Episode #609 - Figure Out How To Make Money Work For You with Derral Eves, Co-Founder at The Chosen

Welcome to this edition of the Million Dollar Mastermind podcast. This is where we pick the brains of high achievers from all walks of life and get their hard earned real world insights on winning. I'm your host, Larry Wydell.

Here we are talking with Darrell Eves and what a privilege it is to be with the Godfather. The godfather of YouTube.

Wow.

And Darrell, thanks for taking time to share with us. I'm looking forward to getting to maybe some things that you don't get a chance to talk about a lot. And that is, I know people are always peppering you with information about YouTube and how they can use strategies and things like that. But what this is, our podcast is all about winning and what took the one person. Everything, everything starts with one person and an idea at some point. And how did the transformation happen where you had one, one young man and he's got some thoughts in his head and he makes some choices about his life and they wound up, they wind up working out and, you know, you get into where you have this compounding success. You made a lot right, a lot of right decisions, Darrell. So congratulations. And as a result, you know, Darrell has been able to add magic into so many people's lives and all kind of magic, business magic, you know, you know, life magic, and have an impact that, you know, most people only dream of, along with, I'm sure, financial success and things like that. So congratulation on that. Darrell, where do you think, you think this started for you?

Well, it started at a very young age. I belong to a family that I'm one of 10 kids. And my parents actually had a unique philosophy when it dealt with money, when it dealt with opportunity. We were included at a very young age to know what it costs to have lights on and what it costs to, you know, for food and budgeting and stuff like that. So I got early exposure to that. My parents did a very good job, really helping us understand the money side of it. And then ultimately my dad, who's now passed, but he entrepreneur at heart, had businesses that, that he owned and spent a lot of time on creating value. And he wanted to be able to teach his children hard work and looking for opportunities and working as a team. And so at a young age, well before I was 8, I actually had a paper route and that paper route developed into three different routes. And we even took on another newspaper project where we were doing the free weekend paper and my siblings and myself was very coordinated, getting stuff done and doing our job and responsibility. But what was really cool was when the Money was coming in that my dad taught me a God principle, which was about tithing and to donate 10% of your income and realize where it came from and ultimately having strategic ways to start saving instead of just spending it all on useless stuff. And so he gave me kind of a breakdown of, of what, you know, what, what I should consider. And I was, you know, for an eight year old kid having. I had about five different paper routes, I was making some pretty decent money. And I could have bought, you know, the primo, you know, Star wars action figures and different things that I wanted to. But he taught me the principle of saving for the right opportunity. And I hit a little bit older and he's like, okay, now you have a little bit of money in the bank, let's go ahead and buy some cows. And we actually bought some calves and we'd raise them, you know, on the farm and then in the fall we would actually sell them. And I started to, I call it flip cows, you know, because cows are born, we kind of go from there and, and that, that money started to accrue to a point where not a lot of 10 year old, 11 year old, 12 year olds have that money that they've earned personally. And so I got to that point and my father said, darrell, I want to teach you something really important. I want to teach you the real power of money. Because you have enough money in the bank now, you can let it sit and you can get some compounding interest and this is what it's going to be, or you can put the money to work for you. And I'm like, okay, I'm curious. And he said, there's an older gentleman up the road that is needing some help and he has a piece of ground that he's looking to sell and he needs a little bit of money and help around. And I want you to go put some money down on that property. I'm 12 years old, you kidding me? So we went over to the bank and never forget this, withdraw the money. And that was kind of like the most money I've ever seen in my life as a 12 year old is what I'm withdrawing. And I just put it in a little duffel bag and we went over this guy's house and he had me go up, knock up on the door and he stayed in the car and I was supposed to have a T shirt. Really? Yeah, it was the funniest thing ever. And anyway, the guys thought it was a joke and I open it up and I offered the money and he's like, okay. And so my dad comes in and kind of closes the deal. And it wasn't enough to buy the land outright, and my dad knew that, but it was enough to put a big significant chunk down of money on a piece of property that I'd have a minimal cost on paying him each month. And so I worked down my debt on that property by working for the gentleman on his property, but also with all my other stuff that I had going on as I was paying him a couple hundred bucks a month. And so, you know, for a 12 year old, you know, paying some 12, you know, 200 bucks a month or whatever it was was kind of a hit in the pocketbook. But as I was able to kind of expand as a teenager, went through school and, and was getting ready to graduate, and my dad says, okay, now it's about time to use that money. And I'm like, okay. And I volunteered. I was going to volunteer for two years to go on a mission trip for my church down in South America. We just paid for it ourselves. And he goes, now's the time to cash it in, because now you have money to pay for that. And so we cashed it. And I was like, okay. I was 12 years old and we were doing closer to 19. And I had enough money to pay for my whole mission trip for two years. And then I was able to put money in the bank and come back after that mission trip and put money down on a piece of property and buy a car. I had a house when I was 21 and I guess 22, but it all came from that property back when I was 12 years old. And so that right there was probably the most valuable lesson that my dad taught me was you can put your money in securities, you can put your money in the bank, but you need to figure out how to have that money work for you. And I didn't realize it at the time that here we had something that was appreciating value and I didn't really have to do anything for it. It was just because of the nature of the investment. It's just looking for that right deal, that right opportunity. And so that kind of started my journey. And keep in mind that I was an entrepreneur at heart as a kid. I always had something that I was looking to get some money to do something. But it was set on very specific principles of how to allocate your money, how to reinvest it, and how to have a little bit for fun and how to pay your tithing and so on. And so forth. And so it was a beautiful concept and I'll be eternally indebted to my parents because of what they taught me. And I can literally say that a lot of families out there pay for their kids stuff and my family didn't. We were expected to pay for our own stuff. Like if we want a new school close, you paid for it. Now my parents always gave us opportunities to go and make the money, but we were paying stuff. And I have five kids now and my kids, same thing is they're, you know, working their way to pay for their, the things that they want because we're not just giving it to them on a, on a silver platter, by no means. So.

Wow. Your dad seems like he should be the subject of a book unto himself or movie.

I can literally do that. Yes. There's so much.

Or movie unto himself.

So much.

And you know, people like your father live these incredible, impactful lives and then it's not recognized, you know, it's not written down and it's just like the only thing that's left is what's in you. But it seems like we, we all ought to think about documenting our parents lives a little more for, you know, coming generations, you know, and, but where were you out of the 10 kids in that list?

So, so when we first started the family, I was number four. But my parents adopted a Native American daughter. And this is my sister. And so as Beth. So it's right smack in the middle when she joined her.

Did he have a plan for, did he have a special little plan for strategy going with every one of the kids? Or were you, were you special?

It's like to be kind of special. Larry, come on. Now. My parents, their, their parenting style was to give personalized attention for what that child needed. And everyone had the opportunity to make money and had opportunity to leverage it in unique ways. I didn't find out till later that I was the only one that actually bought ground before I was 18. I mean, everybody else did later, but I thought everybody had their own path on that. But I just found out a few years ago when I was telling my brothers, are you kidding me? I'm like, yeah, that's what I was doing. But, but yeah, I, and, and they have their own stories too. So it's like nothing. I think it's just finding a unique way for them. And I think for me, my parents knew how I operated and, and, and like, for me, like, I know this might seem weird, but money doesn't have any value in my mind. I. I just. I just don't have, like, it just doesn't mean anything to me. Um, and so they knew if I would see it go towards something and, and see, oh, this is what it does, and it kind of connect the dots. And maybe that's why they had me go buy that piece of ground. I don't know.

So, you know, people listen to this podcast for takeaways, ideas, and this idea. One thing to note here is we. We spend so much time thinking about launching businesses, growing the businesses, and we. We. Doesn't hurt to be reminded if you've got kids, that's something that's growing too, and that. That's something that can turn into a huge pot. You know, you grow business, you can have a lot of ad excitement, fun, stability, security, you know, a lot of, you know, new adventures in your life, as well as financial stability. But a lot of times we overlook the fact that a lot of that could come from our kids. You know, they're going to be growing up too, and, you know, when you help establish, you know, help them establish themselves, it's gonna, you know, going to ripple back to you. And so, you know, just the enjoyment of seeing them, you know, it's one thing to win the awards, you know, like, for you, you know, you've launched 32 YouTube channels that have gained over 1 million subscribers each. 87 billion combined video views.

Yep.

And as big a thrill that is, it probably would be a bigger thrill if one of your kids had done it. You know what I'm saying?

No, no, for sure. And they have. So, like, we had a family channel, and it was kind of a different channel, not like a vlogger channel that they were actively participating in, and they were able to experience that. I think the big thing for me, though, is I don't want to force my. My work onto my kids. Like, that's a really, really important thing for me, is I want them to figure out what they want to do. And I have one. One child that eat, drinks, sleeps YouTube. Like, he just. He's obsessed with it. And, like, he will most likely do what I do because he's already done a lot of the stuff that I do. And so I want to. I want to create opportunities for him in ways, you know, I'll open doors, but he's going to have to walk through that door. He's going to have to earn it on his own. And so he's already done some pretty remarkable things in the space, and he's now put his life on hold for Two years. He's in Brazil as a missionary, and he'll be coming back in July. But I think the big thing for me is what I want to do is help my kids find their passion and then look at it strategically of how it can bless their lives, but more importantly, blessings the lives of those that they touch. And I think that if they, if they can figure it out, you know, it's going to be beautiful to watch. And, and luckily that my, my, my children are very passionate about things, and so it's really easy to help mentor them along the way and, you know, go from there. And let me just give you a perfect example of this. And it's like, I have a. I have a teenager. Well, I guess He's. He's 18 now. He is. He's been obsessed with video games his whole life. Like, he just loves video games and, you know, the whole stuff. And I'm like, hey, there's a lot that you could do in the video game world, not just playing them. You can play. You can make money playing them, you can make money designing them, you can make money, you know, looking at the transactional side of things and programming and so on and so forth, VFX and, you know, all the depths of it. And for me, it's like, what would give him the most amazing experience, right? What would help them really process it? And so one of the most popular games in the world is a game called Fortnite. I actually worked with the company that put out Fortnite. I knew the creator of Fortnite, and so it was really easy to pick up the phone and let my son. Well, it was actually in person, but take some time with them. And he's like, oh, have you thought about this? And just see the excitement that he had coming from someone that was so super well respected in the space, that was super smart, could talk his language and get him really excited about the industry. And now if he decides to do something with that, that's great. But I think, you know, I think as mentors, and I would view myself as a mentor for my children, that God's entrusted me to mentor them, that I would want to create opportunities for them to have conversations with people that think differently than me, that people that think differently than them, and maybe open their eyes a little bit of the possibilities of what can be done. And I do believe it's about synergy. It's like when you find the right people and you surround yourself with people that are pushing the needle or thinking a different way. That's how we change the world. That's how we change the world. And so why not learn from them, grow from them, be mentored by them, you know, and so I'll, I'll open up those doors every single day just to make sure, you know, that they have opportunities like that. Now, that being said, what they do next is totally up to them. It's like, I'm not going to, you know, push them down that path, but I want to, I want to be able to at least open the door where they can actually have conversations. And that's happened, you know, over and over again. So like another example, I have a son that wants to be an attorney, of all things. I don't know why. Like that's what he wants to be, right?

Where did that come from?

Yeah, I don't know. Not for me, but, but it was like getting him, you know, to go and, and job shadow, you know, was really important. And he just did a job shadow. That was it. And they offered him a job. They're like, hey, we want, we want to hire you. And he's like, I don't know what I'm doing. And so he went, and from that job shadow went into an internship, a paid internship that turned into a full time job. And I mean, think about this for a second. It was the right connection, I can tell you that. But it's the right field too, because it was like this individual that he was job shadowing reports to the governor of our state of Utah. And it just gives him a vast variety of how the law works, not just in a courtroom, because I think just if you look at it in the courtroom, I think you're very narrow minded of how you can impact the world through law. And so he was able to do that job shadow that got not only him an internship there, but a paid employment. But he's had like five different job shadows, like with lobbyists and assistant to the governor and putting on these events and stuff like that. And, and it's all about those connections because when he goes to law school, you know, he's going to need that recommendation when he's going to get accepted into these law schools. He's going to need to have that experience. And so, you know, if I can open a door and they can walk through that and kind of develop their own, that's the best thing I could ever do as a par.

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