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 millions and millions 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 If I try to wire transfer to you at 2:08 p.m., you get it tomorrow.

0:14 If I send it to you Friday at 2:00 p.m., you get it on Monday.

0:17 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 it to be faster?

0:23 There's no incentive for Wells Fargo, Bank of America,

0:25 Chase to want to send you money faster.

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

0:37 Okay, guys.

0:38 Dan Fleshman 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.

0:44 Ranked top three.

0:46 Yep.

0:46 In uh 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.

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

0:53 Yeah.

0:54 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 pieces of companies, and just trying to scale.

1:02 Wow.

1:02 42 events a year, right?

1:04 Yes.

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

1:05 Yeah.

1:06 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 a different type of crowd.

1:15 We'll just do a back toback because our staff is there.

1:18 Yeah.

1:18 Our AV team is there.

1:19 It makes it easier.

1:20 That makes sense.

1:20 You 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.

1:30 Yes.

1:29 What a lifestyle.

1:30 And how long have you lived that way?

1:32 For Well, the events got really crazy after co,

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 main arena tour,

1:43 Aspire Tour, Operation Blackite, Elevator Night,

1:46 the masterminds, the charity events.

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

1:51 Insane.

1:51 Yeah.

1:52 I'm I'm every time I see your story, you're in a new city.

1:54 Yes.

1:54 I mean, even yesterday when you got to Vegas,

1:56 you spoke at an event, then you came to mine.

1:58 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.

2:06 I Well, 60 years is soon, too.

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

2:10 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 So, I want to do as much as I can.

2:16 You know, 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 did happen.

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

2:29 Gez.

2:30 And I had this list in my phone of the 39 friends and family.

2:33 And I think about it all the time why life

2:36 is so short cuz some of them were buff athletes.

2:39 Some of them are young zillionaires.

2:40 Some of them are just, you know,

2:41 close friends and family and didn't make it to 38 years old

2:44 and 44 years old and things like that that are younger than me.

2:47 And so I just think about it.

2:48 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 investing in Bitcoin early on helped with that, right?

2:57 Yeah, that was a fun ride.

2:58 And Ethereum, you did the first paper on Ethereum.

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

3:04 It started from a Facebook post and it just went viral and then um Inc.

3:09 magazine and Forbes magazine started asking me

3:10 questions and I did this articles for them.

3:13 Ethereum was 19 bucks.

3:16 Wow.

3:15 And the Ethereum Alliance came out.

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

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

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

3:26 And so I said, "Okay, well my post was essentially if it's good

3:29 enough for Fortune 500 companies and their attorneys,

3:32 it's good enough for me." And so I bought a lot at $19,

3:35 $190,000 worth at 19 bucks each went up to $44.

3:39 And I posted again like, "Okay guys, just to be clear, research this.

3:43 It wasn't more.

3:43 It wasn't like pitching Ethereum.

3:45 I was just explaining why I liked it." And then

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

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

3:54 I sold chunks along the way.

3:55 I don't want to 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, but I do have a funny story.

4:05 Yeah.

4:04 So I remember Chase Herro.

4:06 Yeah.

4:06 at his wedding.

4:07 Um, we set up like a poker room casino

4:10 night afterwards after the after the wedding and we

4:12 had like all these fake games for roulette

4:15 and blackjack and all these things that people could play.

4:17 And you know, Chase knows hundreds

4:19 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 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.

4:42 But the funny story is he wins all the hands and not all the hands,

4:46 but enough hands that he ends up net 15,000 and tips a,000 bucks to the dealer.

4:51 So $14,000.

4:52 Why does that matter?

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

4:56 At 7:00 in the morning,

4:57 I wake up to my phone and there's a bunch of messages like,

4:59 "You got to pay me this money.

5:00 You got to pay me this money." I was like, "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, I'm in Vegas."

5:08 We were in Newport Beach for the wedding

5:10 at 3:00 in the morning.

5:11 By 7:00 a.m.

5:12 He was in Vegas.

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

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

5:18 no, but I came here to bet football." I'm like,

5:20 "Yeah, but the brunch for the wedding is here.

5:21 Come back.

5:21 I'll give you the cash." No, no.

5:23 You got to pay me right the second.

5:24 I'm about to bet sports.

5:26 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 because it was $41?" Yeah.

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

5:40 Can you give this guy 14 grand in cash so you can go bet sports?

5:43 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 gosh.

5:51 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.

5:55 So, what a story.

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

6:00 Yes.

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

6:01 Right.

6:01 Every year he's got to relive it because it goes viral every year.

6:04 Yeah.

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

6:08 He he finally gave up.

6:09 Yeah, I saw that.

6:10 Yeah.

6:10 A few weeks ago.

6:10 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, right?

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

6:18 Oh, if you look at my phone, I can show you the so many 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, geez.

6:27 I was using it, but I wasn't just thinking about it as an investment.

6:31 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, like almost anything.

6:37 Yes.

6:38 Um, what do you think about the future of it?

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

6:41 Yeah.

6:42 There is literally no question Bitcoin will

6:44 be worth millions of dollars per coin.

6:46 It's like an actual 0% impossibility to not happen 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 there 4.6 million Bitcoin missing?

7:07 Because every day people lose their wallets,

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

7:12 Mhm.

7:13 And every day from now and into 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 and 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 like a Chamas for example or Michael Sailor etc.

7:46 That Bitcoin is also not in supply.

7:48 It's out there.

7:49 You can't buy from him.

7:50 Go off for Michael Sailor money right now.

7:52 Go offer Chimath money, right?

7:54 You can't buy 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 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

8:09 about it because 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

8:19 and less and the demand is going to get

8:21 bigger and bigger and bigger and the children that are

8:23 growing up 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.

8:33 The maxis never sell and some of them

8:34 even take a loan out against their portfolio.

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

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

8:43 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, there's no guessing.

8:56 There's no emotion.

8:56 It's a fact.

8:57 What about Ethereum?

8:58 So, Ethereum is harder because 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?

9:08 use of blockchain, use of everything.

9:09 Ethereum is more functional.

9:10 It powers our NFTs, it powers corporations.

9:13 Ethereum is 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 to actually like get into the mix

9:23 of Bitcoin where there's less of these bad

9:25 PR stories and less of all this drama.

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

9:30 tool that will be around forever and ever.

9:31 And it's very useful.

9:32 But I will say that there's a much bigger supply and from a supply and demand

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

9:40 Yeah.

9:40 Any other coins you are interested at.

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,

9:50 but to me 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.

10:01 Why?

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

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

10:04 you'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, Venmoil, Cash App,

11:16 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 it to you Friday at 28 p.m., you get it on Monday.

11:26 Why?

11:28 Silly.

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

11:33 Why would they want it 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.

11:45 Just put a reserve on your account for 180 days.

11:47 Go to paypal sucks.com.

11:49 You'll see so many sto Yeah, you'll see so many stories.

11:51 Oh my god.

11:52 PayPal, 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 it.

11:57 If you've got 64 grand that they're holding for for you for 6 months.

12:00 Why would they need six months?

12:00 It's ridiculous.

12:02 Tom, if they're holding your money's 64,000,

12:05 what about the other 17 million accounts that they're holding?

12:07 2 grand, 5 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 Yeah.

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

12:16 Yeah.

12:16 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

12:23 super turbos that are really fast.

12:25 The main event I want to play, but it's two weeks long.

12:27 And you know, I'm a busy bee.

12:30 I wish it was 10 days long.

12:32 Yeah.

12:32 Or if he makes the finals.

12:33 Yeah.

12:33 Wow.

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

12:35 Yeah.

12:35 His rocky.

12:36 What a guy.

12:37 Yes.

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

12:40 Like you said he was going out partying,

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

12:44 Yes.

12:44 That guy's different.

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

12:48 Oh, really?

12:48 2005.

12:50 Wow.

12:49 Yeah.

12:50 My very first final table.

12:51 And he had a whole crew and listen,

12:53 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 he look at this?

13:05 Like he feels it.

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

13:10 Like it's And he knows what the wizards are doing and doesn't do that.

13:15 Like

13:15 he said he doesn't use GTO.

13:17 No, absolutely not.

13:19 Crazy.

13:18 No, he's calling with four six offsuit

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

13:24 Yeah.

13:24 Just knowing he understands the scenario.

13:25 I've also seen him make big folds that people

13:27 will never do because 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 Negrano hosts.

13:39 Yeah.

13:38 And every single year I I draft Michael Mazrai.

13:41 Every single year he won last year

13:43 except this year

13:46 dude

13:45 if you go look at the stats every year for a decade I've drafted Michael Mazrai.

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 Ah cuz he's doing deal with Venetian.

13:55 He's he's plays other casinos and other events and he plays cash games

13:59 and so I wasn't sure if he was going to play enough events volumewise.

14:02 if he's going to play at least 20 or 30 events.

14:04 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 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 Where cost me a quarter of a million dollars

14:16 for first 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 nuts.

14:22 Have you ever won that league?

14:23 Yeah.

14:23 Okay.

14:24 Yeah.

14:24 I've gotten first and third and the and the side

14:27 bets are what's really entertaining because you know

14:31 you poker players love those side bets.

14:33 Yeah, because it's fun.

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

14:38 Like who's going to last longer?

14:39 Who's going to go to the bathroom first?

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

14:42 Yeah, I've heard some wild ones.

14:43 Jeff Gross has a few 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 talk like I could do this.

14:56 So do it.

14:56 Like if Sean's like, "Oh, I can make 30 free throws in 10 minutes."

15:01 Okay, let's go bet.

15:02 Let's go bet.

15:03 Yeah, you might be able to do it.

15:03 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 a guy at the Bellagio who

15:09 was a hustler and just a good old boy from the Midwest that like

15:13 cleancut kid like a farmer's boy and he would like come in he'd play

15:16 poker and then randomly he'd be like I can make 85 three-pointers out of 100.

15:22 No way.

15:23 And we're like no way.

15:24 And we'd bet him.

15:25 He could actually make like 93 or 94 but he gave himself a cushion.

15:31 Whoa.

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.

15:35 And so it would always be like a 5K bet, 5K bet, 5K bet.

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

15:41 And I was so mesmerized by it.

15:43 I'd go watch even though I know he's going to do it.

15:45 I know the result.

15:46 So 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.

15:56 Um

15:58 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 Door Brunson invented.

16:03 We can Google it.

16:04 Uh, so Door Brunson used to have this bed where you had to eat quail.

16:09 Quail?

16:10 Oh, quail.

16:11 Yeah.

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

16:14 Uhhuh.

16:14 It seems easy enough.

16:15 Seems

16:16 easy.

16:15 Yeah.

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

16:17 Really?

16:18 Yeah.

16:19 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 Doy would do.

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

16:28 Antonio Fondiari 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, 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 All right.

16:38 Quail a day.

16:39 Yeah.

16:39 Quail a day for 30 days.

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

16:42 Yeah.

16:42 If I if I offered you the bet, you'd probably take it, right?

16:44 Like I'll give you 100K if you eat a quail a day for 30 days.

16:47 Like it seems so easy.

16:48 You can just mix in with your salad.

16:50 Seems easy.

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

16:52 Yeah.

16:52 I don't know.

16:52 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'd want on one of these sidebs?

16:59 Um, what was it?

17:00 any crazy odds that you like pulled off like a 30 to1 odds or something?

17:05 No, I don't remember any the crazy ones.

17:07 Okay.

17:08 Yeah, I feel like some

17:08 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, he wrote a book about that.

17:17 Yeah, that was crazy.

17:18 And he had to do it for a year, but he ended up keeping it

17:20 for a million dollars.

17:21 Yeah.

17:21 Yeah.

17:21 So, he just has fake breasts.

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

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

17:29 Yeah.

17:29 For a million.

17:30 No, it doesn't seem worth it to me.

17:31 No, absolutely not.

17:32 No.

17:32 I had this debate about power slap all the time.

17:35 Like, how much money would I need to do power slap?

17:37 Yeah.

17:37 Versus one of the pros.

17:38 Yeah.

17:38 Well, they do it for 5 to 10k now, allegedly.

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

17:43 No.

17:43 Like, what would you do that for?

17:44 To get slapped by the pro.

17:47 Uh,

17:47 yeah, that's a good point.

17:48 Slap by Sean Keller or slapped by the pro.

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

17:50 Uh, a pro.

17:52 A pro?

17:52 A lot.

17:53 Probably a lot.

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

17:55 You would be

17:56 Oh, my weight class.

17:56 Oh, I would do that first.

17:57 Cuz how much do you weigh?

17:58 You're pretty light.

17:58 Yeah, I'm light.

17:59 like 146.

18:00 You're tall for your highest, so I feel like you'd have a little advantage.

18:02 Yeah, 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'd probably just do it.

18:09 Really?

18:09 Yeah.

18:09 For free?

18:10 Yeah.

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

18:12 would not if if it's against me versus another guy.

18:16 If I'm playing against like the power guy, no, you get six figures.

18:19 Yeah.

18:19 Yeah, 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 threw 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.

18:37 119,000 them in one session.

18:39 We did 10 cities, 17 days from Raider Stadium,

18:43 Miami Heat Arena, Beimo Stadium, etc.

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

18:48 a lot of great characters been helping us make the toy jars 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.

19:06 Wow.

19:06 And so we set up like this

19:08 assembly line.

19:08 Yeah.

19:08 A warehouse full of toys and she was walking by.

19:11 1 2 3 4 5 6 7.

19:13 Why did they do that though?

19:14 To verify the the number 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 because if you want to do more,

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

19:24 Yeah.

19:24 That's the most one hour to verify that it's there.

19:29 Wow.

19:28 Yeah.

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

19:32 we'd have someone remove so she'd go back down the line.

19:34 That's impressive.

19:35 So it 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.

19:41 Was it a brand new uh

19:42 No, there was a there was.

19:44 Yeah.

19:44 Okay.

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 could see

19:51 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.

19:59 You can do it for sure.

20:01 Yeah.

20:01 Yeah.

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

20:03 I mean, I've done 12.

20:05 So, 24 just double that.

20:06 Coffee and some snacks.

20:07 I'd be good.

20:08 You could do a 24.

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

20:10 For real?

20:11 Yeah.

20:11 With no sleep, no naps.

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

20:14 I felt great.

20:16 What?

20:15 I was so delirious.

20:16 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 You hit you get delirious on day three.

20:28 Yeah.

20:28 They say you're legally drunk, right, on day two?

20:31 Yeah.

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

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

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

20:37 What do you average night for sleeping?

20:39 How many hours?

20:41 Normally 5 to six.

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

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

20:45 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?

20:52 Yeah.

20:52 Yeah.

20:53 No time for any of your hobbies or like I mean my daughter, but even then she's

20:57 interacting with me when I'm working and stuff.

20:59 But um when I play poker, I'm on my phone still most of the time.

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

21:05 I can't focus enough for 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.

21:11 Right.

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 when it gets to like 8 9 10 p.m.

21:21 it's not active at all.

21:22 It's just But yeah, I relate to that, man.

21:24 I just can't shut it off.

21:25 I love working.

21:27 Yeah.

21:26 You know, people are like,

21:27 "Why do you work so much?" 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.

21:35 Yeah.

21:35 And people think we're crazy for that.

21:37 But I just love it, dude.

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

21:43 Yeah.

21:43 Because I've been there.

21:44 Like when I sold a a company and I

21:47 wasn't really working that much, I was depressed.

21:48 Yeah.

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.

22:07 I feel like it's pretty hard actually.

22:09 Yes and no.

22:10 Like AI has made it somewhat easier.

22:12 It's easier than ever to start a company

22:14 obviously with AI with every platform you can imagine.

22:17 Makes it cheap or 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 up with a company now and be live tonight.

22:27 Literally tonight with full corporations and trademarks

22:30 and shipping internationally set up on Amazon warehouse.

22:33 Like we could do everything tonight.

22:35 But most people should be employee number three or number seven.

22:39 It's a way better life.

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

22:42 Employee number one is last to get paid, right?

22:44 Like stone cold last.

22:45 Employee number three, 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 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.

23:02 Yeah.

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

23:03 Agreed.

23:04 I think it's abortant.

23:04 Have you ever worked for someone else

23:07 in high school?

23:07 High school.

23:08 Yeah.

23:08 Peanuts, Cracker Jacks.

23:10 I was selling peanuts, cracks,

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

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

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

23:18 worked for a stock broker for cash under the table.

23:22 Okay.

23:21 When I was 17.

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

23:24 years 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 we actually did our first million in this building.

23:31 Really at Venian.

23:32 Venetian.

23:32 Y.

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 My first booth was at Magic.

23:40 Yeah, but it was here at the Mian in this hallway.

23:43 Wow.

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

23:44 That's incredible.

23:45 Yeah.

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

23:47 Oh, yeah.

23:47 Cuz you're not 21.

23:48 Yeah.

23:48 I crazy butterfly effect.

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

23:55 It was $3,400 bucks per 10 ft.

23:56 I went crazy and got 20 feet.

23:58 Yeah.

23:58 I'm going to be huge.

23:59 I spent $6,800 which was out of 43,000.

24:02 a lot of money.

24:04 We traveled here.

24:04 We drove here from San Diego.

24:06 Had our samples with us and they turned us down because we couldn't get a badge.

24:09 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 and we'll make you business cards.

24:20 I still have the cards."

24:21 Made us who's your daddy the clothing line and my phone number.

24:25 And so we made this business card, came back over,

24:27 used that to get in and we wrote a million dollars in orders.

24:31 Holy crap.

24:32 And the reason it happened was Shawn John,

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

24:38 On my left was Fubu.

24:40 They had a whole walkway.

24:42 Damon's.

24:42 Yep.

24:42 So Damon John's walking by with L Cool J and Evander Holyfield.

24:45 I saw all the pictures of me as an 18-year-old

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

24:50 She was there.

24:50 My best friend was there with me.

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

24:54 got so lucky because Shan John's here, Fuboo's here,

24:57 we're a little 20 feet booth and everyone has

25:00 to stand in front of our booth waiting for their appointments.

25:03 Oh, you picked a good spot by accident.

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

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

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

25:16 Rags and Dr.

25:17 J's, which are big stores in the East Coast.

25:19 And we started writing orders.

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

25:22 Why?

25:22 So, pre-orders,

25:24 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

25:38 LA 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.

25:46 Jeez.

25:46 For 12 samples?

25:48 Yeah.

25:48 Well, that's not what a sample.

25:50 Exactly.

25:50 Which not?

25:52 It was supposed to be $36,000 for 1,200 units.

25:56 Oh my god.

25:58 You get No, you meant 12.

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

26:01 Oh, okay.

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

26:04 Yeah.

26:03 Cuz you only had 43.

26:05 Yes.

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

26:08 He had the licenses to Hang 10, Ocean Pacific, Body Glove, LA Gear,

26:13 and he ended up selling a brand called English Laundry for over $100 million,

26:16 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.

26:35 Christian Wigs.

26:37 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 You know, 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 they might 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.

26:53 The FUBU ladies office.

26:55 He had a ladies division.

26:56 The ladies division did like $15 million in 18 months.

27:01 FUBU did.

27:03 Yeah.

27:02 They were men's apparel.

27:03 That's crazy.

27:04 So a guy named Elliot,

27:05 he had the license to get FUBU ladies and um so crazy story.

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

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

27:15 It's over there." He's like, "You own the trademark Cooser 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." I'm like, "Oh,

27:24 we live in San Diego." He's like, "Well, 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 desk

27:35 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 And she makes two grand a month and she does it.

27:51 She said, "Okay, I just wrote a million in orders.

27:54 Believe in me." 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

28:00 or 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 like, "We got to do this.

28:08 It's in San Diego.

28:09 It's it's Kismmet.

28:10 We got to go." So, we show up with like

28:12 a couch and a rolling rack and a boom box.

28:15 And next to us is Calvin Klein.

28:18 What we didn't realize is for a 4-day convention,

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

28:25 So, is Crickets, a ghost town on day 2, three, and four.

28:28 No one's there.

28:30 Why that matters is it changed my entire

28:31 life 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 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.

28:58 Mhm.

28:58 Without telling him.

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

28:59 This is 1999.

29:01 So 6 a.m.

29:03 rolls around.

29:04 I'm like, "Well, let's wait till 9:00 a.m.

29:05 to actually go there." So,

29:07 we go hang out at a bagel shop and just wait until 9:00 a.m.

29:09 9:01 we walk in.

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

29:15 Again, this is 99.

29:17 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." 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." She like, "No, you don't.

29:30 There's no meetings with him today.

29:31 I I have a schedule right here." And he happens to walk by with his luggage bag.

29:36 Wow.

29:36 And he was like, "What are you guys doing?" We're like,

29:38 "You said to look you up when we

29:39 come in town." And he just started slow clapping.

29:42 I was like, "Come on, boys." So we go in the back room.

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

29:51 You're only going to get five minutes with him,

29:53 but five minutes will change your life." This guy was a CEO for Jordash,

29:57 Donna McCarron, and Perry Ellis, 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, five minutes becomes four and a half hours.

30:09 What I learned more about business in those four and a half hours

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

30:15 He told me about every part of clothing, 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,

30:24 everything burning my brain is from that first meeting.

30:27 the president of Shanjam came by, Jeffrey Tweety, 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." I

30:34 still remember all these things from 25 years ago.

30:37 And so the butterfly effect all stemmed from taking that booth for 3500 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.

30:50 like the butterfly effect of that because then

30:53 we end up doing millions of dollars of revenue,

30:55 partnership deals and all these things with that whole

30:57 circle and crew because of that moment.

30:59 The power of events and networking, Matt, 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.

31:08 Crazy.

31:08 You were 18.

31:09 Oh, yeah.

31:10 Why do you think he uh let you have four and a half 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.

31:20 the catchphrase, the slogan, 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 us a shot

31:30 when we were open with them, like we just started, 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 It's weird.

31:37 I'm like, we're in Indonesian like

31:40 and u they were like I said, we sold 100 t-shirts at lunch at 15 bucks each.

31:45 We felt like we were millionaires.

31:46 We made $1,500.

31:47 And I said, "But more importantly,

31:49 they weren't just buying because of us." Like,

31:51 we had on a table the shirts and the hats and people were come by and we

31:55 had like a girl would just sit there and help sell for for us at lunches.

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

32:01 And by the way, $15 back then is a lot of money.

32:04 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, or for sports.

32:13 They like the name who's your daddy." M and so it just it worked.

32:18 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 You still have it?

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

32:27 April 1st, 2005.

32:28 We went public on the stock market when I was 23.

32:32 I did it another four years.

32:33 So 2009 got into 55,000 retail stores.

32:38 Jeez.

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 Hollywood Casino.

32:48 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 in 1999 on May 18th.

32:58 On May 18th uh 2009, I resigned.

33:00 You resigned?

33:02 Yeah.

33:02 During that one of the feather caps?

33:04 Yeah.

33:04 Went out on a high note.

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

33:08 period because you were so young, so successful?

33:10 No.

33:10 I've always been calm about everything throughout this whole

33:13 time because I've watched a lot of people make money,

33:15 lose money, go broke, die.

33:18 Yeah.

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

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

33:21 Wow.

33:22 Right behind Warren Sap.

33:23 His name was Daryl 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.

33:30 And one bad scenario of what happened was all

33:33 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.

33:38 And so I just think about how fleeting life is.

33:40 And so I don't the ego stuff.

33:43 I don't have stuff.

33:43 I don't own cars.

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

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

33:48 No.

33:49 18 years I've had this watch.

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

33:53 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

33:57 it's not my thing.

33:58 And so from an ego perspective, I just know there's a lot of people that are

34:01 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.

34:09 Same.

34:10 You never got caught up in comparing.

34:12 No.

34:13 No.

34:13 I I am so excited when my friend buys a cool car or buys

34:16 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 Them going and getting cool watches, cool cars is inspiring me.

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

34:33 And so I don't like it when it's like a bad person or if I know they're

34:36 a bad guy or you know um but I'm

34:38 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 and inspires me too.

34:44 I think that way too when I see podcast

34:45 sell like Trouble God just sold for 200 million.

34:48 I get excited for good for everyone.

34:50 I feel like Color Daddy Steven Diary CEO like all these deals

34:54 I'm like oh my god I'm so excited.

34:56 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 because they got it.

35:02 It makes me work like what did they do?

35:04 What do they do this?

35:05 How do they structure it?

35:05 What do they what do they what platforms are they using?

35:08 Like I want to understand it.

35:10 Exactly.

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

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

35:12 Like I love it.

35:14 Yeah.

35:14 I think I think uh Dario is going to be the number one show.

35:17 Sure.

35:18 It's going to be a billionaire.

35:19 Yeah.

35:19 He's already nine figures and he's in his 20s or early 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 phased at all.

35:30 No, 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 JLo, you feel an aura.

35:43 She's a freaking mega star, right?

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

35:46 at her apartment and she's eating and talking.

35:48 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,

35:54 like she's mom, she's a, you know, she's a regular person.

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

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

36:03 to become a household name.

36:04 You have to have a bit of a screwless 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 JLo sucks.

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

36:14 right, 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.

36:38 Yeah,

36:38 there's very few characters.

36:39 Elon Musk, I'm so fascinated by a guy

36:41 that has four multi-billion dollar companies at the same time,

36:43 but after two 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 is 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.

37:10 Normal people.

37:11 Yeah.

37:12 when I joined your mastermind that that was my first

37:15 I guess time meeting celebrities in person and I'm glad

37:18 it it like opened my eyes up to it now

37:20 I don't get really starruck you know with the podcast

37:22 well you've interviewed so many of them now

37:23 yeah but like I definitely used to be in that weird a lot of people

37:26 are in this fanboy era and they look at these celebrities like a pedestal

37:29 they still do you know yes they still do

37:31 which is also important for our economy if that goes

37:33 away that literally changes the the whole world for sure

37:36 think about why people watch TV shows why they watch

37:39 movies 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?

37:45 Why do they go to comedy shows?

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

37:49 Because it's JLo 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 Wahberg.

38:00 You had

38:00 another opening speaker.

38:01 Yeah.

38:01 Bruce Buffer did the intros.

38:03 You had I think Shaq Floyd Mayweather.

38:05 Yep.

38:05 Uh Tiger performed.

38:07 Nick Cannon was a DJ.

38:10 Crazy stacked.

38:10 Chris Jenner was on a panel.

38:12 Yeah,

38:12 she should be

38:13 panel.

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

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

38:17 Yeah, it was that was like a last minute thing and she

38:19 obviously should have been a keynote um because she's a legend,

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

38:27 Yeah.

38:26 To just to do the opening and

38:28 cuz we sold $10 million worth of spots in seven 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 and then to announce a $100,000 per

38:39 person mastermind and then sell out within a couple months was like

38:42 power of social media because you didn't even run ads, right?

38:44 It was all

38:45 zero ads.

38:46 Crazy.

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

38:49 Yeah.

38:48 $10 million in seven weeks.

38:49 You said Yeah.

38:50 We had 100 members sold out seven weeks.

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

38:57 And Bruce Buffer did the intro.

38:59 Mark Wahberg 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.

39:07 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.

39:18 Yep.

39:18 Do you think that we can help you make or save 1%.

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

39:26 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.

39:36 Like

39:37 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've made back my money 10fold,

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

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

39:49 What do you think about last night?

39:50 It's packed.

39:51 Cool.

39:51 Right.

39:52 Yeah, it was packed.

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

39:55 were uh people were posting it and like finding out about the event.

39:58 cuz once the address gets leaked and

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

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

40:06 However, people nowadays can just share the location.

40:09 So, even if you shuttle bus people in.

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

40:12 So, I did the world's largest pizza festival

40:14 a couple times and I had the last one,

40:17 Steve and Lil Wayne.

40:20 The first time we had Taigga two chains with Khalifa was super cool,

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

40:26 The one after that, we didn't tell anyone the address.

40:30 It happened to be the same exact venue.

40:31 No one knew.

40:32 And we shutter bus them from UCLA parking lot.

40:35 It's a thousand people.

40:35 It's 900 girls, 100 guys.

40:37 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's no way in and you can only take shutter buses to get in.

40:48 I went to this.

40:49 Yes.

40:49 I flew in for love.

40:50 Yeah.

40:51 The problem was people started sharing their pin and not telling people

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

40:58 They didn't realize there's 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.

41:07 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 fire marshals and police and helicopters and all that stuff that were

41:18 going on behind the scenes of like 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 name musicians,

41:27 rappers were like there's nothing we can do.

41:29 Wow.

41:30 Nothing.

41:30 That's nuts.

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

41:31 You had a pin.

41:33 Yes.

41:33 That's crazy.

41:34 That was a great event though.

41:35 That was fun, man.

41:35 That was your birthday, right?

41:36 Yes.

41:37 Yeah.

41:37 Yeah.

41:37 You know how to throw a party.

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

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

41:42 Yeah.

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

41:45 It's a lot for fun.

41:46 It's a excuse to get all the influencers together and all

41:48 the models together and they're all posting with each other.

41:51 Um, and I'll typically bring in someone like a Travis Barker or two chains.

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

41:58 it makes it a memorable experience and a sharable 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 charities.

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

42:11 feel 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 key things that make people want to leave

42:19 a party or or be mad about a party getting in.

42:23 People do not want to wait.

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

42:28 people 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.

42:45 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.

42:55 Don't think about that one.

42:56 It's so annoying.

42:58 Imagine you've got freaking Whis Cleef on stage and it's

43:01 or you can't hear him or whatever.

43:03 Oh my god, it's so annoying.

43:04 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.

43:10 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 have quality food that's hot, 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.

43:22 I'd rather you have food coming in at 8, 10, and 12 on the way out.

43:27 What people do is they frontload it at 8:00.

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

43:31 What happens 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, the salad is melted.

43:41 Like it's like you just it's bad 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 that's the first conference I ever went to.

43:54 That's unreal.

43:55 I mean but Grant spending 8 million 12 million

43:57 to put on a production that's a whole another world, right?

44:00 The growth con is amazing.

44:02 Um Russell Brunson's Funn Hacking Live

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

44:11 Very quality people.

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.

44:21 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.

44:27 Um Summit at Sea Summit series.

44:30 Mhm.

44:30 That's That's more expensive.

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

44:33 They just had some of that save 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, one Tony Robbins.

44:44 Well, yeah, that's the Tony Robbins and Dean

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

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

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

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

44:55 He has 600 plus members in Lions, but he's not marketing to them.

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

45:03 developers and the Brian Mcnite the singer and a guy

45:07 with $2 billion of commercial developments and a guy

45:09 with a hundred billion dollar fund like very interesting characters.

45:12 Um, and so yeah, I've been going that for a year

45:16 and a half and that's really impressive group that he's put together there.

45:19 That's the most expensive uh mastermind I've ever Yeah.

45:21 $40 million for sure and he deserves it.

45:24 It's Tony Robbins and you know um and they put on such an experience.

45:28 It's three days at like the Breakers Hotel or three days at this mansion

45:32 and estate and they they bring in some really cool surprise performers.

45:36 So they've done it on the highest highest level.

45:39 Nice.

45:40 Yeah, 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 conver traffic conversion summit.

45:46 That one

45:47 but Summit I just saw recently people were saying amazing and not on a a boat.

45:51 So they do multiple events a year but called summit series.

45:54 Then they do summit at sea.

45:57 Okay.

45:56 And summit at sea is impressive.

45:58 Yeah.

45:58 I feel like when you're on a cruise ship you're a little more easy going, right?

46:02 Feel like it's a mental thing.

46:03 That's important with events too.

46:04 The the mind framing, right?

46:06 Yeah.

46:06 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

46:12 sit there and be focused for 10 hours a day.

46:14 It's not going to happen.

46:14 It doesn't work anymore with attention spans.

46:17 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, like Aspire Tour, we don't do hourong speeches.

46:24 It's a lot of 20 minutes, 25 minutes,

46:26 20 minutes, 25 minutes, 20 minutes, 25 minutes.

46:28 Um cuz we're in an ADD society and there's some people

46:31 we need to give a full 40 minutes to to fully explain,

46:34 you know, what's going on if they're teaching

46:36 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 minutes, 25 minutes, let's go because the room um has ADD.

46:47 Yeah.

46:47 You know, like the event we did yesterday, Delila,

46:50 it was 10 to 20 minute speeches, all of them.

46:53 I love that.

46:54 That I could actually sit down and probably listen front to end.

46:57 But like a full keynote these days, that's an hour.

46:59 I just It's hard.

47:00 It's hard.

47:00 That's hard.

47:01 Unless you have like an amazing storyteller like Ed Mled

47:03 or someone like Legend like that can tell a full

47:05 story and you're like watching a movie is what it

47:07 feel watching movies what it feels like and people are crying.

47:10 That's different.

47:11 But like 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 200 208 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.

47:28 So it's not a zoo in that perspective.

47:30 It's an animal sanctuary.

47:31 Cali wouldn't let you do that, right?

47:33 They would, but they wouldn't.

47:34 And so I don't want to s argue like the multiple

47:37 things I try to do there in California are very difficult.

47:39 The rules and politics are very frustrating.

47:42 I spent $1.3 million building a 240,000galon lake

47:46 as a wedding venue and I've never done a wedding.

47:48 What?

47:49 They wouldn't let you do weddings, sir?

47:51 No.

47:52 Wow.

47:51 They want me to get a cup permit per wedding.

47:55 What's that?

47:55 A conditional use permit.

47:57 So, let's say Sean wants to get married on June 1st.

47:59 Sounds cool.

48:00 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 very weird scenario like I can't promise Sean, hey,

48:16 you're going to be able to do your wedding June 1st because I don't know.

48:19 I have to wait and see if the county is 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 backed up or is excuse or they're

48:26 That's a shame cuz your venue would be one

48:28 of the best of the country because 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.

48:34 Yeah.

48:34 That looks so adorable.

48:35 But wow.

48:37 Sorry you're going through that.

48:38 Yeah, it's been very expensive, long struggle and journey.

48:40 And it's I love the property.

48:42 It's just hard and the rules in California are very difficult, dude.

48:45 For a lot of businesses,

48:46 not just what you're in, but I hear so many horror stories.

48:49 There's so many places shut down in LA.

48:50 It's wild.

48:51 Household name restaurants, businesses that have been around for 20,

48:54 30, 40, 50, 60 years are gone now.

48:57 They just can't.

48:57 I mean, Elon got out of there with Tesla.

49:00 That's billions of dollars that Kelly lost.

49:02 It's a shame because 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, the estate tax too on the real estate was crazy.

49:17 Did you hear about that pension tax?

49:20 Yep.

49:19 Yeah, that was nuts.

49:20 But dude, this was great.

49:21 Um, where can people find you in the podcast and everything?

49:23 Uh, just Dan Fleshman 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 to have the same bio.

49:37 See you guys.

49:38 Thanks for watching all the way to the end, guys.

49:40 Please hit like and subscribe.

49:41 It helps us grow the show and helps us get bigger guests.

49:44 Thank you so much.