My Worst Investment Ever Podcast

In this challenging time of COVID-19 outbreak and economic shutdown, people need inspiration and hope that they will make it through. This is the time to rely on your family friends and the network you have built. Andrew reached out to his network of podcast guests and asked each to share their best advice on how to survive and thrive during these difficult times. Shaun Rein from Ep118: You Can’t Win Unless You Know How to Lose In times of panic, investors and business people should look at facts and remain calm to find opportunities to grow. Stay focused on data, not rumors. Stay patient and calm, and don’t let fear overwhelm you. Focus on your workforce because not long into the future, business is going to get good, and you’ll need them. Nick Bradley from Ep169: Buying a Business Based Purely on Emotions Rarely Works We’re in a state of fear and overwhelm, and people want to have some perspective just to get through it, and therefore, we are all allowed to react differently without any judgment. It’s ok to take this time to hibernate and try to work out what’s going on. It’s also ok to use this as an opportunity to build and grow. It’s ok if you want to slow down so you can speed up when this is all over because this is going to end at some point. Try and manage your emotions. Don’t let uncertainty and fear rule you because you won’t be able to see the things that you can be doing to make the most of the situation. Now more than ever is the time to be a leader for yourself, your family, your business, the community at large, and the world. As a leader, show empathy and capability. Demonstrate that you have the confidence needed to push through this. In times of uncertainty, people need that confidence. Be grateful, be brave, have faith, and show up. Josiah Smelser from Ep83: Push Through When Everything Goes Wrong This is a time to be very thankful and cognizant of the blessings that we have. It’s a time to press into our faith. Be aware of what matters in life. Don’t be so focused on the things that you can’t take with you, such as money and wealth. The things that matter are our friendships, our faith, and our family. For the entrepreneurs, focus on a strategy to get you through, because this is a temporary problem that we will survive and pass through. If you’re in the real estate business, focus on the rental property right now. The rental market has a strong demand right now because people don’t want to buy at this moment they want to rent. Connect with Shaun Rein LinkedIn Twitter Website Email Connect with Nick Bradley LinkedIn Twitter Facebook Website Connect with Josiah Smelser LinkedIn Website Email Instagram 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 Women Building Wealth The Build Your Wealth Membership Group 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  

Samuel Kamugisha is a brand and growth strategist hailing from Uganda in East Africa but has been in Malaysia for the past five years, where he completed his Master’s degree. He is skilled in marketing, creative strategy, brand development, and project management that he attained from various fields. Samuel has over 11 years of work experience in Africa and Asia. Currently, he works in the strategy department at the prestigious iProspect Malaysia and Lemonade Agency that are Dentsu Aegis Network Companies. Finally, he is the host of the Wow Factor Podcast.   “Loss is just an investment in knowledge.” Samuel Kamugisha   Worst investment ever Chasing the excitement of being his own boss After working for about six years, Samuel quit his job and decided to open a business and be his own boss. He partnered with his friend, and together they started a business in Uganda focusing on bulk SMS. The idea was to offer SMS services to people who wanted to send bulk SMS messages. Raising capital for his business Samuel approached his sister with his business idea and requested her for a loan to set up the business. He showed her the valuation of the business, and she agreed to loan him the money. Excited to get started right away Happy to finally have the capital he needed, Samuel went to his partner, and they decided to hit the ground running. They were too excited to get started that they never bothered to do any kind of research to validate their business idea. First, they hired a developer to set up a website where they would host the SMS service. Next, they scouted for an SMS provider and found a gentleman whose rates seemed to be very good. They spent half of the seed money on buying the SMS:s. Tragedy strikes Things were going pretty well, and the business was starting to gain some ground. Unfortunately, the gentleman who sold the SMS:s to them suddenly died. His system went offline, and they no longer had access to the SMS:s they had bought. The gentleman operated his business alone, and so Samuel had no one to consult once the gentleman died. Seeking a second option Samuel and his partner decided to look for another SMS service provider. This time they chose to go with a company as opposed to an individual. They found a company in India and used the remaining half of the seed money to buy more SMS:s. Tragedy strikes again After about four months of successfully working with the Indian company, another crisis happened. The telcos in Uganda were blocking any SMS messages from entering into their network because they were not originating from their system. So now they had clients complaining that their SMS:s were not being delivered. Whenever they’d complain to the company in India, the company would say that there was nothing they could do as the SMS messages were being blocked from Uganda and not India. Trying to salvage the situation When Samual realized that there was not much the Indian company would do to help, he decided to find a way to salvage the situation to avoid losing all his investment money. The only way to do it was to sell the bulk SMS:s they had already bought to another entity. He approached a local bank pitched his idea, and they seemed to like it. Before he could sell off the SMS:s there were minor changes that needed to be made on their website. He called the developer and told him about the changes he needed. That was the last Samuel heard of the developer. He never made the changes, and he went missing. Needless to say, Samuel missed his window of opportunity as the bank got tired of waiting for him to deliver the SMS:s. Accepting the inevitable At this point, there was no other way to save the business, and so Samuel accepted his fate. He made peace with the fact that his business idea turned into a failed venture, becoming one of his worst investments. Lessons learned Do your groundwork Don’t just jump into a business because it feels good and you’re feeling excited about it. First, do some intensive research in the industry you’re going into then decide if it’s a viable business idea. Work with people with a similar vision Align yourself with people with the same mindset as yours. People who have the same vision as you. Otherwise, everything is going to go haywire. Analyze your partners strictly Don’t go easy when picking partners. Have ongoing discussions with potential partners. Make sure that you understand their mindset about money and business. If possible, talk to the people they’ve worked with and get to know their experience working with these people. Andrew’s takeaways Let your partners know if things are bad Communicate with everyone concerned whenever things are going bad. It’s easy to communicate when things are going well, but it’s most important to keep talking when things are going bad. The world doesn’t care Your success is determined sometimes by the timing, and sometimes it’s about luck, good or bad. There’s no shortcut to building trust Trust can only be built over time. There is no hack for building trust. Actionable advice Do your groundwork. The knowledge you get from this research will help you choose the right partnerships, understand the environment, the type of business you intend to start, and how the market is. Do people need your product? Are you building a product that you think they need? Some of the solutions that we are creating are not necessarily solutions. No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Samuel’s goal for the next 12 months is to add a revenue model for his podcast. Right now, it’s his most focused entity, and he’s putting most of his energy on the podcast so he can build a revenue model around it. Parting words   “I encourage you to look forward to your plans. Yes, you’ve had losses and you’ve had failures. It’s good you’ve learned from them. That’s the cost that you’ve paid for them.” Samuel Kamugisha   Connect with Samuel Kamugisha LinkedIn Twitter 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 Women Building Wealth The Build Your Wealth Membership Group 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  

Mei Phing is the founder of Got A Phing and a passionate advocate of youth leadership. She has been recognized as a high performer and was fast-tracked to senior positions in multiple global multi-national companies whilst only in her 20’s. Nowadays, Mei coaches high-performing young executives and entrepreneurs to level-up future-ready skills to navigate complexity and thrive in tomorrow’s world. She regularly speaks about the skills of the future, youth engagement, and multigenerational workforce inclusion–as a TEDx Speaker and featured speaker for international events, conferences, and podcasts. Mei Phing is a culture enthusiast and has traveled to 37 countries and counting.   “Leadership is self-management. Before you lead and manage other people, you need to learn and be yourself.” Mei Phing   Worst investment ever For the love of helping people For Mei, her worst investment ever was investing time and energy, trying to convince people to take actions that they weren’t ready to take. Mei has done very well in her corporate career over the years and always been one of the fastest rising stars in whichever company she was in. It’s, therefore, not surprising that she regularly get questions from people looking to also advance their careers. For the love of helping people, she’d spend hours giving them advice. Just in need of a sounding board After doing this for so long, she noticed a pattern. No matter how good her advice was or how much time she spent talking to these people, they wouldn’t take any actions to change the situations they were in. They would just continue to whine and complain. She realized that all they wanted was a listening ear and a sounding board for their frustrations. Learning from her bad investment Giving her time to people who never quite needed it got Mei quite frustrated because, as an introvert, she’s very protective of her energy and time. She regrets having wasted all that time on people who didn’t see the importance of taking action. Mei wishes that she could take back all that time and do something more magnificent. Fortunately, this came with lessons on how to handle people, and it has helped her run a successful leadership company. Lessons learned You can’t force someone to take action A person is only ready to take action when they want to. No external advice or motivation will make them make changes in life if they don’t want to. They’ve got to want change badly For someone to take action, they’ve got to want to achieve their goals and be passionate about it. If they’re not, all the motivation and advice given will be a waste as it will wither off at some point. Understand yourself first before you help others You need to understand yourself first so that you can better understand someone else and help them understand themselves. Andrew’s takeaways You only have four productive hours in a day We only have a certain amount of concentrated energy in a day. You’re most productive for only two to four hours a day, and it’s impossible to expand that amount of creative time. So make sure you maximize it. Confirm that people need your advice before you give it Before you give any advice, always ask your recipient what they want. Get people to confirm that they’re asking for advice. This permits you to give it hard and fast. Quit complaining and take action One of the best ways to take action is to quit complaining about your situation and do something about it. Actionable advice You need to develop self-awareness, and the first step is to take a personality test. Then have a look at the result and ask yourself, is this you and to what extent? What are some of the strengths that you see, and how can you work on them one by one? No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Mei’s number one goal is to spread more awareness and impact on future-ready skills because we’re in the era of digitizing, and the world of tomorrow is pretty much happening right now. She’s focusing on human skills such as how to communicate, how to work better with people, and how to create win-win relationships. She believes these skills are pretty much lacking with many. Parting words   “Keep learning and growing. More importantly, take action because learning is just learning, and knowledge is just knowledge. If you don’t take action, then nothing happens.” Mei Phing   Connect with Mei Phing LinkedIn Facebook Instagram 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 Women Building Wealth The Build Your Wealth Membership Group 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 Further reading mentioned Vicki Robin, Joe Dominguez, Mr. Money Mustache (2018) Your Money or Your Life: 9 Steps to Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence Weldon Long (2013) The Power of Consistency: Prosperity Mindset Training for Sales and Business Professionals  

Amresh "Amar" Deshpande is a skilled communicator with a background in marketing, consulting, and sustainability. He is a public speaker and podcaster. He is the co-founder of Gaatha story, a podcasting company he founded with his wife in 2016. Amar is the creator and host of MyKitaab, a podcast on how to publish and market your book. He is also the creator of Baalgatha, Fairytales of India, and Veergatha Podcasts. He is a published author and blogger and has been featured in the Financial Times and Entrepreneur India. Amar has over 17 years’ experience in program management, construction, and communication with organizations such as Amazon, Schneider Electric, and Jones Lang LaSalle. He is an alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad, India and the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign in the US.  He is passionate about sustainability and is a USGBC-LEED Accredited Professional.   “If you know you’re going to dive into the deep end right away, either have a lifeguard around or wear a floater so that you don’t sink.” Amar Deshpande   Worst investment ever Uprooting his life on a whim Eleven years ago, Amar found himself in a situation that demanded him to eradicate his life from the US and back to his home town in India. His parents were getting old and in need of care. At the time, Amar was supposed to go to Canada for business school, but without giving it a second thought, he put everything on hold and went to India. Amar planned to give everything a break for a year and then go back to the United States. He figured that the life he had built for himself would still be there after a year, but his parents might not live for long. So for an entire year, he gave his all to his parents. Putting his career on the back burner Unfortunately, life didn’t play out as Amar had planned. After the year was over, the situation with his parents hadn’t improved. Even though his senses told him to leave India for the sake of his career, Amar ignored his feelings and continued his stay in India. His love for his parents clouded his judgment. Since Amar had planned to stay in India for a year then head back to the United States, he never networked with people in India nor got in touch with his colleagues back in the States. Amar should have probably spent that year networking and cultivating relationships with his co-workers, his clients, and customers. Instead, he completely put everything concerning his career on hold. Now here he was a year later in need of a job in India with no idea where to start. Setting root in India Fortunately, Amar got a job consulting for construction companies, but he had to move from his hometown to Mumbai, where everything was super expensive. On top of that, India was going through the economic effects of the Lehman crisis, and businesses were suffering. While he had a few dollars saved, the exchange rate was pretty low, and so he ended up losing 20% of his savings. Things go from bad to worse As if losing his savings was not enough, the Monsoon hit, and everything came to a standstill. He was no longer getting a salary as the construction industry was dead. Before long, Amar found himself completely broke and had to sleep in the streets because he couldn’t afford to pay rent. Sleeping in the streets was the wake-up call that he needed. He made a resolve to turn his life around. Amar realized that he was still living in the glory of his past life. He decided to let that go and start again. The next day he quit his job, moved back with his parents, and began rebuilding his life in India. Amar went on to build a successful entrepreneurial life in India, where he lives to date. Lessons learned Think things through before making significant decisions Take time to think things through before making a drastic change in your life. This will help you see things clearly and avoid making an emotional decision. Have a strong network It’s imperative to have a network of friends who can be your sounding board when you’re going through a difficult phase in your life. Invest in your career throughout No matter where you are in your life, always work towards improving your career. Invest in networking for career development so that you stay on top of your game. Andrew’s takeaways Go back to your roots If things are not working out as you hoped the will, let go and go back to your foundation and start rebuilding yourself from the ground up. This will bring you quite a relief. Keep it simple Keep simplicity in your life and your business. Keeping things simple will allow you to achieve more. Actionable advice Invest in your network no matter the occasion. You never know when you might have to reach out to certain persons or organizations for any sort of help. No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Amar’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to create more content for Gaatha story to build a more extensive library. Amar is also reaching out to his network, especially during this time of the COVID-19 crisis, and checking up on them. Parting words   “These are tough times, but it’s cyclical. So at some point in time, you’ll reflect upon these times and see how much you learned. So, stay strong.” Amar Deshpande    Connect with Amresh Amar Deshpande LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Instagram 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 Women Building Wealth The Build Your Wealth Membership Group 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  

Jonathan Slain’s book, Rock the Recession: How Successful Leaders Prepare For, Thrive During, and Create Wealth After Downturns came out in September 2019 and is a #1 Amazon Best Seller. Jonathan coaches high growth leadership teams across the United States to implement the Entrepreneurial Operating System®, also known as "Traction". He focuses on working with entrepreneurial niche/specialty firms and large corporations, spending over 100 days per year working with teams just like yours. Jonathan was Valedictorian of his graduating class and had the highest GPA ever in the history of Shaker Heights High School, where he was also voted “Next Bill Gates and Least Likely to Lose his Virginity.”    “There’s always going to be a disruption. Embrace it, and have a plan for everything.” Jonathan Slain   Worst investment ever Forging a business partnership Jonathan was working as an investment banker when he received a call from his brother-in-law asking him to help evaluate gym franchises that he wanted to invest in. Jonathan agreed to accompany him to Denver, where the franchises were. On the flight home from Denver to Cleveland, Jonathan, on a whim, suggested to his brother that they open the gyms together. His brother-in-law agreed, and Jonathan left his job at the bank and began working with his brother-in-law. Up to a good start Jonathan didn’t bother to do any research and had total trust in his brother-in-law. He believed that the business was going to work. They opened up their first gym in Hudson, Ohio, and went on to scale the business pretty fast. Indeed, the franchise was thriving. In less than five years, they had five units operating, all one-on-one personal training studios. The branches were in five locations across Cleveland, with 25 employees. They broke franchise records by recording the most personal training sessions in the year, the most locations, and the most revenue of any group. The great recession they never saw coming At 25, Jonathan was a thriving franchise owner and was riding the wave of success. Then the great recession hit out of nowhere. They had no plan on what to do at a time of such a crisis. Amid the panic, he came up with a plan to borrow a quarter of a million dollars from his mother-in-law. The business went on to barely survive the recession, but he had to live with the shame of having to borrow from his mother-in-law. Lessons learned You’ve got to have a plan Be sure to have a plan for what you would do if you ever hit an economic downturn. Have a plan for what you’re going to do to reduce expenses, cut overhead, do layoffs, etc. and survive a recession. Create your plan when you’re not stressed out Figure out your plan when things are calm, not when you’re in the middle of a crisis. People tend to make bad decisions when they’re stressed out and emotional. A recession can be an opportunity Not every recession has to be bad for your business. If you’re an entrepreneur and once every couple of years, there’s a significant disruption in your industry, figure out what opportunities come with the disruption. Pounce on these opportunities so that you can benefit from the disruption. Andrew’s takeaways Use stop losses for your stocks Use stop losses when investing in the stock market, especially if you’re a first-time investor. This allows you to predetermine future actions in case of an economic downturn. Don’t wait for an economic downturn, get your plan ready now Don’t wait until everything starts to crumble to come up with a contingency plan. Do it when times are good because then you will be in the right headspace to come up with an airtight plan because you are not panicking. Have both an upside and a downside plan Separate your research into the upside and the downside. By looking at an idea from both angles, you give yourself a chance to step away from the excitement of having an idea and see the ugly side too. In the end, you may just realize that the idea isn’t that attractive, and not worth doing. An upside and downside plan will also help you come up with a plan for when things are going well and when things are bad. Actionable advice Get the book, Rock the Recession: How Successful Leaders Prepare For, Thrive During, and Create Wealth After Downturns and take the 20 questions recession readiness assessment in it. This will help you benchmark how well prepared you are for the recession. Instead of it being subjective, you’ll get a score from zero to 100. Zero is not prepared at all. 100 is looking forward to the recession, because of how well prepared you are. Once you get your score, then you can decide what you want to do with that information. No. 1 goal for the next 12 months In 2020, Jonathan is focused on being at home, in Cleveland, more. He plans to get better at his virtual meeting capabilities so that he can have more virtual clients. Parting words   “Rock the recession, be in a position to rock your recovery so that you never have to borrow money from your mother-in-law as I did.” Jonathan Slain   Connect with Jonathan Slain LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Website Get 30% off the Rock the Recession workbook with the coupon code “Worst” Blog 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 Women Building Wealth The Build Your Wealth Membership Group 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 Further reading mentioned Jonathan Slain (2019) Rock the Recession: How Successful Leaders Prepare For, Thrive During, and Create Wealth After Downturns

Joel Ong is the creator of the Expert to Authority coaching program for business owners to use their smartphones to make videos work for their business in 90 days (without having to hire a professional costing thousands of dollars).   “We have more processing power in our mobile devices than what Armstrong had in his spacecraft the first time he went to the moon.” Joel Ong   Worst investment ever Fueling his Instagram influencer dream Joel wanted to be like the travel influencers on Instagram and wealthy business owners that he saw traveling the world first class. However, he didn’t have the money or the influence to do it. He just didn’t have the confidence to be an influencer of any sort. But, Joel truly wanted this life, so he thought of all the ways he could achieve this. He figured that he could pick up the camera and influence from behind it instead of in front of the camera like the other Instagram influencer. This started Joel’s journey into travel videography. A humble beginning Joel started with a very cheap imitation of a GoPro camera that he borrowed from a friend in China. Slowly he started living his dream to be a travel influencer by collaborating with models and travel photographers. Doing it as the stars do As Joel interacted with famous influencers in the industry, the pressure to get sophisticated video equipment got real. He wanted to be like the rest of them, and so he invested thousands of dollars in video equipment. Joel bought better lenses, better lighting, a stabilizer gimbal, and more. His travel backpack got heavier and heavier. As Joel continued to travel the world more with his new equipment, he realized that something was still missing. Now he needed to improve his skills as well. So Joel paid a lot of money for several online courses. He thought that this would get him fame and glory quickly. In the end, after spending so much money, it didn’t work. Joel learned that besides proper equipment and courses, he needed to put in the work to get to the success he wanted. Lessons learned The key to success is to focus on simplicity Everything that works is simple, but it takes execution and work. Simple is not necessarily easy. Don’t expect a magic formula to find success; you’ve got to put in the work, trust the process, and go through it. Shift your thinking If you do not see any success, then you need to start doing things differently because, like Einstein said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.” So shift your thinking. Decide what you’re prepared to lose Before you invest, think of the worst-case scenario. If it doesn’t work out or it underdelivers, what’s the most that you can afford to lose? When you think of investing in that way, then it makes everything very clear. Invest in your skills too People who are very good at their craft have a very high level of expertise that allows them to get a lot of returns from it. If you don’t practice your skills consistently, you’ll become poor in your craft. Andrew’s takeaways Keep it simple It’s easy for anyone to complicate things, but not everybody can make things simple. Things tend to move towards complexity, particularly in business, and it takes a lot of effort to keep things simple. But make an effort, because simple works. Successful people know there’s no magic formula There is no shortcut to success. The secret of success is to go through the work. If you take shortcuts, you will pay for it in some way. Actionable advice Decide if you are going to be 100% transparent, honest, and accountable with yourself. The key to success is to commit to put in the work and get it done regardless of any circumstances or challenges. No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Joel’s goal for the next 12 months is to get his private coaching program Expert to Authority out to the market and more people. The program is based on all the best investments that Joel has made before. The program will take you from just being an expert or business owner to a brand authority using video in only 90 days. Parting words   “Stay safe, guys.” Joel Ong   Connect with Joel Ong LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Instagram Website YouTube 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 Women Building Wealth The Build Your Wealth Membership Group 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

With the novel coronavirus spreading like bushfire all over the world, it is a terrifying time for both individuals and businesses. The future is indeed uncertain, and the anxiety is setting in. Andrew Stotz has lived through many different personal and financial crises over the years. Today he shares his story of loss. It’s not his worst investment but his worst personal moment, and it came with lots of lessons that we can all borrow from to carry us through the current COVID-19 pandemic and the looming economic crisis.   “Stay calm, and look forward to a great future because things will turn around.” Andrew Stotz   Worst moment ever The calm before the storm It was around 1995, and I was riding high as a stock market analyst in Thailand. I had been promoted to be the head of research of W.I. Carr, which was the number one foreign broker in Thailand at the time. All was going well. My best friend Dale came to visit and suggested we set up a coffee business in Thailand. Initially, we were going to buy coffee from other roasting companies, package it, and then sell it. However, we couldn’t find companies that would be able to produce the coffee to our standard, so we decided to build a coffee factory. Well, no problem. I was making good money and had already saved a lot. Dale moved to Thailand, and we set up CoffeeWORKS. We started our sales in 1996. Riding my first wave of a financial crisis In 1997, the Asian financial crisis happened. I remember walking into work in July, and the news was that the Thai government could no longer defend its currency, the Thai Baht, and it was going to collapse. The collapse soon started. The Baht at that time was 25 to the US dollar. By the end of 1997, it was at 60 Baht to the US dollar. Companies that had US dollar debt were in serious trouble because they didn’t have enough money to pay it back. The economy started to collapse, and everything got worse. Our plans for our business soon disappeared. We had plans to sell coffee to many companies as the economy was expanding in Thailand before the financial crisis. But instead, our sales dried up to almost nothing. Every day, we saw no new customers come in, and existing customers disappeared. And of course, no income. Yet we still had a factory and people working in it. Gloom was setting in fast. Riding my second wave of loss As if the poor launch of our coffee business was not enough, in April of 1998, I lost my job working in an investment bank. All of a sudden, we had a business and a factory, and a lot of costs, but no revenue, and no employment for me to feed the cash needs of the company. There was very little hope that I would get a job again in the financial industry because everything seemed to be decimated by the collapse that had now hit Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and later on many other countries in Asia. Time to scale down Dale and I had lived together in a house in Bangkok. We decided to move out to cut down costs. So we moved into the coffee factory. We moved the sales team out of one of the rooms that had air conditioning, put two beds in it, and it became our new home. It was like going back to college days, two beds, one room, and a bathroom outside of that room. The angel of doom visits again One day in August of 1998, Dale and I had woken up to an empty factory. No workers, nothing going on, it was raining heavily outside, and it was just a depressing day. I got a call from my sister Kelly, and she said that her cancer had come back. The doctor said she had only one month to live. She asked me to go home to see her. When I hung up the phone, Dale and I looked at each other and just cried. We were at the absolute bottom that August Sunday of 1998. A professional bottom and a personal bottom. Within one week of arriving in America, my sister passed away. I got one week to spend with her. I stayed for a couple more weeks with her family, and then I had to come back to Thailand. I came back completely depressed and defeated. Time to buckle up and deal with all the loss Dale decided that living in the factory would eventually break us and so we moved into a tiny low-cost apartment nearby that cost $150 per month for the two of us. I was so depressed to even think about our coffee business. Dale is an Iron Man, and he kept doing the next best thing that he could do to continue the business. Dale was a very honest and sincere man during these desperate times, and he continued slowly. In 1999, I got a call for a job offer to work for a bank. The economy was starting to go up slowly. CoffeeWORKS began to recover as Dale continued making the next right steps. We made mistakes along the way, but today we’re a company with more than 100 staff in a robust business, and we’re celebrating 25 years in existence. Lessons learned You can’t stop an economic crisis When a financial crisis comes, there’s not a lot that you can do to change it. You’ve got to buckle down, keep your costs low, and come up with ways to cope with the situation because it isn’t going to turn around quickly. Don’t let desperation lead you astray Don’t cheat, lie, steal, or do other things that some people do in times of desperation. Everyone is suffering, don’t add to their suffering by being inhumane. Keep walking forward In times of crisis, small businesses are trapped. You can’t sell the company because no one wants to buy, and you are not making any sales to secure your future. All you have to do is to keep moving forward until the dust settles down. Actionable advice When a crisis comes, take it easy. Don’t let panic and fear drive you into the ground. You will make it. It’s just going to happen slowly, step by step. Don’t cheat or defraud people. But if you can’t pay, just tell them, “I can’t pay right now.” And work it out together. No. 1 goal for the next 12 months My number one goal for the next 12 months is to have 80% of my company’s revenue come from my online courses and other digital assets. Parting words   “Take it easy, stick close to the people that you love and the people that care about you.” Andrew Stotz   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 Women Building Wealth The Build Your Wealth Membership Group 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  

Yasmine Khater is the founder of the Sales Story Method and the Host of the Sales Story Podcast. For the past five years, she’s been helping senior leaders in over 75 MNCs, governments, and entrepreneurs use stories to stand out, attract more customers, inspire their team, and grow their business (and careers). Armed with a degree in psychology, Yasmine is an aspiring “armchair” neuroscientist who loves to study how to improve sales by applying discoveries about the brain. She comes from a mixed heritage, having lived in seven countries and traveled to nearly a quarter of the world. Crafting and sharing stories have helped her sell her ideas, crowdfund, land speaking engagements, and press appearances.   “You can do so much more if you just work in small challenges and constantly stretch yourself to get a little bit more uncomfortable every single day.” Yasmine Khater   Worst investment ever What do I do with all this money? When Yasmine started working, she suddenly found herself with more money than she knew what to do with. She just couldn’t spend it all, so she figured she could invest it. Admittedly, she was clueless about investing. This was something she had always figured was supposed to be done by a man. So she never bothered to learn how it worked. Now here she was with lots of money that she wanted to invest but no man in her life to handle it for her. Letting others decide her investment move for her Yasmine did what she thought was best. She walked to her bank and went straight to the first bank teller that she saw. The bank teller talked her into buying a mutual trust. Four years into it, Yasmine realized that the trust was making money, but she wasn’t because of the high bank fees she was being charged. Even though she kept investing a chunk of her change into the trust every month, she just kept losing her money. Yasmine decided she was done and stopped investing in the mutual trust. Ignorance makes her lose again Around the same time, she was traveling in Bali and went to this event where they were talking about Bitcoin. Attendants were asked to invest $100 to buy Bitcoin. At the time, each Bitcoin was less than $1. Yasmine, still ignorant towards investing, decided Bitcoin was not for her. Fast forward to a few years later, and Bitcoin was selling at $20,000. Imagine how much Yasmine would have made had she invested the $100 to buy Bitcoin! Well, her ignorance saw her make her worst investment ever. She, however, figured it was about time to learn how investing works. Lessons learned Learn how to do the things you avoid doing The same way you learned how to deal with challenges in your life and to overcome something, is the same way you can learn how to do the things you avoid doing. If you avoid investing, learn about it, and you won’t have to avoid doing it. Success starts with believing that you can do it If you keep telling yourself that you can’t do something, then you’re just going to keep finding ways to prove yourself right. You don’t need to be a math guru to start investing You don’t have to breathe math to begin investing your money. Simply understand the mechanics of business, profit versus loss, and you’re good to go. Andrew’s takeaways Investment doesn’t have to be overwhelming For many people out there, the concept of learning how to invest is just overwhelming. However, there are simple ways to understand investing for beginners. Find these simple courses and start learning. Let go of the phobia of numbers Most people, women, in particular, are incredibly negative about numbers. The phobia of numbers is what holds most people from investing. Invest a little over time. Investing in stocks for beginners can be scary, especially when the stock market seems to be crashing. The truth is that the market won’t stay down. Get started by putting in a small monthly contribution and build wealth over time. Actionable advice Commit to learning about investing. Whether it’s picking up a book or signing up for a course, just challenge yourself to think about what needs to get done. Once you learn how to do it, you’ll get the peace of mind of knowing at least one aspect of your life is covered. And that comes from starting. No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Yasmine’s goal this year is to help 1,000 people to get more comfortable with getting uncomfortable. She just launched her 30 Day Fearless Challenge and will be doing a company diary to go along with it, and also a course to help people become better at telling their stories. Parting words   “Have fun, learn, put yourself out there, and invest. It’s amazing.” Yasmine Khater    Connect with Yasmine Khater LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Website Blog 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 Women Building Wealth The Build Your Wealth Membership Group 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  

Bijay Gautam is the Co-founder of WYN Studio, a company that creates podcasts for brands. He hosts one of the top podcasts in India, The Inspiring Talk. On this podcast, he chats with top entrepreneurs, best-selling authors, thought leaders, and celebrities about their journey. As India’s first Podcast Coach and Consultant, he has coached over 100 people and helped over five organizations launch their podcasts. He has conducted podcast workshops and training across the country, reaching over 2,000 participants. Bijay has been featured in various media and is a frequent speaker at conferences and events. Before all this began, Bijay was working as a Research Scientist in a leading Pharmaceutical Company. He was losing motivation and drive in his life, and that’s when he started The Inspiring Talk. Within 15 months of starting his podcast, he quit his job to follow his passion for podcasting and inspiring people through his podcast.   “Don’t take advice from someone who has not walked the path that you want to walk.” Bijay Gautam   Worst investment ever A natural orator Bijay was always that guy who loved talking and being in front of people. He’s the guy every club in high school wanted to emcee their event. Debate and public speaking clubs were his favorite. And so, naturally, Bijay knew that he needed to study communication and media and become a radio jockey, television presenter, or anything to do with putting his face out there and talking. Seeking the best career advice When Bijay completed high school and was preparing to join college, he spoke to a couple of people asking what they thought about media as a career. They advised him against it, claiming that media was going down and would have no secure career options. They told him that he’d not make a lot of money from it and he was better off picking a more popular course. The interesting thing is that these people had no background in media and had no idea what they were talking about. But, Bijay looked up to them, and so he took their advice and enrolled for a course in pharmacy. The ever-rising star Bijay invested four years studying pharmacy. Even though he was doing well topping his class, getting scholarships, and also being awarded as the best student of pharmacy, in the back of his mind, he hated the choice he made. But he kept at it. He finished at the top of his class, and in the final year, he got placed at the top pharmaceutical company in India. To the outside world, this was a huge success. Bijay had made it. His stellar performance continued even at his job. In the first year, he got recognized as the most promising candidate for his organization. Quitting the act and staying true to his dreams But even though he was a success, Bijay hated his job. After three years of working in a pharmaceutical company, he realized he was running a race and winning that race, but he wasn’t sure that was the race he wanted to be running. After investing lots of tuition money, four years of college and three years of working, Bijay realized that he had made his worst investment by going into pharmacy instead of following his heart and getting into media. And so he quit, started a podcast, and he hasn’t looked back since. Lessons learned Take career advice from the right people Your best career advice will come from someone who has walked the path that you want to walk. Follow your gut For the jobseeker choosing a career path, follow your gut without thinking about if you’re going to make a lot of money or if you’re going to make it big in this or not. You need to listen to your own heart and just go with it without listening to a lot of people. Andrew’s takeaways Break free from the sunk cost fallacy Just because you’ve sunk time, money, and energy into something doesn’t mean that you have to keep doing it. To manage your risk, stop sinking further immediately. The reality is what is gone and done is already gone and done no need to keep doing it. You can make your mark anywhere Find a place that you enjoy what you’re doing and build your little area in that spot. Don’t worry about the overall industry. A mantra can get you out of a negative mindset Find a positive mantra and repeat it every single day several times until it creates a little radar in you. You’ll find that it does change your thinking, and it helps you to get out of a harmful environment. Actionable advice Stop and ask yourself one question; Is this the investment that I wanted to make? Whether that’s time invested in your relationship or financial investment in something. Whatever it is, ask yourself if this investment is going to help you to achieve your dreams or goals. If the answer is no, no matter how difficult it is, move on from that situation. It’s the right thing to do for your happiness and peace of mind. No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Bijay’s goal for the next 12 months is laying the foundation for WYN Studio so he can build a great company. He hopes to use WYN Studio to create amazing shows that people would want to listen to and hear some of the beautiful stories to share. Parting words   “Don’t forget to ask yourself, ‘Is this the investment that I wanted to make?’” Bijay Gautam   Connect with Bijay Gautam LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Instagram 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 Women Building Wealth The Build Your Wealth Membership Group 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  

Michael Michelini is an American social media, e-commerce, and SEO Specialist who has lived in China since 2007. He is a passionate business connector who helps companies do business in China as well as Chinese companies to work in overseas markets. Michael built Global From Asia, a cross-border e-commerce community, to help cross border business owners learn, network, make business partnerships, and grow global businesses. Most recently, he has joined as a partner at Alpha Rock Capital, which is an Amazon FBA investment company.   “Don’t get caught up in patents if you’re entrepreneur and investor. Of course, it’s important to have your IP, but I think the most important one is a brand trademark.” Michael Michelini   Worst investment ever Setting sail in China Michael moved to China in late 2007 with interest in living and doing business there. A few months later, he met a businessman, Andrew, who was all too willing to take him under his wing. Andrew was a sourcing agency and a product specialist who had been in China for 10 years already. He took Michael through the backstreets of China, and in the process, Michael got to learn all the insights of Chinese business. It’s in these backstreets that Michael got to know where the best deals happen, the inside scoop about manufacturing, who is who in business, and so much more information that helped him build on to his business plans. Forging a business partnership Andrew was impressed by Michael’s internet marketing skills and abilities. He had so many product ideas which he shared with Michael. One of the ideas that got Michael very excited about was a light-up, pour spout. This is a bottle top that you put on top of a vodka bottle or any kind of liquid, and when you pour, it lights up the stream of alcohol to the color of the LED. Michael was already selling bar supplies through his e-commerce business and had customers and distribution pipelines. Andrew would help engineer it, and together they would produce and market it from China. From an idea to a real product They embarked on the journey to get the product ready. First, they brought on a partner with a legal background. Then they found the guy who had a patent to the product idea but had never made a product. Hurdle after hurdle Getting the patent was the first hurdle. They spent so much time going back and forth without reaching a compromise. The patent owner wanted more money than Michael was willing to pay to transfer the patent. Eventually, after months of arguing, Michael put his foot down and told the patent owner to take his offer or forget the whole deal. He accepted the offer. The second hardball Michael faced was that his friend Andrew wanted him to use his friend’s factory. But he quoted an upfront fee of about $20,000 for the manufacturing of the product. This is not to make the product but just the setup fee. Michael asked around and got a few other factories that gave him  $3,000-$5,000 quotes for the same thing. So he refused to use Andrew’s friend’s factory, and Andrew was extremely mad with him. Being young and naive, Michael still kept Andrew in the deal. Michael went ahead and paid $5,000 to the factory that he chose and went ahead with the manufacturing. Marketing hard Michael started sending samples to his friends and business partners back in the US, who all got excited about the product. Everyone called it the million-dollar product. One of his friends got in touch with Bacardi, who loved the product and was interested in having exclusive rights in the US. The problems just won’t go away Michael ran into manufacturing issues with the production time taking forever. At one point, the LED wasn’t bright enough and had to source for LEDs from a different supplier. Bacardi kept asking for changes to make the product better. Then they insisted on buying the product at $1 per piece because they’d use it as a promotional item and offer it to its customers for free. All while, Michael was the one who was funding the entire process and had spent over $20,000 so far and was still required to spend more. Then when Michael thought he was about to strike a deal with Bacardi, the company rejected the product internally because even though it had passed US FDA checks, apparently, it failed Bacardi’s internal quality control tests. Counting his losses Michael bought off Andrew and the legal partner from the business and decided to sell the 10,000 pieces he had produced on his e-commerce site, eBay, and Amazon. He, however, didn’t make much, and eventually, he decided to let the product die a slow death and accepted that he had made the worst investment of his life. Lessons learned Validate your market first Before you plan your new product launch, validate your market by selling a few pieces first. This will help you know the market and confirm if your product fits it. Have the proper paperwork when forming partnerships When forming business partnerships, have the appropriate paperwork in place. Have contracts with clear exit strategies that stipulate what happens if the partnership doesn’t work out. Andrew’s takeaways Do proper market research Don’t let the excitement of a new product make you forget that the market is more important than the product. Conducting market research will help you understand the market before you launch your new product. Know what your market needs so that you can ensure your product meets the market requirements for better success. If you have no sales, you have no business Without sizable sales or a proper vision on how to reach these sales, your business will not be able to scale properly. Form proper business partnerships You need different people involved in a business for you to succeed. These could be people giving you capital or expertise. But most importantly, know how to keep these people satisfied to prevent future misunderstandings that might end up destroying the business. Actionable advice Leverage crowdfunding if you have a unique product or if you’re doing something unique. Try to sell it first. No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Michael’s goal for the next 12 months is to scale his investment company. The company is buying out more brands to scale. Parting words   “Take action, and don’t be afraid to fail. If you’re afraid to fail, you never do anything.” Michael Michelini   Connect with Michael Michelini LinkedIn Facebook Twitter 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 Women Building Wealth The Build Your Wealth Membership Group 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