Alex Morton - Bestselling Author & Featured in Forbes | Dorm Room to $75M by 33 and Why He Says Self Belief Is the Only Skill That Matters

At 21, you were broke. At 24, you were a millionaire. At 25, you were having panic attacks. So I was. I was. Always wanted to be rich, take care of my family, do something big. Got introduced to direct sales at a very young age, and I went from rock bottom to rock star, right down to rock bottom. Success is a crazy roller coaster. Today's guest is Alex Morton, entrepreneur, investor, and one of the leading voices in personal growth and high performance. Through his coaching, speaking, and business ventures, he's helped thousands of entrepreneurs develop the mindset, habits, and discipline needed to achieve lasting success. In this conversation, he shares the principles that separate wishful thinking from real results. What is delusional self-belief? How do you create this in your head? You don't have to know how, you just have to know. What's the line between delusional self-belief and pure delusion? There's a lot of people out there with delusional self-belief and confidence. However, their physical actions are not matching this delusional self-belief. For me, I believe big, but dude, I was working my ass off. My fitness pal is a success story partner. Now, here's something I've noticed after interviewing hundreds of founders, the ones that are performing at the highest level, the ones that are truly winning. They aren't just optimizing their business or their calendar or their team. They're paying attention to what they eat. And the ones who aren't paying attention, they're usually the first ones to burn out. And that pattern is consistent enough that it got me thinking about my own nutrition. Not whether I was eating well, but whether I actually knew what the big picture looked like. That's why I started using the MyFitnessPal app. I wanted to see what I was actually eating, not what I assumed I was eating, but the real numbers, what my protein intake looked like, what my macronutrient breakdown was, where my calories were actually going throughout the day. And the app gives you all of that. Now, what kept me using it is that there's zero friction. If I eat something, I scan the barcode, it pulls everything up. I can also verbally log what I eat. And it remembers my regular meals. So most days I'm logging my food in under a minute. See, food is a foundation for your energy, your sleep, your recovery, and your performance. It's not one of many inputs. It is the one input. So go to podcast.myfitnesspal.com and use code SCOTT. All uppercase for 15% off. MyFitnessPal Premium. That's podcast.myfitnesspal.com. Code SCOTT. All right, Alex, at 21, you were broke. At 24, you were a millionaire. At 25, you were having panic attacks as a wild almost four and a half, five years to walk me through that. It was. Yeah. So I was going to Arizona State University, always wanted to be rich, take care of my family, do something big. I didn't know what I wanted to do, but I was in school, got introduced to direct sales at a very young age. And I went from rock bottom to rock star. And to your point, write down. To rock bottom. And I found myself on my knees, praying to God, crying myself to sleep, asking for one more chance. And success is a crazy roller coaster. Success is a crazy roller coaster. So this is, you know, massive. So at 24, you're a millionaire. Was this planned? Was this just like you were on like a rocket ship at this point? Growing up, I knew I was different. Grew up in a small little town, Bexley, Ohio. Always had big goals, big dreams, big vision. But I didn't know the vehicle that was going to take me from A to B. So it was planned in my mind. Like, it was planned in my mind. Even though my teachers put me in slow math for four straight years, they put me in Spanish 1 for four straight years. In my mind, I knew I was going to have material success, and I was going to make a dent in my life. in this universe. I didn't know it was going to be direct sales. I didn't know what it was going to be, but I knew it was going to be for me, and I was different than a lot of the kids in my class. I always believe that When you have that kind of mindset, it actually doesn't matter what business you get put into. Like you'll figure it out. And I see people that have had massive exits and wins and pick a category. And then all of a sudden, like they're, you know, they could be retired, sell a company for 100 million, 200, whatever. And then maybe take a year off if that, because they're super ambitious. And then they go into a random other category and they're still successful. goes in the face of the wisdom where it's like, oh, you know, you have to know something better than everyone else. Like, it just seems if you have the right mindset, you'll be able to figure it out. It's like the genetic makeup DNA of a winner, like of a champion, right? I just, I don't know if I learned it on the football field game, I ass kicked at high school. Probably. And keeping going and keep going and keep going and keep going. Or it was because I watched my parents work six or seven days a week, building a life insurance agency. as a little kid, but something just was in me. And you're right. It's like, if somebody can win over here, they can probably win over here because it is the mindset. At the end of the day, if you get the mind right, everything else in your life will work out in your favor. Okay, I want to go back. You built something called YPR. So what was the idea behind that? So that was, this is a while ago. Young people revolution was the phrase. And it was the first... direct sales company. It was like a healthy energy drink. And it was like perfect timing because it was Red Bull, Rockstar, Monster, 5-Hour Energy, Gary Powerade, Starbucks. So we had this healthy energy drink, official drink of the Phoenix Suns. So we had like a big billboard on the side of the Phoenix Suns arena. I was going to Arizona State. It was like perfect place, perfect timing. Let's go. And the YPR was this, it was really a mindset thing and a belief thing where it wasn't like poo-pooing J-O-Bs and jobs too much. I said some reckless stuff back then, and I'm 22. I'm fired up. I'm 22. I'm, you know, googly eyes popping out in Scottsdale, fired up about everything. But the YPR was this belief system around you can be an entrepreneur. You can do your own thing. Whatever your car you want to go, if you work hard enough, you can get it. You want to take care of mom and dad? If you work hard enough, you can get it. And what's fascinating is now 10 years later, A lot of those young guys that were 19, 20, 21, if I could show you 50 of these guys today, what they're doing today. I mean, these are people that own some of the most successful solar companies in America, roofing companies in America, Pace Morby's right-hand guy, Cody Barton, you know, like the top insurance reps. I mean, they all came from this same world. little ecosystem this is environment and it was really environment now bob to me to them and it and it was the start of personal self-development for all these young guys and now they're doing amazing things and helping a lot of people in the universe so you were 21 and you were pitching your friends about why it was ypr the first million that you made yeah so we had that was the movement within the company okay cool cool um Then you, this obviously killed it. It went from ASU to over 50 countries. What do you think, what do you think made this spread like wildfire? Like what was the thing? Cause you had a whole bunch of like. It was kids. You had Gary V talking about like. He spoke at our event. Did he? So he's talking about like. I met guys. That's the first time I've ever met him. Like bet on yourself. Like there was other people that were doing this stuff too. But like you blew up. Yes, it was a money making activity based on the sales of these energy drinks. OK, but in front of it and behind it was all personal development, building your belief system, building your championship attitude, you know, sales, organization, leading by example. And the reason why it went viral is because it was like this revolting, I guess you could say, against the. The system. And that's why eventually, you know, the government got pissed off about it and this, that and the third. But we were I was getting in front of people and this is all on YouTube. I was getting in front of people and I was saying some stuff that maybe I would change the tone today. But I would say, listen, you can love mom and dad. But if mom and dad are not living the life you want to be living, maybe they should not be the person and the people telling you what to do in the business world. Like go find people that have what you want instead. Right. I think that's good advice. I have no idea how you said it back then, but that's not bad advice. A little more reckless, but it was all true. I never told a lie. Okay. One thing that people don't realize is a lot of the time, what they believe and what their version of success is and life is, it's imprinted on them by their parents and then they never question it. And their parents aren't even doing it in a malicious way. They're saying, this is what I want for you. I want the best life. I want you to have a stable career. I want you to go work a job that's safe, secure. And that's all changed dramatically since our parents you know, work their stable jobs. Stable doesn't really exist anymore. But we're raised with this belief system as to what a good life is. And then we never question it. And this is what you were telling people. We changed the paradigm of like a generation of people. And it just spread through the college market because we had hundreds of thousands of these kids in school. Why are you in school? I don't know. What are you studying? Business. What do you want to do when you graduate? It's like, and then student loan debt. So kids are taking out loans to go to school to learn business from people that never built a business. So I'm like, I'm coming in this thing, man, hot and heavy. And we made a big debt. I mean, we wound up on the Today Show. Yeah. Good morning, America, the whole nine yards. No, but Rolling Stone covered you. Forbes covered you too, no? Yeah, Rolling Stones was definitely a slam piece. Okay, I don't know. It's framed in my parents' house. It's on the wall. I'm proud of it. Selling the bro dream. It was me with my hoodie on with my little backwards hat on. And people are like, how do you deal with so much hate? I'm like, I frame the hate. I frame it. That's how I deal with it. I fucking frame it. So at this stage, you are making about $100,000 plus a month. Yeah, no income claims, lifestyle claims, all that kind of stuff. But yeah, so my first company I got up, my highest month was 107. 107. You did not plan for this? No, I mean, no, not that. No, like, so when you're 24, earning that kind of money, looking back, what's some really smart lessons you would tell yourself in hindsight? Well, I was very... lucky to have good parents because if I didn't have the good parents I probably would have done some things that some of the other guys were doing um because I never got into you know I drank and I and drank in college like at Arizona State but I've never been into you know drugs or addicted to gambling or prostitutes all this craziness right but hindsight I would have um I would have kept the, I don't want to say I had a huge ego, but like, you know, I was in magazines and on TV. I was, you know, I was young. Like when you're young and everywhere you go, everyone just keeps telling you how great and special you are. Right. It's going to alter your mind a little bit. So I probably developed a little bit of an ego. But guess what? God humbled me real quick. He'll bring you up. He'll take your ass down. Right. And that happened to me. And I rebuilt it all back by the grace of God. There was a point where your dad says you came home from a convention you were speaking at and you told him you didn't believe what you were saying on stage anymore. Correct. Walk me through that story. The first company I was a part of, and it got to the point where the people I was working with, like in that world, like insurance is the same thing, EXP real estate, whatever it is, like you have like uplines or like success coaches and stuff. And I lost respect, I guess you could say, for the people I was working with because they weren't helping me anymore. They weren't investing in me whatsoever. And I felt like I was just like, they were the jockey and I was the horse and they were just whipping me to keep running and running and running. And I eventually got to the point. You're making a lot of money. Yeah, for sure. And I eventually got to the point where I'm like, I know I don't need them anymore to go have success. And I just felt like the direction and the leadership of the company was taking a turn. Contentness. People were comfortable. And I was young and hungry, man. And I'm like, we can 10x this thing. Like, and if you don't want to 10X it, if you don't want to think big like me, I'm going to go think big over here. So I came home and I'm like, let's find something else. What did you want to do? What did you want to bet on if this wasn't the thing? Well, I was always going to bet on me. That's why, like we talked about earlier, it's like if somebody is winning over here, if they put that same mindset and they're willing to learn and grow and be teachable, they can win over here. As well. So for me, it never really mattered if it was like health and wellness products or, you know, skin care or financial education or travel, whatever it is, in my opinion. And that's why insurance companies bring me in or roofing companies bring me in and direct other direct sales telemarketing companies bring me in because it's like the formula works. In whatever, if you're involved in sales and leadership, like sales and leadership, if you operate a certain way, think a certain way, do a certain way, you can 2x, 5x, 10x, whatever it is you're doing. I believe that. So they shut down. And I guess the question is, like, do you regret that part of your life? No, not at all. I mean, it made me who I am today. I think we could have done things a little bit differently with the level of language because unfortunately a lot of kids decided to, you know, drop out of college, you know, revolt against mom and dad and different things like that. However, a lot of good, I mean, I cannot tell you how many airports I've been around the world. where I will get stopped and somebody will say, hey man, you were in my living room, I watched you speak, I was at that event in Miami, I was at that event in Lisbon, Portugal. Man, you changed my life. I didn't make a lot of money or any money in that first company, but it brought me to Bob Proctor. It brought me to goal setting. How many parents have DM'd me in my career and they have said, because of what you say and said, my son stopped smoking, stopped drinking, stopped being an idiot, and he's reading a book. And it's called Think and Grow Rich. So I don't apologize for anything. Because I know I've helped a lot of people. I know I've served humanity. And if some people don't like it, you know, come pay my bills, man. I don't give a shit. Why does... I mean, so it's network marketing, direct sales, the same thing? Ed Milet, Patrick Bet-David, Grant Cardone's wife. It's exact same industry. Direct sales, network marketing, there's different... MLM has different names for it, yes. Why does the industry have such a reputation problem? Distributors over-promising and under-delivering. Some people are just... The worst thing about network marketing is you can get in with a couple hundred bucks. The best thing about network marketing is you can get in with a couple hundred bucks. And it's also the worst, right? It's like there's such a low barrier of entry, so you attract anybody and everybody. Like I've been in third world countries and Asuncia and Paraguay doing events, and I've been in homes in Beverly Hills where dad's worth $300 million. And it's the same industry, right? So I think, I don't think I know this, people say stuff they shouldn't say when they're talking about the opportunity. Like you should not be telling people you can get rich. I tell people this, like in today's day and age, this isn't, I say this on presentations, it's not a get rich quick. It is not a get rich overnight. And I am not making any income guarantees, period. However, it is an opportunity. So it's false expectations, right? And it's probably desperate people that are trying to make a couple quick bucks, and they just will say whatever they can to do what they're trying to do. And unfortunately, it hurts the whole industry as a whole. I've thought about this a lot because it's a marketing strategy and a growth strategy to use MLM at the end of the day. But for some reason, more often than not, it doesn't turn out the same way like a franchise opportunity would or something like that. And I never really understood why. I wasn't sure if it's like the type of people that gravitate towards it. I wasn't sure if it's because the people that sign up for it, maybe they are more desperate than the average person that's okay putting half a million dollars into a franchise. Like to me, it's packaged branded entrepreneur opportunity for a couple hundred bucks. But for some reason, it all goes fucking sideways. And I don't really get why. But that's what it is at the end of the day. Listen, Tai Lopez, Grant Cardone. I mean, I have video footage of all these top people all saying the same thing. If I was broke today and I would start all over again, I would go find a good network marketing company with good mentors and learn. Grant said it. Grant said, dude, where else can you go for a couple hundred bucks and get around a bunch of winners and learn from them? and actually get the strategies and the mindset and the attitude and the belief system. He's like, dude, network marketing is effing genius. I have a video clip of him saying that because it's true. It's just people have just got to do it. There's a right way to do it and there's a wrong way to do it. And now me being 17-year vet in the game, I'm trying to do my best to... help people do it the right way where people understand it does take time. It does take effort. It does take sacrifice. You're not going to get rich tomorrow. You have to learn skills. You have to work. You have to persist, but it's real. I mean, Amway owns the Orlando magic. Mary Kay is one of the largest cosmetic companies billions a year. It's like, oh, MLM's a scam. It's like, ding dong, Cristiano Ronaldo speaks at Herbalife conventions. It's an MLM. He's a partner in Herbalife. Like, for you just to say every MLM's a scam, dude, you're a scam. Your brain's a scam. So this is... When I was doing prep for this show, there was people that hate on you online, which happened, whatever. There was Spencer Cornelia, he put out a YouTube video exposing the biggest con man on social media. Yeah, that's crazy. Which is a wild title. It is. He's great at making videos. I'll give him props on that. Give us a summary, obviously. My team watched the whole thing. I watched clips. I was driving. I put the audio on in my car. Was the hate on you being part of MLM or was there other things to it? You know, two of the companies I've been a part of didn't end well. It's like, okay, so you're going to blame Alex Morton for a company that did $1.2 billion in sales and had a million distributors, but we're going to try to say it was just this guy's fault? It's like, okay. It's like, it's like, but I enjoy it, man. Like it fuels me to be honest. Like I appreciate the people that hate. I almost appreciate the haters more than I do the, the, the fans and the admirers and the lovers. It's like, that's, that shit charges me up to go run through another wall and just bury them over and over and over and over and over again. For me, it would be so stressful because you are, you are still in network marketing. why do you do this to yourself? Like respectfully, like why don't you just do any other business that is not so stressful? To be honest, I almost walked away about eight months ago. I was sitting over here in sunny isles in my office and I was just thinking completely about myself. Like, And I just told myself, I was like, one more time. I'm going to do it one more time. I'm going to do my best to do it the right way. I'm going to bring an easy conversational product, a great conversation. I just, I don't know. I just, I just, it's like, why does O'Bron still play in the NBA? Dude, I don't know. He loves it. Like I, cause I, I've seen the positives outweigh the negatives to me. Like I've been in. 76 countries where I'm talking to people and kids, parents, and you've changed my life. And thank you. And tears like so many people crying in tears for an opportunity. It's wild because so the first two that you were part of did not end well, like you mentioned. But you obviously know how to make money and you obviously know how to build a business. So if there wasn't a positive and there wasn't something you enjoyed about it, like you wouldn't do it again. Yeah, I don't need the money. I know. I saw the car you drove in. I don't need the money. It goes back to this whole premise of like success is for you. Significance is about others. And I just, my drug is seeing people win. And if I can be 1% of the win, I just feel really good about it. HubSpot is a success story partner. Now, customers are using traditional search less and less to find the businesses they want to buy from. Now, when a buyer or a customer asks AI for a solution like yours, does your business come up? They're looking for a product, they're looking for a service, and they're going into some AI chat tool and they're saying, hey, help me find the best one. If your company isn't showing up, you're missing out. And most companies have no idea if their business is showing up or even how to show up. And by the time they figure it out, they've already lost a deal to somebody that figured out AI. This is what AEO is. Answer Engine Optimization. HubSpot AEO helps you show up in those moments with the right answers that your buyers and your customers are looking for. It could be before the first click, before the first form fill. That's the moment HubSpot AEO is built for. So check out HubSpot.com to learn more about AEO. HubSpot is the agent to customer platform for growing businesses. Huel is a success story partner. Now, I'll be honest with you. I am terrible at eating well when my schedule gets packed. I'll look up. It's two in the afternoon. I haven't even had a real meal. And then I'm just useless for the rest of the day because I'm hitting a wall. So I started keeping Huel around. It's been an absolute game changer. They just launched into Target stores nationwide, which is huge. You can walk right into your local Target right now. Grab the Black Edition ready to drink and the Daily Greens ready to drink. The Black Edition, this is a full meal, 35 grams of protein, 27 essential vitamins and minerals, no artificial sweeteners, gluten-free, and it's under five bucks. I grab one of these in between recordings, done, I'm good for two hours. And the Daily Greens is more of a health thing. 42 vitamins, minerals, and superfoods in one bottle. It's developed by a registered nutritionist, 25 calories, four grams of fiber, and one gram of sugar. I'll have one first thing in the morning. It's the easiest win of my day. Now, 15% off for new customers. Use my code Scott at Huel.com slash Scott and do the post checkout survey. It helps to show. Go to Huel.com slash Scott, code Scott. You've touched on this, but I want to go a level deeper. If your audience and anybody who watches this could know the full story from the first two failed MLM things that you were part of, and probably the things that led to all the hate online, what do you really want them to know? Pure intentions, genuine, normal kid from Bexley, Ohio. My dad drove a 98 Expedition. My mom drove in Aurora. I don't even know if they make those anymore. Like I'm a normal guy from a Midwest little town that had big goals and big dreams and got, I was in real estate and then I got started in network marketing and I saw average people making above average incomes and I said, if they could do it, I can do it. And I've been able to help a lot of people. If I wasn't able to help people, outside network marketing companies wouldn't pay me 50 grand for 60 minutes of me to go teach their top people how to go freaking win. And I just believe, like, I don't know who said it, haters, having anger towards everyone reaching success, you know, Spencer or somebody else. It's like, it's like you're hating, hating, hating, building this audience. And then you're, you're getting paid to make these videos. Like you have sponsors and you do your thing. You pay your bills. I don't know if he has a kid or not. God bless the guy. I hope the guy has a great abundant life, man. Like I don't, I don't even throw hate at my haters. I give them a hug. I say, man, great video, dude. Keep it up, man. Yeah, I don't know. Listen, I see some of the people that all of their content is hating. Imagine how disturbed you have to be. To just be like, I'm going to wake up and attack someone today. Like, it's crazy. I'm in network marketing. It gets a lot of hate. I almost like understand cool. But Patrick David, Ed Milet. Like, people try to make fun of Ed Milet. I'm like, this guy is incredible, man. Like, what did he ever do to you? So you just wake up and hate. But then again, you look at, I don't know about every country, but at least in America, you get half the country to hate you. You're the president. It's fucked up, isn't it? It's like, all right, keep hating then, man. If you could go back over the last 15 years, would you change anything? No. Why? Because it brought me here. the ups, the downs, trials, tribulations, the good, the bad, the investments where I multiply money, the investments where I lost a million dollars in an oil deal that turned out to be a scam. Everything built me to the man I am today. And I'm proud of the person I am. And I'm proud of the person I'm becoming. I know I'm a good son, good brother, good husband, good friend. People do reckless stuff. And I don't judge anybody. But like there's guys out there that, don't take care of their family. They reproduce with three different women. They're addicted to gambling, drugs, liquor. They're addicted to anything you could be addicted to. And I'm over here, I'm like, listen, man, I'm doing my best and I live a pretty good, pure existence. And I genuinely wake up in the morning, how can I serve my community, the world, do good things, get good karma? So no, I wouldn't change anything because it's made me the man I am today. It's interesting how you branded yourself around mindset. And I think that's so important. When I started this show, it was very tactical. So I was interviewing people like, you know, how do you whatever? Yeah. Kill it on Facebook, what's to get like a 5X ROAS on your ads, whatever. And I realized that that stuff, you can Google that shit everywhere. But what people really fuck up is they can't figure out the mental model or the mindset. And even, I'll give you one more story because I'm podcasting myself now. I'm sorry, this is fascinating. But I was interviewing Gary Vee and we were talking about mindset. And anyways, I gave him a couple layup questions, super simple questions on tactical shit. He was into live shopping and substat and it was a couple months ago. And he kind of gave a really quick two sentence answer on this thing and then, And everything else I was asking about, he was like going in and getting so energized about. And I asked him like, why did you sort of skip over all of these very tactical things? People know you as like the tactical social, he's like, cause none of this shit matters. It's like the mindset that matters. And if you figure out the mindset, the tactics take care of themselves. I believe that to be true 100%. Because when we're being raised and we're coming up in the system in elementary school, middle school, high school, a lot of people's parents, professors, whatever it is, it's like we're taught one thing about, it's all about IQ and it's all about your test score and it's all about your grades and where you go to university and stuff, but then you would get into the real world and it's like, no, it's not. If anything, it's about your EQ, right? It's your emotional intelligence, one, and two, it's the work ethic, it's the discipline, which all stems to This fucking winning mindset, man. You talk about delusional self-belief. Yes. I love this idea. I see where it comes from. Like you said, even though I had no idea how I was going to make it, I just knew I was going to make it. What is delusional self-belief? But then the follow-up is going to be, how do you create this in your head? You don't have to know how. You just have to know. So for me... I've used my imagination, one of the higher faculties given to us by, you know, whatever people want to believe in. You know, God, the universe, Yachtree, whatever it is, right? And for me, you know, growing up, I used other people's successes to learn from. But then instead of just idolizing a Cristiano Ronaldo or a Drake or a Zuckerberg, I would respect accomplishment. But I would say if God would do it for him or her... he's going to also do it for me, right? But it's not God doing it for me. It's me doing it for me. So I would see someone, even today at 36 years old, right? Like I'll see someone having massive success, whether it's Patrick Bed David or the podcasting world like you, whatever it is, and I'll say, that's amazing. That's great. I respect the accomplishment. However, everyone's got to know if another person can do it, so can you. Like when I got into real estate at 18 years old, I didn't know nothing about real estate, right? But I saw a million dollar listing on, you know, Bravo got my real estate license. Then I said, okay, if this guy can make X doing real estate, you know, so can I. And then I got into direct sales and building sales organizations and leadership and then public speaking, whatever it is. I've always looked at people, even the Tony Robbins. And I'm like, that's amazing. And he might be like six foot 10 and I'm five 10 with shoes on, but if he can do it, so can I. So you have to be delusional, man, because at first, No one's going to believe in you. No one's going to respect what it is you're doing. I was made fun of my entire several years, you know, coming up in the game. I had a professor at Arizona State say, if you don't want to study for the exam on Friday, go see Mr. Morton in the back and he can teach you how to get rich quick, right? So you're going to get attacked. You're going to get laughed at. But if you believe in yourself big enough, None of it matters. And you're going to run through the wall to go to where you need to be. You know how rare that is, though? You know how rare that delusional self-belief is? It's, I mean, like, yeah, not like, yeah, not many people have it. Yeah. And I even look at my own story and journey and I, like a lot of the topics that you speak about, like I'm a full believer. Like this is what has made me, me today. Yeah. But I don't sometimes understand how I got to this point and how I developed these ideas and these, and these ideas. I call them mental models, whatever it is you want to call them, these mindset things. And I think that's the gap that people have. They're like, okay, I get it. But when I show up and shit doesn't work, it's really hard to have this delusional self-belief that it will five, 10, 15 years in the future. So when I, and I coach a lot of young entrepreneurs and all over the world and all these different things, right? And I tell them, it's like, okay, You're going to have rejection. You're going to have to overcome objections. You're going to have to deal with the, you know, friendship hate, the parental hate, the, you know, the public hate when you get big enough. The point is, if it doesn't work out, what's the worst thing that could happen, right? I think a lot about this stuff, man. I think about death a lot, too, which is weird. But it's like, okay, if I don't go for it, then I'm going to live this life of being small, being in this box, all the haters are going to be like, oh, we told you, you're never going to make it, and you're going to have to deal with this internal regret, which is going to suck, or you just go for it. And the worst thing that's going to happen is... I guess you die. And then it doesn't even matter. And I heard Hormozzi said this the other day. Whenever I drive, I turn my car into a mobile classroom. That's one of my secrets. That's not really a secret whatsoever. And he's like, just so you know, four generations from now, no one will even know he existed. So go for it. And I'm like, fuck yeah, dude. That's ludicrous. But I believe that because it's true. You know, the fear of rejection is what holds most people back. There's lots of people more talented than me, more talented than you, smarter than whatever it is. But they're scared to death because of this rejection from people that they shouldn't even be worried about in the first place. Have you ever heard of Fear Sight by Tim Ferriss? I know it's in the Ferris, but I've never heard of. Okay. So I'll tell you this idea. It's a great idea. So if you want to do something scary, start a business, date the girl, whatever the fuck you want to do. You just try and imagine you have to walk through every worst case scenario that could happen in your mind. So I start the business. I raise money. Um, yeah. Doesn't work out. Investors sue me. And then you really take it to the next level. And then I can't find a job. And then I'm homeless. And I'm like on the streets like doing drugs. And then you pause for a moment and you're like, is that really going to happen? Right. You really just map out the worst case scenario. And then you start to realize, well, no, that's most likely not going to happen. On the off chance it doesn't work out. then for most people, the worst case is just getting a job, not becoming homeless and destitute and dying on the streets, God forbid, somewhere. So I think that a lot of people, the potential negative outcome or circumstance is so much bigger in their head because they haven't actually realized that it's a ridiculous outcome. It's all and never actually happened. And that's what, and they'll walk through that process. So then all these fears are so imaginary and they're so unrealistic, but that's what stops them from doing anything. Well, you just look at the word fear, false evidence appearing real. Most of the shit we're scared of. It's never even, it's not, it's not coming. It's not some big monster. It's going to break your door down and beat the shit out of you and kill your family. Yeah. Yeah. Did you get that from your, were your parents entrepreneurial, I guess? Yes. So for a very short stint, my mom actually worked for Tony Robbins. Okay. Which is a big deal. Like Tony is Tony. Right? Yeah. And then my parents went through a $36 million bankruptcy in the 90s in Houston, Texas. Lost everything. My mom was supporting my dad. This was like before me. And then my dad found life insurance. Mm-hmm. Right. Which is like, you know, PBD and my little, all these big guys, you know, that we know today. And they just hit hard for, I think, 13 or 15 years. And that's one of the programmings I got as a kid, because I would be eating like cereal, watching Saved by the Bell before high school. And my dad would be out the door at 7.15 a.m., suit and tie, going to the life insurance office. office so i got programmed as a as a young guy a young kid yeah with work ethic with discipline with persistence so now as my you know career has gone up to me working hard just normal but you also were programmed that failure is the end of the world they have 36 million dollar bankruptcy yeah that's a big deal it's that's a that's a lot of money absolutely but your parents are still here uh-huh they're still doing well they're And they built it all back. They built it all back. And that's... And I mean, like that for most people would be in their head if they never built anything. Worst case scenario. For sure. Losing everything. Right? You still come back from that. And it's like if you can look up, you can get up. What is the line for somebody that is now on the journey, building, does have delusional self-belief? But what's the line between delusional self-belief and pure delusion? Meaning... If you're building something, why don't you throw in the towel or pivot or iterate on something that's not working and have a hard talk with yourself? That's a great question. I think there's a lot of people out there with delusional self-belief and confidence. However, their physical actions are not matching this delusional self-belief. Like they believe in this, but if you had a secret camera on them Monday through Sunday and you actually tracked how many... Minutes and hours are actually doing we call them income producing activities IPA's a lot of people are not they're not they're not matching their action with their delusional self belief like for me I believe big but dude I was working my ass off like all day every single day so. You have to look at what you're doing. If you're not producing a result, and if you're actually putting in that work ethic and the discipline, then pivot the strategy. In today's day and age, it's like, dude, get on Instagram, get on TikTok, get on YouTube, and study people that have what you want. Like, if there's a young guy out there that wants to have a great podcast, they should go watch all your stuff. How does he do it? And then do that. There you go. That's how I did it when I started. There you go. I was watching Tim Ferriss. I was watching, well, Modern Wisdom with Chris Williamson wasn't as big as it is now. But I was watching all these shows. That's it. So whatever that guy's doing, like you have to, yes, you have to believe in yourself. You have to dream big and have this big vision. But what is your daily methods of operation? Like, what are you doing? Are you modeling the right guy that has the result already? That's me. One other idea, and this is, it ties into this idea of self-belief and delusional self-belief is, and you speak about this on stage all the time, I am. This is the most powerful phrase that, I guess, what, reprograms your mind to understand who you are. Like, what is the difference between this? and fake it before you make it? Or what is I am? Because that's what I'm trying to figure out. So I don't like the fake it until you make it thing. Like Mary Kay Ash coined that and it's cool. I like act as if. So anything that I teach or talk about, it's all from my real life experiences. This isn't just stuff I read in some book or got off a YouTube video. Like this is what happened to me to go from where I was to, you know, where I am today. Right. So my mentor, Bob Proctor, actually taught me this. And he said, after I am, whatever you say, you're speaking right into existence. Right. So instead of saying, I want to be rich, I want to be rich, I want to have this brand new car, you're shoving it into the future. So when you say, I am healthy, I am wealthy, I am happy, whatever it is, you're actually bringing it into the present right now. And I believe in the universe. I believe in the law of attraction. I believe in frequencies and vibrational frequencies. And when you put a demand out into the universe, I believe if you're sincere about it and you're genuine about it, The universe will bring the people, places, opportunities, mentors into your life to give you what it is you want. So like one of the things that I teach the young sales guys that I coach is, It's like, well, how do I get to 10 grand a month? It's like, well, if you were making 10 grand a month right now in your organization, how would you walk, talk, act, shake somebody's hand, look them in the eye? How would your self-confidence be? What would you eat? How would you sleep? What would you drink? Be that person right now. And some people will poo-poo that and say, oh, it's bullshit. It's this, it's that. It's like, that's how it works, man. Because everything begins in the mind, period. This beautiful studio, it didn't just show up. It was an idea. It was a thought. It was a thought. And then it was put onto paper. And then it was built in the physical realm. That works for everything that we want in our lives. It begins in our minds. When you're acting as if you're not being fake, you're not being a fraud, you're acting like the person you want to become. And that's exactly what I've done my entire life lately. My whole career. I think that it's fully real because, yes, again, yes to all this stuff. But the reason why it's real is because when you say you are something, a couple things happen. First of all, I think your actions start to align with that person. So like you mentioned before, the way you talk, whatever, like everything you do is that person. And then you also start to notice things because you're thinking as if you're that person already. So you start to notice things and you notice opportunities. And I think that for most people, I think that most people in life, they shy away from opportunities that they don't believe that they are meant for. So they could have a great opportunity for a job and then they shy away from it because they don't believe they're actually, you know, qualified for that job. They could have the opportunity to go speak on stage. They could take their career to the next level and they're like, like, that's not for me. I'm not, I'm not a speaker. I'm nervous in front of, like, you see, like you, you, you self-select out of these things that can change your life and. one thing that, you know, when you say this, I'm just thinking about my own life. And when I started this show, I was not a speaker. I was just, I started it. I was building a company, started the podcast. And then HubSpot's one of the sponsors for the show. And they do a conference every year, big conference. And they asked me to go speak. And I'd never spoken before. And I was scared shitless. And this is like a 15,000 person conference. Oh, wow. Where you start. Wow. The big company. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they put on this conference called Inbound. And obviously, I didn't have a 15,000 person crowd. But... I spoke to a significant amount of people for the first time I ever spoke, and I was scared shitless, but I got through it, I lived, and then I made sure I never wanted to have that experience ever again, so then I put myself out there and tried to speak a lot more, but the point is... Like, there was a moment when they first asked me to speak where in my head I was like, there's so many ways I could get out of this. And nobody would even know. Nobody would care. Nobody would say, like, Scott, you fucked us over by not showing up. Like... Nobody would have held me accountable and I could have just not done it. And then I would have probably never spoken again because I'm like, well, that was my opportunity and my chance. But because I was like in my head, I need to build a brand. It's going to help the podcast. This is kind of like the path that you go on if you're in this game. I just did it. And I know a lot of people that would have self-selected out of the, and I know that me saying is going to get a lot of hate. They're going to say, no, no, no, no, no. I would have had that opportunity. I would have taken it. I would have totally taken it. No, a lot of people do not take those opportunities. I know because I speak to them about speaking on stage, about starting a podcast. So it's really, really easy to talk shit about people when they say things like, well, I had that opportunity. I decided to take it, but that was like super stressful for me. But when you get that opportunity and it's a real opportunity, a lot of people don't aggressively pursue it. I've seen this so many. I've given my podcast playbook and strategy on how I built this show to about 60 people, friends who ask. I'm the podcast guy in my circle, right? And two or three have ran with it and actually done something. Why? Not because I'm smarter than them. And most of them have, when I first started, way more resources than I had. They just didn't do anything with it. You made your mind up and you said, this is what I'm going to do. It is. But again, it goes back to the mindset. It goes back to, well, I don't know how I'll do up there. I'm scared to death. Public speaking is like the biggest fear people have also. But again, it's like, do it anyway. And if you suck at something, you're going to get average and average could get to good and good could get to great eventually. You just have to go out there and swing the bat. Your second book is called The Secret to Knowing It's Already Done. What does that title mean? The secret to knowing it's already done, meaning that the final destination, the end goal, it's already done. I say it all the time. Like, it's already done. Like, I woke up in January 202 pounds, and I said, dude, no more. And I just built the image in my mind of the person I wanted to look like. I'm still moving there. I'm not as fit as you are. But I'm working towards that goal. Now I'm 184 this morning. You know what I mean? So the secret to knowing it's already done is it's my formula. It's the universe's formula to taking this idea or end goal, vision, dream life, whatever it is, and bringing it into reality. Because I believe success is 95 to 99% spiritual, 5%-ish physical. Can you explain that? So the spiritual side of success is our thoughts, our thinking, our feelings, our emotions, desire, discipline, persistence, the stuff that a lot of people don't teach. And then they say, well, why aren't sales up? Here's the script. This is how you overcome objections. This is how you dial for dollars, all these different things. I deal with these types of companies and CEOs and people, and I'm like, it's not the script. Yeah. It's not the leads. It's your people's mind. They don't believe. So one of the core principles is who are you before you turn the camera on and record the first podcast? Who are you before you pick up the phone and you're making a call to somebody that needs to sell their house and you want them to give you the exclusive listing? You know, who are you before you step into any entrepreneurial industry? endeavor and you can see, you see this in business, you also see this in the UFC. You hear these guys get interviewed after these fights and they're like, I just, I knew I was gonna win. And like old Conor McGregor, he used to, you remember, he would call round two, knockout, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do that and then the son of a bitch would do it. Like that's the mind. NetSuite Next is a success story partner. So they say that every day your business is late to using AI, you fall two days behind. and the competition is only moving faster. So how do you keep up? Well, fortunately there is NetSuite next. Now you probably already know NetSuite. NetSuite is the AI powered business management suite. It's trusted by over 43,000 customers. It securely connects all of your data, financials, inventory, commerce, HR, CRM, into one single source of truth. But NetSuite Next is the next huge leap in how businesses get done because AI is built into everything you do. So NetSuite Next automatically shows you all these custom insights for your business throughout your day. You'll have AI agents work alongside you to solve problems and handle routine work. And anytime you have a question about anything in your business, you just ask like you're having a conversation with a colleague and NetSuite Next will give you an answer. NetSuite is customized for a wide range of industries, so it supports the way that your business truly works. Whether your company earns millions or hundreds of millions, it's time for NetSuite Next, where your business meets AI. If I needed a solution like this, it's what I'd use. For the first time ever, you can try NetSuite Next for free. If your revenues are at least in these seven figures, go to netsuite.ai.scottclary. It's built for every industry. It's ready for every boardroom. netsuite.ai.scottclary. My fitness pal is a success story partner. On this show, I speak to tons of high performers and the people that sustain that high performance, not just sprint and crash and burn, but they actually sustain, they all treat nutrition like a system, not an afterthought. The same way they treat revenue or hiring or product, it is key to their business. They pay attention, they look at the data And that really stuck with me. And it's how I started thinking about my own health and wellness and what I put into my own body. Not in like a restrictive diet way, but in a data way. See, most people take a look at daily calorie total and they think they have the full picture. That's just one number. The MyFitnessPal app, Premium, it shows me macros. That means proteins, carbs, fats, broken down by meal. So I can see, am I getting enough protein at breakfast versus dinner? And it also shows me how my food is distributed across the day because, of course, I can take a look at my total calorie number, but to see everything broken down by meal, those are two completely different things even if your daily total looks fine and you're going to feel the difference if you eat proper nutrition across your entire day and you track it your energy is going to allow you to sustain that high performance also the food analysis picks up trends over the week that i'd miss just going by feel see this information makes good food choices automatic see food is a foundation right energy focus performance recovery it all starts with food so Do yourself a favor, go visit podcast.myfitnesspal.com and use code SCOTT, all uppercase letters, for 15% off MyFitnessPal premium. That's podcast.myfitnesspal.com, code SCOTT. And you know what's wild? How people... like these CEOs, these super successful CEOs, they focus on the tactics, not the mindset. But think about any elite level person in any field. The first thought that comes to my head is an athlete. They have sports psychologists. What do you think those are for? Not to talk to them about how to bench more or run like a faster mile. It's... How do you get your head right? That's right. And that's where elite performance comes from. But we don't, I've never even thought about that. We don't have anything like that in like a corporate setting and a business setting at all. And that's why I believe my mentor, Bob Proctor, was the best educator ever because that's what he taught. It's a spiritual side of success. And it was Napoleon, Andrew Carnegie, wealthiest man. In the world at one point. And then it was Napoleon Hill who eventually wrote Think and Grow Rich. And then it was Earl Nightingale. Earl Nightingale, the strangest secret ever told, audio. He hired Bob Proctor to be VP of sales for him and sell his programs. I met Bob when I was 21 making $400 a month. He gave it to me. He passed away during COVID. And now I'm here to spread the good news to people. So they can actually go out there and win. And... And not just get the shit beat out of them all day long, trying to learn everything about physical and tactical, physical and tactical. It's like, dude, you know, my whole life, Alex is not that smart. He's never going to make it, this, that, and the other. But I got my mind right, which is also your attitude, which is also your persistence, your discipline, your desire, all these things. And then you put it all together. You bake the cake and then you go out there. And if you have to work seven days a week, you work seven days a week. You do whatever it takes. How did you meet Bob? His wife was in my first company. The CEO, I'll do a short story, but CEO of my first direct sales company called me one day. Home office was in Phoenix. I was at Arizona State. He said, hey, man, meet me at the hangar. First time I was ever on a private jet. I flew me in North Carolina, spoke on stage in front of 400 people. And I met Bob in the hallway. He walked up to me with white hair. I didn't know who he was. And he said, you're going to go far in this business if you pay attention or focus, something like that. And I'm like, cool. I thought it was just some old guy. I go back in. He's the next speaker. He gets a 15-minute standing ovation. And then he said, if you work with my wife's team in Toronto, I'll coach you for free. And Bob, I mean, he was getting a million bucks a year for one-on-one private coaching. So I got him, I mean, that's one of my secrets, because I was coached by, in my opinion, the best coach coach. For 14 years? He was amazing. It was very sad when he passed away. He's been making impact on people for... I'm also Canadian, so I've known him for a minute. Yeah. But he was like one of the OGs. He was truly, truly, truly one of the OGs. I look at people now that are... I'm trying to think at his level. Tony Robbins does a really good job. There's a lot of other people on the internet, for sure. For sure. But I don't think there's anybody that... Tony and Bob. And Bob even said it. He said, Tony, he told me this in person. He said, Tony's done more for the personal development industry than anybody else. But he said, I am an educator. What does he mean? What's the difference? Tony also, and I love Tony events, man. I've walked on fire twice. It's amazing. He includes more of like the entertainment side of it too with the music. But I love that stuff. I love the music. I love jumping up and down and screaming and shouting. Like I love it all. Well, listen, at the end of the day, You can have all the wisdom, but you do have to figure out how to like communicate it. Yes. And Tony is very good at that. Incredible. He's very good. And that's actually rare. I think that more people are good at marketing themselves, whatever, on social media, at events, and they don't know as much. That's the issue. It's like the great marketers that are really not that. wise. Yeah. Again, like what have you built? What have you done? Yeah. So Bob Proctor is one of the OGs in this game. What was the most impactful lesson? You have to, okay, just humor me. It's so hard. Humor me and pick something. Oh, I'll tell you this. One day we were talking on the phone and he said, he was, and he said, do you know why I still study? And I said, cause you love it. And he was like looking out his office window at his pool and And he said, I still study because I believe if I can increase my spiritual awareness to a high enough level, I believe that I could walk across the pool. And I don't know what that taught me in the moment. That was a very impactful, I guess, moment. Like me thinking like, man, my mentor thinks he can walk across the water. I don't know if he's nuts or he actually believes his stuff. Um, and then the most impactful quote he ever gave me was breakfast at Bellagio hotel. And he was looking at me during a company convention. We were both sharing the stage in front of like 5,000 people. And he said, you know, if you can see it in your mind, you can hold it in your hand. meaning if you can see the end result and he taught me this mental rehearsal that a lot of people teach now like Joe Dispenza teaches this and he always taught me you know he said you can put yourself on that stage and you can feel the warmth of these stage lights hitting your face and sweat coming down your cheek and you can actually put yourself in the moment when I was 22 I'm like yeah yeah yeah whatever but as I kept progressing I'm like you know what I think it's true. Because if we sat here right now and we envisioned ourselves biting into this sour, sour lemon, like hard enough and long enough, me and you would actually be able to taste a sour lemon in our mouth that doesn't even exist, right? So I just believe he taught me Whatever you want and whatever you can dream of in the imagination, if you're willing to also put in the physical work, it's both, right? It's the law of attraction, but it's also the law of actual action. You, Alex, can achieve whatever you want in life. And I go back on that when I have moments of... not believing in myself to the highest capability or a hater says some crazy shit to me on YouTube or whatever it is. And I'm like, go back to all the things Bob taught you keep progressing. You can do whatever you want. Period. You know, that, uh, that thing he said to you on the phone about walking on water. I have no idea. I have no idea what he meant, obviously when he said that, but what's super interesting, I'm going to interpret it a certain way because it seems like this is maybe what he was alluding to. He's really, it sounds like alluding to there is no end to education. There is no end to learning to the point where if you can't walk on water yet, like you are not done learning shit. I like that interpretation because I think too many people, why it's useful for this audience is a lot of people haven't started and haven't started their journey of building a company or improving themselves. But then there's another group of people that have started and they fall into a different trap, which is… they think they're hot shit because they've accomplished something. Yep. Oh, yeah. And then they stop learning. Oh, yeah. And I'm just thinking of, in my world, somebody who exited a company, and because they exited a company, they think they're good at everything else. And they learn very quickly that they're not, usually with investing, because investing is not a skill that you learn when you're building a company. And, I mean, it's usually easier to... try and warn somebody, but at the end of the day, most people just have to go through this process of getting fucked over, or punched in the face, or losing money. But the warning is, just because you're good at something doesn't mean that you're done learning, doesn't mean that you're done your education, and definitely doesn't mean that you're good at everything else. And if more people adopted this approach of like forever student, I think that they would be a lot more successful. I try to learn from everyone. And I do learn from everyone. That's, I mean. And that's just ego, right? Like somebody that sells a company for 50 million bucks and all of a sudden they think they can go into the market and outperform the S&P 500. That's just. You know how often that happens? Ego. Like all the time. It happens all the fucking time. Ego, E-G-O, edging God out. I don't think that's a good thing to do. It's good to have a healthy... You have fire acronyms, by the way. Thank you. Bob said a healthy ego is one thing, but a ego ego is a negative because an ego means... I'm better than you because I have this car, have this watch or have this money. And he said, no one's better than anybody else. Your results might be better, but money doesn't make you. I learned this from Bob too. He said, just because you have a lot of money doesn't mean you're a better person. And I said, I agree with that. And it's crazy how you'll meet rich people and they'll treat the valet guy like shit. They'll be disrespectful at restaurants. I can't stand that stuff. Right. I never understood why. Like, I mean, like, I think that's just because that's who they always were. And then, like, the money just enabled that. Magnifies. Magnified it. Stay the fuck away from those people, too. I will. A hundred percent. I know some very, very rich people that are incredible people. Me, too. And they haven't changed at all. Me, too. I want to go back to Bob. Have you ever thought about what Bob saw in you at that moment that you didn't see in yourself? I think what he saw was just fire and desire. And just because and I still speak with a lot of that. That's that's who I am. It's not like stage talk. Like this is just who Alex is. Right. But even it. 300, 400 bucks a month on stage with the microphone. I can take myself back to that moment. And it was either Raleigh or Charlotte, North Carolina. I was just pumped up and excited. I think it's just, I think you saw the energy. I think you saw the energy because there's something to be said about someone that just believes that. And whatever that guy or girl is doing, there's something to be said about how much they believe. So I think he saw the belief and he said, okay, if I can take that level 10 excitement and then back it with some skills and some deeper understanding on awareness, I can create a good monster, right? I can create a good monster for the universe. I mean, you keep those people around you, the people that believe in you. That's very important. And one of Bob's main things was visualization, self-image and higher faculty. Yes. Now, when I look at what you've done, these are sort of the core of what you teach as well. So just explain, like, I know that we've sort of been dancing around these ideas. But why are these three things so, so important? Like, what are these things going to change in somebody when they start to understand them? Well, your self-image is the way you see you is the way the world sees you. So like, I'm not saying that's the most important thing in the world, but what's more, what's more important than that? Like, how, how do you see, who, who are you? Right. Who are you? What, how would you describe yourself? Right. And then the self image that, that, that leaks into confidence, confidence. persistence, the will, all these different things. And again, this is why I say success is 95% spiritual and the rest is 5% physical over here. So the higher faculties, it's, you know, memory, reason, imagination. There's a couple more over there. And these are, these are the things that, you know, a lot of people don't talk about, but it all begin, it all begins over here, right? So like reason gives us the ability to think, And make decisions. And that imagination, I believe, and Bob believed this too, it's God's greatest gift to humanity. I mean, you can literally close your eyes and imagine whatever it is you want. So like some of the frameworks and some of the processes that I've used that work for me that I teach other people. And some people, again, oh, it doesn't, you know, oh, it's that mystical bullshit. I'm like, then you keep believing it's mystical bullshit and you keep living the life you're living, dude. I don't care. Okay. I know it works. It's worked for me. I have spoken in 76 countries around the world from Saudi Arabia to Mexico to Kazakhstan. And I know this works because I've seen it work. And you can build an image in your mind of the person you want to become. You can see your dream closet, your dream spouse, your dream bank account. You can see it all. But feeling is the secret. I feel like people default to negative so often. And there's like a whole bunch of reasons for this, too. I mean, there's grass is always greener syndrome comparing all this is toxic social media bullshit that. I think people need to shut off from social media. I think people need to focus on themselves. I think people need to believe that whatever it is they want to do is available to them. And that was actually one of the biggest reframes for me because I didn't come from an entrepreneurial family. I love my parents very much and they had great careers, but they were like nine to five, very stable, risk adverse. And I had to reframe my worldview to think, okay, maybe I can be an entrepreneur. That was very difficult. I bet it was. That was very difficult for me because I didn't have examples of that. But I sought them out. I wanted to go work for a startup, and I saw the guy who built the startup sell the company for a shit ton of money. And I was like, oh, now I know that it's in my world now. Yes. It's not something that I just hear about on the news or on Twitter. It's in my world. Yes. You know, nine figure exit is real. Cause I saw the guy and I sat down with him and he was one of my earliest mentors. And I think that that's what helped me, I don't know, internalize that this is something that could actually happen for people. And I think a lot of people they don't have, you had the blessing of having parents that were super entrepreneurial. I think that if you don't have those people in close proximity to you, you don't have, you know, when you're growing up a parent, an uncle, an aunt, somebody who's achieved the thing, it's very hard for you to, I don't know, like believe that it's real. Yeah, seeing is believing. It really is. Another strategy that I've taught for a long time, like I'm going to call tomorrow morning with a roofing company and all their sales guys. And it's very simple. It's like, hey guys, raise your hand if you have a dream car. Who has a dream car in the room? I don't know. What's your dream car? BMW M3. Cool. Does that car exist within 50 miles of you right now in Austin, Texas? Yes, it does. Awesome. You need to go to the dealership. You need to go see this car, touch it, you know, lick it, taste it, go and sit in the damn driver's seat. Yeah. smell it, take an empty water bottle, scoop some air out, put the lid on it, close it tight, and the next time you get an objection or a rejection or some hater dumbass talk some shit to you, open the bottle up a little bit and go, okay, and remember why you're doing it, but... And that's the power of your imagination, though. No, it's true. It's your senses. Getting your senses involved. So what you did is, yeah, you sought out somebody, and you said you sat down with him physically. Yeah. So you could see him. You shook his hand. You're like, oh, he's a human. Yeah. He's a real guy. And if he can do it. I can do it. Yeah, that's it. I think your environment matters so much more than people really understand. Like even moving, so I'm Canadian. I moved down here to South Florida, Miami. And this could have been in New York or LA or San Francisco, but just being around so many successful people, it reframes what you believe is possible. Absolutely. Like now, You make a couple million bucks a year and you're like, okay, that's cool, but I don't have this fucking yacht that I drive by every morning, right? That's right. So all of a sudden, and this is good and bad. It's good because what you believe you can achieve is much greater, but at the same time, you have to respect the progress you've made and not always think, wow, I'm not there yet. And that comparison game. That's also super toxic too. Yeah, what do they say? Comparison is the... Thief of all joy. Yeah. Yeah. And that's true. That's true. What's the thing that you teach people that you've personally had the most trouble with? I want to say belief system, but I think there's something deeper than that. I would say awareness. It was the awareness because I think there's millions of people around the world that they might have an idea. They might have this dream. They might have a vision, but they're not aware enough to actually believe and know that it's actually possible. So I help people increase their awareness through a variety of different things. One of them is this building of the belief system, which is created by three things, the things that we see, hear, and experience. environment. And if you can help people with that belief system, their awareness is going to start to creep up and get a little bit bigger, a little bit bigger, a little bit bigger. And eventually they're going to wake up one morning and say, you know what I can actually do. And I believe I can do the thing I really want to do. That's going to bring me joy, purpose, and fulfillment. You've been doing this for 15 years. You started at 21, you're 36 now. How are you different from when you started? I think a lot more before I just open my mouth like I'm an AK-47. Because back, you know, you can pull up old YouTube videos of me. It was, yeah, I said a lot of abrasive things. But again, none of it was a lie. It was all true. But I might have offended people in the room. Which, you know, sometimes you need to get offended, though, in today's world. Like, we were talking before the show about AI and it's getting crazy and it's nuts and it's going to take out a lot of people. It's like... I really believe the wealth gap in this country and the world is going to get really crazy. And I think there's going to be the haves and the have-nots. And if you're going to be one of the haves, you're going to have to dial it up. Turn up the notch on everything we talked about today. Your self-image, your work ethic, your going after it. Everything, man. I agree with that. So it's okay to be offended a little bit. I like to get offended. I like the pain. I like the struggle. I go to the gym because I like to struggle. Like, I think it builds you, it molds you into a better version of yourself. I think that when people shy away from a tough message that can help them, then at some point reality is going to slap them in the face and it's going to be a much tougher message. So if you, you know, you're listening to this podcast, you're like, you know, some of these ideas are offensive to me. You know, I'm happy with my job. And that's fine, by the way. It's cool, but what happens... when the job's not there for you anymore and you have to bet on yourself, then what? And that happened during COVID to a lot of people. They realized a job that was supposed to be safe and secure wasn't so safe and secure anymore. Now it's happening again with AI. And I think the people that think about a lot of the things that we're talking about and believe in them and our entrepreneurs, whether or not they built their own company or they're entrepreneurial minded, but they're still within a company. Those are the people that will always be safe and secure and they'll never have an issue making money or supporting their family or anything like that. But You have to get uncomfortable to, you know, you have to be like, okay, I've been working for this company for 20 years. Have I learned anything new? Have I taken any risks? Have I upskilled myself? If the answer is no, then it's a matter of time before you're fucked. Yeah. You're replaced by a younger and hungrier human or a more gifted AI. Now you're married. Yep. So you're a different person. 15 years later, you're married to Luna. Uh-huh. How has she changed you? How has marriage changed? Everything, man. It grounded me. It gave me a deeper purpose. It gave me a deeper responsibility. Because I believe in the old school. As a man, you need to be useful and provide and protect and produce and all these things. I tell her all the time. It's like, you turned me from a boy into a man fast. I got married at 30 and all of a sudden I was overnight a different... person and I just started taking things more serious because it wasn't just me and my boys running around buying bottles at the club it's like you're building a family you're building a family you're you're you have responsibility I'm the only son in my household right it's like there's a lot more purpose I think is the word is purpose do you feel like you're a more effective entrepreneur that you're married yeah because I think there's more on the line Before her, it's like, well, if I screw up or lose everything, it's like, well, I just go, my mom will always take me in, go live in the guest house. But now it's like, no, you have to find ways to win and reinvent yourself if needed and continue to grow and evolve. Do you think it is better or easier to build a business and be an entrepreneur when you're in a relationship versus single? I think it depends on the person. But I know for a fact on my big, big run, I wasn't able to be in a relationship because I was so... The word is obsessed. Some would say psychotic, lunatic. I mean, I was working... eyes open, eyes shut. I mean, taking naps in the car, in the flights, on the trains, on the buses, going to the next event, the next presentation. So I wasn't in a, I couldn't, I wouldn't, I couldn't have been in a, I couldn't have been a good boyfriend anyway, right? So. Do you find that, because I'm asking because I've found this a lot. Like now that I'm engaged, I find that, like, I mean, we've been together for a long time, so it's not new, but. like having that person at home that gets you out of your own head when things aren't going right, which they inevitably will at some point not go right. Of course. That to me is such a, I don't know. It is. It is really helped me a lot because when I am alone and I'm single, when shit doesn't go right, I start to spiral. Yeah. And, I mean, you can have friends that help you with it, but just having somebody who knows you better than you know yourself sometimes, I found that that's, like, a huge, huge benefit. The support system. Yeah. And somebody's smart. I mean, in my case, she's way smarter than me, so it helps. And she's really good at reading people and judging character and everybody she's said, look out for him or don't trust him or da-da-da-da. It's all come to fruition eventually. I've ignored Gina a few times when she said, don't do business with them, and then I always lose money. That's what I'm saying. Because I always look at the resume. That's my judgment, right? I'm like, oh, you've done this before? Okay, we'll part. But then the issue is some people are really fucking good at lying about their resume. There you go. So then it's just, okay, so you try and judge your character, but I don't feel like I'm as strong a judge of character as she is. Yeah. She can read people. She can read people, dude. Yeah. Yeah. And not even like they're bad people. They're just like, you can read... they're not going to do well with you as a business partner or like they're kind of feels like they're full of shit or no, I don't know. She can read that. And that, that to me is actually a huge benefit. Huge value, huge value. And I asked you about like where you're at right now in life and you know, the fact that you're married, because I just want to understand like what your version of success and your definition of success, what it was when you were 21, 22, how has it changed now that you're 36 and, Yeah, 21, 22 was the lifestyle. Cars. And I saw Entourage, the TV show growing up. Yeah. And I was like, I want to go do that. And then I went and did that all over the world with my buddies and had a lot of fun and spent a lot of money I shouldn't have spent, but don't regret any of it. But today at 36, it's peace. It's growth. It's significance. It's making good decisions. It's being able to look in the mirror and be proud of the person you're looking at, to be honest. Because if I'm not satisfied with me, I'm not going to be the person that everyone else needs me to be in their life. When you look back at all the different things you've taught people, what's the biggest sort of myth around mindset that you just want to kill right now? Like when somebody is trying to upskill themselves, learn new mental models, be a better version of themselves. Like what's a myth about? That it happens overnight. It takes time. Right? Like time. What is it? Here. What is it? Like the T there. That's something about like there and here. The difference, the difference between here and there is time. The T. T stands for time. Right? So it's like, it just takes time, man. Like people, people underestimate the amount of volume, speed, reps. You know, I get DMs all the time. I want to be a, I want to be a speaker. Why would anybody listen to you? What have you done? What have you built? You know what I'm saying? It's like people want to skip to level 10 before they do level 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. You have to go through the shit and the struggle because people have a really good bullshit meter these days. Like you can just, I don't know. I can really tell people If they've built what they say they've built or they really know what the hell they're talking about and things like that. So people can see if you're full of it or not. So make sure you're not full of it and you know your stuff and you've done something of significance. But the biggest thing is time. It's the microwave mentality. It's the TikTok brand. I want it now. I want the Ferrari. I want the Rolls Royce. It's like it takes time to learn and to grow and to evolve and become the person you need to be to have all these things. Yeah, I feel that. I feel like nobody wants to put in the hard work anymore. But I feel like, listen, social society has just programmed us for instant gratification. And it's fucked up everything. And I've thought about this a lot. I think that if you have a little bit of patience. You are like, it's such a competitive advantage, like more than it was in our parents' generation where everyone had to be a little bit patient because their brains weren't all fucked up with doom scrolling and like Uber Eats showing up in 10 minutes. So everybody was patient because they understood to win at anything, you had to play a long game. But now I think it's rare for people to have. Aggressive. Patience. Be aggressive on the day-to-day execution. Be patient on the long-term vision. That's helped me tremendously. Someone's listening to this. They understand that it's a long game, but they want to start changing their life now. What's one thing they can do this week? Number one anchor, personal self-development. It's free. It's YouTube University. It's Instagram. It's following the people that have what you want. It's reading the captions. It's taking notes on their videos. It's watching their recorded webinars. It's if someone's speaking at some event, get into the event. Sneak in if you have to. Give the security guard a $10 bill to let you in through the back door. Get around the information and learn. One of the things I did at Arizona State was, I was broke and I was in real estate and I'm like, where do the rich people eat dinner on the weekends? And people thought I was crazy. I was like, where do the rich people, because I wanted to get around rich people. And they're like, there was this one place called Mastro City Hall, super expensive steakhouse. Like maybe Poppy Steak or Prime 112 in Miami, right? And I couldn't afford to eat there, but I would go there. I'd go to the bar, make friends with the bartender, order water, and I would sit there and listen to rich people talk. What are they wearing? What do they smell like? I would shake hands with people. And I just had no pride or ego back then where like if I was on the corner at the mall and you pulled up in a Ferrari. Dude, I'm the guy at 22. I'm running up to your window. Like I did this. I don't care. I knock, knock, knock. Hey, man, what's going on? Hey, how do you get this car? What do I need to do to get this car? You know, what do you do? What's your business? Like, I was that guy. I was a nut, but I was hung. That's hunger. Most people won't go do that. They won't go to Bow Harbor and walk up to wealthy people and just ask for 10 seconds of their time. They won't do that. But I did that. I did that. Cause I wanted to learn. It's so funny. Um, you were like Daniel Mack before Daniel Mack and you were school of hard knocks for school of hard knocks. I was doing it, man. You were doing it. 2011. Now they turned it into content, but you were just doing it. I, you know, that's the other thing too. If you want to really, if you want to upgrade yourself and, and, and your mindset. especially when you're young, when you just ask people, like they are so willing to teach. Absolutely. And you have this advantage when you're young where everyone's like, I just wanna pour into this kid who's asking me for advice. I mean, at some point, I think over 30, you kind of lose that. I mean, if you ask, people will still help you, but like take advantage. If you were, like, imagine like an 18, 19, 20 year old kid, or I mean, like, I mean, younger, cool, but 18, 19, 20 year old kid comes up to you and be like, yo, Like, I want to start a business. Like, help me. Give me, like, the playbook that you used to get off the ground. You'd be like, dude, this kid's fucking impressive. Yeah. A hundred percent. Here you go. Like, this is what I do. Absolutely. Go run with it. Absolutely. There's this kid that, I think he's like a 16-year-old kid. He started a podcast, and he was getting... He had me on, he had a couple other people on, and he was asking every and any question. I was like, I'm so impressed with you, dude. Like there are so many 40 year olds that have asked me these same questions and haven't done half of it. And now he's had some big names on. He's had a couple like, you know, very, very famous, famous founders on. But the point was he just asked as much as he possibly could. And people want to pour into you and give you all their wisdom. People want to help. People want to help. I give my time. There's some kids near my building. I forget their names. It's like a sister and her two brothers and her dad. And they're always selling like Gatorade and water bottles and stuff like that. And they know me now. So they always come over and knock on my window. I'll give them some money and we talk. And they'll ask me questions about business or marketing or strategy. And I give them anything I can, everything I can. It's like, it feels good to help. Like, and that's the thing that I've also learned. I'm not saying I'm old, but at 36, I'm, Like when I give, I'm the one receiving. Yeah. Like you just, it's just that feeling that you know what I'm talking about. It's just like making a difference in the lives of other people feels better than any shit you could go buy at the store. A thousand percent. I get it. I get it. Sometimes when I speak, I'll spend like a lot of time if you get off stage. Yep. And people come up to you with like their, you know, whatever shit's going on in their life or their business. Yeah. And it's like very fulfilling to just help them through whatever problems they're dealing with. And I mean, they're so fucking grateful. You know, we were talking about, we were talking about AI before, and this will come full circle. Why AI will never replace content creators and teachers completely is because AI will never be able to do that. AI will never be able to walk into a room with somebody, speak on stage, they see you in person, not just on social media. And then they go up to you after and then you help them with a really simple problem they're dealing with that you've dealt with a thousand times. And that is how you create true influence. The heart. Real connection with people. Yep. And AI can never do that. No, AI is not going to replace the heart. But it never will. It never, never will. Thank you for coming on. I appreciate you having me, man. It was awesome. Where can people connect with you now? And also, I know that you are starting to do podcasts and social again. So what's the game plan for you? What are you putting out into the world? What do you want people to know about you? What do you want to... Yeah, I'm here to help. I'm here to help. You're still speaking a lot? I speak. I speak it. I do Zoom stuff, and then I do in-person stuff. a lot of company conventions, leadership groups, things like that. When I have the time, like I also have my core business over here, but it's really like AM Alex Morton, like the brand and then coaching and programs. We're coming out with a lot of different things. So masterminds and stuff that I did a while back. Um, um, If people go into your universe, it's Instagram. It's Instagram. But sorry, I'll drop all the links below in the show notes. But they're going to be learning about what mindset, sales, marketing, all of the stuff. A lot of skills too. Leadership, sales, all the skill sets you need, mindset, principles. I mean, everything you need to go from A to B. So if somebody's starting a company, starting to be an entrepreneur, or they just want to level up in life, like go into your ecosystem. Especially where there's organizations. So like my like bread and butter obviously is a lot of say life insurance, real estate, anything where there's sales and leadership and people, man, which is kind of like every businesses. It's everything. What's your Instagram? Alex Morton mindset. Last question. Out of everything you've learned over your entire life. I don't know if you don't have kids yet. No kids yet. That's the next phase. Next phase. Yes. But say you could only pass on one lesson to future, future child, future Alex Morton Jr. What would that lesson be and why? Through hard work, anything is possible. I think at the end of the day, hard work can translate into learning, into education, into your persistence, into everything. I just don't believe without hard work you're going to get there unless you win the lottery or you have a trust fund of $400 million. Hard work beats smart people. Hard work beat, I just think, I just, my career is built on work ethic. Like, you can outwork where you lack. I just believe it. I just believe it to my fucking core.