What I did after I lost everything to make $100k Ep 269

In a candid discussion, the host shares his personal journey of financial recovery, emphasizing the power of skill acquisition and resilience in entrepreneurship. After a significant loss, the host rebounded by leveraging his expertise in lead generation, sales, and offer creation to assist local businesses in acquiring clients, without initial payment, but with profit-sharing post-ad spend recovery. His strategy, rooted in his own experience and mirrored by his father's rebuilding after fleeing Iran, underscores the importance of skills as a safety net. The host's narrative culminates in a six-week turnaround, where he generated $100,000 by applying his skills to the gym industry, demonstrating the transformative potential of skillful entrepreneurship.

• Speaker A shared a personal story of financial recovery, making $100,000 in six weeks after losing everything.
• The context for the story was a panel where successful entrepreneurs discussed rebuilding a business from scratch.
• Speaker A related to this scenario personally, having gone through the cycle of entrepreneurial highs and lows.

I ended up making $100,000 in my bank account within the next, I want to say, six weeks that was in my bank account after having nothing.

This quote is an account of Speaker A's financial recovery, emphasizing the rapid turnaround from zero to a significant sum in a short period.

• Entrepreneurship is characterized by cycles of gains and losses.
• Some investors prefer entrepreneurs who have experienced these cycles, as they are perceived to not consider themselves unbeatable.
• Speaker A sets the stage for detailing their own entrepreneurial journey.

The entrepreneurial journey is one of cycles, right? You make a lot, and then sometimes you lose, and then sometimes you make more.

This quote explains the cyclical nature of entrepreneurship, with ups and downs being a common experience.

• Speaker A's father, a physician, rebuilt his life in a new country with just his skills after losing everything during the Iranian Revolution.
• Skills are emphasized as the crucial asset to rebuild one's life and financial status.
• The first million is considered the hardest to make, but once someone knows how, they can do it again more quickly due to their skills and experience.

The skills is all he needed, which is why they say once you, like, the first million is the hardest, because if you lose it, you know how to make it again.

This quote highlights the importance of skills in financial recovery and the ability to recreate success based on past experiences and knowledge.

• Speaker A's father placed a high value on formal education due to his own experiences.
• Speaker A also values education and aims to provide value through their content.
• As skills improve, the "plan B" for what to do after a loss changes, indicating that skills offer a safety net.

And so that's why he was always so big on education, on formal education, because that's how he got educated in.

This quote connects the value Speaker A's father placed on education to his own emphasis on learning as a tool for empowerment and security.

• Initially, Speaker A considered driving for Uber and stripping as a backup plan to earn a living.
• Estimated potential earnings from these activities were around $200,000 a year.
• Speaker A does not see a moral issue with stripping, viewing it as a practical means to an end.

"my plan B in my head was I will drive. Like, if everything fails, and I lost everything at that time, I was going to drive uber 12 hours a day, and I would strip at night, which is. Some people have moral issues with that. I do not."

This quote emphasizes Speaker A's pragmatic approach to financial survival and the willingness to do whatever it takes, despite potential moral judgments from others.

• Speaker A's backup plan evolved from driving and stripping to utilizing sales skills.
• Learning to sell allowed Speaker A to consider employment at a car dealership as a new Plan B.
• Sales skills alone could provide a top 1% income, ranging from $200,000 to $400,000 a year.

"Now, my absolute zero is I can go to a car dealership and make between 200 and $400,000 a year and not have to take my clothes off."

Speaker A highlights the financial security provided by sales skills, which offer a high-income alternative to previous Plan B options without compromising personal boundaries.

• Speaker A acquired additional skills beyond sales, including lead generation, working leads, making offers, and selling higher ticket items.
• These skills formed a new level of Plan B, which Speaker A would rely on if they lost everything without a reputation.

"And so the thing is that I developed more skills than just sales. And so I also learned how to generate leads, work leads, make offers, and then present those offers to prospects and then sell a higher ticket."

The quote outlines the expanded skill set that Speaker A developed, enhancing their ability to rebound from financial setbacks and providing a more robust safety net.

• Speaker A sold five gyms and closed one, feeling successful as an entrepreneur.
• After investing in a new venture that failed, Speaker A was left with only $1,200 across all accounts.
• Despite the loss, the retained skills in sales and marketing were leveraged to offer services to local businesses without upfront payment.

"And so what I did with the skills is I said, okay, well, I already know how to generate leads. I know how to work leads. I know how to sell. I know how to make offers. I know how to sell a ticket. I'm going to just do that for local businesses, right?"

This quote demonstrates how Speaker A utilized their skill set to create opportunities in the face of financial adversity, offering their expertise to local businesses in exchange for future payment.

• Speaker A proposed a value-driven deal to local businesses, offering to increase their clientele without initial fees.
• The proposition required Speaker A to generate and work their own leads while representing the businesses.
• The strategy was feasible due to having $1,200, but Speaker A would have had to sell their time if they had absolutely no money.

"Don't pay me anything. I'll go get my own leads. I'll work the leads. As long as you have, like, a hat and a t shirt that I'll sit on your front desk and I'll sell them for you."

The quote reveals Speaker A's creative approach to business collaboration, providing services with no upfront cost to the business while betting on their own ability to deliver results and earn compensation thereafter.

• The speaker outlines a strategy for starting a business with as little as $100.
• The initial step involves acquiring a phone and using it to search for local businesses on Google.
• This approach is aimed at going from zero to one hundred dollars in capital.

"$100 from there. Then I would get a phone, and then from the phone, I would then search on Google for local businesses. And then that's how I would get that first, from zero to 100, right?"

The quote explains the first steps the speaker would take in starting a business with minimal investment, emphasizing the importance of a phone and internet access to identify potential local business opportunities.

• Speaker D requests listeners to support the podcast without monetary compensation.
• The support can be through ratings, reviews, and sharing the podcast.
• The goal is to reach more entrepreneurs and improve their business experiences.

"Real quick, guys, you guys already know that I don't run any ads on this, and I don't sell anything. And so the only ask that I can ever have of you guys is that you help me spread the word so we can help more entrepreneurs make more money, feed their families, make better products, and have better experiences for their employees and customers. The only way we do that is if you can rate and review and share this podcast. So the single thing that I ask."

Speaker D is explaining that the podcast operates without ads or sales and relies on listener support to reach and assist more entrepreneurs.

"It'll take you 10 seconds or one type of the thumb. It means the absolute world to me. And more importantly, it may change the world for someone else."

This quote emphasizes the ease of supporting the podcast and the significant impact it could have on other people's lives.

• Speaker A discusses using pre-existing knowledge and relationships to start a business.
• The speaker emphasizes the importance of understanding the business you're entering and its value propositions.
• The strategy involves offering services to businesses where you have insight or connections, like family members who are professionals in various fields.
• Speaker A highlights the importance of skills that have been life-saving and are therefore passionately advocated for.

"$100. But I had one. $200. And I knew that what I was going to do was going to work because I'd done it so many times, right? And so I did a gym, obviously, because I knew that space. But you could do this in any business that you frequented."

Speaker A is explaining how familiarity with a particular business type, like a gym, can be leveraged to start a business, suggesting that this approach is applicable to various industries.

"So if you have anyone in your family who knows is a mechanic or somebody who's a chiropractor, someone who's a dentist or someone who's a whatever, right, a hairstylist, doesn't matter. As long as you have some idea of how that business works and what the value propositions are. You could do this entire process if you had the skill set, right?"

The quote elaborates on the idea that personal connections and understanding of various professions can be the foundation for a business venture, provided one has the necessary skills.

• Speaker A proposes a partnership model where services are offered without upfront payment to the business.
• The speaker would recover costs from initial profits before transitioning to a profit-sharing model.
• The strategy differs depending on the type of business and the amount of initial capital available.
• The speaker emphasizes the balance between risk and reward in these partnerships.

"My offer was, don't pay me anything. And my deal was, I'm going to sell an upfront package. I will keep all of the profit after I recover my time and my ad spend, you will fulfill. So that's your cost. But then after that, the customer lifecycle is yours."

Speaker A describes a business arrangement where they provide services without initial payment, with the understanding that they will retain the initial profits to cover their investment before transitioning to a profit-sharing model.

"The other thing is, if I had truly no money after getting that $100, I'd probably just ask them to cover the ad spend and say that after they got paid back first, then we'd split it."

This quote presents an alternative strategy for those starting with virtually no capital, suggesting asking the business partner to cover initial costs and then splitting profits after reimbursement.

• Speaker A details the process of executing an advertising campaign with a limited budget.
• The campaign was started with a budget of $100 per day on ads.
• This budget was able to generate a specific number of leads, indicating the efficiency of the ad spend.

"And so you might be wondering, like, how could I go ahead and do this if I only had one $200? How could to make a huge campaign. So I'll walk you through what ended up happening."

Speaker A is about to explain how to execute a large campaign with a limited budget, addressing potential skepticism about the feasibility of such an endeavor.

"So I started spending $100 a day on ads. Now, that $100 a day at the time would get me about 20 leads."

The quote provides specific details on the initial daily ad spend and the results it yielded, demonstrating the practical steps taken in the campaign.

• The speaker began with a strategy to generate leads and convert them into sales.
• They invested $100 to acquire 20 leads, with a conversion rate resulting in $2,000 in revenue.
• The process was repeated daily, leading to consistent profit.

"I would typically close four people at $500. So I would spend $100, and I would end up making 2000."

The quote explains the speaker's initial investment and return on investment from their sales strategy.

• The speaker replicated their initial success at their first gym, making $34,000 in 14 days.
• They experienced varying levels of success in different gyms, with one gym yielding $11,000 in 10 or 14 days.
• At another gym, they significantly increased sales to $121,000 in 20 days.

"I think I did $34,000 in 14 days at my first kind of gym that I did this at, the second gym I did it at, I didn't do that well... the third one, I ended up doing $121,000 in sales, and I did that in 20 days."

The speaker recounts their varying degrees of financial success across different gym locations.

• The speaker's successful sales strategy led to hiring six salespeople and targeting six gyms every month.
• This approach allowed the speaker to accumulate $100,000 in their bank account within six weeks.

"And so, as soon as that started working, I hired six sales guys, and I said, let's do six gyms every single month... I had $100,000 in my bank account in about six weeks."

The speaker describes expanding their business model by hiring a sales team and scaling up operations.

• The speaker emphasizes the value of acquiring skills as a safeguard against financial instability.
• They highlight personal experiences where skill acquisition provided security during uncertain times.

"And so the reason I'm so big on learning the skills is that it gives you a peace of mind that money can't, because money can get taken, governments can get overthrown... skill acquisition is the only thing that can protect this, because they cannot take our skills."

The quote underlines the speaker's belief in the enduring value of skills over monetary wealth.

• The speaker summarizes their approach: reaching out to local businesses, making irresistible offers, generating leads, working the leads, and collecting money upfront.
• They also note the possibility of negotiating with businesses to cover initial costs in exchange for a share of the profits.

"I reached out to local businesses. I made an irresistible offer. I generated the leads. I worked the leads, I sold the people, and I was able to collect the money."

The speaker provides a concise summary of their business strategy and approach to sales and lead generation.

• The speaker worked approximately 80 hours a week, driven by the necessity to succeed after losing everything.
• They suggest that a similar level of dedication may be necessary for others in need of a turnaround.

"Like, when I did this, I was working about 80 hours a week... I worked 12 hours a day, probably six and a half days a week when I was doing this, because I just lost everything."

The quote reveals the intense work ethic and commitment the speaker had to recover financially.

• The speaker hopes their story and the outlined skill set are valuable and interesting to the audience.
• They conclude by expressing anticipation for future interactions with the audience.

"How after I lost everything, I had $100,000 in my bank account within two months. And it was by having this skill set of acquisition."

The speaker concludes by reiterating the importance of skill acquisition in their financial recovery and success.