Dan Martell On Buying Back Your Time, Growing Up in Foster System & Best Hires To Make | DSH #158

Yeah, so I mean then I'll tell you the ultimate way to buy back your time is to get a jet.

I'll flex that.

Like I mean people

and I walk into my house we had just bought seven weeks before the wedding and I found my fiancé in tears in the kitchen.

And eventually she just like looks at me and takes the ring off and drops it on the counter and says I can't do this anymore.

That's that was the moment where I was like all right.

I'm going to the strip club.

Yeah, I'm going straight to the strip club.

You mentioned anxiety attacks earlier.

Do you still get those or did you overcome that?

No, I don't anymore.

Now you just get on a jet like my anxiety's bad.

Take me somewhere.

Welcome back to the Digital social hour, guys.

I'm your host, Sean Kelly.

Here are my co-host, Wayne Lewis.

What up, what up?

And our guest today, Dan Martel.

What up, everybody?

Man, how's it going?

Dude, I am super pumped to be here.

The production, the space, you guys, you guys run it like top notch, man.

Crazy impressed.

Not bad, right?

It's awesome.

And it's inspiring, man.

I love it.

Yeah.

What you've been working on lately.

Latest is, I've got a book out, Wall Street Journal best-selling book, Buy Back Your Time.

Launched that a few months ago.

Dude, it's honestly, I think if anybody's written a book, you don't like you'd hope people read it I don't know like I had a handful of people that I love that I hope could read it because I'm a lighthouse not a tugboat like I try to be the example without correcting folks right and it sold almost 50,000 copies in a few months and like continues to sell a thousand copies and grow this is that's the part that's blowing my mind it's like every week it keeps growing we're selling more copies which I can only assume people like it and they tell people about it.

So as an author, it's kind of cool.

So how do you buy back your song?

Dude, it's my favorite topic in the world as you can imagine here's what i believe i believe most entrepreneurs build companies they grow to hate right and usually it happens i call it factor of three 300 000 right

900 000 2.7 million there's like these different like natural levels of kind of i call it new levels new devils like you have to change the way you lead at different stages

and if you don't you'll decide to either shut it down, want to sell it, or worse, decide I don't want to grow.

The problem is if if you decide you don't want to grow, then your team's going to go find somebody else that's got a bigger vision.

So I teach people how to do what's called the buyback loop, which is first off, time and energy audit, right?

Let's just look at the stuff you're doing that you hate doing.

And then quantify that from a dollar amount.

Like what is something you're doing, you hate doing that you could pay somebody very little to do for you?

That's the time and energy audit.

Then it's like grab that bucket of red things that are low cost and that's your only next hire, right?

Then hire somebody and transfer.

that's the second part of the loop and then the next one is fill it right like what do you do with your new time I had a buddy recently he's like dude this call we were talking we had a scheduled meeting he said this call is the only call I have on the calendar bought back all my time and I said buddy you you didn't understand what I was saying you have to fill it with things that make you more money that light you up so if you're a podcaster as you know I just want you to podcast right when you're done you're not editing videos and writing the copy for social or you know doing anything else you should just do your magic, your genius, your thing that's unique.

And that's, that is at a high level what I help people do at the highest level.

Nice.

You've gotten your life to a point where you do things you only enjoy.

Dude, it's bananas.

And I mean, I can dig in and I don't, it's, I sometimes I'm like scared to share because I think people think it's a bit of a flex.

Why?

Why?

Because I have a house manager that manages 100% of all my personal things.

I have an executive assistant that manages all my corporate stuff.

What's wrong with flexing?

I don't know.

I think sometimes like people, they hear somebody's further along and it's too easy to dismiss them, right?

Like, oh, that Dan can do it because he's a, he's, you know, he's a rich white guy.

I'm not an idiot.

Like, I get it.

So, so I kind of like to meet people where they're at, like when they first start a company and say, okay, what did I do when I had nothing?

Right.

I'll tell you the first thing I did at home in regards to buying back my time was I stopped doing my own laundry.

Stopped doing cleaning, right?

Having somebody that you spent a few hundred bucks a month to come in and to support you, that's huge, right?

If you're a business owner, I want you to do business stuff, right?

And on the business side, when you start off, like, don't do administrative stuff, right?

You should be talking to customers.

You should be delivering the service you just sold.

You should be figuring out the next strategy to grow, but you shouldn't be doing bookkeeping and cleaning up the office and all this stuff.

And I think a lot of folks, and I know I was this, I grew up, obviously, you know, I ended up, you know, in a lot of trouble as a kid, but I just grew up around people at a different mentality where it was almost like you had to, you got to work hard.

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On things that matter versus just working hard to waste your time.

And I did that for years,

probably almost a decade, where I just kept thinking if I could out-work and out-hustle, I'll be successful.

But truth is, million-dollar companies were not built off $10 tasks.

Right.

That was my problem the first three years, too.

But isn't the goal is to be the result?

So, you, you know, not technically bragging, but just kind of giving your story on how you've got to this level.

Some people may call it a flex, but I think that it needs to be seen by the people that's coming up because that's a place where some people desire to be.

So, I think it's good that you kind of explained that.

I love that you say that, Wayne.

Yeah, no, you know, maybe it's a Canadian in me, man.

I just

don't, I'm a little too humble.

I think you should own it because, I mean, you know, we don't got that much time here.

So, being that result, you know, it shows that, okay, this is possible.

But who wants to meet the rich guy who acts like he's not rich, that's acts poor?

Like, what's what

are we doing?

There's no inspiration.

Yeah.

Because I love the people that show me

how they're living.

Like, and then not for.

I love him.

Like,

he's one of the funniest guys on the internet, man.

You know, he's the ultimate flex, but he's the result.

He's telling you, I'm the result of

what happens when you put work in.

So I think you should give us the results.

Dude, I'm going to let me flex.

I want to hear it, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I love getting inspired.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So, I mean, then I'll tell you, the ultimate way to buy back your time is get a jet.

I'll flex then.

Like, I mean, people

because people don't get it.

It's like, if time is money, then where am I, where can I buy back days or half days?

Or, you know, but obviously we got to start when we don't have that.

And you just got to like show up and do the work.

And that's what I wrote about in the book.

What caused this shift in mindset for you?

Like, what age were you when you were like, wow, I'm wasting time, man.

I need to step it up.

I wish it was one thing, but if I had to point to one, so I had, I started at 17, got in a lot of trouble, almost took my life in a high-speed chase.

Yeah, got, I

stole a car, you know, dr,

addiction, all that stuff.

And

luckily, you know, when I went to pull the gun to let the cops do their job, they got stuck.

And they grabbed me and I ended up in prison for

like six months and then to a rehab center.

And I ended up doing 11 months in this place that like taught me about who I was and rebuilt my beliefs and at the end of that program I helped this guy Rick he was a maintenance guy clean out one of the cabins was building an old church camp and that's where I learned I found this old computer and that's like at 17 I learned to write code

and so but I struggled failed company number one failed company number two right and it wasn't until I was like 24 that again it's like keep doing the same thing over and over is the definition of insanity.

And I got a mentor, this guy named Bob.

I read the book, The E-Myth, The Entrepreneurial Myth, Michael Gerber, Sarah's Pies, you know, and Bob showed me the beginnings of, oh, you got to stop doing that.

You got to do this.

You got to think of it this way.

Now, I'd love to say that that was like the big aha, but it wasn't.

Three years into that company, you know, 3 million in revenue, like it grew really fast.

I came home one day and I was engaged at the time.

And I walk into my house we had just bought.

seven weeks before the wedding and I found my fiancé in tears in the kitchen.

And

she couldn't even talk.

And eventually, she just like looks at me and takes the ring off and drops it on the counter and says, I can't do this anymore.

And

that's that was the moment where I was like, all right.

I'm going to the strip club.

Yeah, I'm going straight to the strip club.

Oh, that's so good.

See ya.

No, man, it was, you know what it was?

It was, um,

like, you know, it's funny is entrepreneurs like work

off, and oftentimes they'll say it's for my fiancé, my girlfriend, my, my future.

But here's the deal: your family never asks you for any of that stuff.

I have two young kids, like, they never ask me for any of the other stuff.

They want my time and attention.

And that, that low of like having my whole identity of being in a relationship, about to get married and crushing in business.

Wait, but did she end up leaving?

She left, dude.

Oh, so you didn't have time to correct it or nothing.

Let's just say when women decide, I don't know if you've learned this yet, Wayne.

No, I mean,

and that was not the first time, but that was like, I'm done.

Dude, it like shattered me.

Like, we just bought this house.

I, you want to hear something crazy?

Six months later, I exit the company, become a multi-millionaire.

She called you back.

Nope.

Oh.

Because she just is like, hey, man, like, the person that I see and I've seen is not the person that I want to build a life with.

Wow.

So that, where did I like say enough's enough?

And like, okay, well, so I'm, I'm a driven.

What did you feel like you were doing wrong, though?

I just wanted to.

Dude, I was just working.

I was, no, I was working 100-hour weeks, man.

Dude, I would show up.

Let's say it was your birthday party and I'm your best friend.

I show up my laptop.

So it was just work.

It was 100% work.

It was, it was, I was, we're at dinner.

I'm not paying attention.

We go to her family.

Like, the reason she was pissed is because I was supposed to be home an hour before.

This is a Sunday afternoon because we were supposed to go to her parents' house.

And yet again, Dan's late.

She's always making up excuses for me.

And I just didn't understand

how do I create?

I'm a creator and then also show up as a good brother, as a son, as a partner in a relationship.

Because I was like, I was just so scared that if I stopped, I would lose.

the momentum.

You know, a lot of people, they think the thing that makes them successful is their edge.

What I've learned is sometimes you're successful in spite of your edge.

And

how do you take that out and reflect and see?

So that actually changed?

Did that take away from you or did it add more fuel to you?

Like,

what was that empty space like?

Like, what was that empty home?

Dude, what was nice like?

It was, I started having anxiety attacks.

Yep.

I had to go see a therapist.

I'd walk around with a rock.

He made me squeeze a rock in my pocket every time I'd have an anxiety attack.

And I was like the positive mental attitude guy, right?

Like mindset.

And here I was, my body, I'd feel like I'm having heart attacks just out of the blue

so i had to it was a lot of therapy for a while and then i decided eventually to move to silicon valley to san francisco from the east coast of canada and that's where i got introduced to a completely different way of building and scaling companies where okay they you know there's four ways to get leverage most people don't know this you know it's it's content code capital, or collaboration.

There's only four C's, right?

And once I understood that, then I figured, I learned what I needed to get better at.

Those are the four things that get leveraged.

So, time is a constant.

Multiplied times leverage equals output.

So, if you want more output, you want more revenue, you want more growth, it's not time, it's leverage.

So, how do you get more leverage?

I learned how to use capital, right?

I learned how to raise capital.

I've raised over 650 million for myself and companies I'm involved in.

Wow.

Code, right?

Think about automation, AI today, GPT, that's all code.

Most people don't know how to use technology to get leverage.

Third one is content, which is a perfect example.

Fixed costs to produce.

10 million people watch this.

Does it cost you more?

Nope.

Huge.

But where does that show up in a business?

Playbooks, systems.

You know, we were just talking to Nathan about checklists.

So that's the content side.

And then collaboration is the people side.

Right?

Like, how do you work through other people to get work done so that you're never the bottleneck?

And those are the four master skills.

And that's what I had to learn so that I can be a great dad, be a great husband, be a great person in my community, and still go crush it in business.

That's that unfortunately had to go through.

I had to go through that pain to figure it out.

So there is technically a balance if you buy your time back.

Dude, it is not only a balance, dude, full-on integration.

Like it's better than I thought it could ever be.

Wow.

Way better.

Because

it's essentially allowing you to express yourself to the fullest potential without never feeling like there's something to go fix because you did that.

Like, I can be here with you guys.

I think I've got a ton of podcasts, right?

I've got an executive assistant.

She's managed.

I got my team here.

They're monitoring.

I can be 100% present with you guys because I don't have to worry about what's happening next.

I'm just going to show up and I'm going to love on the people I meet.

And I mean, that's...

That's the thing I think everybody wants to do.

It's just being present.

Dude, I just want, when I'm with my kid, man, I don't want to worry about the inbox.

I don't have to worry about text messages

There's nothing that's important that like when I'm hanging out with my son Sam or Max or Noah I'm like I'm just with you

and I think that's the biggest gift.

Well, I mean I think

he reached a level

of

Seeing that just because

you felt like the not having a balance was gonna be detrimental But I hear there's so there's two different aspects to it, right?

There's not having a balance and people like like, oh, I mean, you just won't have a balance at certain points in your life.

But then there's, you get to a point where you want that balance.

So do you believe in just establishing that balance for all entrepreneurs, whether it's 21, 19?

Like, when do you, when is the balance not

I've taken 15 year olds and taught them the buyback principle.

And in the first year, guess what the first hire they're making?

An assistant.

Wow.

You know how crazy that is?

It doesn't matter.

If you start a business as fast as you possibly can, make revenue, go get an executive assistant.

Nobody's ever told anybody that because they think, well, I'm not that fancy.

Why can't I do my own inbox?

Why can't I manage my calendar?

Most people aren't profitable to hire people.

Perfect.

Go, and you can't.

So what else can you do?

Intern, right?

Most people, their biggest time assassins is actually not even not enough time.

It's themselves.

Dude, I was, I haven't drank in 11 years.

Why?

Because I knew I shouldn't be drinking.

The amount of time I've gotten back by not drinking,

I don't need a a team.

Like, I just got back like a full Sunday, a Saturday afternoon.

You know what I mean?

Like, so a lot of it is just like wasted time.

But if you're at capacity, then go get an intern, man.

Like, go call a local college and say, who's your top student?

He needs experience.

I need a person to help out.

And then in that three, six month period, you got them.

Just get your business figured out so you've got a little bit of profit so you can maybe keep them around or hire somebody else.

But dude, you can hire an executive assistant in the Philippines for $4 an hour.

They're really good.

So these are just beliefs

or ignorance they just don't know about.

But once you know, then you just, how fast can I buy?

Literally,

the unlock, when you talk about balance, I do believe there are sprints within a marathon.

I do believe that.

I think there's seasons where it's like, I'm going hard in the paint.

You got to be it.

We're doing it.

You're working weekends.

I'm just, I'm going to make it happen.

But if you're in that mode, let's just be efficient about it.

Let's not be wasteful.

Let's not

just think I got to work harder to get through this.

Let's be a little bit more thoughtful about the value of our time.

I think young people have it hardest because they think they have all the time in the world.

And that's true.

But wouldn't you want to get to the place that you want to enjoy your life faster?

Yeah.

Like, I don't want my dreams to be this thing I build eventually.

I want them now.

Right?

So I don't want to be the six-year-old guy in an 11-year-old.

I want it now, dude, when you're older and you're going on vacation.

You don't even want to take your shirt off because you feel flat and fabby.

You know what I mean?

Like, you want to be young and doing that.

So I hope that's motivation for young people to say, buy back their time.

You cannot build a million-dollar company off $10 tasks.

It's impossible.

But most people, I think, their thing is fear of missing out, which I was explaining to Sean what it's

a saying that goes, choose your regrets.

So, you can choose to either work now, party later, or party now and worry about work later.

But either way, you're going to, at some point, you're going to have to choose.

Choose your regrets.

Yeah, I mean,

Jeff Bezos calls it regret minimization.

Okay.

At the end of the day, make a list of all the things.

And there's been books written about this, right?

The top five regrets of the people that have died, right?

And just like front load those.

But I, but here's the thing, Wayne, I actually think people can have it all.

I think you can have a very ridiculous sized business and have time for your family and go and party.

Wow.

If you're willing to follow the process.

But if you want to let your trauma emotions create issues.

Most people, the challenges in their businesses, it's them creating what I call emotional shrapnel, right?

It's somebody messed up and instead of being like, hey, where did the process drop the ball?

They go, the person's an idiot.

And they'll say something like that.

Well, the person's not an idiot.

You didn't train them properly.

When I go to work, nobody works for me.

I work for them.

Do you think that there's that subtle frame of mind?

So most people just haven't become the person who can deal with more.

They wish that the the problems stop happening.

It never stops.

The problems get bigger.

You should just wish that you became more so you can deal with bigger things.

I call them factor of 10.

$10 problems, $100 problems.

When you start off, your cell phone bill is an extra $100, you freak out, you call the company, what is in the States, like ATT or whatever.

It's like, you guys, blah, blah, blah.

Dude, you should hope you should have $10,000 problems.

Friggin' Richard Branson just had a billion-dollar problem when he had to shut down his Galactica company that went public.

Like Oprah gets sued for a billion dollars.

She's grateful she's the person who has the means to be sued for a billion dollars.

People wish that the problems went away and they never go away.

You just become more.

So, run to that.

Create the space in your calendar to develop the skills, develop the beliefs, develop the character traits to do more.

So, you can have it all if

you're willing to just do the work.

He said, forget having $100 problems.

You need to have $10,000 problems.

Hell yeah, man.

Go find them.

Run to the problems.

Wow.

You mentioned anxiety attacks earlier.

Do you still get those or did you overcome that?

No, I don't anymore.

Now you just get on a jet and be like, my anxiety is bad.

Take me somewhere.

You know what it is now is I, and I teach this.

I think it's like chapter eight, it's perfect week, is I design my weeks to have the,

there's no anxiety to build up.

Right?

Anxiety comes from

worrying.

Yeah, worry.

I don't have worry because I'm on path.

I know what I'm here to do.

I know that nothing needs to be done.

Nothing has to be done, but it can be done.

And if it doesn't get done, great, that's totally fine.

And if it doesn't, oh well.

Dude, I have like zero.

Like,

I'm breathing right now.

I'm here with you guys.

Like, life is great.

I think people are more jealous of that.

The lessons.

They should be.

It's an R placed.

It's not the material.

They should be.

I feel like more people are jealous of the fact that you...

don't worry about things and the things that you actually possess because the worrying is what most people like have trouble with right do you know 90 of the pain somebody fears or feels is the fear of an outcome that never happens whoa all the time that's crazy the chick will say you're gonna break my heart like we just met yesterday you're you're creating internal pain yeah about something that hasn't happened so my rule is i control the controllables

i can't control whatever happens externally the economy the whatever but when it happens i can respond so i don't i don't think about the things and that that is something it's a skill, and it becomes a character trait because it's based on beliefs.

So I think people should lean into that.

But you don't even have time to think about that stuff if you're busy doing, doing, doing.

That's why, like, I teach people the buyback loop.

I want them to free up their time so that they can fill it with things that are going to develop them to become more, to have more.

And people think it's like when I, it's the, you know, the be do have.

They think once I have, then I'll be the person, then I can do the cool stuff.

But the truth is, is it's not to have first, it's to be.

It sounds so crazy, but you got to be the person first to then have

to go do the stuff you want.

And that is a hard thing for people to understand.

They're like, what do you mean?

It's like, here's a great way to think about it.

If I took all the money in the world right now, okay, there's 3.2 trillion exchanged today, and I evenly distribute it to everybody's pockets.

We kind of tested this recently with the pandemic, or sorry, pandemic.

And what do you think would happen within the next 16, 18 months?

It'd be back in the hands of the people that had it originally.

Why?

Because the people that had it think, well, if I have it, then I'll be that person.

People think, I want to be a millionaire.

Having a million dollars in your bank account doesn't make you a millionaire.

Being the person that knows how to manage a million dollars

makes you a millionaire.

Dude, that idea is a big idea that I think is lost on people.

You should be happy you didn't get the million yet because you're not the person who can receive it yet.

And the stuff you're going through right now is getting you ready to become the person who can receive the things you've been asking for

wow dude this is like the game that i wish somebody would have sat me down at 17 and said you think it's about working you think it's about the task like i gotta go sell i gotta go market i got no no no you gotta go work on yourself what would be thoughts

All of us are being taught by inexperienced people, which is our parents.

So that concept, it's just trickle-down effect.

So we can talk about the, what's the generational curse, but I think every family suffers with that just because of the knowledge that's being passed along.

And it's all the same knowledge.

Work hard, go to school, it's the same thing.

Don't be afraid to pick up garbage if that's what you're asked for.

You're not above it, all these things.

Right, right, right.

Here's the thing, though, is my philosophy, because I think like I love my parents, and obviously, we had a lot of challenges growing up.

That today, it's, you know, you, you'd see us, like, my dad travels with me to my events.

My mom's like, I talk to her everybody, like, it's kind of bananas where I grew up to the relationship I have today.

I have two brothers and a sister and we have a beautiful relationship.

But I learned a long time ago that I can't ask my parents for advice for my life.

You can't.

Because if I want to achieve something they've never achieved, then if I ask them for advice, what am I going to get?

I'm going to get advice on getting the same thing they received because that's all they could ever get.

It doesn't mean they don't love me.

It doesn't mean I don't ask them for advice.

I can't teach you what they don't know.

Yeah.

So it's just even, so the idea is like big life decisions.

Where do I go to school?

Should I be in this relationship?

Should I start a business?

All that stuff.

If you ask your parents, you're actually working against yourself unless your parents, you know, is Bill Gates.

You know what I mean?

Like, unless they're super successful.

That's why mentorship is required.

Yeah.

Finding somebody who's been there before to be able to ask the big decisions, not how do I manage my assistant.

Don't waste anybody's time.

So you ended up getting married again.

Dude, I have a beautiful wife.

Okay.

So

how did that happen?

A lot of work.

I I had to go.

Yep, 100%.

I had to go to San Francisco, understand there's a different way to build companies.

That created the space for me to do the work.

You know, men are from Mars, women are from Venus.

Like, dude, I did the work.

I went to the events, the way of the superior man.

Like,

I did it.

You worked on you.

Had to.

I want, because I was scared.

After that happened, I literally had thoughts.

Maybe I'm always just going to have to...

you know, reside to being the rich uncle.

Maybe I'm not supposed to be in a relationship.

Maybe I should just move to Miami and and be that guy, the perpetual bachelor.

But in my heart, man, I want to have kids.

I just, I didn't want, I didn't want to not have that, but I knew I just wasn't, it wouldn't have been fair to another person to be in a relationship with that version of Dan.

So I had to become the person who could attract.

Same principle.

Like I knew what I wanted.

The biggest gift I got from that failed relationship was being very intentional for who I wanted to attract and then asking myself, well, who would that person want want to be with?

Because I wasn't.

That person who's an entrepreneur and driven and beautiful and athletic and positive and all these things, they wouldn't put up with me.

See what I'm saying?

Some people want to attract a partner that like, dude, you ain't that cool.

Like, let's be honest.

You want all these things from a partner.

It's like, what are you bringing to the table?

So I had to go like build that to eventually be ready to receive.

Wow.

And then you received it.

It was all good.

Yeah, man.

She hit me up on Twitter.

Again, I was ready.

I was ready.

She did.

She says she doesn't, but it's public, so I found it.

I love you, Renee.

But she messaged me.

She was like, I saw you're speaking.

I'd love to pick your brain.

I like creeped out her profile.

I was like, yeah, we're for sure.

I'm done.

Come pick it.

And I remember that the first meeting, I was like, what are you doing tonight?

And she's like, oh, I got, you know, whatever.

And I was like, we're going for dinner.

I was ready for that.

I became the person who,

you know, could show up with the business.

You guys met on Twitter?

We met on Twitter in person in Toronto Toronto at an event I was speaking at

and maybe within I think it's four months I convinced her to move to San Francisco and start to build a life together that's cool you've had massive success in the business world how do you choose your business partners because that's something a lot of people beautiful question one of them sitting right over there um it's my media partner sam

here's the thing man i think first and foremost is like you should partner with people that inspire you right even though i'm successful right like i'm inspired i'm inspired by you guys in this space man this is beautiful like you you meet people that do things you know that that it's inspiration is where were they and where are they at today right it's not about like how much money you have it's how much adversity did you overcome yeah that inspires me it could be the person that's a paraplegic that that climbs kill and jar like game on i remember i did an iron man last year and and like it's uh i think it's a 16 hour cutoff The people that are coming in at hour 15, 50 minutes are way more inspiring than me.

Like,

I'm sitting there at the finish line.

I stayed up till midnight cheering these people on.

Wow.

Right?

Yeah.

So for me, a business partner is somebody I admire that inspires me.

That's first and foremost.

Somebody I'd want to spend time with.

Then it's somebody that I can collaborate with.

I think life's like, if I think about what makes a great business is co-creation.

And again, some people are really good solopreneurs and they don't realize that that's the biggest thing holding them back.

They don't know how to partner.

They don't know how to share.

They don't know how to co-create.

They don't know how to have conflict in a healthy way.

Cool.

Then you will always be, you you know, the person that has a business.

But when you can start partnering with people that are on their own, incredibly talented, driven, can build their own organization and you plus them equals more, enterprise.

Dude, I've done this, like, I've probably partnered with 60 people at a meaningful level.

Wow.

Yeah.

That's a lot.

I just, well, it's not hard.

Dude, I was talking to your Nathan guys like, dude, let's go do this up in Canada.

I don't know.

Like, I'm seeing opportunity all around me.

And if you have resources, because you bought back your time, you have the space to have these conversations then I think that's that's the big thing so yeah business partners for me are people that inspire that are willing to do the work we share the same values

I remember one time I started my very first company that succeeded I had two failures and then finally kind of figured it out when I started I hired these three guys that were essentially supposed to be my partners gave them each 10% you know we're gonna start this off The first Saturday rolls around and I say, guys, we got to meet up.

We got to talk about strategy because on Monday, we got to do the work.

Right.

And one of the guys Martin says, I'm not going to come.

And I was like, why?

He goes, dude, I don't want.

I don't want to be whatever you guys are about to go do.

Like, that sounds like a lot of work.

And I'm good now.

Like, I just don't want to do that.

No problem, bro.

He wasn't there when we exited.

And again, dude, I don't mean to flex, but sometimes you got to go let people know, right?

To wake them up.

Like the amount of people, I just think about it when I like, so first company was spheric, exited that at 28.

Then I went and did another company, Flowtown, exited that at 30.

I essentially did three companies in 10 years.

Every time I've exited, I just think of all the people that came that couldn't hang.

Think about it.

You guys, like, how many people have come, interns, employees, that they just couldn't hang?

It's a lot.

I know.

There's a lot of names, dude.

I think when I sold Flowtown, there was like 100 and some people's names on that list.

Yeah, because look, we're showing up to do the work and there's going to be challenges and we got to overcome it and you got to be willing to partner.

You gotta show up every day.

So I just I just think of that as like I want people that are willing to go to war with me.

Yeah.

Yeah, not like physically like anger, but just like I trust you got my back.

Dude, you got that in a partner.

It's game on.

Yeah.

Man, Dan, I love your mindset, man, especially knowing how you grew up.

through the foster system, going to prison, all that.

And to see you now, it's truly inspiring for us.

It is, man.

Yeah.

Is there anything you want to close off with?

Yeah, I think every person, because I think this will really serve the listeners.

I think everybody's here to do two things.

Okay.

I'm a person of faith.

I believe in my creator.

And I believe, one, we're here to become the best version of ourselves.

You know, I call the 10.0 version of ourselves.

And the 10.0 is like, you know, think of like all the best moments, powerfully you showed up with confidence.

And like, they might be sprinkled out, right?

Where you're super creative.

If you brought all that together, like all those moments into one day

and you like showed up, you know, the day you were on your fitness game, your, your work stuff, you know, you're just, you're hitting everything.

If you could just show up as that 10.0 version of yourself, or at least strive to be that person 100% of the time, that's one.

Like, am I on that journey, that 1% better?

The, the, you know, like, when I meet my maker, I believe he created me in his image, and I'm going to meet the person that he created me in.

Dude, I want that person to be a stranger.

I think that would be hell.

I think that is actually the definition of hell.

I read something that said that yesterday.

Real hell is the person you are today meeting the person that you were supposed to be.

That.

Oh, that's trippy.

That.

That, they said that is real hell.

When I read that, I was like, I actually posted it.

I was like, that's powerful.

That.

I'm going to be stealing that.

Wayne, I love that.

And so that's one.

And then the beautiful part about that is if you're on that journey,

the second part is share that person with the world.

Give yourself yourself to the world.

I don't care if it's to your kids, to your wife, to your community, to whoever.

Dude, holding that, the things you've learned, who you've become, not sharing that publicly.

Like, you push me, man.

I appreciate it.

Hey, dude, like, you need to flex because how can I be inspired if I don't know these things about you?

I appreciate you saying that because that's what I'm saying.

I need to get better being okay, letting people know this is what I, but quickly tell them, but this is where I came from.

Yeah, be the result.

Yeah.

And I think that if every person, think about that, if every person in the world woke up and said how do i become the best version of myself and then share that process with the world i think everybody would just find a different purpose a different vision for their life they would have a bigger why

and i and that's that's what i hope to encourage people and invite them to uh consider love it man yeah hit me up on instagram guys i'm on instagram i love instagram double l to martel damn martel follow me send me a message let let people know that i was on this you found me i'd love to uh serve people gotcha man i'll put the link in the bio thank you thanks for watching guys that was a great episode.

See you next time.

Peace.