Create Your Best Life With Rex

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Foreign. And I'm here. I'm here. A brand new opening and I'm here today and you're here with me and it's so good to have you. I I welcome I'm Rex Sykes and welcome to create your best life with Rex. I'm so happy you're joining me. My guest today is Rick Settler. My co host is Danny Walsh and we're going to get into the show in just a moment. I'm going to tell you just a little bit about Rick before we, before we begin. Rick Settler is the president and CEO of RMS Media Group, which he founded in 2002. And he's got over three decades experience in the luxury publishing industry. The Rob report in 1984 serving in roles as an associate publisher, senior vice president and publisher where he contributed significantly to his advertising revenue. So the founding publisher of Elite Traveler, a luxury travel magazine for private jets. And he owns and operates luxury media business, publishing specialty magazines and buying media for luxury brands and a seeker of the ultimate lifestyle. And he's here today to share some of his insights into the minds of millionaires and billionaires. So, Danny, come up. We're going to bring Rick up and understand that this is a man who spent the large portion of his life selling, selling, connecting, hobnobbing with rich people. People. And he's going to what's different between what he's learned about millionaires and millionaires from hobnobbing with them for over 20 years or more versus some of the stuff that's out there in books and, and programs or whatever. So Danny, are you around?

I'm here, dude. How you doing?

There he is. How are you?

Doing very well. Doing very well. Different climate back in the uk. I know I couldn't make it last week. We had some technical problems, but I'm super excited for this one. And we're going to bring Rick. When you're ready.

We're ready. Let's bring Rick up.

Let's bring Rick up. How are you doing?

I'm doing very well. You know, I could be anywhere in the world, but there's no place I'd rather be than right here. That's how good I'm doing. Well.

And we're glad that you are. We're happy that you are and thank you for making time and, and for what you're going to share with us about the luxury business, selling, marketing and, and also what you learned from all of your interactions with millionaires for many, many years.

Great.

So you know what I, how did you get started. It says, you know, in 1984, you joined the Rabbit. How did you decide that that was something you wanted to do?

Well, it's kind of by accident actually. I was an entrepreneur because I had a truck, a rusted truck. And I started a moving company. And as I was working in this job, I realized that I would have to visit clients, pitch them on my services, and then a few days later move them. What I realized was I'm really a salesperson. Nine out of ten people want to, want to do business with us. They didn't see me move anything, they didn't see my partner, they didn't even see my truck. So I was searching for what am I going to do? What am I good at? And I realized I'm good at sales. So I applied for a job. Even had a sister in law in the company. And he said, listen, seem like a nice guy, love your sister in law, but you have no closing experience. So I said, you know, I really want this. I thought I was, you know, going to work here, but I'll work for, for two weeks. You don't have to pay me, I'll learn. I'm interested in learning. And that two weeks turned into 17 years and I ran the place. So I thought, well, I don't have any recurring revenue, I don't have income unless I generate it. Why not work the program, then move on? Straight commission. You know the old saying, you eat what you kill. So I thought surrounding myself with a bunch of people that were really good at what they do, it would benefit me. And it certainly did. Wound up having to love not only the sales job that was paying me well over time. Boy, and there was some rough spots, but being surrounded by people that really knew how to sell, learning how to sell, learning the manual, it's just invaluable.

So you now have this job, you spent two weeks working for, for no money. And then ultimately you start earning a commission. But you have now got to cold call wealthy people, correct? I mean, you're now making inroads into the wealth, the wealthy pocketbook. Essentially.

Where I started the magazine Rob Report had a section in the back, it's called the listing section. It had expensive everything, but four categories. Yachts, real estate, exotic and luxury cars and, and airplane. Right? There you go.

Yeah, it's an older issue, but it's one of mine from years ago.

Well, I got some older issues. I did, I did some calculations and I'm in like, I can't remember the number, but I'm in like you know, 2.7 million copies laying around with my name on it from back in the day. But, yeah, so the. The idea that I thought I was kind of raw talent, at least I thought I did. And then learning really how to sell from an expert. And I believe it was the. The manual that we used is the same manual that was used on the movie Boiler Room. Because I was sitting watching the movie with my wife. And there was a rebuttal, you know, that. That came after an objection. And I said. At the same time. He was saying the exact same thing. He said, my wife looked at me and she said, I thought you said you didn't watch this. I said I didn't. But that's the exact same objection rebuttal book that I was. That I taught, or rather that I. That I learned from. So experts were there, nothing but the best helping people learn how to sell. So I was sort of the anomaly. What are you doing here? And what I had to do is prove that I knew how to sell. And so the challenge was learn how to sell over the telephone, but learn how to sell millionaires, because who owns Ferraris and jets? Yeah, I gotta get the person on the phone. The average person says, you know, it's. Boy, it's tough to get that manager on the phone. Well, try reaching a millionaire or a billionaire to get him on the phone. One of my favorite calls was to Evel Knievel. As a kid, I loved Evel Knievel, right? I was sitting on my bike to jump over cars and do all kinds of stuff. And here I am working on a job, and I'm calling Evel Knievel. Hi, Rick Sedler calling. Who am I speaking with? Evil. Now, who else is named evil? Oh, my God, it sounds just like evil. So that was my number one, most difficult. Didn't come along for the journey. My conversation of anyone I've ever talked to, I mean, I would just say something that I thought was funny. He didn't laugh. I would say something to get him moving. He didn't say anything. You know, that long pause, that's three seconds, feels like half an hour. Well, this guy had long pauses all the time. He was not going with me. But you learn that there are different personalities with people that you're talking to. Buyer A, buyer B, and all kinds of ways that you slice and dice them. But they are really difficult to sell because you only have a few seconds to get their attention, show value, and listen, at the end, you did a great job, right? But if you don't sell them, you don't make any money. Nobody applauds you because you did a really good job on the phone with us. So, yeah, that was the challenge, selling to millionaires. So, you know, one of the things that, you know, I looked at a few years ago was how many millionaires did I actually talk to? Now I'm not talking about selling, so, you know, I can look up the ads and tell you how many thousands, but how many people did I actually, you know, talk to on the telephone? And I. I'm guessing it's 10,000 or plus or minus 10,000 people. The number of calls I made each day, times each week, times the number of times I was. I was there. I made fewer calls as I got into management, but I was still on the phone helping other people sell and close business. But Robbie Port, at that time, when I left, was a magazine that had more watch advertising than any Than any magazine on the planet. And we actually had to do a moratorium on watches. You know what happens when you go to a club and you see a big red rope that says, can't enter. Filled up, closed. And the club next door has a big open sign that says, you know, first free drink is free. Nobody wants to go to that place. They all want to go to the one that's closed. So when I said, it's closed, you can't advertise anymore. Fifteen advertisers wanted to come advertise with us. So that was one of the things that, you know, I kind of learned. I made the decision on. I had salespeople saying, what are you talking about? That's how I make a living. You can't close it. I said, just trust me. So the first time, no way. The second or third time, they went, okay, it seems to have worked, so do it. So I got confidence. My sales team, they had confidence in me, and it worked out great. So started as a. As a salesperson, learning from. From the best to then running the business as publisher and running the, you know, the business side of the business. The editorial staff, they write all the stories. Photography, creative. I was just. Go call me Rumpelstiltskin. Go in the basement and make money. Okay. That's what we wanted. Well, I want to go here. No, no, no. Go make money. You need it.

Wow.

Wow.

So cool.

Danny, go ahead.

I'm just. I'm just thinking about that, you know, you. You eat what you kill. And I'm just thinking about that. That first kill, sort of like two weeks to figure this stuff out. And you Wasn't going to make any money. Can you remember the actual, you know, the initial? Oh, man, this is not working. To that elation of, I've done it, I've actually killed one. Where. Where did that sort of get you to from? Is this gonna work or were you a natural? What was the. What was that first two weeks like?

The first two weeks was, you know, kind of brutal, but I expected it. And, you know, my. My dad was always hard on everyone. And so, you know, I used to say, listen, if you think this is tough, you should live with my dad, you know, so you had to have thick skin. And when I entered into the sales room, there were 12 desks, and everyone was sitting at a desk. And I said, where am I sitting? He said, well, you gotta. You gotta join Spencer over there at the end. I said, I gotta share a desk? And he said, yeah. And I said, well, what happens? I'm gonna share a desk forever? He said, no, usually we have somebody that blows out by the end of the week, so you'll have your own desk soon. So that was inspiring. Right?

Yeah.

So people worry about the longevity of their business, right? You know, rather their job position. Right. You know, I'm looking at making sure people love it here and they stay well. This guy just tells me, before I even get my official job after my two, that most people blow out in a week. So a lot of people came and went. You know, it was a tough job, but, you know, at the end, when you get to the point where you stay, you are unbelievable. And so the thing is, I never even thought of what would happen if I fail. Never even thought about it. I knew I was going to find a way to do it. And I practiced at night on my pitch. I talked in front of a mirror, talked in front of my girlfriend. She's like, would you shut up? You already went over that. And I was like, no, I got to get it better. And then when I learned the pitch really well and all my objections and rebuttals from the manual, my boss said, you sound like a robot. You got to act it out. You've got to act natural. You got to have voice inflection. You got to stop and sound like you didn't memorize it and that it's coming out naturally and all these things. And I had. I was cooking tomato soup at my house with ketchup. I saw. I heard a radio advertisement for go. Go to the beach and jump in in February on the northeast and get 20 bucks, which I needed for food. I Had no money, but I said, I'm not quitting. I don't care. I'll live in my car. I'm not quitting. And the thing that I realized later on in talking with a lot of successful people is they don't quit. They don't believe failure is going to enter into the equation. Now, it doesn't mean they don't fail, but they just believe that they're not going to fail. And when they do, they say, oh, no big deal, I'll just move on. I'll shift, I'll change. And so a lot of things that I did, I didn't know later on that others did. So it was a great experience, but I just went in raw. I spent a ton of money and a ton of time with books and seminars because I knew that I didn't go in with anything, so I didn't have to pretend. I just wanted to be a sponge and absorb. And so when I started to make a sale that I said, I control that sale, I did that. That it was nothing that I turned into a sale. There was a moment where it just clicked and I said, I got this thing, you know, and it kind of reminded me of learning how to ride a unicycle. I knew that I wouldn't be able to ride a unicycle with a lot of falls. I just hope I didn't bang myself up too bad, but I knew I was going to fall. But that moment where I actually ran down the whole driveway with my unicycle, I said, okay, it's not. It's just a matter of length after this. I just felt it, and that's what I felt like in sales. Still a lot more to learn, but there's a great feeling to know I actually can do this. I just did it.

Well, one of the things that I like about what you just said, too, is that you said failure doesn't enter into it. And. And successful people don't consider failure failure. I mean, truly, it's not failure if you don't call it failure. It's the person who says, oh, I. I screwed up, I failed. It's done, it's over. I quit. You know, And Napoleon Hill, he said, know, it's temporary defeat, perhaps, but it certainly isn't failure unless you throw in the towel. So I. I love that, that you point that out and that that part of the equation for success is that mindset that you must have, that attitude that you must have that, I can do this, I can do it, I can learn it If I don't know it, I can learn it. And then you said, I spent books and programs and, you know, I invested in myself in order to do that. So the difference between selling millionaires and billionaires, because you think about small business to business, some, some magazine rep, some radio rep, some TV rep walks into a store or into an office, hey, you know, I'd like to sell you some advertising. And they meet with the owner and it's face to face. And this is just somebody who owns a business, it could be very wealthy or not. But the point is, for some people, that is terrifying. Just talking to another person and trying to get them to part with their money for whatever the product or services that you're offering. And you're cold calling people on the phone who have lots of wealth. And yet that didn't, that didn't phase you, you learned how to do that. But what, what do you think the difference is? Because somebody who's made lots of money knows how to make money and they may know how they want to spend their money, whereas somebody who's not that successful may, may not. I mean, how do, how does, how does the average person wrap their brain around, I might, you know, selling jets instead of cigarette lighters? You know, I mean.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, there's a whole different kind of thing. What, what, what do you say when you approach somebody and they have lots.

And lots of money?

What are they looking at? What, what do they, what are some of their values or some of their traits that would either blow you out of the water or, or invite you in?

So I can think of a couple. You really have to identify, you know, sort of which personality are you dealing with. Right. So there are people that have, if you read about them, if you saw them online, if you knew what they did, you'd be intimidated. Right. The best plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills, he's a smart guy, he's driving a Ferrari because that's what we wanted to get him to advertise with us. And so you're a 24 year old kid, you're talking to this guy and he's a doctor, and you're somewhat intimidated, but you get by that because.

The.

People that are very successful, that have very vertical and specific niches, are interested in learning from those that are not in their particular field and that are expert in what they do. So the first thing you have to do is to impress upon them that you are expert by confidence and by very quickly explaining to them that you're here to help them with Something that is on their task list. And so you illustrate the burden that they're faced with that you can help relieve them of. You have a car, you have a million dollar Ferrari and I can help you get that sold and find a buyer, guess what, they're listening. And so when you get to the point and know after talking to hundreds of these people where you can trigger that interest level talk as an authority, stop talking about Ferraris. Many people make mistakes, whether it's in this business or everything else. Talking about, yeah, is that the one with the 347, this, that and the other thing with the guy's like, I don't want to talk to you about my car. You said, you can help me sell it, so hurry up and tell me or I'm hanging up. So you begin to get right to the point where here's how we've helped other people. The magazine goes to people with money and the attitude to buy a car. If you're listing it where I saw it in the LA Times, how many people do you think that read the newspaper are looking to buy a Ferrari? So we don't reach millions of people with thousands of dollars. We reach thousands of people with millions of dollars. And so even if the person that's reading the magazine at that particular time doesn't want your car, millionaires hang around millionaires. They're going to tell other people, I just saw this car and rob report. So as I tell this story about what actually happens, they're saying, tell me more. I'm interested because how many other people are calling them to talk to them about selling their Ferrari that seem to know exactly what they're talking about to reach the people that can afford the car, People that they deal with are okay, that classified at a $6. Your deadlines tomorrow, make sure you say, right. I had somebody say, I need till tomorrow and I'll make my decision whether to go to you or somebody else. So he called me up, he said, I'm going with you. I said, well, you got to tell me why. Why'd you go with me? He said, because everything that you said about my car, you said, I know you'll sell it. I'm convinced I will help you sell it. Everything was positive. No weak words, No. I think no, maybe, no, I don't know. But I know I can help you sell it. And you had so much confidence, I decided, sure, it was a lot more money, but am I going to go with a confident guy that said he can help me sell the car or the guy said, give me the 45 words of copy by tomorrow, right? So he said, I went with you because you a code. So all of those things that we learned, right? I was dealing with somebody that told me in the first 15 seconds that he has an IQ of 135. Don't give me any BS, just tell me how to do it. So he's the bottom line guy. If I don't talk bottom line, he's hanging up, right? I've got to be the person as I mirror who they are, down to even having a weird accent from Texas, right? And you got to be bold. I was talking to a guy with a company called Cowboy Cadillac and he had Cadillacs that he put on truck bodies, he called them Cowboy Cadillacs. And I couldn't reach him. I couldn't reach him, I couldn't reach him. Finally I said, trey, take them boots and stick them on your desk and throw your cowboy hat down your 10 gallon hat because I need to talk to you about helping you sell them. And so he just busted out laughing. I said, I didn't think it was that funny. He said, rick, I got a 10 gallon hat on and I just put my feet on the desk as you said that. So what he liked was the unique, the bold, the. I got something that I'm confident that I deal with people like you all the time. I know what you look like, I know what you do. I may have a different accent, but people gravitate towards that and they enjoy the conversation, make the conversation enjoyable. Too many flat boring people that, that, that, that, that, that they push off and they really want. You know, the people that are energetic, have a story to tell and appear to have something that they, that, that, that they need that can help them. So it's not a, you know, pushing features and benefits. It's just having a conversation, getting those people to see you have value. I like you rich. Or they like you to just shut up and they're going to tell you what, what, what, what the way things gonna work and you're gonna agree with them and sort of sneak in the things that you need to get across.

Well, it sounds like, you know, so much of, of the conversation is just based on what results can you produce for them. You know, you either solve their problem or you move them forward in some way. But it's result based as opposed to all the, you go fishing, I go fishing, you go, you have a Ferrari. I mean there's, there's a bottom line. By the way, Eric Swanson is leaving some wonderful comments. We'll have Eric, he's a good friend. But if you're watching the show and wherever you're watching, you too can leave comments or ask questions of Rick. Just put them in the, you know, wherever you are. We don't always see them because we've streamed to multiple platforms, but we're going to make sure that we get as many of them up as possible. Rick, I want to thank you. Danny, you got a comment or question for Rick?

Oh, I've got loads of them. And it's so great to hear this as this sort of journey is unfolding and you're talking about some of these experiences. But I think you're right. People do get caught up on the, the way that they approach things and the way that they word things. And you mentioned storytelling just now, but you've also talked about certainty. Your people, they want certainty, right? You're not going to mess around if you're uncertain. But you mentioned storytelling and as you was telling this story. How important is that ability to sort of tell a story when it comes to making a connection with, with somebody that you're trying to sell? Rick?

Oh, it's very important. But I think that the, the, the part that makes it, you know, important is to understand it's not just storytelling, it's storytelling. Understand who that person is as quickly as possible and tell that kind of story, you know, for, for the, for the person I mentioned that told me how big is, how high his IQ was. He didn't want a story, he wanted the facts. So what? When you're talking with someone that wants the facts right away, I would become that person that would require the information back from him as quickly as possible. And so he would say, how much is a full page ad? And I would tell him, 10,000, 750. Are you in a position to buy the ad or deadlines next week? So as he asked the question, I answered it and I demanded an answer back from him. So it kept the pacing up that he was comfortable with. And you have to elevate yourself up to the person that you're talking to, otherwise he has no respect. So he was the first guy that I actually sold a full page two that he had available that we got in the next issue. That was FedEx. The material was FedEx to me. And he had never seen a copy of the magazine because I had anything about the magazine. And when he said, I need to see a copy, I said, you need to see a copy of a magazine that was published before your ad comes out, how is that going to help you? Listen, the magazine could be printed on toilet paper. It's who reads it now. It's beautiful, the glossy magazine. But you are not buying an ad. You don't even own it. You're buying the audience that reads the magazine. And so, you know, he was convinced. But after I left and went into management, a new person came to call him, took over the account. And I said, you know, beware. This guy's a little rough around the edges, but he's a brilliant man. And so the guy called him, introduced himself, and he said, where's Rick? And he said, well, Rick's. I'm taking over your account. Pause. And he said, well, I do this, that, and the other thing. And he said, I guess you'll do. Text this guy. So how'd you like that being a salesperson? I guess you'll do. Happy salesperson calling up, saying, here's. I'm gonna work your account. I guess you'll do. So some people don't. They'll lose a sale because they don't know how to deal with. With different people, you need to be able to be a chameleon and change based on who you're talking to. If you don't know and understand that category of that person, which is only about 7 of those personalities that repeat themselves, you move to that person right away and you act the way you need to act to deal with that person.

But I love that being the sort of. That chameleon approach is. Is super important because like you said, if you're just reading the same script to every single person, you're probably going to be one of those guys that's sort of blown out of there in a week, right?

Oh, yeah. I mean, you know, the thing is, people looked at it as a sales job. I looked at it not as the sales job. I wonder if I like and I like the people. But I looked at it as I was like a kid in Disneyland. I was like, can't believe the way these guys are carrying on. I want to be these guys. And if I can sell this, I can sell anything. This is my whole career right here, and I don't want to mess it up. I don't want to not be successful. And, you know, as it turned out, what I really was focused on is just, you know, getting my bills paid. But what I realized is it's the most fantastic job anyone could ever have. People, people, people. People were saying, rick, why'd you quit to start your job? I Made friends and met people because I told them I knew you. So, you know, it's, it's, it's like I never had an ego about it. I've, you know, I've amassed, you know, I, he, I'm still thinking I'm the struggling guy. And, you know, I kept my ego in check and I'm going in to do events and stuff and people are asking me for my autograph. I just, I just, I couldn't. What do you, mate? What do you want my autograph for? Anthony Quinn had a watch that he wanted to do. We did a big show for him in New York City. And you know, the guy's asking me for my autograph. People love Rob Report. That's the thing. You get somebody that you know is a big fan of the magazine if you were able to find somebody that actually subscribed. Nothing's ever easy, but it was easier. And you know, I would say, but Rex, you got a car for sale, why, why don't you call us? And so I developed the art of getting from A to B in one simple question and get the person talking. And other people would be going on the script and we do this and it reaches these number of people. And I was like, what's the first thing that comes to mind? You're a subscriber, Rex, what do you think of, why don't you call us? And Rex would tell me basically what the objection was, if there was an objection. And if he didn't give me an objection, I go, I don't know why. Makes sense. How much is it? Wow.

Well, you know, one of the things that I, I, I, I love about you and I love being able to hang around with you because we learned so much from you just by listening to you speak and talk and share your experience. Because you have both sides. You talk about what you do that works, but you also talk about the things that you did do or did do that didn't work and how you learned from that. So that's, that's what's so wonderful about you, is you're a learner on the go. You know, you don't let always.

That's a successful people is that, and I'm talking about, you know, super successful people. You know, there's no real definition of, well, what is wealth? What is, what is, what is a millionaire? You know, I saw something the other day and it said the, the average millionaire drives a Toyota.

Haha.

And all you people thought they were driving Mercedes. Well, guess what? The average millionaire, when I was talking to millionaires was very impressive because it was 25, 30 years ago. And million back then meant a lot different. The average millionaire, if you just want to define you, made it as a millionaire. That's a house you bought for $328,000 20 years ago, that's now worth a million and you're a millionaire. So yeah, of course you're going to drive a Toyota. But, but, but what about, you know, net worth, high net worth, you know, ultra high net worth, ultra, ultra high net worth. All of those categories, that definition of a millionaire until you get to billionaire, Everyone lumps in the same pile. It is not the same. And so millionaires don't drive Mercedes. Well, I've got a very good friend that, you know, that said, what kind of car? I don't want anything flashy, you know, what do you think my wife does? See what. He's just not like that, right? Guess what he's driving now, doesn't want anything flashy. We're not like that. And he's driving a Range Rover, a Bentley and a Ferrari.

That would be my guess.

Because if you're a millionaire, no, you're not going to buy those things. But if you're raking in multi millions of dollars a year, some things change and some things don't change. For example, if you're frugal and every step of your life before you had a lot of money, you were frugal. You're going to be frugal with a Ferrari. Come on. 225. I'll give you a 200 right now. Okay, you're not going to. People have this impression that, you know, millionaires just walk in with a briefcase and throw it on the table and say, keep the rest just for a tip, I'm driving it home. No, maybe if you did that when you were a kid, you might still do that. But most people have, you know, habits and traits that they carry with them with, with wealth. It just exaggerates. You know, if, if you had a propensity to buy a whole bunch of people a drink at a bar and now you're worth 10, 20 million, you buy a whole lot more people at a bar, right? And if you didn't, you probably wouldn't. So, Rex, you were talking to me about something and I, and I moved a little, shifted a little bit. Remember the question?

Yeah, well, I do, but everything you said was wonderful and I appreciate that. I said, you know, there's also the things that you have to learn not to do.

Yeah, yeah. Well, you know what I did? I did an experience with my salespeople. And, you know, the poor people that have to listen to me, right? I've just got, like, so much stuff in my head that. That I've done, that I've learned, that I share, that. They're like, whoa, Rick, that's too much. So he said, listen, I've got a list. There's 100 leads here, and, you know, 50 are not going to buy, and 50 are going to buy. Which, which, which. Which ones do you want me to mark? So they said, oh, the ones that are going to buy. Absolutely. And I said, well, do you think if I told you which ones weren't going to buy, that would be just as valuable? Leaving the ones that are going to buy? I never thought about that. And I said, that's like mistakes. If you cross off the things that you learned that you made a mistake that you hopefully won't do again, won't that leave you with more things that when you try, you'll try fewer of those mistakes, hopefully none, and you'll be left with more things that have worked. So it's okay to cross off mistakes. It's okay. I had somebody that I knew invest in real estate, and in 2008, he lost everything. I said, man, I'm so. I'm. I. I just am sick over this thing. He said that, listen, my. My goal is to be on a catamaran with my family, taking my boat anywhere. I feel like this is the journey and this first step didn't work out right. But most millionaires fail a few times before they succeed. I just failed bigger than I thought, but I'll be okay. He lost his house on the water. He lost all of the things he put up in collateral. And of course, he lost the four buildings, oceanfront buildings, that he was building. He lost everything. He didn't have anything. I didn't move his furniture. I didn't know where to put it from his house. And he said, that's okay, because his sights were to be on that catamaran. That's how wealthy people look. Most people look at. I can't go through a failure like that ever again. I give up. I tried. The common trait with wealthy people is they recognize. They don't ever believe that they will fail, but they realize that sometimes they do. But failure is a bigger picture. This was just a walk and a pathway through to where they want to be. And they know, and it doesn't bother them that every now and then they're going to mess Up. The average person that quits, that doesn't become wealthy, gives up, then it doesn't want to do it again. They're scared. Their family comes in, they're called idiots who would do this and they can't take it. And they say, I gave up. They took a full time job. They tried.

Amen, brother.

Yeah, you see it all the time. It's like the little, you know, image on social media. The guy digging for the diamonds, right? And he quits like that far away. It's, it is a total difference, though, in that, in that mindset that I guess separates these two worlds. But somebody might be thinking, but, you know, yeah, I've quit in the past, but I'm not gonna quit ever again. Is that enough to catapult somebody forward? Even if they're like older in life? And maybe they're thinking, oh man, I was that guy. Is it possible to move from that world into the, the world of the wealthy?

You know, the first thing that, that I, that I always talk about is there are certain things that I have, you know, lived through, things I've done personally that I was flat broke. I'm doing pretty good now. I, I, I. You know the saying, be surrounded by, you know, five people and you'll become one. Right? Same as if it's been positive or negative. Right? It's negative. And you're dealing with drug dealers. You can become a drug dealer, right? So I'm dealing with millionaires. What do you think I'm thinking about every day after I started thinking about, am I going to close them? I want to be them, right? That's who I'm dealing with. So that certainly helped. But I knew a person, you know, halfway through my career, and he invented the car called a Vector, and his name was Jerry Weikart. And Jerry Weikart built a car that was sort of half Corvette, half Ferrari Lamborghini, but it was better and it was built in US and it had aircraft this and aircraft fittings, and everything you could think of was $250,000. And he was a GM executive, probably a designer or an engineer. And this was his dream. He didn't want to give up. And he used to go to car shows selling his cars and taking orders. And when he went to a car show in California in July, and he had to go somewhere in Chicago, you know, in, in September, he would make some adjustments on the body and repaint the car. This is our new model. And somebody caught on and said, it's not a new model. You're Driving one car around and changing the paint. But this guy was like, I gotta do what I gotta do. And sadly, he, he called me one day and said, I, I, they're banging out the door. They're banging. I said, who's banging at the door? Jerry, what's going on? He said, I got voted out on my own damn company and I'm not leaving and I'm calling the press. So first lesson that I learned from Jerry, who's calling me from under his desk while people are trying to, I'm hearing them trying to break in, is that don't give up more than 50% of your company, even if it's your dream. Be smart about it, right? The, the company then sold to somebody else. He wanted it to be his vision. They said, well, you didn't make any money. That's why we bought it. Went back and forth and argued. The long story short is he passed away a couple of years ago and never actually launched the vector. There may be three or four of them available at that. So when you talk about don't give up on your dreams, sometimes that's not good advice. Sometimes you need to tell a guy, listen, it's not going to work. You are taking your whole life, your wife, with you, to develop this dream for 30, 40 years, and it's not going to get there. So stop. So sometimes that, don't give up, don't give up. Other people have done it. You go get it. Sometimes it maybe shouldn't be told to people, right? When you need to tap them on the back and say, save your life, move on, try something else, this isn't going to go. So I think about that, I think about that call and realize that back to the idea that you can be success. But many people have had three or four failures on their way, and they've learned from the failures, but they've had little failures. Well, he never had a failure. He left GM and he wanted to build this car. And this is all he did for 30 years till he died.

Right. Well, I mean, there, there is the point. You know, if you're on a sinking boat, you got to let go of the boat and, and life raft. You know, I mean, there's not always, you know, you have to, you have to be wise enough to know that, you know, without. So, you know, this is so. I love this so much because I, I enjoy talking with you about these things and. Can I tease a little bit here?

Yeah, let's do it.

Just. Well, Rick and Danny and I have something coming up and we're just going to say that. But if you're enjoying this kind of conversation or you want more of it, or you want to learn what we're talking about, you know, you can, you can contact me or Rick or Danny or you say, you know, in the groups, yes, I'm interested, you know, that kind of thing. And we'll let you know more down the future, down the road. But the, you not only sold these people, but you got to fly on jets and be on the largest yachts and go to the Ferrari plant and get these all the, I mean, you know, luxury from living it. And here's the thing, I'm saying a lot of people spend a lot of time, you know, living their life, worried about their problems, thinking, oh, my God, I might fail, I might fail. But they use vision boards and vision books and they try and dream build and do all this stuff. And the robber port's great for dream building. I mean, you can look in luxury, you can look, I want to do that, I want to do that. But they do that, and then they don't do the other things. You said, like, you read books, you hang out with the right kind of people, you invested in yourself, you did programs. I mean, you really worked to make yourself that. And as a result of the selling the people, you got to know the people, you got the hobnob with the people, and suddenly you're living a different life.

Yeah, no, I, I. The danger in that is, and it happened to some people, is that, you know, when you, when, when you get sort of that Hollywood lifestyle because you, you had one hit or one, One connection with somebody, you start to hang out with them is you begin to believe that you're there and you want to look the part and act the part. And you need certain things. So, you know, we used to refer to this, you know, in our manual as an emulator or an achiever. And an emulator is somebody that wants you to think that he's wealthy. So he wears all of the brands that you would. The person that knows the least amount brands would still know you got a Rolex on. And so, you know, the shoes that you would wear is a Bruno Molly shoe because, well, we know that's expensive. And so they want to look the part. And many times, not always, but many times these people do not have any money in the bank because they're spending it all on looking the part and feeling the part. And you begin to think, well, here I am, I am successful, but you got no money. You spent it all on everything. I bought six suits for $6,000 a piece. Five suits. It cost me $30,000 for the best suit in the world. I didn't buy a suit that they fit. I was looking at bolts of material. He measured me like 46 different times all over my body. That was the most amazing feeling. It was better than a massage. I walked around and I could have busted into any CEO's office and sold them. I felt like a million bucks. But it was 30 by 30 grand. And the fashion is the worst thing you can invest in. I bought watches because I was doing watch shows. I spent a ton of money on watches. Some of them actually appreciated. I went to my, my, my new clothing store companies. Listen, I've got a bunch of ketone suits. I just love these things. These, these are unbelievable. They need to be kind of refitted and they need to, you know, they're the different fashion. Can you do something about them? And he said, well, you need to do something about them. And that is throw them away. There's nothing we're going to do on those suits. Come on, there's got to be something. No, throw them away just because you spent all that money. It's the same advice. If you spent 200 bucks, you got to throw them away. It's not, it's not going to happen. Well, it was kind of sad. But anyway, going back and looking at it, it's not to say it wasn't worth it to have those suits because it was a part of my life I can look back on and then say, how did that work out for you? What am I like today? Well, the emulator who I know well because I was moves to the achiever. And the achiever says, I don't care what you think. I look like I got a place in my life that I'm very comfortable with and I don't care what you think about what I'm wearing. And there are a lot more achievers. If you look at the movie billionaire, that guy's, that guy has that achiever, you know, cloth clothes on with a T shirt and a pair of jeans. He doesn't care. He says on his way to fly on his private helicopter, you think he's there to press you that he's got a Rolex that doesn't say. He doesn't buy a Rolex. He just buys it because he really wants a Rolex. He doesn't buy it because he wants you to think he's wealthy. So achievers often buy things that aren't. Well, Known. So they buy watches that are mechanical, watches that are very expensive. I was a, a friend of mine was in the watch business, and he, he showed me a briefcase. When he traveled with the briefcase to sell it or to show it, it had a pair of handcuffs on it and the briefcase, three watches. And the, the set of three was $3 million. And he had to fly in a private plane to go to. Somebody wanted to buy it because he didn't want to get whacked. So I said, doesn't that bracelet on your wrist tied to the briefcase sort of indicate the value that might be inherent in that case? He said, yeah, but I can't take the risk. So, you know, achievers don't, don't care about what you think of them. They're very comfortable.

Can I share two stories? One is I dated a really gorgeous Hollywood actress, Ajanu, who came from very, very, very, very, very, very wealthy family who lived next to very, very wealthy celebrity actors and everything in the, in the right place and everything. And she moved out, refused any help from her dad, moved into the top floor of an apartment building, slept on the floor on a mattress, had absolutely no furniture because she thought that when she sent out her photo in a manila envelope and resume to the casting directors, producers and directors, that they would notice her address and think, oh, well, this is somebody worth knowing. Yeah, she had nothing. I mean, you know, nothing. And, and nobody looks. I mean, they tear off an envelope, they throw the envelope away. They're not going, oh, my God, she lives there. And the other was, I was doing consulting for a company, huge company. And we're sitting in this meeting and this guy comes in, he's in overalls, he's scraggly, he's got beard, he's dirt dirty, the whole thing. He sits down at the table while we're talking, and I'm like, hello. You know, I don't know who he is or anything. And he's. Then when the whole. After about a half an hour, he says, well, that's cool, thanks. And he gets up and walks away. I go, well, he owns the entire complex and you would never have known it. You thought he was a janitor, a farmer. You would have thought he was anybody, but the very person who. Millions and millions and millions of dollars worth of real estate.

So, yeah, yeah, I, I went to an appointment in Manhattan and the guy, sales guy was with me. We went in as the manager, and I was saying, okay, wait a second. The guy walks in, he, you know, goes in the, the, the toilet and we thought, well, you know, he looks, he doesn't look like somebody we should be concerned with. We kept talking. What's he like, know? Give me, give me the three minute lowdown. Which, what, what, what's your history with him? How close is he? What are we going to pitch him? This, that and the other thing. And you know, we're starting to talk like, well, the guy's kind of an ass. You know, he's gonna be difficult. You know, I think he'll probably grind us. We said some other things I don't want to say. And the, the, the, we heard a flush and the guy walked away. And then we, we walked in. Hey, we need to see Mr. Jones. Who comes out but the guy in the bathroom. Yeah, that's my experience of, you know, you can't tell who the person is, right. When, when, when, when you just look at them. But that would be, you know, if I were to coach somebody on, you know, how, how do you respond to someone coming into, you know, the jewelry store or the car lot? Don't ever do that. Right. That's one of those things I did. And, and I almost feel like the things that happen to me happened for a reason. So I would, for later on and I look back and laugh at those things and they great stories, but you just never know. You can't look at somebody. We had a 6.5 million dollar Bugatti we wanted to put on the COVID And the person that owns the Bugatti is going to stand in front of it while we shoot and that's going to be our cover. I get a call from my creative director. He said, you know where this place is? I said, well, it's in Texas. Yeah, it's on a farm. This guy got off his tractor in a one piece and he's standing next to the car saying, is this good? His boots are full of mud. What do I tell him? And I was like, and I, you know, kind of walked him through. What you got to do, do. Do some shots, you know, as you move it along. Get to know him. Don't stop and have a meeting and talk about a guy who's going to be like, hey, are you coming to take my picture? Get to know him, you know, do some shoots, you know, with the car with him and not his boots. You know, do all kinds of, once you get to know them, kind of say, now, you know, let's, let's try one where you might put on, you know, something that you would do when you're not working, you Know, just kind of. We'll do an upscale shot. I want to do this guy. And so the guy, you know, shifted into something else and saved it, but people don't care. You're doing a shoot. I agree. It's my car. Take. Take me. This is who I am. So, you know, it's. It's the. The business is so fun. It's always a challenge. There's so many different things that. That happen in. I can't even say you. We. I don't know. We're almost on an hour. I mean, it's not. Even. If we sat for 24 hours, I wouldn't shut up. That's the.

We've not scratched the surface. Right?

Yeah.

Right, right.

And we're good with it. We're good with that.

Yeah, yeah. It's all good. We will have a hard stop, I guess, at the top of the hour, but there's more to come. And if folks are loving this, as I know they are, and Paul's in the. The group, we're getting loads of comments in the group. We've got speaker Eric Swanson's here. We've got Alyssa, who's been passing through. Paul's on the group, and he's on YouTube with the looks of it. So that's. That's kind of cool. And anybody else who's watching us on other channels as well. I can't see everything but this. This is definitely great discussion, and it is so interesting to hear people's, like, a view of people's opinions and what they might form in that opinion and how far away that is from reality. I think there's some important lessons for everybody watching liver on the replay in that no matter where you are in your life, your business, your career, and especially if you're in sales. Rick. Right. This is, like, so important because quite often I've seen this. You know, I used to do lots of conferences, and it was a complex role, and I'd be speaking there, and I just go and sit at one of the front tables.

Yeah.

Just before I was called up to speak and before they start building up the speaker, everyone on the table starts whispering. And then you. And you kind of get up and you speak, and there's a difference in what they were saying then and what they're saying when. When they're kind of frantically clapping, and I'd play with that stuff and.

And.

And do that. And as. As a sales sort of guy or. Or. Or girl, wherever you are in the world, and you. You're trying to sell People. It's so important that you understand people. And like you said earlier, being that chameleon and being able to adapt to any situation. And this discussion, you know, could go on for a very long time, as you said. But talks was a little bit more about that ability to kind of adapt on the fly. For anybody who's watching this thinking, just. Just give me one thing to help me do this.

Well, I. I think that people have to understand that if you're adapting because you want to sell somebody, you have to take the long game. And any sales trainer, expert salesperson will tell you that when they, for example. For example, are coaching you on selling, what they're really doing is not helping you close that sale. They're helping you close a higher percentage of sales. So you got to take the long game. Too many people say, what should I say to this guy? And I'm saying, I think it's too late because he's bringing up a price objection. And the price objection should have been brought up earlier, Right. There's no. No reason for it. Rex, we've got all kinds of different suits. Are you in the. Give you an idea. I want to pick the right one for you so I don't waste your time. You're in the 500 range, 15, 3,000. You know what? You kind of go to suit now price. And so you say, whatever you say. Thousand bucks, right? There are some people that say, well, I laid out all the suits, and then I found out that the suit was too much. And he said, well, that's too much for me. It doesn't have to be suits. Well, why don't you ask in the beginning? You know, it's more natural to say, I'm trying to help you. Therefore, give me some information so I can save you some time and find the right suit and make you happy. Right? So, you know, it's really good and came on safe, right? It's. It's finding. You know, Danny, every time I get into a story I think about, I have a hard time remembering. Exactly. So getting out of situations, right? So it's a. It's a longer. It's a longer plan. It's okay to mess that one up. You. You have plenty of others. What. What did you learn and know? The biggest problem I have when coaching either my salespeople or other salespeople is they say something that really irks me, which is, guy has no money. Guy was never a buyer, wasn't gonna buy anything. No. Why? What could you have done differently the next time? And I, and I relay that to my getting it and selling more and being the top salespeople and going into managing. Having people twice my age wanting to learn from me when I was at the job for a couple years, they didn't care my age, I didn't care their age. They just said, the guy's closing more than me. Look at that. How did you do that? And I want to learn from you. So it was, it was all about, you know, sort of processing what happened and say, what's my lesson behind that? And too many people just make excuses for why the guy's a loser. And no one was going to sell that guy and move on. So, you know, you just have to identify and it doesn't have to be to save that particular sale unless it's the biggest sale in your life, it's a million bucks. You just have to learn if I'm in that same position later. So I want people to come to me and say, what would you have done if you were in that situation? Here's what we talked about. Here's what I said I would say, ask early, find out a little bit more about what their suits they have. Right. I have an expert jeweler friend and he said, what kind of watches do you like? What kind of watches do you collect? What's your next watch? You know? So he learns what kind of watches I have so that he can figure out if. Did I just mention 6, 500 watches? He's not going to sell me a $25,000, you know, Breguet. He's gonna go, are you ready to lift up? And how far up you going? And, and you know, the biggest thing is it's people think of it. You know, it's like these closing conversations. No, it's going to be natural. I'm your friend, Danny. You want to buy a watch, I'm going to help you find one. Without sounding like I'm a sales guy trying to be a friend, I want you to say, where's Rick? No, no, I want to buy, I want to buy. I want to see him. You know, he knows me, he knows my watches. I was at a place buying appliances and a woman said, hi, Judy. Oh, hi, Marybeth, how are you? And with four other salespeople there, there, she said, no, no, no, I'm, I'm working with Judy. I was there for another 15 minutes. She said, I always go with her. She knows me, I buy all my appliances. Found out she was a real estate investor and there's some magic there with, with with that salesperson where they, they clicked. That's what you want to do. You want to find that click so that you don't have to work to get the guy on the phone. He picks up the phone when you call because he likes you and they buy because they like you. People try to strain the sale and think they have to close. No, no. Make sure you know what their needs are, what the pain points are, and just simply deliver them something that they want because they'll want to hang out with you and go buy a steak dinner.

So simple.

It's beautiful. Well, we're gonna have to close this out. But, you know, just as Danny said, there's more to come. There's much, much more to come and coming soon. So, Rick, I want to thank you so much. I love it. You know, you pointed out so many incredible things, you know, and one of the things, one of the last points I think you made that really valuable is the people who don't succeed as much are in for the long term, a short term where the people who win, people who succeed are in for the long term. They understand the difference between a know now and a relationship that can last forever.

Yeah.

So very, very, very powerful. I appreciate that and I appreciate you, my friend.

Oh, I appreciate you both. Thank you for having me on. You're talking about something, as you might have seen through my enthusiasm, that I love to talk about. And there's a bunch of stories. When I got it to Rob Report and I was telling the stories about meeting all these people, they'd love to hear them. And then they were saying, would you stop talking about how great you are? And how every. So it was like, okay, these are my friends. My girlfriend's tired of them. Who am I going to tell? Right? So when you put me on a platform like this and cut me short by five hours, you know, I'm happy to be here. Right. Lots more to tell you, though.

You have a lot more for you to tell and a lot more to come. Danny, go ahead.

Anybody watching would like to see that five hour experience. Let us know in the comments, wherever you're watching, whether you're live or on the replay. Maybe we could just twist Rick's arm to. To make that happen in the future. But there are other things coming. We're super excited. We are bang on the hour right now. We've got loads of comments. Just want to thank everybody who's watched. Jonathan has hit the nail on the head. Went quick. Thanks again. Experience speaks, says Paul. Very important.

Be curious, be Curious, Very curious, yes.

I'm not making the judgment as well. And you know, walking away from the bigger sale of your life. Right, because you thought the guy wasn't capable of spending the money.

Well, what, what, what I just realized as I was reading those comments with you is that never get yourself into a position where you think you know everything. And I've talked to a lot of people that know so much and they always want to learn, and they always want to learn something. If you bring value, they want to learn. And, you know, next time we talk, we can talk about the 24 hours in the world's largest yacht with a billionaire and, you know, and, and, and how curious he was to learn about what I did. He invited me on his boat because of my knowledge. So when you bring value and you have knowledge, somebody's going to be interested in that knowledge. It just so happens in my business it's millionaires and billionaires because he wants to charter his yacht. How do you do it? I don't know. I'm a ship builder. So, you know, bring, bring the value. Be curious. And what I, what I realized by seeing that is always continue to learn. There are all kinds of people that say something that I've never heard of that I say, oh my God, that's amazing. And there's a lot of people that don't say that. I didn't learn it that way. No, no. I learn every single day. Never stop.

And we've learned a lot, so much on this, this show this evening and it's been amazing having you on, Rick. And I'm looking forward to the few things that we've got planned in the future. Going to be super exciting, Rex.

Thank you so much, Rick. We'll see you in the green room in just a few minutes. But thank you for being here, for your presence, for your sharing, for your wisdom and just everyone know there's more to come.

Thank you, Rex. My pleasure. Had a ball and appreciate you thinking about me and asking you on asking me out. Thank you.

We'll see you in a few minutes, buddy.

Okay.

Wow.

Wow, that was awesome. So much knowledge, Rex as well. And, and another great example that, that people can learn from in, in, you know, the stories, the journey, all the things that, that Rick's accomplished in that career and just a small fragment of what he's been able to, to share there with folks. So many great comments, so many people watching. Oh, man, I'm excited. What's, what's next? What's coming up? What's the plan?

Yeah, I'm excited too. You know and the thing about Rick is that we've had the, the benefit of being able to hang with Rick recently and and talk about all sorts of things and plot and plan and you know, so it's, you know, very valuable, well spent time. So I'm very grateful and I celebrate that. So we're going to close out the show. You know, I always say if you think of something as a problem, it's a problem. If you think of something as a blessing, it's a blessing. So celebrate all of it and then it's all of a blessing. This right behind me life on your terms is the book and you can get it@re.com book and when you go there, if you go back to that website I will give you I'll gift you a bonus training where valued at $497 on mastery. You were talking about learning and mastery. There you go Danny, I love it. Appreciate that you know, how to learn easier, quicker, faster with more fun and delight and how to master your thoughts, your feelings, your words, your behaviors to get the kind of results you want. Whether you want to be more creative, you want to be better at math, you want to sew skill, whatever it might be, you want to learn how to master stuff by going through a process. I'll give you that bonus training when you go and buy the book as and that's my gift to you. So go to rexykes.com find out all the details, go get the book and when you do buy the book and if you have been watching the show and you have been reading the book as Danny is, please go to Amazon and rate and review the book there. Leave a review, love it or not, leave a review and leave a rating and I would really appreciate that. And for now I want to thank you, I want to thank Danny, I want to thank Rick Settler for being here and and I want to thank you who's watching and listening and sharing and commenting and liking and asking questions promoting the replays. Thank you for being here. Thank you for being a valued friend and a colleague and we appreciate you Danny.

Stay positive, be strong. Feel your best. You can do it. Do it. Page 141 Rex likes are amazing. Everybody watching not so bad either. We love you guys. A big shout out to to Rick for joining us. Everyone who's joined us every single week, everyone who's just joining us for the first time, whether you're live or on the replay, we are out of here. And just before we go, I'm just going to leave you with one last link. When you're on rexax.com go and check that out as well. It kind of works nicely with the book. There's. There's lots going on, a lot more to come. Rex, pleasure as always. We're out of here.

Celebrate everything. Bye for now. See you next time.