Capitalism.com with Ryan Daniel Moran

Freedom is not money, freedom is doing the things that make you happy. The purpose of money, the only reason money matters, is to sustain the life you want. If you want to be free, then you have to know what you want. But asking the questions that will lead you to figuring out what it is you want is a very hard job. Like Ryan did, most people will go after the money believing that once they have that, they can make a grab for freedom. The troublesome thing that happens when you do that though is that the money itself becomes the purpose, and your life has none. Ryan has boiled financial freedom into 5 steps to follow so tune in to learn the way — but do be careful, these steps need to happen in this exact order for the system not to break.   Key Takeaways   1. Decide [4:17]: you are absolutely required to decide, what you want your life to be like and be clear about it, don’t make it someone else’s life or belongings — don’t covet. Decide what you want and pull it into the present. 2. Cut out [6:26]: you don’t get without giving up, the universe requires you to make a trade to create the room for something new. Nowadays we have an overabundance of everything, but your primal brain doesn’t like to cut things out, it only processes the immediate loss, not future gain. To counter that, you have to be very intentional about what you want (step 1) and start cutting out things that don’t align (step 2) to give yourself space for step 3 because you don’t get to expand until you have made the room for it. 3. Expand (you have just created the space!) [11:07]: what are you expanding into? New businesses, new relationships — we are the 5 people we spend the most time with — learning, reading, listening. But this expansion, in order to continue, will require you to keep giving up things, it’s a positive feedback loop. What from the past will you decide to bring into the future. 4. Invest [13:13]: skip the short game and plan for long term results. Follow Ryan’s Tribe 5 areas of long term investment Time, Relationships, Income, Expansion. 5. Give [15:52]: it sounds silly but it’s true. You are never ever free if you are in a take, scam, hack or extort mentality. You need to find what you have to give be it money, time, knowledge, anything really, and invest it! People always want the hack but the only thing that creates financial freedom is you deciding that you want a different life, cutting out the things that are not in accordance with that life, expanding into new possibilities, investing for the long term and constantly giving. You want to build the life you want? To get happy? To be free of the game? That’s how. Mentioned in this episode Intentional community Dan Sullivan Robert Kiyosaki Tribe 5

Ryan talks with James Altucher, a successful hedge fund manager, entrepreneur, bestselling author, venture capitalist, and podcaster. In this episode of the Freedom Fast Lane podcast, James shares how to achieve real freedom following four guiding principles for a healthy lifestyle, as well as the investment strategies he would have told his 20-year-old self to follow. Key Takeaways [2:46] James talks about where he started out. How after he sold his first company building websites for a lot of money, he figured “if I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere!”. He was wrong, he lost every penny. And then he was wrong several times again. [4:04] So what was the problem? Why was he having such wild success and such brutal failures? He explains how he set out to find and rectify the cause of this uneven keel and what he managed to distill from this research. The 4 pillars of health   1. Physical health [4:52] It’s one of the most basic but most important aspect of overall health for high achievers. If you don’t have the energy to get things done, they won’t happen. Eat well, don’t drink or do drugs, stay in shape. 2. Emotional health [5:12] You are the average of the people you surround yourself with, and life is short so be cut-throat about the people you love, value, and spend time with. 3. Creative health [6:40] You need to be creative everyday, if you wait for inspiration you’re already too late. Write your ideas down, think about how to execute them. Do fun, unique, new and stimulating things. 4. Spiritual health [7:15] It’s your fault, no matter what. If something negative happens, take ownership: improve, learn, evolve. Life goes on, so make sure it goes on the way you want it to and move forward. [8:26] If you are healthy and creatively doing things you love around people you love, you will automatically find things to sell, people to work with, businesses to build. Being a choice-ist [9:11] You make 10,000 choices a day from the most mundane to the most important. Most of them will be inconsequential or negative. Being a choice-ist means that that you aim to have the highest amount of the choices you do make in a day be ones that you enjoy making and care about. [10:21] How can you become more of a choice-ist in your own life: delegate the choices you don’t like to make or are not knowledgeable enough to make, to trustworthy people. Setting up these systems may take time, but they will reward you in the end. [12:25] James shares some practical tips on increasing the quantity of enjoyable choices you need to make. Every experience should be a source of earning, what did you not like, what would you want to do more of. Focus on that, make decisions that will serve that goal. [14:00] Money is never the critical factor in freedom. James takes Elon Musk as an example to illustrate this point. “Elon Musk has to wake up at 5 a.m., run six companies, deal with spaceships blowing up, deal with government subsidies to run his solar panel business. He’s making a big bet on the future of energy — a good bet, but a scary one nonetheless — and he’s got to manage thousands of people from 5am to 10pm.” What might be good for Elon may not work for you! You need to think about the lifestyle you want and decide what will make you happy and fulfilled and make choices in your life accordingly. Investing [15:54] James shares advice he would have given his younger self on investment. 1. The Plus-Minus-Equal rule [16:27] PLUS: Find the people that are better than you and learn from them. Read, read, read, read: learn everything you can about investment and everything relating to it, history, related fields, people, etc. EQUAL: Find people at your own level that can constantly challenge you. You’ll be surprised how fast you can evolve alongside a community of like-minded people. MINUS: If you really think you know something; teach it. It’ll remind you of all the basics, and people just starting will ask questions that you might have overlooked. 2. You are the biggest stupid idiot ever [21:24] This alone has reduced James’ chances of failure from 95% to 10%. Despite all that you’ve learned in step 1 you should never invest in anything thinking you are the smartest person in the room. You aren’t. Look up at who is investing alongside you, do you trust them, do you look up to them, are they successful? Trust your “plusses” and talk to you “equals”. You can only bet on people. [29:50] James shares his endgame. Mentioned in this episode James Altucher Mike Massimino Jocko Willink Elon Musk Berkshire Hathaway Warren Buffett

Today, Ryan drinks along side Dr. Clement Wan, Coran Woodmass and Max Kerwick and touches on the difference between the manager and investor mindsets, what is required for a brand to be attractive to buyers, how to drag yourself out of a funk, and why you should focus all your business energy on an archetype. Key Takeaways [1:04] Making decisions from an investor’s standpoint versus a manager’s standpoint will be lucrative but benefit both positions! Dr. Clement Wan explains that when you start thinking as an investor you will strive for making your business a more valuable asset, and as a result alleviate some of the management workload.   [2:38] What do we say instead of generating sales? Build assets!   [2:59] Ryan taps into the law of attraction — does a bit of voodoo really — to call on someone who can comment on the current state of physical products on the marketplace: Coran Woodmass! resident Acquisitions Specialist and brand new American! [4:00] Coran Woodmass talks about a recently launched deal and the reason so much money is flocking to it. It’s a real niche brand that can be scaled outside of Amazon, and it’s got a huge amount of user-generated content to boot!   [5:44] What do we say? Instead of being a content creator, be a content curator!   [7:05] The market is evolving and growing, but growing at the top end — the 8 figure exit is the entry point now — and the guys at that level are really need to spend the capital. So would you please build something worth buying, I would really like to buy your asset!   [8:50] Feeling down on your luck? This is the model to use to turn everything around. 1. Make a list of 20 to 50 people that you look up to, people you want to do business with, people who are ahead of you 2. … Call them 3. Talk about them — don’t make it about you — look for ways to help them and neve, ever pitch on the call [10:33] Max Kerwick is summoned to the hot seat and gets coached on how to hold his hands on camera (it’s all about the hands people). But really though, Max is here to coach us about what the biggest brands in the world have in common: an archetype customer. Don’t be theoretical or squishy, build and focus your entire business around a specific customer. Thanks for listening and letting Ryan and his guests invade your thoughts and world for a bit.

In today’s episode, Max Kerwick shares a keynote from the Capitalism Conference by Tom Bilyeu — the man behind Quest Nutrition and Impact Theory — a 60 minute compilation of all of his most valuable business secrets. Tune in to hear what he learned on the path he took from hand-making protein bars in his garage to a multi-billion dollar brand. Key Takeaways [03:00] Tom introduces himself and explains how he was not a born entrepreneur: he even went so far as to deliver papers for free because he was afraid to ring the doorbells to collect! [05:30] The two childhood goals Tom had zero idea how to achieve. 1. Become rich 2. Have 6 pack abs [06:20] The king of menial jobs… So much so that everyone expected him to fail. [08:10] Who is your white rabbit. Tom talks about his two very muscular rabbits. [09:23] Tom’s superpower — Nietzsche said it best to the people he cared for — suffering. [13:40] After Tom endured his work and his riches without meaning, he quit, so he could start asking different questions. Failure and sadness are the only guarantee. Know the odds, while you’re striving for success and happiness, and do something you love. [19:36] A unicorn company is a formula, the before and after pictures are there. But there ares difficult parts: being afraid, feeling stupid, lost and hopeless. [20:49] To build your own unicorn company you have 2 jobs. Job 1: - Develop your mindset and understand that what you believe is a choice: the Matrix has you, it’s time to lift the limiting veil. - Keep listening for job 2! [30:00] From a decidedly utilitarian perspective Tom shares his method to develop usable new skills. - Be an eternal student — you are not yet the person you need to be to accomplish everything you want to accomplish - Meditate - Be open to change, don't just talk about it - Execute - Develop grit [34:00] Have an ego, everyone does, but have it about the right things. Make certain you pride yourself on things that will drive your goals, don’t pride yourself on being right. [36:45] Grit is sustained effort over time, persisting through your boredom and suffering, develop this faculty and learn to tell the difference between lack of grit and disinterest. [38:24] One of the questions Tom hears most frequently is how do you find your passion? Like for building a Unicorn company there is a formula: Interest + Mastery = Passion. [41:41] We said keep listening and here it is: Job 2, build your business, Tom breaks down the how to’s: - Find your why and make it blindingly clear - Be transparent - Focus on value, it’s the only sustainable thing - Be authentic - Connect with your audience — Tom’s tricks, get the green light from thought leaders and engage influencers to access their 1 000 screaming fans - Add value (customers hate your content) - Finally, execute and grind baby grind because it starts with a willingness to persist long after it’s boring. [1:01:30] The central mantra of Tom’s life is “Just because you’re incapable of something today, it doesn’t mean that you’re not capable of learning that thing. It’s about who you want to become and what price you are willing to pay to become it”. Mentioned in this episode Quest Nutrition Impact Theory Book: The Will to Power by Friedrich Nietzsche Book: Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win by Jocko Willink Book: Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder (Incerto) by Nassim Nicholas Taleb Book: Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth Book: Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek Joy Remetta Super Fan Award Jenna Marbles

If you mixed Brian S. Lee and Gary Vaynerchuk together, what you’d get is who Ryan wants to be when he grows up. Don’t miss this game changing interview with Brian Lee, the incredibly humble man behind 3 different billion dollar companies. How does he identify opportunities and build exciting companies? Tune in for an in-depth talk about his philosophy for bringing together people, products and capital.   Key takeaways [5:22] Brian’s latest project recently launched, he talks us through how the idea turned into what is now Art of Sport. Shopping for sunscreen and realizing there were no mission-driven sports body care brand out there started it all. [8:56] In a pile of thousands of entrepreneurial ideas how does one pick? it’s all about the idea that sticks with you, the one that keeps coming back. [9:44] If you’re going to make and sell a product, make it the best possible product. Vet the formulations, the ingredients, the scents. When your idea or product resonates with someone, that’s when you can get them involved — that’s how Art of Sport attracted Kobe Bryant as well as a long, long list of other athletes — always focus on the product. [11:52] The “Producer Mindset” is a good key, and it helps to palliate all of your weaker areas. Be the architect of your project, find and bring together the pieces and people you need for your business: product, capital and audience. [13:18] Sometimes though, producer mindset won’t help you, only good ‘ol grind and hard work, that’s how Brian’s Legalzoom was started. The Honest Co. was a different story... [15:36] Brian needed to decide if he wanted to be a CEO, again, after doing it for so long, so he thought about how and where he could bring more value to the capital he had raised. [16:26] Most people want to build companies to sell them so they can leave but Brian wants to build sustainable, generational businesses. [17:44] How does Brian define success? Am I Henry Ford, Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, have I reached the pinnacle, changed the world, revolutionized the game and will I transcend time? It’s a tall order, he’s still working on it. Ask him if he is fulfilled and satisfied instead. [20:26] Go for audience first, what else is there? When considering who to partner with to launch consumer brand its about the relationship between the market and influencer, it’s got to relate. There needs to be a 1:1 relationship between what the person is marketing and what the audience expects them to market. [23:07] BAM Labs is a place for Brian to start his own companies. BAM Ventures is a seed stage fund: we have to love the entrepreneur and not hate the idea. Too many investors fall in love with ideas. How does Brian chose his entrepreneurs? “Tell me about your best friend and I’ll get an idea of your character, passion, fire, smarts and and trustworthiness. [26:50] The surprisingly simple way Brian funds the companies he starts. [28:53] Brian shares an investment story from Legalzoom. Sometimes just 750$ will do it. [29:29] Ryan asks for Brian’s advice on where to go next.   Mentioned in this episode   Brian S. Lee Art of Sport The Honest Company Legalzoom Seven Spark Churchhome Global

In today’s globalized yet isolated world, the pressure to perform, create and provide has fallen squarely on the individual, and the loss of community has exacerbated the weight of this task.   Ryan’s last quarterly meeting turned into a profound philosophical realization on the importance of fostering partnership and a network of support for your team so that they can in turn derive purpose and growth from this communal journey.   Can the means, and the ends that justify them, be added unto you when there is no meaning behind any of it?

Your relationship with your customer is like a bank account. Make no mistake: every time you ask someone to buy something, you’re making a withdrawal against relational equity. Since it can’t be all withdrawals, listen in to Ryan Deiss to master 4 fundamentally human ways to build up — make a deposit in — your relational equity vault: laughter, tears, belonging and generosity.

Ryan and Marx talk about the dynamic nature of life and happiness, and how speaking less and less in a universe that has reciprocity coded in has had painful results: hurt people hurt people. Are you serving a person or are you serving Amazon? The more value you give the more money you get, focusing on a person and giving them what they want will drive you forward, no cat (you’ll have to listen in to get that one!)

Max Kerwick — BBP co-host and brand building secret weapon — speaks to a select group at the 8 figure exit workshop at Ryan’s home. Who is your singularity, the figurative customer who is most predictive of your long term success? Be weary of “busy moms” or “25 to 35 year olds” and their variance, establish your bullseye and aim for it. Tune in for some insight on brand design methodology: building an archetype on goals and interests, identifying its variants and gathering data.

Sean’s first engaged quarterly retreat was an epiphany for the whole team. What happens when you go from “being” the brand to building a brand? Your business becomes greater than the sum of its parts. And when the brand needs to grow beyond you, how do you shift your leadership style? Clarity of purpose will engage your team in a meaningful way and drive them through that first dip in the sigmoid growth curve. Preach your why and rally the masses.