"I Got RICH When I Understood THIS..." (Principles For Success & Money) | Wallstreet Trapper

1. 0:00 – 1:37

   Growing up in New Orleans: culture, crime, and early trauma

   1. LHLeon Howard0:00

      You gotta stop trading time for money. You gotta stop learning how to make your money work for you. You gotta learn how to give value to people. I didn't learn that message, the value part, I didn't learn that till I started my business. And I was like, "Man, I have never heard nothing like..." That was like-

   2. LHLewis Howes0:14

      I think you gotta have a dream The School of Greatness.

   3. LHLeon Howard0:16

      Really?

   4. LHLewis Howes0:17

      [laughs] Yeah. Please welcome Lewis Howes. When did you realize that you were gonna start learning about financial literacy and then-

   5. LHLeon Howard0:23

      Mm-hmm

   6. LHLewis Howes0:23

      ... and then what did it look like when you got out?

   7. LHLeon Howard0:25

      Oh, man, so, you know, born and raised in New Orleans, first and foremost, and New Orleans has always been a city, um, that I feel is full of culture.

   8. LHLewis Howes0:35

      Mm-hmm.

   9. LHLeon Howard0:36

      Right? And on the front side, people love for food and, and, and-

   10. LHLewis Howes0:40

       Music

   11. LHLeon Howard0:40

       ... music.

   12. LHLewis Howes0:41

       Yeah, yeah.

   13. LHLeon Howard0:41

       You know, the good times, but there's a part of New Orleans that also is, on the other side that gets a lot of light, which is it being a murder capital, high crime, right? A lot of poor, a lot of underdeveloped people, um, financially, um, just in so many different ways, and so I grew up in that. Uh, saw my moms get shot when I was, um, nine years old.

   14. LHLewis Howes1:04

       You saw her get shot?

   15. LHLeon Howard1:05

       I saw her get shot when I was, like, nine.

   16. LHLewis Howes1:07

       Wow.

   17. LHLeon Howard1:07

       Um, maybe, like, 100 yards away from me.

   18. LHLewis Howes1:10

       Wow.

   19. LHLeon Howard1:10

       So immediately I had a connection and understanding of violence, right? So at nine years old, kinda like when I got older, like, I now think about how that played in my brain over and over and over again. And so-

   20. LHLewis Howes1:25

       When someone, when a, when a kid sees violence at an early age in the family-

   21. LHLeon Howard1:29

       Mm-hmm

   22. LHLewis Howes1:29

       ... what does that do to the kid? Does it normalize it? Does it-

   23. LHLeon Howard1:32

       Yep

   24. LHLewis Howes1:32

       ... does it make them want to be more violent, be less violent?

   25. LHLeon Howard1:35

       Mm-hmm.

   26. LHLewis Howes1:35

       Like, and run away from it? What did, what happened for you?

2. 1:37 – 5:55

   How violence becomes “protocol”: survival rules and street respect

   1. LHLeon Howard1:37

      So what it did for me was it did two things. One, it made me, it made me realize that violence in my environment was a necessary evil.

   2. LHLewis Howes1:44

      To do what? Protect yourself, to-

   3. LHLeon Howard1:46

      Protect, whatev- well, like, and if anything happened, violence was now the first result.

   4. LHLewis Howes1:51

      Mm.

   5. LHLeon Howard1:52

      No matter what that violence looked like, whether it was fighting, whether it was shooting, whether... It was like, okay, if, if someone can shoot my mother-

   6. LHLewis Howes1:59

      Wow

   7. LHLeon Howard2:00

      ... then they can shoot me.

   8. LHLewis Howes2:01

      Mm-hmm.

   9. LHLeon Howard2:02

      So now I'm automatically in protect mode.

   10. LHLewis Howes2:05

       Mm.

   11. LHLeon Howard2:06

       Okay, cool. This is what it is. But also it becomes a tool for regulation. Like, you, you under- start understand, like, okay, like, violence is what gives me respect.

   12. LHLewis Howes2:18

       Mm.

   13. LHLeon Howard2:18

       Violence is what keeps me from being a prey, right? And so you just start to normalize it. It's like I always, I said this to somebody before, I said, "If you come to New Orleans and you're in a park and a gun goes off, if there's a bunch of kids in the park, I can almost guarantee you they won't run. They know the protocol. They know to get down, look both ways, see where the gunshot's coming from, and then go the opposite way."

   14. LHLewis Howes2:43

       Mm.

   15. LHLeon Howard2:44

       That is normalized. That's trauma. No kid should understand the protocol to what to do with violence.

   16. LHLewis Howes2:50

       For a gunshot.

   17. LHLeon Howard2:51

       Yeah. But it's, like, understood. Like, I even knew it at a young age. I would be inside, gunshots ring, first thing we do, we get under the bed.

   18. LHLewis Howes2:57

       Wow.

   19. LHLeon Howard2:58

       You know what I'm saying? Like, this, this is understood, so.

   20. LHLewis Howes3:01

       It's like the, you know, in school they teach you, like, when there's a-

   21. LHLeon Howard3:03

       Stop, drop, and roll.

   22. LHLewis Howes3:04

       Yeah, yeah. [laughs] It's like when there's a, when there's a tornado warning, a siren, it's like-

   23. LHLeon Howard3:08

       Yep

   24. LHLewis Howes3:08

       ... here's what to do, yeah.

   25. LHLeon Howard3:08

       This is what you do. So it's like a, a survival handbook, but in real time.

   26. LHLewis Howes3:12

       Mm.

   27. LHLeon Howard3:13

       And you also see that no age limit is off limits to getting killed.

   28. LHLewis Howes3:19

       Wow. 'Cause young kids are getting-

   29. LHLeon Howard3:20

       Young kids are getting-

   30. LHLewis Howes3:21

       ... shot up or-
3. 5:55 – 8:16

   Homelessness, survival hustling, and a 10-year sentence at 16

   1. LHLeon Howard5:55

      You replay it. You... So 16, maybe, like, 14, I was homeless. So my gran- I lived with my grandmother. My grandmother passed away. And I was homeless, like literally homeless 'cause my ... And it, it wasn't that my family ... They didn't want nothing to do with me, but everybody has their issues.

   2. LHLewis Howes6:13

      Mm.

   3. LHLeon Howard6:13

      Nobody wants to take on another burden, you know what I'm saying? No matter what it is. So I dealt with that for a minute, just being homeless, and then I moved with my aunt who was on drugs, and I started hustling at her house, you know, for survival purposes.

   4. LHLewis Howes6:29

      Mm-hmm.

   5. LHLeon Howard6:29

      You know what I'm saying? Just being able to survive. Just understand, like, I learned this from my mom, so this is how I'ma eat.

   6. LHLewis Howes6:36

      Right.

   7. LHLeon Howard6:36

      Right? So school becomes second nature. Survival becomes present, you know.

   8. LHLewis Howes6:41

      Mm.

   9. LHLeon Howard6:41

      This is what has to happen. So at 16 I go to prison for attempted murder. Um, I got robbed out of some drugs and some guns-

   10. LHLewis Howes6:51

       Mm-hmm

   11. LHLeon Howard6:51

       ... some money. And in the streets, it's, it goes back to that same mentality where if I let you get away with this, then I can't hustle no more.

   12. LHLewis Howes7:00

       Then you're gonna do this again to me over and over again.

   13. LHLeon Howard7:02

       Yeah. And not only are you gonna do it, but-

   14. LHLewis Howes7:04

       Someone else will too

   15. LHLeon Howard7:04

       ... everybody else. I'm, I'm fair game.

   16. LHLewis Howes7:06

       They'll hear that you gave in. Yeah.

   17. LHLeon Howard7:07

       Yeah, I'm fair game.

   18. LHLewis Howes7:08

       And then-

   19. LHLeon Howard7:08

       And then the streets, there's this, there's this code of there's a difference between robbing me and jacking me.

   20. LHLewis Howes7:19

       What's the difference?

   21. LHLeon Howard7:21

       So if I jack you, it's, "Yo, give me this."

   22. LHLewis Howes7:24

       Right.

   23. LHLeon Howard7:24

       "What, what you gonna do about it?"

   24. LHLewis Howes7:25

       Right, right.

   25. LHLeon Howard7:26

       Right? Whether it's a gun or not, it's-

   26. LHLewis Howes7:28

       It's mine now. Yeah

   27. LHLeon Howard7:29

       ... "Yeah, what you gonna do about it?" Robbing you is if I have a mask on.

   28. LHLewis Howes7:33

       Ah, yeah. I'm gonna show you my face, yeah.

   29. LHLeon Howard7:33

       I don't even know who you are. Right? So robbing you, you kinda getting like, "All right, I gotta find out." But jacking me, it's a bold statement. It's like, whatever. And so that has to be met with some type of consequence.

   30. LHLewis Howes7:46

       Mm-hmm.
4. 8:16 – 15:06

   Accepting prison as “part of the ecosystem” and learning from lifers

   1. LHLewis Howes8:16

      'Cause your mom was there for a number of years.

   2. LHLeon Howard8:18

      My mom was in prison, yep.

   3. LHLewis Howes8:19

      And you would visit her.

   4. LHLeon Howard8:19

      Yep.

   5. LHLewis Howes8:20

      So you kind of knew that this is an environment that I could potentially be in one day.

   6. LHLeon Howard8:23

      Yeah. That's, like, that's, that's kinda understood already.

   7. LHLewis Howes8:26

      Yeah.

   8. LHLeon Howard8:26

      Like, you already understand that at some point on your journey you're going to prison. Like, that's it. Like, you're going to prison. Um, you're going to at some point use a gun on several-

   9. LHLewis Howes8:40

      Mm

   10. LHLeon Howard8:40

       ... different occasions.

   11. LHLewis Howes8:41

       Wow.

   12. LHLeon Howard8:41

       Right? Like, this, like, this understood already.

   13. LHLewis Howes8:44

       Mm-hmm.

   14. LHLeon Howard8:45

       Um, and I know it be kinda hard for a lot of people to understand that, because if you, if you, if you've never been introduced to that, you'll never ... You know, like, if you've never seen a lion hunt, then when he eat the gazelle, you're like, "That's so ferocious." But you don't understand the rules of the jungle. You don't understand the rules of the safari.

   15. LHLewis Howes9:02

       Mm-hmm.

   16. LHLeon Howard9:02

       Right? So it may seem grotesque, but in the safari we know that's, that's the ecosystem. Right? So in the streets, that's just, like, part of the ecosystem.

   17. LHLewis Howes9:11

       Mm-hmm.

   18. LHLeon Howard9:11

       Like, all right.

   19. LHLewis Howes9:11

       That's the environment, yeah.

   20. LHLeon Howard9:12

       Yeah, it has to happen.

   21. LHLewis Howes9:13

       What was that like when you knew that you were sentenced to 10 years at 16? Were you like ... Was it devastating? Is it kinda like, "This is my badge of honor?" Is it kind of like, "Man, I was only hoping for a year or two, not 10"?

   22. LHLeon Howard9:24

       Right. So I remember, um, my great aunt came to court for me, um, 'cause they wanted to give me 35 years.

   23. LHLewis Howes9:32

       Jeez.

   24. LHLeon Howard9:33

       Because the dude, you know, he wasn't ... Again, it was attempted murder, so he wasn't dead. Um, and my aunt, she knew the judge.

   25. LHLewis Howes9:40

       Wow.

   26. LHLeon Howard9:41

       And she kinda like just told him my story. She's like, "Look, he just been going through a lot. His mom's in prison. My sister passed away," which was her, my grandmother's sister. You know, "He just been out here. He's a better kid than that. You know, he just ... You know?" So he actually gave me, he, he came to me and he said, "You have no other option than to take these 10 years. I'm not asking you, Do you wanna take them?"

   27. LHLewis Howes10:06

       You're going to take them.

   28. LHLeon Howard10:07

       You're going to take these 10 years.

   29. LHLewis Howes10:08

       Yeah. [laughs]

   30. LHLeon Howard10:08

       Right? And the DA was, like, upset about that, right? 'Cause he has the opportunity to take, again, you know ... And I'm not saying he mad, but here's an opportunity to take somebody off the streets in a city who's, that's plagued with crime for shooting somebody. Like, he has to go. So in my mind, I was just like, because I had saw it so much, I was kinda numb to it.
5. 15:06 – 21:59

   Solitary confinement encounter: embezzlement, a wake-up call, and three money principles

   1. LHLeon Howard15:06

      about making money? So I had got into a fight with two of my homeboys. [laughs] Is this like a verbal fight, a physical fight? No, a physical fight. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I got in a physical fight with two of my homeboys. [laughs] And, uh, I go to a solitary confinement. Mm-hmm. And- How long? A week, two weeks, a day? Nah, so I got, I, I sentenced to 90 days- Oof ... in solitary confinement. Man, that's not fun. That's not fun. So it's crazy because this is where I feel like... I have this thing that I say that like, if you take a picture and you put it in the darkness, this is where it develops at. Mm-hmm. Right? Yeah. In the darkness is where it develops. You want, you don't wanna expose it too early 'cause it'll mess up. But in the darkness is where it develops, and when it's time, when you know just right, it can be one of the most beautiful pictures you've ever seen- Mm-hmm ... if you let it develop in the right time. Prison was my development stage. So I'm, I'm, I get in a cell with this white guy. I'm in a full man cell, and it's just me and him. Two, dual bunk bed. Yep, two on each side. Yeah. A little two-foot walkway. Oh, that's small. One little bathroom. Oh, yeah. I've been in this cell, yeah. It's small. For 45 days- Mm ... me and him were just in the cell. No one else came in the cell. Which is- This is for solitary confinement? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So shared confinement is what you mean? Yep, yep, yep. So it's 13 cells on each side, four people in each cell. Mm-hmm. An hour a day out? An hour in, a day out. Now so we didn't even get a hour, we got 45 minutes. Yeah. Take a shower together, come back in the cell. Man. And for those 45 days we did a lot of talking. Oh, man. My first day in the cell though, like, I wanted to beat him up. 'Cause I come into the cell and the first thing he told me was, "Man, y'all playing the wrong game." And I looked at him, mind you I just had a fight with two of my homies. My blood still hot. You're pissed. Uh, don't tell me what to do. [laughs] I'm like, I'm like, "What?" Like, "What, what are you talking about?" And he was like, "Nah, like, I don't mean no disrespect." And it's something about his tone- Mm ... that made me just, like, listen to him. I don't know what it was. I can't even describe it. How old are you at this point? I'm, I'm 17. Oh, wow. One year in. I'm still a hothead. Yeah, I'm still a hothead. Ego maniac, yeah, it's like- Yeah. Yeah, I- You know it all ... "What? What you talking about?" Yeah. So he was like... I think for him, that was the first time he had seen that many Black men in one spot. 'Cause he had this look of, like, confusion. Mm. Like he was confused. And he was like, "Man, y'all playing the wrong game, bro." And I was like, "Well, if you playing the right game, why you in here with me?" Right, right. [laughs] Why are you in here? Yeah. Like, "You in here with me. What you talking about?" He was like, "What, what are you in here for?" And so one of the things about in prison, like you don't just tell people what you in prison for unless you in there for something serious, 'cause then you wad. Yeah. So I'm like, "I'm in here for attempted armed robbery." This is my, I know how that- You know what I'm saying? Yeah, like I'm in... Like, don't play with me. I'm like, "So what you in here for?" So he was in there for embezzlement. He embezzled 8, 8, $2.8 million. He kept 2 million, he paid 800,000 restitution. And I was like, "Man, you lying." And so one thing about prison is you can always show somebody your paperwork, what you in there for. And so when I saw it in black and white, it was a different level of respect for me.

   2. LHLewis Howes18:27

      Mm.

   3. LHLeon Howard18:28

      'Cause I had never saw $2 million on a piece of paper before. And so he said, "This is why I'm telling you, you playing the wrong game." He was like, "How much time you got?" I was like, "I got 10 year." He was like, "Have you ever seen a million dollars before?" He was like, "You'll never see it playing that game."

   4. LHLewis Howes18:44

      Mm. Playing what game?

   5. LHLeon Howard18:46

      The streets.

   6. LHLewis Howes18:47

      Mm.

   7. LHLeon Howard18:47

      The drug... It's the game. Like, "You'll never see it playing that game." And I kind of just, like, took that in for a second because up until that point in my life, I never met a successful drug dealer.

   8. LHLewis Howes18:59

      Right, right. You mean, maybe they're for a year or two-

   9. LHLeon Howard19:01

      Yeah

   10. LHLewis Howes19:01

       ... but you always get caught.

   11. LHLeon Howard19:02

       You get caught.

   12. LHLewis Howes19:02

       You get shot. You get-

   13. LHLeon Howard19:04

       Hit

   14. LHLewis Howes19:04

       ... something. You get s- robbed.

   15. LHLeon Howard19:05

       Everything. Yeah, so I was just like... That was, like, one of those moments that, like, humbled me. So he said, "Listen, you gotta do these three things. You gotta stop trading time for money. You gotta start learning how to make your money work for you. You gotta learn how to give value to people." I didn't learn that message, the value part, I didn't learn that till I started my business.

   16. LHLewis Howes19:24

       Mm-hmm.

   17. LHLeon Howard19:26

       And I was like, "Man, I have never heard nothing like..." That was like scripture to me hearing that.

   18. LHLewis Howes19:30

       Yeah, yeah.

   19. LHLeon Howard19:31

       Right?

   20. LHLewis Howes19:31

       What were those three again?

   21. LHLeon Howard19:32

       It was c- you gotta learn how to make your money work for you.

   22. LHLewis Howes19:35

       Mm-hmm.

   23. LHLeon Howard19:36

       Stop trading time for money, and give value to people.

   24. LHLewis Howes19:40

       Yeah.

   25. LHLeon Howard19:41

       And so he kind of just... I'm not even gonna lie, like, he d- that, the way he said it with so much conviction, it kind of, like, mesmerized me. [laughs] Like, it caught me off guard 'cause I had never heard nothing like that before. And so he just started explaining to me about-

   26. LHLewis Howes19:58

       Yeah

   27. LHLeon Howard19:58

       ... how wealthy people use money and, and, and how the streets is a game that we can never win.

   28. LHLewis Howes20:07

       Mm.

   29. LHLeon Howard20:07

       We were only pawns in the game.

   30. LHLewis Howes20:09

       The house always wins.
6. 21:59 – 27:40

   Teaching himself stocks in prison: books, CNBC, and translating Wall Street into street logic

   1. LHLeon Howard21:59

      And so I remember getting shipped upstate to prison, so, so now I'm in the penitentiary.

   2. LHLewis Howes22:03

      At 18 you're going to a-

   3. LHLeon Howard22:04

      Yeah. I'm in prison. So I went from the Orleans Parish Prison to, like, Louisiana State Prison.

   4. LHLewis Howes22:09

      Mm.

   5. LHLeon Howard22:09

      Like, prison, maximum security. And I remember stocks, stocks, stocks. So I remember the first book I read was, um, Rich Dad, Poor Dad.

   6. LHLewis Howes22:19

      Yeah.

   7. LHLeon Howard22:19

      I remember reading that and I remember just being, like, blown away at the idea of what financial literacy was. And I remember thinking like, "Why ain't nobody never teach me this?" And so then I remember starting to look at CNBC in-

   8. LHLewis Howes22:35

      In prison?

   9. LHLeon Howard22:36

      Yeah.

   10. LHLewis Howes22:37

       Oh.

   11. LHLeon Howard22:37

       Yeah. So prison is a odd place.

   12. LHLewis Howes22:39

       You got a little, you got a little TV in the cell?

   13. LHLeon Howard22:41

       Nah, nah, nah. So we got a, we in a, we got a day room.

   14. LHLewis Howes22:43

       Yeah.

   15. LHLeon Howard22:44

       So the day room, it has, like, a, probably, like, a 30-inch TV in there. So sports is number one.

   16. LHLewis Howes22:49

       Right, of course. Movies, right, yeah.

   17. LHLeon Howard22:50

       The news is number... The, the news, sports, The Young and the Restless, right? Victor Newman, they... Like, grown men love to watch Victor Newman.

   18. LHLewis Howes22:59

       Yeah, yeah.

   19. LHLeon Howard22:59

       Right? So I could watch CNBC.

   20. LHLewis Howes23:01

       Yeah.

   21. LHLeon Howard23:01

       And I remember watching, like, Jim Cramer. I was like, "Yo, this dude is crazy."

   22. LHLewis Howes23:04

       Yeah.

   23. LHLeon Howard23:05

       You know what I'm saying? And I remember just telling myself, "Why I don't see no Black people up here?"

   24. LHLewis Howes23:11

       Mm.

   25. LHLeon Howard23:13

       It's a lot of rich white dudes.

   26. LHLewis Howes23:14

       White dudes. [laughs] Yeah. Hmm.

   27. LHLeon Howard23:17

       And they not risking their life.

   28. LHLewis Howes23:19

       Right.

   29. LHLeon Howard23:20

       And they was talking about numbers I had never heard of before.

   30. LHLewis Howes23:24

       Yeah.
7. 27:40 – 34:13

   Two Americas: information, access, and the idea of classism

   1. LHLeon Howard27:40

      Just read, and then I would get consumed in it because immediately I saw that there were two different Americas. There was the America that I knew, and then everybody around me had the same problem. There's a, there was a particular thread that ran through every hood across America. Every hood that I went to was always the same.

   2. LHLewis Howes28:03

      Mm-hmm.

   3. LHLeon Howard28:04

      And then we always look at another part of America and we'd be like, "Yo, how do they get that?" And I was like, the reason why in my mind was because they have access to a different type of information.

   4. LHLewis Howes28:18

      Mm-hmm. So is it information or is it an environment?

   5. LHLeon Howard28:22

      So it's a combination of both, right? So people like to talk about racism a lot, and while it does exist, I think classism is a completely different animal.

   6. LHLewis Howes28:36

      What does that mean?

   7. LHLeon Howard28:36

      It's a bigger animal. So what classism is there's a group of people, no matter your color, that has a different information, pedigree, status-

   8. LHLewis Howes28:47

      Access

   9. LHLeon Howard28:48

      ... and access-

   10. LHLewis Howes28:48

       Yeah

   11. LHLeon Howard28:50

       ... that other people don't have.

   12. LHLewis Howes28:51

       Doesn't matter what race or religion or where you're from.

   13. LHLeon Howard28:54

       Doesn't matter.

   14. LHLewis Howes28:55

       So how do people get into that class even if they don't fit the majority of the class-

   15. LHLeon Howard29:00

       Mm

   16. LHLewis Howes29:01

       ... look like the majority-

   17. LHLeon Howard29:02

       Mm

   18. LHLewis Howes29:02

       ... or come from the majority of that class?

   19. LHLeon Howard29:04

       Mm-hmm. So-

   20. LHLewis Howes29:05

       Where it could look like racism.

   21. LHLeon Howard29:06

       Yes. So and that's the thing, like even though racism exists, but it, it, it exists on a bigger picture at a smaller scale.

   22. LHLewis Howes29:14

       Mm-hmm.

   23. LHLeon Howard29:15

       So wha- this is my introduction to it, is understanding that classism says this is how our family is set up. Look, I'm gonna use you for example.

   24. LHLewis Howes29:31

       Mm-hmm.

   25. LHLeon Howard29:32

       Your father says, "Listen, you need to learn how to invest. You need to learn how to start a business, but also I want you to meet so-and-so's son."

   26. LHLewis Howes29:43

       Mm-hmm.

   27. LHLeon Howard29:43

       "I want you to meet so-and-so's brother. I want you to meet so-and-so's daughter. I want you to go to this school. I want you to go to this party with me." And so information gets passed down.

   28. LHLewis Howes29:55

       Mm-hmm.

   29. LHLeon Howard29:55

       Life insurance get passed down. Wills, trusts get passed down. Those type of things help you get access to rooms that me or these people over here-

   30. LHLewis Howes30:09

       Don't have access to
8. 34:13 – 38:09

   Re-entry reality: halfway house, buying a car, welding work, and slipping back into the streets

   1. LHLeon Howard34:13

      So the idea was to come home [laughs] I'm not gonna lie, I was like, "Yo, I could be Warren Buffett."

   2. LHLewis Howes34:19

      [laughs]

   3. LHLeon Howard34:20

      Right away, like two years-

   4. LHLewis Howes34:20

      I like that

   5. LHLeon Howard34:21

      ... I could be Warren Buffett, 'cause you know, when you're in prison, like you paint this picture.

   6. LHLewis Howes34:25

      Mm-hmm.

   7. LHLeon Howard34:26

      And you never know who you really are until you jump in the water.

   8. LHLewis Howes34:29

      Mm.

   9. LHLeon Howard34:30

      Right? 'Cause you gotta remember, I went to jail at 16. I come home, I'm 26. I'm a completely different man. At this point, the majority of my life has been in prison.

   10. LHLewis Howes34:38

       Yeah.

   11. LHLeon Howard34:38

       My developmental years-

   12. LHLewis Howes34:39

       Right

   13. LHLeon Howard34:39

       ... I've been in prison. So in my mind I was like, all right, cool. I went to the halfway house, which was, um, you know, you work-

   14. LHLewis Howes34:46

       So six months to a year or was it-

   15. LHLeon Howard34:46

       Yeah, I was, I, I had six months. So I remember I came home with like $4,500.

   16. LHLewis Howes34:51

       Mm.

   17. LHLeon Howard34:51

       And I bought me a Grand Prix.

   18. LHLewis Howes34:53

       After you got out of the six months-

   19. LHLeon Howard34:55

       Mm-hmm

   20. LHLewis Howes34:55

       ... you came home with 4,500 bucks.

   21. LHLeon Howard34:56

       I came home with $4,500, and I said, "The first thing I gotta do is I gotta get me a car." I don't even know how to drive. I'm like, "I gotta get me a car." So I remember my cousin, who was a, a preacher at the time, he, uh, he came and got me, and I told him, he had an Avalanche, and he was like, "Man, drive." I was like, "Man, I don't know how." He said, "If you don't learn now, you ain't gonna ever learn." So I drive the Avalanche, and then the next day he took me to... Two days later he took me to the license place.

   22. LHLewis Howes35:25

       Mm-hmm.

   23. LHLeon Howard35:25

       So I get my license.

   24. LHLewis Howes35:26

       Wow. That's crazy.

   25. LHLeon Howard35:27

       The lady tells me, she was like, "You don't know how to drive." "But I've been going for 10 years." She was like, "Let me get your license." [laughs]

   26. LHLewis Howes35:34

       Oh my gosh, that's crazy. That's, [laughs] that's not good. [laughs] Wow.

   27. LHLeon Howard35:38

       She said, "Get your license."

   28. LHLewis Howes35:39

       That's scary.

   29. LHLeon Howard35:39

       She said, "You deserve it."

   30. LHLewis Howes35:40

       Wow.
9. 38:09 – 42:24

   Close calls and a “clean slate”: raids, court fights, and near-death turning points

   1. LHLeon Howard38:09

      Yeah, it never happens. 2000, so I come home in 2007. In 2009, me and my, one of my friends were in the car together. He had three strikes. The police pull us over. I had just sold him a quarter pound of weed.

   2. LHLewis Howes38:22

      You just gave him?

   3. LHLeon Howard38:23

      Yeah.

   4. LHLewis Howes38:24

      So he had it on him.

   5. LHLeon Howard38:25

      He had it on him.

   6. LHLewis Howes38:25

      Oh.

   7. LHLeon Howard38:26

      Yeah. And so the police pull us over, he throw it.

   8. LHLewis Howes38:30

      Oh my gosh.

   9. LHLeon Howard38:31

      And-

   10. LHLewis Howes38:33

       Oh, f-

   11. LHLeon Howard38:33

       ... the police don't find it.

   12. LHLewis Howes38:34

       Oh, man.

   13. LHLeon Howard38:35

       But then something made them come back, and he finds it under the car.

   14. LHLewis Howes38:39

       Oof.

   15. LHLeon Howard38:39

       So now me being a friend, I know that my partner can't go to jail for another time. He gone. So I said, "Man, that's mine." So I was, I was... It may sound stupid, but in my mind it's like I was smart enough because I knew that I could only get probation because it was my first drug charge.

   16. LHLewis Howes39:01

       Right.

   17. LHLeon Howard39:02

       Already got a temperament on robbery. One drug charge ain't gonna kill me, right? [laughs] In my mind.

   18. LHLewis Howes39:06

       Dang, man.

   19. LHLeon Howard39:07

       So he like, "Man, thank you, bro." I'm like, "Man, it's all good. I ain't tripping." So about two months later-

   20. LHLewis Howes39:15

       Did you think to yourself, "I, okay, now I need to stop this," or were you like-

   21. LHLeon Howard39:18

       Nah, that's a little probation charge, man

   22. LHLewis Howes39:20

       [laughs]

   23. LHLeon Howard39:20

       ... we, that ain't nothing, man. That's probation. I just did 10 years.

   24. LHLewis Howes39:23

       Oh my gosh.

   25. LHLeon Howard39:24

       That's probation. I'm-

   26. LHLewis Howes39:25

       Man

   27. LHLeon Howard39:25

       ... I already know they can't give me nothing for probation.

   28. LHLewis Howes39:27

       Man.

   29. LHLeon Howard39:27

       I'm not even mad at that. So I remember, like, three months later, they kick my door in.

   30. LHLewis Howes39:34

       Oh, no.
10. 42:24 – 46:38

    Choosing a new path: higher-paying iron work, investing anyway, and teaching “one share at a time”

    1. LHLeon Howard42:24

       2014 I started back doing iron work heavy

    2. LHLewis Howes42:26

       But you're making $11 an hour

    3. LHLeon Howard42:27

       I'm making ... Now I'm doing good. So now I was still doing a little bit, so now I was building stadiums and power plants. So I'm making $2,500 a week now. So I had done built my craft up. I-

    4. LHLewis Howes42:36

       Okay

    5. LHLeon Howard42:36

       ... I had done got good and I was getting like $25, $32 an hour.

    6. LHLewis Howes42:39

       Okay, so you're building that up, building that side.

    7. LHLeon Howard42:41

       Yeah, I had to build that up. So now I was like, "Man, I'm, I'm ... I quit."

    8. LHLewis Howes42:43

       You're making $25 an hour now or whatever.

    9. LHLeon Howard42:45

       Yeah, yeah.

    10. LHLewis Howes42:45

        Okay.

    11. LHLeon Howard42:45

        So now I'm bringing home $2,000 a week.

    12. LHLewis Howes42:47

        That's not bad.

    13. LHLeon Howard42:48

        Good working, man. I was good.

    14. LHLewis Howes42:49

        Scrap metal.

    15. LHLeon Howard42:49

        I was like-

    16. LHLewis Howes42:49

        That's good money, man

    17. LHLeon Howard42:51

        ... I still had it itching me.

    18. LHLewis Howes42:51

        You're making six figures.

    19. LHLeon Howard42:52

        Yeah. I was making like $100,000 a year.

    20. LHLewis Howes42:54

        That's not bad, man.

    21. LHLeon Howard42:54

        $120,000 a year.

    22. LHLewis Howes42:55

        That's amazing.

    23. LHLeon Howard42:56

        Yeah, I was good.

    24. LHLewis Howes42:56

        That's like a lot of money.

    25. LHLeon Howard42:57

        I was good but, like, I'm a hustler. Li- it's just in me.

    26. LHLewis Howes43:02

        Yeah.

    27. LHLeon Howard43:02

        But I never went back to the streets. That's when I started taking this serious. 2014 I said, "Man, you playing the wrong game, bro." And I was still, the crazy part was on the journey I was still teaching my homies in the street about the stock market.

    28. LHLewis Howes43:17

        Oh, my gosh.

    29. LHLeon Howard43:18

        I was literally telling them that you-

    30. LHLewis Howes43:19

        But you weren't doing it yourself.
11. 46:38 – 54:24

    First “real win”: stocks as a safety net and investing as a psychological system

    1. LHLewis Howes46:38

       Right. And when was the first big win? I guess legitimate win. [laughs]

    2. LHLeon Howard46:43

       Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

    3. LHLewis Howes46:44

       Was it like, okay, I invested in a stock and I saw like a five to 10 X?

    4. LHLeon Howard46:47

       Mm-hmm.

    5. LHLewis Howes46:47

       Was it-

    6. LHLeon Howard46:48

       So I remember-

    7. LHLewis Howes46:49

       ... you teaching and getting paid for your service?

    8. LHLeon Howard46:51

       Mm.

    9. LHLewis Howes46:51

       And, you know, educating people and getting paid for that? Was it-

    10. LHLeon Howard46:53

        So for me the fir- I'll never forget this. Um, a friend of mine was in a jam, and at this time I had been teaching him since 2014, so this maybe like 2016, 2017. And one of his spots got kicked in. He had no more money. He was like, "Bro, I don't got no money. I don't got nothing." I said, "Man, sell the stocks. Sell the stocks." And at this time-

    11. LHLewis Howes47:19

        So he had invested in stocks a couple years prior.

    12. LHLeon Howard47:21

        Mm-hmm. They had been... Like, I had like... I always been a leader. Like, I-

    13. LHLewis Howes47:26

        Are they setting up like a TD Ameritrade account or whatever?

    14. LHLeon Howard47:28

        Yeah. Like I'm walk- like I'm literally walking my homies through the process.

    15. LHLewis Howes47:31

        Yeah, yeah.

    16. LHLeon Howard47:31

        Like, I'm walking them through like, "Look, we gotta get a bank account."

    17. LHLewis Howes47:34

        Yeah. And then put the money-

    18. LHLeon Howard47:35

        You gotta put the money-

    19. LHLewis Howes47:35

        Legitimate money in the [laughs]

    20. LHLeon Howard47:36

        ... in the bank account, bruh. Like, put the money in the bank account, bruh. And, um, I remember he was like, "Man, I need all your money." 'Cause I had told him, "You put the money in the market, just forget about it."

    21. LHLewis Howes47:49

        Just let it go. Yeah, that money's gone.

    22. LHLeon Howard47:50

        Just let it go. It's gonna keep making you money. It's gon- your, your money now becomes your employees. You know what I'm saying?

    23. LHLewis Howes47:57

        Mm-hmm.

    24. LHLeon Howard47:57

        So-

    25. LHLewis Howes47:57

        Dollar's multiplying.

    26. LHLeon Howard47:59

        That's working-

    27. LHLewis Howes47:59

        It's working for you

    28. LHLeon Howard48:00

        ... it's working for you. A dollar that ain't moving is a dollar that's losing.

    29. LHLewis Howes48:03

        Yeah.

    30. LHLeon Howard48:03

        So if a dollar that's consistently attracting more money, that's your employee. You sending them out there to go get more money. They recruiters for you. And so, and I said something like, "Think about the dope game. Like, if you know this company got some good dope, then you know this company gonna be around for a long time."
12. 54:24 – 59:53

    How Leon invests: risk identity, categories, and “50% goes to investing”

    1. LHLewis Howes54:24

       Um, what should be th- people thinking about when it comes to investing then? How do they know what to invest in and-

    2. LHLeon Howard54:30

       Mm-hmm

    3. LHLewis Howes54:30

       ... to not... 'Cause you can invest in something and lose all your money.

    4. LHLeon Howard54:32

       Yes.

    5. LHLewis Howes54:33

       So what approach do you give to people there?

    6. LHLeon Howard54:35

       So I always say the first thing is... and I say this, and I, I want people to understand this Invest in what you understand

    7. LHLewis Howes54:41

       Mm-hmm.

    8. LHLeon Howard54:42

       Not some-

    9. LHLewis Howes54:43

       So if you wear Nikes...

    10. LHLeon Howard54:44

        Yeah, you should be looking at apparel brands.

    11. LHLewis Howes54:46

        Mm-hmm.

    12. LHLeon Howard54:46

        Right? Nike, Lululemon, because you understand that, right? If you a workout person, then you should be looking at, like, Planet Fitness, things like that. Like, if you are a tech person, if you use a Apple phone, you should 100% be on looking at Apple, right? If you're a car person, like... But one of the things I like now is fintech.

    13. LHLewis Howes55:07

        Mm-hmm

    14. LHLeon Howard55:08

        Financial technology. So everybody uses PayPal or Square, right? That is the way money is changing.

    15. LHLewis Howes55:14

        Mm-hmm.

    16. LHLeon Howard55:15

        The way we using money is completely different now, so I think everybody should be investing in fintech right now, 100%. But I look at it as, so every investor has what's called a investor identity, like what you're willing to risk, your risk tolerance. What companies you're f- more familiar with. If you a doctor, then you know more about medicine, so you should be in biotech or pharmaceuticals, healthcare. You should, that should be your thing. If you are, again, a, a person who's in software-

    17. LHLewis Howes55:44

        Mm-hmm

    18. LHLeon Howard55:45

        ... then cybersecurity, software, that's where you're gonna be strong at. Invest where your strong points are. I remember Warren Buffett said for a long time he didn't understand technology, so he didn't buy technology. He didn't buy Apple stock until, like, 2017.

    19. LHLewis Howes55:58

        Mm.

    20. LHLeon Howard55:59

        He's like, "I don't understand. I don't even have a computer."

    21. LHLewis Howes56:01

        I don't use it. Yeah.

    22. LHLeon Howard56:02

        I don't even use it. Right? So I learned that from him. He says, "I put things in a too hard box. If it's too hard for me to understand, I don't s- I don't do it." And what I love about investing is it's not a IQ sport. It's not about who has the biggest IQ-

    23. LHLewis Howes56:19

        Mm-hmm

    24. LHLeon Howard56:19

        ... at all because it's more so about how do I stay in my circle of competence and what I understand, because that's what gives me the advantage.

    25. LHLewis Howes56:27

        Mm-hmm.

    26. LHLeon Howard56:28

        Whatever I under- Like, for me, it's banks. Like, I love banks. JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, love it. Fintech, love it. Still dealing with... Like, I love money. I'm a hustler, you know what I'm saying? [laughs]

    27. LHLewis Howes56:40

        Yeah.

    28. LHLeon Howard56:41

        I mean, I love that. Um, so that's where I'm, like, heavy at.

    29. LHLewis Howes56:44

        Sure.

    30. LHLeon Howard56:44

        You know what I'm saying? But I'm not a, I'm not a bio pharmaceutical person.
13. 59:53 – 1:04:50

    From survival mode to offense: land purchase, time ownership, and redefining freedom

    1. LHLeon Howard59:53

       I just bought 40 acres of land.

    2. LHLewis Howes59:54

       Mm.

    3. LHLeon Howard59:55

       Right? I said, "I'm, I'm gonna create agriculture." Why? Because agriculture gets more breaks than anybody.

    4. LHLewis Howes1:00:01

       Mm.

    5. LHLeon Howard1:00:02

       You know what I'm saying? Bought 40 acres of land, free and clear. It's mine. I'ma turn it to a farm, right? Grow organic food, organic vegetables. I got water well on it.

    6. LHLewis Howes1:00:11

       Wow.

    7. LHLeon Howard1:00:12

       Right?

    8. LHLewis Howes1:00:12

       That's cool.

    9. LHLeon Howard1:00:12

       All right, cool, let's do that. Tax advantages for this. Anything comes off that land I can... I get breaks on that. So it's me sitting back saying, "This is how the wealthy play the game of life. Not in survival mode, but in offense."

    10. LHLewis Howes1:00:30

        Mm-hmm.

    11. LHLeon Howard1:00:31

        The moment you can switch from survival mode to offense, the game changes.

    12. LHLewis Howes1:00:36

        Mm.

    13. LHLeon Howard1:00:37

        The more aggressive team in the game, the more aggressive boxer in the game, the more aggressive... Like, that's when the game is played. Again, class of people are used to life dictating them. I'm gonna take the punches how they come.

    14. LHLewis Howes1:00:52

        Right.

    15. LHLeon Howard1:00:53

        "How you doing, man?" "You know, I'm making it."

    16. LHLewis Howes1:00:54

        Yeah.

    17. LHLeon Howard1:00:55

        The responses be different. Man, "What's up? How you feeling, man?" "Man, I'm making it, man." But you ask somebody, "Well, what's up, man?" "Shit, just closed out on a deal."

    18. LHLewis Howes1:01:03

        Yeah. [laughs]

    19. LHLeon Howard1:01:04

        "You know, got a couple business meetings." Like, I love attacking life.

    20. LHLewis Howes1:01:08

        Mm-hmm.

    21. LHLeon Howard1:01:08

        And it don't have to be ... It don't always have to be going the way you want, as long as you attacking it.

    22. LHLewis Howes1:01:14

        Mm-hmm.

    23. LHLeon Howard1:01:14

        Every day I get up saying, "Yo, I got an opportunity to go attack." Right? Every ... I got a opportunity to change something, to make sure ... Turn my last name into a asset. Right?

    24. LHLewis Howes1:01:24

        Mm.

    25. LHLeon Howard1:01:24

        Turn my last name into a asset.

    26. LHLewis Howes1:01:26

        That's cool.

    27. LHLeon Howard1:01:26

        Like, own my 24 hours. That's the goal. Like, the person who can own their 24 hours can create freedom.

    28. LHLewis Howes1:01:33

        Right.

    29. LHLeon Howard1:01:34

        That's the difference between financial freedom and then financial independence.

    30. LHLewis Howes1:01:39

        What's the difference?
14. 1:04:50 – 1:45:09

    Healing and identity change: trauma, therapy tools, mentors, and purpose

    1. LHLewis Howes1:04:50

       Absolutely, man. Absolutely. How has mental health played in, into your life?

    2. LHLeon Howard1:04:54

       Ooh.

    3. LHLewis Howes1:04:55

       With the, uh, the journey of learning how to heal so much trauma, pain, memories, experiences, not only as a kid, not only as in prison, but six, seven years ago-

    4. LHLeon Howard1:05:08

       Yeah

    5. LHLewis Howes1:05:08

       ... when you were still doing a lot of things that were-

    6. LHLeon Howard1:05:10

       Yeah

    7. LHLewis Howes1:05:10

       ... you know, against the law and out of integrity and-

    8. LHLeon Howard1:05:12

       Yeah

    9. LHLewis Howes1:05:12

       ... how do you learn to emotionally heal so much?

    10. LHLeon Howard1:05:19

        I'm still healing.

    11. LHLewis Howes1:05:20

        Yeah.

    12. LHLeon Howard1:05:21

        I just told you I gotta get your book, man. [laughs]

    13. LHLewis Howes1:05:22

        I know, man, I know. [laughs]

    14. LHLeon Howard1:05:23

        When you talk ... I, I gotta get that. I'm still healing.

    15. LHLewis Howes1:05:26

        Mm-hmm.

    16. LHLeon Howard1:05:26

        Man, I just ... It's crazy, because I just had a moment last night. I was talking to my mother, and we got a okay relationship, 'cause she still got a lot of trauma-

    17. LHLewis Howes1:05:37

        Mm-hmm, mm-hmm

    18. LHLeon Howard1:05:37

        ... and pain that she dealing with. And it's hard for me to attempt to heal, run a business, and be aware that-

    19. LHLewis Howes1:05:48

        Mm

    20. LHLeon Howard1:05:48

        ... she's has healing to do.

    21. LHLewis Howes1:05:49

        Mm-hmm.

    22. LHLeon Howard1:05:50

        Right? Like, that'd be a lot. So, um, just last night I was like, "I can't take this, man. I, I can't do this. This is ... I can't do all this." You know what I'm saying? It's because I was trying to deal with her situation emotionally and rationalize the logic, then deal with, "Okay, I gotta do this, this, this, this. I'm trying to do this." And it was just a lot, and I had to step back. And me and my, me and my daughter's mother have a great relationship, and I told her, "Man, healing, it..." This was my exact words to her last night. I said, "Man, healing is a lifelong process."

    23. LHLewis Howes1:06:23

        Mm-hmm.

    24. LHLeon Howard1:06:24

        I said, "Man, this stuff take forever." She like, "What, you thought you was gonna heal overnight?"

    25. LHLewis Howes1:06:28

        [laughs] Your daughter said this?

    26. LHLeon Howard1:06:29

        No, my daughter's mother.

    27. LHLewis Howes1:06:30

        Oh, I was gonna say, man, your daughter wise. [laughs]

    28. LHLeon Howard1:06:32

        Nah, nah, my daughter's mother. I said, "Man, healing is a lifelong process."

    29. LHLewis Howes1:06:35

        Yeah.

    30. LHLeon Howard1:06:35

        She said, "What, you thought you was gonna heal overnight?" And it's, it's understanding emotionally. So there's three phases in my life. Well, more than three, but you gotta realize there was me before prison just seeing Viewing, observing, seeing the violence. Like I not only saw my mom get shot-

Episode duration: 1:45:09