Greg [00:00:00]:
If you're sloppy, if you're not taking care of yourself, if you're not showing visionary skills, if you're not showing the ability to grind, why? Why would anybody of any massive importance want to work with you? Why would anybody want to get behind your mission?
Brandon [00:00:24]:
You.
Greg [00:00:25]:
Welcome to the Secrets for Success podcast. I'm your host, Greg Todd. Thank you, as always, for joining me today. I have a special guest on. This person has actually become not just a client and a mentee of mine, he's actually become a friend. And I think you're going to, you know something? Not only that, he typifies what I really believe the new healthcare professional needs to look like. He's my new age guy. That's what he is.
Greg [00:00:59]:
His name is Brandon Smith. Brandon, welcome to the podcast. You couldn't be here live, but we found a way to bring you in.
Brandon [00:01:05]:
Thank you for having me, Greg. Glad to be here.
Greg [00:01:08]:
Appreciate. Yeah, man. Awesome. Awesome. All right, so why don't you tell the people that don't know who you are a little bit of your story and kind of how it's all full circle to what you're doing now.
Brandon [00:01:18]:
Okay, so where should I have to go back? All the way to the beginning, right?
Greg [00:01:24]:
Well, yeah, why don't you go back? No, you know what? I love to hear your story because it's a very inspiring story. How did you get into PT and PT school? And then things have changed since then. So go ahead.
Brandon [00:01:39]:
I'll start really with undergrad and stuff. So that's something where actually, when I graduated high school, I really didn't do anything. I actually ended up enlisting in the Navy as a rescue swimmer. I went through US Navy boot camp, air Crew School, which only has a 50% pass rate, and then rescue swimmer school. I had a lot of issues with my left eye, actually, in rescue swimmer school. So I got discharged from the Navy and then I was home and it was like, oh, what do I do? I can't be a rescue swimmer anymore. Right. So then it was something where I went to a community college because it's cheap and I was smart financially for some reason, when I started going to school, before grad school, I was smart financially.
Brandon [00:02:22]:
So this is something where I went to community college, I got an associate's degree, didn't know what to do, got like an aa. Because in Florida you could transfer to any university and they have to accept you. Right? That's still a rule in Florida? I believe it is. I'm not sure or not right. So from there, I actually went to Florida, Gulf Coast University, because I grew up in Naples, in southwest Florida. But during this whole process, which I should back up during this process, before I enlisted the navy, my dad died when I was, like, 19 years old or so. And then when I got out of the Navy, my mom died. So now I'm basically by myself, not sure what to do.
Brandon [00:02:59]:
But the media or the system, the deep state, I guess, programs you to go to school to get an education. Right? Does that make sense?
Greg [00:03:07]:
Yeah, I've heard that before.
Brandon [00:03:12]:
At least my generation was, you have to go to college to be successful. You have to do x, y, and z. Right? So all these things. So it was something where what happened was, I was like, okay, well, let me just. I didn't have any guidance for anyone as a young male, too. I was too scared to ask anyone. And also, which is kind of weird, is as a young male with no parental figures, no one cares because you really have no value till you get to around 40 years old as a male. So you're like a no value male with no guidance from anyone.
Brandon [00:03:44]:
Right. And this is one of these things where it's like, okay, I don't know what to do. So I went to community college, just kept going, got like, a general degree. Then I went and got a biology degree. Then I tried to get a job. Apparently, you can't do anything with a biology degree, right? So I ended up delivering food for a while, actually ended up delivering food for a while. At the time, I was dating this girl. She's not only my girlfriend, she had this weird fetish where she would dress up like herself, knock like a bitch all the time.
Brandon [00:04:14]:
But no, what happened was, hey, hold on. Wait.
Greg [00:04:19]:
I got to stop the podcast. I got to stop the podcast. Brandon Smith is a lot like my older brother. If you listen very closely, you're going to get nuggets. You're also going to get some entertainment in the process. And you know what? I actually want to stop because there's a couple of things that you've said so far, and I don't mean to interrupt you in your story, but I do think that this is extremely important. You had some unfortunate things happen after you basically had to withdraw from the navy, and you were forced to figure things out. And you said that you thought that, okay, what I need to do is I need to go the traditional educational route, and you ended up getting your bachelor's in biology.
Greg [00:05:14]:
Is that correct?
Brandon [00:05:15]:
Yeah, that's correct.
Greg [00:05:17]:
And you came out of school and you really weren't able to provide massive value to the marketplace. Were you able to make money?
Brandon [00:05:26]:
No.
Greg [00:05:28]:
Yeah. You guys, I need you all to listen to this because this is a real issue right now. My daughter, my oldest daughter is in college. She's in her final year of undergrad. And I told her before, I said, look, if you think you're going to go to college because you're going to make money, you're sadly mistaken. If you want to go and you have a full ride, have at it. If you want to go, but you're not going there to learn how to make money. And guess what, Brandon? She's in her last year.
Greg [00:06:02]:
She's currently taking organic chem. She's taking all these. She's going to be a PA or whatever. And she basically was talking to me the other day and she's like, daddy, you're 100% right. All my friends are graduating and they have these bachelor's degrees and they spent all this money and they can't find a job besides outback. That's it. And so I just say that, you guys, because this is real, this is a guy that's like, okay, I'm trying to figure this out. I'm going to do well for myself.
Greg [00:06:34]:
My parents are no longer here. I'm going to make them proud. I'm going to do what the system tells you. And basically he was left with not much to show for it. Okay, continue your story. Go ahead.
Brandon [00:06:48]:
So anyway, back to me delivering food for a while and be like, oh, I'm actually making money because I'm getting cash tips because this was before Uber Eats existed. So delivery services actually made money back in the day before Uber Eats and Doordash. But it was something where I didn't know what to do. I looked at medical school, I looked at PA school, I looked at PTS, all these things. I just wasn't sure what to do. And then at the time, because people weren't making content like myself or I believe the pre PT guys make this content where it's like, is a dual degree worth it? I thought, well, maybe if I got like a second degree, then maybe I'd have a better chance of getting into a healthcare school, because honestly, my GPA wasn't that good. When I graduated undergrad, I had a trash GPA because I was also working at blockbuster during my undergrad, too. So it was something where when you're working 40 hours a week in a situation like that and going to school, your grades aren't the best, right? So it's something where I didn't know what to do.
Brandon [00:07:44]:
I ended up applying to get a master's degree in public health, and then I actually went and I got that degree. Now, with that degree, I actually was able to get a job in clinical trials. But this was something that was kind of weird because during this process, I had shadowed lots of physicians, pas, pts, et cetera. And I liked PT the most because it was the most fun. And everyone seemed, like, super happy with what they were doing. And it was just seemed like at the time, honestly, the reason I chose PT was so I could still have a life and not work 80 hours a week. Does that make sense?
Greg [00:08:18]:
Brandon, do you believe that that is the majority of people? Because I know for me, the reason why I chose PT over becoming a physician was because I wanted to help people, but I did want to have a life. And you're saying that as well. Do you believe that that's most physical therapists, that's the reason why they chose it, or do you believe it's for another reason?
Brandon [00:08:46]:
I think it's mixed. I think there's a lot of people that do that. I think when I chose it at that time, I was like, what's the easiest way for me to make money with a professional healthcare degree? And it was PT at the time. So back to my story is with my second job from the second degree, I was working in clinical trials, and there was a lot of medicine involved. Lots of physicians actually were there, and a lot of people that worked there were actually mds who never passed their board exam in the US, they just went the clinical stuff. But what we realized during that time was almost every person there, all the medications we were at least testing, if they just died and exercised, they could help a lot of people. And PT was a huge part of that. Also, I've been involved in personal training, crossfit from, like, 2011 or so.
Brandon [00:09:32]:
So it was something we're like, okay, this is more my realm now. When it comes to your question, though, I think in this day and age right now, unfortunately, because the people message me all the time on Instagram, they're like, oh, it's the quickest way to get a doctor title, and I think that's the wrong mindset to approach it. Does that make sense?
Greg [00:09:50]:
Yeah. So basically, the majority of people probably think of one of these things, which is why it's still in crazy demand, even though we know the repercussions of becoming a physical therapist today. So we would say, number one is that you can get a doctor title. And there is so much esteem for many people by just having that title. Number two is it allows you to have a doctor title while still having some sort of life. Again, these are all perceived things. Right? Number three, people think that you can still get paid extremely well from it. And I think a combination of those three things are the main reason why people get into PT.
Greg [00:10:32]:
Would you say so?
Brandon [00:10:33]:
Yeah, I would agree with that. I would agree with that.
Greg [00:10:35]:
Okay, so now you become a PT and you're in the profession for a couple of years, and what happens? What do you realize?
Brandon [00:10:47]:
So let me go back. So I want to say that anyone that went to PT school from when I went and did ptcas from 2015 to 2018 or even later, I think a few of us have a reason to be a bit pissed off. And the reason is, during our PTCAs application in 2015 or 2014, whenever is it was like, write about the doctor of the future and all these things. Envision 2020. None of those things happened whatsoever. But it's like, why did I have to write an essay about this to get into PT school? Do you know what I mean? What is this about? So I think everyone has a right to. I think if people are going to say, oh, you shouldn't be upset, but it's like, you kind of have a right to be pissed off about that. Why did you put all this work for something that never happened? Do you know what I mean? Does that make sense? Yeah.
Greg [00:11:32]:
You want to know what's interesting? I graduated in 2000, right?
Brandon [00:11:36]:
Yeah.
Greg [00:11:37]:
And in 2000, I was the last class of, like, I had the option of going bachelor's and master's, and then the year after that was going to be doctorate. And in 2000, they were telling us about this vision that they had called Vision 2020, and all the things we were going to be able to do, prescribe medications, do imaging, do this, do that. So even though I know I'm considered kind of one of the old guys, they were pushing that nonsense back then, too. They were pushing it. And it's crazy to me that they basically had this hype fest for about 19 years.
Brandon [00:12:17]:
Yeah.
Greg [00:12:18]:
And now it's like, oh, my bad. And they're not being held accountable for basically lying. I'm not talking about lying for a year. It's one thing to get things messed up for a couple of months. Okay? One thing if you mess up for a year or so, bro, they straight up fumbled the bag and took a peepee for 19 years on everybody.
Brandon [00:12:45]:
Yeah.
Greg [00:12:46]:
There's nothing we can do about it.
Brandon [00:12:48]:
So I'm going to go back a little bit. So during this journey, I go to PD school one, University of Miami. Unfortunately, I was out the day Greg taught in my business class. But it is something, though, where that business professor, though, she told us that expect to make sixty five k a year, then maybe you can move up someday. This is like 2018, bro.
Greg [00:13:11]:
Is that Teresa?
Brandon [00:13:12]:
Yeah, it's Teresa. Wow. But at this point, you're two, three years in and you're like, hey, I'm not paying. I think my tuition was like ten k a semester, locked in for nine semesters, which isn't bad for, um, at all from when I went. Now it's a lot more. But it was something where it was like, okay, why am I paying 100 to make 65? That doesn't make any sense, right? And now there's a lot more info out there that wasn't out there back then. Or if there was, I probably was too stupid to listen to it, right? So there's things there. But anyway, I get out of PT school and it's like, okay, well, now I have no more loans coming in.
Brandon [00:13:49]:
I've kind of depleted my savings going through PT school, and it's okay, like, what do I do now? And my first job out of PT school, they told me I was going to make six figures in home health. I moved over to Tampa and they ended up paying me barely minimum wage. It was basically like this huge scam where it was like, okay, you have this contract for this pay, but I'm not making this pay. And you guys are profiting a lot off me while paying me pennies. I was lucky enough to figure it out. I went and I got a different home health job where I actually did make six figures. And then actually, at the time, I was working with a coach. And then I talked to Greg as well, actually, during this time.
Brandon [00:14:29]:
So I was reaching out to Greg. I was like, hey, man, can I join your community? And Greg's like, I don't know. People said I shouldn't let you in here.
Greg [00:14:37]:
But I let you in and I've been good to you ever since, right?
Brandon [00:14:42]:
Yeah. So then I believe 2019 or so, Greg and I had a breakfast at Sweet Sage Cafe, and I was telling him, I was telling him kind of about my journey. He's like, oh, you should go on YouTube and you should tell people how to do this, how you made 100k as a new repeat in 2018. And this is the thing where want you to understand, I was a w two employee in 2018 making one hundred k. The equivalent of that today with inflation is 120k. So if you think that's a lot of money, it's actually twenty k more than what you think it is. I want to make that point very.
Greg [00:15:14]:
Clear on this podcast. Okay? Yeah, right.
Brandon [00:15:16]:
But anyway, I went on YouTube, I made a video on how to make 100k as a pt. People started demanding for a course. I made a course. I made that course. Ceus. We actually just took the ceus off the course because I'm tired of paying the state board and we're going to make the course cheaper. But it is something where like through that course though, from actually talking with Greg, I think that course has now made over half a million.
Greg [00:15:33]:
Wow. Wow. That's crazy. That's crazy.
Brandon [00:15:38]:
So awesome.
Greg [00:15:39]:
But you know something? But here's the deal. The deal is that even though a lot of this online stuff is the Wawa west, there's a lot of crap out there. The reality is that it really is amazing that the information that you have in this course is not readily available for people that are going to traditional schools. They could teach it, but guess what? They don't really know it. They really don't know it. And so the reality is that if, um, was charging you, or at least at the time charging you $10,000 per semester and you had nine semesters, let's just say a year, it was 40k or something like that. Let's just say 30 to year, right? And I know it's a lot more now, but if they're charging you that and they got 50 to 60 people, bro, they're making 1.5 at least at that time, 1.5 million. Come on, they could invest in learning how to do this, but they didn't.
Greg [00:16:38]:
And you had to go through this, through, unfortunately, trial and error. And that's why this whole world exists, is that you could take your pain and the crap that you've gone through and said, hey, wait a. I figured out a better way, and then you can go, you can teach that to others. And that's the reason why I gave you the advice. I just knew the world existed. It's like, why not just go?
Brandon [00:16:59]:
So I did bring in the revenue of the course, but the reason that the rep course has that revenue is because we've helped 1000 pt s earn 100k or more. That's over $100 million going back to the pts.
Greg [00:17:09]:
Yeah. Wow. So is it cool to make 500k if you're helping people generate probably an additional maybe 40, $50 million that they would not have done had they stayed at their dead end job. I think that's fair. Yeah, that's awesome.
Brandon [00:17:25]:
So that was kind of the beginning. Then what happened is I started just having free time as a home health pt. People don't realize as a home health pt that you're not micromanaged. You're left alone. You make your own schedule, you can do what you want. So I started just trading options, going on Wall street bets, doing all these things, like in the back, and learning a lot about investing, because I was like, okay, I'm making six figures. Let me do x, y, and z. And through this period, I'm going to back up here for a second.
Brandon [00:17:53]:
So through this period, what happened is that first job done, this is something where I do believe the end goal for everyone should be to have alternate income streams, passive income streams, because what happened was there was a Medicare cut in 2019. That cut resulted in me getting directly fired from that job for being the highest paid employee. So it's something where because things can change like that, you don't know what Medicare is going to cut. Medicare is doing cuts right now, I believe, for the outpatient and a few other services. So it's something where a job is never secure. You can be let go at any time, so you need to control your own income. But what I'm trying to say is, during that time, I was let go from one job. What's great about being a PT, though, though, it's just the huge benefit of being a PT or any sort of licensed clinician, is that jobs are everywhere because people quit them all the time.
Brandon [00:18:39]:
Right? So during that time, I went and I was a travel outpatient therapist for a little bit. About eight weeks into my travel contract, Covid happened. So then that job got cut. I started doing home health again in rural Alabama. And this is something where I got paid incredibly well. In rural Alabama, I believe I was making. This was 2020 through Covid. Through Covid.
Brandon [00:19:00]:
During COVID when everyone was losing their jobs, I was making 140k as a home health pt in rural Alabama, because there's no pds in rural Alabama and nobody wants to do it. But during this time, when I was going to Mima's house and all this stuff, I was learning investing and options and all these things, and people were following me along in my journey on Instagram, YouTube, et cetera. I was also making a lot of YouTube content at the time, but it was something where during this time, I then started to make a lot of money in stocks and crypto and then started teaching other people how to do it. But I do want to preface this, that regardless of investing, business, whatever you're doing, entrepreneurship, it's almost always the same lesson where it's not timing the market, timing the business. It's time in the market. Like, look at Greg. He's been consulting for a very long time. That's why he's successful.
Brandon [00:19:50]:
He didn't time the market properly. It's the same thing with investing.
Greg [00:19:53]:
Right. Okay, let's dive into this a little bit more. You have multiple income streams. You learned a skill set, and I know today you've really built yourself into an entrepreneur, and you've become quite successful with that now, even building out an agency and all that cool stuff and coaching or whatnot. But let's talk about this trading. This is a skill set, right? It's a skill set that you decided to learn in 2020, correct. Around 2020. This is a skill set that you were doing while you had a full time job.
Greg [00:20:38]:
So can we talk about options trading, and let's kind of just talk about what you did to kind of get it going, how much time you invested in learning this, who you recommend it for, and how would someone get started?
Brandon [00:20:57]:
Okay. Yeah. So this is something where I made a lot of mistakes over the past four years, and I'm trying to use my experience so you don't make the mistakes I made. Right. That's something where when it comes to any sort of investing, I don't actually recommend a lot of people go into options right away. What I recommend most people do, regardless of your income level, regardless of income level, is start saving a certain amount per week. And I say this because there's index funds and things like that. If you start young enough, you can have a million dollars by the time you're 65.
Brandon [00:21:24]:
So it's something where start saving something weekly. Just in general, this could be anything because if you are not able to save with a $20,000 a year salary, you're not going to be able to save with a $200,000 a year salary. Does that make sense?
Greg [00:21:38]:
Okay, stop. Okay. Yeah, no, this is important. He's given gold. He's given game right now. So what you're saying is you've got to figure out a way to be able to put money and stash money aside and start to make that money grow for you and make money work for you 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Right. And so you would say that the first thing that anyone needs to do if they want to change their financial situation is you've got to earn more money than you are spending, which means that either a, you've got to take a really hard look at what you're spending.
Greg [00:22:18]:
If you aren't willing to invest in learning how to earn more or make sacrifices, whether that means you need to live in Boonyville, Alabama, or you need to take wherever your program is right now and learn what you need to do to make more money, or if you're not willing to do that, then you need to take a hard look at the way you live and say, what do I need to do so that I can actually start to stash money away and start to make that money grow for me? And you're telling people options might not be the first thing you do, but at least do something that's allowing your money to be able to grow. Is that correct?
Brandon [00:23:01]:
Yeah. Because say you put $100 away a week, right? Okay. Well, at the end of the year, you're going to have $5,200. Right. Without doing anything. And that's going to be something where, well, now you have some leeway for options, investing, some crypto stuff, other things. But the way that I teach people now, it's get in the habit of saving. Also, if you blow up a trade because it goes the wrong way, because World War three is announced and your stock is involved, or whatever you're doing, you still have a safety net.
Brandon [00:23:30]:
Our biggest thing is make sure that you're investing smart. But at the same time, we can teach you how to do degenerate things and make a lot of money. That we have some people making the 400% via options, but we don't do this until they make money paper trading with options. So it's something where they're starting off, buy stocks, crypto, etfs, whatever you think you like weekly. Also, depending on your income level, I believe you can max out your IRA at 6500. And this actually is against your taxes for AGI, but it depends on your income level. I'm not sure what that level is. But the reason why we do these things is, okay, we can reduce our tax liability, but we can also go and save money at the same time.
Brandon [00:24:06]:
But I tell everyone that's worked with me, if you cannot make money trading options with a paper trading account, which we teach you how to get and use, you have no business trading real money because you will not make money if you can't trade fake money. Does that make sense?
Greg [00:24:18]:
Yeah, that makes sense. Makes sense. Okay. That was kind of step number one, I think step number one is basically, Greg, people need to have more money. I know this sounds elementary, but the reality is that most of y'all don't do it. So you need to make more money than you are spending so that you have money that is stored. And now you can take that money and you could use that money to be able to create more revenue for you, whether that is through index funds, whether that's through options trading. But you need to basically put yourself in that position, because if you're not in that position, you really can't allow your money to grow for you and grow for you in an exponential way.
Greg [00:25:06]:
So with that said, let's now talk about the different ways that you have grown your money. And let's talk about kind of some of the more, what's the word I'm looking for safe ways. And then we can talk about some of the more aggressive ways and talk about how. Just let's talk about the difference between the two. Is that cool?
Brandon [00:25:32]:
Okay. So I do want to say right now, like, just buying general stocks, buy, et cetera, you're probably going to be fine up until the election period. Because what they're trying to do right now is whenever they're trying to have a bull market, because whenever there's a bull market leading to an election, usually the incumbent gets reelected. So we're probably going to see a bull market till election time, just in general. So most things are probably going to go up until the election goes one way or the other, but we're probably going to see a bull market until that time. So whatever you invest in now, you're probably going to be fine. The biggest issue I've seen personally, though, and this is something where in my programs we called for low cap penny stocks and cryptos back when they were four, five, $6. Nobody paid attention.
Brandon [00:26:16]:
Everybody calls me a scammer, right? Today those same things are $19. Oh, let me get in. And it's like, if you can't make money in the bear market, you're not going to make money in the bull market. Does that make sense? I want to make sure that's really.
Greg [00:26:32]:
Huge. But everybody wants to buy when it's at the top, right? And they can't see the vision. Kira, kind of. Let's talk about that a little bit. How much of being successful in doing this do you have to be a visionary? You have to see something that hasn't happened, but you really feel like this is going to happen. How much of it is that and how much of it is you have to be a leader and not a follower. And not just. I only want to get in when everything is high.
Brandon [00:27:06]:
So you basically have to really just eat shit for a long time, sometimes even be in a trade. A lot of people quit trading within three months because they've just gotten the wrong side of trades. They haven't followed the advice. I'm telling you right now. But same thing in business. How many people have you come through your program three months in? Hey, Greg, I want to.
Greg [00:27:23]:
It happens. It happens all the time. And it's because I think that it's because people don't. They haven't built that skill of investing. They're not willing to wait it out. They're not willing to do the work while they're waiting it out. I think I actually saw something recently that you had put up. It's like, look, man, you have to be willing to not only invest, but you got to be willing to go down.
Greg [00:27:47]:
And while you're going down, you got to be able to work. And then you see that huge exponential lift. And most people can't do that because they still have an employee mindset. Would you agree?
Brandon [00:28:00]:
Yeah, 100%. And it's something where I know I offend a lot of people because obviously, I say stuff because I think it's funny, but something where it's like, oh, made $1,000 this morning. You're warming up hot packs. Obviously, I'm just messing around. Right. But it is something where it's very easy to make money in the market once you understand the market. But if you can't get that basic foundational principle down of, hey, I'm going to invest money. I'm going to save and dedicate money to this account, then there's something where I don't actually want you working with me unless you develop that skill.
Brandon [00:28:28]:
Does that make sense?
Greg [00:28:29]:
Yeah, it makes perfect sense. Okay, so let's go back to 2020. You did not have any major history with building a skill set with options trading before then, right?
Brandon [00:28:43]:
I bought some crypto here and there, but it was something where during that time, I was on Wall street bets a lot, and then it was something where I actually almost bought a bunch of GameStop options before it ran up and I got priced out. And I was so upset. Then I found other meme stocks. I think that year, between Tesla and AMD, I think I did two. My initial investment with options that year, I think, was around $2,000 to start that year, I made $212,000 trading.
Greg [00:29:11]:
Wow. That was in 2020.
Brandon [00:29:15]:
That was in okay.
Greg [00:29:23]:
If you don't mind. I mean, I know you'll tell me anything. So how much money have you netted since you.
Brandon [00:29:30]:
What I've actually done, which is actually I did not go and pay off loans immediately. I put in other investments. I played around with about 30k in options, being a really degenerate for a bit. But then I was like, okay, I can't do this anymore. But you learn from your lessons. But it's something where since that time, probably made over half a mil. But what I've done is something where I've actually taken a lot of money out and put it in my businesses. And kind of why things have grown so fast is because I purposely, I don't know if you saw my video the other day, but I've purposely lost money on multiple occasions to grow businesses to provide value to other people.
Brandon [00:30:05]:
And it's something where I think that's why my businesses have grown. Like, I purposely have lost a lot of money for around three months for other people to have massive value in my market, grow a community, because I believe that whatever you put out there is going to come back to you. Does that make sense?
Greg [00:30:18]:
Yeah, of course. You guys, this is a lesson on what I believe is one of the biggest skills that you need to have if you're going to amass any type of wealth. There's really three skills. There's the communication skills, there is investing skills and then there's visionary skills. Brennan, what I think you've done is I think that you have grown a lot in your investing skill and investing skills. You can't grow unless you have the visionary skill. See, most people won't invest in something. Whether that is a business, whether that is counsel, whether that is growing and leveraging a team.
Greg [00:31:02]:
They won't invest because if you invest, you have to go down first. You have to go down before you go up. So I think you're not having a problem investing because you have the visionary skill. You're like, I know this is going to pay off whether it's a year from now, two years from now, three years from now, four years from now. I understand everybody wants an roi. I get it. Right. But rois, at least for me, I can only talk for myself.
Greg [00:31:29]:
Rois don't happen just like that, especially when it comes to business or when it comes to me putting my money in different vehicles. Whether it's real estate, it's funds, it's this. It takes time. So you have to build your visionary skills and you have to build your investing skills and you can't build one without the other. If you don't have vision, why the hell would you invest in anything?
Brandon [00:31:56]:
Yeah, right. I do want to clarify. I think it is easier for myself, you, other people to invest when you have other businesses and other income assets on the side. I think that if you're struggling, you're living paycheck to paycheck. It's a lot harder. And that's why I recommend that base level try to save $100 a week, cut out expenses here, because it's something where it has become easier the more income I've gotten over the years. But it is something, too, where if you approach anything from a place of scarcity or neediness or it's just going to go south almost every single time. There's a reason why I personally don't work with a lot of people that show scarcity to me or neediness or act like a victim, and they're not accountable for anything that happens to them.
Brandon [00:32:37]:
I don't want to be involved with them or around them. And it's something where I think you have to have that mindset for trading, for business, for everything.
Greg [00:32:46]:
I love it. You know what? Let's hear. You know what? I wasn't planning on having a podcast to go there, but what are some of the things that you are looking for in clients that you're like, wait a minute, this is a no no, by the way. Everybody that's listening, I want you to listen to this. Because if you're wanting people to, I kid you not, I just had somebody reach out to me asking me if I would invest in them, like ten minutes before this podcast. Okay, now I want you to tell me, what are the red flags you're seeing, brandon, in clients where you're like, all right, I don't want to work with this person. Because, guys, if you have these things, if you have these things, people aren't going to want to rock with you. Okay, go for it.
Brandon [00:33:29]:
So I'm going to go back a little bit. I'm going to answer your question, but I do want to tell you this. So you sent Jen and Owen an oversubscribed book back in September. Do you remember?
Greg [00:33:39]:
Yeah. Yep.
Brandon [00:33:40]:
So, okay, I went to California and then I stayed with Jen and Owen, or I was at their house having dinner with them and they were telling me about you sending the book. And I had a five hour drive back to Tucson. So I was like, let me listen to this book. I've run all my businesses that model since I've listened to that book. And I think if anyone listening to this reads that book, you'll get the answer to that question. But it is something where we say no to certain clients. If they're acting needy, they're whiny, or a lot of times we'll be like, okay, you have a business idea or you have a business. What's your revenue? $0.
Brandon [00:34:16]:
You can't work with me until you actually show me that you're. My biggest thing is I don't allow anyone to work with me unless they show me they can get at least one client, because then I know they can do the work. If they don't have one client, I don't believe in them because they haven't proven themselves yet. Yeah, that might sound a little bit harsh, but I don't know.
Greg [00:34:31]:
Yeah. Okay, so I actually want to say something with that. This has been a tough thing for me, and it's actually now over the last year, I'm like, I need to start doing that as well. So initially I was coaching and consulting from 2009 to 2016 of just private practice owners, right? And then at that point, I didn't need money anymore. Back then it's like, no, I'll be using this to make money. But then I got to the point where it's like my staff was telling me at my clinics, like, Greg, you need to help these young kids out because we're in school with them and we're at these flex DPT programs and they really need your help on how you consult and all the skills that, you know, outside of just taking care of these clinics. And so initially, I just did so much stuff for free and started helping people out. And then I did SSPT or whatever.
Greg [00:35:36]:
And everything I made from that I just put back into the events. I didn't take any money from that thing. Right. And then this is what happened, right? And I don't think I've ever said this on a podcast, but it's like everybody that I was helping was making money. And I started to think that I can make anybody make money. But I've really come to realize, even in the last year, like, bro, not everybody's got this. And I realized that, you know something? I'm not going to have. I don't care how much money anybody gives me.
Greg [00:36:06]:
If you haven't proven yourself yet, I'm not going to take your money because a lot of people will pay you money thinking that you've got some magic pill, when really it comes down to just being gritty in the beginning and proving to yourself, and, bro, I tell you, that's a lot of wisdom that you're saying there, because even for me, I'm, like, moving forward, I can't get everybody to make money if you don't have it in you. You know what I mean? And also, I don't want people to give me money if you're not there yet, go figure it. At least go figure that part out on your own. Show proof, and then we can talk. And so I think that's a really big thing, man. I really do. Okay. What else?
Brandon [00:36:58]:
So there's that. If you don't work out, you're not allowed to work with me. If you don't.
Greg [00:37:02]:
Ooh, golly, wow. Okay. And explain why. Explain why.
Brandon [00:37:08]:
Explain why if you don't have the dedication to work out when you don't feel like it, to get in the gym to take care of your body, I don't believe you have dedication of being in business. Does that make sense?
Greg [00:37:17]:
So you believe that how you do anything is how you do everything?
Brandon [00:37:22]:
Yeah.
Greg [00:37:23]:
Okay.
Brandon [00:37:23]:
I mean, it's something where that's my biggest thing also, what I've noticed is my clients that are in the gym four to six days a week are my best clients. So there's that, too. So there's that. The other thing, kind of based on what you were saying, is kind of not really a qualification, but it's something where. And kind of why the workout kind of comes in there as well. But if you are not willing to actually grind and try the sustained effort, because people don't realize entrepreneurship, business trading, this is a hyper competitive environment. And if you're not willing to be hyper competitive, you're exactly where you deserve to be. Does that make sense?
Greg [00:37:59]:
Right? Yeah. No, this makes perfect sense. So, a couple of things you've said. Number one is you have to have proven concept. Number two is you have to be willing to invest in yourself, and that starts with your physical body. And then number three is you're looking for a very competitive, hyper focused person that's willing to get gritty, because this is not something that is going to be given to you. This is a competition. You're basically in the Hunger Games, baby, right? Yeah.
Greg [00:38:36]:
Okay. All right. Is there anything else?
Brandon [00:38:39]:
Basically just willing to be part of a community where you lift each other up and something where, say, you don't have these things yet, but you can say, like, oh, I'm going to join your community. Do x, y, and z. That's great. We'll give you a chance. But if you don't do those things within 90 days, we will kick you out as well.
Greg [00:38:54]:
Okay, you guys, this podcast has been a podcast about investing. And I think what Brandon has shown is he's shown the power of investing in yourself, the power of investing in your skill set. I really hope you go back and listen to this, because I know we went in a few different directions, but I kind of saw some magic going over here, and I was like, oh, my gosh, we got to talk about this. And this is a guy that has invested in not only becoming a better person, but also invested in building his skill set and has really built his visionary skill set so that he's willing to say, hey, I'm going to invest not only in myself, but I'm going to invest in my businesses. I'm going to invest in even seeing certain things that the market is doing. And I know I'm not going to always get it right, but I'm not going to give up. The minute that something is not going exactly according to plan, I'm going to stay the course. He told you what he's looking for in clients, and I think that's also not only what potential investors are looking at from you, but the proper people that you want to bring on your team.
Greg [00:40:08]:
They're looking for that as well. If you're sloppy, if you're not taking care of yourself, if you're not showing visionary skills, if you're not showing the ability to grind, why would anybody of any massive importance want to work with you? Why would anybody want to get behind your mission if you can't show that?
Brandon [00:40:27]:
I want to add one thing, and also it's going to be control of your emotions, where I'm sure you've gotten crazy messages from clients, and you're like, what? You know what I mean? So control of your emotions. Because one thing we teach to in markets, we'll go back to, this is something where it's okay if you've made a grand this week by following our trades or guides, stuff like that, you can stop trading and sit down. But people get greedy. We see this happen time and time again. We saw this happen recently. Someone made three grand in the trade, and then they went the opposite. Everyone said they do, and then they went and they lost it immediately. And it was like, why did you do that? You're being greedy.
Brandon [00:41:02]:
It's because, oh, I just made three grand. And the issue with this, this is more of when you're tapping button on your phone, making money. You don't respect the money because you don't feel like you earn. It's like a casino, right? So it's something where you need to respect every dollar that you earn. I think that's kind of, I don't know if you saw this thing with saying that the reason casinos use chips is because it doesn't feel like real money. Why credit cards use reward points. It doesn't feel like real money. But if you start respecting things like it's real money, you're going to be a lot more emotionally intelligent with it.
Brandon [00:41:34]:
But it is something where we've had multiple clients get up ten k within a month or so, and the ones that listen, they keep the ten k and they're happy. Some go and blow through half of it, some blow all of it. But it's something where they're not controlling their emotions. So we make sure your emotions are in check, because if your emotions aren't in check, you don't have that emotional control. You probably shouldn't be doing a business or trading because you might be the detriment to both of those things.
Greg [00:41:58]:
Wow. Okay, if you don't mind, before we finish the podcast, I want to kind of dive into this a little bit more. What are things that a client or something like even someone like myself can do to help to really keep that in check? Is it just not being greedy? Is it just saying, wait a minute, I'm following the script here, and then no matter if we're up by 15 at the end of the first quarter, then just get the hell out, or what?
Brandon [00:42:30]:
Yeah, it's something where we do recommend starting off. You keep like a trading journal, say what went bad, what went well, what you did right. If you gained money, why? If you lost money, why? And it's something where if you're looking at like, oh, I'm only making money because I'm guessing, well, you need to figure out why you're really making money or you need to stop and reset it, I think, for you, because I believe you have your journal and your gratitude and stuff.
Greg [00:42:54]:
Yes.
Brandon [00:42:55]:
That's probably going to make someone a more stable trader or business owner, where people that don't do those things are probably just going to not have that. Does that make sense?
Greg [00:43:07]:
Right? Yeah. So they're looking at, that's allowing you to see what are the clues of success? What are the things that I'm doing when things are going right? What are the things that I'm doing when things are going wrong? Wouldn't you say that trading has so much similarities to business and to life.
Brandon [00:43:24]:
Well, that's one thing that people don't realize. Like I was saying earlier, people love trading when they see money go up and you're making money in business. This is something. I posted it the other day, but it's not about finding your passion, because when you get a $20,000 check hitting your bank account, you're going to be a lot more passionate, whether that's business or trading. Do you know what I mean? Does that make sense?
Greg [00:43:46]:
Wow. That's amazing. That's amazing. Okay, so, hey, listen, man, I got to tell you something. You've done a really good job. You've done a fantastic job on continuing to evolve and continue to build your skill set, continuing to stretch yourself. So I know most of the time when I'm talking to you, I'm talking business, and I'm helping you with this or helping you with that, very rarely am I ever giving you compliments. It's just like.
Greg [00:44:19]:
Right? I mean, I don't. I really don't. I'm just like, hey, do this, do that, do this, do that. You listen, you go do it. We talk in a couple of months, and that's really it. I'm going to give you your flowers today. Okay. I'm going to give you your.
Brandon [00:44:31]:
Also, though, I did act like a piece of shit a few years ago, so what? I mean, I set the bar really well.
Greg [00:44:39]:
Okay, fine. Okay. I guess. Look, man. Bro, I'm trying to give you your flowers and you're not even allowing me to do that. No, but really, I just love to see people growing, and I think you've seen that with me as well. I'm constantly trying to get better. I'm trying to expand my capacity.
Greg [00:44:58]:
I'm trying, you know, for me, entrepreneurship, it's a big deal. But it's not like my only thing, you know?
Brandon [00:45:04]:
Yeah.
Greg [00:45:04]:
I've got, you know, I've got my family, I've got my. My wife, my kids. You know, I'm trying to just be a better person. And I want to be a great entrepreneur, too. You know what I mean? But I just love to be around people that are growing. And you've been in my world since 2019, a lot more in the last year, I would say. But I have watched just your growth. You're crazy.
Greg [00:45:34]:
But, man, I love you, man. You've done a good job. You've done a really good job. All right, let's talk about this challenge, because, look, there's a lot of you out there. That, you know, you got to make more money. Entrepreneurship might not be the thing for you. Okay? And I'm not someone that believes that anyone, there was a time that I believe that anyone with the right grit, the right heart could be an entrepreneur. I don't know if I necessarily subscribe to that belief anymore.
Greg [00:46:11]:
I think that there are certain things that are just for some and certain things that are for others. But I do believe that pretty much everybody needs to make more money. Okay? And you need to have your money work harder for you than you're working for it. Options trading, I think, is a great option, no pun intended. But you need to build a skill set with this, and you're going to be doing something in the beginning of March on teaching people this skill set. So talk about it a little bit.
Brandon [00:46:41]:
So I want to say this is right now, the reason why we even included this with my programs and other things is because, say, your business isn't going well because you qualified the wrong lead. Well, they can still make money in the market. My goal is to help everyone make money in the market, whether you work with me long term or just free through the challenge, whatever. But understand right now, I believe as of this morning, the average us person has $100,000 in consumer debt. Right. As of this morning, the report came out $100,000 in consumer debt. That's not student loan debt. That's credit card debt, vehicle loan debt, et cetera.
Brandon [00:47:15]:
Right. So this is something where, how do you get ahead? How do you position yourself? Well, investing is one of those things to do that, even if it's a few three to five k a year. Yeah, we do have some crazy trades that go up like ten k in a week. But it is something where, this is one of those skills where people are afraid of it because it's scary because you weren't taught this. No one was taught this. Or you're like, oh, I'm going to be taxed if I take my profit. Profit is profit. Do you want your profit or not? Do you know what I mean? The downside is if you lose money, you can write off up to three k a year against your taxes.
Brandon [00:47:48]:
So say you have a high tax bill, you want to lower your agi to the IRS, you can write off $3,000 a year. I believe that rule is trying to be changed to year.
Greg [00:47:55]:
Right now.
Brandon [00:47:55]:
It's only three k here, unfortunately. But it is something where there's a downside to three k that you could actually use in your advantage. The upside is unlimited through the challenge, though, what we're going to do is we're going to teach you really the basics of investing. We're going to give you some low cap stocks, some low cap crypto. Then we're going to go through options, teach you how to paper trade. We're going to cover level one, two and three options. And level three options are really, really cool because a lot of people get burned on options because they don't know about level three options. So level two options, it's basically a naked option where you have really unlimited downside risk or as much as you put in downside risk and unlimited upside risk.
Brandon [00:48:32]:
And whichever way you go call or put. But level three options, we can actually put a straddle strategy in. We'll teach you how to do this, and this way you can make money if it goes up or down. Now, if it stays the same, may lose some money there. We'll tell you the guy on the market set, stop losses. But this is something where these level three options say it's earnings or something coming up, we're going to position it so we have max profit whether it goes up or down, and you're consistently adding value to your account.
Greg [00:48:56]:
Wow. Okay. So how much time is going to be needed to be a part of this challenge per day? And is it two days, three days? Five days?
Brandon [00:49:07]:
We'll do five days. We did five days last year, so we'll do five days. And honestly, if you show up and you just pay attention to what we're going to share with, you don't need to do much else.
Greg [00:49:18]:
Wow. Okay. So I really want those of you that are out there, and there's two groups that I really want to show to this. I'm going to be there. Okay. And I'm not going to be there as a guest speaker. I'm going to be there just listening in. I'm just going to try to get in whenever I can with the kids and whatnot.
Greg [00:49:39]:
But I actually really want to just learn this just to know it better. And so I think there's a few groups of you. I think, number one, there's those of you that need to make more money, and you need to make your money work for you. Okay. I want you to join this challenge. And then there's a group of you that you are making more money and your money is just being stored, but it's not working for you. And you're willing to learn a skill that can allow your money to work for you, but it's going to take you learning a skill set when you listen to Brandon's story and you heard that he started this in 2020 and what he was able to do in 2021, that really gave him the ability to really start to plan his foot in the entrepreneur space. It was because of the money that he was able to kind of get going with this new skill set that he learned.
Greg [00:50:38]:
So I want you guys to be a part of this. Why don't you tell them the link to where they can join up?
Brandon [00:50:44]:
So it's going to be ptpassiveincome.com optin. So ptpassiveincome.com optin. There will be two other links we'll be putting out. Hcstockclub.com. Greg, we'll make that your affiliate link once it's up. That should be ready by tonight.
Greg [00:51:01]:
Awesome. How much is the challenge?
Brandon [00:51:03]:
It's free.
Greg [00:51:04]:
It's free? Okay. Yeah. Okay. Awesome. You guys, this is the one cool thing about this whole Internet thing, man. There's dudes out here, chicks out here that are giving amazing content, amazing information. It's going to be a free challenge. By the end of the challenge, you will have the skills needed to get going.
Greg [00:51:26]:
I'm sure Brandon will have some type of offer if you want to continue to work with him. But golly, man, take advantage of this. Take advantage. And I can tell you this, this guy really wants to help people. He really does. And if he's got a skill set and he's willing to teach it to you, take advantage of it. Or if you don't, then just stop complaining. Just stop complaining.
Greg [00:51:59]:
Anyways, you got anything else you want to say before we finish?
Brandon [00:52:02]:
No, I think that's it. There will be recordings and stuff that we'll offer as well that will not be free. The recordings will be an extra charge, but it will be something that people want to sign up. Sign up. We're going to teach a lot of things on this challenge. It's something where last year we did this challenge, everyone that's worked with me since last year till now, I believe their portfolios are up 300%.
Greg [00:52:23]:
Wow. That's amazing. That's amazing. All right, guys, well, I'll have the links in the description below. Thank you so much for being on the podcast. I appreciate you. I really love what you've been able to do with regards to building your investment skills and building your visionary skills and also building your communication skills as well. And guys, I hope you listen to every bit of this and even go back, because I really think this is the missing link for many of you that are struggling and you're stuck in the same position year after year after year after year.
Greg [00:52:58]:
You just haven't invested in these skills. And I think these skills are the ones that take you to another level. So, anyways, Brandon, thank you for being on. We appreciate you.
Brandon [00:53:07]:
Thank you for having me.
