Episode 147: When All Your Dreams Come True with John Lee Dumas

Oh, where's my little in studio banter discussion board? So I literally, when I drive around, I was going to the recycle center and I'm driving there on Saturday and I'm like, I got some great ideas. So then I had to pull over, put the hazards on and start typing this stuff up. So I got two, two topics we can start our banter, our non artificial banter with one is drunk woman on plane story. This was funny. What's up with nose hair story? Or oh, do you ever. Oh, you ever. This is even my favorite. You ever in like a serious meeting, maybe with someone, a family member or whatever, and the radio's playing the background and a totally inappropriate song kicks on.

Oh, I don't think I've ever experienced that.

So which one you guys want to talk about?

I feel like it doesn't bother me.

Okay, so we'll skip that one. Do you want to talk about drunk woman on plane or nose hair?

Drunk woman on plane, I believe.

So I'm flying back from. Was the last gig I was at Minnesota. Yeah, I'm flying back from Minnesota. Woman next to me, she's Indian. Now this matters. This is relevant to story.

I feel like you should have saved that to the end.

Really? Yeah, I mean I just ruined it.

So you build a picture in your mind and then when you throw that in.

Oh, that's right.

I mean you can restart. You can cut this out.

So I'm on an airplane, I'm flying next to a woman, I don't know what her ethnicity is. And she is swearing like a trucker and she's just boozing. So I have like headsets. I put them on and. And it's just me and her. I said one of those two seats next to each other. I'm sitting there and I'm just listening. And then she starts facing me and talking to me while my headsets on looking at a paper and she's just talking, talking. I'm like, oh my God, don't do it, Mike. But I do it. I pull the ear set off and I said, what did you say? And she just starts going on, on and on. She ends up, she's in her 40s, she is extremely wealthy, purportedly she has a 10,000 square foot home. She explained, oh, and explains all these things and she goes, but she, she broke up with her husband. And she goes, I gotta start dating. And she goes, my husband, it was a bad relationship, we broke up. And this is what I have now. And I'm a professional, I support Myself, But I don't have a strong relationship.

Yeah.

I said mistakenly, so what are you looking for in a relationship? She goes, oh, thanks. Next hour. She goes, I'm looking for. And this is the funny part. She goes, I'm looking for. This is very funny. She goes, I'll date anyone. She was white, black, Asian, anyone. But I will not date an Indian. And she's Indian because her. Her ex husband was Indian. Right. And then this is the best part. Then she looks at me, she goes, I'll even date someone like you. I like Jews. And I said, okay, now I'm not the ancestry DNA. I told you about this last week. I'm doing this. Maybe I'm Jewish.

Yeah. You have no idea.

She. I go, I. I wasn't raised Jewish. No one in my family that I know is Jewish. I'm not Jewish. She goes, you look Jewish. And a lot of people think I look Jewish.

Interesting. I never thought that.

Interesting.

Yeah, but I feel like that's such a hard. Jewish people in general. It's such like a cultural ethnicity.

Like, I don't know, it's weird. It's a blend of religion and ethnicity. But why do you say I would even date a guy like you even date a guy like you?

Do they fall right below Indian?

Right? Right.

Like the nerdy Jewish guy.

Right. For her, at least. Right.

Okay, well, you are listening to the Profit first podcast, episode 147.

Ooh. That's OK. Okay. That's okay. Little rough start today. Here we go. Here we go.

Let me try that again. Okay. Welcome, everyone, to the Profit first podcast. I am Christina Bulduk, the whip cracker. A Profit first professional whip cracker.

She pulled that out.

She did pull that one out. She whip cracked it out. I'm Mike Michalowicz, the author of Profit First. Other books too. Do you know I have Surge the pumpkin plans? What paper entrepreneur and I got engaged to write a new book with Penguin Books.

Awesome.

Yeah, it's pretty cool. I'm joining the studio with Kelsey Ayers. Hel and I say errors like that airs. It's like a coupon.

Coupon.

I know. And you are listening to the Profit first podcast. You know, this is a show where we explore every element of profitability. Last week we're talking about how to be a badass with your profit. Yeah, they're going to be talking about what happens when you nail it. You always talk about how to make the money. What about when you have the money? What do you make more than you ever anticipate. In your life, what do you do then?

Yeah. What do you do with it?

We're going to find out.

I actually think about it.

Do you spend it?

Yeah.

Oh, wait until you're in for a story of your lifetime. John Lee Dumas is here. He will blow your mind away. What he did, it's unbelievable.

I can't wait.

Yeah, this is gonna be a fun one.

So you can find us on profitfirstpodcast.com, of course, iTunes, Stitcher, Tunein radio, Google Play, and anywhere else you listen to podcasts.

That's right.

We're there.

Yeah, we're there.

We're there.

We're there. So what have you been up to, Kel? I'm looking at Christina. What have you been up to?

Which one? We have recently decided to start saving to buy a house, and it's stressing me out because, I mean, I have implemented the profit first method and all that, but I'm like, wow, okay. I can really only afford to put aside maybe, like, $200 a month. So that puts us at, like, what, 15 years? We'll have, like, 20% down payment.

It's just like the profit first method.

You're off microphone. There you go.

Say one more time, it's like the profit first method. If you put it in the front of your mind as your objective that you want to achieve, it'll come.

Yeah, I know.

I agree with you.

I just want it to happen now. I don't want to wait.

Oh, you sound so. Everyone wants it now. But, you know, if you start 200 now, doesn't mean next year you're gonna be making the same amount of money.

Right.

You know, it's not. We all have to see it linearly. That's gonna be 200 for the rest of our lives, for 20 years. And Alex, he's got a new job.

Yeah. Yep. He's starting up again. You know, I mean, things are moving in the right direction. I think we're both. We've made this decision now that this is what we want to do, and I don't know, it's just exciting to get it all started, and it's hard to adult. Yeah.

Just keep the faith. Yeah, it happened the way it's supposed to to.

Hawaiian.

Lumberjack just walked in. We're throwing that headset in. Mike, we'll get you in a second there, Hawaiian. What have you been up to, Kels?

I went to some fundraising events over the weekend, and it was so much fun. So there's some homeless shelters in my area that I support. And it's the first time I've ever really gone to events like that that I haven't been working at. And it was just really nice.

You are a good egg.

Oh, thank you so much.

So are you good little chickadee.

Thank you for a good apple.

You are a good apple. So that's the Hawaiian lumberjack himself. You know, we asked Juan Lumberjack, whenever he has a important kind of like life changing lumberjack tip to rush in here to cancel his call. So I know you said you had a call now, but clearly you don't.

I rescheduled it because I had a good tip.

All right, so what's the tip you got for us today?

Well, I have a fact and a tip.

Okay, okay.

The fact, in case none of you knew, all lumberjacks love flapjacks.

No way.

I didn't know that.

I didn't know that. And a flapjack is a pancake, right?

I believe so, yes.

You don't know.

Yeah, I just call them flapjacks.

So if you don't know, are you a true lumberjack?

Then yeah.

So he doesn't know what a pancake is. He knows what a flap.

Yeah, thanks for clarifying that. That's a good point.

Yeah, that's a given. Here's my fact as I started off with a question. What's the safest way to remove branches from a tree?

Oh, a lumberjack needs to know that. I would assume you start at the top down. Because if you start the. I don't know.

It's actually the safest way to remove branches, it's called delimbing, is to remove them when the tree is down.

I was gonna say that. Chop that sucker down and then saw off.

Oh, wow.

That's so violent. That's thinking outside the box, you know.

Because if you climb up a ladder.

While it was standing.

You climb up a ladder, or if you're on a rope, the branch could like knock into you or you know, or knock you off the ladder after you chop it down. Chop it off.

Have you ever seen those tree guys where they go all over the world and they're like climbing? Yeah.

Love them.

Also, dynamite is never used in lumberjacking.

That makes sense.

That makes sense.

Amazing.

So there you have everyone. Hawaiian lumberjack. We asked him anytime he's got a critical life saving lumberjack tip to come in here. It's nice to have to be working with a true real world lumber.

True one from Hawaii, nonetheless.

Yeah. All right, Mike, thank you for joining us, man. Thanks for coming in. Something else Comes to mind. Just walk back in.

You know, you got to give him a bra. He's always.

Yeah, this is br.

That's kind of weird. Try again.

Thank you. All right, now let's get down to our sponsors and thank our guests. So next one is. Next one. We didn't even done the first one.

Yet, so actually I have a community shout out. Just real quick, before you even jump there.

I do.

This comes in from Jamie Dobie of Dogspa Mobile Grooming. And she said for the first time in almost two years, she feels hopeful. Hopeful about her business, hopeful about her future, and hopeful about her happiness. And she's only through chapter one of Profit First.

Nice. I'm also hopeful that this room cools down. It's getting so hot here.

I know, Sana.

I'm the only one who likes it. It's like freezing before.

Oh, my God.

I can never handle heat like, on my face.

Yeah. Especially in the car. That's the worst.

So thank you to nextiva Receipt Bank, Fundbox, Fundera and X. If you guys could step up and get us an air conditioner, we'd appreciate it. But thank you for sponsoring the show. We'll talk about you guys in a minute because at the end of the show, we're gonna talk about our insights, what we learned about from our new guest. One last little shout out to a member. A wine bottle there.

Yes. This comes in from Amber Duggar. She says, hello, PFP family. I'm celebrating simply still being in the game. I have made it 18 months and I'm still here. I joined PFP in September and since then, September of last year, and since have gained three clients implementing profit first into their business. And she is totaling over 12k in revenue. Two actually paid up front and one is paying monthly for a year. So she says that she looks forward to expanding her reach, freeing up herself from her own self and truly blossoming in 2017.

We hope you blossom.

Yeah, I'm encouraging our listeners too. Send us a bottle. When you celebrate something, send us a bottle. Why? We don't drink it. So that'd be like, oh, we got hoard wine. No, we celebrate it at our conference. We crack it open and we honor yes. Plus we shout it out on our podcast. His name is John Lee Dumas and he is the host of EO Fire. Entrepreneur on Fire. Ever hear of Entrepreneur on Fire?

I have.

You have? Oh, yeah. I've been on the show too. Yeah, yeah. Entrepreneur Fire or EO Fire? It's an award winning podcast where he interviews today's most successful entrepreneurs seven days a week. I'm one of them that I interviewed. I just wanted that to be known. Jld. He also goes by jld or Jalood. Is the jalood. Well, that's how you pronounce jld. Jalood. How would you pronounce jld?

I don't know.

Jold.

Jold was grown eo fire into a multimillion dollar a year business with over 1,500 interviews and 1.5 million monthly listens.

Wow.

Do you hear? Wow. We get 30,000. We just checked. Well, I thought we had 60,000, but our stats were all messed up. We got 30,000. He's at 1.5 million. He's beating us down one day. He's the author of the Freedom Journal and the Mastery Journal. Make sure you pick them up, they're awesome. They're on Amazon today. They're available through his site. And two of the most funded publishing, which are, by the way, the two the most funded publishing campaigns of all time on Kickstarter.

Wow.

John, I want to welcome you to our show.

Welcome, welcome, John.

I think Gillette here. Excited to be here.

I did the booger laugh again. Oh, that was so funny.

Awkward.

Have you ever been called Gillette? Before we get started, I want you to know if you can tell what. What this is from. This is a. Some 70s TV show. We asked every GU giveaway 18A team. He guessed second. Second one.

First one I thought of too.

Very close. Very close. Do you. You want a hint?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I was only alive for 15 days in the 70s, so.

So no one's gonna guess it. Yeah, so it's stupid. I gotta do stuff from the 80s.

What's the hint though?

The hint is there's a potato version of these.

Taxi.

No.

A potato version.

Yeah. Chips. Yes. You nailed it. That was chips.

I was going to say that the first time around, but I was like, he's not going to do that. It's too obvious.

Jld, you made so much money you had to move to Puerto Rico.

What?

True story.

All right.

True story, dude.

Tell us about how you abandoned the greater states of the United States, went to a. I don't even know what the relationship of Puerto Rico is a. It's a territory. You left the United States because you made too much money is what I'm hearing.

No passport needed. Just the transition from a California ID to a Puerto Rican id. No big deal.

So why do you go to Puerto Rico? I don't get it. Give me the backstory.

Let me give you the real. Let me give you the real, maybe longer reaching backstory, because I think this is funny because it relates to you in a way. But back in 2011, I was in Cancun with my family on a trip. We were just on a vacation. And I was in commercial real estate, not enjoying life at all. And no joke, I had the physical copy of the toilet paper Entrepreneur that I was reading on the beach. It was one of a number of books I will say that I was reading that year to really try to educate myself. But I'll never forget my mother looked over at me and she goes, what are you reading?

You'll never be successful. That's funny.

So you were a part of the beginning of my journey, Mike. And that journey has now gone for me. Launching a podcast about a year later called Entrepreneur on Fire. And it was the first and only daily podcast. And it's where I interview the world's most successful entrepreneurs seven days a week. You've been a repeat guest, which is super rare. I only have probably about 45 repeat guests out of now over 1700. So you're the math guy, not me. But that's a pretty small percentage of people you're in right there. And you mentioned a couple of the accolades that, you know, we get over 1.5 million listens a month. Over 47 million listens to date so far. But I mean, we got to be honest, like there's something about listens. Awesome. Something about impressions or email subscribers. We all hear these gaudy numbers. What does it mean, though? And that's one thing I am proud of. I've been able to turn Entrepreneur on Fire into a revenue generating machine, where in the last just three years, we've generated over $10 million in revenue.

Oh, my gosh.

On a massive profit margin. We're at a 65. Our business runs on a 65% net profit margin. And so hold on 50, hold home with me.

10 million per year or 10 million over three years?

No, total.

Total. So in three years, you, John or Jalood, have taken home 6.5 million. Personally?

Yes, personally. In the property. And so in 2015, true story, that was my first, like real major year of revenue, 2015. And I had to write a seven figure check to Uncle Sam as a result of that. So I went to my CPA at the time, who, by the way, as I told you, actually on my show, which you were on, you know, a couple weeks ago, I said, he's total profit, first cpa. And he's Rebranding himself to CPA on fire as well. So this guy's got it all going on. I said, josh, figure this out, because I don't have a problem paying, you know, my fair share. I'm an army veteran. I spent eight years as an officer in the U.S. army. Like, I'm a service through, you know, thank you. And I just said, but listen, like 20, 30% I could deal with, but I'm in here, California, paying 51% of every. Of every dollar that I make. Not only that, I'm getting this 1.5% quote, unquote franchise tax on all of my net profits. As a little thank you very much at the end by California as well, I'm like, this is out of control because there's so much I can do with that revenue, like reinvested back in my business. I'm huge with charities, Pencils of Promise and local charities in my home state of Maine as well. And I just wanted to be able to do more. So he found this amazing opportunity that launched in 2012 down here in Puerto Rico called Act 20. And in a nutshell, what Act 20 is, is if you're a location independent entrepreneur, meaning that you can move your business from wherever in the world. Doesn't just apply to US residents, but if you can move your business from anywhere in the world to Puerto Rico and you set up your new Puerto Rico llc, you get a Puerto Rico ein. And it's not a super difficult process, but it's just like setting up a business in the states because it's very similar. You will pay a flat 4% corporate tax rate and there's no federal tax, no additional state tax, just that flat 4%. So in 2016, May 1, I moved to Puerto Rico. So the first four months, I just got my 2016 returns. Like, I saw what I paid 51% to California and the federal government for the first four months of 2016. The following eight months was at a flat 4%. And the amount of money that you keep in your pocket when it comes to that kind of differential is staggering.

Well, I want to know the. You shared. You were kind enough to share numbers. I mean, a quick math here, you're saving over a million dollars.

Yeah, yeah, I wrote a million dollar check. It was actually, it was $1.3 million. I wrote to Uncle Sam and this is back in 2015, and our business has grown since. Since 2015. And my CPA did the quick math and he said, had you been in Puerto Rico during that year, you would have paid $87,000.

Oh, my God.

Oh, wow.

That's still highway robbery, but still okay. I mean, well, so you have saved $1.2 million. Unbelievable. So, first of all, how do you make so much money with a podcast? I don't get it.

Please share us your secret.

Yeah, please tell us.

Number one. I'm happy to share. And I will say, and I think you do know this, Mike, because I'm definitely open with this as well, but we produce monthly income reports over@eofire.com income. We've been doing it for the last 43 months where every month we show how every dollar is made in our business, every dollar that is spent, et cetera. It's all there, eofire.com income. And one reason that we make so much money with our business, because a lot of people just assume that we're just mostly a podcast. I mean, the podcast is definitely the starting point of our funnel. And funnels are huge. And if you can understand in your business how to create a funnel that converts, and by converts, I mean eventually leads to revenue, you're going to win. So the podcast is just the beginning of my funnel. That 1.5 million listens I get per month are just people that are entering the top of my funnel that then goes down from there. And then we offer many products and services and communities built off of that. You know, I do independent coaching. I'll do a mastermind, high level mastermind. I'm hosting Porto Palooza down here just next month in May where I'm having six people come down at $6,500 each for two and a half days of just masterminding. I do one day's where it's called a day with JLD where people will pay 10k to just spend one day with me. And it's just one on one individual. We go over your business. You mentioned those two journals, the Freedom and Mastery Journal do about but anywhere between 30 to $50,000 of revenue every single month. It's a $39 journal with a $27 net profit on every single sale. So we have those things. We have the number one podcast community in the world called Podcasters Paradise. So we teach people how to create, grow and monetize their podcast. So that's a very podcast specific revenue generation stream we have. And then we do sponsorships on the show as well. Because I'm a daily show, that's 30 potential sponsorship spots. But then even multiply that by two because I do two sponsors per episode. So I have 60 sponsors. Coming on per show. And, you know, each sponsor's only paying, like, between, you know, 12 to $1500 per spot. But multiply 12 to $1500 by 60, you know, and that's why we're making 70, $80,000 a month on sponsorship revenue for the podcast with sponsors.

I'm just specifically curious, how do you attract them and get them to sponsor show? Are they finding you because of your popularity?

So I use a broker. There's a lot of them, great ones out there. Mine, the one that I use is called the Midroll.com and they have over 280 companies. And that number, by the way, is growing every single month as, as companies are just flocking to sponsorships because they're seeing great return on investments. And so that brokerage will match me up with that specific company they know is going to be the right fit for my podcast for Entrepreneur on Fire. I'll definitely get people to email me directly and just say, hey, you know, we love your show. We'd love to talk about sponsoring. We have a couple of those sponsors. But almost every sponsor that's on our show comes through a broker. So there's great brokers. Again, like the midroll. PodTrack has another one that's called, like, Authentic Inspirations, and that's like another broker. So you have all these brokers that are kind of like the middlemen that will match up companies that want to sponsor with actual podcasts that make sense. And the reason why that's good actually for the host and the reason why I happily go through brokers is because you want to have that level of trust with your sponsors, like, you want them to say, you know, I know that these are the numbers that are being reported. I know that this, this, this podcast has been vetted. Like, of course, I'm the host. If they're coming directly to me, I'm gonna, I'm gonna say all the great things about my show and about how engaging my audience is. But that kind of broker, that independent middleman, that just makes these companies feel great about the service that they're actually getting. So that's why I happily pay, you know, between 20 to 25% every time a broker sends me a sponsor, because I've seen the longevity of those relationships be so much more than just that one.

Huh? Do you mind writing that down, Cal? We should look into a broker.

The midroll.com.

The midroll.com. okay, now I want to know the life on the other side. You know, so many people listen to show the goal is to become profitable. That's what our goal is as a company. And you've done that. You're now extraordinarily wealthy. Do people come out of the closet and say, hey, I'm a relative of yours, day healthy, you know, or what happens when you make that kind of money and you're public about it? You're public?

Yeah.

Yes, very public. You know, less than you'd expect to be completely honest. Because that is something that everybody was like, you know, quote unquote, warning me about or saying this or that. I say a lot of what has been coming my way are local charities. Like, you know, I'm from Southern Maine, a very small town, and so there's not a num. There's not that many people have kind of made it to the level that I have as far as influence and authority. And, you know, I love Maine. And I go back, you know, and the fact is not that many people leave Maine because it is a great state. So, you know, I'm like, I've left. I went to California. Now I'm in Puerto Rico. So they know of me in my neck of the woods. And so I've had a number of charities reach out to me and say, John, like, you grew up in this town. You know, you went to this high school to this. That, like, we'd love your support. Like, we really think that'd be great. And then also my college, I went to Providence College in Rhode Island. They've kind of, you know, tried to like, really get me on board as being like the, you know, class of 2002 person. So it's been more charities that I've seen really kind of stepped up the game that where they probably wouldn't have than family and friends.

Well, don't do ancestry DNA. I did that last week. And it puts you in the family. You'll find out that like.001% of every person this plan is related to you. They'll dilute you for all you're worth. So you bring Puerto Palooza to Puerto Rico. It sounds like the government's plan to get wealthy people moving to Puerto Rico is working. You're bringing down other wealthy individuals.

It's so true, and it's just beginning to. I mean, this Act 20 might be the smartest thing any government has ever done. And that's not saying much because it's very rare the government does anything smart. But this is brilliant, a brilliant move on their part. And I'm telling you, like, just use me as a quick example I come down to Puerto Rico, you know, with my girlfriend Kate. We buy a $2 million home on the Caribbean. I have a maid who's here right now in my house, like, cleaning. I have a.

Can you put her on the air real quick? What's it like working for Jalood? I'm sorry. Keep going.

I have a lawn. You know, I have a lawn team. I have a pool. I have a pool team. I know I have a handyman that literally comes two days a week because this house is, like, way more than I can handle. And, like, he has to do all these things. And, you know, we're eating at the local restaurants, and, you know, I'm paying property taxes, and I do have to pay myself a salary out of my business. So I'm paying. I am paying personal taxes on the salary that I do have to pay myself, which is only about 4% of my overall revenue. So it's not a huge number, but it is real. And at the revenue that I make, it's real money. So there's so many things that are happening. You know, I'm doing trips, you know, out to the islands. We're chartering boats, and we're doing this, we're doing that. And so, I mean, it's amazing how that exact thing works, because I would never have even stepped foot on Puerto Rico, likely, if this hadn't been the case. And it's not just me. It's so many other people. I live in this community called Palmas del Mar down here in Puerto Rico, and it's just like, there's like, 15 carbon copies of me, of people who have come down who are in Amazon crushing it or are doing this or doing that. They're doing different things that their lifestyle and their location. Independent entrepreneurs. They heard of Act 20 between 2012 and now, and they've moved down here. And now that I'm out there talking about it, it's unbelievable. Like, I have so many people that are coming down and they're visiting me and they're checking it out, and they're trying to see if they can make it work for them, you know, if they can spend 183 days of the year here in Puerto Rico, you have the opportunity to qualify for this. I mean, really big names like Michael and Gail Hyatt came down to visit Kate and myself, Dan Miller and his wife Joanne. From 48 days to the Work. I mean, people that are established, like, where they're at, they're like, we've ran the numbers, bro, and we got to give this a look because it's legit.

Okay. So I want to know some of the requirements to do this successfully to move to Puerto Rico. You. What I heard so far is your taxes are reduced from 51 down to 4%. Huge tax savings. That's the advantage. Plus, you're on the east eastern time zone, right?

Est. You got it.

Okay. And the climate's beautiful. Now here's the. The trade off. You have to spend a certain amount of time there. How many days was it again?

180.

At least 183 days.

Christina knows your Puerto Rico knowledge.

And you know, I'm gonna be honest with you. I'll be spending eight to nine. Excuse me. Plus months a year here. Like, I'm not even gonna try to, like, just skimp over. Cause this is where I want to be. I mean, this is where our beautiful house is. Kay's parents are actually literally staying with us for a month. The entire month of April. They're here, which is fine. And it's funny that I say that because, you know, they're basically the in laws. But it is fine because we have such a great house and such a large house. They're like on their own separate side of it. And like, I'm closing my office. I'm still being able to do my thing. And my parents are coming later this month. And it's just, you know, this beautiful spot in the world. And so you have to live here for over 183 days. So I'll be closer probably to like 240, 275, something like that. And it has to be a closer connection. That's the exact wordage in this act. Puerto Rico has to be a closer connection to you than the United States. So for instance, you can't, like, own this beautiful home in the United States and then move to Puerto Rico, rent a little bit, rent a little shack and like, you know, basically skim. And again, that can't be like your vacation home for me, at the kind of money I'm talking about. I looked at that like a closer connection. And I'm like, you know what? I'm going to sell my property in Boston and my property in Portland. I didn't have to do that because they were both rentals. But I just wanted it to be like a clean cut. Like my closest connection is Puerto Rico. Like, this is where my business is, where I'm going to spend the majority of my time. You know, this is where I do my thing. And that's the verbiage they Use a closer connection.

Okay, so. And the native language is in English. Are you fluent in Puerto Rican? That's a joke.

Puerto Ricans speak Spanish.

I know. Are you fluent in Spanish now or do you have to know the natives? Do you have to know Spanish?

So Puerto Rico's been in American territory since 1898. And you would think that in the last hundred. And, you know, take it 25 years, you know, they've had to be learning English since they were in sixth grade. I mean, sorry, since they were in kindergarten all the way through 12th grade. So I came down here with the illusion, and I do say the word illusion correctly, that English was going to basically be either, you know, A1A language or A1B language. Like, I knew Spanish was probably gonna be the most, but I figured everybody could totally get by in English. Yeah, not the case. Not the case. And it actually was probably the most disappointing thing. If we're gonna talk negatives at any point about Puerto Rico, because there are a couple negatives. Language barrier is real. If you live up in San Juan, which is where a lot of gringos move to. Cause it's just right by the airport. You're up there. It's a beautiful city. It really is a n. A lot of great places to live. If you like, you know, the kind of like condo or high rise living, which is fine, then English is not a problem. But if you come out to where I live, which is about 45 minutes south of San Juan, I'm on the southeastern side of the island of this beautiful, again, gated community called Palmas del Mar. Everybody in our little bubble. And this is a massive community. It's 4,000 homes, 17 restaurants, two golf courses, 20 tennis courts, golf club, beach club. There's a K through 12 school in my gated community. Like, it's massive. In this bubble, every English is the first language by a long shot, because most people are from the States. But if you do step out of this bubble, which is not the biggest bubble in the world, you're immediately in a Central American country like Guatemala. And I say that I've lived in Guatemala for four months, so I can speak to that with complete reality. You're kind of in a third world country. I mean, you're in the reinforced concrete. There's some places you're like, I wouldn't come here at night. So. So, you know, it's not all rainbows and ponytails. There's some things you could take to go with the bat.

So, okay, so negatives are English is not the primary language. So I guess you can learn Spanish. There's some risky areas. It sounds like. Also, it sounds like you're in a enclave of expats, and it doesn't sound like the real Puerto Rican cultures there. Right.

This is the thing. Expats isn't the right word. Just because I've lived in locations where there's been expats. I was in Guatemala. I've traveled, like, India, Nepal. You know, I was in the army. Like, I've been in a lot of places where expats are legit. I don't like to use that term. I talk about Puerto Rico because a lot of times expats are people that are kind of, you know, I don't want to say fleeing, but, like, they're purposely turning their back on the US because, you know, they just want to get out, and they're just kind of trying to live a life of, you know, low. I just want. They want to make. They want to kind of, like, take their dollars and live in pesos, so to speak. That's where you see a lot of expats in Mexico and these other areas. But here, these are just like. Like these brilliant, super successful, awesome entrepreneurs who just have run the numbers like. You're a numbers guy, Mike. They're in, you know, name. The state doesn't even matter if it was Texas. And a lot of people, by the way, from Texas have moved here because a lot of people go to Texas being like, oh, I don't have to pay state tax. Well, that's great until you realize you don't have to pay federal tax either if you move to Puerto Rico. So that's a big, big difference. So these people are successful entrepreneurs who just move their businesses down here because they're making a lot of money, and they realize, hey, I can keep so much more of this 100% legally, if I'm willing to come and become a quote, unquote, Puerto Rican.

That's like a big step, though. Do they have certain guidelines as far as people who are married with kids? Do you have to move your whole family there? Can your family stay here while you move there and run the business? Or how does that all work? And how are you comfortable with your decision to uproot your life over there?

Yeah, I mean, for one, I can speak that I'm very comfortable uprooting my life because I haven't gone down that path yet where myself and Kate, you know, we're still just dating. We're not married at this time. We don't have any kids that you admit to.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Keep going.

But you know, time will tell on that road. But that is a huge thing to think about. If you do have kids and you know, they're of school age and they've kind of made friends, they've done this because you are uprooting them completely and you're changing all that around. So all these things have to be factored in. Now I can tell you there's 100%, I'd say at least half of our really close friends down here in Puerto Rico in this community that we live in, have kids and they're going to the local K through 12 school and they seem pretty happy. But at the same time, that might not be an easy or a great transition for certain families for certain situations. So I think I'll take everything into mind. But for us, Kate and I, we were just like, we can literally just go and live for a year in Paris or a year, fill in the blank. And there were some other areas that were really appealing to us and frankly, even more appealing to Puerto Rico because Puerto Rico is great, but I mean, Paris, Rome, Amsterdam, there's some great cities out there. But the real interesting fact, and I'll kind of end with this point right here before I pass it back over, is the US is only one of two countries. The United States and Eritrea are the only two countries in the world where no matter where you live, you have to pay that 35 plus percent federal tax if you want to retain U.S. citizenship. If you're in any other country and you're in Canada, you're French and you're not living in your own country, you don't have to pay that country's tax. That's just not something you have to do. But the US and ERT are two countries. You have to to retain US Citizenship if you want to do that. Except, and this is the big kind of where Puerto Rico, the government saw it and kind of went into that opportunity, that loophole. They said, wow, we're not a U.S. we're a U.S. territory. And so Puerto Ricans have never had to pay federal tax because we became a country back in 1776 because we didn't want taxation without representation. So because Puerto Rico's not a state, they don't have the ability to vote for the president. And so since they can't vote for the president, the U.S. government said, well, you don't need, you can't vote, but you also don't need to pay US Federal taxes either. So of course, Puerto Ricans have to pay their own state, their own island tax of like 33, 35%. So they're not getting by any great thing. But to attract these entrepreneurs like myself and others that are here, they saw the opportunity of doing something like this Act 20 to entice us down here to bring a lot of money and to maybe make some roots and then.

You'Re still a US Citizen then.

Oh, yeah, there's no passport that's needed. You're 100% a U.S. citizen. It's just like moving from. When I moved from Maine to California, I had to change my license to California license. When I moved from California to Puerto Rico, I just had to go into the DMV and get a Puerto Rican license. It feels very American here. I mean, you know, there's a usps. Everything feels and looks like they've really replicated over the last 125 years. Everything about the US culture except going back to that one point that English is lacking.

Can you still vote? You said the Puerto Ricans can't vote.

You can't vote.

You can't?

No, I cannot, cannot vote.

So is not vote your one vote? Is it not? Is it. Is it worth 1.7 million? Whatever you say.

Hillary would be president if I was able to vote, right?

Yeah.

The way you would throw some money at the situation here. Here's what we. Okay, so what about the perception? You're very. What's so wonderful, jld, is that you're very open about your numbers and, and all your experiences. Do some people like, oh, you sold out. I mean, has it compromised any relationships you've had?

No, it really hasn't. I'm definitely open for that. I mean, people have probably said that in some forms, just not to me. But, you know, for me, I just look at it like, hey. And I think it might be a mentality as well where people do recognize the fact that I wasn't like, you know, funding. I don't even know what I would be funding, but they just knew that my $1.3 million was going to this vast, corrupt, inefficient machine known as the US Government. And it wasn't necessarily going to be changing the world. And I was just very honest. I'm like, hey, this is why I'm doing it, because I want more of this money in my pocket so that I can do things like increase my own personal revenue and save more for the future years. And by the way, do things like Invest in more in charities, which I've totally done and documented and do things along those lines. And I think people get, hey, you know, there's no real love lost for taxes and for governments. Like, you know, they get their share. So I think a lot of people understand the fact that there's a desire to make the most out of what you're making. And if that means, hey, I'm gonna uproot my life and move to Puerto Rico. And so, and again, it hasn't all been rainbows. I mean, there's been a lot of work that's gone behind it and a lot of things that I've had to give up. Katie had to move away from her family, which is all based in San Diego. So there's, there are some definite negatives. But the sacrifice, in my opinion, has been very worth it.

And running business out of Puerto Rico, is it more difficult? Same. I mean, your business specifically, easier?

I'd say the same. It's definitely not easier. It's definitely not harder. I mean, for my business has always been based on the Internet, and the Internet down here is phenomenal. I have 300 down, 20 up, which for non technical, where are you? Yeah, it's really fast and it's solid. I mean, you know, we do have to deal. We're in essentially a third world country down here. I mean, Puerto Rico has some first world areas, but, you know, power goes out once every couple weeks, you know, for 20 minutes, 30 minutes, you know, a couple times it's gone out for like hours. But you know, the kind of house that we have, I mean, we have a generator outside that kicks right on and we don't miss a beat. So we don't even like necessarily even notice when the power goes out. But it does happen. There's just, you know, some things about living in a, a non. You know, I was in, I was in San Diego a couple years ago during the blackout when the heat wave rolled through and we lost power for like two days. So, you know, it's, it's just something that happens.

You know, I got a, a techie joke for you. We also, Christina, upgraded our lines here. We ironically also have 300 down and 200 up in kilobytes.

Oh my God.

You don't even get it. You don't even. Yeah, Kelsey's like, what the hell does that mean? Oh, that was so funny. What a highlight to end on a horrible joke. John, where can people learn more about the EO on, you know, entrepreneur on fire? EO Fire and freedom Journal and Master Journal.

Yeah, sure. So all the magic for us happens@eofire.com. you mentioned those two journals. You know, those are two of my proudest accomplishments that I've thus far had happen in my life. And it was a lot of work, but I really feel like they're. They're doing an impact in the world. We've actually sold now over 21,000 Freedom journals. And that's over at the freedomjournal.com that's all about accomplishing your number one goal in 100 days. And the Mastery Journal launch just finished on Kickstarter. We did $280,000 in 33 days. So that was a big success as well. And that's all about mastering productivity, discipline, and focus in 100 days. So just very specific tools and journals for very specific goals. And yeah, that's all@eofire.com.

All right, Jalad, thank you so much for coming on the show. And just hang tight while we upload the audio that's there. But thanks again for coming on.

Thank you.

Welcome.

So, you guys, I, I called former President Obama about John moving out, and I'm like, he's going to save a lot of taxes. He won't be able to vote anymore. Do you have a comment?

Come on, man.

Fitting.

So here's what we're going to do in just a minute. First, punch me, someone. Okay, that's what I needed. I'm back. First, I need to talk about our corporate partners. Then we're going to do the takeaway.

Yes.

And I want to see if anyone's moving to Puerto Rico, if you're convinced, or at least explore it, you know, and then. And then we'll do some other stuff. Fun stuff, too. Okay, so first I want to thank our corporate partners.

Oh, yes.

Let me put some music on for them. So we've been working with our partners now for many years. I do. I'm not saying I'm a sellout, but I do want to look at these. These sponsor brokers.

Yes.

I mean, right.

Why not?

Why not? One more. So here's our corporate partners. First, I want to thank Fundera. You know, Fundera does. Right. Thank you, Fundera. What do they do?

Stop for all your loan needs.

Yeah. For businesses, though, you're looking for a car now, right?

Ah, kind of. You might.

You might be able to go to Fundera. You maybe you want to look at that and see, because they literally shop it all around. Just check if you're interested. Yeah, but so Fundera shops out all these different loans for. I think it's business only now I'm a little confused. Your job is to find out. So next time I will find out I don't screw this up. But they shop all the loans and they come back and they say, here's the loans. And you think the lowest interest rate, oh, your payment's only going to be, you know, 300amonth instead of 325. You should do 300amonth. But there's, there's, there's hooks, there's reasons. Maybe you don't want to do that. And they'll explain things like maybe one of them requires what's called a pg, a personal guarantee, or the other one doesn't and you want typically to avoid that. So they educate you on that. Who else we got?

Yeah, Receipt Bank.

I love receipt banks so much, so much. I scan. So last night, two nights ago, I went out to dinner with our insurance guy and we're reviewing the numbers and at the end of dinner I go, hey, Art, I gotta scan this receipt. And he was so impressed. So I know Receipt Bank's an efficiency tool and you can scan, but it really impresses other people. When you pull your phone out, you're like, let me, let me scan that check. I still try to make him pay for it anyway after I scanned it, but he didn't. Next. Email. Yeah, Voice over IP phone system. Did we get our phone from last week? Last week we had a big problem with the order. Did it come in?

It still has not come in.

Still not here. So disappointing.

Setting them up, Mike.

I know. So we record the show obviously back to back. So that was about 30 minutes ago we talked about it. But nonetheless, Nextiva is awesome. And I guarantee I want to blame Ron because Ron's like, first of all, that high end phone, he gets whatever.

That went home with Brandon, by the way. So now we have to have Brandon bring it back.

Brandon took Ron's phone.

Well, because we thought it was that one that came in the same time.

As the other one.

So I was like, this one is spiffy. And Brandon took it home.

But listen, we love NEXT so much. We have a spare phone. I think it's in here even somewhere. And someone I heard overheard it say, hey, Ron, why don't you take the spare phone? He's like, oh, no, that's not a spare, that's another one. I think it was. You said, ron, why don't you take the spare phone? And he's like, hell no, I want the super high end one.

Yeah.

Next Eve is awesome.

The bells and whistles, everyone.

You have a phone at home? You have phone?

I do.

No one can escape a phone call. Never ever. Cuz it's nextiva. It's great. Highly recommended. Great service, great people. That's extraordinary. And they're supporting Mastery Meetup.

They are.

Unless they hear the last two episodes, you're an idiot.

There was wonderful customer service.

Wonderful customer service. And I guarantee the error was ours. I've never seen them make mistake zero. Did you ever get to use zero, Kel?

I do. Yeah. And I still do it because I'm.

Transfer stuff over back and forth. Xero is accounting software made from the cloud up. Listen, if you want to run a business, you got to run it today. On your iPhone, your iPad, your I everything, your I computer, your eyeglasses, imac. Eyeglasses. Do you like these things?

I love them. Yeah.

Do you like them?

They look good on you. I wish you a headache.

Yes, they're a little too tight. But these glasses, I bought them on Amazon. First of all, I paid like 40 bucks, which was stupid. They're not prescription glasses. All they do is they. They. My eye strain hurts at the end of the day. This. These are blue. You ever hear blue blockers? Like that cheesy infomercial from the 70s?

No. Okay, maybe that's why.

Yeah, that hurt. That hurt. So these are like blue blockers. All it does is it reduces the blue that comes out. Who was I talking about?

Is it better for your eyes? Yeah, it was to us. But is it better for your eyes?

Yeah, it's better for your eyes.

So you don't feel the strain as much.

Definitely not nice. Not as much strain. So if you guys want to some.

I do want them.

I do too. I want a TR too.

Yeah, you got to wear. I can.

You get different frames.

Do you know what else my eye doctor told me to do?

I think so.

It's is like the 2020 rule every 20 minutes. Look someplace. It's 20ft away.

I was wondering what you were doing. I thought you were losing your mind. I just look up like this. Just staring up like, what the hell is she doing? Okay, so I will get you guys the glasses.

Thank you.

You can pick the frames, but don't f me here. You got. Ron will kill me.

We'll wear them.

Let's say I bought them.

I bought the.

I bought them interventionally.

Christine. I bought you that freaking yoga ball. I want a yoga ball. You use it for one day. You're like. This kills my Hips. For God's sake.

First of all, you bought it. I shared it with Aaron and you.

That's true. That's true.

Uses it every day. It's a waste.

You had that yoga ball for a long time.

I still do when I get tired of standing.

Do you like the standing desk?

I love it.

Yeah.

Huge difference.

I'm telling you.

We got to find one that works for my desk.

Find one.

I'm working on it.

Okay. Okay.

Who you forget? Mike.

So Funder era, Fun box. Fund box. Fun Box. Look at the smile. Kelsey's excited. Fun Box is a cash flow accelerator. We've never had to use them because of our great help that you provide.

Is that me?

Because our collections process.

Yeah.

But many of our clients have and report back over and over. Significant success.

Amazing.

When you have an invoice due to you and that client's not paying, Fundbox will actually release the entire funds to you. I know, right? Right now, one of our listeners is sitting here saying, if I could just get that X number of dollars and in. Oh, my God. They're not paying. They're not paying. Fun Box just gives it to you, and then you collect the money as you normally do. Return to Fun Box, plus their service fee. But it's very reasonable. Addresses cash flow issues. So Nexiva receipt, bank, Fundera, zero.

Okay, you got them all.

All right. We need to get a new sponsor. We need an additional sponsor.

We do.

Just to spice it up.

Yeah, just to spice it. I love our sp. I'm not telling. They got to go.

Matter of love jewelry.

You all right?

Maybe one day.

Let's. What? Tell us what you learned. Kelsey, you want to go first?

Sure.

Oh, hold on.

So what'd you learn today?

I mean, biggest takeaway for practical reasons is using a middleman for sponsors that we can use. And I think that's a great resource. And obviously, just in general, that you can move to Puerto Rico and have a incredible tax rate deduction. I had no idea. And I personally am somebody who likes to think about living in other areas of the world and exploring and how to make a business work that way. So that's a fantastic resource to know about.

Jesus. If you move somewhere else, tell me and we'll figure it out. We cannot leave this company. You can go wherever you want. Just don't leave this company.

Well, we can all go to Puerto Rico. That's why the eyes crack.

I was kind of thinking that because I'm don't want. My thought was going to Puerto Rico like all your Friends.

Yeah.

But you guys, if you always want. If everyone wants to go, I'm in.

Yeah, I'm in.

Buy one big man to get a wing.

Yeah. You buy a huge.

Do you think your wife would be in?

No.

Why?

Because she. She doesn't. She likes to travel. As a visitor, I. I could not see her going around. She doesn't. Like, she'd feel uncomfortable. Like. Like when we go to markets and stuff. Other countries. She does not like that. That's my favorite part.

Me too.

I was in Cuba. I went. Right. Yeah. There's like chicken heads flying around. All this craziness. It's just. It's too intense for her. We went to. There was a. There's a Japanese food market down the street, and she ran out of the place. She's like, I can't handle it. Because people are just sitting there. They're yelling back and forth, and she's like, the smell of fish. And there's like.

Fish. Yeah, that's hard.

Yeah. And she's like, I can't handle it. So she. For that reason, she wouldn't go. Otherwise, I think she'd be all.

But maybe if there's an enclave like that, you know, and she didn't leave, maybe.

Yeah. Yeah.

You know what I mean?

But that also sounds weird.

I agree.

I don't want to live in the bubble.

That's a downfall.

Remember the Truman Show?

Yeah.

It sounds like the Truman Show.

Yeah. You know what? When I was in Panama, there's a large expat community in the, you know, traditional sense of the word.

Yeah.

And it was bizarre. It felt like colonialism. Like, it was a strange feeling, and I didn't like it at all.

When you're not experiencing the country that you're living in.

Yeah. And it's also. Don't like, exploit the.

Right.

The actual citizens of the country.

I'm amazed that. That more countries are not coming up with things like this. The act. Because it's obviously beneficial to them. Why is that not being expanded? I mean, but then that's the thing. How many people. I mean, some people are fortunate enough to be able to just uproot their lives. But, I mean, there are people like me. Like, I couldn't even move to Florida because I didn't want to be away from my family. I don't know if I would consider it.

Yeah, it's.

I kind of like that. It's. You could only be there for 189 days.

Yeah, that's true.

That's because you could potentially have that Dual life. Yeah.

Yeah.

Which I'm cool with that.

What was your takeaway, Christine?

That was it. That. I'm surprised more countries and places are not coming up with this. That it's. It's a clearly a mutually beneficial agreement.

Yeah.

And plus, you get to keep your citizenship. I mean, you can't vote, which kind of stinks. But I don't know. I mean, there seems to be a lot of.

Of.

What am I trying to say? Like, both sides have good arguments.

Yeah. You know, Panama has a tax break for retirees, but I feel like targeting entrepreneurs is a much more effective kind of revenue.

I totally think it's the way to.

Go for the economy.

Yeah. What lit my fire was when he said, we're having Puerto Palooza. He's bringing other presumably very wealthy people down there, and they're infusing money in the Puerto Rican economy.

Yeah.

I think that is a great strategy. Now, my takeaway overall is there's. There's opportunities out there that people don't think about. So when tax season comes, people moan about their taxes, myself included, but there's opportunities like this, and yet you got to play by different rules. But he's doing it.

And Jalood, and he's embracing it. I feel like that's the key. Embrace it.

I wonder if he knew his name was Chalud, what would be yours? What's your middle initial?

A. So it's Ka.

And your. Yours.

I'm Kev.

Keb. Yeah. Kebby. That's where Kebby came from. I'm Mujum.

You're like a smudge.

Like a smudge. Well, today's episode was ripped with lots of good content. Right, Christina? I mean, the Hawaiian lumberjack himself showed up.

Oh, God. But that was this episode.

It was, like, unbelievable, right? It was that boring. It was so bad.

It makes me feel like I have such a boring life. I don't go anywhere.

He is. I mean, that guy is a hardcore lumberjack. Did. Remember how picnic. The. We have a company picnic right after popcorn.

He was chopping down wood.

He just started chopping things. It's at Ron's house in his backyard. He started hitting the shingling on the house. Anything to get wood. That sounds bad, but to chop wood. He was just chopping, chopping.

He's incredible.

So I want to hear from you people. You know what? Go onto our episode Profit first podcast dot com. Tell me if you would move to Puerto Rico. I'm really interested to find out how many. How many businesses and how many people would consider this. Or you can comment on itunes, stitcher, anywhere you listen to us, give us a rating, no matter what it is, and say, hi, we'd like to hear from you.

Yeah. And Puerto Rico, you don't have to be a multimillionaire. No. If you make $50,000 a year, you save. Instead of paying, you know, 10 or 20,000 or 10,000 in taxes, you're paying only three or 4,000 taxes. Like, you know it's. Yes, I want to know that, too.

Yeah.

I want to know one more thing, Christina. You know what it is? Are you going to profitfirstprofessionals.com right now?

Right now. I'm already there.

Yeah. You're already visiting. And so should be everyone listening to the show. Go to profitfirstprofessionals.com because to take money, meaning to put in your pocket, you must make money. And making money means to be profitable. Here's what you do. Go to profitfirstprofessionals.com, click on the find button. I don't care what kind of business you own. You could be podcaster, you could be a jewelry maker. You could be a event coordinator.

Event coordinator.

You could be a whip cracker. A whip cracker? Yeah. I mean, someone has to do it for a living.

Someone's whipping cracks in the circus.

Someone's cracking whips. S and M. That's horrible. Well, whatever you do, even if it's S and m, go to profitfirstprofessionals.com, click on the find button, fill out the form. We will find you a profit first professional who will guide you and your business to the highest levels of profit. We actually got story ones from a company in Australia that did this in the middle of Australia that their. They said their marriage was saved because of prop first. It was a husband, wife team under so much stress. Yeah. Under so much stress that once they've.

Achieved profitability, isn't money like the number one root of divorce?

Yes, so they say.

Yeah. I mean, I don't know. I'm saying, yes, it is. It sounds like it is. Yes, yes, it is. Absolutely is. A lot of people don't know it. So listen, we can save your marriage. We can save your business. There's so many things we can can say it. I don't know. I'm starting to love this middle part.

I actually enjoy it. No, too.

You got to like it, right? Listen, I get jazzed up against. All right, we'll get out of here. Oh, and come back next week for another episode.