James Dumoulin: The 23-Year-Old Who Interviewed 48 Billionaires!

Key Takeaway

Want to build meaningful connections with successful people? Stop overthinking it. Find one thing you can do disproportionately well—even if it's just creating content—and lead with borrowed authority. Attach yourself to something bigger than you (a university, organization, or mission), approach confidently, and remember: credibility kills all bad attitudes. One quality connection beats a hundred surface-level ones.

Episode Overview

James Whomsley, 23-year-old founder of School of Hard Knocks with 21 million followers, shares how he went from working at Chick-fil-A to interviewing 48 billionaires. He reveals the mindsets of the ultra-wealthy, tactics for viral content creation, and strategies for building credibility when starting from zero.

Full Transcript

Transcript of James Dumoulin: The 23-Year-Old Who Interviewed 48 Billionaires! from The Ed Mylett Show. Auto-generated from episode audio; may contain minor errors.

But then I have another saying that I love which is that information can change situations only through implementation. And that's what we did. We're spending so much time with all these multi-millionaires and billionaires, guys that are running 10, 11, you know, figure businesses. And we started to actually implement, you know, the things that they were teaching us. I I love the saying that most people are addicted to education but allergic to execution. I think one of my favorite uh sayings is that billionaires think in decades, not days.

Wow. Um, and and the reason why I love that one is I'll never forget I was interviewing uh Reed Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn. He sold uh LinkedIn to Microsoft for $26 billion. And I was asking him, I was like, "Reed, if you were to start from zero and you had one year to make a billion dollars, what would you do?" And he stops me. He goes, "I never play a one-year game." It's it's 10year game minimum. Can you say that quote for me again about being coachable?

coachable? coachable? Coachable the speed of instruction. I love that because in the short term, it's taking massive action every day. Personally, I would first of all advise people that if you think that AI created content for a personal brand is going to do well. No. I I I'm not a fan of people using AI to duplicate and clone themselves and create content. I personally I just don't think it's up to the standard in terms of like that being better than an actual person creating content. So, let's first kind of dup that and and establish that first of all.

Second of all, if you think it's hard to go viral on social media now, you wait for the next 3 to 5 years, because think about it this way, with AI, you're going to be able to start posting 20,000 pieces of content at once. All right, welcome back to the show, everybody. So, I've wanted to have this young man on for a while. You may be the youngest person I've interviewed, or at least one of them. you're in the the in the one of the youngest we've ever had on the show and also one of the most impressive and so because you've done something that I think is you've turned what could be a weakness in your life which is your age into a great strength in what you've built and I want to talk about that.

Let me tell you what he's built once you see him. If you're on YouTube watching you'll recognize him but some of you may not know his name. His name is James Doomland. He has a program called the school of hard knocks. Just to give you guys an idea of what this young man's done at 23 years old. Okay, 21 million followers on all platforms combined. And he does about 200 million views a month. A month, everybody, not cumulative. And so he's built something absolutely remarkable and he's become a celebrity and he's done it at a very young age and he's had a big impact in the world as well.

You're going to learn a ton of lessons about how to build something even though you might not think you can. James, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me on. And I also want to add in there, this last week, I just interviewed my 48th billionaire, Arthur Blink, the uh founder of Home Depot, owner of the Atlanta Falcons. So 40 48 billionaires in counting. I I'm waiting to find out if I can figure out anybody who's interviewed more billionaires than me. I think it is you, brother.

It may be Arthur Parks' boat uh in the harbor near my my place, my island in Maine. And so yeah, he he certainly is a multi multi-billionaire. So and you're probably going to be too, right? you're going going going if it's if it's a byproduct of what we're doing, I'll be happy to make it happen. happen. happen. All right, so here's where he starts. You guys take me through here. You're working at Chick-fil-A. Yes. Yes. Yes. Everybody just get ready if you think you can't make your dreams come true.

You're in high school. You're working at Chick-fil-A. You're doing a little construction. construction. construction. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Right. So, you just you're high school kid. kid. kid. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Right. Right. What the heck happened? How did this start? Where'd the idea come from, etc.? Yeah. So, you said it best. You know, first two jobs I had growing up was working at Chick-fil-A and working construction. Um, going into my senior year of high school, I discovered Tik Tok, which is now, you know, the largest search engine in the world.

And this is back in 2019. Uh, nobody really took Tik Tok seriously, right? It was the dancing app at the time. But I saw this as the greatest organic marketing that ever existed because you could have a thousand followers, 500 followers. You could put out a piece of content and millions of people could see it overnight. The only way that you could have millions of people see your content without having a massive brand at that time was paying hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars on ads.

Mhm. And so I I just I discovered Tik Tok and you know during co it was from 2019 to 2020 I just started to post content get really familiar with the algorithm how social media actually works and before I knew it I grew a personal channel on Tik Tok from zero to 800,000 followers and just learned that was my skill set. The one thing that got me to where we are today is I mastered short form viral content. I've learned a ton about business since then, but that was really my first, I guess, segue into entrepreneurship.

entrepreneurship. entrepreneurship. Did you know anything about it? I didn't know anything about it other than the fact that, you know, one of my favorite sayings is that going viral is like hitting the lottery, but creating consistent content is like investing in your future. So, I just it didn't ma it didn't matter where I was, you know, during during COVID, you know, right before I was getting ready to move out to Austin to go to the University of Texas, I was posting every day. It doesn't matter if I was on a train, a plane, if I was on a boat, three times a day, every single day for that entire year.

And that's how I went from 0 to 800,000 followers. Now, as I grew the channel, I started to learn a ton of lessons and was able to scale, you know, other channels prior to scaling, you know, the big one now, which is the school of hard knocks. Um, but I didn't know anything about it going into it other than, you know, with time went on, I learned how to pivot. I learned hooks. I learned all these different things to really help me go viral and and build a brand.

What would you say to somebody who because you're you're you're a high school kid becoming a college kid, right? right? right? So, if I were you, I would be thinking, well, what why would anybody want to listen to me, right? And I think that's what most people think. They're they want to get on social media. They want to post. But what I always hear from people is they go, I don't have anything to say. I'm not interesting. I'm not I've not made it yet. So, Ed, I know why you did well on social.

You were already a very wealthy guy, so you had credibility. I'm working at Chick-fil-A or I'm doing this or that. What would you say to somebody who thinks they have nothing to bring to social media? Cuz you hear that too. 100% authority hack. You know, when I started the school of hard knocks, it was initially me, my brother, and a childhood friend uh from the DC area where we were just making content about business. But we came to the realization early on and growing the channel that nobody gives a about three three young 20-year-old kids talking about business and giving business advice.

So, we're like, you know what? Let's take our pride and ego out of the way. Let's be the ones to go extract from the most successful people in the world their lessons, their insights, their knowledge, their credibility. Let's borrow a borrow a borrow a room that most people didn't think were possible to do, which is exactly what we did. So, we kind of borrowed that authority. But then I have another saying that I love, which is that information can change situations only through implementation. And that's what we did.

We're spending so much time with all these multi-millionaires and billionaires, guys that are running 10, 11, you know, figure businesses. And we started to actually implement, you know, the things that they were teaching us. I I love the saying that most people are addicted to education but allergic to execution, right? a lot of people like you you'll host events or uh and and there's a lot of people that will go there and be tactical or that will consume your content will consume my content but a lot of them won't do anything about it and so I tried to get very knowledgeable about how to actually kind of execute and like build businesses around things which is what we've done you know a lot of people think that we just do street interviews but we've got 70 employees now you know we've got a couple are serious 70 employees a couple different verticals and businesses and businesses and businesses you're serious you have 70 employees 70 employees yeah at 23 years old yeah oh boy that's impressive Yeah, I mean really that's congratulations.

I mean I told you that when we met off camera. Congratulations. camera. Congratulations. camera. Congratulations. And we still run super lean too. Like that's that's the thing like we you know you said something there that I my first mentor is a very successful guy and I remember him looking at me and he goes you know I give this information to everybody. He goes I need you Eddie to be coachable at the speed of instruction. instruction. instruction. Wow. Wow. Wow. I'll never forget that phrase and and it's sort of what you just said.

It's not just being coachable. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But it's almost like suspend disbelief. actually even suspend having to understand why I'm telling you to do this. Just execute. I'm further down the road than you. I think there's all the Don't you think that people have all these filters of well, I need to understand it. I need to know how it would fit for me. You don't know. Where I live, the market's different or my age or this or that. I think people build in these filters, but you left success leaves clues.

I keep hearing this from people that are proficient on social media. I obviously built, you know, several million followers myself and then sort of backed away just out of fatigue and age and health, but I'm still on there everybody. But you said post three times a day. Is that sort of a I hear Gary say this often too. Is that the number or is there some random reason that's it? So this is a great question right here because I think it actually changes with each level of social media.

I'm at a point now with the school of hard knocks. I have not posted a single video on Instagram in since April 2024 that has gotten under a million views since April 2024. We're now April 2026. So, in the last two years, I've posted just about every other day. Have not had a single video hit under a million views. Everybody can fact check that as well. well. well. I've never bought a view or anything like that. Like a lot of other people, there's a lot of other people that do do that.

Unfortunately, that. Unfortunately, that. Unfortunately, they ruin their algorithm by doing it. It's crazy. And it's like it's you might as well just start a new channel once you start to do that. Mhm. But at the beginning when you're on social media, I like to say that quantity breeds quality. The more you post, the more data that you get, which kind of tells you, hey, you should continue to create that type of content. I like to say people should have three to five different pillars when they're making content.

So, if you're trying to build a personal brand or even if you're trying to create content for your business, it's like part of it could be founder stories, your individual stories, and coming up with the product or the service that you're ultimately selling. Two could be testimonials where you're talking about I took this person from here to here. Third could be things that are just relevant knowledge. You know, I think you mentioned Gary Vee. Gary Vee gave me one of the best pieces of advice when it comes to content creation, which is pack.

Okay. Pack is platform, algorithm, and culture. So, pack or or platform. That's the first one. P one. P one. P be on every platform. Content diversification is huge. A lot of people like I make more money off of Facebook than YouTube than all the platforms combined. And I make more money off of Facebook than any of the platforms combined. And people are like, "Facebook, yes, yes, Facebook, go look up what happened in 2020." That was the first year that Facebook ever stopped growing. So then they're like, "Okay, how do we get the biggest creators to come to our platform where we're going to pay them more than everybody else?" Which is exactly what they did.

So platform beyond all the platforms. You hear Gary talking a ton about Snapchat. Making sure that you're and and the beautiful thing about that is you're able to build audience, you know, in all these different demographics. If I'm on TikTok, I'm appealing to a much more of like the, you know, high school to college. But if I'm on Instagram, it's 25 to 35 and then Facebook, I could be having people that are 40, 50, 60, 70 years years old watching our content, which I love. I was just in London, uh, all last week, you know, doing some interviews out there.

And I had people from high school, people that weren't even in high school yet, all the way up to people that were, you know, in their 60s that were coming up to us saying, "Hey, we we love your content." And I always like to ask, "Hey, where do you follow us from?" You know, and it's all different platforms. And so that's the first one is platform. Then algorithm. What's what's going on right now? Okay, Instagram just launched. Now you can do up to three minute reels.

Test some of that longer content out. See how it performs. So you should always be trying to learn about what the algorithm is pushing then and now. And then the last one, which is the most important one to me, which is culture. And this is what Gary Vee talks about. The biggest cheat code with content is finding the things that are like the most trending. I'll never forget this. Um, just because like I'm very like analytical about business content, whose content I think is like doing really well.

But I remember and uh just a a figure um in the entrepreneur space that's been very relevant for a long time is like Grant Cardone. Um and Grant obviously from a engagement standpoint does really well, but I would say on average he gets a couple hundred thousand views on his videos. Occasionally have a video that pops and does a million views or so. The day that Charlie Kirk was assassinated, you know, when when he was, you know, murdered, Grant Cardone posted a video, I think an hour after that news broke out of just a short 20 second clip of them on stage.

48 million views on Instagram. I think it's probably pinned to his profile. But that's just an example to put into perspective that if you can like tap in and be one of the first to create content around like a relevant something trending whether it's in the business space, fitness, you know, no matter what industry you're in, if you can understand like the platform, algorithm culture, like that is such a a cheat code. Now, back to kind of what you were saying. I don't want to go too far off about quantity versus quality.

Early on, I think it is all about volume. I really really do. Quantity breeds quality because it tells you it's gonna give you the results right there. If you're making different types of content and there's clearly a winner out of the different pillars that you're making, double down, triple down, 10x, that type of content. I think the bigger you get, the mistake people make is they do start to post too much. I think when you were at that realm uh where you have a couple million followers, you should not be trying to post two, three times a day.

You already have your authority built. Focus on the content. Like this is crazy. I have 8 million followers on Instagram. If I post a video and it gets a million views, I lose followers off of that. So, I'm only making content now with the mindset that it's like this has to be such a good piece of content that it could get three to 10 to 20 million views on on a video. So, it it shifts from quantity to quality, I think, as you build the brand up a little bit more.

more. more. By the way, I really appreciate you sharing tactics. A lot of times you get people on the show, it's just, you know, generalities and philosophical stuff. So, I appreciate that. By the way, those of you that are listening right now or watching, you're going, "Okay, I'm not going to I'm not a big social media person." We're about to shift gears in a minute because you maybe have interviewed more billionaires than anybody in the world. So, we're going to talk about their mindsets in a second, but I want to put a bow on the social.

I want to unpack a couple things he just said that you with my 10-year experience on there that I totally agree with. One is this idea of posting more when you're smaller smaller smaller and letting the market tell you which content it likes. Yeah. That's why when you're putting three or four posts out a day and you're doing it multiple days, the market will tell you, "Oh, your whiteboard content where you're writing on the screen that works." Or the green screen behind you, that's working. Or this topic's working.

So, I want to acknowledge that. And then also this notion of um not relying on one platform. one platform. one platform. If I made a mistake in my branding, it was that I really took off on Instagram. Sure. Sure. Sure. And maybe it was just being a middle-aged guy already, but I neglected Tik Tok. I neglected Facebook. I neglected X. And I didn't want to I thought I don't want to rebuild on these other ones. I certainly podcast-wise blew it on YouTube. Sure. Sure. Sure. Um I just went audio forever when the future looked like it was YouTube.

So, you're right. Be on all the platforms. LinkedIn is powerful as well. LinkedIn's popping right now. We got over 100,000 followers in like 2 months. They're pushing that short form content now for sure. Okay. This is so good. All right. You've interviewed 48 billionaires. It'll, you know, you're going to interview me soon. So, So, So, we'll add to that list a little bit. But, But, But, is there a throughine at all? I mean, you got your because there's different types. There's the new age sort of social media person who's build big brands and all that.

Then there's like the quiet billionaire next door dude that you catch walking out of a restaurant and he's got flip-flops and a t-shirt on and you'd never know it and isn't on social media. So there and all these different businesses, anything that you've deduced is a throughine with any of them or they just all completely different. Guys, let me say this first. I love Butcher Box. Been eating tons of their food. Butcher Box keeps you stocked with high quality options year round. So when it's time to grill, you're already set.

They got grass-fed beef, wild caught seafood. It's all raised and sourced the right way. No antibiotics, no hormones, no fillers, just clean, reliable protein. You can feel good serving. And especially during grilling season, it's the quality that matters. And the taste. Better meat means better flavor. Whatever you want. Butcher Box makes it as convenient for me and you to save time on weekn night dinners. I'm all over it. So, I think you should be, too. As an exclusive offer, new listeners can get their choice between free sirloin tips, ground beef, or chicken wings, and every box for life, plus $20 off when you go to butcherbox.com/mylet.

butcherbox.com/mylet. butcherbox.com/mylet. That's right, your choice of free sirloin tips, ground beef or chicken wings, and every box for life, plus $20 off your first box, and free shipping always. That's butcherbox.com/mmylet. Don't forget to use our link so they know we sent you. Business communication is at the top of my list, especially at this day and age. And let me tell you something, that's where Quo comes in. Have you realized how many customers of yours might be slipping through the cracks? Missed calls, follow-ups that you forget or never happen or your sales team doesn't do it, it adds up fast.

And that's why today's episode is brought to you by Quo. Quo, the business communication system that's built so you never miss a call. Quo works wherever you are, right from your phone or your computer. You can keep your existing number, by the way, which is cool. Add teammates in minutes. Sync your CRM and let the call routing handle itself as you scale. AI automatically logs your calls, generates summaries, and flags the next steps so nothing falls through the cracks, guys. It's awesome. So, your team always has a full picture.

Money is on the line. Always say hello with Quo. Try Quoe. Plus, get 20% off your first six months when you go to quo.com/mylet. when it comes to like the commonalities. Yeah. Personality traits, mindsets, anything like that. There there's there's so many. I think one of my favorite uh sayings is that billionaires think in decades, not days. Wow. Wow. Wow. Um and and the reason why I love that one is I'll never forget I was interviewing uh Reed Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn. He sold uh LinkedIn to Microsoft for $26 billion.

And I was asking him, I was like, Reed, if you were to start from zero and you had one year to make a billion dollars, what would you do? And he stops me. goes, "I never play a one-year game. It's it's 10-year game minimum. Todd Graves, the founder of Raising Kane's worth over $20 billion off of selling chicken tenders." Uh, I asked him a similar question. He goes, "You know, I'm worth $20 billion today, but what if I can be worth 30, 40, 50, 60 billion and I can help more people?

What if my kids one day can continue to grow that?" So, he only thinks in generations. And that is such a a common thread that I've seen in in the most successful people. And and I love this idea of wow macro patience and micro urgency. So in the macro patience you have to understand that this is to build anything great this is going to take a long time right you know this from building companies all the people your friends and and the people that I've interviewed and even just and us and building a eight figureure business off of street interviews um our first three to four years we you know like Elam says you have to eat glass and entrepreneurship is like eating glass and staring into the abyss.

There's a couple years where, you know, you're going to have to eat for a while. And that's exactly, you know, what it was. So, we had that belief in us that it's going to take a long time, but we have to be patient. You know, one of the things that my generation struggles with is instant gratification. They see people on social media driving a nice car wonder, man, I got to get that. I got to get that. But it's like it doesn't it doesn't just come overnight, especially if you're going to bring if it comes super super quickly, chances are it's going to be be gone like that, right?

Um or there's something isn't great necessarily involved with it. But then micro urgency going back to what we were saying. Can you say that quote for me again about being coachable? Coachable the speed of instruction. I love that because in the short term it's taking massive action every day. And that's that's another commonality. I have so many billionaire contacts in my phone. And Matt Ishbia, who's the owner of the largest mortgage company in the world, he owns the Phoenix Suns. Great guy. And when I ask him what he notices about all his billionaire friends, they all text back instantly.

They they all respond instantly. You could email him, text him. He's he's responding instantly and I feel like you know that is something that I have noticed that if I shoot them a text they'll let me know within John Morgan Morgan and Morgan like very similar thing. So I think that um bro you're so brilliant for 23. I have to tell you, my son's here, you know that. And he's about back there wowing because because because whether my net worth is B or just close or whatever, it's it's getting there.

And uh it's one of the traits that I pride myself on most is I get back to people and I I actually can't go to sleep at night until I've replied to the people I'm supposed to reply to. And and so these little macro things, Can I tell you one thing I observe about you? First off, people listening would forget that you're 23. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right. With this level of wisdom. And by the way, I ask a question. It's reflexive. This is not stuff he's got to dig deep for.

Like he owns this stuff now. Speak to this just for a second. Even though these are just pocket meetings, some of them are in your phone and you're knowing them. Here's what I see on you. I believe proximity to somebody changes your frequency with them. Meaning, I believe people, let's just take business. You're interviewing successful business people. Now, I don't know whether they've got a good family life or not. That's a totally different situation. So, I'm not saying these are people to emulate one way or the other.

Some probably yes, some probably no. But when you get into proximity to other people, their vibrational frequency, the way they think, the way they live, the way they operate impacts you just through association, there's a piece of this. When I look at you, I'm like, I can see the associations having poured into you. So from a confidence standpoint, you're a guy who grew up part of your life, like as I read it, kind of a military brat. You grew up overseas for a while. This is not a dude who grew up in Palm Beach with money.

now looking at you look like a rich guy. You got a rich guy's haircut and all that, but the truth of the matter is you didn't grow up that way. So, has just been being in the proximity of these people, do you think unknowingly, maybe even unconsciously, changed the way you view you in terms of your confidence level? level? level? 100%. You know, I I like to talk in sound bites like I think you do as well. Um, I love the saying that the world is overly cruel to shy men and it rewards the courageous.

I think that when it comes to being able to attach yourselves to successful people, they can tell whether you're kind of like hesitant versus like that confident person being able to approach them. And in a sense, the hypers successful people, they can see part of themselves in you. But I think it has definitely had an effect on me. But I think it does stem actually from an early age. I would say that's one attribute that I've kind of always had and may have been a big reason why the channel became so successful in a short amount of time is because I was always really confident to approach people.

You know, my dad, he ran the largest overseas military base in the world. He was the garrison commander at Camp Humphrey. So, from an early age, I was there 6 to 10. I was, you know, going to these events where he was speaking at, you know, town halls and in the city in front of thousands of people. And, you know, I was meeting a lot of the people he was meeting because, you know, with the military oftent times, you know, their families come with them. And so I think that from an early age, you know, I had to realize that the way that that's the right way to act and also observing my dad and the way that he interacted, you know, he was a great leader, very respected on the military bases that he was kind of running.

And so that had a big effect on me. me. me. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. And then another thing was is another thing that I do growing up, I I was a I was in Boy Scouts, so I became an Eagle Scout and I I learned public speaking then and how to communicate. And you know, my scout troop that I was in in the DC, Virginia area was ran by a bunch of ex-marine guys. So I had those little, you know, ounces of experience between observing my dad and interacting with some of the top military people, government officials that he was, you know, bumping elbows with, shaking hands with and then also in scouts.

And so that kind of I think translated to us being able to build the channel and knowing how to interact and operate the same way that I feel like successful people. people. people. Really great insight, James. So is there a hack so people listeners go, "Hey, I'd like to meet some successful people and bring them into my life." Is there a you're walking up to Tom Brady, you're walking up to Will Smith, you're and I don't know how many of these are orchestrated or not. I'm sure some are and some are random.

Walking up to some billionaire walking out of a lunch place in South Beach or whatever. Is there something you do or say? Is it a body language thing? Is there anything you would teach somebody to appropriately approach somebody whom they'd like to kind of draw into their world a little bit but don't know how to do it? Such a great question and and extremely I think useful for people because I think that that is the ultimate cheat code in life, right? I like to say mentorship is like wisdom without the wounds.

If you can attach yourself to just a couple very very very successful people that is more valuable than any college degree, than any sort of you know uh general education that I think people can get, right? Just all it takes is a couple, you know, hyper successful people to kind of get in your corner um and be willing to pour into you. But I think it starts with a couple things, right? Like when we started the channel initially, we didn't have any connections, right? My dad was a military guy.

He wasn't connected in the business world. Um, and so it was us literally organically just going up to people, cold approaching them off the street. The first billionaire that we ever interviewed was at South by Southwest in 2022. It was Mark Cuban. And I went up to him after he was speaking at an event with my brother and I said, "Hey Mark, my brother and I, we started a channel at the University of Texas where we're just interviewing successful people trying to get advice to the younger generation." Now, what did I say there?

I started a channel at the University of Texas. Why? I'm borrowing that authority because it's bigger than me. Right? So, if you can find a way to borrow that authority and a lot of people will see my interviews now where, you know, yes, Tom Brady was a setup interview, Tom Cruz was a setup interview, uh, Will Smith was a setup interview, Shaq setup interview, right? And a lot of our stuff now is definitely a lot more set up, but I'm a big believer in keeping the main thing the main thing.

The thing that got us here was that off the street content. So, for example, I went out to London last week. I didn't set up a single interview. I went right to Mayfair, which is the wealthiest part, and just went up to probably several hundred people within a week just getting some incredible content. Nothing set up, probably more rejections than actual interviews. Just be and the reason being is because people love to see that content. And a big thing that people see in our interviews that they love, whenever I get feedback from people that love my content, they say, "I love how you're able to reel them in.

They don't want to do the interview at first, but then they want to do it." And if if you notice, like one of the things that I'll typically say is, "I have a channel with 21 million followers. I've interviewed, you know, x amount of billionaires in the last four years. We just need one minute. I I'm a huge advocate that credibility kills all bad attitudes. That's probably my favorite saying ever. Credibility kills all bad attitudes. Like I remember, you know, Tom Brady, Michael Rubin, you know, I a year before uh I was able to interview them, it was either rejection or they took it to them and they didn't want to do it or it was just crickets.

But then when you interview a Tom Cruz, now it's like, okay, now now we can talk. Now we'll get in front of you. So I think that is a big thing for people like don't necessarily get discouraged if like the first time it's a rejection or a no. um in business, whether it's you're trying to do a podcast or anything, trying to get a prospective client, it may not just be the right time. Maybe you need to kind of work on yourself more, maybe you need to build up your credibility a little bit more, but I think that that's ultimately one of the things to do.

Now, if you're somebody that has no credibility whatsoever, right? In our case, we started just attaching ourselves to the University of Texas. Hey, we started a channel here. Then it was, okay, now we could attach ourselves to millions of followers, uh x amount of billionaires interviewed. So, we don't necessarily struggle with having to cling to that. But I always like to tell people, and I'll just use Tom Brady's as the example. Tom Brady's the greatest football player of all time. Can I add value to Tom Brady's life to become a better football player?

Absolutely not. But maybe there is something. Maybe it's content. Maybe there is something that I could disproportionately do better than Tom Brady. Maybe it's somebody playing the piano. Granted, maybe Tom Brady has no interest in learning how to play the piano. I'm just trying to put it in perspective for people that if you have some sort of like skill set that is like very very unique and you can double down and become one of the best in the world at that you can attach that to people.

In our case, one of the reasons why we were able to attach ourselves to so many people is attention. That's one of the most valuable things in today's world. A lot of rich guys like they have more money than they can do. Now they want to give back. Now they want legacy. Now they want attention. Now they want media. So that's kind of been our unique skill set that we've been able to add on to other people. And I think that this is very important as well because, you know, another one of my favorite interviews I've ever done is Robert Hersbec, the shark from Shark Tank.

Incredible interview and such a nice guy as well. And I remember asking him the question, Robert, what do you think is more important, what you know or who you know? 95% of people are going to tell you who you know is more important. But he said the biggest piece of, and again, I don't like to cuss, but I'm going to say it verbatim what he said. The biggest piece of [ __ ] advice that he's ever heard people say is that who you know is more important.

Because you and I both know that if any if you are on a high level at all cylinders, you're a busy guy. You have all the opportunity in the world. You are not just going to give your time to somebody unless they have some sort of like value that they can offer you. Now, maybe you do meet that, you know, young person, you can see the fire in his eyes and you can see that he's got a lot of potential. Maybe he just needs somebody to pour into him or her and and and you ultimately do that.

But 95% of the time it's like you're going to ultimately be with people that are going to make you better. You know, add value to your life and vice versa. You're going to do the same. Life gives to givers and it takes from takers. So big advocate in giving back and giving to other people. But the lesson there was that you have to be if you become the brand, if you build it, they will come, right? If if you become super successful and great at something, people are naturally going to come to you and then it's like you don't have to worry about, you know, who you know.

So I know that was a bit longwinded. Oh, I actually think there was brilliance in there as frankly every answer you've given. Um that idea of associative credibility, credibility, credibility, University of Texas in the very beginning. Now it's your the size of the show, but it could also be a cause you affiliate with, you know, that you're American Cancer or whatever it might be or the Makea-Wish Foundation. So if you have associative credibility, if you don't have it yourself and creating that, we even do that in branding in my companies now.

When we get to a certain level, we'll associate with the PGA Tour or NASCAR. So associative credibility, you could do that on a small scale as well. well. well. Authority hacking, it's this is such a this this is such a good a good Well, you you've mastered this, bro. Like no one's ever said that on the show and it's actually one of the best answers ever because it is true this this idea of and by the way once you get one as you've said, hey, you know, I've got a show with blah blah blah viewers.

We interviewed Tom Cruz or we interviewed Ed I should put myself in that category. We've interviewed Gary Vee. We've interviewed whoever. So you're right. Finding a way for that. There's another thing you do. who I think maybe you don't even give yourself enough credit for. Most people, including me, when I was your age, I had an allergy to rejection. I mean, it just I was afraid of it and it destroyed me when I would get it. And I think if we were to cut out all the crap, why don't people post more on social media?

Why aren't they starting a show? Why aren't they writing their book? Why haven't they started the business? Or why isn't the business growing? Why aren't they selling more if they're in a sales business? It is fear of rejection. Endo story, right? Full stop. Do you have that? And whether you do or don't, what have you done to mitigate that fear? Yeah. I think it's important that everybody knows this. Right. A lot of people, they see our channel now, they see that we've got millions of followers, but what they don't see is I posted 400 times on Instagram and had 50 followers.

followers. followers. Wow. Wow. Wow. I posted four. Now we have 3,000 posts and 8 million followers on Instagram, but I posted 400 times on Instagram. I still have the screenshot of it and had 50 followers. 50 followers. 50 followers. How many people do you know would keep kind of posting after that? Most wouldn't. Most wouldn't. So I would say I definitely do not have a fear of rejection. rejection. rejection. You don't have the fear. I don't have the fear. Now, there have been times where like I've been rejected and it's been very discouraging and kind of like where I've maybe lost a little bit of sleep over it to be completely honest with you.

But I would say I definitely don't have the fear. Again, I go back to the worst thing somebody can say is no. You know, I interviewed a gentleman recently who just sold a roofing company for high nine figures in Dallas, and he said that you you can't take rejection personal. They're not rejecting you, they're just rejecting your offer. And so, I feel like if the more that you can kind of just not take the rejection personal and again, I go back to that idea of like there's been so many like countless times where there's people that had said no to an interview at first or it went through and it was initially a no.

I just again, it just means you got to try a little bit harder. It means you no doesn't mean never. It just means not yet. And so I've I've really taken that uh to to my heart, honestly. And I think that this is one of the most important things that people need to learn how to overcome is that fear of rejection. rejection. rejection. You know, again, I'll we'll name drop him again because he's it's true. He talks about this a lot, but Gary Vee said it is literally an uh a pandemic as far as people worrying about what other people think about them.

It's crazy. you know, they're worried that, oh, they're posting content, they're wanting to grow their brand, and somebody's from back home's going to see it and send it in a group chat and clown them behind their back. It's like, who cares about those people? Those aren't even your real friends. And often times, especially once you start to kind of take off and become a little bit successful, that's when it gets the worst because people are like, because you're doing something that they know that they could never see themselves like ever doing.

And that hurts them. and therefore, you know, they're going to project their own insecurities and and things on you as if like you're a bad person or, you know, that you're corny or that you're a clown. So, again, I I love this idea that nobody else's thoughts ever paid my bills, bills, bills, which is which is which is it's so true. You know, you do in a good interview when my guys behind the scenes I'm watching multiple times, they've gone, "Wow." Like, "Wow." Like, "Wow." Like, seriously, that's so good.

Yeah. It's it's Do you I'm gonna give you a hard question now. I've been I've been so nice to you, so now I'm going to give you a hard question. Do you worry at all that you, and by the way, I I say this with respect when I say it, but do you worry at all that potentially potentially potentially you are projecting to young people or people watching your content, content, content, you know what I mean? That social media thing, it's every guy walking into a Lambo or whatever.

Do you worry that people begin to think that someone like your father who served our country, who made a huge difference, who's clearly a stud and a leader and and is major influence on people, but he probably didn't become a billionaire working in the military, right? Do you worry that content about rich people, and that's not all your content, begins to pervert or morph people's view of what success is in the world? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Do you ever think about that? It's a very, very valid question.

I've never actually been asked it before, honestly. That's that's a really good one. Um, one. Um, one. Um, thinking about it now, um, it I think it definitely does have the potential to do that. I I think that it probably does a bit more good in the sense of like people can genuinely feel expired and and they can be exposed to something like hearing the fact of like people that had come from rock bottom or had lost it all and were able to make it all back and what their mindset was in that moment whether it was clinging on to faith whether it was you know finding a loved one that was able to help them or just really grinding.

Um so look I mean I'm I'm a huge advocate and believer that you know especially we're going to need people that go in the military. we're going to need people that ultimately work jobs and um I think every job is a is is a great job ultimately like if you can you know make a living for yourself and your family like not everybody's able to do that. So I it's it's a really good question. Um I'd love to see you at some point do but by the way I asked that question believing what you do is great just so you know and I believe people want to be on the inside of watching people have accumulated wealth including somebody like me.

It's why that's why people probably listen to me a lot of the time as well. But so I'm not saying that I didn't mean to put you on the spot. I just wanted to hear your heart about it about it about it and I wanted the audience to hear. I shook your hand when we first met. You have a ton of humility. I could tell you come from a good place and I don't think you think wealth is the only means of success and I just wanted to give you the chance to actually express that.

That's the only reason I asked you. No, I appreciate that. Just so you know. Um, are they happier? So, you're only getting these moments but some of them you got to know. Tell us, you know, is a guy worth 600 million or a lady worth 600 million or 800 million and or a billion or 10 billion, are they any happier than your dad or a school teacher or are they less happy or would you say the money part's irrelevant there? People are people. I think it really comes down to the person.

You know, I've been able to meet and spend a lot of time with these people behind the scenes and I can definitely tell that there is definitely a lot of emptiness in a lot of them. You know, for example, like a Will Smith per se, he talks about this idea of clifftop. You know, there's rock bottom and then there's clifftop, right? And he says clifftop's the worst thing in the world because you can be at like the pinnacle of success, but it's like you come to that realization that it's like like where else kind of do I go from here?

Especially for that person, you know, that that feeling of like never ever getting comfortable and never getting satisfied. They're you're always chasing something. It's a blessing and a curse because from a from a business standpoint, from a success standpoint, it's always great to have that mentality. Mike Rapoli, one of the favorite, you know, guys that I've been able to interview. I mean, that guy just the way that he thinks is incredible. Just a raw obsession about business and success, but he talks about when the big guy, you know, when the big entrepreneur on top starts to get comfortable, the starving entrepreneurs is going to come up and eat their lunch.

And so, that's why I feel like a lot of them, it's important for anybody that I think have that mindset. Like if you want to build a great business, you you do have to realize that it's like, okay, when I get to a million followers, it's just the beginning. You have to keep on going, keep on going. But understanding that there is definitely a lot more to life than just the financial means of success. Like having that I've noticed that the the people that I've interviewed when they do have a very healthy relationship with their family, with their a good relationship with their kids, like again, you can't worship God and mammon, right?

And I had a incredible conversation recently. Uh it was actually yesterday. I interviewed Tim Tibo recently and one of his business partners, Scott Donnell, just gave me a call just checking in and said, "Hey, anytime you need five or 10 minutes to to kind of talk, um I'm happy to." And he goes, he goes, "Do you know what what what mammon is?" Right? And he was saying that how most people think mammon is just money. And he's like, "No, mammon is just the uh idea. It's of like wanting more of something, constantly wanting more, wanting more, wanting more." And so when he said that to me, it kind of like just made me think a bit about that and it's like it's very true.

So this idea of like having to kind of like surrender yourself to God as far as that being the most important thing and kind of about like the humility thing. The reason why I think that's so important is because even though we've had, you know, I say we because it's me, my brother, and a childhood friend that are all partners in this thing together. We've had tremendous success in our early to mid20s. I still have that realization that like I'm extremely insignificant in the sense of like there's ultimately a creator that's much bigger than me that is is running this whole thing and at the end of the day we don't take any of that money with us and that's the one thing that I would probably challenge a lot of these guys that are you know worth billions of dollars um and that are that successful is like do they really think that like this goes on forever you know because it doesn't and so I think that the ones that do have that humility and that belief and understanding that hey this is I'm going to leave a legacy.

You know, I I created a great company. I did this. But at the end of the day, there is, I think, a lot more to life and and from a fulfillment standpoint that these people can have. So, I think a lot of the happiest ones are the ones that are actually have great relationships with God. Um, and and have a have a belief in a higher power and a and in a creator. Honestly, Honestly, Honestly, I'm proud of you, bro. Great answer. Timmy, he's been on the show a bunch of times.

He's one of my good friends. Yeah, he's a good guy, man. Just on a few weeks ago. Yeah. And um Gary's been on and uh Rob uh is about to be on. We're about to interview him. Um what's it feel like? So take us inside. You got a dream and it started to happen. What's that feel like? I think a lot of people would just love to know like do you when the dream starts happening uh because I know how it was for me but I I'm I'm not being interviewed right now.

I'm asking the questions. But like is it oh my gosh this is happening or is it completely different than you imagined it? Is it the pressure of not losing it? Like, oh my gosh, this could go away. What's the feeling like as a dream you have at one time starts to materialize itself in your life and then you're walking through your life? Is there a part of you that's like, I can't believe I just talked to Tom Cruz or or what's the whole process feel like as a young man going through it?

One of the things that I've really had to instill in myself uh along the way with my partners as far as with all these things that we've been able to do is to take time to celebrate the little wins. Um I feel like often times especially when you're building something great and and trying to achieve something often times people forget to look back and and feel a sense of you know proudness for themselves and just to really think about your blessings and and be really thankful for like what's happened.

So, we've tried to be a lot more intentional. If like we close a big deal or um you know, we land a huge interview and we do it and it goes well, then you know ultimately like we we try and take time to really take that in and think about it. Um I I also think that um one of the most important things for anybody is to understand this idea of momentum. you know, like last like last year I was probably on 100 to 150 flights, probably be on the same amount if not more this year, just continuing to go all over.

And the reason is because, you know, with over 20 million followers now, like I want to and again, it's it kind of does go back on some of the things that I just talked about. But it's like I have the understanding that like if I if I do stop, somebody else could easily come up and I'm like, I want to continue to just build this moat. I want to continue to just grow this thing as big as I possibly can and take advantage of the momentum that we do have.

So, if that means like, you know, I'm going to interview another huge NBA team owner out in New York next week and, you know, just continuing to do all these, you know, great things and and awesome collaborations, it it really does feel amazing. Um, it does and I'm very thankful and blessed for it. Um, but I also do, I think, have that part of me that like feels like there's so much more to still do, honestly. Good. Yeah, you do. You I where much is given, much is expected.

And after actually after meeting you, I'm glad you're one of the young people that has influence in the world. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I think it's been uh you have a stewardship, you know, man. There's a lot of people that look up to you that are going to continue to look up to you. If you come back and do the show with me here in a couple years, you're you're going to have 50 million and you just will, right? Because I don't think I think you understand momentum when it's a very fickle friend.

And if you don't keep feeding momentum, it can go away. Momentum makes a guy like me who's pretty average seem a lot better than he is. And that momentum is a magnifier and you want to do everything you can once you get it to feed it. Most people do the reverse. They get some success, they start to think it's them, they cool it, they start to sabotage themselves and then it goes away. Sustained success is understanding momentum is a blessing and continue to feed it. So I'm really grateful that you said that.

Okay, two more things. Um, and I wanted to ask him in this sequence because I opened up with this, but you did something unique. I opened up with He took something that could have been a weakness and he flipped it into a strength, which is your age. your age. your age. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of people think, I've got this, this isn't going to work cuz I'm middle-aged. This isn't going to work cuz I'm too young. It's not going to work cuz I'm not rich.

It's not going to work because of my career or whatever. But I actually think if you were a 50-year-old dude who started this channel and started walking up to random billionaires, I think that part of a successful person who wants to pay it forward wouldn't exist. So I actually think your age, do you agree in an odd way was an advantage walking up to these more senior people because it was almost out of respect and looking up and looking for advice. Would you give someone advice to say look at what you think your biggest deficiency is and it might actually be the catalyst for your uniqueness as well.

Yeah, I I would 100% agree with that. I think our differences do make us stronger and I do think that this idea of reverse mentorship is so powerful and I learned this from a gentleman named Mark Mlan. He sold a company to Oracle for hundreds of millions of dollars and he now is uh he started and is the CEO of a publicly traded company. I think they're called Sailpoint. they're worth uh several billion dollars and he's actually based out of Austin. Incredible entrepreneur and a great uh leader as well.

And you know, he talked about this idea of like one of the most important things that they do with this company at his company is reverse mentorship where he knows that, hey, even though I'm I'm I'm an older gentleman, a lot of these younger guys can actually come in here and teach me a lot about the new technology, about the new, you know, branding side of things. Whereas I have a lot more kind of skin in the game. I've been around for a lot longer and those years of experience in business, you know, can certainly teach them.

So, I do think that that idea of reverse mentorship is very true. And look, I've probably been turned down by a lot of people also because they didn't see enough gray in my hair and and that was probably definitely a very real thing. So, I do think that it is important to understand where people have their strengths and weaknesses. But yes, those weaknesses, whether they think it's their age, whether they think it's their gender, some people think, you know, it may be color of skin for some people.

Um, right. And I think that people can ultimately, you know, maybe utilize those to advantages in some ways. ways. ways. Find a way because it actually may be true that it's that your age was going to hinder you doing this. But you found a way in the way you approach University of Texas. The way you leverage that weakness into a strength. I think it's a key. key. key. I did it in business, too. When I was very young and I was coming up in business, I thought no one's going to take me seriously.

So, I had to become so good at what I was doing that all of a sudden, oh, he's a prodigy. He's a pro. So the they don't call prodigies aren't 60. Prodigies are young. So the fact that I was very good at what I did and very knowledgeable and young was an advantage. So I became a prodigy instead of just a young kid who didn't know what he was doing. So there's a way to flip that. What about AI? Do you worry about what AI is going to do to the influencer space, the branding space in general?

I behind the scenes everybody should know my peers who you know are influencers or business people or self-improvement are concerned concerned concerned that they could be replaced by AI somehow or that it's going to uh change monetization or things of that sort virtual mentors if you will on social media stuff any because you're at the cutting edge of this stuff you're talking to everybody what are your thoughts about that it's it's a it's also honestly a really great question very relevant question we're talking about that culture right now that the pack platform algorithm culture sure you're leaning into that which I love.

Um, when it comes to AI and content and just kind of the future of that landscape. Personally, I would first of all advise people that if you think that AI created content for a personal brand is going to do well, no. I I I'm not a fan of people using AI to duplicate and clone themselves and create content. I personally I just don't think it's up to the standard in terms of like that being better than an actual person creating content. So, let's first kind of dupe that and and establish that first of all.

Second of all, I think with AI coming up, it is going to make it incredibly much harder and this is why like this is a great time for you to ask that question and people to listen because if you think it's hard to go viral on social media now, you wait for the next three to five years because think about it this way with AI, you're going to be able to start posting 10,000 20 piece 20,000 pieces of content at once. So think about how like when I think about it this way, right?

I started posting on Tik Tok when pretty much since its and a couple months after its inception when it really started to take off like 2020 was the year Tik Tok just over over to Google as the number one search engine, but 2019 was when I started to post. So right before I would say most people started to get on get on it. And I would I would tell people then you could you could post anything then and go viral. And I'm I'm not kidding. like some of the stuff that even I posted or that went viral then like it was way easier to go viral compared to like now like I'm being transparent and honest like you have to put out great content in order to go viral.

Let's be very clear where social media is heading. It's going to it is it already has become but I think it is increasingly becoming less about the amount of followers that you have. And I genuinely genuinely mean that. Why? Because some of the biggest business creators in the world like I see they have thou or millions of followers on Tik Tok and some of them are their last 10 posts are getting 20,000 views on Tik Tok. I notice it too. So which is crazy. And that's the majority of them.

Like let me say like that's it's not like it's like one or two people. It's like no, that's the majority of them. Um, I think Instagram's done a bit of a better job of of where if you have the audience and community, your stuff will tend to perform a little bit better on there. That's why I think Tik Tok is like the best test of like a content that's like viral and like like a great piece of content because Tik Tok's it's not necessarily about the audience that you have.

It's about how great that content is. And that's why it's never been like a better time to focus on pouring into and building that brand because I do think that even three to five years from now with AI coming onto the scene, it is going to make it a bit harder to to to build a brand and and stand out with people being able to where you know now and a year ago you're only posting one piece of content or two or three pieces of content at once for different channels.

And now with being able to clone accounts, like some people are probably going to be putting out 10,000,000 pieces of content a day on behalf of their brands and whatnot. Think about what that saturates the hell out of a, you know, social media feed and whatnot for people. So, I think it is very important uh to to to get in now. now. now. I think you're right. I think also the other thing you said that's true is like it's more important out the content's good. good.

good. Oh, 100%. and and the cream will always rise to the top. And a a human being putting out great content organically, I think, will always do better. better. better. Yes. Yes. Yes. Than some AI generated content. And by the way, when I see AI generated content now, now, now, I know what it is when I see it. I can even tell when people are reading content that's AI generated on their podcast and stuff now, too. It's like it's it's made people very lazy to be creative.

And I think the space is going to open up even bigger for creative people. people. people. Well, exactly. It's like you don't want to take the human element out of things because you can tell like nobody wants to listen to somebody who's robotic, right? right? right? You know, you know what I mean? And don't get me wrong, like I do think that using tools to your advantage to come up with creative ideas, strategy for punchy, bold things, sound bites and whatnot, like absolutely big advocate in using it for things like that.

But I think for the most part, it's like it does make people lazy. For people that are writing copy for their ads, like you can tell when somebody's using, you know, AI generated stuff. So it's it's it's you know the other thing too is like humans evolve and so right now the stage of AI it's still pulling from what already existed. So like even when I ask AI what would Edmlet say about self-confidence it tells you what I would say about self-confidence three four and five years ago not what I would say about it now as I've evolved and learned more and had more experiences.

What is the biggest thing that you would change like like like three years ago ad versus now? versus now? versus now? Great question now. Well, no, I I want to know this because I think that I used to believe that self-confidence was exclusively about keeping the promises that you make to yourself. I now think that self-confidence is stemmed a little bit more in my own case from intention. Meaning, my confidence doesn't always just come from my ability, but my intent to serve. So, like when you and I are done with this interview, I'm about to go speak to, I don't know, 7 8,000 people right in this arena that we're doing this in.

I'm going to want to go out there as a confident expression of myself. I'm not going to go out there confident because I think I'm the greatest speaker in the world. I'm going to go out there because I've attached my confidence that my intention is to make a difference for these people. My intention is to serve them. And so I can't control the result of it. So like Wayne Dyer said this to me when he was alive. I met him at one point and we became dear friends, but he said to me, "Ed, you're going to change the world." And I'm sure he said that to tons of other guys, but to me, I was the only guy he ever said it to.

And he said, and it's not because of your talent or the fact that, you know, God gave you a a pretty deep voice or you're a smart guy or whatever, of which I'm not. He said, uh, I just think you have a beautiful heart and you intend to serve people. You intend to make a difference. You're a good man. It was the first time in my life, James, that someone gave me a compliment. I believed because I didn't think I was very talented. I don't think I'm that smart, but I do think I'm a decent man.

And when he attached my ability to do something to my intent and not necessarily the skill, I believed it. Wow. it. Wow. it. Wow. And so he said, "All your life, if you'd attach your confidence at when you walk in a room, to your intentions, that's what I picture in you, James. When you walk up to Tom Cruz, even though that one was staged, but whoever it is anywhere, I don't think you're walking up there confident like, I'm a badass. I'm the best ever." I think you're walking up there with an intention to learn about them, an intention to learn yourself, an intention to transfer that information to your audience.

So, I think your confidence is stemming from I I'm here to do good. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. And I So, I think confidence is more of that than I used to. I love that. Yeah. I I hadn't heard that before, but I love the idea about it being from like an intentionality standpoint. I like that a lot. Well, and then the reason that's important, and then I'm gonna ask you a last question. That means anybody can be confident. I'm not saying don't get great at what you do.

I mean, I've worked very hard at being a a speaker, right? That part's the that's the that's the little leagues. But the question is, how do I walk out there as the best expression of that practice so that the A game comes out, not the C game. I think when you watch a great athlete when they're expressing their craft, they've put all the work in, but I think the confidence comes from I've put the work in. I've kept the promises I make to myself, and my intention is to win here.

My intention is to dominate. My intention is to serve. If I play for the Red Sox, win for the fans, win for Boston. So, I think intention matters. That's just my piece. But you're not interviewing me. I'm interviewing you. Last question. By the way, this has been a great interview. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Like a 10 out of 10. I just want you to know that you don't need that acknowledgement, but I love when I'm doing something that I know is going to make a difference in the universe, which is what you did today.

So, thank you in advance because I'm going to have a last question. It's a simple one. Most people listening to us or watching us right now want to be happier, want to be wealthier, want to make a bigger difference, right? They want deeper relationships. Basically, they have dreams that they want to make come true. Most of them won't. You are. So, what advice would you give to them that currently aren't making their dreams come true as a place to begin to actually turn that around and be a little bit more like you've been?

I love it. Couple things. Um, number one, you're not a tree. Travel. Go see the world. You can only grow to what you're exposed to. Um, I'm I I'm a big believer. Before the time I was 20, I went to 20 countries. And what that did for my mind and my perspective, seeing the world. I remember when I was 9 years old. I was in Cambodia. I got to travel to all of like the countries in Asia when because my living in South Korea. And I remember uh I was 9 years old floating around like a river in Cambodia.

And I like looked out and I saw this little boy who was floating around in a trash can lid, arm cut off and a snake wrapped around his neck. And I was like, what that did for me then seeing that at 10 years old now is like I I often think about that whenever I'm like stressed or worried about some big problem that I have. It's like you don't have problems, dude. You don't have problems. And so that was healthy for me. I think traveling, being exposed to different cultures is very important.

Get out of your hometown. uh if you're not in an environment or a place that where you have like-minded people that are wanting to achieve more for themselves. I like to say that the best decision I ever made was moving from the Washington DC area to Austin, Texas. Growing up in the DC, Virginia area, I'm very thankful and blessed. It was a great community that I grew up in, you know, great schools that I went to. You know, my dad was at the Pentagon towards the end of his career, so that's why we were ultimately there.

But all the people around, you know, DC is structured. It's centered around government jobs, contracting, politics, defense. Everybody's top level of success to them is going to get a $100,000 government contracting job. I didn't want that for myself. And so when I ultimately moved out to Austin to be with my brother at the University of Texas, I'm exposed to people that are authentic, people that are like-minded, that are young, they're building something great, and it causes you to want to do the same thing. And that was a very important decision.

And so I would tell people that if you're not in an environment that's going to cause you to grow, you know, you talked about proximity and what the frequency that that leads to in yourself, but yeah, that proximity is is power where you can go in a coffee shop and you can see a guy sitting down who just sold a company for $400 million and he's in a t-shirt and flip-flops. And so I think that that was very very important. You know, people will take you places that money can't.

I think that it is very important to, you know, build up a solid network of people from a that can help you mentally that can help you from a business standpoint, that can help you from a spiritual standpoint. I think that's very important. I think especially as you are starting to grow in your business, it's important to have, you know, people around you that can keep you help keep you grounded and give you those insights that it's like, hey, when you start to feel this type of way, just remember this, go pray about this, go reflect on this, and they and they can relate to you and they can kind of instill in you and pour into you some of those lessons.

Um, and then I would, you know, kind of end by saying that we're we're in a skill set based economy now. You know, I just interviewed one of the random guys I interviewed out in London was a a guy who was an investment banker, you know, owns a hedge fund now. And he was talking about how, you know, again, it goes back to this idea of like what you know versus who you know. And he's one of the few people that will tell you what you know is more important.

And he said years ago it was what you know. But he was saying that one of the governors of like the big banks out in London is complaining that his daughter can't get a job anymore. Now 20 years ago that wouldn't have happened because of nepotism. like he would have made a phone call and this person got a job. But if you have connections and you don't have anything of like substance to offer those people, those connections are worthless. So I think that that's a a very important thing.

Um you know, find that skill set. And me it was content. I became one of the best in the world at content. Was able to grow my own brand then grow other businesses and then kind of also help attach that to other people which helped me build relationships with people. people. people. So become, you know, great at at at one or two things. you know, the wealthiest people, they, you know, I mean, some of them now they have a diversified portfolio, but like the myth that the average millionaire has seven streams of income, it's it's it's not true.

You become great at one or two things and then eventually, you know, you diversify. Like one of my favorite sayings is that concentration builds wealth. Diversification keeps it. I just bought my first piece of commercial real estate right in the middle of Ohio State. Uh $5 million building out there. It's like a kind of like a shopping center there. So, it's right next to the highest grossing pot belly in the in the country. So, and again that was the byproduct of again concentrated so hard for a couple years.

We're able to build businesses on the back end of what we were doing and and monetize in a way where we weren't done with our money to where now it affords you to diversify and make those investments to where you'll be getting, you know, paid every month for the rest of your life. So, I think that that's a good one. And last one because we got to end it off with one more sound bite. I interviewed a gentleman out in Houston uh named Dal Woods and uh he I remember him saying this.

He said, "Stay small enough long enough and you'll be big enough soon enough." Um uh that I took that with me because when we were making uh $30,000 a month off of just Facebook ad revenue, that was our first stream of income on Hardnox. It was $30,000 a month off just Facebook. Didn't have any businesses at at the time. But one of the commonalities that I've learned from hyper successful people is this idea of reinvesting back into the business, reinvesting back into the company, back into the company.

So, we were making 30K a month in profit. My partners and I were only paying ourselves $2,000 a month. Wow. month. Wow. month. Wow. And so, but that was important because even to this day, we still do that. Now, what's important about the lesson about the 30K a month is that 30K a month went to less than 5K a month because we got demonetized on Facebook. And that's why it's also important that as a content creator, you do not own the content that you post once you post it on that platform.

Instagram owns it. Tik Tok own it. They can decide at any time to ban you in your content. That's why that diversification piece is very important because you again you can't control what happens to your content if you get a content violation or a strike. So you need you need to understand that and realize that you need to find a way to monetize like you can't build a business off of just ad revenue. Um, but what that lesson there did was because we were so good and diligent during those couple months of making only 30 grand and paying ourselves two grand just to cover our expenses and put everything back into the business is it gave us a couple months to go back to the drawing board and then figure out an appropriate way to kind of like monetize that made sense.

And you know, even to this day where our businesses do one to 1.5 million a month in revenue, we do about 7 to 800k in profit. I still pay myself less than 20K a month, you know, and everything else is going back into the business, hiring, expanding. buying, you know, and investment, you know, cash flowing, appreciating assets. So, that's it right there. You're an impressive young man. Thank you, sir. I uh I uh I uh please stay this humble and confident at the same time. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, that was a great conversation today. today. today. Thank you. I appreciate you having me. Oh, bro. I'm glad I did. Yeah, this is my pleasure. This is James Duman, you guys. School of Hard Knocks. Go check him out. Share the episode today. This is one of those that'll go very viral. God bless you everybody. Max out.