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Escaping Scarcity: Jim Oliver on Business Ownership, Infinite Banking, and Mindset Shifts

Episode 61 · 11 February 2026 · 1 hr 12 min

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Escaping Scarcity: Jim Oliver on Business Ownership, Infinite Banking and Mindset

How do you get out of a scarcity mindset when you start with nothing? Jim Oliver, founder of CreateTailwind, tells Randy Lorensen, Dr. John Oberg and Anthony Marino how he went from foster care in Inglewood to Wall Street, and why he left to build wealth through owning businesses and real estate. The episode opens with a Super Bowl recovery Briefing.

Jim Oliver, founder of CreateTailwind, joins the show to share his incredible journey from foster care and homelessness in Inglewood to managing over $700 million on Wall Street. In this episode, Jim deconstructs the "lies" of traditional financial planning and explains why true abundance requires a shift from a consumer mindset to an ownership mindset. We dive deep into the five F’s—specifically Finances and Fitness—as Jim reveals how physical strength mirrors mental resilience and why your time is your most valuable asset. Whether you are a business owner or looking to start your first "side hustle," Jim provides a tactical blueprint for building a life of abundance through real estate, business ownership, and the Infinite Banking Concept.

Jim Oliver on Infinite Banking, Buying an Existing Business and the Breakaway Wealth Community

What you'll discover:

  • Jim's story: foster care, poverty, and what he wanted to learn from wealthy people
  • The casket-factory lesson at 13: own the business and own the real estate
  • Why he left Wall Street after doing the math on average returns, and finding infinite banking
  • Reading an hour a day, weightlifting, and why action cures fear
  • Defining true wealth as owning your time, and how to start by buying an existing business
  • In the Abundance Briefing: the five Fs of the Super Bowl and $5.2 billion in lost productivity

Timestamps

  • [00:00] The Super Bowl recovery: the five Fs of the big game
  • [03:06] The $5.2 billion in lost productivity the day after the Super Bowl
  • [11:54] Don't let one bad day turn into a bad week
  • [13:32] Break: Premium Cabinets business opportunity and AG1
  • [14:56] Welcome, Jim Oliver
  • [15:46] From Inglewood to wealth: foster care, poverty and what wealthy people knew
  • [22:25] The casket factory lesson: own the business and own the real estate
  • [24:52] The Wall Street lie: when Jim did the math on average returns
  • [28:52] The power of reading: a janitor's advice to read an hour a day
  • [32:27] Mindset and weightlifting: physical strength as the gateway to mental toughness
  • [39:33] Action cures fear: affirmations, gratitude and vision boards
  • [45:07] Changing times, despair and the tools available today
  • [51:57] Defining true wealth: owning your time
  • [57:32] How to start a business today: buying existing businesses, franchises and hiring better than yourself
  • [1:03:11] Asset-based thinking: a nest egg vs. passive income
  • [1:08:22] The Go-Giver and how one small action creates opportunity
  • [1:10:35] The Breakaway Wealth Community and where to find Jim

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About Jim Oliver

Jim Oliver is the founder of CreateTailwind and the Breakaway Wealth Community. On the show he describes growing up in foster care in Inglewood, building a career managing money on Wall Street, and leaving to invest in businesses and real estate. He says he is now a partner in about 30 businesses.

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Related episodes

Meet the hosts: Randy Lorensen · Dr. John Oberg · Anthony Marino

Transcript

A full transcript is below. It was generated automatically from the episode audio, so expect some spelling errors in names and terms.

[00:13] — listeners, welcome to this week's episode of Tales of Abundance. And as always, I'm here with Anthony Marino and Dr. John Oberg. Gentlemen, good day. — Good. It is a super post Super Bowl day. — Yes. So Anthony has had some thoughts about recovering from the Super Bowl and health and wellness uh that fit right into our 5F. So Anthony, you want to ask some of the questions you were asking — Well, you know, we won't talk about the game. We'll just let that, you know, let the the the reporters talk all about it. But, you know, a couple of our two fivefs are fun and fitness and and I thought it'd be an interesting topic to talk about, you know, what what do people you know, what was it like for you and what has it been like for you to on Super Bowl Sunday, you know, the world basically comes to a screeching halt, a 100 million people in the United States and hundred, you know, tens of millions more across the world stop at about 6:30 Eastern time and and sit down to for a football game. It doesn't seem like the most important thing in the world, but boy, we sure make it uh an important day. Whether it's, you know, attending a big event, party, um people in the the towns that are in the Super Bowl go to their local stadiums and and uh have viewing parties. And many of us have been to, you know, rough and tumble sober parties. And, you know, back when I lived in California, I went to a couple of way overthe-top uh celebrity ridden parties.

[01:50] I got some stories about and that's that that's the fun part. The fitness part you know, we got to recover from not the most healthy food uh that gets served at during Super Bowl. So, I just wonder today they're taking like your your queso your blood queso content is about 60% today and and light beer and light beer is probably the other 40% and now you got to get back and by the way uh Valentine's Day Saturday if you forgot to book your reservation this coming Saturday. So like it's uh this might not be the healthiest eating week of the entire year. — Yeah. And if you stroll up the supermarket aisle on Sunday afternoon or Monday morning, you won't find a Dorito to be had, you know. So, it's um it's a rough it's a rough uh it's a rough ride for a lot of reasons. So, — Anthony, to your point, according to Gemini, now um for the 2026 Super Bowl, just in the US, the estimates are that 26.2 million US employees will not make it to work on Mon on like, you know, the next day, right? So, by the time you're listening to this, I mean, that's two days ago, right? That's uh — That's a third That's a third F.

[03:02] Finances. People want to pay. That's a third F. Finances. — There you go. Um five, it estimates 5.2 in lost productivity, right? And interestingly, it's a big problem in the United Kingdom, Germany, Mexico, and Canada. Um, and a part of it just the United Kingdom and Germany, it's the time zone and it gets, you know, the game gets done at probably 10:00 here. Um, it's even later there. And so, uh, you know, this is a worldwide phenomena in a lot of ways. — Yeah. John, what was the best Super Bowl party you ever attended? I've got some parties with some friends that like it's a it's a fullblown like like chef level cooking because the people who throw it are such amazing uh you know kitchen artists that and and it's like great wine and great and all different types of food. There's like there's barbecue and there's all the regular kind of staples of a Super Bowl party, you know, from deileled eggs to dips to, you know, seven layer dip to whatever. and and there's there's enough there that's healthyish that you can eat mostly protein and and be okay if that's the direction you want to go. But if you want to go full-on like Dorito nachos like you know and for me it's like that third plate of nachos that gets me right like it's uh it's just it all tastes so good that and that's the problem.

[04:25] — Yeah. Yeah. So, my my um you know, my current Super Bowl habit is I don't want to be around anybody except me because I want to watch the game. So, we did a uh New England style uh buffet where we made New England style clam chowder. We're going to do we did a fish fry, you know, onion rings and so forth. Not not the healthiest of things and, you know, not too not too many appetizers. So, we kind of we kept it simple. Um, last year I had a bunch of people over and it got ridiculous. You know, smoked chicken wings, a brisket. Oh my god, it went on and on and on. Pastas and so on and so forth. I was I was a wreck um last year. So, this this year I I dialed it down a little bit and I'm really interested obviously and was interested in the outcome of the game. So, I really wanted to concentrate. I, you know, for me it's it's all about movement the next day. Like with all the food, you know, all if I have a bad day eating, I want to get into movement as much as I can, whether it's a long walk or but I want to do something to kind of help my body reset and and get back to like drinking water and movement. And I'll probably, you know, continue throughout this week to work out really hard to try to get myself back into for me it was like dry January and and you know, uh, sugar-free January for the most part and, you know, February off to a a little bit more of a tough start. So, I don't want to lose all that January momentum.

[06:02] — Yeah. But you don't want to beat yourself up either, you know, and I think that's important. You know, it's it's not about what you ate yesterday, it's about what you ate today and what you do today. So, you know, you do want to have uh some abundance uh in your life and and you know, don't don't beat yourself up too bad. What about you, R? — Yeah, fully agree. Yeah. You know, in our medical practice, we tell people if you're at the steakhouse, get the steak, you know, like um but but if you're not at the steakhouse, then maybe you don't get the steak, maybe you choose the fish or whatever. Like, I think that's the, you know, as long as like every day is not a party, you know, 300 days a year, you're going to be fine. But that's why, you know, this week, you know, Super Bowl, Valentine's Day, like there's there's a couple things. And so I just for me it's about just how to be prudent in between and you know how to make sure that I keep my habits directionally going the way that I want to go. — Randy, what about you? — What's your routine? — Refer to you. I haven't been to a Super Bowl party in years. I want to watch the game. Um I don't know why I want to hear the announcers because I think they're wrong more than they're right. Most announce depends on the announcer. Um, so they kind of irritate me, but I still do want to hear and I want to hear reports of people hurt this and that.

[07:10] Uh, you know, I used to want to watch the commercials and the commercials just, you know, have been more disappointing. But I I sit at home. It's not that different. I don't eat that bad. In the past when I went to parties, I mean, you asked the best. Um, my friend Poncho, who just passed in the last couple years, but he used to run this big party at his house and there were TV. There was a zillion people there, but there were TVs in multiple rooms. People could escape to the game room that didn't want to watch the game. I don't want to be distracted by the hundred people not interested in the game and they're just screaming over the TV. So he had an area outside by the pool then and we just like I went there two years in a row and the people we just sat around the pool and the people that really wanted to watch the game. So we were able to segregate into you know kind of groups of people based on what it was. So that was the best Super Bowl party. And definitely at those places, it's hard not like I love chips and queso or chips and chips and salsa and that type of stuff and then having a couple of drinks. Whereas when I sit at home, I can sit at home and drink water or, you know, a cup of tea instead of whatever else and just eat better, eat normal. So — I mean for next that next football season I got to know I the la this whole super like um Super Bowl run. So the playoffs Super Bowl there's been a number of times I've almost called you Midame to ask you about line the lineman and the footwork because it's something you're so tied into that I didn't understand and I would ask you if I was sitting next to you at a game. I went to call you I was like no Ry's watching this game. He's pretty intense. I need to check in with him first.

[08:44] — It's okay. I'm not I'm not unless the Vikings are playing. I'm not that intense. So I can basically I can basically call you any Super Bowl that I want then. — Exactly. Unfortunately, that is very — I just can't I I can't let this day go without telling you my c one of my California Super Bowl parties where it was all in what they call industry people. So producers and writers and actors and so forth in it was in unfortunately the Pacific Palisades in a house that's probably not there anymore. It was about 12,000 square ft home and uh like you said Randy, there were there were TVs everywhere. There was the kids were out in the pool and of the hundred or so people there maybe five knew which end of a football went forward, you know, they just like they were really clueless about the whole thing. But what they were really clueless about was there was a pool outside and it was kind of like to the side of the the backyard and about half the pool was not visible from, you know, the deck off from the patio and what have you.

[09:53] And there were about 10 kids out there and everyone's in the house. They're eating. Chefs are made serving food and they're hardly watching the game and so forth. And for whatever reason, I walked outside during a commercial and I see six or seven kids throwing boogie boards into this pool that's probably only 8 ft wide, throwing boogie boards into the pool, running and jumping onto the boogie boards to skid across the pool. And their heads are missing the corner of the pool by micro inches. And there is not a parent anywhere in sight watching these six, eightyear-old kids do this. So, it was just like such an LA moment for me. Um, they would they could they they assumed their nannies were out there, but there were no nannies. They actually had to be parents that day and they that isn't in their DNA. So, anyway, that was one of the most enjoyable. Jan and I and my wife went out there and did the supervision and we, you know, told the kids, "You can't do that." And, um, yeah, we uh we took we took care of it.

[11:00] — Unfully. classic LA. I mean, there you fellon and lobster and — you know what's what's a field goal? — So, I would like to point out that the entire time Anthony has been telling this story, he has his hand over his heart or his chest like he's Fred Sanford going, "Elizabeth, I'm coming." It was It was obviously very stressful. — It was very stressful. So, — oh man. Well, that'll take us right into that'll take us right into the guest today. Yeah, for sure. — Well, sure. So, okay, let's give a summary. I mean, we we really started this and and I know fun was part of it, but John, you talked about movement. Um, you know, getting back to eating healthy. I I think to me that's the big one is even if it's a day like, by the way, you can go to the gym or you can work out all day before before a Super Bowl or this applies to Christmas, Thanksgiving, a lot of other things, too. But don't let one bad day of whether it's diet, exercise, drinking, whatever turn into two or a week or a month or — I don't even like to call it a bad day, right? Like I don't I think I think just not even giving yourself the shame of calling it a bad day. Like it's okay to go out and celebrate and have that have that day where you have the food that's not the healthiest food in the world, but get right back into your habits.

[12:16] Like like make it easy to you know to get back into those habits and uh you know just get get and and you know move and eat. Those are the things that — All all of our Fs all of our Fs take uh it's a lifelong journey, right? I mean, whether it's fun, fitness, finance, friends. I mean, you're putting energy into all of those Fs, you know, as as often as you possibly can. And it's it's not about the one step. It's about the marathon. And you just got to keep that in mind. — Well, the part the party can be the friends and the friends and the fun as well. just you know exactly — into it and just you know but — uh listeners that's going to take us into break when we come back we have really special guest Jim Oliver on today and I think you're really going to like his story coming you know growing up tough and the things you know that to me that really stand out are his mindset about money coming from a place of scarcity and turning it into a a mind of abundance and uh just man it's it's full of nuggets and full of gold so uh I think you're really going to enjoy this so I'll Talk to you after the break.

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[14:56] to Tales of Abundance. As promised, we have Jim Oliver here today. Special guest. So, welcome, Jim. — Thank you. Thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here. — Great. Where are you calling in from, by the way? — I'm in Naples, Florida. — Ah, all right. It's probably warmer than it is here in Texas because — Well, I don't know. We just had the coldest week that I've ever experienced down here. — So, I don't know. It's pretty cold. — All right. Well, — I don't like to compare temperatures because then you'll tell me it's colder wherever you are — probably. So, um, well, Jim, let's jump right in. Tell tell listeners a little bit about your background. I think I think you have a really unique background and I think it sets the stage for the other topics that we're going to talk about about money mindset and some of that type of stuff. So, you want to just give people kind of the, you know, — tell how you got here? — Yeah. So, um you know, I was born in foster care. I actually have uh five natural siblings. I was the only one given up for adoption. My um my birth mother's husband said, "If you bring that baby home, I'll kill it." And um so she gave me up for adoption and then I was in foster care till I was seven. And then I was adopted into I don't know why the state of California would let the two people that adopted me adopt me from a economic standpoint, from a psychological standpoint. They were very abusive. They were dirt poor and uh and so anyway, I was adopted at seven and uh we had nothing and uh and you know, we were on food stamps. Uh we moved every 6 months because we were breaking leases, not paying rent. and and I also grew up in an all black neighborhood. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I was the only white kid, right? So, I never felt like I fit in anywhere. And we were so poor that people thought our house was vacant at one time. And and I remember walking home with a friend and he was like, "Nobody lives there." And I said, "No, I live there." And uh so that's kind of how poor we were in Englewood. So Englewood is already rough, but we were like the poor of the poor in Englewood. So, um, because of that, I was super fascinated with money.

[17:10] And again, in California's incredible, uh, uh, wisdom, they decided maybe Englewood should play against Beverly Hills in football and sports and also Palace Verde. So, it's kind of like rubbing your nose in it, like, you know, it's like you're growing up and you're thinking, "Hey, there's something wrong. What do these people know about money that that no one in my neighborhood, my adopted parents don't know? what is it that they just they don't know that they don't get and you know I was fascinated with money because I didn't have it and I would visualize having money when I was a kid and I just had this incredible vision of having wealth but so I go through school and uh get out of college and get right into financial planning right and and I'm thinking that's a that's a big jump I mean English — that's a big jump okay for those of you in southern like I grew up in southern in California. Englewood is a tough — Beverly Hills, everyone knows Beverly Hills. Palace Verie is just like Beverly Hills, right? Like very wellto-do area. — But like h how did you I mean getting into college all by itself was a challenge with that background.

[18:16] — You know what's funny is I got a Yeah, getting into college. Yes, you're right. And I mean it was honestly it was my football coaches giving me false grades to make it to where I could get into college. I mean it was I was a a TA the most honest answer we've heard on this show that is — okay. All right. — On my own, I think I was a solid 1.2 1.3 student at a really bad high school, but uh and our our high school was 11% proficient for California standards, by the way. And I'm not saying I was part of the 11%. But I hated school. I was super ADHD, but I loved to learn, right? So when somebody would teach me something that I thought was valuable and I loved it, like I just absorbed it and asked a million questions until I just had it down. But I hated sitting there all day long in a classroom even for 45 50 minutes was like torture. So like growing up, you know, seeing people drive nice cars, but we're drive, you know, our cars were always broken down.

[19:21] never having like even like Christmas, you know, like like I never liked wonderful a wonderful That's a wonderful life because I was like that's not reality, you know, like people don't live like that. And uh and so it was there was a lot of dangerous things like you said in Englewood. I I sold Cokes at the forum when I was a kid and I would uh was my first sales job. So, you would show up and you would buy a tray of Cokes for $16. And your job was to sell them for 32. And on a good night, I could sell three trays of Cokes. And that was a lot of money. $45 was a lot of money back then. And so, it taught me like, but I still I would drive up to Palace Verdees or drive around Beverly Hills and think, what am I missing? What do these people know that I don't know? And and I was just so fascinated with money because I was coming from a from a place of scarcity and I didn't even understand abundance. I mean, I didn't even believe in abundance then. I really didn't. I thought, man, it's just I'm unlucky, they're lucky, and that's just the way it is. Um, but you know, something happened as you're playing sports, as you're getting confidence, as you're getting bigger, stronger, and uh, you know, you get into college and you think, "Okay, now I got to figure it out. I want to be a financial planner. I want to work in Wall Street because that's how people make money. That's how people become wealthy. That's how they live in Beverly Hills. That's how they live in Palace and and and so I did that and I was shocked actually that every firm that I interviewed with um offered me the job.

[20:57] Well, why wouldn't they? It's 100% commission, right? So, it's eat what you kill. And um and I did that for 15 years. And I thought I was helping people and I thought I was doing the right thing. And I and I had uh $700 million under management. And I and it was it was really interesting because I was working in in the bluecollar business owner market, welding shops, plastic formation, um anything that you never nothing sexy, trash companies. — Yeah. And so what what I everything that I ever really needed to learn about becoming wealthy, I didn't learn in college. I didn't learn as a financial planner. I learned when I was 13 years old. And when I was 13 years old, I started working in a casket factory. It started in Elsa Gundo and then it moved to Compton. But in this this factory, we it it was uh the hardware for caskets. So the handles and the and the you know the decorations and um I swung a hammer for 8 hours a day and at 13 years old and the first time my first day I got there at 6:00 and at 9:00 I get a 15 or 30 I think I got a 30 minute break I slept for 27 minutes of it I'm telling you I was so tired after and I thought I can't do this but then I see the owner come in Dwayne McIntyre he's the owner of the business he lives by the way in Palace Verdees now this is really kind of a tough thing. He's adopted four kids, right? So these adopted four kids are living in Palace Verdees. He's sending them all to Pepperdine, right? And again, if you don't know Pepperdine, it's very expensive, very cool, overlooks the the ocean. And um thinking again, what did I do wrong? I'm working here. He's the owner, but I watched him.

[22:49] And he would come in for a couple hours. He'd go into his office. I had no idea what he was doing. and then he'd leave. And then so I thought, okay, I want to I you know, the lesson that I should have learned when I was 13 that everything that I ever needed to know about being wealthy is be the owner, be in control, right? So then one day I'm at this friend's house in Hawthorne, which is kind of next to Inglewood. And we're walking down like a really crummy area by Imperial Highway, and I look down and there's this I know this house. It's like there's like a witch that lives there. That's what we thought as kids, right? There's the old lady that lived there that was a never came outside. She just looked scary. And so, uh, I looked down and there's a guy pulling weeds and who is it? Dwayne McIntyre. Now, I'd like to tell you that I was really respectful and said, "Mr. McIntyre, but I just wasn't that kid." And so, I was probably like, "What are you doing here?" And he said, "Oh, hey, Jim. Um, um, I own this house." And I said, "You own this house? Why would you own this house? Why don't you own real estate up in Palace Verdees? And he said, I own real estate all over Los Angeles. Okay.

[23:57] So, the only two things that I ever really needed to know about becoming wealthy was own a business and buy real estate. I I should have I could have learned it at 13 and been way ahead, but I didn't. I got into Wall Street. I started working with Bluecollar because of my factory background. I knew how to talk to these guys, right? And um and they were great. Nobody else was even calling on them. So I build up to where I have 700 million under management and I'm charging 1% and I think life is great. Right? This is better than I could have planned it. But then one day I get this u this report and it says your clients have got 9.38% during this period. And I think I have money in that. It didn't grow by 9.38%. So, I start doing the math and I take out taxes and expenses and fees and everything else and it was a little under 4%. And I'm like, "What in the heck?" Now, the math doesn't work. All of these financial plans, these 100page BS plans that I was putting together for people, the math doesn't work.

[25:04] And I and and I went back and I said, "Wait a minute. I'm going to go back and look at all of my clients." I mean, I have wealthy clients, 700 million under management, right? And I went back and I looked what did those people do to become wealthy. And it came down to two things. Real estate and business ownership. That was it. I mean, some of the people got lucky at cable companies. And that shows you how old I am. Cable companies and things like that where they just kind of, you know, right place, right time. — What's a cable company? — Yeah. What's a cable company? You young people in the audience. It's kind of like uh the internet. Remember the internet boom? Yeah. It's kind of like that. kind of like AI is right now. There were guys that just happened to be in the right place at the right time. But uh so I thought, okay, this is I'm telling people how to do this wrong. This is not what wealthy people do. This is not what um JD Rockefeller talks about in the in the letters to his son. This is not what they do. He's talking about control. Control the bank, control money, control this, control that. And so I met uh R. Nelson Nash who invented or or discovered infinite banking like taking the back the control of banking and I decided I was going to help people do that. But my path I was building wealth. I was building abundance right but but my clients and I was like why can they publish Well, there's a big difference between average rate of return and actual rate of return. Big difference between what they publish and your compound annual growth rate or your kager, right? Is big difference. It's all smok and mirrors and all lies. And the thing that I realized at that moment is that everything that I've been taught about money was a lie.

[27:02] One of the things that that I heard is like you hated school, loved learning in high school, in college, did well enough, I'm assuming, to get a degree so you could get all those financial planning job offers later on. When do you think you learned how to learn? Like clearly you loved learning. When when do you like what were the what were the lessons along the way that taught you to learn how to learn? — You know what? That's a great question and I love the answer. I was sitting um I was 18 years old. I was working at the Gold's gym part-time and the guy that was the janitor asked me to go for uh to get McDonald's, right? And he said, "Jim, if you read for 1 hour a day, in 6 weeks, you'll be um an expert in whatever topic you're reading about." I have no idea whether it was true. He was the janitor. Okay, not anything wrong with janitors, but for some reason that resonated with me. and and I and I thought if I read an hour a day, I want to be an expert in whatever subject, right? But I started reading an hour a day and I started to get better at reading. And I mean like when when you're in Englewood, you're just surviving. You're not you're not like going home and doing your homework and your parents looking it over and making sure it's good. Put it back in your backpack. I don't we didn't have backpacks. Um I'm not even sure they would let us bring a backpack into English. But uh anyway, the it it taught me that I was in control of what I put in my brain just like in uh acres of diamonds. I mean, my field, my brain, I could put it I could put positive seeds down or I could put poison down and and that that was the moment that it changed for me and I and I loved learning and I loved education at that point. most most memorable books for you. What are the top like, you know, one to five books that that made the biggest impact on — You know, the one that is is a good book, but it's I don't know why it's it's it's it's not uh I wouldn't say it's a great book, but the the lesson is great is The Magic of Thinking Big by um Dr. David Schwarz. And um and then I would say Jonathan Livingston Seagull.

[29:16] And here's why is if they made us read it when I was a kid. I'm 60 so I don't know how old you guys are but um I um they made us read that book and in the book Jonathan Jonathan Livingston Seagull is he didn't want to be a seagull right he he wanted to do tricks and he just didn't want to be the boring seagull he wanted to be something more and I was growing up in Englewood I didn't want to stay in Englewood right I wanted more and so that book like it gave me permission to be more to do something different. So I would say that book um obviously the Bible every every personal development book you could you can see roots in the Bible. Um um you know I like to read about like stoic philosophy um but uh the the other book uh that I would that I would say is rich dad poor dad. It's a simple little message. which is not even a true story, but but be the rich act like the rich rich people act, not act like people that are in financial captivity act. And uh and so I I think those are some books that have made a huge impact on on me. I read a lot about Tom uh from Tom Stanley. He was a professor in Georgia.

[30:37] — Yeah. and and he has um th this is probably don't like me doing that but this is actually the textbook you know the millionaire uh next door and everything that he wrote right this is the textbook that was the original book selling to the affluent and it's it's it's uh you know it's 500 pages but it's very detailed and and it you know so it taught me that oh it's I didn't want to deal with the doctor and the and the arrog I mean not the doctor's arrogance I a lot of friends that are doctors, but I didn't just didn't want to deal with it. I wanted to deal with the welder that was making more than the doctor, the plastics formation guy making three million bucks a year. Like those are my people, right? And so I I started to specialize in that area. Um, you know, like even books like the four agreements, be impeccable with your words, don't take anything personally, like those two lessons huge for me. — Yeah. Classics. So yeah, — Jim, I'm fascinated by the mindset thing. I mean, some of that hits so close to home. Like, I didn't grow up in the inner city version. I grew up in the rural Minnesota version.

[31:45] — So, it took me and John and I, we've talked about this on previous episodes, like I I definitely grew up with a scarcity mindset, right? Me, too. — Like, you escaped that, right? And I'm sure where you grew up there were friends and — I don't think most people do. So I I love the questions you're asking and maybe that's the answer, but how like the questions you were asking you referenced two or three times was like what did these have these people figured out that I didn't I wasn't smart enough to ask those questions when I was 13 or 18 or whatever, right? It just it took me longer. So just people that are doing that, how did you I'm really curious about the mindset change and how you and the thoughts that got you out of that and I think this applies to almost anything where our mind keeps us in. So you want to talk about that a little — Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. So, you know, one of the things that I did, and this this is going to sound kind of funny, but I started lifting weights and I started to get into getting stronger. And like when my body started getting stronger, I think my mind started to get stronger. And when I figured out that I could be um in the top 25% or or top 10% in that, then I was like, well, it's that's a system. It's very systematic how to do that. You got to go to the gym. You got to eat. You got to, you know, you got to watch your macros.

[33:10] You got to educate yourself. You got to change up your workout. Keep your body growing, right? And and and I realized that if I did that, that little bit, and I'll go back to a book, um, uh, Darren Hardy, uh, compound effect, right? is if I realized for some reason a gift from God that just if I could progress every day just a little bit, just a little bit, sooner or later I was going to get past those people and that they weren't trying that hard. Like they were entitled. They figured they grew up entitled in my, you know, comparison. And so I felt like they like, hey, I'm tougher than they are. like the adversity like one of my favorite quotes is adversity introduces a man to himself. Okay? And it's an old quote because so it could be women out there. It could be adversity introduces a woman to to herself. But I I started to say the adversity made me tougher, made me stronger. I got nothing to lose. So when I was young, I mean, I probably until I was in my 40s and my net worth was like something stupid that I never even imagined is I always thought I'd end up homeless again. And I and I didn't share that part, but at one point in time we were homeless. We slept behind the moose lodge in Elsa Gundo. Why Elsa Gundo? I don't know. I wasn't making these decisions, but but I remember laying there in a field and watching these other people and it just made me mad.

[34:38] So, I had a chip on my shoulder, but I I I thought I was crazy because I would visualize my future, being like bigger and wealthier and everything else. And until I read about JD Rockefeller growing up very poor and visualizing himself as the richest man in the world, which I guess I just didn't have as big a dreams as he did, is uh I was like, well, hey, wait a minute. Maybe I'm not crazy, right? maybe this visualization thing and this having a vision is, you know, is some there's something to it. And so I think it was not having any I mean every time I would get into a fight in Engle with somebody from Palace Veres or Manhattan Beach or uh even Elsa Gundo or something like that. I thought you got no chance. I have nothing to lose. I got nothing to go home to. Like I'm going to beat the crap out of you. I don't care. And and so I I kind of took that same attitude into business. Excuse me. When my friends were in business, were going and they were going after the, you know, the right tie and the right shoes and the right watch and and all of that. I was going after the guy in torn jeans and a and a, you know, t-shirt and, you know, like that's what I was going after. I wasn't even in their market. So that c comes down to I created a blue ocean, right?

[36:03] Blue ocean market for me. And I wasn't trying to be their red ocean and get the right tie and get the right shirt and get the right suit and make sure that, you know, I had a guy one time say, "Well, the stitching in your shirt, you your suit, you can tell it's not handmade." And I'm like, man, okay. Like, how much is that? You know, I was like 22. I'm thinking, you know, I'm just figuring out how I'm going to pay rent, right? like little let alone how I'm going to get a handmade suit. — I just told uh I just told my wife about my first suit I ever bought for work was $99 from J Penney. It still might be one of the highest quality suits I ever owned and lasted for more than I don't know 10 11 12 years. I mean it was it was amazing. I wish I could go back and buy that suit again sometimes. — You you know what I love is when I was in business, brand new in business, you had to have your tie on. you had to have your your your suit coat on when you were in the hallway, right? And so the first thing that I did when I actually figured out how ruly money works and everything else is it's like and this is a long sleeve t-shirt cuz it's it's cold today, but normally I'm in I got 40 t-shirts, right? I I t-shirts and golf shirts and shirts to go out on on dates and stuff with, but outside of that, I will not I do have one sport coat just in case. But I don't own a tie. I will never own another tie. Don't do if I I'll go to a black tie event, but I'm not wearing a tie. I'll wear a tux, but I'm not wearing a tie. And and I feel like that's captivity. That's, you know, that's to me I had to do that and I hated it, right? I was I'm a California kid. Casual t-shirts, flip-flops, shorts. That's why Florida works for me.

[37:42] — I I couldn't agree more. I've always been convinced that the the ties were 100% made by a woman or invented by a woman because you're just no man would voluntarily put that noose around their neck every day. — I 100% agree with you. — I don't know. I think a soup looks good on a guy. So, but let's um if you don't mind staying on the the u the theme of the breakthrough or the breakout. Um it's great that we all have our personal stories of of um our own individual successes and and those of a lot of our What I what I wanted to ask was is as you're working with with people um that you know are are starting out you know and using Maslo's hierarchy as an as kind of a framework you know you get to a point where you're you're okay you're you've you're you're eating and drinking and sleeping and that's okay and then you know if in your case and in in ours as well most of us we that was kind of good enough right I And shoot finally I can I'm not sleeping behind the moose lodge in Elsagundo anymore.

[38:53] I'm okay. And then you know you get to the safety and security and health and a little finance. What do you what do you say to someone or how do you tactically get them to move to the next level because that's essentially what you're doing. I mean you you're you're moving them up the hierarchy step by step and you know you did it in started at the age of 13 and got there by you know 22 you were doing pretty good and then you now you've gone well beyond that. What what what are the lessons? What how do you teach someone or motivate them or what are the tools you give them to help them move up the ladder? — Yeah. So I think I think one of the biggest shifts is understanding that no one's going to take care of you, right? Like first you have to understand you're not going to win the lottery. You're not going to, you know, um go to work for Google um when it's brand new. I mean it's not going to happen, right? So that's okay that it's not going to happen. But what you have to do is not focus all on money. Wealth doesn't mean money, right? It it's so much more. And you have to have a bigger why. like why do you want to be wealthy? And if you were wealthy, what would you do with it?

[40:07] And I say to people, if I wrote you a check for a billion dollars, how would your life change over the next week? Right? And if I didn't hear from somebody like, man, you wouldn't believe what my synagogue or my church or my favorite charity would get, then then you then you got something wrong. Because I believe that everything in this world is energy, right? And whether you believe in God, you don't believe in God, God is energy, the universe is energy, whichever way you want to say it. So to me, once I realized to focus my energy in a positive way, meaning my thoughts are energy, right? And as soon as I learned how to get negative thoughts out of my head really fast, and again, California kid, I imagine it the 405. And I know the 405 doesn't move like this most of the time, but I imagine a car coming in at 100 miles an hour and I got to get it out of my purview. So, a negative thought I got to get out of my head. And uh and then positive thoughts I got to add cars, right? I know this is kind of a dumb analogy, but I got to add cars and I got to add more thoughts because energy attracts more like energy. So, it's staying positive. It sounds dumb, but every day I get up, I drink 30 ounces of water, and I say affirmations, right?

[41:24] And I write down the affirmations the night before, so they're in my head. Write down what I'm grateful for, three things I'm grateful for. I know it sounds hokey, and what I would what I tell people is I I know this sounds hokey. And I think the first time I heard Zigg Ziggler or whoever it was in the in the ' 80s tell me this, I thought that doesn't work. And I mean, I I spent 10 years saying that doesn't work, but it does. and and it's all because of that energy and that mindset. So, if you write down and I have over here, this is painted with that uh that paint that you can write uh uh dry erase markers on and I have all of the different categories in my vision board over here. If you don't have a vision of where you want to go or and why you want to go there, it won't change. But as soon as you create a vision and as soon as you create des the why like why do you want that then and for me my why is I had two kids by the time I was 23 you know again inner city kid didn't really know how these things work and and uh was in a not a happy marriage I mean you know who's happy at 23 or 22 you know like you don't even know each other you're you know whatever and um I was like there's no way in hell that these kids are going to have the the life that I had. And so I had this motivation. So my why had a lot of layers to the why. My own insecurities, my own scarcity mindset, my victim mindset, all the things that I grew up with got me nowhere. And as soon as I changed that mindset, it was like I saw progress. And then and then I didn't get a scarcity mindset by saying I'm not having fast enough progress. Somebody else has more or any of that crap. I just said, "I'm going to get better every day. I'm going to get stronger every day. I'm going to get smarter every day. And my and my energy is going to be better every day. And my thoughts are going to be better every day." Did Did it happen every day? No, it didn't happen every day, but more days than than it didn't. Are you counseling people directly this way? Is that part of your — Yeah, I do. I don't really do one-on-one anymore. I do more like um group stuff and courses and things like that, but I will work with people one-on-one that are going to have a big enough impact on other people. Like if you have I mean I have I just started working with somebody who has a huge vision and I'm like, "Okay, I don't normally do this."

[43:57] And they were like, "How much does it cost?" And I'm like, "It's not about money. Like it's about my time, you know? So, I'm not going to charge you, but like like you go you you go whatever you were going to pay me, you donate that to um your favorite charity or my favorite charity. So, um so like you know I I do it but now I do it I guess because there was nobody there to help me. Now I help people because that's my passion is to help people understand that you get one chance at this and um there is no reason for you to live in scarcity. There's just no reason. And — and and and it's just it's small changes. It's small changes and it's and it's patience and thinking long term. I mean, that's another great lesson that I learned. Think long term. You know, people overestimate what they can do in a year and they underestimate what they can do in 10 years. — I'm 60 years old. I plan on going — Yeah. I just I just think of uh you know kind of you and I are very very similar age. The other two guys are about 15 years younger than us. But the um the times they are changing, right? And you know, but the way it was in in the early 80s for us is vastly different than than where we are today. And this this um — despair that seems to be, you know, urging is the the best word I could.

[45:25] It's it's almost like the this the younger guys and gals are, you know, they're they're swimming in a slipstream, you know, and the first thing they got to do is get to shore. — And if they happen to get to shore, — they say, "Shit, just give me a beach chair and a margarita, you know, that's good enough, man. That that's it." You know, I I — it's it's really difficult. And um you know I I'm I'm I'm pessimistic and hopeful that you know the le these this type of lesson uh can stick with some some number of these folks. But it's it's not going to be it's not easy and there's a lot of roadblocks. Um and unfortunately, you know, this um divide of those that are going to have and those that are going to feel like feel like they have not, not necessarily have not, but feel as though they've been left behind is going to continue to to spread out. So, hopefully your impact will uh continue to be there for these folks.

[46:32] — Yeah. You know, I think that when people, you know, I always say to like people that younger people and I was just working with this young woman who's 30 years old and you know, her mom was a doctor, she passed away, her dad is in memory care, he's like 66. I mean, you know, she's got like a lot of things going on and she's like, and she's working. She's like, I just need a job that I can pay my bills and I just want to be able to. And I said, "No." I mean, like, honestly, that's not something to get you excited and get you out of bed every day. That's just surviving. And just surviving it'll get harder and harder and harder and worse and worse and worse and you'll get more and more bitter, more and more scarce. I said, you know, you got to like you got to just say no and you got to just like break out of that. And and so she's starting her own marketing business. She has an events coordination degree and marketing degree. She's uh she's from Philly, so she's got that kind of uh you know, northeastern Philly edge. And she's and she's doing it. And she was making like 90 grand a year. And in 3 months, I'm I'm going to say, I mean, she hasn't quit her job yet, but she's probably four or five grand a month in marketing uh company uh stuff that she has going on. And um it's like people think like again that's what we're taught. Well like well if you didn't go to school and become a doctor or an attorney or whatever then life's going to be hard. You're going to be working for someone else. You're going to have a job. You have to exchange time for money. That's just not true, right? It's just not true that you have to exchange time for money. Again, that's what we're told though. And that's what the one of the lies, right? And everybody has their money monsters. It doesn't matter if you were super rich. I feel sorry. I I have another friend whose family owns Wilson Trailer. He's a young guy. When he was 28 years old, he, you know, he's in this company or maybe he was younger than that. And he's vice president, whatever.

[48:34] I mean, his company has or his family has a $55 million jet. And the way that I see it, I feel sorry for him, is he was born on the 26th mile of a marathon, right? I mean, he could roll the other two ten of a mile and nobody's going to ever think he accomplished anything in his life just based on money and and position in the in that company. And um you know, it's not where you're at, it's how far you've come, right? When you can turn around like uh Dan Sullivan talks about the gap in the game. We're always going to towards perfection, but you got to turn around and measure back like how far have I come? whether it's weight, whether it's strength, whether it's nutrition, your health, whatever it is. Um, and so like I think that people when everyone else is pessimistic, great, right? Great. Cuz that gives me less competition. When everybody's — well, that's that makes it harder. So like I think I think that just you got to be different, right? You got to you cannot be in the herd. You know that you cannot be — one thing for sure one thing for sure is that there are more tools today — to break out right there's more self-help there's more technology — I mean the lady you just discussed is basically doing a side hustle.

[49:52] — So that's and then she so instead of watching the Grammys last night she was probably working on a marketing plan which is trading time for the future is what she's doing. — Yeah. So, I I think there they there are advantages. So, that that's what keeps me hopeful. So, we'll see. — Yeah, I'm hopeful, too. — I would say that, you know, for me, I wish I'd been a little more p uh attentive to history when I was younger when it was kind of in my face. I like history a lot more now, but what you're describing about like the lie versus the the kind of own but business ownership like a couple hundred years ago, business ownership was the thing, right? you know, having a farm. Like I I think I heard somewhere recently that I don't remember the time frame, a couple hundred years ago that 90s something percent of Americans were farmers or some ridiculously big number and now it's less than 3%. And they were talking about the changes in AI and how we were going to, you know, we shifted over 150 years from an agricultural economy to a non-aggricultural economy. And that's going to happen again much faster right now. But if I if I look backwards, like business ownership has been an answer for a very very long time. If you look at like a 20,000 year history of humanity, like it's not and these aren't unknown things. Like, you know, people feel um unsettled and they feel like I don't know what's going to happen.

[51:08] — But I I wish someone had told me when I was 20 like, hey, if you actually just look at the patterns — over the last, you know, and then you understand how to utilize the patterns. And then Tony Robbins says how to create the patterns. Like I think that was super cool when I listened to one of his things recently. I think that's the, you know, so as I think about my children and what I want them to learn in their early 20s, it's like, hey, you can you can throw up your hands as a young adult and say, I'm just going to go wherever the tide takes me and be pretty frustrated. Or you can learn where you can actually have control. And so my biggest hope for them is they understand where they can have control and they choose to exercise it in ways that they want to move their life forward. And it may be very different than mine and I'm fine with that. But back to your point about like wealth is not just about money. It's about a lot of things. So maybe let's go back to that for a minute. When you think about being wealthy, how do you think about wealth that's not monetary? — I think let's just use time is, you know, again, I live in Florida. Other than this little cold stretch, I can play golf about 360 days a year if I wanted to. I could be out in the boat 360 days a year. I can be outside in a t-shirt and flip-flops and shorts 360 days a year. So, my time is everything to me. our our lives are measured in time, right? And so if you're exchanging time for money, you're exchanging your life for money. That makes you a slave or in captivity. And so to me, having wealth means having my time, right? And then having the the the money to do whatever I want with whoever I want, wherever I want, that's a bonus, right?

[52:44] But but understanding that I don't have to exchange time for money. I don't have to live in scarcity and and you know um in the magic of thinking big, one of the things is action cures fear, right? So I think a lot of these — cures fear. Okay, cool. — Yeah. Now I actually believe action cures everything. And and and and what I mean by that is if you are afraid, then you won't take action, right? If you're if you think you can't lift that weight, then you're not even going to grab it, right? If you think that girl's going to say no, then you're not even going to ask her out, right? But if if if you don't care whether she says no, if you don't care if they have to spot you on that bench, guess what? You're going to do more than you think you can do. you're going to the what the the a prettier girl than you think is going to say yes is going to say yes. And we have we all have examples of that in our lives and happens to me all the time. And so like uh I just I just shake my head and think I can't believe she said yes. Um but but my point is is that I believe that Tony Robbins, you know, and I love Tony Robbins. He said, he says 90% is what you think and 10% is your tactic or something like that. I'm butchering that. Okay. But but the point is is that like spending all day trying to come up with the perfect tactics isn't the answer. It's changing your belief. It's changing your mindset. And um it it happens slowly. I like to use getting in shape and and being in shape as an example cuz everybody's different. I eat the same thing, exactly the same thing every single day during the day. At night, I change it up and I have whatever dinner. But right before we got here, I had three chicken thighs, right?

[54:42] I mean, I the breasts get too dry, so I do chicken thighs. And I know there's more fat, but I don't care. And and I eat 200 grams of protein every single day. So, like I do that. I know how much water and I take I take the emotion out of it, right? So, if I do that and I know I'm bringing in the right amount of calories, the right amount of protein, and I lift weights and I go to not to failure at 60, but I go to where I'm like struggling on the last rep, then my body will get stronger at 60 years old, at 70 years old, I believe still even at 80 years old, I'll be getting stronger. that little change in saying I'm just going to be a little bit better. I want to be in the top 1% of 60 year olds, right? I I I said by my birthday, which was in June, that I'd have abs. And by January last year, I had abs. Now, all my friends thought I don't have to have abs. I'm very I'm like, well, maybe your wife would like you having abs. But uh so it's being different, being a not being afraid to be different, but when I the action part of it is do something, read something, talk to somebody who's an expert, learn something. You know, I didn't know what peptides were a year ago, right? I had no idea what a peptide was. Now I know all about peptides and I know how it helps me repair and recover.

[56:06] And I'm 60. I swear I feel like I'm 35. And and all my friends would say, "Oh, when you hit 50, you know, these aches and pains and these and it's all belief. It's all noise. Life is full of noise. And it's finding the signal, the truth." And there are people out there will tell you. And anybody who's really they'll help you. If they're not successful, then they, you know, they'll try to charge you 100 grand, 50 grand, this, that, whatever. You know, like I I don't know. I want to help people be successful because that's how I have an impact on this world bigger than me is if I can help this 30-year-old become a multi-millionaire, billionaire, whatever she is in her brain, all the people she's going to impact and all I have to do is remove some barriers that people put along the way in her head about what's possible. gold there. — Yeah. Yeah. unpack like we're the show notes are going to be very long on this one. I think — I I have so many follow-up questions and it's like how do I pick which one? But I I want to circle back to the business thing because I think you gave some really good advice like start a business, own your time. But I also think that's scary, intimidating to a lot of people and they don't know where to start. So if somebody's looking to start a business today, what would you tell them? Like how do they where do they start? What kind of business? Yeah, that's a great those are great questions. So, number one is um in the richest man in Babylon, one of the tenants is um invest in what you know, right? So, I would say the same thing in a business. Let's say that I've been a plumber for uh 5 years, right? Well, then I know plumbing. I could start my own, buy another plumbing firm. That's the easiest thing to do. Something I've already got an expertise in, right? So, that would be number one. Number two is I'm not opposed to franchises. It's got you got to do your due diligence. You got to I mean you got to really look at what am I buying, right? Uh but then uh so that's the the that's the second way.

[58:19] The third way is you could buy I'm I'm right now buying a packaging business in Iowa and I know nothing about the packaging business, but the business has been there for 50 years. And guess what? They really haven't grown in since the dad who started it died. And um I see huge potential in that business. Um I think it could be like Uline because they do nothing online at all. Right. So um you could do something like that. Then I own over 30 businesses with and my my principle is easy is I hire really good people. I overpay them and I give everyone who's running one of my businesses um opportunity for equity. I'm not giving you crap, but you can earn equity over five to seven years. And um in five years, you can own 20% of the business. In seven years, you want to buy me out, fine. Right? I mean, like I'm I'm always open to somebody fulfilling their dreams through those businesses. So, what you know, franchise. So, now you're taking somebody else's idea system and everything and you're adopting it and you're paying them. Sure, you're paying them a little bit, but but um a friend of mine owns 40 uh Penn Station sub shops and he started he was working in — He was working in restaurants. Yeah. So — I've got kids right now that you graduating college and so if I don't have those skills and I don't know a lot about the business world right now, like what are the things I need to focus on right now and learn today?

[59:53] — So what I would say is where are their skills? So, like what I really believe in is really figuring out things like the Kobe and things like that where they're like what who are they when they're at their natural like what are they where's their unique ability, their their god-given gift, their god-given edge, their their unique ability, their unique brilliance, whatever you want to genius, whatever you want to call it. What is it that they're really good at? And and then and then where is a business that needs that? And is is there an existing business? I'm in Naples, Florida. If you were young and wanted to own a business, come here because there are so many old people that old own businesses that don't want to do it anymore, right? And simple businesses. I have a trash business. I actually and um I only I sold 70% of it yesterday or effective yesterday is um the trash business is pretty simple, right? My adopted dad drove a trash truck and I always told my kids if you don't do well in school, I mean I did not take my own advice. Remember I wasn't a very good parent in my 20s is you'll end up driving the trash truck.

[1:01:03] And I remember my son failed the test one day and he comes to me. He goes, "Dad, I guess I'm going to be driving that trash truck." And I said, "Tanner, if you're driving the trash truck, we're gonna own the effing company." I said, "So don't you worry, son." And and you know, and I and and so I think that I would find is their passion because if they have something they're passionate about, is there a business out there that they can that they can um that they can build, buy, borrow? You know, again, over time, you get in and say, "I want to buy this business from you, but I want to learn it from you, so I want you to stay three to five years." I mean, companies do this. Private equity does this every day. Just copy what they do. Find I mean, like Tony, again, I love that you mentioned Tony Robbins. Find out what somebody that has what you want. Fi and see what they find out what they did and do that and then do it It's, you know, just do it a little bit better. and if it's the trash business because you you you know saw your your adopted dad come in and stinking like the trash every day. And I thought, well, that'd be kind of interesting that this guy was super abusive and a total, you know, uh sociopath. Well, I'll own a trash company. because he and by the way he told me never ever work for a commission or uh variable compensation only a salary only a union job you know thank god I didn't listen to that cuz then I would be in captivity nothing wrong with people that are doing that but you know like I love the freedom of doing whatever I want to do whenever I want to do it with whoever I want to do it with.

[1:02:53] back and you were talking about you worked on Wall Street, you had 700 million and you realized it was all going wrong. I don't think we ever finished that thread. I want to I want to make sure before we wrap up that we hit that thread. Like what is the right way? Like you've talked about owning businesses and your time, but I I I pretty sure there's more to that story, — right? So So there is more to the story. So what I think about is is is if Wall Street tells you average rate of return, right? And and and all you really care about is actual rate of return and that's a lie, then you know we don't want to play. I don't I don't go to Vegas and gamble when I when I know that the odds are against me. If Wall Street the odds are against me, then I don't want to play. Okay. So what am I going to do then? Well, what happens is, you know, compare, I always like to say compared to what? So, okay, if I'm not going to do that, what am I going to do compared to that? The opposite of that, what do wealthy people do? Wealthy people own assets. Why? Well, the government is debasing our money every day, right? I mean, every day they're printing money, which means the dollars in our pocket are going down and down and down and down in value every single day. So that means my Wall Street instruments I think are gaining, but when I think of fees, expenses, all of that, they're going down in value. But my apartment complexes are going up in value because rents keep going up. My customers, their prices go up because I'm keeping up with inflation.

[1:04:28] So as it assets go up in value as the government prints more money and instruments go down. So I want to own assets. assets create not a nest egg like instruments, right? And again, this is a lie. We were taught that we accumulate money, we save money, save money, save money, do without. Dave Ramsey, do without. And then you get to a certain nest egg amount and then you stop working and then you distribute that money and you hope that the sequence of returns and you hope that you don't get bad advice or get ripped off or you know, whatever. And you hope you don't live too long before you run out of money. That just seems stupid, right? That's what we're taught to do. But what about this is I'm in my 20s and I start to get passive income and passive income and passive income and passive income. And I'm telling you, in 10 years, you'll be financially independent. I've never seen anybody take longer than 10 years buying assets. But I don't have any money. There's ways to buy assets without money. Right? The people that are trying to sell these businesses, they want cash flow for the rest of their lives. You have time, they have money. Work it out. Right. I mean, and that's what I help people do is like how would I propose that? But back to to so it's it's understanding how it really works. And so the thing that I realized is wait a minute. I'm not in control.

[1:05:49] Even as their um financial babysitter, financial planner, I'm not in control. I'm telling them what I think, but I'm only paring what the companies are telling me. They tell me and then 15 minutes later, I'm telling my clients the same thing. And with AI now, I'd just be like I'd just be dictating it into my plaud and then it would spit out a email and my clients would think I was brilliant, right? And and if I was right, Jim, you just ruined our secret. But buying assets and I I mean don't you always have you everybody knows somebody that they you know they're they're not the smartest maybe in class they're not whatever but everything they touch turns to gold right they buy this motel then they fix it up they sell it and then they go it's not rocket science but it's it's it you have to have the confidence to step outside of the herd. Right. And confidence is a skill set. Dan Sullivan, strategic coach, the best thing he ever produced was something that said, "Always be improving your confidence."

[1:06:58] — And he stopped I think he stopped producing it because it was so good that people didn't need strategic coach if they listened to that thing. — And and uh uh the but it was the best. He put it on an iPod for me in the '9s is when I got it and it was like the greatest thing of all time. I listen to the thing over and over and over over again and I let somebody borrow it which is a big mistake and somehow they wiped it off my iPod. Uh but if I can't find it and they won't sell it to you like I beg them for it but building that confidence. So your kids you know John I mean like first of all start with mindset start with confidence start with understanding how things really work mirroring wealthy people. Find somebody in your town. one you asked about learning back in the day. So, one of the things I would read, but I just didn't comprehend. By the way, I have my copy signed of this uh textbook, which that's why I have it right here on my thing. But I would read and I couldn't tell you what I just read on the piece of paper. But then somebody, I didn't create this, it's not mine, told me to take notes while I was reading. And guess what? As soon as I started doing that, I started to comprehend. But every time I started to take notes, I made questions. Like I didn't understand that. So then what I would do back in the day is through snail mail, I would write a letter from my notes and my questions to the author.

[1:08:22] I'm not saying every time, but almost every time I got a response and I'll give an example of this. So the go- by Bob Berg, another one of — great book, — great book. — If you haven't read that book, drop everything you're doing. Read it tonight. don't go to bed until you finish the book, which you can by the time you go to bed is. So I started emailing Bob Berg. Then I then he emailed me back. Then he said, "Call me." So I called him. And so all of a sudden now I have a relationship with Bob Berg and he's explaining how the book all came about and the principles and everything else. And I was like, "Wow, that just it's one little action." Remember, action cures everything. one little action created this huge understanding for me and and he's an incredible guy. There's never been an exchange of money between I mean anything like that. It's not about that. People that are super successful and super genuine like Bob Burke, they they don't want your money.

[1:09:28] You know, I don't want people's money. I want to help you make more money. if you want me to be a partner. That's how I end up in these 30 businesses is, hey Jim, well do it with me. Okay, I'll do it with you. What you know, you have an what are we doing? So, um, the packaging company, I didn't find that. Um, a great friend of mine, Stan, he found it and he's like, Jim, you want to be partners in this packaging company? And I said, tell me about it. Show me the financials. Show me do a quality earnings report. All the things that I didn't know what they even meant that I've learned along the way. And it's like, okay, I do all of that. I send it to a team of guys that are a lot smarter than me, and they come back and say, "Oh, this company's not worth this. It's worth that. Offer that." Okay. — This has been great. — So, I Yeah, — I I I think there's a just Yeah, we we could have we could go three more hours, but to be respectful of your time, uh, where do you want to send people? Where where where can people find you? Well, you can go to I have a community where I I mean I these there's free courses on there about like how money really works and I mean I've got u calculators. So like if you're the engineer and you need to see the math, I got that. If you're the psychology guy, got that. And um so you can like if you go to the app store and you just type in um breakaway community. Um or you can go to our website which is createetailwind.com.

[1:10:51] And the reason it's called create tailwind is most people are fighting a headwind either in mentality or financially or whatever. And um we try to show people how to create a tailwind, right? How to get things to push you along. It's not that hard. You just got to sometimes change the direction of your airplane. And uh so create Um the community the community is great because it's other people just like you and and and it's peertopeer. Nobody's running it. It's not ours. It's the communities. But there's a lot of courses on there that um that debunk a lot of lies about money, you know, like like save your money in a 401k. The home your equity in your home is your biggest asset. Your you know, save money and then live off it for the rest of your life and hope you don't die too, you know, too late, you know. So, I mean, all those things are lies. — All right. Sounds like — So, you can go there. — Sounds like gold. Thank you so much for your time. It's been it's certainly been a pleasure. Uh listeners, as always, download, tell your friends, do whatever you can to help our algorithm, whether it's YouTube, Apple, Spotify, wherever you find us. So, thank you. Thank you, — Thank you guys. Thank I really enjoy talking to you guys and um I'm glad and um for the work that you guys are doing to serve your audience and serving people out there. And that's another that's another key is serve other — All right. Thank you.

[1:12:17] — Thank you. Thank you. — Thanks, Jim. — Listen and subscribe to the podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Click follow for more content like this or go to talesofabundance.com to join our community and get free tools.