Episode #775 - From King Of The Road To Champion Of Change with Chase Harmer

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.

Talk about getting this whole thing started. You talked about you made a whole, you've had, you know, you've had a whole lot things go wrong in your life. A whole lot more painful than not getting that award early on. And some of these wounds were self inflicted. What was the biggest self inflicted wound you did?

Oh man.

Out of the box.

This is a setup. But well know, I, yeah, so when after I moved my companies to Nevada in 2021, I thought I was the, you know, the king dragon slayer. And so, you know, I was on top of the world. I thought I was Elon Musk here in Reno and you know, in like, like any, you know, idiot. I basically was driving my car like 100 miles an hour down the street because I had a supercar at the time and you know, someone ran a stop sign. Uh, but although even though he ran a stop sign and my late rate of speed, I, I couldn't avoid hitting him. And we were all pretty injured and you know, they were all pretty critically injured. But that ultimately what that did was it sent me into a pretty big tailspin. So I went from being like, you know, king of king, king of mountain and then into a situation where I was facing like six years in prison. And so because of this accident. Yeah.

What does that do for your psyche?

I mean it was hard. So let me just say like it was because there was a. Between that accident and when I had to go to court, which I still didn't actually know what was going to happen. I, I was facing six years in prison, right. So like, I mean, you know, it and I didn't know like a whole entire year, year and a half, like what was going to happen. It was kind of like, wow, wow. I was basically like, you know, what do you do with your time? You know, for three months after that accident, like I, I just couldn't even get out of bed, you know, really, I just was like, I was just miserable and I just was miserable while it happened, but obviously also sorry for myself and there was nothing that I could do to fix it. You know, it just, it happened. And yeah, I mean it was, it was a pretty bad place for me. But you know, I could say probably I started building that company not shortly after that, you know, because it just take. Because I was wanting to help Other people, and I had no way to do it. One of the things was I wanted to reach out to the people that were the other people that were hurt. But because of what the accident and, you know, the fact that you couldn't actually talk to anybody and there was lawyers and legal and all this stuff, I wanted a way to personally help them, but I couldn't. It was like. It was a. You couldn't reach out to the other people on the other side. So I wanted a way that, you know, people like that or anybody that needed help, you know, could get the help that they need. And then people like me or donors anywhere else that wanted to contribute, that like, felt the need to contribute because you contribute to causes because you're emotionally connected to them, you know.

Right.

You want to see the outcome and in a good way. And so, you know, I wanted to be able to provide the ability for donors to understand that they actually helped someone, you know, that they actually made an impact. And I think that's what. That's how wishes were born. So basically my greatest mistake and greatest problem in my life ended up being the reason why I created this new. This new enterprise. So.

And so to review, you know, to dig in that a little bit. It was like you had this 18 months and it sounded like you just had to break out of the cycle one way or the other to get. Start moving forward one way or the other. Is that right?

You know, I just, like, I was taking so many pills to just like, ease my mind. I mean, just imagine like, you know, I have a son. Like, you know, I had a life like. And I just. I feel like it was just such a waste of, like, ability, you know? You know, like, just throw away the keys like that and. But there's nothing I could do short of like, you know, I don't know. I mean, I don't. I didn't really. Yeah. So it was just. It was, it was. It was hard for me to deal with it. Like, I was going through like, a really depressed time in my life, you know, and I never had. I've never even had. Never been depressed in my life. I thought, like, you know, but.

Right.

Like, I couldn't actually get. I didn't want to get out of bed, you know, it was like that, you know? Yeah. So.

And how did, how did you go do that transition from coming where you're getting out of bed, you're starting to move forward and these ideas, you know, how did, how did that come.

Who. Yeah, well, so some point you got.

To get yourself out of the you you got.

You know, it was embarrassing. I didn't want to show my face anywhere because I was kind of like, I was all over social media. I was all over. I just wanted to crawl into a hole because everyone tell me my mug job was everywhere. And so I was just like, oh, my God. And so, like, I went to. So I went to event in la and I was really tentative. I didn't want to go, but it was. I was part of this huge mastermind. Was Big is a mastermind that everyone puts in $100,000. It's like all big players right there. It's like a hundred people there, but it's all big guys. And they. And I was just like, man, this is like my last one to go to. And my stomach was kind of wrenching because I hadn't really been in public, really, since that. That accident. And I was just trying to almost play it off, like, hey, like, nothing happened type of deal. Like, bury it. That's like my first thing. Bury it. Don't talk about it. You know, just act like nothing happened. Right.

Right.

This was, like, my thing, but. But I'm inside. I'm, like, dying, right? Because I know everyone knows, and I know everyone's, like, thinking about it, and so I'm like. I'm there, and I'm like. And these guys all know me, and they're all big deals, and so, like, they all see each. Like, we all know what's happening with each other at all times. And so I sit down at this table and, you know, kind of almost like, didn't want to be noticed, really. You know, I. I went into the table, and I saw one of my buddies that was like a. A guy that I knew, and I was like, okay, cool. Like, this makes me feel more comfortable. He's my buddy. Like, I'm a Sam. And I sat down at the table, and he's like, hey, man, blah, blah, blah, blah. And he acted like nothing happened. I'm like, okay, perfect, right? And then the other guy was like, oh, man. Like, yeah, you got to get back on the saddle, huh? And I was like, you know, he does know. I knew it. And so, like. And then. So, like. And then. And then the. The big guy, like, the guy, Dan Fletchman, he came and he came and said, oh, Chase, like, you're here. Like. And I was like, oh, like, you're here. You know what I mean? Like that, like, you know, so, like, it was just like. And then I didn't. After that, after that night, that first night I went back to the hotel and I like, didn't even want to go out again. I was like, man, I just don't want to go out. But I mean, I made the first crack, you know, but. And then I also, the guy that I saw there, right, he, he actually ended up calling me because I was telling what I was doing or I, he told me, he's like, hey, I want to talk to you about something, okay? And I, he's like, he. They were arbitraging credit cards at the time. So they were basically taking credit cards like, so when you get 5% cash back, they were basically earning the, the cash back on the cards and being able to arbitrage somehow. And he's like, hey Chase, like, we need a, we need to, we need a long, long term way to do this. You know, we want to do this at a high scale, like millions of dollars a month, and we want to all make money. And, and I was like. And I mean, they were doing this like with a group of people, 200 people and high, pretty high level, you know, and so they're making millions of dollars in cash back earnings a month through lots of different credit cards and travel points and this and that. And so they came to me and I was like, huh. So I started thinking about, how do you create, how do you create arbitrage long term? And I didn't when I started thinking about something, but it was that, that little bug that put into my head that started this process of my wheels turning. And that's what really kind of got me into the mode of built like creating this, this vehicle now. This vehicle. At the end of the day, they were like, they wanted to create this thing. And I was like, listen guys, this is going to be way bigger than whatever like this, this little thing that you're talking about. And I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna, like, I'm not gonna do it right. I'm just like, you guys can come along with me on this journey that I'm building here with, with, with wishes. This is the vision now, you know, and if you guys want to come along, then I think there's an opportunity for you guys to participate. But you know, I can't do this whole arbitrage thing anymore. It's not gonna work. But it was that conversation, me going there to that event, getting out of the bed. And that's because this is the first time I'm realizing this right now, like, because I didn't want to leave the House. You know, I really didn't.

Right.

And it was me going to that event and seeing that friendly face and him having this idea. And even though I didn't pursue that idea with them, it was that seed that was planted that made me think about how creating this vehicle to do what we're doing. And it just ended up kind of growing into what wishes is today. But, yeah, it was that. It was that moment. Yeah. So it.

Pretty fascinating, isn't it? I. I went through. I went through a similar thing. I don't want to take a lot of time talking about it, but. Well, after the first year, moving up to North Carolina at 70 and 79 or something, there was a company at a contest, and they were allowing the training manager, Steven Few of them, to qualify nationwide. So I made this big sales pitch to this guy. Man, it'd be great if you could win. Guy underneath me. If you bust your ear, what a thing. It'll be a change your life, career, this, that, and the other. And I actually had three, and one of them qualified. But now the thing was, I'd been up in North Carolina on the expansion chase, and I'd been working round the clock. You know, it is when you're starting and I didn't think about food. You know what I'm saying? So my diet consisted for a whole year of Dunkin Donuts and Breyer's mint chocolate mint ice cream. You know, if I wasn't eating the donuts, I was eating the ice cream. And then, you know, all out. You know, it was just mine. And so I. I gained £50 in one year. And at the end of the year, it dawned on me, oh, God, I don't want to go to this convention. Let everybody see me like a big fat slob. The convention rolled around, but I talked my guy into qualifying. So I was shamed into going to this thing.

Oh, no.

But the upshot of it was, so I stayed in my room as much as I could during the thing, but because I got out, I got some missing pieces to the puzzle in terms of recruiting, training, compounding, where you can really actually multiply management teams and open offices and all of that. I got some missing pieces. And I had recruited my first year, 56 people my first year there. This was the end of that first year. He was one of the 56. But in the next three years and three months, we recruited 25,000 people because of what I got at that meeting. Yeah, you know, the. The thing is, it helps to be sometimes forced out of your. You Know your hiding your closet?

Yeah, yeah. You never know. I mean, you know, God works in mysterious ways. But I mean, you know, I think that, you know, things are things, things happen the way they should, even though it's not the way that you want it. And you never know why those things happen. And you know, if had I never gone to that event, I would have never thought about wishes. Had I not thought about wishes, I would have never be, you know, we'd be able to raise money and had I not been able to raise money, would not build a good. I mean it's like all these things, right? So it's just like, you know, it's just one thing after another and the world goes around, man, no matter what you do, like the world doesn't stop.

What have you learned about building a team? About like, you know, when something, you know, the thing of a business is a business is not a business unless it'll run without you there. You know, otherwise it's just a, you know, a cult or a personality. So you've got a big job, but if you're, if it'll hum along without you there. Now you've got something. So what have you learned about, you know, getting key team members and setting things up with this thing will, you know, because I know, you know, the underlying structure of how to set up the payments and the systems and all of that. What have you learned about setting up the business and the, the teams on that? What, what are some of your, your lessons you've learned there that really paid off for you?

Yeah, I mean, well, first off, when I started my first company, that was big. I, I really didn't, I was always a lone wolf. When I built that 32 million dollar business, I built it by myself and an assistant. You know, it's just me and I was just carrying the lunch bills behind pills of water behind the scenes, you know, and. Right. So I know how to do that really well. And so it was hard for me to get in my own way most of the times. And you know, when I started building our first company, we had lots of money, we hired lots of people. I thought tons of money, like, yeah dude, like just let's hire everyone right now. You know, it's like had no processes in place. The processes is probably the most important thing. If you want to build an organization where you can leave. You have to have the redundancy, you have to have processes and you have to have good, some good leaders in place in order to keep, keep the crew going. Because without those Three things. It's, it's, it's near impossible to do it in the processes and, you know, the processes and those types of things, those all need to be set up in the beginning. And that's clearly what I didn't do the first time either, is that I didn't have processes and redundancy and it cost me dearly down the line. You know, talk about that, talk about that, Chase. Well, you can't, you can't actually. So think about this. Like when you have 20 people on a team, 30 people on a team, 50 people, 100 people, whatever, and then you're like, hey guys, I know we've been not doing anything for a long time as far as process goes, but now starting tomorrow, I want you guys to all do it this way, right?

Yeah.

You're like, I don't like doing it that way, bro. No. And then you have, or like even get them to follow up. Like, if you start from the beginning with like a process, like, and you start with one person and you train that person well, like, and you build and you build a program and a way to do things, and then that person trains the next person and then the next person trains it and then you have, then you have an actual scalable process driven machine. Right? It's basically like the car factory, you know, it's like they put the parts on that their car, it goes through the here. Right. You know, but when you have everybody working the same way and doing the deals the same way instead of their own way, it's like, because what happens typically is like you, if you, most of the founders, we have it all in our own head. So we're like, hey, like, yeah, you tell one person and you never check on it again because you're like, hey, listen, I got to do all these other things. You know, this is like what's important.

Yeah.

But that person's like struggling that you told because you clearly didn't. They didn't understand you, understand you, and clearly they basically just nodded to everything you said and then say, didn't know what the hell you're doing because you didn't bother to follow up or check on it. And so the problem really is, is that the training, number one, you got to train people well and you got to really be a good communicator. And then you also have to build processes with the people. Not build a process, then train, then tell the people. It's like if you build the process with the person that you hire, that's actually going to be doing the customer success work, then they're part of that process. They can own that process if you're basically. And then they can actually tell the next person who's really kind of keen because they're both on the same wavelength, they're doing the same job together. That's really what it takes, I think to build process and not doing that way. You can't scale. You absolutely can't scale to anything even. It doesn't matter what your product is. You just can't scale. Your data will be. No cross selling will be available. You can't cross sell products if you don't know how to scale the first product. So there's just. I just. It affects everything in the business. You.

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