873. How To Become An Asset In Every Opportunity That Comes Your Way

So the difference between a millionaire and a billionaire is a millionaire has a great network and makes good introductions. A billionaire has a great network, makes good introductions and says, how do I fit into this introduction?

And we're back with another episode of He Said, she Said.

And Lori and I were just on a walk. So we're literally back from a walk. I know. Surprise, surprise. And we're talking about, like, how do we keep getting cut in on all these incredible opportunities? And we realized it's because we've done a really good job of, number one, recognizing them and wanting to be a part of them. Right. And number two, having something strategic to offer.

Number three, planting the seed into somebody who could potentially get it rolling for you, where you can be in that zone of genius.

Give me an example of that one.

Let's think about somebody who maybe already has a company. Maybe it's a company that has products that you're interested in or has the ability to create a product, and you have the ability to sell a product, but you don't have the ability to create the product. So really looking at who's already got this thing going or somewhere that I can create something that I want to create, where I can go and pitch myself and bring them maybe the part of their business that they are lacking or they're not as strong in. So for me, maybe I would find a company that. Let's use light pink for an example. Okay, so let's say before I formulated light pink, before I decided I was going to do this product myself, what I actually could have done is go to a winemaker or a wine company and say, hey, I actually want my own champagne line, but I really just want to white label it because I don't want to do all of the work, want to do the formulation, I don't want to do the bottling. I don't want to even really think about that part. I don't want to do all of the selling myself. I want someone who has some sales experience or has someone to sell to. But I then am going to show them my capabilities of, hey, I've got this huge podcast that I would love to plug this product into. It's a product market fit for my people. Just saying if they already all love champagne, or maybe I'm already always talking about champagne, and I say, I also have access to these other celebrities that know that I could pitch this product to or that I know could help me share it. Just really talking about what is your zone of genius? What do you have that maybe you could offer to someone or something that is already in existence.

So you would have recognized a startup like yours right in its infancy, or maybe when it's just in ideation, you would have went to that person and said, hey, amazing that you're doing this. I think I can help. I can land X, Y and Z.

Yes.

And that's how you'd get your piece of the action. Here's another example. So recently a good friend of mine came to me and said, hey, I built this gaming team in the Philippines that plays games in the Metaverse and they earn money for playing them. Guys, I know this sounds crazy, but this is an entirely new phenomena. It's called Play to Earn. And you can literally, just by playing, you don't have to be good, you don't have to nothing. Just by playing the game, you earn cryptocurrency that converts to real US dollar currency. Now, the reason why he built a team in the Philippines is because if they own a few dollars a day playing, it actually adds up to a really significant side income for them. Right? Puts extra food on the table, pays rent, that kind of thing. So he built a gaming team over there and he realized, wow, this thing would scale. And he wanted to raise money for it. He knew nothing about raising money, so he came to me, said, hey, you know, here's what I built. Look at the results. This is really incredible. Know anyone that could help me put together a fund and raise money? Here's where I recognized my value and once again, the opportunity. I said, not only do I know somebody, but I can help you raise that money. I'll make the introduction, but let's see how big we can make this thing. And we ended up introducing him to the other person. And the three of us are now one third owners of this fund that is building a 4,000 person gaming team in the Philippines. It's going to be a massive financial windfall, a massive opportunity. Now, I know nothing about gaming in the Metaverse. I know nothing about hiring and working with people in the Philippines. I just recognized the opportunity when somebody.

Came asking, yeah, that's incredible. And you know, the crazy part is, is people would listen to this and be like, yeah, well, that's because you have this connection or that connection. And yes, that is partially true that we have worked really, really hard to make connections. But even with that, I just want to say it's recognizing it and not just recognizing it. It's taking that moment. There's an actual moment in the conversation where you could have been like, Yeah, I can help you and point you in the direction, but instead it's starting to think as if every single thing that comes your way is a possible opportunity for you to insert what you are good at. And part of me, as I'm saying this, really believes that that opportunity is coming to you or someone is asking you to connect them to someone because you are mean to be a part of it. And you know, with the gaming thing, it was like you could have just passed him on to someone, but in that split second because of how your brain now not just how you normally think. Because you know what, we're actually choosing to look at everything as an opportunity. In that moment, you chose to quickly go, okay, how could I help? Where could I quickly just say, hey, stupid idea time. Maybe I can actually not only point you in the right direction, but I can really see where I could add huge value.

What you're referring to is a quote that I heard a long time ago and it really stuck with me. And this is why you and I have pieces of so many companies aside from the ones that we've invested in. Is a while back I remember I was on a walk in Santa Monica. I heard it like on a podcast.

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And the guy said this. He said the difference between a millionaire and a billionaire and this guy on the podcast was a billionaire. Said the difference between a millionaire and a billionaire is a millionaire has a great network and makes good introductions. A billionaire has a great network, makes good introductions and says how do I fit into this introduction? And that stuck with me forever. How do I get a piece of the action on every single thing that comes my way? And you said it best. Number one, you got to recognize the opportunity. You got to train your brain to recognize opportunity. Number two, stop making introductions for free. Start saying, wait, wait, wait. I can add value here. Let me play along too. Here's what I can add. I'll give you more than an introduction. I'll give you X, Y and Z. And that's how you end up with these small slices of several successful things.

You know, you could do this with anything. So you don't have to be somebody who's out in the world yet in the way that Chris and I are. And inserting yourself into business, maybe you're like, well, I'm just not there yet. You have your version of this. So let's say that you have a friend right now who you guys are doing similar things and you're launching even ecourses and they're like, hey, you've got such a great audience. Do you mind just doing me a favor and sharing this? Of course you're going to do that. But could you also say, I would love to do this and I want to put some serious sales power behind it. I want to give a little bit of my time and sales effort to this. Would you be willing to give me an affiliate link and work out a percentage that feels good for both of you and say, if I have an affiliate link, I would love to be able to dedicate time to this because in order for you, of course, friends are gonna do things for friends. You're gonna share something. So a friend, typically on a friend to friend basis, I would say, yep, I'll share it, I'll put it in my stories. Maybe I'll mail for you. Would you rather have that for free or would you rather have a friend that you motivate by saying, I am gonna give you a percentage of this or ask for a percentage of something and say, if we set up an affiliate link, like, hey, I'm happy to do the one mailing for free and I'm happy to do the story and the post for free, but if I can actually take some of my time knowing that I will get some money from it, then I can really put some power behind it. I can continue to mail for you for a few weeks, I can do a few stories on this, I can do some social posts, I can talk about it on my podcast, I can continue to keep the conversation going. That one feels a way bigger win win than just like, yeah, you know what, I'll share and do the friend thing. So where can you work yourself into not only a bigger win for them, but a win for you?

Yeah, I love that. So guys, I hope if you take anything away from this, it's not excuse of saying, well, I'm not where you're at. I hope it's that the same way that podcast resonated with me a long time ago and I started getting slices of a lot of pies. I hope this resonates with you and changes your way of thinking so that, number one, you become an opportunity recognizing machine and number two, you actually start to build the muscles right now, the skill sets, the network, whatever it is you want to build so that you can play an important role in every opportunity that you start to recognize.

We're so grateful for you guys. And remember to text yes.

Our charity dinner. Thank you to all of you who have texted already. Remember, we're doing a incredible charity dinner with our dear friends Lindsay and Elliot to help raise funds for leukemia research. It's going to be an incredible high end dinner, very intimate. It's one of the best ways to increase your network because there's only going to be successful people at this dinner. It's $15,000 for a couple and if you want to be considered to come to this dinner, by the way, every single penny of that goes to the research. We're paying for the dinner and the experience out of our own pocket. So every penny of it goes to the research, to the charity. And if you want to be considered to be a part of that, text the word dinner to 310-421-0416. It's going to be here in Arizona. Again, text the word dinner to 310-421-0416. It's going to be incredible night. All right, guys, thanks for listening. Always love and appreciate you. Sam.