Profits to Portfolio - Live Keynote

Without any further ado, I do want to get into our introduction to our first speaker, who is Todd Polke. Todd is going to be going through Profits to Portfolio: Building Your Personal Wealth as a Business Owner. So Todd is an international educator and trainer in wealth creation and building strategic investment portfolios. His wealth systems guide investors on a step-by-step pathway to grow portfolios which deliver real financial results. Put simply, Todd's mission is to help as many people as possible live a life unlimited by income. Isn't that what we all want? Since 2002, this is exactly what he's been doing. His wealth education investment strategies have helped thousands of investors break free from the default life of simply just working to pay the bills in a world where most people's lives are limited by how much money they earn. This is essential real-world education. Because let's face it, life is about so much more. So guys, please join me in welcoming Todd Polke to the stage. Big round of applause.

Thank you very much, appreciate it. All right, good morning, good morning. How is everyone? Good, awesome. I heard you had a big day of AI yesterday, learning about artificial intelligence. Is that correct? Who's excited by that stuff? Whose brain splattered all over the walls with some of that stuff? I kind of sit in that second camp, right, as well. So, um, we're gonna take a bit of a U-turn today as we're having a bit of a conversation. Now, what I'd love to know is who's investing already? Like, who's actually strategically building an investment portfolio already at this point in time? Okay, who hasn't gotten started yet but is interested? Okay, who's gotten started but you want to kind of, you know, put the turbocharger on and make it move a heck of a lot faster than what it's doing right now? Is anyone in that boat? Okay, cool. Alright, so all of what I'm gonna be sharing with you along the way today is all about those steps, how you can actually take your business profits and start to turn it into personal wealth. Here's one of the things I see happen all the time, and you guys might be able to relate to this, is that— that's the clicker, I assume, is that correct? Yeah, okay, cool. Is that what I see is a lot of business owners, they're really great at keeping all their money and building wealth in their personal business. But then they don't have anything in their personal life to be able to show for it. Has anyone experienced that in any way, shape, or form? Right. And so a lot of people want to create an exit plan from their business and they wind up working and grinding for 30, 40, 50 years of their life and then not much left to show for it at the end after taking all the risks, taking all the, um, uh, you know, driving as hard as you guys do in the world of business. You just don't have left what you deserve at the end, right? And I see it literally all the time and have seen over the last 20 years kind of working with them. thousands of investors and thousands of business owners over the years. Now, before I get started into this, I just wanna make sure, a quick shout out to my team. You're gonna see Nico and Audi over here. A lot of you guys have spoken to those guys on the portfolio table over there. Now, we've got a lot of free resources, really cool stuff to be able to give you guys. So if anyone wants to get some stuff around investing, around wealth creation, some free tools and stuff, make sure you go see the guys over there. They're gonna hook you up with some free stuff. Is everyone okay with that?

Okay, cool.

So I got introduced very, very well. I appreciate that. Look, this is what I've been doing for the last 20 years, right? My major background is in property investing. That's what I did when I bought my first property at 19 years old. Made more money in that one property deal than my entire year's income working as a personal trainer at the time. Had that experience where my profits from my portfolio out-earned my income and everything in my world shifted after that point in time. So since then I've been deep in the world of investing and wealth creation, in shares, in trading. When the crypto boom came along, I drove right down that rabbit hole very nicely. Is anyone in the world of crypto or blockchain? Whose brain splattered all over the wall when it comes to crypto blockchain?

Yeah.

Yeah, that's quite normal. Business investing, alternative investments. What I'm really all about is how can I help you build wealth systems, right? As much as property is my background, In the end, it's just a wealth vehicle. Does that make sense to everyone? It's just a vehicle to build wealth. I never get caught up in property or shares or crypto or anything like that. I get caught up in what is the purpose it's gonna be serving in your guys' portfolio to help you create financial freedom in your life, because that's what the endgame really is all about. Now, why do we go in business in the first place? So I've been in business for, you know, about 20-odd years now, and I went into business with the idea as, well, I'm gonna go into business And then I'm gonna have all the time in the world, I'm gonna have control of everything, I'm gonna be freedom and all that, I'm gonna have it all. Did anyone have that same thought or was that just me? And then when you got into business, what was your experience?

Black hole.

Does a black hole sound about right? Where it literally takes all your time, all your energy, all your money, all your brain space, literally everything that goes into the business. Come on, who's had that experience? Has anyone had that experience? Yeah, and we've had that experience where it can literally take everything if you let it. Now you guys are here right now in this room with APB for the purpose of creating a system to get out of this black hole experience, is that correct?

Right.

And this is what these guys do really, really well for you as, you know, running your businesses as you do in the world of building, in the world of construction. Does it make sense, like you guys have a system for building houses or building developments, whatever you do, there's a system for that. There is a system for running your business, correct?

Correct.

And there is a system for building your wealth. Does that make sense to everybody? None of this is about luck. It's all just a system. And all you have to do is follow the system. It's not something you have to go and reinvent. You've just gotta find someone who's done it before, which is why you're working with them, with these guys here at APB, and then follow the pathway. And they give you some cool distinctions, some tools, some resources, some pathways that are proven that you just need to walk down. Does everyone— does that make sense to everybody? Wealth is exactly the same. It's absolutely no difference. And so it's easy to feel trapped in a business if you don't have those systems along the way, and that's not why we went into business in the first place. Now, some— I'm going to talk to you about some of the big mistakes that I see a lot of investors and a lot of business owners make when it comes to the world of investing in wealth creation and business. Big mistake number 1 is that a lot of business owners I meet, and I work with thousands over the years, They have all their wealth and their income tied up in their business. They might have their own home, great, but then everything else is tied up in the business. Can anyone relate to that at this point in time? Like everything's stuck in there. Can anyone relate to that?

Yeah.

And that might be great for moving the business along, but what if something goes wrong? What if there's a health challenge? What if there's a personal challenge? What if the market shifts? What if the economy changes? Then what? And how are you gonna create an exit plan from that? The second big mistake I see a lot of people make is that their business is not saleable. So when I think about a business, I think about people have 2 types of businesses. They either have an ATM or they have an asset. An asset becomes a saleable opportunity. An ATM is just a cash flow machine. And as business owners, you've gotta be very, very honest around what you're running. Is it an asset or an ATM? Because how you approach business is gonna be very, very different based on that. Now, with an asset, the beautiful thing about it is that you have the opportunity to be able to build something, you can create a saleable outcome out of it later on. But is that always guaranteed? Yes or no?

No.

No, it's not. Who's known a lot of business owners that they have the idea they wanna sell a business, or even maybe as yourself, but when you get to the point of doing it, it's really not that easy? Has anyone had that experience or knows someone that's had that?

Mm-hmm.

Right. And so what you wanna make sure that you do is that from the profits you're earning from your business, you wanna make sure that you're building your personal wealth so you have an exit plan from your business when you want it and when you need it, and you've got that backup plan sitting there. 'Cause so much shit can go wrong when it comes to the world of business. Can that make sense to everyone? Who's had the proverbial shit happen in their business at one point in time? Has anyone had that? I know I have on multiple occasions. Big mistake number 3, builders are busy building other people's wealth but neglecting their own. Who's had that experience? Yeah, so who's had the experience, you know, you've built this development, you've done this house, you've done this thing, and they've— this other person over there, the bastard, has made shitloads of money, and you're sitting there going, I wish I did that. Has anyone done that before? Right, who's had that happen on multiple occasions? Has anyone? Is that pissing you off yet? Good, good, I'm glad. It should do. I want it to get you guys pissed off. You gotta do something about it. It's really, really critical. So you can't neglect your own wealth. Here's a quick question for you. When do most people get to thinking about their money and their finances and wealth building? When do most people get to even considering it? When it's tax time. Right, when you're my age. When it's tax time? When there's a bill to pay, when there's an emergency, or when it's too late. Is anyone guilty of any of those 4 things?

Yes.

And I understand why, because we've got so much going on. We, you know, in business it takes everything, and then family, and then life, and all the different things. It can be easy just to put the money conversation aside and the personal wealth conversation aside. It's, I'll get to it one day when... And we know those one day whens, right? One day when the kids grow up. One day when my partner becomes more supportive. One day when the economy changes. One day when the, this industry turns around. One day when interest rates drop. One day when I pay my home off. One day when this happens. And that one day when just never seems to arrive. And basically money and wealth just keeps on keeping on at the same level that it's always been. And frankly, you guys deserve more. Right? I know what goes into running business. You guys deserve more. So the question you've really gotta ask yourself right now is, is your business and personal wealth giving you the freedom and the lifestyle you desire? And that's a question you've gotta ask for yourself. It's a clear yes or it's a clear no, right? And if it's a clear no— if it's a clear yes, congratulations, that's incredible, right? You've created financial freedom, something that few people ever do. If it's a clear no, then call it as an action sign. Okay, I need to start doing something about this and put some intention And attention towards it. Business is your greatest accelerator of freedom, no doubt about it, right? Especially those of you guys that are implementing the systems that APB guys teach you guys, you know, you see your revenues increase, you see your margins get better, it's your greatest accelerator to your wealth, there's no doubt about it. But it depends on how you use it. Again, if it's all just tied up in the business, that's great for the business, but what about your personal wealth? And so you've gotta actually start using all of your assets in your life to be able to create that type of outcome. As I said, do you have an asset or do you have an ATM? That's the decision you've gotta make in your business. Like honestly right now, who has an ATM? Who thinks they've just, their business right now is an ATM? It's just a cash flow machine. If you went to sell it, you're probably not gonna get much for it. Like, is anyone in that boat right now?

Yeah.

Okay, who's got a, who knows they have an asset? Okay, there's 4 hands in the room up. Do you think that's normal when it comes to business? It's normal. Most people have ATMs as opposed to assets, right? Now you might be building yours towards an asset, that's great, but in the meantime you've got to use your ATM to be able to start doing something with it. The way I think about it is that you're running 3 businesses, right? You have your personal wealth business, which is you and your personal life, right? Your home, your personal finances, all that type of stuff to running your life. You have your business that you guys are running right now in the world of development, construction, all that type of stuff, and then you have your portfolio business. How are you running like a family office for your personal wealth? How are you actually running a business for your money and your wealth building? Now again, most people are not, but this is the way we've got to start thinking about it. On 3 different separate businesses, that's great. The real beauty and the majesty is, is when we combine this together. Now this doesn't mean it's all mixed up and everything like that. Your structure is absolutely essential. But how can we turn these 3 businesses into a system, into your world that creates wealth to build you more time, more money, more freedom, lifestyle, opportunity, and meaning? Who wants some more of those type of words on that?

I do.

That's the right-hand side of the screen. Does anyone want some more of those type of words? 3 of you. What about the rest of you? You don't care? Right, okay. So here's what the end goal is, what I believe, right? Align your business and finances to grow a sustainable diversified portfolio of quality assets which deliver a consistent and reliable income stream into your bank account to fund the lifestyle you desire. Who likes the idea of that as a definition of building wealth, investing, and things like that, right? And that's what we want to talk about. We want to talk about a system to be able to deliver it where you can just follow the path, put one foot in front of the other and follow the path along the way. Because your system determines your success. The question is, how is yours working for you at this point in time?

Right?

You've got a personal finance system, you've got your business system which you're working with these guys to improve and actually grow, and then you've got to talk about your wealth system. How is that working for you at this point? Now, I want to introduce you along the way today, um, about the wealth system that I've been developing for about 20 years now. Right, now there's a lot that goes into this and I'm not going to be diving into every little area because honestly this will take me about 5 days to fully unpack in a lot of detail, and I do that with a lot of my investors, a lot of my clients, but I wanted to give you an overarching view and understanding of what truly goes into a wealth system. And as you're listening to some of these elements, I want you to think about, well, where in this do I need to actually start spending some time and putting a little bit more attention and intention to be able to grow my wealth? Now, in the center of all this, I think that's a— is our outcome, is our goal. Now, I've asked this question to thousands of rooms that I've been speaking in over the years, is that, okay, well, who in the room, if you were to earn, you know, somewhere between $75,000 to $150,000 a year passive income from your portfolio and have your home owned outright, you'd be able to live a reasonable quality of life?

Me.

Who would be okay with that type of outcome? Who's going, nah dude, I want a lot more than that? Like, is anyone in that boat? Yeah, and it's totally fine to have that, by the way, right? But the thing that I want to help people create first is how can we get that base level of wealth built so you've got the income coming in for your portfolio, so you get your most valuable asset back that you ever have in your life, which is what?

Time.

Time, thank you. Yeah, right? It's all about getting your most valuable asset back. So how can we do that? Because if you had your time back, who thinks that they could grow their wealth a lot faster if you had your time back and you can make some strategic decisions and be able to invest it in higher value activities? Who thinks that's the case? Step 1, we get your time back. Step 2, we then grow towards, you know, cover the needs. Then we grow towards wants. What are the choices you want in your life? Then we go towards developing your dream lifestyle. And then we go towards creating a legacy that you wanna leave here on the planet. Whether that's for your kids, intergenerational wealth. Is that something that's important to anyone? Is anyone interested in that? Right, who's going, no, the little buggers can figure it out themselves? Is anyone really? Right, honestly, so I have a 13-year-old daughter and I have an 11-month-old son. So a nice big bloody gap, right? Now, I am genuinely concerned what it's gonna be like for them when they hit 20. I am genuinely concerned. Now, my kids, we've been building, I've been building portfolios for my kids forever, right? But I am genuinely concerned for the average person when my daughter's age hit 20, how the bloody hell are they gonna be able to afford to buy a home? Is anyone, has this crossed anyone else's mind?

Yeah.

Right, and so I always think about when I'm building wealth, it's not just for me, it's also for my kids and it's for their kids, it's for their kids. Because there is a wealth divide which is growing in this country, is that correct? And property is gonna be one of those bigger indicators of— I think first home buyers are gonna be something you see in a museum later. You know, you're gawking at a museum, oh, there's those first home buyers I once heard about happening, right? Like, that's what I think's gonna happen. Does anyone else resonate?

Yeah.

Like, who's just sitting there looking at prices going, holy shitballs, like this is just, this is getting out of control. But if we look at the dynamics that's going on in the property market at the moment, I can understand why that's happening and I think it's gonna get a hell of a lot worse. That's what I think. Does anyone else agree?

Yeah.

I think it's gonna get a heck of a lot worse. And so then part of it is about creating intergenerational wealth, but then how do you wanna leave the world in a better place? I'm a big believer in building wealth which outlives you. Legacy wealth. Like who here wants to be able to give back to a cause that they believe in at a greater level than what they're doing right now? Is that true for anyone? Yeah, but how can you give what you don't have yourself? So in the center there is where we put our outcome. Now my big thing is how can we go and generate $100K passive income within 5 years or less? That's my whole thing when it comes to a portfolio, right? That's what I want to be able to create. Now some people, sure, it might take 10 years and some people might take 12 years, some people might take 2 years, like it's different for every single person, but this is the core outcome that I want to start moving towards with all my investors that I work with. Who'd be okay with generating something Is that unencumbered? It depends what we're talking about. So are we talking about just property or are we talking about other asset classes, right? Now when we're talking about unencumbered, yes, I'm talking about $100K in your back pocket. That's what I'm talking about, right? Now when it comes to this system, there are 3 key sections associated to it. 1 is having a strategy. 2 is having the structure in place and And 3 is having the system where your money is out there making more money for you. I'm gonna go through these bit by bit with you, and I'm gonna pause on some of the elements just to kind of dive into it a little bit of a deeper level, okay? Again, I can't go through everything, we just don't have time today to be able to do that. Firstly, it's all about strategy. Every asset serves a purpose, because if you don't have a strategy, you don't— who knows this show, Queen's Gambit? Has anyone seen it?

Yes.

Right, this is one of the reasons why I don't watch Netflix series anymore because I lost about 2 weeks of my life watching it. Has anyone else done this on a show?

Yeah.

Yeah, I just don't start because my ADHD brain can't handle the open loops that they leave. And this is about a chess prodigy, right? And in some of the scenes, she's sitting there as an orphan in an orphanage and she meets this groundskeeper in the area, the maintenance guy, who's a chess player and learns from this guy. And there's these scenes where she's sitting there in her bed lying and looking up at this roof and then she's playing this chess game in her head. Does anyone know the scene I'm talking about?

Yeah. Right.

And, and it's just that she's looking at the pieces move. And cut to when she's a lot older and she's playing in tournaments and there's a scene where she's looking down at a chessboard and all the— she's seeing all the pieces move. Now the point about this is that they say that a grand chess master can actually see 17 moves ahead. They can see the moves, see the counter moves that are gonna be taking place. And as a wealth creator, we've gotta do the same thing. It's not just about buying another property or buying a share or buying a thing. Like, that's amateur hour, right? Like, and most people, they might buy a property and then they wind up getting stuck, especially in the world of serviceability right now. Who's been investing and has hit the serviceability wall in their portfolio?

I have.

Who's frustrated by that experience? Right, and I see a lot of property investors hitting this wall at this point in time. Who thinks serviceability is going to get a heck of a lot better? I don't. I think that the serviceability crunch is here to stay, although interest rates may come back down again and it may free up a little bit. The whole days of 10 to 15 years ago of buying 10 properties on an average income is done and dusted. I just don't think it's gonna happen for most people. Now you guys as builders have a secret weapon up your sleeve, 'cause you know how to build the shit, right? And you can do some cool stuff. But for most people, they're stuffed. They're just not gonna get there if they are just focusing on pure property investment. Now, the question you've gotta ask yourself is, do you have a strategic plan to grow your personal wealth without sacrificing your business growth? Yes or no? Most people's strategy is this: buy and hope, isn't it? They buy something and hope like hell the bloody thing goes up. Come on, be honest, has anyone run that strategy before in their life?

Yeah.

Yeah, I know, I totally understand, I get it, I see it all the time. So the big mistake people make when it comes to their wealth building is that they're random in what they do. That is, throw a little bit here and throw a little bit there and hope it all just sticks and everything's gonna work out. And that's not being strategic, right? To me, that's straight out gambling, and investors don't gamble. So what we want to do is that we want to develop a proper plan and a proper strategy. Now there's 3 aspects that go into the strategy and this plan. One is what I call your investment assessment. It's all about getting clear on your numbers, right? And there's 13 key investment numbers you need to know. The second is about strategically allocating your assets so you're building— so every dollar has a plan and has a purpose. And there's no surprises, that you can build wealth while staying safe. And again, I'm going through some of these quickly. The third is all about having a rock-solid game plan, and this is the element I want to dive in on a little bit deeper. Someone didn't build this very well, did they? Alright, let's hope that doesn't collapse.

It doesn't.

Can everyone see that okay? We've got this on a board up there. Oh, it's a little bit dodgy. Look, I'll talk to you about it, alright? So there's 3 strategies that every investor has to have running in their portfolio at any point in time. They're called buying gold, paycheck, and momentum. Now when I talk about this, and again I'm gonna move through this quickly, but I want to give you the framework, I want to give you the understanding. Is that okay everyone? I'm gonna move through it quickly. If you want, if you want this in full, the team will give you an entire training just around this if you want it. Just go talk to the team, we'll hook you up. Now, there's 3 primary strategies that every investor has to have running in their portfolio at any point in time. When I talk about this, I'm going to use property as an example, but only because it's easy to understand. This is true for shares, it's true for crypto, it's true for businesses, it's true for gold, it's true for alternative investments, lending strategies, all that type of stuff. Doesn't matter. Now, the first strategy, all about buying gold when it comes to the world of property, is all about better quality property and better quality locations. What do we call that?

Blue chip.

Blue chip real estate, right? And why do we buy blue chip real estate? Some of you go, oh, we don't buy blue chip real estate, but why?

Capitalizing value.

Right, okay. So we don't buy blue chip real estate generally for the yields, do we? 'Cause the yields are often quite shit in resident— we're talking resi right here, in residential real estate. Yields can often be quite terrible, right? So these are properties in more desirable locations and the primary reason that we buy these is all about generating capital growth Which is where you create your real wealth from in real estate and where you create your real wealth from in investing in general, is the growth in the value of the asset. Does that make sense to everyone?

Yeah.

Right, growth in the value of the asset. Now, if you only have this strategy though, it's gonna come with some limitations. Limitation number 1, because they're better properties and better locations, right, one, they cost a lot more money to get involved with to begin with. So you need a lot more dosh to be able to get into them. Limitation number 2 is your yields are really low. So some people run out and try and buy 1 or 2 of these, they run out of cash flow, run out of money, run out of serviceability, then they're done dusted, gotta sit on their backside for 5 years, wait for their income to catch up. Does that make sense?

Yeah.

Now, to be clear, I don't have a problem with a negatively geared property. Some of my best property deals have been negatively geared because they've made me hundreds of thousands in capital growth. What I do have a problem with, however, is a negatively geared portfolio. Does that make sense to everyone? Can you get that distinction? Never get caught up in individual deal or the asset, get caught up in the portfolio growth overall. Does that make sense? Because we're building a system. It's not about buying property, we're building a wealth system that your money is making more money for you. This is why we got to have strategy number 2, the paycheck strategy. So the primary purpose behind your buying gold is about creating capital growth. The primary purpose behind your paycheck strategy is about generating cash flow. Where do most people get this from in their life?

Work.

Job, business, makes sense? So you go to work, you exchange time for money, or if you have a business system, better. But if you base the health of your portfolio only on how much money you earn from your job, it's always gonna be a limiting factor, right? And if you base the only income for your life on your job or your business, then you wind up being a slave to money for the rest of your life. Does that make sense? And life's about so much more than working to pay the bills, true? This is why we need to generate more and more income streams into the portfolio to create consistent streams of income to support the continued accumulation of these better quality assets over here, which is where we might want to store our wealth, in solid, stable assets which deliver a consistent, sustainable income stream for the rest of our life in the portfolio to fund the lifestyle you desire. So you need cash flow coming in to support your serviceability so the banks keep lending you money. Now as business owners, you can, you can rock around with low-doc lending and do some different things and you can probably develop some stuff and do some things. You need to make sure your portfolio is positive cash flow from the word go. You need to make sure that you've got cash flow coming in to eliminate debt and to build up more capital for more deposits and costs for more deals. That's the 4 reasons we need cash flow in a portfolio. Does that make sense for everyone so far? Is everyone following where I'm at? Yeah? The 3rd strategy here is your momentum strategy. Now, from the world of property, this momentum strategy isn't about these blue-chip babies. It's not the ones we wanna hold forever and a day, but they're there to serve a purpose. So you might buy at a discount, you might renovate, you might develop, you might subdivide. I couldn't give a flying hoot how you do it, right? We do a deal, we trade it back to the marketplace in 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, 5 years, depending on your plan and your strategy. You turn over a chunk of profit and we use that chunk of profit to ultimately go and deleverage the portfolio. The late Jim Rohn had this great— who knows who Jim Rohn is? Anyone heard of Jim Rohn?

Yeah.

Yeah, so the OG of personal development, right? The late Jim Rohn had this great saying is that profits are better than wages. Profits are better than wages. So if we can start turning over this profit train within our portfolio, via turning over big chunks of capital on a regular basis, what could we use that capital for? We could buy more of these. We could pay down the debt on these in big chunks at a time rather than paying principal interest over 30-odd years, which is a dumb way to pay down debt. Does that make sense? That's working for the bank. Does that make sense?

Yeah.

If you're following the bank's rules, you're not following a wealth builder's rules, right? The bank set that up to make profit, not to make you profit. So we've got to start playing the money game of life by a different set of rules if you want to start developing a very different set of outcomes. What's the definition of madness?

Some people—

Right, who's displayed some types of madness in their money and wealth building in their life at any point in time? Has anyone displayed some types of madness? Yeah, so you can't play by the rules that the government and that the banks set up for you because you're gonna get the result that they want for you, not Creating financial freedom. And so we could then use this to buy more of these, pay down the debt in massive chunks at a time, or to be able to build up more deposits and costs to be able to go and capitalize into these strategies again, to build up your capital base. This is true for property, this is true for crypto, this is true for business investment, this is true for lending strategies, alternate investments, this is true for it all. It's not about the asset, it's about the purpose the asset serves in the portfolio. Does everyone get that point? That's a critical, critical point, because if you make it all about, oh, I just love property, or I love shares, or I love this, then you're making emotional decisions. Investing plus emotions equals losing money. We want to make our decisions based on facts, based on figures, based on plans, based on strategies. Does that make sense to everyone?

Yes.

I'm moving through this. Thank you very much for holding that. Can you give him another round of applause? That's fantastic. I don't need that anymore, so I really appreciate you doing that for me. Now, Tony was in this situation, right? Tony ran a pergola business down in Melbourne. And when I met Tony in 2019, 2020, he was stuck in his business. He had the plan to be able to sell his business but wasn't getting a seller in any way, shape, or form, and he kept kind of beating a dead horse with that same little plan. He had a few assets, but he bought them based on emotions, based on where he thought he might want to live in the future. And he was stuck in his business and he was tied there, and at the age of 60, he had no idea how he was even going to consider retiring in the next 5 years or even 10 years in his situation. Has anyone been concerned about that or felt like that in their life and situation? Stuck, tied in a business, all the things that I was talking about. still on the tools, all of that stuff. Within the space of 3 years, we went from stuck in the business to financially free. We sold a bunch of his non-performing assets, we owned and accumulated 6 more properties, we diversified his portfolio in multiple different areas and multiple different income streams. He's now sitting on a $200K passive income and $200K profit income, that's $400 grand every single year, and making about $1 million in equity growth in his portfolio just last year alone. And that happened in 3 years, all because we got his lazy assets and we got them out there working harder for him. So his money was working harder for him than he was working for his money. Does that make sense? And there's the key right there to wealth creation. Now, the second element is all about structure. I'm just gonna— can you guys You can see now? Yeah, okay, cool. The second thing is all about structure, and this is all about staying safe while building wealth. What you want to start creating and developing is a financial fortress in your situation. So the question you want to ask yourself is, do you have a plan to keep you, your family, your business, and your portfolio safe while growing your wealth? Now, I didn't have this plan in my early 20s. I built a lot of wealth in a short period of time, but I did not know how to protect myself. So I built— what I built was a house of cards. It looked pretty on the outside, but there was nothing underneath it. Does that make sense? And all it took was for the wind to blow in the opposite direction and my whole house of cards came crashing down and I lost everything, had to start again. Who's had the outrageously joyful and gorgeous experience of losing everything and having to start again? Has anyone had that? Sucks, doesn't it? And I don't want anyone else to have to go through that. So I'm hypersensitive around people protecting themselves their portfolio. When it comes time to building a strategy, when it comes to your structure, there's 3 key things, like everything else, that we want to be focusing on. One is get yourself market ready, because if you are not ready to receive deals, what do you have to do? Sit there. You sit there on the sidelines and you wave them goodbye. Who's had the experience of recognizing great opportunities and Yeah. Yeah, you recognize great opportunities, but you haven't got your shit together to be able to take advantage of it. Has anyone done that before? Who's done that more than once? Right, that's a frustrating experience, isn't it? And so you've got to get your ducks in a row to be able to kind of do this. The second thing is all about levering up your leverage, right? Because if everything is just based on you, then you become the bottleneck to your own success. Has anyone felt like that, that they're just the bottleneck to their own success because you've only got a limited amount of time or money or knowledge or understanding in a moment? Has anyone felt like that? Yeah, absolutely. And the reason you're with APB is that because they have some tools and some resources, some understanding, some knowledge, some experience that you guys don't have. And so you— there's 2 ways to learn in life. One is trial and—

Error.

Error. Good way to learn, painful way to learn. Right? Or the other is through modeling success. Find someone who's gotten the results that you want in your life, find out how they did it, and copy them. In school, we're taught that copying is—

Cheating.

Cheating. In life, it's your secret to success. Does that make sense? I wouldn't be who I am or where I am if I didn't have the mentors in my life, from property to shares to crypto to, to relationship to spiritual teachers to all that type of stuff. Like, mentorship is a pathway to success, and I've invested Millions, right, in getting the right mentors in my life. And so level up your leverage, and there's 6 different levers of leverage that you can pull on that then can remove yourself from being the bottleneck. And then finally, it's the portfolio protection protocol. Now I'm fast running out of time, so I'm gonna move through some of these fast. My team would joke about giving me a 40-minute speaking slot, that's, I'd barely get past the introduction and that, so, you know, I'd usually be going for days. So in the center of all this, I believe it's all about creating financial sovereignty. And what I mean by that is that, you know, no matter what happens in the economy, no matter what dumb shit the government does, no matter what planning rules they change and what happens, no matter what happens, lockdowns, whatever happens, that you and your family are safe and in control of your decisions for the future. And you're no longer ever again subject to the ups and downs and changes of the market. Like you're in control. Who wants some more of that where nothing shakes you? Does anyone want some more of that? That's what I believe about creating a financial fortress in your life. There's 3 things you want to be thinking about here. Whoops. One is all about your security and your privacy. 2 is all about ownership and creating sustainable income. So how are you going to own your assets? You know, is it in your personal name? Is it in a structure? Is it onshore? Is it offshore? Is it public, is it private? And then actualize, how are you going to create your freedom and your legacy? Now again, that's a deep dive into this stuff. I'm just trying to give you a bit of an overview that you've got to set your structures out, especially as business owners. I assume you guys spend a bit of time on structuring and stuff when it comes to business?

Yes.

Yes, no, maybe? If you don't, you bloody well should be, because it's one of the key things when it comes to the world of business that keep yourself safe and Make sure you're efficient and make sure you're structuring things the right way because it can— the acceleration on your business and the safety factors are enormous, are enormous. So if this isn't top of your mind as a business owner, it bloody well needs to be. Okay, so you want to take a proper look at that. And getting the right accountant is critical, right? Critical. And finding that right accountant can be a needle in a haystack. Anyone know what I'm talking about? Yeah, right. Finally, it's all about the system. Getting your money making more money for you. Do you have a system to access, analyze, and execute on quality off-market opportunities to make more profit and cash flow and accelerate your wealth? Now, question, do you think the best deals— you guys know this already— but do you think the best deals and opportunities jump on realestate.com.au or Domain?

No.

Where have they all gone beforehand? They're off market. They're off market. The best deals are always done off market, and that's where you want to be shopping when it comes to your strategies and when it comes to your opportunities. Otherwise, it's like fighting with the seagulls. Who's had the experience of having fish and chips and one chip falls on the ground, and before it even hits the ground, this flock, thousands of seagulls, just descend like a plague onto this one chip? Has anyone had that experience? That's what I see a lot of people fighting for deals on Real Estate O'Connell today look like. They're all fighting for the same scraps, where the best deals were already tucked off market. And this is the same when it comes to property, when it comes to other strategies. You know, because I've been doing this for a long period of time, I've got my hands in a lot of pies. I've got a lot of really interesting networks. Because how do you get deals? It's not about what you know, it's about Who you know. Who you know. It's all about networks. And so, you know, whether it be off-market property deals or whether it be interesting business opportunities, you know, we've done, you know, investing in hemp farms or first independent birthing centers in Australia. We've got a hotel deal up on the beach in Caloundra at the moment. We've done a lot of interesting JV deals, lending strategies doing 15 to 25% per annum, gold-backed lending, fixed income, whole range of different stuff. Most people don't even see this because they're always done off-market, but a lot of people look at those returns and the first thing they think is what? If it sounds too good to be true, then it must be. Oh, it must be high risk. High returns equals high risk. That's not accurate, it's not true, it's just a belief system that we're talking about because we're conditioned to accept, well, if we just earn, you know, 5% in a bank account, we should be happy with that. So Does that make sense? But there are so many better opportunities out there, and if you can start combining different asset classes serving different purposes to create an overarching wealth system, you can accelerate your wealth at a rate that you were never even aware of before. And this is why a lot of my clients can go and create their own financial freedom and do things like Tony within a few years, right? It's very, very possible. It's very, very doable. Because if you don't get your money working hard for you, then you'll spend your entire life just working hard for money. A bunch of my clients have been able to do it. It's not luck, it's a system. You follow the system, you get the result. And that's what we teach all of our investors to be able to do. Now, I'm drastically out of time, and so I'm going to end up there today. Now, over at the table there, we've got a lot of free cool stuff that we're able to give you guys. And if you want to come and access it, please make sure you come and see Nico, you come and see Odi. Over at the table. Give everyone a wave, Nico and Odi. Go give everyone a wave. The only opportunity that we're offering along the way today, and all my investors, this is where they start. They book a free call with my team, and on that 20-minute, you know, 30-minute call, it's complimentary, doesn't cost you anything. All it's about is unpacking your situation so they can help you understand, well, where are you now? Where do you really want to be? And what does financial freedom actually mean to you? And what kind of portfolio do you need to generate to be able to create it? What is your bottleneck in your current situation and what's the greatest untapped opportunity that if you could grab hold of and actually press the right lever on that, it's going to accelerate your pathway? And they're going to help you unpack this in a 30-minute period and it's absolutely complimentary. Is that okay with everybody?

Yeah.

So who's interested in kind of like pressing the accelerator on their own investment journey and wealth creation? Right, well, this will be the next step and it has been the next step for all of my investors over the years. I have so much more I want to share with you, I wish I could. Has that been interesting, useful? What'd you guys get out of it? Quick, quick shares. Say again? Hope? There's definitely bloody hope, yeah, 100%. Anything else?

Opportunity.

Opportunity, there's massive opportunity. Right, get your strategies in place. You guys have untapped opportunity and potential in your guys' situation because of what you do. And you need to be taking advantage of that in business and in construction, all the stuff you do. If you are not, what a darn shame, right? Thank you very much. I really appreciate you all. Thank you.

Thank you.