Your Next Five Moves

Auteur

Patrick Bet-David went from escaping war-torn Iran to founding his own financial services firm, raising tens of millions of dollars, and creating Valuetainment, the leading YouTube channel for entrepreneurs. His unorthodox approach to business as well as life has led to compelling interviews with Ray Dalio, Kevin Hart, the late Kobe Bryant, President George W. Bush, and a host of other luminaries. His content on social media has been viewed over a billion times. Patrick never obtained a college degree and went from the army to selling health club memberships before entering the field of financial services. At age thirty, he founded PHP, a financial services agency. He lives in Dallas with his wife and three children.

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From the creator of Valuetainment, the #1 YouTube channel for entrepreneurs, comes a practical and effective guide for thinking more clearly and achieving your most audacious professional goals.

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Chapter 1: Who Do You Want to Be?

1 Who Do You Want to Be?

I believe that having questions is better than having answers because it leads to more learning. After all, isn’t the point of learning to help you get what you want? Don’t you have to start with what you want and figure out what you have to learn in order to get it?

—Ray Dalio, author of Principles: Life and Work and investor, on 2012 Time list of world’s 100 most influential people

Michael Douglas, playing Gordon Gekko in the 1987 film Wall Street, says to Bud Fox, played by Charlie Sheen, “And I’m not talking a $400,000-a-year working Wall Street stiff flying first class and being comfortable. I’m talking about liquid. Rich enough to have your own jet.”

Some people read that quote and say, “Making $400,000 a year and being comfortable sounds like a dream come true.” Some say nothing at all and claim they have no interest in material things. Others pound their chest and scream to the heavens that they’re going to have their own jet. What matters to me is what you think, since all your choices will be dictated by where you want to go.

Whether it’s a high school student asking for direction or a CEO running a $500 million company, when someone asks me a question, I respond by saying, “It all depends on how honestly you can answer this question: Who do you want to be?”

In this chapter, I’ll guide you to answer that question with clarity. I’ll also show you how to go back to the blackboard of your life and set a new vision for yourself that will fire you up and set you in motion. I’ll show you why making a plan and committing to it will unleash all the energy and discipline you’ll ever need.

Answer Questions to Reveal Your Deepest Desire

Nothing matters unless you understand what makes you tick and who you want to be. Far too often, consultants and influencers assume that everyone wants the same thing. When I’m speaking to a CEO or a founder, I start by asking questions. Before making any recommendations, I gather as much info as I can about who the person wants to be and what he or she wants out of life.

I understand that not everyone knows who he or she wants to be. It’s normal not to have all the answers immediately. Remember that this question—and every move in this book—is a process. All the examples I give and stories I tell exist for you. They’re meant to get you to reflect and better understand yourself. If you don’t have a clear answer at this point in time, you’re in the majority. All I ask is that you keep an open mind and keep reading with the goal, in due time, of answering this question.

The purpose of this Move is to identify what matters to you the most and help put a strategy together that fits your level of commitment and vision. I may influence you to question certain decisions or ways you’ll go about fulfilling your vision, but it’s up to you to decide to stretch yourself and think bigger.

Who do you want to be?

As you continue to ask yourself this question, your answer will determine your level of urgency. If you want to build a little mom-and-pop corner store, you don’t have to treat business like war and you can be laid back in your approach. If you’re looking to disrupt an industry, you’d better be armed with the right story, right team, right data, and right strategies. Really take the time to get clear about your story—exactly who you want to be—or you won’t be able to soldier on when things get tough. And in business, things always get tough.

Make Pain Your Fuel

I could sit here and tell you about the life that you may live one day. Talking about the cars, the jets, and the celebrities you meet all sounds wonderful, but first things first. You are going to have to endure more anguish than you can imagine to get there. Those who can tolerate pain the most—the ones with the most endurance—give themselves the highest chance of winning in business.

By the time we’ve been on our own for a few years, many of us have become cynical. It’s an ugly thing, but I’ve seen it happen too often. We all have big dreams growing up, and we make a lot of plans for ourselves. Then life gets in the way, the plans don’t happen the way we thought they would, and we lose faith in our ability to focus on who we want to be. You may not notice it, but it also hurts your ability to make your next moves.

We may even start to think, “Hey, what’s the point in saying I’m going to do something big if I’m not going to follow through? Better to just aim low and play it safe.”

The only thing separating us from greatness is a vision and a plan for achieving greatness. When you’re fighting for a cause, a dream, something greater than yourself, you will find the enthusiasm, passion, and joy that make life a great adventure. The key is identifying your cause and knowing who you want to be.

In the summer of 1999, I was twenty years old and had left the army. My plan: to become the Middle Eastern Arnold Schwarzenegger. That June, I felt certain I would become the next Mr. Olympia, marry a Kennedy, become an actor, and eventually govern the state of California.

As the first step in my plan, I got a job at a local gym, hoping to be noticed as soon as possible. At the time, the biggest fitness chain in the area was Bally Total Fitness. With the help of my sister, I got an offer from a Bally in Culver City. It had to have been the smallest and most antiquated Bally location in the state of California.

Despite the less-than-ideal circumstances, I was promoted and transferred to the largest Bally gym, which happened to be in Hollywood. My plan was working! Because I kept getting better at selling memberships, I was making $3,500 a month. Compared to what I had made in the army, it felt like millions.

One day, my supervisor, Robby, offered me an assistant manager position at the Bally in Chatsworth, thirty miles outside Hollywood. He wanted me to turn the club around; it had been hitting only 40 percent of its monthly goal.

I didn’t want to go to Chatsworth. I wanted to be a weekend manager in Hollywood, a position that paid $55,000 a year. Robby promised me that if I turned things around in Chatsworth, the job would be mine. The only other contender for it was a longtime employee named Edwin. As long as I outperformed him, I could bank on becoming the weekend manager in Hollywood.

Fast-forward ninety days. We were able to turn things around at the Chatsworth club, taking it from 40 percent of the monthly revenue goal to 115 percent. I was near the top of the leaderboard companywide, well…