Becoming a Millionaire with Chris Hogan

This is Mike Michalowicz, the author of Profit First. And you know the most common question I get? It's am I getting profit first? Right. Well, guess what? I'm doing a live workshop here at my offices in New Jersey. It's a two day workshop and I want to invite you. Go to profitfirstlive.com, that's profitfirstlive.com and come to my office, perhaps even with your bookkeeper, accountant, and master profit first. We're going to make your business permanently profitable, my dear listener friends. You know how it starts off? There's an adjective and noun in my hands. I got to read them off out loud. Amy's in studio. Welcome, Amy.

Thank you.

And she gave me the adjective. So, my friends, strap on your tingly blazer because we're about to discuss how so many people become millionaires. Those everyday people. You're about to discover that and so much more on today's episode of Entrepreneurship Elevated. Yes. Welcome. Oh, you're into it, Kels. Dancing.

Yeah.

Love it. Hi, everyone. I am Mike Michalowicz, the author of Profit first and some other books. I'm on a very specific mission to eradicate entrepreneurial poverty. You know what I'm talking about. The world believes you just because you're an entrepreneur that you're a millionaire. But that's not necessarily true. There is a way to become an everyday millionaire. We have a guest, Chris Hogan, coming on today to explain that we're gonna close that gap. And we're doing today's episode and every episode. I'm joined studio by a great set of friends and we're about to party this week. Welcome Kelsey Ayers.

Hello, friends. You can find us on itunes. Tunein Radio, Spotify, iHeartRadio, EntrepreneurShipLevatedPodcast.com or any podcast or anywhere.

That's right. Amy Cartelli's in the office.

Hey there.

How are you getting ready for the party in Nashville?

Very much so.

Big reunion going on down there for us. But not really a reunion, more of a retreat. Yeah, kind of reunion.

And do you know the NFL draft? Did I tell you?

Yeah. The NFL draft is happening in Nashville while we're there. Yeah, it's all about us when it's broadcast. By the way, this. The NFL already started up the season. Also in studio is Jay Acet.

Oh, I like how you wrote that down.

I got a whole list. I got 45 names.

Oh, that's hilarious.

45 names for you. The J. Boneless. So, Jay Acetone, welcome.

Thank you. Thank you.

Are you excited for our little gathering?

It's gonna be awesome. It's gonna be cool.

Good. We're gonna have a great time.

This is the most people that's ever been in the studio, isn't it?

Yeah, yeah.

We got all four mics.

It's like a party.

It is a party.

We're filming. We got Chris Hogan remotely connecting. We got Is. It's a party today. Yes, it's always a party when you're talking about people who become millionaires. Now I got a new game for us. I got. It's a lot of fresh stuff. I spent most of this weekend prepping this stuff.

Oh, I'm excited.

I'm going to this. We're going to start off with a riddle.

Okay.

Okay. And, Chris, you're in for this too, so just listen closely. I'm going to ask a riddle now. Don't answer now. We're just going to save this now. Anyone's listening on air, you may not go on Google and answer. You got to figure this out in your head. Okay?

You may not.

You may not.

I mean, you can.

Okay.

They're all entrepreneurial riddles, by the way, which was not easy to find. What is in an entrepreneur wants and a business owner wants but never in a CEO.

What's in them?

Relax. You know, like they're. Do you have to be such a jackwad speaking to the microphone? What's in an entrepreneur wants? Like, you know, the energy, the drive. A business owner once, but never in a CEO. Now don't answer that. I'm going to revisit this at the end of our episode, and I'll probably forget, and then I'll be the ultimate cliffhanger. So what's in an entrepreneur once in a business owner once, but never in a CEO. All right, I like how everyone's writing it down. Just think about that. You got all episode, but pay attention to the episode. All right, Kelsey, do we have any listeners?

We sure did.

Shout outs. Lay it on.

Okay. This comes from NA Monks.

From who?

NA Monks.

NA Monks.

NA Monks. Okay.

Naomunks. They write, I made one of the dumbest business moves ever, and that was to use my credit card to finance an investment with no sure way of paying for it. After months of panic, I started reading every book on debt and money management. But profit first took the cake. I immediately implemented profit first and can say a year and a half later, debt is almost wiped out. Weaned myself off credit cards, and for once, I don't have to fret about the slow Retail season. I have a vault.

Woo.

Nice.

Yes.

Namunx.

Awesome. Namux.

Now where's namonx? Is that like a handle or is that their handle?

It's from itunes. Yeah, yeah.

Oh, it's the itunes handle. Okay, that confuses me.

Yeah.

We see that.

Can we talk about Namunk some more?

Jay? Hydrophone. What do you think about that? Yo?

Hey, I like that one.

Yeah. Oh, I got tons of nicknames.

It sounds like hide your phone.

Yeah, I like that you're checking out the list as you're looking at it.

Oh yeah, yeah. I got all these nicknames and I'm checking them off.

How did you find that list? Did you search for things?

I typed in rhymes with J bone and it says J acetone, J hydrotone, J monotone, J overblown. Which is my favorite. I do want to thank our corporate partners. Make the show a reality. A big shout out to nextiva. I should have said partners. I guess it's partner.

Partner.

Do you know about the new technology that came out with aim?

No, I don't. Please tell me.

So I don't know if you ever noticed was when you make a phone call incredible. Yeah, it really is. When you make a phone call on. Remember the old phones, like they were hard plastic and when the phone would ring, it would vibrate. I don't know if you had the ones that sat on your kitchen table or whatever. If they didn't have good feet. They didn't have feet. And sometimes it would. It would vibrate and it would make noise. Nextiva invented rubber feet for phones.

Cool.

So they put. You didn't know this, did you?

No, I did not.

Yeah, they are the inventors. They put rubber feet in the phone. So when your phone vibrates, it doesn't absorbs that absorbs the sound. So you don't get that sound effect.

Like our funky blue placemats here.

Exactly. They used to. That's what people used to do. They used to put their phones on placemats. His name's Chris Hogan. He's the number one national best selling author, dynamic speaker and the host of the Chris Hogan show. For more than a decade, Mr. Hogan has served at Ramsey Solutions. Dave Ramsey's coming. That's where you know, I did a keynote down there last year at entree leadership. Chris was there. Actually, I think Chris. Oh yeah, I think he was in the back of the room and I think. I didn't speak with him. It was Seth Godin in there. I think Chris was there. Dave Ramsey in that green room in the back. I gotta ask him now. He's equipping and challenging people to take over, take control over their money, and reach your financial goals. His second book, which is Everyday Millionaires, we're going to discuss that today. How Ordinary People Built Extraordinary wealth and how youw Can Too, was released this past January 2019. And we're gonna discover how to do that. It's my pleasure to welcome Chris to our show. Welcome, sir.

Welcome, Chris.

Hey, Chris.

Hello there. Thank you, guys. It's good to be with you.

So, Chris, you mainstage keynoted at Entree Leadership last year, I believe.

I sure did, yes. And during my time here, I've been with Ramsey solutions going on 14 years now. And so here in the last four to five, I've had an opportunity to be a part of Entrez Leadership and absolutely love it.

It's unbelievable what you all are doing for entrepreneurs that you're giving them faith back in entrepreneurship. I remember you now. You were in the green room, I believe. I remember sitting in the green room, prepping to go on the stage, and there was Dave Ramsey, Seth Godin. You were, I think, sitting on the couch. My heart was racing to be in that room. Do you remember that squirrely, skinny guy? That was me.

Hey, it is definitely an honor. I feel the same way as I'm back in the green rooms around some of these great minds. It can be overwhelming at times, but it's an absolute honor as well.

And one last thing. Cause I'm a huge college football fan, I get a little nervous.

Flanpan.

I'm a flanpan of college football. You played for a national championship team. Which team was that?

I did. I played small college football. I played down at Georgetown College. And back in 1991, we were able to win the school's first national championship. Wow.

Georgetown.

Is that in D.C. no, it's actually in Kentucky. And yeah, it's an NAI school right outside of Lexington, Kentucky.

Okay. Okay. That's freaking awesome. So let's get into this concept of an everyday millionaire, because what I see on the COVID of Inc. Magazine and Entrepreneur, being a millionaire requires a massive roll of the dice. You got to start a business. But I think you're actually telling us millionaires are all over the place.

They really are. I mean, what we were able to do, I wanted to know the truth. I'd go around and I'd do media hits all over the country. And I'll never forget, I was on this one panel and talking about just the economy and business and Money. And one of the guests there said that the American dream is dead and gone. It's no longer available. It's not possible anymore. And we immediately cut to commercial break after that and the segment was done. And I remember Mike being so frustrated and irritated that I allowed this person to make this statement. So I wanted to get out and prove it. I wanted to find out, what do millionaires look like? Are they out there? And is the American dream still possible? So we did the largest study that's ever been done, Talked to over 10,000 millionaires all across the country to get down to the truth.

Wow. So what does a millionaire look like?

Well, I can tell you this, they're not a trust fund baby.

Really? Okay.

That's not what. Yeah, that's right. It's not what it's portrayed to be on TV and in some media, you know, typically you hear millionaire and you've got this fancy lady dressed in this fancy suit in front of a fancy car in front of this big mansion. And that's what society thinks a millionaire looks like. The truth is, is that these millionaires are everyday hard working men and women that are working all types of jobs all around the and they're not flashy, they're not trust fund babies. These are people that have stayed focused and built wealth over time.

Okay, but they must be demonstrating some habit or behavior that makes them millionaires if they're everyday people.

Oh, they absolutely are. I mean, that blew me away. This book is set up where there's really three parts. There's me guiding people on information on how to go about it. But there's also the research, the details and the study of all these millionaires and what they were doing and how they went about it. But also their stories. The stories are amazing. You know, we've got stories in here of self employed people that started with nothing. Mike, you well know a person that started a business that didn't go well. So they had to revamp and redesign and regroup and come back. And it's the resilience factor that I love. Inside of all these millionaires that we talk to across the country, I want.

To hear so many stories. You know, I think of rags to riches. So I think, you know, I'm thinking billionaire now, but I'm thinking like Oprah Winfrey grows up totally impoverished, abused business, rags to riches story. I think of, well, hearing that on a much smaller scale. And so many entrepreneurial journeys where it's these people who are given less than and found a way to rectify Those challenges through an entrepreneurial endeavor. Can you give me an example of a story? Sure. Stories of that?

Well, I mean, you know, it's amazing. I mean, for example, there are all kinds of entrepreneurs inside the year. But one of the stories that really jumps out at me is Thomas. Thomas grew up in the Midwest with absolutely nothing. He had a dysfunctional family. His dad was a severe alcoholic. His mother struggled with some very, very strong and difficult mental health issues. This young man was in and out of foster homes four or five times throughout his career, throughout his childhood. His parents ended up passing away early. But despite that tough upbringing, he still went and served his country in the military, went on to college, came back, went to school, and he spent 37 years in education helping other young men and women begin to kind of think about their futures. He retired with a net worth of $2.7 million. 2.7 million. And the goal was, is that his mindset was he wanted to learn. I love Thomas's story because it makes the statement that it doesn't matter where you come from or even about how you were raised. It's about the decisions we get to make as adults, that the American dream is very much alive. We just have to decide to reach out and grab it.

Okay, so if it's about decisions, what are the decisions that we're not making right now that is preventing it? And conversely, what are the decisions we need to make to become a millionaire?

I like that. I think one of the biggest decisions that we're not making right now is that we're not believing that we can. I think a lot of times, based on our upbringing and even the families we grew up in, you know, oftentimes I'm the result. A lot of love in my family, and we all are. But also family can bring some doubts and limitations. Family can begin to plant this mindset in you of what you can and can't do. And I think we really have to be careful of that. So one of the things, first things I talk about in the book that we have to do is choose to believe that it's possible for us to become millionaires. Choose to believe that despite what the media is saying and society's mindset, that we have the opportunity in front of us as a self employed business owner, as a person that's working in a, we have this ability. And I think if we choose to believe that and we start to understand how we think and what we believe, we can change our futures.

Okay, so I get it. But changing my own beliefs is so Hard. How can I choose to believe? Is that simple to saying, starting today, I will believe this, or is there more to it?

Well, I think you have to first sit back and really look at why do you believe what's possible for you? Oftentimes we're limited by what we've seen around us or what we've known other people to accomplish. I mean, we see these people on TV or you read about them in the news that start these companies and grow them and they build them and they serve customers well and they treat their team well and they grow well. I think oftentimes we begin to think that it's possible for them, but it may not be possible for me. And I think that step of I don't have the right education, or I wasn't born into the DNA lottery in the right family, or I didn't live in this certain area, or I grew up across the tracks. I think we begin to limit ourselves and our subconscious without even really acknowledging it. So I encourage everybody to really sit down and think, what do you believe you can do? I understand you may have a business with two to three people, but how many customers do you believe that your business can serve? How effective can your business become in the next 30 to 60 days? I think that mindset is really the precipice for us to start to really lay the plan for progress.

Aren't there barriers, Chris, that we put in our own way? Don't we say? Or do we say, you know, if I want to be a millionaire, I got to work exhaustingly, I got to sacrifice my family, I got to sacrifice sleep, I got to work like an animal to be successful, and it's just not worth it. Do we put these belief barriers in the way of achieving this multimillionaire status?

I think we do. And I think some of the things that we bring up can be really legitimate concern. You know, I don't think you have to be a workaholic to be successful. I don't think that you have to, you know, you know, negate your family or never make it to one of your kids functions to adequately serve customers. So I think you hit on something. And that's why I hit on belief so much. I think regardless of what we believe we can or believe we can't do. As Henry Ford said, if you think you can or think you can't, you're right. And I think that is crucial. And so some of this, I think it starts. The most important real estate we could ever own is between our ears. For us to really identify and go, you know what? I've had some challenges and people out there have had some really tough starts and I respect that. I'm not taking anything away from it. But I think the best question we could ever ask ourselves is, what are we gonna do next? Like despite that challenge or that setback, what am I gonna do next? I think that next step is what reveals what we believe possible and what we're going to work toward.

Okay, so I'm with you. So you have me convinced. I believe it's possible. Are there practical steps I need to take now to start accumulating this wealth?

Well, I think the first thing is I tell people threefold to begin to build wealth. The right way is, number one, believe that you can become a millionaire. I want you to understand and gain knowledge, meaning understanding how this money stuff works. I'm a former banker, so I grew up in this money game. I've been dealing with money for over 25 years. I've done it wrong, I've done it really wrong, and then I've gotten it right. But I think that knowledge is crucial. And the knowledge of self, your own habits, your own kind of money leaks, the things you tend to trend toward is important. But also understanding the tactical side of money, then the third area are your actions. So we have beliefs, knowledge and actions. The steps that you take, learning how to save, learning how to budget not only for your business, but also on the personal side, understanding that you need two buckets as an, as a business owner, you need the personal bucket and you need the business bucket. And you don't want to confuse those two. But having those, those, that, that kind of right kind of actions, I think sets you on the path to be able to be successful with money enough to be able to become a millionaire one day.

You know, I read a story, I think it was a UPS driver who, you know, he was employee. I'm not sure what income he was making, but it wasn't massive amounts of money. But became a millionaire. How relevant is our personal income to becoming a millionaire?

Thank you. You know what, in this book I chop down several myths that people believe about millionaires. But one of them is people believe in order to become a millionaire, you have to have a high paying job. Well, here's the truth. Based on our study of over 10,000 millionaires across the country. A third of the millionaires that we talked to never had a six figure household income in a single working.

What the what?

A third of the millionaires never had a six figure household Income. This means there could have been two people working outside of the home and they didn't have a six figure income. So here's the reality. The average millionaire is a regular man or woman that's working a regular job. Mike, what they did was, is that they started, they were consistent over time. They were intentional on how they dealt with their money, but they also saved and invest, invested. And investing is a beautiful thing. Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. So it's a matter of getting started as soon as possible.

Okay, so that's a, that's a mind blowing myth. Is there any other myths that you can share?

Yes, I'm going to tell you this one. If I were to walk around and if I came and you guys are coming to Nashville, I can't wait. I hope I get to see you when you're here. If we walked around and we surveyed people and we asked them, hey, how did millionaires get their money? I would tell you, probably 8 out of 10 people would say, oh, they inherited it. Like somebody in their family handed it to them. That's how they were able to do it. Here's the truth. 79% of the millionaires that we talked to didn't inherit one dime.

Wow, that's awesome.

That's so awesome.

That is awesome. 79%. And so if you think about this, if we believe now, here's why I hit the inheritance thing so hard. If you grew. I grew up in rural Kentucky, so I, you know, all I knew about were cows and horses. Right. I didn't know this money stuff very well, but I didn't see examples of millionaires growing up. So in my mind, as a younger man, I would have thought the only way to become a millionaire is if someone in my family gifted it to me. Well, here's the challenge with that. If you come from a family that's not good with money or doesn't have any, and you believe the only way you can become a millionaire is through inheritance, you mentally have already excluded yourself from doing it. See, that's that limiting thing that I want us to attack and think about in our beliefs. So no, the average millionaire did not inherit their money. They're first generation wealth builders that did it over a 25, 28 year career.

So what can people do to further go down this path? I have a belief, belief system. I'm gaining knowledge, but I wouldn't even know where to get started, quite frankly on gaining knowledge. Where do I get started?

Well, I think in gaining knowledge, you read books. I mean you know, Mike, you're an author. I am too. There's all kinds of free resources out there where you really, honestly, really sit down and learn. But also take it a step further. Talk to someone that has knowledge that you don't have. Meaning. There are all kinds of podcasts and free resources out there. Go sit down and talk with someone. For example, 68% of the millionaires that we talk talked to all worked with an investment professional. So that means 68%. So that means they were talking to someone that had knowledge. Like for example, Mike, if your car has auto troubles, are you the guy that fixes it or do you take it to someone?

No, Chris, I send it to somebody. I wouldn't touch it.

Yeah, that's way beyond my skill set. Right. I can put gas in it, add oil, and that's about it. Right. But we'll do that for our cars, we'll do that for our teeth, we'll do that for our health. But for our money, we tend to not reach out to get guidance. Pride can get in the way. And so it's important. 68% of them, that's important. Also the number one vehicle that these millionaires said that they used to help build wealth, they were using employer sponsored retirement plans. 79% said this was the number one tool that helped them to build wealth. Now for people that are self employed, that means your solo 401ks, your sepsis. These millionaires, the people that were employees were using 401ks, 403s, Roth IRAs, they were investing and that's the key. We've got to get started.

So you got me all jacked up on books. So you have everyday millionaires. That's a must read. What other books do you suggest people read to gain knowledge?

Well, I can tell you the book that changed the game for me was Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover.

Yes, game changer.

That book got me to wake up and really look at things totally different because I'm going to tell on myself. Mike. I was one of those guys early on that said I'll get more serious when my income grows. Once I start making X, that's when I'll get more serious. That was one of the most costly mistakes I've made in my financial career. So I want to encourage your listeners out there is please don't do the Chris Hogan stupid and wait until you make more. Start right where you are. Because if you can manage 40,000, well, or 50,000, all it does is put you on a path to be able to effectively manage 60, 70, 80,000 or more. So don't wait, get started.

What about debt? I mean, Amy, you're ridden with debt, right? Oh, I'm sorry, I'm just trying to drowning in it. Drowning it. No, but Chris, most people listening have debt. I had ridiculous amounts. Where is debt in priority to investing in relation to.

I'm going to tell you, the people out there that have debt, they're not alone. I was there too. And it's one of those things that if I could go back and grab a younger Chris, I would shake me and tell me to avoid debt like the plague.

Dude, I saw the size of you. I would not shake you if I was you. You would break your own back.

I know, I know. But it's real easy. We've all made that mistake. You know, some of us are still in the midst of it. I would tell the people that are in debt right now just to get focused and get it out of your life. Meaning get on a budget, really sit down, get intentional about bringing in extra income. Cut back your lifestyle, get focused. And I know you know the largest amounts of debt out there right now are in student loans. You know, we've got 1.5 trillion in student loan debt right now in America. And those debts aren't small. But getting intentional and being intentional, I'm seeing people attack and pay off debt within 18 to 24 months. And that's people that get really, really serious. So the thing, Mike, that I tell people as I travel around the country and speak is that it's not enough just to have the goal. We also need to identify what we're willing to sacrifice to reach that goal. People that are business owners, they sacrifice sleep, they sacrifice time with friends for the sake of growing their business because they know that's what's required. I think that same mindset is absolutely crucial to helping us get out of debt.

I love it. I love it. Tell me the concept of net worth, because this is confusing for my. Amy wants to know. It's actually, it's actually me. What does net worth mean? And what is a net worth? Millionaire.

Yeah, there's all this discussion out there about net worth and what that is. And for me it's really easy. I learned to count in first grade. And so I don't want to get confused, right? And so I want to add together everything that I own, right? That's the 401ks, 403db is my seps, my Roth IRAs, cars, cash, my home, whatever it is. I want to add up everything I own and subtract out anything that I owe on. So the two keywords are own minus what I owe on. And so if you add all up that you own and subtract out anything that you own on any kind of debt, if that end result is a million dollars or more, then congratulations, you're an everyday millionaire.

Okay. Yeah, because I hear Chris, so these stories like, oh, I, you know, I have all this money and it's laden with debt, you know, so these people say, I have a million dollars, my home's worth a million dollars, but I have a mortgage of 999,000. That's right. That's not a millionaire, right?

No, it's not. No, it really is. And also I want people to know the truth out there because a lot of people believe in order to be a millionaire, it means you got to make a million dollars a year.

Right.

Or that you have a million dollars sitting in the bank. No, not at all. And so I want people to see this and understand it because I'm a firm believer in keeping score. Like, I grew up playing sports, baseball, football, wrestling. And I know the scoreboard tells me if I'm winning or if I'm losing. And I want people to understand kind of this net worth thing because we do keep score, you know, unlike what they try to do with my sons in baseball now, giving out participation awards. You and I know that life doesn't give out a participation award. We have to make a decision. We either want to participate or we want to try to win. I'm going to go in that winners column and anything and everything that I attempt.

So, you know, I noticed one thing when we were in the green room, I walked in there, I noticed that yourself, Dave Ramsey, Seth Godin, I presume, all wildly successful financially. Like, none of them had like chains on it with the big dollar symbol. I didn't see, like Dave Ramsey have like 70 rings on his hand. Like, what, what do millionaires in your research, do they show their wealth off or are they actually a more humble community?

Great question. The average everyday millionaire is not somebody that's flaunting it. These are hardworking men and women that you live beside, that you go to church with, you work beside, and you don't know it because they're not trying to show it. They're doing it not to flash it around. They're doing it to be able to take care of themselves and their families and. But also to give. Almost 72% of the millionaires that we talk to are doing Substantial amounts of giving each and every month. That means they're putting aside money. And so regardless of what society tries to tell us, millionaires aren't greedy, evil people that are looking just to take money. These are hardworking men and women that have built wealth over time that have a mindset of not only taking care of themselves, but also impacting their communities and area by giving.

Before I let you go, I want to know what was your favorite story from the research you did for everyday millionaires?

Oh, gosh, I would probably. I mean, Thomas is the one that gets me excited. But I would also say Pam's story is also good. She is a young lady that struggled financially throughout her childhood. But her father was a self employed person. He was hard working and he really taught her about being self sufficient. And so she went to school, she saved money for college, but get this, she. She went to school for 11 years before graduating at age 31 because she wanted to do it without debt. You talk about going slow and low, right? Paid cash for it, did it. But during that time she also purchased a home, she saved for retirement, she had a family, and she also helped pay for her husband's degree. But here's the thing. She was a self employed young lady. She went through a divorce in her mid-40s, which you can imagine she lost a large chunk of her net worth. But she built herself back up and she kept her goals on track. Right now she's remarried and she recently sold the company that she built up from the ground up. And her net worth is right now over about $1.8 million. And she's living in retirement.

Nice.

That's great.

I hope she didn't remarry.

I was hoping she's still available.

She did remarry, Mike.

Too late.

Here's what I love about Thomas story and Pam's story. It's not a matter of how we start off, it's how we finish. We all can get ourselves in a bind, whether that's in childhood or how we were raised or even life can throw us a curve ball. And you can have a relationship that doesn't work out or a business that doesn't pan out like you thought. But it's that mindset. One of the beautiful, most beautiful stats out of the book was 97% of the millionaires that we talk to believe that they control their own destiny. 97%. Which means it's this mindset of, hey, personal responsibility, not a victim mindset, and of hard being, hard working and focused.

That's the stat I wanted to hear, Chris, your book, Everyday how ordinary people built extraordinary wealth and how you can too. Where can our listeners pick it up and learn more about you?

They can find more about me as well as the book by going to my website. Chris Hope hogan360.com Again, that's chrishogan360.com Nice.

All right, everyone, pick up the book. Chris, thank you for joining us for today.

Thanks.

Thank you for having me. Thank you.

All right, guys. Wow, that was. That was punchy. Punchy. Talk about punchy. Here's a punch. There's a punch for you. Kelsey, we got so much to do today.

I know it.

We gotta catch up on a riddle. Yeah, that's a big cliffhanger. Have any of you thought it out?

No.

Jay Yellowstone. Have you got it?

No.

Okay. And Chris, you're gonna be joining us back for that riddle too. So even though you've been sharing all this. This logic bomb knowledge, you got to come back for the riddle.

I'll be ready.

All right, good, good. All right, so we got to do that. We have listener mail. Did a question come in today?

We do.

Okay. And we got to share what we learned. Plus we have a game to play it all in about 15 minutes. So first, I do want to thank our one corporate partner. Funny, we've been thanking another partner who hasn't been a partner for, like, years now. They. They sponsored one episode, this episode, and they got like 200 out of us. So I want to thank Nextiva. Aim. Did you think that. Did you think that was real for a second? The foot that they invented?

I didn't know if you were BSing.

Us or not, so I was. I was BSing you. I apologize. But one thing I'm not going to BS you about is their true voice technology. Now you're a user of their system. Do you have one for your house? Jay Bond.

Yeah. You just sent one to me.

We sent one. Okay.

Yeah.

Have you guys done a call together? Kelsey. Over his phone?

Yeah. It's amazing.

Can you distinguish his voice right now from the phone call or does it sound almost identical?

Almost identical.

Pretty similar, yeah. You ever make a call, Amy? You're on the phone. You're like, who is this? And you're like. I'm like, it's Mike. You're like. But you sound so different. I'm like, it's me. And you're like, no, you're lying. This is a prank call. And you slam down the phone and like, put, Amy, I'm right outside the window. Looking in. Remember those?

Yes, I do. Totally.

No more do we have to have that with Nextiva TrueVoice technology, when I call, you get the same nasally voice over the phone. It's nextiva.com. we love them. They're devoted to the small business entrepreneur. I've discovered the biggest challenge and you know what it is? It's profitability. That's why I wrote Profit first and that's why I'm now hosting a two day workshop here at my offices in Boonton, New Jersey, where I will teach you and my team will teach you how to become permanently profitable. Go to profitfirstlive.com right now to get details again, profitfirstlive.com, find the dates that work for you and I'll see you here at my office. All right, Kels, what'd you learn today?

What did I learn? Oh, I love that a third of the millionaires never had a six figure income. I think that's incredible. And I love that. And I feel like it gives a lot of hope too, folks who just, you know, have a kind of middle ground salary.

Yeah.

You know.

Yep. What did you learn?

That was exactly what I wrote down. That your ability to become a millionaire is not related to your income and that it's really about consistency. That slow, steady build of wealth.

What was this? The percentage like 68 of people didn't have over a hundred thousand dollars coming in to their families. I remember this one third. One third?

Yeah.

Oh, one third. Okay. That's amazing.

And the majority of it earned it through 401ks or, you know, you're right.

You're in the 401k here, right?

Yeah.

Are you in full? Yeah. See, you shouldn't be an incidental or anymore. You should go full in. You got. Does your husband have 401k?

Yes. And that's huge. I mean, that's a huge part of, you know, the way he's been able to build his portfolio. It's just that slow. So that's sort of his thing with consistency. Whether it be physical fitness or building your wealth. His belief is just what Chris said. It's just that slow, steady putting away. Slow, steady putting away.

So smart.

J Hydrocortisone. Did you come on full time here? You gotta talk to Kelsey about that so you can get on our 401k plan.

Yeah, I'm down.

What was your takeaway, bro?

So I read in a book that the, the number one biggest enemy is yourself and your limiting beliefs.

That's true.

And so I Like, that sometimes your family can plant seeds of doubt. And so just don't listen to it. Push past it. And, like, don't limit yourself to those.

I'm gonna say, like, all times. I feel like every person has those. Like, even when you came from, like he says, a loving family, I think even if it's not your family, it's those little weird interactions you have as a child that set that, you know, whatever thing in your head that you think that you cannot do and you're not good at, particularly business or money, you know?

Yeah. Oh, and I think you used to say this. I can't see your face, because that's right. I think it was you. And don't quote me on this is. But you'll. I think you'll get the gist. It was, don't take advice from somebody who hasn't been there and done what you're going to be. Do what you're aiming for. Like, they haven't been successful at it.

Exactly. So I've decided to become an author. We were talking about this. I decided to become an author. And people like, you're crazy. You can make no money in that. That's the dumbest thing you can do. And then I started to ask. People said, well, tell me about the book you wrote. I've never written a book. I would never.

Yeah.

So I'm like, they're coming from a position of no context.

Right, right.

You know?

Yeah. So I took bad advice from my parents, and then they didn't know any better. They just.

What was the bad advice? Work here.

No, that wasn't it. Yeah. They're like, that idiot Mike. I listen to his podcast.

It's horrible. Don't work there. You're, like, not going to work.

Why is his voice so nasal?

So my takeaway was Chris grew up in rural Kentucky, and he says his context for what wealth was was that vantage point.

Yeah.

And what I heard between the lines is he put himself in a different context around different people and then redefined what a millionaire could be. I wonder if that's one way to change your beliefs is who you surround yourself with.

Yeah, totally.

Okay. We also want to know what you learned, our dear listener friends. So make sure you leave in the show notes your thoughts. All right, guys, it's time for our riddle. Let me hit the music for the riddle. So as a reminder, the riddle was this. What's in an entrepreneur once and a business owner once, but never in a CEO? And then, of course, Kelsey was critical of the language I use not to give her examples.

I just question it.

Does anyone, Chris, you're included. What's in an entrepreneur once and a business owner wants, but never in a CEO? This is a riddle. Does anyone, Chris, you or anyone just voice it? Does anyone have an idea?

I am gonna throw out the letter U.

Son of a bitch.

He nailed it.

I was looking for a letter and I just didn't do the.

Did I get it right?

You nailed it, Chris.

Yes.

You are the winner of absolutely nothing but the fact that Bragging rights, bragging rights, bragging rights. Did any of you other guys guess that one?

No. When I was looking, looking for which letter it was, I knew it was one of those.

What was your guess? Did anyone have any guesses? No. Nothing. Okay.

I was trying to think of, like, a quality. I didn't want to insult any, like, CEOs, you know?

Is that horrible? When the guest comes, he's like, a million times smarter than us.

Horrible.

Horrible. Stop it.

All right, Kelsey, I also have a game for us to play, but first I want to know, do we have any listener mail?

We do, and Aim's going to read it.

Oh, I love when Aim reads.

Oh, good. Okay, so we have a listener mail from Sean Neal Bailey.

Start reading, Amy.

Okay, stop. The profit holding.

Sorry.

Oh, my gosh, she's obnoxious. The profit holding account has been accumulating since starting this profit journey. I do want to ask, how would I record the money moved to that account on my books? Please advise me so I can go ahead and instruct my accountant who this come from. This is from Shaunil Bailey.

Shaunil. Well, it's real simple. So a profit account to track on your books is you enter another account. So I don't know what accounting system you have, but you use what's called a general ledger chart of accounts. You open an account specifically for that bank account. That's literally how you track it. It's that simple. So if you have five accounts that you're using the prop first method with, you actually enter five different GL accounts, general ledger accounts, and that's it. It's really that simple. Amy, did you like that?

I did.

To read.

I do not.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. All right, so here's the the game for the day. Chris, you're back in with us on this one. So, Kelsey, you get the honor of picking. We have fake or real. These are fake or real products. We're going to do three products because I can't invent so much. So many products. We Have Dead or alive. Is this entrepreneur Dead or alive or. We also have original names, like, you know, know we talked about. Twitter was originally called Twitch.

Yeah.

Kelse, which one do you want?

Let's do Dead or Alive.

Dead or alive. I have to sing it because we don't have.

That's not how it goes.

Want it, want it. Dead or alive.

Totally different than the first time you sang it there.

Chris, we need some bass. Can you sing it with us?

You do not want me singing.

All right, here it is. I'm gonna give you four people, and we're gonna go around the room. So just say dead or alive when we're done, Chris, you'll be the first one to start us out. All right? First person. And you cannot Google this. My friends, Yoko Ono. She's an entrepreneur, you know, was an entrepreneur. Ooh, we don't know. Is she dead or alive? She was married to John Lennon. She's got two kids. Did you know that? Sean Lennon, of course, but also Kyoko Ono Cox. I don't know if you knew that she was married to John. No. Anthony Cox before. And she had a website called Imagine Peace, which, quite frankly, I went to the website. It's basically a dead website. So it's been. Has not been updated since, I think, 1980. Yoko Ono, dead or alive?

She is alive.

Alive, Kels.

Alive.

Aim.

Alive.

Yeah, yeah, she is alive and well. She's 86 years old, you know, is she really born February 18, 1933. John Lennon not alive, in case you didn't know. All right, Fred DeLuca, founder of Subway. Net worth 3.8 bills. That's billion for those who are not cool. Chris, dead or alive?

Dead.

Oh, interesting.

Kelsey, I say dead too.

I was thinking dead.

Really? Fred DeLuca, the founder, Subway?

Yeah, I was he dead.

Gosh, you guys are on fire. He is sadly passed away from leukemia. September 14, 2015. I had the privilege of meeting Fred DeLuca and having lunch with him.

You know, when you have a sandwich.

The irony is we did not have a sandwich. And I don't really like the Subway sandwiches, to be honest. But I sat with him and he told me the story of how he got started. There was a partner he had who invested in it. He was a college kid making college money. He opened the shop, had never made a sandwich. On his first order, he learned how to make a sandwich, and he said it was a disaster for the first month or two. And then he started to get some momentum. Okay, let's do one more because it's getting A little bit drawn out here. John Paul DeJoria, he's the founder of Paul Mitchell. Paul Mitchell product line. Chris, dead or alive?

Alive.

Gosh, I want to say dead.

Gosh, I want to say dead too.

Gosh, I'm going to go with alive.

Wow, we got mixed crew. Well, he is alive, thank God. So John Paul Dejorie, a founder of Paul Mitchell, was born April 13, 1944. He's only 75 years young right now. Net worth 2.6 bills. Wow, that stands for billionaires name.

Thanks.

And one wife with six children.

Wow, six kids.

Eloise Brody DeJoria.

I love that name. Eloise.

Eloise. Eloise. Yeah. Six children.

Amazing.

He's disowned them all though. I don't know. I'm just adding that that's just for some flair. All right, Kelsey, do anything else? Oh, I gotta give my one tip.

Yeah. Elevation point.

Elevation point. Let's do an elevation point. Gotta think of something very cool. Quick. Oh, here it is. Do you know the fastest way to get noticed is by being different? Yeah, yeah. I got to drive home this point over and over again. If you want your business to be noticed, be different. Actually, we got the high school reunion coming up. Amy. Yeah, like, we could just. Everyone is going to be dressing the same way, but if you wore a costume, a unicorn costume.

Wear a wig too.

And a wig.

Yeah.

And science says anything you want for $5. Like, I'm just saying, you know, and then you have, like, things for sale, you know, like watches and stuff. I think if you did that, you get noticed. Here's the challenge, though. By being different, everyone will know. Everybody talking like, what happened to Amy Congress? And I'll be like, she was always weird back in high school. You know, being different get noticed, but it doesn't necessarily give you business. And that's the challenge people have. You could be a lawyer that wears a bozo costume to the courtroom. And yes, you'll get noticed. But will you win that case? Probably not. So find a way to be different enough where you get noticed but not an oddball where people think you're a looney tune and never want to do business. That's the fine balance. You got to walk like, you know.

You got to do it the reunion and get noticed.

I. I don't know what I'm gonna do at the reunion.

I got it.

Oh. Oh. You want to tell me what should I do?

Wear a vest.

Nice. I should wear the vest.

You should wear the vest.

Are you gonna dress up for the reunion, Amy?

No.

Are you gonna dress down?

No, I'm just going.

Dressed?

Yes, dressed. I'm just gonna see, you're gonna blend into the crowd. No one's gonna notice. But who's that guy?

Well, do you really want to be noticed at your high school year?

Not really, no. And I was bald for two years, so frankly, I'm good with not getting noticed.

How many people are being bald in our class? I bet you. I bet you we should, you know, we should do. We should track a stat. How many people are bald now?

Okay.

And I would bet you.

I'll work on that for you.

Yeah.

You're not bald. You're balding.

Oh, well, it's the same difference.

Yeah, balding doesn't. I'm balding too.

Bald is beautiful.

You're not balding, dude.

You see this missing hair in the back of this crown?

Look at your head. And look at my head.

Well, I'm not your bad. As bad as you.

He's so classy.

But my head, shaped like. You have a nicely shaped head. I have a watermelon. Like. No, no, pineapple. A pineapple. That's what it is. It's this long pineapple horse, like pineapple.

That's a limiting belief. Stop telling yourself that.

I shouldn't say that.

It's a normal head.

I shouldn't call myself a freak.

So the reunion people are gonna be like, why does Mike have a I don't think I look hors like pineapple head?

I don't think I look good. Kelsey. Anything else?

I think that's it.

Okay, then take us out.

Yeah, but don't forget to please subscribe and review and follow us wherever you are. And Mike, what's your little tidbit?

My tidbit is you gotta go to our website, which has been totally revamped. We're gonna be talking about our retreat. The people that listen to this episode are gonna see it live. It is mind blowing. Amazing. We got free stuff. You know, I used to write for the Wall Street Journal.

Did you know that name? I did know that. Oh, I subscribed to you.

Did you? Oh, you do?

Yes.

Okay, you're the person. Someone subscribed.

So it reminds me, did you buy T4?

No.

Should I?

No.

There was a transaction that came through from Amycartelli.

So.

Are you sure that you didn't.

Maybe.

That's awesome.

Maybe I'm just throwing my money away.

Well, go to our website. You can see all the stuff we have going on. Free stuff. Plus can learn what T4 is. All about. All right, we'll see you guys later.

Bye.

Bye.