"I'm Facing A Billion Dollar Decision" [Ep 012]

And so right now I have $2 billion paths. Well, what's the worst case scenario if you do it? Anything that damages your reputation is irreversible cuz you only get one reputation. You literally can't bankrupt yourself out. [ __ ] it. One of the hardest decisions in entrepreneurship is deciding which path to follow, especially when you have two or multiple good paths. I'm at a point in my career where I do have a very large decision that I need to commit to for multiple years. And I've been spending basically every waking hour trying to gather more data to make the right decision. One of my favorite things to do when I do have big decisions is to change my environment. And I think it happens multiple times. My favorite place to think is actually on planes. I often have very few distractions when I'm on planes. And I quite literally get perspective. Like I'm flying up and I'm looking down at the earth. I feel like I always make really good decisions when I'm in the air. And uh it's actually something that I like really look forward to. You know what I've been waiting for since I've been married? Going to Chili's. We've gone to Chili. I had like a seizure. Honestly, I would go because I don't mind. I don't care about the style of the restaurant, but I do not like their food. I think they have amazing chips, great salsa, and the fajitas are strong. I hate that you go hard on this in front of people because then behind the closed doors, you're like, "Yeah, it's not that good. " If there's any time like in the fine establishments that I go to that we bunch now like five times like we'll go and she'll be like, "It sucks, right? It sucks. Say it. It's not as good as the finest dining in the world. Just say it. " I'll be like, "Yes, it's not as good. " She's like, "See, see. " And then that's it for the rest of my life. You're chilly as [ __ ] and you get like a stomach ache from it and then you're like, "Who are we talking about here? " Yeah. Who are we talking about? I think you're telling me your story. So, we just landed in San Diego and we are going to Real's event, which is a big publicly traded brokerage for real estate agents. Our really close friend Shiron Sravatza is the president of the company. He invited us out. We're probably going to have dinner with him. We're going to speak there tomorrow. I will be making a presentation to help real estate agents sell more houses, but it will not be about real estate. It'll uh either suck or be great for someone. Le's like, I'm just how do I stop doing all these routines? I'm like, I can't even start. I like tried to smoke cigarettes to get addicted to them and I was like, I just it was too hard. It was just too hard to stick with it. It's like every morning it's like what I forgot. The hardest part about growth is that the better you get, the bigger the opportunities are and the better they are. I think the easiest litmus test is to determine how big of a opportunity is worth your attention. So, right now, 10x is kind of my litmus test. It's like we're at 100. It's got to be a billion or more for it to be something that I want to dedicate time to. And so, right now, I have what I would consider to be two billion dollar paths. They're very different, relatively irreversible. One has potentially more upside, but more risk. The other one is more certain but has lower upside. There's lots of things that can make a decision irreversible. There's if it's a certain percentage of your net worth or capital, I don't like making those kinds of bets. This is a quote from Sean Servata, buddy of mine. He said, "Never want to bet the empire for a pot of gold. You bet what you have and need for something you don't have and don't need. It's never a good bet. Anything that damages your reputation is irreversible cuz you only get one reputation and you literally can't bankrupt yourself out of a bad reputation. You can't make take reputational risk where there's only downside. Now, if I were to say like, I want to support this cause, I might piss off some people, but it'll move me towards a different group of people. So then in that case, that's a trade-off more than it's a risk. And so that's it's different than what I'm talking about here. And then you just have time, you know, time that you can't get back. Every like moment you spend always has the opportunity cost of what you could have done with that time to get a higher return. I think the number one presentation I have on YouTube is about that concept is the only base thing we have is time and we make trades for stuff. And so the people who are better at trading it for more stuff get more stuff. There was this story that Tony Robbins told that I really like that just kind of illustrated this image is that like rich people make bets where they can't lose on either way. Like so there's this guy who knows that nickels nowaday are made with nickel or whatever the material they make nickel with is more valuable than the cost of a nickel. this billionaire knows has taken the nickel. He's putting it in storage as an investment because the day that they change or remove that nickel from currency because it makes no sense, he'll melt it and get 40% on his money. But there are investments that are high return, low risk. You want to find those bets. How's it going? I don't want to interrupt. You're good, man. What's up? I I'm a treasury founder. We just find banks in the US that literally pay the highest rates on cash. Well, give me your card. I don't have a card, man. I got my LinkedIn here. Take a picture of me and message me and then the guy who managed my LinkedIn will get it. There you go. Oh, we got to get a good lighting. There it is. Do it right now so I can tell them. I'll do it right now. Yeah. If we can get more c more return on our cash. We're in a hot zone. A hot zone of recognition. What's all like entrepreneurial people? Looks like it. Let's let this gentleman know half measures. That's right. He knows. I'll tell you that story, man. We're running gym launch making a lot of money. I got asked to speak at this like personal trainer conference and I was like, "Yeah, sure. I'll talk. " Like I wasn't being asked to speak. I wasn't making content like this, so like it wasn't like a normal. I was like, "Sure, I'll come talk. " And I was like, "So, what do you want to do? " He's like, "Well, I figure you just like give a lot of value and then you can, you know, present your thing or whatever. " And I was like, "Okay, cool. " I made this

really long presentation that was just like very good. And then at the end, I had the full presentation webinar of how to sell like that I used to sell it before. And I was like, "You guys probably don't need to see all this stuff, right? " Like, "Okay, you get it. Like personal training, you know, it's important. You got to know how to sell. Got to understand the systems. " Uh, at the end, I was like, "Yeah, and here's the price. " And I dropped it and I was like, and I just went as fast as I could through it. And then I didn't even I said it like I'm saying it right now. I didn't like actually say it. And so then I revealed the price. And so I did what would have been a 90-minute presentation pitch in like 15 minutes after giving 3 hours plus of value. So I was like this should make sense. I gave a shitload of value and then I'll just soft toss it. Right? And I got so much resistance from the crowd. It was the biggest flop of a presentation I ever gave in my entire life. I don't even think I made two sales. Like it was nothing. Right? No. I had done a half measure. And so it's either sell or don't sell. Don't be in between. You either give value or you sell [ __ ] Don't try and mix them. If we want to make commitments in anything or you're trying to go all in on a decision, one of the best ways to do that is to eliminate the possibility of going back on it. A lot of people spend most of their lives being half in, half out, which to me is just not in at all. It just gives them an excuse to feel like they're making progress when they really aren't. There's a lot of books that talk about going pro, going all in, burning the boats. And I think they all kind of go along the same point, which is that sometimes you have to make a bet and be willing to be wrong, knowing that if you make no bet, you're guaranteed to be wrong. But yeah, for tomorrow, everybody there knows more about selling houses than I do. And my proof point of that is that they have all sold more houses than I have. So what am I going to teach them about selling houses, right? I think it would be silly for me to try and compete on that cuz there's other speakers who've both done it and been there more than me. So I feel like that would be a terrible position to take. What I am going to do is say if I were to start, here's how I would win. But if selling houses means winning, it'll apply. Share with my girlfriend Riley. How's it going? I'm Michael. Michael, nice to meet you. Sorry, my hands are cold. No, you're good. I appreciate it. Um, dude, you're killing the game, man. I appreciate you. Nice to meet you, too. Riley, right? See you guys. When I was in high school, I read this book called How to Make Friends and Influence People. And I think the second chapter or something is Call by Their Name. It's their favorite word in the whole language. And I was like, "Oh, that's interesting. Your favorite word in the entire language is your own name. So, you love hearing that word more than any other word. " Well, I should say that a lot of times if somebody likes that word, think about this from a leverage perspective. If you haven't seen somebody in a year and then you show up at a conference and you're like Steve and he doesn't remember your name, he loses all leverage, you're the good guy. And so you have so much more leverage in the conversation for remembering. Thank you for calling Reservation Center. Got to see if I can get in there with a tank top and water sandals. Thank you for calling steakhouse. Amy speaking, how can we help you? Amy, how are you today? Hello. I'm doing okay. How are you? I'm good. Quick question for you. I have reservation at 7:30. What's the dress code? We don't turn anyone away unless you're wearing the following. Board shorts, swimsuits, and tank tops for Well, if you've never turned anyone away before, then I might just have to risk it cuz I can't go back to my hotel in time. Oh, no. Okay. I'm going to say Amy said it was okay. Yeah, no problem. I'll hit that sent over though and let them know you should be okay. Thank you so much, Amy. You're a lifesaver. You're like that with the ice cream. So, we're on our way to an ice cream shop and it's closing like at the time we're about to get there. Leila look, she was like, "We should call to make sure that like we can get in. " And I was like, "Hey, how's it going? My wife needs ice cream or I'm going be in the dog house. " I was like, "What are the chances, one in a million, that you guys can stay open 5 minutes later so I can get some ice cream? " I was like, "I'll be in and out. I'll be the fastest ice cream man you've ever seen. " And they were like, "Okay, but you just can't tell anyone. " And I was like, I will take you to the grave except for this content that I'm making right now. And she let us in and we got the Sundays. I've done a lot of phone sales and inerson sales. And there's a lot of mini skills that you learn in sales that are useful in every other environment where you need to get people to do something that you want them to do. The ideal way of doing is getting them to want to do the thing that you want them to do rather than having them feel like they are doing you a favor. the way that you ask, the tone laugh that you make, the jokes that you make, all of those micro things, I do those things so that the person on the other end feels like if they see me in person, it will be a positive experience and they want to have that reward and so they are willing to push or bend the rules a little bit so that I can do whatever it is that I'm trying to do or get in a restaurant or dessert or whatever it is. People do nice things when they're in nice moods. So, it's like get them in a good mood first, then ask for the nice thing. So, you made half the presentation last night. Yeah. I kind of have this like process that sort of works. I'll like outline what I'm going to say like far in advance and then the day before I'll change half of it. Oh, we get the VIP entrance. Okay.

And then we noticed that your presentation 300 plus slides. Yeah, I finished it like 20 minutes ago. Yeah, it looks good. All looks good. Yeah. And if it doesn't, I'll survive. Okay. Usually I get more of my adrenaline now and by the time I get on stage, it's like I'm done with it kind of thing. It's always directly proportional to the prep. Yeah. This will be the first time I've talked about any of the stuff that I'm talking about in a keynote. So, I do like I love this tall boy dude. This is great. Get a little bit of sugar, caffeine, a little bit of delicious, and a little bit of uh [ __ ] it. How many people? 350. I had 100 slides. He has 220. I have 300. Oh my god. 300 slides. I'm looking forward to it. Oh, thank you. Have you ever done a real estate audience? No, I don't think so. I'm not I don't talk to real estate agents. It's going to be useless for them. They'll be like, "What a waste of an hour. " I'm sorry. There he is [ __ ] talking Alex. A lot of you guys already know how to win because you know how to lose. So flip it. You guys know how to win better than I could ever tell you. You measure your success by whether you completed the actions that would make it unreasonable that you will not fail. And then you succeed by default. And everyone here has things that they've written down from many of the talks of things that you want to do or want to think about or whatever. I would encourage you to make that a list of things that you will do. And then when you go back to the same condition, your same home, your same house, your same market, your same whatever, you change your behavior. And then that will show that you learned and you took one step to becoming the person that you ultimately want to be. This stuff is all top of mind in terms of making actions that would make it unreasonable that I fail with a billion dollar decision is because that's actually a decision I'm making right now. I'm at a point in my career where I have enough what I would consider singles, doubles, triples that I have decided to take a bigger swing. I'll either win or I'll learn. Same as you. So from the bottom of our heart, Alex, you impacted our life. Thank you, man. We appreciate you. Thank you guys. Thank you. Thank you. All I want to do when 01 of you that's you can be dude you can be 100x you stop it thank you Alex you're good Chris very nice to meet you appreciate you Katie appreciate you photo with you and Katie yeah sure still trap bro I followed you since you had about 50 subscribers packed here to see you I'm going to earn that hat I bought I'll go wear it someday thank god I was hungry I love seeing Mosy Nation in the Wild. I love the hustle. I love everyone coming up and and sharing their their stories. Like, that always makes my day. I would say though, do it in a place where you won't, you know, get put in handcuffs for sneaking in. Come up when you see me in public if you can. I'm happy to say hi, take pictures, whatever. Don't go into areas where you're not supposed to go in order to try and hang out because it usually just doesn't end well. The crowd is loving you. Very nice to meet you. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. So, that was great. I did my keynote earlier in the day. I think people liked it. They may not have. I think they sat through it regardless. And I think we're probably going to have the afternoon, probably a couple hours, probably walk around and then we'll head back to Las Vegas. content. Yep. Back in the day when I had one-on- ones, there was a one guy who I was like, "So, like, what have you done for personal improvement? Like, what do you know, have you? " He's like, "Yeah, you know, it was so crazy. Like, I realized if I don't watch Netflix as much while I'm working, I get like so much more done. " I was like, "There's so many things wrong with that statement. " You were telling me probably just like just level one of idiocy. Level two of idiocy is that like you mentioned that you were doing that you were watching no fix in general while you were working. Point three is that you didn't actually say you were going to stop. You just said that you cut back on how much Netflix you were watching while you were working. And I was just like there's so many stupidities interwoven into so few words. I was flabbergasted. So, you're more productive when you don't watch Netflix movies. Not as much. Yeah. Okay. As much as many shows in a row while you're being paid at your job. Yeah. It's been great. That's pretty. That is pretty. Oh, damn. So if you're at the crossroads between one decision that you're trying to choose between two different paths, if it's the first goround, I would encourage you to take the lower risk

path that has a higher chance of success if it's a business. There are stories of just unbelievable entrepreneurs. But what you don't hear is the tens of thousands of entrepreneurs who make that massive bet and then lose everything and lose 5, eight years of their lives. If you are going to make the big swing and kudos to you, it's an absolutely personal decision. Burn the boats. Go all in. Fully commit. Eliminate alternatives. No half measures. Because what I can guarantee you is that if you are going after the big swing, the way to guarantee that it does not work is to go half in. So if you're going to win, make it unreasonable that anything that was in your control was not controlled for and then only lose for things that were not under your control. What do you think? Top five. For me, I go matrix all time. I'd be willing to put Dark Knight as number two. It's just like he's such a good villain. It's just like he was just the perfect villain. The intro scene is just like one of the all-time best scenes ever. I really like But I do like Gladiator Russell Crow. You have one that's not like action heavy. Probably my favorite comedy. [ __ ] No, it's too hard. 40 Old Virgin, Wedding Crashers, Super Bad, and Surprise. Uh, Bridesmaids. I cried during bridesmaids. Just like I couldn't breathe. I was dying. Yeah. I mean, I went cuz a buddy of mine at the job that I was at was like, "Let's go see it. " And I was like, "Fine. " And so I like had a couple drinks and like went to the movie theater and I like was hyperventilating cuz I couldn't [ __ ] stop laughing.