Excuse me, sir, quick question for you, man. Is this your G wagon? It is. And what do you do for a living out in Dallas to be able to afford a G wagon? I pursue my career in finance. The money is in the money business. Had the blessing to be a former CEO of 7-Eleven. I also was a former chairman and CEO of Blockbuster. So, you were the CEO of 7-Eleven and Blockbuster? I was the CEO of 7-Eleven and Blockbuster, yeah. That's incredible. What has been the most amount of money that you've ever made in a single year? 16.7 million. 16.7 million. And what happened that year that you were able to make over $16 million? Ameran Airlines filed bankruptcy. Have you ever been broke before? Absolutely. I, at 29, moved back home. I didn't have a phone, a checking account, and dead broke. And you know when you hit rock bottom, there's only one place to go, and that's up. What

has been the most amount of money that you've ever made in a single year. Highland Park in Dallas, Texas, is the number six wealthiest city in all of the United States. And today, we're going to be going all over Highland Park, asking multi-millionaires how they became wealthy and how you can start your path to becoming financially free going into 2024. With that being said, let's get this video on the [Music] way. What industry did you decide to pursue a career in? I pursued my career in finance. The money is in the money business. Did you go to college? Uh, I went to Junior College, but college is not necessary. College is not necessary? No, no, you get school a life. What has been the most amount of money that you've ever made in a single year? Uh, right $650,000 in one year. $650,000. And that's more than 99% of people will ever make in a single year. What's the best financial advice that you've ever received throughout your career? Well, rich people hire people and

poor people don't you got to create SC scale and create leverage. You got to create that leverage. A lot of times people work in isolation and they're stuck by their own understanding. I'll ask you a question right. You have real dreams. Yes sir. There're a shortcut to them. There's no shortcut to. Yes it is. Yeah short CU mentorship. Now you minimize mistakes. You start to learn care. Got straight path forward in life. You need a mentor. Mentor you don't know where to find the mentor and he she don't know where to find you. Wow you live and die and not find your dream. You became a millionaire but like like have you ever been broke before. I was real broke. I was a broke couldn't afford a free stamp. But see you can fix broke. You can't fix poverty. Poverty is a mindset. Like a lot of folks say I was broke but I wasn't poor. You can always fix broke but you can't fix poverty. How old are you now. I'm 57. What is the best

advice that you would tell to your younger self. You got a moment? Yes, sir. Okay, let me show you something. All right. Yes, sir. Now, this strip here is from 1 to 100. Now, the average female there was age 81, average male age 75. So, I'm going to put my finger here on 75, and I'm going to tear it. I would probably never see this part of life. If I do, it'd be a blessing. If I don't, I'm not going to be as amatory. I can't dunk a basketball, then give the same quality of life. All right, now I look real young. You may think I'm about 25. Don't really about. I'm 57. So, put my thumb here on 57, and I'm a tear, and see, this is gone. So, this part of the ribbon here is all I got left. And maybe your ribbon is a little longer, but you can have one bad sickness, and the quality of the ribbon ain't the same. What you got left is what you got left. Live East as a life in miniature. Live it.

on steroids and wake up with gratitude. Thank God I got today. It's a vote of God saying this is for you. Live it like you dream it. My guy made over $700,000 in a single year, but he just broke down some of the absolute most unreal life advice that I've ever seen. Think of your life as like one year. It's like an inch off that measuring tape. Our life on this Earth is limited. It's up to us to make the most out of the time that we have here. Shout out to him, man. Dallas is unreal. Let's go get this next one. What industry did you decide to pursue a career in? The eyeglass and hearing aid industry. What's the most amount of money that you ever made in a single year? 16.7 million. 16.7 million. And what happened that year that you were able to make over $16 million? American Airlines filed bankruptcy. The American Airlines employees, as you can imagine, aircraft mechanics, baggage handlers, pilots, they work in an environment that put them at risk.

for hearing loss, and they had a really generous benefit that would buy them the best in hearing help and hearing aids. Hearing Instruments and so when American Airlines filed bankruptcy, 13,000 local employees panicked and thought, I had better go use my health insurance while I still have it. Prior to that, the most money we had ever made in a year was about 1.5 million, so this was quite a blessing for us. We were not wealthy people until this happened. So, you literally went from 1 to 16 million in one year. A lot of business owners, they struggle to scale and grow. How can someone go from a $1 to $10 million business? What is the biggest difference that separates those businesses apart? Here's the thing: sometimes people, for the first time, they start making a little money, right? They have a first little taste of success, and they get scared thinking, Oh, well, I don't want to lose what I've made. So, don't go there. Say

okay, well, look, I'm going to continue to be aggressive. I'm going to continue to take this. I'm going to take what I've earned here, what I've made through hard work. Don't be afraid to get aggressive with it. Spend it. It takes money to make money, right? So go out there and buy that house, buy that second property, buy the investment property. Don't be scared to lose what you finally made. Go reinvest it. How old are you now? 43. 43. And how old were you when you became a millionaire? Uh, 30. 30 years old. For a young 20-year-old kid watching this right now, if you could leave them with a couple last sound bites, give them a couple last pieces of advice on what it really takes. Make God a part of your life, and that may scare some people away. I'm sorry if it does, but that's the only answer I know, and that is to seek God in all that you do, right? And if that's a little heavy for

you uh in the beginning then then then take baby steps but have a have a spiritual aspect to your life. How important has that Faith been to the success of your business? Without my faith, without God blessing all that I've done, there would be no success, right? Number one. And number two, you need God for those times where everything ain't okay. Because in business, in life, very often things are not going to be okay. They're going to be tough. And if you don't have some somebody or something bigger than yourself to fall back on, then it's you're not going to make it. My guy's business made over $16 million in a single year because he took advantage of an opportunity that came up in the market. But my number one takeaway from that interview was that he put Faith and God first above everything else, and all the success was added to him. At the end of the day, man, without God, none of this is possible. So shout out to him. Gave an amazing interview. Let's go get this next one. All right, you

guys, my man just pulled up on a G wagon out here in Highland Park. I'm going to go up to him and see what this guy did to be able to afford this car out in Highland Park in Dallas. Let's see what he has to say. Excuse me, sir, quick question for you, man. Is this your G wagon? It is. And what do you do for a living out in Dallas to be able to afford a G wagon? I'm in the insurance business. How long have you been in the business? For about 15 years. Among yourself of the most highly successful people that you study and know, what is that one trait that they all have in common? They don't take no for an answer. You know, 90% of people, when they're told no, they just kind of say, Okay, and they turn away. The successful people, they find a way to get the yes. Have you ever been broke before? Absolutely. I, at 29, moved back home. I didn't have a phone, a checking account, and dead broke. And you know, when you hit

rock bottom. There's only one place to go, and that's up. How old are you now? 48. If you were to go back in time and have a conversation with your 20-year-old son when you were starting from zero, what's the best piece of advice you would give to your younger self? Stay away from the clubs and the bottle service and all the money. I went through that and wasted a lot of money and time and effort. You're going to have more fun the older you are, having the security and having the flexibility and freedom to do whatever you want. Yeah, you know, I had kids later in life, and people always say, Oh, you missed out on all that time, and I said, Well, no, but I have the quality of time. Quality versus quantity. You're in a G wagon right now. This is a lot of people's dream car, people that may be watching right now, someone trying to get a G wagon, man. Like, if you could leave the younger generation with a couple of pieces of advice on what it

really takes to be able to set goals, you know, and I still do it to this day, the one, three, and five. And when you hit those goals, that gives you the motivation, that helps you elevate to the next level. So just stay focused, stay strong, grind it out, man. You got to grind it out. I love it, man. That was a great interview, man. I love your advice, seriously. Thank you. So we walked up to the G wagon, and my guy became a multi-millionaire in the insurance business. But what did he say at 29 years old? Dude, he was broke. He was living at his parents' house, and he had nothing. All he did was he flipped his mindset, found an industry to become a winner, and he didn't chase the money. Instead, he became the best version of himself and became a multi-millionaire, man. Beautiful interview. Shout out to that man right there. What industry did you decide to pursue a career in? I had the blessing to be a former CEO of 7-Eleven. I also

as former chairman and CEO of Blockbuster, have done a number of things in retail, technology, consumer products. I'm, uh, working with a couple of companies in the Aerospace, uh, industry, trying to build the next Starship. So, you were the CEO of 7-Eleven and Blockbuster. I was the CEO of 7-Eleven and Blockbuster, yeah. That's incredible. What was the biggest driving factor of your success that enabled you to work your way up and become a CEO of a multi-billion dollar company like 7-Eleven? Yeah, I've got three things for you. I'll give them to you. They're my gift. It's these three things. First, change. People hate change. Everybody hates change. Harvey McKay, a friend of mine, author, best-selling author, says the only one that likes change is a wet baby, and it's true. People react differently to change, and they, like, go, I don't want to do this. I don't want to do this. Well, change is reality, and change equals opportunity. So, I've coined that expression: CEO is all about change.

equals opportunity. If you embrace it, you'll see that if I respond to this change and others don't, I'm going to turn that into shareholder value. So, change can be positive if you manage it in a positive way. The second is confidence, because when things change, you lack confidence. You're like, Oh no, woe is me, what's going to happen? Right? But confidence is all about preparation. So, the more you prepare, the more you can win. The third is about clarity, simplicity. The hardest thing in the world is to keep things simple. So, I think it was Michelangelo or somebody that said, True elegance is in simplicity, and it's so true. If you can break complex things down into simple solutions, then it will carry you a long way. And what many people lack in the corporate world is that clarity of definition. And clarity comes from both inbound communications, that means listening well, and outbound communications, that means keeping things simple when you explain them. I can't lead if you can't understand, so it's up

to me to keep things simple and clear change confidence Clarity you want to know the path to being a CEO of a company or your life. It's those three things. Have you ever been broke before? Oh, I've been broke. I grew up broke. I grew up without running water, literally, in a little shack in Massachusetts. I've been very broke. We had government surplus cheese, which I thought was the best cheese in the world, those big blocks of cheddar cheese that Mom would bring back. But yeah, I've been broke. When I first started my career, it was hard to make bills at the end of the month, you know, it's like what doesn't get paid this month. So I know the feeling. What has been the most amount of money that you've ever made in a single year? I can't tell you that. The IRS may be watching. I've been blessed. I've been really blessed. And here's how you make money in the corporate world. It's not salary. A lot of

people think, Oh, oh, how much did you make? What's your paycheck? It's got nothing to do with it. In the corporate world, it's all about equity, and you get to a certain point in your career, and you get to participate in the equity programs. Always do that. Always take advantage of it. I have a friend now who used to be my Administrative Assistant. She's at SpaceX, and she couldn't afford the equity that SpaceX was offering 'cause they have to buy in. I was like, Buy every penny that you can of SpaceX Equity. Because wealth, for me, didn't occur. I had trouble making bills on my salary, but when I finally moved on from 7-Eleven, we sold the company. I was able to accumulate stock during that time, and that was the true creation of wealth. So, I recommend that for anyone. Oh my goodness, that was an amazing interview. That was seriously great. Seriously, that was awesome. This video was absolutely insane to make, you guys, but for more content just like this, we just launched the Hardox podcast.

where we're going to be featuring some of the biggest business owners in the entire world. You won't want to miss it, so go subscribe right now because next week we're going to be posting a full interview with the former CEO of 7-Eleven and Blockbuster. Hard Knock's podcast. It's going to be the biggest podcast in the entire world. Go subscribe right now.

Asking Texas Millionaires How They Got RICH!

The School of Hard Knocks is a media company that promotes financial literacy through entertaining and engaging content.  The company name was inspired from the term "I learned from the school of hard knocks", which means to learn from life's hardest lessons. Our content is focused on helping people avoid life's hardest lessons by bringing advice from a variety of perspectives.