7 Simple Habits I Formed in my 20's That GREW my WEALTH to $100,000,000

What is up? In this video today, what I want to talk about is 7 things I actually did do in my 20s to help me run a $100 million business. And this comes from the spin of, I had a bunch of different people ask me like, you know, what are things that you would wish that you had done when you were younger, um, to give you the success you have now? And I think that that stems from, one, thinking I'm a lot older than I am because I'm only 29, and two, I actually think that I, I'm I am proud of the decisions I did make when I was in my 20s, even though I'm still in my 20s, but in my earlier 20s, because I actually think that they led to a lot of the success I had. And so I kind of want to dissect those because I think that understanding why you succeed is just as important as understanding why you fail, right? They're both experiences. And so if you have an experience you don't like, you want to dissect why you don't like it or why it didn't work. If you have one that you do like, you want to dissect and understand why it did work. And so I spent a lot of time trying to dissect like what prepared me for this opportunity and to run a company of this size and to grow it to as big as we have with no experience. And so I have dissected the 7 things that I believe contributed to my success. Okay. The first one was investing all of my money into myself. When I was— the day after I graduated college, which was absolutely useless, just in case you're wondering, I moved out to California and I had like $5,000 and I signed a lease for an apartment. And I didn't have a job, I didn't have anything, but I knew I would take that money and I would invest it into living in California where I could find an opportunity in fitness for myself. And I had no idea what I was going to do. I had no idea what I was going to do with the money. I had no idea how long it was going to last me. But I knew that I needed to use that money to get myself an opportunity outside of Michigan, which is where I grew up. And I just knew that there were way more opportunities in California. Like, that is the mecca of fitness. And so if I can make it out there, I can make it anywhere. That's kind of how I was thinking. And as soon as I got there and I started actually making money from my job, which was, you know, selling at gyms, Um, that's when I then took the money that I was making from that and invested into courses and coaches, right? And so I remember the first time I finally had $8,000 in my bank account and I bought a course that was $4,000. And I will not forget, I went and I watched like 3.5 hours of the course and I realized very quickly that this course is like the level 3 course. And I bought it from some dude that was using it, like he's promoting on ClickBank. And I had no idea what I was listening to. I was like, I obviously missed the first two levels. And so I went through the whole course. I kind of understood what was going on, but then I realized I was like, this wasn't the right course. Like, not at all. And the thing is that a lot of people would look at that and be like, oh, I regret that decision, etc., etc. And I'm like, I do not at all. Because if I said to myself, if the thing I learned from that decision was, oh, I should stop investing in myself because, you know, these courses aren't worth it, then I wouldn't have bought any of the other, you know, I don't even know, 50 to 60 courses that I bought since then that have tremendously helped me. And so I didn't let it stop me and I continued to invest every last dollar into myself, even when the thing that I was investing in maybe didn't work. I didn't expect them all to work, work right. I didn't expect them all to be the right fit for me at the time. And that's the biggest place I think people have room to grow is an understanding that it might not even be that it's the wrong course or it's a bad course, but that it's not the right time for you to consume it. Right? Like if I were to go back and watch a lot of the courses that I had watched then, I would get more now than I did then. And just based on your perspective and your base level knowledge. And so never stop investing in yourself. Always, I would just say like spend all of your money. Never— I don't want to ever have a budget when it comes to investing in myself. And as long as I had the money in my bank account, I was like, I'll figure out a way to like buy food and groceries this week and make rent. Like I'll figure it out. Like I need to invest in myself. That's the first and foremost thing. Now the second thing is I wasn't afraid to shed friends. And I think that this is something that holds a lot of people back because, and it's not what you think, right? I don't believe that people are toxic and I don't believe that people are bad. I believe that everybody's good and bad and I don't believe in calling someone toxic. What I do believe is that it is much harder to facilitate your own growth when those around you are not growing. And so I do believe that altering your environment is in your best favor if the people around you are not supportive, right? So if you set clear boundaries, you say what you want, you explain the new kind of person you're trying to become, and people are still, you know, nagging you, they're making fun of you, they're not supporting you, then it's just easier to exit the situation than it is to put up with it. And so I'm all for changing like external circumstance or internal circumstances, not external, but in this case, it's just a lot easier if you want to grow as a person to shed those friends that aren't willing to support you and then go find the people who are. And I did that ruthlessly time and time again. I remember specifically one friend who I'd been friends with for a long time. It was super painful because I felt like we were splitting apart because I was like, I'm not going to party. I'm not going to drink. I'm actually going to lose a bunch of weight. I'm going to do bikini competition. I'm going to go move to California. I'm going to go get into sales and fitness and business. And I just felt like resentment building up from her. Finally, it was my going away dinner for moving to California, and she didn't show up. And afterwards, you know, I called her and I said, why weren't you at my going away dinner? She was like, because you're like, I just feel like you think you're better than all of us now. And I was like, and that's what I knew. I was like, I love her, but I cannot be friends with her because like, I just, at this point, I'm not willing to deal with it, right? Like, I have my own crap and I have enough going on my own. I'm not willing to put up with that when I could have people that are supporting me. And I'm not a therapist, I'm not going to be there to change someone's mindset. So that was number 2, being willing to shed friends. It's hard and it's really sad, especially when people are like family to you, but that willingness to be alone and to not have the friends and not have that comfortable pack of people you can rely on is also what's going to propel you to the next level. The third thing is saying yes. So I remember— I don't actually— I don't remember who said it. They were like, say yes to everything in your 20s. And I took that to heart. And it was really hard for me because especially in my early 20s, like I'm going to say like 19 to 23, I was super anxious. Like I didn't know how to deal with my anxiety. And so saying yes to everything was like, oh, like so much coming up all the time. But I didn't let it stop me. Like I was almost exhausted with anxiety because it was just all the time because I kept pushing myself so hard. But what I knew is I was like, I need to do it now because I need to set a better baseline for myself. I was like, I know that I kind of, you know, naturally have this level of anxiety, but if I can push myself now while I'm young and moldable, my brain's not like wired a certain way, then I probably can create a better baseline for myself. And the irony of it is it worked completely. Like the things that stressed me out when I was 19 or 20 couldn't even touch me now. And how I can manage my anxiety now is light years more advanced than how I could back then. And I honestly believe it's because I raised the threshold for myself by saying yes to everything. You know, like I said yes to all the dates, to all the friends, to all the jobs, to everything, right? And if I hadn't said yes to a lot of things, I don't think I would have been prepared to say yes when Alex asked me if I wanted to do business with him because I was so comfortable in the past with saying no that if I hadn't switched to saying yes and being okay with saying yes to something even though I was uncomfortable and scared, then I don't think that would've happened. The fourth is that I found mentors. Okay? And this is, I'm sure, something that everyone says on every video. I think that a lot of people have a mentor or people that they attribute their success to. I think what I noticed is that there's not one single person that was a mentor to me. I found different mentors for different areas of life. And to this day, I still do that. You know, like if I wanna learn about wealth, I want a wealth mentor. If I wanna learn about health, I want a health mentor. If I wanna learn about, you know, being a CEO, I want a CEO mentor. I don't believe that one person is the end-all be-all to mentorship or that, you know, we should ever limit ourselves to having just one for each area. I think that everyone brings a different perspective. And so I invested, like I invest a lot of money in courses, I also invested having coaches. And because of that, I was also very uncomfortable because I had no money left over at the end of every month. Like I was spending all the money I was earning on coaches and courses and learning. I just knew. I was like, I have to do this now because I don't want to be one of those people who doesn't utilize their 20s. So that was the fourth one, is finding mentors. The fifth one is getting comfortable being alone. And my first experience with this was when I got an internship, um, on my way out of college when I was graduating. And it was a really competitive internship. So they said, listen, we're gonna have like hundreds of people apply, they're only going to interview 10, and then only 2 people get the internship. And they have to stay, you know, the entire semester at this resort that's, you know, one of the number one resorts in the United States. And they basically are a, you know, physical fitness health intern there. And so I was really nervous, but I applied. Then they accepted that. They invited me for an interview. I had to fly out to California for the interview, interviewed there, and then 2 weeks later they told me I got it. And I was really excited. And also because it was like this pristine internship, right, which doesn't do crap later on in life. But nonetheless, I was also so terrified because I had to go live there for however long. I knew nobody. I'd never been there before, I know my way around, and I went there and it was so much worse than I could have imagined. The resort had it, they said, okay, you're not actually staying on the resort, you're staying in a cabin that's about 2/3 of a mile away from the resort in the middle of the woods. And I was like, you've got to be joking with me right now. So I go out there and seriously, this cabin's 2/3 of a mile away from the resort, it's in the middle of the woods, I don't have cell reception in there, I can barely use my computer, And I'm— the 2 days that I'm not working, it's basically closed. So there's not even anyone on site of the resort. So I'm all by myself in a cabin in the woods, in the mountains. And I was so uncomfortable there. You know, I would have to get up every morning around like 3:30 or 4 because I led these morning hikes. And then I worked until about 5:30 or 6, and then I would work out and I would do it all over again. And it was exhausting and it was so lonely. But you know what happens once you get over the loneliness? Is that you find this place of bliss where you learn to know yourself. And that is something that I would never trade that experience for. It was such a difficult experience because I was so lonely so many times, you know, being in a cabin, not having reception, not having any of these things that we have at our fingertips nowadays, not having connection to people and not knowing anyone and being in a place of— I was in a leadership position. I was put there. So it's not like I felt like I could really confide in anybody. I learned to be okay being alone with myself and actually enjoy being alone with myself and look forward to long times alone. And I do not think that without that I would be able to have done what I did from there on out, which is, you know, move to California, live alone, have different experiences where it pretty much all revolved around me being okay being completely by myself, not having roommates, not having anyone to confide in. And I think that too many people in their 20s Don't do that because it is, it's super easy and so much more comfortable to have friends and support. But like once that's all, that stuff is so much better if you can first be alone and be okay with it. Same with like a relationship with your spouse. Like I don't think I could have the relationship I have with Alex if I didn't have that okayness with being alone. The sixth is I completely traded social media and TV for reading. And so I kind of made a rule for myself because just at that point in time it was easier for me to do so where I would say, okay, at night or during the day or whatever, I'm not going to watch any TV. I'm not going to watch Netflix. I'm not going to get on social media. All I'm going to do is read. And so I brought my book with me to my job and during breaks I'd be reading in the room. People are like, what are you doing? I'm reading. And the reason I did that is because I just, I believed people like Tony Robbins. They were like, readers are leaders and all those things. And I think it worked. Because I was able to take all that time that most people are consuming and I was able to consume things that were going to grow me, not that were going to create bad mental habits for myself and dependency on social media and the phone, etc., etc. And so that for me, you know, I learned so much. You know, I think the most impactful book that I read was I remember being in the break room of 24 Hour Fitness. I was reading Rich Dad Poor Dad and I realized I was like, crap, I have terrible beliefs about money. And because I picked up that book and because I took the time to read, I was able to break those beliefs before they became cemented in my brain, right? Before I grew up and my brain, you know, wasn't rewiring as quickly as it used to when I was younger. And so I think that you have this huge advantage when you're in your early 20s to quickly absorb and learn. Like, I remember when I was 21, someone tell me something, it's like I didn't even question it. It was just like, boop, I learned it. Now it's like we've got all these things like, this is why that's not true, this is why you're wrong, etc., etc. Like, I feel like as you get older, you get more stubborn. You also develop better critical thinking. But to an extent, I think that utilizing and taking advantage of that ability to learn when you're younger is so important for setting yourself up for success. Finally, the last one is number 7, which is learning to expand your work capacity. And what I mean by that is I remember, you know, I committed to basically understanding that if I wanted the rest of my life to be easy, I should make the first part of my life harder. And if I was willing to put myself and be very uncomfortable and grow up faster when I'm, you know, in an age where I could have not, then I would have been able to reap the rewards later. And I do believe that to be true. And part of that, I believe, comes from expanding your work capacity. And so learning, you know, how to work long hours, how to get up early, how to work late, how to expand my capacity for work and for what many would consider to be overwhelm. Right? I think that a lot of the times, at least the way I saw it, is if every time you come across a difficult situation, you run from it, then you never show yourself that you can overcome it. And so every time the more work was presented to me or a new opportunity that was more work was presented to me, I always said, I'm going to take it because I knew that in the first few days or the first few weeks would be really rough. But after that, I was going to be so much more confident in myself and I would earn that confidence and that integrity with myself because I've done the hard thing to then expand my work capacity. And when I say that, I mean that each time you take on more work without the mental mess of being upset about it and overwhelmed about it, instead you say like, this is a chance for me to get better. This is a chance for me to learn how to manage my mind while having more on my plate. Then you can reach— like the amount that I can get done now compared to when I was 20, it's not like what I got done when I was 20 is like a tenth of what I can get done now because I've just continued to rise that occasion and say like, I'm not going to be afraid to take on more work. I'm going to think of more creative ways to get this work done. Done without overwhelming myself and creating a huge mental mess in my brain. Those are the 7 things that I think I did do in my 20s that led to my ability to run a successful company early on. And so for anyone who's out there and listening, and maybe you're not in your 20s and maybe this still resonates, I think that being able to for yourself look at what has made you successful up to this point, as well as what has prevented you from being more successful are two very important things. And so this video was what I believe contributed to success for myself. And hopefully you can take something from it, maybe one or two of the seven things. I think just remembering first and foremost that if we choose to do the hard things now and we choose to do things, hard things earlier in our lives, then everything later on and everything yet to come will be exponentially easier. So if you like that video and you want to hear more like this, go ahead, subscribe to my channel. I have nothing to sell you. I don't sell courses. I don't advertise. I'm just doing this because I feel like maybe it could help some people. So if that sounds interesting, go ahead, subscribe. I will see you on my channel.