryan Daniel Moran talks about the usual challenges businesses looking to scale up typically run into, and how to tackle those issues.

In this episode, hear about what is required to take your business from the million dollar plateau, and start growing it into a multi-million company.

Ryan Daniel Moran recently held a Capitalism.com 8-Figure Business workshop at his house.

The subject of Kylie Jenner becoming the world's youngest billionaire at 21 came up and Ryan discussed her overarching strategy and how it applies to anyone selling physical products.

Want to attend a future workshop? Visit
www.Capitalism.com/8

Todd is growing a business selling skincare products online. He wants to reach a bigger audience, learn how to target his buyers, and build a brand with organic growth.

But first Freedom Fast Lane host Ryan Daniel Moran has some deep personal questions for Todd before he'll give his advice.

Are the things you are currently working on going to bring you the greatest long term results?

In this #ThrowbackThursday episode Ryan Daniel Moran shares the lessons he has learned about "multipliers", the things you can invest in that will compound your results. 

On this extra special episode of #WineWithWyan Ryan Daniel Moran is joined by our Capitalism.com Chief of Staff Ines.

He geeked out on baseball for a bit before taking questions from the audience about audience building and entrepreneurship.

Ryan Daniel Moran recently spoke at AdSum 2019, a summit for online sellers and digital marketers.

In this talk Ryan shares how you can combine the power of online marketing through ads and great offers to send traffic to Amazon products.

AJ Vaynerchuck – the seemingly mysterious other half of the VaynerMedia empire – shares his life lessons about launching and scaling the client service business that started with a $80,000 account to turning over 9 figures a year.

Speaking at this year’s CapCon, he uncovers the work ethic he shares with his brother Gary, and his experience of launching VaynerSports compared to VaynerMedia.

In this episode of Freedom Fast Lane Capitalism.com founder Ryan Moran covers the 2 steps necessary to achieve financial freedom.

1.) Build a business

2.) Invest the profits

Ryan goes into detail about how he achieved financial freedom and you can too with the right plan.

The fastest way to create breakthrough change is to get around people who shatter those paradigms.

Jesse Elder is the guy people go to when they have noise in their heads and need to get it in line with their mission and purpose so they can serve more people and go to the next level.

In this talk from the first ever Capitalism Conference Ryan & Jesse talk about overcoming self doubt
and creating a new normal.

On this very special episode of #WineWithWyan I am joined by our Capitalism.com Chief of Staff Ines.

We caught up about our takeaways from The Capitalism Conference and all of the inspiring entrepreneurs and business owners we had the privilege of meeting and took a few calls from the audience.

Many companies break when they scale too quickly with poor infrastructure, and when Michael Dubin’s Dollar Shave Club hit momentum through a viral video, he had to figure out quickly how to scale effectively.

Hear his story behind the hit viral video from 2012, the importance of worrying and the golden ratio to tracking success.

I was so grateful to have Alex Charfen speak at at this year’s CapCon, as he shares the research he’s found all successful entrepreneurs have in common.

He maps out what the path looks like to run an empire you’re proud of through The Billionaire Code, and the transitions it takes to become truly successful. Helping businesses scale fast, Alex knows what you need to regularly remind yourself along the journey.

Freedom Fast Lane began back in 2013.

Ryan Daniel Moran ran it for over 5 years and then retired the show after completing the goal of finding personal financial freedom for life.

After a few exits from physical products brands (the latest of which was for over 8-figures in cash) and some well placed investments the journey was over. 

Now on the Capitalism.com Podcast Network Ryan is bringing Freedom Fast Lane to discuss building businesses and investing the profits after all he has learned.

Would you believe that there is a formula to growing your business, one that generates millions of dollars?

Mark Ford (pen name Michael Masterson) created it and has applied it dozens of times. There are four steps in this formula, and Mark shares them with us on today’s episode.

After growing a business to $65 million in four years, Mark took the process and duplicated it over and over again. Entrepreneurs who apply this process in their businesses experience success, and you can too.

Marketing is everything, and copy is king. Once you have those nailed, your business growth will take off.

 

Rule number 6 of Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules For Life is to set your own house in perfect order before your criticize others.

I talk about what this means to me and what this important lesson means for entrepreneurs.

- Ryan Daniel Moran

When starting your own product business, it’s easy to tackle a million and one problems at a time. Starting on the simplest problems first sets you on a much better path.

In this episode, Kevin Lavelle, founder of Mizzen+Main, shares how he made “the best damn dress shirt for men” that’s now worn by men across 50 states.

We uncover how Kevin built credibility through a crowded market, boosting immunity through making mistakes, and the risks of scaling too early.

This week on The One Percent Podcast (now on the Capitalism.com Podcast Network) I give a behind the scenes look at the empire we are building.

I am joined by my right hand man and content creator C-Money in the Tesla and we had a conversation about some big changes within the company, the hiring of new employees, and our vision for the future.

We run through our current revenue model, unpack the good - and bad - hiring strategies we’ve used in the past, and what to do with company profits to continue making an impact for entrepreneurs around the world as the brand grows.

Let's say your first physical product is starting to really gain traction and pick up sales.

What do you next? How can you grow your brand even bigger?

In this episode co-hosts Ryan Daniel Moran and Max Kerwick guide you through the next steps to make sure you're not just a "one hit wonder" but to ensure you can grow a sustainable and profitable brand you'll be proud of.

After 13 years of entrepreneurship I wanted to give you a look behind the the curtain at where I've decided to go and where Capitalism.com as a company is going.

 

 

What leads someone to become an entrepreneur?

And what happens when the early programming and patterns of life that lead to success are no longer serving you?

About half a year ago I shared my experiences I had during and after Burning Man, on my own journey of personal development.

I realized that I had been operating my life through the lens of "Not Being Enough" which lead me to a lot of behaviors and thought patterns that I want to change.

In this follow-up I expand on my thoughts about validation, ego, purpose, and how to bring your life into alignment.

 

Is your business a "lifestyle" business?

An escape from the corporate world? A means of independence?
Or the expression of a true passion? Could it turn into a long-term growth business?

There is nothing wrong with any of these strategies.

But it's important to get clear on the purpose of your business.

In this episode of The Brand Builder Podcast co-hosts Ryan Daniel Moran and Max Kerwick share their thoughts on operating a business you may or may not be truly passionate about.

 

 

Is the Amazon gold rush over?
Well, not necessarily... but you can't use the same strategies you were using in 2011 or 2012.

In this episode I'll be walking you through the model that we are following when it comes to building physical products brands.

Amazon is just a distribution mechanism. A place to sell things.

In this monologue I'll be sharing my current strategies for selling physical products and building a scalable & sellable brand in 2019.

How much do you need to earn to live the life you want?

As entrepreneurs so often we chase freedom and work ourselves to death waiting for a payoff to come later.

This is my keynote from The Capitalism Conference 2019. My first keynote ever at my own event.

In this presentation I wanted to communicate my own path in the empire I am building with Capitalism.com.

I wanted to communicate this idea that freedom IS the doing of what you really want. Today.

And ironically, when we are in alignment with our purpose and zone of genius, the money just comes easily.

 

Moiz Ali founded Native Deodorant 2 years before selling the company to Procter & Gamble for $100 Million.

 How does that happen? How is there still so much money to be made in deodorant, and how can YOU sell products people will pay a premium for?

In this talk from a Capitalism.com event Moiz shares his journey, and how he quickly grew a brand that is now featured in Target and retail stores across America.

How long can we go before the next recession?

Most entrepreneurs are holding on to their money or, worse yet, putting them into assets that will eat away at their wealth.

Sam Prentice is the capital warehouse expert I turn to deploy my own money in a way that will take advantage of the market upside without participating in the downsides.

In this interview we talk about best investing practices, what asset classes might be right for you, and how you can multiply your wealth in any market.

For more information about Sam Prentice visit
www.WealthWarehouse.com

Acquiring a business can help you bypass the time spent on building a business from scratch.

But what happens when you acquire business which hasn’t been reaching its full potential? How do you change it into something which makes you money without you needing to spend all of your time on it?

Shakil Prasla buys online companies for as little money as possible, sits in the owner’s seat, and delegates systems and processes to a manager.
This has allowed him to purchase eight different online businesses, all of which he has turned into profitable enterprises which makes him money while he has little involvement.

In this episode of The One Percent (one of Ryan's most downloaded Freedom Fast Lane episodes) Shakil explains how his business model works, how he acquires new companies, and the process he takes to make his income passive.

Key takeaways: 
- How to pick profitable products for a long-term investment
- Finding good people for a successful online business
- Spotting growth potential in companies you’re interested in acquiring 

The best audience to sell to is one you are a part of.

Being part of a community you truly understand the pain points, the challenges that come up, and where people want to go in that niche.

So when Jake Rhodes started making products for crossfitters he started to gain some traction.

But it wasn't until he learned how to create relationships with influencers and athletes that his business truly shot through the roof.

Should you invest in real estate, stocks, other businesses... cryptocurrency?

In 2019 we are looking at an unpredictable market.

Some say it could collapse any day.

Fellow entrepreneurs Mike Dillard and Jason Hartman are not so pessimistic.

But with the uncertainty of the economy I wanted to pick their brains about where they are investing their hard-earned money.

I have some of my own opinions as well.

If you've gotten value out of The One Percent podcast please leave us a review and subscribe to make sure you never
miss an episode.

Not long ago Roxelle Cho was making products in her garage.

 After she gained the loyalty and support of a growing customer base through Facebook Live, Instagram, and emails she had to scale quickly.

Fused Hawaii is a handmade swimwear brand that empowers women to live comfortably in the skin that they're in.

 In this episode Roxelle shares how she has created a community of superfans who want to buy from the company again and again while spreading their message and telling their friends.

 

Brooke Castillo inspires me as an entrepreneur.

She is the founder of The Life Coach School, a massive empire that trains and certifies life coaches.

She really likes money and her results speak for themselves. She has built a thriving 8-figure business while just a few years ago it was generating only 300k annually.

She has done all this while working only... THREE DAYS PER WEEK.

I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation and I think you will as well if you like money, if you like smart people, and if you'd like to have more free time I think you'll get a lot out of it.

Listen to more from Brooke Castillo on her podcast "The Life Coach School Podcast"

We see a lot of physical product sellers who are really settling for low profit margins and who are really in the weeds of their business, particularly when it comes to navigating the challenges of Amazon.com

So we had Jeff Lieber on the podcast who works with Amazon sellers to free up their capacity as entrepreneurs and help them quickly scale. 

Jeff Lieber is the founder of Turnkey Product Management, a company dedicated to helping clients automate their sales growth.