9 Years and Universal Studios Weren't the Answer with Mical Pyeatt

Welcome to this episode of the Million Dollar Mastermind. I'm Larry Weidell and let's get started. We're here with Michael Piette from California, all over California. It's exciting time for me because I love Mike and we've just never had, had time over the years to really spend as much time talking as I wanted to. And that's, that's the problem when you're both successful in business. You, you, you build all these worlds and there's so many friends that you wish you could spend time with but you stay so busy, you know, you can't figure out how to make that happen. But so that's one of the benefits of this podcast. And so Michael, thanks for being on. And Michael's a million dollar earner, always been a success, tremendous business he's built and he has stood the test of time. I mean he's solid as a rock. He's been involved in every kind of turmoil or change you can imagine and always has come out on top, amazingly, which nobody would have expected it, but he actually did. They, they, they didn't think I would either. So congratulations Michael, on breaking through this year to the million dollar income and doing it with energy. You know, you, you appear like your business is going to continue to compound and grow pretty rapidly right now. So it's a significant, I think it's a significant breakthrough because a lot of people inside your team now are going to have a bigger picture of what can happen to them. So congratulations and tell everybody like where you came from and what you're most excited about that you've been able to achieve so far that you never would have imagined and never, you know, maybe not would have not been predicted for you.

Well, my personal story a little bit. I started here part time when I was with Universal Studios, which was a summer job. I picked up and woke up there nine years later very unhappy to still be there. And I started with this company part time and about nine months later I made the decision to go full time. So firing my boss at Universal Studios of nine years was my first move to freedom. And it was so, I mean this was always for me, this was never about making a lot of money because I didn't think I could. It wasn't about being an RVP because I didn't think I could. It wasn't about having a big business because I didn't think I could. I just wanted to be free, Larry. I just. Nothing more complicated than not punching a clock. I wanted to get up when I wanted to and Go to bed when I wanted to and go to the beach and surf three or four days a week. I wasn't very. It's not, wasn't a real complicated story. There's just been different levels of freedom. This million dollar a year recognition to me is, that's the best recognition I've had in a long time. We've made, I think we've made about $20 million since we've been here, all told. But to do it in 12 months in the middle of a pandemic when everybody else is having a problem in business, it really is, it really is a special thing. So it's. To be free to me is really, it's a big deal. And I'm free. I'm free, I'm happy. I like where I am financially, I like where I am business wise. I like my hours, I like my life. It's not any more complicated than that. I'm a very contented guy with the way things are. Which doesn't mean that I don't want to go to 2 million, but I like this. I like where we're at, I like what's going on, I like where the company is.

And as you started, how did you wind up with, I mean, you were just getting a job job, I mean, you know, you didn't graduate, graduate, go to college, get four or five undergraduate degrees and then become a PhD. You got out of high school and got a job. It sounds like.

Well, I actually got out of high school and I went to college. I think I had shoulder length hair at the time and a motorcycle and I rode out there and went in and went to classes the first day and I didn't like it. And the second day at noontime I quit and rode away. And that was the end of my college experience. I just didn't want to do it. To me it was just more of high school and I just wanted to go make a living. I was willing to work. And so the studios were. That's where 60 weeks, 60 hours a week is just average. So I just worked hard for a lot of years and came on board here part time and turned it into something really fun. I didn't start with a lot of self confidence, I didn't start with any. But I thought, man, if I did a sale once, I could do it twice. If I did it twice, I could do it a hundred times. And it was just that simple. And having Art Williams as my coach back in the day was the greatest thing that could have happened for me because he just he basically, with all his coaching, talked me into being somebody when I didn't think I really could.

And you know, for people who are wondering about Art Williams, you can go on YouTube. One of the greatest things that's happened in the last couple of years is he started his Art Williams best channel on YouTube and you can get five minute things recorded there from him. And so, you know, you basically could get these two or three, four, five hour speeches that we had to listen to and you can get the highlights in a nice nugget with me with music and everything else. And. But the point is, the point will be made, you know, and so if you're looking for the kind of coaching that can really turn you around, that's another place to go. And I would get Art on this podcast, but I. He's not somebody who really takes direction well. Michael, as you can imagine, I spent a lot, I spent a lifetime of trying to do conference calls with Art Williams to my team and I never got him once to answer a question. Right. I mean, he should have been a politician. But you do get his stuff on the videos because he's talking about what he wants to talk about, you know.

Yeah.

And he thinks the thing is, he thinks he's answering your question, but yeah, of course, yeah. But anyway, that's where to go if you want, want to really get inspired. And I think the message about that Art had that resonated with many people is to get them clear about do you or do you not want to do something special with your life? I think that's kind of a un tapped, a kind of a below the surface thing a lot of us carry around, we never really think about it or never really verbalize it like that had you.

You know, I think one of the most beneficial things, I mean when he used to say things like that, all my life I wanted to be somebody. I would almost tear up listening to that. Because to be somebody you gotta define. And for me it wasn't anything bigger than my mom and dad being proud of me, then later on in life, my kids being proud of me. And what he did is he defined it, I think in such simple terms. And I'll give you an example of one of the terms he used to say back in the day. You can beat 90% of the people by working hard and being honest, you know, And I'd write that down, I'd roll my eyes and I'd kind of think that's baloney. But he'd say it over and over and over again. You could be 90% of the people by working hard and being honest. I'm like, yeah, shit, I've been working hard and I'm honest. You know, hadn't happened for me yet. And I'd write it down and write it down and I don't know how many hundreds of times I wrote it down. And then a number of years ago, he flew out on his G7 to Burbank to do a meeting for me. And we put him up in front of some people and he started with his stuff, you know, and he says, you know, he goes, I always told you you could beat 90% of the people by working hard, being honest. And he goes, I was wrong. And so I'm writing up my note paper. I wrote, he was wrong. I wrote it down, I wrote it right there. He said it's not 90. He goes, it's 98%. But it's true. Because most people think that honesty is like some extra thing you do to a suit like cufflinks. It needs to be a basic part of your character and your life. You can't bring it in now and then like our Washington D.C. politicians and drop it in like salt on eggs every now and then to spice up the flavor. You got to be honest all the time. And the small things and the big things and the medium sized things and the working hard is just something that, the work ethic is something that at least half of America no longer has. Yeah, they just don't have it. They don't, they don't see the need for it.

And right now, you know, in your life, you're coaching and talking to a lot of people. When you started, how many at, let's just say when you went to work at Universal Studios, how many people do you think work there? Thousands.

Thousands.

And right now, right now in your organization, how many do you have? Thousands. Right. Is that, is that mind blowing for you?

Yeah, it does blow my mind.

And, and offices and where all are you? How many states and, and how many hundred thousand dollar earners and million dollars? You know that. Do you ever calculate your leadership team like that? Your army of management?

Really? I really don't, I don't focus on that much. What I focus on is the handful of ones I have in my office that I can work with on a daily basis. Because once they get out of here and they're flying around on their own, they don't take much direction anymore. I mean, you can encourage them in a direction or whatnot. I mean, they'll take an example, but they don't listen much anymore. When they figure out a system or a rhythm or a thing to operate their business with, pretty much all others pass by the wayside. And this is the only way in their mind that works, even though they were raised in a different house. So I basically focused on just our office and the handful of people we got here.

And how has that changed? I mean, has that always been the way you operated for a long time?

Yeah, when I started and we were doing just by term investment difference and recruiting, it was kind of like tic tac toe or checkers. You know, it's not a real complicated game. There's some strategy involved, you know, and the first move is always the best, but it's not real complicated. But after you're here a while, your brain wants to be challenged. So you change the game to chess and you get a little bit better and you add securities in a heavier way, or you add loans in a heavier way, or you get into the 65 license or whatever it is for more than anything to keep you occupied and keep you dealing with this thing and keep your mind challenged. And where it is right now, it feels like three dimensional chest, except everything's working our direction now. It's just really remarkable. But you got to lay the foundation. In my mind, the foundation is two things. Number one is you got to have character and integrity as your foundation. If you have people walking in the door and you go, we're all about money no matter what, how do you maximize the dollars? You show them how to cut the corners and cheat right away. In your business, I think you do nothing but plant weeds in your garden for future harvest. If you just talk to them and say, we do what's right for people and we actually do, it's not a company line. We actually do what's right for people. Come learn how to do what's right for people and then do the other thing that you have to do as a leader. Go get wide. Nobody else is going to do that for you. Go get wide. I mean, later it comes from deposits left in your base shop that a guy quits and leaves you with three guys direct or an RVP gives you two or three replacements because they didn't have one good one or whatever. But you need to be responsible for your width. And once you've got width and you've laid that in pretty tightly in terms of doing things correctly, it just naturally goes off on its own. I mean, I don't have much of a relationship with the attorneys in this company. At all. And we have 700 and something million in AUMs through base and FERs mostly. And it's because we don't have crooks.

That's assets, that's securities assets under management in the securities.

We don't have any crooks. We just have good guys. And when I like them to do more business. Well, of course, but they're the kind of people that you could hand them your wallet and come back a day later and it wouldn't be light. They're just honest, good people.

Yeah.

And some of them out of that get even better.

Now you have to choose. This is a choice you made for yourself. But it also you chose these kind of people. And that means you probably had to weed out a lot of people along the way at the front. It's like everybody, you know, it was a big shock early on when I would tell our team, not everybody wants to come here, gets to come here just because they want to come here. You know, we. We have a certain standard, we have a certain style. And talk about, talk about that as a leader of an organization and a team setting that kind of tone with right from the front end, from people who come in the front door.

Well, the first one, my opinion, the first one you gotta set that tone with is with you. And if your number one value in your life is to maximize income, you might not set that tone correctly. My number one value is to be proud of whatever it is we put together so my kids could participate later and find out everything dad's been doing. And they go, you know what? We're proud of dad? That to me, integrity is what you do when nobody else is watching. And I think art did a great job teaching a sales force that they need to be doing that. And I hadn't heard that before. It certainly wasn't part of the value ethos of the studio business. Believe me, the philosophy that that business is built upon for the employees there is, is let's figure out how to get paid the most for doing the least. That's just not a. That's not a great life plan, I'm thinking.

And that goes all the way up the ladder to the top guys. I guess it does.

Of course it does.

Yeah. And in that environment, you were there for nine years. What would you say you learned? One of the things about having people with you is that they're improving. They're learning, you know, because as they improve, take. They can take on more responsibility and they want to take on more responsibility and they'll do a good Job with the new things they take on so incredible advantage to grow your team and to be thinking about how to keep your people challenged and give them things to do where they can expand their skill set and all. But was that the. What happens. What happens to. Is that what happens to you when you're in that. Not. Not to pick on Universal Studios, but this is Universal Studios a long time ago, folks. All those people are dead and gone and, you know, whatever. But as you know, as a typical corporation that exists out there where there's not a whole lot of accountability except for the CEO hitting those quarterly projections, what happened to you in the nine years, other than you developed a real hatred for not being your own boss and everything, were you growing at all?

Well, when I worked my way up in the studios, and you have to work your way up first off, you can't even get in unless you know somebody. It's a very tight situation. And once you get in and you're there for a couple of years and you get past their smell test and whatnot, you have a guaranteed lifestyle for the rest of your life. You're in a union. I was in the Teamsters union. And you're 60 hours a week. Sometimes if you're on location, you know, it's 70 or 80. And that's where they make the large money in that industry. Not as much today as they used to, but nonetheless, you had to work your way up to working on two production companies. And when you got onto a production company, that was. That's the money game. You're on a production company. So for my union, the idea would be you had to come in early in the morning before everybody else, and you had to get whatever your truck was or whatever the equipment was, and you had to get it out there to wherever location is, and you had to park it and get it set up. And you're pretty much done now. Until the end of the day, you're done. So you get out of your vehicle and you're not allowed really to help the guys. If you're with the electric department or the special effects, you don't help them. They don't want you to help them because you don't have their union card. So you drive the truck, they unload the equipment kind of thing. So I get really bored doing that rather quickly. And that's after I'd been there about three or four years that I started buying books and I started the books. I started off were with some novels and whatnot. And then I got into stories about People's lives, whether they were written by themselves or somebody else. These were successful people biographies. And I started reading these guys and I probably read, I want to tell you, I read 20, maybe 25 of them over a period of time. And what occurred to me is they were pretty much like me. Yeah, they, most of them were regular guys that went and tried something and it didn't work and they failed. And then they got up and brushed themselves off and did it again. And sometimes it failed, sometimes it worked, and they brushed themselves off and did it again until it worked. And I thought I could do that, I could try that. So when I ran across this company, I was thinking, well, I could try something. I mean, I didn't think it was this. I just thought I'd try this until I tried something else. Yeah, it just worked out that way. But I had been preparing myself for it, unbeknownst to me, for a long time. So I'm a big fan of reading.

Books and following your natural curiosity and taking advantage. You had the free time, so you used that to kind of build your brain and feed that curiosity. And so you could come to a point down the road where you made the jump. But you knew it was. It wasn't as big a jump or as big an unknown because you had read so many stories of people have been through the same cycle. It did not seem like you had to be an astrophysicist or something, you know, and. Or have a IQ of 180 to be able to pull. Yeah, fortunately. Right. So anyway, thanks so much, Michael, for spending time with us. I want to, next time we talk, I want to talk about going through the transition of where you're reading about these things and then you get to where now the net. I mean, that's a big thing to give up. A secure lifetime union salary. That was a big thing. Now this is way back, back in what, 1934, something like that?

It was the very early 80s.

Early 80s. And you walked away from what kind of income?

Well, if you put it in today's dollars, about a $90,000 a year income.

Yeah. And secure, solid.

You had a job forever, you're always employed, you don't have to worry about it.

Yeah. And basically it sounds like you worked like an hour a day too, but.

They owned you the rest of the time.

Yeah, they own you. You had to be there. But it's going to be interesting to also explore the thing about relationships, because the importance of relationships and how that can open doors for you that nothing else could get in. So those are two things I'd like to explore next time we talk. So thanks so much Michael for talking with us or talking to me today.

My pleasure.

Thanks for listening to this episode of Million Dollar Mastermind with me, Larry Wydell. If I've helped you in any way, leave us a five star rating and review on Apple Podcasts. For more information like this, listen to our other Million Dollar Mastermind episodes and check out my Wydell Academy YouTube channel and visit us on widel on winning.com I'm the million Dollar Mastermind. And until next time, go go.