Financial Freedom: THIS Is What "Gurus" Won't Tell You...

To do what you want to do, whenever you want to do it, wherever you want to do it. That's freedom to me, that's financial freedom. If you are someone, it's like, you know what? I. I'm at the bottom and want to just get the top, or I want to not live paycheck to paycheck. I want to have a nicer house, I want to have an extra car. I want to be debt free. So whatever it is to get you there, use it. But realize that if you pick something shallow, although it'll motivate you, that's like gasoline. But you need rocket fuel for a rocket ship, and that's going to be something deeper. Do you want to give back? Do you want to change the world? These are great, great things that as you hit your goal, you'll just keep wanting to do more of that. Even if it is a Lamborghini, great, but I'd like to be there on the day that you buy it and then be with you on a year after you bought it. Because what you realize is that that goal, although it motivated you, you got this object, and that object is shallow. And so after you've achieved this, you're going to feel empty almost from like day one. And so you will need to dig deeper and find something that is a real, true.

What are you, man, the most grateful for in your life lately?

I think without a doubt, it's my wife and my parents. We all actually work together. And so the daily conversations of love and fun, they make work fun. I have an extra excuse to call my dad and my mom every single day. My wife and I, we work together and our relationship's great and we respect each other. And I know not a lot of people could work with their wife or their parents. And it's a blessing to do it all and have a blast, man.

I just. I so appreciate you being here. Thank you for being on the show. And there's a huge part of my psyche, and really my heart too, that that has wanted to provide the biggest financial space for my family. And I think every human being on planet Earth, Adrian, they feel that it's like it's never been a more sexy, fun time to be an entrepreneur, but yet maybe the competition and the challenge of getting in has also never been more fucking confusing for people. So I wonder if we could start here. Like, you know, it's funny you mentioned what you're grateful for because of your family, and it was actually your grandma. You know, long ago your grandma was forced because of A tragedy to go around the surrounding towns north of Jalisco, Mexico. Right. And she really went to the villages and found all the products and goods that weren't sold in her town. She never became super wealthy, but she did make enough money that your family could come to America. There's a little picture of you as a baby right now on the screen. It's such a cool story because why do we do anything if it's not for the love of our family? For the love of people. That's what this conversation's all about. To selfishly wanting to learn myself. And then, you know, by the products that, that you support and by your story that's really come to fruition. Millions of dollars sold. Like, this isn't about just the money. It's like we do things for a certain reason. And that reason, I think for most successful people comes from the heart. So share that story because when I, when I saw that video and when I started to really understand why you do what you do, I knew it was a different relationship right off the bat. This is why we've partnered with you. This is why I believe in you. This is why we. We're here, man. So tell us like, what was your grandma's name, by the way?

Margarita.

Margarita.

And by the way, dude, thank you for knowing that story and sharing it. You're the first person to actually like bring that. So I already know like you've the level of work and even the studio. It shows like how much love you're putting into this and giving value to people. It's inspiring for, for me. But my, my grandma is definitely a superhero to me and all of our family because she raised her entire family on her own from a tragedy. And when she. Her sole mission of what was her purpose in life, it was basically get the brambilas to America. So my dad was 13 when they finally around 13 when they made that trip. And that like her whole life dedication, that was her goal. And it did change the rambula tree. You know, just because you make it to the USA doesn't mean great. Everything's awesome from here. The adversity and struggles that my, my dad faced and still my grandma that, you know, you could have a. A list of what are all the bad things that could happen to you. And they probably experienced most of them. My mom also, she grew up really poor in, in Northern California. And when, when they met it was really a story of, of like just people that they met in bowling alley. They, they, they loved the game. They were really athletic. They played soccer, they were just in love. And they had nothing, nothing to their names. But they both had this like immigrant mentality, which, you know, you can adopt. Doesn't mean you have to be an immigrant if you're born here. I was born here, but I feel like I still have an immigrant mentality from how I was raised. And that is basically to like it does. It's not a cure all, but hard work. Working hard can solve a lot of your problems. Not, not all of them, but work. That's basically how I was raised to think through the stories that of my, my father, my and my mother, they would share. Like, one of the most famous ones that I like repeating is there was a period of where they both were working. My dad was washing cars, my mom was just a clerk. And they wanted to save $10,000 in their bank account. That was their first kind of financial goal. And so what they did, they did something that seems there's not no secret to this, but it's just a level of sacrifice that most people aren't willing to do. They didn't buy new clothes for about four years. My dad eventually at Toyota, he got out of washing cars and he started being like working in the parts section and just the lowest end job of that. But what's funny is, and throughout that four years, I could look back in our family photos and my dad is always wearing a Toyota branded shirt. And like in all the family photos after his soccer games are out, like, it's always there. So it's like in that period of four years, like all he did was wear the free shirt that he got from work. So it's like that level of sacrifice, like, are you would just don't give up clothes for four years. Like, that's an insane amount of like, that's a strong immigrant mindset of like, oh, no problem, we want $10,000 in the bank. What's something we can do that's maybe to save that money? And four years of no clothes, that's, that's an insane amount of thing today in a consumerist world where I'm like four years, I don't know if I could go four years without buying something new.

The level of sacrifice, Owens, I don't think people, maybe no one listening to this has done that where they're like, what am I willing to sacrifice in order to save? Because money is energy. And look, I'm curious how you feel about this. On one side of the camp, they're like, okay, money is a vehicle for transmission of energy. And trade. Right. Money is spiritual. I fall in that camp. But then there's sometimes where I feel like, okay, the other side says that money is just a game, and that with money being a game, we just learn how to play the game. Well, I. I think they both go in and out of my experience of consciousness. We'll get to that in a second. I want to know, like, what was the vacuum that was created from the tragedy? And if you mind sharing, like, what was the tragedy? I don't know if you ever shared that publicly. And then how does that vacuum still fuel you to do what you do? Because it's not like we always want to make money because we're angry and we want to make it. Sometimes we earn money. Actually, most of the time successful people, they earn money because they have a big, huge purpose, either for their family or for their global family. You know, we're all brothers and sisters on planet Earth. Walk us through that. Like, what was the tragedy? And then also, like, how do you still pull from that in your lineage? It's in your being. It's in your cells.

Yeah. I haven't shared this, but my dad's dad was murdered. So when my dad was around, like, five. So he grew up basically without a dad. And I always give him a lot of credit because raising me, he was like, I didn't really have an example, but he crushed it, loved it. I was raised with, like, tough love. And it's definitely maybe in the person I am today.

What do you mean by tough love?

I think, you know, like, there's a saying of, like, when I was looking for, I don't know, like, the easy pat on the back, everything's gonna be okay. It was more of, like, put some dirt on it, you know, that's how I was raised. And I am so glad I was, because it's made me. It's made me strong. It's made me in some of the areas of my life, in business. And then I used to be a professional dancer for T Pain. And throughout the entertainment experiences, it made me really stay strong to my moral values. And I feel like if I wasn't raised like that, I would have been more lenient. But to answer your question, how do I try to keep the history of my family? I think of my freshman year in college. What do most college kids do? We drink. So after my first semester, one thing my parents did, and mathematically, I do not know how they did this. This is the biggest gift they've ever given to me financially, is they. They're so my. My grandma's sole mission was to get the Brain B list to the usa. My parents sole mission was to make sure I could graduate debt free. And I believe if we looked at the math, I, I almost. If I go back and encourage them, you should have spent more money on your own financial future than mine. But that was their. That was their legacy that they wanted to pass on. So I graduated debt free. That's insane. That's. I. I'll always give credit to that.

Like, school paid off.

School paid off. I had, you know, a little bit of scholarship, but irrelevant. They. The fact that they did that so I could graduate with no loan.

Here in Texas. You go to school?

Uh, I went to school in Dubuque, Iowa. University of Dubuque, super small, private, private college.

When people think Iowa, they think cornfields.

They. Okay. But after my first semester, knowing this, I partied. I was. I was messing around. I came back home and my parents asked me face to face because I didn't see them, you know, for longest period of 18 since I was 18. They're like, how was college? And I lied. I was like, oh, I'm working real hard. You know, I'm getting good grades. I think I'm going to do business. Everything's going great. I'm already lining up, you know, future interns, being an intern somewhere. And I felt so guilty when I got back, and I was like, how disrespectful to do that. And I thought of my grandma and I thought, my family, it's like all the work they put in. And here I am messing around because. Because I don't. I don't have to bear the weight of financial burden of college. So then I gave up parting just cold turkey. And when you do that in college, my goodness, you have a lot of spare time and energy, too, and money. Yeah. So with that spare time, I went to. I just wanted something to do for fun. It's not like I started cramming business books. That's. I wasn't even thinking about business, but I wanted something fun to do. So I went to YouTube in Iowa. I typed in how to dance the robot. And this is where my professional dance journey began. I never danced before in my life. I started watching YouTube tutorials. Amount of time people are partying. I'd be like, adrian, you want to go out? No, no, no, I'm gonna stay. And I would go to a gym at the school's gym, and I would basically have my laptop there, and I would watch YouTube dance tutorials and after a year of that, I performed my first dance performance. It was like a college talent show in front of my peers. And it was amazing. People loved it and I loved it. It was super fun. And I just learned through copying people. And later in the dance industry, that's actually not a good thing. You shouldn't copy people's like people's art. So I wasn't original, but I was a good copycat. Then I started working on my own style. And then two years into dancing, I'm now my junior year. And T Pain had an open call audition so anyone on the Internet could submit a video. And the videos I think they were in the tens of thousands to basically a backup dancer for him. He picked, I think 10 people out of the thousands. And one of those videos was mine. I was already like, life change, life goals. This is amazing. Yeah, I never really wanted to be a professional dancer. It was more of like, why not, why not submit it? We, we get to florida, there's the 10 dancers there. One of them will DeBeace. He did make a really good name for himself and then went to some Will the Beast. Will the Beast Adams. Yeah. Anisha Gibbs, another person from that list who ended up being very famous. Wildebeest has come into some issues recently, but he ended up picking all 10 people. So how, you know, how lucky is that? You believe luck or God showing a path, you know, whatever it is, to me, it was, it was insane. So that, that changed my life in many ways. Financially. Inspiration. T Pain is only a few years older than me, so I think at the time he was like 25ish. And so here was this guy, you know, worth upwards of $30 million. And he had, he had the a lifestyle. Not the lifestyle I, I wanted or idolized, but I started dancing basically to avoid partying and drinking and alcohol. And so when I got into the world of T Pain's life, being a backup dancer, it was a party every single day. You could get whatever you wanted. And. And it's like to achieve that much success so young and have access and status and fame, it's hard to blame someone for saying yes to it. All women and drugs and alcohol and why not just party 24 7? So I remember there was a new dancer who showed up and this is probably six months in and a dancer was introducing the new guy to everyone. And they introduced it to this guy to me and said, oh, this is Adrian. He don't fuck with nobody. And they, they said that because everyone would engage in partying in the after hours. And I was, I'd be like, the only, like, like, kind of soberish guy. Like, I'm, I'm good, guys. I'm. I'm going to call it in. Or, like, I didn't want to, like, partake in that. And I was also dating Ashley, who. Who's now my wife at the time. So, like, it was. But it was a sensory overwhelm in terms of what was, what was available. But here's the biggest thing I got from T Pain, which changed my life. He created a new song in front of us and then launched it in front of us. Not the same day, but when the song was ready, had a music video. He's like, he opened up his laptop. We're all sitting down and, like, rehearsals. And he's like, we played the video. We're like, oh, it's awesome. He's awesome. Looks at his manager. He's like, are we ready? He's like, yeah, yeah. I have no idea what's going on, but clicks the button or his manager clicks a button, and then, I don't know, 10 minutes go by and there's millions of downloads. This is itunes back in the day, so it's like 99 cents a download. But it registered to me that I had just watched him make, like, a few million dollars in, like, 10 minutes from essentially hitting a button.

Your consciousness was expanded about what was possible.

Insane. I, I, I, I could not believe it. And then after he did that, he went to the couch and he got really, really drunk. So it. That, to me is like, everything I learned about wealth and success and making money is opposite to what he just did. Like, what's going on. So, yeah, that moment is my biggest moment from being a professional dancer is. Is that exact moment that. That just changed my whole life of, like, what is possible. And I, you know, I'm not a singer or a rapper, but I have made $1 million in a day from clicking a button, which is fascinating because. And it is possible. It sounds fake. I didn't believe what I saw. Y. I'm not the only person who's done it. There's a lot of people who, who do that. Actually, once you start looking.

I mean, this is why. This is why the world we live in could be either a hologram or a game or both. Because we have been trained, and I think our society, our parents, definitely our grandparents, they were trained that if you work hard, if you save money, then eventually you can be successful. And the old school definition of success was, like, the Picket fence, maybe two cars, kids going to college. The kind of traditional, almost like a cookie cutter life. And that doesn't resonate with me at all. It never has. When I was young enough to even understand what money was, money to me just meant pain, suffering, and struggle. Rich people are mean. They take advantage of others. Capitalism is the enemy. I was. I was born in San Diego, California. So, like, there was a huge part of my life where I was just angry at money, angry at God, angry at capitalism, Lots of anger. If you could go back or if any of us that are. They're here with us, like 20 years old, maybe even early 30s, and they're looking at what you just said, they may have either accepted what you just said and they've done enough work on themselves around money to be, like, excited for that potential that you're creating, or they may have a part in their psyche that might judge what you just said. Oh, he's full of it. Easy for him to say, whatever, whatever. Fill in the blank. Speak to that person who is struggling with the meaning, the identity of money. Because this is the foundation of wellness like this. We cannot have physical, mental, spiritual, emotional without financial. That's why I changed every module in my programs and in everything we put out, because financial abundance, financial wellness, and literacy. Without it, it is impossible in this 3D world to truly thrive. So go to that person, man. Like, when they're hearing you and they're like, oh, okay, I love what Adrian's saying. But then there's also somebody with us who's like, judging you because of their own beliefs. Speak to that.

Yeah. So I'm writing my first book with Dr. Brad Klontz, and he actually has pioneered this concept called money scripts. And these are the scripts that you inherit. As a child, watching your parents or watching your surrounding, there's something. It could be a moment or it could be a series of events where. Of interaction of how you saw money being handled for good or worse, that affects. And. And we carry these burdens. For example, you. You shared just now like you. Money made you angry or you hated it, but. And it's not your fault. This is. This is how just by a byproduct of just being raised in a family. Not every family is financially literate, so they. So we just get where every starting point is different. You can't really control that.

Yeah.

So working through those scripts is. Is, man, It's. It's. It's a challenging thing to do. I wish there was just one little buzzword I could say and it could be cured. But I do know that when you treat money like a tool and you don't put too much emotional attachment to it at the beginning, you know, I. I definitely have an emotional attachment. I'll explain a little bit here. But, like, to me, more than anything, it is a tool. It is neutral. It is not. Good or bad is just a tool. What makes it good or bad is basically how I use it. So in the hands of an evil person, money is evil. In the hands of a good person, money can do really good. And so that's. My emotional attachment is like, I'm actually in charge of what money means to myself. So when I make more money, I have the. And every time I make more money, I can make a bad decision. I have the power to make an evil decision. I have the power to. To do something harmful with the money or I have the opportunity to bless other people's lives. I have the opportunity to bless my life and my family's life. I have the opportunity to invest in other people. But it's our choice now, how our money scripts, we can't control, but we always can't control our choice. So that's what I would say to you is right now, if you are feeling some sort of resentment about money, that's probably just your money script. That's just programmed and how we were raised. But moving forward, as you view money, I would say, you know, this is an amazing opportunity for you to control if money is good or evil. That's actually up to you.

That is the bomb drop. Because the money story, literally, almost like a cattle, you know, getting imprinted with a barb. That's how we get imprinted from parents, like, when you grow up real poor. I was. I was raised on welfare. So, I mean, like, government cheese, kick cereal, like, huge block of ground beef. Like, that was kind of how we ate. And I always would resent standing in that special line at school, you know, the welfare line, because I thought to myself, wow, everyone knows that we're poor. Everyone knows that we're broke. And I developed an early pattern of shame around that. And that shame turned into anger. But below anger is always sadness. And then that anger actually propelled me for a while when I was a personal trainer. And I got burnt out there. And. And then at some point on my journey, I think it was probably 33 to 35, I started this podcast in 2015. I had to really look at what is the fuel source that drives me in this world. Is it love or is it fear? And I know that sounds like really reductionistic, right? Is it love or is it fear? But that's it. There's only two fuel substrates. You go to the gas station, there's diesel, there's unleaded. It's the same thing with us. Like you're either doing what you do, and I know you do it from love. Cause you talked about your family in the first three minutes. Of course that's why you're doing it. But I was very unclear about that. I had to go through ayahuasca journeys and breath work and really soul shattering experiences so I could look at all the ways that I had been imprinted and my father had been imprinted and my grandfather had been imprinted both on maternal and paternal. Like they had really gone through a lot of suffering. They came to Ellis island, my Sicilian side. They were treated like cattle when they arrived at Ellis Island. So like, and especially even in the, the Mexican culture, like there's still a wound there, there's still a healing that needs to occur. And I'm sure, you know, I'm getting to the question here, I promise. Like there is a part of our hearts and our psyches that in order to be wealthy, you have to heal the inner self, the inner child, the small Adrian, the small Josh, the small. Anyone who is really wanting has. It has a deep desire to be wealthy, a deep desire for financial literacy and intelligence. But they are so. I've said this before, their wounding is clouding their wisdom. It's. It's clouded there. So how did you do that work on yourself? Especially with the story from your grandma. You could have chosen to be angry at the world. Why didn't you choose that?

I think, you know, this one's tough because I feel like the answer for me is going to be different for, for others. And I don't know if I'm a recipe to follow because I have always been an optimist. I think of the world as a place of opportunity. Despite. If you looked at the history of my family, I could totally have be the opposite. I could totally think the opposite. And I don't know if I have an explanation than that other than I think it's a better life to think of the opportunity. I don't ignore the damage, I don't ignore the, the tragedies. But I. There might be a day, you know, for everyone, we have different personal experiences. It might be a day that every day where there's a moment where I take time to acknowledge what's happened. But after I've Acknowledged it and respected it. Then I move on and I, and I. And I use that day to, for, to fulfill the purposes that I would like to do. So it's a respect of what's happened, but it's not a baggage of it. And I don't know if I have an explanation of like, well, it's because I did all this, this work. I just know that I saw my parents constantly working towards a better future. And in that regard I'm very lucky and very blessed. What a privilege to see that because that's instilled in me to constantly be working towards a better future.

Mm. Yeah. And I liked earlier you said it was such a disrespect when you got home from school that you had lied to them. And I think the truth is light, the truth is easy, the truth is simple. And all the ways that I have fabricated in my own life, and I'm sure all of us have fabricated bullshit stories that justify how we show up instead of how our heart and soul really wants to show up. My heart and soul wants to show up fully in protector mode and provider mode for my family. And also I want to have fun with this life. I can't do any of that, man. I can't do any of. Unless I have a deep soul level connection to money. Otherwise we wouldn't be here, we wouldn't be on planet Earth at this time unless the construct of money was something that we had co created that the collective agreed upon. But there is a wound and I've heard Caroline Meiss talk about this, I've heard Jen Sincero talk about this. Like there is a collective wound that you say, you acknowledge, you respect it and then you move on. How exactly do you move on? I want to go just like a.

Little bit more into that, I think, to move on. Where are we moving or are you just wandering around aimlessly or do you have some sense of direction? And if you can answer that question, I think that's where you start. What is it that you want? Our life is so short, so you. We have to have some type of inclination and direction, aspiration, dreams, goals. I still have so many. I have so many dreams and goals. I'm actually always been known as a dreamer. I, I love coming up with different plans and ideas and, and things and I think that's the fun part, some people say. And I've read content even in self help books like Don't Dream, Dream is Bad. I, I tend to believe dreaming's great because don't dream. Oh man, if you think of, like, the practical. I'm a realist. I'm a realist. I'm. I'm practical. And maybe that's just accountants, but it.

Sounds like a serious mental health condition to not dream.

Dude, dreaming, so important.

You live a life and not dream. You have to dream would be the point of that.

I know dreaming. So, so I think you start with, you start with dreams if you don't know where you want to go that, you know, you have to figure out what compels you, what motivates you. A very cliche of every business book is finding your reason why and, or finding some, you know, someone's. Some, some people, you know, use an object for their motivation. A mansion, a Lamborghini. And I used to feel like, I used to be judgmental about that. I used to be like. Because I, I feel people who. That's a pretty shallow thing to aspire to. However, I've since changed my stance and I think, you know what, whatever motivates you to start reading, start improving, start thinking about money, start budgeting, start investing, start learning, start your side hustle, start your business, get better, whatever it is, even if it is a Lamborghini, great, then the Lamborghini is what you need to put on your background, everything, and do it. And I'm not going to judge you because look at all the work you're putting in. But I'd like to be there on the day that you buy it and the D and be there on the day after you buy it and be with you on a year after you bought it. Because what you realize is that that goal, although it motivated you, you got this object. And that object is shallow. And so after you've achieved this, you're going to feel empty almost from like day one. And so you will need to dig deeper and find something that is a real true reason why. But that being said, right now, if you are someone that's like, you know what I. I'm at, I'm at the bottom and I want and want to just get to the top or I want to not live paycheck to paycheck. I want to have a nicer house, I want to have an extra car. I want to be debt free. These are all things that, you know, financial literacy. To do what you want to do, whenever you want to do it, wherever you want to do it. That's freedom. To me, that's financial freedom. So whatever it is to get you there, use it. But realize that if you pick something shallow, although it'll motivate you. That's like gasoline. But if you want to, you need rocket fuel like for a rocket ship. And that's going to be something deeper. So usually someone you love like to provide for your family. That's an amazing, amazing reason to be, to be, to be a good role model to your family, to philanthropic. Do you want to give back? Do you want to change the world? These are great, great things that as hit your goal. You'll just keep wanting to do more of that. It's great because otherwise you'll, you'll. There's also many stories of very rich sad people. Very rich people who, who have the Lamborghini and now that. That satisfied them for a little bit. And so what's the answer? Get another Lamborghini until they have how many Lamborghinis you need, you know, so that's so good.

Okay. Did you ever fall into that yourself at any point in the journey? That fake construct. When I get the Lambo, I'm good. Did you fall into that?

I thought, yeah, not a Lamborghini. But I thought to be a millionaire was something that was. That was it. And that I learned. I hit that when I was 29 and the day hit. I was really excited. I was like, we did it. But there was really no vision after that. And so it was like, well, what now? And I had to do some really, you know, some, some deep thinking and, and searching and of like what. What did a millionaire mean to me? So the mil. To be a millionaire as an in net worth was the thing that helped me go from, from zero. So again, that's why I think it's good to have whatever it is.

Yeah.

But then after it's like, well, what I want to do with it. Because how you spend money is really the story. What you do with your money is the story. And I. And so I, I didn't really figure that out until after. And then I started thinking about my family and I have a family business and that was that next step is to be what to do what I'm doing now. And, and so like that helped because.

Your mom and your dad and your wife. Yeah. You all work together.

Yeah.

I can't tell you how many times in my life I remember I was sitting in my bedroom as a teenager and I thought, wow, one day I'm going to make so much money that I'm gonna buy my mom a house. I'm gonna like, I'm just, I'm. I'm feeling that memory right now. You know, like, I'M gonna buy my mom a house. I see how much my family struggled. Like, I'm gonna. I'm gonna do this differently than my dad did because my dad sacrificed his health and a lot of things for money. And. And this isn't to shame my father, like, you know, sending him love on the journey where he's at. But I wanted to do something special for my family because I thought, okay, I don't give a fuck about being famous, about being well known. You know, we've had, like, tens of millions of downloads of people, human beings that have, like, seen the show, absorbed the show in some way. I still don't feel like I'm at a top of a mountain. But if you would have taken me, Adrian, to when I was, like, 18, 19 in the bedroom in El Cajon, in basically, like, poverty, I would have said, oh, my God, you've made it. This is the dream. And you had the same thing when you hit the million. I think there's something really special when you can be so wealthy, and I don't just mean money, like, so wealthy, where you can actually bring the people you most cherish you most love on the journey with you. It's like that phrase from many movies, right? You're coming with me. You're coming with me. Like, what. When you were able to finally fulfill, like, a childhood dream, that brings up emotion in me, like, where you. Where you actually can, like, provide for your mother, your father, for the sacrifices they made for you, for your wife, for your future children. Like, the amount of maturity and the amount of emotion that you must have felt in that moment must have been true. Nirvana. You know, people talk about Nirvana, sublime.

What.

What was that for you? And how do you still stoke from that?

Yeah, I mean, shoot. Making my eyes water right now just thinking about it. But what I want to say first is something funny. When you. When your dream includes someone else. I started making enough money online and I would have this conversation with my wife. How much money do I need to make online for you to quit your job? And her job, she was a. She worked at Deloitte. She's a cpa. She was an audit. And although her work, she found pride in it was extremely grueling. Anyone that works for a big four, they know what. What I'm talking about. And so she's like, well, if you. If you made an extra ten grand a month, then I would quit your job. Then I'd be like, great. So it would. Then months would go by, it happened, and we'd have the conversation, okay, we're here. Are you gonna quit? She's like, no, I'm not gonna quit. I was like, well, what is it? Is it the money? She's like, I think it's more money. Then we went through this thing, and she like, add an extra 10k out. An extra 10k. And finally we had discussions like, I don't want to quit. So it's funny because even though it was my dream to have her make enough money that she could quit her job, it wasn't her dream, and I didn't. And that was almost inconsiderate that, like, you need to do what I want to do. This is my plan. You need to stick with my plan and great opportunity in our marriage to really and for her and for us to really talk about what is it that we want Now. She is a CFO now. She went through her own journey that she had to go to. I couldn't take her off her path. She was on her path, and I needed to respect that, and I did. At first, I didn't. I was like, I'm here. 10. You said $10,000 a month. Quit your job today. Like, I'll call him for you.

What the. That was the deal.

That was the deal. But it's funny, and sometimes when you. When you make that offer in your dream and your dream is connected to other people's lives, you have to think, well, is it their dream too? Because it might not be. But, yeah. Now, you know, my. My parents, they. They were both working when I made them the offer, and I think they. They just needed something to do in the. In their retirement. You know, I. My parents aren't working 80 hour work, so they're working like a couple hours a day. And. And we have. And they're having fun, and it's not stressful. It's. It's super low key. And that's. That's my dream. That's what I. That's what I wanted. And I'm glad that they also share that dream where then when they talk about to their friends, oh, yeah, I'm helping Adrian with his business, and. And they find pride in that. And I. And I love that. So I think the joy. To me, it's ongoing. I. Having a conversation with my. With my dad every single day. He'll talk me about, like, hey, here's how much money that came in, usually from our affiliates. We promote, like, over 500 different companies. And he'll be like, oh, this is a good one. And we'll. And we'll we'll have these conversations I would have never had with my dad prior where our relationship has become better and deeper from this. And, and he's, he feels like he's still learning and, and I'm still learning from him and, and you know, he's my dad. You know, I'm 34 years old, I've known him, but I still am getting to know him better because of this. So. And same with my mom. So to me the, it is unreal.

Surreal, you know, and so rewarding too. The, the true rewards is like when you die because we won't be here forever. Like you mentioned, life is short. It's fucking short. It's like 100 years, maybe 111 if you're like an ultimate biohacker. My number is like 97. I feel like I'll go at 97, right. But. But I want to go with a life radically fulfilled with purpose. Like I don't just want to make money for the sake of making money. And I think this is the ultimate trap. It's funny, like a week ago I texted you something. It was this video that we're going to link in the show notes and it said this company owns the world and it's our fault. BlackRock. And it's true. BlackRock, Vanguard, probably the two largest asset holders on planet Earth in the multiple trillions of value. And so there is a dark side to the game that you've been able to like, like you said earlier, respect, acknowledge and move on. This dark side that I used to attach to the pain body, as Eckhart Tolle says, the pain body that fuels our continuous resentment towards the game of money or even the spirituality of money is the fact that we've been hurt, we've been harmed and no one came to save us. And really like the hard truth that maybe you learned by the hard style love from your parents was that nobody is coming to save us. And maybe that's the gift because it's in the disempowerment where we think we'll be saved that actually cuts us off from being truly abundant, truly expansion. Such a paradox, man. What is a paradox that you see in the world right now when it comes to why people are so confused and angry with money. And I'm going to link this video because it's true. It's not a subjective truth, it's an objective truth that if you look at balance sheets BlackRock and Vanguard hold and also Comcast, the major oligopolies in the world, they hold the most tangible assets and money on planet Earth. You can't deny that it is what it is. It's the emotion that we put on it, and it's the story that we tell ourselves about why that exists. From your vantage point, thousands of students, we're going to talk about in this podcast the way that people can start. And this is for people that have never made money online, which I love, because there's a lot of bullshit out there and gimmicks like, I trust you, like, we're going to talk about that for people that have never made money. So it's a nice early step. The question is, how do you help people navigate, and how do you even navigate yourself? That really uncomfortable truth that there's a lot of darkness around blackrock and Vanguard and the way that money is actually distributed in the world?

Yeah. I think the first. Your first question about the paradox, it's going to challenge a lot of people, I think, because it challenged me. But usually when you talk about money and happiness, there's a cliche. It says, money can't buy happiness. Right? These people like, money can't buy me happiness. Right. People stand very, very strong. Money can't buy money is nothing. Money can't buy me happiness. Right, Right. Okay.

I kind of disagree.

Well, right. So the. The challenge is that money is required to buy happiness. And I think my dad actually starved. I will never, ever experience that. He. He went hungry. He would go days without eating. And so you think of that person, if they only had a dollar or five dollars or just a little bit of money to buy some food, they would be so much better. They'd be so much happier. Not, you know, not the happiest person on the earth. But hey, if you can't eat, if you don't have enough money to eat, sleep, you know, our basic needs, like, life is incredibly rough. You do need money. Now, money cannot buy you fulfillment. Right? That's difference. But money, that. That's the thing. So if you're. If you're one of those people, I get a lot of trolls because I post sometimes these grandiose statements that are really meant for discussion, and that's. That's one of them is, you know, money. If you say money can't buy you happiness, you've actually never truly experienced poverty. Because people, Once you've experienced poverty, and I haven't experienced poverty, but I've learned through my dad's, like, man, the people. And this is where I get this from, I get it from my dad is like, like, the people that Say that like if they would have gone what I, if they would have gone hunger and been hungry and can't eat and you're, and you're just, your stomach's like, just like this new level of hunger. Not like you skipped lunch. Like there's a difference. You wish you could have had pennies, nickels, whatever, to buy an apple.

Yeah.

So that's the paradox. And so we do need money. It is a reality of this world that we live in. You do need money and you do want to have enough money to cover your cost of living, your basic necessities. Now, the conversation after that varies because not everyone starts at the same level. There's systemic oppression towards people.

That's right.

And so there's all different types of factors. Right. We factor all that in still comes down to what you just said. Accountability. No one is going to save us, no matter how tragic our background is or how privileged our background is. Just because someone is born with privilege does not mean that they have it better than us figured out for the rest of life. Think of how many stories of people that started with privilege born millionaires into rich families and they lost it all. Think of the lottery. Lottery winners are Great examples because 70%, the overwhelming majority of them that have won double digit millions lose it.

All.

Right, so how is that? And we sit here like, what an idiot. He got $30 million and he blew it all. And that's where financial literacy comes into play. That's financial education. Just because someone starts at a better point or gets lucky and does win the lotter still doesn't mean they're going to have financial literacy figured out. Because financial literacy is really what's inside here and how you think about money and how you control it. And whether you started with zero or negative or started with a lot doesn't determine your future. Now it can help. There's data that says it can help. And I'm not knowing that, but I'm just saying, at least for what's productive from this conversation, if you're listening, is that you are the only person that can change your financial destiny and outcome with whatever you have. And even if it is nothing, you still have the opportunity to make something. And that no matter where, where you are in the system.

And you also have to be one of the few. It's sad that I have to say this. You have to be one of the few that has enough courage to move out of your normal, regular environment. Look at all the, like the gangs in South Central. That's just one Example, across the country, across the world, to be in a impoverished land, to be in a really like abject poverty environment, it is so challenging to rip yourself out of that. It's like ripping a tree out of the ground because you have trauma bonded with your environment. You have literally bonded with your environment. So this is why I don't agree with the tenets of Marxism. Marxism wants to take away all levels of hierarchy whatsoever. It wants to make everyone the same. There's even fifth wave feminism and Marxism that's like, there's no such thing as a man and a woman. I mean, it's insane what's going on in the world. And this insanity is propagated because it really appropriates the pain body of money. People are angry, people are frustrated. And that emotion is being monetized. It's being appropriated by these agencies that I've mentioned because they're smart. I do think that what you said earlier about money is like a hammer.

Yeah.

You can build a house with a hammer. You can also murder someone with a hammer. Money is the same. It would not be a tool that could do so much good or so much harm unless we all collectively agreed upon it. I feel like we need, need, and I'm curious how you feel. I feel like we need a new agreement, a new spiritual agreement about money and about what it is. How would you, if you could wave a magic wand, like, what would that agreement be that you would allow the public to agree upon if you were the creator?

I think it'd have to be like a belief set on, on money that I wish everyone had. If we all had the same belief set about money, I think that could make the world and people more financially literate. And the belief set about money is essentially that this tool can radically improve your life and the people that you love and make the world a better place. That's it. I mean, that mindset alone, it's a positive one about money and it could be conflicting. And we talked about there's bad people and good people in this world and so naturally, what do they do with, with money? The good people do good things, the bad people do bad things. But financial literacy is, is this overarching secret knowledge that you don't really get in front of. If you weren't born with a millionaire. Most people don't have. Most people don't have a millionaire in their life. That's a friend, right? Most people are. Their parents weren't, weren't financially free. So, so access to, to how you respect and understand money and Use as tools. It's this rare thing. So having this belief set about it that you can do good things and then, you know, learning on what to do with it. And we, And I'm happy to talk about the tactics of it. That recipe. If everyone had that, I know the world would be a better place. Because, I mean, one crazy stat is that you think of, like, how much money do you need to truly live a good life? And there's been studies that say $75,000 a year in most places. That's great. But then there's another stat that says 50% of people that make six figures live paycheck to paycheck. And you're like wondering. And of course, people, my people in the comments are like, oh, New York, New York's so expensive. No, I'm not talking about New York. Just talking about six figures all over the country.

I don't know why y' all live in New York. No judgment. I don't know what you're doing there. Get out, get out, get out of New York.

But half of them live paycheck to paycheck. So this is where 50% of six figures. You think if you're making six figures a year, I mean, you shouldn't be living paycheck to paycheck. You should, you should live at a nicer place, eat nicer things, maybe go to Whole Foods now and. But still, they're choosing to spend every single dime where they have to wait for their next paycheck just the same as someone is making minimum wage.

How?

Why? And that's where financial literacy comes in. Just because you make money doesn't mean you'll generate wealth. So I think money oversimplified is. This is really two skill sets. Once you have the belief set about money that it can do good based on you, you have the rich skill set. This is your ability to earn income, right? This is side hustles. This is you just being great at your job. And you're in sales, you're working on commission. This is you working at a 9 to 5, climbing up the corporate ladder. Or entrepreneurs like us that are making money online. And we keep scaling, we keep growing, you keep delivering good, good value. Our rich skill set is great to make money. This year, my most I've ever made it, I just launched my new business, affiliate automation. Did 1.7 million in a day, right? Great rich skill set. And it keeps going up beyond my wildest expectations. But this does not guarantee that I'll be wealthy. I could blow it all. I could live a $1.7 million paycheck. Month to month. People do it. Right. I don't know these people, but they.

Stars. Movie stars.

Movie stars, Right.

Maybe even T Pain.

T pain. He did. He got his car repoed.

Okay.

He, you know, it just. He was worth $30 million. So.

Yeah.

There's no limit to when you have a consumerist desire. There's a number for everything. But you have a wealth skill set, and that's two things, two parts. The wealth skill set is first your ability to save, and then it's your ability to make. Make your money make money. Saving is what I would over generalize and say our parents generation, the best part of our parent generation, financially, we're really good at. And the generations before dating back to the Great Depression when they lost everything, they were like, we have to save. Put money underneath the mattress. Save it, save it, save it. And that was really great with my parents as well. And that's how they. They made those sacrifices. Right. And sometimes I hear I don't want to make sacrifices to get rich. I think you have to. But some. It's like there's a level of how much we're willing to do, but you don't have to sacrifice. And here's the thing. Saving, unfortunately cannot always make you wealthy, especially with inflation and things going on today. Keeping money in the bank. At the time of this podcast, there's like two banks that just went under. So what if you had your. All your money there? You just were really good at saving.

Yeah.

Doesn't. So like that strategy didn't work. So then this last skill set is your ability to have your money make money, and that is investing. Investing is where you get the opportunity with your money that you save. You've covered your cost of living, you have an emergency savings fund, and now you want to finally have your money make money. And this is how you achieve financial freedom. It's. It's really hard to. I don't know if it's possible to do it without investing, so I think it's possible.

But you'll be 70 by the time it happens.

Right.

And what good. What good life could that possibly ever be?

It's. I mean, when we're 70, we're probably gonna have a really good life. But I want to live the good life now.

I want it now.

Yes.

While I'm vital. Exactly. When I can throw my babies in the air. Like. Like I want to go to the beach and do it.

Yeah. Right, Right. And so investing is the most complex part of, of the money skill set, but it's figureoutable, it's hard. I, I can't give you stocks to pick in index funds. I can't tell you you should do investments in real estate. All I know is that this is the part where you got to pick up. You actually, if you want to figure this out, you actually do have to.

Pick up a book.

You have to do have to learn. I know from my standpoint, and I don't know how you feel about how you make money, but how I make money from the Internet, I consider it very risky. And so when I invest, I don't want my money that I worked really hard for to go into assets that are also incredibly risky. So I'm not making a hundred x return every single month. I'm like, I invest into index funds and ETFs they now have. When you think of Blackguard or excuse me, Vanguard and you get into how that money is made into these evil giant corporations that own the world, there are other funds you can invest in where all the companies inside of a fund actually are earth conscious and you can still make money from that. It's great. So there's different vehicles on how you invest. Real estate is usually a factor in every wealthy person's portfolio. And then, you know, just to mention IT, crypto and NFTs. Here's one thing I will say specifically when it comes to investing in really risky things, you don't want to put more than 10% of your entire net worth into that really, really risky thing. Even if you do think it's going to go all the way to the moon. Yeah, don't invest more than 10%. So, and this is where the true formula comes into play. You have a rich skill set. That's your ability to earn. But you could have a rich skill set and a terrible wealth skill set on the investment because you'd be like, make all your money and you put it into dodge coin. What happened? It crashed. So guess what? You're not wealthy. So you have to have rich skill set. You have to be able to save. Save more than you spend. This is a good test right now. Are you living paycheck to paycheck? Are you able to save what percentage? I lived in a van for a year. I saved 95% of every dollar I made during that year. And that's the most I'll ever probably save again. So it's like saving, that's one thing and then the last thing is after you saved, where does your money go? And you have to be able to have that money, make money while you sleep. And that essentially is the recipe of. To get to financial freedom. Oversimplified.

All right, so we could take. That was powerful. We could take all those big ingredients and we could stack them here on the table. The ability to mix and cook and actually execute and make something of value with what you just said takes an immense amount of maturity. And I have found that maturity only really comes from someone's soul or from hardship. So it either comes from their dharma on the world. And I don't know how much of the esoteric wisdom you've studied. We've had many people talk about this. Like, everyone comes into the world with a specific imprint of how their life is supposed to be lived by a cosmic lens. And then when we go against that, when we hurt ourselves and others, it creates a karma credit card. It's funny that credit karma exists, by the way. I think that's an interesting name because if you look at the, the etymology of the word karma, it really comes from. To take, like when you have bad karma, when you hurt other people, when you hurt yourselves, that karma has to be paid. So it has to be taken, has to be accounted for. So we all have a spiritual bank account so you can put those ingredients on the table, Adrian, and you gave us awesome wisdom there. What is it about our life choices that actually, what are some of the biggest life choices that we can be mature about in order for those ingredients to actually give us something that bears fruit?

Now, you know, and this is, this is the realm. When I started watching your content to get on the show, you. You tap into a world of content that I, I'm not in at all. So I esoteric and, and that culture, I'm not.

Well, we're all spiritual beings.

I do agree.

Not.

I agree with that so much.

We don't understand.

Yeah. So. So my answer, you know, for your. Your core listeners are going to be like, you know, this guy doesn't know this, this, this side of it. But I, you know, so I, I only can speak from my personal experience on, on life decisions that I've done myself and that I teach others. Others to do. But, you know, one of the first concepts is decisions about time, and time is our most valuable asset. And how you treat time, how you respect time or disrespect time is going to make the path to financial freedom either very easy, difficult, or something that you can digest and take action on. So how do you treat your time right now? Usually when I Have this conversation. And if I'm working with someone or in my group or if I'm speaking on stage, I'll have everyone take out their phone and then I'll have it go to General, then go to settings and pull up screen time. And it shows how much time you spend on your phone.

That's a gut check moment.

And then, and then I. And then I say, I want you to show your phone to the person, how much screen time you spend the last week to the person next to you. So it's raw. That's transparent. Because we all think we're really good at managing our time. But that screen time doesn't lie. That shows how much time you spent scrolling on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram. And so a lot of people, when you say, do you respect your time?

Heck yeah.

I spend my time on the important things. All right, take out your phone, show me screen time. Like, whoa. You average four hours a day on your phone on social media. Is that respecting your time? No, it's not. What we think and perceive our time, what we're actually doing are different. And this is everyone. Me too. I just got a flip phone last week, so I'm really trying to improve my time. I got a dumb phone.

Did you get the jitterbug?

I got a jitterbug.

You got the senior's phone.

I did. It's so funny. But because I was. I was averaging five and a half hours a day on my. On my screen time. And here I am preaching the world about time and money and look at me, five and a half hours a day. And can I. Here's the difference, you know, because I make money on social media. So do you. Was I working five and a half hours a day on my phone? No, absolutely not. I get caught up, just like everyone scrolling. I go open up my phone with an idea or intent and then I click on something and then something pops. And the algorithms are so good, it's like social cocaine. So then respecting your time right away. When you talk about learning the ability to learn how to make money or make extra money or do a side hustle, one of the first excuses I usually hear is, I don't have enough time. And then you have the conversation. Well, do you respect your time? Absolutely. Well, show me your phone. And usually, I mean, I would love. If you're listening, you do this right now, usually you're gonna have more than one hour in screen time a day. Usually.

And by screen time, you just mean social media, social or YouTube or just.

YouTube like, like actually I found fascinating. I, I, there's a metric. If you scroll down on screen time shows how many times you pick up your phone. Dude, 95 times on average per day was before I got the smartphone that's.

In the Apple app.

In the app show you how many.

Times you pick it up.

How many times you pick up your phone.

Oh my God. You just rocked my world right now.

95 times a day.

I'm well over a hundred.

Yeah. That's insane. That's really bad. That is literally a form of addiction, I think.

Well, I would say that the behavioral psychologists that IG and Facebook and everybody hired are earning their salt. They are, they are definitely winning.

Absolutely. So, so there's that. Because how do we stay focused if you, if you pick up something 95 times per day. Focus is so hard today. Right. It's because of this, this phone. I also messages is what I would spend like three hours a day on my text messages.

Yeah.

And I'm a big advocate of no notifications because I respect my time and I'm a big advocate of not having my email open because I respect my time. But all of a sudden when it comes to personal messages, here I am spending three and a half hours a day texting people. Now it doesn't now I moved to flip phone. I still have the smartphone but I've changed my interaction with it. I now have to go to my smartphone and then I pick up like I'm answering emails and I just knock them all out once and put it away. I just got done with my first week and I took, took five and a half hour screen time down to two hours. And I think next, this is my now second week and I hoped to achieve just one hour a week. And that's just managing it differently versus when it's always in reach of you. When like that's, that's the problem, that's the disease. That's what we're unconsciously thinking. I'm so, I'm so respectful of my time. Hold on, let me check my phone.

Yeah, I notice it so much when people are eating. Like we just went out to dinner last week and there are couples that are just literally like this is their date. And then they look up to talk about what they're looking at. And I'm like, we have lost ourselves, we have really lost ourselves here. And I'm not anti phone like, you know, I'm getting the, the firings of inspiration hearing you speak about this because I really haven't been respecting my time as much as I could. I think all of us can attest to that. And I know there's also, like a smartphone that has only phone calls that you get, no email, apps. It's not an Apple, it's not an Android. It's something else. You know the name of that one?

The Light Phone.

The Light Phone. I need to check out the Life. They're not an affiliate. No attachment to them whatsoever. If you guys want to pay me, that's cool. I, I really, I really want to try that out because I notice and I'm going to go to that data where I pick up the phone. I guarantee you it's well over 100. I notice that I'm not respecting my time. Now, I could approach this with emotional intelligence, just like you've been teaching us about money. I could say, damn, I can't believe I'm doing. I go into this shame spiral about my choice. Or I could take an honest deep breath and be like, okay, what can I do differently? What can I do differently with my time? Now, where can I spend my time? Isn't that funny? Spend time. I heard a guy at PaleoFX three or four years ago, so Light Phone, we're going to, we're going to link that in the notes. And he said, attention is the new currency. And this is three, four years ago. And Vaynerchuk, you have your thoughts about him or not? I think he's done a lot of good in the world. I also think there's a really deep shadow there. But regardless of that, like, he is a big proponent of creating content. Creating content which makes people be on their phones all the time. What is the middle ground in this? Dude, that you, as a TikTok creator, you own some million people on your TikTok. You have all these hundreds of thousands of people on YouTube and like, it's kind of an empire. It's like a social empire in a way. How do you. Is that what the jitterbug was, was for you to have a better grasp of respecting your own time, eating your own dog food, doing what you tell others to do. And then how could we work through this together? Like, what's something strategic and tangible that we could all start behaving towards when it comes to the phone and managing and respecting our time? What do you think that looks like doing? The cold plunge and cold thermogenesis is fast becoming the number one way to increase your health and metabolism, which directly leads to weight loss. Let's hear from Ryan Dewey, the CEO and co founder of plunge to learn more at this point, you've probably heard about cold plunging somewhere on the Internet and wondering what all the hype is about. Well, here at Plunge, we like to take all the stress out of the problem by providing at home cold plunge units that provide crisp, crystal clear cold water on demand as opposed to lugging.

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I'm actively, and I say actively because I just got the smartphone two weeks ago trying to figure it out and trying to be better. So I don't have the answers but I do know I can only speak to one week trying and having the jitterbug phone allowed me and I only put my emergency contacts like and that's the phone that's like within me but I can't do anything on there.

Do you wear it on like a rope around your neck?

A fanny pack actually.

Okay.

And I have these big glasses. No, the. So the smartphone. I'm, I make money from social media and I'm. And so I'm trying to. What I did is I batched my content. I spent one day creating about 20 pieces of content versus trying to every day create those pieces of content. That batch probably took like an hour and a half. And so that, that is the hack is to, is to be proactive and to be more planned versus going with the flow. And I am more of a go with the flow kind of person. This is challenging me because I like organic content. Like I'll be like yesterday I went to chicken shit bingo in Austin, Texas where a chicken walks around on a set of numbers and you have one number, and you're hoping the chicken shits on your number and you win.

Wow, that is very Texan.

So I. I took my phone out and I. And I'm recording because, like, I don't want to miss. I can't plan this. So I did record it, but I didn't. I didn't take the time to film the entire thing. I'm talking, so. So I took. I was like, I wanted to be in the moment. I took. And I also am a content creator, right. So I took the phone out, I recorded about 30 seconds, and that's it. So, like, that was me. That was my optimal way of still capturing something cool that I can use in a story. I spent 30 seconds. I was there for two hours. I would take that trade, and I. And now I'm going to post that in that video. It's just as part of my content creation. So, yeah, what I. What? Being a content creator and capturing those cool moments, I don't. I don't like missing out because I have to look through a device. So I'm trying to get better, and that's one way. And then batching my content. And also, this is the biggest one. This is. My mental health wasn't doing very good recently because on Facebook specifically, I got like 370,000 followers. And I post these. These financial grandiose statements that usually trigger people. Like, what, Let me see, One was about credit. And this is probably the most biggest mystery of people. And some like, I can't believe people disagree with me. I said, you should not get a credit card if you cannot pay off the statement balance in full every single month. And you think that's bulletproof. No one's gonna argue that. Hundreds and hundreds of comments like, that's not how credit works. In fact, you're supposed to pay off just the minimum because that's how you build a credit score. I'm like, oh, my God, like, what? Then I have other people that are commenting. No, that just means you can use it. You have an extra thousand dollars to spend. If that's like, your extra credit that you're allowed, that's like. It's an extra you can use. It's like, no, no, no, no, no. It's like, it's things like that that I think that are common, that are actually, like, people were just raised differently. And this is part about money scripts. How your parents use your credit card is probably how you think about it, unless you took the time to learn. So it's statements like that that Are, you know, there's always maybe exceptions. Like one exception I saw in a comment is like, well, I have a 0% APR credit card promotional rate for 16 months. I'm like, okay, as soon as there's 16 months are over, they're going to increase it to whatever the average is like 24, 22%. But so I make these statements that are like 99% true, but then there's a 1%. And then other people just get the trolls that just derive anger and comments and they disagree. And people are so blind to protect their spot of being wrong. They want to be right versus you want to learn.

Well, how many people buy courses and then never go through them? How many people do something financially and then as long as they don't see it, the subconscious thinks that it's hidden or that it doesn't matter. I mean, that's credit, by the way. I've had my own journey with credit. I was at one point, $80,000 in debt, actually, when I started the podcast.

Wow.

And so what I learned from that process is that just like in nature, if you and I went to the jungles in Mexico and we had a stake tied around our neck and we went out with the pumas and the jaguars in the forest, we would be asking to be eating, eaten. But yet no one thinks twice when it comes to the cfpb, the bureaus and the creditors all being in the jungle waiting for us to walk in with a stake around our neck. These are predatory industries first and foremost. And yeah, I am passing judgment because it's a judgment that I've learned from my own experience. They capitalize on people not knowing.

It's true. I don't have kids yet, but I. Some entrepreneurs, friends that have kids that like, turn 16. How does American Express think it's good, or all these companies to send them a credit card offer at 16 years old?

They don't think it's good. They're doing it on purpose to make money. This is why unconscious capitalism is monetizing people. I'm a fan of conscious capitalism, but unconscious capitalism is alive and well.

I agree. And you know, it's like if I, if I could have major wave of magic wand on that, be that, that everyone would be required to learn about credit properly before you can get a credit card. Like, because credit cards, sadly, is the one vehicle that can destroy your dreams. You rack up too much credit card debt, it has an insane interest rate. It's.

You're done.

It's. It's so hard to climb out of it. You climb out of $80,000 now, I imagine. I don't know if any of that was business, you know, you, you like you bought.

It was all business that, that I had a dark night of the soul. We'll link the podcast with my dark night in the soul. But there's a lot story there. The synopsis was that I was angry at capitalism. I was angry at life. I was angry that my mom was sick. I was, I was just angry. And so instead of taking mature responsibility for the money in my life, I just let it rack up. And I said it, I'll claim bankruptcy. But I never claimed bankruptcy. I dealt with it in other ways in a more responsible way. Well, the universe helped me do that. Right. God helped me do that. So, so it was for my good.

Yeah.

But for a lot of people that's a hole that they may never climb out of ever. And that's actually what, and people might judge me for saying this, but I'm going to say it. That's actually most of the model of business in America, especially when it comes to money lending and credit. No one owns their house. The bank owns the house. They are waiting with a drooling mouth for you to foreclose because that's where they make all their money. That's when they get the house back and all the money they've ever paid. So we have to be militant here. We can't be, we cannot be this little Goldilocks trancing around and really just think that everything's going to work out in our favor. We have to be intelligent man. And intelligence comes I think most of the time through life experience. Like you're 34, you're a rare commodity. You're a very rare man. Because at 34, definitely in late 20s, people aren't thinking about this. They're not thinking about financial literacy, they're not thinking about mature energy and respect for money. Like what is it about the respect for money that you think people get wrong?

I think. Well, credit for sure is, is credit and money. Those things, those things combined that they, they can feel fake. The, the gravity of it. I know sometimes I feel, because I make a lot of, most of my money online, it does feel fake. I know you mentioned like some people treat it like a game and I, I, I've been coined saying that too. Like because I, I played, played Tekken and Final Fantasy growing up and there.

Was Final Fantasy part of the games.

Where you like, you would increase your HP and different like with the game.

Under your, you Gotta blow in the.

Cartridge and you get, and you work up these skills, right? And, and making money online is like I, it's like I'm, I'm still playing a game. Set the controllers like this on a keyboard and then the money comes in from doing stuff so it feels like a game. But credit can also feel like that too. When, when you get this card and then you log into the system, it's like, and it says, let's just say $5,000. That's your credit limit. And for someone who doesn't know about that, it's like, I mean, what is this, is this fake money? Is it real money? Like, or did I just get five grand? I just got $5,000. We're going shopping so that, that it feels fake. But I think what we need to realize that this is, this is real. It's very serious and it's, it can be, it can be dangerous. It also can be amazing. I'm a big proponent of using credit cards properly. I haven't had to pay for a flight or a hotel in the last four years because of my credit cards. I have a business credit card that gets four times points for every social media dollar I spend online. And so usually with that and the amount of money I spend on ads online, it's like, dude, I, I've treated family members on full trips and I didn't have to pay, pay a dime because of my credit card. I was using it the right way. I rack up, I've racked up, I don't know, recently. Let's say my credit card bill was probably like $47,000 or something like that on one credit card. And then when that hits, I pay off that statement balance in full. So 47, $47,000 pays that in full. And that's how I've always used a credit card. And that's how I was. This is again the blessing, the privilege of having a guidance in your life, of someone showing you how to do it is my parents said like when I first got a credit card, they had a sit down talk. Like usually the conversation with parents and kids is like the birds and the butterflies, right? Well, I had that one, but this one was also like, this is a credit card, son. It's very serious. Make sure when you use it, you always pay off the statement balance in full. And that's how you build really good credit. Now since learning reading a lot of books, like many things from our parents, not all things are true, but this one is true. It is, right?

Yeah.

Yet that Is a, is a misconception. Because when I, anytime I post about credit, people will say that's wrong and that you should pay off the minimum you want to. You want to pay interest and that's how you build good credit.

But I've even heard recently from a specialist that if you just have five or ten dollars that you don't pay off, that that'll actually trigger the. It's all a game. It's always changing. The goal posts are always changing on purpose because how, how would it benefit the creditors and the bureau's if everybody had a 850, how would that benefit anyone? Their game would implode on itself. It's a game. So we must treat it like again, I love that your parents sat you down and had like the, the sex and the money talk. Like that's really important because I think like what I would love to transition into is this talk about making money online. I Wish that in 2010 or maybe even 2005, you know, I was seven years out of high school then. I graduated high school in 2008. Wow, that's crazy to even think about 1998. I'm sorry, 1998, that's a long time ago, man. Anyways, the Internet was just burgeoning, right? And so I think, okay, if somebody would have planted a seed in my consciousness at that time, it's always easy to look back and say it's all perfect. But if somebody planted a seed in my consciousness at that time and they said, hey, focus your energy, your money, your interests and your attention all on this upcoming complete and total radical opportunity that is the Internet. If we had that power, we could all go back and plant that seed in our pocket. That is exactly where we're at right now with being an affiliate marketer. We're actually all affiliate marketers. We just don't know it. Anytime somebody's out in public and they're like, hey, I love this Nootopia spray, you should check it out. We just give it to our friends, right? Well, that company is getting free word of mouth marketing from us. Everybody's an affiliate, they just don't know it. And I think what you've created with the Brambila method is so inspirational because you're actually teaching people how to make money doing what they're already doing anyways, just at scale. Talk about that a little bit and also how that came into your life. You didn't make a bunch of money just from teaching people how to be an affiliate. You are a successful affiliate yourself. First and foremost, like, that's your bread and butter. Yes. So, so from that space, at what point did you decide, I want to empower people with this knowledge. I want to get people paid for what they're already doing anyways. How did that come to be?

I love your description of affiliate marketing. It's spot on.

We're all affiliates.

So during the pandemic, my wife and I were living full time in a sprinter van. And I would talk about that on TikTok. And it was a very trendy thing at the time. It was like the van life hashtag was going viral. I'd also share.

Was it a sprinter, like a Mercedes Sprinter?

Yeah, Mercedes Sprinter. I'll show it to you. We're about to sell it. But yeah, it was, it was amazing. We did it for a whole year, drove all around the country. I also would create TikToks on how in the van I was making around $110,000 per month as an affiliate and promoting at that time probably around like 250 different physical products. Things like tees and backpacks and cold plunges and all kinds of stuff.

Yeah.

And so that, that message of sharing, I live, I'm, I'm a millionaire and I live in a van. I also have a seven figure income and I live in a van. I also have this crazy successful affiliate marketing business that's real affiliate marketing, not some guru affiliate promoting courses. And that combination, it just, it, it was so contradictory because of, of people's perceptions of what wealth is. No, this guy's a total fraud. He's a liar. If I made seven figures, I'd live in a mansion. I would drive for. I wouldn't live in a van. Like this guy lives in a van down by the river. I got that. So I actually enjoy that. When people say that, it makes me laugh. But these things like, like ended up being a viral recipe for success. And I became known as the most popular affiliate on TikTok. But I didn't have a course and I wasn't teaching people. I never wanted to teach people. But then a problem happened. There was also this course, it was called Legendary Marketer. And this was a, the most popular affiliate course on TikTok. And so people, I'm the most popular affiliate person and then here's the most popular, popular course and people would see my content and there was affiliates of the course. And that's how they kind of make a lot of their money. It's like being affiliate of the course that teaches you how to be an Affiliate. And then you can be an affiliate of the course and bring someone else. It's like basically mlm.

Yeah, it's pyramid.

It's a pyramid.

Yeah. But sorry to interrupt you. It's also in Austin coaches. The coach coaches coach other coaches to coach coaches. Nobody ever actually works with anyone. Come on. Don't you guys see this?

Oh, my gosh. So in TikTok, there's this sharing feature where you can have a video that you want to share on the right and then your reaction on the left.

Yes, I've seen this.

And so people would do that with my videos, like real affiliate marketing and showing how, like, I made 80 grand this month. I made 90 grand. So I made 30 grand selling this tea. Peak tea. And I think, you know, peak T. I'm in there. I'm. I might not be their number one Felix Tim Ferriss might be, but I'm. I'm up there, so it's really good tea. Then they would share my videos, but then they would say, if you want to learn this link in the bio.

No, they would steal your content.

Well, it's hard to say still because TikTok allows sharing. What they did wrong, though, is they're kind of using my content to promote this other course. And that other course was very bad. It. It. I won't get into details of it, but I'll just. I'll just say, very bad course, dishonest in its marketing practices. And then people that would watch my face from someone else's reaction video buy that course, they thought it was mine. And then they would complain to me, like, Adrian, you scanned me. I bought Legendary Marketer your course. And, and. And it's. It was terrible. Or. And. And I started getting a lot of these comments as it get popular and I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa. And every time, like, that is not me. I'm not affiliate with them at all. I'm an affiliate, but I don't. I don't have a course. So. So then I was like, I think it's time. I need to create a course and I need to put my name on it. So then everyone knows this is my only course. That's why I really created the brand Beela Method. But the blessing of that is that there's been over 20,000 people that have taken it. And literally. And here's. You ask how many people buy a course and don't log in? I'll tell you right now, half of them. It's very sad. I try my best to try to get them, but I Can't make them watch the content. But here's the thing. The half of the people that do end up watching the course and take it. We have thousands, and I kid you not, thousands and thousands of people who've made money from affiliate marketing. And then we teach other side hustles that don't cost money. And it's been a blessing. I think it excites me more than anything I do is to wake up, check my Facebook group and I have a story of like a stay at home mom or a young college kid or anyone. A truck driver recently posted. And he's trying to not be an over the road trucker so he doesn't see his family. And he started creating, creating content and monetizing. And you made like a thousand dollars in the last three days. First thousand dollars ever. But that excites me more than anything. So from those problems of that other class came the. The. My own and. And now I, I do like teaching. It does come with baggage though. As soon as you start teaching people about money, like then I started getting comments I never got before. It was like day and night difference. First it was like, look, I make money from affiliate marketing. Prone to physical products. Okay, Adrian, that's cool. And you live in a van, all right? And it's like, by the way, I'll teach you how to make money online. You're a scammer, you're a fraud. It's like all this hatred came just because I started teaching people and it makes sense. I don't blame them. You should always be skeptical. Skeptical of someone who says, I'll teach you how to make money. Because there's a lot of people who've, who've, you know, sold that dream and never delivered. So I hope to be a good light in the industry. And I feel so far I have and my reputation is one that is people. You look to me as like someone that you can trust. Some online simple. And my course is marketed to help make your first thousand dollars. And I say like, I'm like the Internet side hustle's big brother. I give you the confidence, I get you started. Oh, you want to be a millionaire? Millionaire. Like that's someone else's class. Like, go take them. I don't know. I can't teach you how to do that, but I will teach you how to make your first thousand bucks.

It's so good because the first time we learn to ride a bike, we have training wheels, right? So imagine if your parents threw you on a bike and they were like, hey, here's the biggest hill in San Francisco. Just ride down that thing, see what you'd get bashed and bloody. Like that's where most people, they dip their toe in affiliate marketing. They get burned real hard and then they never get on the bike again. And I wonder, like, it would actually be of such service to what you and I do. You know, 85 to 90% of why this show exists, why my family gets fed, how I live, is from just recommending products that I love, that we're actually just eating and taking and using ourselves. So it's, I'm already doing it, I'm just doing it at scale. And I wonder for you, you said this on a different interview. You said that really it's the, the scaling is the issue. Scaling is the burden of time. So when you scale, you do have this burden of time. I want to just give people permission to not have to make $25,000 in your first year of Internet marketing. Like you don't have to scale to the moon. You can start at like, okay, my first goal is to make 500 bucks just being myself, just talking about products, posting stuff that I'm already believing in. You teach people how to do this in the program. Maybe the next point is a thousand dollars. Maybe I might have a goal of making 10,000. Like there's a staircase for a reason. There's training wheels for a reason. And by the way, you guys can go to joshtrant.com brambilamethod it's linked on the screen right now. And by the way, I get paid for this and I, and I'm happy to do it because this is what affiliate marketing is. We talk about something that we just believe in. Except for most of the time, none of us ever get reciprocal energy given back. Like, we just, we give all this free marketing for companies. Like, I actually really believe in this. I think a lot of people could add 5, 10, even 20k revenue if they really pour their heart into it to what they're already doing. It may not be someone's ultimate life path to be a full time Internet marketer, but who wouldn't benefit from like 5, 10, 20k extra a year that they could just live their life better on. So tell us about the beginning of the program and like what, what is actually the, the nuts and bolts of the program?

Yeah, definitely. And just to add to the link that we, we came up with together, there's going to be exclusive extra like bonuses and, and content that's only going to be for your audience I know how much you love and I love being on this opportunity.

So thank you.

Anyone that heard that, go to it and don't tell anyone else. Okay?

Okay, Just for us then, just for you guys, what are some of the extra things they'll get? And the link is josh trent.com brambilla method it's linked right now.

So a lot of people, beginners struggle with ideas. So someone might start and they get, and they get how everything works. They understand how to create, they understand how to post, they understand how to research, they understand analytics because these are all things we're teaching you. But then they're still stuck. I don't know what to do, where to go. And so what I wanted to create was a resource special for anyone of your audience that is like, here's Our top like 100 data proven directions that you can build and examples as well. So I think if anything, instead of like a brainstorm and you're just struggling, like, like I, I usually tell people, like, what are you interested in? What do you, like, are you into health? Are you into wellness? Start there. And some people, like, I've had like nurses that have, have taken my class and they're just stuck. They understand everything, they're great workers. But like I just, I don't know what to do and I don't want to talk about nursing. Like, yeah, I'm trying to be done being a nurse. And then, and so through those problems I was like, well, if we're gonna bring on, you know, your audience, Jocelyn, let's, let's create this extra resources. Like here's, here's like the best brainstorming like I did for you that you can. I'd be really surprised if you go through the whole thing and you're like, I still don't know what to do. No, you're going to have plenty of ideas.

You'd have a starting point. One of the cool things that I read on the page you said that go all in on creating success through creative hard work where risk and cost is minimal and upside is life changing. This is not something where people have to, to pay a bunch of money to get this knowledge. Like you've made it very affordable for people. But it's interesting that you said the hard work and the creative, it's a paradox there. I wonder if you could expand that because this mindset of hard work and save hard and life is hard that creates, in my experience, looking back at generations, very minimal wealth. I think it's really creativity and talent and opportunity and Hard work. I feel like it's all in there. So I wonder why that's your mission statement.

Yeah, that's a great question. I'll give you a real specific example of $17,000 I made in 30 days. A new revenue stream, which is the epitome of this. So creativity. Creativity in this new opportunity. I'll just tell you right now, it's Amazon influencer program. It's a program that you don't actually have to be an influencer. Their standard is like 300 followers. By the way, my grandma has like 300 followers online.

So is your grandma an Amazon influencer?

No, I didn't send it there. I was saying. I'm just saying anyone can join, but. So essentially it's a new style of affiliate marketing. Dude, I'm like geeking out right now because I haven't shared this publicly. So this is like the first.

Okay.

This is like affiliate marketing 2.0. Amazon, traditionally as an affiliate, you have to send people to your offer right on this podcast. People love you, they trust you. When you say, hey, I like this. And they'll. You have to. They click on your links and go. They used to send that traffic.

Yeah.

Amazon came out with this program where Amazon already has all this traffic. They already have all people buying every single day. And what they learn is that homemade, non professional DIY dude or girl with the phone recording a product, a tripod, a t, whatever the video. They. That, that like non professional video of like a, a dude just talking about, hey, this is really nice tea. I like it super sweet and it's really good. That actually helps people buy more. And they trust that versus like. And now welcome to pt, right? They, they trust the regular person's video.

Because it's not coerced. It's not like this big contrived. Yeah, it's just real.

And they might say something and. But after like five minutes, it's kind of bitter. Like, they might actually add some honesty into why you shouldn't and you shouldn't shouldn't buy it. Like a company will never say but like something why you should not buy it. Right. They'll always be like, you should get it. Ask your barber if you need a haircut. They're like, oh yeah, I got you, man. They're not gonna be like, no, you don't need a haircut today. Right? So you am you through this program, you, you get accepted and then you upload your video on the back end of Amazon. Kind of looks like YouTube and you create your video of the tea, for example, pt. And then you, you, you tag the product. You search for PT and you can tag, you know. Cause they have different flavors. You tag it. And then here's the crazy thing. Get ready. Your video lives on the actual product page. When someone then goes to the product page and they watch at least 30 seconds of your video, you get 2 to 5% commission on that purchase plus anything else else they have in the cart. So here's. This is where what's amazing, your one video. I mean if someone buys PT once that day and they watch a video, great, you'll make 2 cents. But if PT is trending and they have and multiple people are buying that every single day, you don't have to drive the traffic. The traffic's already there. So you could make lots of money just by people watching your video. So here's. That's the creativity, right? Brambula Method. Creative and hard work. So instead of just creating one video, I was like, huh, this is fun. This is like a game. I'm going to go through my entire house and film absolutely everything. I'm actually quite embarrassed to say this. Most of it was like business stuff. Actually, I shouldn't even make excuse. I'm just embarrassed to say this.

Just go for it.

I got a new house. I had 437 items in my house I bought from Amazon and I just moved a year ago. So that's in one year. That's like really anti minimalist of me.

Yeah.

But I didn't have anything. We lived in a van. This is my, my one defense. We lived in a van. We didn't have anything. Our moved, our move in was so easy. We took everything in the van in like 20 minutes. I was like, great. We have no stuff, no cooking appliances or anything. So I bought 400.

Get it?

Yeah. So I filmed everything. And that's the hard work. Right. To do it one time is like, oh, I'm creative and I'm gonna make this nice and fun. But I did it every. I made over 400 videos in one month. That's the hard work of the brand, Ben. So you know the concept, you know the direction. How much do you effort do you want to put in? And I was like, I literally filmed everything. There's nothing else to film. I literally filmed highlighters, pens, I filmed toilet paper, I filmed my toilet. I filmed everything.

You bought your toilet on Amazon.

There was a. That toilet actually was on Amazon. You could buy. That's crazy.

Wow.

You buy everything on Amazon then the following month from those 400ish videos that was. I made $17,000.

Come on y', all, that's crazy.

On now the next month and it.

Was there any ad spend that you did on that or you literally just uploaded 400 videos?

I just uploaded, yeah. And then the next month I made $12,000. The next month, $9,000. In this last month, if I'm doing my months right, I made like around 9,000. So I do notice there's a decline. But still I made those videos and that's just passive income now.

Yeah, yeah.

So this is a strategy that is in line. We do teach this in the brand, in the Brambula method. Strategies just like this, they don't cost anything. They're going to require you to be a little creative. And then the hard work part part is like, okay, I literally dropped everything. I made 400 videos in a month. That was hard work. That is hard work. So that's how much you want to effort you want to put in. But that's, that's a freshly new side hustle that we just dropped here for you guys and we'll drop links to that, but it's crazy.

Okay, how does Amazon choose which videos they serve to the user to get ready for this?

This is insane. Yeah, this just came out. It's super early now. Your audience knows they're super lucky. But, but 99% of products on Amazon do not have a video. So right now when you upload your video, you're not really going to be competing with anyone. So it's like the wild, wild west, first come, first serve. Eventually I would say a year from now, definitely two now, more content creators and tech forward people know about this opportunity and now you're going to have to compete. Well, it's always going to be an algorithm to the battle of deciding, hey, there's 20 videos for one spot. And actually I've learned Amazon has five spots. You, you, you could be one of five. So, but still you're competing for five spots. If there's hundreds of videos for five spots, then the algorithm is going to have to determine who, who gets the placement. What I've learned, this, this is going to maybe be outdated in a year, definitely in a year from now of how the algorithm works. But what I've heard rumored on the Reddit forums is recency. So the fact that it's new is a factor. Watch time is the, the biggest factor. And then the click through rate, which is like your thumbnail. And those three things right now are all I know about on how to get the placement. But right now you don't have to worry about that. You just gotta go upload. Yeah, I'm looking around your room right now. I'm like, dang, you're sitting on like at least eight grand of passive income in here.

Yeah, this table is probably the only thing. I'm just gonna be honest here. The table, maybe some chairs were not bought on Amazon. Everything else was because it's so convenient. You know, it's like before, we would have had to have spent so many hours going out and sussing which products are the best and all that. And it's funny, like, that's really the gift of affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing has gotten a terrible bad rap because of some pretty bad apples that have abused it, you know, And I loved that you said that your face was getting used for this really low level, low consciousness program and you were like, hey, I actually have a responsibility to help people. It's happening to me right now. Like, we're approaching 90 ish K for my personal on Instagram and the, and the podcast is like at 30ish, whatever it is. And I feel like as we're growing, I'm getting more and more messages where, where scammers are using oshtrendofficial to. To take money from other people. And I had a woman just recently text me, she's like, I just got scammed out of a hundred dollars. And I thought I was getting this call with you. And I've already petitioned Instagram and Facebook. Like, you guys, what are you here for with your whole community guidelines? That really is just a way for them to police content that doesn't align with their narrative. What are you here for if you're not going to protect people that are getting literally scammed out of money? Give me the check mark. Give me the blue check mark. I've applied so many times. There's something really weird about that. I don't know if you guys dealt with that, but that's the whole dark side of affiliate marketing. What makes me stoked is like all of our products, joshtrent.com forward slash store. It's everything that literally my family and I use on a daily. It's all the things that, like, I would be either getting paid for them or not. I'm gonna use them. I'm gonna talk about them. Anyways. How does that plug into the strategy of people that have never sold anything online, that have never been an affiliate? Because at the core of this question, man, it's about freedom. We want to have freedom. We are all designed to have freedom. We cannot have freedom unless we are financially free. We really can't. Because then we're just a cog in someone else's wheel in the program. How do you teach people in the beginning stages to really just be themselves and create content from that place and get paid naturally, organically in that ecosystem? How do you do that?

I think. Think most people don't realize that it's available. So a lot of it is just awareness to opportunity and the. How unconsciously we're. Most people follow content creators. They. They follow them, but then they don't really get a. Like, understand, like, how does this person actually make money? And that's what this class teaches. Like, first and foremost is like content creation. If it. It feels like work, it's. And it can be fun. Like this conversation. Like, we could call this work, but we're having a great time. What a. What a blessing to call it work. But you could, you could make a. There's. I know so many Josh Trents who have a podcast have never made a dime and they're doing it longer than you. Right. So you did.

So that's a tragedy. How would you keep going?

Passion. Fun. Right? Because content is fun. It feels like work. But you're like, oh, I'm still working on it. Not everyone figures out the monetization side. So. So the class first creates the foundation of like, here's. I filtered out my favorite ways to make money online. And you understand the business side of it first. Then content is one way you drive traffic. But first you have to know how to make money, how to monetize, and the theme of my life and making money and the class is you make money by helping people or value. Right. So. And it's a. It's a great way to think, a great mindset. Because how do you want to make more money? You need to help more people. You need to be more valuable to people. Not internal value, but value. Value to others.

Yeah.

And it's great because I'm more encouraged to make money because that's how I think that's how all the members of the Brambilla Method think. It's like where you're at right now. It's just the level of the service that you're providing to others. So you only you would never recommend a product that you hate that you don't like, even if they said, hey, Josh, but we'll pay you $100,000.

It would be terrible. Karma. Yeah.

Right?

Yeah.

So as long as you stick to your Moral compass, your ethics. Making money again is going to just continue to bless you and the lives of others that you. That you impact. And that's essentially the same philosophy. Like, you're incredible. Testimonial. We're both affiliate marketers and in totally different spaces. And you did it and you love what you do. I could tell your energy is amazing. I also love what I do. And when you're doing affiliate marketing, right, you should also love it. It only feels wrong if you're doing it wrong or you're doing a disservice. So that's maybe a general rule for business as well. If you feel grimy about it, then something is definitely wrong. I've never felt grimy. I feel excited, I feel loved, and I feel energized every single day. So the mechanics of the how, though, you know, probably too nerdy for the show, but just think of it like, there's many different ways to make money. The average millionaire has seven different income streams. Brambula Method alone will teach you seven different ways of. You can make money as a. As a content creator, but also, if you don't want to be a content creator, you can still make money as an affiliate. So not everyone wants to have their face online. And so I have definitely half the people that take the Brambula Method that they're introverts. They're like, I don't want to be like you, Adrian. I. I would rather find a different way to monetize. And we cover those, too, because that's. That's the other thing, too, is everyone thinks you need to, you know, put your whole life on the Internet, and you don't. You don't at all. So there's just so much layers of how to make money. And you need to focus on that first before you start creating content. And content can be video if you're comfortable, can be audio if you're comfortable. It can be writing tons of different ways.

And people may have, like, a negative mindset that says, oh, it's saturated, the space is saturated, and all these things. Have you? And my answer to most people when they say shit like that is I go, have you ever been in an airplane? And they say, yes. Have you ever flown into a major city, St. Louis, Chicago, Louisiana, New York, whatever? And they say, yes. I'm like, have you ever noticed that when that plane is about to land that you look down and you see literally hundreds of thousands or millions of houses? And they say, yes. And my response is, if that's just one city in a world Of I think it's 9 billion now, right? Something like that. Like it's approaching 9 billion population. Let's even, let's cut that in half. Let's just say there's 2 billion people that could potentially be reached by your content in the world. Even though it's probably more because everybody has a smartphone. I usually would say if you looked down and you land in one city in America and you see the potential of how many little boxes and ants are running around, how could you ever, with any kind of confidence say that any space is ever saturated? I remember Bob Proctor said something once. He said, you take from abundance and abundance is still there. I'll never forget that when he said that because something like clicked in my heart and soul. I was like, oh, shout out to Bob Proctor. You know, he's no longer with us. But like you take from abundance, abundance is still there. It truly is a mindset. How have you seen that mindset of abundance play out in your life? And, and by the way, who's instilled that in you? I know, I know essentially you're somewhat self made. It feels like, you know, no one's ever really invested in you. Or maybe they have. How have you cultivated that?

Yeah, I, I first. I also agreed nothing is saturated on the Internet. There's always demand. And I think when people start before I answer your question, they usually the problem, they feel because saturation is really like you have one conversation like there's no such thing as saturation online. It's impossible. It's not real estate. We're all, we're not all setting up, you know, burger joints on the same street.

Right, right, right.

It's forever. So I use that analogy. Oh, I love yours. I might steal it. Yeah, but, but then when people get started, if they do take the content creation route, usually what they'll feel though is imposter syndrome. So who am I to start talking about yoga when there are yoga influencers that have millions of followers? There's people with yoga books, like all types of people that are so famous and so good and there's the best and they're better looking and they're rich and there's, and they already have millions of students. Who am I to start doing. That's, that's really the problem that they fill is this imposter syndrome. But here's the counter to that. And the advantage is that you, your, your makeup, your background, your energy, the way you talk, your adversities, even your challenges, your story is your biggest asset. And that is relatable to someone, and that relatability is why they would pick you versus the superstar of whatever your industry is. The superstar. In fact, content might be better. It might be 100 times better. But they may buy that program or take that recommendation from that person, but they might not use whatever that offer or service is, even if it's the best of the best, because they don't have an emotional attachment to it, because they don't have a story. They're more of like, I took the recommendation and. But it's not for me. But because of your relatability, your story, your background might match their background. And so your relatability might be the reason why they actually take action and they actually change your life and they make impact. So relatability is your biggest success. And you don't need millions of followers to make money. Like, you just need really a thousand, if anything, a thousand people, you know, buying rec a product from you. And your relatability is why is more important than you being the best. I'm not the best at anything I do. I'm probably the worst at a lot of stuff I do, but people find me nerdy and geeky. They like that I lived in a van that some people, like follow me because I dance, and occasionally we'll do, like, robot moves and my stuff. So it's like that relatability factor is why some people buy myself versus Tony Robbins or someone else or Russell Brunson, the big, super big name, because of. Not because I'm better. Definitely not. It's because I'm more relatable than the superstars.

If someone can feel like you've been in their shoes, they're more likely to walk towards you. Like, they're more likely to just be like, okay, he gets me, or she gets me. And, like, I really want to just go one layer deep on this. We've spoken so much about Mindset on this podcast, but the esoteric stuff that you said you checked out that you really didn't get yet, like, that plays a huge part of this. The spiritual component, I noticed on a lot of your content, there was the skulls, the Dia de los Muertes. There was a lot of that esoteric wisdom there. So even though you say you don't go deep into that, like, it's on your stuff.

Yeah.

So how does that play out in business for you? Spirituality and. And maybe for people that don't know what the Dia de los Muerte says. Yeah.

And I think I said that more of in. In being Nervous because you seem so well rounded in that space. And.

Oh, man, I'm just learning. Thank you for the compliment, but I'm. I am. On some days I feel like I'm on a mountain. Some days I feel like I'm in a valley. Maybe that's the whole point.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think. Well, the Brambilla method. It's. It. The story is based off my grandma. And that's what you shared in the intro. Which, again. And match. Much respect. No. No one I've ever been on podcast interviews ever share that. So I really, really respect that.

I think it's really important. That's cool. For people to know and that.

Yeah. So it is really the story of my grandma and the motto and everything is based off that. And so I wanted to pick a cultural branding that was appropriate to. That could kind of encompass the history of Mexican culture. And also, I feel like Dia de los Muertos is. Is a. Is usually celebrated in Halloween. Ish. And. And one of those holidays that, like, I lived in Ireland, for example, and St. Patty's Day is coming up, and the Irish. It's like a. It's just a world. World cultural phenomena. So I wanted to tie into that. And so I guarantee that no other affiliate course has such emotional attachment.

Yeah.

And cultural background. And it also pops. It's. It's very different from when you think of learning how to make money online. You won't. I mean, I'd be hard to find another class that even looks remotely similar just because everything is. So. It's based off my grandma's story, and she's, you know, one of a kind. But.

Oh, so good. It's so good because it goes back to literally what we talked about in the very beginning. Man. Why are we doing any of this at all? What is the spiritual component to why we make money? We had a guest on the show, Danny Morell, and he. He described himself as this bridge between, like, business and spirituality. And I got from him that he's still deeply on the journey himself. He had all this real estate success. He's now leading people in spirituality and development. But one of the things that I thought he could have been honestly more humble about was his own authenticity and vulnerability about where he is, where he is personally on the spiritual journey. And what I got from when I went to your page and I felt the energy of it. Wow. This is about honoring our ancestors. Like. Like on that day, that special day in Ireland and in Mexico, this is where we actually say thank you. Like my. My grandfather Morrow Padolino is the. My son's middle name is Morrow. It's to honor him.

Amazing.

And your program is to honor your grandmother. And you know what, what the sacrifices she made that afforded you really like to be here in America. And there's so much negativity and animosity and so much what Paul Levy would call Watiko or Native American mind virus in people that has made them anti American, anti flag, anti this, anti that. I wonder how you feel about this. Anytime in my life, I have ever fought against something, instead of fighting for something. I always get exhausted and burned out and I never get the fruits. I never get the rewards. Like, how is that concept fighting for something or fighting against something? How has that played out in your life?

Oh, man. And I think tying, tying it to abundance as well, which you asked about. The I. Fighting for something means, you know, you know what that is. You know, it's hard to fight for something when you're unsure. So I think that is already in order to fight for something, you have to, you have to have something to fight for. So a discovery in line with purpose and spirit, what fulfills you, what gives you energy? We shared some of ours and this could be the biggest homework assignment before you get started into making money. And it should be because it will motivate you when you make money online. Essentially, you're an entrepreneur. That is not an easy thing. You're going to come through setbacks, you're going to deal with technology, you're going to deal with algorithms. My TikTok, I woke up one day and it was banned.

And then, remember that?

And then I had to get it back. And so your YouTube got shut down. I even got shut down on Pinterest once.

Come on.

I got them all back. But needs to say there's, there's when in order, the fight to bring those back. To give an example. It's like, why I could be like, I could just throw in the towel. Well, I tried Tick tock. I tried YouTube. Try a picture. So I'm done. But I fought to get them back and I did get them back. And when I got them back, I was like, yes, I'm, I'm. I'm back. I'm in it because I'm fighting. When I create content, how I think about is I'm fighting to help change people's financial lives. I want to give the gifts of financial freedom to other people. And that is a fight worth fighting for. So that's why when I, when I have setbacks, when I Bumps in the road when, when, when things happen that are bad, like to, to an influencer. Having your social media account banned with almost a million followers, I would say that's probably one of the worst things that could happen.

Yeah.

And, and when it happened, my wife Ashley has shared, like, I can't believe how you acted. I was so surprised. I thought you were gonna be so stressed and like, you, like, it didn't ruin your day. You were like, so, like, gotta get back. Like, have to. Let's, let's let, like, let's go. Like, already in action. Because my purpose is so clear and that why I create content is to change people's financials. Freedom. I want to give that gift. I want to, I want to have their light bulb moment come from my content. And I want to play just a small little part in and, and those people who watch my content lives and say, Adrian. When I started watching Adrian's content, I was here. And now I'm here. Like, I. He changed me, inspired me. This is my favorite story. So I, I fight with that purpose. If you want to fight, fight for something. You got to have something as, as strong that needs to be strong deep inside you. Because if you don't, when you'll have a setback, you're gonna be like, I'm done. I tried it. I'm gonna give up. So it needs to be so strong, it will compel you through every adversity that you're facing.

Dude, this is why the power of language is so, so, so important. I can't stress this enough. The words we use are spells. You know, I'm enrolling you in my reality. You're enrolling me in your reality. We're enrolling each other in a reality. Are the end results of our shared reality loving and good and abundant? Because if not, scrap it. Like, get rid of it. And who cares why it's there? We don't have to always know why things are the way they are. This has been so fun, dude. I've really enjoyed this. I think anybody who's got those, like, feelings or fires or underpinnings of like, oh, I could do that. Trust that. Trust that inside of you, because that's. I'll never forget. I've never told this story. 2013, I was in corporate America. I had left the fitness industry. I had left entrepreneurism. I had given up on myself. Literally, I had given up. And I said, oh, I'll just. Dream is on one side of life. Making money is on another. You can't have them Both I had enrolled myself into other people's and it wasn't until I came across. I'll give him credit. John Lee Dumas. His, his ads found me that I saw what was possible and I trusted myself enough to burn my entire life to the ground. My wealth, my relationships, everything. And I started from the ashes. And look at me now like, it's not because I'm trying to be cocky about it, like I don't care about being famous, but I am creating a multiple six figure income for my family on the way to being a millionaire. But not because it's the cool thing to do or because I really care about that. It's because I know that more financial independence and freedom affords me to give that to other people. It's exactly what I feel from you. So with the road you've been on and like I think about like it breaks my heart like your dad wearing the shirt for four years that said Toyota on it. Like all the pain that you've had to gone through all the hardships to, to be where you are now. What excites you in the future and what do you think the prognosis is essentially for the world. If you had a crystal ball, which I know you don't, what do you think that is? How do what fuels you and what do you think the crystal ball is when it comes to money and finance and economics for all of us, man.

I do feel what, what excites me right now is the game of, of working with my family and, and in different capacities. I, I just launched a new business and I've been having conversations recently with people who have already achieved financial freedom. Everyone's number is different, but once you hit this financial freedom point, you may. What's next? Yeah, if you don't have to worry about money, what's next? And so I'm just two years now. I just turned 34. Two years since that point. In the first year I was, I just was kind of enjoying maybe coasting and, and, and then I found myself almost a little bored like thinking like what I need to figure out something like a new direction. So what is it excites me so I, I launched a new business. Not out of need, it's based off of value. And I'm, and I'm basically growing the Brambilla family tree in a way and trying new things because I think it's fun. It's fun. And as soon as the game of business doesn't become fun anymore, I will stop. I don't have a number I'm attaining for anymore there isn't that motivates me like that's more of enjoyment of the day to day and the fun in the process. I, I do love what I, what I do and, and I'm not a workaholic. I play about 20 hours of pickleball every single week and I, I, I do a bunch of hobbies and, and I'm having fun. I just really am having fun and I love the people in, in my life. I know my wife and I want to start a family and I can't wait for that and then the prognosis for the future. I still think that the Internet is the great equalizer and it is still early in terms of anything we talked about today in the future to create a lifestyle that you, that is, is truly one that you would think in a dream. Because that's what I thought when I was 19, 20, 20 years old actually what I'm doing right now is crazier than any dream that I ever had. And it's still early to get started to learn. It's not too late. In fact the time is now and it still will be early in the years to come because most people are not risk takers. Most people are sadly stuck in the mindset of complacency or just unawareness like that. There's different paths to success. What we're, we could just say the mainstream, what we're taught in schools, working for a job, working nine to five. That is definitely a path that's tried and true that most people do it. But we are examples of a different path. And I think I've done both and you've done both and I like this path way better. And so I'm saying to all you listening now is that you can do this too. In fact, the time is really early if you were to start today.

That's right. And no matter when you're hearing this or seeing this, it's still early, it's still the right time because and I'll reword this from what I've heard, the dream is real. The work that's hard is sold separately. I don't think it always has to be a hustle, but the dream is real. Otherwise it wouldn't be there. We wouldn't feel it in our system. So man, we covered so much ground when it comes to money being a vehicle for freedom. What do you think we missed?

The last thing maybe to talk about on the money side in a really practical way, your dream does have a number and so if you were to get really practical and you were to write down what are all the things, what is my absolute dream life? And you write them down and do not hold back. If you want to fly private, like, write that if you want to. If you want to have a 10,000 square foot mansion, write it. It's up to you. All of our dreams are different. Even if I don't want that, you want that. Write down the cars you want and put a number on it. Put an actual price. Through this exercise, what you'll realize is that you actually do not need to be a hundred millionaire. Like, I actually can't think of things. If I added everything I wanted, that would even come close to $100 million. Like actually my number is so much smaller than that. If for the people who are, you know, I just went to the extreme on the, on the material side. But like more realistically, do you want to. For me, it was like, do I want to travel every single month? If I, if I wanted to internationally and take my family and treat them okay. And I put the cost for that and then I put, okay, I have my house right now. It's a four bedroom, four bath. Wrote that down. And all these things and two cars and all this stuff. And what I realized that my number was and I put in the monthly amount. I'm like, oh my gosh, that's not too bad. And I don't remember when I first did the exercise. It was probably like 25 grand a month might have been my number. And 25 grand a month at the beginning. Again, if you're, if you have zero, of course that sounds like a lot. And my first job at a college paid $27,000 a year, right? So I wanted that in a month. That's crazy. But $25,000 a month is not $100 million. It's not $10 million. Right. It, it's much less than that. So actually putting the price on your James was a really great exercise to realize the goal. When we don't put that number, we think it's so far ahead. And like you and you, and you see Jeff Bezos and you see Elon Musk, and we think only that is the, that's. That's what I have to be. I'll never be that. But really our dreams, when you put the number on it, it's much more attainable. And that $25,000, when I wrote that, and I have to dig up an old journal because I used to do this exercise, I went from 27k a year. And then now I make more than that every week now. So I put the price on my number and it made it just more attainable and and I wrote down all the crazy things I wanted to do and I still included that in my number. So it's just a great maybe last exercise into really tying the dreams and the practical and putting it a little exercise to you and then knowing what your number is. And I guarantee you your number is going to be way smaller than you thought it was.

Yeah, absolutely, dude. Such great wisdom. Joshtrend.com brambilamethode Also, thank you for the extras. That's amazing. Of course, man. Thank you for being on the show as we say goodbye. How would you define wellness? How would you define a life well lived?

I think one that you wake up every day and you enjoy it to be in joy.

Thank you, Adrian, for coming on the show. From my heart to yours and from both of our hearts, we're both wishing you love and wellness. We'll see you on the next episode. Peace. Hey, thanks for watching this video. If you love this video, hit subscribe. That way you'll be automatically notified when new videos come out, new episodes, and also share this video with a friend. If you loved it, they're gonna love it too. Check out some of the videos on this screen that are perfectly curated based on the video you just saw. Make sure you follow me and I'll see you in the next video.