The Uber Connector: Larry Benet Talks the Art of World Class Relationships and Networks

Welcome to Make More Marbles. My name is Brad Hart and we're here to interview the game changers, the future makers, the co collaborators and creators who are here to collaborate with one another towards a better future for all of us. Enjoy the show. We've got a great guest coming up for you right now. Welcome to Make More Marbles. My name is Brad Hart, and today.

I am thrilled, honored, and overjoyed to.

Be having Mr. Larry Bonet on the show. How you doing, Larry?

Man, that was a heck of an intro. I'm excited just to be. If you're overjoyed, I'm thrilled to be here.

Dude, you got to bring the energy. I mean, come on. So Larry got a little bit jammed up just on timing, and he's actually in a mall up in Los Angeles. I used to live in la, so I know exactly where he's at, but he's up in the Hollywood Hills at the moment.

And coming. We have this beautiful lighting right behind us. This is fantastic.

It's beautiful.

And Larry, this is the world of the Internet.

Yeah, Larry, Larry, just. I can't say enough good things about Larry. He's done some amazing work over the years. He spent a lot of time with people that I truly respect and admire, like Tony Robbins and Sarah Blakely and Jesse Itzler. We were just talking about. He's really connecting the Atlanta area. So he's got a network that just spans decades. And all across the world, he runs networking events for the rich and famous, the high, high, high performers in their various niches.

And.

But I really love to, you know, I always use the saying to lead with that. People will respect you for your successes, but they love you for your failures. You know, they want to know who you are behind the, you know, all the cool glitz and glam. So, Larry, can you share a few stories just of your hero's journey so far and what's kind of made you who you are today?

Yeah, I mean, for the record, you know, I come from a middle class neighborhood in New York. I have been selectively outsourced on four different occasions in my life. That's a nice way of saying I was fired or let go. I've battled depression numerous times throughout my career. I tell people that normally had something to do when things were going well, and then when things weren't going well, the depression kind of struck. And I mean, there's been times if you were to talk to some of my closest friends, they would say, oh, you're fearless. You could pick up the phone you could call anybody, you can reach out to Richard Branson or whatever. And there were times I couldn't even get out of bed. There was times I couldn't even pick up the phone to call my own attorney or accountant or whatever because I was so embarrassed about that situation that I was in. So going back to the Hero's journey or whatever you want to call it back on April 1st of, let's see, 2006 or 7, that was the last time I was selectively outsourced. I thought it was a joke at the time because it was April Fool's Day. It wasn't a joke. I literally asked them why I was being let go and they said to me, you were doing too much networking. And the thing I'm most famous for today is my network, you know, Forbes magazine, you know, considers one of the top networking experts in the world. And Inc. Magazine considers you one of the most connected guys on the planet in the business space. And really, money does not have anything to do or it doesn't define you. Your bank account does not define you, Your past challenges and things, you know, setbacks and failures. Personally, I think on a true connecting level, I facilitate Sometimes groups of CEOs or entrepreneurs or whatever. And a lot of times the ability to connect is based on vulnerability, based on authenticity. It is sharing your biggest failures and setbacks and obstacles. I got a call about a month and a half ago and I won't say who, but you would know who the person is. And very successful. And he told me that his son had just got out of prison and he had adopted a stepson. And this is someone who's a friend, who's a mentor, is a client, colleague, the whole nine yards. And so I jumped into action immediately and I sent off five emails within a few minutes of getting his email to me to introduce him or his son, I should say, to other people that could help his son. Because to me it's not about taking, it's about giving, it's about serving. I actually have a shirt or a slogan called Give first, add value always. And I think you should just meet people, connect with people, be curious about people, offer to help people if you can. And you know, as I was telling you, I went for a walk, you know, five, six miles here in la, and literally I was going down a street, there's some random stranger, him. And I just struck up a 15, 20 minute conversation in a very wealthy area. And you know, we weren't really talking so much business, we were just starting at the neighborhood and, you know, his dog. And I said, are you working? Are you retired? And I find that some of the most successful connectors, the most successful business development experts, the best relationship guys in the world, they are just very curious in nature about other people. Like, I like to get to know your story, your hero's journey. You mentioned you had a hedge fund, and then you said you got, you know, wanted to do something more meaningful, more purchaseful. I'm all about just getting to know someone, and I'm going to play the long game every single time.

Yeah, I think you and I share a lot of that. And it's why Sonny, you know, went out of his way to connect us. And I've always, always, always thought of people first. It came from a lot of pain, you know, getting beat up and bullied and just, why can't I connect with people? Why do they not like me? And just really considering that question. Over 30 years, you know, I prayed as a little kid one day I'd have friends all over the world. When I didn't have any friends, you know, I was just on the swing set for 30 minutes every day by myself. I prayed that one day, anywhere I.

Went, there I was.

You know, and that's really true now. But it wasn't always. And we've bounced off a lot of the same people over the years. So, you know, it's funny. Oh, it's impossible to get to these billionaires or millionaires, but they're just people.

And a lot of them, you know, you're good.

No, a lot of them, like, they have bigger problems, right? They don't have it more figured out than anybody else. They're just maximizing their one or two strengths, which is produce all his wealth. But they're just, you know, at the.

End of the day, you know, we were talking about Jesse Itzler a few minutes ago. And for those of you who don't know Jesse, he is the founder of Marquee jets and Zico Water. And he's been very successful. He's married to Sarah Blakely, the mogul billionaire from Spanx. And him and I met on a TV radio show in la, like a year ago or a year and a half ago or whenever it was. And to be honest, when I walked into the green room, I didn't know who he was. There was five other people, and I heard words like Atlanta, Sara Blakely, Spanx and the Atlanta Hawks. And I happen to say, are you in any way, shape or form related to or know Sara Blakely? And he Goes, I'm her husband. Well, I didn't know that at the time because I didn't know what he looked like. I was just in a green room. Most people, when they would meet a billionaire or the owner of the Hawks, and I'm from. I spent 20 years in Atlanta, most people meet a famous person, a person of influence, person of success, and they go into pitch mode, like, automatically, hey, can I get this? Can you introduce me to this? That's, like, the worst thing you can do. You want to be exact opposite of everyone else. So using Jesse as just one story, one example, I stayed in touch. You know, I text him from time to time if it was his birthday or if there was something in the news that was relevant or whatever it might be. Or then I started following him and Sarah on social media, and then I kind of have, like, a running joke. I'm like, you guys need a reality show. Your social media is so funny. And sometimes I'm posting on his Instagram wall, other times I'm posting on Sarah's wall. Now, granted, in his case, I happen to have a cell phone, but the same thing would apply if I didn't. I could still keep on communicating, direct messaging, what have you. And, you know, maybe they respond, maybe they don't. But here's what's interesting. I was in Atlanta a week ago, a week and a half ago, and he was one of the guys. I reached out to him. He likes to work out every day for three hours. And if you read his book and you listen to his podcast and anything else, he tells you these things. So I said, hey, do you have time to work out, number one? Number two, I would love to do that interview with you so I can promote your body of work to my influential network. And number three, are you going to the basketball game tonight? Those are the three things I sent. In the text. He said, I don't have time for the workout. I appreciate it. We're getting ready to go out of town for the holidays. He goes, I don't have time for the interview. We could do it in February. Then he's like, do you want tickets to tonight's Hawks game? And I normally do not like asking for those kind of things unless I absolutely have to. And more than anything, I'm normally asking someone else for someone else's benefit, not mine. But I said, listen, if it's an easy thing for you to do, great, but don't go to any trouble for me. Five minutes later, in my cell phone was a little text. I click on it. And it was tickets from him. And so I had two tickets. And I started reaching out to people on my network saying, hey, would you like to go to the basketball game tonight with me? And then I got to the game and I asked the people where the tickets at. I had no idea they were floor seats next to the Detroit Pistons bench. I have never sat on the floor. It was an incredible experience. And at the three minute mark of the game, as the game was ending and it was a blowout, Detroit was winning. Say to the guy to my left, I'm like, do these seats give you any perks? I don't know. And he's like, you know, I don't know. He goes, but I can't imagine they're gonna kick you off the floor. I'm like, that's a good point. And so I waited to the game ends. And as literally, I'm just getting up. I don't know where to go. I wanted to maybe, maybe get a picture of a player. I didn't know what I was gonna do anyway. I see someone that I recognized from like 10 years earlier who had. He was a big TV radio personality in Atlanta. His name is Steak Shapiro. He used to own the sports radio show or radio station. They since sold it. He comes up, I say hello. He then introduces me to some guy named Andrew. Andrew Salzman is his former business partner at the radio station who, it turns out, runs the Atlanta Hawks and Phillips Arena. He runs all the revenue, the sponsorship, like, everything. And he goes, have you been to our club? And then they introduced me to one of the other owners of the team. And so then I go back and literally I'm in the club. And then literally, he introduces me to the guy that runs Lion Gates Films, the movie studio. And, you know, I find out what's important to him and what his passions are. And, you know, I wished him a happy New Year the other day. And there's something that he cares about that I'm gonna hook him up with. And that's how it starts. It's one relationship at a time, adding value, serving others, making a difference, and, you know, just staying in touch. Rinse and repeat.

Yeah, it's, you know, like you said, proximity is power. And we both have been influenced by Tony. And you spent time with them. And just putting other people's needs ahead of yourself consistently will yield far better results than everybody else. I mean, that's why we started the show, the Make More Marvel show. Right? How can we talk about people who are winning more through Collaborating and through putting people's needs ahead of their own than they ever could have if they were just competing, grabbing for all the marbles like the hungry, hungry hippos. So I'm sure you know who this is, but there's a guy named David Meltzer. Are you familiar with David?

Yeah.

So David's a, you know, become a friend and a mentor to me. And he's one of the people that kind of strikes me, like you as, you know, somebody I'd like to become maybe in 10 or 20 years, you know, And I'm on my way, certainly, and I want to learn more. But how do you manage relationships from just keeping everybody in, you know? Like, I've tried everything. You think of CRMs and spreadsheets and Facebook is a really good one for me because I'm very visual, like, if I can see people, but if it's out of sight, out of mind, what are some of the ways that you manage relationships with regard to just the amount of people you know and the incoming you probably get?

Yeah. So two things. There's some basic principles and some basic technologies that people can use. So let's talk about a simple phone. Everyone's got a smartphone. So if you have no CRM, what you can do is organize your phone and your connection. So every year I do this, and what I'm doing right now is I'm saying, okay, who are my top 25 relationships? Who are my top 50 relationships? Who are my top hundred? Who are the relationships in the media that matter most to me? For my success in 2018, getting ready to do a hedge fund for the crypto blockchain category. So invest in blockchain and ICOs. My goal is to raise about 50 million, and I'm asking myself, okay, who are the relationships in the blockchain crypto space? Who are the board members that I want to have? Who are the guys that I need to hire for the hedge fund to make it easier to get the investment? Who are advisors that I want to have? Like, what are those relationships look like? What can I do to serve and support them? I live in Hollywood, so one thing we talked about, Tony Robbins. So, for example, I'm not in Hollywood. I live at the top of the Hollywood Hills, and I have certain relationships in movies and TV and entertainment and music. So, for example, I don't know, seven, eight years ago, I cold called a guy that runs the Grammys. Okay? So what I've learned is people in business, like, going to the Grammys or the Jemmys, I took 15 people to the Emmys. Now, I organize these things based on people's passions. Based on. And I'll ask them. What do you answer? This morning I started my day with a lady that's very successful best selling author. She runs a bank. I know she loves tennis. She went to the Necker island cup with Richard Ransom. So if I do something in a tennis related theme, I'll invite her. Today. My next door neighbor, a, I spent 20 minutes with him. He's a TV and movie producer in Hollywood and his partner is the former head of NBC. And I was just learning about his business today. Now he likes karaoke. So I said to him, why don't we do a karaoke party together? You put half the group together, I'll put half the group together. Let's talk about what kind of relationships we want. Now there's some people I would probably never invite to a karaoke party in a million years. And there's some people I wouldn't hesitate, no matter who it was. You know, maybe it's Steven Spielberg, it doesn't matter. And you know, so it's, it's, it's those kind of things. I'm Jewish, so I write down my friends that are Mormon and Christian and Catholic and all these different kind of things. I went to Florida State. I write down the colleges and all these kind of things. And I put it in my phone or I put it and I tag in my CRM. I use a tool called Nimble. There's other tools. Nimble is a social CRM tool and the reason I like it, let's say I've never met you or I've never met the CEO of Salesforce.com or the head of CVS Pharmacy. I could go do a Google search on the person's name and it'll pull the guy's information right into my CRM, which I like. There's infusionsoft. We use that to kind of help run some of these campaigns. Obviously, salesforce.com is another tool. There's a lot of tools, I don't know, think people should get hung up on the tools. It's the process, it's the system. They have to be organized. And if you're not organized, you will never be able to build the network. You got to invest in the network well before you need it. If I just put someone's phone number and name and email in my phone, I'll never see it again. I got 15,000 contacts in the phone, so it's the way I organize. So when I went to Atlanta, went from Miami to Atlanta. I had no plans, and I just started texting the right people and I'm like, hey, I'm only gonna be in town for about four hours in Buckhead, Georgia. Would love it if you could pop by. But I have this stuff all tagged based on priority relationships to male friends, to technology executives, to different things. And, you know, I'll be at the Super Bowl. Well, I know certain kinds of networks that I have like to go to the super bowl, other ones like to go to the NBA All Star Game, other people might go to the Emmys. So I kind of figured tag all this stuff accordingly so I could reach out and connect with the right people and invite them to the right things. Or a webinar and stuff like that.

No, that's great, Larry, because it's very specific, it's very considerate, and it's very value adding to the people that you care about.

Right.

And specifically, like, you know, we do these things to help people. And yes, we are people too. So you don't want to forget that. You know, you want to walk that abundant line between miser and martyrs. How have you found yourself when you are in those depths or in those trials? Like, I've always found that you really got to focus outside yourself. You know, when you, when you fall into those depressions, how have you dealt with that and managed that? And you know, what are some of the things that people can take away as like, if you're in this state because everybody feels like at the end of the world, how do you get back out of that?

Well, first of all, you got to ask yourself, will this matter in five years? Most often, not. Absolutely not, number one. Number two, if you're so focused on you inward, that's part of the problem. I know from past experience I was running a bad record or software in my brain over and over, thinking of the absolute worst experience, the worst thing that could happen, and over and over till I got paralyzed by fear, uncertainty and doubt. And so now, and this is another thing I've learned from others, but you know, moving my physical body, exercising, breathing, meditation, music, jumping up and down to my favorite song before I give a keynote speech in front of a couple thousand people, I'm going to probably pump up to one or two of my favorite songs by the Black Eyed Peas or Lady Gaga or something that really gets me in the mood. If you looked at my Instagram story today, you'll see this morning, I started my day at 3:30 this morning, and I was Listening to Pitch Perfect, the soundtrack, and I just love that soundtrack. And it just gets me going. And so whatever, you know, you got to figure out what gets you going and get, get in motion. And like you said, give to others. You know, I was in Atlanta, like I said recently, and it was so cold when I was there, and I was actually going to get my ticket to the Atlanta Hawks game. And actually I had already got my tickets by that point. I was actually getting invited to a concert by the guy that runs the arena that I just met the night before. And I was going to get my ticket. And I met a homeless family, a single mother of three children under 10. And it was cold, I was freezing. And I'm like, tell me your story. By the way, everyone has a story. The homeless person to the billionaire, they all have a story. And anyway, I gave them 40 bucks so they could get some lunch. And right now, you know, I didn't forget about her. I got her cell phone, I got her email, and I'm trying to get her housing. Not trying. I'm going to get her housing. I even, you know, said there's no human reason that someone like this should be out in the cold with three young kids. It just shouldn't happen in our society. So even though I'm not there, that's my give back, you know, to try to help people like that and get, get out of my head, no matter what's going on, bad in my life.

That's beautiful, Larry. And I think I might actually be able to help with that. When we're in Atlanta in February, we managed to mentor some really great young entrepreneurs in that area, and I'm sure they would all have some, some connections that could help this family. In addition, we always build. We're always building houses and whatnot all around the world, working in refugee camps, doing different things. So I'm sure I can make a few phone calls and help you out with that as well.

That's awesome.

Figure out the best way to do that. But, yeah, we'll connect on that separately.

By the way, you'll find this, you'll find this interesting. The guy that used to run the Atlanta Hawks and the Atlanta Thrashers, who used to be the number two guy at the NBA, who ran the Pittsburgh Steelers, excuse me, the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Colorado Rockies over the course of his career, probably one of the greatest sports executives in the world. I met him, I don't know, 15 years ago at least. And when I got back, he moved his calendar for me. That next day we had breakfast. And what I noticed when I wrote down, this is 10, 15 years ago, I put down, he likes to help the homeless. So a few hours ago, I reached out to him on a video. I'm like, hey, I need help. Can you give me a resource or two for this person that you know? So it goes back to tagging things correctly and having a good memory as well to help others.

So what was it like for you growing up, Larry? Were you always, you know, a people person? Did that become to, you know, did that kind of evolve over time? How did it look for you when you were a kid?

So when I was in high school, I was on the tennis team, and it wasn't very cool to be on the tennis team. Our team was horrible. Our football team was New York State champions. But I always had gained the respect of the football team. I gained the respect of the baseball players. I knew the kids that were the problem kids. I knew the kids. I was on the yearbook, doing the finance stuff. And so I was one of those guys that somehow connected with different kinds of people. I tend to find when you're in high school and college and even work, things tend to be very cliquish. So I guess maybe at an early age, that was kind of like my upbringing. My father was in insurance sales. I started my first business and teaching tennis when I was 15. And by the way, craziest story ever. When I was in Atlanta, I had complimented the chef at the Grand Hyatt with. When I got there that night, there was this incredible spread of desserts, chocolates, eggnog, wine, food. And I said, are you the executive chef? He goes, I am. I said, I want to compliment you and your team for doing an amazing job. I found out he grew up in my hometown of Havistra, New York. I grew up in a place called Fields, but I went to middle school in Havistra. And the craziest thing, I said, hey, let's stay in touch. And I said, what's your goal? And he says, I want to be the executive chef for the whole Hyatt around the world at Corporate. And I'm like, well, let's just stay in touch. And then he starts telling me he used to get tennis lessons at North Rockland High School. And I'm like, I used to teach tennis at North Rockland High School. He goes, is your name Larry Benet? And I'm like, yeah. He goes, you taught me and my sister. And I was 15 years old. I mean, this had to be 32 years ago. Crazy. All because I took an interest. 1. Complimenting the guy in the beginning with. And then I met someone else. And again, I was just curious. It's not like I'm trying to get anything from the guy who's the executive chef in Atlanta, Georgia, at the Hyatt, but that's how these things happen. Yeah.

And I'm looking up Haverstraw. I actually. I'm from New York, too. I went to school in Binghamton, just west of there.

Okay.

And I just.

There.

So I didn't know that town exactly. But that's a. That's really fun. I can't believe we're, like, from basically the same place.

That's awesome.

Well, all right, Larry. So let's talk about crypto now.

So what.

What got you into the space? Why is it so exciting to you? I know I have my reasons, but, you know, I've run funds before. Funds are definitely something that will continue to come under a lot of scrutiny. And there's a lot of regulatory issues. What are some of the things you're seeing that most people just aren't seeing? And what can you add to the conversation?

So I went from. Someone had very little knowledge. And I'm not claiming I'm the greatest expert on the planet. That's not what I'm saying. But I do study trends, number one. Number two, there was two guys in particular about a decade ago or eight years ago or whenever the heck it was, they first started telling me about bitcoin and blockchain and smart contracts and all that stuff. I didn't listen to them, and most of their friends didn't either. But one of those guys is a billionaire today. It was one of the most influential guys in the world in that category. You would know and recognize his name. The other guy, when I had lunch with him, I don't know, about two months ago, said he got a small slush fund in the category. And I'm like, what's your definition of small? And he's like, about 100 million. He keeps deployed in that class. So obviously he did well enough when he started the venture fund. He runs another company now, and he just invests his personal money. I had another friend, a roommate, probably made 20, 30 million bucks over the last couple years. I watched him. So back in 1994, I had two friends start a company called Internet Security Systems in 1994. I was not using the Internet, let alone Internet security. My friends, a decade or 12 years later, sold that company for 1.5 billion to IBM, a company called Internet Security Systems. Two guys, a guy named Tom Noonan and Chris Claus. So what's gone on up to now? Everyone knows Bitcoin, maybe a little bit of ethereum and ripple and litecoin. But most people know bitcoin, the real value is the underlying technology and blockchain technology. And it will be very disruptive in a multitude of industries. Those that understand it and listen, there's gonna be a lot of this stuff is gonna be worthless. It's gonna be like the dot com era all over again. So you have to know what the heck you're doing. So here's the advice I Give. Someone has $10,000 or 10 million or a billion dollars, my advice is the exact same. Number one, get educated. Number two, take some percentage. So if you have $100,000 to invest in investments, maybe some of it's in real estate, maybe it's some of it's an index funds. Take a percentage that you're comfortable, a couple points, 5%, 10. Pick a number that you're comfortable. If you lost everything on it, don't cry spilled milk. It's just whatever. It's not going to impact your lifestyle one iota. But know that this asset class has had growth like nothing else has had growth in the last, you know, 20, 24 months. Will it continue like this forever? I don't think so. Will it happen for another 12 months, 36 months, you know, who knows? No one knows. No one knows what's going to be the next Google. And by the way, Google came out well after excited home and ask search.

Engine right there, sick social network.

Yeah, exactly, exactly. So you don't. No one knows. If they say they know, they're full of crap. So what you got to go do, there's a book called Angel Investing by Jason Calcunis. The best way I think to do it is to give your money to professionals, number one and let them manage your money, number one. Number two, diversify. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. I was on the phone with my banker friend, she was getting, she sold a quarter million dollars of stock the other day and I'm like, well don't put it all in one thing because if it's not, if for some reason they don't execute, even though it's the greatest friggin idea in the world, all the money's gone. But if you spread it across a couple companies or a trading and mining operation or a hedge fund or whatever the opportunity is, or put some in litecoin or ripple and, you know, whatever the heck you want to do. Just diversify. So. So that's the advice I give. I definitely think it's going to be very disruptive as a whole, as a technology. And just be careful and make sure they're educated. Get educated.

That's huge, Larry. And our values are very much aligned in this. And honestly, I feel like I'm talking to myself in 20 years in some ways. I don't know exactly what the age gap is, but you're about 45 or so.

I'm 48, but I'll take 45.

All right, so I'm 32. So we got 16 years in between us. And I feel like I'm just getting my stride in my career. As far as, you know, I did the fund. It wasn't for me. I might end up doing another fund. It's more about who I was at the time and less about what, you know, I thought about the world and all that. But I see somebody like you, and I see somebody who has the same kind of values and the same kind of skill sets and the same kind of interests. And I can't help but wonder to myself aloud is like, what are the things that I can't see about myself? Like, if you were to Give yourself at 32 some advice, knowing that we have similar skill sets and we're also relationship builders and network builders, what would be some of the things that, you know, hey, your late 30s or your early 40s, you're gonna be very much like this. And I'm sure there's other people listening as well that could benefit from the same advice.

Yeah, I mean, number one is get as clear as possible on one's goals, objectives, number one. Number two, figure out what your why is. Why are you doing something? What are you most passionate about in life, and where are your skill sets? Like, are. You know, it should be where your passions and skill sets lie. It should be at the intersection is probably what you should be doing. Who then would be the most successful person or group of people or a company that you can get in close proximity to either work for, work under, volunteer for. So if I wanted to be in fashion, women's fashion, hypothetically, you know, could I connect with Donna Karan? Could I connect with a Sarah Blakely? Could I volunteer? Could I get, you know, heavily involved in their industry association? When I, you know, looking back, probably in my 30s, I was a sales guy at a company called the Gartner Group, actually. And I was. I became the president of the Southeastern Software Association. I was on the board of the Technology association of Georgia, and I was in sales for a company called the Gartner Group, just in sales. But my connections were like the who's who of the Atlanta tech scene. But it was more because of me and what I was doing. Not so much what the company was doing. It was. I was connecting those executives to things that were of value. And I would figure out the one skill. If you can get good and master the skill of being a vc, not a venture capitalist, but a value creator, life will be your oyster. You can write your own ticket. So I was. I hosted a. I invited some people to a party at our mansion in the hills the other day. It was probably a couple hundred people that came, and I thought to myself, if I rewinded the clock, and it's just about simple blocking and tackling. If someone's an entrepreneur, things that they want might be capital exposure, social media influence, pr, you know, what are those things? And is there something that you have or things that other people have that you can make the connection with? 1 plus 1 can equal 11 if. And so that's really, if you think about it, is it's figuring out those relationships that matter the most and figuring out what you can do. Listen, it's not about having thousands of people. It's about having enough of the right people that have integrity, that have the values and principles that you live by. I had a chance, and I won't mention the event. It's a very famous event. It's probably one of the most exclusive events in the world. I was working on being there and I still probably get there. But I felt there was something that someone that I was communicating with, wasn't handling in the right way and the way I felt it should go down from an integrity standpoint. And anyway, we're not doing something right now, even though it would be an amazing experience for me to attend and go to. But I think it's more importantly doing business with those that have the same values and integrity you do. And if you have enough people that have your back. And my buddy Keith Frazz wrote a great book, who's got your back? And he wrote another book called Never eat Alone. And how many of those relationships do you need? Do you need 6? Do you need 10? Do you need 12? Do you need 15? Do you need 20, 25? I don't know what the answer is. It's going to be some range between. Think about this. One of my buddies, Dave Stack's got a philosophy of power. Six If I have six people that are successful and connected, that are willing to help me on stuff that I have going on, and he's got six, and you've got six, and that guy's got six, is it possible we could solve any problem, Raise capital, make things happen, raise money for charity. If we all agree we want to help our six, or R10 or R12 or R15. It's not that complicated. But that's just how the world works. They don't talk about it in college and they don't talk about it in most workforces, but this is the skill that matters a lot. Yeah.

And it's the one that. That's going to make the difference between everything. It's not about what you know, it's about who you know. Right. I don't need to know everything.

Yeah. Can I just share one last thing? This I think you'd find fascinating. So there's a guy, I just read an article about him, and his name is Ed Mylett. And Ed and I, I would say, have mutual friends, but we're definitely not buddy buddy. And he's worth a couple hundred million dollars. He's in the financial services now. He's someone that, if I was doing training or keynote speaking or collaborating with him in some way, shape or form, because he runs a very large. He's the vice chairman of a very large financial service company. About a month ago, I read on his Instagram wall that when he was a young boy, and I, by the way, he didn't even say it in the post, but I figured out Chips was his favorite TV show, which was a cop show, a motorcycle show, and that one of the characters who was Eric Estrada did not treat him very well. And he talks about on stage, he said if he ever got to somewhat of influence or importance, he would always treat his fans very friendly and always make an impact because as a little kid, this made an impact on him. Now, two years ago, I gave a speech at my friend David Fagan's home. The first guy that came up to me was Larry Wilcox, which was Eric Estrada's TV acting partner on the show Chips. I've stayed in touch with him again. Oh, I'm sorry. I guess I was a little loud. Anyway, long story short, I reached out to Larry the other day, said, larry, can you send me this video? And if you send me the video, I'm gonna forward to this very influential guy. I'm sure some positive things will come from it. The day I sent it to him, he texted me back. He Goes, Larry, you made my year. He was playing golf with Pete Sampras. The day before he was playing golf with Wayne Gretzky. Yet me connected to an actor that hasn't been on TV in a long time from chips from probably 30 some odd years ago that made his year because I listened to or I watched and found out what was important. And I went above and beyond. Right. To help that guy. Now here's my question. Do you think if I. And by the way, I connected them on the phone, I sent them the video he posted on his Instagram. Now here's my question. Do you think if I reach out to him, say, hey, can we have a meeting? What do you think he might say?

He's gonna say yes.

Yeah. I mean, in the grand scheme of things, I mean, how much time it took me a little elbow grease. Yeah.

And I'm always looking for ways I could do that and just do it with more people and get the scale. I guess what I'm running into now at this stage of my career is just the amount of time that it takes to really nurture all the relationships that you do have. And, you know, it becomes a little overwhelming. But if you're committed, you'll go through valleys and troughs like everybody. But if you're committed, you'll find a way. And you've shared some incredible insights today. And just it gives me, it gives me a lot of. For anybody who's going through this experience too, you know, if you're committed to this journey of really being world class at something, you're gonna go through troughs and valleys and you're gonna hit walls where you're like, okay, a little bit disillusioned or a little bit, you know, just disheartened that things aren't going as quickly as you'd like them to. And just remember, like, you got to get out of your head, you got to help somebody else, and that's it, you know, and that's the way you find your flow again. So, Larry, if you had a microphone to everybody listening in the world, right? If you just had a way to communicate with everybody in the world, what would you wish that they knew? What would you tell them?

I would just say give first, add value, always play the long game, Help other people make a difference as you go and, you know, just do the right thing. And, you know, I think just good things will come back to you. When you have relationship capital, when you have relationship currency, when you have connection currency and those kind of things, it's all about high trust relationships. So I went from not knowing Ed Mylett to I did something very nice for Ed. I'm not, I didn't do it. Say, hey, this is. I'm trying to get an outcome. You got to do it without. You got to give without expectation. I'm just saying it becomes way easier if I help you with something that you care about. Maybe sharing something of one of your podcasts on social media or whatever. It might be ever so slow. So that's what I would say in terms of parting bucks.

That's beautiful, Larry. Can. So just as you know, we're the Make More Marvels podcast, right? We want to help people to be more, do more, give more. And more specifically, we want to help you since you've been so generous with us and sharing your time and your expertise and your resources and your connections, we want to do the same for you. So what's a way that we can connect or catalyze a resource, an opportunity, a person, a system to help you to move your mission forward faster?

So I would say just three things. I would say just go to our website, LarryBenet b e n e t.com ebook we'll send them a free gift on how to connect with anyone, anytime, anywhere. And that'd be one. And then if they follow me just on Instagram and Facebook while I'm sharing things that we do on a daily basis to make a big impact, the more people that can comment on this podcast on what they learn, maybe tag a friend or two that could benefit or share the podcast and just comment probably, you know, let's get the viewership up on it. That'll help you. It'll help us. I mean, that's what it's all about. Yeah.

And that's the best thing is just to realize that everything can be a win, win, win across the board. It's good for you, it's good for the people that you serve. It's good for, for everybody concerned. And that's the true definition of integrity. Is it working for everybody concerns?

Yep.

So Larry, thank you so much for being here. And if people want to get in touch if they have a connection or something that they think is interesting, especially around the crypto space and what you want working on right now, what's the best way to do that?

Probably message me on Facebook and or Instagram and it'll get to me. And like I said, I'm Larry K. Benet, I think on both of the Facebook and Instagram at the moment, unless that somehow changes. But My name is Larry Binet. I think on the Facebook you'll see an Emmy over my head. And Instagram, I think there's a little jacket of me or something like that.

Thank you so much, Larry, for sharing your time with us today. And we really appreciate you being here. And if there's anything that anybody can do to help you move your mission forward faster, we'd be happy to do that. So I encourage people to reach out. You know, that's part of the reason we do these podcasts is so that more kind of lesser known, like you're not necessarily a household name, but you certainly should be because you're out there doing it right. And I appreciate that about you. Thank you, Larry, for being here.

Thank you.

Thanks so much for listening to the Make More Marvels podcast. For more tips, hacks and strategies to create an amazing, abundant life in your health, wealth and relationships, whatever that means to you, head on over to makemoremarbles.com check out our cool explainer video about what we're about and join our community of entrepreneurial game changers. We want to help you level up your life in every possible way. And don't forget to subscribe to us on itunes, Stitcher or Google Play wherever you're listening to your podcast. And please do leave a review. Thank you so much and we'll see you on the next podcast.