My Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Oluwatosin Olaseinde is a professional accountant with over 10 years of experience spanning across accounting, audit, financial management, and taxation. She is the Founder and CEO of Money Africa, an ed-tech platform that enhances financial literacy and investments leveraging technology.Oluwatosin is a Washington Mandela Fellow, and she was a finalist for The Future Awards. In 2019, she was selected as one of the top 100 women by The Leading Ladies Africa. She was awarded one of the top 8 traders by CNBC Africa in 2012 and is a member of the Golden Key International Honour Society. Oluwatosin has spoken at TedX and has been featured on BBC UK, Al Jazeera, Guardian, and other outlets. “Be comfortable with having money conversations. It’s your money, and you have every right to know where it goes and how it works.”Oluwatosin Olaseinde Worst investment everThe one with the winnersOluwatosin had this friend who was always talking about how well his investments were performing and would always entice her to join him.In 2017 the Bitcoin craze was gaining so much momentum. At the beginning of the year, it was at $2,000, then $3,000, and it kept growing. Her friend was investing in Bitcoin and would constantly tell Oluwatosin about all the profits he was making. Oluwatosin now wanted a piece of the pie.Investment out of her reachBeing an account, Oluwatosin knew about the stock market, mutual funds, and all these other things, but Bitcoin sounded very futuristic. It sounded very abstract, and she didn’t understand it. So she was relying on her friend’s knowledge.When the price of Bitcoin hit $10,000, Oluwatosin decided she could not wait anymore. She reached out to her friend, and because she didn’t bother to learn about Bitcoin, she entrusted her friend to invest on her behalf. At this point, the price was about $18,000. Oluwatosin handed her friend a large amount of money, and he promised to invest it.Time to cash outOluwatosin’s friend created an account on some Bitcoin platform and told her that he had invested her money on that platform. He would continuously give her updates on WhatsApp. Oluwatosin trusted these updates and, therefore, never concerned herself with learning how the platform worked.The next year, the Bitcoin market stagnated, and Oluwatosin knew it was time to get out. The price was at $20,000, and she felt she’d made enough profit, and it was better to get out when the market was still high.Cat and mouse gamesOluwatosin told her friend that she wanted to sell, and he tried to convince her otherwise, but she stood her ground. Then the games began.Oluwatosin would message him, and he would not respond. She even reached out to mutual friends for help, but nothing worked. Eventually, she got to learn that her friend had never invested her money, and he’d basically stolen all her money in the name of investing in Bitcoin.Lessons learnedFinancial literacy is criticalFinancial literacy is excellent. However, when it comes to particular sectors, people tend to feel they are too technology-driven. And, therefore, do not educate themselves in these sectors. The truth is that the concept is the same across the field. So whether you are investing in a savings account, shares, Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency, etc. the rule is the same, you have to understand how the investment works and how to access it.Always own your assetIf you do not own your asset, you cannot control the resources. Should you outsource the ownership to other people, always document it as proof of ownership.Even the best investors make mistakesMany times people think they are too intelligent ever to make a financial mistake. This can happen to anyone. That is why financial knowledge and awareness are essential. Always do your research and educate yourself to ensure that you’re covering all your bases.Andrew’s takeawaysIt’s not always peaches and roses in investingMost people never talk about the performance of their overall portfolio or about the investments that went wrong. They stick to the investments that are winners. This makes so many people go into the stock market, thinking that they will get rich overnight.Never put your investment in someone else’s nameNever put your money under someone else’s name or into someone else’s account; all your investments must be in your name. Even if you are investing in a mutual fund company, you’re going to be putting your money into their bank account, and your name must be represented there. So never hand over your assets to someone else because the moment you do so, and they are not in your name, you can just consider them gone.Monitor your investments constantlyAlways monitor your investment to ensure that you catch any mischief. For instance, when you put your money in a bank or an asset management account, you generally receive an account statement every month. The purpose of this monthly statement is to detect fraud within that organization. If you don’t receive your monthly report for some reason, it could mean something’s being intercepted in some way or another.Actionable adviceFinancial literacy is very critical. Find out all you need to know about your investment. Ask your trusted friends about it to get lots of insights before you invest. Also, be comfortable with having money conversations. It’s your money; you have every right to know where it goes and how it works.No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsOluwatosin’s goal for the next 12 months is to grow her platform numbers. She wants to get more subscriptions and reach the ends of Nigeria and everywhere in Africa, just talking about financial literacy.Parting words “We always talk about investment and money, but at the end of the day, it is about living a fulfilling and purposeful life. Both of them can actually happen together.”Oluwatosin Olaseinde [spp-transcript] Connect with Oluwatosin OlaseindeLinkedInFacebookTwitterInstagramWebsiteAndrew’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

Beverley Agbakoba-Onyejianya is a Sports & Entertainment lawyer and Entrepreneur. She is an accredited mediator with the Lagos High Court Multi Door Centre and a member of the panel of neutrals at the Lagos Court of Arbitration.She has years of experience in the banking and capital markets in the United Kingdom and Nigeria. She is a Nigeria SEC-registered compliance officer, providing regional compliance, risk management, and financial crime prevention advisory support. Her broad experience in the compliance industry covers investment banking, brokerage, and fund management sectors.Additionally, she is passionate about sports and youth development and founded the Lagos Tigers Football Club in 2012, the Little Tigers Football Foundation in 2017, and a social network for women called GFC. “Delay is not denial. Things do not have to run at top speed to indicate that you’re on the right path.”Beverley Agbakoba-Onyejianya Worst investment everIn 2015 Beverley and her good friend were talking about doing something to better their lives. They explored different things, and her friend suggested that they get into the peanut butter packaging business.Beverley did some research and realized that there was such a massive market for peanut butter in the US, and so she paid the suggestion more attention.Jumping right into itThe two friends jumped right into business. They did a bit of research, came up with a name and branding. They were reeling to go. The friend even suggested that they not only do peanut butter but cashew nut butter too. They went all out with different flavors. They received an incredible reception when the butter went on sale.The clashing of two personalitiesThe butter was selling in their hundreds, and everything was going great except for the two business partners’ personalities.Beverley is brash and rash, while her friend is very detailed and a risk manager. And so the two kept clashing whenever they would have different business ideas. Beverley, especially wouldn’t take feedback well.Things turn uglyBeverley wanted things done in a rush, while her friend would instead take things slow. Beverley was also very emotionally driven and would often react irrationally during disagreements.Things got so bad that one morning Beverley woke up and changed all the factory locks locking her friend out. This was the last straw that brought the butter business to its premature end.Lessons learnedSolve problems rationallyYou don’t have to react immediately every time you are confronted with a problem or a misunderstanding. You don’t need to act on whatever comes to your mind first because sometimes the first thing you think of doing could put you in jail.Develop emotional intelligencePeople who have high emotional intelligence tend to be better leaders, teammates, and colleagues. You can have the best skills, you can be the best, but what is the point if your emotional intelligence is so low?Draw the line between emotions and businessIt is unnatural to expect your business partner to agree with everything you say and vice versa. You will often disagree, but it doesn’t mean that you should take it personally.Meet people halfwayEverybody has their reference point, so meet them where they are and find ways to complement each other.Everyone has something unique to offerEverybody has different skill sets that add value to your business. If you keep measuring other people by your standards, you’ll never be satisfied.Andrew’s takeawaysThe ugly side of businessWhen books talk about building a successful business, they never talk about the ugly side of the hustle. It takes blood and sweat to build a business. Most books won’t tell you this.Slow and steady wins the raceDon’t be in a rush to become successful. Take your time to build a stable business, and you will create an empire.It’s not just about youYou may be the business owner, but your business’s success is not just about you. It’s essential to think about the well-being of all the people involved in building your business, including all the stakeholders.You need different qualified people to build a successful businessTo be successful in any startup, you need people with different skills. You need a salesperson, a product person, a marketer, an accountant, and many more. These people won’t always get along, because they’re coming from different places. Figure out a way to keep everybody together.Actionable adviceYou need to know deep down and intuitively whether this is for you or not at all. Don’t flog a dead horse, but at the same time, don’t give up too soon.No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsBeverley’s goal for the next 12 months is to focus on creating digital content. She has another brand in the works right now, and her podcast Develop Your A-Game. Beverley plans to concentrate on these two projects for now.Parting words “Stay consistent and authentic.”Beverley Agbakoba-Onyejianya [spp-transcript] Connect with Beverley Agbakoba-OnyejianyaLinkedInTwitterWebsiteAndrew’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

Steve Anderson is an expert in strategic risk and business growth. Drawing on decades of experience in the insurance industry, he wrote The Bezos Letters: 14 Principles to Grow Your Business Like Amazon, a Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and international bestseller. With hundreds of thousands of followers, Steve has been handpicked by LinkedIn as one of the world’s most influential thought leaders. “Measure what matters, question what was measured, and trust your gut.”Steve Anderson Worst investment everIn 2007, Steve inherited a pretty good amount of money from his sister, who died from breast cancer. He wanted to invest this money in the smartest way possible. So he went to an investment advisor who advised him to invest in REITs and Class A office buildings, which he did.Here comes the recessionA year later, the recession hit the US real estate market, and Steve lost his entire investment. He knew that he should have pulled out his investment as soon as things started to take a turn, but he opted to hold on for a year hoping for the best. Unfortunately, this turned out to be his worst investment decision ever.His one mistakeWhile he had the right intentions and was even smartly investing his inheritance, Steve made the one mistake not to put measures in place to protect the downside.Lessons learnedThink more about downside protectionSomething will always happen that is outside your control. So think about what you’re going to do in case of uncertainties.Protect your assetsConcentrate more on protecting your assets than growing them.Andrew’s takeawaysFocus on the long termA lot of times, we get caught up in the short term. Instead, focus on the things that will make money over a long period, such as stocks and bonds.Shortfall risk is a huge riskVery few people ever think about shortfall risk. Most people take comfort in putting all their money in the bank, thinking that it’s low risk. No, that’s high risk because your money will never grow.Actionable adviceDo a better job than I did to protect the downside.No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsFor the next 12 months, Steve’s goal is to keep the book alive and keep the buzz going. Hopefully, this will lead to live in-person events.Parting words “Obsess over your customers. Think about that more because you’re probably not.”Steve Anderson [spp-transcript] Connect with Steve AndersonLinkedInFacebookTwitterInstagramBlogWebsiteAndrew’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

Ela Staniak Leaupepe was born in Poland, and her challenging upbringing was a speed lesson in life. At 21, she moved to Australia and began working first in the fitness industry before embarking on a journey through online and corporate coaching. She studied Fitness, Sports Coaching, Neurolinguistic Programming, Hypnotherapy, Public Speaking, Intuitive Coaching, and attended countless professional development events.Ela is the Founder and CEO of Feminine Leaders–which creates a pathway for women to rise and find their place as true leaders. Ela partners with CEOs, Executives & Business Owners to produce high caliber business results and access their creative genius. “Always have multiple lead generation platforms to serve your network and clientele.”Ela Staniak Leaupepe Worst investment everEla had, for the longest time, wanted to expand her fitness career into something bigger that could empower women all over the world. She took the bold step to learn about business coaching and hired a coach.Finding her sweet spotEla invested over $100,000 in various personal development programs and business coaching programs. She also invested about $10,000 in Facebook marketing and used it as her primary lead generation platform.Finally, this year, she found her sweet spot in the business and had a formidable social media presence on Facebook. Ela had created a name for herself and was now the go-to person for women empowerment, weight loss, and hypnotherapy.Rug pulled out from under herUnfortunately for Ela, the sweet spot didn’t last very long. In June this year, Ela woke up one morning and found an email notifying her of suspicious login activity on her Facebook account and was asked to verify her identity. That verification was rejected, and her accounts got deleted entirely and disabled.Ela had 5,000 connections on her personal profile, nearly 11,000 connections on her business page, and almost 6,000 connections on Instagram. She was also running two different Facebook groups; one of them had 1,600 women in there.Shock, disbelief, and denialAt first, Ela went into shock, disbelief, and complete denial. She convinced herself that there must be a way to get her accounts back. She hadn’t done anything wrong anyway.Ela tried to contact Facebook several times, pleading her case. She eventually heard back from Facebook but not with the kind of news she was hoping for. Ela was informed that the decision to close her Facebook accounts had been reviewed and that her application to have the decision reversed had been rejected.She couldn’t believe that all the years of work, sleepless nights, 18 hour days, moments of tears, moments of giving up, and continuously pursuing and persisting in building her business on Facebook and Instagram had gone down the drain.One too fewUnfortunately, other than her email list Ela did not have any other lead generation platform, so she had to rebuild her audience from scratch. While running her business on Facebook and Instagram alone had been fruitful for a moment, it turned out to be her worst investment ever because she abandoned other platforms, and now she had nothing to work with.Lessons learnedHave multiple lead generation platformsWhen you are creating a business, have multiple lead generation platforms that you can use to serve your network and your clientele. This ensures that you still have a soft spot to fall onto should any of the platforms fail.Be flexible and adaptableIf you want to run a business or organization or be in a managerial position, practice flexibility and adaptation. Challenges, whether it’s in business or personal life, never end. So always be flexible enough to adapt to change.Andrew’s takeawaysEmbrace changeWhen things are falling apart, acknowledge that change is inevitable and embrace it. Find new ways to make the change work.Be more of yourself instead of copying othersTry to be more of yourself. Find your place on this earth, know where you’re supposed to be and be happy to be there.The four drivers of a company’s valueFour things drive the value of a company; one, revenue, increase it. Two, expense, decrease it. Three assets, increase them or get more out of the existing assets that you have. Four, risk, reduce it.Actionable adviceExpand your thinking and your consciousness. Use multiple platforms to provide your network and clients access to whatever you offer. If one platform is taken away from you or stops working, you’ll have other safety nets to continue serving your clients and networks, and that will ultimately put you in the center.No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsEla’s goal for the next 12 months is to launch her biggest women empowerment event ever. She hopes the world will have overcome COVID-19. Her goal is to provide an amazing transformational experience for women to come in and experience the feeling of letting go and making peace with the past, experiencing the now, and creating the future.Parting words “You are the one and only CEO of your life. So take your life by the horns and ride it.”Ela Staniak Leaupepe [spp-transcript] Connect with Ela Staniak LeaupepeLinkedInInstagramYouTubeBlogWebsiteAndrew’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

John Pastor has close to two decades of leadership experience in the business process industry in the Philippines. He has numerous years of exposure in both the in-house and outsourced areas of the industry and has had the opportunity to work with top tier multinational organizations since 2001.Aside from operations, he is also well-versed in the business’s different areas, such as continuous improvement, quality, sales, business development, workforce management, facilities management, training, human resources, and recruitment. He has had the opportunity to either oversee these areas directly and indirectly or collaborate with their respective department heads.John is passionate about people development, creating a positive culture and working environment, client and stakeholder relations, customer advocacy, and running day to day operations. “If you’re unemployed, don’t just grab the first thing that’s out there. Look for something that you truly want to be a part of.”John Pastor Worst investment everIn early 2001, John discovered the Business Process Outsourcing industry, and he felt right at home. He worked for different multinationals within the industry and built a budding career.A gloomy ChristmasThings were going pretty well for John until December 15, 2015. This is a date he remembers very well because, on that day, darkness entered his life. John received a redundancy letter. The company he was working for at the time no longer needed his services.The company was trying to reduce costs, so they made a few roles in their Philippines office redundant. And just like that, John lost his job two weeks before Christmas.Back to job huntingSearching for a job during Christmas and New Year was a futile attempt for John. It took him 10 months to get his first job offer. It had been a difficult 10 months, and John had grown desperate.No questions askedThe inability to provide financially for his family took a toll on John mentally, physically, and emotionally. When the first job offer came, he took it, no questions asked.After a few months, John was laid off again. His company decided to move all their business from the Philippines to India because it was a lot cheaper from a back-office work perspective.Two times wiserLuckily, this time around, the job search didn’t take John too long. In about two months, he had another job. This time though, he was smart enough to dig deeper during the interviews to make sure that he got himself a job that was the right fit for him and that he would not find himself jobless just a few months in.Lessons learnedTake your time when finding a jobDon’t be in a rush when finding a job. Ask many questions whenever you go for interviews to open up conversations about the role being offered. You want to make sure that the position and company is the right fit for you.Stay positiveRemain positive even when things are bad because holding onto negative ideas will only beat you up and make you give up.Andrew’s takeawaysAdapt to changeWhen things change, you also have to change the circumstances a bit to break the cycle of the emotions you’re going through.Don’t be too hard on yourselfThings go wrong in life all the time. It’s not always that it’s your fault that things don’t work out. There are times in life where circumstances are a significant factor, and so when things go south, don’t be too hard on yourself. Just know that this too shall pass.Actionable adviceIf you’re unemployed and job hunting, do not just grab the first opportunity that comes up. Take your time and ask as many questions as possible during the interview process. Make sure that you’re getting into something that you truly love and that the role is something that would align with your core competencies.No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsFor the next 12 months, John’s goal is to grow his company, especially the online payments platform. On a personal level, John wants to make sure that his family is well taken care of while waiting for the COVID situation to be over.Parting words “Keep a positive frame of mind. Things will get better.”John Pastor [spp-transcript] Connect with John PastorLinkedInWebsiteAndrew’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

Cameron Herold is the founder of the COO Alliance & Second In Command Podcast. He is known worldwide as THE CEO Whisperer and is the mastermind behind hundreds of companies’ exponential growth. Cameron has built a dynamic consultancy by speaking, not from theory, but experience. He earned his reputation as the business growth guru by guiding his clients to double their profit and double their revenue in just three years or less. Cameron was an entrepreneur from day 1. At age 21, he had 14 employees. By 35, he’d help build his first two $100 million companies. By the age of 42, Cameron engineered 1-800-GOT-JUNK?’s spectacular growth from $2 million to $106 million in revenue and 3,100 employees—and he did that in just six years. Not only does Cameron know how to grow businesses, but the current publisher of Forbes magazine called him “The best speaker I’ve ever heard...”. Cameron is the author of the global best-selling business book Double Double, which is in its 7th printing and multiple translations around the world, as well as Meetings Suck and The Miracle Morning for Entrepreneurs. Look for all of Cameron’s five business books on Amazon today.   “Working hard isn’t the path to success, but working smart is.” Cameron Herold   Worst investment ever Cameron used to judge people based on the way they looked. He naturally gravitated to the good looking guy, the woman who looked successful, people who dressed and carried themselves well. In his mind, those were successful people. He would not give a thought to people who didn’t look successful, dressed more casually, who didn’t shave, probably overweight, and weren’t attractive. Cameron judged them as not being successful. He would avoid spending time getting to know them. Because he would judge very quickly, he would often miss out on opportunities. Snobbing the outsiders In the summer of 2008, Cameron invited Tim Ferriss to come to his first time at Burning Man; it would be Cameron’s second time. Tim said yes and brought two friends with him. One of Tim’s friends was an entrepreneur. At Burning Man, Tim and his timid friends didn’t quite fit in with Cameron’s group. Cameron’s friends did not embrace them, so they became the outsiders to his group. Being his usual judgy self, Cameron spent more time with his group than Tim and his friends. The missed opportunity of a lifetime One night, very late, Tim’s friend, the entrepreneur, wanted to pitch Cameron and his friends on a business that he was starting and had an investment opportunity. Cameron, however, did not give him any credit when he pitched his idea. He just brushed him off, thinking that because his first business was such a silly one, his second business wouldn’t be very successful. Tim’s friend explained his idea of pressing a button on an app, and a taxi or limousine would come to you. Apps at the time were a new and unpopular phenomenon. Cameron and his friends thought that this was the stupidest idea they’d ever heard. Cameron and his friends refused to invest in the business. Tim, however, put in $25,000 into the business. This business turned out to be Uber. The guy that Cameron judged as weird and not worth his time was Garrett Camp, the original CEO and founder of Uber. By saying no to him, Cameron missed out on $108 million, considering the company’s valuation the day of its IPO. Lessons learned Do not judge a book by its cover Do not judge people at face value. Take your time and get to know people before you judge them. When you go to conferences and other events, sit with people who don’t necessarily fit in. Get out of your comfort zone, meet new people, get to know them, and connect with them. Andrew’s takeaways Opportunities are all around us Often, we look at the opportunities that we miss and feel bad about it. But it’s always important to remember that there are millions of opportunities that we’re missing every single day. So don’t beat yourself up over a missed opportunity. Do not judge what you see at face value Don’t compare your insides to other people’s outsides. Everybody is broken in one way or another inside. Most people are trying to keep up a facade and look good. Don’t let this intimidate you. Change your mindset Our mindset is shaped by our past, our emotions, and our judgments. Our mindset can hold us back in one way or another, so be open to changing it and have a growth mindset if you want to be successful. Actionable advice Go into situations and try to meet people that you wouldn’t necessarily try to meet. Some of the smartest people in the room are the ones that aren’t talking. They’re the ones that are listening and writing notes. The ones learning and paying attention. They’re not trying to get seen or get known. They’re there to learn. No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Cameron is very cognizant about the time he has left with his kids, 19 and 17 years old. One of them is going into second-year university this year, and thankfully, he’s at home for four months because of COVID. His second son goes to university in 12 months, and Cameron feels a sense of loss already. Therefore, his goal for the next 12 months is to have meaningful time and connections with his sons. Parting words   “Remember that none of this matters. At the end of the day, we’re all gonna die. Let’s have fun along the journey.” Cameron Herold   Connect with Cameron Herold COO Alliance Twitter Facebook Instagram YouTube Blog Website Andrew’s books How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market My Worst Investment Ever 9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 Points Andrew’s online programs Valuation Master Class How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market Finance Made Ridiculously Simple Become a Great Presenter and Increase Your Influence Transform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 Points Connect with Andrew Stotz: astotz.com LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast  

Avelo Roy is a serial tech entrepreneur, investor, and TV host, who started his first startup at the age of 19 around his patent-pending technology while still studying as a computer engineer at Illinois Institute of Technology. He built that company up to a multi-million dollar valuation by the age of 22. Over the years, he has built eight businesses in the US and India with millions of dollars’ worth of products and services ranging from consumer electronics, artificial intelligence systems, healthcare process automation, food science, wireless communications, wearable technology, and graphical password applications. As the great-great-grandson of the first female governor of India, a Gandhi-protégé (Sarojini Naidu), Avelo continues the legacy forward by tirelessly serving the Indian youth through entrepreneurship education using lean startup methodology and principles of Bhagavad Gita. His efforts through Kolkata Ventures in the past three years have resulted in 400+ revenue-generating startups responsible for around 4,500 new jobs created in 10 states of East India.   “Your investors should not have the right to tell you what to do, but they can advise.” Avelo Roy   Worst investment ever Avelo came across this fantastic well-respected venture capitalist who kept asking him to join a company that he wanted to buy from the current co-founders. The venture capitalist nagged Avelo for six months, but he kept saying no to his request. At the time, Avelo was running his business in Kolkata while the venture capitalist was in Delhi. The venture capitalist was so interested in hiring Avelo that he flew down to Kolkata. He told Avelo in two hours, everything that he was doing wrong with Kolkata Ventures. The guy knew what he was talking about. Getting a local mentor Avelo grew quite interested in the venture capitalist, especially because he needed a mentor in India. At the end of their discussion, Avelo decided to take up his offer. So he flew down to Delhi. He looked at the team and the business to see what was possible. The warning he should have heed The founder of the company told Avelo not to take the deal. He said to him that he’d been unable to run the company. The venture capitalist told Avelo to ignore the founder. The reason why they were getting rid of him was that he was very arrogant. He convinced Avelo to come on board and buy the founder out together. It took six months to get the papers in order and finally get access to the product. Working with the best The product the founder had built was the best in its category in the UK. But then the investors purposely let the founder “die”; they stopped investing. People came in with money and saw his arrogance, and would back off. When Avelo got the product, it was just buggy, irrelevant, and had many problems. The biggest hurdle, though, was that the payment gateway was not working. There was no way for customers to pay for the product. Trying to get things back on track Once Avelo had the team ready, he proposed to rebuild the product to the investors. They refused and said that the product was known for its intelligence built with so many data sets, and had hundreds of thousands of users. He couldn’t get rid of it, create something in six months, and expect it to work. They insisted that Avelo work with the product as it was and make it work. Avelo was getting quite frustrated with this decision. Having built eight businesses, gone through a product development life cycle over and over again, he knew that when you deal with somebody else’s code, it takes a long time to learn it. It is far easier and smarter to rebuild from scratch than take somebody else’s mess and try to make sense of it. But the investors disagreed with Avelo on that. All gateways shut The product was not making money as the payment gateway was still not working. To make matters worse, when the Cambridge Analytical scandal happened, Facebook shut the doors on small players. More than half of the product’s business was happening through its Facebook API, which got shut. Now he had a product that hardly worked. There was a lot of money going in, but no results were coming out. Things just keep getting bad As if all that was not enough, the venture capital firm that was supposed to put in the money ran out of funds, and they didn’t tell Avelo that. Now the whole project was on his shoulders, and for almost a year, Avelo had to fund it partially, putting in far more than he had wanted to do. His ego just wouldn’t let him allow the business to fail, but things kept getting more challenging as he still could not change the product. But he kept pushing it. A ray of hope, perhaps? After a while, Avelo managed to get back up to 100,000 users. They had gone down from 300,000 users to zero. From there, they went up to 100,000 users and kept going, but no transactions were happening. Money wasn’t going to come in without a working payment gateway. Something interesting then happened. Out of the blue, two US magazines, Cosmopolitan, the number one magazine for women, and Seventeen, a top magazine for teenagers, ranked Avelo’s product as a top product for dating, something the company had never considered. Hitting a wall yet again After the review from the two magazines, Avelo realized that people were chatting with each other and finding friends through the product. He suggested to the investors to consider going in that direction. Again, the investors refused to listen to his suggestion claiming that they were conservative, tax-paying citizens, and such a product was unacceptable in India. Counting his losses and letting go A year into it and burning money every month, Avelo decided to add this investment to his list of bad investments, called it quits, packed his bags, and went back to Kolkata. Avelo’s worst regret was not filing any paperwork for shareholding although they had agreed on shares and so he had no shares in the business. Avelo left with nothing even though he had invested his money into the business. His worst investment ever, though, was looking at this venture capitalist as a mentor. Lessons learned Don’t let your investors force you into business decisions Don’t let your investors corner you into making business decisions that you disagree with, especially if you’re an expert. Don’t let them twist your arm. Be strong, explain to them that you know what you’re doing, and if they want to make money, you need to do what you know best. Get your paperwork done Don’t get into any deal without the proper documents. Make sure that you have contracts and agreements in place before you commit to anything. Don’t treat your employees like family Employees need to be treated as employees to be effective work relationships and establish boundaries. Andrew’s takeaways Be adaptable If you want to do business outside of your home country, you’ve got to be able to break your frame of reference and be adaptable to different cultures and customs. Do your due diligence first, not after It’s important to remember that due diligence is done before you act. Some people either never do due diligence, or they do it after. You have to dig in because when you go into a small business or a startup, you’re talking about investing the next one to five years of your life, and you are going to be completely focused on that. So you’ve got to try to uncover anything before you get into it. It is lonely at the top It is very lonely at the top because you can’t talk about the pains and struggles that you’re personally going through with your team. It’s just not appropriate. You can’t talk about the financial or business challenges that you’re facing. You have to keep a brave face. Businesses fail It is normal for businesses to fail, so don’t be afraid to walk away. The reality is, the seeds of that pain and suffering are the ultimate seeds of your future success. Actionable advice Be as diligent as you can be with the people you work with. Cover everything that could go wrong. Make sure that your investors don’t have the right to tell you what to do, but they can advise. Ensure that you have that level of autonomy as an entrepreneur before you get into a startup. No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Avelo’s number one goal for the next 12 months is just to survive 2020 and write. He is also looking at investing in a few startups that might be dealing with tomorrow’s technology. Parting words   “Think big, start small, grow slowly, then grow fast.” Avelo Roy   [spp-transcript]   Connect with Avelo Roy LinkedIn Facebook Instagram YouTube Website Andrew’s books How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market My Worst Investment Ever 9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 Points Andrew’s online programs Valuation Master Class How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market Finance Made Ridiculously Simple Become a Great Presenter and Increase Your Influence Transform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 Points Connect with Andrew Stotz: astotz.com LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast  

Dr. Todd Dewett is a best-selling leadership author, educator, and professional speaker. After beginning his career with Andersen Consulting and Ernst & Young, he completed his Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior at Texas A&M University and enjoyed a career as an award-winning professor. Today he speaks, writes, coaches, and has created an educational library of courses at LinkedIn Learning that is enjoyed by millions of professionals in nearly every country in the world. Visit him online at www.drdewett.com.   “Hard work always pays, but it’s not always in money. Sometimes it’s in growth and learning, and sometimes that ends up making you more money in the long term.” Todd Dewett   Worst investment ever The successful young professor Todd was a young professor teaching classes and writing papers. His little fledging side career of speaking at conferences started to grow. Todd was getting more and more calls to speak at conferences. He was now feeling happy, grateful, and entirely too full of himself. Jumping on a trend Todd was doing an ancient podcast back then when no one was doing them when he noticed an obvious trend or what he thought was an obvious trend. He noticed that that microlearning,  shorter focused videos from YouTube were becoming popular. Todd kept getting feedback from students and people in the community and businesses about his talks. And so he figured well if he’s that good, then people would pay for his advice. Investing his inheritance Todd’s mother, unfortunately, passed and left him a small amount of money. He decided to do something he’d been thinking about for several years at that point, which was launching a business to monetize the advice he loved to give. And so he jumped onto the micro-video trend. Todd hired a video director who came with a lighting person and a hair and makeup person. Todd wrote scripts for over 100 initial mini-courses, three to five-minute advice oriented bits that he was going to do. Then he scouted the city where he lived, got 10 different locations, and started shooting the videos. Lights, cameras Todd was having a blast creating this database. He also hired a firm to build a subscription-based website in readiness for all the people he knew who would love his videos and pay top dollar, no doubt. And so he took over $100,000 and created all of this content over many hours, working alone to write and working with his team to shoot videos, have them edited, and loaded onto the website. Action The day to launch the videos finally came. Todd hit up his list and told them the videos were live. He went onto social media and made a huge announcement. Then he waited for the money to start rolling in. Crickets chirped. On the first day, only two people signed up. Then one person the next day. That’s almost all he ever got. Todd called his clients, and they said they were not sure the videos were what they needed. He heard many other statements about why the videos weren’t the right thing for so and so. Admitting he had failed Todd had this beautiful product. He had told so many people about it publicly through every microphone he could get his hands on, but no one cared. Six or seven months into this, Todd made a public announcement that this thing he was so proud of working very hard on and that had cost him more than any single investment he’d ever made in his entire life, was an absolute failure. He admitted that it was indeed his worst investment ever. It didn’t come close to breakeven; frankly, it just failed. Lessons learned To become an expert, you must learn Don’t be blinded by what you know, and thus less capable of seeing what you should learn. At the very least, build a team to help you understand what you don’t know. To become an expert, talk to smart people who know what you don’t and build a team that knows things you don’t. Andrew’s takeaways It’s not only about the content Success in business is not only about your content. It is also about how good you are and, most importantly, how good your relationships are. Hard work pays Hard work pays eventually. It may be one year or six years or even 10 years later, but hard work pays. Turn your losses into your winners In every loss and mistake is the seed of your next stage of growth. Actionable advice To become an expert in what you do, find someone who has traveled the road you want to travel, and ask them what they learned so that you can learn from all of their mistakes and successes. Please share some of that wisdom. Don’t assume you understand what’s about to happen; just find someone who’s done it before. They will save you a ton of heartache and money. Parting words   “Listen to this podcast and take it personally. When you fail, learn something, then go share it with somebody.” Todd Dewett   [spp-transcript]   Connect with Todd Dewett LinkedIn Twitter Facebook Instagram YouTube Website Andrew’s books How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market My Worst Investment Ever 9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 Points Andrew’s online programs Valuation Master Class How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market Finance Made Ridiculously Simple Become a Great Presenter and Increase Your Influence Transform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 Points Connect with Andrew Stotz: astotz.com LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast  

Nathanial Bibby ranks number one in the Asia Pacific region on the Social Media Marketing Institute’s top LinkedIn marketers list, and he won Best Use of LinkedIn at the Social Media Marketing Awards 2019. He is a two-time finalist for the 2020 Social Media Marketing Awards for his campaigns “Monday Night Live” and “LinkedIn vs. Instagram.” Bibby Consulting Group has generated over $400 million in sales through LinkedIn lead generation.   “If you’re basing what you do in life on other people’s opinions of you, you will never be fulfilled.” Nathanial Bibby   Worst investment ever Ever since Nathanial started going to school, everything he did was geared towards seeking his family’s attention, especially his father. A lot of what he did at university and early on in his career was geared towards other people’s opinions. He always thought it was his responsibility to solve all of his father’s problems. It came as no surprise that after completing university, Nathanial went to work with his father in Phuket doing property development. A father-son duo Nathanial and his father were very successful in terms of sales, and the business was booming. Soon enough, his dad bought more land and developments that only caused trouble in their business. Spreading his wings Nathanial left Phuket and moved to Hong Kong, where he worked a job that he hated but kept doing it because his family thought it was the right job for him. Nathaniel tried several other things that he thought would please his family. It took him about six or seven years to do something that he wanted to do. Standing on his own Nathanial finally dared to do what he truly wanted. He quit his job and started a company, to the dismay of his family and friends. They all thought that he was insane and did not talk to him for six months. But, this was the most fulfilling decision Nathanial has ever made. Lessons learned Start listening to yourself If you’re basing what you do in life on other people’s opinions of you, you will never be fulfilled. Ignore the views of others, and listen to yourself. Start doing what you are most passionate about. Follow your passions It might be hard to say no to people and go out on your own. People will judge you and resist you changing altogether. But, when you succeed, they will respect you. Andrew’s takeaways Be more of you Often, the challenge is not to be like someone else; the challenge is to be more of you. Ultimately, you are unique, you are the only one, and you are your uniqueness. So be more of you. You can make it through the bad times Things don’t bring happiness. What brings joy is peace with yourself and having good people around you. With these two things, you can make it through anything. You can make it through losing everything, losing all the money that you have, if you have yourself, and good people around you. Actionable advice Find what you’re passionate about because if you’re a business owner, you’re going to run into some big challenges. If you’re not passionate about your business, you’ll probably give up, and the passionate people will outwork you. Secondly, start adding value without expectation, and all the things you need will get taken care of. The world will find a way to meet your human needs, whether it be your financial needs and your business, or relationships or what have you. All you need to do is get out of your head and focus on giving and helping other people. No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Nathanial’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to simply turn 36 years old. Parting words   “Andrew, keep doing what you’re doing. I love seeing people adding value. It’s fantastic.” Nathanial Bibby   [spp-transcript]   Connect with Nathanial Bibby LinkedIn Twitter YouTube Website Andrew’s books How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market My Worst Investment Ever 9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 Points Andrew’s online programs Valuation Master Class How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market Finance Made Ridiculously Simple Become a Great Presenter and Increase Your Influence Transform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 Points Connect with Andrew Stotz: astotz.com LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast  

Greg Au-Yeung has held senior executive positions at various global banks in China, including Saxo, UBS, ANZ, Morgan Stanley, and State Street Bank. He has a solid track record pioneering, building, and managing technology centers in China that deliver innovative solutions and support digital transformation programs for incumbent banks and FinTech. Greg is currently Senior Advisor for Shanghai Fudan University, specializing in FinTech, and the Co-founder of the Financial Technology Talent Standardization Committee. He was also the China columnist for Shanghai Daily, ComputerWorld, and various newspapers and magazines in Hong Kong and China. He graduated with a degree in Computer Science from the University of Westminster (UK), completed the Executive MBA program at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and certified from MIT (Artificial Intelligence), Harvard University (FinTech), and Copenhagen Business School (Digital Transformation-Financial Services). He is also a Chartered Information Technology Professional, a Fellow of the Hong Kong Computer Society, a member of the British Computer Society, the Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce (Shanghai), and the American Chamber of Commerce (Shanghai).   “I do speculate sometimes, but only when I can afford it.” Greg Au-Yeung   Worst investment ever Around 1995, Greg’s parents decided to invest in additional property when prices were on a record high. Because they could not raise funding, they had to remortgage their current properties and borrow money from the bank. Due to the high property prices, the interest on the bank loan was high too. Here comes the Asian financial crisis For one year, everything was good, and the investments were making good returns. Then boom! The bubble burst and the property market crashed. In just two years, property prices went down by 50% and continued to go down for almost eight years. The banks still wanted their money Greg’s parents still owed money to the bank. The bank came knocking on their door, wanting to get paid. So they had to start selling the properties at much lower prices than before, including some of the properties they held before just to pay off the debt. They experienced a substantial loss in the family’s assets. Lessons learned Always know what you can afford Make sure that you always understand what you can and cannot afford. Before you leverage or borrow money, know that you have to pay it back and with interest. You cannot live on credit Don’t hide under the comfort of a paycheck and think that you can live on credit; you can’t. The world is not the same anymore. That comfort can be taken away from you anytime. Make debt management a priority To make debt management possible, always live within your means because you don’t know what will happen next year. Your job could be lost tomorrow. The economy could go down the drain tomorrow; just see what COVID-19 has done. Andrew’s takeaways Expect economic crashes Crashes in the economy happen. They can be massive and can take years for them to recover. Almost every economic crisis is a property market crisis An economic crisis starts with the property. Part of the reason is that property is the ultimate collateral that backs the loans. Debt is the number one risk in business and life Debt can take you down just when you don’t expect it. There are other risks, such as foreign exchange, but ultimately, the number one risk is debt. To manage your debt, do not get overextended. If you’re going to borrow money for yourself or business, borrow a small amount. You may have slower growth, but you will protect your wealth over the long term. The free market should set interest rates The free market should set interest rates because interest is the price of risk. And when you distort the price of risk, you cause tremendous distortions in your country’s economy and the global economy. Actionable advice Afford what you can invest; it is as simple as that. Do your calculations and know what risk appetite you have, and what you can afford to lose. No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Greg will be doing something different soon and so his number one goal for the next 12 months is to get ready and prepared for his next adventure. Parting words   “People deserve to understand what the real world is like, what’s better than to share a real story of a bad investment so you can help people to make the right choice going forward. I’m super glad to be here.” Greg Au-Yeung   [spp-transcript]   Connect with Greg Au-Yeung LinkedIn Andrew’s books How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market My Worst Investment Ever 9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 Points Andrew’s online programs Valuation Master Class How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market Finance Made Ridiculously Simple Become a Great Presenter and Increase Your Influence Transform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 Points Connect with Andrew Stotz: astotz.com LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast