My Worst Investment Ever
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Popular Episodes with Guests Sharing Different Experiences
BIO: John Spence is an author, international executive coach,
professional development educator, virtual trainer, strategic
planning facilitator, keynote speaker, and developer of online
learning programs. STORY: When John was a young CEO of one of the
Rockefeller Foundations, he invested in the trappings of a CEO,
such as big houses, boats, wines, artwork, etc., all in the name of
impressing people. All these things were lost in days when
Hurricane Andrew hit Miami. LEARNING: Don’t let material things
define... more BIO: John Spence is an author, international executive coach, professional development educator, virtual trainer, strategic planning facilitator, keynote speaker, and developer of online learning programs.
STORY: When John was a young CEO of one of the Rockefeller Foundations, he invested in the trappings of a CEO, such as big houses, boats, wines, artwork, etc., all in the name of impressing people. All these things were lost in days when Hurricane Andrew hit Miami.
LEARNING: Don’t let material things define you. The ultimate freedom is the freedom of mind. The accumulation of things is uncorrelated to happiness.
“Be grateful for everything you have now.”John Spence
Guest profilehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbspence/ (John Spence) is an author, international executive coach, professional development educator, virtual trainer, strategic planning facilitator, keynote speaker, and developer of online learning programs.
John is recognized as one of the top business thought leaders and leadership development experts in the world and was named by the American Management Association as one of America’s Top 50 Leaders to Watch, along with Sergey Brin and Larry Page of Google and Jeff Bezos of Amazon.
As a consultant and coach to organizations worldwide, from startups to the Fortune 10, John is dedicated to helping people and businesses be more successful by “Making the Very Complex… Awesomely Simple.”
Worst investment everJohn became the CEO of one of the Rockefeller Foundations when he was 26 years old. This saw him earn a significant salary. John decided to use his earnings to invest in houses, boats, artwork, wine collections, and everything else that were the trappings of being the CEO of a multinational company. At a young age, John thought that those were the things that would impress other people.
In 1989, Hurricane Andrew hit Miami and destroyed everything John owned. In just a matter of days, all his properties and belongings were gone. John had invested so much time, energy, effort, and ego in all that stuff, and it was all taken away in one day.
Lessons learnedEven when you suffer a significant loss, stay focused on your values and remember that others have been through worse.
Material things are lovely, but they don’t define you.
You’re stronger than you think you are.
Be grateful for everything you have now.
Andrew’s takeawaysThe ultimate freedom is the freedom of mind—the freedom to think and detach.
The accumulation of things is uncorrelated to happiness.
Actionable adviceLook at the things that are truly important and valuable in your life.
No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsJohn’s goal for the next 12 months is to learn more and meet more people.
Parting words
“Just live by your values, treat other people with love and have fun.”John Spence
[spp-transcript]
Connect with John Spencehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbspence/ (LinkedIn)
https://twitter.com/awesomelysimple (Twitter)
https://www.facebook.com/johnspenceleadership/ (Facebook)
https://www.instagram.com/johnspencespeaker/ (Instagram)
https://www.youtube.com/user/flycasterjbs (YouTube)
https://johnspence.com/ (Website)
https://amzn.to/39BdVdd (Books)
Andrew’s bookshttps://amzn.to/3qrfHjX (How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market)
https://amzn.to/2PDApAo (My Worst Investment Ever)
https://amzn.to/3v6ip1Y (9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them)
https://amzn.to/3emBO8M (Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 Points)
Andrew’s online programshttps://valuationmasterclass.com/ (Valuation Master Class)
https://academy.astotz.com/courses/how-to-start-building-your-wealth-investing-in-the-stock-market (How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market)
https://academy.astotz.com/courses/finance-made-ridiculously-simple (Finance Made Ridiculously Simple)
https://academy.astotz.com/courses/gp (Become a Great Presenter and Increase Your Influence)... less
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Cameron Herold – Don’t Let Your Mindset Block Your Next $108-Million Investment
Cameron Herold is the founder of the COO Alliance & Second In
Command Podcast. He is known worldwide as THE CEO Whisperer and is
the mastermind behind hundreds of companies’ exponential growth.
Cameron has built a dynamic consultancy by speaking, not from
theory, but experience. He earned his reputation as the business
growth guru by guiding his clients to double their profit and
double their revenue in just three years or less. Cameron was an
entrepreneur from day 1. At age 21, he had 14 employees. By 35,... more Cameron Herold is the founder of the COO Alliance & Second In Command Podcast. He is known worldwide as THE CEO Whisperer and is the mastermind behind hundreds of companies’ exponential growth. Cameron has built a dynamic consultancy by speaking, not from theory, but experience. He earned his reputation as the business growth guru by guiding his clients to double their profit and double their revenue in just three years or less.
Cameron was an entrepreneur from day 1. At age 21, he had 14 employees. By 35, he’d help build his first two $100 million companies. By the age of 42, Cameron engineered 1-800-GOT-JUNK?’s spectacular growth from $2 million to $106 million in revenue and 3,100 employees—and he did that in just six years.
Not only does Cameron know how to grow businesses, but the current publisher of Forbes magazine called him “The best speaker I’ve ever heard...”.
Cameron is the author of the global best-selling business book Double Double, which is in its 7th printing and multiple translations around the world, as well as Meetings Suck and The Miracle Morning for Entrepreneurs. Look for all of Cameron’s five business books on Amazon today.
“Working hard isn’t the path to success, but working smart is.”
Cameron Herold
Worst investment ever Cameron used to judge people based on the way they looked. He naturally gravitated to the good looking guy, the woman who looked successful, people who dressed and carried themselves well. In his mind, those were successful people.
He would not give a thought to people who didn’t look successful, dressed more casually, who didn’t shave, probably overweight, and weren’t attractive. Cameron judged them as not being successful. He would avoid spending time getting to know them. Because he would judge very quickly, he would often miss out on opportunities.
Snobbing the outsiders In the summer of 2008, Cameron invited https://tim.blog/ (Tim Ferriss) to come to his first time at Burning Man; it would be Cameron’s second time. Tim said yes and brought two friends with him. One of Tim’s friends was an entrepreneur.
At Burning Man, Tim and his timid friends didn’t quite fit in with Cameron’s group. Cameron’s friends did not embrace them, so they became the outsiders to his group. Being his usual judgy self, Cameron spent more time with his group than Tim and his friends.
The missed opportunity of a lifetime One night, very late, Tim’s friend, the entrepreneur, wanted to pitch Cameron and his friends on a business that he was starting and had an investment opportunity. Cameron, however, did not give him any credit when he pitched his idea. He just brushed him off, thinking that because his first business was such a silly one, his second business wouldn’t be very successful.
Tim’s friend explained his idea of pressing a button on an app, and a taxi or limousine would come to you. Apps at the time were a new and unpopular phenomenon. Cameron and his friends thought that this was the stupidest idea they’d ever heard. Cameron and his friends refused to invest in the business. Tim, however, put in $25,000 into the business. This business turned out to be Uber.
The guy that Cameron judged as weird and not worth his time was Garrett Camp, the original CEO and founder of Uber. By saying no to him, Cameron missed out on $108 million, considering the company’s valuation the day of its IPO.
Lessons learned Do not judge a book by its cover Do not judge people at face value. Take your time and get to know people before you judge them. When you go to conferences and other events, sit with people who don’t necessarily fit in. Get out of your comfort zone, meet new people, get to know them, and connect with them.
Andrew’s takeaways Opportunities are all around us Often, we look at the opportunities that we miss and feel bad about it. But it’s always important to remember that there are millions of opportunities that we’re missing every single day. So don’t beat... less
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Avelo Roy – Don’t Let Investors Force You Into Something You Don’t Believe In
https://www.linkedin.com/in/avelo/ (Avelo Roy) is a serial tech
entrepreneur, investor, and TV host, who started his first startup
at the age of 19 around his patent-pending technology while still
studying as a computer engineer at Illinois Institute of
Technology. He built that company up to a multi-million dollar
valuation by the age of 22. Over the years, he has built eight
businesses in the US and India with millions of dollars’ worth of
products and services ranging from consumer electronics, artificial... more https://www.linkedin.com/in/avelo/ (Avelo Roy) is a serial tech entrepreneur, investor, and TV host, who started his first startup at the age of 19 around his patent-pending technology while still studying as a computer engineer at Illinois Institute of Technology. He built that company up to a multi-million dollar valuation by the age of 22.
Over the years, he has built eight businesses in the US and India with millions of dollars’ worth of products and services ranging from consumer electronics, artificial intelligence systems, healthcare process automation, food science, wireless communications, wearable technology, and graphical password applications.
As the great-great-grandson of the first female governor of India, a Gandhi-protégé (Sarojini Naidu), Avelo continues the legacy forward by tirelessly serving the Indian youth through entrepreneurship education using lean startup methodology and principles of Bhagavad Gita. His efforts through https://kolkataventures.com/ (Kolkata Ventures) in the past three years have resulted in 400+ revenue-generating startups responsible for around 4,500 new jobs created in 10 states of East India.
“Your investors should not have the right to tell you what to do, but they can advise.”
Avelo Roy
Worst investment ever Avelo came across this fantastic well-respected venture capitalist who kept asking him to join a company that he wanted to buy from the current co-founders. The venture capitalist nagged Avelo for six months, but he kept saying no to his request. At the time, Avelo was running his business in Kolkata while the venture capitalist was in Delhi.
The venture capitalist was so interested in hiring Avelo that he flew down to Kolkata. He told Avelo in two hours, everything that he was doing wrong with Kolkata Ventures. The guy knew what he was talking about.
Getting a local mentor Avelo grew quite interested in the venture capitalist, especially because he needed a mentor in India. At the end of their discussion, Avelo decided to take up his offer. So he flew down to Delhi. He looked at the team and the business to see what was possible.
The warning he should have heed The founder of the company told Avelo not to take the deal. He said to him that he’d been unable to run the company. The venture capitalist told Avelo to ignore the founder. The reason why they were getting rid of him was that he was very arrogant.
He convinced Avelo to come on board and buy the founder out together. It took six months to get the papers in order and finally get access to the product.
Working with the best The product the founder had built was the best in its category in the UK. But then the investors purposely let the founder “die”; they stopped investing. People came in with money and saw his arrogance, and would back off.
When Avelo got the product, it was just buggy, irrelevant, and had many problems. The biggest hurdle, though, was that the payment gateway was not working. There was no way for customers to pay for the product.
Trying to get things back on track Once Avelo had the team ready, he proposed to rebuild the product to the investors. They refused and said that the product was known for its intelligence built with so many data sets, and had hundreds of thousands of users. He couldn’t get rid of it, create something in six months, and expect it to work. They insisted that Avelo work with the product as it was and make it work.
Avelo was getting quite frustrated with this decision. Having built eight businesses, gone through a product development life cycle over and over again, he knew that when you deal with somebody else’s code, it takes a long time to learn it. It is far easier and smarter to rebuild from scratch than take somebody else’s mess and try to make sense of it. But the investors disagreed with Avelo on that.
All gateways shut The product was not making money as the payment gateway was still not working. To make matters worse, when the... less
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Todd Dewett – How the Pain of Failure Can Inspire You to Become an Expert
https://www.linkedin.com/in/drdewett/ (Dr. Todd Dewett) is a
best-selling leadership author, educator, and professional speaker.
After beginning his career with Andersen Consulting and Ernst &
Young, he completed his Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior at Texas
A&M University and enjoyed a career as an award-winning
professor. Today he speaks, writes, coaches, and has created an
educational library of courses at LinkedIn Learning that is enjoyed
by millions of professionals in nearly every country in the world.... more https://www.linkedin.com/in/drdewett/ (Dr. Todd Dewett) is a best-selling leadership author, educator, and professional speaker. After beginning his career with Andersen Consulting and Ernst & Young, he completed his Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior at Texas A&M University and enjoyed a career as an award-winning professor.
Today he speaks, writes, coaches, and has created an educational library of courses at LinkedIn Learning that is enjoyed by millions of professionals in nearly every country in the world. Visit him online at http://www.drdewett.com (www.drdewett.com).
“Hard work always pays, but it’s not always in money. Sometimes it’s in growth and learning, and sometimes that ends up making you more money in the long term.”
Todd Dewett
Worst investment ever The successful young professor Todd was a young professor teaching classes and writing papers. His little fledging side career of speaking at conferences started to grow. Todd was getting more and more calls to speak at conferences. He was now feeling happy, grateful, and entirely too full of himself.
Jumping on a trend Todd was doing an ancient podcast back then when no one was doing them when he noticed an obvious trend or what he thought was an obvious trend. He noticed that that microlearning, shorter focused videos from YouTube were becoming popular.
Todd kept getting feedback from students and people in the community and businesses about his talks. And so he figured well if he’s that good, then people would pay for his advice.
Investing his inheritance Todd’s mother, unfortunately, passed and left him a small amount of money. He decided to do something he’d been thinking about for several years at that point, which was launching a business to monetize the advice he loved to give. And so he jumped onto the micro-video trend.
Todd hired a video director who came with a lighting person and a hair and makeup person. Todd wrote scripts for over 100 initial mini-courses, three to five-minute advice oriented bits that he was going to do. Then he scouted the city where he lived, got 10 different locations, and started shooting the videos.
Lights, cameras Todd was having a blast creating this database. He also hired a firm to build a subscription-based website in readiness for all the people he knew who would love his videos and pay top dollar, no doubt.
And so he took over $100,000 and created all of this content over many hours, working alone to write and working with his team to shoot videos, have them edited, and loaded onto the website.
Action The day to launch the videos finally came. Todd hit up his list and told them the videos were live. He went onto social media and made a huge announcement. Then he waited for the money to start rolling in. Crickets chirped.
On the first day, only two people signed up. Then one person the next day. That’s almost all he ever got. Todd called his clients, and they said they were not sure the videos were what they needed. He heard many other statements about why the videos weren’t the right thing for so and so.
Admitting he had failed Todd had this beautiful product. He had told so many people about it publicly through every microphone he could get his hands on, but no one cared.
Six or seven months into this, Todd made a public announcement that this thing he was so proud of working very hard on and that had cost him more than any single investment he’d ever made in his entire life, was an absolute failure. He admitted that it was indeed his worst investment ever. It didn’t come close to breakeven; frankly, it just failed.
Lessons learned To become an expert, you must learn Don’t be blinded by what you know, and thus less capable of seeing what you should learn. At the very least, build a team to help you understand what you don’t know. To become an expert, talk to smart people who know what you don’t and build a team that knows things you don’t.
Andrew’s takeaways It’s not only about... less
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Nathanial Bibby – Growth Happens When Only You Can Help Yourself
Nathanial Bibby ranks number one in the Asia Pacific region on the
Social Media Marketing Institute’s top LinkedIn marketers list, and
he won Best Use of LinkedIn at the Social Media Marketing Awards
2019. He is a two-time finalist for the 2020 Social Media Marketing
Awards for his campaigns “Monday Night Live” and “LinkedIn vs.
Instagram.” https://www.bibbyconsultinggroup.com.au/ (Bibby
Consulting Group) has generated over $400 million in sales through
LinkedIn lead generation. “If you’re... more Nathanial Bibby ranks number one in the Asia Pacific region on the Social Media Marketing Institute’s top LinkedIn marketers list, and he won Best Use of LinkedIn at the Social Media Marketing Awards 2019.
He is a two-time finalist for the 2020 Social Media Marketing Awards for his campaigns “Monday Night Live” and “LinkedIn vs. Instagram.”
https://www.bibbyconsultinggroup.com.au/ (Bibby Consulting Group) has generated over $400 million in sales through LinkedIn lead generation.
“If you’re basing what you do in life on other people’s opinions of you, you will never be fulfilled.”
Nathanial Bibby
Worst investment ever Ever since Nathanial started going to school, everything he did was geared towards seeking his family’s attention, especially his father. A lot of what he did at university and early on in his career was geared towards other people’s opinions. He always thought it was his responsibility to solve all of his father’s problems. It came as no surprise that after completing university, Nathanial went to work with his father in Phuket doing property development.
A father-son duo Nathanial and his father were very successful in terms of sales, and the business was booming. Soon enough, his dad bought more land and developments that only caused trouble in their business.
Spreading his wings Nathanial left Phuket and moved to Hong Kong, where he worked a job that he hated but kept doing it because his family thought it was the right job for him.
Nathaniel tried several other things that he thought would please his family. It took him about six or seven years to do something that he wanted to do.
Standing on his own Nathanial finally dared to do what he truly wanted. He quit his job and started a company, to the dismay of his family and friends. They all thought that he was insane and did not talk to him for six months. But, this was the most fulfilling decision Nathanial has ever made.
Lessons learned Start listening to yourself If you’re basing what you do in life on other people’s opinions of you, you will never be fulfilled. Ignore the views of others, and listen to yourself. Start doing what you are most passionate about.
Follow your passions It might be hard to say no to people and go out on your own. People will judge you and resist you changing altogether. But, when you succeed, they will respect you.
Andrew’s takeaways Be more of you Often, the challenge is not to be like someone else; the challenge is to be more of you. Ultimately, you are unique, you are the only one, and you are your uniqueness. So be more of you.
You can make it through the bad times Things don’t bring happiness. What brings joy is peace with yourself and having good people around you. With these two things, you can make it through anything. You can make it through losing everything, losing all the money that you have, if you have yourself, and good people around you.
Actionable advice Find what you’re passionate about because if you’re a business owner, you’re going to run into some big challenges. If you’re not passionate about your business, you’ll probably give up, and the passionate people will outwork you.
Secondly, start adding value without expectation, and all the things you need will get taken care of. The world will find a way to meet your human needs, whether it be your financial needs and your business, or relationships or what have you. All you need to do is get out of your head and focus on giving and helping other people.
No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Nathanial’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to simply turn 36 years old.
Parting words
“Andrew, keep doing what you’re doing. I love seeing people adding value. It’s fantastic.”
Nathanial Bibby
[spp-transcript]
Connect with Nathanial Bibby LinkedIn
Twitter
YouTube
Website
Andrew’s books How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market
My Worst Investment Ever
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Greg Au-Yeung – Debt Management Tip: Only Invest What You Can Afford to Lose
https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregauyeung/ (Greg Au-Yeung) has held
senior executive positions at various global banks in China,
including Saxo, UBS, ANZ, Morgan Stanley, and State Street Bank. He
has a solid track record pioneering, building, and managing
technology centers in China that deliver innovative solutions and
support digital transformation programs for incumbent banks and
FinTech. Greg is currently Senior Advisor for Shanghai Fudan
University, specializing in FinTech, and the Co-founder of the
Financial... more https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregauyeung/ (Greg Au-Yeung) has held senior executive positions at various global banks in China, including Saxo, UBS, ANZ, Morgan Stanley, and State Street Bank. He has a solid track record pioneering, building, and managing technology centers in China that deliver innovative solutions and support digital transformation programs for incumbent banks and FinTech.
Greg is currently Senior Advisor for Shanghai Fudan University, specializing in FinTech, and the Co-founder of the Financial Technology Talent Standardization Committee. He was also the China columnist for Shanghai Daily, ComputerWorld, and various newspapers and magazines in Hong Kong and China.
He graduated with a degree in Computer Science from the University of Westminster (UK), completed the Executive MBA program at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and certified from MIT (Artificial Intelligence), Harvard University (FinTech), and Copenhagen Business School (Digital Transformation-Financial Services). He is also a Chartered Information Technology Professional, a Fellow of the Hong Kong Computer Society, a member of the British Computer Society, the Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce (Shanghai), and the American Chamber of Commerce (Shanghai).
“I do speculate sometimes, but only when I can afford it.”
Greg Au-Yeung
Worst investment ever Around 1995, Greg’s parents decided to invest in additional property when prices were on a record high. Because they could not raise funding, they had to remortgage their current properties and borrow money from the bank. Due to the high property prices, the interest on the bank loan was high too.
Here comes the Asian financial crisis For one year, everything was good, and the investments were making good returns. Then boom! The bubble burst and the property market crashed. In just two years, property prices went down by 50% and continued to go down for almost eight years.
The banks still wanted their money Greg’s parents still owed money to the bank. The bank came knocking on their door, wanting to get paid. So they had to start selling the properties at much lower prices than before, including some of the properties they held before just to pay off the debt. They experienced a substantial loss in the family’s assets.
Lessons learned Always know what you can afford Make sure that you always understand what you can and cannot afford. Before you leverage or borrow money, know that you have to pay it back and with interest.
You cannot live on credit Don’t hide under the comfort of a paycheck and think that you can live on credit; you can’t. The world is not the same anymore. That comfort can be taken away from you anytime.
Make debt management a priority To make debt management possible, always live within your means because you don’t know what will happen next year. Your job could be lost tomorrow. The economy could go down the drain tomorrow; just see what COVID-19 has done.
Andrew’s takeaways Expect economic crashes Crashes in the economy happen. They can be massive and can take years for them to recover.
Almost every economic crisis is a property market crisis An economic crisis starts with the property. Part of the reason is that property is the ultimate collateral that backs the loans.
Debt is the number one risk in business and life Debt can take you down just when you don’t expect it. There are other risks, such as foreign exchange, but ultimately, the number one risk is debt. To manage your debt, do not get overextended. If you’re going to borrow money for yourself or business, borrow a small amount. You may have slower growth, but you will protect your wealth over the long term.
The free market should set interest rates The free market should set interest rates because interest is the price of risk. And when you distort the price of risk, you cause tremendous distortions in your country’s economy and the global economy.
Actionable advice Afford what you can less
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Tony Fish – CEOs Can Defraud a Business in Very Hard to Detect Ways
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonyfish/ (Tony Fish) thrives in
complex, ground-breaking, and uncertain environments, bringing
proven judgment and decision-making skills with cross-sectorial
experience. He has a track record of sense-making and foresight,
with enthusiasm and drive that is contagious. Tony is a maverick
and (un)intentional rule breaker. His focus is on how the future of
corporate governance, decision making, and judgment will be
affected by complex data at the corporate board level. This focus... more https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonyfish/ (Tony Fish) thrives in complex, ground-breaking, and uncertain environments, bringing proven judgment and decision-making skills with cross-sectorial experience. He has a track record of sense-making and foresight, with enthusiasm and drive that is contagious. Tony is a maverick and (un)intentional rule breaker.
His focus is on how the future of corporate governance, decision making, and judgment will be affected by complex data at the corporate board level. This focus leads him to speak about what board meetings will look like in 2025, and the implications and unintended consequences.
Tony has founded, co-founded, sold, and listed many businesses and remains deeply passionate about new ways of creating value, inspiring, and supporting the next generation of thinkers and doers.
“You learn the most from the worst and the toughest times. There is no doubt that you go into your worst investment to learn more.”
Tony Fish
Worst investment ever Tony made his worst investment ever as a board chairman. His company had a simple idea to deliver a product to three million captive customers in the UK market. Those customers had already fairly much adopted the product, but they were particularly sensitive to price. For this reason, all of the existing players, because of their large infrastructures, could not offer the price that would see the customers carry on being incredibly loyal.
Getting it right from the start With this advantage, Tony’s company started from scratch with a different philosophy and different economics and got price efficiency from day one. The company wanted to create something which was highly efficient, effective, and built from the ground up.
They identified a power player, which was a company that had access to their market and utter control over the digital channels to this market. They did a cross-shareholding with this supplier to get a deal, which gave them access to that market in terms they could not get in any other way. The supplier offered a superior product with a subscription model, which they could now offer to this captive audience.
Capturing the customer The company raised Series A, which was just short of 10 million pounds in about four months. So basically, they were swapping existing customers from one platform to another platform with a much better cost advantage.
In less than six months, they had a significant customer base, and each subscriber was paying about 20 pounds per month. After just less than six months, they were making five million pounds a month in income.
Scaling the business The company needed to raise more capital for cash flow, and before they could do it, they had to go back to the supplier and get better terms because the terms they had would not go to a large scale. At the point, they had committed about 20 million pounds in debt and equity.
Tony believed that the supplier would buy the business themselves because the company had built a substantial new customer base. With the supplier’s new platform, they would be able to offer something they hadn’t done before. So it was a pretty obvious strategic exit.
Tony set up a meeting with them. He went as chair of the board and took one of the other major shareholders and the CEO. They went into the meeting with high expectations of getting a better deal or, better still, opening up the conversation of the supplier, becoming either a strategic funder or taking the business out when it passes a specific number.
Here comes the shocker So after the pleasantries and Tony presenting their proposal, the supplier asked them how many verified customers they had. Tony was feeling quite proud of the company’s success, given the high numbers that the CEO had been giving the board. So he goes through the numbers, ready to provide them with an impressive figure. But shock on him, there was an enormous gap between the data the board had and the data the supplier had. Tony less
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Edmund Lowell – Great Angel Investors Know When to Keep Their Distance
Graduating from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts,
where he studied law, finance, and technology, Edmund Lowell is a
serial entrepreneur living in Asia since 2011, innovating at the
crossroads of finance, technology, and legal fields. Edmund has
built several Fintech and RegTech products during this time,
including FlagTheory.com, KYC-Chain.com, and SelfKey.org. The
SelfKey Foundation raised US$21 million, selling out in just 11
minutes for the crypto utility token, called KEY, now listed on... more Graduating from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, where he studied law, finance, and technology, Edmund Lowell is a serial entrepreneur living in Asia since 2011, innovating at the crossroads of finance, technology, and legal fields.
Edmund has built several Fintech and RegTech products during this time, including FlagTheory.com, KYC-Chain.com, and SelfKey.org. The SelfKey Foundation raised US$21 million, selling out in just 11 minutes for the crypto utility token, called KEY, now listed on Binance.
“Focus on the most important things that have the biggest impact.”
Edmund Lowell
Worst investment ever Edmund got his first job as a real estate agent selling property in the United States. Though this was a job that he loved, his timing was just wrong. In 2008, the global financial markets had a massive crisis led by the US housing market. The crisis rendered Edmund jobless.
Finding something more marketable to do Edmund took a look at his skill set as a college-trained individual and realized that he didn’t have much to offer the real job world yet. But, he knew how to file paperwork. And so he started setting up LLCs and corporations in the United States.
His first start in business What started as a means to stay afloat amid a crisis went on to become a successful business. After graduating from undergrad, he deferred going to law school and moved to Thailand full time and continued running this business.
Becoming an angel investor After a few years, as most entrepreneurs do, Edmund had a little extra capital and was interested in making some angel investments. At the time, he had a good friend who was starting up a business, and he made an angel investment into his company.
Giving more than money The business was not doing so well, but Edmund believed that he could make a difference as an investor. At first, he gave money to the company and, after a while, started spending a significant amount of time working on it. Eight months later, the business had not picked up, and the opportunity costs of going into it were weighing on Edmund. So he decided to stop working for this angel investment and move on to new businesses and cut his losses.
Lessons learned Don’t do it unless your heart is in it If there’s going to be a business you’re working on seven days a week, it’s got to be something that you enjoy. If it’s a business that you care deeply about, on an intrinsic level, it’s going to be easier to stay motivated through the ups and the downs.
You learn so much more from the failures It’s just unbelievable the number of insights that you get from failure as compared to success. Most times, success only feeds your ego, and you think that you’re impervious, making you more likely to make a bigger mistake in the future. So it’s crucial to study where things went wrong, where others went wrong, as opposed to glorifying your successes.
Andrew’s takeaways Don’t be afraid to get out of a falling market It is harder to succeed in a market that is falling or has slow growth. Top angel investors know that it’s not worth making it hard on themselves. So when it makes sense to get out of an industry that will be a grind for a long time to come, they are not afraid to do it.
The zero-based thinking concept Zero-based thinking involves asking yourself if an opportunity came along, would you take it up right away. If the answer is yes, then double down. But if the answer is no, walk away.
Learn to walk away If you want to get success and happiness, you’ve got to walk away from things you know aren’t working. There’s no guarantee that you’re going to end up at something better or something amazing, but you at least know that you’re getting away from what’s not working.
Actionable advice If you make an angel investment in a business and it’s going to be your business, then your heart has to be in it. You have to be willing to run that business for a long time.
Connect with Edmund Lowell... less
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Gillian Perkins – Patience Is Critical to Growing Your Business
Gillian Perkins is the founder of Startup Society and the host of
the Earn More, Work Less podcast. She also hosts a popular
entrepreneurship-focused YouTube channel that has received over 20
million views to date. Gillian teaches people how to start and
build profitable online businesses that allow them to earn passive
income and live a flexible lifestyle. She runs her company with a
primarily remote team, enabling her to travel the world with her
family and homeschool her four young children. “Focus... more Gillian Perkins is the founder of Startup Society and the host of the Earn More, Work Less podcast. She also hosts a popular entrepreneurship-focused YouTube channel that has received over 20 million views to date.
Gillian teaches people how to start and build profitable online businesses that allow them to earn passive income and live a flexible lifestyle. She runs her company with a primarily remote team, enabling her to travel the world with her family and homeschool her four young children.
“Focus on the most important things that have the biggest impact.”
Gillian Perkins
Worst investment ever Gillian’s worst investment happened a few years back when she started an online business. At the time, she was running a local business and wanted more flexibility and freedom. So she thought an online business was the way to go.
She started tinkering around, created a website for her business, and got heavy into that online marketing world.
Getting help from the gurus In a bid to grow her online business, Gillian watched a webinar about growing an email list. The coach promised that by growing an email list, one would have a machine that can produce cash at any point in time. You can just tell your email list about whatever you’re selling, and they will buy it with no questions asked.
Gillian thought that this sounded pretty good and precisely because she already knew that she wanted to sell online courses. Gillian is a teacher at heart. So she felt this was a good fit for her and was pretty much sold on that idea.
The course cost $2,000, and at the time, Gillian was living paycheck to paycheck. But, she spent $2,000 that she didn’t have because this sounded like a good and helpful thing to have in her business.
Getting ahead of herself Now the course wasn’t bad at all. In fact, in the grand scheme of things, it was a good course. The problem was simple; Gillian didn’t understand what she was buying. She did not know anything about building an online following or marketing her business, two things that were paramount for the course to work.
The course was mainly about optimizing her email list, yet she didn’t have an email list to begin with. She had bought a tool for her tool belt when she didn’t know how to build things yet. Needless to say, Gillian didn’t get much of a return on investment, and her $2,000 went down the drain.
Lessons learned Don’t commit too fast Try to fully understand what you are getting yourself into before you sign up or commit to anything. Don’t let the scarcity mindset make you think that you must have it right now. There is going to be another opportunity so take your time to think things through. So be patient, take it slow, take it easy, and keep doing some research.
Growing your business require you to take action Moving forward and taking action is a crucial part of growing your business. You don’t have to have all your ducks in a row; just move forward.
Andrew’s takeaways Listen with care Be careful when listening to people’s advice. Before you act, step back, and don’t let your emotions go out of control. Evaluate everything before you allow people to influence your decision.
Look at the big picture Any business is a series of processes, from marketing to sales to operations to finance. Sometimes we get excited about one part of that process and neglect the rest. When you decide to start an online business or any other business, you have to realize that you have to do all of those parts. It can’t just be one part of it.
Actionable advice Be patient and do your research. Always know that there’s going to be another opportunity out there.
No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Gillian’s number one goal is to grow her membership program, Startup Society, that teaches people how to start online businesses, to 1,000 members. She’s passionate about sharing this opportunity with as many people as possible.
Parting words
“Be patient; there’s going to be another... less
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Charoenjit Chantarasiri – Use Asset Allocation Framework to Overcome Your Behavioral Biases
Charoenjit Chantarasiri has been an investment consultant at
Kasikorn Securities in Thailand for the past 10 years. He holds a
bachelor’s and a master’s degree in finance from Thammasat Business
School. As an investment consultant, Charoenjit advises retail
investors in various equities, fixed-income, derivatives, and
mutual funds products. He also runs Charoenjit’s Podcast, which he
started in 2019 to help retail investors in Thailand. He podcasts
in Thai and covers everything there is to know about... more Charoenjit Chantarasiri has been an investment consultant at Kasikorn Securities in Thailand for the past 10 years. He holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in finance from Thammasat Business School. As an investment consultant, Charoenjit advises retail investors in various equities, fixed-income, derivatives, and mutual funds products.
He also runs Charoenjit’s Podcast, which he started in 2019 to help retail investors in Thailand. He podcasts in Thai and covers everything there is to know about Thai listed companies. His podcast is climbing the charts because of the value he adds.
“Be a confident investor. Don’t let today’s price scare you from buying an asset.”
Charoenjit Chantarasiri
Worst investment ever Charoenjit started his career as an investment consultant in 2010, two years after the global financial crisis. He would advise his clients to forget about equity and try to make the most profit.
The gold trend At that time, gold was one of the assets whose price was on an uptrend. Many of Charoenjit’s clients were interested in investing in gold, and so he had to monitor the gold market as well.
Failing to take his advice Charoenjit saved his money in a savings account and equity. He watched as the gold price continued to go up as his clients kept investing in it.
Charoenjit remained hesitant to invest in gold. In no time, the price of gold was at a record high of 26,000 baht from 17,000 baht. For a short period, the price went down to 23,000 baht. Charoenjit still didn’t bulge.
Jumping onto the bandwagon, albeit too late When the price of gold moved up to 25,000 baht, Charoenjit now felt afraid of missing the train and decided to buy it at nearly the peak price. Soon after he purchased gold, the price ran a little bit more to around 26,000 baht. But after a while, the price dropped sharply. The price remained between 18,000 baht and 22,000 baht for about four years.
Throwing in the towel In early 2018 Charoenjit decided to sell his gold and look for another investment choice. He sold it for only 19,000 baht.
In 2019, just a year later, gold prices went back to an upward trend rocketing to a record high of 30,000 baht in 2020. If only Charoenjit had been patient and confident in his decision to invest in gold, he would not have missed the opportunity to make huge returns.
Lessons learned Use the asset allocation concept When getting into an investment, look at it as a part of your portfolio and not as a separate entity. Don’t invest in something just for the sake of it or just because it is the new trend. Ask yourself if the new investment will improve or ruin your portfolio.
Consider investing in gold Consider having a small portion of gold in your portfolio. This could be between 5% to 30%. Holding gold could help your portfolio be well-diversified and protect its value.
Be a confident investor If you are a confident investor, you are more likely not to miss out on good investment opportunities.
Andrew’s takeaways There are no rules in finance There are no laws or rules in finance, so you can never be sure. Today, you may confidently say gold is not a good long term investment. But then tomorrow things change. The truth is that it is tough for all of us to detect when that change is happening.
Unrealized losses are real A lot of times, we say that unrealized losses are not real. But the fact is that the best way to look at a portfolio is to use zero-based thinking that lets you ask the question, “If I didn’t own anything, what would I allocate to this today?” It’s a tool that will help you let go of the past.
Don’t let emotions get in the way It’s easy for us to get emotionally attached to an investment. Always try to let go of the feelings you have about your winners and losers.
Actionable advice Diversify your portfolio using the asset allocation concept.
No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Charoenjit’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to create more quality... less
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Justin Christianson – Listen to Your Intuition and Take It Slow to Enter a Partnership
Justin Christianson is a self-proclaimed number junky and a digital
marketing veteran. Father, husband, and #1 Bestselling author of
Conversion Fanatic: How to double your customers, sales, and
profits with A/B testing. He is also the co-founder and President
of Conversion Fanatics, a full-service conversion rate optimization
company, helping companies like Burt’s Bees, Dr. Axe, and many
others improve their results. “When it comes to conversion
optimization funnels, start small. Test the biggest... more Justin Christianson is a self-proclaimed number junky and a digital marketing veteran. Father, husband, and #1 Bestselling author of Conversion Fanatic: How to double your customers, sales, and profits with A/B testing.
He is also the co-founder and President of Conversion Fanatics, a full-service conversion rate optimization company, helping companies like Burt’s Bees, Dr. Axe, and many others improve their results.
“When it comes to conversion optimization funnels, start small. Test the biggest leverage points, and don’t overcomplicate it.”
Justin Christianson
Worst investment ever Helping a client out At the end of last year, Justin got a call from an e-commerce business owner who was freaking out because his business was falling apart. Justin and his partner had a meeting with him, and they soon realized that they could help him out.
I want a piece of the pie The business was something that Justin could relate to, and so he got quite excited about it. He wanted a piece of it, and he proposed to the owner to help him grow his business, and in return, Justin would buy a 30% stake in the company. They shook on it. Justin and his partner invested a bit of money into this business.
What mess did I get myself into? As Justin was doing a background check on the company, he found out that the books were a mess and even had receivable loans. Though this was a red flag, he dismissed it. He figured his accountant would sort it out.
What attracted Justin to this partnership was the fact that there was a huge fanbase, and he knew the business had the potential to make huge profits.
It’s a deal The trio signed the deal, created a new LLC, and pulled over the assets making the partnership official. They set up new bank accounts and tried to do everything the right way.
Justin went all in and started humming along and focused on sales. He spent a bunch of money on advertising and dialing things in. He increased the average order value by about 40% in a short amount of time.
Deal goes sour After some time, the partner went back to his old ways and started spending company money on personal stuff. At first, $2,000 went missing from the business account, then $2,500, and then $4,000.
To make matters worse, all of a sudden, two more receivables loans popped up. So now the company was triple-dipping before they even got to make any profits. Every sale they made had to be channeled to repay the loans.
Soon enough, Justin realized that this partnership would not be beneficial to him. His partner’s spending and the loans would cripple the business. Justin tried to have a conversation with him about his spending, but he just scoffed at him.
Calling it quits One day while at his son’s football game, Justin got a notification on his phone that he had a change in his access to the bank account. He tried logging in but had no access to anything, the bank account, the PayPal account, the website, nothing. He has been locked out of everything.
Justin sent a group text to the business partner, and he made up some big story about how he didn’t want to burden him with his debt, and because he started the company, he wanted to take care of it alone.
Justin decided not to fight him or even take him to court as it would not be worth it, and he might just end up losing more money than he had already invested. He decided to write the investment off as a bad debt.
Lessons learned Do not get emotions involved when entering a partnership When you see something exciting that you can relate to, and you want in, be careful not to let your feelings guide your decisions.
Do your due diligence Do your due diligence before entering into a partnership, look out for red flags such as commingling of funds, lack of books, lack of true expenses, and P&L balance sheet.
Do not rush Do not be in a rush to enter into a business partnership. The timing will come when the right time comes.
Andrew’s takeaways Think the red flags... less
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Andrew Pierce – Stay Within Your Circle of Competence and Do Your Due Diligence
Andrew Pierce is an independent asset protection consultant and the
creator of https://wyomingllcattorney.com/
(WyomingLLCAttorney.com). He helps business owners from nearly
every industry and with almost any size company to effectively
protect their assets through forming LLCs. “The best
neighbors are the ones with good boundaries, where you delineate
the responsibilities and the rights from the beginning.” Andrew
Pierce Worst investment ever Andrew had an equipment leasing
company in South Florida.... more Andrew Pierce is an independent asset protection consultant and the creator of https://wyomingllcattorney.com/ (WyomingLLCAttorney.com). He helps business owners from nearly every industry and with almost any size company to effectively protect their assets through forming LLCs.
“The best neighbors are the ones with good boundaries, where you delineate the responsibilities and the rights from the beginning.”
Andrew Pierce
Worst investment ever Andrew had an equipment leasing company in South Florida. He would lease out tractors and trailers to moving and storage companies; he started the company in college to make some extra money. The business, interestingly, turned out pretty well.
Getting sucked in by overconfidence Seeing that his first business had gone so well, Andrew felt that he was now an astute businessman. He sold the business and moved to the Caribbean, at a large undeveloped Bay in St. Maarten on the Dutch side–it was about 150 acres.
Falling in love and business Andrew loved the island and had a good time there. He reasoned that the island would be a great place to do business. He considered starting a jet ski and water sports rental company.
He had a good friend who grew up on the island, and they decided to get into a partnership. The friend would secure the contracts and local licensing because he understood the island. Andrew would provide the capital.
So, Andrew bought a few jet skis, but it turns out they couldn’t get the permit to run the jet skis because it’s an unprotected Bay.
Trying his luck at something else Andrew didn’t lose hope. He came up with another business idea; landscaping. There were 160 acres at the island that needed to be landscaped. He sold the jet skis for liquidation value and added in more money to ship a bunch of plants. The business failed before it started.
He tried to salvage the situation by putting up a community center, park, and restaurant on an oceanfront piece of land his friend had.
Death of friend and partnership Andrew’s friend passed away unexpectedly. The business couldn’t take off because Andrew and his friend’s dad couldn’t come to a fair agreement on ownership. Andrew and his friend had never signed a single agreement throughout their partnership. They would shake on it. This made it difficult for Andrew to prove how much he had invested in the restaurant business.
After three years of unsuccessfully trying to get a business take off in the Caribbean, Andrew was left with over $100,000 in credit card debt.
Lessons learned Stay within your circle of competence If you’re doing moving and storage, don’t try to go start doing plastics, manufacturing, or something different. Stay inside your circle of competence.
Perform your due diligence Do your due diligence before you commit to starting a business, especially if it is in a field or a location that you are not familiar with.
Have contracts with people Whether it’s your best friend or someone you don’t know, the best neighbors are the ones with good boundaries, where you delineate the responsibilities and the rights from the beginning.
So do your due diligence and have contracts with your business partners. This reduces the chances of having misunderstandings.
Have exit points If you’re are going into a capital intensive industry, look at the liquidation values of the assets. Play out those worst-case scenarios, so you know where your exit point is.
If you are already in business or trading in the markets, remember the reason you got into an investment, then list the reasons that make you’ll get out. That way, when you hit those reasons, you will know it is time to wrap it up.
Andrew’s takeaways Don’t be fooled by overconfidence bias Many times when people are in business, and they are doing well in that particular area, they start to think that that could carry over into another space and expect the same success.
So instead of getting yourself into a new area, double... less
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Morgan Housel – A Successful Value Investor Focuses on Why a Stock Is Cheap
Morgan Housel is a partner at https://www.collaborativefund.com/
(The Collaborative Fund) and a former columnist at The Motley Fool
and The Wall Street Journal. He is a two-time winner of the Best in
Business Award from the Society of American Business Editors and
Writers, winner of the New York Times Sidney Award, and a two-time
finalist for the Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and
Financial Journalism. His book The Psychology of Money, was just
released and is available here. “Investing... more Morgan Housel is a partner at https://www.collaborativefund.com/ (The Collaborative Fund) and a former columnist at The Motley Fool and The Wall Street Journal.
He is a two-time winner of the Best in Business Award from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, winner of the New York Times Sidney Award, and a two-time finalist for the Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism.
His book The Psychology of Money, was just released and is available here.
“Investing is not like physics where the laws of gravity were the same in Newton’s days, and they are in our days. Investing strategies evolve overtime to get to the point where they don’t work anymore.”
Morgan Housel
Worst investment ever One of the first investment books that Morgan read was the Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham, written over 50 years ago. The book talks about all these practical strategies that value investors can use to pick stocks. One of them that Graham goes into great detail about is buying stocks for less than the book value.
Unpacking Graham’s strategy Graham’s strategy was to calculate what a business is worth. That is its assets minus its liabilities. That gives you the book value of the company. So your goal is to buy stocks that are less than the book value.
For instance, if a company is worth a million dollars, and you buy its stock at the point where the company is worth, let’s say $800,000, according to Graham, you are making a good investment because you’re buying the stock for less than the company’s worth.
Borrowing from the greats So after reading that strategy from Graham, Morgan started doing that. He looked for companies that were trading for less than their book value. This was around 2006-2007. He found a furniture company, a mortgage company, and several banks that were selling for less than their book value.
Old is not always gold Morgan invested in these cheap stocks, confident that he would make a killing. Unfortunately, almost all of them went out of business.
Morgan wondered what he had done wrong. Did he get unlucky? Did he not follow Benjamin Graham’s advice correctly? What happened here? Morgan soon realized that the reason why this happened is that the investment world had changed since the 1970s.
It was true that in the 1970s, in the 1960s, the 1950s, and 1940s, stocks trading for less than their book value were probably good investments. That was true back then. However, things changed over time, and that strategy does not work anymore.
Lessons learned There’s a reason why a stock is cheap If a stock is cheap, you need to know why it’s cheap. Almost always, say 99% of the time, the reason a stock is cheap is that the business is not performing well. It is probably burning money or has enormous liabilities.
Andrew’s takeaways A cheap stock is the market’s way of warning you As a value investor, when you see a company that’s trading at a price that’s lower than the book value, know that the market is telling you that there is no future value in that stock.
Separate your investment strategy and risk strategy Make sure that you have an investment strategy as well as a risk management strategy to keep you covered should your investment strategy fail.
Actionable advice Try to become more attuned with your behaviors, your ability to be swayed by new ideas and new opinions. Become more attuned with your risk tolerances, comfort zones, and ability to sleep well at night.
Move away from the finance textbooks that are written to apply to everyone and think about your own goals, personality, philosophies about money. You will then start making better decisions because it’s less about your intelligence and the formulas that you know, and more about becoming attuned with yourself and your own goals.
No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Morgan’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to keep his expectations low while hoping for the best with his... less
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Paul M. Neuberger – Sales Passion Does Not Always Overcome the Burden of High Costs
Paul M. Neuberger (New Berber) is also known as The Cold Call
Coach, and he believes in making the impossible possible. A
masterful speaker and trainer, he challenges people to dig deep and
discover talents they never knew they had. Whether it’s working
hands-on with small teams or presenting in front of hundreds of
people, Paul is adept at genuinely connecting with his audience and
getting to the heart of important issues. He has worked with
leading organizations around the world to help improve
effectiveness,... more Paul M. Neuberger (New Berber) is also known as The Cold Call Coach, and he believes in making the impossible possible. A masterful speaker and trainer, he challenges people to dig deep and discover talents they never knew they had. Whether it’s working hands-on with small teams or presenting in front of hundreds of people, Paul is adept at genuinely connecting with his audience and getting to the heart of important issues.
He has worked with leading organizations around the world to help improve effectiveness, performance, and cultivate a stronger sense of passion in the workplace. He has taught thousands of students in more than a hundred countries through his Cold Call University program, helping sales professionals in a range of industries close more business in less time than ever before.
“I believe in life; nothing happens to you. Everything happens for you.”
Paul M. Neuberger
Worst investment ever Switching careers on a whim Paul was a 30-year-old vice president of a major university in the state of Wisconsin when his father-in-law died suddenly. His mother-in-law’s financial life became complicated after her husband’s death. Paul wished he’d been able to save his mother-in-law from her financial problems. He was so devastated to be helpless that he decided to become a financial advisor.
Going in big Paul became successful quite fast, and so he got over his head that starting a business in the finance industry was going to be easy. He’d always been a good salesperson, and his passion was over the roof, so being a financial advisor came easy for him.
When Paul saw how quickly he was growing, he decided to take it up a notch. He wanted to look a little bit more prestigious, to look more successful. He believed that this would land him big clients. Paul signed a 30-year lease for a huge office space and hired four people. He invested heavily in technology and marketing and was hemorrhaging cash faster than he was making it.
The high costs nightmare Soon enough, the bills started piling up. Paul had to pay rent and make payroll. Within no time, he was missing payroll and having to ask for rent extensions. After a couple of missed payrolls and rent extensions, Paul realized he was in over his head, so he decided this wasn’t the path for him.
Lessons learned Be aware of who you are It’s good to have self-confidence. But you also need an awareness of self. Don’t let your self-confidence cloud your self-awareness.
Surround yourself with smart people Surround yourself with people whose advice you can rely on, people who can be your sounding board when you need help in making business decisions.
Have a strategic plan You can’t just sell your way out of a problem. You need to be strategic. You need to figure out what’s the end game. Think about where you want to be in the next couple of months, what you need to do to get there, and what success looks like. Also, think about the risks of what you’re trying to do.
Have healthy outlets As an entrepreneur and business owner, there’s only so much you can do. You need healthy outlets. You need that one person that you can talk to, vent with, and seek both personal and professional advice from.
Andrew’s takeaways Costs are the only thing we can truly control When starting a business, or if your business is in trouble, the one thing you can do quickly is cut costs. Don’t burden yourself with unnecessary expenses. Take pride in the fact that you’ve got your costs down to a minimum. A business with low startup costs will be profitable from day one.
Don’t be a one-hit-wonder Don’t just think about that next shot, think about the next three to five shots, and therefore you won’t be a one-hit-wonder.
Actionable advice Identify what your passions are. A lot of us know what we like, what we’re good at, our strengths and skillsets, but never take time to think about how to make good use of these things. Identify your strong points, then think about how you... less
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Patrice Washington – Prepare for the Worst and Don’t Get Caught up in the Pretty
In 2020, Success Magazine named Patrice Washington, one of 12
Inspiring Black Voices in Personal Development. As an award-winning
author, transformational speaker, hope-restoring coach, and media
personality, Patrice is committed to redefining the term “wealth”
using its original meaning, “well-being.” Patrice started as your
favorite personal finance expert, “America’s Money Maven,” but has
since expanded her brand and mission to encourage women to chase
purpose, not money. She uses her Certification... more In 2020, Success Magazine named Patrice Washington, one of 12 Inspiring Black Voices in Personal Development. As an award-winning author, transformational speaker, hope-restoring coach, and media personality, Patrice is committed to redefining the term “wealth” using its original meaning, “well-being.”
Patrice started as your favorite personal finance expert, “America’s Money Maven,” but has since expanded her brand and mission to encourage women to chase purpose, not money. She uses her Certification in Financial Psychology to help the masses get beyond budgets and credit reports and dive into the heart of why we behave the way we do with money.
She encourages women to have “wealth” in all aspects of their lives by pursuing their purpose, being fulfilled, and earning more without ever chasing money. Through her teachings, Patrice empowers women to look at life through the lens of abundance and opportunity, instead of lack and scarcity.
As host of The Redefining Wealth Podcast, Patrice has built a thriving international community of high-achieving women committed to creating a powerful life vision--in their careers, home, health, and personal finances. Featured on Forbes.com as one of “15 Inspiring Podcasts for Professionals of Every Stripe” and highlighted by Entrepreneur.com. The Redefining Wealth Podcast boasts over 2 million downloads and counting!
“Don’t get caught up in the pretty, in what looks good and what looks like money. Focus on the nitty-gritty of the numbers and what you can sustain even in your worst month.”
Patrice Washington
Worst investment ever Early real estate mogul Patrice was 19 years old when she got licensed as a real estate agent in California and quickly fell in love with the industry. During her senior year in college at the University of Southern California, Patrice got her broker’s license and became a real estate and mortgage broker. Her real estate business quickly took off and became a seven-figure business by the time Patrice was 25 years old.
Riding on cloud nine Patrice was on top of the world. She and her now-husband and then-boyfriend were driving matching Range Rovers and owned almost 13 pieces of property collectively. They had 16 loan officers and real estate agents on their roster. They had all these things going for them, and they thought they ran the world, and it was a beautiful time.
The one mistake that undid it all Around 2006 Patrice’s staff insisted on having an office to work from and fancy technology that would help them land more clients. She listened to them, and so they moved from the coworking space they were using to a larger office, almost 2,000 square feet, which they fully furnished. All these new changes took their overhead from about $2,000 to $14,000 a month.
In 2007 the recession started to rear its ugly face. People were talking about the real estate bubble bursting. Other mortgage brokers in Patrice’s building were talking about giving up their office space and work from home. Patrice felt sorry for them, still oblivious of the looming crisis.
The bubble bust In 2008 banks started closing down, and things got terrible at Patrice’s real estate business. At the time, Patrice was in hospital admitted because of a complicated pregnancy. She was so helpless and could only watch from her hospital bed as things went from bad to worse.
There was no money coming in, and Patrice had to use their life savings to keep the company going. They exhausted their savings within a year. Within about 15 months, Patrice and her husband lost everything. They went from a 6,000 square foot home in Southern California to live in a 600 square foot tiny apartment.
Lessons learned Prepare for the worst As an entrepreneur, you have to be prepared for the worst. Don’t plan your personal and professional life based on your top months, but your worst months. Your business and personal budget should be based on your worst performing months.
Andrew’s... less
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Avi Liran – Invest in Startups With Strong Company Values
Avi Liran is on a mission to delight the world; one person, one
workplace, one community at a time. He was made in Tel Aviv in 1962
and came to Singapore in 1992 as the trade and tourism commissioner
of Israel. He holds an MBA in Marketing and Entrepreneurship. He is
a CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) who consults and trains
leadership teams of top fortune 500 companies on how to cultivate
delightful leadership that empowers a culture that delivers delight
to the employees and customers. He was the Chief... more Avi Liran is on a mission to delight the world; one person, one workplace, one community at a time. He was made in Tel Aviv in 1962 and came to Singapore in 1992 as the trade and tourism commissioner of Israel. He holds an MBA in Marketing and Entrepreneurship.
He is a CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) who consults and trains leadership teams of top fortune 500 companies on how to cultivate delightful leadership that empowers a culture that delivers delight to the employees and customers. He was the Chief Marketing Officer of two software companies.
As a diplomat and economist, he had initiated two funds between Israel and Singapore that now manage more than a billion dollars. As a VC strategist, he facilitated nine investments in startup companies in Israel for Singapore Telecom, which bought two companies in Israel for half a billion dollars.
In the past decade, he has been researching values, welling, and appreciation. He is writing the Delivering Delight book that will be published next year after the book “First Time Leadership.” He is co-writing and researching now with Daniel Lee.
“There’s no half full or half empty. There is a glass issue to be grateful for, and there is an effort to go and fill the glass.”
Avi Liran
Worst investment ever Putting his money where his mouth is Avi was working for Singapore telecom investing in Israel when he came across a startup company doing IP PBX over the internet. The company had the best technology at the time and was worth billions of dollars. Avi realized that the company was a goldmine and so he invested in it.
Ego too big to say yes The company received an offer to sell for about $30 million; the CEO refused the offer. They got a second offer from Cisco. The proposal was much more than what the first company had offered. The CEO said no to Cisco, insisting that the company was going to be a billion-dollar company.
Pride comes before a fall After the two offers, people in the company became arrogant. The CTO went to Boston simply because he decided he wants to go to Boston. Everyone was thinking about their own needs, and just because the company had the potential to make billions, people thought they had made it.
The CEO kept refusing to sell while still operating with an air of arrogance. Then the dotcom crisis came, and the company evaporated. Unfortunately, Avi lost everything he had invested in that startup.
Lessons learned People are the secret sauce to successful startups When investing in startups, remember that it’s all about the people and their ability to work together, put their ego at bay, and not be arrogant or cocky but be very prudent. Arrogance and lousy working relationships can kill any investment, especially startups.
Company values are everything in a startup The most valuable companies have company values in place. If you don’t work on the company’s core values, people will stray from the company’s vision and goals.
Focus on your strengths, not your weaknesses A common mistake that people make is to focus on correcting their weaknesses. You waste so much time trying to work on your flaws when you should be optimizing your strengths.
Andrew’s takeaways Lead by example When it comes down to company values, it is the values that the company owners and the managers convey to their workforce that ultimately become the company values. So be what you want your workforce to be.
Partner with the right people Think about what you need to be successful. Then find the people with what you need and be friends with them. You don’t have to become them, use the energy, and share your strengths with them.
Actionable advice Lead with your values even when you have to make difficult decisions. Values are what you do when nobody is watching. A company with values has the greatest potential to be successful.
No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Avi’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to finish his book Procrastinating by... less
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Mike Ciorrocco – Use Your Setbacks As Rocket Fuel For Your Success
Mike Ciorrocco, aka Mike C-Roc, is the CEO of People Building, Inc.
He is a performance coach, author, dynamic public speaker,
visionary, and thought leader. He has been featured by Yahoo!
Finance as one of the Top Business Leaders to Follow in 2020 and is
on a mission to build people. At his core, he’s obsessed with
success and helping others achieve greatness. C-Roc is a guy who
had a fire lit in him at an early age. That fire has led him to
inspire others to see the greatness inside of themselves using... more Mike Ciorrocco, aka Mike C-Roc, is the CEO of People Building, Inc. He is a performance coach, author, dynamic public speaker, visionary, and thought leader. He has been featured by Yahoo! Finance as one of the Top Business Leaders to Follow in 2020 and is on a mission to build people.
At his core, he’s obsessed with success and helping others achieve greatness. C-Roc is a guy who had a fire lit in him at an early age. That fire has led him to inspire others to see the greatness inside of themselves using past life events to fuel their fire.
“Accept and acknowledge the setback as soon as possible, so that you can prepare and launch for your next takeoff."
Mike Ciorrocco
Worst investment ever Mike and his partner run a profit and loss company. A few years ago, when the P&L company was still new, it started to have some success and money was coming in. Mike and his partner planned to keep the money in the business to help scale it. So they kept the money in a company account.
Not so much their money There was a catch, though. The company where Mike’s money was kept was not his company. The two partners weren’t the owners of the company. The owner of the company was Mike’s buddy’s uncle-in-law. So even though the money was theirs, officially, it belonged to the owner of the company account. All along, Mike assumed that their money was safe. The assumption got Mike in big trouble.
Money goes missing Mike and his partner had built the company for 12 years and had about one million dollars in the account. The money was to be used to scale the business. The two partners had big plans. After a while, they found out that their money was missing.
At the time, the company had 22 employees. Mike felt responsible for those 22 employees and their families. These employees had bought into Mike’s vision and were working hard every single day to achieve this vision. He had to make sure that they were taken care of and not affected by the mess.
Getting out of the entanglement Mike had to create an exit strategy that was not going to get him in trouble, which would protect their investment and take care of the employees that were relying on him. So this happened over a few months. Luckily, they still had contracts and deals that they had to get paid.
Mike and his partner founded another company, and the transition happened. During the transition, the two partners lived off minimum wage to sure everybody was getting paid so that the business could keep running.
Unfortunately, they lost all the money they had previously made and saved. However, with the new strategy, they were able to recover and get the company back to its feet.
Lessons learned Don’t mix business with friends and family Don’t trust family and friends as far as business goes, and just leave it to that. Make sure you have an ironclad contract or any written agreement that shows that the money is yours.
Work on your company culture When you have a great company culture, individuals will look out for the greater good first, and then themselves. Build a culture in your business to give it a firm foundation. If you can start a big company with a great culture from the start, you’ll be unstoppable.
Employee goals need to align with company goals Your employees’ individual goals need to align with the company goals. If they don’t, you’re going to have conflict, and it’s not going to work, no matter how much they produce. They may be good employees, but as long as their goals don’t align with the company goals, they’ll end up causing problems that are going to cost more than the revenue they’re bringing into the company.
Your employees are your greatest investment Very many business owners think of their employees as just workers. In a business sense, you’re investing in these people, and they should give you a return on your investment. So build your employees by treating them well so that they can provide you the most return on investment. Think of less
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Stephen Kalayjian – The Key to Success in Trading Is to Have Discipline
Stephen Kalayjian, Chief Market Strategist and Co-Founder of Ticker
Tocker, has over 30 years of experience in the industry trading
stocks, futures, and currencies, having begun his career at the
American Stock Exchange in 1983. In 2005, Stephen founded his firm
to research and develop software to help identify trends,
reversals, patterns, and divergences in the marketplace for all
asset classes and time frames. Stephen seeks to generate high alpha
trading ideas throughout the day. He and his team employ technical... more Stephen Kalayjian, Chief Market Strategist and Co-Founder of Ticker Tocker, has over 30 years of experience in the industry trading stocks, futures, and currencies, having begun his career at the American Stock Exchange in 1983.
In 2005, Stephen founded his firm to research and develop software to help identify trends, reversals, patterns, and divergences in the marketplace for all asset classes and time frames. Stephen seeks to generate high alpha trading ideas throughout the day. He and his team employ technical analysis through utilizing the proprietary charting software he developed on Ticker Tocker to forecast the market.
Stephen has traded nearly 2 billion shares over his career.
“If you’re gonna invest or trade, you got to have discipline.”
Stephen Kalayjian
Worst investment ever Thirty-seven years ago, before Stephen started working at the American Stock Exchange, he was making $2.10 per hour cutting grass, cleaning windows, washing cars, cleaning basements, and garages. He just did whatever he needed to do to survive. After about 1,500 hours of work, Stephen had a little over $3,000 saved up, and he wanted to invest it.
It was while working at the floor of the American Stock Exchange when Stephen opened an account at his father’s friend’s brokerage and bought 550 calls, i.e., he bet that the stock was going to go higher.
The novice trader Stephen only focused on the assumption that the stock could go higher, but he never knew about premium depreciation. He had no idea that if the stock went down, the call option would go down too.
Over the next couple of weeks, the stock started to drift lower, and right before Thanksgiving, the stock got worse. Right around Christmas, Stephen was broke beyond broke. His entire investment had gone down to zero.
Lessons learned It’s ok to be wrong Nobody wants to admit when they’re wrong. What they don’t realize is that it’s ok to be wrong because we are all human. We learn from the mistakes we make.
No one’s bigger than the market Adhere to the preservation of capital and discipline.
Andrew’s takeaways Take risk management seriously If you cannot afford to lose money, then you should not gamble. Be more careful and take risk management seriously.
Discipline is a critical thing You cannot just roll the dice when you feel like it. Have discipline when trading to avoid losing your money.
Actionable advice The key to success when trading is discipline. Just as you employ discipline in other areas of your life, you need to have discipline when trading so that you know when to keep going and when to quit.
No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Stephen’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to inspire people to learn the right way with Ticker Tocker. His goal is to help people change their lives.
Connect with Stephen Kalayjian LinkedIn
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
Website
Andrew’s books How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market
My Worst Investment Ever
9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 Points
Andrew’s online programs Valuation Master Class
How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market
Finance Made Ridiculously Simple
Become a Great Presenter and Increase Your Influence
Transform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 Points
Connect with Andrew Stotz: astotz.com
LinkedIn
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
YouTube
My Worst Investment Ever Podcast
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Chris Mayer – Build a List of 5 Quality Companies and Enter at the Next Market Fall
https://twitter.com/chriswmayer?lang=en (Chris Mayer) is co-founder
and Portfolio Manager of the Woodlock House Family Capital fund. He
also blogs about the thing he loves the most, investing. He started
his career as a corporate lender, which taught him about managing
risk and how business works. Next, he started his newsletter,
called Capital & Crisis, which led him into 15 years of writing
investment newsletters. Chris has written four books: Invest Like a
Dealmaker: Secrets from a Former Banking Insider;... more https://twitter.com/chriswmayer?lang=en (Chris Mayer) is co-founder and Portfolio Manager of the Woodlock House Family Capital fund. He also blogs about the thing he loves the most, investing. He started his career as a corporate lender, which taught him about managing risk and how business works.
Next, he started his newsletter, called Capital & Crisis, which led him into 15 years of writing investment newsletters.
Chris has written four books: Invest Like a Dealmaker: Secrets from a Former Banking Insider; The World Right side up: Investing Across Six Continents; 100 Baggers: Stocks That Return 100-to-1 and How To Find Them; How Do You Know? A Guide to Investing, Wall Street, and Life.
“Valuation is important, but it’s secondary to quality. I won’t buy something just because it’s super cheap if it doesn’t have all the other quality aspects that I like.”
Chris Mayer
Worst investment ever Taking advantage of the 2008 financial crisis When the financial crisis hit the US in 2008, Chris reasoned that it would be an excellent time to start investing in the stock market. His strategy was to buy the cheapest available businesses and ignore the expensive ones. So he went ahead and found a couple of inexpensive companies.
Cheap is just cheap The businesses that Chris bought into were not necessarily good businesses with a promising future; they were just cheap. But he knew he could easily sell them off later.
After the crisis, Chris sold off the companies here and there once they started appreciating or reaching his target price. He, however, didn’t make so much money to write home about.
He should have gone with the expensive options The companies that Chris ignored because they were expensive at the time went on to recover after the market fall and continue to thrive. Had Chris paid attention to such companies and probably invested in just one or two instead of a handful cheap ones, he’d still be making money from that investment.
Lessons learned Buy the best not the cheapest When looking for stocks to invest in, go for the very best companies. They may seem expensive, but in the long-term, these are the companies that are going to bring you the best return. Go for quality over price.
Investing is a long-term game When it comes to investing, you have to think long-term. Most of the best performing businesses today were not built in a day. They have about 20-25 years backing their success.
Andrew’s takeaways Don’t be lured by a low price Just because it’s cheap doesn’t mean you have to buy it.
Actionable advice Find five businesses that you would love to own and put them on a wishlist. Follow and keep an eye on them. Wait until you see a 20%-fall in the stock market and then go ahead and pick one and buy it.
No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Chris’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to find one high-value investor.
Parting words
“Don’t give up. Be patient. It’s a tough game. Everyone makes mistakes, so you just got to keep soldiering on.”
Chris Mayer
Connect with Chris Mayer Twitter
Website
Andrew’s books How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market
My Worst Investment Ever
9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 Points
Andrew’s online programs Valuation Master Class
How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market
Finance Made Ridiculously Simple
Become a Great Presenter and Increase Your Influence
Transform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 Points
Connect with Andrew Stotz: astotz.com
LinkedIn
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
YouTube
My Worst Investment Ever Podcast
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Karen Foo – Risk Management Is Your Key to Success
Karen Foo is actively involved in speaking at various conferences,
seminars, expos, workshops, toastmasters clubs, and publicly held
events. Having overcome numerous setbacks in her life, she has gone
on to inspire thousands of young people, executives, and leaders to
REALIZE THEIR ABSOLUTE WILDEST DREAMS through her INTERACTIVE,
INSPIRING, AND ENGAGING TALKS. Karen has been ranked #1 in a
Singapore nationwide Forex trading competition, competing with over
200 traders and has shared the stage with top investment... more Karen Foo is actively involved in speaking at various conferences, seminars, expos, workshops, toastmasters clubs, and publicly held events. Having overcome numerous setbacks in her life, she has gone on to inspire thousands of young people, executives, and leaders to REALIZE THEIR ABSOLUTE WILDEST DREAMS through her INTERACTIVE, INSPIRING, AND ENGAGING TALKS.
Karen has been ranked #1 in a Singapore nationwide Forex trading competition, competing with over 200 traders and has shared the stage with top investment gurus and CEOs.
You can find her on her YouTube channel and join 94,000 other people who are gaining from her videos about forex, stocks, markets, and much more!
“In any failure in life, there’s a good side to it.”
Karen Foo
Worst investment ever Case of the curious intern Karen’s parents are full-time stock investors, and they exposed her to stock investing since she was young. That’s what sparked Karen’s interest in the financial markets.
When she was on internship, she took her salary and put it into the Forex market, not knowing what she was doing. She thought she was smart back then, but it turns out that she wasn’t so smart and so she lost the $1,500 she’d invested.
Once bitten twice not shy As if the loss was not enough, Karen went on to lose $6,000 of her mom’s savings. Karen believed that she’d make money by investing in unit trusts. Again, she thought she was smart enough to get a win, and so she went in blindly. No research, no guidance, nothing. Needless to say, she lost $8,000, part of which was her mom’s savings.
Karen was broke, angry, and embarrassed. She’d assured her mom that she knew what she was doing, but now she’d lost all the money.
Asking for guidance After losing money twice, Karen admitted that she needed help making the right moves. Now she works with various mentors, something that has seen her become #1 Singapore Forex trader.
Lessons learned Forget get rich quick schemes Forex trading is not a get rich quick scheme, so don’t take shortcuts.
Don’t ignore risk management One of the main reasons why a lot of traders lose money is because they don’t care about money management and risk management, which contributes to about 40% of your success as a trader.
You don’t have to figure out everything on your own It’s ok to try and learn everything on your own, but you will be more successful if you work with a mentor. Mentors can teach you a lot more than you can learn on your own.
Focus on your risk to reward ratio Don’t focus too much on the win rate; instead, focus on risk-to-reward ratio because forex trading is not about returns; it is about risk-adjusted returns.
Andrew’s takeaways The best fund managers are risk managers The best fund managers are not the ones that hit the home runs, but the ones that never strikeout. These are the ones who avoid massive losses and know about risk management.
Plan your success If you want to see success in forex trading, have a plan and strategy that fits your personality in place. Do this before you commit a lot of money.
Listen to the losers There’s always going to be winners and losers in the stock market. However, people talk only about the winners. Listen to losers, and you’ll learn a thing or two from them.
Actionable advice Find out how credible a coach is before you work with them. You can ask them a couple of questions or look at their content. Don’t fall prey to the kind of YouTubers who like to flex their lifestyle instead of teaching. You won’t learn anything from them.
No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Karen’s goal for the next 12 months is to grow her YouTube channel. She also hopes to get back to speaking on stage and also publish a book she recently wrote.
Parting words
“Trading and investing is not a get rich quick scheme you’ve got to work hard, be patient, and you will get there. So for those people who preach to you get rich quick, just use that as entertainment.”
Karen Foo... less
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Marcia Reynolds – Do Proper Research When Writing and Publishing Your First Book
Dr. Marcia (Marsha) Reynolds, Master Certified Coach, is fascinated
by the brain, especially what triggers feelings of connection and
possibility. She draws on her research and life events as she helps
coaches and leaders make conversations into transformational
experiences. She has provided executive coaching, training
programs, and keynote speaking in 41 countries. Interviews and
excerpts from Marcia’s books Outsmart Your Brain; The Discomfort
Zone: How Leaders Turn Difficult Conversations into Breakthrough;... more Dr. Marcia (Marsha) Reynolds, Master Certified Coach, is fascinated by the brain, especially what triggers feelings of connection and possibility. She draws on her research and life events as she helps coaches and leaders make conversations into transformational experiences. She has provided executive coaching, training programs, and keynote speaking in 41 countries.
Interviews and excerpts from Marcia’s books Outsmart Your Brain; The Discomfort Zone: How Leaders Turn Difficult Conversations into Breakthrough; and Wander Woman: How High-Achieving Women Find Contentment and Direction, have appeared in many places including Fast Company, Psychology Today, and The Wall Street Journal. Her latest book, Coach the Person, Not the Problem, became a bestseller the day it was released this past June.
Marcia’s doctoral degree is in organizational psychology, and she has two master’s degrees in education and communications. She also feels she gained an invaluable education when she turned 20 in jail. With the support of her cellmates, she chose to rise back up and show the world she could succeed even when she was told she would fail. She went on to accumulate degrees, rise in male-dominated corporations, and now teaches leadership and coaching classes worldwide. She is recognized by the Global Gurus as the #5 coach in the world.
“Easy usually is a bad investment. You have to take your time and research your book well.”
Marcia Reynolds
Worst investment ever Marcia always saw herself as a writer, and so when she left her last corporate job and had time, she wrote her first book. A friend insisted that she works with a certain woman to publish her book. She said that she would make life so easy for Marcia.
The said publisher would make all the decisions, find all the people Marcia needed, do layout and covers, and anything else necessary to publish her book. Marcia would not have to worry about a thing. Hearing this made her quite excited since she had no experience. How nice it was to have someone do everything for her.
A costly affair The publisher seemed a little expensive and kept charging her for stuff, but Marcia thought that meant she’d produce high-quality work and make her book a bestseller. She ended up spending $40,000, which she never made back.
The biggest flop ever Marcia’s book was a colossal flop all because of the title the publisher chose. The publisher went with a title that Marcia thought was catchy. However, this title was the reason why Marcia’s book never got reviews and into bookstores. The title was The Rapture.
Marcia had no idea that the word rapture had anything to do with any religion. Every bookstore thought the book was a Christian book. Marcia still has books sitting in her garage after losing a cool $40,000 to an inexperienced publicist.
Lessons learned Always get references Before you hire people to work with, look at past experiences and what other people have said about them. If possible, talk to references to find the expertise of the person.
Run your titles by your target audience Ask your audience what they think about your titles. You could do a survey monkey and have your fans help you choose the best titles.
Be careful of the wow factor Be careful of people who make it sound like it’s going to be easy for you. Publishing your first book is not easy, so don’t let anyone tell you that it. If they do, then you shouldn’t work with them.
Andrew’s takeaways Go for experience When looking for a publisher for your first book, go for people with proven expertise and experience. Check out their references to ascertain their expertise.
You’ve got to put in the work If you want good results as you write your first book, you’ve got to work for it. Once you put in the work and the time you’ll give your book value and make it a bestseller.
Work with people’s strengths It’s hard to find one person with all the strengths that are useful for your book. So when looking for... less
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Mike Meissner – Stop, Think, and Listen to Avoid Losses in Your Start-Up
Mike Meissner is an entrepreneur, a people-oriented leader, and an
industry expert in logistics and supply chain management as well as
biological and environmental testing. He proudly wears 20 years of
professional experience in many countries across Europe, the Middle
East, the Americas, and the Asia Pacific, where he built several
successful businesses “just for pleasure really.” “We now
invest in better quality and higher prices, and we shorten times.
This means fewer headaches and issues. We... more Mike Meissner is an entrepreneur, a people-oriented leader, and an industry expert in logistics and supply chain management as well as biological and environmental testing. He proudly wears 20 years of professional experience in many countries across Europe, the Middle East, the Americas, and the Asia Pacific, where he built several successful businesses “just for pleasure really.”
“We now invest in better quality and higher prices, and we shorten times. This means fewer headaches and issues. We provide what we promise.”
Mike Meissner
Worst investment ever Barbeque, wine, business idea Mike and a friend had a barbecue a few months ago. After the second bottle of wine, they joked about inventing a digital container that would keep the required transportation temperature throughout the journey.
The next morning, when sober, Mike and his friend researched their idea intensively. They found out that this kind of box doesn’t exist. So they started developing it from a design and an engineering point. Eventually, they came up with a fantastic container in different sizes for different commodities.
The novel box The box is charged like a mobile phone for four and a half hours, you set your desired temperature, you lock it and the box guarantees to maintain this very same temperature for the next 72 hours. It has an integrated SIM card and sends push notifications with details such as the patient file, the box’s current location, who’s handling your product, at what humidity, luminosity, and at what temperature. Such details create transparency.
So essentially, no more dry ice, ice packages that you freeze, and put on top of your package for your shipment. It doesn’t matter if your flight is delayed because 72 hours is plenty of time from anywhere in the world to reach its destination.
What could go wrong? Nine months later, Mike’s box went into patenting and had a successful pilot with his clients.
Everybody was happy. Mike was receiving compliments for a noble and promising idea. This box was going to be a hit. Nothing could go wrong. Or so he thought.
However, the beginning has been terrible. Mike made a lot of silly decisions that cost them money and time.
Once they had the box designed and assembled and the design documents approved by authorities, they started to source for components. Mike had two component suppliers. The first one was a friend who was selling the parts for $509. The second supplier was very far away, and Mike had no personal relationship with him. However, he sold the components for $240.
Choosing the cheaper option So out of Mike’s nature of not being a big fan of finance and administration, he just wanted to get his box done. He wanted to touch it and was eager to put it on the table of the FDA for approval. So Mike chose the second supplier and placed an order for $25,000. Quite a considerable amount for a start-up.
The components arrived six weeks later but got stuck in customs because wrong customs clearance codes had been used. They had to pay hefty fines for this. To make matters worse, the components turned out to be of the lowest quality possible.
Mike had ordered for eco-friendly components because he didn’t want to be testing the environment with harmful materials or components. So when they sent the parts to an independent testing facility, just to give them the confidence of the materials used, they ended up having the worst PVC materials that you can launch in the market. So nobody would have ever approved this to be eco-friendly.
It also cost him another $600 to recycle the components that they couldn’t use.
So far, they’ve lost a lot of production time, and Mike ended up paying one and a half times as much as the first supplier. But, he’s glad he was able to learn how to avoid losing money on investments thanks to this experience.
Lessons learned Find people who compliment you You will never have all the qualities needed to set up a successful... less
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Mark Moss – Diversify Your Profits to Protect Your Wealth
https://www.linkedin.com/in/markmoss/ (Mark Moss) has been a
full-time investor for 25 years and has invested in businesses,
real estate, stocks, gold, and crypto. He is a market analyst on
https://www.youtube.com/c/markmoss (YouTube) and newsletter
publisher. “We don’t learn from our successes, we learn from
our failures.” Mark Moss Worst investment ever The young
entrepreneur Mark was just 18 when he started buying real estate.
He was buying and fixing properties. Then he started building... more https://www.linkedin.com/in/markmoss/ (Mark Moss) has been a full-time investor for 25 years and has invested in businesses, real estate, stocks, gold, and crypto. He is a market analyst on https://www.youtube.com/c/markmoss (YouTube) and newsletter publisher.
“We don’t learn from our successes, we learn from our failures.”
Mark Moss
Worst investment ever The young entrepreneur Mark was just 18 when he started buying real estate. He was buying and fixing properties. Then he started building from the ground up, doing mixed-use buildings and commercial buildings. Mark knew how to make a lot of money. But could he keep the money?
Turning everything into gold Mark was enjoying success. Every real estate project he touched thrived. He was steadily building his real estate portfolio, built himself a mansion, got married, had a kid, everything was great.
What he didn’t understand is what got him in trouble Mark was smart enough to see the 2008 Real Estate crash coming. He had read a book, The Next Great Bubble Boom, by Harry Dent in which Dent kind of forecasted the crash. Mark knew he needed to get out and started selling every real estate that he had. But since he was doing development and these products took years, he got stuck with a couple of properties. Mark had put his entire energy into building his real estate portfolio.
His investments started losing value first by 6%, then by 18% and in no time by 60%. All along, Mark thought he would ride the tide, and so he kept pushing. However, when the drop hit 60%, he ended up losing everything. And it was because Mark didn’t understand that you don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Mark went from having a $20 million real estate portfolio to being millions of dollars in debt.
Helping others invest the right way Mark prides himself on being good at making money. So after his worst investment ever, he dusted himself off and got up again. Mark was able to make money again. This time, he had to learn how to do it the right way. Today, his mission is to make sure other people don’t repeat his same mistake.
Lessons learned Diversify your portfolio Never put all your eggs in one basket. Diversify your portfolio by reinvesting your profits into different investments. Most people tend to put back profits into their initial investments. While this is ok, if your investment tanks, you lose everything.
Understand the basics of investing If you’re starting to invest, be sure to understand the basics of investing so that you’re able to make sound decisions, and protect your wealth.
You have to create wealth first to invest Investing is what you do with your money after you make it. You have to create wealth first, and then you invest what’s leftover. Then you protect your wealth through risk management.
Andrew’s takeaways Creating, growing and protecting wealth are different things One of the biggest mistakes that people make is to confuse, creating, growing, and protecting wealth. We create wealth through business. We grow wealth by investing what we’ve created, and we protect wealth through risk management measures such as a stop-loss, asset allocation, and diversifying your portfolio.
Actionable advice Sit down and think about what you’re trying to do and where exactly you want to be. Then make a plan to get there because nobody is going to be able to tell that to you. You have to figure it out on your own.
No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Mark’s goal for the next 12 months is to build cash flow and grow his wealth.
Connect with Mark Moss LinkedIn
Twitter
Facebook
YouTube
Website
Andrew’s books How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market
My Worst Investment Ever
9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 Points
Andrew’s online programs Valuation Master Class
How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market
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Mark Pierce – Set a Stop Loss With Your Startup to Protect Your Downside
Mark Pierce is an attorney, an accountant, and the owner of Cloud
Peak Law. With over three decades of experience, Mark has truly
“seen it all” - at least from a legal perspective, from bankruptcy
and estate planning to oil/gas and securities. He’s not only a
lawyer but also a CPA and a serial entrepreneur. “When you
find yourself in a hole, quit digging because it never gets
better.” Mark Pierce Worst investment ever Looking for a new
venture In 2004 Mark was living in Florida when he felt... more Mark Pierce is an attorney, an accountant, and the owner of Cloud Peak Law. With over three decades of experience, Mark has truly “seen it all” - at least from a legal perspective, from bankruptcy and estate planning to oil/gas and securities. He’s not only a lawyer but also a CPA and a serial entrepreneur.
“When you find yourself in a hole, quit digging because it never gets better.”
Mark Pierce
Worst investment ever Looking for a new venture In 2004 Mark was living in Florida when he felt that he needed a break from practicing law. So he looked around for his next venture. Considering the aftermath of 911, Mark felt that anything involving military or government services was going to be a booming business. So he bought into this trucking company that provided moving services primarily to the military in Florida.
Gold turns into dust Mark grew the company from $4 million to $20 million in a little over six years. And just as he was getting the hang of it, the world was hit by the financial crisis of 2008. Additionally, the US was hit by government shutdowns that were perpetrated by the tea party movement that went on at the time.
Mark believed that his business could power through the crises, and so he kept soldiering on. Unfortunately, the company could not beat the two disasters.
What had turned out as a smart investment went on to become Mark’s worst investment ever. He went from having a net worth of around $9 million to have a net worth of about one million dollars.
Lessons learned Have a stop loss Always have your stop loss. Have a mark by which if your investment goes below that mark, you sell it no matter what and then reassess. Having a stop-loss order in place makes sure that you don’t lose too much should there be a downturn in your investment.
Andrew’s takeaways Question your decisions If you’re in trouble or dealing with a struggle right now, whether that’s a personal or a professional fight, ask yourself, knowing what you know now, would you make the same decision?
Let’s say this person walked up to you today, knowing what you know about them, would you start a relationship with them? Would you start this business if this opportunity appeared? If the answer is no, then you’ve got to get out. If the answer is yes, double down and make it work.
Appreciate times of discomforts We must take some discomfort now and then to prepare ourselves for the worst. This makes recovering from the worst easier.
Actionable advice Have people around you to give you advice. People who are disinterested in your business from a monetary investment standpoint, or they don’t have a family relationship. People who can look at you and say, “You know what, here’s what’s going on. This is what’s happening. I think you should consider these things.”
If you get that, you’ll be able to make those calls because psychologically, you’ll have the backup, and you’ll know you’ve got that independent corroboration that allows you to think you’re right. So surround yourself with people who can give you harsh advice. Mark calls it the Dutch uncle syndrome.
No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Mark’s goal for the next 12 months is to begin rolling out several new products into additional states and possibly raise a bit of money in a private equity function. This will allow him to build a bigger team than what he’s got right now. Rob has proven his business concept in four states, and it’s working very steadily. Now he’d like to bring some more people to take those products out and drive them in other states.
Parting words
“Be optimistic, but be cautious and realistic. Surround yourself with good advisors. And when you get a good advisor, shut up and take their advice.”
Mark Pierce
Connect with Mark Pierce LinkedIn
Facebook
Website
Andrew’s books How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market
My Worst Investment Ever
9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
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Rob Angel – When You Feel Overpowered by Emotion Listen to Your Intuition
https://www.linkedin.com/in/therobangel/ (Rob Angel) is a speaker,
author, and entrepreneur. He recently published his book, Game
Changer: The Story of Pictionary and How I Turned a Simple Idea
into the Bestselling Board Game in the World. In 1985, using a few
simple tools, a Webster’s paperback dictionary, a No.2 pencil, and
a yellow legal pad, he created the phenomenally successful and
iconic board game Pictionary®. Putting together the first 1,000
games by hand in his tiny apartment, Rob mastered all... more https://www.linkedin.com/in/therobangel/ (Rob Angel) is a speaker, author, and entrepreneur. He recently published his book, Game Changer: The Story of Pictionary and How I Turned a Simple Idea into the Bestselling Board Game in the World.
In 1985, using a few simple tools, a Webster’s paperback dictionary, a No.2 pencil, and a yellow legal pad, he created the phenomenally successful and iconic board game Pictionary®. Putting together the first 1,000 games by hand in his tiny apartment, Rob mastered all the needed business skills, including sales, marketing, and distribution, before selling the game to Mattel in 2001.
Today, he makes his home in Seattle where he is involved in philanthropy and mentors young entrepreneurs.
“It’s ok to miss an investment. I’d rather miss 10 great investments than go into one bad.”
Rob Angel
Worst investment ever What do I do with all this money? When Pictionary® became a worldwide bestseller, Rob made a lot of money. He was about 28 years old at the time, and he had no idea what to do with the money. He reached out to a couple of friends who also had a lot of money and asked them for advice. Every one of them told him first to figure out what he wants for his life.
So Rob took time and thought about it. He decided that what he wanted most was freedom. So every investment he made from then on was focused on giving him financial independence and freedom of time.
Going against his investment vision About four years ago, Rob received a call from a friend with an investment idea that would make him 56X his investment in four months. Of course, it sounded too good to be true to Rob, but the guy spun him a story that captured his imagination, and also, he trusted this friend.
Rob looked at the paperwork, and it didn’t make sense to him, but he just couldn’t help himself. His gut feeling pointed Rob at all the red flags, but his ego made him go ahead and invest in the idea.
It was just a scam Rob gave his friend a check and sat back, waiting for his investment to kick in. When the day that Rob was to get paid came, he got nothing. He waited a couple of days, still nothing. After a few weeks, Rob went looking for his friend, but he was nowhere to be found. It was now quite clear that he had been scammed.
Rob wasn’t too concerned with the money that he lost, but he was angry with himself for going against everything that he knows about himself and investing. He was mad that he had let greed lead him to make his worst investment ever.
Lessons learned Listen to your intuition Listen to yourself and your gut instinct. Don’t let your brain and your ego override your intuition. Trusting your gut will save you from making your worst investment ever.
Stay true to your vision When investing, stay true to your vision. Don’t let the excitement of the moment distract you from what you want to achieve.
Plan for your success Don’t plan to fail; instead, prepare for your success. It’s ok to have a plan B, but plan for your success and what that looks like. Doing so will help dictate your business, your growth, and your investment strategy.
Andrew’s takeaways Be open, aware and present Usually, we’re caught up in all of the excitement of the day, and we miss out on the opportunities around us because we’re not present and living in the moment.
Look for inspiration around you We’re all standing on the shoulders of giants, and we get ideas from other people all the time. So be open to learning and drawing inspiration from people surrounding you. You might just get your next big idea from them.
Invest for the long term Warren Buffett’s success in investing stems from his ability to watch grass grow. When investing, go in for the long term. Careful, thoughtful investing is just a simple long-term waiting game. It is not a game of excitement or buying and selling. Start investing early enough and let that grass grow.
Learn to move on When you make a mistake, no matter what you’re less
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Don Moore – Beat Overconfidence Bias by Considering What You’re Neglecting
Don Moore holds the Lorraine Tyson Mitchell Chair in Leadership at
the Haas School of Business at the University of California at
Berkeley. His research interests include overconfidence, including
when people think they are better than they are, when people think
they are better than others, and when they are too sure they know
the truth. He is only occasionally overconfident. He is the author
of https://perfectlyconfident.com/ (Perfectly Confident: How to
Calibrate Your Decisions Wisely). “We let ourselves... more Don Moore holds the Lorraine Tyson Mitchell Chair in Leadership at the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley. His research interests include overconfidence, including when people think they are better than they are, when people think they are better than others, and when they are too sure they know the truth. He is only occasionally overconfident.
He is the author of https://perfectlyconfident.com/ (Perfectly Confident: How to Calibrate Your Decisions Wisely).
“We let ourselves get carried away when we think that somehow believing in ourselves is enough to ensure success. It’s not.”
Don Moore
Worst investment ever Unleash the power within Don found himself at a Tony Robbins course, Unleash the Power Within that he believed would change his life. The life coach had been enormously influential in lots of people’s lives. Don had read his books as a young man and was thoroughly inspired.
The four-day course challenges those in attendance to think big about their goals and their lives, to confront the challenges that are holding them back. To help them figure out how to break through those challenges so they can live their highest ideals and the best life that they could imagine for themselves.
Walking on fire At the end of the course is the famous final firewalk. Before it started, Tony Robbins whipped the crowd into such a frenzy. The people in attendance were practically exploding out of the convention center, ready to walk across hot coals. They marched outside to find these huge burning pyres and embers laid with glowing coals that they were to walk on.
Blinded by overconfidence In his enthusiasm, Don somehow failed to take account of the cautionary safety warnings that Tony Robbins had offered. Don was confident and ready to prove to himself and the world just how brave I was. So he marched bravely across the bed of hot coals.
At that moment, overcome by enthusiasm and overconfidence, Don burned the hell out of the soles of his feet. It turns out that those glowing embers stick to the tender flesh.
Tony Robbins had instructed them to get their feet hosed down and wipe them off thoroughly. But in his bravado, Don felt that he didn’t need to do all that. And so he suffered for his overconfidence.
Lessons learned The time to take a pause is when everything is going right Whenever you find yourself feeling ready to cross the finish line victoriously, and you feel sure that success is guaranteed, that’s the time to take a pause and ask yourself, how might this go wrong? How might I fail, and is there anything I can do to protect myself now against those risks? What are the other competitors thinking about their chances?
Learn to imagine failure When you’re confident that you can do it, that you can succeed, stop for a moment, and imagine failure. Imagine your investment has turned out to be a catastrophe, you’ve lost money, you’ve disappointed your investors, you’ve lost credibility in the markets, etc. Imagining failure can help you identify risks, and maybe help you think about ways that you can hedge those risks and avoid the full exposure of to those dangers.
Have an accurate sense of what you can achieve Yes, it can feel good to be overconfident, but it can get you into a whole bunch of trouble. How confident should you be? You should be as confident as the truth can justify.
Don’t be underconfident either Managing your confidence doesn’t mean you should sell yourself short or lower your aspirations. Many times people are underconfident, they decline to take risks, they fail to initiate relationships, to try new products, or take risky job positions because they’re afraid that they’ll fail. The imposter syndrome is all about underconfidence, the belief that we can’t do it when, in fact, we can.
Andrew’s takeaways It won’t always be mind over matter Our mind is mighty, but there are times when the mind doesn’t help our body. Sometimes the mind will give the... less
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Christopher D. Connors – We Can Develop Our Emotional Intelligence Through Adversity
Christopher D. Connors is the bestselling author of Emotional
Intelligence for the Modern Leader and The Value of You. He is an
author, executive coach, and keynote speaker who helps leaders
increase their emotional intelligence, prioritize goals, and build
thriving organizations. He works with executives and leaders at
Fortune 500 companies, sports organizations, schools, and
universities. His writing has appeared in CNBC, World Economic
Forum, Quartz, CEO World, Virgin Media, Thrive Global, and Medium,... more Christopher D. Connors is the bestselling author of Emotional Intelligence for the Modern Leader and The Value of You. He is an author, executive coach, and keynote speaker who helps leaders increase their emotional intelligence, prioritize goals, and build thriving organizations.
He works with executives and leaders at Fortune 500 companies, sports organizations, schools, and universities. His writing has appeared in CNBC, World Economic Forum, Quartz, CEO World, Virgin Media, Thrive Global, and Medium, and he’s been a guest on FOX and ABC TV programs.
Christopher is happily married to his beautiful wife and is the proud father of three amazing, rambunctious baseball-loving boys. He lives in Charleston, South Carolina.
“Adversity is your best friend. In every adversity, there is always an opportunity that is going to come out of that.”
Christopher Connors
Worst investment ever The big move Christopher grew up just outside New York City on Long Island while his wife grew up in South Carolina. They had been living in New York when the wife said she wanted to leave. And so they decided to relocate to Atlanta.
Christopher wasn’t emotionally or mentally prepared to make a move, but he did it anyway as it was the right move for his family. Physically, Christopher was in Atlanta, but mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, he was still in New York. He was living this life where he was just struggling to put the pieces together.
A thriving career While Christopher was struggling to adjust to the new life, career-wise, he was thriving. Christopher landed the most prestigious job opportunity he’s ever had. The job was very high paying, and he got to work with some of the top corporate clients in all of Atlanta, including Coca Cola, Delta, UPS, and the Home Depot.
His head was just not in the game Despite having landed the job of his dreams, Christopher was still not settled and was struggling to adapt. He was still trying to figure out a little bit more about himself in terms of what he truly wanted to do. Even though on paper, this opportunity looked like a dream job, the more he went through it, the more he realized it wasn’t.
Getting booted Christopher tried out a couple of different assignments that didn’t work. He just wasn’t able to employ emotional intelligence to be able to separate his personal life from his work life. About 10 months into it, he was fired. Here he was less than a year into a move with a young son and a wife, and all of a sudden, he didn’t have an income coming in.
It was a big blow to his ego because he had been successful in all of the other previous jobs that he had been in.
Figuring his next move Getting fired was entirely unexpected for Christopher, but with a family to take care of, he had to bounce back soon.
Christopher had always had this burning desire to write and coach just lying underneath the surface. He had treated them as hobbies for so long and just doing it a little bit of on the side. Now that Christopher had time on his hands, he started to build up a little bit more, and with time he turned it into a fulltime venture.
Christopher admits that his poor performance in this lifetime job opportunity remains his worst investment ever; however, he’s thankful that it happened because he mustered the courage to kick the fear of venturing out entrepreneurially in the butt.
Lessons learned Adversity is your best friend Don’t fear pain and failure. With every adversity, there’s the opportunity or the equivalent seed of an advantage. Learn to see opportunities within your adversities, and you will thrive.
Developing emotional intelligence Life will always have its shortcomings. By developing emotional intelligence, you will be able to turn every weakness into a win. Without emotional intelligence, you will always let pain, failure, loss, and other adversities hold you back.
Be proactive Start taking the initiative to go after the things that you have the... less
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Libby Gill – A Business Vision without Hope is Lost
Libby Gill is an executive coach, leadership expert, and
best-selling author. She guides emerging and established leaders to
inspire purpose and drive performance. She is the former head of
communications for Sony, Universal, and Turner Broadcasting, and
her clients include Bank of America, Capital One, Disney, Ernst &
Young, Intel, Microsoft, and many more. She has been featured on
the CBS Early Show, CNN, NPR, the Today Show and in the New York
Times, Time Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal. She’s the... more Libby Gill is an executive coach, leadership expert, and best-selling author. She guides emerging and established leaders to inspire purpose and drive performance. She is the former head of communications for Sony, Universal, and Turner Broadcasting, and her clients include Bank of America, Capital One, Disney, Ernst & Young, Intel, Microsoft, and many more.
She has been featured on the CBS Early Show, CNN, NPR, the Today Show and in the New York Times, Time Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal. She’s the author of six books, including the award-winning You Unstuck. Libby’s latest book is The Hope-Driven Leader: Harness the Power of Positivity.
“Leaders ask questions that propel them into new opportunities. Managers answer questions and get the job done for those who have the vision.”
Libby Gill
We’re going to change the format a little bit today because Libby has gained a lot of experience as a leadership expert through coaching, working with teams, and writing books about it. Since we’re at a critical time for every leader out there to figure out how to survive and thrive, we’ll jump straight to the lessons and nuggets of wisdom that Libby has collected along her career path.
Libby started her career in communications working for various entertainment studios. In the process, she grew up the rank to become a young leader. After a while, Libby realized what she wanted to do was to continue to grow teams, which she had done a lot as a leader. She read an article in Newsweek about executive coaching and took great interest in it. Libby then started working with people in executive coaching, then she went on to writing books and speaking in big forums. Her career in executive coaching just continued to grow. It’ll be 20 years this fall since Libby started.
Lessons learned A business needs both leaders and managers to succeed You need people at different levels in your business. Leaders and managers play different roles in the success of a business. Leaders ask the questions that get the business new opportunities, while managers answer the questions. Leaders provide the business vision, and managers get the job done.
Business vision, passion, and drive will get you to success You can win a battle even when you are outnumbered as long as you have a vision, the drive, and the passion for winning. As a business leader, beat your competitors by looking for gaps where you might have slipped off the market and create your competitive edge.
If you’re just starting, figure out the most important thing and focus on that. But remember not to spread yourself too thin.
The curse of the visionary Most leaders tend to have a hard time focusing on one area, so they find themselves with too many ideas and too little time. Try and focus on one area. Before you think of implementing more than one idea, first ask yourself if you have a financial base under you. Then, how long can you play this out and how long can you get away with trying out your many ideas without your business collapsing or depleting your funds.
The hope theory Hope theory is all about having a vision of the future that may be wildly ambitious but is attainable. So to achieve this vision first, have clarity around it. Second, simplify the path to getting there. Consider what you must get out of the way, such as false hope or wrong ideas, bad habits, the wrong people. Third, execute the plan. We can all have our visionary ideas all day long, but it comes down to who’s going to get it done.
Effective leadership is, therefore, about having a clear vision, perseverance, correcting the course, and continuing to move towards your vision as long as it stays true to what’s in your heart, your mind, and your gut.
Have a fundamental belief that change is possible Not everybody believes that change is possible. There are plenty of people who are always justifying their defense of the status quo, and they’re going to stay exactly where they are... less
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E.B. Tucker – Go With Your Gut and Consider Starting Small
E.B. Tucker is the former editor of The Casey Report, Strategic
Investor, and Strategic Trader. He is a board director and major
shareholder of Metalla Royalty & Streaming (NYSE:MTA), a gold
royalty company. He is the author of Why Gold? Why Now? The War
Against Your Wealth and How to Win It and has more than two decades
active in capital markets. “It’s okay to get a bruise, but
don’t get completely broken.” E.B. Tucker Worst investment
ever About 17 years ago, E.B. was trying to get into... more E.B. Tucker is the former editor of The Casey Report, Strategic Investor, and Strategic Trader. He is a board director and major shareholder of Metalla Royalty & Streaming (NYSE:MTA), a gold royalty company. He is the author of Why Gold? Why Now? The War Against Your Wealth and How to Win It and has more than two decades active in capital markets.
“It’s okay to get a bruise, but don’t get completely broken.”
E.B. Tucker
Worst investment ever About 17 years ago, E.B. was trying to get into the world of finance, but he kept hitting walls. Everyone wanted to hire him as a sales rep because of his charismatic nature. However, E.B. wanted to manage money not to be a salesman all his life. So he kept trying.
Lady luck came calling Finally, in 2006, one of E.B.’s friends told him about a guy he’d met playing golf, who was trying to restructure his company. The guy was looking for a sales V.P. The position came with an equity position right away. To E.B., this sounded like a winner.
What the heck did he get himself into? E.B. got to learn that the company was not trading on the primary exchange and wasn’t compliant with its filings. Therefore, people could buy stock in it, but they’d not be buying the stock in the New York Stock Exchange. They’d just be buying it on an off-market.
Getting his friends to invest in the company The company claimed to have natural pest control and was raising money to get the product off the ground. E.B. introduced some of his friends who invested about $150,000.
He then went out to meet the CEO at their facility, and this was a disaster. E.B. found the CEO strange and was like some kind of cartoon character. He came back a little bit put off by this, and his gut feeling told him that this CEO was not straight.
He’d been scammed A week later, he found out that the company didn’t have the federal EPA licenses that they claimed to have in the presentation to investors. Worse still, E.B. found out that the permit they claimed to have did not even exist, so the whole thing was made up. On top of that, they had already spent the money that E.B. had raised. He couldn’t tell how it had been spent to help the business, though.
When he realized that the company had real issues, E.B. went to the guy who got him in and told him about the problems he’d noticed. The guy dismissed him and didn’t want to have that conversation with him. It seemed apparent that the guy knew what was going on.
Making things right The company stopped paying E.B. when he brought these issues up. He was there only two weeks before they cut him off. E.B. decided to hire a lawyer to represent him in documenting all these issues. The lawyer wrote a letter documenting all the fraud that E.B. had found and sent it to the board’s certified mail. This cost him about $10,000.
Next, E.B. hired another lawyer who was excellent at figuring out how to get his friend’s money back in about six months. This was quite a tough time for E.B. because he had the best of intentions and was just trying to break into the finance field.
Lessons learned Go with your gut When people are pitching all sorts of ideas to you, do your research, ask questions, but don’t forget to listen to your instincts.
Invest small at first If you’re not sure whether an investment is right for you, but you want to try it anyway, go in small. If things work out, you can always invest more later. Don’t feel pressured to invest all of your money, especially when your gut feeling tells you that there could be a problem.
Don’t let people intimidate you Let go of the investment whenever you feel intimidated by someone that’s pressing you to invest.
Don’t be afraid to take risks Take risks. You have to be in the game to win. But pull back, especially if your instinct tells you there could be something wrong.
Andrew’s takeaways Do your research BEFORE you invest Most people fail to do their research before investing and, oftentimes, do it after... less
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Laura Cho – Do Your Research Before Buying Online Courses
Laura Cho is an International Certified Coach and Founder at Laura
Cho Intl. coaching millennial talents to build a successful career
by unleashing their full potential with her HR expertise. She is a
public speaker sharing HR and career topics on various stages in
Hong Kong, Singapore, Cambodia, and Myanmar at universities, radio
shows, online platforms, journals, and public seminars. She has
been featured in Stories of Asia, The Myanmar Times, Human
Resources Magazine (Hong Kong), and 7Day TV. “The... more Laura Cho is an International Certified Coach and Founder at Laura Cho Intl. coaching millennial talents to build a successful career by unleashing their full potential with her HR expertise. She is a public speaker sharing HR and career topics on various stages in Hong Kong, Singapore, Cambodia, and Myanmar at universities, radio shows, online platforms, journals, and public seminars. She has been featured in Stories of Asia, The Myanmar Times, Human Resources Magazine (Hong Kong), and 7Day TV.
“The best investment you can make is investing in yourself in the right way.”
Laura Cho
Worst investment ever A hunger to be good at what she does Three and a half years ago, Laura started a side hustle as a career coach. To do it successfully, she had to pick up several skills. She was eager to learn anything that would help her.
Buying her first online course Laura came across a Facebook ad by a lady living in Hong Kong. The online coach was offering a free business plan. Laura was impressed by the lady’s copywriting in the ad and by what she was promising.
Being from Myanmar, Laura believed that the lady from Hong Kong had more knowledge and, therefore, the right person to learn from. So without taking some time to think about it, she invested in the lady’s course.
The credit card privilege The course was quite expensive, especially since she had to pay in USD. But because she had a credit card, she spent anyway.
All talk no action After Laura started the online course, she soon realized that the coach was just full of air and wasn’t walking the talk. The course offered Laura zero value. She did not learn a single new thing in that class. Whenever she tried to ask questions, the coach would dismiss them as stupid questions. Laura was devasted. And to imagine all the money she had paid!
Freeing herself from the guilt Laura couldn’t help but feel angry for allowing herself to make the worst investment ever. She was mad at herself for not taking the time to research the course. Or at the very least see what other people were saying about the course and the trainer.
She carried this anger for a while, and it prevented her from trying out any other courses. She realized that she was shortchanging herself and so she forgave herself and moved on from the terrible experience.
Lessons learned Get to know the trainer before buying an online course There are very many coaches and trainers today. So, before you invest in someone, take some time to learn about that person. Follow the trainer for some time and interact with any free content they share and read reviews from their past clients. This will let you know if you can trust the trainer or not.
Calculate the return on investment Before you invest in an online course, ask yourself what will be the return on investment. How will the course benefit your career or your side hustle?
Not all ‘good’ trainers are good for you People have different levels of experience. Just because an advanced student says a trainer is good doesn’t mean the trainer will help you too.
Understand your needs first Why do you want to buy an online course? What do you hope to achieve from taking an online course? You have to know your needs first before you invest in your personal development.
Andrew’s takeaways Do your research The number one mistake people make when investing, whether in business or themselves, is failing to do their research. Don’t buy online courses blindly, research them first to make sure you invest in the right ones only.
Build trust You’ve got to build trust first before buying that online course. You can do so by engaging in the trainer’s free content first and see if they offer you any value. If yes, then go ahead and buy the course.
Get the money-back guarantee Only buy courses that have a no questions asked 100% money-back guarantee. Make sure that guarantee is clearly stated. This gives you a chance to get your money back should you not be... less
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