My Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Daniel Burrus is considered one of the world’s leading futurists on global trends and disruptive innovation. The New York Times has referred to him as one of the top three business gurus.He is the CEO of Burrus Research, a research and consulting firm that monitors global advancements in technology-driven trends to help clients profit from technological, social, and business forces that are converging to create enormous, untapped opportunities.He is a strategic advisor to executives from Fortune 500 companies, using his Anticipatory Business Model to develop game-changing strategies based on his proven methodologies for capitalizing on technology innovations and their future impact. He has delivered over 3,000 keynote speeches worldwide.Daniel is the author of seven books, including The New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, Flash Foresight, and his latest best-selling book, The Anticipatory Organization, and he is a syndicated writer with millions of monthly readers on the topics of technology-driven trends, disruptive innovation, and exponential change.Burrus is an innovative entrepreneur who has founded six businesses, four of which were the U.S. national leaders in the first year.His accurate predictions date back to the early 1980s where he became the first and only futurist to accurately identify the twenty exponential technologies that would become the driving force of business and economic growth for decades to come. Since then, he has continued to establish a worldwide reputation for his exceptional record of predicting the future of technology-driven change and its direct impact on the business world. “The more you find what is unique in you and leverage it, the more power you have.”Daniel Burrus Worst investment everDaniel has always been interested in science and technology. He started his career teaching biology and physics. Now he is a respected technology futurist. Naturally, he invested in technology and did well with that.Diversifying his portfolioDaniel wanted to diversify his investments, and so he decided to get into commercial real estate. However, this was an unfamiliar area for him, and he did not know anything about it. Daniel had a couple of people who gave him some advice and took it without doing any research independently. Daniel invested in some high-rise buildings.Things take a turnAfter investing in the highrises, some things shifted. Daniel and a few other people that had invested in these highrises decided to take the matter to court. They later found out that the company behind the highrises was Berkshire Hathaway, a big company controlled by Warren Buffett with much deeper pockets than they had to fight them in court.Pushing on with the fightDaniel did not let the company bully him into dropping the court battle. Unfortunately, the court battle took years, and in those years, his investment was dying as he could not sell them because of the court case.The entire court process was super stressful for Daniel. He put so much of his time and energy into it and ended up distracted from his other ventures. In the end, he lost most of what he had invested.Lessons learnedInvest in your area of expertiseInvest in what you know instead of getting outside of your area of expertise. If you do, you must spend a lot of time researching to make that investment a worthy investment. So always ask yourself what is your area of expertise and can you invest in it and make money from it instead of getting into uncharted waters.Let go of all your distractions and focus on your successLet go of all the things that are distracting you from focusing on your goals.Andrew’s takeawaysFocus on what you enjoy doing and are good atWe enjoy the things that we do well. So if you are struggling with something that you have no interest in, focus on what you like, what you are good at, and make it excellent, rather than focusing on what you are not good at and making it average.Learn from your struggle, then let it goWhatever struggle you are facing right now does not have to become your worst investment. Learn from it and let go.Actionable adviceAsk yourself right now what is distracting you from your focus. Is it something negative? Is it something tied to emotion? Probably it is keeping you awake, and it is distracting you? Just let it go so that you can get back to your focus. That focus is going to be vital in elevating your significance and your success.No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsDaniel’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to get as many people as possible worldwide to be anticipatory versus reactionary.Parting words “Good news does not sell; bad news sells, and it creates a fog. Blow away the fog, and you will be amazed at the mountain of opportunity that is there right in front of you.”Daniel Burrus [spp-transcript] Connect with Daniel BurrusLinkedInTwitterFacebookYouTubeWebsiteAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid ThemTransform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 PointsAndrew’s online programsValuation Master ClassHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketFinance Made Ridiculously SimpleBecome a Great Presenter and Increase Your InfluenceTransform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 PointsConnect with Andrew Stotz:astotz.comLinkedInFacebookInstagramTwitterYouTubeMy Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Karl Sjogren’s 2019 book The Fairshare Model: A Performance-Based Capital Structure for Venture-Stage Initial Public Offerings presents an idea for how to raise venture capital via an IPO. The concept can be applied to a blockchain venture that raises equity capital via an initial coin offering (ICO). Its name describes its purpose--to balance and align the interests of investors and employees.A Detroit-area native, Karl Sjogren has a BA and MBA from Michigan State University, is a certified public accountant (inactive), and credentialed in turnaround management. “Valuation equals analytics, plus emotion, plus deal terms.”Karl Sjogren In today’s episode, we will do things a little different from the usual. We will look at what motivated Karl to write his book, do a quick summary of Karl’s Fairshare Model, and then an overview of some of the lessons he learned during the process.Karl’s story behind his book The Fairshare ModelKarl was co-founder and CEO of a company called Fairshare between 1996 to 2001. The company had an online community of investors with interest in the IPOs of young companies. The idea was to build an audience by giving them education about the deal structure and valuation and share due diligence.Once the company got to critical mass, the plan was to provide members free access to pick their public offerings. The members were expected to have a legal offering, a passed due diligence, use Fairshare’s deal structure, the Fairshare Model, and allow members to invest as little as $100. Basically, it was crowdfunding before the term was coined.From this experience, Karl got the motivation to write more about the Fairshare model and its impact on raising venture capital via Initial Public Offerings.Summary of the Fairshare ModelWhile writing his book, Karl learned that there are three capital structures: conventional capital structure, a modified conventional capital structure, and the Fairshare Model.The Fairshare Model is for a venture stage company that wants to raise capital via a public offering. In it, there are two classes of stock. Both have voting rights; one trades, and one does not. Investors get the tradable stock.Employees get the tradable stock as well for value generated as of the IPO date. But for future performance for most of the enterprise, the employees get a voting stock that does not trade. It converts into a tradable stock based on performance criteria described in their prospectus. So the basic idea is, instead of developing a valuation upfront before the investors come in, the valuation unfolds based on performance.The conventional capital structureThe conventional capital structure is used in most IPOs and in private offerings where you do not have professional investors, friends, and family types of investors. The hallmark is there is a single class of stock. So an investor who owns, say 10% of the company, if it is going to be acquired, they get 10% of the proceeds.The modified conventional capital structureA modified conventional capital structure is used by professional investors, venture capital funds, and private equity funds. The hallmark is that multiple classes of stock and capital structures are needed if you are going to treat shareholders differently.Lessons learnedNobody can do valuation rightValuation is a complex topic, and no one knows how to do it right. The real complexity is not so much how you calculate these things but how they all sort of fit into an economy.Emotion plays a significant role in making investment decisionsEmotion plays a crucial role in making investment decisions. Whether you are deciding to buy or sell your shares or trying to understand how the market is performing, you will more often than not depend on your emotions to decide.Understand deal terms clearlyDeal terms play a critical role when investing. Make sure your deal terms give you specific rights and privileges. That kind of safety net allows you to recover should things go wrong.Andrew’s takeawaysNever ignore the deal termsLook at the deal terms critically as you think about what could happen should things go well and, most importantly, should something go wrong.In valuation, there is no right answerA valuation framework is just a framework and not the gospel truth. However, it is still essential to learn how that structure works and understand what drives a company’s value.The four drivers of a company’s valueThere are four drivers of the value of a company when we look at it from the analytic side:RevenueExpensesAssetsRisksActionable adviceRecognize the importance of deal terms. Do some serious thinking and discussions with other people who have raised money as entrepreneurs or your investors, and understand what each of these terms can do to your other shareholders.No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsKarl’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to launch a social movement to reimagine capitalism, to get enough investors interested in the Fairshare Model so that companies can consider adopting it to raise venture capital via an IPO.Parting words “It is possible to innovate in this space in a way that benefits investors, companies, and economies.”Karl Sjogren [spp-transcript] Connect with Karl SjogrenLinkedInTwitterWebsiteAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid ThemTransform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 PointsAndrew’s online programsValuation Master ClassHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketFinance Made Ridiculously SimpleBecome a Great Presenter and Increase Your InfluenceTransform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 PointsConnect with Andrew Stotz:astotz.comLinkedInFacebookInstagramTwitterYouTubeMy Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Chef Marti Mongiello is a story weaver intoxicating his audiences by stage and television across the world. A mesmerizing speaker, he’s published nine books, 200+ papers, and given over 100 speeches and keynotes in Europe, Asia, and America. Featured on CBS, PBS, ABC, NBC, CNN, and FOX to almost three billion viewers is only eclipsed by articles in 160+ newspapers and magazines like the Washington Post, LA Times, Australian, The New Yorker, FOOD TV Network Magazine, The Times of London, and many more. His latest television series is Inside the Presidents’ Cabinet.Marti is a former White House Chef, Private Investigator, Security Expert, Executive Chef, and a GM of the Camp David Resort and Conference Center working with the past five Presidents for 25 years, from H.W. Bush through Trump. “Get a super-strong prenuptial agreement that covers everything. You will sleep well at night knowing that every eventuality is covered.”Marti Mongiello Worst investment everMarti lived in Japan when he was contacted for a business partnership by a food service-oriented company that wanted to bring foodservice training online. They thought it would be great for their business to have a former White House chef as their brand’s face.Marti thought this would be a good idea given that he is a great presenter, business plan writer, and an excellent writer and storyteller.Knocking the plan out of the parkMarti flew to Arizona, where the company founders floated numerous stock certificates and bylaws to him. Marti was still in the military at the time and a bit naive as to how these things work. And so he missed critical statements in the founder’s document and in the bylaws, which were registered with the Secretary of State.Nonetheless, Marti sat with them for several days and honed the entire pitch. He went through several training sessions to perfect the pitch. They then flew to New York and presented their professional pitch to a hedge fund interested in their idea. They did a splendid job and got funded.The drama startsSoon after the funding came, Marti, got a phone call saying that the founders wanted to dilute everyone’s shares. Marti’s shares in the company would reduce from 33% to 4%. He was not thrilled about that, especially because it was not discussed with him before it was made.Per the bylaws, the founders formed a quorum, had a special meeting, and went ahead and slashed everyone’s shares. Then they sent him a check for 40 bucks for the shares that they took from him.Losing everything due to ignoranceMarti was not familiar with liquidation clauses or the various other clauses in the bylaws, such as unanimous voting. And because of his lack of knowledge, Marti lost everything he had worked hard for in this partnership.Lessons learnedAlways have partnership agreements that stipulate bylaws clearlyAlways have partnership agreements prepared before getting into a partnership. Squatters and liquidation clauses must be addressed in a partnership agreement, and so must the bylaws. Whether you are investing in the project or being part of a group that is launching a new product or service, these are just necessary provisions that have to be dealt with initially.Understand the liquidation clauseBefore getting into a partnership, discuss the liquidation clause. How is the company allowed to be liquidated? If you disagree about this as partners, it could get messy down the road.It is ok to retire old shareholders who are no longer contributing to the companyIf you have old shareholders who are no longer contributing to your company’s progress, it is good to remove them from the process. They can still own shares, but they should not be allowed to participate in the decision-making process.Just because someone funds your business does not mean they should run itBe careful when dealing with funders. Be sure to have it in writing, the extent to which they should participate in your company. Just because they give you funds should not give them an automatic right to run your company.Have a prenup with your business partnersPut time into drawing a prenuptial agreement that stipulates what is going to happen when the partnership is dissolved. You will sleep well at night knowing that every eventuality is covered.Andrew’s takeawaysBe clear about your valuation processWhen drafting the shareholders’ agreement, have a provision of the actual way you are going to value your company. The benefit of this is that you will ensure that you do not have a situation where one guy walks out and sells his shares to your competitor.Have a provision for dilution in your business partnership agreementIt is impossible to avoid dilution, so you want to have the provisions to go through it in your business partnership agreement.Actionable adviceGet a super-strong prenuptial agreement covering everything, from angry outbursts to storming out of the building to threats via email and phone to full-on intimidation tactics. The contract should spell out all that behavior, what happens, who does what, and when this occurs.No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsMarti’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to hold The World Leaders Summit in London from December 7th to 16th, 2021. [spp-transcript] Connect with Marti MongielloLinkedInTwitterFacebookYouTubeWebsiteAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid ThemTransform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 PointsAndrew’s online programsValuation Master ClassHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketFinance Made Ridiculously SimpleBecome a Great Presenter and Increase Your InfluenceTransform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 PointsConnect with Andrew Stotz:astotz.comLinkedInFacebookInstagramTwitterYouTubeMy Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Mariya Radysh is a keynote speaker, 2x TEDx speaker, and a thought leader on human potential and wellbeing. She has built two businesses and several careers as a lawyer, university lecturer, and interpreter being fluent in 5 languages.Mariya holds five university degrees in law and economics. She has lived in the USA, Eastern Europe, and for the last 13 years in Australia. Mariya is from a family of medical practitioners. Over the last few years, she has been focusing on researching and offering insights as a ‘citizen scientist’ and thought leader on adaptability.Throughout most of her life, Mariya herself suffered anxiety and burnout. She changed her life significantly, and her goal is to educate and aid as many people as possible to transform and create for themselves healthier and happier lives. “It’s not the strongest or the smartest people who survive; it is the most adaptable.”Mariya Radysh Worst investment everMariya was a grinder for most of her life. She would rise and grind every day. The grinding started when she was a child. At five, Mariya was going to music school, she was preparing to start regular school, and had just moved countries and had to learn a different language.At 15, she was preparing to do her first university degree, and by 25, she had three careers, including being an interpreter fluent in five languages. Mariya kept grinding and focusing on her professional growth. She believed that was the most important thing that she was supposed to do.Suffering from burnoutA couple of years ago, Mariya suffered complete burnout. She felt burnt into ashes, and her entire body was in pain. She had to keep a cup of coffee by her bed and have it first thing in the morning to help her get out of bed every day.The physical exhaustion started sometime back, but Mariya just kept grinding, dismissed the fatigue, and powered through it. She did not take care of herself because she thought that the best investment was to invest everything into her professional growth.Lessons learnedPersonal development is the best investment you can ever make in lifePersonal development, that’s the best investment that you can make if you want to grow professionally. If you’re going to go to the next level, professionally, you need to go to the next level personally first.Your health is the most precious commodity you will ever haveContrary to popular belief, time is not the most precious commodity that you have. Your health is the most precious commodity. If you want to be successful in life, if you’re going to feel fulfilled and be happy, the first and most important thing you have to do is take care of your health.Andrew’s takeawaysSuccess is not just about grinding hardYou may think that all you need to do to get to the top is grind hard. But, there is more than just hard work involved in success. It is also about relationships, building trust, and sitting down and listening to others.Your physical and mental health is criticalMake time for physical exercise because your physical and mental health is just as important as the hard work you put into your career or business.Actionable adviceDepression is tough to get out of. The best thing you can do is to make sure that you prevent yourself from going into depression because it is easier to prevent than dealing with it. As you create your schedules, put things that bring you joy first.No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsMariya’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to give value to more people. She plans to have more speaking opportunities, publish more books, run more training, and do more podcast interviews.Parting words “Make sure that you’re not only focusing on your professional fulfillment, but also on building proper relationships with people around you. And most importantly, take care of your health both physically and mentally.”Mariya Radysh [spp-transcript] Connect with Mariya RadyshLinkedInTwitterInstagramAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid ThemTransform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 PointsAndrew’s online programsValuation Master ClassHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketFinance Made Ridiculously SimpleBecome a Great Presenter and Increase Your InfluenceTransform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 PointsConnect with Andrew Stotz:astotz.comLinkedInFacebookInstagramTwitterYouTubeMy Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Cristiana Tudor is a successful social media coach whose goal is to empower women of any income level to start and scale their business to the next level through effective branding, storytelling, and social media coaching.She incorporates mindset coaching within her programs and helps her clients break out of old patterns, transition into a healthier emotional state, and shift into positive thinking. “Do not invest money that you are not ready to lose.”Cristiana Tudor Worst investment everChristiana is an avid learner. She got an MBA and even took financial classes. However, she never got an education in investing, even though she was really interested in starting to invest.Avoiding the shortfall risk by investing in BitcoinChristiana was aware of the shortfall risk of putting money into a bank account and gaining nothing in return. So she took her savings and invested it all into Bitcoin.While Bitcoin is not a bad investment, Christiana’s biggest mistake was investing in something that she did not understand. She had not done any research before putting all her savings into this one investment.Getting caught up in taxationChristiana did not know that Bitcoin was just like real estate, whereby you get taxed for every gain and also for every time you withdraw your profits. She also did not know that there were other better investments that allowed you to defer your tax. Christiana, therefore, lost some of her gains to taxes.Then came COVID-19When COVID-19 hit the world, the price of Bitcoin collapsed overnight, and then the next morning, when Christiana woke up, she had lost everything. She was utterly devastated and did not know what to do.Christiana was worried about her financial security because, at the same time, the company that she was working for was not doing well, and now all her savings were gone.Lessons learnedNever invest more than you are ready to loseNo matter how lucrative an investment seems, never invest money that you are not ready to lose. It is essential to understand how much you should be investing out of the money you are making. So do not invest all your savings, and when something happens, you have nothing to fall back onto.Pay yourself first before you investPay yourself first, then invest. You can start by investing just 10% of what you earn per month. This way, you will have money work for you while enjoying peace of mind, and you can focus on other important things in life.Invest strategically, not emotionallyWhenever you invest, do it strategically rather than emotionally. Do not just focus on the fact that your money will grow and get to enjoy the money. Remember, to grow your wealth; you have to do it strategically.Andrew’s takeawaysResearch. Research. Research.One of the most critical aspects of successful investing is doing thorough research before committing to an investment. However, this is the one thing that most investors overlook.Assess and manage your risk properlyAnother vital part of the process of investing is understanding the risk. Understand both the potential and the risk of your preferred investment.This allows you to remove emotions from the process. Also, manage your risk by investing just a portion of your money and not all of your money in any one particular asset.Actionable adviceResearch on the investment vehicles that fall under tax-free or are tax-deferred and consider investing in those.No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsChristiana’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to impact more women globally. She also has two books coming out this year.Parting words “Do your research, don’t get too emotional, and budget your money in terms of percentages, not a fixed amount.”Cristiana Tudor [spp-transcript] Connect with Cristiana TudorLinkedInInstagramWebsiteAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid ThemTransform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 PointsAndrew’s online programsValuation Master ClassHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketFinance Made Ridiculously SimpleBecome a Great Presenter and Increase Your InfluenceTransform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 PointsConnect with Andrew Stotz:astotz.comLinkedInFacebookInstagramTwitterYouTubeMy Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Coonoor Behal is the Founder & CEO of Mindhatch, a firm that specializes in getting companies better results with creativity through Design Thinking, Organizational Improv™, Innovation Facilitation, and Diversity & Inclusion. She is also the author of I Quit! The Life-Affirming Joy of Giving Up, which will be published by New Degree Press in April 2021. “If you plan to do your business for three or more years, then do not skimp on your website. Make it great and let it help you.”Coonoor Behal Worst investment everGoing out on her ownCoonoor quit her job at Deloitte Consulting to start her own company, Mindhatch. She immediately went into a bootstrap mode and cut out all these things that were personal expenditures.Taking the bootstrapping mentality into her new business ventureCoonoor knew what she wanted to be doing for clients, but she did not know how to go about it, mainly because she was so strapped for cash. Coonoor was looking for all possible ways to build her business without spending a lot of money.One of the things Coonoor decided she needed was a website. Again, she went into the bootstrapping mentality of not wanting to spend much on this website. Her expectations for the website were low, and she thought this was a smart business decision. She went for a static three-page website with simple details of who she is, what her niche does, and contact details.  She paid about $1,000 for that.Time for a new websiteCoonoor’s business started to grow, and she started wanting to do more. Now she was a B2B business, and she needed a website that could do a lot more for her business, such as lead generation, answer questions that people are curious about, and more.Struggling to find a reliable web designerCoonoor decided it was time to improve her website, and she started looking for someone to work with. Unfortunately, this became the worst thing she experienced since starting her business.It took her a really long time to find a good web designer who eventually built the website she should have gotten from the beginning. She learned the hard way that cheap is indeed expensive.Lessons learnedWork on a great business website from the start to save moneyYou will save yourself money, time, and so much heartache and annoyance if you engage a good website design company from the start. Focus on building a professional website as you start building your business so that it can grow with your business.Andrew’s takeawaysBuilding a great website is hard but with the right web design company, you can do itA lot goes into creating a business website that customers will love and find useful. This is an expensive venture that most small businesses prefer to defer until they make a lot of money. However, when you find the right web designer, you can work together to create something great from the very start.Do not let insecurity or fear of failure hold you back from going the whole nine yardsMost new entrepreneurs have a sense of insecurity and fear that their businesses will fail and, therefore, shy away from investing in essential business tools such as websites. Trust yourself and show the world what you are made of.Actionable adviceThink about how long you want to do the thing that requires a website. If you are committed, and you know it is going to be something you will do for three or more years, then definitely invest in that website upfront.No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsCoonoor’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to sell many books once her book is launched in April. She also plans to do keynote speeches and give author and book talks at organizations and conferences.Parting words “Just try it out and experiment. Most things in life are not as risky as you think they are.”Coonoor Behal [spp-transcript] Connect with Coonoor BehalLinkedInTwitterBlogWebsiteAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid ThemTransform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 PointsAndrew’s online programsValuation Master ClassHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketFinance Made Ridiculously SimpleBecome a Great Presenter and Increase Your InfluenceTransform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 PointsConnect with Andrew Stotz:astotz.comLinkedInFacebookInstagramTwitterYouTubeMy Worst Investment Ever PodcastFurther reading mentionedDonal Miller (2017), Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen.

Mario Martinez Jr is the CEO and Founder of Vengreso. He spent 86 consecutive quarters in B2B Sales and Leadership. He is one of 20 sales influencers invited to appear in the Salesforce.com documentary film “The Story of Sales” launched in 2018 and was named 2019’s Top 10 Sales Influencers by The Modern Sales Magazine. Mario is the host of the popular Modern Selling Podcast. “We always say invest in people, and that is true 100%. But you also need to know when it’s time to not invest in a person.”Mario Martinez Jr Worst investment everWhen Mario formed Vengreso, he started looking at how he could bridge together the world’s largest modern sales training company by amassing multiple companies underneath one corporate structure through a mergers and acquisitions strategy.Mario pitched 14 different business leaders. He ended up getting ten partners that all said yes to his idea. Two, however, literally dropped out the day before they signed all the paperwork.The big mergers and acquisitions ideaMario’s idea was to have a private equity roll-up where you bring all the companies underneath one corporate entity. Everybody’s assets, IP information, and revenue are all rolled up into one centralized structure. And that is what he did.Mario and the eight partners created a large entity with a lot of reach and brand equity. It went on to take the market by storm.Too much for someWhile the idea was a perfect one, Mario overlooked some things when pitching to business owners. He got excited because people welcomed his proposal. So instead of cherry-picking the people to partner with, Mario accepted anyone who wanted in.The merger ended up a total disasterBecause of this, the merger ended up becoming a total disaster from a personality standpoint. The merge ended up being too scary for some of the partners, and so along the way, they left. Others were exited out of the firm because there were just too many differences causing a rift between partners. Now only four of the new partners are left in the firm.Spending time trying to make relationships workMario spent so much of his time trying to make the relationships work. He saw the clash in personalities from the start, but he just let it go thinking that the issue would naturally resolve itself over time. However, the differences just got worse, and Mario had to finally have the difficult conversation of exiting some partners, something he wishes he had done years earlier.Lessons learnedNormalize dissolving partnerships that are no longer workingIf you are in a partnership and find yourself disagreeing all the time, do not leave disagreements to chance. If the relationship keeps getting worse and you are arguing over the same thing all the time, you need to consider dissolving the partnership. Have an honest discussion about it and call it quits if it is just not working.Do thorough due diligence before getting into any mergers and acquisitionsBefore you get into any mergers and acquisitions, do your due diligence to figure out who is the best partner for you and what they will bring to the table. Do not let the excitement of a new venture cloud your judgment.Andrew’s takeawaysNot everything that experts do will work for you tooJust because experts are doing something you are interested in does not mean that it is the right thing to do or that it is going to work for you. It does not mean it is not going to work, be cautious of doing things blindly just because others are doing them.Not every disagreement needs to be resolved with a confrontationYou can resolve disagreements amicably through nonconfrontational communication and conflict resolution.Actionable adviceWhen getting into partnerships, follow your gut. Also, be willing to have honest conversations with your partner/s regarding the progress of your collaboration.No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsMario’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to double Vengreso’s growth from an employee perspective. He hopes to do this by hiring more people from underrepresented groups.Parting words “Just have fun.”Mario Martinez Jr [spp-transcript] Connect with Mario Martinez JrLinkedInTwitterFacebookYouTubeWebsiteAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid ThemTransform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 PointsAndrew’s online programsValuation Master ClassHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketFinance Made Ridiculously SimpleBecome a Great Presenter and Increase Your InfluenceTransform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 PointsConnect with Andrew Stotz:astotz.comLinkedInFacebookInstagramTwitterYouTubeMy Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Elizabeth Buko is an author and Wealth Coach. She helps entrepreneurs improve their finances & start their wealth-building journey by changing the way they think about money from a faith-based perspective.Elizabeth has helped women eliminate tens of thousands in personal debt, start investing towards their financial goals, grow their net worth to multiple 6 and 7 figures, and let go of deep personal beliefs that limit them financially.She is the Founder of Wealth From Little, where she runs monthly wealth creation classes. She is married and has two young children. “Everything that we have right now is, in most cases, directly related to how we were thinking in the past.”Elizabeth Buko Worst investment everA hunger to be richAt 19, Elizabeth worked as an intern and hated not having enough money to live a comfortable life. She decided that she would be rich and started looking for ways to make money quickly.Elizabeth had heard about investing in the stock market. She had read in the news about people who had invested in stocks and were now millionaires. She wanted to be like them.Saving every penny she couldElizabeth would save every penny that she earned. She would only pay essential bills and save everything else. While her friends and sisters were going shopping, to the cinema, out for dinner, spending money, and having fun, Elizabeth would be left behind. She was literally saving every coin to invest and get rich in 20 or 30 years.Investing in the first option availableElizabeth tried to find information about investing in stocks, but she could not find any. She felt restless and like she was just wasting time sitting around waiting to find information while her savings could be making her rich.Elizabeth had saved about 4,000 pounds, so she decided to just do it. Elizabeth thought that all you had to do was pick a stock from a long list, put money into it, sit back, relax and wait for the money to start coming in. She picked a stock and put in 2,000 pounds. A couple of months later, Elizabeth picked a second stock and put in the rest of her savings.The elusive richesA few months later, the first company Elizabeth invested in started experiencing issues, and the stock lost value. The second stock was still doing well, and she was earning dividends.Fast forward six or seven years later, the company crashed. There was a recession, and the company did not survive it. Just before the recession started, Elizabeth’s money had grown to about 15,000. Then the company crashed, and she lost it all.Lessons learnedDo not let the fear of being poor lead you to your worst investment everThe fear of being poor and the desire to be rich can cause you to invest blindly with the hope of making a lot of money fast. You get so blinded by fear that you make decisions without clearly understanding how to invest as a beginner.Investing in the stock market is not a get rich quick schemeDo not go into the stock market thinking that you will get rich quick. If you want to grow your wealth, you need to do it right. Read up on investing in the stock market, seek advice on how to go about it, and get out of the mindset of getting rich quick.Andrew’s takeawaysInvestment is a serious business that needs more than excitementDo not invest just because you see other investors living lavish lives or get sucked into the media hype on investing. Investing is a serious business that can strip you of your wealth very quickly. So do not get into it blindly.Start investing with a portfolio of ten stocksIf you are going to start investing in stocks, then have about 10 of them. Not one or two, and not 20 or 30, or else you are just mimicking the market. The best way to go about it is to get an ETF or a fund that owns many stocks. This way, you will have a well-diversified portfolio.Actionable adviceGet some education and keep learning every day. No matter where you are, you need the education and information to get you to the next step.No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsElizabeth’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to love 100 more women through Wealth from Little. She supports hundreds of women through free monthly calls. But now Elizabeth wants also to support more women one on one and give them the knowledge, the understanding, the faith, and the strategies to start building wealth and turn their financial lives around.Parting words “No matter what you are facing, you can do all the things you want. It is more than possible if you believe it.”Elizabeth Buko [spp-transcript] Connect with Elizabeth BukoLinkedInTwitterInstagramBlogWebsiteAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid ThemTransform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 PointsAndrew’s online programsValuation Master ClassHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketFinance Made Ridiculously SimpleBecome a Great Presenter and Increase Your InfluenceTransform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 PointsConnect with Andrew Stotz:astotz.comLinkedInFacebookInstagramTwitterYouTubeMy Worst Investment Ever Podcast

AJ Wilcox is a LinkedIn Ads pro who founded B2Linked.com, a LinkedIn Ads-specific ad agency, in 2014. He’s an official LinkedIn partner, host of the LinkedIn Ads Show podcast, and has managed among the world’s largest LinkedIn Ads accounts worldwide.He’s a ginger and triathlete. He and his wife live in Utah, US, with their four kids, and his company car is a wicked-fast go-kart. “You can build a business out of being the best in the world at whatever you choose.”AJ Wilcox Worst investment everGrowing up, AJ had no entrepreneurship goals. He planned to leave college, get a job, and work his way up until he became the CMO or the CEO and then get into a fortune 500 company. And so AJ started his employment journey as a digital marketer.True love for Search Engine OptimizationAJ fell in love with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and then Google ads. He remembers talking to the CMO on the very first day of his last job. AJ laid out all of his marketing strategies, not wanting to look stupid. The CMO told him that his strategies sounded great and gave him the go-ahead to execute them. But she also asked AJ to look into a LinkedIn Ads pilot that the company had started two weeks earlier.Not wanting to disappoint, AJ jumped into the LinkedIn Ads platform that he had never heard of before and did his thing. About two weeks later, a sales rep came up and introduced himself and told AJ that the sales reps were fighting over his leads. AJ looked through the leads, looked at their source, and every single one of them was from LinkedIn Ads.Losing his job suddenlyAJ continued to learn more about this platform and kept outperforming everyone. Soon, his company became LinkedIn’s highest-spending account worldwide.After working for the company for two and a half years, AJ’s boss walked into his office one Friday morning and informed him that he was being let go. AJ was so devastated. He had three kids and another on the way at the time.Finally getting the guts to start a businessAJ talked to his wife about his job loss, and they agreed he should find another one. Because he was highly skilled, it took him just a few weeks to find a new job. In fact, he had four job offers.But a small still voice kept telling him this is not what he was supposed to do with his life. AJ prayed about it, and eventually, he decided to start a business instead of going back to a full-time job. He has not regretted this decision to date.Lessons learnedStarting a business is less risky than you thinkMany people get stuck in their full-time jobs because they assume that starting a business is very risky. They do not understand that in the long term, a full-time job is riskier than going out on your own.Running your own business gives you more control of your time and lifeWhen you are your own boss, you get to manage your calendar and your life, allowing you to spend time as you wish.You do not need to be great at everything; you just need to offer valueWhen you run your own company, you are operations and finance and sales and marketing. You may not know how to handle all these functions well. Whichever one you are good at, use that to offer your customers value, and that value will come back.Andrew’s takeawaysSome businesses will be better than othersSome industries, some jobs, and some things, in general, are just easier to sell than others. So when you are thinking of the business to start, look for one that stands to brings you the most success.Get your customers first, even before you produce your productIf you’re going to start a business, make sure you get your customers first. Most people think about their product or service and focus more on the brand instead of getting customers. Customers are the ones who will make your company last.A job these days is riskier than a businessYou may be feeling safe to have a job and avoid starting a business because you are afraid of the associated risk. The truth is that a job these days is just shortfall risk. Do not be scared to start your own business, especially if you are really good at something. The risk is worth it.Actionable adviceIf you have dreams of becoming an entrepreneur, but you doubt you can do it and are afraid to take the leap, perfect your skill first. Do not be scared to go and work for someone else and get paid to train. All you have to do is make sure that you are hungry, and you are trying to develop some niche skill that makes you the best in the world at something.No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsAJ’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to get all sales and operations off his plate so that he can do the stuff that he enjoys doing. This includes ad testing, data analysis, publishing, and speaking.Parting words “Think of opportunities that could take you into something that’s marketable. Start a side hustle, find ways of continuing to grow because you can never go wrong with being hungry and wanting to learn.”AJ Wilcox [spp-transcript] Connect with AJ WilcoxLinkedInTwitterWebsiteAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid ThemTransform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 PointsAndrew’s online programsValuation Master ClassHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketFinance Made Ridiculously SimpleBecome a Great Presenter and Increase Your InfluenceTransform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 PointsConnect with Andrew Stotz:astotz.comLinkedInFacebookInstagramTwitterYouTubeMy Worst Investment Ever Podcast

During the COVID-19 lockdown, when most corporate training stopped, Michael Teoh led his company, Thriving Talents, to pivot from their usual corporate consulting, team building, and employee training practices to work with SMEs to help their sales teams market and sell better and to boost the performance of work-from-home staff.Since then, Thriving Talents have helped 150 companies generate 5-to-6-figure revenue within the initial 3-month lockdown period. They have also taught thousands of remote staff in Malaysia, India, Singapore, Australia and the US on “Mental Health & Productivity.”Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Michael accumulated 16 years of experience, working in various capacities as a Management Consultant, Branding Strategist, Outreach Campaigns Director, and Serial Entrepreneur. Michael has served Fortune 500 Companies across 41 countries. “As long as you’re willing. There will always be a path for a better future for you.”Michael Teoh Worst investment everMichael had just started his company, Thriving Talents, in 2013 when he made his worst investment ever. He was very fortunate when he first started. The company got big clients, including fortune 500 companies. Michael was bathing in grandiose and in the prestige of working with the world’s largest, most influential organizations, leaders, and brands. He was making progress in life.Investing in crude oilMichael was approached to invest in crude oil. The investment company told him that he could be the trader trading derivatives and commodities. But since he did not have millions of dollars to do that, they advised him to get into drilling the crude oil. Michael figured that made sense.What Michael was buying was land in Canada and the British Virgin Islands so that the investment company could extract crude oil out of it. The company promised Michael a fair return of 12% per year. The return sounded relatively little to Michael, but the company convinced him that anyone promising him 12% a month instead of a year was a scam.Too lucrative a deal, can my family join?Michael did the math quickly and realized that he would get $10,000 every month in return if he were to invest a million dollars. But because he did not have this kind of money, Michael called his grandmother and parents and asked them to join and put their entire savings into it. Though they were not computer savvy, they could not transfer funds luckily missed out on the opportunity.Getting his payoutTrue to their word, the investment company paid Michael his 12% per year for about a year. Now that he had received his money, they asked him to recommend them to other CEOs and friends. While Micahel wanted to share this excellent investment plan with other people, for some reason, he didn’t have that chance to be active and to be serious in promoting it to his inner circle.The cat and mouse games beginOne and a half years later, the company stopped paying. Michael asked them about it, and they told him not to worry; it was just a minor problem with the transaction. Because they had built Michael’s trust for an entire year, he allowed them to pay him in the next six months. Then after six months, they just disappeared.A con game played so wellIn the one and a half years that the company was paying Michael, they held regular meetings. He was invited to go to their posh office, and they would show him actual videos of them going to the site in Canada and the British Virgin Islands.He would see them purchasing the equipment, the drills, and interviewing some chief engineers representing actual oil and gas companies. They even had letters from local governments, acknowledging that the company would be mining crude oil. It all seemed so believable.Accepting that he had been scammedIt was only after the company stopped paying that Michael realized that things were amiss. A group of investors who got scammed about $70 million came together, hired lawyers, and went to regulators. They found out that all those documentations were forged. The land in Canada belonged to other projects by companies that had nothing to do with this investment project. It was all just for show.When the group of investors took the scammers to court, they told the group that it was not rich enough to beat them, and the company would keep hiring the best lawyers or bribe its way through this. The investors, Michael included, decided to let it go and accept that they had been scammed, but the best thing was to move on instead of a draining never-ending court battle.Lessons learnedLearn how to love yourself, especially after you have been scammedIf you ever get scammed, give yourself a break, and just love yourself. Appreciate yourself for being so strong and resilient. Losing money is not worth taking your own life or getting involved in any crimes. Just give yourself a chance, and remember that we all make mistakes. Learn from this mistake and move on.Verify and fact-check information before you sign off on any investmentBefore you sign up for any investment, do background checks. Check up on the investment company, go through reviews, and fact-check every information they give you.Do not involve your family in your investment venturesNo matter how good the investment is, do not involve your family and loved ones. This way, if something bad happens, at least you will bear the brunt of that problem on your own and not include anyone else in the problem.Andrew’s takeawaysBeat investment scams by doing thorough researchScammers have become very smart and will often cover all their bases. To beat them, you have to dig deeper with your research. Research is not just reading and digesting; whatever someone gives you.Good research involves seeking out opinions of a third party that is unrelated to the people selling the investment idea to you. If you are researching a company and thinking about investing in it, talk to one of their customers or suppliers and see what they have to say.Speak out if you suspect you are being playedThese types of investment scams often use shame and embarrassment as tools to take people’s money, knowing that the victims are not going to say anything. So if you suspect that you are being scammed, speak out.You will lose money just as you are going to make it. That is just lifeWhether to scammers or an investment that has gone bad, if you lose money, remember it is only money. In life, you are going to win and lose over time. Losing money is a tragedy, but you can earn it back and get on with life. So do not beat yourself up too much when you lose money.No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsMichael’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to expand how he can help businesses, large corporates, and small to medium enterprises worldwide.Parting words “A lot of people talk about how successful they are. But I think there are many more lessons we could learn from failures.”Michael Teoh [spp-transcript] Connect with Michael TeohLinkedInTwitterFacebookInstagramYouTubeWebsiteAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid ThemTransform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 PointsAndrew’s online programsValuation Master ClassHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketFinance Made Ridiculously SimpleBecome a Great Presenter and Increase Your InfluenceTransform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 PointsConnect with Andrew Stotz:astotz.comLinkedInFacebookInstagramTwitterYouTubeMy Worst Investment Ever Podcast