Why 99.6% Of Men Will NEVER Become Millionaires

If you really want to get rich, and I mean like actually want it badly enough to grind and grind and grind for 12 hours a day non-stop, you'll get rich. You will. It will take time. It'll take a lot more um effort, a lot more sacrifice, a lot more pain, a lot more time than you would have initially thought. But if you stay consistent and you stick to one thing and you're smart and you you work really hard, like five To seven years, you'll be a millionaire. Um, but I want to tell you about something

as someone who's done that. There is a trap that lays down the road for you. And it is a trap that the if you can you can know what you it's impossible to avoid. This trap gets everyone. You cannot avoid it. All you can do is learn to recover from it quickly. And so what I'm going to do in this video is explain this trap that catches every guy who Wants to get rich, who gets rich, and the speed at which they go on to build something great and significant that goes beyond them and their

little life depends on your ability to get out of this trap. And I'll explain it. So look, I I'm bloody boiling. I have a proclivity to desire status or status if you're American as all men do. And because of that, one of the initial reasons that I wanted to become successful and make a [ __ ] ton of money Was so that I could buy expensive cars, expensive watches, um, live in me mansions, and basically so I could flex. I didn't want the expensive things because I necessarily wanted the expensive things. I wanted them because

of what they gave me, which was an elevated position in the social hierarchy. And that's pretty much true for every young guy trying to get rich. Okay? Unless you are some quirky, Mildly autistic founder that just cares about something odd, you're probably doing it just so you can get rich. And the reason you want to be successful is not necessarily to help people add value or build a company. It's just so you can have all the things. And if you had the option to click your fingers and have all the money without the work, then

you'd absolutely take it. And that's an indication that you want to just get rich and you just want to make money. And that's fine. But you need to understand something that in order to make money. You shouldn't chase it. Money shouldn't be the objective. And the shiny objects, the the status machines that come from making it shouldn't be what you're going after. But it's fine that you are. But I need to explain something. And it's crucial. [snorts] It's crucial that you understand this. You're a dude and you have needs. And your needs are going to

Exist in a pyramid. And I'm talking from a financial perspective. Financial needs that you you get as a result of being rich. The first need that you aim to fulfill as an entrepreneur. And the main reason that you're starting your business to begin with is freedom. The need for freedom. Now, what freedom actually is is basically the ability for you to exercise control on the universe. You want freedom of time. You want freedom of movement. And you want Financial freedom. so that you aren't controlled by money, another person, a boss, a location, the government, or

anyone. Money gives you control, and control gives you freedom. And in order for you to achieve that freedom, you need to make money. But you need to make it in a way that doesn't tie you to a boss or to a company or to a vehicle that basically requires you to be a slave for a long period of time. And so that's the first reason that you're Probably trying to get rich. The second reason is status. This is where you know you you've transcended freedom. So you've you've you know typically at this point you know

you start off wanting freedom which is why most people when they start they just say they want to make like 10k a month. They want to they want to make a few thousand dollar a month. They want to make some money online. They don't think about like buying a Lamborghini or buying a Superman or something because whilst those things seem possible they're so far out of reach for your level of competence you just don't even bother to think about having them. You they are a dream. There's a big difference here in business and in success

between having a dream and having a goal. And the significance of those two words is crucial because a goal is something that you actually think you can attain. A dream is something that you think isn't Going to happen. And that that's why I don't like the word dream because it's literally the the phrase or the word literally explains something that is make believe and is never going to happen because it happens when you sleep and your unconscious creates it and it's this weird thing that's never going to happen. So first of all, we don't want

to have dreams, we want to have goals. But your first goal is probably financial freedom. And that feels Somewhat within reach. It's just on the edge of your peripheral awareness of what's possible. It's this scary big gray area of like things you've got to do and who you've got to become to make that happen. But you believe fundamentally that you can achieve some sort of freedom at least financially. But then, you know, going beyond that to the Bugatti or the mansion or living on the apartment in Dubai or buying a 100 grand watch or having

a private jet or Something, those things seem a little out of reach at the beginning. But let me warn you. Let me warn you something. Let me tell you something. And it [ __ ] listen because it's true. If you work really hard and if you really want to succeed and and I don't mean you just say you want to succeed. I mean you act it out. You you you get up every day and you obsess over one niche and one solution and one business non-stop. You attack every problem with Every piece of testosterone inside

your body and every level of vigor you can muster and you just go after one thing. And you do that for five to seven years. You'll get rich. You'll achieve financial freedom. You'll probably become a millionaire. >> [clears throat] >> What happens once you fulfill that need for control or freedom is you're going to want to start to achieve status and your needs will radically shift from a Need to feel control in your life because you'll have that to feeling the need to control the social hierarchy or to control other people's perception of you. And

that is what status basically is or status basically is is it's buying things so that other people think that you're better than you actually are. And in an element in a way you are because by buying something expensive and like like a Lamborghini, you're displaying some level of entrepreneurial or Commercial competence that allowed you to buy that vehicle, which signals to everybody else around you, hey buddy, I'm I'm good at something. That's basically what you're saying when you buy a supercar or when you buy a watch and like hey I'm just good at something or

yeah I've got money like it maybe it came from found whatever it doesn't matter but the kicker to buying these things and I' I've done this right so I I lived on the palm in Dubai I've driven The supercars I've done the the watch shopping I've had the clothes I've done the parties I've done the the the yachts and the jets and all this crap and I've never shown any lifestyle stuff on my channel for very good reason and I'm so bloody glad I didn't but let me tell you something and we'll start with the

car thing and we'll start with the watch thing. All a supercar does, look, you think that your life would be 10 times better If you had a supercar and if you had a mansion and if you had um like a nice watch. If you let's say that you had $300,000 in cosmetics at any given time on your immediate person so that every person you bumped into, every social interaction you had or any time you entered another human's conscious awareness within your immediate vicinity, they knew you were rich. That's basically what happens, right? Let's say you

had that. You might think That your life gets better, but I'm about to tell you it it's not really real. Because here's the thing. I've done this and I've fulfilled it and it felt amazing for about a year. Okay? It feels at the beginning pulling up to a restaurant in a 150 grand car, 100 grand car, it it feels good. Hosting a house party with like a hundred people in in some massive like eight-bedroom mansion on the beach, it feels really good. Flexing a 50k watch at dinner, it feels Really good. Going back to your

hometown and everyone seeing you in in a expensive car and knowing you're successful, it feels really good. But here's the thing, and here's the kicker. It's a trap. It is the most seductive like sirenlike trap. And it will it will just consume your life like and you will become utterly totally ruthlessly obsessed with sustaining an image that represents you instead of sustaining anything else. And you will become you Will die on a hill to sustain that. And this is why I moved back from Dubai. So I lived in Dubai for two years. I got carried

away with my lifestyle. I was spending $30,000 a month on rent and hideous amounts of money in other areas of my life as well that I never shared on YouTube. And it it makes you a [ __ ] entrepreneur and it makes you a [ __ ] business person because what happens when you do those things is your entire life and your Business and your relationships it all becomes about you keeping this identity and sustaining this image that you've created and it's really empty. Let me tell you something. When you have expensive things like a

car, let's say you have a Lamborghini, SVJ, 300, 400 grand car, all that happens, all that happens when you have that car is you get more attention from people. That's it. Nothing else. Now, yes, maybe you get into different rooms. Yes, maybe You are able to attract more girls. We'll talk about that in a second because that's a trap in of itself because then you just you're just feeding this lust and well we'll talk about that. But like all that happens when you have a supercar is more people look at you. And if you're asking

yourself critically, honestly, transparently, why do you want that car? It's for that reason. You want nice things so more people Divert their gaze and put attention onto you. That's it. And in the process of them doing so, your social status is elevated. That is luxury defined. It's elevated social status through significant increase in lateral attention. That's all it is. And that's what you're paying for. And the thing about that and the thing about trying to achieve that is how empty is that? Because here's the thing. I talked earlier about how there's three needs For a

man or someone a guy chasing success. The first one's freedom. We nail that one within the first year or two. If if you if you're pretty good at the entrepreneurship thing, then we have the status thing. This is when you see these influencers online. You see the 20-y old guys, 22-y old guys, the 25-y old guys, they have the pen houses, they have the cars, they have the watches. I I've been there. Like, I've made nearly $40 million. I've got more than enough Money to do those things. And I've done it, but it's empty. And

what happens is the third need, the third need, which is the most crucial need that no one understands until they get to the point where they actually have the decision to make, is the need to build. The need to build. And what that basically means is creating something and building something in your life that far above and beyond exceeds you. The problem is when you've achieved the Status, you you come to this crossroads as an entrepreneur, right? You come to this crossroads where you've built a business, you've achieved freedom, now you've got status, now you've

got all these things and you know, you're never going to go back to the like to a job ever again because you've got enough skill sets to, you know, sustain yourself once and for all forever. If I if everything failed and fell apart, I could make 100 grand a month passively Like that tomorrow. Like once you get to a point of entrepreneurial prowess and competency, downgrading to, you know, 10% [clears throat] of your, you know, monthly income is is just a walk in the park at that point. like I could make 10K a month tomorrow

starting from scratch with nothing if I absolutely had to. Right? Just that's that's neither here nor there. The crossroads is the crucial path. You come to this point where you have to make a decision. You either go down the route of sustaining this lifestyle and sustaining this this this black hole of attentive measurement where you're just trying to get as much attention from people as possible and trying to position yourself in the social hierarchy as much as possible. That's option number one and that's where most people stay. Option number two is the building route. That

is where you need To take risk. And this is why this trap, this status trap [ __ ] so many entrepreneurs and completely inhibits their potential and their ability to progress in any way, shape or form commercially past the own needs of their ego. In order to build and in order to go beyond what you're doing right now, you have to take risks because let's say that you've built a business that's making you a couple of million a year and you've got this lifestyle and you've Got this thing and you've you've got used to spending

30 40 50 grand a month. That was what I I was spending like nearly like 80 grand a month on my lifestyle when I lived in Dubai. May depend month month to month. depended, but I was spending a lot of money and you know I was like I'm not paying tax so I might as well just spend the money I would have spent on tax on my lifestyle. The danger the real danger of that is you get used to it and the need That you have to build is still present and this is why let

me tell you something everyone I know who goes down the status route and who goes down the lifestyle route is [ __ ] empty. They're not miserable. They're not depressed because their position in the social chain is significant enough to keep anxiety at bay, but they are so empty and they're so lost and all they are is just stuck wondering like what the hell do I do now? Because let me Tell you, once you get the status and once you get the lifestyle, your life doesn't change at all. I had a mansion on the palm

in Dubai, 30, 40 grand a month in rent, all it is is more space to feel lonely. [laughter] Like if you trust me, like it ain't [ __ ] All a all a expensive car is all a supercar is is good-looking metal that makes people look at you. And the thing about having those things and you know like like another example is um is the the woman Thing, the lusting like I was explaining when you have the car, when you have the house, all of that realm, that domain of dating becomes incredibly easy. Like it's

like playing on peaceful mode. The second someone see like a woman typically in Dubai like I don't know I can't speak other countries but the second a woman looks at a guy and sees a you know $10 million mansion and you know a supercar and a watch her brain just lights up. It's like bing bing bing Like you know like like the casino you know and it doesn't really matter what you say or what you do you're always going to have um favorable dating options because you're rich and that is just the way the world

works. But let me tell you those relationships are [ __ ] empty. And those relationships they don't mean anything. They look good. They look great on Instagram. They look great when you're at dinner when you know your Girlfriend can only half speak English and has just moved here from some country that doesn't speak English and you've only met her but you can't really converse properly but because she's hot you just stay with her and because you're rich she stays with you and you have nothing in common and your value systems align ever so slightly like

it's empty all right and it doesn't mean anything like all those girls that come as a result of having this house yeah It's it's it can feel pleasurable it can feel good you have this status everyone's like oh that guy's with a beautiful But that's not like, you know, you can find beautiful women, honest, good, beautiful women that are with you for reasons beyond wealth. Um, which is a challenge in of itself if you're rich. But I digress because the status thing feeds the lust thing. And then you start getting more sex with more beautiful

Women because you're richer. And then you know this this thing it just it just flywheels and then and then before you know it you can't form deep meaningful intimate connections with one woman which then completely inhibits your ability to you know actually be like a family man and now you're just this bachelor forever. It's just like that's not healthy for anyone at least not for you not for the not for society and not for the world unless that's what you're Happy doing. But this is what I don't buy is I talk to so many of

these entrepreneurs so many people that are like successful and have all the lifestyle stuff but they're just so empty. And the reason they're empty is because they're ignoring their latent need to build. Have you ever looked at like an influencer before, one of those online guys, and you you sort of look behind their eyes and you see emptiness? But Let let me tell you something. The influencers that aren't empty are the influencers that sell their lifestyle to get other people to sell their lifestyle, to buy their lifestyle. This is wild to like and it makes

it makes a lot of sense why the you know the influencer game is is so rife with with young men. Let me explain something to you gurus, right? And I'm I'm not necessarily including myself in this because I don't Do the bizopy flexi thing to sell courses. In fact, my course is completely free. I've got a financial freedom course called Imperium Academy. school.com/academy skol.comacademy. It's completely free. Six weeks of training took me a year to build. it will help you get your first client and make a bunch of money online. But that's not the point.

The influencers that flex their lifestyle, Like they don't they don't it's it's like it's like they don't really have a real business. Like their business is buying things to show other people that they can buy things. They buy their course to buy those things. And it's like what basically this entire online space is is here's my lifestyle. Buy my thing so you can have this lifestyle. And that's all there is to it. And there's no real substance their businesses. There's no real enterprise Value. There's no real commercial value. A couple of people have done it

incredibly well and I tip my hat to them because it's not easy to nail that bisop thing for the long term, stay relevant, and keep making tens of millions of dollars a year by flexing a lifestyle because, you know, the the problem with lifestyle flexing now is it's got to the point where it's so like it's so ridiculous that the only way to even enter the market is to have a Bugatti, If that makes sense. Like if you if you don't have like a a $5 million car collection, you might as well write off any

hope you had of, you know, your lifestyle attracting customers because it's it's got to this point now where the consuming market is so desensitized to um flexing that even having like a Ferrari like, you know, 458 Spider for 200 grand doesn't impress anyone these days. It's just the given. It's it's the barrier to entry. But have 10 of them And maybe you'll get some attention, right? And so, you know, the the lifestyle thing, it just is a massive huge trap. And the the entrepreneurs that you see online, like you've got to realize that there's there's

a handful of entrepreneurs that um that have personal brands like myself, right? And you know your the problem that you have is you base your entire paradigm and perception of entrepreneurship on a tiny teeny Weeny proportion of entrepreneurs. Think about it like this. Aund there's let's say you've got a 100 entrepreneurs maybe two of them have personal brands right? So probably 1 to 2% of actual real entrepreneurs in the world are making content online. And those people they have to in order to um grab your attention. The only way to really do that is either

to make insanely valuable content that solves real problems or to flex. And most People go to the flexing thing because it tends to be a lot easier and a lot less hassle. Sometimes if you get both of them together then you're on to a real winner. So what this means is your perception of entrepreneurship and therefore your perception of business and your perception of expectations as a result of having a business is through this tiny little lens. You're seeing probably 2% of the entire picture. Now if I took 100 random successful Entrepreneurs take Alex Hormosi,

right? Alex Horoszi um he makes like 250 mil a year. Absolute killer. Weapon of mass destruction business. Love him. Right? And you know, Alex, if if you took Alex Hormosi and you took a hundred other entrepreneurs in his league, so the multi-9 figure a year league, you would find a hundred different perspectives on how to run businesses. Now, you'd find that there are connections that are broadly similar. But to be fair, Alex Hormos is not a very good example because he's an actual businessman and he teaches proper business. So, let's let's take that idea and

put it aside. Let's take um any other influencer like business influencer and if you put them in a room with a hundred other entrepreneurs their level, those are the 100 entrepreneurs, they're not buying expensive things. They're not flexing expensive things. All they're doing is building companies. And so because Flexing is sexy and because it's the easiest way to get attention, that's what business influencers do. And that means that your perception of business and your paradigm surrounding entrepreneurship is obsessive on status because it's all you've ever known. And so what you've been taught by gurus online

is to see status, value status, try to attain status by course to get status. And that's what you've been conditioned to see. But you're only Seeing two to maybe even 3% of the entire picture. What you don't see are people like Tobias Luchki. If I tell you who's Tobias Luchki, you might be like, I got no idea who that is. Well, with good reason. He is the founder of Shopify, one of the most successful online businesses in the world. And so, he doesn't buy maybe I don't know if he does or not, but he if

he does, he doesn't show it. He doesn't have he doesn't make content. He doesn't flex Lifestyle. He doesn't um he doesn't do podcasts. He doesn't do interviews. There's a couple online. I've studied him and you he's hard to find. But that's an example of a real entrepreneur. Like and I'm not saying that the guys that flex lifestyle stuff aren't real entrepreneurs because they absolutely are. They're they're assessing opportunity and capitalizing on that opportunity through their work ethic. That's entrepreneurship and They're doing it. But my point is that there's so many other ways to do it.

Like for example, the Stripe brothers, the guys that started Stripe. Like again, one of the most successful online businesses on the planet. Like no one knows what they do, who they are about their lifestyles. They've probably got nice apartments. probably got nice cars and stuff, but they don't like they're not out there flexing it to try and like get things. And so the problem with this Space and the reason by the way that it's getting a lot harder to make money online and the reason it's getting significantly more difficult in the online money industry to

make money. The reason that trust is falling and the reason that market conviction is basically collapsing is because everyone who's been selling how to get rich creates people below them that sell that teach people how to get rich and then they create people below them that teach Them how to get rich and then again and again again. you get this this dissipation, this this this sort of dissolving of knowledge that trickles down and it's like Chinese whispers of knowledge and then before you know it, you've got all the people at the bottom of the pyramid

with the worst information that's been trickled down with no critical thought and they're just copying and pasting and just flexing things to try and get money in The door teaching other people who are less off. And it's kind of like, you know, at the top of the pyramid, you've got the A player that started everything. And then you've got the B player below that and the C player below that and the D player below that and the E player and the E players, they just it's like a pyramid scheme. the entire thing. But the thing

is is it's very rare that someone comes along who's come up under a mentor and outdoes them or Outperforms them or create something that's better than them. And when you can do that, that's the only way to win in this market in this whole make money online market. I don't care if you're in ecom. I don't care if you're in info. I don't care if you're in the agency space. I don't care what if you're in AI. whatever business model you're pursuing, the only real way to get to the top and to be in the

in the the sort of top 1% of um personal brands of money And all these things is to have a better way of getting people results than than your mentor. And so, for example, for me, like I I studied under Sam Ovens and I Sam Ovens was my sole exclusive mentor. For those of you who don't know who he is, this is another perfect example of top entrepreneurs not having personal brands and therefore you not understanding the paradigm that makes 98% of entrepreneurs successful. By the way, and this is the thing with this 2% Is

you study the 2%. But there's a way that 98% of other people do it that's way better and usually way more effective. And so Sam was my mentor and you know I've now sort of gone on to carry the torch of consulting and the coaching space for him, not for him. and he didn't pass it to me, but like he moved on to school.com, which is now a billion-dollar company, right? This is my point. Anyway, back to this trap thing. So, the lifestyle game, it's a Trap. And all it is is this this this hollow

[snorts] measure of your status. And so, what happens when you have this lifestyle is you you get lost and you get sort of depressed. And I remember when I moved to Dubai, the the novelty wore off after about three to four months. Okay? So first three, four months of Dubai, had the car, had the mansion, had the shopping sprees, like had the the dating and all this crap. And like, you know, I had it all. I had Everything that I could have possibly ever dreamed of and imagined and then some. I was spending like $4,000

on on shoes on like on like sneakers or trainers, whatever you call them. I was buying like all this stuff and I was going spending like $2,000 on dinners like it meant nothing. And trust me, you can spend a lot of money in Dubai. And I was going on these ridiculous holidays. is like I just spent like 30 grand on a holiday for no reason and like It it was great and it was it was like pleasure island. It was like I was like completely in awe of how amazing my life was and then just

day by day after like 3 4 months this little niggling doubt sort of just this little bit of doubt just started creeping. I wouldn't call it doubt. I just call it some emptiness. This weird emptiness and every time the emptiness would creep in and every time that voice would say like what are we actually doing here? I would just go and Buy something else or I would go on another dinner or I'd go to another party or I'd you know I'd go for another walk on the beach and I' I'd look at another car or

a watch or something and you know this emptiness would just kind of crept and it crept and it started growing and the more it grew the more I ran away from it by trying to travel a little bit and and going on holidays and stuff and you know I was existing for my lifestyle and it got to the point where It kind of grew so much that I really started to question like what the [ __ ] am I doing like what on God's green earth am I doing here? Because this lifestyle, this this sort

of like crazy fun, flexy, everyone thinks you're amazing and better than everything's lifestyle. There's nothing to it. There is nothing to it. There is nothing to it. All you do is get more attention than you got before from men and women. And yes, it enables you to um have a Better dating experience and a better sex life, but it doesn't mean anything. those dates don't mean anything. those those short-term casual relationships that you become numb to and that you just become like you you become this like this this weird like egotistical narcissistic bachelor where you

just realize like oh I I can suddenly get girls now and then you go on this like spree where you're just like you know trying to fulfill this empty void and so You've got this weird thing happening with the lust and this is my experience so it might not be for you but you've got this sort of void over here with with the with the with the dating thing and you you just become like this this like soulless sort of like you person to be around at least in a dating perspective, but you're, you know,

but you still know what you're doing, but there there doesn't mean anything. That makes sense. And then you've also got This other thing where your entire social circle has been developed to, you know, um, be around people who have got flexy stuff. And so, you're hanging out with people who have got penous and supercars. And, you know, now you've got to keep up this image to them and this image to the to the dating pool as well. And on and then above all, your business now exists just to like basically really if anything please these

people. Like the only reason you're living is to like It's not necessarily for you. And I I know I know how hard it is to understand that that's the case. And I pray that when you get there, because you will get there if you want to, that you realize what I realized quickly because I realized it pretty quick. It took me three, four months to be like, what the hell am I doing? Like, you know, it hit me and I was on the way to buy a supercar and I was on the I was on

the way to buy a supercar and a watch in the Same day. I was going to I was planning on going to a to a to a dealership. I haven't told many people this, but I had this all this money taxfree. I was planning on going to this car dealership to buy a very specific car that I'd already negotiated on. And then I was going to drive that car from dealership to um to a a Rolex store in Dubai Mall in the in the um the fashion part of Dubai Mall. It's like a huge mall,

Fashion Avenue, I think it's called, Something like that. And I was in my Uber on the way there um and it hit me and I was like, "What the [ __ ] am I doing? This isn't me. This isn't what I've like worked for or anything like that." And so I I I arrived, I got to the dealership, and I just didn't go in. I just got another room and went home. And in that critical moment, and it is the most critical moment of my entrepreneurial career so far, bar a few, I realized that the

best status and The best form of that mechanism of social intent or whatever it is, is knowing that you can have it whenever you want, but choosing not to. And when I re I realiz it hit me like a [ __ ] train in that moment. I realized I was like, "Oh, like I can have this if I want to and that's all that mattered." And and the same thing happened to me with financial freedom as well because I got To a point in my business um in early doors where I suddenly had enough money

and passive income to travel and do what I wanted to, but I kept putting it off because I love the work. And you know, I realized that it's not about having freedom, it's having the option to have it. And this is the problem with freedom and status is you think you're free but you're not because the freedom controls you. And you think you're free because you have status but you're not because The status controls you. And you're this insatiable insufferable black hole like need this gravitational pull need to to feel like you're better than other

people or at least have other people perceive you as so is you're you're not in control of that. And so I made that decision at that point and and you know once I made that decision I was like that was a few months into Dubai and then I lived in Dubai for a bit longer and I told myself right I'm going to do The taxfree things. I'm here now I might as well you know do my two years and then get out and take all this taxfree cash and then invest it and build something when

I get back home. And at that point I stayed in the same house cuz obviously I'd paid the rent at that point because in Dubai you pay rent up front. So I literally spent like 400 grand on rent up front when I moved. some of the things that you some of the things you do, man. Like, what the [ __ ] And but yeah, whatever. And um and so after that, I I got rid of everything. I just I I went back to just wearing like the same t-shirts. I stopped going to like social events

like all these like supercar rallies and I stopped going to these parties and I I just I I I started wearing a Casio again and I just I just basically stopped doing that stuff and I insulated myself in Dubai for basically 18 months and just then I basically had an existential crisis because what had Happened is I'd formed a temporary identity around status and and and you know make I was like an eight figureure entrepreneur. I was, dude, I was, well, we still do to be fair, but like we we have um fluctuating months, but

like at that point, I was making like 300 grand a month in profit, 400 grand a month in profit, 500 grand a month in profit. And the funny thing is now that we're actually back in the UK and trying to build something proper, our profit Margins are significantly lower because we're investing all the money we make back into the business. And that is the problem. That is what happens to entrepreneurs is you hit this crossroads where you can either invest into your ego and sustain this ridiculous lustful dating like loop that you've got or this

ridiculous insufferable it's not insufferable it's not ridiculous because I understand why people want it but you can either sustain this need for Attention and this need for elevated social perception and this need for like lustful engagement and this weird this weird feeling that you're better than you are just because you have some shiny object and figure out how to make some money. It's not real. And and people's perception of you isn't real. Like 99.99999% of people that see you in a supercar have no idea who you are and they're never going to see you again.

And so why Does it matter that they looked? Why does it matter that their head turned? It doesn't. Their perception of you doesn't matter at all. Um and so this is the thing is you can either do that. You can you can you can spend the money on the lifestyle. You can spend the money on the women. You can spend the money on the watches, you can spend the money on the cars, you can spend the money on mountains, or you can take that money and you can use it to build. And so what I

basically am doing now is taking every single dollar I earn because I'm good personally. I've got enough money now to live off of interest. My lifestyle is um I deflated my lifestyle significantly. So I still live in a really nice flat in a very posh part of London. I still have a half decent car, but I'm not spending like 300. Like, I'm I'm living so far beyond below my means, if that makes sense. And that's really what matters is it's the contrast. Like, I don't want to I wasn't going to move back to London and

live in like some like shitty little tiny flat and like drive a really beaten up car. And because it's like you it's it's it's in contrast. It's in proportion, right? And so, you know, my lifestyle is funded by a very small percentage of interest that I get from the reserves that I have personally and also through the company as well. And so, that's the smart way to do it. And so now everything that my company makes Is reinvested. It's reinvested in talent. It's reinvested in software. It's reinvested in research. It's reinvested in ads. It's reinvested

in images. It's reinvested in brand. And I the only reason I can do that now and actually build something is because I don't have this gaping, you know, I don't I was going to say gaping black hole. That's an interesting phrase of words, isn't it? 33 minutes through a video. I [laughter] don't have a gaping Hole that I need to fill with supercars. There's an image for you. Christ. Um, and so when you get rid of and here's the thing. I like I heard messages like this before I was successful. And I I received this

message from mentors from people like Alex Becker, from people like Sam Evans who had by the way been through the same thing. Every entrepreneur goes through this. Like every entrepreneur goes through this. I know Sam for example, he's a billionaire Now, got a billion dollar company. But when he started making money, he bought like a Ferrari. He got like a helicopter license, like a boat and some like other [ __ ] and like some massive like mansion or some like you know flat apartment. And then he realized again pretty quick like this means nothing. It's

empty. Let me just go and build. And this is the this is the thing that you're probably not prepared for and this is the key lesson that's going to hit you like an Absolute train is at the beginning you don't really love your work because work is painful. But you'll have to do it for a few years. And after a few years, you'll have freedom, you'll have status. And in order for you to achieve the freedom and to achieve the status, you're going to have to become very familiar with work. And because you become so

familiar with work, you're going to fall in love with it. And what you'll then learn to Realize is that the only thing that brings meaning in your life, and the only thing that brings fulfillment, happiness, joy in any way, shape, or form is the work. And you'll realize that it's the process of getting to the freedom or getting to the status that actually matters. And your illusion will be shattered before your very eyes as it was shattered for me. When you'll realize that as soon as you have the option to buy the supercar, as soon

as You have the option to buy the watch, you'll realize that the only thing that you cared about was the journey to getting there, not the [ __ ] thing itself. And even if you do go on to buy it, you'll realize after a few months, this doesn't matter. I don't care about this. And then you'll want to get back to work. And you'll have this weird existential dread that you'll try and drown out with existential you'll have this existential dread. You'll try and Drown out with you know experiences and private jets and supercars and

everything like this. But what will happen is because of that lifestyle and because of that way of thinking you'll become trapped and your entire life will be about fulfilling that status need and that freedom need. And you're going to put it on your Instagram and everyone's going to know you for it. and you're going to build your friendship group around it and you're going to you're Going to build your relationships and your dating life around it. And before you know it, you're going to build yourself around it. And that's the dangerous part. First, it's the

friends, then it's the girls, then it's the social media, then it's the family, then it's the people from back home who know you as this guy, and then only once you've got all these external perceptions looking at you as that person, do you be you become it. And Then you're [ __ ] Then you become one of these guys that's just washed up. you become one of the people online that you know those gurus that were really popular like a while ago and now you have no one hears from them ever again like do you

know you know you know the kind of people I'm talking about like the second you stop building is the second you start dying and the only way you can start building is to let go of the need and let it dissipate and Realize the following if true status true immeasurable social hierarchical prowess comes from what you've built, not what you've bought. Let that just sink in for a minute. It's very easy to impress average normal people. It's very hard to impress very successful people. And if you want status, be the guy that's built a billion-dollar

company. Who's got more status? the the founder of Telegram Who's a billionaire who never flexes and never shows off and he's a he's a billionaire so he's he's in a room at a dinner and he's a billionaire but he's wearing normal clothes he's wearing like no watch he's just and looks like a normal dude like driving maybe a nice like Tesla or something he's there in the dinner and then you've got another guy at the end of the table who's making 200 grand a month but has a 100 grand watch on pulled up in a

Brabberas Gwagon has like, you know, all these like superm models next to him and has like, you know, has like this this jewel this like this this jewelry on and, you know, the grill and like he just looks really rich. He's all shiny. Look, he's like a [ __ ] crow's nest. Who has more status? The billionaire who's actually built something and display and and he displays his competence through his actual achievements, not the prod not The product of those achievements. or the the info guy, who's got more status, who who who's going to be

more respected, who's going to be more listened to. It's not about who's going to get more attention because when those guys both walk out of the restaurant, the guy with all the flashy shiny things is going to draw the attention of the average person. And this is the crucial thing is stop caring what normal average people think. Why do you want the Attention of the broad mass of society? Why? You don't know them. They don't know you. They're NPCs. They're bots. They don't mean anything to you. They don't really mean anything to anyone except for

themselves and their like little interpersonal hierarchies and stuff in their families. But this is my point is who are you trying to impress? I'm not saying by the way that you should get rid of your need for status because I still have it big big bad big Time. Like I want status desperately as every man does. But by choking my status mechanism and by by disabling its ability to achieve social success through the purchase of external goods like cars, all of that energy, that need, that deep intent need for status gets latched onto my build

need. And this is how you transcend. And this, oh my friends, this is how you go from the guru corey selling flexi guy who just basically is a little bit of a Millionaire and impresses every random person but no one who's actually done anything successful. The difference between someone like that and the the [ __ ] nine figure guy, the the billionaire is the nine figure guy and the billionaire, they latched their status need to their build need and they they they fused these things together. So by by closing off the ability to buy nice

things and to buy expensive things, you take that need for status and it has To go somewhere. It has to go somewhere. And if you don't put it into work, it's going to go into video games or some [ __ ] because you're just going to try and climb some other ladder somewhere else or sports or something. I don't know. But but if you can take that need, you can channel it into your work and now you now by building you get status. Like look at this YouTube video right now. I don't know how many

views it's going to Get. I don't know how many like how much um attention this video will get, but I'm not here trying to flex like a a lifestyle or anything like that. I'm just talking about my experience and you know, I'm trying to elevate my social status. Like that's what that's why, by the way, the idea of a personal brand appeals to so many people because what it is is it first principle is the the reception of significant sums of attention. That's what a personal brand Basically is. Yeah, we can hide behind this whole

idea that but it's monetizable and it's good for the business and this that and the other, but it definitely soothes the narcissist inside of all of us. And you know, that's one of the reasons I find it so easy. I have never missed a YouTube upload ever. I've been doing this for four years. It's the YouTube is the most consistent behavior and habit that I have ever done. It's the most consistent Thing in my life and has been since I was like, you know, 22, 23. And there's a reason for that. And the reason for

that is because, you know, I'm not able to receive attention from anywhere else. I don't get the attention from driving the car down the high street. I don't have a personal Instagram that I flex on. I don't I [clears throat] don't wear an expensive watch people look at me. I don't receive attention from any of those things and any of those people. And so all of that need for that status and all that need for attention fuses into this weird motivation. And this is why, by the way, I'm able to beat people. is why I'm

able to beat my competition is I now on an unconscious level understand that the only way for me to get status is to win and to build and to create products and to create client experiences and to get client results that are so absurd and insane that everyone crushes. Primary example Of this is the free program that I mentioned the free financial freedom challenge school.comacademy skol.comacademy. I put a year of my life into that thing. And one of the reasons, one of the reasons behind why I put so much time and effort into it was

to so that I get hundreds of thousands of people looking at my videos and thinking, "Wow, there's a smart guy." Like, don't get me wrong, it's it's a great brand play. It's a Great um funnel play. But one of the reasons is so that I can have people think I'm really smart. And I'll be dead [ __ ] honest with you, that's one of the reasons. And that's why I put so much time and attention. It took me a year to make those videos. And you know, in the community, in the in the niche, people

like, "Oh my god, have you seen this course? It's insane. Like, have you seen how much work you put in? Have you seen how smart?" And you start to find Ways to get this thing from your work. And it it it's just such a hack. And it's made me so much money. And the lifestyle thing is just empty, man. It's [clears throat] so empty. It it Oh, it feels amazing for a couple of months, like maybe even a year. But then but then you have this crisis of like what am I actually doing you know

you you you've you've done it like I saw this like video today of this guy who was like 20 years old or 19 Years old. He was like bro like what do I do now? Like this was this was Instagram video um someone sent me um because they thought I'd find it interesting. This kid who's 19 he was making like 50k a month. He's like all right so I've I've bought my dream car. I'm renting my dream flat. I've got enough money in the bank. I've retired my parents. Now what? Build, my boy. Build. Take

that money and [ __ ] build. Don't fall prey. He was living in Miami. First mistake. It's like Dubai but in America with guns. Um, build build until you can't build anymore. Build until you're exhausted. That is where you will get your meaning from. That is where you'll get your fulfillment from. And that is where you will feel you'll transcend yourself because you will remove this identity and in you have this crossroad. Remember you can go status or you can go building. Close This off, latch them together, fuse them together and go off in the

other direction and then receive all of this. Like look at Alex Formosi. Alex Forzi doesn't flex a single thing except from his calves, right? But Alex Formoszi that he has he he is like he has number one status in in the in the business space in the online business space. He's like number one. There's I don't think I don't think you could dispute that at all in terms of attention in terms of And I don't want to seem like I'm just licking his ass here. I kind of am because I respect the guy. But he

has so much status in the space and it is purely because of his competence, not because of what he flexes. And that is the kind of personal brand that I can get behind because that's the kind of personal brand that lasts. All these other personal brands that have been built on lifestyle and all these are the personal brands that have been built on Flexing and stuff like they don't last forever. And the thing about this is we're not going to see this if this is a guess, right? The trajectories are interesting because we haven't the

personal branding space hasn't really been around around for long enough for you know for us to sort of realize but there it's we're getting to this inflection point now in this online space where people are waking up and Lamborghinis and Rolls-Royces and AMX Black cards and supermodels and yachts and vlogs of buying watches. They don't really tickle the old pickle anymore for lack of better words. I hope you've never tickled your pickle to a lifestyle vlog. Um, I know I see you pausing on some of those frames on those boats, you [ __ ] weirdo.

Then again, let's talk about this. You know how you know when you watch like those those vlogs, like those like lifestyle vlogs on like like millionaire entrepreneur in this place Or another. There's a few people that do this, right? But most of the guys, again, you know what I talked about how there's like one or two people at the top who make these like videos and then everyone copies them and then everyone copies the copycats and then you have these like the A players at the top who created it. Then you've got the B players,

the C players, the D players. When you watch the vlogs of the D players, the people who are just like Trying to copy everyone, they go they go on these boats. They go on these yachts and all it is is just like 15 men. Have you seen those vlogs before? You know what I'm talking about? Like the boat boys. It's what me and my business partner call them. Like it's just a vlog and they've got like my eyes by Travis Scott playing with some drone shot of just like 10 shirtless men on a yacht somewhere.

And then that's like that's content, bro. Like I'm networking, bro. It's like God. And this is this space this space is just going wild. And I'm here for it because my bet is on value. And my bet is that the people that will last and the people that will win is on value. And all of my chips, all of my um all of my content, all of my team, all of my product, all of my systems, all of my money is being invested in value. All of it. Like every single piece I've got, everything I've

got, all my time, all my energy, all my focus, I've sacrificed Everything. And I am all in on value. And what I mean by value is creating product and creating client experiences that are insanely more beneficial to the client than just watching some vlog. I might be wrong and this might all come down crumbling upon me, but I've studied history and I've studied business history and I've studied the history of economics and Benjamin Graeme said it. Warren Buffett's mentor. You know, the market In the short term is a voting machine, but in the long term

it's a weighing machine. build companies that want to be weighed and stop like the lifestyle thing. It will get you. it'll get you and you know it will it will have you in its grips and it's up to you to decide do you want to just sustain an image or do you actually want to build something um because it's not real man like and I know all those guys and I know them all by on a firstname basis and they Wouldn't mind me saying this because I'm not naming them but like like the guy like

look at Andrew Tate right Tate has a massive lifestyle and he flexes a lifestyle but he's a builder above all he's a builder him and Tristan like they they've built that they they build this like the personal brand the lifestyle is is the build and so I'm not saying that it's always unnecessary because sometimes it's a genius business strategy like Iman Gaji for example like His entire like his empire is his personal brand and he's built that around around the externals and it's fine I'm not shaming I think it's brilliant I think it's [ __

] genius so he's still building but he he's he's again he's fused both together and you look at like the tape brothers for example and you know You might think, "But Charlie, but the but Andrew Tate's like Ray Witcher and you and he has all these nice things." Yes, but he's Building. He's not buying those things in order to He's not spending money to just look cool. He's investing. When you're an influencer of that caliber, the money that you spend on your lifestyle makes you more money. It's no different to buying like Andrew Tate buying

that Lamborghini is just like you buying a house and then renting it out to someone. He receives return on investment on these things. his supercar collection, the boats, the parties, the Jets, it's all an investment and it all makes him way more back. And the more he makes back, the more he buys and the more he makes back. And so his lifestyle is this a taxdeductible machine, but b a it's like running ads. It's like buying property. It's it's just it's a it's an investment. And so on that level, it's fine. But I don't know

how long you can do that for. And I no one knows because we haven't really seen it, you know, we haven't really seen it happen. I mean, Tai Lopez, as an example, Tai Lopez was like top of the game and, you know, now he's he's in some some deep trouble with the FTC, of which the details I have, it's not my place to to to reveal. I haven't even looked into them, but like, you know, it's it's it's an interesting world that we're living in. And I just want you to be careful. Enjoy yourself. Enjoy

your money. You deserve it. But just I'm letting you know now when you make it. Maybe you've already made it. Maybe you've got the things. But when you've made it and when you've got these things, they will make you miserable. And no one will understand. By the way, this is I'll leave you with this. No one will understand because to everybody else, you have the dream. But the dream is a [ __ ] mirage. It's being in the desert and walking through the desert thirsty and thinking you've just seen a lake, but arriving only to

find out that it's not Real. There is no water. It's just sand. It's miserable. Everyone seems to want it, but the second everyone has it, they realize that it wasn't exactly what they thought it was going to be, but only after a year or two. And then they realize that the only way to receive fulfillment and meaning was to go back to the thing that got them that in the first place. work and then what happens is you remove the status and then you select a new Goal. Like dude, the second I'm not even joking.

The second and I'm not joking. Like the day after I made the conscious decision to remove my lifestyle things and to sell everything that I bought, get rid of my wardrobe, get rid of any watches I bought, anything like the cars, etc. The second I made that decision to stop doing the dating, the partying, and all that crap was the next day I came up with two things. A, my long-term goal financially, which was Then to become a billionaire, and B, the vision for my company. The next day, like it was like that. I I'd

like it was like a complete transfusion of emotional energy from these these sort of shallow meaningless externals into things that mean way more. And you might be like, why do you want to be a billionaire if you can't buy anything? Why? It's just it's again it's not about getting it's not about being there. It's about getting there. Right? When I'm a Billionaire I'm not going to I I maybe I will maybe maybe I will. Maybe when I'm like when I'm sat on like 300 mil liquid I'll go and buy a Lamborghini SVJ with a gent

exhaust and blast up and down the highway with my son. Maybe then I'll buy the, you know, the when I've got a wife and kids, I'll buy some [ __ ] off massive mansion and, you know, you know, have like a bunch of holiday homes for my family to enjoy and maybe I'll buy a jet to like have maybe I will. And I'm not Saying that I'll be like this forever, but I'm saying that there is a season in your life, and it's usually going to be your 20s and your 30s, where you need to

build. And that masculine expansive need for, you know, to experience exponential horizontal and vertical growth in every area of your life, specifically commercial, is prevalent and it needs to be met. And if you don't meet it, it will die and you'll get to 40 and you'll be lost. And this is why so many people So many people who make money and don't carry on working they become drug addicts they become alcoholics they become abusive and some of them even you know it's dangerous [sighs] if you want to make a ton of money and you want

to start that journey school.comacademy skol.comacademy it's a completely free six week program. No Credit card required. It contains 80 hours of content. Um there's a little bit more structure than this on how to just make money online, like get your first client. It's the most insane thing that's free you'll ever see. Um it puts everything else out there that's paid to shame. And I hope you like it. And um well, thanks for spending nearly an hour of me with me of me basically just treating you like a journal or a diary. Um but I hope

you learned something and I'll talk to you soon. Take out.