You have to decide at some point that enough is enough. That no matter the noise, the nonsense, the opinions, the haters, the doubt, you're doing it anyway. You're locking in.
What if this was the moment you chose [music] to change? Not next week. Not in January when everyone's posting their half-hearted New Year's resolutions right now.
While everyone else is still asleep, you're already driving. Because here's the truth. There is no perfect time.
There's no superhero coming to save you. It's only ever been you, and it always will be. So lock in.
What would it look like if you actually made the change? Changed the version of you that kept waiting. That version, it's done.
You're not waiting anymore. You're building. You're the type of person that is [music] tired of watching other people live your dreams.
So lock in and move on. Or what I call chapter one. [ __ ] motivation.
You need a plan. So many people just wait for motivation to show up. But the scary thing is for most people it never does.
You don't build wealth by getting hyped on Monday, quitting on Thursday. Lock in when no one's watching. You need to do one small action to change your life.
And I'm going to tell you what it is right now. And it's going to you up how small that action is. You need to do one thing that will change your life completely right now.
Because that big decision in your head today, you know you need to be doing something differently. You know what I'm talking about. You know exactly what it is.
And I want you to do something right now with me. I want you to put that big decision you need to make [music] on the calendar as a date. That's it.
The day that you need to quit the job you hate, the day you need to launch the product, the day you need to fire that person, the day you need to leave your relationship, whatever it is, put it on the calendar. You are at a crossroads and you're going to put a time and a date on it. And then you're going to keep the promise you made yourself and make a decision by that date.
That's what I did when I first wanted to quit my job and go all in on my business. I put a date on the calendar because I was so [ __ ] scared. I never would have left if I hadn't done [music] that.
If I had never done that, I probably never would have made my first real million and with a ton of companies. So, put it on your calendar. That's all it takes.
Chapter two, nobody owes you anything. [music] So, I want you to actually stop waiting on permission, a mentor, a lucky break. The truth is, nobody owes you a damn thing.
But that's actually really freeing. [music] You don't need them to like you. You don't need them to respect you.
You don't need their friendship. You need attention. That is the economy we're in.
You know, when I hit my first seven figures in business, it wasn't when I made my clients like me. It was when I stopped being so nice and started being honest and started closing. I told my investment advisory clients at the time, "You don't come to me because I'm your friend.
You got plenty of friends. You come to me to tell you the things nobody else will. " So, I stopped letting clients push me around.
I did what I was supposed to do. gave them the hard truth. And you know what that led to?
Them making millions because being nice doesn't make you money. Being right, being true makes you a lot more. Most people do not want to hear two things, but that's not going to be you.
The biggest gift you can give yourself and somebody else is to stop caring what [music] they think about you and instead go do what needs to be done. One of our advisory clients had just redesigned their new website in our contrarian boardroom. [snorts] They were super excited about it.
I took one look at it and said, "This website is not going to convert you a penny. You just wasted how much money? 75K.
Yikes. Waste. We can fix this, but this is a nightmare.
" [music] Were they happy? Of course not. But after 30 days of conversions dropping to half of what they were previously, they knew I was right.
Then we helped them turn it around and that website now converts better than anything else. So, when did you decide to let other people tell you what to do? and then to let other people tell you what you're worth.
Do you want to go through life as a pick me boy or girl just waiting for somebody else's permission? Of course not. That's pathetic.
God brought you into this life and [music] you're sitting around waiting for a human to tell you you're good enough. Come on. I was right where you were.
I was working at Goldman Sachs back in the day and I watched not seven, not eight, not nine, but 12 people who had lower stats in the business than I did. they were less successful than I was. Get promoted instead of me because I had to wait my term because I wasn't very good at politics until finally I flew out to Dallas.
I paid for it on my own dime. Didn't ask for my boss's permission. And I went to the head of the Dallas office and I said, "I want this job.
I'm not going through my boss. That hasn't worked. I think I'm the best.
Here's why you should hire me. " My boss was pissed. But do you think I got the job?
Of course I did. Because most people are too afraid of someone higher up not liking them, going against the norms. [ __ ] that.
Choose yourself because nobody else is going to choose you. Stop trying to be balanced. Get obsessed.
Balance is for people who want average results. It's obsession that will build you the life you want. Elon Musk, he says, "I'd have to be dead or completely incapacitated to give up.
" Jeff Bezos, he says, "Obsess over customers. Obsess over details. That's what wins.
" So, in 2026, no more dabbling. Go tunnel vision on your vision. 5 years ago, I started talking publicly about buying businesses.
I bought one laundromat, a couple other small things, and if I just put some of the things people have said about me online, most people would cry. >> This girl is the nastiest. >> The thing that I realized, I own more real estate in these haters heads, rentree, than they do in real life.
Old Cody, that would have crippled me. New Cody, I eat it for breakfast. >> I eat pieces of [ __ ] like you for breakfast.
>> You eat pieces of [ __ ] for breakfast? >> No. >> I laugh at all these middle-aged, unhappy dudes pissed off that my bank account is bigger than theirs.
Sad. Because when you win, you become a mirror for other people and you show them everything they haven't accomplished. And if they're haters, they have to tear you down.
Otherwise, what's their excuse for not hitting the exact same things? You'll never get hate from someone doing more than you. You'll always get it from someone below.
The first couple of times people posted about me, it hurt. The first time someone went viral talking [ __ ] about me, it was awful. I think I cried.
I felt like the whole internet hated me. But then I realized really quickly, nobody actually cares about me at all. Everybody thinks about you for one second and then goes on to their life.
Everyone is just trying to figure out what they need to do, not really worrying about you at all. And the cool part is who cares as long as you're getting closer to your goals. I want you to just give them a little Gwennneth Paltro postc courtroom energy like I wish you well.
Or you could take on some Elon Musk energy who would tell you don't just hustle harder against your haters. And in general, he'd ask what game are you playing and is [music] it the right one? And if you're not very smart, very rich, if you didn't get a silver spoon, then your job is actually to cut things, not add them.
Maybe people, but it might be other things because you don't have the resources. And that's okay. Hungry dogs run fastest.
Well-fed dogs, they sleep a lot. And you're hungry. In our business, I always say, follow the trend.
So, if you think about it, what's the trend in human existence for the last couple hundred years? It's humans using tools to achieve more. From the hammer to the wheel to the printing press to the tractor to the computer to AI today, humans plus technology equals superhuman.
So if you're smart, you can cut out the haters and you're hungry. Go figure out where humans need to add tech to become more superhuman. So that's actually doing less, thinking more.
That's how you get so rich other people will hate you for it. Build your money machine. You want to lock in.
Start with cash flow. Not just any cash flow. I like leveraged income.
Income that pays you continuously [music] as opposed to only when you're working. We've taught over 14,000 business buyers and owners [music] how to build profitable, scalable companies. I'm totally uninterested in businesses that don't make money because money is [music] the cash flow that will continue to move your business forward.
And I don't want to raise money from investors forever. I want you to find your profit lever. One of the people I looked up to the most in business's name is Brad Jacobs.
[music] And he made billions off of one idea. Everyone needs their trash picked up. But the system to do so was outdated.
So he added technology to trash collection. Wayne Hzinga made billions with the same idea. Smarter trucks, better logistics, better systems.
One of our growth boardroom members said it best. Every time I smell septic tanks and portaotties, other people smell well. You know what?
>> It smells like money. You don't realize what's possible because you're limited by a disease. It's called wallet share.
And wallet share is where you assume other people will only pay what you're willing to pay. So your ideas on how much money you can make are constrained by how much you make right now. You need to get around rich people because rich people spend more than you can ever imagine and they're looking for ways to spend it.
Being around rich people doesn't just show you how they do things, changes your perspective. When I was broke, I thought it was ridiculous that someone would have a private chef or pay someone to pack their bags for them or fly private. Now that I live in that world, I realize it's normal.
You don't even realize how rich rich people are or how much money they want to spend. So, give them a reason to give you their money. And in [music] fact, I have something perfect for you.
It's called the rich desire pyramid. Five levels of all the ways you can sell things to rich people and have them thank you [music] for it. We teach this in our boardroom.
It teaches you how to increase your prices. It teaches you how to craft an offer for them. And it teaches you the psychology behind why rich people will pay more for things [music] than you could ever imagine.
Here's the link for it because I want to help you hit your first or your next million. Feelings aren't facts. I want you to act anyway.
Most people let their emotions drive the car and wonder why they're lost. >> GOING THE MACHINE. >> STOP YELLING AT ME.
>> STOP YELLING. >> THERE'S no here. But if you only move when it feels good, you'll never get far.
You don't take enough positive action for the life you want. And you know it. You watch Netflix more than you work.
You party more than you build. You mess around more than you take action. I know you.
I was you. The second I clocked out of work, I was out drinking with buddies. I partied for a decade.
Weekends were chaos. Clubs, trips, hangovers. I didn't grow up with money.
So when I finally had a little of it, I acted like an idiot. And I was in finance where everybody acts like idiots. But then something flips.
One day you wake up hung over. You go to the pool the next day with the same people. You watch them act like idiots when you're not.
And all of a sudden drinking doesn't feel that interesting anymore. You know, I watched them sloppy, gross, fumbling around and I realized that was me. Small outfit change.
I have to go interview Sierra now on a podcast. Give it to me. >> What it made me remember is like I remember when my dad said this line about drinking.
Don't hang out with people who only become fun after you've drunk enough. And so I stopped actually drinking on the weekends. I got up early.
I planned my exit from finance because every time you don't want to do [music] it, just picture those same people you're with decades from now. If you feel stuck, do you still want to be who they are? Because sometimes you don't need to picture your hero.
Picture the loser you don't want to be. Let fear and a little bit of shame motivate you. Because you do not have to stay the [music] loser.
You can change your life with one thing. Turn your alarm clock on on Saturday and Sunday. Set it 1 hour earlier than you feel comfortable with.
Put it in [music] the other room. Don't allow yourself to hit snooze. That's it.
Get up when the alarm goes off. I promise you, weird magical [ __ ] will start to happen. You'll have a little coffee.
You'll journal. You'll go for a walk. And suddenly, you won't want to stay out late anymore.
You'll drink less. You'll save more. You'll get fitter.
You'll get hotter. And you'll start attracting people who are also fitter, hotter, and more interesting even without the alcohol. Just set your alarm 1 hour earlier.
Put it in the other room. No snooze. But I want to get to the good part now, which is cutting some dead weight.
You can't run fast if you're dragging anchors. Whether it's toxic people, useless meetings, 247 content consumption, you need a ruthless edit. You want to get to their next level of the game.
You cannot do it by hanging out with the same people who have been stuck in the same place for years. You're still hanging out with the people you knew in high school. Why do you want to stay there?
You want to be the same person you were back then? Or do you want to be one of those people who peaked in high school? >> You haven't peaked.
You haven't even begun to peak. >> No, you don't. You need to go find one person who is operating better and faster than you are.
Could be even just by a little bit. Put them in front of you like the rabbit at a greyhound race. [music] Make them the person you chase.
Because if you're swimming in a little pond full of small fish, you'll never outgrow the pond. So find bigger ponds and bigger fishes. Bigger fish.
Bigger fishes. You get where I'm going. I've had a rabbit to chase at every level of my game.
When I was at Vanguard, it was a woman named Amy Brothers and she's still a really close friend. She was smarter than I was. 10 years ahead, made more money, better title, and I just followed her like a little puppy on her heels.
Then it was Katherine Almond, who was ahead of both Amy and I. She ended up running a large division at Vanguard Fidelity First Trust. I watched her listen, took notes, took action.
I'm not that smart, actually, [music] but I am an incredible copycat. That's all you've got to be. Then at the next level, it was Adam.
He was 5 years ahead. Smart international ideas. He was at Goldman.
He [music] helped catapult me to the next level going to State Street. And there I realized there's a huge world. [music] And so all I did to get this done and to get an international position where I actually headed the [music] entire business and grew it to a billion dollars was watch him closely.
Next it was Barry. Barry was a legend at State Street. He knew how to lead, how to play politics, [music] how to bring people along, how to build mental frameworks.
He led one of their biggest divisions and eventually became [music] one of the main executives at one of the biggest firms in the world. So I followed him. I followed him all the way to my next job at First Trust where it was the CEO, Jim.
And I watched him create a cult of people obsessed with winning. No one ever left. [music] I watched how they repeated the words that Jim said.
He created a mission. He riled people up. He built the right incentives and I just copied them.
So find someone ahead of you. Copy their homework. Copy mine.
Subscribe to the channel. Follow me every week. I'll teach you all the things I stole from them.
Because here's the coolest part. Everyone who's winning loves to see people who want to win, too. So be the best mentee for every mentor that crosses your path.
And also do it publicly. Winners love pressure. I want you to say out loud that you're going to burn the ships.
You don't get to hide anymore. Winners want pressure. If you want to be a winner, learn to like it.
Learn to feel amped when someone trusts you and you don't yet know how you're going to figure it out. You know, Brad Jacobs said it best. Someone asked him, "Why do you keep wanting to lead public companies?
Don't you hate it? Because every public company is miserable to run for most CEOs. Most CEOs hate the pressure.
He said, "No, no, I love it. I've been doing it since the '9s. I love the public pressure.
I love that someone's always betting against me. One person's selling my stock, one person's buying it. I love that.
I wouldn't have it any other way. " Every single day, he knows if he's doing well or if people just don't understand what they're building. That sort of attention drives you to make your haters understand.
[music] So building in public is pressure and that pressure will propel you forward. Don't hide in private. Don't build in the dark.
If you're a business owner, push for more. And if you're not a business owner, just push for more in your life. Do it publicly.
Watch what public accountability does for you. It's going to change your life. It changed mine.
My favorite saying, choose your hard. I know everybody gives me [ __ ] for this one. They're like, choose your hard, Cody.
How hard? But the truth is, if you don't choose hard, hard will choose you. Pain is inevitable.
The only question is, do you want the pain of discipline now or the pain of regret later? You will make more money and achieve more when you say the things you want out loud, especially when they're hard. So, I want you to think about what is the hardest thing in your life you have right now.
What's like your big scary goal? For me, last year I had one and it was I wanted to hit the New York Times bestseller list, which is like 0. 00001% of all books.
I have a book called Main Street Millionaire and it's like really niche. It's for business buying. And so that makes it almost impossible to hit the New York Times.
Only 6% of people own a business. Like 0. 0001% of them actually buy businesses.
So I was going to try to hit a list where hundreds of thousands of people had to buy my book. And I couldn't use crazy launch tricks, no bundles, no master classes. I needed individual sales only to qualify.
And I was really scared I wouldn't make it because [music] it was hard. I chose it. I posted it everywhere.
We're going to hit the New York Times. I told my team [music] it was on my goal list as only three goals I had for the entire year. And so if I didn't hit that goal, [music] like I had failed.
I had actually failed if I didn't hit it. But then when you hit it, you're exhausted, but you think, I never want to do this again. This was so much work and it was also the best thing you've ever done.
So where in your world is there a 0. 00001% goal? Go do it.
So my final message for you is this is your year if you lock in. No more waiting, no more someday, no more halfin, half out energy. You get one shot at 2026.
And if you go all in, your future self, well, you're going to thank yourself. Don't be the scaredy-cat version of yourself. You can do so much more than the voice inside [music] your head says you can.
I've rarely met someone who thought they could do more than they actually could. It's the opposite. I know you failed more times than [music] you can imagine.
I have too. Threads Refined failed a company I started. I've been pushed out of not one but two companies.
I've lost million-dollar deals. I've been told I'm the worst. I've been divorced.
I've been stolen from. I've been defrauded. And still, your biggest regret [music] is going to be not starting sooner and you're thinking too small.
So go bigger than you're comfortable with. Because I promise you, God doesn't give you a dream unless he knows you've got what it takes to accomplish it. So if you're done watching other people live, then come along with us.
Don't just talk about building wealth. Build it. One deal, one video, one locked in move at a time.
Let's get to work. I'll see you on the inside.
