How To Build A Path From Vision To Success—One Brick At A Time

Hey, it's Mark Podolski, the land geek with your favorite niche real estate website, www.thelandgeek.com. and today's guest is all about making dreams come true. But before we talk to our guests, I'd be absolutely irresponsible if I didn't properly introduce my co host. You know him, you love him. Six Sigma Scott Todd from Scott todd.net landmodo.com and most importantly, if you're not automating your Craigslist and your Facebook postings, posting domination.com thelandgeek and by the way, today's podcast is sponsored by posting domination.com thelandgeek. You can always make more money, but you can't get more time. Scott Todd, how are you?

Mark? I'm great, how are you?

I'm good, I'm good. Are you ready for our guests?

You know, I like to think that we have dream businesses right now. So I'm looking forward to like really testing that, that hypothesis to see do we really have dream businesses?

Let's find out because we're going to talk to Tony De Erso. If you don't know Tony, he is quite an impressive guy. Born in Sicily, Italy, came to the US at age 3. At 5 he operated a paper route in Chicago and for 10 years gave every penny to his parents to help support the family and to pay for his education. At 19, Tony made his way into the business world and learned through the school of hard knocks. He has made impressive record breaking sales phrase into real estate, collectibles, insurance, technology and other varied industries. His Accomplishments include raising 3.25 million a six month period for a startup business among many others. Tony's latest and fourth book Elite Entrepreneurs topped the Amazon bestseller list at number two on its first day debut. He is the self styled dream business maker and host of popular show Revenue Chat Radio which achieved over 700,000 downloads in its first one and a half years. He interviews CEOs, best selling authors and experts in sales, marketing and leadership who provide actionable advice and insights. Tony De Erso, welcome to the Art of Passive Income podcast. How are you?

Hi Mark. Hi Scott. Thank you so much guys. I want to say it's such an honor to be here on the Art of Passive Income. This is like awesome.

So Tony, tell us your story. Like how did you, how did you kind of get into, you know, real estate and collectibles, insurance, technology? Obviously you've been hustling from a very young age but kind of fill us in a little bit on your background.

Sure. There's sort of like a gap there in my bio from like 19 to what I'm doing now. I've been in sales and marketing for decades. I've worked in the corporate world, I've been a vice president, I've run my own companies and various different companies needed different things done. For example, one company had a large piece of property in Toronto. This was before the Internet and the property wasn't getting filled, it was six floors and the company was using the basement, the first and the second floor and the rest of the building was empty for six months, nine months and it was a big loss. Is a very large building not far from downtown Toronto. So I guess they knew that hey, I know something about sales and marketing so they asked me if I'd go up there and take a look. And I didn't have a real estate license. I just went up there and saw what I could do and it just happened to be that the real estate agents listing was expiring so I didn't renew it. And I just started talking to people. I literally didn't know anybody in Toronto. I didn't know a thing. I just started talking to people and talking to people and I'm not joking, I did that seven days a week and I wound up filling up that place in like six weeks or something. I filled up the whole building with tenants, you know, signed leases and about one to two months the whole building was full. It was just like, just like that. I just, I learned the power of referrals, which is not my tip but I learned how, when you really want to get something done, you know how to go about it and it's probably set the stage for, you know, my, I guess if you want to call it my, my future successes later on.

Fantastic, fantastic. So when, when you self style yourself, the dream business maker, what does that mean?

That's a really, really good question. I really, I've been there, done that on a lot of things. I've written like three, four books now and I want to give back to the community. So what I do is I work to help others become that successful business person, that successful entrepreneur that they want to be and I help them. In today's society you have to do something on your own. In a way it's not quite the right wording but you really have to create something because you're not going to get rich doing your 9 to 5 job. Most people never get rich doing their 9 to 5 job. It just isn't where it's at. If you really want to get above the level of the grind. You've got to have your own hack. And I want to help people get there, whether it's working nights and weekends or however they do it, whatever they have. And I've created a methodology, which we'll get into in a minute, on how a person can go from, you know, hey, I would really like to go do something to being able to do it. And, you know, I focus on what they're good at, what their passion is, but I can pull that out of people. And I found that I can really help a lot of people, and I've helped a lot of people achieve more success and more success, and it's all centered around what's your dream? You know, so many people, like, oh, you know, I would love to have an auto shop, I would love to have a coffee place. I, you know, so many people have this dream, but they don't know how to get from where they are stuck in their business, in their corporate or 9 to 5 job to get from there to actually doing something on their own. So I can help and I can guide them, coach, mentor, consult them and so forth on that. And it's just kind of. It works. There's a lot of people out there that really want to get from where they are to the next platform.

Scott, Todd, what are your thoughts?

All right, Tony, how. How do you pull it out of me? Like, pull it out of me? What is it that. How am I. Am I on. Am I on the right path or is. Am I missing something?

Okay, Todd, here we go. Scott, it's okay. It shows. Todd. Well, now we know your last name again.

There you go.

Do you have a. First of all, it starts with the vision. Now, this is a little bit different than, you know, some well crafted mission statement or, you know, some things on a piece of paper. It's. What is your real vision? What is it that you're good at? What do you like to do? Is it exercise? Is it jog? Is it health? There's got to be something there that you're good at. So the first thing we start with is, well, what's your vision? Now, that's very, very basic, but we really get into some serious minutia in just a little bit. So what is it that you're good at? You're good. You like land, you want real estate, and you want to start investing in some real estate, buying some land. You know, Mark's got some great material on that. But first of all, it starts with your vision. What Is it that you want to do? Where do you see your. Down the line? What is that vision? And then from there we connect that to the purpose. Well, what's your purpose? You know, it's not just make money. Making money is not a purpose. You know, it's helping develop a land or developing a city or developing an area or providing, you know, low income housing for, you know, seniors or providing something for the millennials. What's your purpose? You got to connect that because all by itself, Scott, it just doesn't, it's got to be connected all by itself. It doesn't, it doesn't go anywhere. So we connect that with the purpose. What is it that you're trying to do? Good. All right, now we've got a vision, now we've got a purpose. And by the way, this is one of my, this is the tip of that I was going to come up with later as well. But now we connect that to the long term objective. Now I don't call it a goal because too many people confuse a goal with, you know, a ball in the net or something. So I call it a long term objective and I give a time period on that. It's not a three month goal. I've been there, done that. I'm trying these little short term goals. It doesn't work. You know, McDonald's, Toyota, Chrysler, Coca Cola, Pepsi, they didn't become who they are in three months. They achieved a milestone. It takes about three to five years to get a really good long term objective in place and cemented and really working well. So we do a long term objective. What is it you're trying to do? Where is it you're trying to go? What is it that you want to achieve? And then from there we drill that down into what I call the master plan. How are you going to do it? The master plan is two parts. Part one is the strategy. How are you going to take that hill? And I can go on and on and on, but this will wind up being a big training course. But as you can see, I start drilling it down, drilling it down, drilling it down until we have what are you going to do today? And it's those steps today. It's sort of like building that building with bricks. It's every day you're putting another brick there, putting another brick there. And I use this system, this for revenue chat. When I first started as a, as an analogy, I didn't know anybody in the industry. I was in a different industry. I was in a myopic industry. I didn't know, elite entrepreneurs and, you know, big time CEOs. I didn't have any audience. I had zero. But I just worked out my. My vision map, map, as I call it, and put that all together and started working on it, started finding people, inviting people, and in a little over a year and a half now, I've hit over 800,000 downloads on revenue Chat. You know, I put a book out and it hits number two on Amazon best seller list same day of release. Well, those sound like great accomplishments, but there's no magic bullet. It's all by those baby steps. And the key is those baby steps like, like a funnel, a reverse funnel, go all the way to the vision and they're all in sync. It's all like apples and apples. That's probably a very long answer, Scott, but you probably kind of have a very good idea on that now.

I do. You know, and, and I. It makes me. It makes me wonder, like, okay, so ideally, what if. What if my vision. What if my sole vision was to do nothing but basically be, you know, like, just kind of retired? Like, I just want to be on the boat every day. I don't have to really want to deal with customers. Mark told me once, he's like, man, I bet you could get people that would pay like $10 a month to like, go on the boat with you, like through Facebook Live or Periscope. I'm thinking, like, that's, that's my vision. I can get there. Now I see it.

Well, if you have a boat or you don't have a boat, I don't know what your particular story is, but you can definitely go do something. But, but I repeat again, the vision is not the getting rich, being a millionaire, being a billionaire, whatever is the residual from accomplishing it, because you have to focus on the actual products. You have to focus on the services or whatever it is. And then, and then what comes from not quite the offshoot, but what results is now income and more income and more income by putting that in. But yes, if we did a vision map on you want to hang out on your boat and started working that up and down and putting everything in sync, we probably could create some income for you on that.

There you go.

I'm going to register on the boatwithscott.com right now.

Yeah, this kind of reminds me of, you know, I read the Personal MBA by Josh Kaufman and one of the. I think it's a great book. And one of the, you know, exercises in there was what they call a root cause analysis. Tony, do you know what the root cause analysis is?

Well, I have my own take on it. I haven't read the book.

Oh, okay. So it's called the Five Fold. Why? And so. And it really resonates with what I think what we, the three of us, do, which is really help people figure out, you know, the motivations behind their desires. Because sometimes we're not consciously aware of why we want what we want. Right. Tony, do you agree with that?

I think we, if we really look at it, we do know what we want. But some of us, and I hazard to guess most of us, don't think there's any way to achieve it. So it just becomes an empty dream. It just becomes this thing that's never going to come to fruition or. There's been so many failures. I mean, not to make any fun of anyone, but one person I encountered, his whole life goal, the whole universe, was someday get an apartment and live there with his girlfriend. I mean, these. Some people are just so barraged with so many failures and societal, you know, problems, rules, regulations, that they just don't think that they can achieve anymore. So part of this is also realizing that you can achieve more as you know, and that there is something there that you have that you can provide. Others, you are unique. So let's pull that out. What is it you can provide? And let's work on that.

I love it. I love it. So when you. When you start creating this vision for yourself, Right. How many times do you have to have people sort of pivot where, you know, they think that what's going to make them happy really kind of makes them miserable.

Right.

You know, for example, I want to make a million dollars a year. Right. Well, that's not really what they want. They want to not feel, you know, stressed out about money. Right. And then it's like, well, why don't you want to be stressed out about money? Like, why? I don't feel. I don't. So I don't feel anxious. And why don't you want to feel anxious? Like, why? I want to feel scared. Why do you want to feel scared? So I want to feel free. And then it's like, why do you want to feel free? Because, you know, I want to feel free. It's like, that's really what it's about. It's like they just want freedom in a way. How often do you have to kind of help people figure out that at the end of the day, they just want more control, more freedom. It's not really about making A million dollars a year.

That's right, Mark. Most people kind of know and have an idea. And let me comment on the freedom part. Freedom is doing what you want, what you love, what you enjoy, and the money just comes as a result of it because you're on your purpose, you're really doing what you like, whatever that could be. That is the freedom. There is no such thing as freedom, as just literally sitting and laying on a boat, laying on a beach, you know. You know, okay, so you've got, you know, millions of dollars in the bank. You've got a beautiful suntan. You've. You've toured the world. Now what, you know, a purpose. Excuse me. A person in that scenario is not happy. You know, you can, you can see it if you, you know, just take a perusal of what some of the various stars and celebrities say. You know, they have money, but it's not what they expected. They're not happy. And the whole point is, and I don't want to name names, but there's some very big stars that talk a little bit about this. The whole thing is they're not on their purpose. And that's what makes a person happy. And the money comes as a result. You, Mark, you're doing something you love, you enjoy, you're doing it yourself, and you're helping others buy land. You're doing an amazing job and you like it, you're enjoying it. And you know, as you grow and build on it, the money will come, don't you think?

No, absolutely. I mean, I can now die in peace, and it's a great feeling, but I wasn't always there. I mean, it took a long time to kind of figure out my purpose and my passion, what I'd love to do. And in a way, I kind of think I got lucky, that, you know, it combined in the sense that I was able to, you know, make money. Also doing that where some people, I think their purpose isn't really going to help them make any money, but it's what they love to do. And then there's nothing wrong with having a side hustle or something else that's going to make them pay the bills, because we all have to pay our bills.

And you say you got lucky and I did, too. But I'd like to say behind that get lucky is the desire, the intention. You wanted it. For example, here I am making nearly mid six figures in the corporate world, and I just wasn't happy. Just like I want out, you know, and I know that sounds so strange to people like, what are you nuts? I just, like, I just didn't like it, and I just really wanted something. And the weirdest thing is I then got invited to be an entrepreneur. I got invited to start a company doing exactly what I was doing, but I could call the shots. That's actually how I became an entrepreneur. But. And you could say, oh, I was lucky. But there was that desire, intention and wish. Very strong at that. That led to that, and I think that that's. I think that's what led to you. You wanted something like that, Mark, and that helped you land your, you know, whatever it is that you landed that got you into this position.

Yeah, I think so. I think so.

So.

So, Tony, you had a lot of people on the radio show, a lot of people on the podcast, and let's say you're gonna have a dinner party, right? You can invite three of them back over to your house for dinner. Whom would you invite and what would you ask them?

Oh, my goodness, that is a tough question. Boy, you just threw that right out at me. I would invite every single one of my podcasters, my elite entrepreneurs that I had. I formed a bond with each one. I have such a great relationship. I consider each one personal and dear friend. I wouldn't know how to just invite three. Boy, you got me. You got me stuck. You almost have me speechless on that. I would. I would invite some that I feel are the most available. And nearby, for example, on my mind are certain guests because I've just interviewed them. I would bring on Maurice Sweeney, the ambassador of happiness. I've just interviewed her. I would bring on Dove. Excuse me, Dov Baron, who some consider the Canadian Anthony Robbins. I've just interviewed him. And I would have Mitch Russo, former president of Tony Robinson's corporation Dream business breakthroughs. Excuse me, I don't have the name right. I would invite him because I've just interviewed him. So I probably would do that because I know their schedules and I know they're kind of available now. The questions that I would ask them, it would go nonstop. It would go non stop. I always like to get into the head of my guests. If anyone here listens to revenue chat. My podcast is also available in itunes. One of the questions I always ask and my guests really like it, is I like to find what's their purpose, what's their drive? And I don't try to sell them. I don't try to sell my guests anything. I just like to know what makes them do what they do. And it always brings about and creates A very stimulating conversation. So I think we would just spend the night talking about purpose and drive and motivation, because the people I just listed are very successful. They can write their own ticket, they travel the world, they speak all over. They can do whatever they want. So I would ask them questions about that. That's what I would do.

I like it. I like it.

Scott.

Todd, you know, how often do you think purpose changes? Do you think that you have one purpose and then you just work really hard to achieve it, or do you think it changes as time goes on?

Well, I think that your core purpose does change, right? Like, it can change. It doesn't necessarily mean it should change, like every day or every week. I mean, you should kind of have that grand vision of what you're trying to achieve and why, and then work diligently to get there, you know, and then as you achieve some of these goals, maybe you see that the purpose might change. You know, like, to me, a great analogy would be like, if I'm. If I'm on a. If I'm on a mission to go somewhere on. Let's say I'm on my boat and I'm sailing somewhere and I have a purpose, which is to get to an island. And all of a sudden, you know, I see. I see people in need, my purpose might change. I might go over and help them, and that whole day I might spend helping them. And so, you know, I think that if you. If you're going down a path and you see a maybe a purpose that's. That's greater cause or greater why. And it really. It really pulls you in that direction, then you should. You should kind of look at it and go that direction. Doesn't mean that you should abandon, you know, abandon everything to go there, Mark. I mean, you and I both. You and I both know that there's a guy that, you know, like, he. He had this purpose that he wanted to do, and he was struggling to achieve that, and then he finally found his legs in that purpose and he ran back to it, you know, And I don't think that there's anything wrong with that. I think that it's, you know, he had this connection there with this one purpose, and he got sidetracked on it for a while, but then he really wanted to get back to it, and I think that's okay.

Yeah.

I mean, Tony, what do you think about purpose and creating that purpose and figuring it out and does it change?

Those are great comments there, Mark and Scott. I think there's a little change. For example, 20, 30 years ago, I had no idea or intention of being a talk show host on two different platforms. But the underlying current of liking to speak with people, wanting to talk with people, wanting to help people, wanting to have something meaningful, that undercurrent is still there. Even though over years I've done and worked in insurance, technology or real estate or collectibles or sales or marketing, I've worked in different things. And I think as you accomplish goals and then you're looking for the next major thing, your purpose becomes stronger and stronger. And that's what I've noticed for me is I'm more aware of my purpose, I think now than ever. And I know more and more where I want to go, what I want to do. And it's sort of like the car going on the freeway. You get faster and faster as you go along if you're on your purpose. And I think that there, that undercurrent is still there, but there can be obstacles and blocks to it that blunt it. And a lot of people, you know, and I don't mean to generalize, don't even know their purpose or feel their purpose or see their purpose because of all these obstacles and societal pressures and so forth on them. It's just out. But as they start accomplishing goals, having successes, moving up, they become more aware of their real purpose and they go faster and faster and have a lot more fun. And then, yes, the money comes automatically as a result.

Yeah, I agree. I think the more fun you're having, there is something about that where the money just kind of comes right. But when everything's kind of like real, I don't know, kind of just. It feels like such a hard job sometimes. And it makes me think of like a hamster, you know, just on that, on that wheel. And it's just there's chasing and chasing and chasing, and then suddenly you get off that hamster wheel and you're like, oh, they just kind of like just enjoy their life or whatever they're doing. And then suddenly the money just kind of comes. I mean, does that sound too woo woo?

Scott?

Todd.

No, no, I don't think it sounds woo at all, Mark.

Tony, too woo woo for you?

Well, you know, a lot of people that I've spoken to think their purpose is to be something to do with money. You know, I cannot stress that enough. It's not. My purpose is to be a millionaire or a billionaire or whatever. That is not a purpose. And that is probably a main problem that people have right from the get go. The Purpose is to do what you really like to do. And, you know, we've heard this about some people downplay the. The point on follow your passion. I'm not saying follow your passion, but I'm saying your purpose. What is it that you really feel you're here to do? And that really just brings out more and more. But it's not to make money. It's not. Because it just doesn't work that way, you know, because if that's what you really tried to do, and that's your whole entire purpose, that's called a shyster or a con man, because that's all they're trying to do, is just make a quick buck and go. But if you want to stay in for the long haul, you. You need something that you really enjoy to do. Follow it and just go with the guide. You know, get a mentor, consultant. Get someone like me to help you take it to the next level. You know, you're. You're only doing six digits. Let's get you to seven digits, let's get you to eight digits. Let's get you to whatever. And it's. It's almost, you know, it's like the fuel to the fire. It's like the jet fuel in the plane. That purpose really helps you go faster and farther.

Tony, when you think of success, whom do you think of?

I think of over 100 people that I've had the great pleasure to interview on Revenue Chat and my new second show, the Spotlight. I think of all these wonderful people. Everyone has been successful. I think of you, Mark and Scott. You guys are doing very well. You're helping people out here with not only real estate, but to make income and to do something good with the capital or whatever. I'm not sure of your exact program, and I look at it as you're helping people, and I think that that's really cool. I have so many people that I look up to. I have this great rapport that I build with every person that I meet and interview. So it's really hard to single, to single out. I don't know, are you asking for, like, a mentor or someone that I look up to or something?

Yeah, maybe. Maybe a mentor that you said, you know, based on X, Y, and Z. This is my definition of someone who's really successful.

I would have to. I would say, boy, that's. That's tough. Because every single person I've. I've interviewed is. Does so well, you know, Maurice Sweeney. I've mentioned her. Dov Baron, Mitch Russo, Cloris Kiley. You've just interviewed her. So many. Kay Sanders, Amanda Goldman Petrie, John Lee Dumas. He's one I look up to and I've interviewed him on my show and I've been on Entrepreneur on Fire. I look at him for he is very successful in podcasting. And every time I go to his site or look at or go to any of his shows, I always learn something that I can immediately apply to Revenue Chat and my other talk show, the Spotlight, and also runs Russell Brunson. I've had him on my show. His energy, his intuitiveness on getting things done and how to take a product and sell it, it's amazing. He's a living legend. And I look at these people and see what they've done and I try very hard to take the essence and use it and apply it right away to my own life. And I do do that. Those are some awesome people.

All right, well, Tony De Erso, we're at that point now, the podcast, we're going to put you on the spot and ask you for your tip of the week. A website, a resource, a book, something actionable where the art of passive income listeners can go right now, improve their businesses, improve their lives. What have you got?

Well, we've talked throughout this entire show on this vision map and that is what I say to people, Mark. It's free on my site and it's called the Vision Map and I give it away free. And you need to start at the top with your vision, then purpose, then long term objective, then master plan, then the strategy to accomplish that and then the tactical steps to accomplish that and then the daily actions that you're going to get done every day. That is how you're going to take any purpose, any drive, any goal and actually get them done. I cannot stress that enough. That's what's helped me in everything I've done is having this vision map and now I give it away freely to anyone that wants and I'm willing to help anyone with it. You'll find it on my site. See, where will you find it on every, on any page. It's on every page on my site. And is that all right or did you want something not dealing with, with me for a tip?

No, no, this is great. This is great. Scott. Todd, what's your tip of the week?

Hey, Mark, check out, check out this website, momentum dash.com, like dash dash momentum dash dot com.

Is this the extension, the Chrome plugin? Yeah, I use it. I love this moment.

I love this thing, man. Like it's you know, it's got beautiful screenshots. Every time you open up a new tab, it opens, it integrates with things like my, one of my favorite websites, Trello Wunderlist. Those types of things integrates with your calendar and it's beautiful.

Yeah, I'm looking at mine right now and it says, what is your main focus for today? And then it has if it ain't fun, don't do it.

Mine says do what you love, not what you think you're supposed to do.

I love it. I love it. Tony De Erso My tip of the week is learn more about you@tonydearso.com t o n y d u r s o.com check out the blog, check out the community, check out the podcast, the radio show. I guarantee there's going to be enough resources on this site that it will move the needle in your Life. Tony de erso.com Tony are we good?

We're awesome. I want to thank you guys so much for having me on here. It was just really great and just I'd like to say a quick word to the audience. You know, Mark and Scott put a lot of work into creating a great show. I've listened to a number of your shows. They're so, so good. And I just want to encourage the audience. If like what you hear, let them know because they're doing all this for you, to help you, to help you on your life path, help you on your purpose, help you with your goals, help you make money. So let them know how much you appreciate them. Give them a review. These guys put a lot of work and I just want to say I really want to thank you so much for letting me be on the Art of Passive Income.

Thank you, Tony. I also want to remind the listeners, also check out our sponsor today posting domination.com theland geek and start automating your Craigslist postings and your Facebook postings. There's nothing more like just satisfying when I just press a button and 124 ads get created. Scott Todd, it's magical.

It is magical, Mark. It is magical.

It's magical. So I also want to thank Tony Durso for taking valuable time away and mentoring us today. We really appreciate it and want to thank you, the listeners as well for, you know, letting us into your lives. So without further ado, Scott Mark, Let freedom ring. Let freedom ring. We'll see everybody next time.