Hustler's Kung Fu

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We’re going to get into the importance of putting together a business and the importance of putting together a team. One of the problems many people have is they don’t understand sales and marketing. This guy approached me last July to help him out with his business. He was asking for something that was beyond the normal. I told him, “This is going to cost you $50,000.” He said, “OK.” That was it.  

Now here’s the backstory. I had a YouTube channel with years of experience. I did not pop out of a hat. I did not pop out of a rabbit costume. I’ve been here for a while, so that’s why that worked.

But it was salesmanship that was the most important thing. The second thing that made that happen was the marketing, which was this YouTube channel. I’m going to do a book called Inbound Marketing which should clear up a lot of stuff.

Once you build something solid that is not predicated on the average expectation, you can really get a lot of mileage out of it. Then there’s customer service.

I’m going over this as an overview of my story. That’s why Patti is here. One of the issues I had with my courses was I’d get a lot of questions and I couldn’t stay on top of them. The people would be frustrated and disappointed and they’d ask for their money back. A customer service person is really, really critical.

If you have the gift of gab, you could literally start a business with those three building blocks of sales, marketing and customer service. I don’t care how big you become, sales does not go away. I don’t care how magnificent you become, sales does not go away. Sales is everything to a business. Sales is oxygen to a business.

Many people are afraid of sales.

With the building blocks of starting a business, you have a lot of people who are looking to do LLCs. I’m working on Fat Cat Secrets and we’re going to have a nifty t-shirt. That’s going to drop this week.

One of the things that creates a problem for many people is they want to do an LLC but they have no business plan. They don’t know who they are selling to and they don’t know what they’re selling. All they know is they’re a business man. They have business cards and business checking.

That’s just noise because until you can sell something to a customer, you’re just wasting time. Part of the selling process is attraction. As an entrepreneur, the biggest thing we do is solve problems. Say this after me, “I am an entrepreneur because I solve problems and get results.” That makes you an entrepreneur, not the business checking, not the LLC, and not the business cards.

When I started Mack Daddy Media last year, I didn’t have a business card. I didn’t have a website. I still don’t have a website. It’s coming, but I’m making money.

Hear me on this. Once you learn how to sell, you could be making money without a website or a YouTube channel or anything. That is how important selling is. With the advent of digital marketing and Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, people think that selling has gone away.

Before you can sell something to someone, you must have their attention. Secondly, before you can sell something to someone, they must trust you. Those two things must come. You can’t get trust without getting attention.

People say it is hard to sell to millennials. They are being sold to every day. But they are being sold to in an exciting and engaging way on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook.  These folks want some buy-in. They want to be part of something. You have to understand how these kids operate.

The first thing you must do in sales is get attention. I don’t care how you do it, you must get attention. Essentially, you have to humble yourself to be a businessperson. Here’s the thing and this is going to be really hard for some people. I have created my own economy and I have taken certain liberties that have cost me money.

I will not work with anybody that is boring. I’m just not going to do it. That can cost me some money. I’m not going to work with someone I really don’t like. Once again, that can cost me some money. I know this. I’m aware of this. Many of you don’t have the body of work where you can play that game.

When you’re Broke Dick Danny or Penniless Priscilla, it’s kind of hard to play that game. It really is because in the beginning when I was working at Business Environments, I took deals I did not want. But I needed that money.

There is a paying of dues and a process of building that many people just don’t want to go through. But it’s very, very important.

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Question: What do you think about people who use sex appeal to get ahead? Is that too short-sighted?

Answer: No. Use what your mama gave you. Use what your daddy gave you. Use what God gave you.

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For you folks who are afraid of rejection, when I wrote my first book, it was full of typos. It had a lot of errors. The book cover was green. I made $800 my second month on that book. There were a lot of people saying things like “I’ll never buy from you again. It’s garbage.” But, they bought Pimping Craigslist.

My point is to say, do not fall prey to conventional thinking.

You have to build some resolve. When you are selling, the first time might be a “No.” The second time might be a “No.” The third and fourth time might be a “No.” Then, the fifth time might be a “Yes” from that prospect. You can’t be weak.

Now let’s get into the sale process. Sales and marketing are distinctly different. Marketing is like “Hey, we’re here.” When you see Mercedes Benz on top of a building, it’s marketing.  Sales is actually creating a process where you get in front of the customer and you try to close them.

See this Coca-Cola can. The type font is marketing. Until the customer is in a position to buy, you’re not in the sales process. The Apple logo on front of an iPad is marketing. Top of mind awareness creates marketing. Until I go to Apple’s website or store, we are not in the sales process.

A lot of people are doing a lot of marketing and they’re not doing any selling. That’s why they’re struggling. One of the things I do is I straight up sell.

Part of sales is knowing who you are selling to. I’m selling Hustle Camp to people who are not Broke Dick Danny. Broke Dick Danny, I’ve got love for you. Penniless Priscilla, I’ve got love for you. But you guys can’t keep me living in the lifestyle I am accustomed to. But what I can do for you is provide a free book or something where you can apply yourself and get your money together.

This allows me to help the people who don’t have any money while remaining congruent with my targeted customer base. So, it’s a win, win, win, win.

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Let’s talk about Donald Trump’s corporate bankruptcies. There is a big difference between a corporate bankruptcy and a personal bankruptcy.

I am not a fan of Trump’s. I don’t hate the guy. I am a student of what works. But the reality is that the stuff he is talking about in terms of the corporate bankruptcies is true. Just go ahead and check the legal chain. It’s really easy to see. It’s public record.

Now let’s explain who the real pimp in the Trump family is: that would be Fred Trump. He’s the one that started all of this. Then Donald was the beneficiary. The one that pulled the lever and got everything started was Fred Trump.

Fred Trump’s wealth got to the point long before Donald took over where somebody advised him to go see an attorney to protect his estate. As the wealth is created, it is protected. He got an estate plan.

People want to know how Trump could be worth $10 billion and file bankruptcy. There is Donald Trump, the family and the family trust.  Then there is corporation #1, corporation #2, corporation #3 and the rest. There are many layers.

So, the money that Fred Trump built, that empire is probably in the trust fund that is going to benefit the grandkids of the grandkids of Donald Trump. That money is never going to be put in jeopardy of being lost. They can’t get sued for it because it is in a trust. They don’t own it anymore; they just control it. That’s the whole deal.

If you set up a corporation correctly, then any corporate liabilities are contained within the company if you set it up right. You could have personal assets of $100 million. Then you have this company that is doing $25 million a year. Let’s say you have a driver driving this truck and he gets in an accident. Then a lot of bad stuff happens. They can only sue the driver of that truck and the corporation. Those were the only things exposed to that risk. That’s why Donald Trump can file bankruptcy and still be phenomenally wealthy.

People might say that is unfair. Is it? It would be unfair if you could not do that too. Is there anything keeping you from creating a corporation? Nope. Is there anything keeping you from studying to get a financial education so you can protect yourself and do these things? Nope.

Don’t hate the player. Don’t hate the game. Learn the rules so you can fucking win. One of the rules is, “He who has the gold writes the rules.” That is the golden rule, not “Do unto others as you would have them do to unto you.” It’s been like that since the beginning of time. It’s going to be like that until the end of time.

During the debates, Trump was questioned about his four bankruptcies. He didn’t actually file bankruptcy. His corporations did. What he said about the bankers being killers is true. If you’ve ever been in high-level negotiations, it’s not like on TV. These guys are pushing back hard. Some of these guys will hammer your nuts to the table. It’s stressful. If you make a bad decision with so much money at stake, your career is over.

When people look at Trump and say this is unfair that he can file bankruptcy and still be rich, they may not be thinking about it like I do. If you don’t understand why Trump can do this, then you haven’t become a student of financial matters. Having a financial education isn’t just about knowing what your credit score is. It’s not about having a 401K.

That could be part of it. You have to know how legal structures can benefit you and fuck you. One of the things I tell people is to incorporate if they have a solid business model that is making money. In the beginning when you are validating your concept, no, you don’t need to incorporate.

The problem is too many people don’t want to take responsibility for what happens to them. That’s why they don’t know these things. You have people going on and on about how hard things are. Are they really?

Why are they terrible? Because you lack education. I’m not talking about a formal education. There are plenty of people out here with PhDs who are damn near homeless.

The reason I don’t understand the anger people feel for Trump is he’s not doing this in a closet. He’s doing this in the bright light of day. There is no closet. It’s not hidden. It’s public record if you care to research it. By law, it’s transparent.

The question is why aren’t people taking that information and running with it.

When you are out there doing your thing and building your business, don’t have kneejerk reactions to thinks you hear. Before you pass judgment, do some research first. Educate yourself. Take yourself to a higher level intellectually so you can understand what is going on.

You have to have containers of risk. That way you can’t lose your money in lawsuits. That’s why Trump still has money after the bankruptcies and lawsuits.

That’s one of the things that makes this country great. You can fuck up and owe a bunch of people money, then file bankruptcy and it’s forgiven. Then you can start fresh. There have been many entrepreneurs who have gone bankrupt but who have done great stuff on that second, third or fourth try.

That’s one of the reasons people are swimming from Cuba to get here. People are jumping over the fence. They’re doing whatever they have to do to get here.

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A lot of people don’t like the word “hustling.” I thought about it. I wonder how many people are circumventing their success because they are hung up on the word, hustling. Because hustling is the new career. The idea of you starting somewhere and working your way up is gone except for in a few places like the military, the government and a few companies. The workplace is just not like that anymore.

You have to have the hustler’s mindset or you’re not going to make it. The world is changing too quickly to try and climb the ladder of success the traditional way. You have to get your mindset correct.

You could be doing well and then somebody drops a comment saying you’re doing something counter culture. I got those kinds of remarks when I was writing my book. You hear the skepticism or lack of respect in their voice. Many people predicate their life on what others think.

I got over that years ago. I think if you grow up in our culture, certain ideas are imbedded in you. People in this country are told what they should do to be a respectable person. When I was growing up, I got, “Work hard and keep your nose clean. Get a haircut.”

To a degree there is nothing wrong with that, but in another way, there is a lot wrong with that because you’re fed a philosophy that will limit you. Look at all of your friends. Invariably, most of your friends are on the same level with you.

Typically, people of similar mindsets are together. Your mindset is incredibly important. In my opinion, mindset is the most important factor for your success.

I’ll give you a simple example. When I go out, I usually park pretty close to the entrance. People ask me, “How do you do that? How do you get so lucky?”

This is what you do. Instead of speeding over to a space that is a little bit away, I just creep and go slow. I’ve noticed over the years that I often sped past a parking place that opened up as soon as I went by. This observation probably came from being in the military and noticing how road marches worked. If you’re marching in a big group, the guys in the front can be walking and the guys in the back are practically running to keep up because of the way time works and the way some won’t keep up.

Essentially, by having the right mindset, it opens your mind to proper techniques. If you have the wrong mindset, you will prejudge an idea and decide it doesn’t work. Then your actions will cause it not to work.

Your big battle when starting a hustle or business is maintaining the right mindset. You have so many people trying to feed off that energy or in some cases siphon it off. I have family members that I don’t talk to that much because they are extremely negative. A lot of people let their family hold them back.

If you have low expectation or worse, no expectations, then that’s what you will get in life. People will complain about how hard their life is. But then I find out they don’t have a plan or any strategy.

I will tell you, I am proud to be a hustler. I’m proud of my hustler mindset. I’m going to tell you how the hustler mindset saved my soul.

Hustling saved my life. I was at a bar and I was talking to a friend who is a writer. I was just laying out my plans and I showed the person who was a writer my first book. I was told that I absolutely sucked. Her exact words were, “You should spend five or six years working on your craft.” That’s what she told me.

I said, “Thank you, but I’m going to do this.”

I had two major goals when I wrote that book. Number 1 – I wanted to help people. Number 2 – I wanted to make a full-time income as an author.

The person who was telling me this has 30 books. The other person who told me that has a company and 1.5 jobs. They are always hustling. So, both of these people who are well-versed in writing and have way more formal education than me, but in terms of hustling, they can’t hold my jock strap.

I was able to use the Hustler mindset after being told by society that I was a bad writer, to make a full-time income writing. That was something both of my writer friends wanted to do but couldn’t do. They had prepared for it formally, but not mentally.

The hustler mindset will carry you past other people who were ahead of you in certain arenas. Interestingly enough, the writer who had written 30 books and told me what I should do with my writing career had to file bankruptcy. I take no joy in that fact.

Think about that for a second. If you know how to do a certain thing, the results will be reflected in your life. That’s just common sense. Many people do not check results. They check pedigree first.

If you’re a smart cookie, you can really make a lot of money in our society. That’s just how people are geared.

I hear a lot of people in some of my groups making excuses about why they can’t get ahead. They talk about not having a degree or whatever. I tell them to shut that shit off.

If you are still alive and have energy and enthusiasm, you can make a good life for yourself. When you have the hustler mindset, you have the ability to create your own matrix within the matrix. You are the king. You run that shit. That’s what the hustler mindset does for you.

If you’ve got a problem with hustling, you need to get over yourself. In the end, the only thing that matters is results. I want you to chew on that.

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One of the issues with being an entrepreneur is you have to get used to being alone. The bad news is you have to be alone here and there. The good news is it isn’t always that way. When you have someone who is culturally predisposed to always be around someone and have people to bounce ideas off of, being alone can cause a lot of problems.

Check this out. Why is solitary confinement one of the harshest prison tactics for punishment? For most people, after they are alone for several days, they start to go mad.

Years ago, I was in Korea. With me being part of the medical unit, I was around women. We were stationed in Hawaii. They weren’t anything special compared to the women in Hawaii, but compared to no women, they seemed extremely hot.

One of the things that is very interesting about humans is this propensity for being part of a tribe. It is very strong. It is in our DNA. It’s something that makes people uncertain about their entrepreneurial pursuits. There are some people who should not be entrepreneurs.

One of the problems with being an entrepreneur is this mental game you have to play with yourself. You have to be mentally strong. You start the company. You put out the product. Unfortunately, there is a long period of time before results become part of your reality. If you’re not mentally strong, you start to lose faith.

I’m going to give you some examples of what I’m talking about. Let’s go the video I did yesterday. This is a great example. I have people who are very much caught up in their feelings. This video evidently hit people in their feelings.

The fact that I said this channel was built for men caused someone to lose their ever-loving mind. I don’t apologize for that. We have all kinds of programs for women, and I think that’s great. Have at it.

But, when there is something for men, some women say, “That must stop.” This is where the mental strength must come in. I know for every person that leaves because I said this channel if for men, that 200, 300 or 400 new people are going to come. If I didn’t know that, I could literally be freaking out.

I deleted some comments. Someone write, “I’m so disappointed in you.” This is the thing about this, the philosophy, the video content, and the way we do things at Hustler’s Kung Fu has not changed since 2009. There’s a lot of videos. There’s a lot of different bridges of content. But the core message is the same.

It’s about self-sufficiency and getting your money together. It’s about getting your business together. I’m doing these to serve as many people as possible so you can make that bread. That is the message. It is steeped in ruggedness. It is steeped in edginess. I like women.

I want you to check out this book, Upside. The trends are coming. There is already massive evidence. The people playing the race game are going to lose. It is going to be an inclusionary, global economy. If you’re not getting with it, you’re going to be run over by it.

Why do you think I’m going to London? I want to see what’s going on and meet with some people. If you are culturally singular, you’re going to lose. You’re going to lose big.

Once again, that’s why you have to be mentally strong. Let’s say you start a baking shop, right? You open up the bake shop and everybody’s kind of with you, but they aren’t sure. What they’re doing is projecting their feelings on you. They feel like they can’t do this. So, they don’t think you can do it, since they believe they are better than you. So, they throw shade on your idea and your entrepreneurial aspirations because they can’t so it and they’re afraid.

Once you learn that, it is going to give you so much power as an entrepreneur. One of the things that I like and gives me joy is to know I started this during a recession. I didn’t start this when things were good and there was money flowing everywhere. So, what I know from a mental standpoint is to be strong in good times and bad. If you want to get into real estate or the car business, get into it when it is at the bottom. That will help you build strength that many weak people don’t have.

You have to be strong as an entrepreneur because the world is going to throw so much stuff at you. It’s going to be crazy. I’ll give you an example. Let’s talk about Mack Daddy Media. I started it this year. Let’s talk about all the stuff that went wrong. I hired 12 people. Two people just left. I fired several people. Five out of the 12 I hired are left.

You can control you, but you can’t control the actions of other people. When you hire people, you’re hiring blind. Resumes lie. People lie. When you realize you made a bad hire you should just let them go. But sometimes your ego won’t allow you to admit you made a bad hire.

The thing about an entrepreneur is you will have some deficiencies and you have to work on them. People don’t want to work on that. When chaos happens and the markets get rough, you’re going to see the real entrepreneurs, and you’re going to see the pretenders fail. When times are good, it is easy for anyone to be successful. But when times are bad, it takes something special.

It takes courage. It takes toughness. It takes enthusiasm to keep going when everybody says stop.

People tell me I’m doing too much. I feel like I’m not doing enough. I wake up every day scared. I’m scared I’m not going to get it. That is one of the driving forces for me. I’m scared that this course will not work out. I’m scared that this show will not work out. I’m scared the channel will not work out.

So, what do I do? Take action! So many people are just thinkers, but you have to be a doer.

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I’m going to do a video marketing course. If you’re in Hustle Camp, I’m going to do a Facebook course. At this conference, the VidSummit, I met a guy who agreed to partner with me. He is “The Man” for getting traffic. There will be a Facebook paid traffic course and a Good AdWords course. I know how to do a lot of it. He knows how to do all of it. If you’re in Hustle Camp, you’re getting that.

This conference is like going to video marketing school if you do it right. There were a lot of things that were new and I had a lot of gaps filled in.

When I come back from London, I’m going to do some onsite training. If you want to come to Atlanta, we’ll have classes of 15 to 20 people. If you’re a member of Hustle Camp, you can come for free, except for plane fare to get here.

Each course is going to come with a shirt. So, let’s say you do Hustle Camp for $1350 now and I do 20 courses, then you get 20 shirts. That’s why the price of Hustle Camp is about to dramatically go up.

Let’s talk about VidSummit and Video Marketing. If you are a YouTuber or want to be a YouTuber, this is the event to attend. It is about what moves the needle and makes money.

I’ll tell you a little story, I was just sitting here talking about how I do stuff. People told me, “I didn’t know that was possible.” That’s one of the benefits of doing your own trial and error analysis instead of always relying on others for your information. When you do your own work, you find out things that other people don’t know. It can give you a competitive advantage and make a big difference in your earnings.

I’ve met some interesting people at the VidSummit. You’re going to see profiles of entrepreneurs. I’ve met 40 or 50 YouTubers at this event who have agreed to be on my show. It’s going to be called Hustler’s Kung Fu Entrepreneurs in Action. It’s going to be a mix of different people.

It’s going to be regular folks who have found success or folks who are just getting started, I’ve got one girl who is a singer. She works with causes. She’s going to walk you through all that. I’ve got another guy who does live streams and he does more behind the cameras. I’ve got some high net worth folks. I’ve got an insurance agent. I’ve got a guy who lives in Thailand and one who lives in Bali. All these people are going to be coming on and will share so much.

For the Hustler’s Kung Fu Entrepreneurs in Action, it’s going to be kind of cool. I’m going to make the thumbnail a little different. It’s going to say entrepreneur profile and that’s it. It’s not going to distract from the thumbnail. My thumbnail strategy is on point. It’s what I want it to be. I’ve been working on this for two years.

I think I am going to raise the price of Hustle Camp to $2000, so if you want to get in there, do it soon. This is how I determine pricing. This is a lesson for those of you who want to create courses. Whenever I add value, I raise the price.

So, when we start the live intensives in Atlanta, where Hustle Camp members just have to show up, that’s adding value. That’s adding crazy value. So, the price is going up in the next day or so.

We’re not there yet, but when you join Hustle Camp, you’re going to get physical things. You’re going to get t-shirts, swag, and all kinds of stuff. The designers are taking so damn long. I’m going to keep pushing the designers. I’m going to get someone in house to do this stuff.

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Question: How did you do your budget?

Answer: You’ve got to do a bubble gum budget. You have to put every little expense down. What that means is if you buy gum, that bubble gum needs to be in the budget. Once you see what your numbers are, it will really wake you up.

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Budgeting is crucial for getting started. I met this one guy who has a 65-unit apartment complex. He was broke for five years and now he has ten people working for him and has more money than he knows what to do with. He’ll be on the show.

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Question: Do you have a course on taxes?

Answer: I don’t have a course on taxes because the tax code changes every year. But I do have the framework of Fat Cat Secrets to tell you how to set stuff up to save major money.

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If you haven’t seen Rogue One, I suggest you go see it. George has been around for a while now. I didn’t know he wrote the Indiana Jones movies or American Graffiti. He’s got a lot of hits under his belt.

Here’s the thing about Star Wars, the business. It makes money 24/7. When you think of Star Wars, people think of the movies. Here’s where the real money is going to be. It is going to be in Star Wars toys. These toys sell year-round. When the movies come out, sales go through the roof.

Merchandising is a huge way to make money. All of the toys and merchandise that are legitimate are licensed through Disney. George Lucas is worth more than Trump. He’s worth $5.1 billion. Now this is self-made from scratch.

What you need to recognize is there is long money and short money. This encompasses so many phases of business, it is ridiculous. Five of seven of Lucas’s movies are among the top 100 highest grossing movies in North American box offices.

When people are looking at building businesses, they are looking at building them in a vacuum. This online thing is just going to get bigger and bigger. We aren’t even close to where we are going to get making money online.

If you look at people who are unshakably rich, most of these people have gotten rich through a combination of things. Let’s talk about Bill Gates. He forced his software to be inside the hardware. IBM went wrong because they thought the money was in the hardware. Microsoft thought the money was in the software.

Apple thought the money was in the hardware, but got into both games. Apple almost went out of business, and then they came up with iTunes, iPod and then the iPhone. It was iTunes that saved their bacon. It was a completely new and unprecedented revenue stream. iTunes was a game changer. The iPhone was a game changer. The iPad was a game changer. That’s why Apple became one of the top ten international companies in the world.

One of the things I like to do is look at people pre-internet. While all of us are connected via the internet, what is interesting is most business is still done offline.

I’ll just tell you, I am a digital citizen. I like making money from digital products. But the fastest path to making money is something physical. That’s one of the fastest paths.

Physical products require less trust. You can create a website of your own, put your name on it and run some traffic there and make sales because the customer has been educated.

The best way to consistently make money online is to develop an audience and a relationship. By doing this, you will get repeat customers. For example, Star Wars has developed a relationship with me. I have seen all the movies and bought stuff. By developing a relationship, you get lifetime value. I may have literally forked over $10K on Star Wars stuff over four decades.  

Each time they have a Star Wars movie come out, people with a relationship with these movies go see them and also influence others to go see them. When I saw Rogue One, I thought it was a great movie. I put on my Facebook page that you need to go see it. Now, I’ve paid them money and I am encouraging other people to pay them money. This is the beauty of building relationships.

Once you build relationships, you also build leverage into other relationships. Let’s go back years and years ago to early eBay and Amazon. Back then, when we sold someone something, about 50% or 60% of the time, people left feedback. We complained because it wasn’t 100% of the time. If you reminded someone gently, then they would leave feedback. The feedback went down to about 30%. I wouldn’t be surprised if the average feedback rate wasn’t around 10% now.

I think the genius of George Lucas and the Star Wars franchise was the multiple relationships that they have built over generations. It’s just going to keep going. I’m thinking about buying all the Star Wars movies and watching them one weekend back to back. That’s relationship building.

Star Wars almost didn’t happen. That’s the wild thing. Both Indiana Jones and the Star Wars franchises had major merchandise. That provides ongoing money. I want you to think of the movie as the launch. So, you have the launch of the movie, Pay-per-view, CDs and the toys. If they do it right, they make money each quarter of the year. It’s amazing the opportunities we have when we do this kind of stuff.

You should study people who have made money in very hard businesses. Movies are a hard business. Movies have always been a hard business. One of the things I know about Lucas is he maintained control until he sold to Disney. He did it his way.

If you are looking to enhance your business game, forget about The Secret and a lot of these guys online because this is the thing. I am a small businessman who learned how to make money in hard times. So how did I get to this point? I look at George Lucas. I look at Reginald Lewis. I read those old business management books.

If you are a creative person, you can leverage the internet. Some kid’s probably going to make a science fiction film or something in their basement. They’re going to go online and they’re going to learn SEO and internet marketing and drive massive traffic to their website. Then they will sell that movie and make millions of dollars selling their own product. That’s where we are.

The thing you must always consider when making your money on a platform is that they are always changing the rules and it impacts your money. Part of the problem with following some of these formulas and courses is they don’t work as things change.

That’s why I always stick with basic business principles that don’t change. You’ve got to have a product. You’ve got to have an audience to sell it to, and have a way to let them know about your product.

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Are you really prepared to be successful? I’m not talking about financial aspects. I’m talking about mental. I’m going to give you an example. When I was working my last contract office furniture job, there was this client I was wooing. It was a big, big client. I finally secured an appointment. I had a really tight presentation.

I stayed up all night walking through it. Then this yard bird at the eleventh hour cancels the appointment. When I say the eleventh hour, I am in the lobby when he cancels. I told him, “I am here.” He says, “I’m sorry.”

I was like a top. I was so wound up sitting there in that lobby. I sit there and I’ve got this presentation and it needs to come out. Just to let you know, I take a lot of chances in life. There’s some stuff I’ve done and I look back and say, “Well that worked out, surprisingly enough.”

I was in the lobby and there was this lady, Diana. I said, “I know this is going to sound strange, but I was up all night working on this and then the guy cancels on me and I would really like to present to you if you have the time.” It was crazy, I know.

She was like, “Ok.” She takes me to her office and introduces me to someone. Then we go to the boardroom and she brings some people in. I give my presentation and she critiques me which I was really grateful for. She said, “We don’t really have a need for your products, but we liked your presentation.” I was really grateful for the feedback.

I told this guy at the office about what I did. He said it was a total waste of time. They weren’t qualified buyers. I defended myself and told him I got the presentation out and learned some stuff so I thought it was a good thing. I also made some new friends. That’s how I looked at it.

So, I leave that company eventually and hang out my own shingle. About two months after I start my business, I get an email from Diana. She tells me she is in a new position and she needs some new office furniture. She invites me to come on by and show her what I have.

I was happy and alarmed at the same time because, I didn’t have the offerings. Just so you know, when you’re selling any big line, there are protected territories. Sometimes if you want to sell that line, you might have to partner with them or they might just take it and knock your ass out of the picture.

So, I went out and talked to her and it was scary how things worked out. It was just insane how things worked out. I get to her office and it’s much nicer digs. I go in there and I meet her. She comes up and gives me this big hug.

She told me what she needed. They wanted certain colors. I called around and showed her what I had. She said it’s a done deal and shook my hand. A few days later I have a deposit check for $75,000. The meeting lasted maybe an hour. It blew me away. It was a $150,000 job with a 48% margin. That made my frigging year. This would not have happened if I hadn’t taken a chance.

The truth is you’ve got to get out there and prepare. You’ve got to take some chances. You have to actually see this thing happening before it happens. For some people that becomes really hard. That immediate gratification demon is really strong in a lot of people.

When you are trying to be successful, the work that you do today is frequently how you will get paid tomorrow. If you’re not doing shit today, you aren’t going to get shit tomorrow. That throws people. I think the title of that book, Dig Your Well before You’re Thirsty is awesome.

When times are good, you need to get out there and start preparing. Mentally, you have to go into it like you’re going to win. Even if you don’t win, you have to believe in yourself. You just keep going and keep going.

When you are prepping for success, 90% of the work takes place between your ears. When I’m in the gym and I’m feeling weak, I have to say my mantra. “Condition the mind. Condition the body.” The mind is going to give out before the body does every time.

To prepare for success, you have to really know what you want. That is one of the biggest questions that you must answer. You have to have some type of objective. You have to know where you’re going.

If you’re one of those nomads that thinks life is a journey because it really is, and you are cool meandering over here like a butterfly or a hummingbird, that’s cool. If you want to shorten that line from where you are to where you want to be, you have to plan, prepare and stand up.

When preparing for your success, you have to dress for it. There are numerous studies indicating that if you get up and put your suit and tie on, if that’s what you wear in your profession, then you are going to be more effective. You’re going to get in that flow. Some people need that uniform to get motivated.

The number one tip I can give you for being prepared is to learn to accept loss. This is one of the reasons that most people will not be prepared. A lot of people don’t want to ramp up for potential failure or disappointment.

Sometimes I think growing up poor has great benefits. You know how bad it can be and you also know you won’t die. I’ve seen people who grew up wealthy or in a very cozy environment, kill themselves when things went bad. They can’t deal with a radical shift in circumstances. It’s all about perspective.

We are entering into one of the best periods of time ever. There are 3D printers creating living tissue. How fucking awesome is that. We’re going to see people walking around with bionic legs.

If you accept failure as the final act, you are making the wrong choice. Because you are going to fail. You get up. Then you fail and you get up again and fail again. This happens over and over again. That’s the process. You have to be able to deal with adversity on a daily basis. When you build up your adversity muscles, you can handle more shit.

I used to have to give myself a pep talk every freaking day. Success is a process. When you’re doubting yourself, then you are in a position to grow.

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There is this book by Dan Ariely, Predictably Irrational, which talks about why we do the things we do as human beings. I think that would be a good book for many of you to pick up. I’m going to address some stuff in the YouTube community and I’m going to use logic.

Why does anyone make a YouTube video? I told you my reason. My YouTube channel was built for the express purpose of selling my information products.

Now let’s talk about everyone else. Resell Renegrade recently put up a statement pretty much agreeing with me that said that everyone who has a channel is after something, attention views or whatever. There are some people who are working for you and who will tell you their motives are altruistic. That’s 100% bullshit.

Number 1 – Making videos is time consuming.

The reason there are people pissed off at me is not because I have done anything wrong. They’re pissed off because they can’t figure out why their videos don’t have the reach or the influence or bring them some kind of currency. When I say currency, it could be money or emotional currency.

They’re pissed off because no one is paying them as much attention as me. Let’s discuss why staying with the theme of why do people do what they do. I’m going to use the doggy do example. You’re on the street and you see some dog shit. Do you stand there and talk about the dog shit? Nope. Do you get on your phone and call some friends to tell them about the dog shit? No. You keep walking by.

Now keep in mind, the reason people do what they do is due to some emotional component. I’ll give you an example. There are several people that have degrees and they will tell you about what they learned in business school.

This is the thing, if you got your degree like ten or twenty years ago, that information is obsolete. It is completely obsolete unless you added to the information with continuing education and have continued to add to your knowledgebase.

Now this is the real kicker. If your advice and information is so good, then why don’t you have the life that you want? Wouldn’t a person who is doing well live in a nice place and have nice things?

Going back to the book Predictably Irrational, everybody wants to shine. Everyone wants acknowledgement. Everyone wants compliments.

Most people start a business because they don’t want to work for someone else. There is no lofty ambition. There is no huge goal. Not wanting to work for someone else is reason enough to start a business. If you really want to crank out your success, you have to figure out why you’re doing what you’re doing. If you don’t figure that out, the bus is going to crash.

It my start off well because there is some emotional fuel in the tank. Long-term, most of the YouTube channels you see aren’t going to last two years. It’s much more challenging to hit a certain level with YouTube if you’re not with the right theme.

At some point you need to sit down and think about why you’re doing what you’re doing. Are you doing it because you want a better life? Are you doing it because you want to make money? When I come on YouTube, there is always a purpose. It’s contrived like a mother fucker. There is always a plan. Every video has an agenda.

Everything that we do is an emotional decision. If you realize that about yourself and you realize what emotions drive you, then you can make yourself more powerful and effective. Sometimes it takes falling down and knocking yourself against the concrete.

Now let’s talk about markets and YouTube. When I created Glendon 007, I knew there was a market. I didn’t know it was as big as it was. So, I designed videos for a market I knew existed.

There are a lot of ways to research YouTube. There are a lot of ways to figure out what is a good video to put up. I’m not doing that because I have the G-verse. I have my own ecosystem. A lot of you are trying to leverage into an ecosystem and I’ve built my own ecosystem. That’s something I teach. What I talk about is creating systems and an environment you can win in versus adapting to someone else’s.

So many people will be replaced due to technology. It won’t matter what your credentials are, technology is forcing people from all types of positions and with all types of backgrounds out of jobs. A lot of people are going to find themselves without a job.

Mark my words. Craigslist is extremely powerful. Craigslist got me a consulting job in Germany. That’s why I make all these videos. There will be this block of videos where people come in.

If you make videos on YouTube, don’t delete your videos unless they are really shitty. It it’s getting views, leave it up. Because a video I put up four years ago got me the consulting job.

At large, Craigslist is a wonderful place. If you know what you’re doing and you study it, you can make a lot of money here.

Success brings two kinds of people to you. The majority of people it brings to you are people who are good for you and can help you become even more successful. But, unfortunately, it also brings trolls and haters. What has been surprising though, is that when I really examined the impact of the haters, I realized they helped me more than they hurt me in many ways.

When I became really successful was when I admitted and realized I was a dumb ass. If you make a mistake and can’t admit it happened, that will limit your growth. If you don’t learn from those mistakes, you’re not going to go too far.

If you want to be successful you have to be emotionally honest with yourself. I wrote my first book as a self-indulgent, self-serving measure to make money. It also helped out people.

When you are sitting there before you do your video, I want you to think about why you’re doing it. DO you want to make money? Do you want attention? Do you want to share your views with the world? What do you want to do?

Once you figure that out, the results and success may blow your mind. The next ten years, if you have the right mindset, will be fucking amazing. If you are mentally poor, the next ten years are going to be scary for you.

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The first thing you have to do to stop getting into credit trouble is to live below your means. What people do is live above their means and use credit to help them do this. Stop doing that.

The second way you can have good credit forever and ever is to stop using your credit cards. I know people are saying, “No. No. No Glendon. I want to use credit cards because I want to get stuff. I want to get the new TV. I want to get the new washer and dryer.”

The problem is you don’t have the money to buy that stuff, which brings me to point three. You need to make more money. I feel for you deep in my heart. You’ve got to make more money. This is the blueprint for having perfect credit.

In the USA, if you have 10K in cash saved, you are ahead of most people. The average person in this country makes $2500 to $4500 bring home. Let’s not deal with gross income because that is misleading. If you doubled your $2500K to $5K or your $4500 to $9K, you double your purchasing power. That’s what you need to focus on.

You need to start a business. Once you understand how to start a business, it is not that difficult. It’s more about knowing what to do and when to do it. Double or triple your expected time to get there.

Let’s say you’re coming out strong and you think it’s going to take you three months. Let’s use Cameron’s law and triple that and say it’s really going to take you a year. This is what gets most people. Many people think, hey I’m doing something and I need results in 60 days.

Your business does not really give a damn if you need results in 60 days. Your business is going to give you the results once you do the right things. That’s how it is. You’ve got to learn how to stroke your business right.

The fourth step is very important. Once you get the derogatory credit data cleaned up, you have to make a promise to yourself to stay ahead of the curve, which means you have to have an emergency fund of $10K. That way you won’t need credit, because you have the money. You need to live your life in such a way where credit is not a big part of it.

Most people are overleveraged. That way if one thing goes wrong, then you’re in trouble. Some people are better leveraged. They can withstand hard punches. If you are in that position, you aren’t overleveraged.

That’s how you go ahead and develop bulletproof credit. This is how you set yourself apart from everyone else.

Here’s the thing. You’re going out here and fixing your credit and you’re fixing your credit before you fix your life. You got into this situation because you were overspending, trying to flex on an income you can’t flex on.

You don’t have the new BMW or Audi because your budget dictates that you can have a Honda or Toyota. If you buy a new BMW on a Honda budget, as long as everything is perfect, you’re good. Now how often does everything stay perfect.

About fixing your credit, it is probably going to take three of four times longer to fix it than you think. Here are your tradelines you should apply for: Visa, Master Card, Sears and Macy’s. Those are your tradelines. Anything other than that is probably not going to work the same.

Let’s get into the real nitty gritty of the credit repair. You must be diligent.

Do not dispute credit online. You’ve got to use paper. When you send that letter out, send it certified mail. You can’t send it by regular mail because you can’t prove you sent it.

Here’s a secret. One of the ways you can make the credit bureau take something negative off your credit report is to use policy and procedure. If you need details, you’ve got to take the course. I will point you in the right direction for free in these blogs/videos. If you’re smart enough to figure it out, cool!

Back to challenging those credit entries. You send it certified mail. We get the certified mail back. Then you have to forcefully go to the credit bureau and say, “Look, you didn’t investigate this.” Now, they know most people are not going to sue even though they are threatened constantly that they will be sued. At the end of the month, a very small number of people follow though and actually sue. That’s when they fold.

When you catch them slipping, you have to have the ability and desire to sue.  What I mean is you have to familiarize yourself with the Fair Credit Act. You need to have your lawsuit paperwork filled out and send a copy with your letter to the Credit Bureau. You can go online or to the courthouse to fill that stuff out. They will pay attention to that because 99% of people will not do that.

Those infractions add up. I had them on five infractions. Each one was $1000. They have the choice to delete or pay up. Guess what? They deleted the credit challenges I made instead of paying up.

Here’s something else you may not know. There’s what is called suppression and then there’s deletion. Suppression is when the challenged credit issues don’t show up on your credit report. But if a background check or manual credit report is pulled for a large life insurance policy or a mortgage loan, it is still on there. Comparatively, if it is deleted, it is gone from everything.

There is no resurfacing if it is deleted. That’s something else. When they suppress stuff, sometimes it will show up again. So, you want full deletion. I got a tax lien off. I got repossession of a car deleted. This stuff was true. The reason it worked is because I caught them slipping. This is the reason you must follow all the procedures and tips.

Jurisdiction can also be a big issue. I challenged one debt I had based on jurisdiction. The suit against me was dismissed because the collector did not have jurisdiction to sue me.

Check out Hustle Camp.

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The first thing you have to do before you start blogging is to figure out who your audience is. Who are you writing for? This is very, very, very important.

I have a blog I am writing for essentially nobody but me. I’m putting up old blog posts for people who do not want to watch the video. There are some people out there who are readers.

If you’re just starting, you have to find an avatar, or audience. You have to figure out who, when and where. Let’s say you’re starting a blog abut skateboarding. Who’s your audience? Is it guys? Is it girls? Where does your audience hang out? This is stuff you need to know.

Let’s say you like skateboards and you think they’re kind of cool. So, you decide to write about them. This is what’s going to happen. You’re going to run out of content because you’re not deeply invested in the world of skateboarding. Problem #2 is you’re going to get tired of it and you won’t be consistent because you don’t really give a damn about them.

This is one of the problems people run into when they are trying to find a good niche or topic. Even if it’s moderately successful, it’s going to get old. You’re not going to want to do it.

That’s why you should create a blog based on things you like to do. That is hands down 90% of it. You have to figure out a way to talk to your audience that works for them and doesn’t alienate them.

For example, if someone comes into your skateboarding blog and they are just a casual skateboarder, they will see this is hardcore skateboarding information talking about the wheels, the trucks and tricks. Everywhere you turn, it is about hardcore skateboarding.

You’re going to alienate people who are only casually interested. You are only going to draw hardcore people, which is amazing. That’s who you want. These hardcore skateboarders will spend money on wheels, boards, gear, t-shirts and tricks.

That’s how you set up a blog that makes money.

Now let’s talk about how to get the money. This is what everyone wants to get to. You have to have a plan. Before you even start writing the blog, you’ve got to figure out how you are going to make money from it. Are you going to sell merchandise? Are you going to sell promoted posts? Are you going to sell gear? You have to ask yourself, how am I going to monetize this. You have to figure this out first.

Many people will disagree with me. They say, just go ahead and write it and you should make money. That generally does not work.

When I started this YouTube channel, which was predicated on my Urban Pack Rat blog, I knew who my target audience was. It was white males, 18 to 35 who liked to go out and buy junk and flip it. That was my target audience. That’s who I wrote for. That’s who I created the channel for.

For three years, that’s all the channel was about. It was about Craigslist, garage sales, eBay and Amazon. I made $1.5 million just from the sale of my book, Making Money A to Z with Self- Storage Unit Auctions. I still make money to this day with the book. It’s not near as much as it once was, but it’s passive income from Amazon.

You’ve got to hammer down the audience. You’ve got to hammer down the monetization policy. You’ve got to knock that out.

If you decide to write a blog and start writing one without any idea about how you’re going to make money from it, that’s what will happen. You won’t make any money from it. Then, you’ll become  burned out and tired.

What I did is I started writing a blog. Then what I did was say, there is a book coming. I started advertising my book immediately. I started advertising my book before I wrote the first page.

It’s going to take weeks or months for enough people to have interest in your buying your products. If you want to do a course or anything, you need to start marketing it before you even make it to allow people to catch up and allow anticipation to build.

Everything that I do, I start marketing before I do it.

Before you begin, you have to make a decision about who you are selling to and who you are not selling to.

For example, I am selling Hustle Camp for $1350. At the end of the month, it is probably going to go up. There aren’t a lot of people that can buy that. But, here’s the thing. If I get 30 people to buy it this month, that’s $40K.

This is how I’m doing it. I am literally giving away all the Craigslist books and stuff. Even though the book is free, there are people still buying it because of the awesome value I provide on the channel.

What’s going to happen is the lion share of the people who get the free stuff are going to be appreciative. That buys me goodwill which is a currency. Then a smaller group of people from there are going to go ahead and buy Hustle Camp. I only need 30 to 40 sales to have a successful month.

That’s the game that I am playing. I’m giving away low margin stuff and bringing people in on selling through value. I reinforce the idea that Hustle Camp will save them so much money. Even though you spend $1350 right now, once you start your business and you’re making $2K to $3K a month, in a year, you’re up $20K. Based on these results, it is economical to buy Hustle Camp.

Once again, I know that message will only resonate with a certain group of people. Most of the folks are not going to get it and that’s cool.

You can essentially plant the seeds today for customers next year. So, I’m getting sales today. I’m getting sales in the future and I’m creating good will.

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