Dan Peña - 50 Billion Dollar Man Dan Pena QLA - Quantum Leap Advantage Beginner Part 10 (Audio)

Key Takeaways

I knew you. You did change it since the evening yesterday, right? No, no, no, no. I said listen, for the Hermans. And I mean there's I I have tons of this material, but another thing about that is too long. His testimony when you remember when they were trying to break up Microsoft and anti-trust issues a few years ago. He got up there and he was reading an email that he wrote about uh he wanted to rip the lungs, this is about Ellison. Uh he wanted to rip the lungs of this of Ellison off and stick them up his his wife's ass, Ellison's wife's ass. And and so the the lawyer was saying, "Mr. Mr. Gates." He was obviously well coached by a lot of smart lawyers. "Mr. Gates, is is this your email?" Uh well, it is, yes, it is. And he says, "Well, did you say this?" And he said um I think I typed it. I don't have really any recollection though. It is on my email address. Are you are you saying that cuz his lawyer jumped up and said, "Is it true that somebody got got your email address?" Yada yada yada, but that came afterwards. And he said um "Exactly what did you mean about ripping the lungs out of Mr. Ellison into the the court you know, Mr. Ellison so and so and so and so and taking his lungs and shoving up the ass of his wife?" And then and then of course he said, "Well, it's a metaphor whoever wrote it I am not sure it was me, but I don't really recall it. Whoever wrote it, I'm sure it was referring to metaphorically." And so then the the other lawyer said he said, "Does that make it any better that it's a metaphor or not?" Of course not. Success leaves cool clues. Huh? Pretty slick, huh? Um All these guys are [ __ ] animals. Rest you cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to sight um leaving the shore. Sorry, you lose the sight of shore. These guys I I can't begin to tell you how cat tough they are. And that's why I do well in that arena. Cuz I am tough. You know, I'm not as tough as I used to be. Uh but I you know, I am tough. You can throw me in the room with these guys and then you know, um physically tough. I'm 6'1 240. I'm pretty big and strong still. I lift a lot of weights. I martial arts train. You either have You either better have a gun and you be willing to use it or have a knife and know how to use it or I'm going to tear your head off and [ __ ] down your neck. That's what I tell people. Cuz I am still tough. And and all these guys are pretty tough. They are. And if they And if they're not physically tough like I am, they're sure as [ __ ] mentally tough. And you don't have to be physical anymore. It's not you know, like back in Australia rolling around and fighting in the bars, you know. You know, as long as you're mentally tough and more importantly, your team is mentally tough. Cuz I can't be at every god damn meeting. And your lawyers have got to know Stephen, do whatever it [ __ ] takes. I don't give a [ __ ] Whatever it takes. And the lawyer knows what I mean. Okay? Scorch the [ __ ] earth. Burn the children. Burn Kill the goldfish. Kill the cat. Everybody goes. And that's how you go at big companies. And that's how they are. Engage and all these guys are animals. Now and I'm I'm so happy for Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation. He's doing a lot of good things. Some people are saying he's trying to do good for all the bad he did. And a lot of people do that. But the And I'm not suggesting you do anything bad. But you certainly can get tougher than you are. no question about that. You know, I don't know how many tough guys are running around counter sliding. Okay, on the border. On the border, on the border, yeah. On the border, okay. Only those who risk going too far can possibly find a way of how far one can go. You got to push the edges of the envelope. And that's beyond your comfort zone, which by definition means it's beyond your people's comfort zone. Beyond your wife's comfort zone. Now, occasionally we've had a guy come through here that had, I mean, tough, ballsy wife. And I mean, and they're pushing their husband, kicking them in the ass. That doesn't happen too often. But it does happen. But that's why I believe in that I don't share my doubts. I didn't tell my wife any of the [ __ ] that was going on when I was doing it, because my wife isn't a person that is like me. She's the antithesis. She's the soft, the gentle, okay? So, I didn't tell her anything. I didn't lie. I just didn't tell her anything. Because if you go home, "Honey, it was a rough day at the office today. The bank pulled our our credit line, and I did this and that and the other." "Oh, well, does that mean that we're going to I'm going to I I I I can't go shopping tomorrow at Tiffany's?" You know. Well, that wouldn't be you know, you're not going to Tiffany's, but anyway. Okay, this is the last slide. I don't know how to edit that to minutes. Creed: I'm a risk taker. The days of defending my Okay, I want you to read this, please. Would you? Creed: I'm a risk taker. The days of defending my presence, possessions, and positions are gone forever. Therefore, from this day forward, I will have to concern myself with such problematic issues as maintaining my present job or keeping up my current standard of living. Instead, I will put the things which can go wrong on the defensive, and I will put the things which must go right in ready formation for the attack. As of today, I'm a dynamic, rigorous risk-taker whose eyes are always turned towards my strength and assets rather than towards my weakness and liabilities. Henceforth, I will wake up in the morning thinking only of ways to do the things I want to do rather than waking up thinking of all the reasons why I cannot do these things. As of today, I will think repeatedly of the many achievements which I am going to accomplish in the future that are vastly superior to anything I have ever done in the past. Clearly, these are the results that can only be obtained if I am first willing to take some kind of a risk. Believe me, once I undertake this process, I it won't be long before I start winning and in a big way. I should understand, however, that as I become increasingly involved in the risk-taking process, I will find myself forced to draw up upon rescues resources which I previously didn't even realize I possessed. At first, this may prove very frightening to me. Nevertheless, I must always remember I will never hear of, read about, or see anyone who achieves anything of greatness in his or her own life without first taking some kind of a risk. Amen. Absolutely. I have that in front of my desk amongst the four that I have rather than a credo type things I have that I had you know, I just look at it and I don't have to read it cuz I know what it says. And do you stop being a perfect chance fool free that does not have to say I will not have to concern myself with lines of Yes, it does. It does. Um the um and I there's I got another one winners and losers over my desk and I got a couple others. Uh I've got one by Theodore Roosevelt about people that talk about not being in the to had never been in the fight, you know. And and and I look at these things and even though I don't read them verbatim as as as you just did, I do you know, I know what they say and it reminds me of them and I and if you go in my office you know, you see these kinds of things hanging around along with pictures of my of my my kids and and my family growing up and and some of the the awards that I've received that are important to me. I've received a lot of awards, but I I remember they're important to me along the walls and in front in front of my office I've got you know, I I got a lot of a lot more memorabilia than that, but those are the things that were important to me. You know, the first time I went public, when I took SDI public and some other things and when the Dutch newspaper said that I went to jail five times I've got those headlines and some other things uh to remind me that you know, so I don't forget and the biggest one of the biggest deals I ever lost money in almost $5 million of my own money cuz I never want to [ __ ] forget. Firewall Resources is like an albatross on my [ __ ] neck. $5 million of my own goddamn money. And I never use my own money. I'LL NEVER FORGET that son of a [ __ ] if if I live to be a thousand. So whenever I I I I GET motivated to spend my own money, I stop myself. Uh Sally reminds me. Um and but you know, nobody's perfect. I fall I fell off you know, I popped my cherry with my own goddamn knife in my crotch by spending my own money. Um but and and that's why I have all these things. I don't have these as an edifice to my ego. I never want to forget when I'm here. When I come by, you know, and I and I I normally walk out through the back door so I can walk by all that [ __ ] and I look at it and look at it. You guys come over here you should you come around the front like you should and I and I I at this and it also reminds me what I what do I want to say to the guys today? Is there anything special, you know? I've got an the I've got a picture of the uh uh your identical twin. The Romanian, the other impaler. And the uh you know, how can I be blessed with two Romanian impalers in a career? You know, it's unbelievable. One seeing Jesus down in in in Colombia. You know. He's gone from an internet scum [ __ ] bag to now seeing Jesus, you know, you know, down in Colombia. I I don't know what which turn you're going to take, but God it. No pun intended. God only knows. And because I have I've been to you, you know, a lot a lot of cases, you know. I've been chairman of 70 companies of of the 700 or so I've been chairman of about 70 of you guys, about 10%, you know. And you guys never cease to amaze me. I mean, when I think that I've heard it all, seen it all, something new happens. And if something new hadn't happened to me, you know, God almighty, I I don't know what these less experienced guys probably handle it. That's why some of these other gurus on on the internet now. I mean, they don't know [ __ ] from apple butter, you know. They just don't. One story and then we're going to break up. When I when I decided to coach in 1993, after I had to run out of Great Western, I decided to go around and see all the internet gurus at the time. Tony Robbins, Ted Nicholas, Dan Kennedy, Dennis Waitley as I already mentioned, Jim Rohn, all these guys, you know. And I went to it took me about a year to go to all the seminars. And the I was down in the Keys, Florida for uh one of the great marketing gurus. He just died. I can't think of his name now. Uh and I was sitting at the bar with uh Ted Nicholas and we we closed up the bar. We we knocked up Ted Nicholas is one is the only other successful guy that's made a lot of money that's in coaching. The only guy. That's him. That's it. There is nobody else. And I recommend him highly and uh he has written a couple of very successful books. Um uh golden words that um golden words that uh magic words that are gold. That's what he calls And we're sitting there and he says, "Dan, why are you why are you here?" And at that time, I didn't know. I paid the $5,000 or $6,500 to go to the seminar. I didn't know all the other uh seminar gurus go for free just so you'll say something nice about the other guy. I didn't realize that. Cuz I didn't want anybody I didn't give a [ __ ] if anybody I don't care if Dan Kennedy recommends my [ __ ] seminar. [ __ ] him. You know? I lost more money in [ __ ] pockets that I send to the cleaners, you know, I lose change than he's made. And so So I'm sitting there and I says, "Ted, uh he says, you know, I really like your talk." He says, "Dan, why are you here?" When we grow up or when they grow up, they want to be like you. These guys None of these None of us except me. None of these guys have made ever any money. None of you. Nobody. Jay Abraham. I don't want to leave you out, Jay. Nobody's made any goddamn money. They They don't understand why you that has been successful in business has come back and and and wants to do this. I said, "I want to you know, put some money I got maybe it's my ego. I want to evoke some lasting change." I want to show people it's not impossible, but it is hard, but you can start with nothing cuz my specialty is nothing to something. That's my specialty. Nothing. Zero. $820 is next to nothing. That's close enough to nothing. Okay? To something. Um and uh and he said, "Well, you're going to learn you're going to be grossly disappointed in the industry." It's a billion-dollar industry that's $1 being passed around to a thousand guys. I mean, there is no money in this. And I didn't really believe him. I went around and I and and I went to all the guys' seminars. Um and uh and he was right. He was right. And then I hired a private investigator or a team of private investigators to follow all of these guys around to find out where they live, what they do. And I found out all kinds of things, not the least of which uh you know, Tony Robbins didn't have any money. Um uh you know, uh Dan Kennedy had some money, but he lived in a he worked out of a rented house. And I mean, it's just it's a a lot of [ __ ] you know, for the most part. Now, they may have made a jillion dollars since 1993-1994, but I'm telling you from 1993-1994 statistics. And um the um and I came, you know, I came to the realization of what if I I take this tape and then I put it I go to 60 Minutes or I go to uh you know, 20/20, one of these exposé programs and I say, you know, the personal development industry is a fraud. And my lawyers convinced me that I'd be rocked with lawsuits for the next 10 years. And I and and uh and uh and I might have I might win all the slander suits because what I said is true at the time. So, I decided not to. But when I first started in this business, I thought because I was so much more successful than anybody else that I would have to queue them up 50 across and a thousand deep. And when I first started, I mean, I had a lot of success I did, you know, 23, 24 seminars in about 15 weeks in the United States. I had 100, 200 people all paying a thousand dollars a head. I was, you know, from financial point of view, they were very successful. But the transformation to get them to make the leap was much more difficult. So, I went from a one-day seminar to a two-day seminar to a three-day seminar cuz I used to do all this in 18 hours in one day. 18 hours one day. And then I started financial uh raising capital seminar. Then I did um deals and acquisitions seminar, and then Dez convinced me to do a three-day seminar in London. And then in 1994, I started the Castle Seminar. Uh and I've had a lot of people through the Castle Seminar. But the reason that, you know, I don't have, you know, thousands and thousands of people who've been through all the seminars, and more people have bought all the product. The reason why that, you know, I'm not sitting in the um personal development Hall of Fame They don't have one. It's because it's so [ __ ] hard. It's so [ __ ] hard. It's not easy. Contrary to what everybody else tells you, it's not bloody easy. It's bloody [ __ ] hard. Because it takes the emotional commitment on your part to do what you learn here. And that ain't easy. You know, and we all got kids and mortgages and moms that got cancer and all kind of [ __ ] And I'm not trying to demean that because we all have that baggage. You know, some people got less baggage, and some people will have more baggage. And so, I'm not, you know, if there ever is a personal development Hall of Fame, you know, I will be in it. But I mean, the because I certainly have more successes which you can chronologically figure out and see how much money they got than anybody else. I know that for a fact. But and I haven't seen, you know, Tony Robbins has had 2.6 million people go through his programs. 2.6 million people go through in 20 years. That's a lot of people, okay? And but none of these guys have ever built a business. None of them. The closest they got is The Apprentice on TV. And he's not built a business, you know. He built a business, you know, his dad left him 20 million bucks, but I mean, he he built a business. He's very successful. He's got a lot of money. And he's been bankrupt in companies two, three, four times over the years. But it's hard. And that's why it's bloody hard. And that's why some of the people that have been to the seminar five, six times and we have a number of them that have been to two or three times because you don't just get it. It just doesn't all of a sudden after you sat here five days, six days, oh like magic, like osmosis is penetrating my thick skull and now I get it. It's not that simple. It just isn't. And I and and no matter how close you pay attention and that's why that's why we we we give the slides and we're going to do this this this these conferences in a few weeks periodically to to help you along because you will continue to need as as as as one guy said a boot up the ass. Now some people leave here like like racehorses out of gate and never turn back. That that's 2%. 2% and those are the people that have the less least amount of baggage.