The $0 to $1M Blueprint | Lewis Howes

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If you're looking to make more money in your life, there is one core belief that you

need to shift in order to create that abundance for yourself because people only value you

as much as you value yourself.

And until you change your mindset around money and around your own personal value, you're

never going to make the money you truly want and you're never going to feel free with

the money you actually have.

So today, I'm here with a member of Team Greatness who's going to be asking some questions

that you've asked me personally online to help you figure out how to go from zero to a

million and really how to set yourself up for a financial success.

So what is some of the questions that we're hearing that you'd like to share?

So can you talk about how people can really recognize their value?

Yeah, I think it's first like you have to, you know, if you're just chasing a career

or if you're chasing money and you don't believe that you have value within you, you're

not going to have the confidence.

So if you're going into an interview or if you're trying to sell something and you don't

believe that you're valuable or that you've created a certain amount of skill sets, or

that you have worth, then it's going to be hard to get someone to give you money.

It's going to be hard for you to sell something because you internally don't believe that

you're deserving of it.

So I think we need to do a couple of things, is do a skill assessment with yourself first.

When I was starting out, I didn't think I had any value to give anyone because I was a football

player, I struggled in school, and I didn't really study for the real world in school.

So I didn't develop skills.

The only skill that I really had was typing.

That was kind of like a skill set.

I took one class that I really focused on because I thought maybe I need to learn the skill.

So I can actually type really fast.

But I was like, how am I going to make money with typing?

And I didn't think I had any other skills that would actually be valuable in the marketplace.

But what I started to do, someone told me this early on, they said, create a list of all

your skills.

Even if you don't think you have anything worth value.

And I just started writing down stuff like, I'm a good person.

I said, I'm good with people.

I like asking questions.

You know, I'm courageous.

I can try stuff and fail.

But none of these things made sense to me of how they would make money.

But it's everything I'm doing now with the school of greatness.

Like I ask questions and that's how I make money.

Like I try new things and I make mistakes.

And I'm good with people.

But that, I just didn't see that there was value there because I saw all of my limitations.

I saw all the things that I struggled in, struggled in school.

You know, I couldn't keep a job in school, whatever it might be.

So I looked at all the things that I struggled with and I put emphasis on the lack of value.

Rather than these kind of invisible, valuable skills that I had, that I eventually learned

how to make them more into money.

And so I think first creating an assessment.

And if you still at the end of the day can't think of anything that you find valuable

about yourself, I would ask the people closest to you.

I would ask your friends or your partner or a family member and say, hey, I'm struggling

with figuring out where I'm at value.

Where do you think my skill sets lie?

You know, what am I good at?

What am I talented at?

What would you come to me for advice for?

And I think if you can self-assess and also get an assessment from the people around you,

you're going to start to say, okay, here's some of my value.

Now, you have to also figure out how to turn that value into money eventually.

How do we make money from our value?

Again, I didn't know the School of Greatness was going to come from being curious,

not having the answers to anything and being good with people.

I didn't know I could build an 8-figure media business around that.

So I think it was being okay in the first step with not knowing how you're going to make money

and first collecting the skills, the knowledge that you have first,

and being aware of your talents first.

That's the first key.

It's just being aware of the value you already have.

Can you explain the cross-section of skills and passion?

If you can do something that you have value and really enjoy,

then I think you've won the lottery.

I think it's the best thing ever.

It still doesn't mean I love doing what I do,

but I still have challenging days.

I still have hard work to do.

I still have work that I don't like doing.

I still have things that I need to take on that maybe aren't the most fun and joyful moments.

But because I'm excited about the mission that we have,

I'm willing to do whatever it takes.

So if you can have both the things you're passionate about and excited about

or be in that space that excites you and be around people that are good people,

because you could also be working on something but perhaps people around you

that are draining your energy and it not be fun or enjoyable anymore.

So it's like you want to be around the people that are fun or enjoyable,

but it'll be around, you want to be working on something that is enjoyable for you

and using your skills and talents to making money.

I think that's kind of like the jackpot.

But we're all human beings, so we have flaws and we have good days and bad days.

So you just have to navigate life that way.

But that's really the sweet spot.

But there were many times where I had jobs early on before I kind of got into this space.

I was a truck driver and it wasn't like this thing I was passionate about.

I was driving a truck six hours a day and I was making $250 a week

driving six hours a day.

So I wasn't making a lot of money.

It wasn't a skill that I was excited about to use.

I wasn't around people or asking questions.

And I think sometimes we need to be willing to try certain things also

that we don't like to realize like, okay, I tried that.

I don't want to do that.

But at that time, I just needed to make money.

I needed a way to make money and that was a season of life

where I was making money as a balancer at a nightclub in the weekends.

Even though I don't drink alcohol and never drink,

that was the job that was available.

The truck driver job was the job that was available.

You know, the odd jobs that I would do is like,

whatever was available for me to make money,

I still had to go make money.

That's maybe the least desirable thing is just being completely broken

having no job, no opportunity.

The second least desirable thing is making money doing something that you hate.

And we want to work our way up to like, okay, how do we find a job

where it's like, we can use our skill sets, our talents.

We can also grow as individuals and develop skills while making money.

We can be around people that are hopefully good people overall,

maybe not perfect, but it's hopefully a good overall, a good environment.

And then doing something that we are inspired by with a bigger mission

behind it as well.

And I think if we can find that eventually and it may take time,

that's the sweet spot.

What's the next step after identifying your value?

You want to be thinking about the skills that can make you more money.

And again, in the beginning, I had an assessment of my skills,

but I didn't know how to monetize them.

And I thought I really needed to learn how to develop different skills

where I could maximize the original skills I had,

good with people, curious, courageous, willing to fail.

Like those skills I had, but I needed some other skills to marry them with,

to partner them with that could actually help me make money.

So early on, I read a book called The Four Hour Work Week

and it was teaching a lot about how to build an online business.

This was in 2008 and 2009 when I read this.

It was actually Christmas of 2007,

but I started kind of researching more in 2008, 2009.

At that time, I was learning from a lot of these thought leaders

about copywriting.

They were like, if you want to make money,

you need to be able to sell.

And you can sell through the spoken word,

or the written word.

And at the time, I didn't know how to do either.

I could type, but I didn't know how to communicate, right?

All I did was ask questions.

I didn't know how to sell myself.

And so I was afraid to speak in public still.

I had courage to try things, but that's something that helped me back.

And so there were two things I did.

I started studying copywriting like a maniac.

I started reading copywriting blogs,

teaching about headlines, teaching about hooks, intros,

but more from marketing standpoint,

not from school, five-page essay structure standpoint.

Like how do you persuade someone to buy?

And that became a fascination of mine,

is learning persuasion,

reading the book Influence by Robert Chaldeini,

and reading all these books and blogs

about copywriting and persuasion.

It gave me skills by practicing it.

I was writing then almost weekly newsletters, blogs.

I was creating landing pages for webinars.

I was trying all these things to see what would work.

And through that repetition and through the study of copywriting,

that became a superpower of mine.

Building an email list,

getting people to buy products and courses and coaching from me,

getting them by books, whatever it might be.

And so I learned that you don't have to be good on camera

to make money,

but you do need to learn to develop these other skills.

So that was one skill was the written word.

Then I also realized that a big fear of mine

was speaking in front of other people.

And I didn't want that to hold me back anymore.

So I started going to toast masters every single week

for a year to learn public speaking.

And this gave me more skills, more tools

that increased my value, right?

So I had original value based on assessment

and what other people told me.

Then I saw where I was deficient in my skills.

That if I really want to make money,

I need to grow and expand my value.

So copywriting was one thing,

just consuming more knowledge.

So I had knowledge and information was another.

Learning how to do public speaking was another.

Then I started creating webinars and doing online presentations.

The more confidence I got,

I started doing these weekly webinars.

Teaching what I was learning.

So it was just like practice rep, practice rep.

Let me see what's working or people responding to this.

And those practice reps gave me more confidence

based on the feedback I was getting, right?

People were like, wow, that was really helpful.

You know, do you have any more information?

I was like, yes, I do.

So it was, okay, let me learn, develop new skills.

Let me practice.

And now I'm expanding and growing my value internally

and externally.

And I was building an audience in that process.

And another skill that I was expanding on

was just learning the value of building a personal plant,

making content and doing photography, doing videos,

you know, doing social media back in 2009.

It was kind of the early days of personal branding

on the internet.

And there was something I was leaning into

even though I didn't know what I was doing.

But all these things, it's like marrying the innate skills

that I had with developing money making skills.

And then fusing them together and saying, okay,

now how can I really make money?

And that's where the school of greatness eventually

was born from was like, okay, I had years of these reps

from learning these new skills.

And now let me watch this show as well.

And I was already making millions doing online courses,

coaching, membership sites, events, books,

retreats, all these different things

before the school greatness.

Through these repetitions, the repetitions of building

and growing my value.

And I think that's a lot of times people are so afraid

to try something new or they'll just learn a skill

but they won't apply the skill because they don't want to fail.

And so you hear this all the time from people saying,

you know, I've had a dream of writing a book for 10 years

but I have just been waiting for the right moment

and or they've always wanted to launch a podcast

but they haven't done it yet.

But they've been thinking about it for years.

What does, what are the chances actually mean?

I heard this at a mastermind early on.

I think it was 2009 or 2010

and one of my first masterminds I went to.

A guy named Paul Evans said this.

He said, these three words will change your life.

What's the chance?

And then he was giving these examples

and I was like, huh, I'm just gonna start trying this.

And I guess it's been 17 years now since that.

I heard that.

And I've used those three words, what's the chance?

I don't know, thousands of times over the last 17 years

because it works.

And you can use it with yourself.

You can use it with others.

I did it as a game in an experiment early on

just at like, if I was going to a coffee shop,

I would just say, what's the chance?

You can give me this for free.

I was just like, what are they gonna say?

Maybe they say no, maybe they laugh and say no way.

But what's the chance?

They'll give me this coffee for free,

this five dollar coffee for free.

And sometimes people would.

And I would just say, okay, what's the chance

you give this for free?

And they wouldn't.

And then say, what's the chance

you can give me 20% off?

Come on, really?

You can't give me 20% off the store discount.

I know you have that employee discount.

Can you give it to me?

What's the chance?

Can you just break the rules a little bit today?

And almost every time people like, yeah,

I'll give you 10% off.

Like people have the power to do so much more for you

than you think.

If you're willing to risk looking a little silly

or embarrassing yourself or people saying no,

and I think it's just the willingness to be audacious enough

to ask for things that most people are afraid to ask for.

And I don't look at it as like a bad thing.

I look at it as, and listen,

I can afford you paying for my own coffee.

That's not what it's about.

It's about developing the skill of feeling uncomfortable,

asking for something that most people never ask for.

Because when you can do that with a $5 thing,

and then you're asking someone for $50,000,

and you're building up to that,

or you're asking for a 20% raise,

or whatever it is, it's like you're developing

an inner value, you're expanding that value

inside of you and externally through results,

and you're showing your value to the world.

Again, whether that's in a career,

whether that's to your audience online,

if you're building an audience,

and selling a product, it doesn't matter where it is.

We need to expand our value.

When you can expand your value through skill sets, results,

and the perceived value that you have of others,

which is your personal brand,

or how people perceive you around you.

It's what they think about you

based on the results you're getting.

And if they see you're getting results for other people,

they'll say, wow, Lewis is,

he's coaches a lot of top entrepreneurs,

and he helps them get clear on their mindset

and get exponential results in their business.

Huh, maybe I should sign up for his masterminds coaching,

maybe I should get his book,

maybe I should listen to his show.

It's the perception,

hopefully the real perception,

you don't wanna lie to people

because if you have fake results,

and you're perceiving that, you're gonna get found out.

But if you have real case studies,

real results for people you worked with,

or people you've had a product

and people have gotten results there,

then those testimonials become a perceived value as well,

they become your brand,

what people say about you when you're not around.

And all that plays into developing skills,

knowing your value and expanding your value.

Tax and bonus season is one of those sneaky little moments.

You check your account,

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and for about 10 seconds, you feel rich, like,

ooh, maybe I'll go by some expensive gift for myself.

Then reality kicks in.

But here is the thing,

that moment right there is actually kind of powerful for us.

For most of us, extra money hits the account

and suddenly it already has plans

because something needs to be fixed,

something needs paid for,

or something you've wanted for forever is calling your name.

There's no shame in this, life is full,

things break, plans pop up.

But what if just for a minute you paused,

like just for a second?

Not because you have to,

but because you wanna ask a better question.

Not what can I buy right now,

but what would actually feel good about this later?

And instead of the moment running you,

you make an intentional move,

not a big dramatic one, just a simple decision

that leaves you feeling a little more steady

and a little more in control,

specifically with your money.

And if you get a tax refund or a bonus,

try asking a different question.

Not what can I buy today,

but how can I give my bonus a bonus?

Or how can I turn my tax refund into more funds?

It's a small shift, but it changes the energy.

And suddenly it isn't just extra cash.

It's an opportunity.

One simple, intentional decision

can help you feel a little bit more in control,

a little more steady.

And honestly, that feels better than an impulse purchase

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And that's why I like how US bank approaches tax

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One of the biggest money mistakes I see people make

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Are there ways outside of buying courses to grow?

It's not about buying courses.

I think whatever, you know,

I've invested a lot of money into individual coaches,

courses, softwares,

but also just kind of like experiences

where it takes time to learn.

You know, I'm investing in,

I'm not spending a lot in learning Spanish right now,

but it's 100 bucks for dual,

Mingo or something, I don't know a year,

I don't even know what it is.

It's not a lot of money, but it's a time investment.

And the time investment in public speaking,

you can't fake the reps.

I showed up every single week in front of an audience

and humiliated myself.

It's time investment.

It's embarrassment investment.

It's like the emotional pain that you feel

from not being good at something, being a beginner,

and trying something new.

It doesn't, it's not enjoyable to suck at something.

And this is why a lot of people don't develop a skill

because they're not good at it.

But that's how you make more money,

or that's how you add more value

and expand your value by developing skills.

You develop skills in a relationship.

If you learn how to navigate your emotions

and consciously communicate,

that relationship will expand.

There will be more love, more joy.

It'll feel like there's a depth to the quality

of the relationship rather than a surface level

because you have expanded your value,

your skill set about how you communicate.

And I just, I don't think we can put a price

on how much we should be spending either financially

or time in developing skills that bring abundance to our life.

And it doesn't need to be around making money specifically.

I know this is about making money,

but it should be about creating a richness of life.

With relationships, I'm investing in my health,

I'm investing in my relationships,

I'm investing in coaching, I'm investing in courses,

I'm investing in retreats, all these things,

because it's only gonna help me for the future

by developing more skill sets.

And I think it's based on the season you're at right now.

If you're just starting out,

the skills, you may not have a lot of money

to invest in things, but you have time to invest.

And you can spend 50 bucks a year to do toastmasters

or you can go through free courses online

and invest your time in getting reps and practicing.

But the more skills you develop that help you make money,

the easier it will be to make money.

What else could be holding people back

from financial freedom?

Based on our mindset and our belief system,

we get comfortable with the amount of money

we believe we deserve making.

So it's like a thermostat, you know, we get comfortable.

It's 68, 69 degrees in here.

For me, it's comfortable.

If it was three degrees less, it would be too cold.

If it was two or three degrees more, it'd be uncomfortable.

This is a comfortable setting for me in this stage, right?

And when people are just getting started out,

making money, if they're making $10 an hour

and that's all they're used to, they're comfortable.

They may not enjoy it, but it's a comfort level.

It's what their mind believes they're supposed to make.

Unless they believe they're supposed to make more,

then you need to figure out, okay, do I have skills

and inner belief that I deserve to make more?

Is my comfort level up here or where it's at now?

And if I'm not developing confidence,

if I'm not developing skills or shifting the belief

that I am deserving of more,

and if I can't showcase that to the people around me

or find people that believe in that value,

that want to invest in that value,

then I'm gonna stay where I'm at.

So for example, this season of my life,

I'm investing in, you know, I've brought in a money,

a family office, which is essentially a team

of money experts to help me continue to elevate

to the next level of financial abundance.

I've made a lot of money over the last 20 years in business,

and at the beginning, I was trying to figure out

how to do it all myself.

Then I've had different financial advisors

over the years to help me,

but I've kind of grown at a certain level of comfort.

Now, there's a lot that I don't know at this level.

There's a lot of tax planning and estate planning

and strategies and insurances,

which I've done it all on some level,

but there's a whole other level

of the financial wealth that I have

that I don't understand.

And it's not comfortable, it's a little uncomfortable.

It's a little like, ugh, I don't sound like I know

what I'm talking about when I speak about this.

Maybe I'll just stay in my comfort zone

and I won't do it.

Gosh, what if I lose this money,

what if this investment, I made a mistake here

and I lost money like, I don't want people to know this.

It's a comfort level around what is known

instead of speaking into the unknown.

And we all have that,

whether you're starting in your career,

you're not sure of what you're supposed to be able to get.

You try to ask for something,

but then people say no.

Then you have to prove your value

and then you can get more money.

It's like a process of growing and believing what is possible.

So for me, I'm at a stage where it's like, okay,

I'm married now.

There's a new level of money conversations

that maybe it had when you're merging money

with someone else and their belief system.

So how do we navigate this together?

How do we get to the next levels together

with our financial goals?

All these different things, it's an uncomfortable new level,

which I know that's where the greatest growth comes

because it means I have to learn new skills

to be able to push my comfort level to a new place.

Instead of, this is what is known,

so it's comfortable here.

And I love that the AC just kicked on.

So it makes it a little bit colder, right?

So it's like, okay, I have to increase my temperature

comfort level inside of me to feel okay

at a different temperature, to feel comfortable, peaceful.

Okay.

And it's developing these skills,

expanding the value inside of me,

expanding my knowledge base,

having conversations that I don't understand

so that I can start to understand them better.

And in that process, my financial abundance

will continue to grow faster than at the level

that I've been currently at.

And so there's not a right or wrong,

good or bad way of doing this.

It's just thinking, is my mindset and my belief

around money, supporting and the value

that I believe I have with myself,

and the skills I have around money,

supporting the goals that I wanna have around money

as well of making the amount of money that I have.

And like I said in the intro,

do I feel peace with the money that I have?

And you can feel peaceful with very little money

and you can feel extremely stressed out

with very little money.

You can feel peaceful with a lot of money

and you can feel extremely stressed out

with a lot of money as well.

In fact, most people I know with a lot of money

have a lot more stress.

And it's learning how to have peace at all levels.

That's where we talk about it, make money easy.

How do we have a relationship with the money we have

currently that is harmonious

so that as it expands and grows,

it stays harmonious because having lots of money,

but being suicidal is not the solution.

It's creating financial freedom

and abundance inside of us so that the money

is a new tool to serve us and impact our lives

in a beautiful way.

And I think that's where we need to get to.

And I think scarcity can come at,

even when you have money you can still feel scarce

because you don't know the next level.

Yeah.

And so you have to constantly overcome

that scarcity mindset,

even if you've created more financial abundance

for yourself.

How do you package your value?

I had a mentorship early on.

I was working for a guy named Chris Hawker

and he was an inventor and he had a lot of different inventions.

And I was working in his kitchen closet

because that's the only space they had.

So people were coming in and out of the kitchen

and I was in the closet and they come right behind me.

And I was working there like three days a week

and I learned all these different skills.

I was working for free for about six months.

And one of these skills was around packaging and design

of literal physical products.

And he was like, I have this idea for an invention.

How do we package and brand this?

And I learned from his graphic designer

and from his team of marketers of like

how they packaged and designed products

that if you walked in front of a shelf,

you walked by it,

what would make you stop and look at it?

And I just started, it was a new skill that I hadn't learned.

So I had to learn this idea of packaging and presenting an idea.

And you can do this through the spoken word,

through the written word, through images,

through video, it's all through book covers.

All these things are packaging of ideas.

How you present yourself,

what I'm wearing right now is a packaging of an idea.

I could be wearing a t-shirt instead,

which would have a different presentation and packaging.

But I've decided to wear this,

essentially black button up shirt daily almost

because of consistency of content

to make it more evergreen,

to be presentable at some level,

but not in a suit because it's not the style of packaging

I'm looking for at this moment.

But if I was in a suit right now,

it would have a different presentation.

You would proceed me differently.

Now, if I was talking out of my ass constantly,

but I was wearing a suit, you might be like,

hmm, he's trying to look a certain way,

but the words don't match the packaging.

So I don't believe him, I don't trust him.

He seems a little like untrustworthy.

Something is off about that guy, right?

And we've all seen those guys or gals in suits

that maybe say something you're like,

hmm, that doesn't sound right.

Something seems a little fishy.

It's when the packaging doesn't match

the actual substance of the messaging or the product.

The product could be the person wearing the clothes.

It's the packaging representing the product.

And when I'm thinking about a book,

a book is just words,

but each chapter has a structure, has a packaging

to present an idea of a concept of the words.

The storytelling is the packaging as well.

The cover, the design, everything is very specific

on how we design things for people to see it on a screen

and also on stores.

So we want them to see it.

We want to know it's different, it's unique.

There's a packaging of uniqueness.

The school greatness design is a packaging,

a specific design for a reason.

Make money easy is the different packaging as well.

And there's all these different things

that we should be thinking about

when we are putting messages out there online or in person.

Specifically, ourself as a product is our packaging

and it all matters.

And so for me, your personal brand is your packaging.

What you post online is your packaging

and how you present your ideas.

How we edit our videos is a style of presenting our product.

It's our packaging so that people know

when they're watching the school of greatness or listening,

they're going to get something they know of value

based on how we put it out there.

And a lot of people don't think about their own themselves

of the product as a packaging, as a presentation.

And they get sloppy with it.

I'm not saying you're going to be perfect every day

and what you do and say and it's like,

you don't have to be uptight constantly.

But I think we should be aware of how we present ourselves

to the world.

And you can always upgrade your packaging

or your presentation or your through developing more skills.

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How do you remain consistent with your brand as you evolve?

You know, for me, when I got into this kind of online world,

2007, 2008, 2009, when I was studying and learning it

and getting into it, I was a former professional athlete.

I was packaging and presenting myself

as this former professional athlete

because that's all I had.

It was like, okay, I just finished school

and I was playing arena football,

trying to go to the NFL and it didn't work.

So I was presenting that story as a packaging.

Then I started to learn LinkedIn as a tool

to try to find job opportunities.

But that tool led into people saying,

Lewis, can you teach me how you've learned

how to use LinkedIn for my business?

Because I built a massive audience on LinkedIn.

How I started hosting events

through late using LinkedIn in person.

I was getting 500 people to show up to these events

and people were like, how are you doing this?

And so people started paying me to coach them

how to use LinkedIn.

I didn't even know I could make money doing that.

Then I was like, oh, let me package my brand myself

as a LinkedIn expert.

I did that for many years.

But then I wanted to upgrade my personal brand.

I didn't want to be known as that anymore.

So what had happened is I started

doing speaking every single week on webinars teaching LinkedIn

because everyone was asking me to present to their audiences

so I was doing that consistently.

And I said, oh, I don't want to do this anymore.

But everyone's asking me how I'm selling so much online

and how I'm using webinars

and how I'm using presentation skills.

And these are skills that I was developing for years

from postmasters, from copywriting,

from online marketing, I said things.

So then I started to rebrand myself

as a online webinar expert

because people are asking me for that information.

So I saw a new level from LinkedIn to webinars.

Then people said, hey, can you just teach me more

about all the marketing you're doing with social media

and all the online marketing you're stuff you're doing.

So it became LinkedIn webinars, social media,

but then just online marketing in general.

So I started positioning and packaging my personal brand

to a new level, a new thermostat,

something that was more uncomfortable,

but I had to go beyond my current comfort zone.

Then after years of doing that,

I built a multi-seven figure business doing that

and got a lot of opportunities

from speaking on stages, et cetera, from that personal brand.

I was like, I don't want to be known as the webinar guy.

It's not what I want to be known as

and it's not something that it's a season right now

where I'm good at it.

I have a skill set and I can make a lot of money.

But is it really like my mission moving forward?

And we don't always have the luxury of saying,

I'm going to go for my mission,

but I have been really good at saving almost all my money.

So I was like, I have the luxury now

that worked really hard for about five, six years

to make money, saved it.

So I have a few years of a runway,

like I'm single, I don't have responsibilities,

no kids yet, not married.

If I wanted to do anything, what would it be

then the school of greatness came to me

and that was over 13 years ago now.

And I was like, I think I just want to go back to my

original skills of being curious and asking questions

with people that inspired me

and see if I can make money in the future.

But it was like, all right,

I just want to do this for one year

and see how this works.

This is really what I want to do.

And I tried something, it could have failed.

It could have not worked.

And then I would have tried something else.

But it worked.

And so I kept doing it.

And I developed skills to continue to grow it.

And that has led me into a new personal brand,

a new packaging of launching the school of greatness

and being that guy.

And over 13 years, that personal brand

has evolved within that space, right?

From then writing your time best selling books,

speaking, doing bigger masterminds, all these things

that allowed me to expand it within this space.

And so I'm always looking to upgrade my personal brand.

It doesn't matter if I'm doing the same thing

or doing something new.

How can I elevate it with where I'm at?

I mean, I was doing it on my iPhone.

I was like putting down my iPhone

and recording audio, just sitting next to someone.

Then I had just a couple of mics on a table

like this in my kitchen for about eight months.

And it's funny because Sean Johnson,

the Olympic gold medalist in gymnastics,

she texted me recently about a book that she's launching.

And she goes, I still remember when I was,

when I did an interview of you in your apartment,

I had a studio apartment in your kitchen, right?

And just me and Sean Johnson in my kitchen table

with little headsets had I stayed

at that level of packaging without scaling and upgrading it.

It wouldn't be as successful as today,

from a kitchen table or an iPhone

to we have what, five or six cameras in here

that have all upgraded over 13 years.

This was not after year one.

It was like, okay, year zero through three

was a certain packaging.

Then it continued to, I continued to invest in team

and equipment and processes in my own health

and my own skills over the last 13 years to scale this.

And I, and you scale it also through thinking of two things.

Your product and your distribution.

If you're a personal brand, you are the product.

And then you have to figure out how do I reach audiences?

How do I get distribution?

If your book is the product, you need to be thinking about

how do I write a better book?

How do I make the book the best book possible?

The product improving it.

Then how do I get more distribution?

Okay, we're in a digital world.

Distribution is podcasts, getting impressed,

being on TV, getting in newsletters, blogs,

getting in retail stores and thinking of all the levers

of distribution that you can scale your personal brand

or your products or services and eventually scale your money.

And I think that's what you need to be thinking about.

How can I scale my product?

Whatever it is, if it's you are the message,

if it's your book, if it's your content,

if it's a service, a course, a ticket to an event,

your music, your art, whatever you're selling,

that's your product.

You need to make it better constantly

to add more value to people and any distribution channels.

What are those distribution channels?

Who are the people that you need to learn how to collaborate with?

That have audiences that have distribution

that you can either sell or market your product to?

And that is a process of developing relationships.

You need to learn the skill or the art

of being a good human being and reaching out to people

and also adding value to other people

and saying, hey, how can I help you?

And also saying, hey, what's the chance

that you would have me on your show

and talk about my product?

What's the chance you'll promote my book?

What's the chance you'll mess it?

You'll put this out there to your audience.

And it's a skill in an art of which is hard to do

to improve your personal self,

to improve your product and improve distribution.

But that's how you scale your money.

And if you're working for someone,

then you have to say, how can I continue to learn more skills

to be more valuable at the company I'm at?

Doesn't matter if you're here at the school of greatness

or you're working for Amazon or Google,

you need to say, how can I make myself a better product

and add more value to this mission

or to the team that I'm working with

so that I can make more money.

And if I make the company more money,

then I can show my value, I can scale my value

and bring in more money for myself.

So it doesn't matter if you're working at a company

or you're working for yourself, either way it's hard.

And you have to figure out how to develop your value,

show that value, that perceived value,

scale that value, and then capture that value.

Do you need to work harder to earn more money?

I hear a lot of people say this too,

like really rich people don't work hard or something like that.

I just feel like 99% of people

who have generated a lot of money work extremely hard.

Now with that said, they have learned a skill set

where they have learned how to expand their plate

of what is on their plate

and to be able to navigate and delegates

and choose wisely what is the most important things

to work on in the moment to scale their sales,

their audience growth, their team, their distribution

and build their wealth.

And so in some ways, like when I was starting out,

I felt like I worked so hard to the point

where I was not sleeping well

because I was up all night just constantly working.

But it doesn't mean that was smart,

just because I was working hard

and I was getting results.

I was limited to how much I was able to generate

and revenue based on how hard I was working.

So working harder wasn't gonna make me more money.

Maybe a little bit, but it was burning me out emotionally,

physically, I gained a ton of weight.

They started calling me fat Lewis.

Like I used to be like, they call me Lewis for fat Lewis.

They did.

I had like, that was like the Michelin man.

You know, I was like fat Lewis.

And my wife is like, she'll see photos of me

from 15 years ago.

She goes, you look way younger and healthier now

than when I was 15 years younger.

And it's because I was up till 3, 4 a.m.

just like, I need to grind, I need to work hard,

I need to work harder.

And that got a certain type of results

but it didn't give me emotional peace or freedom or harmony.

And when you're launching something

or developing a new scale, there's gonna be friction.

There's gonna be seasons where you're working harder

to build something into launch with momentum.

Our rocket doesn't take off without a lot of force pushing down

so that it can actually launch.

Then once it's finally in the atmosphere,

it starts to cruise and it doesn't have to work as hard.

When you're launching anything,

it takes a lot of effort, a lot of thought process,

people supporting the launch of something happening.

And then it's figuring out how do we continue

to build systems to scale and grow the thing we're launching.

But I feel like really wealthy people

that have figured out how to have harmony with their wealth

and not overwork and over stress,

they figured out how to have a bigger plate.

Like I feel pretty at peace

and I have way more going on than I did 15 years ago, right?

And I just had, I just bought a handball team

while in the same couple of weeks having twin girls

while having this team here,

while just getting married, launching a book,

doing a book tour, having family in town

over the holidays, navigating so many different things

happening, my wife in and out of the hospital,

trying to keep a business going,

renegotiating a new podcast deal.

Like all these things on my plate

that would have probably crippled me 10 years ago.

While trying to train, while pursuing the Olympic train,

while doing all these things like,

I'm just able to have a bigger plate

and it not overwhelm me as much.

And I'm able to have a plate that everything got to fit on

as opposed to a smaller plate

where all this stuff is trying to piling on top of it

and just came and see the plate.

Now my plate is so much bigger

that all these things can be on there

and I can still see space in between them.

I can still see them all

and I can move things forward

that are the highest level of priority each day

with my time.

And I have different levers I can pull

and I can empower different people

to get certain things done at this scale.

So I think it's learning how to,

but people might think I'm working harder

in some ways I'm just working differently.

You know, I'm thinking strategically in a different way.

And I'm developing the skill set

of not doing everything myself,

which is what I used to do

and empowering others in training and teaching others

to do certain things so that we can scale all of it.

And that's a hard thing to do.

When you start out, you do everything yourself.

Unless you've been taught how to just delegate everything.

Like I was never taught that.

So you have to learn leadership,

which is how you scale anything.

You develop the skill of leadership within yourself.

You create boundaries.

You have tough conversations with people.

You say no to certain people

and you stop people pleasing everyone.

And I think you stop trying to get everyone to like you

and instead to have everyone see you

as someone who's a credible leader.

And they may not like you.

It doesn't mean you have to be a negative bad person

for them to not like you.

But it's about developing leadership skills within yourself.

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At what point can you consider yourself financially free?

The number is different for everyone, I think.

My level of financial freedom 15 years ago, 17 years ago,

I was just like, man, if I could make five to $10,000

a month, I am rich.

It was like, beyond rich is what I thought, you know?

In my first time, I made $6,200 in an hour webinar.

Before that, the most I'd made was like $3,000

on a month like hustling, like working so hard,

running events around the country, doing this LinkedIn stuff.

And then in one hour, I made $6,200 in 2009.

And I was like, this is unbelievable.

I was like, I'm the richest man in the world.

I'd never seen or had that much money in my account ever.

I think like, you know, I was just like,

this is unbelievable.

I'd go, I could do this every single week.

And if I could make $6,200 every week, holy cow,

my life has forever changed.

That's why I started to do,

but I started making a lot more than that.

And that's why I saved a lot of my money

because I didn't need it at that time.

I was like, I don't want to be broke again,

so let me just save this for a while.

But I lived in an apartment that was $495 a month,

for almost a year and a half, and I was fine.

I had no car, and I was fine.

And I lived well below my means,

and I was a happy human being.

Now, I was thinking about my future in terms of,

I want to keep making more so that my future is set up.

But at this season of life of anyone watching as parents

or as kids and their parents, you know the expenses,

the, just the cost of having kids is just,

it's just, I'm like, where's this money going?

It's just going to everything every day, it feels like.

And so the level that I'm at now,

with investing in a lifestyle, buying a home

of having different expenses,

there's a comfort level that I would need now

that is way different than 15 years ago,

being married, having kids, having other priorities,

having a team, it's like, I need a lot more

to cover everything, to feel comfortable.

So I'm at a new level of like a thermostat of comfort level.

And if it starts to drop below that

in my monthly revenue in the business,

I feel uncomfortable.

I'm like, ooh, I don't like this feeling.

So it's learning the skill set of things

being able to go higher and lower without it hurting you.

How would you make $1 million in 30 days from scratch?

Even if I had no audience, let's say,

if I had no social media, like social media was gone,

podcast was gone, and no money was coming in.

Now I had to make a million dollars in 30 days.

I actually feel I could be easier

than it is right now to do that.

Because I would have nothing to lose.

Like I've already, everything's gone.

And so, and if I had 30 days, I would have such a timeline.

And I would say, if you have to make a million dollars

in 30 days, I would have a timeline.

And I wouldn't have a lot of distractions.

I wouldn't have error all my responsibilities

that I have to do or get to do on a weekly basis

because it would all be gone.

And I would literally call people one by one,

the wealthiest people I know first,

and say, will you hire me for a million dollars?

That's what I would start with.

I would say, I will coach you for the next year

for a million dollars.

And I would create a package for them,

whether it's a weekly coaching,

whether it's some type of mindset,

health, relationship training, whatever it might be,

I would create a $1 million offer.

And I'd probably just call 100 people,

and I'd make the offer.

I'd create a one-page presentation,

and I would probably create a survey to them

and say, where's your biggest pain?

Where's your biggest struggle?

Where's the thing that you're struggling

with the most in your life, or in your business?

And what is your biggest goal?

What do you want to accomplish?

I would survey them in some way,

and I would get the intel, and I'd say, okay,

how do I make a million dollar offer

and sell it to one person?

And if that, if I didn't see that I was getting traction,

then I would say, okay, how do I get 10 people

to pay me $100,000?

And I was like, and I'd create my own mastermind,

and I'd say, I'm gonna bring together

10 of the wealthiest people in the world

who struggle with this other stuff,

or maybe they don't have the freedom emotionally

or the abundance or the relationships

or they've lost the spark.

Like the money has numbed them.

And I wanna get them back into being

of service to humanity.

I just funny, I just had a conversation with a doctor

who came up to me after the gym three days ago,

who he's a famous surgeon in Beverly Hills,

works with all the biggest celebrities

and helps a lot of people.

And he came up to me about six months ago, maybe,

and I just saw him again a few days ago.

And he came up to me six months ago,

he goes, you know, I've made so much money.

You know, it's like, you know,

he's a very specialized surgeon.

So he makes a lot of money with his specialty.

So he is the velvety skill set

that very few people can do.

He gets people results that are very hard to get.

So people are willing to spend a certain amount of money

for the skill set he's developed,

and he knows his value.

So he's done all five of these steps.

And he's at the point now where he says,

what do I do now?

Like, I've done these things,

I've scaled this, I'm making so much money,

but I've kind of lost this like spark,

like this sense of what's the point.

And that's where people that I think need to think about.

Like, most people love to have that problem.

He makes so much money that you've lost the spark of life.

But we all have different challenges at different levels.

And maybe this was six or nine months ago,

when he came up to me and he said he was a big fan

of the show, he's been listening to the show,

and he goes, what do you think I should do?

And I said to be honest, man,

you got to give back, you've got to do surgeries

for cases that really need them that don't have the money,

where you can actually transform someone's life

that maybe had some type of physical challenge

or some type of accident car accident

that disformed them in some ways,

that you could give them their life back.

Like, do that once a month for free.

And document it, talk about it if you want to.

Like, just give back.

That's what you need to be leaning into.

And he goes, that's a great idea.

And I saw him a few days ago,

and he goes, Lewis, how's it going, man?

I go, good, man, how are you?

Have you done this thing?

We were sitting standing right over here

a six or nine months ago,

and he goes, man, you got a good memory.

And I go, have you done this yet?

And he goes, no.

And I go, are you fulfilled with your life yet?

And he goes, no.

I said, what are you waiting for?

If it's not that, find something else.

It doesn't have to be this thing that I came up with.

Be something where you are a service

and a bigger level beyond making money.

Because money alone can only bring you so much joy

if you're using it only for you and your family.

It can bring you lots of joy, lots of fulfillment.

But I really feel like once you've mastered money

and you have an abundance of it, beyond your means,

the beyond traveling and the lifestyle

and the nice homes and the nice clothes and the cars,

all the things you want, you got them.

Great.

And you have excess money.

Great.

You got to find a way to serve.

And if you can bring service in your life

from the beginning, when you have no money,

then it will grow with you when you start making more money.

So something we've been a part of since before

the school of greatness is building schools

with pencil to promise since before that.

Because I started to have that feeling early on.

I was making millions of dollars

and I wasn't doing anything to give back.

I was like, huh?

Okay, I'm just going to keep making more money now.

Like, okay, cool.

But I'm okay in a $500 apartment.

I don't need tons of money.

Like, I need to find a way to use this.

And I don't care about cars and fancy things.

So, why don't I use my talents and gifts to serve people?

And it doesn't mean I give all my money away,

but use some of it to find meaning and impact as well.

And I think that has allowed me to feel

like I've had a really fulfilling life

is being in service and generating a way to give.

It doesn't mean you always have to give money,

but finding ways to give all of your time and talents as well.

And so I reminded this doctor of this a couple of days ago

and I said, you know, when are you going to start being of service?

Yes, you're being of service to your clients.

But you need to have a different level of service,

different level of impact.

And if you're just doing the same things every single day,

you need something new and fulfilling in your life.

So find a way to serve.

And hopefully he'll start doing that.

He'll see, but I think that's, that's what I would do.

I would find 10 of my wealthiest friends.

I would get them to give their money away

through serving causes they care about.

And then teaching them how to create a more rich

and fulfilling life with the life they have.

And I think that's what a lot of really wealthy people want.

They want to be healthier and happier

and have better relationships.

And I would create an offer

and sell either one person to million dollars,

10 people, $100,000.

And I would do it pretty fast.

Yeah, I would do with him for like a week or two

because I'd be like, I got to move.

So I would have unlimited time

because everything would be gone.

And I'd just be on the phone constantly calling people saying,

will you give me a million dollars?

If not, will you give me a hundred thousand dollars?

If not, will you give me 50 thousand dollars?

I would just keep going.

What would, what result would you need

to give me to million dollars in the next year?

Okay, cool.

I'm gonna go give you that result.

I'm gonna make something that will give you that result

and I would just sell that.

That's what I'd do.

If you guys enjoyed this format of Caroline

asking me the questions,

and if you have a specific question around any topic,

feel free to add that question in the comment below

or you can email us over at greatness.com.

You can find the email there and email us.

But if you're looking for more information around

how to emotionally and psychologically

and mentally believe that you're deserving

and worthy of more money,

and then other tools and how to do this,

make sure to grab a copy of Make Money Easy.

We'll link it up below in the description,

whether you're watching on YouTube

or listening on audio platforms.

And again, what questions do you have for me

that you would like Caroline to ask in the future?

Go ahead and leave it below.

We'll see you guys in the next episode.

I hope you enjoyed today's episode

and it inspired you on your journey towards greatness.

Make sure to check out the show notes

in the description for a full rundown of today's episode

with all the important links.

And I want to remind you of no one has told you lately

that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter.

And now it's time to go out there and do something great.

Don't let banking slow you down,

whether you're paying bills, setting savings goals,

or just splitting the check.

Atlantic Union Bank makes managing your money easier.

With helpful people and user-friendly tools,

we make sure banking with us fits you.

Call, visit us online,

or drop into an Atlantic Union bank.

We'll see you guys in the next episode.

Call, visit us online,

or drop into an Atlantic Union bank branch today.

Atlantic Union Bank, anyway, you bank.