Episode 84: Joshua Denne - What Building An Empire Truly Means

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What's going on, everyone? Welcome to the Build you'd Empire podcast. Today we have a special guest with us, Joshua Denny, who's actually a partner here, here at Build you'd Empire. And I'm super excited about this episode for a lot of reasons. Number one, me and Josh actually partnered up on Build your Empire, I believe, seven to eight months ago now. And we've really been able to build an amazing relationship and partnership. And we're actually at the Build your empire build you'd Empire house today, which we'll get into. But I'm super excited to kind of tell your story to the audience of Build your Empire and to really just have a conversation about how you've been able to build your empire in your life to then tell that message to the people that are listening today. So thanks so much for coming on the show.

Thanks for having me.

Absolutely. So one thing I want to start off this whole interview with, just for my listeners as well as the build your empire listeners, is just your story in general. I like to kind of start it off to kind of bringing people up to date about what you're currently working on and then roll it back. So just in terms of what you're focused on today on a day to day basis, where's most of your time spent in a business perspective?

You know, most of my time today is spent on either investment banking type situations or know, taking some type of product or service to the market. You know, we tend to like to get involved in companies that we believe we can add value to from a capital standpoint. We can maybe be that little spark that pushes them, you know, from where they are to where they want to be. Ultimately, I think everyone wants to have, you know, that runaway success, but there's a lot of things that have to happen to make that, you know, that that fire ignite totally. So we like to get involved from a capital standpoint, but only if we, we believe we can move the Needle. From a marketing standpoint, if it's a product that we believe in, something that we think has a lot of value to the market, then we get involved in those types of projects these days for sure.

I love it. For everyone listening, I know that when we first met, it was through John Malott. Shout out to John Malott if he's watching this. But just in regards to your journey, I know that we've talked over dinner and just you've told me the ins and outs of your story of just success, the ups, the downs. And I know that when I first met you and John, you guys were like, yeah, we've been in business together longer than you've been alive. Right. So in regards to just, just this whole entrepreneurship story, like when was your, I would say, pivot point from going from someone that what may have not have started a business to then jumping in and then we're gonna get more into the story. But what was that time in your life that you had a realization like, alright, I want to be an entrepreneur and this is the route for me.

You know, first of all, about John a lot. John and I are brothers. I love John. He's one of my best friends. And the reason why is, you know, over. If you're in business long enough, Casey, you're a young man and you're going to start down this journey. The longer you're in business, the more you realize that relationships are sacred, they're valuable, they're far more valuable than the end game. I think I like what Jordan Peterson says about life and I resonated with it because I believe it's true. He says life is not a game, but it's a series of games. And that you never want to sacrifice the victory for one game because it can cost you the series. Meaning that if we're in business for a little bit and some people want to take that shortcut, some people want to go, well, look, I see that path and maybe I'm gonna hurt this person over here, maybe I'll hurt this person over there. But they'll justify it in their mind and they'll do it because they want victory in the game they're in. And that's a competitive nature for a lot of people. But they sacrifice victory over the, the string of games. People don't want to play with people like that. John's one of those guys that he doesn't do that. He won't sacrifice the victory of one game. And you ask what, what got me into business in the first place was I like people. I'm a people person. I. I made a lot of mistakes when I was in high school. Like, not. I didn't go.

We'll get into that.

No, like you said, if you're asking back then, I made all those mistakes, and I didn't think I could do anything other than be in business.

Yeah.

My resume didn't look good. If I'm gonna go apply for a job from some other entrepreneur, they're gonna look at my resume, and if they're a big enough company where they can pay me some money, they're gonna dismiss me right away.

Yeah.

And not that that's right or wrong. It's just, you know, when you're looking at your work pool and you're looking at what's available, you're typically gonna go with somebody that looks good on paper. Yeah, and I certainly didn't.

Makes sense. Just before we get into the ins and outs of the story, I want to kind of bring people up to date with build your empire and just kind of have your intake on number one. Just you and John, obviously. This whole builder empire thing we got, we all became partners on it. What does build your empire mean to you?

For everyone watching, Build your empire for me is a platform. I think it's a movement for not just the youth, but, you know, I have children, so you start thinking differently when you have children. I look at people your age, you know, you're like, you know, you could be my son. I want you to win. I want you to win in the environment. I think for decades, it's. The stack's been unfairly shuffled for most people. You know, the old adage of go to school, you know, get good grades, go to college, get a higher education, then go get a job, work for a big company, and. And that company's gonna take care of you. Those days are gone. And what's cool about you, Casey, and I think most of the millennial generations, they know that. They already understand that that's a bunch of BS and they're moving back towards entrepreneurial roots as Americans. And, you know, wherever you are in the world, you know, the American ideal was based on, you know, bootstrapping. Like, you know, like, we're going to. Most everyone in this country where we're doing this podcast was an entrepreneur a hundred years ago. One hundred and twenty years ago, if you didn't work, you didn't eat.

Yeah.

You just died. There was no government service. There's no. Like, you either farmed or you had to trade. And you were an entrepreneur, and we've gone, like, kind of pendulum, swung the other way, and we've gotten far away from that. I think we got to go back to that and build your empire. For me, is that platform is going to be that light on the hill that's going to, you know, aggregate. Yes. Some of the best that have done it. So we have examples to follow, people, people that can contribute and give. Like we saw at this last build you'd Empire event. I know the next event that we're gonna have, same thing. We got the best. And thanks to you, Casey, you've opened the doors to so many people. Because here's what I believe. Most people that have accomplished success in business, they want to give back. You know, when I was younger, I used to think, you know, rich people were like people that were just miser and they. They didn't want to teach anybody. They were just. They only cared about themselves. That's not been my experience. As I've gotten, you know, higher up in my financial status, what I found is most people like David Meltzer and others and Chase here, these guys, they want to give back. It's in their DNA. Yes, they succeeded that they want to go give that back to the next person. They want to pass the torch. You know, a candle loses nothing by lighting another candle. And that's what I believe builds your empire. It's that or a candle. We want to light your candle. We want to light you up and show you a new way that you can accomplish your goals, you can accomplish your dreams, and you can truly get to where you want to go.

I love it. I love it. And for everyone that did not. That was not at the event. So for everyone that was not at the event, we have the entire recap video that you can check out. But in regards to this interview, Jocelyn, it's funny because the word interview, the way I kind of take this podcast, is really just an open conversation, right? I know that we've had so many amazing conversations. They could have all been podcasts, right? But I think the biggest reason why I love doing podcasts is the depth that you can get with people. You know, just the conversation can be taken to a whole other level and thousands, if not millions of people can actually be impacted by it. You know, so just in regards to the story of, like you said when you were in high school, because I think for me, graduated high school this year in June is. It's a. It's a whole different world nowadays, you know, so just. It's hilarious because I Think a lot of young people like that mindset, especially like the people that follow me on Instagram or the people that I follow, just the mindset of going to school, going to college, getting a job is so like, they're against it nowadays, not in a bad way, but just they know that they see other people, whether that be myself or Caleb Maddox or whoever is just like embodying this young generation. They know that there's a proven way that you can follow and other people have done it, if not your age, but other people in general. Right. Especially with social media nowadays, you can see whatever you want to see in regards to success or just people that have done things because there's so much attention there now. So for you, when you were going through high school or you said you dropped out, Right. So, so in regards to modern education and the school system in general, how was that? How did that affect your life when you were going through that? And then back to the point is just when did you drop out? For people listening?

Well, you know, for me, I kind of bought into the whole idea that you had to do those things. And I just wasn't following that path. I was bored in school. I don't want to make excuses for anything. I can psychoanalyze it now and look back on it, but at the time my birth, you know, my biological father left when I was five and my brother and I, my mom worked like three jobs. So, you know, she was one of seven. We grew up in a loving home, but it was like, like nine people, two bedroom house or three bedroom house or whatever it was. And you know, we, they did the best they could, but I was always looking for that male, you know, mentorship, you know, and I found oftentimes in the wrong places.

Yeah.

So I went down a path that, you know, was not really the best path. You know, hanging out with, you know, gangs and doing all that kind of stuff.

Yeah.

You know, by the time I, I woke up and realized like, this is, you know, there's only pretty much three roads to this. You know, you end up in the hospital, end up in the cemetery, end up in prison. You got to change your life drastically. An entrepreneurial, a lifestyle was my way out. Like I said earlier, you know, my, I didn't look good on a resume. You know, I dropped out. I wanted to go mow lawns, I wanted to go do construction. I want to go do stuff. And when you're doing those things, Casey, you see some of the people that have been there 10, 15, 20 years and you can kind of forward thinking, man, do I want to be like that? Yep. You know, I learned from one of my mentors, he said, josh, you are the five. You're the average. Of the five people you associate with the most, you're the average. So take inventory. Take inventory of who they are, you know, and how they affect you. And then ask yourself a couple questions. And I love how Jim Rohn put it because he's like, look, ask yourself, what do they have you saying? Like, what's your language pattern around them?

Yeah.

Because you can tell a lot about somebody by their language pattern. What the words they use, their vocabulary, you can tell a lot. What do they have you doing? What's your behavior when you're around them? You know, are you off drinking, doing drugs, doing something stupid? Are you just playing video games nonstop? Like, you know, what are you doing? What are you doing around them? And what do they have you thinking? What do you think about when you're around them? And you can go down that whole road, are you thinking about positive things? You thinking about negative things? You can put that. All sorts of different categories. But the last question that. Well, not the last question. Second, the last question would be, what do they have you becoming? Yeah, that's a big heavy question. Who are you becoming in this association? Are you becoming a man or a woman you want to be? Is that someone you want to be, you know, five years, 10 years, 20 years from now? Because God willing, that day is going to come.

Yeah.

And I used to always say, play for that man. Like Casey, I want you to play for the 25 year old version of yourself because seven years are going to go by like that. Yeah. So play for that man. And when you arrive there, you'll be thankful of the 18 year old Casey. You know, you'll be like, that guy was righteous. Right. But you have to play for that person.

Yeah.

The last question you want to ask yourself is, is that okay, what they, what you're saying, what you're doing, what you're thinking, what you're becoming, is it okay? And if it's not okay, you got to change it for sure.

So, so what do you tell those people that, let's say someone's young, they're not hanging out with the right people and they just feel so attached mentally. Maybe that's all they know. Maybe they're, they're a group of friends, like they've just been attached to them for so many years. What was that mental transition to like deattach from people that may be holding you back in life.

Yeah, that's a great question. And that's probably one of the hardest things. It was the hardest thing for me, I have to admit it. Like, these were my boys. These are guys we hung out with. You know, we did stuff together, went to school together. And we had this familiarity, you know, and that.

That.

That breeds this kind of, like, loyalty or maybe a false sense of loyalty. And the reality is these are people that we just hung out with because there was no one else to hang out with.

Yeah.

I mean, if you really stop and think about it, like, you know, we just kind of. Maybe they were in our sport team, maybe they're in our class, Maybe something happened and we. We found some common ground, and because we didn't, we wanted some kind of social interaction, we kind of hung out with them more. And maybe they weren't that weird, so. And they accepted. So we hung out more. The thing is, you have to ask yourself, where are you going? And are they going on that same path? And the sad truth, to the majority of that, the answer to the majority of that question is, no, they're not. You know, and if you're born alone, you're going to die alone. So you got to forge your path, or you're gonna just be a miserable person. You know how many people I've met now? I'm 41 now, Kayzer, but I was 18 yesterday. It wasn't that long ago, like, right then. But I can look back on it clearly, and I can see so many people that are my age now or even older that are miserable. Why are they miserable? Because they hung on to those same old friends, you know, sooner or later, you know, that one of them got married, something happened over here, one of them screwed him over, whatever, but they didn't want to let it go, and it ultimately hurt them. So my suggestion is find out where you want to go first, find out what you want to do, and then get around associations of people that are doing that. It doesn't mean you have to abandon your friends, but you have to disassociate.

Yeah.

And some people you have to disassociate maybe for, you know, a couple days, some people for a couple weeks, some people for a couple years. And some people you just have to get away from. They're toxic people. Yeah. But, you know, I've got friends of mine like. Like John's one of them for 20 years. I have friends of mine that I've known for 30 years, you know, 35 years, flying up this week to a Danzig concert. You don't know who they are, but, you know, it's their 30 year anniversary. I'm flying up to. I've known him since I was like.

Six years old, really.

So I have friends for a long time. But most of the people we meet, Casey, you just kind of, kind of figure out are they going in your direction or they bring real value to do they bring real friendship to your life. And if the answer is no, you.

Know, yeah, makes sense.

You know, the whole association. I'll close at this. Like I was told, if you can't change the people around you, I mean, you can't change them to go either way, then you have to change the people around you and get around people who have your solutions and your answers and not your problems.

Totally. That's amazing. So regarding relationships, I know that a lot of people listening, they may have business partners, they may be just getting into business. And I think this is an important question for a lot of people is when going into business, obviously. You said you and John have been business partners and friends for over 20 years. What makes a good business relationship and what destroys a business relationship?

That's a great question. Let's start with what makes a good business relationship? What makes a good business relationship? One is absolute trust. Right. You have to be completely transparent. And because money gets involved, sometimes people want to take that shortcut. Sometimes people maybe out of like the desire to not disappoint their partner, they don't want to say the full truth. They don't want to say what they're really thinking. But the weird part, the weird dichotomy of that is they'll share it with somebody else.

Yeah.

That they won't share with their partner. And if they're. I don't care if it's a relationship like an intimate relationship or it's a business relationship, it's just the same rules apply, full transparency. Yep. It has to be. There has to be this solid ground of trust. Because look, Casey, you and I as partners, if you can't trust what I say to you, it's only a matter of time before the erosion gets so far we don't see eye to eye anymore. And then it's a breakup. And in an intimate relationship with a woman, assuming that you're a man and you like women, which I do. I know you do too. But when that happens, it can be devastating because there's a lot more emotion. But I can say in a business partnership, it's. It's almost the same thing, you know, because if you're going to really be partners with them, you're like transparent and you're building a future based on what they're telling you. So what makes a good partnership is full transparency, being open and honest with one another and then complimenting each other's strengths and weaknesses, you know, and not highlighting them. You know, if you know you're after a while, you'll know your partner. Like after a while, Casey, I'm going to know what you're weak at and you're going to know what I'm weak at. But I'm going to also know what you're good at and you're gonna know what I'm good at. And as good business partners, I'm gonna support your weaknesses by either hiring people out or supporting that in another way and making up for it. And I'm gonna highlight your strengths like you're one of the best networkers I've ever met. Like, no, you're a phenomenal. Your follow up game is super strong. You can open up almost any door right now. People like you, you have a very likable personality and you have incredible strength. So in a business relationship you want to strengthen that. Now what, what destroys a business relationship? Well, the opposite of that of course. You know, like not being honest, not being transparent, playing for you rather than the team. You know, if you look at any sports team or most sports teams in America, at least they have a jersey, right?

Yep.

Whether it's basketball, football, soccer, hockey. And on the front of that jersey is typically the name of the team, isn't it? Yep.

Right.

And on the back of the jersey is what?

The name.

Their name. So you can identify them.

Yep.

But they're playing for what?

The team.

The team. They're not playing for themselves. You can always tell a good team, like let's take the Golden State Warriors. I'm not a huge basketball fan, but I'm an admirer of good leadership. And Steph Curry, what a leader. You could tell that man plays for the team. And Golden State warriors won the championship because they were a team. They didn't have all the best players, but they played as one unit. So same in business. When we know that we're playing for the brand, like say in build you'd empire. We're playing for the brand. I'm not playing for Josh Denny. Casey's not playing for Casey Adams. Anthony's not playing for Anthony. Karen's not playing for Kieran. John's not playing for John Malott. And I know that for a fact, John Malat's playing for build you'd empire like Mike Marlane. And when we play for the brand or whatever your company is, when you can get that environment, your partners to play for that fully.

Yep.

You have a frickin. You have a, you have a winning team. And if it's not that it's destined for failure, no matter how good the idea is, no matter what the business model is, it will fail.

Makes sense. So I think the next question I want to touch on is this goes for a lot of young entrepreneurs. I think there's a lot of young people that I've just learned so much from your standpoint of being a partner with you in regards of just the foundation of a business. So for young people out there that maybe have an idea or they're crushing it, they're making money in their business. When you go as not only an investor, but as someone that can see, see when businesses have capability to grow and expand, how do you analyze a business when you're going to invest in something just for the young entrepreneurs out there, if they're looking to maybe find investors or really just structure something that's actually something that can grow and build from like as an investor, how do you analyze the business and see where it's at?

Another great question, Casey. You know, when I was a young entrepreneur, like my, I just wanted to go out and make money. I didn't think about the end result, like what it would be. Because I think like a lot of us when we're, when we're younger, you know, we only see what we want to see at the time. Like, for example, before, for most of us, if you've never made money in your life, like I hadn't, you know, when I was in my early, my early 20s, that's all I saw. I wanted, I wanted to get rich. So how do I do it? Well, I can do this business okay. And I put my head down, I started just doing that until cash started flowing. Yep. And then you realize, well, that's not really income. The first misconception in being a business is as cash is coming in the door, it registers in your brain as income if you're used to having a job, but it's not, it's revenue. It's a very different thing. Right. And then you can get in all sorts of trouble. And I say this to start because you've got to begin with the end in mind. What's the end goal? Right. What's your end goal?

Yeah.

I mean, are you just building some brand like Apple that you want to live on and that's just going to be your, your billion dollar thing. And if you do, God bless you. But just know that's a huge bite. Even then you got to scale back and go, okay, we gotta prepare this thing for some kind of exit. Even if you never want to sell it. So if I'm gonna invest in something, the only reason I'm investing in it is because they thought that out in advance. There is a clear strategy for exit. There's a clear path to liquidity for the investors. Whether that's going out on the capital market, that's gonna be acquired by a bigger brand. There has to be that path. There has to be the ability to scale it. Meaning that you know you can if once you know how to make a dollar your know, say you're doing something on advertising and you know every time you spend 50 cents, a dollar comes in.

Yeah.

And 20 cents is cost. I'm just making some random stuff that's 30 cents profit. Okay, cool. I can scale that If I put $2 in, $10 in a thousand, 100amillion. But you also have to see what can the market bear. So there's a lot of factors in how big can I scale it. You know, there's a point of diminishing returns, meaning no matter how much money you spend, you're not going to get the return anymore.

Yeah.

So you have to understand that and have to look at that to simplify it for those you just getting started in the game begin with the end of the mind. What do you want? Like what kind of business are you building? And then what's your end goal? Are you going to sell it? Okay, great. Who are some prospects you can sell it to? Now this is before you even start making a dollar. I would have this all thought, are you going to make, are you going to turn into a public company? Okay, have that thought out. Well, then you have to reverse engineer and know what you have to do. Day one, you have to keep clean books. You got to, you can't live out of your account. For a lot of young entrepreneurs, they're living out of the business. They open up a business, they get an ein number, they go open up a bank account and then they're living out of their account. Yeah, can't do that, man. People buy groceries with your business again. And so many people do it. You have to, you have to end, begin with the end in mind and then work your way backwards.

Got it.

You know, that's probably the best advice I can, I can give. I mean, there's a, there's a lot of room, you know, there's a lot of meat in that topic.

Absolutely.

Just to give a broad stroke, begin with the end in mind, work your way backwards, and then start that way.

For sure. And I think the next question I want to touch on because I think a lot of people like you talked about just money, this whole conversation about money. You don't get taught that in school. You don't get taught how to multiply, how to make money. It's more of just get a job and there's a potential small amount of money there. Right. So as you that someone that's not only made a lot of money, but built teams and actually have made something real. From a company perspective, how was your mindset on money changed throughout the years of building companies and actually doing stuff in return, getting back a financial gain? Like how has your mindset on money changed? That's the real question.

Oh, my God. You know, I read a book by George S. Classen called the Richest man in Babylon. And when I read it, I was, I think about your age and I didn't do it. Probably one of the best, but I didn't do it till I was in my 30s. And the premise of that book was 10% of all you earn is yours to keep. Meaning that if you make the dollar, you can't spend the whole dollar. Take 10 cents, put it aside, that's yours forever. That's yours.

Right?

That's your saving savings and the split it up. Took me a while to figure that out, but my mindset financially has changed tremendously. Money is a tool. When used properly, you can, you can truly build an empire. We're trying to do it. I'm passionate about the financial, educational component of build your empire because like you said, Casey, that's not taught in schools, even in most colleges that aren't teaching financial literacy. Truly what to do with money. You know, most people, they think, once I make X amount a year, then I'm going to go do this and this and this. Like most people take their, their cash and they turn it into liabilities like that. And a liability is by definition, you know, Robert Kiyosaki talks about, it's something that takes money out of your pocket, where an asset, something that puts money in your pocket. Very few people understand that they should take their cash, right. Their income and turn it into assets that produce more income. And one of my mentors said, Josh, you've got to Take your money and put overalls on it. I gotta go put it to work. Yeah, so don't spend the money. Once you first make it, spend maybe third or fourth generation money. Yep. That's the one thing that in my 30s that's drastically changed. I wish I learned it when I was your age and I really wish I would have done it.

Yeah.

You know, because you can compound wealth so quickly if you go, alright, once you learn, once you have your business, you learn how to make the money. Okay, great. It's not how much you make, it's how much you keep. Now you're putting some aside, now you're learning to invest that money properly and other assets rather than buying, you know, cars or buying houses, buying stuff that depreciates, you're going to buy something that will continue to put cash. Another cash machine. Maybe it's another automated business, maybe it's you're putting in a Vanguard account, something boring. But it's going to produce a 6 to 10% return every year. Some life insurance policies. At your age, Casey, it would be a good idea to get a whole life insurance policy from a fiduciary. And so that way you're saving your money, but it's compounding for you and you can take loans against it.

Yeah.

Like there's so many ways, once you understand the game of money, how you can compound what you're making and not just throwing it away.

Yeah. And I think that's what you said is like, especially for someone that just graduated high school, there's like zero financial literacy education in schools and at build your empire. We really want to make that change and have people like yourself to provide that knowledge, you know, because I think just based on the education today, they, like I said just now, like they don't teach it like 0%. They'll talk about the bring up the stock market for a month in this E commerce class in school, but like nothing else. Right. And so regarding that, for you, for someone that didn't necessarily get a full high school education, how do you take education and apply it today? Regard, because I love this quote. It's like self education will make. Modern education will make you a living. Self education will make you a fortune. How have you implemented that into your life from an educational standpoint and how do you keep learning as of today?

Oh look, you know, there's only two states I think of being right in the universe that I'm aware of. There's growth and there's decay. I mean look at all life on earth.

Yep.

All life. It's either growing or what?

Dying.

It's dying. So, you know, it's interesting that the mindset of most of us, like, once we get out of college. I'm.

I'm good. Yeah.

Yeah. You know, and sadly, most people, the statistics I read on this a while back are, are just, they're appalling, quite honestly, about the people who read a book, an educational book.

Yeah.

After they leave college or high school, it's like, I think it's rare. It's like maybe 5% of the population. Yeah. Actually read the book. Most people who buy a book, they never even read it.

Yeah.

They just, look, I bought a book and they put it on their coffee table or in their library or if they have one, and that's about it, you know. But if you can have the idea that we're perpetual students, that you always want to be in a state of growth and there's lots of education, again, why I love Build you'd Empire, why I'm passionate about this. It's a platform to get education and if anything else, to get introduced to new concepts, new ideas, a different paradigm, a different perspective. Because an idea can change your life.

Yeah.

You know, did you ever watch that movie inception with Leonardo DiCaprio?

I don't believe so.

The whole movie was worth it just to hear that One idea is like the most powerful thing in the universe is an idea. An idea that's planted in the mind properly. I mean, ideas created everything around us. I mean, if you're looking at this, this computer was an idea in the mind of a man or a woman. This desk, this microphone, everything that you see around us that's physical form was in the mind of someone. And before it became its physical equivalent. That's freaking awesome. I mean, if you really embrace that, like, wow, how was this created? Well, it started with an idea, and then people started coming around it. People who are constantly learning, constantly growing in that state of growth. So you want to learn about finances? Start studying it.

Yeah.

Get as many books as you can on the wealth of nations is a great place to start if you can get through that towering textbook, you know, but it's good. Another one of the. One of the greatest financial educational books I read was called Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Now it's a novel and it's mixed in the story, but it, it's so powerful because it talks about what the essence of money really is. You know, the philosophy, the genuine nature of it. Then you can start to go into financial markets and expand upon your education. But I think everyone should have at least a clear foundational understanding of money.

Got it.

How it works and how to utilize it properly.

Makes sense. And I kind of want to go into the next question because I think there's a lot of things that a lot of young people that starting to formulate ideas. And what was that book again for everyone watching, just so if they want to go check that out.

Atlas Shrugged. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. All right.

I'll have to check that one out too myself.

That's a towering book. But I tell you, hard to put it down.

Okay, makes sense. I want to kind of touch on just, I think in regards of today's society, like you talked about, the people that really win, you'll be able to see that when the market crashes. Right. I know we just touched on that. And I think for a lot of people, myself, people that are maybe my age, where they're making money now, whether they be on social media, online, but there's been no massive market crash. Like there's. It's always been a good economy, especially for people my age. For someone that's seen a market crash and either have been successful from it or has make you hit the rock bottom, how do you plan for something like that in this current 2018 age?

Okay, well, there's a couple things and a couple answers to that question, Kasey. One, study the past. You know, they say history tends to repeat itself. Yeah. So we know this.

Right.

So it's easy look back in time and start seeing financial charts over the last hundred years. And you can start to see a pattern. There's a very clear pattern. Right. There's a 50 year pattern, there's a 10 year cycle. There's lots of different cycles in different, different verticals. But, you know, that's one, two is prepare for it by like know, not over leveraging yourself. Like you grew up pretty much, you know, as far as your, you know, teenage years to now in a, in a bull market. You know, for, for all intents and purposes, it's been just growth after growth after growth. It's what goes up. What comes down, comes down. So just prepare for that in advance and understand that that's coming. Nature again is one of the best ways to describe it. See, look at ants. The ant philosophy.

Yeah.

If you look at ants may be kind of strange, but it goes with. How do you prepare ants? Store all summer. All summer. They're working like freaking mad and they're working like their life's gonna end. And they're like, you should be enjoying the summer, man. It's sunny, it's beautiful, it's not raining and running up your holes. But they're storing up non stop working throughout the summer because why they know winter's coming and winter's coming. Like Game of Thrones a saren. Hopefully no zombies, but. But winter's coming and so prepare for winter in the summer. It's summer now or maybe fall. Some people are starting to think it's starting to get the fall. But prepare now so that way when it does come, abundant opportunity is before you. Yeah, you know they say, you know, cash is king, so stack it up, man. Start building your business. Don't go crazy, don't over leverage yourself. And it's easy to do it, it's very easy to do. But you can best prepare by studying the past and then just making moves properly. Don't overextend yourself right now. You know, I don't know that some people are going to take that advice. And some people think, oh that's crazy advice. Hey, you know what, to each their own. Yeah, you have to kind of moderate, monitor your own risk tolerance and then you know, play appropriately for sure.

So from a day to day standpoint, I know that obviously the Soul Builder Empire house, just being in a situation of surrounding yourself with individuals and the right people, like you talked about before, it was like the five people that you surround yourself with, that's who you are in a sense. Right. So in regarding relationships and just I know that we had a great conversation last night with the guy from Bitcoin Energy. Right then.

Right.

In regarding relationships and surrounding some of the right people when you go to events. Because I think this is a question for a lot of people where it's like they'll meet hundreds of people and they were like, my network's on point. But they don't really know people. Right. So for you, like what goes into building a long term relationship with someone? Not to the extent of maybe business, but just like getting people to understand who you are and your values. Like where do you see people messing up from when it comes to like building relationship and building that trust with an individual over time.

That's a great question, Casey. And the answer is simple. Most times when there are conversations occurring, it's just two people waiting their they're turning talk.

I love that.

It really is right. Like I'm waiting to jump in and just say something.

Yeah.

So the way that that's where most people mess up. They're so Interested in trying to get someone else to know who they are. You've ever heard the saying, it's people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. Well, you got to really make that real. Some people are insincere about it, but if you can genuinely go, all right, Casey, what's important to you and actually listen. You know, I was always told, God gave us two ears and one mouth, which should stand to give us an example. It should stand a reason that we should listen twice as much as we talk.

Yeah.

So if you're. If you're really listening. You know, I was told when I was growing up that money doesn't grow on trees. Right. But I was never taught where it did grow and what I've discovered. Money comes from people, you know, it's our value. All of us have value to bring to. To our families, to our community, to the world. Right. We all have value.

Yeah.

And now we can put that tangible form as fiat money or currency or whatever and put it in our pocket. We can trade with that stuff. So if money comes from people, then it would stand a reason. Probably a good idea to understand people, wouldn't it? I mean, you totally.

Yeah.

So it'd be a good form of study. So I have philosophies that govern my actions with people, and these philosophies are vital because they're the genesis of lifestyle. Everyone wants to start at lifestyle. I want the cars, I want the homes. I want all the fancy stuff. And I like that stuff, too, Casey. Believe me, I enjoy those things. But you can't start there before that behavior creates lifestyle. Right. Your actions, you do consistently will actually end your results. Your results are your lifestyle. Before that, there's. There's your. Your. Your thoughts before. Your thoughts. Right. You know, before your behaviors. You think about it before. That's your philosophies. Your thought. Your philosophies are where those thoughts originate from.

Yeah.

I'll give you a clean example. Like, some people have a philosophy about people that they're. They're bad. You know, people are just freaking. They're horrible at the core. People are just evil people. And, like, I got to get mine before they get theirs. And they really generate these thoughts and behaviors and get results based on that philosophy. I'm not saying one's right or wrong. It is what it is. I believe the other, which is people are genuinely good, that people are good and they can do amazing things and that there's a philosophy there, right. Of people are good. So it's how you approach the world. So my philosophy with people are simple. I have just two of them. One is friends first, because this answers your question. When I meet someone, I genuinely want to make a friend with them. Okay. So I want to find out what's important. How do you. How do you find out what's important to someone, Casey?

Ask them.

Ask them. And guess what they'll do.

Tell you, you know, why they're fired.

Up to tell you, man. Everyone wants to tell their story. If you look at everyone like they got a sign, like a sign on their hat that says, you know, make me feel special, make me feel important, and they'll tell you their entire life story if you just let them.

Yep.

And chances are excellent you're the first person that's done that in weeks, months, years, depending on how old they are. You know, some people like, they just been waiting to tell their story their whole life. No one cares. And they're like, how much does someone care? And if you could be the person that unlocks that for them, allows them the freedom to really share what's important to them. You may find, you know, gold gems that were undiscovered, and you can see something in someone that maybe they didn't see in themselves or you can highlight.

Yep.

You know, and that's. That's. That's amazing. And then the second philosophy is, you know, I believe in everyone. I just don't count on them. So if you're doing a business and you're say you recruit your staffing at your company, you know, you're looking to hire them, I believe that they can be the best, but I don't count on a meaning that I'm going to watch and trust but verify. I'm going to. I'm going to keep my eye on. Because everyone has the story. And most of us, when we first meet each other, we. We bring what's. What I like to call a representative. Right. We have our mask. Some people call it a mask. Right. The way I want you to see.

Yep.

You know, most people are a reflection of what everyone else wants of them rather than just being at their core who they are. Because if I'm at my core who I am, you can trust that and you know where I'm at. And if you're that same to me, now we can start to build something.

Yep.

Right. So I knowing. Right. I believe in everyone, kind of knowing I believe in them, but I don't count them because I know probably they're showing me the representative yeah. Because out of fear, out of insecurities, whatever it may be. But with that approach, you can limit your disappointments.

Got it.

You know, and that's important, especially being young right now, guys, you're going to go out there and you're going to start forming relationships, and it's great. Partnerships, when they're done right, are the best in the world. But people are going to hurt you, People are going to stab you, people are going to lie to you, people are going to deceive you. And when you just realize it's not personal, it's just their own insecurity. And one of my mentors said, this case, you know, I'll wrap this session up with this. He was a billionaire right out of.

Texas you told me about.

Yeah.

Okay.

Paul Meyer, man, one of the greatest men I ever met in my life.

Yeah. That story is amazing.

And he, you know, I. I won a sales competition. I. I did well in something. I forgot what it was, but I did real well. And the first time I was ever on a private jet, he flew. I went to this convention in Las Vegas, and he had his jet come pick me up. I landed in Waco, Texas, where he lived at the time, and he picked me up, and I got to stay at his place for a couple days. And on his place was like this huge compound, and he had all these different things. He collected a lot of memorabilia from his life, books. He had a library, like a crazy library, you know, when you need the step ladder and the wheels, that kind of library. It was amazing. He had a gym, and he had these cars. And we're walking around his car collection, all these 1936 fully restored cars. And that's a whole long story. I'm not going to get into it right now. But he said, you know, he said, look, Josh, some people collect cars. He told me about his collections. Some people collect coins, you know, Some people collect memories and experiences. Some people, you know, collect money. That's their thing. They just want to collect a bunch of money and pile it up. He's like, but if you want to be wealthy, like, you really want to be wealthy. Real wealth, you know, not just monetarily speaking. Yes, that, too. But wealthy in spirit, you know, in heart, in mind, in relationships where real wealth is. He's like, be a collector of good people, man. It hit me. He's like, every nine out of ten people, nine of them are going to probably stab me in the back.

Yeah.

And it's not because they want to or they're malicious. Some of them are, but a very small percentage, mainly because they're insecure. Something happens, doesn't matter. He's like. But for every one person who doesn't, they're worth a hundred times those that did the challenges. You're gonna have to endure the nine stabs in the back to find the one who won't. And that's been the biggest blessing of my life because, yeah, I've been stabbed a lot. I've been hurt a lot. A lot of people taking advantage of me because I live open. Because the only way you're gonna meet the one who won't is you have to live open. Because you have a choice. Casey, can. You can start building walls and say, well, you know, I'm going to keep everyone out. And you start to change the philosophy, right, where people. People are evil. And we start to build all these, you know, because our brains always looking to justify our. What we decide to do. You know, people make decisions based on emotion, not on logic. We justify it with logic later. So then you're going to look for those reasons, and then you start building it. It's really a wall and we can't see it. That's the challenge. And you have to break that stuff down genuinely live open so you can find those rare people, Casey, that come into your life that bring real value and are gonna, you know, are gonna be there for the long haul.

Yeah, that's. That's.

I don't know if that answers.

It does. I remember the first time you told me that, too. Like, being a collector of good people, that hit me, too. I was like, dang. Like, that's just what it is. Even from, like, day one, when it comes to, for me, example, building my personal brand, I've always been trying to connect with that one person on social media because growing up in Virginia, there's not an abundance of people that I ran into that were successful that I wanted to learn from. There was people that were doing drugs or selling drugs and people that aren't the good people to collect at the end of the day, right? So when I heard that, I was like, that's the truth. And, like, I looked back on, like, what I've been able to do at just my age. It's like it's been collecting people, which.

I'm saying your talent is extraordinary. You've collected some amazing people. In fact, all the people at that were at the build your empire event. I've been going to events for 20 something, 23 years. Best event I've ever been to and it was here. This is so freaking cool, you know, because the caliber of people that you invited that came because you invited them, that said a lot about you, in my mind. It really did. I'm like, all right, Casey's on point. I was telling John. Like, John Casey's. That Casey's really got some great relationships. But that says a lot about who you are, you know? Now the trick is to not screw that up.

Yeah.

You know, and, you know, we all do because we're men, you know, we mess things up, but as long as you own it over time, you're good and you can build on that case.

Yeah, that's.

I mean, that's what I really admire about you, buddy. Thank you.

For sure. And something that I think I admire about you in the sense of that is whenever we first met, it's always been about being transparent, being trustful. Right. And I think that just throughout this conversation today, some people, in my mind, like, they know transparency is the key, but it's their philosophy of, like, they think someone's gonna get back at them. Right. So for someone that's out there, that's young, that is just going through something negatively in their life. I talk about this all the time. And I made a post about it on Instagram. Today was when I was in my neck brace. I was super depressed when I was, like, 15 years old playing football. It was a sense of my. It was a time in my life where I just. You couldn't really do anything. Right. Maybe it was the people that I was around, they just knew that I was hurt, I was injured, whether that be physically or mentally, but I was depressed. Right. And I think a lot of people out there, I don't think depressed is the right word, but they feel a sense of importance, but they don't know how to respond to it. So the question I want to ask you is, like, in a sense of being transparent, but with yourself, where do you think people can find the true version of themselves? Because I think a lot of people, especially where I come from, they let the outside influences get to them. They let other people dictate their actions. How have you been able to find the most transparent version of yourself? And really, what would you tell that person listening today that may think other people are getting in the way of them, or they think that their actions are dictated based on other people? Like, how do you find the real version of you so that you can actually showcase that to those people that you're connecting with?

You know what? The way I did it I'll say for another time, but it's in essence, have time to do something like have time to be by yourself, shut off.

The electronics for me.

You legitimately have to just go be outside, go get to nature. Like legitimately go out by yourself somewhere, go on a hike. And without your ear pods, without music, without anything. People are so deathly afraid of that. It's like I'm by myself now. We're our own worst enemies. That's why they call it the inner me. Right? The enemy.

The inner me.

Because we fuck ourselves up.

Yeah.

Excuse my language, beep that out. But we mess ourselves out because we're so hard on ourselves. We're always, we're always so ready to find the reason. Right. Remember, we're trying to find the logic why we feel a certain way, why a decision that we made. And so we're going to reinforce that. I wrote this book called Inevitable and the whole premise of the book. So I mean, you don't have to buy it, I'll tell it to you right now, but you should still buy it. But it's about tipping the scales mentally. Because if you can imagine in your mind, you know, we have negative stuff that's happened in our life and positive stuff that's happened in our life and it's a negative, self conscious. You know, I've read this study years ago, talking about when, when you're raising children, one of the most important things to do is reinforce the yeses. Because you have to say so many nos. It's like 50,000 no's before, like age of 5 or something. Don't touch this, don't do that. Don't you know, you have to do those things. You have to set those boundaries. It's important. But you got to find, you know, three to four things to say yes about.

Yep.

So you want to constantly reinforce yes. So yes, you're doing the no, no, no, no, no. You have to, but you also have to, and I think it's as important, if not more important, reinforce the yeses. So in the scale analogy, if you can imagine one of those old, you know, scales of balance type of thing, all that we have and that we've learned, depending on how mature we are in life, Casey is on one side. And if you're like me, you know, or like the majority of people, it's negative. You know, you think about our television is negative programming. A lot of stuff on the Internet, unfortunately is negative, negative, negative, negative. A lot of our music, negative. You know, it's like it's not positive. Uplifting stuff in the general sense. So all that's there and, you know, what's been heard or what's been seen can't be unheard or unseen. It's there. So we, a lot of people want to focus on getting rid of that stuff. No, it's there. Let it be there, because it is there. But what we do have to do is restrict the flow, stop the stuff from coming. So turn it off.

Yeah.

You know, delete the social media. Don't delete. Just get away from it for a few days.

Yeah.

At least get yourself centered and start putting positive stuff into the brain on the other side of that scale and what it was for me, Casey, because, you know, in many ways, it's a little easier for me. Your generation has it a lot harder because there's so much noise. Yeah, guys, it's everywhere. And it's like your followers on Instagram are your personality and your worth to the world. And that's bullshit. That's not true. It's not true at all, man. You're so much more valuable than that. You got to put all that stuff aside because, you know, when I was. I just had to turn off the television.

Yeah.

That was it. You know, turn off the television, turn off the radio. I didn't have all this stuff. And what I did instead is I put quality information in my mind, like this podcast. If you're listening to this podcast right now, congratulations. You're one of the. You're one of the rare people who's investing in that positive side of the scale. The positive side of your mind. You're programming yourself. You're deciding what to program. So being on the KC podcast, being on the build your empire content, being on multitude, there's lots of great people to go listen to to get good ideas that can add to that positive side. Those TED talks, I love watching that. Put that stuff in your brain. And here's. Here's the trick, Casey. Here's the coolest part. You can add more stuff to the positive side than it's on the negative. If you focus on it, it doesn't happen overnight, but as you continue to do that, it gets heavier and heavier and heavier. And guess what happens? You tip the scales. And once they're tipped, man, now you have that positive side. So there's a formula to it. You can really do it. And then you just go. You go, act that out. So now you're constantly focused on the positive stuff. You're reading every morning, like, I love it. I hear you listening to podcasts in the morning, you know, watching good YouTube videos. Tristan's reading books. You know, Anthony's reading books, Kieran's reading books. I'm like, these guys are on it. Like, John Malott. John is an avid reader. I mean, if you're ever around John, you see John's library, he's got the mentor box coming. John is a. John is a student. Yep. And that's why he continues to excel. You know, Mike Morelli, same way. I mean, you hear these guys. Like, man, they're students. They're adding to the positive side of the scales. I love it. So once you tip it, man, it's. You can never go back.

Yeah. So my question to you, because I know that it's crazy. We've seen those videos that Anthony's putting together, and when it comes to when you. When your lights went out in your house, you were homeless, and that was negative things. But I remember the mentality in the video, like, the way you were communicating. You just. You're smiling, you're happy, you're positive. And I know that you said that as well, so in a sense of positivity, because I know ever since I mentioned, like, you're the most positive person I know. Just like whenever. When everything's gone bad, you're still smiling and you just turn into a positive. Right. So. And that's something I admire about you. But for people that let the negative. Negative energy get to them, how have you been able to take literally any situation and reflect positivity outwards from it?

Take a deep breath, breathe it out, and go, man, that's another shot of living. You can breathe. That's freaking awesome. Can't breathe right now.

I mean, you really.

You gotta. You gotta put it in perspective, man. Like, you know, if you're even listening to this podcast, it means you have a form of technology that very few people on this earth have. Like, you're. You're in a very unique class. So, I mean, that's amazing. Just smile. Look, it's not about what you have. It's not about what you got. It's not about your followers. It's not about any of the materialistic stuff. It's about who you become in this process on this journey called life, you know, and there's no testimony. You know, people want to tell their testimony. Here's what happened to me. When you hear the successful testimonies. But there's no testimony without a test. Very few people, they don't want to go through it. You know, they Want the muscle, but they don't want to rip it. They don't want to get to the gift gym and sweat like you guys were sweating, like laying on the ground. They don't want to do that. They want to wake up and look like Anthony, but they don't know all the pull ups and the push ups and the moments Anthony was there. Like you. You're getting in great shape, Casey. But that comes from consistent discipline, right? You're breaking down. You're breaking down that muscle tissue. You're ripping it, right? That's what causes growth. So if you're in a negative situation right now, look, here's the deal. If you're young, it's hard to really understand this because there's no pattern recognition yet. Like, I'm 41 at the time of this podcast. There's pattern recognition. Now I can look back on my life and the things that I thought were the worst things ever happening to me turned out to be the biggest blessings. My mentor Ben used to say that God gives us these gifts, these beautiful gifts, but they're in a rotten wrapper. And you have to unwrap that rotten wrapper. Like Casey. You go into that neck brace, go into that challenge, you didn't know what was going to happen. Maybe you're going to be paralyzed. You didn't know people weren't being around you. It's. It's that moment like that when you're just like, wow, you know, let me stop for a second. Let me pause for a moment, you know, and realize, you know, I'm alive. And you can have a choice. You can either go with the negative way or you can go the positive way. And that's up to you. That's. That's your decision. You know, the last thing I'll say about this is there's only two things, Casey, we have that we can control in this world. And only two, man. There's only two. And that's. That's kind of a relief in a way, isn't it? Only two damn things.

Yeah.

There's nothing else we can control other than these two things. One is our attitude. You know, we can control our own attitude, no one else's. I can't control my spouse. I can't control my kids. I can't control you. You can't control me. No one can. We can affect one another, but control is a different thing. I can control my attitude and I can decide every day if I'm going to wake up with a positive one or a negative one. I can decide every day if I'm going to read that book or I'm not going to read it. I can decide that. You know what? Today I can take a breath, which means I have another day not to screw it up. I have another day to do my best, to move the needle forward, to build something of my life, to add to the layers of the bricks of success that will ultimately be the home that you live in.

Yep.

You know, that's the one thing you have is attitude. The second thing, and the only other thing is your behavior. Okay, so I wake up with a positive attitude. If I sit there and chant all day, what's going to happen? Probably not much. You know, I've got to have a positive attitude. Then I got to go to work. Pick your profession, pick your, your field of study or your chosen business endeavor and go after it with all you got that day. Are you going to screw up? Yes, you are. Is it going to suck? If you're on day one, day two, month one, year one, yeah, you're going to suck. You're going to be the worst you'll ever be. That's good news, because you're going to get better. And who can get better?

Everyone.

Everyone. As long as you're focused on it. I love it.

So, last question to wrap up this whole podcast and I like to end it super powerful in a sense of there's everyone that's listening. Everyone has their own story. Right. And everyone has different things that have happened to them and different things that have set the tone for their life. So for you and your story throughout the journey of ups and downs and relationships, having great ones and terrible ones that they stab you in the back, if you had to condense things down to just an overall mindset or philosophy that you've used to get your life to where it is, what would you tell that young person or that young Josh that was 18 maybe hanging around the bad people, people in life that weren't keeping and bringing positive energy to your life. What would be that one philosophy that you would say as an individual has really stuck with you and still really just sticks with you on a day to day basis?

You know, if you study your profession, you just study successful people. If you want to be successful, just study them. And the great news is, you know, libraries are still around and they're free. You can go there. But most stuff you can download these days and start to realize that there's someone like you out there, very similar to you, very similar personality, very similar skin color, race, religion, Right. Height. Like, I'm a short guy. Like, there's some short people killing it.

Me too.

And if you're really tall, there's some tall people killing it. There's people all in between. There's someone probably very similar to you that went out and did it, wrote a book about it, or did a podcast about it. And this gives you a step by step, you know, it's there. It's easier today to be successful than it's ever been in humanity that we know of.

Right?

I mean, wealth is shifting hands at an unprecedented rate right now. Technologies exist today that five years ago were, were unimaginable, let alone 10 years ago or 20 years ago. Guys, this is the time. This is your shot. But it's not going to happen if you don't study. It's not going to happen if you don't start cracking those books and reading. And if you're like me, Casey, in the beginning, my mentors would tell me to read. I would open up a book and my eyes would start going along the sentence, right? And my brain would go somewhere else. I didn't even turn the page. I have no idea what I read. I'm like, I can't read. I just. I'm not a reader. And I hear this from so many younger people these days. Oh, man, it's just atrophy. You gotta practice that. Readers are leaders. The best leaders are avid readers. If you look at the average CEO of Fortune 50 companies, these guys read avidly, but they put good stuff in their brain. If they can do it, you can do it. They're no better than you. They're not, man. They're not better than you. You have some unique value, something amazing I believe God gave you and that you just have to find out and go to work on it every day. It's not going to be handed to you. Quit asking for someone to give it to you. Quit hoping you're going to win the lotto. Get rid of all that stuff. Adopt the philosophy of if it's to be, it's up to me. And if you can repeat that every single day and go follow through with actions, knowing you can control your attitude, knowing you can control your behavior and pointing that in the right direction, you'll be surprised where you'll be in the next few years. And you know what? At build your empire, we're all looking forward to seeing your success and actually showcasing you on one of our upcoming events or podcasts.

So amazing. Well, Josh, thank you so much for coming on the show. I'm sure everyone listening. If you're not following Josh, make sure you go check him out on Instagram. He's also going to be putting out a lot of content on the Build you'd Empire Instagram page as well. But for someone like you, what's your mindset? This is where we wrap this up. Social media. Where should they follow you if they want to connect with you?

I'd say Instagram. I'm more on that now than Facebook, for sure. And, you know, Casey, Casey, Casey's gonna help me with all this stuff. He'll probably be able to tell you, but I'm on Instagram, so you can follow me there. You know, I respond to everybody, so.

Totally. Anyway. Well, awesome. Well, that being said, make sure you go check out Josh and all the links that he talked about regarding the books. They will all be down below. So make sure you guys go follow Josh. And if you aren't already, make sure you subscribe to the Build you'd Empire podcast and follow us on Instagram at. Build your empire. Remember, keep building your empire. Peace.

Bam.

Monarch Legacy of Monsters An Apple Original series the world is on fire. I decided to do something about it on November 17th. This place, it's not ours. You leave me, the most massive event of the year arrives. If you come with me, you'll know everything. I promise.

My God.

Go, go, go.

Monarch Legacy of monsters streaming November 17th only on Apple TV.

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