Dean Graziosi grew up in a trailer park and became a multi-millionaire without college by partnering in his dad's collision shop at 16. He argues that the stories you tell yourself about your circumstances matter more than the circumstances themselves, and that reframing limiting beliefs is how you actually change your life.
What's up? What's up? Hey. On this episode of More Than Money, I wanted to make it more about what was said. I did an incredible interview with Tom Bilyeu at Impact Theory, and some of what came out was just raw and real and I thought it was so important for you to see. You know, sometimes we get really cinematic. I have an incredible team building, great videos and. And other times it's just about the content. And I'm really excited for you to see it. So check it out. All right.
Today's guest is a ridiculously successful real estate entrepreneur who took himself from a childhood full of crippling poverty to building a mega multi million dollar empire. Help me in welcoming the bestselling author of Millionaire Success Habits, Dean Graziosi.
Good to hear him, man. Thank you. Thank you. That guy sounded awesome when you just talked about.
He is awesome. You're gonna love him. I can't wait for you two to meet. So, man, I want to know, like, it is crazy to me, growing up living in a trailer park, living in a bathroom with your dad for a year, it's pretty crazy. How do you go from that while still in your teens to beginning a really just incredible entrepreneurial journey?
So in 10th grade, I decided I wasn't going to college. Wasn't that smart, had dyslexia, family didn't have money. None of my family ever went to college. I just wanted out of school. So my dad owned a collision shop. It was called Paul Graziosi Auto Body, and he never made more than 30 grand a year. I told you, he worked really hard, but not profitable, just worked hard. So my dad said, if you're not going to go to college, I'll make you a 25% partner in the collision shop in 11th grade if you can get out by 11 o'. Clock. So 11 o' clock, I start 11th and 12th grade. I took like ceramic gym and English, and I was out and I was at the collision shop. So in 11th grade, in this little town I grew up of 8,000 people, a little town called Marlboro, New York, the collision shop sign, he switched it and it became Paul and Dean Auto Body. I'm like, that was huge for me. And I worked. I worked like my dad did. I hustled. I went there at 11 o'. Clock, I worked every night. And my dad was like, hey, our business is doing better because of you. I was better with the clients. I was better. I brought more people in. I hustled. So now all my friends are going off to College or going into what they're doing. Like, you're not going to college? Like, no. I got this Collision Shop. Like, I felt, like, a little sense of pride. Like, I was making movement. And by then I was giving my mom some money. I was giving my grandmother some money and had this evolution. I felt good. So about two years out of high school, my dad goes through his fourth divorce. And it hits him really hard. And it hit him so hard that he checked out. And he said, hey, I'm not going back to the Collision Shop. I'm not paying the rent. It's done. And I was like, at that phase of my life, Tom, I felt I was embarrassed more than anything. Like, I remember that point because I was like, I'm not going to college, but I own Paul and Dean Auto Body with my dad. And it was like, in my head, not realizing I'm 20, nothing. I'm like, life's over. I have no money in the bank. Life is just screwed. And I started telling myself that story, and I lost the spark I had had since I was about 12. Like, since 12, I'm like, I'm not this smart, but I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna do it. And I lost it. And I'm going to friends like, hey, if your dad or anybody, you know, needs their car fix, I'm doing it out of my garage. And I know my friends are like, uh. But I remember being in there and saying to myself, like, what the hell am I doing telling myself this crap? Like, if I feel this way, this is. I would be my dad. And I remember at that moment, I changed the story, and I started thinking to myself, and it didn't happen overnight. So this is what I want to encourage you. When you find the bad story, find a way to just reverse the whole thing. I'm like, no, no, no. Because I don't have a college degree. I'm going to fight, and I'm going to do this. Because I was always small. I'm going to do this because I have no money. I'm going to do this because my friends think, I can't. I'm going to do this. And all of a sudden, I started changing his story. Not overnight, but over weeks. It became my empowering story. I wasn't looking at a deficit. I'm like, screw you guys. You think I'm not going to do this because I don't have what you have. I'm going to show. I'm going to blow right past you. Whether that's a good thought or not at the time it served me. What stands between us and where we want to go is never what we think it is. It's not the economy. It's not the president. It's not that somebody already dominated the health food industry or dominated Facebook advertising, or dominated TV advertising, or there's no room left. It's never that. It's always the story we tell ourselves on why we can't achieve that, find what that story is and think that that story, those two sentences, the thing holding you back, do you really want to give that story that much power? We're going to be 90, laying in a bed, looking up like before we know it. And do you want to think I squeezed all I could out of life, or did I let just beliefs that other people gave me hold me back? And then the other thing, too, is there's a balance between, you know, just making money or furthering your business and also knowing internally what your definition of success is. You know, there might be something that makes you a lot of money, but it robs your soul. So there's that balance. And I think that doesn't happen. Oh, that doesn't happen in your 20s, maybe not in your 30s, at least. It didn't for me. I was just fighting to be successful in my 20s and 30s. But at this phase, I wish someone would have grabbed me at 25 and said, you're gonna make all the money you want. You'll have all the success you want. Make sure your soul is aligned with that.
