SHIFT Your Money FREQUENCY From Lack To ABUNDANCE & ATTRACT WEALTH (This Will FREE You!) Dan Martell

Lewis Howes 0:00 Before we jump into this episode, I want you to leave a comment below and share with me what is blocking you the most from creating the money and the wealth that you want in your life. Comment below that right now, because this interview is going to blow you away, all about money, mindset, and becoming the person you wanna be to earn the money that you want. Also, big announcement, Summit of Greatness is happening very soon. Make sure to click the link below in the description to get your tickets to see David Goggins, Dr. Joe Dispenza, and many more individuals. Check it out, and let's enjoy this interview.

Dan Martell 0:33 If you became the person who could become rich... When you say what should they do first, it's they gotta focus on the abundance that's all around them. 'Cause your frequency, your energy is what you frequently see.

Lewis Howes 0:44 Mm-hmm.

0:45 Dan Martell. Dan is the author of the Wall Street Journal best-selling book Buy Back Your Time, has taken the world by storm. Dan has founded, scaled, and successfully exited three technology companies.

Dan Martell 0:56 I'm Dan Martell. I don't think we create success, we attract success.

Lewis Howes 1:00 Why is it people that seem to work extremely hard don't make that much money?

Dan Martell 1:04 'Cause they're not working on the right things.

Lewis Howes 1:06 Mm.

Dan Martell 1:06 They're working hard on the work, they're not working hard on themselves. When I think wealth, I think time and just the freedom. And when we think about the value of the time, it's not how much you get paid for your hour, it's what do you think you're worth? So what I learned a long time ago is nobody's gonna get paid a penny more than they think they're worth.

Lewis Howes 1:23 Mm.

Dan Martell 1:24 What's negative beliefs that keeps people broke? The rich people are evil. I think a lot of people that think, "Well, if I was rich, I would just hang out on a beach and do nothing, drink mai tais." The reason why you'll never be rich [laughs] is 'cause...

Lewis Howes 1:36 How does someone identify what their current money story is from their past, and then how do you rewrite your money story to create more abundance versus scarcity?

Dan Martell 1:45 So good. That's a great question. I've never told anybody this.

Lewis Howes 1:52 Welcome back, everyone, to The School of Greatness. Very excited about our guest. We have the inspiring Dan Martell in the house. My man.

Dan Martell 1:58 Dude.

Lewis Howes 1:59 Good to see you, brother.

Dan Martell 1:59 So good to be here, man.

Lewis Howes 2:00 We have-

Dan Martell 2:00 It's an honor

Lewis Howes 2:01 ... we have known each other for 15 years.

Dan Martell 2:03 Mm.

Lewis Howes 2:04 Uh, we're here in my home studio in Los Angeles in the basement. I'm still trying to figure out what this is gonna be called. The, the Basement of Greatness-

Dan Martell 2:10 Let's just call it the, the Downstairs Studio

Lewis Howes 2:11 ... or something. The Downstairs Studio.

Dan Martell 2:13 Yeah.

Lewis Howes 2:13 You know, just trying to-

Dan Martell 2:14 Yeah

Lewis Howes 2:14 ... upgrade our life in the Downstairs Studio.

Dan Martell 2:16 No, let's see. I think Greatness something sounds better.

Lewis Howes 2:18 Greatness Basement, Greatness...

Dan Martell 2:20 Ca- um, something.

Lewis Howes 2:21 Something, yeah.

Dan Martell 2:21 We're not there yet. [laughs]

Lewis Howes 2:22 Well, we'll figure it out. It'll come to us.

Dan Martell 2:23 Yeah.

Lewis Howes 2:24 But, uh, I've seen you evolve over the last 15 years as an entrepreneur, as a, a leader, as a father, as a husband-

Dan Martell 2:31 Mm

Lewis Howes 2:31 ... and transform in so many different ways. And a lot of people know you for the SaaS stuff that you do.

Dan Martell 2:38 Yeah.

Lewis Howes 2:38 But your newest book, which is all about buying back your time, has really helped people rethink what it means to be a human being in life-

Dan Martell 2:47 Mm

Lewis Howes 2:47 ... and how, not just towards entrepreneurship or as a freelancer or in business, but also anyone in a career, how they can reimagine their life to optimize their life with time.

Dan Martell 2:58 Yeah.

Lewis Howes 2:58 And the first thing I wanna dive into, because you coach and work with a lot of nine-figure entrepreneurs.

Dan Martell 3:06 Mm-hmm.

Lewis Howes 3:06 And my community, I think people that are coming to this, are really gonna wanna understand about the three principles of building wealth first-

Dan Martell 3:14 Mm

Lewis Howes 3:14 ... before we get into time. So I'm curious, with all the people you coach and work with, what are the three keys that they all have in order to build wealth sustainably and exponentially? What would you say those three things are?

Dan Martell 3:29 Yeah, I mean, the first thing I'd say is most entrepreneurs, unfortunately, because they've never been taught different, end up building companies they grow to hate.

Lewis Howes 3:37 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 3:38 Think about that. The, it's not the economy that takes a business down or an entrepreneur, it's usually the fact that they wake up one day and they look around and they hit what I call the pain line, which is essentially they have opportunity to grow, but the more they grow, the more pain they're gonna feel. So, and it-

Lewis Howes 3:52 What is the thing they're, they have the most pain around? Is it their teams, their customers, the clients? Is it the industry they're in?

Dan Martell 3:58 The calendar. It's the calendar.

Lewis Howes 3:59 It's their schedule.

Dan Martell 4:00 Yeah, and it's, it's, it's maybe the way they hired where they don't have the right people.

Lewis Howes 4:04 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 4:04 Or the thing they're selling is too complicated, and the more they do, the more their calendar explodes. So imagine you get an email where you could double your capacity, double your revenue, and you can't take that business on because that would mean more pain in your life,

Dan Martell 4:18 and you're already trying to get more time for the weekends for your kids or whatever it is. I mean, it's tough. And-

Lewis Howes 4:22 You're exhausted

Dan Martell 4:23 ... you're, you're burnt out, and it's not the dream that you were sold. You sold yourself a vision of a future where the bigger this gets, the more time you're gonna have and the more freedom. And, and unfortunately, if you're not taught to do it properly, that's what ends up happening. That's what happened to me. The three things that I would say that people who've created wealth... and when I think wealth, I think of, like, time and just, like, the, the freedom, is first off is they understand the value of their time. So, and, and when we think about the value of the time, it's not how much you get paid for your hour, it's what do you think you're worth? So what I learned a long time ago is nobody's gonna get paid a penny more than they think they're worth.

Lewis Howes 5:01 Mm.

Dan Martell 5:02 So if you don't-

Lewis Howes 5:03 So wait, what's the difference between how much you get paid per hour versus how much you're worth?

Dan Martell 5:07 I think there's one that materializes in the minute, how much did somebody just pay me for what I just offered, and there's what do you think you're worth? What's your value?

Lewis Howes 5:17 Well, some people might say, "Well, I'm worth $1,000 an hour."

Dan Martell 5:19 Yeah.

Lewis Howes 5:20 But they're not getting paid that.

Dan Martell 5:22 Nope. They-

Lewis Howes 5:22 A- and you could... Is that delusional to think, "Oh, I'm worth this," but if n- the market's not willing to pay it, are you worth it?

Dan Martell 5:28 Dude, such a good question. The, it, here's why it's a great question is because there has to be a belief you're worth more than what you're currently getting paid so you make better trades. See, if you think you're worth 1,000 but you're only getting paid 100, then you're gonna start thinking about your time differently-

Lewis Howes 5:43 Mm-hmm

Dan Martell 5:43 ... where you'll say no to things that don't even look remotely close to a 200, maybe a $300 an hour opportunity. Or you might decide to spend some money. See, most people spend time to save money. I encourage them to spend money to save time.

Lewis Howes 5:56 Yes. This is kinda how I grew up.

Dan Martell 5:58 Mm.

Lewis Howes 5:58 You know, this is what people do.

Dan Martell 6:00 Same.

Lewis Howes 6:00 It's like, you know, we're cutting coupons, we're going to discount, we're going, waiting in line for an hour to, like, save money. Whatever it might be, it's like you wait or you spend time to try to save money, but why is that the wrong way to look at it?

Dan Martell 6:12 Because if we're talking about creating wealth, the only ways we can create wealth is by making that hour worth more. And this is what's interesting is, is the, so the first part is worthiness, but the second part is increasing your value. So if you think you're worth 1,000, but you're only charging 100 or people aren't willing to pay you more than that, then you can say, "Well, how can I become more valuable?" For me, the three areas I always look at is the character traits that I have, right? Like, you're not valuable if you're not somebody that can deliver on the commitments you've made.

Lewis Howes 6:39 Right.

Dan Martell 6:39 Yeah.

Lewis Howes 6:39 And so then are you worthy if you're not valuable?

Dan Martell 6:42 Exactly. So I think that you have to start with the belief you're worthy, but then you gotta back it up by action.

Lewis Howes 6:47 And, and by creating value within-

Dan Martell 6:49 Creating that value

Lewis Howes 6:50 ... what, developing skills-

Dan Martell 6:51 Character. Yeah, so it's character traits first off, right? Like, just being somebody that shows up that, that honors their word, right? Be impeccable with your language. Um, second would be skills. Like, what, what skill do you currently have that's creating value, and is there a way to upgrade that skill, right? Marketing, sales, et cetera. And then the third part I think is, um, belief systems.

Lewis Howes 7:10 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 7:11 Right? So-

Lewis Howes 7:12 What are the-

Dan Martell 7:12 ... limited beliefs

Lewis Howes 7:12 ... what are the belief systems that keep people bankrupt or broke?

Dan Martell 7:16 Hmm. I, I always look at two things. Whatever the, let's say the goal is becoming rich.

Lewis Howes 7:22 Uh-huh.

Dan Martell 7:23 There's two parts to this. There's the negative, there's this limiting beliefs you have about yourself about being rich, and then there's the negative beliefs you have about the achievement. So both of those are in the mind. So think about, like, limiting beliefs is like, "Well, I can't do this. I've never done this before." And I know the person has this belief if I hear the language. And you, and you know what I'm talking about.

Lewis Howes 7:41 Of course.

Dan Martell 7:41 The, this language like could, should, it'd be nice.

Lewis Howes 7:45 Right. Want to.

Dan Martell 7:45 The-

Lewis Howes 7:46 Yeah, yeah

Dan Martell 7:46 ... yeah, that language has the expectation of failure built into it. So, so that's the, the, the limitation beliefs. And then on the other side of the coin of the outcome is the negative belief. So what's negative beliefs that keeps people broke? The rich people are evil. There's no chance you're gonna wake up to try to be rich if you believe rich people are evil.

Lewis Howes 8:06 Yeah.

Dan Martell 8:06 Or rich people don't pay taxes, or rich people took advantage of somebody, or rich people are unhappy.

Lewis Howes 8:11 'Cause if you believe rich people are evil, you don't wanna become that belief of evil.

Dan Martell 8:15 If I held a knife to your throat and said, "Step forward,"

Dan Martell 8:18 you'd be like, "Well, I don't wanna step forward 'cause I'll hurt myself." It's like, yeah, so you'll never push for the goal if you think the outcome is negative.

Lewis Howes 8:25 Yes.

Dan Martell 8:25 So until we work through those beliefs, I've seen, that's what I call self-sabotage.

Lewis Howes 8:29 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 8:29 The biggest work I do with entrepreneurs is understanding what are the unconscious beliefs they have that are literally self-sabotaging their progress to winning.

Lewis Howes 8:41 What are the beliefs that most people have around money that are holding them back, then? Is it that money's bad or people with money are takers, or what is it?

Dan Martell 8:49 Yeah, I think it's, it's anything negative. So I mean, I know I had money beliefs around... I used to, I had this crazy belief that everybody had to go bankrupt.

Lewis Howes 8:58 That everyone had to in order to-

Dan Martell 8:59 If you wanna be successful.

Lewis Howes 9:00 Really?

Dan Martell 9:01 It was this weird belief that I, I, I read Donald Trump's book, and I read a bunch of other people's books. And, and when you look at the history, they all talk about, like, you know, if you're really trying, you're taking risks, then at some point you'll probably go bankrupt, so get used to it. So, like, well, if I have that belief, how hard am I gonna push to try to be successful-

Lewis Howes 9:17 Mm-hmm

Dan Martell 9:17 ... if I've got a young family and I'm trying not to create pain in their life?

Lewis Howes 9:21 Yes.

Dan Martell 9:21 So that one kept me playing small for a long time.

Lewis Howes 9:24 Wow.

Dan Martell 9:25 Yeah. The other belief is, you know, what will other people in my family say? That was-

Lewis Howes 9:30 If I have money?

Dan Martell 9:31 Oh my gosh. Dude-

Lewis Howes 9:32 Do you ever feel guilty about the money you have?

Dan Martell 9:34 I, I felt so guilty, Lewis. You've known me for a long time.

Lewis Howes 9:37 Yeah.

Dan Martell 9:37 I didn't tell anybody I had money.

Lewis Howes 9:39 Hmm.

Dan Martell 9:40 I was quiet about it. I didn't allow myself to buy anything nice until I was 30. I made my first million at 27, multimillionaire at 28, and it wasn't until I was 36 I allowed myself to buy a McLaren.

Lewis Howes 9:51 [laughs] Dude, it's so funny you say this because-

Dan Martell 9:53 Isn't that crazy?

Lewis Howes 9:54 Well, it's so funny you say this 'cause I still don't really buy myself anything. I mean, I bought a nice home.

Dan Martell 9:58 You, you built a-

Lewis Howes 9:59 I bought a-

Dan Martell 9:59 Yeah, you bought a beautiful home. [laughs]

Lewis Howes 10:00 I, I'm buying like... You know, I'm not buying things to, like, show off that I have money, though.

Dan Martell 10:07 Yeah.

Lewis Howes 10:07 Like, I don't showcase my home. I'm not, like, taking photos of it and posting it online and, like, look at me. Uh, my friend got me a Rolex for my 40th birthday last year.

Dan Martell 10:16 Yeah.

Lewis Howes 10:16 I think I've worn it, like, seven times.

Dan Martell 10:17 Hmm.

Lewis Howes 10:18 'Cause part of me is still kind of like, [sighs] should I be wearing this?

Dan Martell 10:21 Talk to me about that.

Lewis Howes 10:22 You know, it's... Well, part of it is not my style.

Dan Martell 10:25 Yeah.

Lewis Howes 10:25 You know, I don't like to-

Dan Martell 10:26 That's fair.

Lewis Howes 10:26 You know, part of it's like-

Dan Martell 10:27 Yeah

Lewis Howes 10:27 ... I just wear the same black thing just like you're wearing a black and blue T-shirt.

Dan Martell 10:29 I'm the same. I only wear watch. Yep.

Lewis Howes 10:30 Exactly. So that's part of it. Another part of it is, you know, I don't wanna reject money coming my way-

Dan Martell 10:38 Hmm

Lewis Howes 10:39 ... by, by not wearing it, but it's also, like, how are people going to... Are they gonna judge me? Are they gonna want more from me? Are they gonna be thinking I should be doing more?

Dan Martell 10:47 Hmm.

Lewis Howes 10:47 It's just like, do you also, do I wanna attract-

Dan Martell 10:50 Well-

Lewis Howes 10:50 ... some type of judgment that is unnecessary? I don't know. It's, like, it's kind of a lot of that.

Dan Martell 10:56 Well, and that is it. So you said a few things that I, I just wanna kind of pull up to the surface is, one of them is I'm worried if they expect me to do more. A lot of people don't want to call their shot or live a bigger life because then that becomes the new floor they gotta live into.

Lewis Howes 11:12 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 11:12 So that's a fascinating one. It's like, well, I don't wanna create wealth because then I have to maintain that-

Lewis Howes 11:17 Mm-hmm

Dan Martell 11:17 ... and if I lose, then people will visually publicly see me rise and fall.

Lewis Howes 11:22 Yeah.

Dan Martell 11:22 That holds a lot of people back.

Lewis Howes 11:24 I'm not afraid of the rise and fall 'cause I've seen the bottom.

Dan Martell 11:26 No, but it's the, it's the judgment around-

Lewis Howes 11:27 Yeah, but that holds people back.

Dan Martell 11:28 Yes, 100%. And, and, um, like for me it was what would my family say? Like, "Oh, you're too cool for us now? Why did you get that kind of car?" I remember, dude, I got the car and-

Lewis Howes 11:37 Especially Canadian.

Dan Martell 11:38 Oh-

Lewis Howes 11:38 You guys, you guys don't-

Dan Martell 11:39 ... it was the only McLaren in the province I lived in.

Lewis Howes 11:41 [laughs]

Dan Martell 11:42 And they just said I have to go to Montreal to get service.

Lewis Howes 11:44 Wow.

Dan Martell 11:44 And I remember the first time, I had it for almost two weeks. I didn't want anybody to know. It was in the garage. I was, I was, I wasn't even sure how I was gonna, like, ex- like, be with it. That was really weird. And I remember the first time I wanted to go to the gym and drive it with my wife, we went and worked out every day. You know Renee.

Lewis Howes 11:59 Uh-huh.

Dan Martell 11:59 And she wouldn't come with me.

Lewis Howes 12:00 Why? [laughs]

Dan Martell 12:01 She took her car.

Lewis Howes 12:02 Why?

Dan Martell 12:03 She didn't wanna have to deal with what people were gonna say.

Lewis Howes 12:06 Interesting.

Dan Martell 12:06 So it's fascinating that, like, when people just kind of try on these, these ideas, like what would it mean to say... Even a lot of my clients, I say, "Can you say I am ultra-rich?"

Lewis Howes 12:17 Hmm. They can't say it.

Dan Martell 12:18 Nope.

Lewis Howes 12:19 Why not?

Dan Martell 12:20 I mean, they, everybody's got a personal story, but what does that mean? Why does saying the word ultra-rich scare you, frustrate you, ju- like, your, the judgment, what is it? What is, what does it mean to you? It's just words.

Lewis Howes 12:34 What do most ultra-rich, rich people say around why they can't own that they're-

Dan Martell 12:39 Mm

Lewis Howes 12:40 ... uber wealthy by speaking about

Lewis Howes 12:42 it?

Dan Martell 12:42 I think there's a part of it that is if I acknowledge it, then I'm different than other people, and they don't want anybody to think that they think they're better.

Lewis Howes 12:49 Really?

Dan Martell 12:50 Yeah. I mean, I'm that way, man. I don't want anybody to think that because I drive a certain car or fly around in my jet that I think I'm better than you, 'cause that's... And you, you're the same way.

Lewis Howes 12:58 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 12:58 Like, we don't.

Lewis Howes 12:59 Yeah.

Dan Martell 12:59 Right? I don't... The reason I don't wear a watch is 'cause I don't like it to get in the way.

Lewis Howes 13:03 I know.

Dan Martell 13:03 I appreciate beautiful things and design.

Lewis Howes 13:06 Yes.

Dan Martell 13:07 But yeah, I'm definitely, when I first got the McLaren, I was worried that people would treat me different, and guess what? They did.

Lewis Howes 13:12 They do. They look at you differently.

Dan Martell 13:14 Dude, I remember the first-

Lewis Howes 13:14 But is it a good thing?

Dan Martell 13:15 It was awesome. I mean, I showed up. I went and did a talk at a rehab center. I'll tell you why. So I pull up to go, I do a lot of work with troubled youth, and every kid immediately, the, the, c- like, they wanna know what I have to say. Whereas before, I'd show up in whatever car, and then they'd be like, "Who is this guy?"

Lewis Howes 13:33 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 13:33 Isn't that fascinating? So, you know-

Lewis Howes 13:35 Wow

Dan Martell 13:35 ... perception is reality. But yeah, people do treat you different, and sometimes if you are comfortable with it, you can use that to fast-track conversations, and if you're not okay with it, then it can be a source of a lot of pain. And I think that's, that's the mindset.

Lewis Howes 13:50 Who are the wealthiest people that you know that you respect based on how they live their life, and what are the things that they do that you respect the most about them?

Dan Martell 14:00 Yeah. I'm gonna say Gary Vee, for sure. I know you know him.

Lewis Howes 14:02 I just interviewed him yesterday.

Dan Martell 14:03 Yeah.

Lewis Howes 14:04 Yeah.

Dan Martell 14:04 I mean, Gary's-

Lewis Howes 14:05 What are the characteristics about the wealthy like Gary that you respect?

Dan Martell 14:09 That he uses his money to create and to help other people, and I, and I would, and I would aspire to always be that. And that's what it is.

Lewis Howes 14:17 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 14:17 And I think that if you truly... It's like when people say, "Well, I don't need to be rich," and I'm like, "Cool. Why don't you become rich, and then if you wanna do good with it, then you can." Like, why wouldn't you accumulate the resources? If you think somebody else, the government, this other entrepreneur, this CEO, isn't gonna do right by having that money, go get it.

Lewis Howes 14:36 Mm.

Dan Martell 14:36 And once you got it, decide what you wanna do with it.

Lewis Howes 14:38 Right.

Dan Martell 14:39 That's the way I think about it. So when I watch Gary, you know, create his empire and then reinvest it into content and helping other people, and running these big events, and building companies, inspire entrepreneurship, and hel- and really, like, help other people around him become wealthy. I mean, we've seen Gary over the years make concessions for his career for other people.

Lewis Howes 15:01 Yeah.

Dan Martell 15:01 I mean, dude, even the fact that he helped build his dad's wine shop. Like, no- like, most people don't know this. He built it to 60 million. He owned none of it-

Lewis Howes 15:10 Yeah

Dan Martell 15:10 ... and was paying himself maybe 100K a year. Dude, I don't pay my CEOs 100K a year if they're generating 60 million a year.

Lewis Howes 15:16 [laughs] Right, right, right.

Dan Martell 15:17 Dude, that's not how the math works.

Lewis Howes 15:18 Sure.

Dan Martell 15:19 So, um, he inspires me just the way he shows up. I think, uh, you know, Alex and Layla Hormozi, friends of ours-

Lewis Howes 15:25 Uh-huh

Dan Martell 15:25 ... like, they, they do the same thing. They're, they're very much like, "How do I use this to create more? How do I buy back my time?"

Lewis Howes 15:32 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 15:32 Like, 'cause I really think it's about an experience and a leverage thing. Like, wealth should be an opportunity to live a fu- a more fully developed life, right? Like, I think the word empire, subtitle of my book, I believe an empire is a life of unlimited creation you never have to retire from, and I think everybody should want to-

Lewis Howes 15:51 Mm.

Dan Martell 15:51 .. aspire to do that.

Lewis Howes 15:52 Interesting.

Dan Martell 15:53 Right? Just be a creator. That's why I talk a lot about artists and creators in the book. This, the book's really meant for people that are starting off, 'cause I don't want them to get the wrong head space for what it means to be successful, and I try to teach them how to value their time.

Lewis Howes 16:08 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 16:09 The math behind it, the value of it, the worthiness. And then allow yourself to, if you have a desire to drive a supercar, don't tame it. If you have a desire to-

Lewis Howes 16:19 Mm

Dan Martell 16:19 ... own a jet, don't tame it. There's nothing wrong with that. H- live in a beautiful home. I think the number one thing you could ever do for somebody else is inspire them to live a bigger life, and you don't inspire people by playing small.

Lewis Howes 16:35 And to add to that, though, what is the difference between inspiring people and showing off?

Dan Martell 16:41 It's the intent.

Lewis Howes 16:42 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 16:43 Think about it. Money is an amplifier. That's it. It's not good or bad. It's like a fork. A fork can be used to hurt somebody, it can be used to nourish somebody. It's a tool. That's it. So some people buy the Rolex because they're trying to fill a hole that says-

Lewis Howes 16:58 Mm-hmm

Dan Martell 16:58 ... I'm not enough. Maybe this will make me feel worthy of that affection. Other people get it because they understand the history and from a engineering point of view, and a story maybe of their grandfather had

Dan Martell 17:10 one. They want to wear it as a reminder of that.

Lewis Howes 17:13 Mm. Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 17:14 Or, and it could be... Like, this is the cool part, is that it's not necessarily the thing, it's the story behind the thing.

Lewis Howes 17:19 Uh-huh.

Dan Martell 17:20 Isn't that fun?

Lewis Howes 17:20 Yeah.

Dan Martell 17:20 Like, that's why I help people kind of rewrite their money stories, because then if we, if we say, "Okay..." Like, I had a client, he was worth, like, you know, 50 million, and he couldn't bring himself to... He had, he had a car he wanted to get. I think it was, um, it wasn't... It was, like, the, the new Corvette, okay? The C8. Brand-new rear engine Corvette. And he, and he couldn't bring himself, okay, guy's worth 50 million, car's, like, 100 and some thousand. And I said, "Why is that?" And his mindset was always about, "Well, if I do that, then I'm taking away from something else I could help somebody with." And I said, "Cool. I totally honor that. I appreciate it." I said, "But what if you got the car to help inspire other kids that were just like you?"

Lewis Howes 17:58 Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 17:59 And I could see the light bulb. And he goes, "Oh." I said, "So talk to me about what just, you just..." I saw the math click.

Lewis Howes 18:05 [laughs]

Dan Martell 18:06 And he go- and he goes, "Well, if I got the car, then I could use it for charity rallies, and I could do it... I could go to schools, and I could h- like, go to car shows." And I go, "Now we're talking." See, if you have a thing-

Lewis Howes 18:18 Mm-hmm

Dan Martell 18:18 ... a house, and you don't host people there-

Lewis Howes 18:20 Right

Dan Martell 18:21 You have a, a company, but you don't allow the resources to be leveraged by your team to do good. You have money, but you just try to hoard it and keep it in one spot and not, not use it to create experiences for yourself. That's, that's where I think people get prisoner of money.

Lewis Howes 18:38 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 18:38 And here's, and here's the thing, and, and I got this from one of my friends. I really like the way he framed it. He said, "It doesn't matter how much money you have, 100,000 or 100 million." He said, "If money is the primary decision you make a decision, you're a prisoner."

Lewis Howes 18:50 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 18:51 He said money needs to be a consideration, but it can't be the primary reason.

Lewis Howes 18:56 Why you do something.

Dan Martell 18:57 Yes.

Lewis Howes 18:57 Why you, when you create something-

Dan Martell 18:59 So-

Lewis Howes 18:59 ... make something, start a business, you c- it has to be a consideration.

Dan Martell 19:02 Has to be.

Lewis Howes 19:03 You can't just say, "I wanna do this, but I may n- make no money." You have to be thinking about the money as well. How much do you think about the money versus the impact when you're making a decision?

Dan Martell 19:11 Exactly. And if the impact-

Lewis Howes 19:13 How much sh- how much, how much should you weigh them?

Dan Martell 19:14 I think impact should be at least 50%.

Lewis Howes 19:16 Uh-huh.

Dan Martell 19:18 I think the money should almost be let's not be wasteful, but I think we should listen to our heart and say, "That's what I feel called to do."

Lewis Howes 19:24 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 19:24 If you feel called to, you know, charter a boat and invite all your friends on it to create a magical experience, you know, I think that is a beautiful thing.

Lewis Howes 19:34 Wow.

Dan Martell 19:34 And, and economically, it might make no sense. You know, calling my dad and sharing with him some of my travel stuff I'm doing, he for sure would go, "Wasteful. Makes no sense. Why would you do that?" But again, different mindset.

Lewis Howes 19:48 Mm.

Dan Martell 19:49 Right? He had a belief that money didn't grow on trees, and there was a limited supply. I have a belief that to the level I'm creative and resourceful, it's unlimited.

Lewis Howes 19:57 Mm. Let's go. I like that.

Dan Martell 19:59 Dude.

Lewis Howes 19:59 I like that.

Dan Martell 19:59 But that's, but that's true 'cause you've experienced it.

Lewis Howes 20:01 Yes.

Dan Martell 20:01 Right? To the degree that I can create opportunities for people or feel a certain way, then all of a sudden I attract it into my life, then I need to show up and always... That's why it's the desire to help other people should be at least 50% of every decision-

Lewis Howes 20:16 Mm-hmm

Dan Martell 20:17 ... because it's actually a better way to live.

Lewis Howes 20:19 You mentioned money story. How does someone identify what their current money story is from their past, and h- and then how do you rewrite your money story to create more abundance versus scarcity?

Dan Martell 20:31 So good. That's a great question. So what I do with people is I ask them to sit down and say, [smacks lips] as it pertains to money, being rich, and let's call it like being rich, what are all the negative beliefs that you have around that language?

Lewis Howes 20:46 Mm.

Dan Martell 20:46 And really sit with that for 15 minutes. Don't move on it. Well, the... And I, and I've had people say the, the craziest things. And crazy to me, but maybe obvious to a lot of people listening.

Lewis Howes 20:56 Uh-huh.

Dan Martell 20:56 The first one, I remember one time they said, uh, that rich people don't pay taxes. That's fascinating.

Lewis Howes 21:02 [laughs]

Dan Martell 21:03 And when-

Lewis Howes 21:04 I, I pay a lot of taxes, man. [laughs]

Dan Martell 21:05 I'm like, dude, I know how much I... Right? I, I, and I wanna pay taxes.

Lewis Howes 21:08 Yeah, yeah.

Dan Martell 21:08 The more taxes I pay, it means that I've obviously created more wealth. Like, I have no problem paying ta- I don't wanna pay one penny more than I have to, but I have no, I have zero problem.

Lewis Howes 21:17 Yeah, yeah.

Dan Martell 21:17 And it's funny how that belief... Well, what does that, why does that matter to you? "Well, I don't wanna make, I don't wanna give a penny more to the government than I have to." Interesting, so you have an anger issue against your government that's stopping you from being wealthy 'cause you don't wanna pay more t-

Lewis Howes 21:32 So you don't wanna make more 'cause you don't wanna give

Lewis Howes 21:34 more.

Dan Martell 21:34 Dude, it's so fascinating.

Lewis Howes 21:36 Yeah.

Dan Martell 21:36 Right? When people literally say, like, "Well, I don't want more 'cause I might make... You know, if I'm wealthy or rich, my sister might be upset with me." Talk to me about that.

Lewis Howes 21:45 Mm.

Dan Martell 21:46 "Well, last time I got a raise and I told her, all of a sudden she didn't talk to me for three weeks 'cause she thought I was better than her." That's interesting. Let's talk about that. So I always go to three questions when this stuff comes up, is number one, is it true?

Lewis Howes 21:59 So first off-

Dan Martell 21:59 Like, is it really true?

Lewis Howes 22:00 ... write off all the beliefs that you have-

Dan Martell 22:01 Write all the beliefs

Lewis Howes 22:01 ... on your money story.

Dan Martell 22:02 Yep.

Lewis Howes 22:03 Yeah.

Dan Martell 22:03 Then for each one of them, the first question, is it true?

Lewis Howes 22:07 What if they believe it's true?

Dan Martell 22:09 Well, is it really true is the follow-up.

Lewis Howes 22:10 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Dan Martell 22:11 Is it true, comma, is it really true?

Lewis Howes 22:13 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Dan Martell 22:13 Is there a scenario where that's not true? And for most people, if I say, "Is it really true?" They're like, "Well, no, it's not really true." It's like, cool.

Lewis Howes 22:19 Yeah.

Dan Martell 22:19 Let's start there. Second question is, what would need to be true for that not to be true?

Lewis Howes 22:24 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 22:24 'Cause that's another great question. It's like, "Well, I don't wanna pay taxes." Like, perfect, so what if you had a tax expert that specialized in making sure that you didn't pay a penny more to the government than you had to?

Lewis Howes 22:34 Right.

Dan Martell 22:34 Would that solve the problem? Cool. 'Cause a- again, it's, it's not about overcoming that they don't believe it anymore. It's resolving the belief. So if I then found a firm that I knew would help me not pay the government one penny more-

Lewis Howes 22:47 Mm-hmm

Dan Martell 22:47 ... then I could push harder, right? 'Cause it's again, people don't wanna grow if they have a negative belief of achievement. So once we resolve that, then we move it forward.

Lewis Howes 22:56 Mm.

Dan Martell 22:56 Now, the third question is how old is that belief?

Lewis Howes 23:00 How long have you been thinking about it, or how old are you when you came up with-

Dan Martell 23:03 When did that start?

Lewis Howes 23:04 Yeah.

Dan Martell 23:05 You know what I'm talking about. Like-

Lewis Howes 23:05 I was 7, I was 10, I was 9, I was-

Dan Martell 23:07 I saw, you know, I saw my dad, you know, upset-

Lewis Howes 23:11 Uh-huh

Dan Martell 23:11 ... and he made a comment.

Lewis Howes 23:13 And you-

Dan Martell 23:13 And that stuck with me.

Lewis Howes 23:14 Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 23:15 Or my dad, my dad used to say that, it's f- it's fascinating, he used to always say to me that, um, it's not what you make, it's what you spend. Okay, which is good advice. On the surface, it's not what you make, it's what you spend. So you could make a million dollars a year, but if you spend a million and one, then you're no worse off than somebody that didn't make any money. But what I took that and internalized it for my 20s, in my 20s for, when I started in business, was every dollar I, was an expense was I was taking it away from me. So think about-

Lewis Howes 23:46 Mm

Dan Martell 23:46 ... the concept of buying back your time. My belief, if I spent a dollar, then I was taking away profit, so I tried to do as much as I could-

Lewis Howes 23:55 To save

Dan Martell 23:56 ... save.

Lewis Howes 23:56 Yeah.

Dan Martell 23:56 Dude, I was like, I was making, like, uh, you know, hundreds of thousands a year, and instead of investing in the business, I was constraining it. I was choking it from its potential because I wouldn't in, I wouldn't let a dollar go if it wasn't absolutely necessary. And the challenge, if you understand business, is that it requires an investment.

Lewis Howes 24:16 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 24:17 And what happens if you make good investments, you get a return on that investment. And if you get really good in business, then the more investments you make. Like when I ask somebody like, "How much do you pay for a customer?" "Well, I pay $10 a customer." "Well, how much is that customer worth to you?" " $100." "How quick do you get that $100?" "Within the first month." "How many $10 bills do you wanna trade for a $100 bill?"

Lewis Howes 24:36 [laughs] Right.

Dan Martell 24:37 "So what's your marketing budget?"

Lewis Howes 24:39 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 24:39 But originally they'll say, "Well, my budget's 10,000 a month." I go, "No, it's unlimited-"

Lewis Howes 24:43 Mm

Dan Martell 24:43 ... to the degree that you get that $100 bill for every 10 that you put in.

Lewis Howes 24:48 Yeah.

Dan Martell 24:48 It took me six years of being in business-

Lewis Howes 24:51 Mm

Dan Martell 24:51 ... and, and, and choking the potential of the business till I flipped the mindset of, "Oh no, it's not what you make, it's not what you keep, it's literally what's the return on the growth?" 'Cause the real value in a lot of business is, yes, it's the profit, but even more importantly it's what's the business worth to somebody else. Because to the degree that, and this is what I talk about in the book, to the degree that I can build a business that doesn't need me to grow and that it has predictable revenue, predictable profits, those two equations equals how much it's worth to somebody else.

Lewis Howes 25:22 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 25:22 And for, and that's what happened to me. At 28 my company got bought, my first company I sold. That was when the-

Lewis Howes 25:27 Was that Flowtown? No

Dan Martell 25:28 ... Spheric. Even before that.

Lewis Howes 25:29 Okay.

Dan Martell 25:29 That one, that was the one that really set me up to then do a bunch of other stuff. But that's when I learned that, yes, you can't be not profitable, but at the same time don't constrain the business from its potential growth because if you can build a business that doesn't require you to run and is predictable profit, then it's gonna be incredibly valuable to somebody else.

Lewis Howes 25:49 Or for someone like you where the business requires some of you to grow-

Dan Martell 25:53 Yep

Lewis Howes 25:53 ... your personality, your likeness, your knowledge,

Lewis Howes 25:55 your wisdom, your content creation, all it might be, how do you justify that when it's a personality driven business?

Dan Martell 26:02 Totally. Yeah.

Lewis Howes 26:02 Or expertise driven. There's a lot of creators who are watching, a lot of-

Dan Martell 26:06 Oh, I love, I love it

Lewis Howes 26:07 ... solo entrepreneurs-

Dan Martell 26:07 It's my favorite question

Lewis Howes 26:08 ... that are, they're the experts, they're the face, and they feel like they need more of them in order to grow.

Dan Martell 26:15 Uh, here, here's the way I would think about it is we gotta reframe the problem we're trying to solve 'cause I think the problem, you know, I call them puzzles, not, you know, problems. But the puzzle is-

Lewis Howes 26:22 Uh-huh

Dan Martell 26:24 ... what, what is true about the business? So do you need to be the person that creates? Yes. But what parts of it? So I have this framework I teach in the book called the 10-80-10 rule. The 10-80-10 rule, I saw Steve Jobs do this, Gary Vee do this.

Lewis Howes 26:39 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 26:39 And honestly, most massive creators at scale, Jimmy Donaldson, MrBeast talks about this, is they'll be involved in the first 10%, the ideation, the creative, and then they'll hand it off to a team that executes, and then at the very end they'll come back for the integration.

Lewis Howes 26:55 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 26:55 So what I do and what a lot of people do is I resolve to be the talent. And by design in my company where I am the talent, that is my role. I have a general manager that runs that company. So I don't do one-on-ones.

Lewis Howes 27:09 Mm.

Dan Martell 27:10 I don't do strategic planning. I don't manage finance. I don't ma- You know what I mean?

Lewis Howes 27:12 With the whole team, you're just talent.

Dan Martell 27:15 I am literally talent.

Lewis Howes 27:16 Yeah.

Dan Martell 27:16 When I wake up the team says, "I need this from you, this from you, this from you."

Lewis Howes 27:20 And you go make it.

Dan Martell 27:20 I negotiate and, and then I try to figure out like do you really need me to do that part or-

Lewis Howes 27:25 Negotiate your time

Dan Martell 27:25 ... 100%. And then also like, "Hey, we've got revenue. Can you spend some, invest some to go get 80% of this project done that I'm not gonna do?" So for example, a lot of the creative projects we have like writers that help us with it that come with the ideation-

Lewis Howes 27:43 Mm-hmm

Dan Martell 27:43 ... that go research all the videos I might have done, and they present the solutions.

Lewis Howes 27:47 Right.

Dan Martell 27:47 So it's really about just looking at your calendar-

Lewis Howes 27:49 Mm-hmm

Dan Martell 27:49 ... and saying, "Okay, I wanna be the person on camera." That's the thing I can't until AI and maybe Neuralink-

Lewis Howes 27:54 Right, right, right, right, yeah

Dan Martell 27:54 ... or whatever gets good enough, I'm doing that. But anything that isn't that, I'm not doing it.

Lewis Howes 28:00 Mm.

Dan Martell 28:01 So, so create a forcing function, a decision to say, "I'm the talent team. You guys wanna grow the revenue. Try to come up with ideas that don't require more of my time."

Lewis Howes 28:10 Right.

Dan Martell 28:11 So that's the puzzle.

Lewis Howes 28:11 That's big.

Dan Martell 28:12 That's the question you ask.

Lewis Howes 28:13 But it's like, but then you gotta figure out how to hire the right people and then people, you know, all that stuff.

Dan Martell 28:16 That's the business stuff.

Lewis Howes 28:17 That's, that's challenging.

Dan Martell 28:19 Yeah. No, and that's why I talk about in the book, test-first hiring method. Like the pe-

Lewis Howes 28:23 What's that?

Dan Martell 28:23 So the test-first hiring method is the idea that, you know, I got this from Seth Godin, you know, a long time ago. You know Clay Bear.

Lewis Howes 28:30 Yeah, yeah.

Dan Martell 28:30 He introduced me to Seth. I'm in New York and we go to his favorite ice cream place. I was... That was when I was doing clarity.fm.

Lewis Howes 28:35 Uh-huh.

Dan Martell 28:36 And I was just so excited to meet the legend marketer-

Lewis Howes 28:38 Yes

Dan Martell 28:38 ... Seth Godin. And, um, we're talking about Clarity, which is a marketplace for entrepreneurs to get paid over the phone, and that was cool. It was like kind of LinkedIn had a call button. But in our conversation with Seth we were talking about people and talent 'cause we had just raised a bunch of capital and we're hiring, and he goes, "Yeah, I have a rule. I just, I can't work with you until I work with you." And I said, "What? What does that mean?"

Lewis Howes 29:01 Yeah.

Dan Martell 29:01 And, and he was just like, he was ready to move on. I was like, "I can't move on. What, what does that mean?" And he essentially says, "Before I work with anybody I do a project with them."

Lewis Howes 29:11 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 29:12 And I'm like, "I don't do that." And that was a big aha. And I said, "Tell me more," and he tells me about the whole process. So over the years I've, I've developed kind of a three-part way of how I hire, and the first part is people have to submit a video answering questions that are very clear, and they have to figure out how they upload the video to give me the video. And why do I do that? Well, first off I wanna make sure they can read the instructions-

Lewis Howes 29:37 Mm-hmm

Dan Martell 29:37 ... and they can shoot a video and talk to a camera, which is really important from a communication point of view, and they can technically, they're advanced 'cause I mean we're, we're doing distributed teams.

Lewis Howes 29:46 Yeah, yeah.

Dan Martell 29:46 I don't have time to teach you how to use Google Docs, right?

Lewis Howes 29:49 Right, right.

Dan Martell 29:49 So can you record a video and upload it and get a link and then put it in the submission for the application? So that's step one. Step two, we do a profile assessment. So a lot of people hire folks and they're like, "Man, this person just isn't, like the lights aren't on." You know, you-

Lewis Howes 30:03 Sure, sure

Dan Martell 30:03 ... you're talking to them and it's like-

Lewis Howes 30:05 What's going on? Yeah

Dan Martell 30:05 ... did you hear what I said? Turns out you can test for a lot of this.

Lewis Howes 30:09 Yeah.

Dan Martell 30:09 Cognitive intelligence. Yeah. Yeah,

Dan Martell 30:11 so we have a profile assessment that not only does it do their kind of the cognitive side, it also does just the, their- Their default behaviors. See, I think the best-

Lewis Howes 30:20 Their personality style too? Yeah.

Dan Martell 30:21 Dude, it's all that. 'Cause the best hire is somebody that selfishly has a desire to be better at the thing you hire them for.

Lewis Howes 30:27 Mm.

Dan Martell 30:28 My favorite question is to hi- ask somebody, "In five years, we can't be working together, you wake up and you're living your dream life, what does that look like?" And they explain to you exactly what they wanna do is what you need them to become in your company.

Lewis Howes 30:39 Mm.

Dan Martell 30:40 Game on.

Lewis Howes 30:41 Right.

Dan Martell 30:41 So that's step two. Step three is the test project. Here's what's different about the way I do test project. A lot of people are like, "Oh, yeah, we do test projects." No. We simulate, so whatever the role they're gonna do is what they do for the test project. So I just hired a CEO to run one of my companies. His test project amongst the four other candidates was to create a 90-day plan.

Lewis Howes 31:03 Mm.

Dan Martell 31:03 'Cause that's the first th- you know what I mean?

Lewis Howes 31:05 Right, right, right.

Dan Martell 31:05 So whatever they're gonna do when they start working for you-

Lewis Howes 31:08 Yes

Dan Martell 31:08 ... is 100% what the project should be, and that's why it's called the test-first hiring method. So before somebody ever gets to the end, the other rule I have is I always have to have three really good candidates, which it sounds like a lot of work, and it is, but the chances of you not hiring somebody that can hit the ground running and add a lot of value to your business is very, it's limited.

Lewis Howes 31:28 What happens when you hire fast and you don't have three potential candidates to make a decision from?

Dan Martell 31:34 It happens sometimes, especially if it's, like, a key role, a specialized role. I mean, we- we'll look for it and just manage the expectations. The big thing that we do that's quite different is we document everything. So if the person comes in and they don't pan out-

Lewis Howes 31:46 Mm-hmm

Dan Martell 31:46 ... at least we have a process so we're not left hanging.

Lewis Howes 31:49 Sure.

Dan Martell 31:49 But it's never usually a good... And it, it also, think about what it communicates to the person that you're hiring, right? If they go through this process, they're thinking to themselves, "I'm joining a killer team."

Lewis Howes 31:59 Right.

Dan Martell 32:00 So, like, a lot of times really senior director level above hires we're making, they're so impressed with our process that they almost wanna come work for us-

Lewis Howes 32:08 Mm

Dan Martell 32:08 ... as they're going through it.

Lewis Howes 32:09 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 32:09 'Cause they're thinking, "If I had to go through this-

Lewis Howes 32:12 Right

Dan Martell 32:12 ... imagine the other people I get to work with."

Lewis Howes 32:13 Yeah.

Dan Martell 32:14 You know? So I think that's... The, the business part is, is always interesting because, yes, you have to figure out how to be the talent, but then it's always about the people. I think we build the people, the people build the business, right?

Lewis Howes 32:25 Exactly.

Dan Martell 32:26 So our job, and I call it teach, not tell. So this is a very... You're gonna love this. So when I have people that work for me, I don't tell them what to do. If I see something they're doing wrong, I write it down, I create a training, I teach it.

Lewis Howes 32:39 Mm.

Dan Martell 32:40 And now I have a standard.

Lewis Howes 32:41 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 32:42 So essentially when I'm coaching people and they say, "You know, my team's not figuring it out," or, "They're too slow," or, "I don't feel like they're risk-takers," I, I hear it all. I go, "Cool. Make a list. What's on your list?" And they're like, "Well, uh, they don't, they don't, they don't collaborate in meetings," or, "They don't take notes in meetings," or, "They're, they're slow on email replies," or whatever it is. Make a list, all of them. 13, 14 complaints about their team. I say, "Cool. Now show me where you've done a training on how those things should be done right."

Lewis Howes 33:08 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 33:10 "Well, I don't."

Lewis Howes 33:11 Right, right.

Dan Martell 33:11 That's the problem.

Lewis Howes 33:12 Right. Or maybe they say, "Well, I told them one time or twice, but they didn't do it."

Dan Martell 33:14 No, no, no, no.

Lewis Howes 33:15 Yeah, yeah. You have to-

Dan Martell 33:16 Not tell

Lewis Howes 33:16 ... you have to show them.

Dan Martell 33:17 Teach.

Lewis Howes 33:17 You have to teach. Yeah, yeah.

Dan Martell 33:18 You need to show me where there's a video that if I watch that video-

Lewis Howes 33:21 Yeah

Dan Martell 33:21 ... and I follow what you told me are the five ways that I need to collaborate in a meeting, that when I show up in a meeting and I don't do it, you pull out that video and say, "Hey, remember this video you watched?"

Lewis Howes 33:29 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 33:29 "Let's talk about y- the way you showed up in that last meeting."

Lewis Howes 33:31 Right.

Dan Martell 33:32 And see, what's cool about that, it's just so simple, is great leaders, and you know this-

Lewis Howes 33:37 Mm-hmm

Dan Martell 33:37 ... look at the people they've led. To the degree those people have developed and grown, that says, you know. If you look at any organization that's performing, I will show you a world-class leader.

Lewis Howes 33:46 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 33:47 It's impossible for y- uh, Boy Scouts-

Lewis Howes 33:49 Yeah

Dan Martell 33:49 ... you know, organization, businesses, media companies, if you f- if you point to this company's doing awesome, I will introduce you to a world-class leader.

Lewis Howes 33:58 Right.

Dan Martell 33:58 And that leader is really good at developing people.

Lewis Howes 34:01 Wow. That's great.

Dan Martell 34:01 That's a skill set.

Lewis Howes 34:02 How important is creating bulletproof processes for your teams in order to grow and scale?

Dan Martell 34:11 If you have an issue on your team, you have two options. It's either a people problem or a process problem.

Lewis Howes 34:16 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 34:17 So

Dan Martell 34:18 I default to assuming positive intent. I call it API, Assume Positive Intent. If there's a mistake, I assume somebody wasn't properly trained.

Lewis Howes 34:28 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 34:28 So I always go to-

Lewis Howes 34:30 When the process is broken.

Dan Martell 34:31 It's the process. So I always ask before I get upset, I go, "Can you show me the process that led you to create this outcome?"

Lewis Howes 34:37 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 34:38 And sometimes they'll be like, "Well, I don't have one."

Lewis Howes 34:40 Well, go make one.

Dan Martell 34:41 "It's missing." So I don't get upset at the person. And then if they have it, I look at it, and there might be a step missing that causes the issue. "Cool. Let's add it together." We'll just be like, "Can you add that step? See right there? Enter. Boom, boom, boom. It's done." Then now I have something I can hold them accountable to. But I think as a default-

Lewis Howes 34:57 Mm

Dan Martell 34:57 ... people, especially entrepreneurs, we're kind of crazy. CEOs are crazy-

Lewis Howes 34:59 [laughs]

Dan Martell 35:00 ... in case they didn't know that. [laughs] Like, I'm very self-aware. Um, I always wanna go to the process.

Lewis Howes 35:05 Mm.

Dan Martell 35:05 But once the proc- That's why-

Lewis Howes 35:07 But once the process is in place, and then there's a breakdown continually-

Dan Martell 35:10 Then, then-

Lewis Howes 35:10 ... they're not following a process.

Dan Martell 35:11 Yep.

Lewis Howes 35:11 Yeah.

Dan Martell 35:11 And then it's their decision if they wanna not step up to the standards, right?

Lewis Howes 35:15 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 35:15 I think people, at the end of the day, if you don't have a process, a system, they'll fall to the level of your systems.

Lewis Howes 35:22 Mm.

Dan Martell 35:23 So you need to train them. They have to exist, and then that's how you build a company that doesn't require you to run.

Lewis Howes 35:29 Mm.

Dan Martell 35:29 And, and people, some people are like, "Well, I don't ever wanna sell this company." Cool. I would still encourage you to build it in a way that you could sell it because a company that could be sold is a great company to own.

Lewis Howes 35:39 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 35:39 Right? And that's how we go-

Lewis Howes 35:40 There's less breakdowns, and you can hire more people and put them into the process and...

Dan Martell 35:44 And think about just what's fun in life.

Lewis Howes 35:45 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 35:46 Like, my whole philosophy is I wanna wake up every day and go back to back awesome stuff.

Lewis Howes 35:49 Yes.

Dan Martell 35:51 Fixing a problem that keeps happening-

Lewis Howes 35:53 [laughs]

Dan Martell 35:53 ... is not fun.

Lewis Howes 35:54 It's not fun.

Dan Martell 35:55 Hence why a lot of people build companies they grow to hate.

Lewis Howes 35:57 Mm.

Dan Martell 35:58 It's the way they built it.

Lewis Howes 35:59 Yes.

Dan Martell 35:59 So as soon as you get to a place where you resolve a problem, and that's why I teach the framework, the Camcorder Method in the book. This is how we create processes in my life, is when a problem happens, I solve it. I never wanna have to revisit that. And then every time it's new problems. Like, most entrepreneurs, I, I know you're this way, Lewis, it's I'm addicted to my expansion

Lewis Howes 36:21 Mm-hmm

Dan Martell 36:22 I don't wanna revisit something I've already overcome.

Lewis Howes 36:24 Yes.

Dan Martell 36:25 And having new team members, sometimes it feels like, "Ugh, I gotta teach them again." And here's what's crazy, is whenever you feel that way is why you might not wanna grow the business. Because if I grew it, it would probably... That person wouldn't be able to grow with me.

Lewis Howes 36:40 Right.

Dan Martell 36:40 So I'd have to let them go, which means I have to hire someone new, which means I gotta train them-

Lewis Howes 36:44 Yes

Dan Martell 36:44 ... da, da. So that's a lot of people, because they don't have those systems in place, they actually will stunt their growth.

Lewis Howes 36:50 Wow.

Dan Martell 36:50 Isn't that fascinating? It's really cool, like, when you sit down with an entrepreneur that's got a business and you're like, "Okay, where are the opportunities?" And they're like, "Well, I can't do that because of this." It's like, "Let's talk about that thing-"

Lewis Howes 37:01 Wow

Dan Martell 37:01 "... that person." Yeah.

Lewis Howes 37:03 So when someone starts to develop their m- uh, and get to be aware of their money story, and they start to identify their story, is that true? Is that really true? And they go through these steps. Would you say that when they're clear on their money story, they then have a money personality or identity?

Dan Martell 37:21 I think it definitely is identity.

Lewis Howes 37:23 Identity.

Dan Martell 37:24 Yeah. And we've all heard, you know, my- one of my coaches, Ed Mylett, talks about this a lot, right? The whole idea that, you know, whatever our identity is around our wealth, our love, our relationships, it's like a thermostat, right? If this room has got a thermostat set at 80 and it gets hot, the cooling's gonna kick in, it's gonna cool us down. If it gets cool, the heater's gonna kick in, it's gonna heat it up. And everybody has an identity around money, and especially worth. And, you know, some people, it's fascinating to watch. They can just go look at their bank account. Usually it oscillates between-

Lewis Howes 37:57 Mm-hmm

Dan Martell 37:57 ... the floor and the high, right? And some people, it's overdraft is cool, and it is, it is like no problem.

Lewis Howes 38:04 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Dan Martell 38:05 Other people, if they don't have 5,000 in their bank account in savings, they freak out. So what's interesting from a working through the beliefs is trying to figure out, how do I make the old high the new low? So-

Lewis Howes 38:18 How does someone break through then?

Dan Martell 38:19 You gotta do the belief work. You have to understand what beliefs you have about breaking through. 'Cause if the low happened, if you looked in your bank account or you stepped on a scale, you step on a scale and you thought it was gonna read a number and it read 20 pounds heavier, you're

Dan Martell 38:33 gonna make a completely different set of decisions that day, right?

Lewis Howes 38:36 Right.

Dan Martell 38:36 About what you have for breakfast.

Lewis Howes 38:37 Right.

Dan Martell 38:37 Do you go to the gym? Well, of course you're going to the gym. You're like, "What am I doing?"

Lewis Howes 38:41 Yes.

Dan Martell 38:41 "20 pounds heavier."

Lewis Howes 38:42 Yes.

Dan Martell 38:42 "I didn't know that was gonna be there." So what happens is you need to trick yourself-

Lewis Howes 38:47 Mm-hmm

Dan Martell 38:47 ... into making the old high the new low, and act as if it was. The best way to fix your identity is get around other people.

Lewis Howes 38:55 Yes.

Dan Martell 38:55 We know this.

Lewis Howes 38:56 Uh-huh.

Dan Martell 38:56 I mean, the environment, it doesn't matter how motivated or how much positive motivation you have about being warm, if you're sitting inside a commercial freezer, you're gonna be cold.

Lewis Howes 39:06 [laughs] Eventually you're gonna get cold.

Dan Martell 39:07 Yeah, you're gonna be cold. So it's like, how about we move you out of the freezer-

Lewis Howes 39:11 Uh-huh

Dan Martell 39:11 ... into a warm room, and all of a sudden that warm room is your peer group, right? And I always say, if you're the, if you're the big dog in your city, you might wanna look around, right? If you're the smartest person on your street, find another street.

Lewis Howes 39:22 Yes. So what would you say is the process then from shifting out of a belief system of scarcity or lack around money into-

Dan Martell 39:31 Mm-hmm

Lewis Howes 39:31 ... abundance and prosperity? Would it be around the story first, then shifting your environment around people you're with so that your identity starts to shift? How do we shift our identity to become-

Dan Martell 39:44 Such a good question

Lewis Howes 39:44 ... wealthier-

Dan Martell 39:45 Oh, man. So good

Lewis Howes 39:45 ... minded and wealthier materially?

Dan Martell 39:49 Yeah. It's a beautiful question. I love it because oftentimes I'll talk about the chocolate and the broccoli.

Lewis Howes 39:56 Uh-huh.

Dan Martell 39:56 You know, people... Y- You sometimes you have to communicate the chocolate 'cause that's what people really want, but what they need is the broccoli.

Lewis Howes 40:03 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 40:04 So the chocolate for a lot of people is success. It's rich, it's money, it's accolades, it's recognition, it's, it's all that.

Lewis Howes 40:12 And what does the... And point, uh, put a note in on that. What is the thing that people usually want?

Dan Martell 40:18 Mm.

Lewis Howes 40:18 Is it they want financial freedom? Is they want, um, status? Do they want options? What is it people really want when they think around wanting more money?

Dan Martell 40:28 I think it's, I think the word that comes to most entrepreneurs when I ask them this question, and I do, I run big events and I say, "Okay, why did we start the business? One word, write it down. Go." It's freedom.

Lewis Howes 40:37 Freedom.

Dan Martell 40:38 It's freedom.

Lewis Howes 40:39 Yeah.

Dan Martell 40:39 Freedom means the ability to do what you want with who you want anytime you want. Which is a f- is interesting because it's a bit of a fallacy, right? I can actually... Your work ethic is a byproduct of your gratitude. Think about that.

Lewis Howes 40:54 Mm.

Dan Martell 40:55 I think a lot of people that think, "Well, if I was rich, I would just hang out on a beach and do nothing, drink mai tais." The reason why you'll never be rich [laughs] is 'cause that's all you would do with that resource.

Lewis Howes 41:05 Mm.

Dan Martell 41:05 If you became the person who could become rich, you would have a different character trait that would, you would not be like, "I don't wanna waste my day."

Lewis Howes 41:13 Yeah.

Dan Martell 41:13 "I've done this for 14 days in a row. How many more days am I gonna just hang out on a beach and do nothing?"

Lewis Howes 41:17 Yeah. You'd get bored.

Dan Martell 41:18 So it's fascinating that some people that are broke have a belief about what they would do when they're rich, and it's the reason they'll never be rich, because that energy will never bring that to them.

Lewis Howes 41:28 Mm.

Dan Martell 41:28 Right? So when you say what should they do first, it's they gotta focus on the abundance that's all around them. It's, it's-

Lewis Howes 41:35 So start paying attention to abundance around you.

Dan Martell 41:38 It's, it's you can wake up and you can decide that the world has scarcity, and negativity, and lack, and you will find evidence of that. Or you wake up and you decide that the world is abundant, and there's positivity, and there is so much opportunity around me, and my job is to just keep my eyes open for the rest of the day-

Lewis Howes 41:57 Right

Dan Martell 41:57 ... and not let... Yeah, 'cause your frequency, your energy is what you frequently see.

Lewis Howes 42:01 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 42:02 I want people to hear that. Your frequency, my energy, is what I frequently see.

Lewis Howes 42:06 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 42:07 You know? And that was... I was excited my boys came in here. I wanted them to meet you because you're one of those people where I'm like, Lewis is such a good and positive... Like-

Lewis Howes 42:14 Mm-hmm

Dan Martell 42:15 ... you need to feel that energy. So it's... I'm never surprised when I meet somebody that's successful that's positive because of course they are, 'cause look at the way they-

Lewis Howes 42:23 Yeah

Dan Martell 42:23 ... they look at life.

Lewis Howes 42:24 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 42:24 So I think the first thing any person, no matter where they're at, doesn't matter how much money they have or have nothing- They can decide, "Hey, in the last hour, did I focus on opportunity? Did I focus on gratitude? Did I focus on abundance? Or was I complaining? Was I seeing the, the downside of my situation?" Like, one question I ask myself a dozen times a day, Lewis, and I've never told anybody this. Anytime I feel any lack, and it happens, all, all the time, or frustration. You know, I'm meant to be somewhere on time, I'm running late. Or, you know, uh, my driver... Something happened. I always go to this question: How can I appreciate even more God's grace and guidance-

Lewis Howes 43:06 Mm

Dan Martell 43:06 ... in this

Dan Martell 43:07 moment?

Lewis Howes 43:07 Mm, that's cool.

Dan Martell 43:08 Any, anytime. It's like a cleanser. I, I could be sitting here and I'd be like, "Oh man, I wish I would've had something to drink before I started," or whatever. And I would just be like, "How can..." In my mind, I just ask myself, "How can I appreciate even more God's grace and guidance in this moment?"

Lewis Howes 43:21 Wow.

Dan Martell 43:22 And immediately, see how it just changes the scanning of the-

Lewis Howes 43:26 Mm-hmm

Dan Martell 43:26 ... the world?

Lewis Howes 43:27 Yeah.

Dan Martell 43:27 All of a sudden I'm like, "Oh, I'm warm."

Lewis Howes 43:29 Yeah.

Dan Martell 43:29 That's cool. Or, "Hey, I'm here with my buddy."

Lewis Howes 43:32 Uh-huh.

Dan Martell 43:32 That's cool.

Lewis Howes 43:33 I'm healthy. I'm-

Dan Martell 43:34 I'm healthy.

Lewis Howes 43:34 Yeah.

Dan Martell 43:34 Oh my gosh, I'm breathing clean air. That's cool. I have, I have resources. I have friends. I have rich relationships. I just back from vacation. Like, there's... As soon as you... And that's why I think questions are probably one of the most powerful tools we have.

Lewis Howes 43:46 Mm.

Dan Martell 43:46 'Cause if you ask a more powerful question, you'll live a more powerful life. And that is my, that is my-

Lewis Howes 43:51 Mm

Dan Martell 43:51 ... question. It's my primary question that I use to try to reset it. So it's not about, like, go get another skill or character trait or change your belief. It's really about, like, can you decide right now to see opportunity all around you? It's there.

Lewis Howes 44:08 Yes.

Dan Martell 44:08 It's right there.

Lewis Howes 44:09 You mentioned frequency. How important is it for us to shift the frequency of our thoughts and our emotions-

Dan Martell 44:18 Mm

Lewis Howes 44:18 ... in order to draw in more financial opportunities? And is money attracted to a certain type of frequency? If so, what is that frequency?

Dan Martell 44:29 It is. I think the number's, like, 433 hertz or something. [laughs] Like, I think I saw it one time, it's like, "The money frequency is 433 hertz." I don't know. I do know this. In my kids', uh, playroom in our house, there's a chart, and it's, and it's essentially a spiral energy chart, and there's a downward spiral and an upward spiral.

Lewis Howes 44:48 Mm.

Dan Martell 44:49 So the feelings on the downward spiral are all the things you would assume. You know, anger, frustration, um, sadness or whatever. The upward spiral is things like gratitude and joy and laughter.

Lewis Howes 45:02 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 45:03 So when we think of our frequency attracting, 'cause I don't think we create success, we attract success, and, and Jim Rohn says this often, right? We attract success by becoming an attractive character.

Lewis Howes 45:14 Mm.

Dan Martell 45:15 So-

Lewis Howes 45:15 So an attractive identity.

Dan Martell 45:17 Yes, be- I mean, y- this is... I hope, I hope people can resonate with this. People wanna do business with people they like-

Lewis Howes 45:25 Mm-hmm

Dan Martell 45:26 ... that are positive, that make problems/puzzles not an issue.

Lewis Howes 45:31 Eas- easier.

Dan Martell 45:32 Easier.

Lewis Howes 45:32 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Dan Martell 45:33 And oftentimes it's not even do you have the skill to solve the problem, is when you work on a problem, are you joyful? Are you kind? Are you funny about it? Do you take yourself seriously?

Lewis Howes 45:45 Mm.

Dan Martell 45:45 Or do you just, do you crack a joke from time to time?

Lewis Howes 45:47 Yes.

Dan Martell 45:48 'Cause that's what people want. I wanna be around people that make life lighter-

Lewis Howes 45:51 Yes

Dan Martell 45:51 ... not make 'em harder for me.

Lewis Howes 45:53 Yeah.

Dan Martell 45:53 So I think that energy, that's why I tell the kids, 'cause t- check this out. If you woke up today and you don't feel proud of where you're at, I can guarantee there was a day back in your past, six months ago, six years ago, doesn't matter when, where you went from an upward spiral to a downward spiral.

Lewis Howes 46:12 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 46:13 And that one day, that one decision, it was little, where you got upset at somebody when you knew you sh- you knew better. You didn't apologize, you should've been quicker to apologize. Something happened to you, you assumed that they were trying to be malicious, you should assume the positive intent, and you started to downward spiral.

Lewis Howes 46:27 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 46:28 Isn't that interesting?

Lewis Howes 46:28 Yeah.

Dan Martell 46:28 Like, if you wake up and you're 20 pounds overweight, there was a day where you ate a little bit more than you should have and you didn't go to the gym. It's never, like, the one day, it's the multiple days. That's why for me, that-

Lewis Howes 46:42 Yes

Dan Martell 46:42 ... upward spiral, downward spiral, and the energy and that frequency, it's something I've been teaching my kids since they, they could understand language.

Lewis Howes 46:48 Wow.

Dan Martell 46:48 Oh, yeah, it's... 'Cause again, it's who you are attracts things into your world. The world isn't as it is, it's as you are.

Lewis Howes 46:56 But how come, then, you know, people watching and listening might say, "That sounds great, Dan, and I understand that, but why are there so many wealthy or rich people who are nasty and are mean and treat people poorly?"

Dan Martell 47:09 Mm.

Lewis Howes 47:10 How do they have money still?

Dan Martell 47:12 Because money is not, um... And Tony Robbins talks about this. He said there's a science of success, and then there's the art of fulfillment.

Lewis Howes 47:21 Mm.

Dan Martell 47:21 So there is a science of being successful, just like there's a science for being healthy.

Lewis Howes 47:27 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 47:28 And if you go into a caloric deficit and you do hypertrophy training, you will be ripped.

Lewis Howes 47:34 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 47:35 If you sell something for way more than it costs you to make, and you can scale it up, [laughs] ta-da, you're rich.

Lewis Howes 47:42 You'll be rich.

Dan Martell 47:43 The art of fulfillment is completely different.

Lewis Howes 47:46 Uh-huh.

Dan Martell 47:46 And that's the, that's the world we live in.

Lewis Howes 47:48 But we're talking about frequencies also.

Dan Martell 47:50 Yeah.

Lewis Howes 47:50 Like personality and frequency-

Dan Martell 47:51 Yeah

Lewis Howes 47:51 ... and identity and beliefs and attitude-

Dan Martell 47:53 Yeah

Lewis Howes 47:53 ... which I believe also, when someone... When I'm at a restaurant

Lewis Howes 47:57 and someone is, like, just got the most positive attitude who's waiting on us, I'm like, "I wanna over-tip," right? I wanna give more because I appreciate and I value positive energy. So I value that.

Dan Martell 48:07 Mm.

Lewis Howes 48:08 But, uh, there's a lot of wealthy people also who are mean-

Dan Martell 48:11 That are mean and angry-

Lewis Howes 48:12 ... and angry and-

Dan Martell 48:12 ... short

Lewis Howes 48:12 ... exactly.

Dan Martell 48:13 Yeah.

Lewis Howes 48:13 And all those things and just, like, you know, the m- the least amount of tip or whatever it might be. Um, and so how do they get away with it or how do they succeed in spite of a lower energy frequency in some way?

Dan Martell 48:28 Yeah. It's, it's such a great question, because I'm not saying you can't be successful or rich without it.

Lewis Howes 48:35 Uh-huh.

Dan Martell 48:35 It's just then you don't have the fulfillment.

Lewis Howes 48:37 Right. Right.

Dan Martell 48:38 And what I-

Lewis Howes 48:38 So you can be that, but then you don't have good relationships-

Dan Martell 48:40 Yeah

Lewis Howes 48:40 ... and you might be sick inside.

Dan Martell 48:41 But what i- let's talk about what they have that the people that are looking to create and have impact and have more fulfillment should consider. It's the worthiness. See, that person that uses what I call dark energy to create, and I used it too in my early 20s, proving all those people that ever-

Lewis Howes 48:56 Yeah, yeah, yeah

Dan Martell 48:57 ... second-guessed me.

Lewis Howes 48:58 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 48:58 I'm gonna show them. I'm gonna win so big that it's gonna be undeniable that they were wrong.

Lewis Howes 49:02 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 49:03 Like, that was a very dark f- like, kind of diesel-

Lewis Howes 49:06 It drives you

Dan Martell 49:07 ... it dr- it, it was powerful. It's got a lot of, uh, torque.

Lewis Howes 49:10 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 49:10 Problem is it also, it eats at you.

Lewis Howes 49:12 Yeah.

Dan Martell 49:13 It's dirty.

Lewis Howes 49:14 It is, man.

Dan Martell 49:14 It, it feels hard, and I think that's why you see a lot of billionaires wanna be Buddhists, but you don't see any Buddhists who wanna be m- billionaires.

Lewis Howes 49:21 [laughs] 'Cause they got the fulfillment.

Dan Martell 49:23 Yeah.

Lewis Howes 49:23 They don't need the money to feel good.

Dan Martell 49:25 They don't realize that I could've felt good the whole time.

Lewis Howes 49:27 Yeah.

Dan Martell 49:28 That's a beautiful place to come from, right? And so what I would encourage people that want to be more, um, full of positive energy and be successful to consider is just know that you're worthy of it.

Lewis Howes 49:42 Mm.

Dan Martell 49:42 Because it doesn't matter how great of a... And we all know these people. They're so kind, they're so giving, but almost to a fault, right?

Lewis Howes 49:50 Right, right.

Dan Martell 49:51 They create opportunities for people all the time, but they don't feel worthy of getting a piece of it or being participating it or collaborating around it.

Lewis Howes 49:58 Wow.

Dan Martell 49:58 So they lack... Yeah. D- I, I have a friend that-

Lewis Howes 50:01 Yeah

Dan Martell 50:01 ... a mutual friend that I know, he's given to me for 15 years, and I continuously ask him every year, "When can I help you?" And he's just like, "Oh, it's all good, man. I don't wanna bug you."

Lewis Howes 50:11 Wow.

Dan Martell 50:12 Dude, that's not cool.

Lewis Howes 50:13 Yeah. [laughs]

Dan Martell 50:14 Like, for real, man. Like, I really want, you know? And, and now I'm, like, kind of upset. It's like-

Lewis Howes 50:17 Yeah, yeah, yeah

Dan Martell 50:18 ... hey man, like, do you think my help ain't wor- good? You know what I mean? Like-

Lewis Howes 50:20 Right, right, right, right, right

Dan Martell 50:21 ... what's going on? So I, I do think some people can be financially successful, but when it comes to the art of fulfillment-

Lewis Howes 50:27 Mm

Dan Martell 50:27 ... that, that takes a different-

Lewis Howes 50:30 Yeah

Dan Martell 50:30 ... process.

Lewis Howes 50:30 So I wanna get back to this process from identifying your money story and then realizing that's your money identity and personality-

Dan Martell 50:43 Mm

Lewis Howes 50:43 ... once you've created, identified that story. And once you've realized, "Okay, this is my identity, this is my personality, and this is how I make decisions day to day," or, "This is how when money comes in my bank account, I feel something. I either feel excited, I feel anxious, I feel avoidance. I have this attachment-

Dan Martell 51:01 Mm

Lewis Howes 51:01 ... style to money."

Dan Martell 51:02 Yeah.

Lewis Howes 51:03 How do we break free of an attachment style to money that is harming us so that it, when money comes and goes-

Dan Martell 51:12 Mm

Lewis Howes 51:13 ... it flows?

Dan Martell 51:14 Yeah.

Lewis Howes 51:14 It feels good as opposed to anxious, avoidant, or stressed emotions, because growing up I had a lot of anxiety around money.

Dan Martell 51:23 Same, yeah.

Lewis Howes 51:24 And now when money comes to me, I say, "Thank you."

Dan Martell 51:26 Mm.

Lewis Howes 51:26 "I appreciate it."

Dan Martell 51:27 Right.

Lewis Howes 51:27 I don't care if it's a penny or $100,000 that comes in the bank, I'm like, "Thank you." And I learned this from my c- friend Ken Honda. He said, "When money comes to you, ask it where it wants to go."

Dan Martell 51:37 Mm.

Lewis Howes 51:38 He said, "Where do you wanna go? Do you wanna go towards food? Do you wanna go towards rent? Do you wanna go towards giving it to people for free? Do you wanna go towards investing in something?"

Dan Martell 51:46 Mm.

Lewis Howes 51:46 "Where do you want it to go?" And I like that philosophy of, like, just paying attention of where you want it to go. What else would you say that we should be considering around when money enters our account or it comes in our hands, what should we think and what should we do with the next steps?

Dan Martell 52:03 Yeah. You, you kinda touched on it. I think that one belief I would encourage people to consider that would help with the receiving is the belief that you're a steward of it.

Lewis Howes 52:14 Oh, okay.

Dan Martell 52:15 There you go.

Lewis Howes 52:15 'Cause some people can't receive money that well, right?

Dan Martell 52:17 No, 'cause then-

Lewis Howes 52:18 It's hard for them to let someone pay for them for a meal or to take money

Dan Martell 52:21 Not only that, they, they stress themselves out. If I put a million dollars in a lot of peoples' bank accounts, they'd be worried that somebody's gonna rob them tomorrow.

Lewis Howes 52:28 Wow.

Dan Martell 52:28 They'd be worried that they're gonna mess it up and the government's gonna say, "You now owe us $2 million." Like, they, there's so much angst around receiving, and one of the big ideas

Dan Martell 52:38 that I learned-

Lewis Howes 52:38 Is that a worthiness conversation? Is that a, a value conversation? Why is there angst around receiving?

Dan Martell 52:43 I think it's a, a fear of not knowing, right? 'Cause it's new. A lot of people, you know, I call them factor of 10 problems. Most people start with $10 problems, and those are, those are meaningful back then, right? Cell phone bill's a little extra and you're like-

Lewis Howes 53:00 Oh, yeah

Dan Martell 53:00 ... "Whoa," and you're calling up-

Lewis Howes 53:01 Oh, yeah

Dan Martell 53:01 ... and you're spending three hours trying to get that $10 back.

Lewis Howes 53:03 [laughs] Yeah.

Dan Martell 53:04 And then, and then we go to $100 problems, right? And then $1,000 problems. And if you think about the mindset to the degree that we can become comfortable-

Lewis Howes 53:14 Mm

Dan Martell 53:15 ... with bigger quality problems. I remember Oprah one time, she was being sued by Mi- the mad cow people 'cause of something she said on the show, for a billion dollars, and somebody interviewed her and said, "Oprah, like, how do you sleep at night? You're s- being sued for your whole life's work, your whole net worth." And she said, "I'm just grateful to be the kind of person that could be sued for a billion dollars."

Lewis Howes 53:39 Wow.

Dan Martell 53:41 Huh. She got really comfortable with receiving and being. So I think that the first idea is to understand that we, it's not ours. That h-

Lewis Howes 53:52 Money is not ours

Dan Martell 53:53 ... it's, nothing's ours. I mean, I love-

Lewis Howes 53:55 Yeah

Dan Martell 53:55 ... that you bought a new house, man.

Lewis Howes 53:56 Eventually when I leave, it's not mine.

Dan Martell 53:57 It will... And there could be... Exactly. So if, if we actually just get into the head space that everything we've created in our life, there's a lot of imper- uh, im- like, it's not permanent, then all of a sudden, like you said, it's where does it wanna go? How do we wanna use to shape it?

Lewis Howes 54:12 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 54:12 How do we use it to help other people, right? We're stewards of it. If you see other people that are rich and you're upset that evil people and you're like, "They're rich," then go be rich. Take, take, take that resource and deploy it the way you want. So I think the way I look at it is, um, money coming into my life is a byproduct of the value that I created, right? So if I want to have a bigger impact, I wanna do more good, I want to create more. Even as an artist, in the book I talk about Andy Warhol and how he created the Factory, and he had, he had teams of people supporting his art. He decided, "I'm gonna use this resource to do more." And I think that when you correlate that, and I think that's why tithing for a lot of religion is really important. Like, I follow the same process, and I believe you do as well.

Lewis Howes 55:03 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 55:04 Like, when you get money and you know that that money's gonna help people... For example, my buddy Mark, he came to my house one day, and he's like, "Dude, I have, I have money mindset problems. I just can't charge, you know, $5,000 for what I do." And we're sitting in my sunroom, and I said, "Interesting." I knew he was a person of faith. And I said, "What..." I think he was charging two, and he knew he should be charging five-

Lewis Howes 55:24 Yeah

Dan Martell 55:24 ... 'cause everybody else charged five.

Lewis Howes 55:25 Right, right.

Dan Martell 55:25 But he just felt, felt guilty about it. I said, "Well, what if you knew that every dollar you made, 10% of your income went to your church?"

Lewis Howes 55:34 Hmm.

Dan Martell 55:35 Dude, I saw his whole body-

Lewis Howes 55:37 Meaning shifted, yeah

Dan Martell 55:38 ... he lit up. "I wanna charge 10."

Lewis Howes 55:41 Right. [laughs]

Dan Martell 55:41 Of course you do.

Lewis Howes 55:43 Right.

Dan Martell 55:43 Right? 'Cause he aligned his desire to serve.

Lewis Howes 55:46 Wow.

Dan Martell 55:46 Right? And I just thought that was just a beautiful way to, to think about what beliefs do I have around money. Now, it doesn't solve it.

Lewis Howes 55:54 Right.

Dan Martell 55:54 It doesn't fix the skill problem. You gotta become more skillful and more valuable. But it helps you receive, 'cause you know that as I receive, it's not mine anyways. I don't have to protect it. I don't have to worry-

Lewis Howes 56:03 Mm-hmm

Dan Martell 56:03 ... about losing it, and it's now a resource that I get to use to then go create other things I wanna see in the world, and ideally, hopefully, it's to help people.

Lewis Howes 56:12 When someone hoards their money, what are they saying?

Dan Martell 56:15 They're saying to the universe that it's fixed, that, "I won't get any more, and I better protect it."

Lewis Howes 56:22 Wow.

Dan Martell 56:22 And typically, those people cannot live a fulfilled life.

Lewis Howes 56:26 Wow.

Dan Martell 56:26 Yeah.

Lewis Howes 56:26 How much should w- I mean, we live in a material world, and there's, there could be challenges in the future, so how much money should we be putting aside of the money we're bringing in for paying our bills and expenses in the future and making sure that we're not day to day?

Dan Martell 56:40 This i- this is the stats, 'cause I always... I'm a data, numbers guy. If you look at the worst case scenario, and we, we kinda went through it with the, the global pandemic, um, it may be a year at most. Most financial experts will say you should have six months of overhead expenses set aside, available liquid.

Lewis Howes 57:01 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 57:01 That way, if you ever had to restructure your business, or you got laid off, or whatever happened-

Lewis Howes 57:07 Mm-hmm

Dan Martell 57:07 ... you could weather that storm, 'cause it takes... That's about it. And you know, and some experts will say in the business side, it's about three months of operating expenses, six months. Some say a year. I think that's a lot. But let's say worst case. Everything else above that is

Dan Martell 57:22 really about, okay, what's the allocation? Do you wanna invest for the future? Do you wanna set budgets aside for creating experiences? And I don't know if there's a right or wrong answer, because I think depending on the situation, how old somebody is, they might wanna... You know, I know... I love the, the book Die With Zero.

Lewis Howes 57:38 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 57:38 I think you've had the author on.

Lewis Howes 57:40 Yeah, yeah.

Dan Martell 57:40 Yeah, super cool book, because the philosophy of actually designing the leverage, 'cause he talks about the go-go years, the slow-go years, and the no-go years, right? So, like, if I have money, especially if you have kids, th- there's two concepts from the book that I thought were phenomenal. One is if you wanna bless your children, bless them when they're younger.

Lewis Howes 57:58 Hmm.

Dan Martell 57:59 When m- like, for example, I called my... As soon as I read the book, I called my dad. I said, "Dad, do you have any desire to leave money to my sister?" And he goes, "Yes." I said, "You should give it to her now."

Lewis Howes 58:07 Why?

Dan Martell 58:08 It'll have way more value to her now when the kids are teenagers in regards to the life decisions she can make and experiences than when she's 60. Think about it. An extra 100 grand or whatever the number is at 27 years old will have a completely different impact on your life than at 57 years old.

Lewis Howes 58:25 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 58:25 And unfortunately, a lot of parents that wanna gift their children, they wait till the end of their life, and they don't do it. And, and he talks about it, that you wanna do this when they're around the perfect age is, like, 27, 28. So that was one big idea.

Lewis Howes 58:37 Wow.

Dan Martell 58:37 The other one is, you know, people are like-

Lewis Howes 58:39 And the memory dividend of it, right? Like, you get to experience it-

Dan Martell 58:42 Totally

Lewis Howes 58:42 ... and you get to have those memories for the rest of your life.

Dan Martell 58:44 And you're alive.

Lewis Howes 58:45 Yes.

Dan Martell 58:45 What a crazy idea. [laughs]

Lewis Howes 58:47 Yeah, exactly.

Dan Martell 58:47 It's like you can actually see it in their eyes. [laughs]

Lewis Howes 58:49 Yes.

Dan Martell 58:50 Like, oh, my gosh, and you see the impact it had, not after you're not here anymore.

Lewis Howes 58:53 Wow.

Dan Martell 58:54 Right? Then the other one was, um, that when you, whatever age you wanna say you retire, I'm not a big fan of retirement, but, um, that there's the go-go years, right? You know, 50 to 60 or 65, and then there's the slow-go years. So a lot of... And then there's the no-go years. The no-go years are, like, 75 plus.

Lewis Howes 59:13 You're not moving much.

Dan Martell 59:14 No, so most people don't realize that the amount of money they save for retirement, you can buy insurance in case you're worried that it's gonna run out, so that protects you on the l- upside that you live to 100. But you're not doing a whole lot of back country skiing-

Lewis Howes 59:28 Yeah, you're not traveling-

Dan Martell 59:29 ... at 70

Lewis Howes 59:29 ... or anything. Yeah, yeah.

Dan Martell 59:30 But for most people. Every once in a while you might run into-

Lewis Howes 59:31 Yeah, maybe on a cruise or something. Yeah, yeah. [laughs]

Dan Martell 59:33 ... a 82. Yeah. I'm like, "Wow, you're 82 on the back mountains?" But I just think that, um, a lot of people worry about accumulating for... Again, it's, it's, it's anything to extremities. It goes back to if the primary reason you're making this decision is only for money, then that's where you feel a prisoner of your money.

Lewis Howes 59:51 Wow.

Dan Martell 59:51 And it doesn't matter if you have 10 bucks in your pockets or 100. It's a big idea. I know a lot of really wealthy people, and they are prisoners of their wealth.

Lewis Howes 1:00:00 Really?

Dan Martell 1:00:01 Yes. That unfortunately is the norm.

Lewis Howes 1:00:04 What will make someone a prisoner of their wealth?

Dan Martell 1:00:06 If every time they make a decision, it's they're always thinking about what it costs. It's not what it costs, it's what it's worth.

Lewis Howes 1:00:17 Oh. So what does it... Break that down for me.

Dan Martell 1:00:18 There's a difference.

Lewis Howes 1:00:19 How should we be thinking about it, cost versus worth?

Dan Martell 1:00:21 I mean, think about, okay, I could go on this trip, and it would cost me $10,000.

Lewis Howes 1:00:28 Right.

Dan Martell 1:00:28 Okay?

Lewis Howes 1:00:28 And they think, "Man, that's a lot of money."

Dan Martell 1:00:29 It's a lot of money. But the experience of bringing your children-

Lewis Howes 1:00:34 Wow

Dan Martell 1:00:34 ... especially if they're, like, 17, 18, you don't have a lot of... Like, most people don't realize this-

Lewis Howes 1:00:38 They're gone

Dan Martell 1:00:39 ... it's so impor- It, like, the life is... I think that if everybody just got really comfortable about how they're not gonna be here forever, and that this time, like, dude, today, I don't get today back. I, I plan my life in five-year increments. I think it's enough time to do something meaningful-

Lewis Howes 1:00:55 Wow

Dan Martell 1:00:55 ... not too little time to be wasteful.

Lewis Howes 1:00:57 Yeah, yeah.

Dan Martell 1:00:58 And I feel like if every f- every year I sit down, I reset. ... for another five years. And I try to figure out, like, okay, so we do... For example, we just got finished doing a vacation with 18 of my siblings and our, my, my, my nieces and nephews. That's a trip that my brother and I finance for the whole family.

Lewis Howes 1:01:15 Oh, I'm sure, yeah.

Dan Martell 1:01:15 We do it on the ski hill.

Lewis Howes 1:01:16 Twice.

Dan Martell 1:01:16 All of them

Lewis Howes 1:01:17 With the gals. Yeah.

Dan Martell 1:01:18 Yeah, one house.

Lewis Howes 1:01:19 Yeah, yeah.

Dan Martell 1:01:19 18 of us, side of a mountain.

Lewis Howes 1:01:21 Yeah.

Dan Martell 1:01:21 We do it once every two years.

Lewis Howes 1:01:23 Food.

Dan Martell 1:01:24 Uh, but-

Lewis Howes 1:01:24 Skis. Yeah

Dan Martell 1:01:24 ... and, and, and it is the best. So cost-wise, big number.

Lewis Howes 1:01:28 Big.

Dan Martell 1:01:28 Worth, dude, take everything. Take the McLaren. You know what I mean? Like-

Lewis Howes 1:01:32 Yeah, yeah, yeah

Dan Martell 1:01:32 ... take the jet. I don't, that's not important to me.

Lewis Howes 1:01:34 Wow.

Dan Martell 1:01:34 Yeah, 'cause-

Lewis Howes 1:01:35 That one week together is like...

Dan Martell 1:01:37 If you ask somebody, they had two weeks to live-

Lewis Howes 1:01:39 Yeah

Dan Martell 1:01:39 ... and you couldn't tell anybody else, what would you do with your time?

Lewis Howes 1:01:43 Sure.

Dan Martell 1:01:43 They would get on a, in a one house-

Lewis Howes 1:01:45 Of course

Dan Martell 1:01:45 ... with their family members, pour

Dan Martell 1:01:47 into them to the degree they could.

Lewis Howes 1:01:48 Wow.

Dan Martell 1:01:48 And on the last day, they'd have to say goodbye.

Lewis Howes 1:01:50 Yeah. You're not taking anything with you.

Dan Martell 1:01:53 Nothing. It goes back into the pool.

Lewis Howes 1:01:55 Wow.

Dan Martell 1:01:55 It's like you played the game of life and you put all the chips in, and at the end of it, it's somebody else that just... [blows raspberry]

Lewis Howes 1:02:01 It's crazy, right?

Dan Martell 1:02:01 Everybody gets it back. And I think that if people used that perception or perspective in making decisions, especially money decisions, they would, they would live a richer life. This is why I love Ramit Sethi's work around living a rich life, 'cause he's not about, you know, scrimpin' and saving your way to wealth, right? He's about like, "Hey, let's set it up, automate it so that your mindset doesn't even become part of it. Let's take care of, like, where things should go, and then now let's talk about, how do you increase your value-

Lewis Howes 1:02:33 Yes

Dan Martell 1:02:34 ... so that you have more to then live a life?" We were talking earlier about, like, you know, travel and expenses. One of the ways I had to overcome this is put money aside that had to be spent for trips.

Lewis Howes 1:02:46 Really?

Dan Martell 1:02:47 Yeah, 'cause if not, then every-

Lewis Howes 1:02:47 'Cause everybody's like, "Man, that's a $20,000 trip."

Dan Martell 1:02:49 Dude, this is the problem. Every time-

Lewis Howes 1:02:51 Oh my God

Dan Martell 1:02:52 ... I was making it as to a money lens

Lewis Howes 1:02:53 "Do I take the business class or just this, or should I go to this hotel?" You're like, "Ugh."

Dan Martell 1:02:57 Yeah, should I take that, should I take that 20 grand and put it into my business?

Lewis Howes 1:03:00 Exactly.

Dan Martell 1:03:01 Like-

Lewis Howes 1:03:01 What could I do with this money? Yeah.

Dan Martell 1:03:03 So because I s-

Lewis Howes 1:03:04 Buy 10 laptops with this. [laughs]

Dan Martell 1:03:06 A lot of stuff, man.

Lewis Howes 1:03:06 I always think about iPhones. I'm always like-

Dan Martell 1:03:08 [laughs]

Lewis Howes 1:03:08 ... "This is like five iPhones I could get."

Dan Martell 1:03:10 How many new iPads? [laughs]

Lewis Howes 1:03:10 You know? [laughs]

Dan Martell 1:03:12 That's so awesome. But I, I thought that was a good way for me when I remember somebody talking about this.

Lewis Howes 1:03:17 Mm.

Dan Martell 1:03:17 Like set the budget aside.

Lewis Howes 1:03:18 Really?

Dan Martell 1:03:19 Yes, because then you can- you have to spend it, and if you don't spend it, you lose it next year.

Lewis Howes 1:03:23 [laughs] Snap.

Dan Martell 1:03:25 Right? And then it, what does it do? It forces you to prioritize.

Lewis Howes 1:03:28 Wow.

Dan Martell 1:03:28 If I know I've got 20 grand a year for trips, whatever the number is-

Lewis Howes 1:03:32 Wow

Dan Martell 1:03:32 ... and I'm not looking at the cost of a thing-

Lewis Howes 1:03:36 Interesting

Dan Martell 1:03:36 ... I'm looking at the worth, and then I'm prioritizing 'cause if I don't use it, I lose it.

Lewis Howes 1:03:39 You're scheduling the dates for it. You're doing all that. Yeah.

Dan Martell 1:03:42 Yeah, you're making it a priority. You know, when people say, like, "My family's important to me, and my health's important to me," I go, "Show me your calendar."

Lewis Howes 1:03:49 Right. Show me where-

Dan Martell 1:03:49 Show me your bank account

Lewis Howes 1:03:50 ... you're investing your time for your health.

Dan Martell 1:03:52 Bank account and calendar.

Lewis Howes 1:03:53 Yeah.

Dan Martell 1:03:53 It does not lie.

Lewis Howes 1:03:54 Wow.

Dan Martell 1:03:55 And people that say that it's important to them and they haven't, they don't have date night in there, they don't have family trips, they don't have investments in their relationship, like seminars where they can do together.

Lewis Howes 1:04:04 Wow.

Dan Martell 1:04:04 They don't have any money spent on it. Do you know, like, the entrepreneurs that will spend 50 grand to hire a consultant to come in to help them with their marketing but won't spend $500 on buying a book or a course for their marriage?

Lewis Howes 1:04:16 Wow.

Dan Martell 1:04:17 That's unfortunate.

Lewis Howes 1:04:19 Yeah. [laughs]

Dan Martell 1:04:19 But that's the norm.

Lewis Howes 1:04:20 Yes.

Dan Martell 1:04:21 Right? Because again, what do you think you're worth?

Lewis Howes 1:04:24 Yeah. What is the biggest money problem you have today?

Dan Martell 1:04:29 Mm, such a great question. You know what's funny, man? Is I don't think I take advantage of the biggest opportunity in front of me.

Lewis Howes 1:04:38 What do you take advantage of instead?

Dan Martell 1:04:40 Smaller, safe. I know, and I'm a guy that buys a company a month, and I, I'm-

Lewis Howes 1:04:45 What's the biggest opportunity in front of you that you-

Dan Martell 1:04:47 I don't

Lewis Howes 1:04:47 ... that you're not willing-

Dan Martell 1:04:48 I don't know

Lewis Howes 1:04:48 ... oh.

Dan Martell 1:04:48 That's my biggest worry. I, I, when I think of where the... Like, 'cause I don't think about money, I think about value creation. It's the same thing for me. So when I, when you say money, I just rewrite value creation. When you say, "Well, what's the biggest value creation block or thing stopping you?" I think, I bet there's something I don't see that is bigger than what I'm doing that I don't wanna see, 'cause it would mean having to renegotiate some things.

Lewis Howes 1:05:15 Like what?

Dan Martell 1:05:16 Just my time and my commitment and my-

Lewis Howes 1:05:18 Mm

Dan Martell 1:05:18 ... my success, how- whatever that is. But essentially for me to go for something bigger that's scarier, that's unknown, that's usually the thing. And it could be, it potentially could be just doing more of what I'm doing now, but giving it even more resources. Um, that is the, that's probably the thing that I think about the most.

Lewis Howes 1:05:37 Wow.

Dan Martell 1:05:37 Yeah. Yeah. I love the power of questions, and I love that question of, what's a opportunity that is right in front of you that you're not taking advantage of?

Lewis Howes 1:05:48 Yeah.

Dan Martell 1:05:48 That's a beautiful question.

Lewis Howes 1:05:49 Yeah.

Dan Martell 1:05:49 And that's kinda the one I kinda keep thinking, and it's like, is it this? Is it this? Um, on the money side, I would say in the last few months that I've gotten world-class at but it was really bugging me is I had so many open loops.

Lewis Howes 1:06:03 What do you mean?

Dan Martell 1:06:03 Dude, I had, and still have in certain cases, 26 credit cards.

Lewis Howes 1:06:09 Ho.

Dan Martell 1:06:10 I have three banks that I deal with and spreadsheets of accounts.

Dan Martell 1:06:16 Just the complexity of my, my business empire.

Lewis Howes 1:06:18 Yeah, yeah.

Dan Martell 1:06:19 I've got, uh, travel points. Like, we're talking millions of points. I'm a hoarder when it comes to points.

Lewis Howes 1:06:25 [laughs]

Dan Martell 1:06:25 Dude, it's so funny.

Lewis Howes 1:06:26 Tell me some of those. You got the jet now. Tell me some of them. [laughs]

Dan Martell 1:06:27 Okay, yeah. If you want some, I'll send them to you. But it's so funny 'cause the other day I was like... And I have different reward points, programs, right?

Lewis Howes 1:06:34 Wow.

Dan Martell 1:06:34 'Cause I, I, I remember I decided one day, I was like, "I want status on everything."

Lewis Howes 1:06:38 Wow. [laughs]

Dan Martell 1:06:38 So I, like, did the whole credit card thing. I don't know if you've heard of this as a thing. But it added complexity.

Lewis Howes 1:06:42 Wow.

Dan Martell 1:06:42 And so here's, here's what I know about going forward.

Lewis Howes 1:06:44 Need simplicity. Yeah.

Dan Martell 1:06:46 You can't move forward until you clean up the past.

Lewis Howes 1:06:49 Oh.

Dan Martell 1:06:50 Think about that.

Lewis Howes 1:06:50 Isn't that true in relationships also?

Dan Martell 1:06:52 It's in everything.

Lewis Howes 1:06:53 Wow.

Dan Martell 1:06:53 And when I think of... I remember I sat down, opened up a Google Doc, and I just wrote down, I think I called it, like, a money cleanup, and it was just, like, a list of all these loose ends I knew were there.

Lewis Howes 1:07:05 Dude, it's so funny you're saying this right now because in the last two months I have cleaned up so many ... energy, I guess, open loops-

Dan Martell 1:07:14 Mm

Lewis Howes 1:07:14 ... in relationships, and I've been... A- and it takes a lot of courage-

Dan Martell 1:07:19 It takes so much

Lewis Howes 1:07:20 ... 'cause you have to use your voice, you have to speak up, you have to take actions, you have to disrupt situations and relationships, and things are gonna shift and move.

Dan Martell 1:07:29 Mm.

Lewis Howes 1:07:30 And so I've been using my voice in every different relationship that I have when there's something I feel like, "That just, this feels off to me." Whereas I used to just say, "I'm gonna be the nice guy, I'm gonna take the high road, I'm gonna, you know, not ruffle any feathers."

Dan Martell 1:07:43 Mm.

Lewis Howes 1:07:43 But now I'm just like, there's too much energy that's seeping everywhere-

Dan Martell 1:07:46 Mm

Lewis Howes 1:07:46 ... that I need to reclaim.

Dan Martell 1:07:49 Yeah, it's almost like the holes in the dam. You had-

Lewis Howes 1:07:50 Yes

Dan Martell 1:07:50 ... to go, like, plug them.

Lewis Howes 1:07:51 Yes.

Dan Martell 1:07:52 Right?

Lewis Howes 1:07:52 Man-

Dan Martell 1:07:52 'Cause your... It was all that energy on the backside of the dam was leaking out

Lewis Howes 1:07:55 Man, and the more I do it, the more powerful I feel.

Dan Martell 1:07:58 Mm.

Lewis Howes 1:07:58 It... And it's not doing it in a, in a mean, aggressive way.

Dan Martell 1:08:00 It's not malicious.

Lewis Howes 1:08:01 It's being conscious, it's being considerate, it's being, you know, uh, communicating with kindness a- I guess, but being firm in your communication of what you need or the boundary you're creating or closing a loop.

Dan Martell 1:08:15 Mm.

Lewis Howes 1:08:15 And I think it's interesting you're doing that with kind of all these credit cards [laughs] and points and things.

Dan Martell 1:08:20 [laughs]

Lewis Howes 1:08:20 Just things that are out there.

Dan Martell 1:08:21 It got silly.

Lewis Howes 1:08:21 Just these things are just out there and you haven't reclaimed them.

Dan Martell 1:08:23 And they're just open loops that need to be closed.

Lewis Howes 1:08:25 Yes.

Dan Martell 1:08:26 Right? They're the, uh... A friend of mine said it once recently, it's so good.

Lewis Howes 1:08:29 It's hard to do your homework until you clean your room, you know?

Dan Martell 1:08:31 Yeah.

Lewis Howes 1:08:31 It's like... [laughs]

Dan Martell 1:08:32 He, he said, he goes, "I bet all the potential in your business is on the unders- on other side of unexpressed conversations."

Lewis Howes 1:08:40 Oh, man. Gosh.

Dan Martell 1:08:41 Oh, I was like-

Lewis Howes 1:08:42 Dude

Dan Martell 1:08:43 ... isn't that fascinating?

Lewis Howes 1:08:44 I feel that. Yeah, yeah.

Dan Martell 1:08:45 That the, the conversations you've been avoiding is where-

Lewis Howes 1:08:49 Oh, man

Dan Martell 1:08:49 ... your potential sits.

Lewis Howes 1:08:50 Dan, I feel that. The... Literally, Gary said this yesterday on the interview with, with him. He's like, "I've got 2,000 employees, and my biggest flaw is my lack of candidness." Like-

Dan Martell 1:09:01 Directness.

Lewis Howes 1:09:02 Yeah. He's like, "I'm very candid and honest with my audience." He's like, "I can say whatever I need to, but it's when someone's been with me for a year or three years and I really like them and I know about their family and their life, but they're drastically underperforming, I haven't been able to be candid and say, 'Here's the action plan you need, and... Or you can't be here anymore.'"

Dan Martell 1:09:24 Mm.

Lewis Howes 1:09:24 You know? So he's like, "I've carried people on my back by doing more speaking, by doing these things 'cause I don't wanna be candid with them." And I was like, man, isn't that interesting? But he was like, "If I just was candid more frequently and had those uncomfortable conversations, they would either step up or they would move on."

Dan Martell 1:09:40 They would move on, and then somebody-

Lewis Howes 1:09:42 And-

Dan Martell 1:09:42 ... better would come in-

Lewis Howes 1:09:43 Exactly

Dan Martell 1:09:43 ... free up his time

Lewis Howes 1:09:44 And we, and we would grow and expand, right? And I was just like, man, it is so challenging.

Dan Martell 1:09:49 Need that.

Lewis Howes 1:09:50 It's challenging.

Dan Martell 1:09:51 Yeah, it's, it's interesting 'cause I, I like that dam metaphor as you shared that.

Lewis Howes 1:09:54 Uh-huh.

Dan Martell 1:09:55 Because when you said the more I do it, the more I plug the holes, the more powerful I become.

Lewis Howes 1:09:59 Yes.

Dan Martell 1:10:00 Think about it, the more energy 'cause the water builds up.

Lewis Howes 1:10:02 It's like, it's like a geyser. It's now boom, it's going up.

Dan Martell 1:10:04 Yeah.

Lewis Howes 1:10:05 Yeah.

Dan Martell 1:10:05 And it's, I mean, that's the, you know, e- energy will flow where attention goes.

Lewis Howes 1:10:10 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 1:10:11 And if you've got those people taking your attention...

Lewis Howes 1:10:14 Just like little thoughts throughout the day, "Ah, this is frustrating me," or little-

Dan Martell 1:10:17 Just little regrets, man

Lewis Howes 1:10:17 ... resentments. Yeah, it's just-

Dan Martell 1:10:18 That's why people don't sleep well.

Lewis Howes 1:10:20 I know.

Dan Martell 1:10:20 When I say when they're like... When clients of mine are not sleeping well, it's very simple. Have a journal.

Lewis Howes 1:10:25 [laughs]

Dan Martell 1:10:26 Write it out.

Lewis Howes 1:10:27 Yeah.

Dan Martell 1:10:27 Because if not, you think that that process is gonna resolve itself.

Lewis Howes 1:10:30 No, it's not.

Dan Martell 1:10:30 You just have to write it out. Okay? I did, um... Have you, um, heard about the 12-Hour Walk? What's his name that did that? He has a, it's called the 12-Hour Walk Challenge. Forget the guy's name, but, um-

Lewis Howes 1:10:41 It's not-

Dan Martell 1:10:41 ... amazing explorer.

Lewis Howes 1:10:43 Uh-huh.

Dan Martell 1:10:43 He's just, like, a world-class explorer, and he wrote a book. So I decided to just... It's literally you wake up and you decide to walk for 12 hours.

Lewis Howes 1:10:49 Holy cow.

Dan Martell 1:10:51 So I was like, "I do Ironmans. Like, I can do this."

Lewis Howes 1:10:53 Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's hard, though.

Dan Martell 1:10:54 I did not realize how hard it is.

Lewis Howes 1:10:56 It's hard, man.

Dan Martell 1:10:56 It was the most... It, it was like doing... It was, like, between a half and a full distance Ironman.

Lewis Howes 1:11:01 Wow.

Dan Martell 1:11:01 It was legit. And I started it, I did it January 1st. And I started in the morning and it was 6:00 a- 6:00 AM, 'cause 12 hours, I wanted to be finished by dinner. And I went walking. And luckily, somebody gave me some advice on how to have the best experience, 'cause some people have had horrible experiences. So just do some research. But like, for example, somebody suggested have a series of questions that you, that you meditate, 'cause you're walking by yourself. There's no devices. There's nothing.

Lewis Howes 1:11:29 No music.

Dan Martell 1:11:29 It's just you and yourself. Oh, no. Zero. So one of the questions was, um, a quote. It wasn't even a question, it was a quote, Joseph Campbell quote-

Lewis Howes 1:11:37 Oh

Dan Martell 1:11:37 ... that said, "The cave you fear to enter holds the secret or the, the key of, the secret you're looking for."

Lewis Howes 1:11:43 Wow.

Dan Martell 1:11:44 "The treasure you've been looking for."

Lewis Howes 1:11:45 Gosh, man. It's all those-

Dan Martell 1:11:46 So I'm walking in the woods, Lewis, and I'm screaming.

Lewis Howes 1:11:49 [laughs]

Dan Martell 1:11:49 Okay? It's just me. "What's the cave? I'm willing to look at it. Just... I... Just tell me what it is." And as I had my journal, I had something to write in, and I would just get these, these, what you just said-

Lewis Howes 1:12:01 Down loads

Dan Martell 1:12:01 ... these open loop conversations, things that have been just left unsaid. And I remember this, like, one of them, it wasn't even a big deal. It was just a, a-

Lewis Howes 1:12:10 Yeah

Dan Martell 1:12:10 ... a group that I was in that I didn't wanna do anymore.

Lewis Howes 1:12:13 Dude.

Dan Martell 1:12:13 I just had to call them up.

Lewis Howes 1:12:14 Dude.

Dan Martell 1:12:15 And I told them, and he goes, "Man, I didn't even know you were still in it."

Lewis Howes 1:12:18 Oh my gosh, man. Dude, that was one of the things I did last week. I removed myself from a group.

Dan Martell 1:12:24 And you think it's, like, the biggest thing.

Lewis Howes 1:12:25 Yeah, yeah, man.

Dan Martell 1:12:25 And they're like, "I can't believe you stayed."

Lewis Howes 1:12:27 Yeah. Yeah.

Dan Martell 1:12:27 And I... And so, like, I just thought that that question-

Lewis Howes 1:12:31 Oh, man

Dan Martell 1:12:31 ... of the cave you fear to enter holds the treasure that you seek.

Lewis Howes 1:12:35 Mm.

Dan Martell 1:12:36 And if you're willing to go in-

Lewis Howes 1:12:39 Into the cave

Dan Martell 1:12:39 ... dude, there was some crazy stuff. I was like, "Oh, no. I can't do that."

Lewis Howes 1:12:41 [laughs]

Dan Martell 1:12:41 "I must do that." [laughs]

Lewis Howes 1:12:42 Yeah.

Dan Martell 1:12:42 I was like, that was my to-do list when I come back. But that 12-hour walk I thought was one of the most fascinating experiences. I mean-

Lewis Howes 1:12:50 Wow

Dan Martell 1:12:50 ... talk about therapy.

Lewis Howes 1:12:51 Wow. Yeah.

Dan Martell 1:12:51 Right? Just you... And physically, oh my gosh.

Lewis Howes 1:12:53 Oh, wow.

Dan Martell 1:12:54 Seized up. I was all ambitious. "I'm going for a steak after this." I... Dude, I fell in the parking lot.

Lewis Howes 1:12:59 Oh, man.

Dan Martell 1:12:59 Like, I got out of the car to meet my buddy David.

Lewis Howes 1:13:01 You're like lifeless.

Dan Martell 1:13:01 I just, oh.

Lewis Howes 1:13:02 Yeah, yeah.

Dan Martell 1:13:02 Got out... I just fell to the ground. I was like, " Anybody see that? No? Okay, cool. Let's get to the bar. I gotta, I gotta sit down."

Lewis Howes 1:13:08 Wow, man.

Dan Martell 1:13:08 Yeah. But it was, it was I think, like, meditating against questions of, like- Again, just open loops, man

Lewis Howes 1:13:16 Mm-hmm

Dan Martell 1:13:17 Right? And to the... 'Cause what, what are you telling yourself? It's, and in many ways it's, it's helping you build that worthiness.

Lewis Howes 1:13:22 Yes.

Dan Martell 1:13:22 'Cause if you ask yourself why have you not had it, it's like, "Well, I just don't wanna create issues or disruptions or friction," or it's like, well, why?

Lewis Howes 1:13:30 Mm.

Dan Martell 1:13:30 "Well, I'd rather take it myself. I'd rather be maybe the martyr." You know what I mean? It's interesting, 'cause I, I love Gary's stuff. I think Gary, he's the complement to me 'cause I am too direct sometimes, and that, that's literally I went from-

Lewis Howes 1:13:42 Yeah

Dan Martell 1:13:42 ... being the person who was too quick to hire, too quick to give feedback, to now when I, I hear Gary, and he is a world-class operator that I don't think people give enough credit for.

Lewis Howes 1:13:50 He's 2,000 employees. Yeah

Dan Martell 1:13:51 It's, it's, uh, it's, it's, it's even the way he operates, people don't understand. Like, his philosophy is continuity is a s- is a competitive advantage. He's like, and again, it's funny 'cause it's, it's a double-edged sword. He's like-

Lewis Howes 1:14:03 Yeah, yeah, yeah

Dan Martell 1:14:04 ... "I keep people around so I have a competitive advantage, but I don't, I'm not quick to upgrade the talent, so it means I deal with the downside of that."

Lewis Howes 1:14:11 Yes.

Dan Martell 1:14:11 But all things said and done, there's no other leader that I can point to that I feel truly care about the people he cares about the things they care about.

Lewis Howes 1:14:21 Mm.

Dan Martell 1:14:21 That's leadership.

Lewis Howes 1:14:22 Yeah.

Dan Martell 1:14:22 You need to care about the people you care about, things that they care about.

Lewis Howes 1:14:26 Yes.

Dan Martell 1:14:27 He does that at a world-class level.

Lewis Howes 1:14:28 Yeah.

Dan Martell 1:14:29 And I think he's got a photographic memory. I mean, I've never seen anything like it.

Lewis Howes 1:14:31 Dude, he, he remembers when he met you, how he met you, the conversation he had with you 10 years ago-

Dan Martell 1:14:35 Everything

Lewis Howes 1:14:36 ... where you were. He was telling me this in the interview. I was like-

Dan Martell 1:14:38 And he meets thousands of people a year, dude

Lewis Howes 1:14:39 ... it's, it's amazing.

Dan Martell 1:14:41 Yeah, so he's gotta have a photographic memory.

Lewis Howes 1:14:42 He, we, we, we met in 2009, and he goes, "I remember exactly where we were. We were in World Market in St. Louis," and this and that, and then I went in your car, I drove him somewhere. We were, like, connected on Twitter, and I was like, "How do you remember World Market in St. Louis?" I was like-

Dan Martell 1:14:54 I can't remember where I was last week.

Lewis Howes 1:14:55 I know. It's crazy, man. It's a, it's a gift.

Dan Martell 1:14:57 Yeah.

Lewis Howes 1:14:57 We all have our talents.

Lewis Howes 1:14:59 Um, speaking of talents and what people lack, what do you think is the, the, the three habits that keep people poor?

Dan Martell 1:15:07 Mm. Oh, there's so many. The first habit that keeps people-

Lewis Howes 1:15:13 Is it, now, you, 'cause we talked about a lack of worthiness-

Dan Martell 1:15:15 Yeah

Lewis Howes 1:15:15 ... we talked about talents here. It's like-

Dan Martell 1:15:16 No, I, I've got the habits.

Lewis Howes 1:15:17 Okay.

Dan Martell 1:15:18 The first habit that keeps people f- poor is blame. It's not being accountable for their life.

Lewis Howes 1:15:24 Gosh, man. So many people love to stay in victim blame mode-

Dan Martell 1:15:28 Feels so good

Lewis Howes 1:15:28 ... as opposed to responsibility.

Dan Martell 1:15:29 Feels so good. Dude, if how... I would love to say that it's like being on a beach in the sun. Like how good would that feel-

Lewis Howes 1:15:35 Yeah

Dan Martell 1:15:35 ... when nothing that I'm experiencing that's negative is my fault?

Lewis Howes 1:15:39 Yeah.

Dan Martell 1:15:39 That's awesome.

Lewis Howes 1:15:40 Yeah.

Dan Martell 1:15:40 That feels great. Like, I get it. It's just it'll keep you poor.

Lewis Howes 1:15:45 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 1:15:45 Right? Step one is understanding you are 100% accountable for your life-

Lewis Howes 1:15:50 Yes

Dan Martell 1:15:50 ... and nobody's coming to save you.

Lewis Howes 1:15:51 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 1:15:52 If, if you don't believe that, then you'll, you'll never create.

Lewis Howes 1:15:57 Yes.

Dan Martell 1:15:57 So I think that's the first habit, is just that negative belief around blaming other people. The other one is the, the habit of not investing in their skills, right? The, the habit of... And, and it can come from I don't feel I'm worthy, but it's really simple, 'cause it's not about working hard. I know a lot of people that work hard that really struggle ma- make ends meet.

Lewis Howes 1:16:20 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 1:16:21 And I know other people that on the surface you look at them, they go, "They hardly work," and they are wealthy AF.

Lewis Howes 1:16:27 Right.

Dan Martell 1:16:27 Right?

Lewis Howes 1:16:28 Why, why is it people that seem to work, some people that work extremely hard don't make that much money?

Dan Martell 1:16:33 'Cause they're not working on the right things.

Lewis Howes 1:16:35 Mm.

Dan Martell 1:16:36 They're w- they're working hard on the work, they're not working hard on themselves.

Lewis Howes 1:16:40 Oh. What do they need to be working harder on in order to break through to the next financial level?

Dan Martell 1:16:46 They gotta find out what does the market value.

Lewis Howes 1:16:49 Uh-huh.

Dan Martell 1:16:50 Right? What does your boss value? If you've never talked to your boss or never talked to your customers and say, "Here's what I'm doing for you today. What could I do that you would find more valuable that I should consider learning how to do?"

Lewis Howes 1:17:02 Yes.

Dan Martell 1:17:03 That conversation has... Then you're, you're missing the boat, 'cause the world rewards people that creates value.

Lewis Howes 1:17:09 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 1:17:10 Like, there's a reason why there's hedge funds managers making a billion dollars a year.

Lewis Howes 1:17:14 Crazy.

Dan Martell 1:17:14 Some people hear that and they go, "That's, that's, uh, that's not fair." Okay, he made a billion, but he made 100 billion for people.

Lewis Howes 1:17:21 Right. That's value.

Dan Martell 1:17:23 Do you know how to do that? [laughs]

Lewis Howes 1:17:24 Yeah, right.

Dan Martell 1:17:25 'Cause if you do... Like, I don't know how to do that.

Lewis Howes 1:17:27 Yeah, yeah.

Dan Martell 1:17:27 And if I did, I think that's pretty awesome. So again, it's th- that's the extreme. There's people at that level, but if you're making $50 an hour, 25 bucks an hour, you gotta ask yourself, "Well, what's the next level of value that I can create?" So that belief that the habit of not feeding their mind. I mean, Lewis, there's people that are in troubling situations that don't even read books. Like, I don't know about you, man, but I w- I'm-

Lewis Howes 1:17:52 Yeah. The answers are out there

Dan Martell 1:17:53 ... I am shaped by books.

Lewis Howes 1:17:56 Yeah.

Dan Martell 1:17:56 I've read 1,600.

Lewis Howes 1:17:57 Wow.

Dan Martell 1:17:57 Continue to read every day. Why? Because for $30, six hours of my time, maybe it takes me a month, maybe it takes me a week depending on how much I'm reading, I can learn a person's perspective on a topic that took them 25 years.

Lewis Howes 1:18:13 Yeah.

Dan Martell 1:18:13 And I'm look- and when I read, I'm looking for one nugget that's gonna add value to my life to make me more valuable.

Lewis Howes 1:18:18 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 1:18:19 And if I can do that, then the market will reward that.

Lewis Howes 1:18:22 Okay.

Dan Martell 1:18:22 So one of my mentors said, he goes, "Don't re..." This is a big, this is a, this might shift everybody's perspective. "Don't read for yourself. Read for your customers." Like-

Lewis Howes 1:18:33 What does that mean?

Dan Martell 1:18:34 It means acquire knowledge to be helpful to other people.

Lewis Howes 1:18:37 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 1:18:37 See, most people when they start reading, they're like, "Okay, I need to be more productive."

Lewis Howes 1:18:40 It's for themselves.

Dan Martell 1:18:40 Yeah, it's all for themselves. Money management, productivity, time management. No, no, no. What business are you in? You're in, uh, solar? Cool. Go read the cust- like, read the books that c- your customer should be reading.

Lewis Howes 1:18:50 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 1:18:50 Right? About home maintenance, whatever it is, and then that way you're-

Lewis Howes 1:18:53 Serve them

Dan Martell 1:18:54 ... you're valuable to them. You're differentiated amongst all your peers-

Lewis Howes 1:18:57 Yes

Dan Martell 1:18:57 ... to that customer. So that was like, when my mentor Tim said that to me, I was like, "Oh, I, I had a different lens on even just reading and investing in myself." The third habit I would say is they don't understand money. It's really just the, they-

Lewis Howes 1:19:14 They don't have the knowledge about what money is

Dan Martell 1:19:15 ... they have bad habits.

Lewis Howes 1:19:16 Uh-huh.

Dan Martell 1:19:17 Right? They're wasteful.

Lewis Howes 1:19:18 Uh-huh.

Dan Martell 1:19:19 They don't spend It's, it's, it's, it's literally that habit of like show me your bank account and I'll show your money beliefs.

Lewis Howes 1:19:27 Mm. Yeah.

Dan Martell 1:19:28 Like, like what people don't realize is the environment definitely is a reflection of your beliefs. Your bank account is an environment, your body's an environment, your house is an environment-

Lewis Howes 1:19:37 Mm-hmm

Dan Martell 1:19:37 ... the city you live in is an environment, country you live in. These are all co- containers.

Lewis Howes 1:19:41 What you eat, all these things. Yeah.

Dan Martell 1:19:42 All of it. And it, it says something about the words you use is your environment. Like, the language-

Lewis Howes 1:19:49 Yeah

Dan Martell 1:19:49 ... people don't audit themselves. So I think that that's a big part of it is the, the, the money. People say, "I'm not good at math." Yet-

Lewis Howes 1:19:57 Keep saying it. Yeah

Dan Martell 1:19:57 ... can we add a comma yet to this?

Lewis Howes 1:19:59 Yeah. Keep saying it, you're gonna believe it.

Dan Martell 1:20:00 Yeah.

Lewis Howes 1:20:00 Yeah, yeah.

Dan Martell 1:20:00 And I think that's why language matters. So I think those are the three things is just make sure that you focus on them, and then-

Lewis Howes 1:20:06 Wow. That's good

Dan Martell 1:20:07 ... you'll overcome them.

Lewis Howes 1:20:09 What is the... I mean, we haven't really talked about buying back time, but I'm curious about-

Dan Martell 1:20:14 But have we?

Lewis Howes 1:20:15 We have.

Dan Martell 1:20:15 Yeah.

Lewis Howes 1:20:16 But I'm curious about, um, if people can get one thing from your book, Buy Back Your Time, what is the main thing we need to understand about how to do this, why we need to do this, and is there a simple framework that we should think about-

Dan Martell 1:20:35 Mm

Lewis Howes 1:20:35 ... when it comes with time and money?

Dan Martell 1:20:38 Yeah, 100%. And it's, it's in chapter three. It's called the buyback loop, and it's kind of the core framework. The, the, the unique part about this book, the perspective, is that we don't hire people to grow our business. We hire people to buy back our time.

Lewis Howes 1:20:53 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 1:20:53 'Cause if we do the second, we get the first. But if we do the first, we definitely don't get the second.

Lewis Howes 1:20:59 Interesting.

Dan Martell 1:21:00 Think about it. How many times are you like, "I gotta hire six people," and all of a sudden, "I don't have any time to do what I was supposed to do"?

Lewis Howes 1:21:04 Right.

Dan Martell 1:21:05 So it's really about how we look at the, what I call the, the sequences and the steps. What's the right steps? So the buyback loop states that whenever you feel pain in your life, okay? And this, you don't even have to be an entrepreneur. You can be just a person working on a team. First off, you do a time and energy audit.

Lewis Howes 1:21:22 Mm.

Dan Martell 1:21:22 And that's a two-week review of your calendar.

Lewis Howes 1:21:24 Really?

Dan Martell 1:21:25 Yes. 'Cause dude, this is what's crazy is like-

Lewis Howes 1:21:27 What does that look like? Is there a process in there?

Dan Martell 1:21:28 Yeah, it's in there. Yeah, yeah.

Lewis Howes 1:21:30 What-

Dan Martell 1:21:30 The time and energy audit

Lewis Howes 1:21:30 ... it's chapter three? Is it? Or you've done that-

Dan Martell 1:21:32 Uh, chapter three's the buyback loop, and the time and energy audit, yeah, there it is. That's the buyback loop.

Lewis Howes 1:21:36 Okay.

Dan Martell 1:21:36 So I teach the whole, like, calendar review, and you highlight things. But here's the, the philosophy is right off the bat, there's probably things that really, um, suck your energy that would cost very little to have somebody else to do.

Lewis Howes 1:21:50 Yes.

Dan Martell 1:21:51 Like, even in your home, like, have a cleaner come in and clean for you.

Lewis Howes 1:21:54 Yeah, yeah.

Dan Martell 1:21:54 Hire somebody to do meal prep. We have meal prep. Even though we have somebody in our home, we still-

Lewis Howes 1:21:58 Yes

Dan Martell 1:21:58 ... so, like, there's all these relatively low-cost things, and it frees up your energy. So it's not even about being more productive in time, it's being able to go from thing to thing to thing with things that light you up.

Lewis Howes 1:22:10 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 1:22:11 So time isn't created the same. I don't know about you, Lewis, but when I was in math class and I looked up at the clock, it took forever.

Lewis Howes 1:22:16 Forever, man. School felt like-

Dan Martell 1:22:17 Dude, it was like the hour class felt like three hours.

Lewis Howes 1:22:20 It was exhausting.

Dan Martell 1:22:21 Go to math class. Clock, clock rings-

Lewis Howes 1:22:24 For you?

Dan Martell 1:22:25 For me. Oh, ma-

Lewis Howes 1:22:26 Okay

Dan Martell 1:22:26 ... or sorry, art class

Lewis Howes 1:22:27 Every, every subject for me-

Dan Martell 1:22:27 Art class

Lewis Howes 1:22:28 ... oh yeah, gym was the only thing. PE.

Dan Martell 1:22:29 Okay, so gy-

Lewis Howes 1:22:29 Yeah, yeah

Dan Martell 1:22:29 ... so take that one. You go to gym, the bell rings-

Lewis Howes 1:22:32 Fun

Dan Martell 1:22:32 ... and all of a sudden an hour is 17 minutes.

Lewis Howes 1:22:34 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Dan Martell 1:22:34 And you're like, "Oh, I don't wanna leave yet."

Lewis Howes 1:22:35 Yeah, yeah.

Dan Martell 1:22:36 So time is not created equal in the sense that the energy that we feel within that time matters. So in the, the time and energy audit, we look at what we're doing with our time and what things would cost very little to pay somebody else to do that, that we don't wanna do, and then we go to the next step, which is transfer. So audit's the first one. Transfer is the next step. Once we transfer that stuff the right way, right? I teach-

Lewis Howes 1:22:58 Transfer what?

Dan Martell 1:22:59 The task.

Lewis Howes 1:23:00 Mm.

Dan Martell 1:23:00 How do you... People talk about delegation-

Lewis Howes 1:23:02 You doing it to someone else doing it

Dan Martell 1:23:02 ... yes. So I teach the camcorder method, and I teach the, uh, the process for documenting things and, and how to do what I call transformational leadership. And most-

Lewis Howes 1:23:11 The camcorder method is you filming something-

Dan Martell 1:23:14 Everything's recorded

Lewis Howes 1:23:14 ... and showing... Yeah. And putting it in Loom video-

Dan Martell 1:23:15 I don't even create the SOPs

Lewis Howes 1:23:16 ... or whatever it might be.

Dan Martell 1:23:17 Dude, on your phone, you can actually pull down your control panel and add screen and voice recording.

Lewis Howes 1:23:22 Uh-huh.

Dan Martell 1:23:23 Most of my transfers are-

Lewis Howes 1:23:26 Let's see. How do I do this?

Dan Martell 1:23:27 Yeah. I'm gonna add it. So it's in your control panel.

Lewis Howes 1:23:29 Scroll down.

Dan Martell 1:23:29 Yeah.

Lewis Howes 1:23:30 Yeah.

Dan Martell 1:23:30 So I have it right here.

Lewis Howes 1:23:31 Right here?

Dan Martell 1:23:31 It's this button right here.

Lewis Howes 1:23:32 Yeah. This record-

Dan Martell 1:23:32 You see the little one? Yeah.

Lewis Howes 1:23:33 Does that record audio, though?

Dan Martell 1:23:34 Dude, there. That button right there.

Lewis Howes 1:23:36 Oh, shoot.

Dan Martell 1:23:36 Next level. So I'm in my-

Lewis Howes 1:23:37 So it records on the screen

Dan Martell 1:23:38 ... on the screen.

Lewis Howes 1:23:39 Yeah, yeah.

Dan Martell 1:23:39 So I'll hit start recording like that-

Lewis Howes 1:23:41 Uh-huh

Dan Martell 1:23:41 ... and then I'll pull up the app and I'll, and I'm-

Lewis Howes 1:23:43 Show someone step by step, and it's getting your voice

Dan Martell 1:23:44 ... and I just talk. I say, "I'm gonna take the next-

Lewis Howes 1:23:46 That's great

Dan Martell 1:23:47 ... 26 minutes, I'm gonna walk you through how I process my inbox."

Lewis Howes 1:23:49 Wow.

Dan Martell 1:23:49 And I go through it, or how I think about scheduling my flights, or how I want you to-

Lewis Howes 1:23:53 Mm

Dan Martell 1:23:53 ... uh, maintain my, my road bike, or whatever the thing is. And then when I'm done, I hit save, right?

Dan Martell 1:23:59 I hit stop, and I upload it to a shared iCloud folder.

Lewis Howes 1:24:01 Uh-huh.

Dan Martell 1:24:02 It synchronizes in the background, sends them a notification, and then they create the SOP.

Lewis Howes 1:24:06 It's a new process. They create the process.

Dan Martell 1:24:07 That's the key. Why? Because then I can see based on what they created if they watched the video and did they get what I was saying.

Lewis Howes 1:24:13 And if you taught it well.

Dan Martell 1:24:14 Yes. And then if they didn't-

Lewis Howes 1:24:15 Wow

Dan Martell 1:24:15 ... I can either train them up or I can add some stuff to the process.

Lewis Howes 1:24:18 Wow.

Dan Martell 1:24:18 So that's how we transfer. So audit for time and energy, transfer to other people, and then fill. ATF.

Lewis Howes 1:24:24 What's fill?

Dan Martell 1:24:25 Fill is the most beautiful part.

Lewis Howes 1:24:26 [laughs]

Dan Martell 1:24:27 Fill is what we've been talking about this whole time.

Lewis Howes 1:24:28 What are you gonna fill your time with?

Dan Martell 1:24:30 Fill is literally what we've been talking from the beginning.

Lewis Howes 1:24:32 Uh-huh.

Dan Martell 1:24:32 That's why I was loving that we were having this conversation. Fill is who do I need to become to be able to deal with bigger problems?

Lewis Howes 1:24:38 Oh. What do I need to learn? What value do I need to create? How do... skills.

Dan Martell 1:24:43 All of it. It's literally don't wish the world was easier, as Jim Rohn says.

Lewis Howes 1:24:46 Mm.

Dan Martell 1:24:46 Wish that you were better.

Lewis Howes 1:24:47 Yes.

Dan Martell 1:24:48 Who do I need to become to go from $10 problems to $100 problems, $1,000 problems? I want billion-dollar problems, Lewis. I want you to have billion-dollar problems, dude.

Lewis Howes 1:24:54 Yeah, yeah. And they shouldn't be daunting at that level.

Dan Martell 1:24:57 No, 'cause you've developed yourself.

Lewis Howes 1:24:59 Yeah.

Dan Martell 1:24:59 Like, it's funny, one day I called my brother, I was hiking, and we were talking, and he goes, "How's things?" I said, "Things are incredible, and I'm a little worried."

Lewis Howes 1:25:07 [laughs]

Dan Martell 1:25:08 And he goes, "Why is that?" I go, "It's not normal." Like, usually at my scale, there's always a thing, like a meaningful-

Lewis Howes 1:25:15 Challenges

Dan Martell 1:25:15 ... puzzle I gotta deal with. And he goes, "Well, what's going on in your life?" I said, "Well, there's this, this, this." And he goes, he laughs. He goes, "Dude, last year those things would be big things." He goes, "Have you ever considered that maybe you've just evolved where those are now little things?"

Lewis Howes 1:25:30 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 1:25:32 I was like, "Oh, snap." That's, that's what happens, is over time the problems, puzzles, challenges are still there.

Lewis Howes 1:25:38 You evolve. Yeah, yeah.

Dan Martell 1:25:40 Oh, they just don't, they don't resonate.

Lewis Howes 1:25:41 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 1:25:41 The first time somebody quits on you on your team, it's like somebody s- you know, got you in the heart.

Lewis Howes 1:25:46 Yeah. And then it happens, you're like, "Okay."

Dan Martell 1:25:49 And then it happens 100 times-

Lewis Howes 1:25:50 It's a blessing. It's a blessing. Yeah

Dan Martell 1:25:51 ... and the 100th time you're like, "I didn't even lo-," like, there's no losing sleep.

Lewis Howes 1:25:55 Yeah, exactly.

Dan Martell 1:25:55 It's just, yeah, they quit or the, the whatever. So I think that's what happens is, so the-

Lewis Howes 1:25:59 Yeah

Dan Martell 1:25:59 ... fill part for me is-

Lewis Howes 1:26:00 That's interesting

Dan Martell 1:26:01 ... the ladder of success, and I think of it through, you know, skills, how do I become more valuable, beliefs, what are the world views, the money beliefs I have, and then what are the character traits that I need to develop, right?

Lewis Howes 1:26:13 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 1:26:13 The mental fortitude, toughness, consistency, productivity, like there's, there's character traits, and that's how we evolve to become better.

Lewis Howes 1:26:22 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 1:26:23 And any time we feel the pain line and we're, we need to scale, we go audit, transfer, fill. The coolest part about this framework, Lewis, is it works with our team. So you ever have a team member come to you and they say, "I feel overwhelmed"?

Lewis Howes 1:26:36 Yeah. [laughs]

Dan Martell 1:26:37 Give them the book. [laughs]

Lewis Howes 1:26:38 Yeah, yeah.

Dan Martell 1:26:39 Do the process.

Lewis Howes 1:26:40 Wow.

Dan Martell 1:26:40 And by the time they go through it they'll be like, "I'm good."

Lewis Howes 1:26:43 Okay.

Dan Martell 1:26:43 "I could see where I was spending time on stuff I shouldn't have."

Lewis Howes 1:26:45 I didn't need to be. Yeah.

Dan Martell 1:26:46 Yeah, or things I said yes to I needed to say no to.

Lewis Howes 1:26:49 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 1:26:49 Or I need to renegotiate timelines.

Lewis Howes 1:26:50 Yeah.

Dan Martell 1:26:50 Or I just felt overwhelmed because I didn't have clarity.

Lewis Howes 1:26:53 Right.

Dan Martell 1:26:53 Most people feel overwhelmed because they don't have clear direction.

Lewis Howes 1:26:56 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 1:26:56 This gives them the roadmap and the process to overcome it, and then that's where we spiral up. That's why it's the buyback loop.

Lewis Howes 1:27:02 Wow.

Dan Martell 1:27:02 Yeah.

Lewis Howes 1:27:03 Speaking of team, you know, a lot of people struggle with meetings, and I've heard you talk about meetings are a waste of time.

Dan Martell 1:27:08 Big waste of time.

Lewis Howes 1:27:09 Why do you think... Do you think people should have meetings with their teams? If so, how should those look like? Or should we eliminate meetings altogether?

Dan Martell 1:27:17 I think for most people, if the meeting isn't a scheduled reoccurring meeting, then it's usually a byproduct of poor communication and leadership.

Lewis Howes 1:27:27 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 1:27:28 So I can almost correlate the amount of meetings a company has to their performance as a team, and the more meetings is bad.

Lewis Howes 1:27:37 Wow.

Dan Martell 1:27:37 Yeah, because if you have a good process, for example, to review the strategy, decide, communicate it to the team, review it on a quarterly basis and a cadence, have the measurements in place, right? What-

Lewis Howes 1:27:53 The goals, the metrics, all that stuff. Yeah.

Dan Martell 1:27:54 Yep. I have the mission vision values, I've got my, my metrics, I've got my project management si- Like, to the degree you have that built in-

Lewis Howes 1:28:01 Mm-hmm

Dan Martell 1:28:02 ... then the meetings are not really needed. They're there if you have to collaborate, which is fine. New project, we're gonna be-

Lewis Howes 1:28:10 Communicate something. "Hey, I need this thing." Yeah, yeah.

Dan Martell 1:28:11 Ideation phase. When I talk about the 10, 80, 10 rule. For sure you need a meeting to do the ideation.

Lewis Howes 1:28:16 Yeah.

Dan Martell 1:28:16 But it's not in response to lack or response to something went wrong.

Lewis Howes 1:28:20 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 1:28:21 And I think for a lot of people, their default tool, they have one tool in their chest, and it's a meeting. And

Dan Martell 1:28:29 again, meetings for me are an indication of poor leadership. My, my whole philosophy on leadership-

Lewis Howes 1:28:34 Do you do weekly meeting, like check-in meetings or like, uh, scheduled meetings I mean, like with the team though? Or how do you-

Dan Martell 1:28:39 Yeah, so there's different levels. At the, at the bottom level, let's, let's pretend I was the CEO. I have... I don't believe anybody should have more than five to seven direct reports, and those five to seven people are the people you've decided that if I want anything more to happen in my business, I must work through them.

Lewis Howes 1:28:56 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 1:28:57 It's a big idea. So, so a lot of people, they, they're like, "I wanna do this. I wanna do that." It's not can you do it, Lewis.

Lewis Howes 1:29:03 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 1:29:03 Does your team have the bandwidth to do it?

Lewis Howes 1:29:05 Yeah.

Dan Martell 1:29:05 It's called management bandwidth.

Lewis Howes 1:29:07 Mm.

Dan Martell 1:29:07 So I can only have five to seven. So when Gary is like, "Hey, I have a hard time letting people go," if he created that constraint, I, I bet it would create a forcing function for him to go like, "But I wanna go do this other thing, but I don't have the person." So it's, you don't wanna add more, 'cause what happens is people get overwhelmed when they have 15, 20 people reporting to them.

Lewis Howes 1:29:24 Yes.

Dan Martell 1:29:25 So my rule is five to seven. I work through those people. Those I have weekly one-on-ones. So any time I see anything where it's like I, I saw an email and something happened, I wanna give you feedback-

Lewis Howes 1:29:35 Mm-hmm

Dan Martell 1:29:36 ... I just write it in a Google Doc.

Lewis Howes 1:29:37 Sure.

Dan Martell 1:29:37 So I have the notes, uh, your name, and I just write it down. My weekly meeting, I sit down and we have a format, and I just review it with you.

Lewis Howes 1:29:43 Yeah, yeah.

Dan Martell 1:29:44 That's where we do our performance reviews.

Lewis Howes 1:29:44 So you are doing weekly meetings with certain people?

Dan Martell 1:29:47 Yeah, yeah, your direct reports.

Lewis Howes 1:29:48 Yeah, yeah.

Dan Martell 1:29:48 But that's it. And then, and then if you lead a department, you'll have a weekly meeting to review that department's progress.

Lewis Howes 1:29:54 Got it.

Dan Martell 1:29:55 Right? And if there's a project that you're involved in from an ideation point, you might be in that project.

Lewis Howes 1:30:00 Sure, sure.

Dan Martell 1:30:01 But what I encourage people to do is get the planning done at the beginning of the year for the year, and ideally you have a 10-year focus.

Lewis Howes 1:30:08 Right.

Dan Martell 1:30:08 Then you do quarterly kind of iterations.

Lewis Howes 1:30:11 Wow.

Dan Martell 1:30:11 And then everything's measured. I mean, the, the big difference about how I lead is, again, I don't tell people what to do, I teach them, and then I do what's called transformational leadership versus transactional leadership. So this is, this is... All the entrepreneurs are gonna be like, "Oh no, I do that."

Lewis Howes 1:30:24 [laughs]

Dan Martell 1:30:25 Here's, here's what that looks like. Most people do a tell, check, next loop. Tell them what to do, check that it got done, tell them what to do next. Problem with that is at about 12 employees you hit a ceiling-

Lewis Howes 1:30:36 Mm-hmm

Dan Martell 1:30:36 ... and it hurts.

Lewis Howes 1:30:37 Yeah.

Dan Martell 1:30:37 Because you wake up in the morning and you spend your whole day just trying to make sure everybody else is pulling on the rope in the right direction.

Lewis Howes 1:30:44 Wow.

Dan Martell 1:30:44 What I do instead is the transformational leadership, which is I'm very clear on the outcomes. I'm, I'm... Let's say we're gonna hike a mountain. I'm gonna talk about the top. I'm gonna talk about how it's gonna feel, I'm gonna talk about where we're going, I'm gonna give you a GPS coordinate. Then I'm gonna do a measurement, okay? So outcome, then measure. Here's how I'm gonna measure your progress. Every day you need to report back how many feet of elevation gain you've made that day.

Lewis Howes 1:31:05 Mm.

Dan Martell 1:31:05 We're hiking a mountain.

Lewis Howes 1:31:06 At the end of the, every day each person reports back how far they've gone.

Dan Martell 1:31:09 Yep, how many feet.

Lewis Howes 1:31:10 Wow.

Dan Martell 1:31:11 And that's the feedback loop. Why? 'Cause it lets them know if they're making progress.

Lewis Howes 1:31:13 Yeah.

Dan Martell 1:31:13 They know, did I do better today than yesterday? Cool. You have one da- Like, I think most businesses just don't have a measurement for each person on the team.

Lewis Howes 1:31:20 Yeah.

Dan Martell 1:31:20 So now you're gonna report, and if there's a huge deficit, the third step is coach. See, what I find fascinating is the amount of coaches that I work with that have training companies that are, that are, you know, really good at teaching-

Lewis Howes 1:31:33 Mm-hmm

Dan Martell 1:31:33 ... that don't coach their team.

Lewis Howes 1:31:35 Wow.

Dan Martell 1:31:36 It's fascinating. They'll spend 98% of their time in their calendar with clients, zero working on actually developing the skill. So the coach framework I teach-

Lewis Howes 1:31:45 Wow.

Dan Martell 1:31:45 Yeah, it's any time, like if somebody made 100 feet elevation, 100 feet, and then they had two I'd write that down, I'd sit down and be like, "Hey, I noticed you only did two feet of elevation gain. What's going on?" "Well, I got off track and ended up down a ravine." Interesting. Then I use the one, three, one rule, which is what's the one problem, the three solutions, potential solutions, and what's the one recommendation you have?

Lewis Howes 1:32:04 Not what you want me to give you.

Dan Martell 1:32:05 Never.

Lewis Howes 1:32:05 Yeah.

Dan Martell 1:32:05 I... Lewis, I, I heard once a guy said, "If you wanna be rich, be lazy. If you wanna be wealthy, be incompetent." My job is to not give people answers to the test-

Lewis Howes 1:32:14 Wow

Dan Martell 1:32:14 ... 'cause I rob them from the opportunity to learn.

Lewis Howes 1:32:16 Yes.

Dan Martell 1:32:16 So when I coach them, I ask them, "Hey, I noticed you only went two feet yesterday. What do you think happened?" "Well, I ended

Dan Martell 1:32:22 up going off track." Cool. What are three options of not going off track? "Well, I probably could have followed somebody. I probably could have bought a map. I could have done this." And I said, "Sounds great. Those are all good options. They're all good. Which one do you wanna do?" "I'm gonna probably buy a map." "Sounds like a good idea."

Lewis Howes 1:32:37 Go for it. Yeah, yeah.

Dan Martell 1:32:38 So what happens is over time, that transformational leadership approach allows you to develop people-

Lewis Howes 1:32:43 Mm, that's good

Dan Martell 1:32:44 ... so that you don't become the bottleneck.

Lewis Howes 1:32:45 That's good.

Dan Martell 1:32:45 And the reason they call it a bottleneck is 'cause it's at the top.

Lewis Howes 1:32:48 Yeah.

Dan Martell 1:32:48 Again, most people build businesses they grow to hate because they don't know a different way of leading-

Lewis Howes 1:32:53 Mm

Dan Martell 1:32:53 ... and creating and training so that the bigger they grow, the more time it takes.

Lewis Howes 1:32:58 Right.

Dan Martell 1:32:58 My philosophy is the bigger it gets, the more time you get back.

Lewis Howes 1:33:02 Wow.

Dan Martell 1:33:03 Yeah. It's... I mean, it's the funnest thing to show people, 'cause once they see it, it's, like, so logical. If I'm always hiring people to buy back time out of my calendar, it's impossible for me to get to a place where I feel overwhelmed.

Lewis Howes 1:33:14 You should have more time every time you hire.

Dan Martell 1:33:16 Every time you hire, the, the rule is start with the calendar, audit it. Okay, here's the bucket of things. That's the only people I'm gonna hire to buy back that time, things that I didn't wanna do in the first place, that don't make me a lot of money. Then I transfer it, then I fill my calendar with things that make me money, I enjoy doing, that develop me-

Lewis Howes 1:33:35 Mm-hmm

Dan Martell 1:33:35 ... so that I become more, so I have a-

Lewis Howes 1:33:36 Wow.

Dan Martell 1:33:37 It's kinda awesome. That, and you've seen me do it for a decade.

Lewis Howes 1:33:40 [laughs] Yes.

Dan Martell 1:33:40 This is literally how I do it.

Lewis Howes 1:33:42 I love it, man. This is awesome. I could ask you a lot more questions around this, but I want people to get the book, Buy Back Your Time: Get Unstuck, Reclaim Your Freedom, and Build Your Empire by my man, Dan Martell. Make sure you guys check this out. Get a few copies for some friends also. This will be a game changer for anyone. Um, and I think, again, people wanna feel free. They wanna feel light.

Dan Martell 1:34:03 Mm.

Lewis Howes 1:34:04 And it's hard to feel free if you're stuck doing too many things you don't wanna do-

Dan Martell 1:34:10 Yeah

Lewis Howes 1:34:10 ... and you're not evolving beyond that. And there's always gonna be a season, or, you know, maybe this is a limiting belief, but I've been through many seasons of like, oh, I don't have the skills. I've gotta go do something that's gonna take time and energy at a, at a rate that I wish I was making more at to go develop skills-

Dan Martell 1:34:25 Mm

Lewis Howes 1:34:25 ... until I get to the next level. You know, I was a truck driver, I was mowing lawns, I was doing all these different things. I was like, that's not what I wanna be doing, but I've gotta keep developing the value within me, the skill set, filling up my time wherever I can get it to get more skills to then go showcase my value and exchange it for some type of money that I want.

Dan Martell 1:34:44 Mm.

Lewis Howes 1:34:44 Right? So, um, I think this has been a beautiful conversation. I love this concept of kind of knowing your worth, but also understanding your value. Because everyone can say, "I'm worth this."

Dan Martell 1:34:53 Got it.

Lewis Howes 1:34:53 But unless the, the market-

Dan Martell 1:34:55 Agrees

Lewis Howes 1:34:56 ... wants that value and is willing to pay for that value, you're worth what you're getting, I guess, right?

Dan Martell 1:35:01 Yeah.

Lewis Howes 1:35:02 So there's a difference there. Um, where can we follow and support you the most?

Dan Martell 1:35:08 Instagram's my favorite. As you know, it's just, like, I give away every... I, my, my plan is to die empty, right? I wanna die, give it all away. Um, a lot of people that read the book are always asking about, like, how to manage your executive assistant.

Lewis Howes 1:35:21 Uh-huh.

Dan Martell 1:35:21 So I'll do something for your audience only, Lewis. If they, if you guys message me, follow me on Instagram, message me Lewis, I'll send them direct link, no opt-in, no nothing, to my Google Doc sanitized for my internal standard operating procedure-

Lewis Howes 1:35:34 Nice

Dan Martell 1:35:34 ... for working with my assistant. I think it's, like, 42 pages. I asked Anne to clean it up.

Lewis Howes 1:35:38 Wow.

Dan Martell 1:35:38 So just for this audience, message me Lewis EA. I'll then know and I'll send it to you.

Lewis Howes 1:35:43 Over on Instagram, Dan Martell on Instagram.

Dan Martell 1:35:44 Yeah, twelze Martell, Dan Martell on Instagram, and Dan Martell on YouTube and all platforms. And yeah, I mean, the, the, the big thing I want people to understand, I, I kinda call them the three universal truths, is I think the biggest way for us to become more valued, as we talk about worthiness, is first off realize that we become what we talk about.

Lewis Howes 1:36:10 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 1:36:10 So people talk about visualization. The problem with visualization is that a lot of people visualize big dreams they don't tell anybody about.

Lewis Howes 1:36:16 Mm.

Dan Martell 1:36:17 So you talk your future into existence.

Lewis Howes 1:36:19 Wow.

Dan Martell 1:36:19 That's a big, that's a big... Like, for me, that's why I've always shared these are my goals, these are my visions, what I'm doing. Number two is I think that we will receive what we desire for others. Think about that when we talk about money. If you wanna be wealthy, I know how to do it. Go help other people become rich.

Lewis Howes 1:36:38 Right, right.

Dan Martell 1:36:40 Right? If you don't want your boss to become rich, you might have a money mindset problem.

Lewis Howes 1:36:44 Mm.

Dan Martell 1:36:45 'Cause you will receive what you desire for others.

Dan Martell 1:36:48 And the third one, especially as it pertains about worth and the concepts in the book, is that the work instills the worth.

Lewis Howes 1:36:55 The work instills the worth.

Dan Martell 1:36:57 When I had no self-worth when I was a teenager trying to figure out my way in life, all I knew is that if I could just show up and do the work, be consistent, right? 'Cause I think confidence is eaten away when we're not keeping the commitments we make to ourselves in private.

Lewis Howes 1:37:12 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 1:37:13 So the work instills the self-worth.

Lewis Howes 1:37:16 Yes.

Dan Martell 1:37:16 And you can't think your way to that.

Lewis Howes 1:37:19 Mm.

Dan Martell 1:37:19 It's a doing. It's proof when I show up and I-

Lewis Howes 1:37:23 Mm

Dan Martell 1:37:23 ... and I'm consistent for 45 days, 60 days. Lewis, when you've done this podcast for so long, the work instills the worth.

Lewis Howes 1:37:31 Yeah, man.

Dan Martell 1:37:31 Like, the belief's there.

Lewis Howes 1:37:32 11, every week for 11 years.

Dan Martell 1:37:34 Those are the three universal truths I think that if people would consider-

Lewis Howes 1:37:38 Wow

Dan Martell 1:37:38 ... it would just transform their whole mindset and perspective.

Lewis Howes 1:37:42 And weren't you in jail for a period of time?

Dan Martell 1:37:43 I did, man. Yeah

Lewis Howes 1:37:44 What was [laughs]

Dan Martell 1:37:44 I got in trouble in juvie. Well, I know, that's what we connected earlier-

Lewis Howes 1:37:47 [laughs] Yeah

Dan Martell 1:37:47 ... with your brother's story.

Lewis Howes 1:37:48 Yeah.

Dan Martell 1:37:48 Yeah, I ended up-

Lewis Howes 1:37:49 How old were you?

Dan Martell 1:37:50 I was, uh, 15 the first time, 16 the second time. [laughs]

Lewis Howes 1:37:54 [laughs] I know, I'm laughing, but it's not funny really. But, um-

Dan Martell 1:37:57 It's crazy, dude

Lewis Howes 1:37:58 ... I'm just curious, what is the... You know, what I love about your story, and my brother as well, the cool thing, my brother went to prison for four and a half years.

Dan Martell 1:38:05 Yeah, I think when you were eight, right?

Lewis Howes 1:38:06 Yeah, eight to 12.

Dan Martell 1:38:07 Yeah.

Lewis Howes 1:38:07 And the, one of the coolest things, and the thing that I'm really happy for him, is last month, after 27 years of him being out, he got pardoned by the State of Ohio. The governor gave him, like, a full-

Dan Martell 1:38:21 That's so beautiful, man

Lewis Howes 1:38:21 ... forgiveness pardon and everything.

Dan Martell 1:38:22 That's so beautiful.

Lewis Howes 1:38:23 And it's cool to see that, you know, we can make cha- uh, mistakes or go through dark times and still have a life of success and fulfillment if we put in the work.

Dan Martell 1:38:34 Mm.

Lewis Howes 1:38:34 If we're willing to sh- reshape our story, our identities, our actions. And so I just wanna acknowledge you for the constant journey you've been on because, you know, you could've gone a mu- down a much darker path twice in, in juvie. I don't know how long you were there for, a few months each time or-

Dan Martell 1:38:49 Yeah

Lewis Howes 1:38:50 ... you could have kept making those decisions based on a belief and a story that you were worthless or not good enough or bad or wrong or whatever it was, but you have decided continually to upgrade those beliefs and be of service to others. So I wanna acknowledge you for that, my man. It's, it's-

Dan Martell 1:39:07 Thanks, brother

Lewis Howes 1:39:07 ... beautiful to watch. I wish you lived in LA so we could hang out more.

Dan Martell 1:39:11 I'll come more often, man.

Lewis Howes 1:39:11 But now you got your jet, so you can come down anytime.

Dan Martell 1:39:13 It's a short flight.

Lewis Howes 1:39:14 Um, so I just wanna acknowledge you for the service, man. It's cool to watch you put yourself out there more and share this wisdom with the world in such a way where you understand processes and also, uh, you can teach it so people can consume it and understand it and make it easier. 'Cause some of these concepts can seem daunting to understand and to implement, but with your book, you give people the tools, the processes, the frameworks, and the stories on how to take these kind of baby steps and grow beyond these old beliefs. So I acknowledge you for that. Appreciate you. Final question for you because you shared my three truths question already, and my final question-

Dan Martell 1:39:50 Oh, that's true. I'm sorry

Lewis Howes 1:39:51 ... you just went right into it-

Dan Martell 1:39:52 Yeah

Lewis Howes 1:39:52 ... which is great. Um, what is your definition of greatness?

Dan Martell 1:39:57 Such a great question. You know, I still remember the call when you'd bought greatness.com.

Lewis Howes 1:40:02 Really?

Dan Martell 1:40:02 I do. I remember where I was at.

Lewis Howes 1:40:04 What did I say?

Dan Martell 1:40:05 I was asking what was new, and you were all excited.

Lewis Howes 1:40:07 Oh.

Dan Martell 1:40:07 There was a bunch of stuff. I think you'd just finished doing a big photo shoot with Nick.

Lewis Howes 1:40:10 Uh-huh, uh-huh.

Dan Martell 1:40:11 And you said, "Hey, dude, and I also bought greatness.com."

Lewis Howes 1:40:13 Greatness.com, yeah.

Dan Martell 1:40:14 And I said... I remember thinking, "Oh, that's a big dog move."

Lewis Howes 1:40:18 Yeah. [laughs] Yeah, yeah.

Dan Martell 1:40:18 That's a big move.

Lewis Howes 1:40:19 Yeah.

Dan Martell 1:40:19 You know what I mean?

Lewis Howes 1:40:20 Yeah.

Dan Martell 1:40:20 That was a... Nobody in our space was doing that kind of stuff.

Lewis Howes 1:40:23 Uh-huh.

Dan Martell 1:40:24 And I was just so proud of you.

Lewis Howes 1:40:25 Yeah.

Dan Martell 1:40:25 I was just like, "Yeah, Lewis."

Lewis Howes 1:40:27 Yeah.

Dan Martell 1:40:27 Like, "Let's go."

Lewis Howes 1:40:28 I remember, uh, Noah Kagan got, like, sumo.com-

Dan Martell 1:40:31 Yeah

Lewis Howes 1:40:31 ... before that, I think, and I was like, "I need to do something. I need to own-"

Dan Martell 1:40:35 Yes

Lewis Howes 1:40:35 ... like, more than my name.

Dan Martell 1:40:37 A word, a word.

Lewis Howes 1:40:37 More than just my name, which I was like, "I can't really... Can only go so far with that, and it's limited by me." But owning a word is like-

Dan Martell 1:40:46 And did you ever do that?

Lewis Howes 1:40:48 [laughs]

Dan Martell 1:40:48 Dude, the book, I mean, it's awesome.

Lewis Howes 1:40:50 Yeah.

Dan Martell 1:40:51 Like, I read your last book-

Lewis Howes 1:40:52 Mm

Dan Martell 1:40:52 ... and it was... I love that book.

Lewis Howes 1:40:54 Thanks, man.

Dan Martell 1:40:54 You wrote an incredible book.

Lewis Howes 1:40:55 Thank you.

Dan Martell 1:40:56 Um, I think greatness is very simple, is that are people better after having you around them?

Lewis Howes 1:41:03 Mm-hmm.

Dan Martell 1:41:05 Like, are... If you look around the people you spend time with, are they better for having you in their life? If that's true, that's greatness.

Lewis Howes 1:41:13 My man. Dan, appreciate you, brother.

Dan Martell 1:41:14 Oh, honor. Appreciate you, man.

Lewis Howes 1:41:15 Thanks, man.

Dan Martell 1:41:16 As you're climbing the mountain, one of three things will happen. Either you'll get to the top and realize, "Huh, okay," or you'll get-

Lewis Howes 1:41:23 Now what? Yeah. [laughs]

Dan Martell 1:41:23 Yeah, or you'll get knocked off the mountain by either you having some sort of, uh, crisis or

Dan Martell 1:41:29 someone close to you having some sort of health crisis or, like, trauma or anything like that, and then you go into the valley