Capitalism = Freedom + Community

More than anything, I want to build a community of capitalists.

So I think maybe the secret sauce that I just didn't really realize of why. What makes you so good? It's the intention of where you're coming from. I mean, you are a good speaker and a good interviewer, but it's also intention.

I felt like anytime I went to somebody else's event or somebody else's mastermind, it was just so full of ego that there was no real connection that happened.

Ryan. Hey, man.

I cannot believe, first of all, you look very nice today.

Well, you know, when you've got it flaunted. Also, this is a Target shirt, $21, you know, clearance rack.

And when I.

When I.

When I came in today to this podcast, I know I'm leaving overseas and today's the last day, but I kind of forgot that you have today. The biggest day of the year for you, capcom is exactly 24 hours. I can't believe you're with me right now.

It's pretty. Our super bowl, the Capitalism conference. This is our sixth one.

Yeah.

So capcon is this week, and I'm a ball nerves, I bet. And I'm also excited and I have this weird sense of I can't even talk. That's how I feel. Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong.

Yes.

And it's going to be fine. It's going to be amazing. It's funny how things just end up working out, even though behind the scenes there's so much chaos that is happening. A speaker canceled last minute. One of our team members is in the hospital last minute.

That's crazy.

Yeah. So some things have happened easier year by year.

You used to mention this is your sixth one. Does it get easier year by year because you've kind of used to the chaos, or is it still still the same pit of nerve in your stomach every time?

Some things get easier and some things get harder. So the things that get easier, you know, you don't worry so much about the last minute. Things that are gonna go like, we, again, we had a speaker cancel. We put something new together. It's gonna be great. It's gonna work out and everyone's gonna love it. There are also some things that are harder. Like, oh, we've already done these topics for three years, or we've had these speakers. We got to dig a little bit deeper to see how we're going to outdo last year.

Right.

So there's a lot more planning.

Right.

As you get moving on them. Selling tickets gets easier. Meeting a budget Gets harder. Yeah. So it. Some things get easier and some things get harder. The thing that has been hardest for me this year so far is now I get a keynote every year, and I'm in such a transitionary phase of my career right now, that has been hard for me to keep. Like to think about how we're gonna. How we're gonna do something that really wows the audience.

Yeah.

And then this man over here.

Yeah.

The guy behind the camera asked me the most amazing question. We were sitting on the couch last week and he asked me this question, maybe this is two weeks ago. And he says, what is the. Why does the word capitalism matter to you? And I said, you're going to love this. I said, without even thinking, I said, capitalism is the perfect blending of freedom and community. Freedom is your own personal desire to create and to not be held back and to serve. But it's empty without community, without you knowing the context of how you serve other people, of how you have a place in the world, knowing what your standing is. In a group people, freedom is just an empty room. It's just like an undesigned room with no couch, nothing on the walls. There's nothing to enjoy, there's nothing to create.

And yet so many people chase financial freedom. Yes, but within the kind of. To your point, without the community or the purpose.

It's. It's. It's can be a very. And then wonder why they're lonely.

Right.

And depressed and addicts.

Yeah.

Because they. They got one part of it.

Yeah.

But they didn't get the other part of it. But the other extreme is just as dangerous because if you have community but you have no freedom.

Right.

Then you just have for servitude.

Right.

Or you have.

Which is most Communism, the condition of most of the world.

Exactly. Right.

Dollar a day, $2. Actually, I think it's $2.15 a day is like considered poverty.

They don't have freedom now. Right. They might have community, but they don't have freedom. And they might actually be net. Net happier.

Right.

But they don't have the growth, they don't have the opportunity. They don't have the ability to create new things.

So it's kind of like indentured servitude. Yes, it really is. It is. It's like a slavery of kinds. Just because the government, the political systems don't necessarily allow it. I want to take a step back because not everyone knows what capitalism conference is or Capcom. Remember I met you at one of your early Capcoms, and I walked In a room of a thousand people. And you were the shiny star. I'm like, this guy interviews like no. And you're shredding me. You have. What was the water guy from Africa?

I mean, it was water.org water.org Peter Diamantis.

I mean, this was a couple.

This is our guy, the water guy.

This is. This is Charity Water.

Charity Water?

Yes, Charity Water.

Tim. Tim. Tim Urban. Tim Urban. No, he's. Wait, but why. This is embarrassing.

Well, I just.

But Charity Water.

I didn't know you and I walk in your conference and it wasn't just the Peter Diamantes.

You. You. But sorry, we give to Operation Underground Railroad now.

Instead.

Instead of Charity Water, everybody was supporting Charity Water. We moved over to. Oh, you are.

So I want to ask you a question for those who don't know in our audience what, you know, the capitalism, or Capcom, as you call it, is. First of all, tell us what it is and why did you start it in the first place and where is it going through what is.

Well, I started the Capitalism conference purely selfishly because I had outgrown my peer group and I want me to get a new peer group. And so I just decided that I had $500,000 in retained earnings in my business, and I decided that I was going to risk it all on a conference where I invited the people that I wanted to learn from to come speak, and then hopefully I could offset the cost by selling tickets and some people would come. But it was purely selfish. Wow. So I was like, I. I mean, I've outgrown everybody that I hang out with. I have $1 million business.

Wow.

That's. That was literally where I was. I had a million dollar business and I was like, I need to get around some. Some higher level people. And so, you know, you could have.

Just bought a ticket to someone else's.

I probably could.

You didn't need to create your own conference and go risk 500,000.

But I'm an entrepreneur.

It's got to be harder.

So. So I just made this list of all the people that I wanted to hang out with and I just started inquiring about their speaking fees and I started booking them. Gary Vaynerchuk was the first person I booked. I was in, in 2015. This is before he was, you know, as big as he is now, you.

Probably couldn't get him for the same speaker fee.

That is true. It's 5x. Since then, I called Grant Cardone. That's a story on its own. Wow. Yeah. I've told that story. A couple of times I booked somebody from Robert Herjavec from Shark Tank. And then it started to become like a thing. Right. I just started talking about it and tickets started to sell and so then it was like, I should probably hire for some help for this. And it went so well that I decided to do it again. And then we rebranded to capitalism and. And now it's been, you know, this is our sixth year doing it.

Incredible. So what's in it for you now? You're six years later in this. You've had an amazing guest. I've actually, I'm going to Egypt tomorrow because of you. Because of Capcom. Because of the speaker that you had, Mickey, that we've interviewed on the show.

Because of your.

Because I heard her speak and I was so blown away. I approached her after your Capcom, after her speech at Capcom.

If you call it Capcom or capitalism dot com, my head is going to explode.

How do you.

What's the capcon? The Capital Conference.

Oh, sorry, I'm in trouble. I haven't got a cap. I forgot, I forgot.

Charity water. Okay, sorry, yeah.

Cap Con.

Yes.

So the Capitalism conference. So I know how impactful it's been for me. It's like as a spectator now, I've heard great speeches. Not only have I been inspired, but it's actually like, of course our. We don't have this podcast, but it's really changed the trajectory of my life and I've just been like. And I'm just the passive, not the Internet marketer who's attended this. So six years later, you've totally blown this thing up. You're getting amazing speakers. So why do you still do it? Like, why go through the stress? Why go through the energy of putting together such a well curated conference?

You know, it's, it's funny, every year we look at each other and we're like, should we do that again? It's so much work and it's so hard to sell tickets. I mean now at this point, we sold out a month in advance, but this is the first time that we were able to kind of effortlessly. Not effortlessly, but without pressure, sell out way in advance. Yeah, it was the least pressured sales pitch I've had to do for this. But we work for six months for basically no money.

Yeah. And you put on tons of your own money for deposits, for speakers. Yeah, I mean, you're, you're out, you're out, you're out. I'm sure six digits getting this thing.

So we, we look at each other, we're like, are we going to do that again? And we always say, let's wait three months and see. And so we, if. If Capcom was our primary source of business, like, if we had to make it a profit center, we would have every year booked a year in advance, and we would. But we don't do that. Our events are about 18 months apart. And that's because we spent about three.

Months after the saying, you'll never do it again.

And then. And then about, you know, four months combined, you're like, oh, yeah, we're. We're doing again. It's. It's like when you forget how awful the first year of having a child is, and you're like, I want another one. And. Yeah, and it's the same thing with having an event. The reason.

But what is it for you now? Because before, it was to meet these people. Now. Now you meet these people, you interview them. So what's in it for you now?

Because there is something magical that happens in two days when you get a group of entrepreneurs who are focused on growth personally and professionally in one room, and you watch them serve each other.

Yeah.

Jp, more than anything, I want to build a community of capitalists. You know, back to this point about freedom and community.

Yeah.

Freedom was what I always wanted. And you've told the story of when you started having some financial success. You felt the emptiness on the other side of it. I felt that too.

Yeah.

I wanted community more than anything. And I felt like anytime I went to somebody else's event or somebody else's mastermind, it was just so full of ego that there was no real connection that happened. There was the posturing connection of like, we should hang out because we can. We can do business together.

Right.

But something that I'm really proud of at our events is there are people worth well over $100 million. And there are people who are just starting out, and you don't know who's who until the second day.

Yeah.

You cannot tell who's from who until people start talking about it. By then, you've already hung out and you've broken the ice, and there's no ego separating that. We're the only community that I know of where people can come up with their idea, get funded and mentored, have an exit, and then come back and serve the next group.

That's great.

And at capcon, you watch it happen in person. I had some team members that joined during COVID or, you know, between end of 2019 until mid-2021 had never seen a Capcom. Alex you had never seen a capcon for like, two years, for a year and a half, at least. Right. I'm like, you don't even know. You don't even know what happens. And then all everybody comes into one room, and you just watch the transformations of people and people working together. And so the reason I do it is because I, deep down, want community more than anything else. And I think the transformation I'm going through right now is sort of owning my position in the marketplace is I'm the pastor for entrepreneurs.

I think it's a great way to say I totally see you the same way, by the way.

I've always kind of run from that, resisted that.

When you say it, I'm like, of course you are.

I'm just the pastor for entrepreneurs.

I think you are. I think that's right.

And I. And I. I didn't want to own that, but it's when I'm happiest is when I just embrace the fact that my part of. At least part of my purpose here is to bring that group of people together and to serve that flock.

Yeah. Ryan, I realize you've heard me say a bunch of times the story about how I came to your first capcon conference getting good at this, and I keep saying how you blew me away with your interviewing style, but I realized from this conversation, it wasn't your interviewing style was your authenticity.

It was your.

It was because that you came from a place that wanted to create a community where a lot of times you go to these conferences and they're just trying to, like, you know, it's like, hype, hype, hype, hype, hype, hype, hype. Like, seven digits to this. It came from a different place. So I think maybe the secret sauce that I just didn't really realize of why it makes you so good, it's the intention of where you're coming from. I mean, you are a good speaker and a good interviewer, but it's also intention. And when you. So this is the first time in this conversation when I really. We've never talked about freedom and community being like, I love that. I've never really heard of that reference before, and I think it's powerful. I think it's amazing.

So two points to that. One, you have. You have been a good friend of telling me when I get out of alignment there, Right? Because you said a lot of times you see people like the seven steps to.

Yeah.

And you've. You've seen videos of me to be like, that was a little seven Steppy Ryan.

Yeah.

And I'm like, oh, you're right. I don't know why I go into that.

Yeah.

But I know you're right. And it's because I am. That's when. Like, when I feel disconnected from community or I forget that I value community.

Yeah.

That is when I go into, like, here are the four secrets to me, and it just falls flat and I look like everybody else. But when I'm thinking.

Because that's what. That's what the rest of the world is pedaling.

Exactly. Yes. Now, this idea of freedom and community merging together, you're Gonna Love this, JP. I was at an event when I was 21 years old. I had just graduated college. This is 2009 or 2010. And there were 25 people at this event. And there was someone who came in and ran the whole group to this exercise. I don't even want to remember what it was called. It was like, called the Heart's Purpose or something like that. And it was writing down all of the memories that you had in which you got goosebumps. It was just. You felt like, this is how the world is supposed to be. And then, same way you wrote down all the experiences you could think of that made you just like. Like, resistant. This isn't how it's supposed to be. And in weaving those together, you shared your list with the group that was around you, and you kind of helped them. They help you pull out these words, descriptive words of. It sounds like this is important to you. And you'd either be like, no, that's not. That's not how I describe it. You would sort of flesh out the words that triggered you or that made you feel like everything is right in the world. And some people came out with these very descriptive sentences that were like, I'm committed to the liberation of women in Ghana, Africa, things like that. Right. Mine was very simple. It was, I'm committed to freedom and community.

And that was it. And I haven't thought about that exercise for 10 years. And then when Alex over here asks me, why is capitalism matter to you? I'm like, it's the perfect combination of freedom and community. And it was like, oh, that is. Oh, that's it. That's like. That's the. Okay, I resonate with this 100%. And now I want to bring that to my events and to love it, my podcasts and to everything that I do.

You know, Ryan, the fact that you got the. Just the URL for capitalism.com, and you've told me the story once of how you did it. But isn't it interesting that you got it, like, of all people, like, that is a very valuable thing. And you just were in the right place at the right time. You bought it, you know, at a time when you can get it. But now when you tell the story about the freedom and community, it's like, of course you got it. Well, yeah, like, right. Because at 21, you dream this up whether you knew it or not.

Right.

It was a little woo, but like, you declared it at 21, and now you're just saying, and of course, what channel? You can do it through the church as a pastor. You could do it through basically through capitalism, through economic currency as a pastor, too.

And if I had stayed in the church that overvalues community versus abundance. Abundance. Right. I would probably be a very. Like, I would be the Joel Osteen who is preaching like a prosperity gospel. Right. I'd be blackballed by everybody that I grew up with. But for me, the. The perfect marriage of growth and joy is when you are fully plugged in and you're operating from abundance.

Yeah.

And those two things go so hand in hand. And if you starve one from the other, you lose both.

Yeah. Yogananda, who's a great guru, always said, if you could take the wealth from the west and the spirituality from the east and put them together, you'd have the perfect society, the perfect community, which is a lot of what I think what you're saying right now. It's like you need both. It does take currency, it does take. Take money. It's just the reality. If you're in scarcity, it's hard to do a lot. But we know that without the grounding of a community, it's called spirituality. Connected, connectedness. They're both empty, they're both hollow apart. But together they create the perfect combination.

Part of me wants to say, well, then is it just contrast, meaning when you feel deprived of one, you create more of the other, and you go back and forth. But I don't think that's helpful for me to think about. I have to assume that you can have an abundance of both opportunity, freedom, and community. And I think that when you see yourself in the context of a group of people, you serve more, you give more, you create more, and therefore you receive more. But when you pull yourself out of that and you're operating alone, you instead project. Like you say, I need to create something great in order to be seen, recognized to be great, whatever. Yeah, but it's plugging back into that community in which you're actually able to do that.

Correct.

And so I have to believe that you can have an abundance of both of those two sides of the coin. And I think that is what capitalism provides. I think capitalism is the opportunity for us to create in the service of others and create abundance in the process of doing so completely. That to me is what capitalism is. Whereas in. We tend in the west to think about it as freedom for ourselves and its dissenters would say that it is the egoic drive taking from taking off the backs of the less fortunate. I say no, that is, that is the removal of one of those two very important factors of freedom and community that capitalism so beautifully brings together. Yeah.

Which is the very spirit of the show. Right. If you think investing on purpose. Like when people ask me what is this, this whole purpose of why we're doing the show? And it's really just to awaken people and inspire people that doing the right thing, purpose sustainability creates outsized returns. That's kind of a short answer I have. And that's exactly what you're saying. It's not one or the other when blended the right way.

And you, you've said that when you were, when you started to make money, you felt like there was a loss. You didn't, you didn't have the community side as full as you wanted it to be. And Thrive has become this example of how you can create outsized returns when you focus on the impact that you make.

Correct.

Did. Did. I'm guessing that went hand in hand somewhere. Like, that's a part of your story that I don't have. Totally filled in my brain was, I know you went out looking for more purpose and community, but when you started bringing that into Thrive, is that when people really started buying in to what you were doing?

It's a good question. I don't know. I mean, I would say, like the path looks like I needed to make money. I had kids. Diapers had to be paid. I don't know that I had. I was more on the financial side. I need. I need so much gas. I'm running on a quarter tank, an eighth of a tank of gas. I gotta, gotta bring home the bacon. That's all I have. So I didn't have the luxury of thinking about. I didn't think I had the luxury of thinking about. It's like I had to be transactional. I had to get it done.

With some abundance. Even early on. And we talked about this earlier with a little bit of abundance. I realized it wasn't scratching the edge because money alone without community. And that really is what started the journey and the pathway to look for purpose and to look for community. And then it got really clear to me because there's community, there's lots of people. So all of a sudden, for some people, you start making money. Your community might be. I want to be with other people who own Porsches. I want to join the. The Porsche Club. And that's. That's a community. Right. And some people golf, and that's. That's a community. Country clubs are communities. That just wasn't my community.

Okay, so.

So there's. What do you want? You define community. What does that mean?

Well, what I'm looking for here is, was there a point for you? Because I've. I've had this where you. You've realized that pursuing more money isn't going to fill up whatever it is that you're looking for.

Definitely.

And then there's a sense of like, I don't even care anymore. I'm just going to find out what lights me up. Like, I'm just gonna give to other people. Like, I'm just gonna serve. It's almost like you get smashed or smacked around enough to you or you're humbled enough to serve.

Yes.

And.

But I don't think it's everyone's journey.

I think if you're.

If you're lucky, you get to go through that journey because. Or have walking near the awareness. It sucks. Right? It's painful to be slapped around. I've done it too.

It's horrible. I'm. When you. You did have moments in which you were like, okay, I'm gonna think about service and creating value for other people. Was that actually a turning point for thrive?

I was already starting to get momentum, but the company has grown 10x since then. So I couldn't tell you the exact. There was some rocket fuel started, but then it grew 10x. Was it because I changed the name of the company? I literally changed the name of the company, rebranded the company. Was it the name, Was it the spirit, or was it my time? I don't know. But if you kind of look at the law of attraction, coming at it from a different place rather than coming from this transaction, I got to make money to bring. Bring home enough money to pay the bills where you can get to the point where you kind of get to surrender that to, what am I actually doing every day? Can I serve something bigger and not just like, where I'm actually creating accretive outcomes for Everybody. For all the stakeholders and not just for myself. It was a huge paradigm shift. The company's grown hugely since then. So I don't know if it was a chicken or the egg. Ryan, to be honest.

Do you have. I mean, you have a nonprofit. You throw these investor appreciation parties. I don't. I can't imagine there being investors in that room who aren't in there because they believe that they're participating in something much bigger than just getting 16% year over year.

I would think that's right.

There's. I think there is. There are people there. Because when you speak about the broader mission of Thrive. Yeah. People resonate with that. And even if it were to make 13% versus somebody else going 19%, they'd say, I still feel better about being a Thrive. And I have witnessed that, being at some of those parties and meeting some of your peers. And it seems to me that when you had. So I would assume that when you had that flip to thinking about more creation that you were able to go bigger because of the people that you attracted to you.

I think that's absolutely true. You know, it's weird, Ryan. I don't think about it. I just almost don't want to think about it because. Because then it gets transactional.

Oh, that's a good point.

So I don't want to be like.

I don't want.

Then it kind of puts a motive to it. Oh, if I do this, then, like, the messaging will get me this. I maybe in some ways, I purposely almost put, like, a little firewall, but as you say it, I would say that's. That's true.

Okay. So this is what I'm going to take away from that this week is Capcom. And I know internally I'm going through this transition that you've talked about before.

Right.

I've had this point in which I just want to create. Right. I. And I just want to serve, and I just want to do well by my people. I feel that happening. But you are so right that if I think about it, it does become transactional.

Yeah.

So I am going to, just for this week, allow myself to just think about creating an amazing experience for everyone who's going to be there. I think it's great without trying to make it something, without trying to see where it's going. And if I go in that direction, because I probably will, I'll rein it back in and remember this conversation.

I think it's great. Right.

And I'm just going to show up and think about how I can give to this community with, you know, pour as much of my cup into theirs.

Yeah.

And I suspect that my couple stay full as a result of that.

I think your couple get much fuller. I really do. Ryan, I want to let you know from this conversation, I'm really excited about this idea. I love the idea of not only just the. The pastor of capitalism. I love that, that, that title and even your reluctant story to get there, but what you're providing and also you're the right person to provide it. It wasn't a coincidence that it's you. It wasn't a coincidence that you had that thing. You were 21. It wasn't a coincidence that you got capitalism dot com. It all is this beautiful journey that I actually think we're in a moment right now, Ryan, a day before your show that it's the perfect and whether you're just with your declaration you are the right person to create this wonderful community for everybody and you're the right person and from it your couple. We're going to laugh about this. We'll listen to the show again and you're going to laugh because I, I wholeheartedly believe and feel that's the case.

Well, thank you very much. Well then, peace be upon you.

Peace be upon you.

May the grace of God always be in your favor.

What do you say with Star Trek?

Live and prosper, Ryan Moran. Live and prosper.

I'm still learning the whole pastor for entrepreneurs thing. I'm still getting my bearings here. I just figured out that that's my purpose.

That's awesome.

We just witnessed a birth, ladies and gentlemen, of Ryan Daniel Moran. All right, it's getting weird.

Thanks for watching. Should we, should we squirt some water at you?

No, we just go deuces.

Deuces.

If you've read my book, listened to the podcast, or watch any of my YouTube videos and you're asking yourself, where the heck do I start? Where do I begin my journey to my million dollar business? We got you today. My team and I just completed a new Kickstart class called five days seven figures. This is the best on ramp class for any of you who are ready to begin your seven figure journey. In this five day class, you're going to choose your ideal market, what products to launch, come up with a plan to get each one of them to 25 sales a day and you'll know at the end of the class exactly what your business is going to be, how you're going to get it to a million, and exactly what your next steps are. To get it off the ground. It's a five day class. It costs 100 bucks. And when you're done, a member of my team will get on the phone with you and review your homework directly with you. When you're ready to start, go take the challenge@capitalism.com five that's the number five five days, seven figures. Capitalism.com five.

Sam.