Why Dan Fleyshman Never Stops Working... | DSH #1953

0:00 I don't ever guess about the ups and downs of Bitcoin.

0:02 I just know for a fact without a shadow of a doubt,

0:04 it will be worth [music] millions and millions

0:06 of dollars per Bitcoin in the future.

0:07 There's no question.

0:08 There's no wondering.

0:08 There's no guessing.

0:09 There's no emotion.

0:10 It's a fact.

0:10 [music] If I try to wire transfer to you at 2:08 p.m., you get it tomorrow.

0:14 If I send you Friday at 2:08 p.m., you get it on Monday.

0:18 [music] Why?

0:17 Silly.

0:18 It's because they are making the money on the float for the night.

0:21 Why would they want to be faster?

0:23 There's no incentive for Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Chase [music]

0:25 to want to send you money faster.

0:27 They want to hold your money as long as possible and make the float.

0:37 Okay, guys.

0:38 Dan Fleyshman back on the show.

0:39 I believe it's your third time, right?

0:41 Oh, yeah.

0:41 Third time's a charm.

0:42 And you've been crushing it with your show, right?

0:44 Top three.

0:45 Yep.

0:46 You're in our business, right?

0:47 Yes.

0:47 Money Mondays.

0:48 Number 27 in the world across all podcasts.

0:50 I think you're like 16 right now.

0:52 Yeah, I always see you on the charts with me.

0:53 Yeah, it changes every day, but we're always neck and neck.

0:56 Um, what's new with you though, man?

0:58 Just throwing a bunch of events,

0:59 buying piece of companies, and just trying to scale.

1:01 Wow.

1:02 42 events a year, right?

1:03 Yes.

1:04 It's like almost one a week.

1:05 Yeah, well, sometimes there's three in the same weekend,

1:07 and then the following week may not be an event.

1:09 Um, and sometimes we try to combine them together in the same city,

1:12 even if it's a different style event or different type of crowd.

1:15 We'll just do it back-to-back cuz our staff is there.

1:18 Yeah.

1:18 Our AV team is there.

1:19 Makes it easier.

1:19 That makes sense.

1:20 You travel more than anyone I know.

1:21 I think I've told you this.

1:23 Yeah.

1:23 It's impressive.

1:24 250 days a year.

1:25 All right.

1:26 That's actually crazy.

1:27 So, you basically live life on the road.

1:28 Yes.

1:29 What a lifestyle.

1:30 And how long have you lived that life for?

1:32 Well, the events got really crazy after COVID.

1:35 You know, 2021 is when I went ballistic on events.

1:38 I was always throwing events,

1:39 but then starting to be involved in Meeting the Arena Tour,

1:43 Aspire Tour, Operation Black Site,

1:45 Elevator Night, The Masterminds, the charity events.

1:47 It was just like so many different brands events back-to-back-to-back.

1:50 Insane.

1:51 Yeah, I'm I'm Every time I see your story, you're in a new city.

1:54 Yes.

1:54 I I even yesterday when you got to Vegas, you spoke at an event,

1:57 then you came to mine, now you're speaking at Bitcoin conference, non-stop.

2:00 I try to pack it all in.

2:01 I just think how short life is and I'm going to die soon.

2:04 You're going to die soon?

2:05 I Well, 60 years is soon, too.

2:07 Like, if you think about it over the scope of life, right?

2:09 I don't know if it's going to be in 60 minutes or 60 days or 60 years.

2:12 I have no idea.

2:13 But, even 60 years is soon.

2:15 And so, I want to do as much as I can, you know.

2:17 I have realized cuz I've I've said this before on the show,

2:20 six of my guests have passed away since I started.

2:22 So, it does give you that sense of any moment could happen.

2:26 I had 39 friends under the age of 50 pass away.

2:29 Jeez.

2:30 And I have this list on my phone of the 39 friends and family,

2:33 and I think about it all the time, why life is so short.

2:36 Cuz some of them were buff athletes, some of them were young zillionaires,

2:40 some of them were just, you know, close friends and family,

2:42 and didn't make it to 38 years old and 44

2:45 years old and things like that that are younger than me.

2:47 And so, I just think about it, it could happen at any time for whatever reason.

2:51 And so, I want to do as much as humanly possible while I'm here.

2:53 I feel that.

2:53 Investing in Bitcoin early on helped with that, right?

2:56 Yeah, that was a fun ride.

2:58 And Ethereum.

2:59 Yes.

2:59 You did the first paper on Ethereum.

3:01 Yeah.

3:01 I did the very first news article about Ethereum in 2017.

3:04 It started from a Facebook post, and it just went viral,

3:07 and then Ink magazine and Forbes magazine started asking me questions,

3:11 and I did this articles for them.

3:13 Ethereum was 19 bucks.

3:14 Wow.

3:15 And the Ethereum Alliance came out.

3:17 That's why did this Facebook post.

3:19 And Ethereum Alliance basically said that a lot of the Fortune

3:22 500 companies will start to utilize Ethereum for their back ends.

3:26 And so, I said, "Okay, well, my post was essentially,

3:28 if it's good enough for Fortune 500 companies and their attorneys,

3:32 it's good enough for me." And so,

3:34 I bought a lot at $19, $190,000 worth at 19 bucks each.

3:38 It went up to $44, and I posted again, like, "Okay, guys,

3:41 just to be clear, research this." It wasn't a It wasn't like pitching Ethereum.

3:45 I was just explaining why I liked it.

3:48 And then over the next couple years, it went to 220, 550, etc.

3:51 And so, there was a lot of wild twists and turns along the way.

3:53 I sold chunks along the way.

3:55 I know I pretend like I kept all, you know, 190 grand worth at 19 bucks.

3:59 I did not.

3:59 I sold a lot at 220 and a lot more at 550.

4:02 Um I do have a funny story.

4:04 Yeah.

4:04 So remember Chase Hero?

4:05 Yeah.

4:06 At his wedding, um we set up like a poker

4:09 room casino night afterwards after the after the wedding.

4:12 And we had like all these fake games

4:14 for roulette and blackjack and all these things

4:16 that people could play and you know Chase knows

4:18 hundreds of people in the affiliate space, crypto space.

4:21 They're very very rich.

4:22 And so everyone's playing and one of the guys is losing a lot.

4:27 He's down and he's down 15 15,000 dollars and he

4:32 wants to bet five grand a hand across every spot.

4:37 I didn't want him to because I don't want him to lose or win that much money.

4:39 It's such a big swing.

4:41 But the funny story is he wins all the hands.

4:45 And not all the hands but enough hands that he ends

4:47 up net 15,000 and tips a thousand bucks to the dealer.

4:50 So 14,000 dollars.

4:52 Why does that matter?

4:54 This is like 3:00 in the morning.

4:56 At 7:00 in the morning I wake up

4:57 to my phone and there's a bunch of messages like, "You got to pay me this money.

5:00 You got to pay me this money." I was like, "Well, so come to my room.

5:03 I have the cash for you.

5:04 I'll give it to you right now." He's like, "No,

5:06 I'm in Vegas." We were in Newport Beach for the wedding at 3:00 in the morning.

5:11 By 7:00 a.m.

5:11 he was in Vegas.

5:13 And so I was arguing with him like, "Okay,

5:16 but the the brunch is here." He's like, "Yeah,

5:18 I know but I came here to bet football." I'm like,

5:19 "Yeah, but the brunch for the wedding is here.

5:21 Come back.

5:21 I'll give you the cash." "No, no, you got to pay me right this second.

5:24 I'm about to bet sports." So I send this kid Jesse Sylvia,

5:28 the guy that got second place in the World Series of Poker main event.

5:31 I said, "Hey, can I send you 333 Ethereum cuz it was 41 dollars?" Yeah.

5:37 It ended up being 14,000 dollars worth of Ethereum.

5:40 "Can you give this guy 14 grand in cash

5:42 so he can go bet sports?" He said, "Sure." Well, if you think about it,

5:46 the 333 Ethereum I sent him is now worth over a million dollars.

5:49 Oh my The only good thing I will say is it went to Jesse,

5:53 not to this guy that was a jerk.

5:54 It went to Jesse, so What a story.

5:56 It's like the guy that bought a pizza with Bitcoin.

5:59 Yes.

5:59 And now it's like a billion dollars.

6:00 Right.

6:01 And every year he's got to relive it cuz it goes viral every year.

6:04 Yeah.

6:04 Or the guy that lost his Bitcoin keys and he's doing the bulldozers.

6:08 He finally gave up?

6:09 Yeah, I saw that.

6:10 A few weeks ago, finally gave up.

6:11 Crazy, dude.

6:11 I mean, I don't think he ever had a chance.

6:13 What ifs?

6:13 I mean, I was using it in high school.

6:15 Right.

6:16 I feel like we all have similar stories, right?

6:18 Oh, if you look at my phone,

6:19 I can show you the some of the transactions from 2014.

6:22 I was buying it at 340 bucks.

6:24 But I would trade it back and forth.

6:25 10K here, 2K here, 5K.

6:26 I didn't think about it.

6:27 Like, jeez.

6:27 I was using it.

6:28 I wasn't just thinking about it as an investment.

6:30 I was just using Bitcoin.

6:32 And it was hard back then.

6:33 It's still hard now, but it was really hard back then.

6:35 Now you could buy a lot with it.

6:36 Like almost anything.

6:38 What do you think about the future of it?

6:39 Cuz there's some people saying a million.

6:41 Yeah, there is literally no question Bitcoin

6:44 will be worth millions of dollars per coin.

6:46 It's like an actual 0% possibility to not happen.

6:48 Really?

6:49 Because of supply and demand.

6:50 What people don't think about is out of the 21 million Bitcoin,

6:53 4.6 million Bitcoin are missing and they're never coming back.

6:57 There's no CEO, there's no customer service,

6:59 there's no one to call, there's no office.

7:01 So, when those Bitcoin are missing, the supply goes down.

7:04 Why are the 4.6 million Bitcoin missing?

7:07 Cuz every day people lose their wallets,

7:09 lose their phones, lose their storage, or lose their lives.

7:13 And every day from now and then to the future,

7:16 people lose their phones, wallets, storage, and lives.

7:19 Imagine someone dies right now,

7:20 how hard it would be to get their Bitcoin off their phone or their laptop.

7:23 It's really difficult.

7:25 When it's gone, the supply goes less.

7:27 So, 4.6 million, 5.2 million, 5.8 million are missing,

7:30 that supply from 21 million gets really small,

7:33 probably down to 11, 12, 13 million range.

7:36 Then you have people that are Bitcoin maximalists

7:37 that are buying lots of Bitcoin that will never sell.

7:40 And they own a lot of Bitcoin.

7:41 They're going to keep buying it,

7:42 like a Chamath, for example, or Michael Saylor, etc.

7:45 That Bitcoin is also not in supply.

7:48 It's out there.

7:49 You can't buy it from him.

7:50 Go offer Michael Saylor money right now.

7:52 Go offer Chamath money, right?

7:54 You can't buy it from them.

7:55 And then you're also going to have what's called the rounding error.

7:58 Sean Kelly has $42 in like a random wallet.

8:00 Like you're not using that.

8:02 Imagine that 17 million people have 42 bucks in a random wallet.

8:05 They're not using it.

8:06 That's not in supply, either.

8:07 It's out there, but people don't think about it cuz it's 42 bucks, 100 bucks.

8:10 That's called the rounding error.

8:12 What happens when 200 million people have 42 bucks

8:15 and little pieces of Bitcoin just sitting in a random wallet?

8:18 So, the supply is going to get less and less and less,

8:20 and the demand is going to get bigger and bigger and bigger.

8:22 And the children that are growing up

8:24 are going to be very comfortable buying Bitcoin.

8:26 The Bitcoin maximalists are always going to buy Bitcoin.

8:28 So, there's always going to be lots of buyers,

8:30 and the supply is getting less and less and less.

8:33 Yeah, the maxis never sell,

8:34 and some of them even take a loan out against their portfolio.

8:37 Sure.

8:37 You know, that's how the the elites use their money.

8:39 Yeah.

8:39 So, I I I think it definitely I don't know.

8:42 They're saying this is the last super cycle or whatever, but who knows?

8:45 It's hard to predict.

8:46 I don't ever guess about the ups and downs of Bitcoin.

8:49 I just know for a fact, without a shadow of a doubt,

8:51 it will be worth millions and millions of dollars per Bitcoin in the future.

8:54 There's no question.

8:54 There's no wondering.

8:55 There's no guessing.

8:55 There's no emotion.

8:56 It's a fact.

8:57 What about Ethereum?

8:58 So, Ethereum's harder cuz supply is much bigger.

9:01 And so, the reason I can be so passionate about Bitcoin,

9:04 Ethereum is a better function and use of a cryptocurrency, right?

9:07 Use of blockchain, use of everything.

9:09 Ethereum is more functional.

9:10 It powers our NFTs.

9:12 It powers corporations.

9:13 Ethereum is a way better than Bitcoin.

9:15 However, Bitcoin is the granddaddy of them all.

9:18 And it took us a decade for people to feel comfortable,

9:20 and now we're on year 14 or 15 for people

9:22 to actually like get into the mix of Bitcoin,

9:24 where there's less of these bad PR stories and less of all this drama.

9:27 And so, Ethereum to me is the functional

9:29 tool that will be around forever and ever, and it's very useful.

9:32 But, I will say that there's a much bigger supply,

9:35 and so, from a supply and demand perspective,

9:37 it makes it hard for me to say what price it'll end up at.

9:40 Yeah.

9:40 Yeah.

9:40 Any other coins you are interested in?

9:43 So, there's like 14,000 different cryptocurrencies that are out there.

9:46 I look at the ones that have function to them.

9:49 There's a lot of people that like XRP, but to me,

9:51 I don't see Wells Fargo or bank in the middle of nowhere

9:55 in Nova Scotia or in Malta ever wanting to use it for wire transfers.

10:00 Why?

10:01 Because when you do a wire transfer to bank

10:03 and they're making the 30 or 40 bucks,

10:05 they're also making a small percentage on the float overnight.

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11:09 So, right now, if I try to wire Sean Kelly 100 grand,

11:13 it should take seconds, right?

11:14 I could send you Apple Pay, Venmo, Zelle,

11:16 Cash App, so many things that take seconds, Bitcoin, etc.

11:19 But, if I try to wire transfer to you at 2:08 p.m., you get it tomorrow.

11:24 Right.

11:24 If I send you Friday at 2:08 p.m., you get it on Monday.

11:26 Why?

11:27 Silly.

11:28 It's because they are They're the money on the float for the night.

11:33 Why would they want to be faster?

11:35 There's no incentive for Wells Fargo, Bank of America,

11:37 Chase to want to send you money faster.

11:39 They want to hold your money as long as possible and make the float.

11:43 Wow.

11:43 That's what PayPal does, too.

11:44 Of course, that's what they reserve on your account for 180 days.

11:47 Go to paypalsucks.com.

11:49 You'll see so many stories.

11:50 Yeah.

11:50 You'll see so many stories.

11:51 Oh my god.

11:52 Try PayPal.

11:52 All of them, right?

11:53 They hold your money for X amount of days and then they're making money on it.

11:56 Think about if you've got 64 grand

11:58 that they're holding for for you for 6 months.

12:00 Why would they need 6 months?

12:00 It's ridiculous.

12:03 They're holding your money 64,000.

12:05 What about the other 17 million accounts that they're holding two grand,

12:08 five grand, 10 grand, etc.?

12:09 It's billions of dollars.

12:11 What's a little percent of billions of dollars?

12:12 A lot.

12:14 You going to play in the World Series this year?

12:16 Yeah, so I typically only play like the one-day or two-day events,

12:19 which is very few of them,

12:20 like the super high rollers or the super um super turbos that are really fast.

12:25 The main event I want to play, but it's 2 weeks long and I'm you know.

12:29 I'm going to be I'm going to be busy.

12:30 I wish it was 10 days.

12:31 Long run, yeah.

12:32 Or if he makes the finals, yeah.

12:33 Wow.

12:33 I just had all the winner last year.

12:35 Yeah.

12:35 It was Hossein Ensan.

12:36 What a guy.

12:37 Yes.

12:37 I mean, when you look at that start, he said he was drinking every day.

12:40 He said he was going out partying,

12:41 sleeping 2 hours a day, and he still won the main event.

12:43 Yes.

12:43 That guy's different.

12:45 My my very first final table was with him.

12:47 Oh, really?

12:48 2005.

12:49 Wow.

12:49 Yeah.

12:49 My very first final table.

12:50 And he had a whole crew.

12:52 Listen, he has an innate skill and feel for the game.

12:56 He could literally play a full round without

12:58 looking at his cards and be the favorite.

13:00 No way.

13:00 He understands you.

13:01 Why is Sean sitting like that?

13:02 Why is Sean leaning forward?

13:03 Why does Sean look this way?

13:04 Why do you look at this like he feels it.

13:06 Not like a FBI agent studying you, but like a true poker wizard.

13:10 Like it's Oh.

13:11 And he knows what the wizards are doing and doesn't do that.

13:15 Like you said, he doesn't use your T 0 at all.

13:16 No, absolutely not.

13:17 Crazy.

13:18 No, he's calling with 4-6 off suit

13:20 random scenarios just knowing he can outplay you.

13:23 Yeah.

13:23 Just knowing he understands the scenario.

13:25 I've also seen him make big folds that people will never do cuz he can feel it.

13:29 Is he one of the best you've seen?

13:31 So every year there's a $25,000 fantasy draft.

13:34 It's called the the 25K fantasy draft that Daniel Negreanu hosts.

13:37 Yeah.

13:38 And every single year I I I draft Mike Matusow.

13:41 Every single year.

13:42 He won last year.

13:43 Except this year.

13:45 Dude.

13:45 If you go look at the stats, every year for a decade I've drafted Mike Matusow.

13:49 I'm like passionate about it.

13:51 I didn't know if he was going to play the full series.

13:54 Cuz he's doing deals with Venetian.

13:55 He's he's plays at other casinos and other events.

13:58 And he plays cash games.

13:59 And so I wasn't sure if he was going to play enough events volume-wise.

14:02 If he's going to play at least 20 or 30 events, of course I want to draft him.

14:06 I heard he was doing things with the Venetian and some other,

14:08 you know, other casinos.

14:10 Cuz I didn't know if he was going to put in the time.

14:11 And it's literally the first time in a decade I didn't draft him.

14:13 Oh my gosh.

14:14 Well, it cost me a quarter of a million dollars for first.

14:17 And I have six figures in side bets.

14:19 Wow.

14:19 So it literally cost me half a million dollars by not drafting him.

14:21 That's not Have you ever won that league?

14:23 Yeah.

14:23 Okay.

14:24 Yeah.

14:24 I've gotten first and third.

14:26 And look, and the side bets are what's really entertaining cuz,

14:29 you know, You You poker players love those side bets.

14:33 Yeah, cuz it's fun.

14:34 You're Some of them are are really hilarious and interesting, too.

14:38 Like who's going to last longer, who's going to go to the bathroom first.

14:40 There's all sorts of weird side bets.

14:42 Yeah, there's some wild ones.

14:43 Jeff Gross has a feud of like tattoos or something.

14:47 Yeah, the side bets are it's it makes people

14:51 when they say something like put up with their money.

14:53 A lot of times people will talk like I could do this.

14:56 So do it.

14:57 Like if Sean's like, oh, I can make 30 free throws in 10 minutes.

15:01 Okay, let's go bet.

15:01 Let's go bet.

15:02 Yeah.

15:02 You might be able to do it, go do it.

15:04 What's some memorable side bets you you you've done?

15:06 The Actually, the basketball one was There was

15:08 a guy at the Bellagio who was a hustler.

15:11 And he's just a good old boy from the Midwest,

15:13 a like clean-cut kid, like a farmer's boy.

15:15 And he'd like come in, he'd play poker.

15:17 And then randomly he'd be like, I can make 85 three-pointers out of 100.

15:21 No way.

15:22 And we're like, "No way." And we bet him.

15:26 He could actually make like 93 or 94, but he gave himself a cushion.

15:29 Woah.

15:30 Or he'd like say 85 and then go up to 88,

15:32 89, or 90 knowing he can make like 93 or 94.

15:36 And so it'd always be like a 5K bet, 5K bet, 5K bet.

15:38 And I was watching him do these bets all the time.

15:41 And I was so mesmerized by it.

15:42 I'd go watch even though I know he's going to do it.

15:45 [laughter] I know the result.

15:46 But he actually did it.

15:47 Oh, he won every time.

15:48 Holy crap.

15:49 That's the easiest money of all time for him.

15:51 Yeah.

15:51 There was also um What's that bird?

15:54 There's a bird that you can't eat every day for 30 days.

15:57 Um Bird?

15:58 Is it a fowl?

16:00 Can't eat it for 30 days.

16:01 There's a There's a bet that Doyle Brunson invented.

16:03 We could Google it.

16:04 Uh so Doyle Brunson used to have this bet where you had to eat quail quail.

16:10 How quail?

16:11 Yeah.

16:11 You had to eat quail every single day for 30 days.

16:13 Okay.

16:14 It seems easy enough, right?

16:15 That's easy.

16:15 Yeah.

16:16 No, but you can't do it.

16:17 Really?

16:17 Yeah.

16:17 Why?

16:19 There's something about the salt in the quail that it

16:21 builds up too much that you just can't do it.

16:23 No way.

16:24 And so quail a day was the bet that Doyle would do.

16:26 And other people started to do these side bets.

16:28 Antonio Esfandiari and others would try to make these side bets.

16:32 And everyone tried to figure out different hustles.

16:33 They're like, "Okay,

16:34 I'll just drink laxatives or I'll have smoothies

16:35 or I'll do this or that." Nobody wins.

16:37 Holy crap.

16:38 Quail a day.

16:39 Yeah, quail a day for 30 days.

16:40 I would have never knew that if I took that bet.

16:42 Yeah, if I if I offered you the bet, you'd probably take it.

16:43 I was like, "I'll give you 100K if you eat

16:45 a quail a day for 30 days." Like it seems so easy.

16:48 Like you could just mix it in with your salad.

16:50 It seems easy.

16:50 Was there an amount you had to eat?

16:51 Yeah.

16:52 I don't know the I don't know the details, but you can see it on

16:54 That makes sense.

16:55 Wow.

16:56 What's the most you won on one of these side bets?

16:59 Um what was it?

17:00 Any crazy odds that you like pulled off like a 30 to one odds or something?

17:05 No.

17:06 I don't remember any of the crazy ones.

17:07 Okay.

17:08 Yeah, I feel like something There have been crazy ones.

17:09 I'm just Yeah, some people have wild stories.

17:11 Uh the one Jeff told me was some guy had to get breast surgery.

17:16 Yes.

17:16 He wrote a book about that.

17:17 Yeah.

17:17 yeah.

17:17 was crazy.

17:18 Yeah, and he had to do it for a year, but he had a pair of them.

17:20 For a million dollars, yeah.

17:21 Yeah, so he just has fake breasts.

17:23 I don't know I don't know how long he kept them for, but I

17:26 mean maybe he just didn't want to do the surgery again or whatever that was.

17:29 Yeah.

17:29 For a million, that doesn't seem worth it to me.

17:31 No, absolutely not.

17:32 No, I had this debate about power slap all the time.

17:34 Like how much money would I need to do power slap?

17:37 Yeah, versus one of the pros?

17:38 Yeah, well they do it for 5 to 10K now allegedly.

17:40 So I was like, there's no way.

17:42 No.

17:43 Like what would you do that for?

17:44 To get slapped by the pro?

17:46 Uh Yeah, that's a good point.

17:48 Shawn Kelly or slapped by the pro?

17:49 Depends who's doing it I guess.

17:50 Uh a pro.

17:51 A pro, a lot.

17:53 Probably a lot.

17:54 Well, they have to be in your weight class though.

17:55 You would be class?

17:56 Oh, I would do that for sure.

17:57 How much do you weigh?

17:57 You're pretty light.

17:58 Yeah, I'm light.

17:58 Like 146.

17:59 You're tall for your height, so I feel like you have a little advantage.

18:02 Yeah, I I I think 500K.

18:04 I get to slap them back, too?

18:05 Yeah, you get three hits each.

18:07 Yeah, I probably just do it.

18:08 Really?

18:09 Yeah.

18:09 For free?

18:10 Yeah, I mean I I don't I don't want to, but I

18:12 would not If I If it's against me versus another guy,

18:15 but I'm playing against like the power guy, no.

18:18 You're going to get six figures.

18:19 Yeah.

18:20 That makes sense.

18:21 Um you got a couple Guinness World Records, which is on my bucket list to do.

18:24 So I want to learn about these.

18:26 How many do you have?

18:27 Uh we just got our second one recently.

18:29 Um We did the the 12th year of the world's largest toy drive.

18:33 And this last one, we had 240,000 toys.

18:36 Jeez.

18:36 119,000 of them in one session.

18:39 We did 10 cities, 17 days from Raider Stadium, Miami Heat Arena, Stadium, etc.

18:46 And we brought in like Allen Iverson, Damon John,

18:48 a lot of great characters have been helping

18:50 us make the toy drives that much bigger.

18:52 Um so our first Guinness Book of World Record was most toys in one hour.

18:57 But what's really hard is Shannon, who my best friend,

19:01 she had to touch every toy on camera for it to count.

19:05 Wow.

19:06 And so we set up like this assembly line Yeah, warehouse full of toys,

19:10 and she was walking by 1 2 3 4 5 6, 7, 8.

19:12 Why did they do that though?

19:14 It's to verify the the number.

19:16 Instead of just taking a picture or seeing it,

19:18 she had to touch it and say it out loud.

19:19 We have it on video.

19:20 I feel like that kind of limits it cuz if you want to do more,

19:23 she wouldn't be able to touch them all.

19:24 Yeah, that's the the most in one hour.

19:25 It's to verify that it's there.

19:28 Wow.

19:28 Yeah, and so we had like we stacked them up and as she touched them,

19:31 we'd have someone remove.

19:33 So she'd go back down the line.

19:34 Such impressive.

19:35 So be it's I don't see how anyone could could beat it.

19:38 Was this a category before you did it or no?

19:40 Uh was it a brand new uh No, there was a Yeah.

19:44 Okay.

19:44 Yeah.

19:44 That's what I'm trying to figure out

19:45 cuz there's certain podcasts that are already there,

19:47 but I want to kind of create a new one.

19:49 Well, what you could do I I could see

19:50 winning is something like most podcasts in a row.

19:53 That's what I want to go for.

19:54 Or like or like no sleep or something like

19:56 24 hours straight or 48 hours straight or whatever.

19:58 I want to do a 24-hour day just non-stop.

19:59 You can do it for sure.

20:00 Yeah.

20:00 Yeah.

20:01 Listen, yeah, there's a lot of things that I think Sean Kelly could pull off.

20:03 I've done 12, so 24 just double that.

20:06 Coffee and some snacks, I'd be good.

20:08 You could do it 24.

20:08 I've played poker for 4 days straight.

20:10 Before?

20:10 For real?

20:11 Yeah, with no sleep, no naps.

20:12 Your game must have been messed up by the third day, right?

20:14 I felt great.

20:15 Why?

20:15 So so delirious, I felt great.

20:17 That's nuts.

20:18 Yeah.

20:18 I mean, they say fasting makes you think sharper,

20:21 so you you probably weren't eating much.

20:22 I mean, I don't recommend it,

20:23 but like day two was harder than day three and four.

20:26 Like you you hit the you get delirious on day three.

20:28 Yeah, they say you're legally drunk, right?

20:30 On day two.

20:31 Yeah.

20:31 And you weren't feeling any of that?

20:32 I've done two days like 100 times.

20:34 Wow.

20:35 Three days I've done 30 or 40 or 50 times.

20:37 What do you average for a night for sleeping?

20:39 How many hours?

20:40 Normally uh five to six.

20:42 I was going to say, with your lifestyle it

20:43 must be super hard to get a consistent sleep schedule.

20:45 I I go to bed around 12:00 to 2:00 and I get up at 6:00 or 7:00.

20:49 So that it just depends.

20:50 And are you working the whole day?

20:51 Yeah, yeah.

20:52 No time for any of your hobbies or like I mean, my daughter,

20:56 but even then she's interacting with me when I'm working and stuff,

20:58 but um when I play poker, I'm on my phone still much of the time.

21:04 That's why I don't play a lot of tournaments.

21:05 So can't focus enough for a tournaments.

21:07 When you play cash games it's mostly at night time.

21:09 My phone gets quiet after 7:00 or 8:00 p.m.

21:12 My phone's intense from 6:00 a.m.

21:14 to 6:00 p.m.

21:15 And then it's quieter as it gets into the night.

21:17 Um it's still pretty active, but Yeah.

21:19 when it gets to like 8:00, 9:00, 10:00 p.m.

21:21 it's not active at all.

21:21 It's just Yeah, I relate to that man.

21:23 I just can't shut it off.

21:25 I love working.

21:26 You know, people are like why do you work so much?

21:29 I'm like dude, I love it.

21:30 If I gave you $50 million to not ever work again, could you do it?

21:34 No.

21:34 No.

21:35 And people think we're crazy for that, but I just love it dude.

21:38 I'd feel so much like a lack of purpose if I wasn't working.

21:44 Yeah.

21:43 Cuz I've been there like when I sold a a company

21:46 and I wasn't really working that much, I was depressed.

21:49 You know, with millions in the bank, didn't matter.

21:52 So $50 million wouldn't really do anything.

21:55 People think that the money is the end result.

21:57 The game is the result.

21:58 Like the game is the fun part for people that are addicted.

22:01 And again, I don't recommend it.

22:03 Most Most people should not be entrepreneurs.

22:05 Agreed.

22:05 It's not for everyone, especially now I feel like it's pretty hard actually.

22:09 Actually yes and no, like AI has made it somewhat easier.

22:11 It's easier than ever to start a company.

22:14 Obviously, with AI, with every platform you can imagine

22:17 makes it cheaper free to do anything you want.

22:19 Corporation, trademark, shipping, 3PL warehouse,

22:22 white label, like you can do anything.

22:23 Like we could come with a company now and be live tonight.

22:26 Yeah.

22:27 Literally tonight with full corporations

22:28 and trademarks and shipping internationally,

22:31 set up on Amazon warehouse, like we could do everything tonight.

22:34 But most people should be employee number three or number seven.

22:38 It's a way better life.

22:40 It's you're going to you actually get paid.

22:42 Employee number one is last to get paid.

22:44 Right.

22:44 Like stone cold last.

22:45 Employee number three and employee number seven,

22:47 they get paid throughout the whole time.

22:49 And so I don't even though I'm preaching about entrepreneurship all the time,

22:53 I actually don't tell you people to be entrepreneurs.

22:55 I'm just showcasing them how to do it if they are in it.

22:57 If you're sick enough to be an entrepreneur, then I want to explain it all,

23:01 but I want to explain the blunt reality of it, too.

23:03 Agreed.

23:04 I think it's important.

23:04 Have you ever worked for someone else?

23:06 In high school.

23:07 High school?

23:08 Yeah.

23:08 Peanuts, Cracker Jacks.

23:10 [laughter] I was selling peanuts, Cracker Jacks,

23:11 and cotton candy at the stadium at Qualcomm Stadium.

23:14 Uh it was Jack Murphy Stadium back then.

23:16 I worked at Ruby's Diner with a sailor's cap on.

23:18 And I worked for a stockbroker for cash under the table.

23:21 Okay.

23:21 I was 17.

23:22 But, I saved up that 43,000 during those 3 years,

23:25 and that's what I started my company with.

23:26 Nice.

23:26 And how long did it take to become a millionaire?

23:29 So, actually did our first million in this building.

23:31 Really?

23:31 At the Venetian.

23:33 Venetian?

23:32 Yeah.

23:33 What was that company?

23:34 It was called the Magic, the clothing convention.

23:36 Oh, you started that?

23:37 I didn't start Magic.

23:38 My first booth was at Magic.

23:39 Yeah.

23:40 But, it was here, the Venetian, in this hallway.

23:42 Wow.

23:42 And we did a million dollars in orders.

23:44 That's incredible.

23:44 Yeah.

23:45 I wasn't even allowed to legally get into the casino.

23:47 Oh, yeah, cuz you're not 21.

23:48 Yeah, I crazy butterfly effect.

23:50 The taxi driver cuz I got turned down for my own booth that I had paid for.

23:54 Mhm.

23:54 It was 3,400 bucks per 10 ft.

23:56 I went crazy and got 20 ft.

23:58 You know, I'm going to be huge.

23:59 I spent 6,800 bucks, out of 43,000, a lot of money.

24:04 We traveled here, we drove here from San Diego, had our samples with us,

24:07 and they turned us down cuz we couldn't get a badge, we weren't old enough.

24:11 And so, the taxi cab driver said,

24:13 "I know a business card vending machine at a grocery store.

24:17 Let's take you there,

24:18 and we'll make you business cards." I still have the cards.

24:21 Uh made this Who's Your Daddy the clothing line and my phone number.

24:25 And so, we made this business card, came back over, used that to get in.

24:28 And we wrote a million dollars in orders.

24:31 Holy crap.

24:32 And the reason that happened was Sean John,

24:34 Puffy Daddy's clothing line, started at the same Magic convention in 1999.

24:38 On my left was FUBU.

24:40 Mhm.

24:40 They had a whole walkway.

24:41 Daymond's.

24:41 Yep.

24:42 So, Daymond John's walking by with LL Cool J and Evander Holyfield.

24:45 I still have the pictures of me as an 18-year-old

24:47 kid with LL Cool J and Evander Holyfield and Shannon.

24:50 She was there, my best friend was there with me.

24:51 And um we're at the booth,

24:54 and we got so lucky because Sean John's here, FUBU's here,

24:57 we're a little 20-ft booth,

24:59 and everyone has to stand in front of our booth waiting for their appointments.

25:03 Oh.

25:03 You picked a good spot.

25:04 By accident.

25:05 I don't want to take credit for it.

25:07 And so, we just started getting Mervyn's and uh Kohl's and Nordstrom.

25:13 We got Nordstrom, which was a big one for us, Mr.

25:16 Rags and Dr.

25:16 Jay's, which are big stores on the East Coast.

25:19 Yeah.

25:19 And we just started writing orders.

25:20 We didn't have a manufacturer yet.

25:22 Why?

25:22 It's all pre-orders.

25:23 We We had like a t-shirt printer in San Diego.

25:26 Not someone that could actually make sweaters and jackets and shoes

25:30 and hats and things we were selling that we didn't have.

25:33 And so, we got back from the convention,

25:35 we went to what's called the Apparel Mart in downtown LA,

25:38 and just started walking around asking people for manufacturers.

25:42 One guy screwed us over.

25:43 He charged us $36,000 for 12 samples.

25:45 Jeez.

25:46 For 12 samples?

25:47 Yeah.

25:48 Well, that's not what 12,000 a sample?

25:50 Exactly.

25:50 Which not It was supposed to be $36,000 for 1,200 units.

25:56 Oh my god.

25:57 You get Oh, you meant 12.

25:59 No, he just wanted to steal from us.

26:01 Oh, okay.

26:02 [laughter] And that was all the money you had, right?

26:03 Yeah.

26:03 You only had 43.

26:04 Yes.

26:05 And so, we ended up meeting this guy named Christopher Wicks.

26:08 He had the licenses to Hang Ten, Ocean Pacific, Body Glove, LA Gear,

26:13 and he ended up selling a brand called English

26:15 Laundry for over $100 million like a button-up shirt company.

26:18 That guy became our fearless leader.

26:21 He was had a big warehouse.

26:23 He helped make all of our clothes for us.

26:25 He helped us get us that licensing deal

26:27 for $9.5 million when we were 19 years old.

26:30 He got us a $9.5 million deal in the UK,

26:33 and his son and I are still really good friends, Christian Wicks.

26:36 That's awesome.

26:36 Many, many years later.

26:37 It's crazy how full circle life is.

26:39 Now you're friends with Damon.

26:40 Oh, yeah.

26:41 I think about that all the time.

26:42 That's why I'm never mean to anyone,

26:43 even if they're just starting out, because you never know.

26:45 Yep.

26:46 surpass you down the road.

26:47 I I think about like my very first meetings when

26:50 I was 18 years old were inside of FUBU's office, the FUBU ladies office.

26:55 We had a ladies division.

26:56 The ladies division did like 115 million dollars in 18 months.

27:01 FUBU did?

27:01 Yeah.

27:01 Started out the men's apparel.

27:03 That's crazy.

27:04 So, a guy named Elliot, he had the license to get FUBU ladies.

27:08 And um So, crazy story.

27:10 So, right after Magic, there's a guy walks by me.

27:13 He's like, "I love your t-shirt." I was like, "Well, it's our brand.

27:15 It's over there." He's like, "You own the trademark Who's Your Daddy?

27:18 You got to be at our convention next week.

27:20 It's called the Action Sports Retail Show, ASR." In San Diego.

27:24 I'm like, "Oh, we live in San Diego." He's like,

27:25 "We've been sold out for like 10 months.

27:27 I'll give you a 10-ft booth.

27:29 You got to pay 3,500 bucks for it.

27:32 Um and I'm going to put you right by the check-in

27:34 desk where all 20,000 people have to check in.

27:37 You're going to be right there where they got to wait in line

27:38 in front of your booth." I was like, "Yes." Call my mom.

27:42 My mom makes 22 grand for the year.

27:44 And I'm asking her for $3,500 on her credit card.

27:47 This is a big deal for her, right?

27:48 Like, she makes two grand a month.

27:50 And she does it.

27:51 So, okay.

27:52 I I just wrote a million dollars in orders.

27:54 Believe in me.

27:55 My brother's telling me not to do it.

27:57 My partner's dad is like,

27:58 "Don't do it." They have My brother My partner's dad has a $200 million company.

28:03 They're like, "You can't even make the orders.

28:04 What are you going to another convention for?" I was like,

28:06 "We got to do this." It's in San Diego.

28:09 It's It's kismet.

28:10 We got to go.

28:11 So, we show up with like a couch and a rolling rack and a boom box.

28:15 And next to us is Calvin Klein.

28:18 But, we didn't realize this for a 4-day convention,

28:21 no one comes back to the check-in desk after day one.

28:25 So, it was crickets, a ghost town on day two, three, and four.

28:28 No one's there.

28:30 Why that matters is it changed my entire life,

28:31 and it changed the whole freaking world scenario.

28:34 Tens of millions of dollars happened because of this moment.

28:37 The head of Calvin Klein, his name was Carlos Vasquez,

28:40 was also working for FUBU ladies.

28:43 He's like, "Oh, whenever you come to New York, look me up.

28:45 Come by the office." Well,

28:47 I took that as an entrepreneur as Sunday night the convention ends at 6:00 p.m.

28:52 We're going to take a red eye at midnight to land in New York at 6:00 a.m.

28:55 and go to his office.

28:56 Mhm.

28:58 Without telling him.

28:58 There's no cell phones back then.

28:59 This is 1999.

29:01 So, 6:00 a.m.

29:03 rolls around.

29:03 I'm like, well, let's wait till 9:00 a.m.

29:05 to actually go there.

29:06 So, we go hang out at the bagel shop and just wait until 9:00 a.m.

29:09 9:01 we walk in.

29:12 Uh Missy Elliott's in there getting her clothing outfit.

29:15 Again, this is '99.

29:16 Yeah.

29:16 And um we walk up to the front desk and the lady was like,

29:19 you don't have a meeting with Carlos.

29:20 He has no meetings today.

29:21 He's flying back from Magic.

29:23 Like, oh, no, no.

29:24 We flew back from Magic or not Magic, from ASR.

29:26 We flew back from ASR.

29:28 Uh we have a meeting with him.

29:29 She's like, no, you don't.

29:29 There's no meetings with him today.

29:30 I I have a schedule right here.

29:32 And he happens to walk by with his luggage bag.

29:35 Wow.

29:36 And he was like, what are you guys doing?

29:38 We're like, you said to look you up when we come to town.

29:40 And he just started slow clapping.

29:42 Like, come on, you boys.

29:44 So, we're going in the back room.

29:46 We're going in his office and he's like, I want you to meet the CEO.

29:51 You're only probably going to get 5 minutes with him.

29:53 But 5 minutes will change your life.

29:54 This guy was a CEO for Jordache, Donna Karan, and Perry Ellis.

29:59 All billion-dollar companies.

30:01 And he owned the FUBU ladies license and he's helping.

30:04 So, we go into this meeting.

30:06 5 minutes becomes 4 and 1/2 hours.

30:08 What?

30:09 I learned more about business in those 4 and 1/2 hours when

30:11 I was 18 years old than I have learned my whole life.

30:14 Jeez.

30:14 He told me about every part of clothing, uh what a four-way rack does,

30:19 how the real estate there's a store within a store at every department store,

30:22 what slotting fees are, merchandising fees.

30:23 Everything burned in my brain is from that first meeting.

30:27 The president of Sean John came by, Jeffrey Tweedy, and he was like,

30:30 I'm not going to go to meet lunch with you.

30:31 I'm meeting with these boys.

30:32 You're going to work for them one day.

30:34 I still remember all these things from 20 years ago.

30:37 And so, the butterfly effect all stemmed from taking that booth for 3,500 bucks,

30:42 borrowing my mom's credit card to do it to reserve it,

30:45 showing up with a freaking couch to make a booth,

30:48 making friends with Carlos, going to meet him like the butterfly effect of that?

30:52 Because then we ended up doing millions of dollars revenue, partnership deals,

30:56 and all these things with that whole circle and crew because of that moment.

31:00 of events and networking, Matt.

31:01 That's why I go to events.

31:03 You know, you never know who you'll meet.

31:04 Just takes one person, right?

31:05 Change your life.

31:06 That moment changed my life.

31:07 Crazy.

31:08 You were 18.

31:09 Oh, yeah.

31:10 Why did he uh let you have 4 and 1/2 hours of his time?

31:14 I think he was fascinated by us.

31:17 The The name was such a big deal back then.

31:19 Who's your daddy?

31:20 Yeah, the catchphrase, the slogan,

31:21 the fact that we had the energy to do it

31:23 and go to these conventions and write a million dollars in orders,

31:26 like the fact that major chain stores were giving

31:28 us a shot when we were open with them.

31:31 Like we just started.

31:32 We're high school.

31:33 But we told them the story and they all like found it endearing.

31:36 Literally here.

31:37 I'm weird.

31:37 I'm like wearing the Manischewitz.

31:38 Like And uh they were like I said we

31:42 sold 100 t-shirts at lunch at 15 bucks each.

31:45 We felt like we're millionaires.

31:46 We made $1,500.

31:47 And I said, "But more importantly, they weren't just buying cuz of us.

31:51 Like we had on a table with the shirts and the hats,

31:54 and people would come by and we had like a girl would

31:56 just sit there and help sell for us for us at lunches.

31:58 And so it wasn't like we're doing Dana a favor.

32:01 And brother, $15 back then is a lot of money.

32:03 It's still a lot of money to a high school kid now.

32:05 Imagine back then.

32:07 And so we said we know that people will buy this.

32:10 People like this name, whether it's for sex, for comedy,

32:12 or for sports, they like the name Who's Your Daddy?

32:15 And so it just it worked.

32:17 And then when we got into the stores, it it sold really, really well.

32:21 Really, really well.

32:22 What happened to the trademark?

32:23 Do you still have it?

32:24 No, I mean we went public uh in 2005.

32:27 April 1st, 2005, we went public on the stock market when I was 23.

32:32 I did it another 4 years, so 2009.

32:34 Got into 55,000 retail stores through

32:37 Through 43 distributors for the energy drink under the same name.

32:41 And we had energy shots also.

32:43 All the casinos here had in every every hotel room.

32:45 I had billboards in front of the Planet

32:47 Hollywood casino like we were big back then.

32:50 We were the seventh largest drink out of the 900 drinks on the market.

32:54 And then on the 10-year anniversary I started 1999 on May 18th.

32:57 On May 18th 2009 I resigned.

33:00 You resigned?

33:02 During that One of the feather in my cap.

33:04 Yeah.

33:04 Why not?

33:04 I don't know.

33:05 I know.

33:06 Did your ego ever get crazy during that time

33:07 period cuz you were so young, so successful?

33:10 No.

33:11 I've always been calm about everything throughout this whole

33:13 time cuz I've watched a lot of people make money, lose money, go broke, die.

33:16 Yeah.

33:17 You know, my roommate at the time had passed away.

33:19 He was a number two NFL player in the league.

33:21 Wow.

33:22 Right behind Warren Sapp.

33:23 His name was Darrell Russell.

33:24 He passed away in a car accident.

33:26 And I just watched the butterfly effect over the situation that happened to him.

33:29 And one bad scenario what happened was all

33:32 over the news and made him get in depression

33:35 and then ended up in a car accident that he should never have been in that car.

33:39 And so I just think about how fleeting life is and so I don't ego stuff.

33:42 I don't have stuff.

33:43 I don't I don't own cars.

33:44 You never see me post about cars in my life.

33:46 I've had the same watch for since 2008.

33:48 No.

33:48 18 years I've had this watch.

33:50 I've replaced it once but it's the same watch.

33:52 I don't own any other watches.

33:54 So I don't post about bling bling and things like that.

33:56 Like it's not it's not my thing.

33:58 And so from an ego perspective I just know there's a lot

34:00 of people that are infinitely richer than me in multiple aspects of life.

34:05 And I've just watched a lot of people with egos crash and burn.

34:10 Same.

34:10 You never got caught up in comparing.

34:12 No.

34:12 No.

34:12 I I am still excited when my friend buys a cool car or buys

34:15 a cool watch or buys a builds a huge company or like I get ecstatic.

34:20 Even my competitors.

34:21 I feel like that's a rare thing these days.

34:23 It's a frame of mind.

34:25 It them going and getting cool watches, cool cars is inspiring me.

34:28 Them going and selling their company for a zillion dollars is inspiring to me.

34:33 And so, I don't like it when it's like a bad

34:35 person if I know they're a bad guy or just you know,

34:38 but I'm not jealous of them even if they're a bad person.

34:40 I'm still And by the way, when my competitors crush it, it inspires me, too.

34:43 I think that way, too.

34:44 When I see podcasts sell like Travel just sold for 200 million, I get excited.

34:49 That's good for everyone, I feel like.

34:51 Call Her Daddy, Steven Bartlett, like all these deals,

34:54 I'm like, "Oh my god, I'm so excited." Yeah.

34:57 And when I'm ahead of them for some time frame on the charts,

35:00 I don't think I deserve 100 million dollars because they got it.

35:02 It makes me work like, "What did they do?

35:04 Why did they do this?

35:04 How do they structure it?

35:05 What do they What do they What platforms are they using?" Like,

35:08 I want to understand it.

35:09 Exactly.

35:10 I am full-fledged cheering for them.

35:11 I message them all the time about it.

35:12 Like, I'm I love it.

35:13 Yeah, I think I think Diary of a CEO is going to be the number one show.

35:17 Sure.

35:17 I think he's going to be a billionaire.

35:19 Yeah, he's already nine figures and he's in his 20s or early 20s, I believe.

35:22 They're crazy.

35:23 I mean, it's super impressive.

35:25 Um you've met some of the most famous people in the world,

35:27 the most wealthiest people in the world, and you don't get a fan base at all.

35:30 Not at all.

35:31 You just treat them like a normal person.

35:34 What's really interesting is how normal most of them are.

35:37 There are a few people that are true celebrities, right?

35:40 You're around J.

35:41 Lo, you feel an aura.

35:42 She's a freaking megastar, right?

35:45 She's still Jenny from the block when you're at her apartment

35:47 and she's eating and talking like she's still a regular person.

35:50 Kim Kardashian is as famous as it gets.

35:52 When you're at her house with her kids, like she's mom.

35:55 She's a you know, she's a regular person.

35:57 And so, regular I use the word loosely cuz they you

36:00 have to have a bit of a screw loose to become legends,

36:03 to become a household name.

36:05 You have to have a bit of a screw loose to do

36:06 that cuz there's you're going to get ridiculed by half the world, right?

36:10 Half the people think J.

36:10 Lo sucks.

36:11 Half the people think Kim Kardashian is evil, like Right.

36:14 but the other half adore her.

36:15 Same thing happens in politics and musicians, everyone in between.

36:19 And so, it no one makes me like, "Oh my god,

36:23 they're a celebrity." There are people that I I idolize still,

36:26 Michael Jordan, right?

36:27 There's some characters in my life that I grew up on, but I

36:30 know that once I've got past that for a minute with Michael Jordan,

36:33 I would go play blackjack with him

36:34 or interview him on a podcast, perfectly calm.

36:37 Yeah.

36:37 There's very few characters, Elon Musk.

36:40 I'm so fascinated by a guy that has

36:41 four multi-billion dollar companies at the same time.

36:44 But after 2 minutes, I'm sure we just talk like boys, right?

36:47 And so when you really truly think about it,

36:50 there's there's no one that's been like

36:52 a oh my god superstar um outside of that.

36:56 Like Justin Bieber's a very regular guy, right?

36:59 Mega mega mega mega mega star

37:01 that just single-handedly sold out Coachella, right?

37:05 Yeah.

37:05 But if you would go play basketball with him 100%.

37:08 He's in a league than normal people.

37:12 Yeah.

37:12 When I joined your mastermind, that that was my first, I guess,

37:15 times meeting celebrities in person,

37:17 and I'm glad it it like opened my eyes up to it.

37:19 Now I don't get really starstruck, you know, with the podcast.

37:22 Well, you've interviewed so many of them now.

37:23 Yeah.

37:23 Well, like I definitely used to be that weird.

37:25 A lot of people are in this fanboy era,

37:27 and they look at these celebrities like a pedestal.

37:29 They still do.

37:29 You know, yes, they still do.

37:31 also important for our economy.

37:32 If that goes away, that literally changes the the whole world, for sure.

37:36 Think about why people watch TV shows, why they watch movies,

37:39 why they drink certain drinks, why they eat certain snacks,

37:42 why do they go to XYZ thing,

37:44 why do they go to concerts, why do they go to comedy shows?

37:47 Because it's Kevin Hart's brand.

37:49 Because it's J.

37:49 Lo performing at Caesar's Palace.

37:51 Because it's Justin Bieber performing at Coachella.

37:54 If that goes away, we're cooked.

37:56 Yeah, I agree.

37:57 Yeah, but that first mastermind was legendary.

37:59 Mark Wahlberg, you had Another opening speaker.

38:01 Yeah, Bruce Buffer did the intros.

38:03 You had, I think, Shaq, Floyd Mayweather.

38:05 Yep.

38:05 Uh Tyga performed.

38:07 Nick Cannon was a DJ.

38:09 Crazy.

38:10 Uh stacked.

38:11 Kris Jenner was on a panel.

38:12 Yeah.

38:12 She should be panel.

38:13 She was on a woman's panel.

38:15 I was like, what is she doing there?

38:16 Yeah.

38:17 It was a that was like a last-minute thing,

38:19 and she obviously should would a keynote um cuz she's a legend,

38:21 but like we were just jam-packed and I spent 3.2 million in one weekend.

38:25 Yeah, he was

38:26 to do do the opening and cuz we sold $10 million worth of spots in 7 weeks.

38:32 So it didn't feel real.

38:33 Like I've been throwing free events my whole life.

38:36 Elevator Night was free.

38:37 And then to announce it's a $100,000

38:38 per person mastermind and then sell out within

38:41 a couple months was like Power of social

38:43 media cuz you didn't even run ads, right?

38:44 It was all organic.

38:45 It was your ads.

38:45 Crazy.

38:46 That's the power of a brand.

38:47 Yeah.

38:48 $10 million in 7 weeks you said?

38:50 Yeah.

38:50 We had 100 members, sold out in 7 weeks.

38:53 Our very first event was November 1st, 2019.

38:57 And Bruce Buffer did the intro.

38:59 Mark Wahlberg was our first surprise interview.

39:01 No one knew.

39:01 That's the other thing is people bought

39:03 in for $100,000 not knowing what was going to happen.

39:05 Yeah.

39:06 And me not having any proof of previous

39:08 events outside of Elevator Night, a free event.

39:11 But they knew the pitch was you're going to be around

39:14 100 other people that are doing 10 million or more in revenue.

39:16 Yep.

39:18 Do you think that we can have you make or save 1%?

39:21 If you're doing 10 million and we help you make or save 1%, 100 grand free.

39:24 Exactly.

39:25 What if you're doing 18 million or 26 million or 42 million?

39:28 And then we're going to bring in 22 instructors that are doing

39:30 over 100 million revenue or or spending over 100 million on ads.

39:34 And then that mastermind that weekend I'll never forget I'll never forget it.

39:38 There's so many people I met at that event that I still talk to.

39:40 There's people I've done deals with.

39:42 I tell people all the time I made back my money tenfold,

39:45 maybe then 100x at this point at that mastermind, dude.

39:48 And that's why I have events.

39:49 What do you think about last night?

39:50 Packed, cool, right?

39:51 Yeah, it was packed.

39:52 Yeah, we had to shut down the doors at 9:00 cuz people

39:54 were uh people were posting it and like finding out about the event.

39:58 Right.

39:58 Cuz once the address gets leaked then Yeah,

40:00 I'm sure you've learned that at past events, too.

40:02 Yeah, we we always do the what you did also is put out the address last minute.

40:05 However, people nowadays can just share the location.

40:09 So even if you shut up us people in

40:11 Damn, I didn't think about that.

40:12 So I did the world's largest pizza festival a couple times.

40:15 And I had the last one, Steve Aoki and Lil Wayne.

40:20 The first time we had Tyga, 2 Chainz, Wiz Khalifa, it was super cool,

40:23 but it was like a decade ago, so you couldn't share your PIN.

40:27 The one after that, we didn't tell anyone the address.

40:30 It happened to be the same exact venue, no one knew.

40:32 And we shuttle bused them from UCLA parking lot.

40:35 It's a thousand people.

40:35 It's 900 girls, 100 guys, and there's no tickets for sale.

40:38 You don't have to buy a table or nothing.

40:41 And so, we have literally armed security down at the gate.

40:45 There was no way in, and you can only take shuttle buses to get in.

40:48 And I went to this.

40:49 Yes.

40:49 I flew in for that.

40:51 Yeah.

40:51 The problem was, people started sharing their PIN.

40:54 And not telling people,

40:55 and not realizing cuz they were on a shuttle bus when

40:57 they came in, they didn't realize there was armed guards down there.

41:00 On a one-way street.

41:02 And so, hundreds of cars started showing up trying to talk their way in.

41:05 Jeez.

41:06 There is no ticket.

41:07 There is no way in.

41:08 You have to be on a shuttle bus.

41:09 You literally cannot drive on cuz it's a residence.

41:11 It's a house.

41:13 And so, we had a interesting scenario.

41:15 There was little fire marshals and police, and helicopters,

41:17 and all that stuff that were going on behind the scenes of like,

41:19 "Get them out of here.

41:20 Get these cars going.

41:21 They are not coming in no matter And there was

41:23 household name celebrities and big big big big big name musicians,

41:26 rappers were like, "There's nothing we can do." Wow.

41:29 Nothing.

41:30 That's nuts.

41:30 I didn't even think about that.

41:31 Yeah, the PIN.

41:32 Yes.

41:33 That's crazy.

41:33 That was a great event, though.

41:35 That was fun.

41:35 Man, that was your birthday, right?

41:36 Yes.

41:37 Yeah.

41:37 Yeah, you know how to throw a party.

41:39 It was expensive, but it was fun.

41:40 You've done a lot of them.

41:41 Yeah.

41:42 I do the birthday party every year cuz it's it's a lot for marketing.

41:45 It's a lot for fun.

41:46 It's like an excuse to get all

41:47 the influencers together and all the models together,

41:49 and they're all posting with each other.

41:51 Um and I'll typically bring in someone like a Travis Barker or a 2 Chainz.

41:55 I'll bring in a piece of talent to perform cuz

41:57 it makes it a memorable experience and a shareable experience.

42:00 Everyone's got their phones out.

42:02 And so, my birthday party I utilize it for the marketing and for the fun,

42:05 and then um if there's any revenue or sponsors, that all goes to charity.

42:09 So, that's how I always orchestrate it.

42:11 that.

42:11 What are the most common event mistakes you see

42:13 for people that are looking to throw events or attend events?

42:16 There's a couple of key things that make people want

42:18 to leave a party or or be mad about a party.

42:22 Getting in.

42:22 People do not want to wait.

42:25 VIPs definitely don't want to wait, but they regular people or regular people

42:28 that are just regular attendees or acquaintances,

42:30 they don't want to wait either.

42:31 So, getting in fast and effectively.

42:34 Cleanliness.

42:35 If your bathrooms are messy or there's no toilet paper

42:38 or there's no paper towels or people remember that stuff.

42:41 If it's bad in there, it's bad.

42:45 Yeah.

42:44 Food.

42:45 That's what people are there for, right?

42:47 They want food and drinks.

42:50 Mhm.

42:49 And lastly, the AV.

42:52 If your AV sucks, you cannot have a good event.

42:54 Mhm.

42:54 Yeah, I don't think about that one.

42:55 It's so annoying.

42:57 Imagine you've got Trick and Wyclef on stage

43:00 and it's or you can't hear him or whatever.

43:02 Oh my god, it's so nice.

43:03 So, we just have rules about get them in fast,

43:07 keep it clean, feed them, and get them out.

43:10 Yeah.

43:10 Yeah, the food's important.

43:12 Mhm.

43:12 I I would say top three.

43:14 And it's not that you have to have the fanciest of food.

43:16 It's that you have to have quality food that's hot.

43:18 Right.

43:19 And so, I'd rather if let's say you're throwing an event from 8:00 p.m.

43:21 to midnight, I'd rather you have food coming at 8:00,

43:24 10:00, and 12:00 on the way out.

43:26 Mhm.

43:27 What people do is they front load it all at 8:00 o'clock.

43:29 Yeah.

43:29 All the food shows up at 8:00 o'clock.

43:31 What about at 10:30?

43:32 A lot of people show up to your party at 9:30 or 10:00,

43:34 they go over the food, the burgers are cold,

43:37 the hot dogs are not called hot dogs anymore.

43:40 The salad is melted.

43:41 Like it's Like you just it's bad.

43:43 Valid.

43:44 And so, staging your food is a very useful trick.

43:47 Best events other than your own that you've been to?

43:50 Um 10X, obviously Grant Cardone's.

43:52 That's the first conference I ever went to.

43:54 That's unreal.

43:55 Yeah.

43:55 Yeah, I mean, but Grant's spending 8 million, 12 million to put on a production.

43:58 That's a whole 'nother world, right?

44:00 The Growth Con is amazing.

44:02 Um Russell Brunson's Funnel Hacking Live.

44:06 Mhm.

44:06 That is 4,000, 5,000 plus people and he just runs it so clean.

44:11 Very quality PS.

44:13 Such a great room.

44:15 Um Traffic and Conversion Summit.

44:18 That one was big.

44:19 That was like 10,000 people show.

44:20 They stopped doing that one, right?

44:22 Yes.

44:22 All three of those brands stopped this last year.

44:24 I've noticed that.

44:25 I want to get your opinion on that.

44:26 Um Summit at Sea, Summit Series.

44:30 That's more expensive.

44:31 It's like a $4,000 base ticket.

44:33 Um they just had Summit at Sea recently.

44:35 And events.com just bought them.

44:37 So they're going to scale that that brand up a lot.

44:40 Um Wonder Well, yeah.

44:44 That's the Tony Robbins and Dean Graziosi

44:46 have the what's called the Zenith Mastermind.

44:48 It's $250,000 to be a member.

44:51 It's only a few dozen members cuz he's

44:53 not letting the what's called the the Lions.

44:55 He has 600 plus members in Lions.

44:58 Um but he's not marketing to them.

45:00 He's getting really interesting like billionaires and real

45:02 estate developers and the Brian McKnight, the singer,

45:06 and the guy with $2 billion of commercial developments,

45:09 and a guy with a $100 billion fund, like very interesting characters.

45:12 Um And so yeah, I've been going there for a year

45:15 and a half and that's really impressive group that he's put together there.

45:18 That's the most expensive uh mastermind I've ever seen, I think.

45:21 Yeah, quarter million dollars is for sure.

45:22 And he deserves it.

45:24 It's Tony Robbins and Dean, you know.

45:26 Um and they put on such an experience.

45:28 It's 3 days at like the Breakers Hotel or 3 days at this mansion

45:32 and estate and they they bring in some really cool surprise performers.

45:35 So they've done it on the highest level.

45:38 Nice.

45:38 Yeah.

45:39 It's a good list.

45:40 I haven't been to Summit.

45:42 Um what was the other one you said before that?

45:44 Traffic and Conver- Traffic and Conversion Summit.

45:46 But Summit I just saw recently people were saying

45:48 it was amazing and that's not on a a boat.

45:51 So they do multiple events a year,

45:52 but called Summit Series, then they do Summit at Sea.

45:55 Okay.

45:56 And Summit at Sea is impressive.

45:58 Yeah, I feel like when you're on a cruise

45:59 ship you're a little more easy going, right?

46:02 Yes.

46:02 Feel like it's a mental thing.

46:03 That's important with the vents, too.

46:04 The the mind framing, right?

46:06 Yeah, the problem for most events is they do it in a hotel ballroom Right.

46:09 with regular lighting and they expect you to just

46:11 sit there and be focused for 10 hours a day.

46:14 It's not going to It doesn't work anymore with the attention spans.

46:16 Yeah.

46:17 You back You line up 10 speakers back-to-back,

46:19 people are yawning by the fourth speaker.

46:20 It's also why, you know, at like Aspire Tour, we don't do hour-long speeches.

46:24 It's a lot of 20-minute, 25-minute, 20-minute, 25-minute, 20-minute, 25-minute.

46:28 Um cuz we're in an ADD society.

46:31 And there's some people we need to give a full 40 minutes to like fully explain,

46:34 you know, what's going on.

46:35 If they're teaching something like taxes or real estate or finance,

46:39 um but for the more emotional speeches or motivational speeches,

46:42 it's like 20-minute, 25-minute, let's go.

46:44 Because Makes sense.

46:44 the room um has ADD.

46:47 Yeah.

46:47 You know?

46:47 Like the event we did yesterday at Delilah,

46:50 it was 10- to 20-minute speeches, all of them.

46:52 I love that.

46:54 That I could actually sit down and probably listen from to end.

46:57 But like a full keynote these days that's an hour, I just It's hard.

47:00 It's hard.

47:00 It's hard.

47:00 Unless you have like an amazing storyteller like Ed Mylett or someone

47:03 like legend like I can tell a full story and you're

47:05 like watching a movie is what it feel watching a movie

47:08 is what it feels like and then people are crying, that's different.

47:10 But like Sure.

47:11 listening to a technical discussion for an hour is pretty tough.

47:14 Yeah.

47:14 Let's end off with the zoo.

47:15 How's that going?

47:17 The zoo is very cool.

47:18 We have 208 208 animals there um with the real Tarzan.

47:22 Uh we're going into almost our fourth year.

47:24 August will be year four since we got the place.

47:27 It's not open to the public, so it's not a zoo in that perspective.

47:30 It's an animal sanctuary.

47:31 Hollywood wouldn't let you do that, right?

47:33 They would, but they wouldn't.

47:34 And so I don't want to sit and argue with I

47:37 got multiple things I tried to do there in California very difficult.

47:39 The rules and politics are very frustrating.

47:42 I spent 1.3 million dollars building a 240,000 gallon lake

47:46 as a wedding video and I've never done a wedding.

47:48 What?

47:49 They wouldn't let you do weddings there?

47:50 No.

47:51 Wow.

47:51 They want me to get a CUP permit per wedding.

47:54 What's that?

47:55 A conditional use permit.

47:57 So let's say Shawn wants to get married on June 1st.

47:59 So Sounds cool.

48:01 You want to get married at the lake?

48:02 You're going to have goats and camels walk in from our zoo with you.

48:04 It's going to be a beautiful wedding.

48:06 Problem is I can't guarantee you June 1st.

48:08 I have to go get a CUP permit from the county office and they barely respond.

48:12 And so, I've been in this weird scenario like I can't promise Shawn, "Hey,

48:16 you're going to be able to do your wedding June 1st." cuz I don't know.

48:19 I have to wait and see if the county's going to respond.

48:21 So, they're just so backed up that they're not responding to people.

48:23 I don't know if they're they're backed up

48:24 or it's their excuse or they're That's a shame

48:27 cuz your venue would be one of the best

48:28 in the country cuz you have all the animals.

48:30 People love animals.

48:31 I almost hired baby pigs at my wedding.

48:33 That's fun.

48:34 Yeah, yeah.

48:34 That looks so adorable, but wow.

48:37 Sorry you're going through that.

48:38 Yeah, it's been very expensive,

48:39 long struggle and journey and it's I love the property.

48:42 It's just hard and the rules in California very difficult.

48:44 Dude, for a lot of businesses,

48:45 not just what you're in, but I hear so many horror stories.

48:48 There's so many places shut down in LA.

48:50 It's wild.

48:51 Household name restaurants, businesses have been around for 20,

48:54 30, 40, 50, 60 years are gone now.

48:56 They just can't.

48:57 I mean, Elon got out of there with Tesla.

48:59 Yep.

48:59 That's billions of dollars that Cali lost.

49:02 It's a shame cuz of what it should be.

49:03 It's the best weather in the world.

49:05 That's why I live in California.

49:06 I pay for the weather.

49:08 However, the the rules make it so hard

49:11 for millionaires and so hard for business owners to succeed.

49:14 Yeah.

49:14 The estate tax too on the real estate was crazy.

49:17 Did you hear about that?

49:18 Oh, yeah.

49:18 The mansion tax.

49:19 Yeah, that was nuts.

49:20 But dude, this was great.

49:21 Um, where can people find you and the podcast and everything?

49:23 Uh, just @danfleyshman across every single platform.

49:26 Also, when you guys are making your own social media handles,

49:29 make sure it's the same name, same spelling, wear the same shirt, same glasses,

49:33 make it look the same so it's easy for people when they have the same bio.

49:37 [music] See you guys.

49:38 Thanks for watching all the way to the end, guys.

49:39 Please hit like and subscribe.

49:41 It helps us grow the show and helps us get bigger guests.

49:44 Thank [music] you so much.