Stripping Off with Matt Haycox
Welcome to 'Stripping Off with Matt Haycox,' where we bare it all on business, money, and life. Get ready to peel back the layers of success with entrepreneur, investor, funding expert, and mentor with over 20 years of experience building and growing businesses, Matt Haycox.
Tune into steamy conversations with industry titans, celebrities, and successful entrepreneurs as they strip down their stories of triumphs, setbacks, and the raw realities of their journey to the top. Matt is going down on business, money, and life, and will take DMCs to new heights!
Stripping Off with Matt Haycox
You Will NEVER Build a Successful Business If You Don’t Do This – Brad Lea Explains Why Most Entrepreneurs Fail
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In this episode of Stripping Off with Matt Haycox, I sit down with Brad Lea—sales expert, entrepreneur, and the creator of the revolutionary training platform, Lightspeed VT. Brad’s incredible journey from being kicked out of his home as a teenager to becoming a multimillionaire is packed with raw, actionable advice for anyone ready to take their business and personal brand to the next level.
Brad reveals:
- Why "Start now, get perfect later" is the secret to success. Every master was once a disaster.
- How to embrace failure as part of the process: "Failure isn’t the opposite of success; it’s part of the recipe."
- Why building your personal brand is critical: "If you’re not flooding the internet with your name and face, you’re already losing."
- The power of mentorship: "Learn from those who’ve already succeeded. Success leaves clues."
- How to stop waiting for the perfect moment and take bold risks that pay off.
If you’re an entrepreneur or someone looking to take control of your future, Brad’s no-nonsense advice will help you move forward with clarity and confidence.
Connect with Brad Lea:
▶ Instagram: @TheRealBradLea
▶ Lightspeed VT: Learn More Here
Connect with Matt Haycox:
▶ Instagram: @thematthaycox
▶ LinkedIn: Matt Haycox
▶ Website: Visit Here
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#BradLea #EntrepreneurMindset #PersonalBranding #BusinessSuccess #NoBollocksPodcast #Motivation #SuccessMindset
Who Is Matt Haycox? - Click for BADASS Trailer
Are you ready to unlock your full potential and take your business to the next level? I’m Matt Haycox—entrepreneur, investor, mentor, and your go-to guy for no-bollocks advice on business and personal growth.
With over 25 years of experience building and funding businesses across industries, I’ve faced it all—wins, losses, and the ultimate comeback story. Through my podcasts, No Bollocks with Matt Haycox and Stripping Off with Matt Haycox, I cut through the bullshit to bring you real, actionable strategies and raw conversations with entrepreneurs, celebrities, and industry leaders.
Whether you’re looking to scale your business, secure funding, or avoid the mistakes I’ve learned the hard way, my goal is simple: to help YOU create YOUR success story.
Want more? Subscribe to my No Bollocks Newsletter and get weekly insider tips on entrepreneurship, strategy, and business growth—because learning in 10 minutes is way better than wasting years on an MBA.
Ready to make moves? Let’s go—your success starts here.
Welcome to Stripping Off with Matt Haycox, where today's guest is Brad Lee. Now, brad is a true powerhouse in sales, personal branding and entrepreneurship and, with decades of experience and an unapologetic approach to success, brad's built a multi-million dollar empire, including his revolutionary training platform, lightspeed VT, known for his no-nonsense advice and his relentless drive. Brad's here to share why personal branding is your greatest untapped asset, why failure is just part of the recipe, and how to stop waiting for perfection and start taking action. So if you're ready for practical, game-changing insights to elevate your business, this is the episode for you. Guys, matt Haycock's here and today I am going to steal the words of our guest to do the introduction. Guys, I've got a real treat for you Because I've got a guest I've been wanting to have for a long time. I never even anticipated having him, but when the opportunity came to record here in Dubai, I've got author, entrepreneur, super, podcast host himself and all around what I think is Mr Cool, chilled guy Bradley, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 1:How's that compared to your intros?
Speaker 3:Pretty damn good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I approve.
Speaker 3:Mine is always very simple, Guys, I've got a real treat for you. Well, first I say what it is.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 3:Bradley back again with another episode of Dropping Bombs and, as always, I got a real treat for you.
Speaker 1:Matt Haycock. I don't think I could get away with what it is.
Speaker 3:That's a bit more American and Basie that's me American and basic no, basie, oh, basie, basie, yeah.
Speaker 1:Oh, you mean my voice? Yeah, basic sounds like an insult.
Speaker 3:No, I'm basic, I take pride being simple.
Speaker 1:Well, look, I want to set the scene for the people that don't know you, and obviously I've been a listener for a long time, but I think what I tend to find I might be wrong, so please put me in my places. You come across a lot as a podcast host. You know a guy with a lot to talk about and a lot to say, but I can never find too much information about the background. You come across a lot as a podcast host, a guy with a lot to talk about and a lot to say, but I can never find too much information about the background. I don't find you too much on other people's podcasts talking about you and your early life. I know I know bits because I heard you talk at the event and heard a few other stories. But just, I guess, go back in time, set the scene and where did Brad come from and what were some of those early informative things that have made you who you are today?
Speaker 3:well. I came from the Pacific Northwest in a small town called Cottage Grove, oregon, blue-collar family. For the most part, I think what made me who I am today is a series of things, but one of them was I was kicked out of the house at 16 years old and so I had to get out on my own and learn life and become resourceful. Why were you kicked out?
Speaker 1:I didn't mow the lawn just just that once, or just a repeat offender I mean, if I wanted to, you know, be the guy that blames.
Speaker 3:You know, know, my dad was an alcoholic and yada, yada, yada. But at the end of the day, I mean I didn't mow the lawn and I said I would, and he kicked me out when, when, and it probably wasn't just that. I mean, we tend to forget how you know, when we were young, we probably I repeatedly, probably didn't do what I said I would do or live up to my word. So, again, it taught me to do what you say you're going to do.
Speaker 3:When I look back, I think I was incredibly lucky. I had a dad that kind of left us to our own devices. He taught me to be resourceful and to figure it out and to make things happen. He didn't give us anything really, but ultimately I blew up. I grew up in a blue collar family, got kicked out at 16 and just went out and started, you know, surfing on couches and you know living life and and learning the hard way and making all the mistakes you can, and I think over time it just taught me a lot and ultimately it's the reason I am like I am.
Speaker 1:How long do you think it takes to appreciate those times and look back? Because people always say, or often say, know, looking back, I appreciate that my dad did this, or appreciate that my parent parents did the other. You know it's made me who I am today, it's made me resourceful, it's made me hungry. You know, whatever that may be, but you know I presume at the time you still think my dad's a fucker. You know he kicked me out. You know I mean does, does theer? You know he kicked me out. You know I mean does the victim mentality, you know, last for a while back then. Or do you wake up, you know, pretty much soon after getting kicked out and go shit. I'm glad that happened. I've got to get my shit together.
Speaker 3:Well, I was glad it happened when it happened, because now I had no supervision. Yeah. Glad for different reasons, yeah, being immature and young and not knowing any better. I was happy when it happened because now I was free.
Speaker 2:Hey, matt here. Thanks for listening to Stripping Off with Matt Haycox, but did you also know I've got another podcast, no Bollocks, with Matt Haycox? Both of these are very different. If you're enjoying the deep dives with the guests that I have every week on stripping off, then you're going to love the quick, short business tips, strategies and tactics I give you on no bollocks. This comes out nearly every day.
Speaker 1:make sure you go and check it out on itunes, spotify, youtube, wherever you listen to your content, and I'll see you in a future episode just going back a little more in the childhood, when I was doing a bit of research for this um, you, you, you were in an orphanage for a time yeah, I don't remember it, but as the story goes and um, and, and the dad you mentioned now that kicked you out, uh, this is the, the dad that was the parent that put you into the orphanage effectively well, theoretically it was my mom.
Speaker 3:My dad left my mom with four of us and my. My mom said I'm only keeping one, which was the fifth one, my little younger brother. At the time he was a baby, I was two, my sister was four, my other brothers were like five and seven, so we were all young.
Speaker 1:But but she said I'm only keeping one and she put four of us in a foster home and whilst obviously, I guess you were too young to know it at the time, as you got a bit older, you you did know it. I mean, I guess it's more, more a question to myself really, but I mean, how, how do you ever I don't know get? Or, you know, how do you think about your parents during the time that you were still there? I mean, we talked about getting kicked out at 16, you know, which is obviously a reasonably pivotal event, but in the kind of 14 years prior to that, I mean, how do you look over the dinner table that your dad is the guy who Well, number one, I didn't realize he did that.
Speaker 1:Oh, really, oh, oh, until how much later um?
Speaker 3:not even at 16, oh really, oh okay, okay, okay yeah, as far as I'm aware, I've always lived with my dad, but again, I mean, you know, I don't't remember living with my real mom ever, so I was too young at the time, so it didn't really affect me in that way. Maybe I'd have to ask my older brothers what they think, but I don't really think it mattered too much at all.
Speaker 1:Well, let's get into the business, let's get into the meat. So you got kicked out from home. You had to get resourceful. What were the first jobs? When did you start making some money and what was your skill set back then, if you had one?
Speaker 3:well, my skills were. I was very persuasive, I was. I was, uh, clever. Well, you know, smart, smart, little fella. But ultimately my ability to sell clothes and persuade has always saved me and been my leading skill set. But you know, I was pressured to go get a real job at a young age. So I went and found a job in the Forest Service, assuming that I was going to be this you know, gladiator type firefighter. I imagined you know gladiator type firefighter. Um, I imagined you know heroic things. And when I got there it turned out I was just a piss ant and I got poison Oak and told them hey, I have poison Oak, thinking that they would care and they're like that's part of the job. So I said, man, this isn't for me. Openeded up the newspaper and found a job selling cars, Went in and made three times what anyone was making in my family in the first month. So I discovered sales early. How?
Speaker 1:were you comparing to the other car salespeople then I mean, were you? I mean, you say you're making three times more than your family, but were you a natural talent in the car place as well, or were people taking you under your wing there? We were, you, um. Were you a natural talent in in the in the car place as well, or were people taking you under your wing there to train you up?
Speaker 3:well, both. You know I, I had the gift to gab, as they call it, um, I wasn't afraid to talk to people, um, and you know I think that helps. But ultimately, you know, I took to it pretty easily and I was aggressive. You know, a lot of the salespeople when I got there were kind of lazy. A lot of salesmen get lazy and I wasn't lazy so I crushed you know. So I crushed you know everybody and kind of raised the competition level which obviously, as management, you hope someone does that.
Speaker 1:And what happened next? How long were you doing? How long were you selling there for?
Speaker 3:Man, I sold cars for probably five or ten years, just stayed in the car business. And then at some point in the car business I helped a guy turn his life around, show him how to make some money, and then I said, man, I want to do this more often, so I quit my job and started a training company, and that's that's the beginning of Lightspeed yep, which is 1999 yep.
Speaker 1:So so was. Was that a tech company at the time? Because I guess like 1999.
Speaker 3:I mean I was still looking at pixelated pictures of Pamela Anderson on the internet. I mean I that I wasn't delivering those things anymore. Going from place to place to place to place, I wasn't able to make the impact. So I kind of sought out various people that could build an online tool to allow me to do it the way I needed it to be done and that's kind of when it became a tech company is just through necessity.
Speaker 1:And what do you consider it today? It's a tech business or the content? 100%.
Speaker 3:It's a software company, saas company. That's definitely tech. And now we just help anyone who wants to train people. Train people better than any other form of, I think, training that there is other than a blended version. But we license our software to subject matter experts and companies to train people.
Speaker 1:So back when you first started training, after you'd finished with the cars, was that all your own content? Back then, what did you do? You sat down after five or ten years in the car game and started to scramble down everything that you knew.
Speaker 3:Basically, I developed a way to present a lease that was very effective and started showing people how to convert people to a lease which allowed them to buy more car for the same amount of money or make more money basically, and I started teaching that originally it was just a simple lease conversion. It was called the real deal.
Speaker 1:I mean, what do you think has changed over the years? I mean, if anything you know from, from, say, selling 10 years ago, 20 years ago, 30, 40, you know, are the core, core principles the same? Or you know, has has? Has it moved along, you know, with the, with the speed of life changing?
Speaker 3:Well, it, moved along, you know, before the speed of life changing. Well, it moved along. You know, before you were the one that possessed the information people had to come to you to get it. Now the internet has more information, so people are already better informed when they come to you. So it's more of a relationship game now, as I it's always been. But information, uh, is more readily accessible. So it makes it a little bit more difficult to do it the way you used to do it, cause before it was just information they were seeking, and you know now they don't really need that information from you. Um, so it's changed, but but it's essentially the same.
Speaker 1:What about different people and different styles. I guess from the American big names you look at yourself, or Andy Elliott, or Grant Cardone and I can't think of any other big salespeople that immediately come to mind but do you see key differences in your own ways? Or is it very much, much, let's say, the same principles, the same content, but just just delivered in your ways, delivered in your personalities? Or do you seem some fundamental different beliefs between you?
Speaker 2:it's all pretty much the same yeah, yeah I mean you know, this is the you know it's the fundamentals.
Speaker 3:You know build relationships, build trust. You know transfer enthusiasm. You know we all say the same thing. Basically, it's how we say it. That's different. I don't think there's, you know, different schools of thought. It all ends up the same.
Speaker 1:If you ask me of thought, it all ends up the same. If you ask me, I mean one of the things I don't know if it's maybe maybe an english thing that you know we're more reserved and you know, maybe americans are more pushy, what one. One thing you know I can never either get my head around or decide if I agree with is, uh, I listen to a lot of cardone stuff. You know, being a being on a lot of his boot camps and things, so obviously you know a big fan of of a lot of what he says, what he trains. But they seem to have this real ethos of you know, basically never taking no for an answer. You know never letting somebody come off the telephone.
Speaker 1:And I guess my core products, you know, I mean I sell financial advice, you know I sell business loans, stuff around. Let's say what I would consider investment, trust and credibility, and I feel in my space that if you're hammering, hammering, hammering, you're going to go from credible to desperate and scary and fraudulent very quickly. Now, maybe I just don't understand the content well enough to deliver, but what would your advice be? Well A your comment on that, your view on my comment and also for, specifically in a financial advice type, investment and trust building thing big enough and I build relationships and ultimately, if I've got enough people to talk to and they like me and the underlying product is good enough, they will buy when they're ready to buy. You know I can't, I can't. You know I can work on scarcity, I can work on these things, but ultimately you walk a very fine line in fine, you know, in financial services between encouraging someone and scaring them off. Like I say, maybe I'm, maybe I'm just not trained enough well, or you just have a different style.
Speaker 3:you know I'm not a pushy sales guy, um, I don't hammer people. I think you'll. You might close a deal by hammering people, um, but I think you'll lose more than you close. I think relationships are what's important. I think long term is the smarter play, and hammering people doesn't bode well with that. So you know I might be a mix. You know I'm not going to take no for an answer only because when someone says no, it's nine times out of 10, it's only because they don't have enough information to say yes. So I'm going to, you know, serve, do what I can to get them the information they need, and I might and I might, you know, not take no for an answer the first couple of times, but eventually, you know, I believe in B-backs, I believe in building the relationship first, and if you are only concerned with getting the sale, well, then you're thinking about yourself more than you are the customer. So I think there's a happy medium there.
Speaker 1:So let's talk content, or not so much content, but personal brand. I mean, you said a minute ago your podcast started in like 2018. Was that the first foray into the content world for you? Were you already doing anything else prior, and what brought it about?
Speaker 3:Well, roughly about the same time, you know, I just recognized that a personal brand is a powerful tool to possess. Recognize that a personal brand is a powerful tool to possess. So I started, you know, intentionally trying to build a personal brand, and I had a lot of these subject matter experts coming in and out of my studios to film their content and I thought let me get a couple microphones and pick their brain while they're here I mean, what?
Speaker 1:what do you see the I guess the stumbling blocks or the blockers to people nowadays who go you know, I don't need a personal brand or I don't want to be famous in my space. I mean, do you think it's more just a fear that people probably naturally don't like getting out there in front of the camera, or, you know, do you think there's some fundamental misconceptions about the importance of the brand?
Speaker 3:Yeah, there's probably a blend of all those things. Ultimately, people have what's called allodoxophobia, the fear of other people's opinion and judgment. Ultimately, so, I think, people fear that they're going to be viewed a certain way, or, you know, I mean, if they knew the power of a personal brand, everyone would want one, for sure, I mean. And I think everyone should have one. And what's crazy is, technically, everyone does have one. The question is, is it known or not?
Speaker 3:So if you could be famous for being in a movie and you saw the power that that gave you, I think you know you would do it. And a personal brand is literally, you know, flooding the internet with you. So if you want a personal brand, all you have to do is flood the internet with you and you're going to get one. You know it might not be as received as well as others, but you know there's a ask for every seat and I think, uh, at the end of the day, if you, you know, validate yourself, you don't have to worry so much about everyone else validating you technical question on on this and from from from someone who's who's doing it, uh, better than most.
Speaker 1:You used the words flood the internet and a debate I always have with my team back in England because I live over here, but my guys who do my stuff are still back in the UK.
Speaker 1:They like to get really, let's say, precious about individual posts and if we do an extra post today it's going to fuck with the algorithm and this is going to get seen less, whereas you know, if you, if you talk, talk to anyone who's massive in in social, they're all seem to be of the opinion quantity, quantity, quantity.
Speaker 1:You know I'm not going to say so much quantity over quality, but you know certainly quantity over perfectionism. And just, you know, hammer, hammer the life out of it and and get it out there. And I was kind of having this debate with all my girls the other day and said, look, if the baseline, for example, for a good post is whatever, 10 000 impressions, and by doing a second post that pushes your impressions down to say 7 000 impressions. But you've had two posts, you were 14 000 impressions and you know, surely I'd we'd rather be looking at 14,000 people seeing something than 10,000 people, even if it means that one post hasn't hasn't been seen as much. Can you, can you settle my debate with the guys and, and I guess you know, give, give a bit of advice for the people who you know get really precious about doing that one or two posts a week with the perfect filter and, you know, cutting out the abs or the big booty.
Speaker 3:Well, I think you already did. What's better 14,000 or?
Speaker 1:10,000? And that's the simple logic you know. Don't get caught up on. Oh okay, some people haven't seen that one post or other people haven't seen that. It's just how many people have seen Matt today or how many people have seen Brad. And even if that was each people, each post only gets 3000 impressions, but you do 10 of them and therefore 30,000 is better than 10. And it's just quantity, quantity, quantity. Don't get so worried about have people seen an individual post or read an individual blog. Just how much is your name on the tip of people's tongues when they're thinking about your industry or your whatever?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, it's familiarity. How many times have they seen your face? A lot of times. I have to see you multiple times before anything really significant happens. So if you put out, one video. What's the likelihood it goes viral?
Speaker 1:Not much. Well, you have one video.
Speaker 3:You have one chance. If you put out two, you doubled your chances. If you put out three, yeah, you have one chance. If you put out two, you doubled your chances. If you put out three, you've tripled your chances. How many chances do you want to take?
Speaker 3:so the question is is you know, is it quality over quantity? No, quality, it doesn't matter. Nine times out of ten what goes viral you didn't even think was going to go viral, at least my experience. The trick is quantity. You want to get your face all over the internet.
Speaker 1:If I have a million people see me on 100 posts versus 50,000 seeing me on one post. I'd rather do the hundred and do you advocate for as many platforms as possible. You know social platforms have a podcast, do YouTube or I mean I guess if if somebody is less less confident, for example, at being on camera than they are speaking, or whatever, then then then maybe they need to either get more confident or or go in one direction, but just be everywhere in every possible way, 100%.
Speaker 3:You want to just flood the internet with you as many ways as you can, which would include all of the platforms you can and all of the content you can create.
Speaker 1:How much time do you spend creating content? Because for people who look at you, or just you, for people who look at any of the big guys out there on social, it looks like you never have time to run a business or have a personal life or anything, because it's you know, you're just seen 24, seven. I mean, how much time do you spend? What does your team look like behind the scenes?
Speaker 3:Well, I don't feel like I spend any time making content, because I like to say that I am the content, which means I'm just out doing what I do, so like, whether I had a camera guy here or not, I'd be sitting here doing the same thing. So if this is making content, well then I spend a lot of time doing it, because I'm making it all day long, 10 hours a day. But it's just me living, talking to who I talk, to, going where I go, and I just have the nerve to film it. And so now I've got a massive amount of content that I can use to create actual clips and posts and things of that nature, where a lot of people are like I can't post four times a day, I don't have the content.
Speaker 3:Well, that's because you're you're trying to create it rather than to be it. So I would say get a camera, turn it on and go, do your thing. And if you're doing your thing, truly uh, you'll have tons of content after that. And then I would say chop it up, make sure it has headlines and subtitles, and then flood the internet with it, and then they upload it to a drive and I have, you know, a handful of editors that'll go in and you know, chop it up and make the little graphics and post it do you ever look at stuff, check your own stuff?
Speaker 3:you know, did you used to in the beginning you know, I worry about that, worry about the other yeah, in the beginning, but again, that's just a mistake. Now I don't. I see it when everybody else sees it. I don't even know what's going to be posted. Sometimes I'll just go check and see what they posted, and you know I watch it all. But by the time I see it, so did everybody else.
Speaker 1:Let's talk about work ethic. I mean, you know you're here I guess I don't know if you consider this a holiday or business because you've been in Dubai and I very much work from the perspective that I love my work, my work is what I do. I don't really have many hobbies outside of it and I always say I'm kind of never on holiday, I'm always just working from a different location. But again, you seem to be a guy that's always busy, works more than most, I guess. What's your view on that? What's your advice to other people? Does it come from you loving what you do, or do you wake up in the morning hungry for more or fearing failure, and that's why you do what you do?
Speaker 1:No, I don't really fear failure. If you fear failure, you got a problem on your hands maybe. Sorry to interrupt, maybe I didn't say that right. What I mean is you know I often get asked what my motivators are and you know it's a combination between the fact that you know I want the success, but I also want to make sure I'm running fast enough to make sure that I don't fuck up again or I don't lose what I've already got. In the same way, I don't fear failure because I've been there before. I've had a couple of bankruptcies over the years. I've lost it and made it back again. So I've got my confidence in building it back, but I ultimately would rather not fall back into that position again.
Speaker 3:That makes sense well, sure, but again, I mean, failure is a part of it. So if you're going to try and bake a cake and I gave you a recipe and then you don't want to use several of the ingredients in there, well then you can't expect the cake. So if you fear failure that's part of the recipe you have to be willing to risk, uh, failure. So I have no problem with failing. Um, I've done it a million times. I'm sure I'll do it a million more. Um, I don't have the fear of judgment where you know, I don't really care if, if people think I'm this or that and I think the combination is is what's given me my edge. You know, to me it's like one post is one chance and four posts is four chances. So I just need to put out as many posts as I can, flood the internet. It's all you have to do.
Speaker 1:And so I guess when I'm talking failure as well, I've not just moved on a bit from the social stuff and the content, but I guess financial failures, business failures, what would you consider some of your biggest failures over the years?
Speaker 3:Well, I don't really see it as failure only because you know number one, I'm still in progress. Number two, I mean you can only fail if you stop Sure, and I haven't stopped, so I haven't failed. But I've had a lot of setbacks and lessons and you know again, I mean, there's too many to count which is again, if you look at like, you know Michael Jordan's, you know he. So is he a free throw loser? No, he's Michael Jordan, but you know. But he's failed at basketball more than I have.
Speaker 3:So if you're not attempting, then you're really not achieving either. So, yeah, you can't be afraid to fail. You got to get out there and do it. As far as I'm concerned, action is is, you know, the difference between big ideas and big companies.
Speaker 1:Has your attitude to risk changed as you've gotten older? You've got a wife, you've got kids, I mean, I guess, put it, putting into my own context, I mean I've always been someone very much who's, who's been prepared to bet the ranch on on a big idea if I, if I've had it. And you know I've always taken the view as well, because I see a lot of other business owners, whether it's people I work with or people I fund, who let their partners, husbands, wives, whatever, to risk losing the home. I've always taken the view that I love the game, I love taking the risks and I've always very much said to any girl that I've been in a serious relationship with my work is my life and my money is mine. While you're with me, you can enjoy the spoils of it, but you'll never, ever, ever tell me what to do with it.
Speaker 1:And if I make a decision that loses it for us, then tough potatoes. And if that means you fuck off because I'm skint, then so be it. But and I probably still 80% of that view. But you know, as I get a bit older I think, well, you know, I want to make sure there's something there for the kids. You know, I might not bet the whole ranch. I might, you know, just leave the guest house for me if it all goes wrong. But I mean, where's your attitude to risk in business and how has that changed over the years?
Speaker 3:Man, I just rolled the dice and it really, if anything, I'm willing to do it even more as I get older. Yeah, because I mean money is just a tool and if you don't use it it's useless. And so why would you want useless tools? So to me, you know I'm a little more, uh, cautious. Maybe is the word meaning I do a little more research, I'm not as quick to search, I'm not as quick to roll the dice, but I'll still roll them and I'm lucky as hell. So it seems to always work out.
Speaker 3:You got to watch out for the people that are afraid to risk, because risk is where opportunity is. So if you're not willing to risk, you're not willing to take opportunity, and if you're not willing to take opportunity, you're probably not going to do very well. So the older I get, the more I realize how much more there actually is and how much more abundance there is. I become more abundant on a regular basis, and so and the older you also get, the more realization you have of how short life really is. So I mean it's like what are you going to save it for? You're not taking it with you? Well, what about my children? They'll be fine.
Speaker 1:I mean, I always kind of have in mind and tell a story One of my investor groups. I had a group. I had these two or three guys who invest with me and they'd come around once a month and we'd sit down. They always used to like to have their progress reports over smoked salmon and bagels for breakfast. So they'd always come around my house and you know we'd sit down and they'd come in and they'd either see a new car outside that I just got at that point, or want to talk about something I've been up to recently. And they'd always say, oh, my God, you know I'd love that car, or you know I'd love to be doing the stuff that you're doing.
Speaker 1:But you know, how do you afford that? And we say, guys, are you fucking nuts? You guys have got a hundred times more money than I've got, probably 50 times more money than I'll ever have. It's not about not having the money, it's about not having the mindset or not having the desire to spend or the right attitude to risk. And they'd always be saying, well, you know, we're not about spending it now, we're about creating generational wealth.
Speaker 1:So I want to look after my kids as much as the next man. But there's not a fucking chance that I'm going to start to not so much suffer but not do the things that I really want to do in the only life that I've got, so that I can make sure there's some generational wealth around for my great, great, great grandkids, who are not even going to know my name, never mind be able to say thank you for me, thank you for it. But I guess you know, I think, as well as the more I see people or understand people's mentalities, I think things like building wealth for the future is probably also used as an excuse for fear of spending now. That lack of abundance, the opposite to abundance attitude that you just talked about, that people come from that scarcity mentality that there's only so much money around to be had and if I lose this, what I've got now, I may never get it back again.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, that's scarcity for sure, and I don't have it. Um, and after I'm dead, it doesn't matter because I'm dead and I know that my kids will be fine, because it'll be based on what I teach them and what skills, mindset and and habits that they develop. So so, ultimately, you know, I'd be focused more on mindset, skillset and habits than worrying about giving them money. I mean, we've all heard that the more money you give them, the worse off they'll be because of the you know, lack of skills that you develop through, you know, trial and tribulation. So I'm not worried.
Speaker 3:If I died tomorrow, they'll get money, obviously, uh. But if I blew it and then died and they're broke, well then they've got this mindset and the skillset and the habits to get their own. They're, they're not, they're not going to be without regardless. So I'm not worried about money. Um, and not only that, it's mine, it's not theirs, you know they don't, they're not entitled to any of it, even though I will leave it all to them. Um, they're not entitled to any of it, it's mine. And I'm not concerned about whether or not, when I die, they have any, because I know that they've got the resources and the mindset and the skillset to produce their own. And I know that there's more and they'll be fine.
Speaker 1:I'm not worried, you know when you say you'll leave it all to your kids, and I'm very much of the same attitude because I don't see that there is any other alternative. But what do you think about the, the guys you know, I think, like the Warren Buffett's and stuff that you know, spring to mind where they say you know, I'm not leaving a penny to my kids. You know I've made all this money, I'm not leaving. I'm not leaving them a penny. And and I look, I get the, the attitude that or the mindset that the money could make them dangerous or them dangerous or they could fuck it up and it could send them down the wrong path.
Speaker 1:But you've just talked about mindset and teachings and attitudes, and these people have got old kids. I mean, if they aren't sensible enough and educated enough to look after the money now, when are they ever going to be? But I just can't. I don't know if people say it for media attention, but I just can't get my head around the concept of these people saying I'm going to leave everything to charity. I'm giving my kids nothing.
Speaker 3:I don't agree.
Speaker 3:With that or with me, what? No, I agree with you. To me it's like I'm not leaving my money to charity, like I would have the same thought about that charity. They'll be fine, they'll figure it out, like my kids will figure it out if they get nothing. The charity will figure it out if they get nothing. But between the charity which, again, unless I'm extremely passionate about it, you know I'll give them very little, if anything, it's the kids that are going to get it all. Why? Because it was mine, and when I die I want them to have it and, you know, hopefully they'll do well with it. And when they die, hopefully they give it to their kids and it passes on. And if, if someone blows it, then guess what, they've had a good time.
Speaker 3:At the end of the day, man, you know to me, at the end of the day, man, you know to me, I'm not worried about after I die. Like I think that's to me nice, you know, but a little bit foolish. Like when you're dead, you're dead. You think the whole world's going to end when you die. It's not, and your kids will be fine one way or the other. Could you make it easier for them? Well, sure, and do you want to? Of course you do, and I'm going to, but it's not going to affect my living. You know what?
Speaker 1:I mean Like I'm going to live until I die.
Speaker 3:And when I die, if there's something left, they get it, and if there's nothing left, they get it. How?
Speaker 1:many kids have you got Seven. Oh, you've got seven, so you've got older ones than the three you've got here. How?
Speaker 1:old is the oldest, 38. Oh, wow, eight, oh wow. So, um, from an education perspective, how, um, how do you, how do you educate the three, the three younger ones, and how have your views on that chain, you know, changed over the years, from from, from the old ones to the young ones? And again, I guess I ask with a with a selfish interest in so I have two kids. I've got an 18 year old daughter who lives back in the UK. I've got an 18 month old baby here and I always wanted to maybe not home school the oldest one, but certainly bring in my own bits of curriculum that I would like to have taught her along the years. That has obviously come from, let's say, business or marketing or things that I believe are things that I find are necessary. And her mom, you know, love her mom and you know I'm always conscious that I always, you know, caveat it by saying we've got a great relationship. But she was never interested in my views and I think you're very much led by the coffee morning ladies that you know that she'd go to school with and it was like oh no, no, you know, don't do this, don't do the other. You know, she just let her be. She's not interested in that stuff that you you want to show. Of course she's not fucking interested. You know she's a kid. She's not really not really interested in anything other than, you know, riding horses and eating sweets. But she's now 18.
Speaker 1:Uh, very lovely girl, super intelligent. She's doing her, I guess, what you guys would call high school to go on to college. She's doing maths, further maths, chemistry and physics, looking to do space engineering in a course that's incredibly hard to get into in the best uni in the UK, and I set that scene that she was out here in Dubai with me four or five weeks ago and now she's turned 18. She can have assets in her own name. So I've been trying to teach her about property, about stock shares, other things she can be doing, and she's been buying a few bits and pieces. I've been helping her buy a house and we sat down for dinner the other week and I was explaining the difference between owning the property in your own name and owning the property in the company's name and the taxation differences on that, and I explained that if we did this, there'd be £50,000 with a profit with a 20% tax bill.
Speaker 1:If we did this, then there'd be no tax bill of £50,000 with a profit. I just said as a throwaway question so what's the tax on the profit? She's looking at me blank. She's like what do you mean? I said you've made 50 000 pounds profit. You're paying 20 tax. How much do you pay?
Speaker 1:And then she's like, starting to, you can see a cog sticking over. I'm saying do me a favor. You're a further math student and you're telling me you can't work out 20 percent of 50 000 in your head. She's like but we have calculators. I don't give a fuck, will you? I mean, that's just absolutely frightening that you know that in the education system that you know you can do all this fancy, fancy stuff but you can't. You know you can't work out 20 percent of 50,. You know 50,000 without having a calculator. And when I was listening to that, it's hammered home to me even more that the new baby will absolutely not be part of any traditional education system. And I don't know what my curriculum is yet, but it will very much be based around the stuff that I consider important for life skills. Add this and subtract that. So that was a long setup for you. I've probably put you to sleep. But given that background, but how do you educate your younger kids and what on? What's, what's your views on that kind of thing?
Speaker 3:well, I mean, I'm just focused on, you know, teaching them the fundamentals of of mindset, skill set and habits. I'll let them choose what those are, um, but to me, the public school system is not ideal if you want productive, happy children. So I removed them from public school and I found a teacher within the well, it was a private school by this time, but I just snatched a teacher because I'm not sure how to teach. You know all the things that they need to learn, like reading, writing and arithmetic. You need that, you know. You need to understand how to read. You need to understand what words mean. You need to understand math, basic math. I don't think you need quadratic equations and algebra and all this other nonsense, but you definitely need to know what two plus two is. So I just hired the teacher out of the school.
Speaker 3:So my, my kids are privately taught that, and then I teach them by showing them, you know, by, by leading by example, because I don't think your kids listen to you anyway. I think they watch you and what you're doing is going to teach them a lot more than what you're saying. It's what do you do that matters, and so I try to teach by example. You know, my kids are very entrepreneurial because they see me being entrepreneurial. My kids are optimistic. My kids think abundantly, and I think the importance of kindness and generosity are what I'm trying to teach them through being that way. So, again as a lesson, if I were to try and teach other parents, I would say your kids aren't really listening to you as much as you think they are, and when you think you're teaching them something by sitting down and talking to them, you're wasting your time. Do what you want them to do Like, be who you want them to be, and I think you'll get much farther.
Speaker 1:In terms of the teacher that you snatched, do you just let her get on with whatever? The same curriculum would be if they were actually still in school? You know the same subjects the same, whatever. You don't add a bit of this subtract, a bit of that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, reading, writing, arithmetic, things like that. You know some of the things like history, you know, having your basic knowledge, like who was george washington or you know who was uh, you know maximus aurelius you know. Sure that's, that's good and interesting. But you know, there's books and and information in the world. We live in a information age so I'm not too worried about the information they get. They're getting taught more on youtube than they are school anyway let's go back back to business.
Speaker 1:So, aside from Lightspeed, I believe you have a venture capital company, do you?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I have multiple companies now.
Speaker 1:So multiple other businesses or multiple that you invest in through the venture capital business.
Speaker 3:Well, some there too, but I don't consider those my businesses. Those are other people's businesses that I would invest in.
Speaker 1:But you've got other ones that you've set up yourself that you'd consider your business. Yeah, absolutely. What kind of fields?
Speaker 3:Financial services. Well, processing is financial services, but financial services, why am I drawing a blank? All of a sudden I've got real financial, real merchant services, real solar, little energy. But, it's all sales-based and product and service-based. Why am I forgetting all my companies? Now, yeah, real estate.
Speaker 1:Real estate.
Speaker 3:That's right. Consulting, you know. Training, you know. I show people how to get out of the rat race. I show people how to, you know, ultimately make more money and then what to do with that money to continue to grow and develop. So it's training.
Speaker 1:And in the businesses that you, that you invest in on the venture capital side, do you, do you get involved to to add value or that's or that's purely passive investment.
Speaker 3:Well, both you know, if I can help, I can help. I help, obviously, but mainly, you know, it's just rolling the dice on somebody else and trying to get my money to work for someone else, Because to me you're not going to get very far by yourself. So a lot of people say, well, how do you have seven companies and how do you deal with it? I don't. I have people that I partner with and that they run. They run those companies. They're every day focused on that company's growth companies. They're every day focused on that company's growth. I'm focused on how can I help those companies or those people become better, stronger, faster.
Speaker 1:What do you see as some of the most common mistakes or things that you would have done differently if you were running those businesses or those companies that you were investing in? What are some of the most common failings of entrepreneurs today?
Speaker 3:Probably the lack of knowledge in marketing and fundamental basics of business that a lot of people miss because they're so focused on the product or something, but just your basic fundamentals, marketing, marketing's huge People say well, brad, you focus on mindset, skillset and habits, you know. So what skills should someone possess? The ability to sell, close and persuade, the ability to market, which is, generate interest, and the ability to lead. You know leadership, believe it or not, is an unbelievable skill set to possess.
Speaker 1:How much do you think leadership is nature versus nurture or naturally? You know you possess natural um traits that you know lend towards that.
Speaker 3:You know, like some like if someone's you know attractive, they're going to have much more opportunity than if somebody is ugly. You know why I didn't make up the rules. It's just the way it is. If, if you have five candidates and one's an extremely attractive one, you're more likely to pick that one because of their looks. So I mean you're born with your looks.
Speaker 1:You can't necessarily change those I've always got to look at the CVs with the photos turned over so I don't make the wrong decision.
Speaker 3:Well, again, I mean, I do the opposite. I need to see you first, because if you can't, you know, keep yourself looking good and you don't have to be the most attractive for me to hire you. But that definitely factors in. I won't hire somebody sight unseen.
Speaker 1:Where do you think the line is drawn? Because obviously you know Andy Elliott's had a few famously viral videos for saying you know I'll fire, I'll fire anyone in my team without a six pack or you know words to that effect.
Speaker 3:Which isn't true.
Speaker 1:Which isn't true that he would do, you mean?
Speaker 3:Yeah, he has people on his team that don't have six packs, but but what he meant by that is if you're not trying to improve, we get rid of you. Yeah, which I agree with that. If you're not willing to improve, if you're not actively trying to improve yourself, you can't work for me, and that's really what he meant by that.
Speaker 1:So if, if someone came along at 280 pounds, let's say and said, listen, brad, I want to make my life better. Uh, I will try, you know. Would you? Would you give them a chance? Or would you be scarred by the fact that you think, fucking like you're 280 pounds? You've clearly not put any effort into anything whatsoever up until this point. I'm not, I'm not, even, I'm not even going to chance it.
Speaker 3:No, I'd give them a chance only because you know people can change and people do change and, ironically, people need to change. So where you start doesn't determine where you end up. I'm proof of that. So at the end of the day, I give anybody a chance. The question is can they capitalize on it?
Speaker 1:And how true do you think the view is that? You know, let's say, grossly overweight. People shouldn't be or can't be in sales or in particular roles, because if they don't have the hunger and desire to look after themselves, then how are they going to have the hunger and desire to push someone's company forward or work hard?
Speaker 3:Well, it's priority. They don't value themselves enough, and that's something that you're supposed to learn.
Speaker 1:But I mean, do you ever come across big fat guys who have got no interest in looking after themselves whatsoever, but for whatever reason they sell like hell?
Speaker 3:Yeah, because, again, priorities. They don't value themselves, but they value their bank account. I know a lot of people that are out of shape and financially successful, so you can be fat and still make money. Obviously, there's a lot of fat rich people. So, at the end of the day, it just means that you're not valuing health as much as I believe you should. But if you came to me, 250 pounds or 80 pounds or whatever, you're obese, and, by the way, I mean 250 could be ripped too, so it's not a weight per se, it's visually. 250 could be ripped too. So it's not a weight per se, it's visually.
Speaker 3:How do you look? I already know that if you look like shit, you're going to be judged, and so you're automatically disadvantaged. So if I, if I see somebody in physical shape versus someone who's out of shape, I'm already looking at this person. Why? Well, because this person is going to have an easier time persuading people because of their fitness level versus someone who's not in shape. But as far as a chance goes like I'm going to give someone a chance, it's not going to be based solely on their looks. It does factor into it, though, and a lot of people will act like that's politically incorrect. To say, well, I don't really care. It's the truth. You know, I and a lot of people will act like that's politically incorrect to say, well, I don't really care. It's the truth. You know, I've had a lot of opportunity thrown my way because of how I looked. So you know, the better you look, the more opportunities you have. That's just the truth.
Speaker 3:Now, if someone's sitting out there and they're butt ugly and they have no chance because they are just hideous looking Well, then, dude, you got to beautify the inside. You have to, you know, go above and beyond. It's like someone that says they have a thyroid problem you know, I'm overweight because I have a thyroid issue Nine times out of 10, you take that person and you tear down their habits. They don't have a thyroid issue. That's that makes it more difficult. But what they have is a thyroid issue. That's that makes it more difficult. But what they have is a lazy issue. In other words, you take someone with no thyroid issue and then the person with the thyroid issue the person with the thyroid issue might have to work five times harder, which, well, that's not fair. Again, life isn't fair. But at the end of the day, the person with the thyroid issue can still be in shape. They can still do it. It's just harder for them.
Speaker 3:Well, again, sorry, you know it is what it is, but the question is is, do you want it, for example, doesn't mean that they're going to stay that way. It means that the individual probably wasn't taught or they don't know or realize that it's just a priority situation. Just like me, if you go to my social media, sometimes I'm heavier and sometimes I'm more in shape. Why? Well, because priorities change. You get in shape.
Speaker 3:I've done it a million times where I've gotten in shape. And then I think, you know, I look good, I can have a donut man, I look good, I don't have to work out today, man, it's just one day, it doesn't matter. Then it gets away from you. Next thing, you know you're heavy. Again. Someone says, bro, you were in killer shape. What happened? Priorities changed. So again, priorities are going to change for people. The question is is who can stay focused, who has the discipline and the consistency to to, like you know, focus, not their physical appearance. Well, dude, that's learned. I can teach them that and hopefully, you know, get them to switch that. And and ultimately, again I mean dude, listen, there's a lot of very successful overweight people, so you don't have to be in shape to be successful.
Speaker 1:And you talk about your fitness. I saw you on Instagram the other day doing an Insta live, taking your top off or something saying. You know, I had a bet with Andy Elliott about getting a six pack, so you got the fitness priority at the moment then.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he bet me 90 days ago that I couldn't have a six pack by yesterday. Oh yeah, and so yesterday I showed everyone my six pack, which, again, you could argue well, it's not the most lean and ripped six pack I've ever seen. Well, that wasn't the bet, but that was can you count six abs? And yes, you could. And abs are made in the kitchen, so it's really just a matter of dieting. So I've got discipline and I started intermittent fasting when we started the bet and you know, I sacrificed for what I wanted rather than what I wanted to be the sacrifice. So, hey, I want to win this bet, so I won that's.
Speaker 1:I mean. It's so true what you say about the abs I made in the kitchen. I've lost quite a lot of weight over the last couple of years, but I was never fat fat. But I've just always loved my food too much and if you look at my exercise regime you'd think I should be a professional athlete or on the cover of Men's Health, but I just fucking love eating.
Speaker 3:Yeah. But there's the thing, See, you love food more than you love how you look. If you switch that, you would get in killer shape. Your priorities are with your taste buds. You enjoy food and, again, I don't think there's anything wrong with that. So do I. But if, all of a sudden, I told you, if you don't have a six pack in 90 days your daughter's going to die, that food won't mean shit to you anymore and people will. How'd you do it? I thought you loved food. You're going to be like not? It changed, your perspective changed. So, unfortunately, a lot of people wait until it's too late to to realize that they probably should have put a little more focus on the things that mattered, which number one is your health. You know you don't have to have a six pack, but you better be in in in better health, and every day you should be focusing on how can I become?
Speaker 1:healthier? Yeah, I mean, that's the thing that you know. Do I do I want a six pack? Yeah, I'd love a six pack, but do I don't want to have a six pack ahead of you know, big fat plates of aromatic duck and a bottle of red wine to wash it down with? Absolutely not. But you know, do I want the wine and the duck? Ahead of um, ahead of being, you know, not20, £230. Well, no, I've got my limits. I'm happy to take my shirt off. Yes, there'll be plenty of other people who are a lot more ripped than me, but I know I'm not stood in the school playground as the embarrassing dad with saggy tits or whatever it may be, so I guess we all justify it to ourselves in one way or another, don't we?
Speaker 3:Less priorities.
Speaker 1:Let's go back to the podcast for you. I mean, one of the favorite things about my podcast is I always say even if not one person ever listens to it or watches it, I don't care, because I get to sit down and have great conversations with great guests and, you know, ask the questions. I want to ask, almost like a a private, private university I mean, you've had too many guests to remember on yours. How many episodes are you at now? About 800. 800, yeah, I mean any real standout ones. You know standout episodes or guests, or you know learnings that you've taken away from that.
Speaker 3:Well, I learn from all of them.
Speaker 3:And I'm like you. I don't really care if anyone listens to it or not. I see it the same way you do. It's a chance for me to sit down and shoot the shit and pick up some information and ask questions and get to know somebody and build a relationship, and I've realized how important relationships actually are, and so it's an amazing opportunity. Plus, man, you find that you can get people on the podcast that you want some attention from that you wouldn't get otherwise. Yeah, so it's a great tool. I suggest everyone starts a podcast, um, but ultimately, I've learned from all of them and, yeah, there's some standout ones, obviously Patrick Bet-David, grant Cardone, dan Pena, you know, damon John, like.
Speaker 3:The list goes on for all the names you have heard of. But, believe it or not, I mean some of the ones that you've never heard of, people you've never heard of, are the most you know. Interesting to me Because you know you're getting to know people's stories. You know interesting to me because you know you're you're getting to know people's stories and, more importantly, you're finding out what they did to get past whatever challenge they had, and that, in and of itself, is a life hack, like if you want to get something in life, figure out what it is, find out someone who's already done it and then figure out what they did, and a lot of times on a podcast they'll tell you and if you ask the right questions and listen, you know they'll give you that information. And so now you've got the information, which is part of the equation. You need to take action, but you definitely have the information now.
Speaker 3:And so when they say information is power, well, again, partially, you know, you don't do anything with the information. It's not very powerful. But, uh, I learned from all of them it's the, it's the, it's the. You know big names that I could, that I could drop. That would make people go, oh, but in reality, you know, the one of the ones that I like the most is actually I didn't. I had a guest scheduled that didn't show up, so I grabbed my handyman that walks around my office make sure their light bulbs are in and walls are painted and kept up, and he's broke. He's not successful financially at all Matter of fact by most people's standards. He's not successful financially at all Matter of fact, by most people's standards. He's not successful at all. And that was one of my most well-liked podcasts.
Speaker 1:So I don't know the question, but I just want to go on a quick tangent on that. So what's? How do I ask the question? What does he think about working for someone like you then? So he's not wealthy, he's not successful by most of the people's normal metrics, but he works for arguably one of the most successful people out there. Does he want to get successful, does he want to learn, or is he just happy in his lane?
Speaker 3:It's a great question You'd have to ask him that.
Speaker 1:I don't know. You ask him and let me know.
Speaker 3:Well, apparently I would say he doesn't want to be successful. He doesn't come in and pick my brain.
Speaker 1:I was going to say he's never come and ask you a question and say, brad, help me with this. No, he doesn. I was going to say he's never come and asked you a question and said, brad, help me with this.
Speaker 3:No, he doesn't understand the power of networking, he doesn't understand the fundamentals of success and I don't think he'll ever find it based on you know what I see. But again, I mean, depends on whose definition you're going by. Mine, he, he's, not he's. He's one of those people that are just going to go through life stumbling and bumbling the whole time like this. Guy's been hit by a car three or four times. Well, is it literally?
Speaker 3:hit by a car yeah, like he rides a bike to work because he doesn't have a driver's license. And I said, well, why don't you get your driver's license? And he said, man, that's a lot of work is he? Happy? Uh, I, you'd have to ask him.
Speaker 3:He doesn't appear to be he doesn't appear, you know, ecstatic, walking around the office, excited. He always seems to wish he had this and he had that, rather than you, you know, getting it. You know he's not. He doesn't have goals and if he does, he doesn't apply any effort towards them. He's just your normal everyday guy. So, again, if I'm listening to this podcast and I identify with that guy, I'm listening to this podcast and I identify with that guy.
Speaker 3:The lesson to you would be you know, make a decision that you want something else and realize that you're going to have to do something else. Because, I mean, if you're working towards something, that's something that you want and you consistently push towards it, you're eventually going to get it. To me, that's something that you want and you consistently push towards it, you're eventually going to get it. To me, that's success. When you achieve something you set out to achieve, that's success. So I mean, whether it's big or small is subjective. You know, if I say, man, I'm going to go today and just try to spend an hour with my kids Good quality time Turn off my phone, you know there's nothing to do with money there but man, I'll tell you if I went and did that, that's success, isn't it?
Speaker 1:No, I always say exactly the same thing. I always have two answers to it. That you know, when people talk the um, the word success it's just naturally attached to something financial. But you know, for me the two metrics are did you achieve what you wanted to achieve? Like you know, if you set out and say you know what I want to be the best husband or the best wife or the fastest runner or whatever if you've gone and become that best husband or that fastest runner, then you are successful. And I think that has to also be coupled with the fact that are you happy? Because I think if you're not smiling ear to ear 95% plus at the time, then I think whatever else you've got around you, whatever else you've achieved, then I would argue you're not successful. Maybe you've hit the other success metrics, but I just don't see how you can be successful and unhappy at the same time, or rather, how you can be happy but not successful.
Speaker 3:Well, I think happiness is a choice. Yeah, so you choose to be happy, you don't find it, you don't achieve it, you choose it. So I mean, literally, you could put two people on the same predicament and one's happy and one's unhappy about it. Well, what's the difference? Perspective, one chose to be happy, and it is perspective, but like one's choosing it and one's not choosing it. And what's crazy, if you think about it, we control our reactions, like we choose to react how we react. So if you choose your reaction, then you kind of control the outcome of everything. So if I walked in the room and you know, give you some nonsense where it pisses you off, who chose to be pissed off? Me.
Speaker 3:So why would you choose to be pissed off if you have a different choice? But if someone were to come in and ask you what happened? Well, he came in and you and see, you're blaming me now, when in reality, you're the dude that chose that?
Speaker 1:And I shouldn't have let you in.
Speaker 3:Or you should have just chose to react differently. I mean, it's really foolish of us to get angry and we all accidentally get angry, including me. But in a lot of cases I go back and reflect on what caused it, and every time I realized I caused it, someone came in and pissed me off. Well, I chose to be pissed off. Literally piss me off. Well, I chose to be pissed off Literally. I could have chose to laugh. I could have chose to to be different. So I chose to get them to get unhappy or get pissed off.
Speaker 3:And when you start to realize it, you start to think man, I get to choose. Well, if you can choose to be happy or not, why would you choose to be unhappy? So when you ask someone are you happy, if they say no, they're choosing that. They're making that choice. That's a choice. So I believe you choose to be happy. It has nothing to do with anything Now, can you be successful and unhappy Depends on the opinion. It depends on your view of success, right? Exactly so again, I know people that are very successful from the outside, but inside they're not happy at all. But they are, by standards, successful. So it is possible to be successful and happy by other people's definition. But I'll bet you, if you ask that person, do you think you're successful? He's going to say in what regard. You know, financially, yeah, I'm very successful or I'm very happy with my you know results, but I'm unhappy overall.
Speaker 3:Why my wife doesn't love me, my kids don't love me. I feel empty inside. You know I don't have any spirituality. You know I don't feel good about myself. To me that's not successful. Then I don't care how much money you have or don't have. Like I would envy somebody that goes through life, happy as you could be, with nothing in their pocket. Like I would love to be able to freaking, literally walk through life every day, not caring about money. But I, just I need money. You can't, I cannot find a way to operate without it, you know, and I'm not happy without it. So when you ask me, is money? Uh, you know, can it buy happiness?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it can as long as you choose to be happy well, I again I.
Speaker 3:I've tried to choose happiness because I believe it's a choice. So, again, it might sound contradictory, but I I've struggled with this, like right now I have the grand suite at the atlantis. There's only one. It's ridiculously nice that that makes me happy.
Speaker 3:If I didn't have the money and I was stuck in a little one bedroom suite, could I still be happy? Sure, I could be, but I wouldn't be. Why? Well, because I want that one, I want the best, I want the finer things in life. That's just me. Would I recommend that? No, not necessarily. I would recommend the opposite. I'd recommend don't worry about it. It's just that I envy the person in the little one bedroom room who's happy, like him. He's happy in his room. Matter of fact, he's probably thinking this is the nicest room I've ever been in and he's in a regular old room because I got to pay for it. So I stuck him in a regular room. But, dude to him, he's happy in that room. Why? Because of the comparative, otherwise he wouldn't be here, he'd be back home. He's happy to be in Dubai.
Speaker 1:But I guess even for you it's got to be more than just a room. So, like you know, you're there, you've got your wife, you've got your kids, that you know. Presumably you're all making each other happy. And I know, like you know, looking at the other side, my missus and I, we fucking hate each other and that's another whole story in itself. And you know I live in a triplex. You know, 800 meter penthouse here, you know, which, you know, I guess, by all these traditional standards we're talking about, is the epitome of success. When I go to a friend's house, whether you're male or female, whatever, in their shoe box, I have the best night of my life. I think fuck. And I always say fuck. You know, I'm so much happier in here, you know, with someone I want to be sat with doing the things I want to do than going back to that palace. And you know, I mean I'd rather be with that person who makes me happy in the palace.
Speaker 1:But in the absence of one or the other, I'd take the happiness over the palace.
Speaker 3:Well, wouldn't we all? But at the end of the day, the question is why can't you make your palace happy? I've got to get rid of the missus.
Speaker 1:Well then, why don't you? Because, um, because then the baby would go with her. And right now, why? Would they go? With her. Why would they go with her? Because I mean, ultimately, as a I mean we're getting deep and personal now.
Speaker 1:But as a, as a, as an, as an unmarried, uh, as an unmarried, uh, nonemirati here in the UAE and my baby's mother is not English either or not Emirati, I've got no rights as a father and ultimately I've taken the short-term decision that the happiness the baby brings me on a daily basis outweighs the misery I mean she doesn't make me miserable. Ultimately, we just ignore each other and live in our separate lanes, and I guess what I'm missing out on by continuing to be with her is the ability to start a meaningful relationship with another woman Right now, at my stage in life. She won't let you.
Speaker 1:Oh, no, no, no, she would. But what I mean is I can't do that whilst I'm living with her.
Speaker 3:Why can't you?
Speaker 1:Well, because the one I live with might allow it, but the new one's not going to take too kindly to the fact that.
Speaker 3:You're making an assumption.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm talking hypothetically, but maybe she has said that she doesn't take too kindly to it.
Speaker 3:In reality. Well, it may be reality, but reality is what you make it also. So, again, you're limiting your beliefs. Potentially, you could just simply say I'm going to find one that's okay with this situation and go out and and have everything you want in life. You're limiting yourself by saying someone's not going to want to do that how do?
Speaker 1:you know, no, no, I mean plenty. I'm certainly in dubai, there's plenty of girls who will want to do that, but I guess I guess a loyal, trustworthy, meaningful one, uh, you know, might not, uh, might not take too kindly to the fact that, um, I'm still, I'm still living with another one, but who knows? Who knows, I'm gonna do that when I walk out of here.
Speaker 3:I would.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna go and run a survey no, I mean I would.
Speaker 3:I would go to the one that I don't like and I would say listen first of all, just because you have no rights doesn't mean she wouldn't voluntarily give you some rights.
Speaker 1:Well, we've.
Speaker 3:I mean I'd sit her down and I'd say listen, obviously you don't want to be with me and I don't necessarily want to be with you, but we love. We both love our child. Would you agree that I'm better with the child than without? So, even though I'm not entitled, I would sure love to strike a deal where we can share joint custody. Maybe I get you your own apartment, which you would love, and I would have my own apartment, which I would love, and we could share the child. And when they say, when she says, yes, get, get a lawyer and make an agreement and now you have your rights, no, I couldn't, I couldn't agree with you anymore.
Speaker 1:I like to. This is a long, long, long conversation for when there's not cameras in the room but that, but the. The reality of our situation is, you know, she drinks too much. She does, she does other stuff she shouldn't, do. You know, coming from my, my original business was, you know, was, was, uh, was 10 years of running strip clubs. And you know, coming from my original business, was, you know, was 10 years of running strip clubs. And you know people will consider me fruity, to say the least. But even I think a moral compass is just fucked. And you know, I think if I, you know, I'd, you know, four days into it I'd be thinking fucking hell. You know what's she being exposed to. I also take the view that she didn't come to Dubai to live in a two bedroom apartment. You know she's a smoking hot girl who will get picked up by someone else at some point in the not too distant future, which will then, you know, impact on my childlike ability.
Speaker 1:But we'll maybe finish this conversation off some other time. Let's bring it back and don't have to give my editor too much editing to do. Listen, brad, it's been great to have you here. Like I said, as someone who's listened to your podcast for so many years, it's been exciting to have you as a guest. I'll start all that again, brad. Thanks a lot for being here. Buddy, it's been great to have you on the podcast and, as someone who's listened to yours for so many years, thank you for being my most long-awaited and exciting guest to date.
Speaker 1:Just before you go, I think, one last question I want to ask you is I'm quite interested at the minute in, let's say, planning out my dream days and planning out my dream life, because this kind of follows on from what we talked about about success a minute ago, that we probably fall into the trap of doing things just because, just because we're doing them. You know, like, um, we love business, so we're doing business. But you know, do we love every aspect of business? We do. Do we love all the different businesses that we're in?
Speaker 1:And I, you know I certainly haven't planned out my perfect day by any stretch, but you know I'm, as I'm getting older, much more interested in waking up without an alarm clock. You know, carving out a couple of hours a day for quality time with my daughter, making sure that my gym and fitness happen in a morning and happen as a priority above. You know, potentially most of the things, but, like I said, I haven't got my perfect day planned out yet, but when I have I'll let you know. How do you see your days in your life, uh, in terms of you know, are you doing everything you want to do? Or, you know, are there some, some things that you would like to change, uh, and maybe are trying to change?
Speaker 3:for the most part, it is what I wanted it to be. I just want a little more like for example, I don't fly private everywhere I go.
Speaker 3:I want to fly private everywhere I go, I want more homes than I have and I want more freedom than I have. I still am obligated to do certain things. I want no more obligation. That's my preference, like I want to be able to have, because I spent a lot of time making money and spending money. I didn't spend a lot of time investing money, so now I'm playing catch up with investments. To where? Had I been smarter, I would be currently 10 times more wealthy and in a much what I would consider better position, because right now I am still obligated to go to work because I did not invest, I spent.
Speaker 1:But you're only obligated to go to work because of the financial standards that you set, maybe by most people. You could generationally most people's standards. You could generationally retire.
Speaker 3:I could definitely retire, but not to the standard that I want. So again, you know I could have flew private here technically, but no way.
Speaker 3:100 grand journey, 300 really round trip yeah, but no way not when emirates, which is probably nicer than flying private. Uh, was you know 10 grand. So it's like if I were where I wanted to be. So it's like if I were where I wanted to be 300, no problem, no worries. Why? Cause it's never running out Like.
Speaker 3:I generate so much passively that I don't need to worry ever again about financial burdens. So my goal is to get to a point where, financially, I am unburdened. Once I reach that goal, then I'm going to shift to where now I just want to live and help and contribute and travel. I keep looking at the Coliseum. I would love to leave here and go to the Coliseum and hang out in Italy for a month, stay at the nicest hotels and we don't even carry luggage. We'll just wear clothes and leave them in the hotel room and go on to the next one, and then from there, maybe the South of France, and then from there, maybe to Switzerland, because it's right around Christmas and I want to spend Christmas in Switzerland. And then from there, maybe who knows, back to Italy, cause we, we loved a little restaurant in the in this, in the square. To me that's the goal, unburdened financially.
Speaker 3:And right now I wish I could say that I am, but I'm not now. Could I retire? Well, sure, but I'd still be burdened financially. In other words, could I retire? Well, sure, but I'd still be burdened financially. In other words, you know, at some point like it's going to run out if I don't keep it going? So I'm playing catch up with investments. I think in the next three to five years I'll achieve the financial level to where I'm no longer burdened, and then I'm going to shift and just start living 100% living, cool living cool, well, great answer, and hopefully the next time we catch up you can that you can tell me that you're a little less burdened than you are today.
Speaker 1:I hope so. Thanks a lot for being here, brad. Thanks for having me.
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