# The Man That Makes Billionaires: The Formula Behind Brands That EXPLODE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-8QpYH4lL0

[00:00] I love investing in really lazy
[00:03] entrepreneurs because they're like,
[00:04] "This happens, this happens, and I make
[00:05] a lot of money." That's it. The
[00:07] hardworking, smart entrepreneurs have
[00:09] this complex web of businesses, and
[00:10] there's only one probable shift that you
[00:12] have to make to the next business. So,
[00:14] let me give you the framework.
[00:15] Meet Chiron Shvatza, investment banker
[00:18] turned serial entrepreneur and CEO of
[00:20] acquisition.com alongside Leila and Alex
[00:23] Harosi. He made five exits and scaled
[00:25] two companies to over 8 billion. And
[00:28] today he's going to reveal his
[00:29] money-making secrets.
[00:30] I will tell you probably onethird of my
[00:32] net worth has been created from my email
[00:33] list.
[00:34] What? And the exact playbook he would
[00:36] use to grow any brand.
[00:37] We fear talking to our customers. We
[00:40] think that they want the extra calls.
[00:41] They want the hand delivered baskets.
[00:43] But they don't care about most of those
[00:44] things. The two best question to ask is
[00:46] what is one thing if I took away this
[00:48] would not be valuable for you anymore.
[00:50] The second is damn
[00:51] that will probably get you to a $300,000
[00:54] business very quickly. one of our first
[00:56] companies. I was a passive investor in
[00:57] this business and I realized that the
[00:59] then CEO was embezzling from the
[01:01] business and so we bought the CEO out. I
[01:04] didn't have enough money. I reverse
[01:05] mortgaged my house and I will tell you
[01:06] Tiffany, I had never run a company
[01:08] before that. I had no idea what I was
[01:09] doing. I was googling how to run a
[01:11] business, how to make a P&L, starting to
[01:13] look at the business and I realized,
[01:14] wait a minute, what if I
[01:16] that grew the business to 3.4 billion.
[01:19] So this is your business plan for the
[01:20] next year.
[01:23] Previous videos we have talked about a
[01:25] project where we pick one dream that we
[01:27] want to help out with as part of our
[01:29] project called what's your dream. Now
[01:30] the problem with that is they're very
[01:32] timeconuming and we only really get to
[01:34] help with one dream. So we're changing
[01:36] things up. We are now also going to be
[01:39] looking for various dreams that we can
[01:42] help with in small ways. So that can be
[01:44] in connecting you with someone that you
[01:46] need in your dream or that can be giving
[01:48] you advice and meeting with you and
[01:50] troubleshooting anything that you're
[01:51] currently experiencing. So let us know
[01:52] in the comments what your dream is. Our
[01:54] team is going to be looking through all
[01:55] of those comments and you just might
[01:57] hear from us. All right guys, let's get
[01:58] back to Wait, I to I'm sorry. I totally
[02:01] lied. Um I always forget this part. Uh
[02:04] can you subscribe? Uh
[02:08] I don't know how to do this. This is so
[02:09] awkward.
[02:19] Sean,
[02:20] if I wanted to 10x my company, what
[02:24] would guarantee that I don't accomplish
[02:27] that?
[02:28] A lot of time people think that they
[02:30] have to improve and grow every other
[02:32] part of their business. But if you
[02:33] actually just improved one part of your
[02:35] business, everything else will be forced
[02:37] to lift with it. To do great things, we
[02:40] must do fewer things.
[02:42] And unless we accept that, it gets very
[02:46] very hard to build a scalable business.
[02:48] Because if you think being a
[02:51] million-doll business is complex,
[02:53] imagine a hundred million dollar
[02:54] business, right? The complexity is not
[02:57] linear. It is extremely exponential. So,
[03:01] our job is to figure out what are the
[03:03] few things that I can do and do them
[03:04] extremely extremely well. Right.
[03:07] Yeah. Yeah, I mean I feel like I face
[03:08] like a lot of times when we started our
[03:09] company and even now like there's times
[03:11] where you almost want to bet on the
[03:12] right horse it feels like.
[03:14] So is there a way that you know people
[03:17] who are currently trying to scale and
[03:19] they're trying to figure out like what
[03:20] is that one thing that I should focus on
[03:21] for this next season?
[03:23] Yeah.
[03:23] How do they evaluate that?
[03:25] The easiest way to figure out the thing
[03:27] to focus on in your business is to pick
[03:30] the thing in your head and then assume
[03:32] that you've accomplished that goal. Hey,
[03:34] let's assume I've already have all the
[03:36] leads that I want. Does everything work?
[03:39] Oh no, we'll need to hire more people.
[03:40] We'll need to get more marketing. We'll
[03:42] need to do more thing. You have to go
[03:43] through the assumption phase because
[03:44] then the last thing that you want to
[03:46] have happen is you do the thing and then
[03:48] you get stuck with everything else.
[03:50] Also, it's really important to apply
[03:53] some kind of diagnostic to your business
[03:55] that we know most businesses use to
[03:57] figure out where the opportunity is. So,
[03:59] let me give you the framework. In a
[04:00] service business, it is three things.
[04:03] traffic, systems, and skills. The job of
[04:06] traffic is to fill the funnel with
[04:07] opportunities. The job of systems is to
[04:09] convert those opportunities into
[04:11] appointments, cash, contracts, whatever.
[04:13] And the job of the skills is to deliver
[04:15] and actually fulfill and get paid. If I
[04:17] would take the traffic systems and
[04:18] skills framework and I knew nothing
[04:20] about your business, I would overlay
[04:22] that on your business and I say, "Well,
[04:23] Tiffany, do we have a traffic problem?"
[04:25] Essentially, you say, "Well, what does
[04:26] that mean?" That means, do we have an
[04:29] unlimited source of leads that are just
[04:30] filling the funnel constantly? And you
[04:33] you may say yes no maybe right then I
[04:35] say great do we have a systems problem
[04:37] meaning do those leads automatically
[04:39] start getting converted into contracts
[04:40] appointments deals whatever if not
[04:42] there's the next one and then do we have
[04:44] a skills problem meaning somebody is
[04:45] delivering that in a highly skilled way
[04:47] most of the time it is the owner yes
[04:49] right and so it's like hey do I have the
[04:51] ability to transfer the skill to someone
[04:52] else so when I look at the traffic
[04:54] systems and skill like no problem with
[04:56] traffic you're generating a ton of leads
[04:57] no problem with systems we're converting
[04:58] those but the skills is Tiffany's
[05:00] delivering everything
[05:01] so Now the scalability on that that is
[05:03] the constraint. So I have to do whatever
[05:05] it takes to transfer that skill to
[05:06] someone else. And so now they know that
[05:08] if I transfer the skill to someone else
[05:09] now I have a scalable model.
[05:11] Let's say the leads are not great right
[05:12] now right for somebody's business and
[05:13] their systems are not great. And they're
[05:15] basically saying like okay all of these
[05:16] three things are are problematic. But
[05:18] then there's the argument of like well
[05:19] if I were to bring in a bunch of traffic
[05:20] the systems are not there and that'll
[05:22] collapse. Do you fix the systems before
[05:24] the traffic?
[05:24] Correct. Because otherwise two things
[05:26] are going to happen. one, the the first
[05:28] set of people that came in are going to
[05:29] have a bad experience, and two, you're
[05:31] going to be really upset that you paid a
[05:32] ton of money for traffic and they didn't
[05:34] convert. So, you always get the system
[05:36] right first. Think about it this way.
[05:37] Should we build the plumbing or should
[05:40] we send water through the pipes first?
[05:41] You would build the plumbing first and
[05:42] then you would send water through the
[05:43] pipes. Now, the best part here is you're
[05:45] like, well, it's expensive to build the
[05:46] plumbing. So, what is the smallest
[05:48] version of the plumbing that I can build
[05:50] to get this to work,
[05:52] right? That's why it's really helpful to
[05:54] have like a one one delivery method. I
[05:57] have one traffic source that you can
[05:59] control. I have one conversion method
[06:01] and I have one delivery channel. For
[06:03] example, I get leads through paid ads.
[06:06] They convert on a one-on-one call and I
[06:08] deliver all of them in a Facebook group.
[06:10] I'm making this up, right?
[06:11] So now you know that,
[06:13] hey, I've got this one channel ads
[06:15] working. If the ads break, I'm done. But
[06:16] at least I know the ads working. And
[06:18] then you can make that better.
[06:20] Hey, I've got this one thing on the
[06:21] call. Well, my conversion is not doing
[06:22] well. Great. Maybe my script is wrong.
[06:24] Maybe I can try a few other things. So,
[06:25] now you can hire a specific consultant
[06:27] to watch 10 of these calls and say,
[06:29] "Give me a way to get my conversion from
[06:31] 30% to 35%." Now, you don't have to
[06:33] change anything else. You just say three
[06:34] different things in your script. And you
[06:35] automatically the funnel works better.
[06:37] So, the 111 is very clear because then
[06:40] you say, "Cool, the 111 worked. Can I
[06:42] add two traffic sources? Can I add three
[06:44] traffic sources?" And then a lot of
[06:45] people will say, "Well, what traffic
[06:46] source do I add?" Very simple. Is it
[06:48] organic? Is it paid? or is it activity
[06:51] or joint venture? If you're a real
[06:52] estate agent, you say, "Hey, I'm going
[06:53] to go knock on doors. I'm going to give
[06:55] out flyers to generate some leads to get
[06:57] people to come to this." So 111 is
[06:58] really good because the 111 will
[07:00] probably get you to a $300,000 business
[07:04] very quickly if you can dial the 111 in.
[07:06] And then you just add another traffic
[07:07] source. Then you add another traffic
[07:08] source. Then it'll break somewhere. Then
[07:09] you probably need a different conversion
[07:11] source.
[07:11] One traffic source, one conversion
[07:13] mechanism, one delivery channel. And
[07:15] then you'll be able to diagnose that
[07:17] very quickly.
[07:18] Okay. So, what is it that makes a
[07:20] business model scalable?
[07:22] There's this awesome football analogy.
[07:23] So, I I had a business partner who uh
[07:25] who played for the Miami Dolphins and he
[07:28] was a defensive lineman. He played for
[07:30] this legendary coach named Don Schula.
[07:31] And I said, "Hey, what makes Don Schula
[07:34] this legendary coach that everybody
[07:36] wanted to play for and he said every
[07:38] single play that they mapped out ended
[07:41] up in a touchdown?" Think about how
[07:42] crazy that is.
[07:43] No other coach
[07:45] in the history of the NFL plans that
[07:46] way. Most of them are like, "Hey, run
[07:48] spider three- wide banana and you'll get
[07:50] eight yards." In Don Chula's plays,
[07:52] every single play had a possibility of
[07:55] hitting a touchdown.
[07:57] The lesson there is we start the
[07:59] business and we think that we will
[08:00] figure it out tomorrow. What we want to
[08:02] do is project out saying if I continue
[08:03] to do this thing, is it sustainable
[08:05] enough for me to have it grow?
[08:08] Right? Because then you start to realize
[08:10] I'm already working 14 hours a day.
[08:12] There's no way if this grows from 3
[08:14] million to 30 million will I be able to
[08:16] grow in that way. And you want growth by
[08:19] subtraction, not multiplication. This
[08:22] happens. This happens and I make a lot
[08:23] of money. That's it. Right? The bigger
[08:26] question to ask is what would it take
[08:28] for this to be $10 million? What would
[08:31] it take for this to be $100 million? And
[08:33] when you put that frame on it, you start
[08:35] to realize that the current model
[08:36] doesn't work because then the complexity
[08:38] starts to fan out. So anytime you look
[08:40] at something and say this is getting
[08:41] complex you just ask what would a $10
[08:43] million $100 million version of this
[08:44] look like then you'll realize very
[08:46] quickly what's not important what's
[08:48] important right and it's hard because I
[08:50] will tell you this and it's very hard
[08:51] for entrepreneurs to listen to this
[08:54] I call it the curse of capability
[08:57] smart capable entrepreneurs will put
[09:00] themselves in situations to do complex
[09:02] things because they're capable of doing
[09:04] those things
[09:06] I love investing in really simple,
[09:10] really lazy entrepreneurs.
[09:12] Yeah.
[09:13] Cuz they're like, "How do I find the
[09:15] easiest possible way to do this thing so
[09:17] I can make a ton of money?" The
[09:19] hardworking, smart entrepreneurs have
[09:21] this complex web of businesses. And a
[09:23] lot of times when we invest in them,
[09:24] like cut this, cut this, cut this, cut
[09:26] this, cut this, cut this. Oh, you have
[09:28] 90% of your time back and only 10% of
[09:30] revenue dropped.
[09:31] Yeah.
[09:32] The hardest part is to get out of the
[09:33] curse of capability.
[09:34] Right. We've faced this and I think
[09:36] currently even faced this a little bit
[09:38] where you offer all of these different
[09:40] service lines in order to be able to you
[09:42] know stay afloat but then you also
[09:44] understand that like you want to
[09:45] simplify the business in order to have
[09:47] that 111
[09:47] when you're in it though you're just so
[09:49] tied into the nuances because if I say
[09:50] to you well change that you're like but
[09:53] wait I'll give you a crazy story so uh
[09:55] one of our first companies it's called
[09:57] Telus Properties in the real estate
[09:58] business we we bought it was roughly
[10:00] doing 300 million when you bought it I
[10:01] was a passive investor in this business
[10:04] And as I got some financials related to
[10:06] this business, I realized that the then
[10:07] CEO was embezzling from the business.
[10:10] And so we did the forensic accounting,
[10:12] me and my partner at that time, we
[10:14] bought the CEO out. I didn't have enough
[10:16] money. I reverse mortgaged my house and
[10:18] bought the CEO out thinking that it
[10:19] would be like a short-term thing. I was
[10:21] a banker at Goldman Sachs at the time. I
[10:22] took a leave of absence to help like
[10:24] write the ship, find a CEO for the
[10:26] business. starting to look at the
[10:27] business and I realized wait a minute I
[10:30] was doing the model and by mistake I put
[10:34] an extra zero in a spreadsheet cell the
[10:36] 300 million extra I have an extra that
[10:37] was 3 billion and suddenly that those
[10:40] numbers all looked phenomenal and I
[10:42] looked at it and I said if that is true
[10:45] can I make it work and so I pitched the
[10:47] board on this idea that hey I'm going to
[10:49] take majority control I'm going to run
[10:50] this 5-year plan I'm going to do this
[10:52] but I have no idea what I'm doing and
[10:53] they said well as long as you stay with
[10:55] the original thesis that we want to
[10:56] build this boutique real estate company
[10:58] in and around Southern California. We're
[11:00] good. What we realized was no one wanted
[11:02] a boutique real estate company in
[11:04] Southern California. What we realized
[11:06] was our messaging was completely off. We
[11:09] had 30 real estate agents at that time
[11:10] and I sat down and asked every one of
[11:12] them, "What would be the one thing that
[11:14] if I took away that you would not want
[11:16] to work here anymore?" And unanimously
[11:19] all of them said this one thing. Me
[11:21] being here saves me at least one day a
[11:24] week.
[11:25] So I said, "Great. That means our value
[11:28] proposition is you should come to tell
[11:30] us because our job is to save you at
[11:32] least one day a week. What would you do
[11:34] with another 52 days a year?"
[11:36] Damn.
[11:37] That grew the business from 300 million
[11:40] to 3.4 billion, 10x in 5 years with that
[11:42] one value prop pitch. Nothing else.
[11:45] That's all it was. So now you think
[11:47] about the operations around it. Now,
[11:49] every question that we built was, "Hey,
[11:51] does this continue to help our agents
[11:53] save more than one day a week? If yes,
[11:55] do it. If not, don't do it. We need a
[11:58] $10 million ad budget. Does this help
[12:00] our agents save them one day a week?"
[12:01] No, we're not going to do it.
[12:03] It really just shows that the simplicity
[12:04] is not only in the pitch, it simplifies
[12:06] the service. It simplifies the entire
[12:07] trifecta of what you were pitching.
[12:09] Correct. And that goes back to like the
[12:10] 111.
[12:11] We fear talking to our clients and our
[12:14] customers. We really fear that. We
[12:17] think, because we're smart, we think
[12:19] that they want all of these things. Hey,
[12:21] they want the extra calls. They want the
[12:23] one-time touches. They want the Loom
[12:24] videos. They want the written reports.
[12:27] They want all of those. We think they do
[12:28] because it sounds good to us, but they
[12:30] don't care about most of those things.
[12:32] They just want one day a week. The two
[12:35] best question to ask is, "What is one
[12:38] thing if I took away this would not be a
[12:40] valuable engagement for you anymore?"
[12:43] and what is the one thing that you wish
[12:45] I added that would make you stay
[12:46] forever.
[12:47] They will tell you what to eliminate and
[12:50] what to keep and that is our job to
[12:52] continuously do that. What does that do?
[12:53] That simplifies the business. Sure, you
[12:54] may lose a couple, but you're probably
[12:56] shedding so much complexity,
[12:58] right?
[12:58] And our job is to deliver that. What is
[13:00] your one day a week? That's what we need
[13:02] to deliver for them. And if you can find
[13:03] that, you just put all your focus around
[13:04] that. And then that's when people really
[13:06] love you for it. There was this CRM
[13:08] called Mailchimp. The number one reason
[13:10] why people chose Mailchimp was because
[13:11] it gave you your first 5,000 contacts
[13:14] free.
[13:15] Every other CRM charged $39 a month, $39
[13:18] a month, $100 a month, or whatever,
[13:20] right? Mailchimp was the only one that
[13:21] said, "It's your first 3,000 contacts
[13:23] free or what have you." Well, most
[13:25] people said, "Well, why would I go pay
[13:28] for something else when I can just get
[13:29] my first 3,000 free?" Well, they did
[13:31] that and that's when that they became
[13:33] one of the biggest CRM and got bought by
[13:34] Salesforce for like a couple of billion
[13:36] dollars. There's been no CRM that's ever
[13:38] sold for that level of money only
[13:39] because they did that one thing which is
[13:41] we can get a lot more people in if you
[13:43] just said your first 3,000 contacts are
[13:45] free and so they just build their their
[13:46] business model on that one thing. And so
[13:48] when you figure out that one thing you
[13:49] just that becomes your universal front
[13:50] end the universal front door and that's
[13:52] when everything starts to hunker.
[13:54] I love this because I didn't go to
[13:56] business school right and I think these
[13:57] are the fundamentals that like I'm I
[13:59] don't know if they teach you this in
[14:00] business school but to me this is the
[14:01] stuff that I feel like I wish I knew
[14:02] when I started. Right. There was
[14:04] something that you had mentioned in a
[14:05] video talking about making your business
[14:07] sellable even if you had no plans on
[14:09] selling it. And so should every founder
[14:12] be building their company to sell even
[14:15] if they don't plan on it?
[14:16] Yeah. The goal is not the exit. The goal
[14:18] is options.
[14:19] Right. My dad always used to say when
[14:21] you don't know your options, you don't
[14:22] have any.
[14:23] Right. And I think most business owners
[14:25] are in that place. They just they feel
[14:27] like they don't have any options. I'll
[14:28] give you a practical example of how this
[14:30] came about. When we were running one of
[14:32] our existing business, same business got
[14:33] called tell us. I had no idea how much
[14:35] the business was worth. I could say,
[14:37] "Hey, we made this much revenue, we made
[14:38] this much eb, we made this much income.
[14:39] I think it's worth this, but you don't
[14:42] know what somebody is willing to pay for
[14:44] it."
[14:44] Mhm.
[14:45] So, I said, "Well, why don't I do a soft
[14:46] shop of this business?" So, every summer
[14:49] I used to take the business to market as
[14:50] I was actually planning on selling it.
[14:53] And I identified three to five of the
[14:55] key people that I think would buy the
[14:56] business. I put our package together
[14:58] like I was going to sell the business. I
[14:59] went through that process and then I
[15:01] said, "Hey, buyer A, here's all our
[15:04] stuff. Based on all of this, how would
[15:06] you value us?" And let's say he said,
[15:07] "Well, we think you're worth a $50
[15:09] million." I go, "Well, great. Why not
[15:11] 75?"
[15:12] He says, "Well, to be 75, you need to do
[15:14] these five things." I was like, "Okay,
[15:17] thank you so much." Then I go to the
[15:18] next person. Hey, it's $60 million, not
[15:20] Well, why not 80? Well, to do 80, you
[15:22] need these five things. So, I take that
[15:24] list of those five things and I say,
[15:26] "Hey, COO, this is your business plan
[15:27] for the next year.
[15:29] Right. And then next year you come back
[15:32] and say, "Hey, Tiffany, you said if I
[15:34] did these five things, it would be 75
[15:36] million." Oh, yeah. That's right. You
[15:38] did all the things. Awesome. Hey, why
[15:39] not 150? Well, to get 150, you need to
[15:42] do these six things. Great. Thank you.
[15:44] Go back, do those six things. When you
[15:47] do that, and you go back to the same
[15:48] potential buyer, they see two things.
[15:50] Number one, they see that your business
[15:53] is malleable and adaptable, that it can
[15:56] actually grow by putting the strategies
[15:58] in place. So they have confidence in
[15:59] what they're buying. Second, they have
[16:01] confidence in you and the team that
[16:03] given a new strategy that you can
[16:04] implement it to get to that thing.
[16:06] Mhm.
[16:06] Everybody wants to buy a business that
[16:08] can change and grow and an operator that
[16:10] can change and grow with it. And what
[16:12] you've done over a two- three period,
[16:13] you've just shown them that. If we had
[16:15] not done that, I would have just had to
[16:16] make up the business plan in my own
[16:17] head. I would have said, well, we should
[16:19] do this or we should expand in this
[16:20] market. I would not have known if that
[16:22] was actually giving us any good value.
[16:24] The crazy part is potential buyers also
[16:26] told us what was not valuable. So I
[16:28] would ask them saying, "Hey, why didn't
[16:29] you give this market in Orange County
[16:32] any value?" They're like, "Well, we
[16:34] don't have any synergies there and looks
[16:35] like that's losing money because of
[16:36] these three things. So we actually gave
[16:38] it no value." And I'm like, "Amazing.
[16:40] I'm going to dep prioritize that part of
[16:42] my business." So it also allows you to
[16:43] know which one to focus on, which one
[16:44] not to focus on. It is amazing when you
[16:46] go through the process when someone else
[16:47] who's potentially going to buy you looks
[16:49] at your business with a fine tooth comb.
[16:50] you will know what the assets in your
[16:52] business are and what are not and then
[16:54] you'll realize what to focus on what not
[16:56] not to focus on that gives you
[16:57] optionality so uh when you don't know
[16:58] your options you don't have any
[16:59] so what are the different types of
[17:00] options that somebody can have in their
[17:02] business other than growth and you know
[17:03] maybe having an outside investor like
[17:05] private equity
[17:06] I think about it in three ways do you
[17:09] grow the business yourself
[17:11] do you grow the business with someone's
[17:13] help
[17:14] or do you grow the business with your
[17:16] employees and let me explain what each
[17:17] of those are growing the business by
[17:19] yourself is saying I going to fund this
[17:21] growth because I believe that if I put
[17:23] in a million dollars, it can grow to 10
[17:25] and so I have funded this growth. I own
[17:27] all of this. The second is I'm going to
[17:29] take outside equity and the outside
[17:30] equity could be bank equity or private
[17:32] equity or an investor. Now you have
[17:34] somebody else that is a co-owner in the
[17:35] business but they give you the capital
[17:36] and the resources to help you grow. The
[17:38] third is which I have done once it's
[17:40] called an employee stock purchase plan.
[17:41] You can sell your business to your
[17:43] employees.
[17:44] So one of my friends runs a wealth
[17:46] management firm. He sold like 50% of the
[17:48] business to his employees,
[17:49] but his employees had to only contribute
[17:51] 10% of that
[17:52] to buy in. He got the other 40% from the
[17:54] bank. So he made 50 million, sold 50% of
[17:57] his business to his employees. Now he
[17:59] has 50 shareholders, none of whom are
[18:01] going anywhere.
[18:02] Wow.
[18:03] Now private equity came in and said,
[18:05] "Hey, we love your business because you
[18:07] have 50 shareholders. All of them are
[18:09] vested in the business. We know none of
[18:11] them are going to leave. So we have no
[18:12] risk of defection. So now we want to pay
[18:15] you more.
[18:16] Okay.
[18:17] Think he got a $50 million check and he
[18:19] recently got a $250 million check and
[18:21] all the employees got a piece as well.
[18:23] So you can even sell your business to
[18:24] your employees. Not all businesses are
[18:25] work that way. Consulting, um, you know,
[18:28] accounting, things that are services
[18:30] based that people stay on for a long
[18:32] time. You can sell your business to your
[18:33] employees. It's not the perfect fit
[18:34] every time, but grow the business, get
[18:36] outside resources, or you can sell
[18:37] business to your employees.
[18:39] And it's also a really great way to find
[18:40] and source those A players, right?
[18:42] They're very much invested in this
[18:43] particular company.
[18:44] Yeah. I will give you a way in which
[18:46] entrepreneurs can give a piece of
[18:49] ownership to a key employee without
[18:51] giving them ownership.
[18:53] Okay.
[18:53] This is called phantom equity.
[18:55] And how this works is let's say you and
[18:57] your husband own the business and if I
[18:59] come on as a partner now you have to
[19:00] change the agreement. You have to change
[19:02] the LLC or corporation docs. Now I have
[19:05] shareholder rights. You don't know if
[19:07] I'm going to stay forever. What if I
[19:08] leave or do something crazy? Now you
[19:10] have liability. you have to change the
[19:11] way the tax structures are had all of
[19:13] that and it's really complex. So most
[19:14] owners don't want to give a piece of
[19:16] ownership of their business to an
[19:18] employee because they are unsure as to
[19:20] like all of these other complications
[19:22] and all that they're doing is to saying
[19:24] they just want them to feel like an
[19:25] owner because at some point when it
[19:27] sells they want them to participate in
[19:29] it in some way. Right?
[19:30] So what you can do is you can do
[19:31] something called a phantom stock
[19:32] program. What that means is you and your
[19:34] husband have stock 100 shares in this
[19:36] business. You create a new program
[19:37] called a phantom stock program. It's
[19:38] just a document that says this Phantom
[19:40] Stock program mirrors this. It's
[19:42] completely separate. But if we ever sell
[19:44] this business, you get 10%. But you have
[19:46] no liability. You have no tax
[19:48] consequences. You have none of that. But
[19:49] if we sell this business, you want 10%.
[19:51] By the way, if you leave, this goes
[19:52] away,
[19:52] right?
[19:53] So now you bring an A player on board.
[19:55] You give them phantom equity. And now
[19:57] they feel like, hey, I'm building the
[19:59] business. I feel like an owner, and if
[20:00] this business sells, I get a piece of
[20:01] the pie as well,
[20:02] right?
[20:02] So it's an easy way to kind of sweeten
[20:04] the pod without having to change your
[20:06] operating structure. I never even
[20:08] thought about it as another recruitment
[20:10] strategy, but also that it allows me to
[20:12] have a further option in terms of
[20:13] selling it in the future. Right. So like
[20:15] I've killed two birds with one stone.
[20:16] Correct. Just by evaluating all of my
[20:18] options.
[20:18] Correct. Exactly. Right.
[20:20] That's incredible. Now I want to ask you
[20:22] some rapid fire questions. So you
[20:24] recently announced that you became
[20:26] partners with Alex Hermos and Leila
[20:27] Heroszi. I am curious because you guys
[20:29] met back in the gym launch days. What
[20:31] kind of questions were they asking that
[20:34] gave you insight that they thought
[20:36] differently?
[20:37] While every other founder was asking
[20:39] first order questions, hey, what do I
[20:40] do? What do I do now? They were asking,
[20:43] hey, if I did this, what would it mean
[20:45] for one year, two year, 5 years, 10
[20:47] years down the line,
[20:49] the ability to see second and third
[20:51] order consequences
[20:53] is insanely powerful because you start
[20:55] to realize that it's chess and not
[20:57] checkers. And so sometimes you have to
[20:59] sacrifice the pawn to support the queen.
[21:02] So if there's one lesson that you've
[21:04] learned in business, what do you feel is
[21:06] most important?
[21:07] The number one thing a entrepreneur can
[21:09] do to set themselves up for scale in the
[21:11] early part of their lives is to freeze
[21:14] lifestyle. Most business owners feel
[21:17] stuck because they're working in the
[21:20] business and they want to be working on
[21:21] the business. The traditional thing of
[21:23] I'm working in the business, not on the
[21:24] business. The reason why most people are
[21:25] stuck in their business is they're like,
[21:26] "Wait a minute. I did $500,000 this
[21:29] year. After all my expenses, I made 150,
[21:33] right? And then to hire somebody pretty
[21:35] good. I need to pay 200 grand. I don't
[21:36] have the 200 grand. I would have to go
[21:38] to zero to actually pay that person that
[21:40] money." The problem there is if you now
[21:42] go to a million, you're making 300
[21:44] grand. And now you're used to a $300,000
[21:46] lifestyle and you still can't hire the
[21:48] $250,000 person.
[21:49] Yeah.
[21:49] And they're like, "I am the service. I
[21:51] am the delivery. And if I pull myself
[21:53] out of it, then I don't make the
[21:55] lifestyle that I'm used to.
[21:56] Mhm.
[21:57] I'll give you a crazy example. In the
[21:59] last 14 years, our family, we run it on
[22:01] the same monthly nut.
[22:03] Wow.
[22:04] Our net worth is probably 50 times in
[22:06] the last 14 years, and we still run on
[22:09] the same monthly nut. Now, there's a
[22:12] reason for that, which is it gives us a
[22:13] lot of optionality.
[22:14] So, I can say if this is my monthly nut,
[22:17] everything above this is just risk
[22:19] adjusted. And as people make more money,
[22:22] they just turn up lifestyle. And then
[22:23] it's very, very hard to turn down
[22:25] lifestyle.
[22:26] Okay. Biggest misconception about
[22:28] building wealth, what would it be?
[22:30] The biggest misconception about building
[22:31] wealth is us thinking that it is a what
[22:33] and how problem and not a who problem.
[22:36] We're like, what do I need to do? What
[22:38] offer do I need to create?
[22:39] So, I came up with this thing called the
[22:41] 1010 forever rule. Who are the 10 people
[22:45] that you would invest in for the next 10
[22:46] years who would pay you forever? So
[22:49] instead of investing in the next hot
[22:51] stock or the next hot startup, you say,
[22:53] "I'm going to put Tiffany in my 1010
[22:56] forever, whatever she says I'm going to
[22:58] do. Whatever I can do to support her,
[23:01] I'm going to do because I know that this
[23:02] relationship is going to be worth more
[23:04] than anything else." And once you do
[23:06] that, you realize that wealth creation
[23:08] is a who strategy, not a how strategy.
[23:11] If I'm having trouble finding a players,
[23:13] no matter how much I try, what am I
[23:15] doing wrong? Whenever you hire somebody,
[23:17] you're looking for one of two things.
[23:19] You're looking to solve the pain of
[23:20] today or the growth of tomorrow. Those
[23:22] are the only two reasons why you hire
[23:24] somebody. You're like, I'm drowning. I
[23:25] can't figure this out. I need somebody.
[23:27] I need somebody yesterday. Or you're
[23:29] like, wouldn't it be amazing if we had
[23:31] this person who could go help us go do
[23:32] that? Those are the two reasons. The
[23:35] number one reason why it's difficult to
[23:36] find an A player is because we don't
[23:38] articulate exactly that.
[23:41] So, let's say it is the pain of today.
[23:43] What I would do is I would write up all
[23:46] the pain. I don't have time doing this.
[23:48] I have poor quality doing this. This
[23:50] sucks. This is terrible. The clients are
[23:52] having a bad experience. Without this,
[23:54] I'm stressed. I don't sleep. You do all
[23:55] of that. And then you upload it to AI
[23:57] and you say, "Turn all of this pain into
[24:00] a job description."
[24:02] So now what you get is somebody that
[24:04] knows that when they do the thing, you
[24:05] get the exact job description for that
[24:07] person or for the growth. You turn
[24:09] around and say, "Wouldn't it be amazing
[24:10] if we could do A B C 1 2 3?" Then you
[24:13] upload to AI and say, "Turn all my
[24:15] aspirations into a job description."
[24:17] Because when that person reads that, it
[24:20] has to speak to them.
[24:21] The A player actually reads your job
[24:24] description, right? They actually care.
[24:26] So if you think that your generic job
[24:28] description doesn't matter, you are
[24:29] wrong. You have now expressed exactly
[24:31] what you want and they now feel like
[24:33] they are the perfect match for it. It's
[24:35] not that they are an A player. It is
[24:37] that they are an A player for you.
[24:39] That's the fit. An A player for you is
[24:41] not an A player for me. And the A player
[24:44] is a perfect match. And you got to give
[24:45] them your puzzle piece. And if they
[24:47] don't know your puzzle piece, they can
[24:48] never put their puzzle piece in.
[24:50] So you mentioned in another video that
[24:51] if you lost your email list, it would be
[24:53] like losing a third child. Uh why is
[24:56] that?
[24:57] In the modern world, email is a gateway
[25:00] to everything. To sign up for a social
[25:01] media account, you need email. When
[25:02] you're in a social media account or when
[25:04] you're listening to YouTube or or a
[25:05] podcast, you're in constant scroll mode.
[25:09] Email is the only medium where you
[25:11] evaluate every single message on its own
[25:14] priority.
[25:15] You don't swipe and say, "That's Chiron
[25:17] post. What should I do? That's Tiffany's
[25:18] post. What should I do?" You don't do
[25:19] that. You just swipe. But in email,
[25:21] you're like, "That's Chiron's email.
[25:22] What should I do? That's Tiffany's
[25:23] email. What should I do?" You make a
[25:24] choice on every single message. Email is
[25:28] also a personal platform because you
[25:30] don't send docuign over text message.
[25:33] Email is considered to be a personal
[25:35] serious platform. The other reason is
[25:37] someone actually raised their hand, went
[25:40] in, gave you their email address, and
[25:42] opted into your list knowing that you're
[25:44] going to send them something.
[25:45] Yeah,
[25:46] there's so much that goes in from an
[25:48] endorsed introduction perspective to get
[25:50] that thing. It is the most valuable
[25:52] thing before you get a meeting. And also
[25:55] an email buyer is a more serious buyer.
[25:58] An email reader is a more serious
[26:00] reader. I will tell you probably
[26:02] one-third of my net worth has been
[26:03] created from my email list.
[26:05] What?
[26:05] We built a billion dollar business off
[26:08] my email list.
[26:11] Hear me everyone. I'm literally going to
[26:12] have an email list now because of this
[26:13] conversation. That is incredible. I know
[26:16] that you have said that one of the most
[26:18] important components of business in
[26:20] general is writing a memo.
[26:23] Mhm. Why is that?
[26:24] Internally, we have this acronym called
[26:25] Waffam. W AFM, which is right a memo.
[26:28] So, when someone on Slack is like, "Hey,
[26:29] do you want to do this?" I'm like,
[26:30] "Wam."
[26:32] That being said, this is a great part
[26:33] for us to transition into our show and
[26:36] tell. Before we get back to the video,
[26:38] this episode is sponsored by no one.
[26:41] Yeah, we don't actually have a sponsor.
[26:43] So, technically, we are the sponsors of
[26:44] this video, but I'm sorry, that scared
[26:46] me. We have started a tradition where we
[26:49] shout out one of your dreams. And in
[26:51] this episode, I need to shout out Hold
[26:53] on. Super vibe. Woo! Cue the applause.
[26:58] All right, guys.
[27:00] Now, Derek, one of our founders, watches
[27:02] the show.
[27:03] Said he's a co-founder.
[27:04] I said that.
[27:05] What I meant to say was Derek, who
[27:08] watches the show, was super kind to send
[27:10] this box of goodies for us. I don't know
[27:13] about you guys, but I struggle so much
[27:16] with energy these days, especially while
[27:18] building this stream. So, I am always on
[27:20] the hunt of looking for other ways to
[27:21] get caffeine. Supervibe uses green tea
[27:24] and is made out of a bunch of honestly
[27:26] very great ingredients. Chocolate is my
[27:28] favorite. Phenomenal. But the blueberry
[27:30] and the matcha, chef's kiss. If you guys
[27:32] can do me a huge favor and follow
[27:34] Supervibe, let's surprise Derek with a
[27:37] bunch of sudden followers on Instagram.
[27:39] And if you happen to struggle with
[27:40] energy like me, go order them on
[27:43] supervibe.co.
[27:45] Let's get back to the video.
[27:47] The best leverage that you can get for
[27:48] your thoughts and ideas is to organize
[27:50] your thoughts. And most people have
[27:52] never been taught how to organize their
[27:53] thoughts. We've just been taught how to
[27:54] write an essay in school about the Great
[27:56] Wall of China, right? And we live in a
[27:58] world where clarity of thinking creates
[28:02] the clarity of results. And so at
[28:04] acquisition.com, one of the pillars of
[28:05] how we work is we have a memo culture.
[28:07] Meaning if we want to make a decision,
[28:10] we use a memo. And all a memo is just a
[28:12] written Google doc of our thinking. But
[28:15] what about for the argument for the
[28:16] person that's like, "But Chiron, I mean,
[28:19] everything's on fire in my business. I
[28:20] don't even have the time to really make
[28:21] a memo." And who's going to even really
[28:23] read this memo? Is it really that
[28:25] important?
[28:25] That is exactly the reason why you
[28:27] should do it.
[28:28] The best reason to write a memo is for
[28:31] yourself. I think it's more valuable for
[28:33] solo operators who are going Mach 3 with
[28:35] their hair on fire than even large
[28:37] business owners. Any decision requires a
[28:39] memo. We say no memo, no decision.
[28:42] Because what it does is it allows you to
[28:45] see everything on paper because fear has
[28:47] no place on paper. Right? You see it and
[28:49] you're like, "Oh, that is what I was
[28:50] thinking. I'm not afraid about that
[28:52] anymore." Or I ask the question saying,
[28:54] "I'm concerned that this will reduce our
[28:56] profits." Well, let other people answer
[28:58] that question. By the way, for our
[29:00] executive meetings, if there are no
[29:01] memos to review, we don't do the
[29:03] meeting. So, no memo, no meeting.
[29:05] Wow.
[29:06] We actually deliver the memo before the
[29:08] meeting. We require people to prepare.
[29:10] We say read this memo with shared
[29:11] understanding. Come to the meeting and
[29:12] all we're going to talk about is the
[29:14] questions in this memo. So what this
[29:16] does is it allows for the meetings to be
[29:18] a lot more productive and when the
[29:19] meeting is over everyone feels like they
[29:22] jointly contributed to the moving of the
[29:23] business forward not that Tiffany made a
[29:25] decision. You will see the meeting
[29:27] quality shoot up 10x. Also there's
[29:30] institutional knowledge. So let's say
[29:32] you get a new employee or a new partner
[29:34] you can say there's no onboarding. Read
[29:36] our last 20 memos. They read the last 20
[29:37] memos. are caught up on where the
[29:39] business is at right now. And if there's
[29:40] a similar project, you're like, Sean,
[29:42] that's exactly the same project we did
[29:43] to launch this podcast, read that memo,
[29:45] and then write a new one. Now, they just
[29:46] take that, they dup it, and they write a
[29:47] new one cuz it's almost an SOP, but the
[29:49] decisions have already been made. Four
[29:50] years ago, this would have been really
[29:51] hard because you to sit there and spend
[29:53] 4 hours writing this extremely
[29:55] thoughtful memo. Today, it's so much
[29:57] easier, which is why we created a memo
[29:59] framework. We'd love to share this with
[30:01] everybody. And what they should do is
[30:03] they can just voice chat AI and say,
[30:06] "Here's everything that I want to do.
[30:07] here's what I'm thinking. These are my
[30:09] disorganized thoughts. Put this in the
[30:11] memo framework and it will automatically
[30:12] take your thoughts and reorganize them
[30:15] into a thoughtful framework which you
[30:16] can now share with your coach, share
[30:18] with your adviserss, share with your
[30:19] team and say, "Please read this before
[30:21] our next meeting." So people will say,
[30:22] "Well, what is this memo? How do I write
[30:24] it?" etc. It's actually really simple.
[30:25] There are three pieces to this puzzle.
[30:27] Piece number one of writing a memo is
[30:29] who do you write it to? Whenever I write
[30:31] a memo, I write it to my coach. I think
[30:34] about my coach in my head because I say,
[30:36] well, she has no context about anything.
[30:38] So, I want to give her shared
[30:40] understanding of what's going on. So, I
[30:41] use a section called the story so far.
[30:43] Story so far. Here are the seven things
[30:45] that have happened. Now, there's enough
[30:46] context. And based on this, here's the
[30:48] issue that we're solving. Based on this,
[30:51] here's my recommendation. I don't know
[30:53] the answers to these five questions. Can
[30:55] we meet?
[30:56] Take me back. I think the thing that is
[30:58] most impressive about you is you have
[31:00] lived, I think, like a hundred lives,
[31:02] right? take me back to the beginning.
[31:04] Um, because I want to know it all.
[31:07] We were a middle-ass family. We lived in
[31:10] a one-bedroom apartment in India. And my
[31:13] parents realized early on, I realized
[31:15] early on as a kid growing up in India
[31:17] that I was not going to make it on
[31:20] academic prowess. Everyone else was just
[31:22] as smarter, way smarter than me. And in
[31:24] a academically dominated kind of
[31:26] society, you have to have something else
[31:27] to stand out. And I was not cutting it.
[31:28] I was tonedeaf, so I did not get picked
[31:30] for any music. I did not hit my growth
[31:32] spurt for a while. So, I did not get get
[31:33] picked on any sports. I was dyslexic, so
[31:35] it was really hard for me to read. So, I
[31:37] would be like the last kid that got
[31:38] picked on the field. I would get kicked
[31:39] out of class. Like, it it was just
[31:41] terrible. It was to the point where I
[31:42] would get bullied a lot. And my parents
[31:45] realized that they were like, "Hey, we
[31:46] just need a better environment for you
[31:47] to succeed. We know that maybe the UK or
[31:50] the US is probably the right answer cuz
[31:52] they have a more meritocracy based
[31:53] system. It'll give my son one shot at a
[31:56] better life." So I remember my dad were
[31:57] sitting on a park bench staring a couple
[31:59] of tennis courts and he says you need a
[32:01] ticket, you need a skill that will make
[32:02] you stand out to get out of India and we
[32:05] changed focus on academics, changed
[32:07] focus on time and only my entire family
[32:09] focused just on tennis and honestly it
[32:11] paid off. I was able to use tennis as a
[32:13] little launchpad to leave India. So my
[32:15] parents made the biggest sacrifice to
[32:16] send me to the US. I'm also the only
[32:18] child so they let their only child go at
[32:20] 16 years old. Never been to the US
[32:22] before. Once I landed in Chicago, this
[32:24] was the days where no cell phones or
[32:26] pagers or whatever and someone was going
[32:27] to meet me at the airport. I'm there, no
[32:30] one's there to meet me. Then suddenly my
[32:32] name gets called on the public address
[32:33] system. Shirant about police report to
[32:35] the white courtesy phone that you never
[32:37] want that by the way. The message is,
[32:38] "Hey, your driver's car broke down. They
[32:42] want you to take a bus and meet them in
[32:44] Molen, Illinois." Now, I I have no idea
[32:46] where anything is. So I say, "Okay, I
[32:48] got to go find a bus to take you to
[32:50] Molen, Illinois." No problem. I have
[32:51] like a $100 in some cash and change. I
[32:53] can do that. It was supposed to be like
[32:54] a couple hour ride. Well, 5 6 hours
[32:57] later, it's dark outside. I'm at a bus
[32:58] depot. I'm the only one in the bus. The
[33:01] driver's about to get off and he's like,
[33:02] hey kid, where you going? I said,
[33:03] Mullen, Illinois. He's like, well, we
[33:06] are in Lacrosse, Wisconsin. I'm like,
[33:08] I'm guessing that is not Mullen,
[33:09] Illinois. He's like, opposite direction.
[33:11] I go, okay. He goes, well, here's what I
[33:13] suggest. Why don't you come into the
[33:15] depot for tonight? Let's figure out a
[33:16] plan for tomorrow. So, I grab my stuff.
[33:18] I exit the bus. And out of nowhere, this
[33:20] guy jumps in front of me in a hoodie
[33:22] with a knife.
[33:24] So, I've been in the US 8 hours and I'm
[33:26] getting mugged in an alley in Lacrosse,
[33:29] Wisconsin. So, this guy says, "Give me
[33:31] everything you got." He opens my bag. He
[33:33] rummages through my clothes and I will
[33:35] never forget this. He says, "You're the
[33:37] worst person I ever mugged."
[33:40] And I'm thinking, "How many people have
[33:41] you mugged?" Right? And I kind of gather
[33:44] some courage and I tell him, "I'm lost.
[33:47] I just need to get to school tomorrow. I
[33:48] pull out $100. I have $100. If I give
[33:51] you this $100, will you give me 50 back?
[33:54] And he's like, what? I was like, I just
[33:57] need to get to school. So, he grabs the
[34:00] hundred bucks and he dishes me out a 20,
[34:02] a 20, and a five.
[34:03] You negotiated with your mugger.
[34:05] I I mean, I I don't I I don't think I
[34:08] would have the ingenuity to do it now.
[34:10] It was desperate times,
[34:12] of course.
[34:12] So, I got $45 and my stuff. figure out
[34:16] the next day, get my bus to Mullen,
[34:18] Illinois. Then I get to school and I was
[34:21] like, well, what does every Indian
[34:22] parent tell their kid to study? Computer
[34:25] science, math, engineering, right? And
[34:27] so I was a computer science and math
[34:29] major by default. I got very lucky
[34:32] because I graduated with a computer
[34:34] science and math major during the
[34:35] technology boom.
[34:37] And so our first company, I was very
[34:38] early employee. We raised a ton of money
[34:40] and we had the first exit doing that.
[34:42] And I thought I was going to get $50
[34:43] million. I go to Bank of America on the
[34:45] closing day and I go to the ATM and I
[34:48] hit receipt and it just prints out this
[34:50] paper receipt and I'm like that's not
[34:52] 50. And so I called the CEO of the
[34:54] business and be like what what is this?
[34:55] He's like did you not read your
[34:56] contract? And then I realized that I had
[34:59] a delilution clause in my contract
[35:01] called a ratchet. I know more about it
[35:03] now than I did then. But it had over
[35:07] 15xed my payout down. So I took the
[35:10] liquidity that I had, paid off any debts
[35:12] and I spent five years teaching tennis
[35:14] in the Caribbean, Dubai and on Maui. And
[35:17] I had a teaching pro who was a one of
[35:19] the best tennis teaching pros in the
[35:21] world. He said to me, "Do you want to
[35:22] become the best teaching pro in the
[35:23] world?" I said, "Yes." He said, "You
[35:26] need to teach 100 free lessons
[35:30] and I will evaluate and give you
[35:32] feedback on every single one of them."
[35:34] That's how I got good. And then I got to
[35:36] teach tennis to Bill Gates, Alan Alda,
[35:39] Richard Branson. I will tell you the
[35:40] number one lesson that I learned from
[35:41] Richard Branson. I played for two hours
[35:43] is like trying to rehearse this question
[35:44] in my head as to what I would ask him. I
[35:46] said, "You run 10 companies. You
[35:48] probably have to make a lot of
[35:49] decisions. How do you make decisions?"
[35:52] And the moral of the story was that most
[35:54] people don't have a framework for making
[35:56] decisions. Therefore, they make dumb
[35:57] decisions. From that day, I started
[35:59] thinking about how I make decisions. And
[36:01] then I made a framework for how to make
[36:03] decisions. And it's number one
[36:05] understand the context. So you ask where
[36:06] the shared information is. Number two,
[36:08] you isolate the issue. Hey, what are we
[36:10] problem are we actually solving? Number
[36:11] three, you accept the risk. If we make
[36:13] the decision, what actually breaks?
[36:14] Number four, you map the decision. Hey,
[36:16] what am I going to do as next steps?
[36:17] Now, when you have a framework for
[36:18] making decisions and someone brings a
[36:20] problem to you, you're like, wait, can
[36:21] you tell me about that? Understand the
[36:23] facts. Then you say, isolate the issue.
[36:25] So the problem we're trying to solve is
[36:27] this. Number three, accept the risk. If
[36:29] we make this decision, we probably can
[36:30] do this project, this project, and this
[36:32] project, and this project. Yes, accept
[36:33] the risk. Number four, okay, given that
[36:35] we're going to do all of that, what is
[36:36] the next step? You make a decision,
[36:37] right?
[36:38] No way would I have learned that if I
[36:40] never played tennis with Richard
[36:41] Branson.
[36:42] So, after playing tennis, I was talking
[36:43] to one of my mentors and he said, "Hey,
[36:44] remember the time that you got screwed
[36:46] on your deal?" He goes, "Yeah, do you
[36:48] know why you you got screwed?" I'm like,
[36:50] "Because I didn't read the contract."
[36:51] He's like, "No, because you don't know
[36:52] how to structure deals."
[36:53] So, he goes, "If I were you, I would go
[36:55] to Wall Street." And I'm like, "I can't
[36:58] get to Wall Street." He said, "Well, the
[36:59] only way to get to Wall Street is go to
[37:01] business school. I went to school at
[37:02] Vanderbilt, which has the highest
[37:02] placement rate of getting uh students
[37:04] into Wall Street. I went to Goldman
[37:06] Sachs right after. I was the only
[37:08] student in my MBA class to get a job at
[37:10] Goldman Sachs. I had 39 one-on-one
[37:12] interviews.
[37:13] 39
[37:13] 39 one-on-one interviews in three
[37:15] different cities to get a job at Goldman
[37:16] Sachs. I'll tell you the craziest story
[37:18] about these interviews. I get into uh in
[37:20] probably interview number 10 or 12. I'm
[37:22] sitting in the conference room. A
[37:24] managing partner walks in and he says,
[37:26] "You're a hot shot. You want to work at
[37:27] Goldman Sachs?" He pushes the binder for
[37:29] me. These are my prospects. Call them.
[37:31] Set me an appointment. I go, "Right
[37:33] now?" He goes, "Yeah, here's a phone.
[37:35] Here are my prospects. Call. Set me an
[37:37] appointment. Let me see what you hot
[37:38] shot can do."
[37:41] I have no idea how to do any of this.
[37:43] And so I said, "I'm happy to make this
[37:46] call, but I'd like to represent you."
[37:48] Well, could you give me a script? He
[37:50] looks at me, he gathers all his stuff,
[37:53] puts it in his bag, shakes my hand, and
[37:55] says, "You'll do great, kid." And he
[37:57] walks up. So I see him at the cocktail
[37:58] party after. And I said, "That interview
[38:00] is 45 seconds long. You have to tell me
[38:02] what happened." He said, "I've been
[38:03] doing this 20 plus years. In the last 20
[38:05] years, only two people have actually
[38:07] asked me for a little help or a little
[38:08] script cuz everyone else thinks they're
[38:10] so good. They call and they make a fool
[38:11] of themselves on the phone. They think
[38:13] I'm giving them initiative point, but
[38:14] they don't realize that they're already
[38:15] there because of initiative. I just want
[38:17] to know that they are coachable. I just
[38:18] want to know that they will listen to
[38:20] what I say. I just want to know that we
[38:21] can mold them to become great bankers."
[38:23] And you showed me just by asking me for
[38:25] a script that you were coachable enough
[38:26] to become a great banker. So I spent six
[38:28] years investment banking and during that
[38:30] time we invested in this company called
[38:32] Telus. It was a single office real
[38:34] estate company in Beverly Hills,
[38:36] California. Then we figured out the then
[38:37] CEO was invest.
[38:50] And she was pregnant. So she said to me,
[38:53] she's like I think this is a terrible
[38:54] idea. But at that time my wife was a
[38:58] consultant for Deoid Consulting. So I
[39:00] built her a pitch deck to explain to her
[39:02] in her love language why this was a good
[39:05] idea. So I presented this pitch deck to
[39:07] her on like a Sunday afternoon and she
[39:09] see sat there on the couch with me going
[39:11] slide by slide and she was like sounds
[39:14] like a good plan for us. So we reverse
[39:16] mortgaged our house. I put all my
[39:18] savings into the business. I did not
[39:19] make any payroll for the first year. We
[39:20] lived off of my wife's salary and that
[39:24] is originally the amount that we
[39:26] continue to live off till today. I will
[39:28] tell you Tiffany, I had never run a
[39:29] company before that. I had no idea what
[39:31] I was doing. I was googling how to run a
[39:33] business, how to make a P&L. I I was
[39:35] googling everything and I had to learn
[39:38] how to be the operator of a business on
[39:39] the job.
[39:42] I second guessed myself every day
[39:43] saying, "Is this the right thing to do?
[39:46] Am I actually good at this?"
[39:49] I was so lost.
[39:51] I remember they invited like 20 CEOs to
[39:53] a conference and I was like, "Sure, I'll
[39:55] go skip my head out of the game." This
[39:58] lady comes on and every time she said
[40:00] something, I was like, "Oh, that was
[40:02] good." And I felt like asking a question
[40:04] and it felt like she was reading my mind
[40:05] and she would just answer the question
[40:07] and she did it again and again for like
[40:09] for an hour like she was talking to me.
[40:11] So I drove home and I called my dad. I
[40:13] was like, "Dad, you will not believe
[40:14] that this lady was in my head. She knew
[40:17] exactly the things that I was going
[40:18] through, the pain that I was feeling. My
[40:20] dad said, "Well, you should ask her to
[40:22] be your coach." And I go, "Dad, she's
[40:25] busy. She's not going to do that." He
[40:26] goes, "Well, pay her. I don't have any
[40:28] money. How much do you have?" I go,
[40:29] "Well, I don't know, maybe like 10
[40:31] grand. Are you willing to part with
[40:32] that?" I said, "For the sake of the
[40:34] business and me getting better." "Yeah,
[40:35] send her an email and tell her that."
[40:37] So, I wrote her an email. I saw you
[40:39] speak today and you I was really
[40:40] impressed with what you did. Felt like
[40:42] you were speaking to me. I would like to
[40:43] offer you $10,000 as a symbol of my
[40:45] seriousness if you can be my coach for
[40:47] the year. I don't expect any meetings. I
[40:50] don't expect any scheduled phone calls
[40:52] and I don't expect to bother you in any
[40:53] way. I would just hope that you would
[40:55] prioritize responding to my emails. I
[40:58] sent her the email. 20 minutes later,
[41:00] she reply saying, "Is this a joke?" I
[41:02] said, "No, I'm 100% serious. This is all
[41:03] I have." And then she says, "Write it
[41:06] up." Wow.
[41:07] I was like, "I don't know what writing
[41:08] up means." So, I hit print, signed it,
[41:11] and scanned it back to her, wired her
[41:13] $10,000, and she became my first coach.
[41:15] I wanted to make it so low stakes for
[41:17] her because I bet people just get hit up
[41:19] saying, "Hey, can I take you to coffee?
[41:21] Can I pick your brain? Can I have your
[41:22] time?" They make it feel heavy. And I
[41:24] will tell you right now, you have no
[41:25] idea. I've probably written that email
[41:27] to at least a dozen people since then.
[41:30] Nobody says no. And is some of the
[41:32] greatest investments I've made. That was
[41:34] a turning point in my growth. We built a
[41:36] business. We grew at 10x in 5 years to
[41:38] $3.4 billion in topline sales and then
[41:40] we sold the business to Douglas Element
[41:42] uh which is publicly traded out out of
[41:44] New York. So that was a super good run
[41:46] for us. I'm just lucky that the swinging
[41:47] for the fences worked, but it didn't
[41:49] work for like a few years. It was hard
[41:52] on our relationship. She saw me working
[41:54] really hard being with the being with
[41:56] our child, figuring out being a young
[41:57] dad or new dad was hard.
[42:00] What was the hardest part
[42:03] mentally for you?
[42:05] It surfaced a lot of insecurity for me.
[42:08] Actually, even now sometimes I look back
[42:10] and say, "Man, am I really qualified to
[42:13] do any of this?"
[42:18] But it's amazing when someone else
[42:19] believes in you.
[42:22] I think my wife believed that
[42:25] I had it in me to go do this or she was
[42:27] at least felt safe that
[42:31] it was one shot at swinging for the
[42:33] fences and that we were okay even if I
[42:35] didn't.
[42:37] But gosh darn it, if I failed, I would I
[42:40] would going to claw and poke and scratch
[42:43] till I made it work.
[42:45] I had no idea.
[42:48] makes me want to cry listening to that
[42:49] cuz um
[42:52] even hearing what your wife also she
[42:54] believed in you right you had these
[42:55] these people in your life that knowing
[42:58] that if those individuals had not been
[43:00] in your life you know the outcome could
[43:01] have been so different I think it's what
[43:03] you were saying about people believing
[43:05] in you where do you think that you would
[43:06] be without that belief
[43:08] when you ask that question reminds me of
[43:09] this story my wife um
[43:16] I was so scared when this happened, this
[43:19] guy reached out to me by watching one of
[43:20] my videos. And he said, "Hey, I've
[43:22] watched all your stuff. I would love for
[43:24] you to like help me with my business."
[43:26] So, I said, "Sure." Met him in person,
[43:28] did the consulting, visited his offices,
[43:31] saw his books, saw his business grow.
[43:34] And then there was an investment
[43:35] opportunity in his business where he
[43:37] said he was going to go raise some
[43:38] money. And I said, "Well, wait a minute.
[43:40] I know this business really intimately.
[43:41] I'll write that check." And so, I wrote
[43:43] a check for easy math. Let's call it a
[43:45] million dollars. Mhm.
[43:46] And 3 months later, nobody could find
[43:50] him. He disappeared off the face of the
[43:53] earth. Couldn't find him, couldn't find
[43:54] his family. He just took the money and
[43:56] ran. With the diligence, we found that
[43:58] he had two sets of books. He had a fake
[44:02] company. Everything that he was showing
[44:04] was all fake.
[44:05] And it took me 3 or 4 months of therapy
[44:08] to be able to tell my wife. And so I sit
[44:10] down with her. I explain everything to
[44:11] her and she's listening.
[44:15] at that point it was a decent part of
[44:17] our net worth
[44:19] and she looks at me and she says
[44:22] so what'd you learn
[44:26] so I told her hey based on this I've
[44:28] changed the way I invest in companies
[44:30] she goes what is it so I gave her my
[44:31] framework good people good intentions
[44:34] good rationale good contracts she goes
[44:37] huh seems like a good lesson
[44:41] she goes
[44:43] I have no doubt that you'll make 10
[44:45] times or more back in a very short time.
[44:50] She walks away like balling. I'm balling
[44:54] cuz I was so nervous. And sometimes you
[44:56] have to go through those things to get
[44:58] your antennas up to build the frameworks
[45:00] around it. But you realize who are going
[45:01] to stick with you in thick and thin and
[45:04] who believed in you more. And I think
[45:05] the gift of that that she gave me was to
[45:08] share that belief with others. Like if
[45:09] you actually believe in someone else
[45:11] that is the biggest gift that you can
[45:12] get them, right? to think that the first
[45:14] thing that came out of her mouth was
[45:15] that this was a productive thing that
[45:16] happened. I'm sure changed the way even
[45:18] that you went about that moment because
[45:20] what it could have done is it could have
[45:21] scared you
[45:22] sure
[45:22] from taking another chance and instead
[45:24] what it did is empowered you to know
[45:26] that now you know better and you're
[45:27] going to probably make a better decision
[45:29] and so I think there's something an
[45:31] extra added component to it when you
[45:33] think of someone's actions even you know
[45:35] your wife saying okay like I'm going to
[45:36] be because of course that's sacrifice
[45:38] for her too right to take on that dream
[45:39] with you and your parents as well I
[45:41] think when you look at that what it does
[45:43] to your psyche for the rest of your life
[45:44] our environment shapes a lot
[45:47] who we are. Uh I think the lesson I
[45:49] would tell myself is this. Some of the
[45:51] biggest names that we know, Tony
[45:53] Robbins, Elon Musk, Oprah,
[45:57] Sachin Adella, Mark Zuckerberg, if you
[46:00] evaluate each of them, you would give
[46:02] each of them different scores on how
[46:04] well they spoke. Tony's a phenomenal
[46:06] communicator. Elana is terrible. Three
[46:08] out of 10. If they were all not perfect
[46:11] amazing communicators, how is a three
[46:14] out of 10 communicator the richest man
[46:15] in the world and I think that all of
[46:17] them do one thing which is they have
[46:19] this ability to transfer belief. The job
[46:22] of a leader is to help other people
[46:24] believe in a bigger and better future.
[46:26] Cuz as soon as you believe the future is
[46:28] bigger and better and there's a better
[46:29] future tomorrow than there is today,
[46:32] you have an operating system of hope. I
[46:34] think that's what my parents did for me.
[46:36] It was not the belief of today. It was
[46:37] the belief of who I could be tomorrow.
[46:41] And I feel this immense responsibility
[46:44] to live up to that. And so when things
[46:48] get hard, I live up to that.
[46:51] I'm curious about Sean back then,
[46:54] had he even just gotten a snapshot at
[46:58] the wonderful success that was ahead.
[47:00] What would he have thought?
[47:02] I think I'm just living on living
[47:03] someone else's life. I got super lucky
[47:07] along the way. A lot of people believed
[47:10] in me. A lot of lucky breaks. There's a
[47:13] great story. When I got to the States,
[47:14] my parents had made me out a check for
[47:16] tuition for the first year, which was,
[47:18] you know, a significant part of their
[47:19] life savings. And I appreciate that. So,
[47:21] I went to school and I deposited the
[47:22] check, the lady, and she's like,
[47:24] "Welcome to college. All of this pays
[47:26] for everything, but since it's an
[47:27] international check, it'll take 7 to 10
[47:29] days to clear. So, till then, you may
[47:31] not have a meal plan. So, I suggest you
[47:33] enjoy all the parties on campus.
[47:35] They had free food.
[47:36] They had free food. It was pizza and
[47:38] root beer. Like every like it's college
[47:40] food. I hit all of those. And then a
[47:42] Saturday came along and all the parties
[47:44] died down. I was hungry. I'm walking
[47:46] around trying to find food
[47:48] and I see
[47:50] these couple of guys toss a pizza box
[47:52] into a dumpster. I'm like, I just saw
[47:54] them toss good pizza in a dumpster. Like
[47:56] in a box. This is good. I wait till
[47:58] sundown. I jump in this dumpster. I grab
[48:01] the box of pizza and got two little
[48:02] slices in there. I grab it. I run to my
[48:04] room and I was I felt so embarrassed.
[48:10] Well, next day happened. I was like, I'm
[48:13] still hungry. It's like meander away to
[48:15] the same dumpster and I see a couple
[48:17] people throw sandwiches into this
[48:19] dumpster and I go, this is amazing.
[48:21] Jackpot.
[48:22] Jackpot. So, I wait. I grab the Subway
[48:25] sandwich. And then I look in the corner.
[48:28] There is this all-American box box of
[48:29] Pop-Tarts.
[48:31] Strawberry by the way. Like this is
[48:33] amazing. So I'm about to grab it and out
[48:35] of nowhere something whacks me in the
[48:38] face and I'm like I'm bleeding and in
[48:41] the corner is a raccoon.
[48:43] You can't even make this stuff up. So I
[48:45] grab the box of Pop-Tarts, grab my
[48:47] Subway sandwich, I kick wildly. I don't
[48:49] know what I hit. I do not know what I
[48:51] hit. And I climb out of this dumpster
[48:53] and I just run. I run to health
[48:55] services. So I'm with this nurse. She
[48:58] can smell the dumpster on me.
[49:02] She gives me tetan shock and
[49:06] that was a really low point.
[49:09] And I was like, I'm dumpster diving.
[49:11] This is crazy. I can't tell anybody
[49:13] about this.
[49:16] She hands me a blockbuster card. Oh,
[49:19] like $20. And she's like, "Get yourself
[49:21] some food and a movie off. You'll be
[49:22] better tomorrow.
[49:26] The happy ending to that story is 22
[49:29] years later, they invited me back to be
[49:32] the commencement speaker. So, I'm at the
[49:33] commencement. I'm I was like, well, it
[49:35] only makes sense for me to tell the
[49:36] story. So, I'm telling the story, the
[49:39] thousands of people are laughing their
[49:41] faces off. And then I thought, well, is
[49:42] this dumpster still there? So, I walk
[49:45] and find the dumpster and I take a
[49:47] selfie.
[49:48] Then on the side of the dumpster is a
[49:51] poster
[49:53] with Aquaman on it. It says, "Not giving
[49:57] up is the most heroic thing you can do."
[50:01] I have never sobbed so much
[50:05] because I think that was full circle
[50:09] of all things.
[50:11] Watching that poster was like
[50:14] that made everything worthwhile. that
[50:17] made everything real.
[50:21] You don't have to be an Aquaman fan, but
[50:24] whenever I get stuck, whenever things
[50:28] get rough, I just tell myself this that
[50:29] same quote, which is not giving up is
[50:32] the most heroic thing you can do.
[50:34] Thank you for sharing that. Um,
[50:39] you've had many chapters in your life.
[50:42] In one word, what would you call this
[50:44] one?
[50:46] I believe that this is a chapter of
[50:47] preparation
[50:50] because how you prepare shows just how
[50:53] much you care.
[50:54] It's beautiful. And I just want to close
[50:56] by saying that we just met today, but
[50:58] you've been a mentor of mine for quite
[51:00] some time. It truly is uh very full
[51:03] circle for me and for us. It just means
[51:07] so much to know that all of the things
[51:09] that it took for you to get to this
[51:10] point, I'm just so happy that they did
[51:11] because you were like the right person
[51:14] to succeed. And so, um, what you've done
[51:17] with your success and how you've shared
[51:18] all of those principles and how generous
[51:20] you are, you continue to see so much
[51:22] success now is because of the way you
[51:23] are. So, thank you.
[51:25] Thank you.
[51:25] All right, guys. You know the drill. We
[51:27] are going to be diving into the anatomy
[51:29] of Chiron's dream. We are going to be
[51:31] going over the principles that came up
[51:33] in his journey. And because there are so
[51:36] many of them, we are going to be putting
[51:38] up a list of all of them. And we're just
[51:40] going to be touching on the few that we
[51:42] found that were the most important. And
[51:43] if there are any that you want us to
[51:45] touch on in a future video, let us know.
[51:48] All right, let's dive in. The first
[51:50] principle that came up in Chiron's story
[51:52] is skill stacking. This is the idea that
[51:54] when you combine multiple skills, even
[51:56] if they seem completely unrelated, they
[51:58] form a stack and eventually become your
[52:01] unique advantage. In our interviews so
[52:03] far, this has come up, by the way, 100%
[52:06] of the time. And honestly, Shron's
[52:08] journey might just be the most vivid
[52:09] example that we've seen on the show so
[52:11] far. I mean, if you look at it, I mean,
[52:12] there's tennis, computer science,
[52:14] investment banking, real estate. And on
[52:17] paper, none of them go together. And
[52:19] yet, when you look back at it, none of
[52:21] it went to waste. It normally never
[52:23] does. Tennis gave him discipline and the
[52:25] ability to perform under pressure.
[52:26] Computer science gave him the ability to
[52:28] look at a problem and reverse engineer
[52:29] it. Goldman Sachs that gave him the deal
[52:31] structure knowledge that he needed to
[52:32] never get diluted again after his exit.
[52:34] And then real estate that gave him
[52:36] networking skills, marketing skills, and
[52:39] honestly that made him a very
[52:41] well-rounded CEO. None of it was random.
[52:43] It just might have looked that way at
[52:45] the time. And what Chiron's story adds
[52:47] to this that we haven't seen before is
[52:49] that your stack doesn't necessarily have
[52:52] to come from passion or curiosity or
[52:55] your interests. Some of the most
[52:56] powerful skills that you'll ever have
[52:58] are ones that were potentially forced
[53:00] onto you or the ones that you picked up
[53:02] just to survive. And I think that
[53:04] honestly sometimes necessity builds a
[53:06] better stack than intention ever could.
[53:08] Meaning that random job that you are
[53:09] taking to pay bills isn't a waste of
[53:12] time. It probably is teaching you
[53:14] something that you'll need one day. So
[53:15] if you're in a season right now where
[53:16] your life feels a little all over the
[53:18] place, where you're not sure if it
[53:20] connects yet, trust that it only means
[53:21] you're creating a unique advantage that
[53:24] no one else will have. Moving on to our
[53:26] next principle which is proximity. So
[53:29] this principle is basically that your
[53:30] environment shapes your outcomes.
[53:33] Meaning being present around certain
[53:35] people or places or ideas actually
[53:38] increases your odds of success. And
[53:39] there is plenty of data that actually
[53:41] supports this. This means that we should
[53:42] be placing ourselves in environments
[53:44] around people who elevate our thinking.
[53:46] They accelerate our pace and they expand
[53:48] what we believe is possible. Now
[53:50] proximity was essential in Shiron's
[53:53] story. I mean think about it. His
[53:54] parents recognized really early on that
[53:56] the environment that he was in wasn't
[53:58] built for him and was not going to offer
[54:00] him the future that they wanted for him.
[54:02] So, they reorganized all of their
[54:04] priorities around one goal, getting him
[54:06] into a different environment, one where
[54:07] he actually had a shot. I mean, to be
[54:09] real, we don't know if Chiron would be
[54:12] where he is now if he hadn't moved to
[54:13] the US. That doesn't mean that if you
[54:15] aren't in a specific country or in a
[54:17] specific city that you have no chance.
[54:18] Applying this principle can be as small
[54:20] as working in the best hotel lobby that
[54:22] you have in your city or it can be
[54:24] attending virtual events where you will
[54:26] be meeting the right kind of people in
[54:28] the industry that you want to work in.
[54:29] This whole principle is really about
[54:30] being intentional no matter where you
[54:32] are to expose yourself to the right
[54:34] environments and people because
[54:36] ultimately that genuinely does influence
[54:39] us in our actions and also obviously in
[54:41] the opportunities that we get from it.
[54:43] And for Shiron, it led him to the
[54:44] founder event where he met that first
[54:46] coach. It led him to teaching Richard
[54:48] Branson. And remember, Shawn didn't
[54:50] always have access. He wasn't born into
[54:52] the right rooms. He had to literally
[54:54] engineer his way into them. And
[54:56] sometimes it was with a cold email and
[54:58] $10,000 that he could barely afford at
[55:00] the time. Sometimes it was saying yes to
[55:01] things that felt impossibly out of his
[55:04] comfort zone. So, the real question to
[55:05] ask yourself is this. Look at the
[55:07] environment you spend the most time in.
[55:09] Are they expanding what you believe is
[55:10] possible, or are they keeping you
[55:12] comfortable? And what's the one thing
[55:13] that you could do this week that would
[55:14] put yourself in proximity of more
[55:17] opportunity or the right people? Is it
[55:18] an event reaching out to someone or is
[55:20] it working out of a different
[55:21] environment? All right, moving on. The
[55:23] next principle that comes up in Tron's
[55:25] story is that he asked for help. Now,
[55:27] this principle is the deliberate choice
[55:29] to accelerate your progress by seeking
[55:31] insight or guidance or support from
[55:34] others who have already navigated the
[55:35] challenges that you're currently facing.
[55:37] Now there's this quote by Jim Ran who is
[55:38] this well-known entrepreneur who said to
[55:40] solve any problem here are the three
[55:42] questions you need to ask yourself first
[55:45] what could I do second what could I read
[55:48] and third who could I ask I know I'm
[55:51] making this sound very simple but this
[55:53] is actually the part that I think most
[55:55] of us struggle with cuz help is not only
[55:58] uncomfortable it really does go against
[56:00] the way that we're designed to operate I
[56:02] think a lot of us learned that our value
[56:05] is based on what we offer offer or what
[56:07] we give, not necessarily what we need.
[56:10] Because like here's what we're taught,
[56:12] especially ambitious people. If you're
[56:14] capable, if you're smart enough, and if
[56:16] you really want something badly enough,
[56:18] you should be able to figure it out on
[56:19] your own. And asking feels like you're
[56:21] admitting that you don't have what it
[56:23] takes. Like, you're exposing some sort
[56:25] of weakness. And for me, the part I
[56:27] struggle with most is I feel like I'm
[56:29] bothering someone. Had Chiron led with
[56:31] this fear, he wouldn't have gotten this
[56:33] job at Goldman Sachs. because while
[56:34] every other candidate before him picked
[56:36] up the phone and they tried to wing it
[56:38] because they thought that that's what
[56:39] initiative looked like, Sean asked for
[56:41] help by asking for that script. I swear
[56:42] this seems very simple, but as we're
[56:44] saying, most things actually are very
[56:46] simple. We're just making it
[56:47] complicated. So, if you're struggling
[56:49] right now with a problem in your
[56:50] business or you're pursuing a dream, ask
[56:52] yourself, where am I trying to figure
[56:54] out something on my own when someone
[56:56] else already has the answer? Now, that
[56:58] exact question is what led Ron to making
[56:59] that $10,000 offer to that coach, which
[57:01] brings me to my next principle of
[57:04] recruiting superstars. Now, superstars
[57:06] are your employees, your seuite,
[57:09] sometimes even they're your mentors.
[57:10] They are going to be the people who are
[57:12] going to increase your chances in
[57:14] business. Now, I want you to think of
[57:15] your business as if you're building a
[57:17] team. You are the owner of that team.
[57:18] Now, don't ask me what kind of team
[57:19] because I really do know nothing about
[57:21] sports, but I do know that you would
[57:23] need players, but you also would need
[57:25] coaches. And considering you for all
[57:26] intents and purposes still are a player
[57:28] on the team until you have removed
[57:30] herself, that coach is probably going to
[57:33] be coaching you at first. The woman that
[57:35] Chiron send that that 10K to that I keep
[57:37] bringing up, she was a superstar. She
[57:39] was someone who had already solved all
[57:40] the problems he was facing and had
[57:42] answers to the questions that he needed.
[57:44] And by recruiting her, yes, recruiting
[57:46] because that's technically what that
[57:47] email was, he compressed years of
[57:49] learning into four years of focus
[57:51] growth. Now, I want to be clear about
[57:52] something here because I don't want to
[57:53] contradict what we talked about in the
[57:55] earlier section. Asking for help and
[57:57] recruiting a superstar are two different
[57:58] things. Asking for help is obviously a
[58:00] moment you're reaching out. You're being
[58:02] vulnerable. You're trusting that people
[58:03] will be willing to guide you. And a lot
[58:05] of the time, they honestly are and even
[58:07] for free. But recruiting a superstar is
[58:09] different. That's when you want someone
[58:10] in your corner on a recurring basis.
[58:11] Someone who knows your business, who
[58:13] shows up for you consistently, who is
[58:15] invested in where you are going. And for
[58:17] that, you need an offer. And I'm sure
[58:18] I'm not the only one who thought that
[58:19] that $10,000 offer was a pretty unique
[58:22] proposition. I've honestly never heard
[58:24] of anything like that before. What was
[58:25] interesting about it is he was offering
[58:27] something in exchange for something that
[58:30] felt pretty easy on the surface, which
[58:32] was just answer my texts when you can.
[58:35] And while 10K is a lot of money for most
[58:37] of us, was even a lot of money for
[58:38] Chiron at the time, honestly, he
[58:40] probably saved money in the long run by
[58:42] spending that. And this wasn't a onetime
[58:43] thing either. I know for a fact that
[58:45] he's hired several coaches. He doesn't
[58:46] just believe in having a coach. He
[58:48] believes in having the right coach for
[58:50] every area of his life and business. And
[58:51] I've seen that the most successful
[58:53] people do this even before they are
[58:55] successful. They make an investment into
[58:57] the right people, the right people to
[58:58] coach them, the right people working on
[59:00] their business and the right players on
[59:02] their team. And I also want to point out
[59:04] cuz many of you may have found out about
[59:06] Chiron through Leila and Alex Herozi,
[59:08] but he's now the CEO of acquisition.com.
[59:10] And think about it, he himself is a
[59:12] superstar. I've heard Leland Alex Herozi
[59:13] talk about how they want to bring
[59:15] Acquisition.com to1 billion dollars. It
[59:17] was no surprise to me that when they
[59:19] announced Giron as the CEO, I was like,
[59:20] well, this makes sense. They're bringing
[59:22] in a superstar to literally score the
[59:25] goal. Sorry, I'm telling you, I'm like
[59:27] so bad at sports. I was trying to say
[59:29] make the shot. Anyway, you know what I'm
[59:31] saying? They're bringing in the
[59:32] superstar to actually help them win the
[59:33] game. It's going to be much easier for
[59:35] them to have that led by him than them
[59:37] doing it alone. So, how do we attract
[59:39] superstars? Well, going by what Chiron
[59:41] said, he said that you first have to
[59:43] understand what you need. You have to
[59:44] identify the pain, not the role. And
[59:47] instead of writing some generic job
[59:49] description, we have to write down every
[59:50] single thing that's going wrong, every
[59:52] single stress point, every single thing
[59:54] that our clients are suffering with
[59:55] currently at the moment, then we have to
[59:57] upload it onto AI, turn it into a job
[01:00:00] description, because when the right
[01:00:01] person reads it, they're going to feel
[01:00:03] like it was written for them. And I
[01:00:04] think that's true because you can't
[01:00:05] really find the right player if you
[01:00:07] don't really understand what your pain
[01:00:08] is. More importantly, what problems that
[01:00:09] you're trying to solve. Just remember
[01:00:11] the goal of getting an A player is so
[01:00:13] that you can pass the ball to them.
[01:00:15] Someone who can score goals as well.
[01:00:18] Second part of how to attract an A
[01:00:19] player. What do we offer them? You need
[01:00:21] to think about what they want. Well, of
[01:00:22] course, as Sean says, money is just one
[01:00:24] way to do it, but you can also offer
[01:00:26] them equity. You can offer a specific
[01:00:28] job title. But how about this? What do
[01:00:30] you think this person you are after is
[01:00:32] after themselves? Many of them honestly
[01:00:34] care less about the money and more about
[01:00:36] ownership. Some of them just want to be
[01:00:38] on a winning team because they think
[01:00:39] that if they work in your environment,
[01:00:41] they're going to climb faster. And in
[01:00:42] Chiron's case, he literally just asked
[01:00:44] them. And he found out that the value
[01:00:46] proposition of Telus specifically was
[01:00:49] that working there saved his real estate
[01:00:51] agents at least one day a week, probably
[01:00:54] with their systems and the resources
[01:00:56] that they had at his real estate firm.
[01:00:58] Now they began using that to recruit by
[01:01:00] saying you should come to tell us
[01:01:01] because our job is to save you at least
[01:01:02] one day a week. What would you do with
[01:01:04] the another 52 days a year? Now that
[01:01:06] value prop alone was the leverage that
[01:01:08] they needed to attract the best agents
[01:01:10] so that they could bring their company
[01:01:12] from 300 million to 3.4 billion in 5
[01:01:15] years. Now obviously the value prop can
[01:01:17] range depending on the role and the
[01:01:18] industry, but think about one piece of
[01:01:20] leverage that you could offer that they
[01:01:22] couldn't get anywhere else. That's how
[01:01:24] you get them. Now, the third way to
[01:01:26] attract an A player is one that I'm
[01:01:28] adding because I don't do this one
[01:01:30] nearly enough. We need to recruit just
[01:01:33] like they do in sports. And by that, I
[01:01:35] mean, don't just post a job description
[01:01:37] online and only work off of who applies.
[01:01:40] Most A players are currently employed.
[01:01:43] Go find them. Go meet them. And if they
[01:01:45] aren't interested, ask them to refer you
[01:01:47] cuz A players know other A players. Now,
[01:01:50] Stephen Bartlett, who is the host of
[01:01:53] Diary CEO and he has Flight Story, I
[01:01:55] know has said that he spends like the
[01:01:57] majority of his weeks interviewing and
[01:02:00] recruiting more than anything else. And
[01:02:01] it makes sense because if you do own a
[01:02:03] team, what's the best way to ensure that
[01:02:05] you win? Recruit good players, find good
[01:02:07] coaches, find your superstars. So, in
[01:02:09] summary, what do you need? What do they
[01:02:12] want? And go take that and recruit. Now,
[01:02:16] this brings us to our next principle,
[01:02:19] which is attention management, which is
[01:02:21] the ability to aggressively focus on a
[01:02:23] few things that actually move the needle
[01:02:25] and actually protect them. Now, Chiron
[01:02:27] said something earlier in the
[01:02:28] conversation that I honestly haven't
[01:02:29] been able to stop thinking about. And
[01:02:31] it's that to do great things, we must do
[01:02:33] fewer things. That's it. That's the
[01:02:35] whole principle. And yet, it is so
[01:02:37] freaking hard to live by that. And as a
[01:02:39] founder, I know that feeling of really
[01:02:42] seeing everything as so important. But
[01:02:44] in reality, there are really only two to
[01:02:46] three things max that actually make the
[01:02:48] biggest impact. So, we have to ask
[01:02:50] ourselves this. What are the two to
[01:02:51] three areas of my business that have the
[01:02:53] most amount of payoff when I do them?
[01:02:55] And what are projects, initiatives, or
[01:02:57] tasks that are not really moving the
[01:02:59] needle? And I think the thing to
[01:03:00] remember is that just because you are
[01:03:02] not working on those things doesn't mean
[01:03:03] that you'll never do it. It just means
[01:03:05] that right now it is not your focus.
[01:03:07] Now, the next question is, if I could
[01:03:09] only focus on one of them, which one
[01:03:11] would be the highest leverage? Now take
[01:03:12] that and ideally spend 80% of your time
[01:03:15] on those top three things and then on
[01:03:17] top of that spend the most amount of
[01:03:19] time on your number one and I would say
[01:03:21] that every quarter you would probably
[01:03:22] want to renew this. Now Chiron's belief
[01:03:24] that to do great things we must do fewer
[01:03:26] things didn't just apply to his time or
[01:03:29] focus but it also applied to the
[01:03:32] structure of his business which brings
[01:03:33] us to our next principle which is
[01:03:35] simplicity as strategy. This principle
[01:03:38] is the understanding that the biggest
[01:03:40] businesses are built on the simplest
[01:03:42] foundations because complexity is the
[01:03:45] enemy of scale. And I'm honestly
[01:03:47] noticing that this is probably what most
[01:03:50] of us do not do, especially in the early
[01:03:52] stages of our company. But it's also the
[01:03:54] most imperative if we really want to
[01:03:56] scale our company. Now, after really
[01:03:57] thinking about this principle, I
[01:03:59] realized that simplifying your business
[01:04:00] unlocks two critical advantages. The
[01:04:03] first one is that it becomes easier to
[01:04:04] create scalable systems. I really loved
[01:04:06] what Chiron said about how smart,
[01:04:08] capable entrepreneurs, they put
[01:04:10] themselves in complex situations because
[01:04:13] they're capable of doing complex things.
[01:04:15] And basically that the more capable you
[01:04:16] are, the more complex your business
[01:04:18] becomes. And so this is how I
[01:04:19] internalized it from the very beginning
[01:04:21] of our business. We're a creative agency
[01:04:23] by the way. We offered every single
[01:04:26] service that you could think of. Now,
[01:04:27] Roy, my husband, who's also one of our
[01:04:29] co-founders, uh he's an incredible
[01:04:31] editor, so we offered editing services.
[01:04:33] We both knew how to produce. So we
[01:04:35] offered producing services. I had been a
[01:04:38] social media manager in my prior job. So
[01:04:40] that became a service. Roy knew about
[01:04:42] graphic design, how to build a website
[01:04:44] and visual effects. So every single one
[01:04:46] of our capabilities became a service
[01:04:49] line as a way to try to get as many
[01:04:51] clients as possible. And basically our
[01:04:54] capability led to us creating the most
[01:04:58] complex business ever. But here's the
[01:05:01] thing, this complexity still worked for
[01:05:03] us. We run a very successful complex
[01:05:06] business. But Chiron is right that it
[01:05:08] has become incredibly difficult to
[01:05:11] scale. And I'm telling you this six
[01:05:13] years down the line. So if you at the
[01:05:14] very beginning I am just warning you at
[01:05:17] some point that competitive edge will
[01:05:19] become the thing that's holding you
[01:05:21] back. So what is simplicity actually
[01:05:22] look like in practice? Chiron mentioned
[01:05:24] a framework that he calls the 111. It
[01:05:27] was the one where he was saying it was
[01:05:28] the one traffic source, the one
[01:05:30] conversion method, the one delivery
[01:05:32] channel. And he mentioned that you want
[01:05:33] to get those three things working
[01:05:34] together first before you add anything
[01:05:36] else because once you have one of each
[01:05:38] of those things dialed in, you'll be
[01:05:40] able to diagnose what's working and what
[01:05:41] isn't. And you're not really guessing
[01:05:42] across 10 different variables. You're
[01:05:44] literally fixing one thing at a time.
[01:05:46] And that's the clarity that actually
[01:05:48] allows you to grow. Now, the second
[01:05:50] advantage to using simplicity as a
[01:05:52] strategy is that it will make it easier
[01:05:54] to market and sell. Now, listen to this
[01:05:57] because I thought this was fascinating.
[01:05:58] According to Seagull and Gail, 76%
[01:06:02] of people are more likely to recommend a
[01:06:04] brand that delivers simple experiences
[01:06:07] and brands that lead in simplicity
[01:06:09] outperform stock market averages by more
[01:06:12] than 200%.
[01:06:14] Now, what does this mean? Well, let's
[01:06:16] take a look at Natalie Barbou, who is
[01:06:17] the founder of REA and a previous guest
[01:06:19] of ours. When she was on our show, she
[01:06:21] said that the first version of her
[01:06:22] company had a bunch of tools for both
[01:06:24] like influencers and social media
[01:06:26] managers. And so you could basically
[01:06:27] manage posting, but you could also see
[01:06:30] all of your earnings and brand deals and
[01:06:32] track all of that. And ultimately, this
[01:06:34] version of her product led her to almost
[01:06:36] closing down the company. And with just
[01:06:38] months of runway left, they made a pivot
[01:06:40] and strictly made it a social media
[01:06:41] management tool. And that is what led
[01:06:43] her to 7xing her revenue and saving the
[01:06:46] company. Notice how the first version of
[01:06:47] the product was a bit hard for me to
[01:06:49] explain. The complexity of the product,
[01:06:51] although was with the best intentions
[01:06:53] behind each feature, also made it
[01:06:54] complex to explain or even market. By
[01:06:57] the way, that doesn't mean that you have
[01:06:58] to do that forever. Good American
[01:07:00] started with just jeans. Skims started
[01:07:03] with just shapewear. Instagram was
[01:07:05] literally only square photos on a feed,
[01:07:08] and Dry Bar was only blowouts on your
[01:07:10] hair. And I'm starting to realize that
[01:07:11] you don't stand out by being really good
[01:07:13] at many things. You stand out by being
[01:07:15] the best at one thing. And like Shiron
[01:07:17] said, once you've dominated in that
[01:07:19] sector and you created scalable systems
[01:07:21] that actually work without you, then you
[01:07:23] expand. What does this look like for us?
[01:07:25] Well, first, what would the simplest
[01:07:26] version of your business look like? The
[01:07:29] one thing that if you stripped away
[01:07:30] everything else could still carry the
[01:07:32] business. Two, what is your 111 right
[01:07:34] now? Do you have one clear traffic
[01:07:36] source, one conversion method, one
[01:07:38] delivery channel? And if not, what would
[01:07:40] it look like for you to simplify down to
[01:07:41] that? Number three, if your customer had
[01:07:43] to explain what your business does in
[01:07:45] one sentence to someone else, how easy
[01:07:47] would it be? Number four, what is one
[01:07:49] service, product, or initiative that you
[01:07:52] could remove right now that would
[01:07:54] actually free you up to do the most
[01:07:56] important thing better? Oh, and by the
[01:07:58] way, down below, we've actually included
[01:08:00] a downloadable worksheet where you can
[01:08:01] go through all of these questions
[01:08:02] yourself and start putting these
[01:08:04] principles into action. All right,
[01:08:06] moving on. Our next principle is to find
[01:08:09] the bottlenecks. Now, this is the
[01:08:11] practice of identifying the things that
[01:08:13] are holding your business back, whether
[01:08:15] it be now or down the line. In most
[01:08:17] early stage businesses, the bottleneck
[01:08:19] is often the founder. In Chiron's case,
[01:08:22] I think that a huge part of his success
[01:08:24] is that he understands that he must
[01:08:26] avoid this. Chiron mentioned that when
[01:08:28] he met Leila and Alex Herozi that he
[01:08:30] realized they were different by the fact
[01:08:32] that they understood second order
[01:08:33] consequences. Meaning, if I do this,
[01:08:36] where does it lead? If everything works,
[01:08:38] where does it break? It's really the
[01:08:39] ability to see steps ahead into the
[01:08:41] business and understand what the
[01:08:42] potential bottlenecks are going to be.
[01:08:44] Now, I want to go back to the part where
[01:08:45] he says that you need to assume that
[01:08:46] everything is going to work. Let's say
[01:08:47] you have the clients lined up. You have
[01:08:49] the employees lined up, but are those
[01:08:51] employees going to need your approval
[01:08:53] for those things? What if you have three
[01:08:54] huge accounts or clients all at once? Do
[01:08:57] you have the systems in place to divide
[01:08:58] and conquer? Most of us think, well, we
[01:09:00] get the clients, then we find the
[01:09:01] people, then I'll create the systems to
[01:09:04] train them. But the reality is most
[01:09:05] times you get the opportunity, you rush
[01:09:07] to hire someone and even if they are a
[01:09:09] savage, you don't have the time to
[01:09:11] transfer all of your knowledge and
[01:09:13] create the systems. So you end up doing
[01:09:15] it yourself. Tell me that hasn't
[01:09:16] happened to you because that happens to
[01:09:17] us a lot. And this is why simplifying
[01:09:20] your business is so important because
[01:09:22] with every single service line and
[01:09:24] product that it needs, they become their
[01:09:26] own departments. And at the beginning,
[01:09:28] chances are you do not have your
[01:09:30] department set up. one service line or
[01:09:32] one type of product is hard enough to
[01:09:34] manage at scale. And so I'm seeing that
[01:09:36] identifying these bottlenecks ahead of
[01:09:38] time and creating the systems while you
[01:09:40] don't have all of those opportunities
[01:09:41] right now is the biggest leverage to
[01:09:44] find the bottleneck before it finds you.
[01:09:46] But what if your business or dream has
[01:09:48] your face in it or requires your
[01:09:50] specific talent for whatever reason?
[01:09:51] Let's look at Mr. Beast. It's literally
[01:09:53] called Mr. Beast. There is no way that
[01:09:55] he's not in every single episode, but
[01:09:56] he's not there every day. He pops in for
[01:09:59] a few hours and then he moves on.
[01:10:01] Generally, they're filming multiple
[01:10:02] episodes at once. He found the
[01:10:04] bottleneck. He asked what would reduce
[01:10:07] it and he builds systems around it in a
[01:10:09] format that would allow it. And now he
[01:10:10] runs one of the biggest media companies
[01:10:12] in the world. So the question isn't
[01:10:14] whether you have bottlenecks. You do. We
[01:10:16] all do. The question is, are you finding
[01:10:19] them on purpose or are you waiting for
[01:10:21] them to find you? So ask yourself this.
[01:10:23] If your business doubled in size
[01:10:24] tomorrow, where would it break? That's
[01:10:27] your bottleneck. What is one thing that
[01:10:29] only works right now because you are
[01:10:30] doing it? And what system or process
[01:10:32] would need to exist for that to change?
[01:10:34] Assume success. If you already had
[01:10:36] everything you wanted, all the clients,
[01:10:37] all the revenue, all the customers, does
[01:10:40] everything actually work? If not, start
[01:10:42] there. All right, moving on to our next
[01:10:44] principle, and it's to save for a rainy
[01:10:46] day. This is the discipline of
[01:10:48] resisting, the urge to upgrade your life
[01:10:50] or your business as your revenue grows
[01:10:52] so that you always have the margin to
[01:10:54] make the moves that actually matter. And
[01:10:56] Chiron's version of this is one of the
[01:10:58] most striking things that he shared with
[01:11:00] us. And it's the part where he mentioned
[01:11:01] that after 14 years, even though his net
[01:11:03] worth grew like 50 times over, he and
[01:11:06] his wife have kept the same exact
[01:11:08] monthly budget. I mean, think about it.
[01:11:10] He's literally 50xed his net worth and
[01:11:12] he's sticking to the same monthly
[01:11:14] number. I don't think most people would
[01:11:15] do that. And the reason that he did that
[01:11:17] isn't because he couldn't afford more.
[01:11:19] It's because keeping that floor flat
[01:11:20] meant that everything else above it was
[01:11:23] available to take risks with, to invest,
[01:11:25] to move up. when the opportunity showed
[01:11:27] up. And that is not frugality just for
[01:11:28] the sake of frugality. That is
[01:11:30] optionality. That is freedom. Now, let's
[01:11:32] take Warren Buffett, one of the
[01:11:34] wealthiest people alive. He still lives
[01:11:36] in the same house in Omaha that he
[01:11:38] bought in 1958 for $31,500.
[01:11:42] Now, he once said something that I think
[01:11:43] is one of the most important financial
[01:11:45] principles ever stated. He said, "Do not
[01:11:47] save what is left after spending. Spend
[01:11:50] what is left after saving." And I'm
[01:11:52] smiling right now because I know that my
[01:11:55] husband is on the other end rolling his
[01:11:56] eyes that these words are coming out of
[01:11:58] my mouth and he's probably like, "Do you
[01:12:00] hear that?" And I do. Remember, I am not
[01:12:03] perfect. I'm not saying these things
[01:12:04] because I live and breathe these things.
[01:12:06] I am just noticing it enough where I
[01:12:08] can't ignore it. And going back to
[01:12:10] Natalie Barbou, CEO of RELA, when her
[01:12:12] company was almost out of money, the
[01:12:14] reason that she was able to survive long
[01:12:16] enough to pivot and then 7x her revenue
[01:12:18] was because she had been incredibly
[01:12:20] careful about what she had spent inside
[01:12:22] of the business. And she's just one of
[01:12:23] the many, many founders and successful
[01:12:26] entrepreneurs that this has happened to.
[01:12:27] And I keep saying that this section
[01:12:29] makes me so uncomfortable because I
[01:12:30] believe in this whole principle
[01:12:32] wholeheartedly, but I also do dumb like
[01:12:34] buy Starbucks almost every single day. I
[01:12:37] know. But I will say this, I'm also one
[01:12:39] of the lowest paid employees at our
[01:12:41] company right now. And while sure, I
[01:12:42] could take more, this channel is an
[01:12:44] investment. And until this makes money,
[01:12:46] every single dollar that we don't spend
[01:12:48] could be towards giving us another month
[01:12:50] of chasing this dream. So if you're in
[01:12:52] the early stages right now and you're
[01:12:54] thinking, well, I have no choice but to
[01:12:55] be frugal. I actually think that's one
[01:12:57] of the greatest gifts that we can
[01:12:58] receive as founders because financial
[01:13:00] constraints teach us something that
[01:13:03] money never can. According to Harvard
[01:13:05] Business School, 75% of VCbacked
[01:13:07] startups never return investors capital,
[01:13:10] which means that having money isn't what
[01:13:12] makes a successful business. Sure, I
[01:13:15] know it makes it easier, but most people
[01:13:17] don't lack resources. They lack
[01:13:19] resourcefulness. So, if your company is
[01:13:21] making money, great. Ask yourself, if
[01:13:23] your revenue stopped tomorrow, how many
[01:13:25] months could you survive on what you
[01:13:26] have saved? Ideally, you have around 6
[01:13:28] months. That number is your real
[01:13:30] runaway. If your company or dream hasn't
[01:13:32] made any money, remind yourself of this.
[01:13:34] Resourcefulness is a skill and this is
[01:13:37] my opportunity to sharpen it. All right,
[01:13:39] moving on to the exit mindset. Now, this
[01:13:41] is the practice of building your
[01:13:43] business as if someone could buy it
[01:13:44] tomorrow. And it's not necessarily
[01:13:46] because you plan to sell, but because
[01:13:48] the standard forces you to build
[01:13:50] something that doesn't need you, and it
[01:13:52] has clear systems and creates real
[01:13:53] value. And after Chiron said it, I
[01:13:55] honestly feel like this is like one of
[01:13:57] the most underrated hacks that I have
[01:13:59] like ever heard of creating a scalable
[01:14:02] business because most of us are building
[01:14:04] our business to be successful, but in
[01:14:07] reality, it should ideally be sellable.
[01:14:10] And here's why those are two very
[01:14:11] different things. A successful business
[01:14:14] might need you every day, but a sellable
[01:14:16] business doesn't. And the ones that
[01:14:18] don't need you are actually the most
[01:14:20] successful ones. I mean, think about
[01:14:22] Apple. Steve Jobs, the second time that
[01:14:24] he came back, built something so
[01:14:25] systematized, so clearly defined in its
[01:14:28] values and operations that it didn't
[01:14:31] just survive without him. It's still
[01:14:32] thriving. And the best businesses in the
[01:14:34] world are not built around a person.
[01:14:36] They're built around a system. And the
[01:14:38] exit mindset is what forces you to build
[01:14:40] that system whether you ever plan to
[01:14:42] sell or not. And Chiron did this when he
[01:14:45] would approach potential buyers and go
[01:14:47] through the process as if he were to
[01:14:48] sell it, which is honestly unreal that
[01:14:50] he did that. and their feedback became
[01:14:52] his business plan for the next year. And
[01:14:54] every year the business got cleaner and
[01:14:56] tighter and more valuable, not because
[01:14:58] he was trying to sell them, but because
[01:14:59] he was literally building it as if he
[01:15:01] was. And what I think is so brilliant
[01:15:02] about this is that the outside buyer's
[01:15:05] perspective literally gave him something
[01:15:07] that he couldn't get another way. It
[01:15:09] gave him objectivity because when you're
[01:15:11] inside your business every day, you
[01:15:12] can't always see what's actually
[01:15:14] valuable and what's just noise. But a
[01:15:16] potential buyer, I mean, they're going
[01:15:17] to tell you immediately. They have
[01:15:19] nothing to lose by being honest. And
[01:15:20] I'll be honest because with our company,
[01:15:22] we always have said that we don't want
[01:15:24] to sell. But what I'm now realizing is
[01:15:26] that if we had the mentality of prepping
[01:15:28] our business to sell from the beginning,
[01:15:30] it would actually be a better business
[01:15:32] to own. Because the exit mindset isn't
[01:15:35] about the exit. It's about the standard.
[01:15:37] It's about asking, is this business good
[01:15:39] enough that someone else would want it?
[01:15:41] Does it run without me? Does it have
[01:15:43] systems? Does it create value? And if
[01:15:45] the answer is no, then it's just not
[01:15:47] sellable. So whether you plan to exit or
[01:15:50] not, ask yourself, if someone were
[01:15:52] evaluating your business today, what
[01:15:53] would they say? What would they value?
[01:15:55] And what would they cut? Going through
[01:15:57] this process every year with potential
[01:15:59] investors didn't just give Chaon a road
[01:16:02] map. It gave him something else
[01:16:03] entirely, which brings us to our next
[01:16:05] principle, which is undeniable proof.
[01:16:08] Undeniable proof is doing something so
[01:16:09] well or showing results so clearly that
[01:16:11] people can't ignore you. They can't say
[01:16:14] no. The data speaks for itself. And in
[01:16:15] Chiron's case, every single time that he
[01:16:17] went back to those same potential buyers
[01:16:19] with proof that he had done what they
[01:16:21] had asked, he wasn't only updating them.
[01:16:24] He was showing them that he could
[01:16:25] execute and that he could be trusted and
[01:16:27] that this business had the capacity to
[01:16:29] grow. And when the time came to actually
[01:16:30] sell, they already believed in him and
[01:16:32] this company because he had spent years
[01:16:34] proving it. And a lot of times as
[01:16:35] founders, we think that if the purpose
[01:16:37] or the potential of the business is big
[01:16:38] enough, then that should be enough. But
[01:16:40] at the end of the day, the only thing
[01:16:41] that really matters in business is
[01:16:43] results. Now, I want to make something
[01:16:44] very clear because results don't always
[01:16:46] have to be numbers. I got my directing
[01:16:48] slot on an Amazon show off of a short
[01:16:50] film that I made in film school. But
[01:16:52] here's the thing. When I made that short
[01:16:54] film, I wasn't just making a film. I was
[01:16:56] very deliberate at the time about every
[01:16:58] single creative choice. I wanted to make
[01:17:01] sure that I created and shot my scenes
[01:17:03] in a way that would showcase all of the
[01:17:05] elements of the types of shows that I
[01:17:07] wanted to direct. So, I love suspenseful
[01:17:09] thriller dramas like Ozark. And while my
[01:17:12] film had nothing to do with Ozark, I
[01:17:14] shot it so that any executive watching
[01:17:15] it in the future would have undeniable
[01:17:18] proof that I could pull it off. The
[01:17:20] thing is, I didn't ask them to imagine
[01:17:22] it. I showed them. And that's what
[01:17:24] undeniable proof is. It's removing the
[01:17:26] imagination gap. The gap between what
[01:17:28] someone has to picture and what they can
[01:17:29] actually see. The smaller the gap, the
[01:17:32] harder it's going to be to say no. So,
[01:17:34] what does that look like for you? Our
[01:17:36] next principle is one of the reasons
[01:17:38] that Chiron could even create that
[01:17:39] undeniable proof. and it's that he found
[01:17:42] his allies. In his case, his biggest
[01:17:44] allies were clearly his parents and his
[01:17:47] wife. Now, they say that the person that
[01:17:48] you marry is the most important business
[01:17:51] decision that you'll ever make. And in
[01:17:53] Chiron's case, it really reminds us why.
[01:17:56] And I want to be honest with you about
[01:17:58] this one because this one might be the
[01:17:59] hardest principle on this entire list.
[01:18:02] And it's not because it's complicated,
[01:18:03] but more so because I know that not
[01:18:05] everyone watching this feels like they
[01:18:07] have people like that in their corner.
[01:18:08] And if that's you, I want you to hear
[01:18:10] this clearly. Those allies are out
[01:18:12] there. And it starts not just with
[01:18:14] finding the right people, but with
[01:18:15] cutting out the wrong ones. The people
[01:18:17] who make you feel like you need to keep
[01:18:19] your dream to yourself. The people who
[01:18:20] make you feel guilty for working on your
[01:18:23] dream instead of actually encouraging
[01:18:25] you even on weekends. The people who
[01:18:27] listen to what you want to build and
[01:18:29] they make you feel like it's too big.
[01:18:31] Instead of making you realize your dream
[01:18:34] might actually be too small for what you
[01:18:36] are capable of. And the longer that they
[01:18:38] stay in your orbit, the harder this
[01:18:40] gets. I think we all know that chasing a
[01:18:42] dream is not easy. It's unbearably hard.
[01:18:45] And honestly, I don't know how it's
[01:18:46] possible to do it without people in your
[01:18:48] corner who remind you what you're
[01:18:50] capable of, especially in moments when
[01:18:52] you forget. And in Shiron's case, he
[01:18:54] luckily had his parents who gave him
[01:18:56] that strong foundation for support and
[01:18:58] belief. And then there was his wife.
[01:18:59] They lived off of her consultant salary
[01:19:02] for a year so that Chiron could chase
[01:19:04] his dream of building Telus. She took a
[01:19:06] risk with him and supported him even in
[01:19:08] the moments where he failed. Allies come
[01:19:10] in many forms. Sometimes they're going
[01:19:12] to be family members. Sometimes there
[01:19:15] are partners and sometimes there are
[01:19:16] friends. But the most important thing to
[01:19:18] note is that they are out there. You
[01:19:20] need to recruit them the way that you
[01:19:21] would recruit your superstars. I would
[01:19:23] not be here without my biggest ally who
[01:19:26] happens to be sitting on the other side
[01:19:28] the camera right now, my husband. Now, a
[01:19:31] few months ago, I was very close to
[01:19:33] quitting. And if you've been here for a
[01:19:35] while, you know,
[01:19:38] but there really is something about
[01:19:40] someone else believing in you that makes
[01:19:42] you want to prove them right.
[01:19:46] I mean, my husband, he literally put
[01:19:49] cameras, cameras that we invested in for
[01:19:52] this show on his own credit card. And
[01:19:54] this was when our views were arguably at
[01:19:56] their worst. So, I guess what I'm saying
[01:19:57] is find your allies and cut out anyone
[01:20:00] who isn't one. Especially if you want to
[01:20:02] accomplish the biggest dreams. But even
[01:20:05] with the best allies in the world, there
[01:20:08] are going to be moments where you still
[01:20:10] may want to give up. Where even the
[01:20:11] people who believe in you can't pull you
[01:20:13] out of it. And that's where this next
[01:20:14] principle comes in, which is
[01:20:17] persistence. Now, here's the thing I've
[01:20:19] learned about persistence, specifically
[01:20:21] as we've been studying the anatomy of a
[01:20:23] dream. Persistence isn't just staying in
[01:20:26] the game. when you believe that you're
[01:20:27] going to win. Real persistence is
[01:20:29] staying in the game when you don't
[01:20:30] believe that you're going to win and you
[01:20:32] do it anyway. We normally structure
[01:20:34] these episodes looking for that one dark
[01:20:36] moment in the guest story. It's what we
[01:20:39] call the dark knight of the soul in film
[01:20:41] and it's where the hero in their journey
[01:20:42] feels like all is lost. But in Chirons,
[01:20:45] he mentioned a few of those moments. And
[01:20:47] it reminds me of this quote that Rocky
[01:20:48] Bau's character says that I think
[01:20:50] captures this better than anything else
[01:20:52] I could say. And I'm sure many of you
[01:20:54] have heard it. And it's that it's not
[01:20:55] about how hard you get hit. It's about
[01:20:58] how hard you can get hit and keep moving
[01:21:00] forward. That's how winning is done. And
[01:21:04] when I think about Chiron's story, I
[01:21:05] think about how many times that quote
[01:21:09] applies. I mean, there was literally the
[01:21:11] dumpster diving, the mugging on the
[01:21:13] first night in America, the first exit
[01:21:15] that he got diluted by a clause that he
[01:21:18] didn't read, the years of building
[01:21:20] Telis, not knowing if it was going to
[01:21:21] work, the million dollars that he lost
[01:21:24] in a bad business deal. Shiron's journey
[01:21:27] is one of success, but it's also one of
[01:21:30] failure, many of them.
[01:21:33] But he kept moving forward. We focus so
[01:21:36] much on what it will be like when we win
[01:21:39] when the only thing that really counts
[01:21:40] is what we will be like when we lose.
[01:21:43] I've been really honest about my journey
[01:21:45] on this channel. How a whole year we saw
[01:21:48] barely any momentum and then suddenly we
[01:21:51] began to see some growth. And while I do
[01:21:54] my best to not think about it, I would
[01:21:57] be lying if I deep down didn't brace
[01:22:00] myself for the next video that may not
[01:22:03] perform or the next failure.
[01:22:06] I mean, I'm human, but looking at
[01:22:08] Chiron,
[01:22:10] it reminds me that failure is
[01:22:11] inevitable, but so is success as long as
[01:22:14] I don't give up. And I can't help but
[01:22:16] think of
[01:22:18] Chiron's Aquaman poster that talks about
[01:22:22] how not giving up is the most heroic
[01:22:25] thing that you could do. And I think
[01:22:27] that's beautiful because at the end of
[01:22:28] the day, we are the hero in
[01:22:31] our own journey to our dream. The
[01:22:34] journey to success isn't really just us
[01:22:36] against obstacles or us against the
[01:22:38] world even. Most times it's really us
[01:22:40] against us.
[01:22:42] And I think that that's what makes it a
[01:22:44] heroic act because we all know that
[01:22:46] that's not easy. So if you are in your
[01:22:49] darkest hour right now, if you're in a
[01:22:51] season where you're on the verge of
[01:22:53] giving up, where things are hard and you
[01:22:55] literally do not know if you're going to
[01:22:57] find your way out, think of Aquaman.
[01:23:00] Cuz not giving up isn't just the most
[01:23:03] heroic thing that you could do.
[01:23:06] It's how you reach the anatomy of your
[01:23:08] dream.
[01:23:11] All right, guys.
[01:23:13] I will see you in the next one.