robin’s equals results right I can
produce that result and don’t pay me if
I don’t and I hated motivator has never
been a motivator motivations like a warm
bath you should take a bath probably but
II need more than that you need strategy
and so I was a strategist but nobody
responded that sighs like okay what am I
my coach yeah my guru as an athlete I
had great coaches and I was a better
athlete than many of them but they still
were better than I was as a coach
because they could see what I couldn’t
see and so I thought that’s great
because I’m not better than anybody but
I do have these skills that I can help
people and so that part started to grow
and then all of a sudden was about to
give it up I was on Larry King Live and
I worked if they’re asking me about
working with the president and he’s like
what this coach thing you’re not a coach
you don’t coach teams I said I actually
do coach teams many of them but I said
no I’m it’s a different kind of coach I
was about to give it up and it all said
and everybody was a coach therapists are
thumbs up coaches this is people were it
would became a term of art yeah and so
today that’s what I see myself as I’m
obviously a businessman I’m a lot of
things but I really see myself this I’m
a business coach of a life coach I’m a
person that really helps people produce
peak performance something that you’ve
been open about over the last thirty
plus years is that your upbringing you
had a lot of difficulties it was rough
at 17 you ran away from home had to
spend time working as a janitor at some
point in your late teens you meet the
motivational speaker Jim Rohn yes and
then by the time you’re in your early
20s you’re making half a million dollars
a year what kind of happened in between
there what did you learn from Rouen and
other mentors that kind of got you on
this path just to clarify I never spoke
about this until my mother passed away
and I’d even talk about it then but I
was in New York and I was dealing with a
group of kids that were physically
abused and I was trying to share with
them that they could still make their
life the way they want it they they’re
not damaged goods and they could just
see in their eyes that here’s this tall
white guy who’s seemingly wealthy and
they couldn’t relate and so I finally
just unloaded and I told him about
having my head beat against the wall
till I bled my mom pouring liquid soap
down my throat
because she thought I was lying and I
wasn’t it’s so crazy when the person you
love most is trying to harm you she
wasn’t a bad human being she loved me
but the problem was she abused drugs and
prescription drugs and alcohol so much
that changes your personality and so I
had to protect my brother and sister so
I became a practical psychologist just
out of necessity I had to understand as
a kid as a little kid like how do I
protect them from getting hurt I could
take some of the hits but I had to be
able to anticipate her states her
emotion what was shifter what’s going on
in her psychology a member at a time I
was in junior high school I was obsessed
with wanting know the difference in
people’s lives because we grew up in a
very tough environment but I went to a I
thought was a wealthy school was
actually lower middle-class but compared
to our life it looked that way and we
were lying the other side of the tracks
and so for me it was like why are these
people having such a beautiful life and
we’re not I had four different fathers
and I’m like mom I’m confused and and so
it made me obsessive one know the
difference in people and why is the most
popular kid in school so mean no and
he’s the most popular kid so I started
reading books that’s where it started
even before her own I took a speed
reading class and I set a goal to read a
book a day I didn’t do that but in seven
years I read of more than 700 books in
the era of human development psychology
physiology philosophy and I try to apply
it and then when I was 17 I went to this
seminar I was working as a janitor and
then I was in high school and then to
help support my family also I’d work on
the weekends and I’d move people and
there was a friend of our family who had
been doing really poorly and now he was
turning properties in California the
time that was going really well so I’m
moving and we get a little break and I
said my dad said used to be such a loser
and how come you’re so successful now
you’d only a kid could say that stuff
and the guy looks at me cuz you have
said white and long story short he goes
well I went to this seminar this man
named Jim Rohn and I said what’s a
seminar because one man takes everything
he’s learned in 20 30 years of his life
and he pours it in like four hours and
you get to save a decade or two and I
said wow I’d like to go two of those so
could you get me in and he said yeah and
then you didn’t say anymore so what
would you and he said no and I said why
not he goes because you won’t value it I
so how much does it cost and he said it
was $35 and I was making $40 a week as a
janitor and I said that’s a week’s pay
goes well then go waste 10 or 20 years
doing it on your own I made this big
decision you know it’s been two weeks
pay to go to this event I sat there and
I was mesmerised and that’s what started
the game
for me and when you were forming your
own idea is kind of your own system yes
how long did that take did you plan this
hell going on yeah I set a goal when I
was a sophomore in high school so I said
in my 20s I want to be able have any
individual but I want to be able to
change anything if they’re committed and
I’m committed I want to have the skills
to do it in my 30s I want to be able do
that with small groups of people
simultaneously so I could scale and help
more people I said you know my 40s want
to do it with large groups and my 50s
organizations and my 60s maybe I’d work
in government become a congressman a
senator maybe eventually run for a
larger office and it was like my whole
plan and I got ahead of that schedule
very quickly but it pretty much has been
the path that I’ve been on I’m just a
little further ahead I don’t know that I
want to work in government anymore I’d
rather advise because I’ve worked with
multiple presidents and the system is
not something I’m terribly excited about
but I think but that vision is what
really started me and then when I
started helping these skills where I
could wipe out a phobia in an hour and
therapists were saying it would take
five six seven years I take their seven
year client turn them around I used that
as the way to build my brand and in the
early years as you were building this
brand the way that you write about it in
your first two books it almost sounds
like you were touring the country in a
van like a band would do very much I was
it was a very very crazy life I used to
do four of these weekend seminars a
month literally and in between I would
have to fill them so I would go do media
to fill them and then I do have free
guest event so I could show people that
I really was the real thing and it
wasn’t BS I was working as hard as a
human being could work that temple
hasn’t changed I just have more
diversity the more companies and I got
33 companies so my dance card is full
four kids and three grandkids but I love
that passionate lifestyle I love
constantly growing I love seeing and
feeling that you can have an impact and
gradually it went from just coaching to
actually running businesses because I
had experiences that were life-changing
and then after this initial level of
success in your early 20s things started
to really accelerate you have your first
book unlimited power
becomes a best-seller but then the one
in 91 awaken the giant within yes cells
even more yes then in 88 you start doing
these infomercials that become insanely
popular yes
you’ve said in the past that you were
used to a schedule that was relentless
but at this point it kind of became
exhausted it did how did you deal with a
new level of celebrity and demand well
it was just do if the money would have
stopped you know making more than
million dollars a year and then three
and then four
you know the economics grew but it
wasn’t really what drove me I don’t have
to work another day in my life thank God
but I’m in a place where I probably work
as hard or harder today than I ever have
but I do it cuz I want to not because I
have to it’s like what does the Machine
work and play I think the difference is
purpose when your vocation becomes your
vacation in the old quote you know
that’s when you’ve made it so I’ve
always had that so yeah the celebrity
the demand from celebrity or people want
something every minute for me is
certainly increased but I’ve never been
frustrated or angry by it because it’s a
privilege and so how do I deal with it I
train more intensely I develop more
tools to strengthen my body in my mind I
just sharpen the saw even more so that I
could cut through the limitations
quicker we’re here at the male which was
one of your early investments at one
point in your 20s did you realize I have
enough money now that I can actually
make investments and then what were you
looking for to invest in businesses or
start your own I wasn’t focused on
investing at that stage cuz I was what
24 I think the first time I came here
and 29 is when I actually bought this
place and I didn’t buy it because I want
an investment I wasn’t that financially
oriented or intelligent quite frankly I
just found this place to be heaven on
earth
I’d been to many places in islands it
was really the culture here the kids
learned to sing in four-part harmony
when they’re four or five years old the
level of joy like somebody drops dishes
in the kitchen here you know most people
look at me they just start laughing
uncontrollably if they’re not making for
another person they just think it’s the
funniest thing in the world it changed
me so much first I just wanted to have a
place here so I’d have to come back
because I knew I get caught up on our
normal life and it’s been an incredible
balance for me this is just one of many
businesses that you have I think a lot
of people even those familiar with your
career would be surprised by how many
companies that you either run or are
invested in how many do you have now and
how much money does that generate 33 and
they over 5 billion this year we should
hit 6 billion
and annual revenues out of it but
they’re really diverse companies so I
only run 12 of those directly but you
know to give you an idea I’m very
interested in things that change
people’s lives you know I’m involved
with Bob Ferrari and stem cells you know
the top guys in the world in that area
we’re working with our Harvard Stem
saloons to kind of integrating buying
the Panama City Institute I own I’m
partners with Peter Guber and group of
my friends to give you an idea and
virtual reality we have next VR we have
the exclusive rights for the NBA which
starts at end of September on Tuesday
night NBA games the very beginning about
we have the UFC exclusive we have Live
Nation for all concerts so you can
experience it another way I’m one of the
owners of the alley FC the new Major
League Soccer franchise and being a part
of creating that and building that is
really fun about eSports team Team
Liquid we just won dota so when from
last place to first and generated more
money than any sports team in history on
that day so I love the challenge of
being involved these things and I love
being surrounded by people that are
geniuses in their own rights who are
wickedly smart learning from them
growing adding my two cents to it and
helping those businesses to grow and you
also have your foundation yes that you
run and that seems very connected with
your whole coaching philosophy related
even to your own personal life is there
a common thread between those what
started me on this journey really more
than anything else was when I was 11
years old and we had no money and no
food it was Thanksgiving which magnifies
the situation massively I go to the door
there’s guys standing there and he’s got
two giant bags of groceries in his hands
and he had a pot on the ground a big
black pot with an uncooked turkey in it
my father always told no one gives a
damn you know and I developed a new
belief that day that strangers care and
it’s changed to care about me and my
family I wanted to do something so that
day I said someday I’m gonna feed
families so no 17 I’ve had two families
and next year four and my goal was
double it every year and then about gosh
like five six years ago when I was
writing money master the game I’m
interviewing 50 billionaires that are
literally the smartest financial people
on earth Warren Buffett Carl Icahn
Ray Dalio I mean the best of the best
and I’m watching Congress take our food
stamps which is now called the SNAP
program and cut it by almost 7 billion
dollars which if you figure it out it
means every family that gets support
needs
to go out without meals one week out of
a month 12 months out of a year I said
how many people are you fat I asked my
team go back and calculate was 42
million people of our lifetime this is
what if I put 50 million a year and then
I got more excited so what if it’s a
hundred million and then I found feeding
America is my partner they’re the the
most efficient group there they really
deliver and I’ve had 100 million people
and then I set a goal to feed a billion
people so in the last three years that
we fed 300 million people and I’ve had
350 million in total and I’m gonna feed
a billion people over the next seven
years and that’s what my life is about
and then it’s also coaching education my
family and the rest of my life
in something through this entire journey
whether it’s working with your
foundation or coaching you’ve been able
to reach so many people because of this
tremendous network that you’ve built yes
and that spans business Hollywood
professional sports all kinds of the
natural world
yeah the financial world how did you go
about doing that what was maybe like the
domino that kicked that off at the
beginning and how did that build seem
how do you build relationships with all
these people what I really like is
changing a life helping someone change
of business James’s family and so forth
so in the beginning I think it was
because I was willing to only be paid
for results I wasn’t a therapist there
were no such thing as coaches back then
you got to be a therapist it had to be
paid for by somebody and and I saw what
therapist did and I was honestly
disturbed by it because I see people in
therapy for five years I was like this
is absurd so what was your pitch how
much were you charging and then very
beginning a thousand dollars for I think
I had my first sessions were 500 bucks
and then I went to a thousand and then
5,000 and then you know went out but I
get a million dollars here to coach
something out for a year
it wasn’t what the money was about
wanting people to know that you pay me
nothing unless I produced the result and
so I got crazy stuff
huge eating problems drug addictions
depression as you name it but I was able
to get results and then I was able to
challenge traditional therapist in the
early days now I trained them like you
know these people haven’t call me their
coach but just total like Marc
Benioff says I’m his coach he tells the
people in salesforce.com wouldn’t exist
without Tony Robbins and there’s some
truth in that but it’s a bit of an
exaggeration Marc did the whole goddamn
thing right but I helped and I’ve been
on this journey and so while I’ve been
coaching them you go imagine how much
I’m learning
I mean God you learned
so much if you’d have to be an idiot not
to pay attention or so filled with your
own ego think I’m just gonna teach them
that’s dumb
and one of these longtime clients and
friends is the investor Paul Tudor Jones
yes and I read somewhere that you have
daily correspondence does that still yes
can you give an example maybe of what
that back and forth would look like and
then what checking in in person would
sound like we’re good friends but I see
him four times a year for our direct
sessions and they usually go for an hour
and half two hours of total immersion
and every time I see him it the markets
changed the world’s changed and my job
is to help make sure he’s maximizing his
resources and so look once you know the
markets and what you know your business
is lost somebody like Paul I mean Paul
for people who don’t know it
in 1987 still the largest percentage
stock market crash in a day I mean he
made that year you know 20% drop that
day and he made 50% for his clients that
time then during that year so it’s
beyond what people can imagine but then
he lost money so my job is figure out
what’s going on turning around and then
daily he sends me you have a checklist
of what we measure everything from his
nav to his weights what’s happened his
body to his focus – we have ratios of
risk/reward that we’re measuring and
then he does a narrative for me and so I
see that and then I know the pattern if
I needed to do something right away I
can make a phone call or send him an
email or fly there in person when it’s
necessary but at this point it doesn’t
take that much because it’s a it’s a
refined machine we’ve been working
together 23 years 24 years I think now
to give you an idea so that also helped
me because he introduced me to Ray Dalio
who was a fan of my work I didn’t know
that but we raised the davinci of
investing and the network got bigger
Jack Bogle you know Ray Kurzweil all the
people that you start to meet in that
world when you really serve people and
care about them you’re not trying to
tank you’re trying to give they’re used
to people taking from them and so when
you sincerely are giving you develop a
friendship and that’s what I’m more
interested in I’m not some from but a
machine learning from them and in 2014
when money master of the game came out
that seemed to be the beginning of a new
chapter in your career and looking at
that that seemed to be around the same
time since then when you are looking to
connect with a younger audience as well
people now in their 20s in 30
when you started this new chapter of
your career were you planning on trying
to reach our rekindle something I think
that one goal is just I want people to
really learn the tools that could change
theirs I taught finance for years I
network with people in their 20s
obviously in all ages I’ve worked with
but I wanted to just take that to
another level and also quite frankly was
just angry
I was angry about the level of abuse I
saw in 2008 that happened to people I
knew what happened I made a fortune
during that time because when things
melt down and they’re going to again
life is cyclical it’s one of the
greatest opportunities in your life and
so I looked at that and said I gotta
help people and I hadn’t written a book
in 20 years I hate writing books I like
the live raw real and it’s always
changing and I don’t know what’s gonna
happen and I’d be bored to death
otherwise so I didn’t like it but
because I was mad and because I had
access I said I’m gonna interview these
50 people I’m gonna bring the answers to
people that are unassailable not my
answers the answers are the best on
earth and so that’s what started and
then people started saying holy
this guy as a strategy this guy knows
how to take the most complex things and
really teach them or you could really
use them and then also I started to
share more of what I was doing in my
foundation I wasn’t doing that I wasn’t
doing it for stars on my chart but I
realized that by talking about it I got
more help I got matching funds I got
people to help out and that doubled my
impact so I started doing that that was
conscious um I want to increase my
impact and to do that I need people know
more of who I really was and to do that
I needed to go to a different subject
matter speaking of comparing past and
present was looking at awaken the giant
within from 91 and Donald Trump is a
figure that occurs repeatedly actually
yeah and that was at a point where his
businesses were failing and it looked as
if he might have bought him doubt then
of course in the 2000s he had this
resurgence and today he’s President of
the United States looking at that kind
of following his career and analyzing it
and comparing that to your work with
President Bill Clinton and looking at
the other presidents that we’ve had do
you still see him as someone who’s
driven
by the pain of being second best and if
you were able to talk to him on the
phone right now what would you I know
the president quite well and I also know
Hillary quite well as well for many many
decades we’ve never shared values he and
I but I I respected his ability to turn
it around I remember the banks couldn’t
afford to have him go under and he was
able to turn around and the market
turned around all those things too round
so I respect somebody can turn things
around and be successful I think the
president’s communication style is the
most difficult thing because he actually
does care people that know him know he
cares if you see his kids and you get to
know his kids you can see there is a
good man in there but his style of
communication is combative approach the
elements of ego that are obviously there
in all of us but seem to be more easy to
see in the president sometimes than
other people get in the way of his
capacity to lead unfortunately I gave
him his first big speech those days you
do like a couple hundred people and he
came we had 10,000 people he was floored
he was scared it was overwhelming this
was in the 90s mid-90s I think it would
be and then he got addicted on it but
you know his talk was get a prenup
[Music]
insight because of the TV show he had
you know he had such a following of
people and people wanted hear what he
had to say and I’m an American so I want
whoever’s president to win I worked on
both sides of the aisle always and if he
asked me to help me when I’m president
mama just reached out for some of the
projects he’s working on and so I’ve
worked with a variety of presidents over
the years on both sides of the aisle and
congressmen and Senators so I’m not into
trying to demonize anybody what I think
is our problem is demonization it used
to be that people would fight like hell
on the floor of the house and they’d go
up a beer together now it’s like you’re
radioactive if you talk to the other
side which keeps us from anything done
so I don’t feed the narrative I see the
president’s weaknesses and strengths
like I hope everybody can but not
everybody does and I’m here to help
whoever either side of the aisle with
someone’s a good human being wants help
I would help him I’m not politically
driven that area I’m an independent
personally and I vote for who I believe
will make the biggest difference we’re
here at new male for the shopify bills
yes a bigger business competition you’ll
be spending a lot of time mentoring
up-and-coming entrepreneurs yeah if you
could distill
one fundamental lesson from all of these
talks that you’re going to be having
that you would give to an entrepreneur
who wants to build an empire around
their passion the way that you have what
would you tell them what do you think
that common ground is I always tell
people life is the dance between what
you desire most and what you fear most
gotta be able to deal with the threshold
of control and what I mean by that is do
you ski or snowboard I’m skating okay so
most people are intermediate their whole
life what happens is they go they learn
a little bit and then one day they think
they’re on a blue and it’s a double
black diamond
you know I holy I’m gonna die and
it looks like you’re gonna go off the
edge of the cliff and those moments are
threshold of control moments so what I
mean by that is you’re going like out of
control you know you literally can die
you go over the edge and so you have two
choices focus like crazy on what you
want and carve find the way to carve or
focus on what you’re afraid of and if
you do that what you’re gonna do is slam
yourself on the ground or try to hang on
for dear life well most people do the
latter so they’re terminally
intermediate they never become a master
at anything the people become a masters
are the ones that the fear is there and
it’s uncontrollable fear courage isn’t
that you’re not afraid that you’re
scared shitless but you decide that
you’re gonna focus on what you’re here
to do versus what your fear and you push
yourself and once you figure out how to
do that first carve and then another
another that all sudden the black
diamond is your bitch
you’re no longer afraid of that and and
you become a masterful ski or snowboard
or whatever it is and when you learn how
to overcome those instead of collapsing
I think that is the single most
important thing it’s like Joe Gebbia
from Airbnb he was telling me that he
was getting coached by Y Combinator the
guy was saying to him here’s the key to
success don’t die just don’t die and
that’s my way of saying that’s what the
threshold control is if you can keep
pushing through those thresholds then
all of a sudden the muscle and you grows
and what used to be hard to do is easy
if you don’t deal with that threshold of
control let’s talk about the fact half
our businesses are gone in a year
80% of gone in five years is the 10-year
mark 96% fail 4% succeed but that
doesn’t mean to make any money they
could be not profitable they’re just
still standing business requires an
unbelievable level of resilience inside
you and I tell every
the choke hold on the growth of your
business is always the leader it’s
always your psychology and your skills
80% psychology 20% skills if you know
the marketing skills if you don’t have
the financial intelligence skills and
you don’t have the recruiting skills the
tree it’s really hard for you to lead
somebody else if you don’t have
fundamentally those skills and so my
wife is about teaching those skills and
helping people change the psychology so
that they live out of what’s possible
instead of out of their fear and they
produce the kind of certainty inside
themselves so they really execute well
that was great thank you so much Tony I
really enjoyed the time thanks come on Josue to beauty thank you
produce that result and don’t pay me if
I don’t and I hated motivator has never
been a motivator motivations like a warm
bath you should take a bath probably but
II need more than that you need strategy
and so I was a strategist but nobody
responded that sighs like okay what am I
my coach yeah my guru as an athlete I
had great coaches and I was a better
athlete than many of them but they still
were better than I was as a coach
because they could see what I couldn’t
see and so I thought that’s great
because I’m not better than anybody but
I do have these skills that I can help
people and so that part started to grow
and then all of a sudden was about to
give it up I was on Larry King Live and
I worked if they’re asking me about
working with the president and he’s like
what this coach thing you’re not a coach
you don’t coach teams I said I actually
do coach teams many of them but I said
no I’m it’s a different kind of coach I
was about to give it up and it all said
and everybody was a coach therapists are
thumbs up coaches this is people were it
would became a term of art yeah and so
today that’s what I see myself as I’m
obviously a businessman I’m a lot of
things but I really see myself this I’m
a business coach of a life coach I’m a
person that really helps people produce
peak performance something that you’ve
been open about over the last thirty
plus years is that your upbringing you
had a lot of difficulties it was rough
at 17 you ran away from home had to
spend time working as a janitor at some
point in your late teens you meet the
motivational speaker Jim Rohn yes and
then by the time you’re in your early
20s you’re making half a million dollars
a year what kind of happened in between
there what did you learn from Rouen and
other mentors that kind of got you on
this path just to clarify I never spoke
about this until my mother passed away
and I’d even talk about it then but I
was in New York and I was dealing with a
group of kids that were physically
abused and I was trying to share with
them that they could still make their
life the way they want it they they’re
not damaged goods and they could just
see in their eyes that here’s this tall
white guy who’s seemingly wealthy and
they couldn’t relate and so I finally
just unloaded and I told him about
having my head beat against the wall
till I bled my mom pouring liquid soap
down my throat
because she thought I was lying and I
wasn’t it’s so crazy when the person you
love most is trying to harm you she
wasn’t a bad human being she loved me
but the problem was she abused drugs and
prescription drugs and alcohol so much
that changes your personality and so I
had to protect my brother and sister so
I became a practical psychologist just
out of necessity I had to understand as
a kid as a little kid like how do I
protect them from getting hurt I could
take some of the hits but I had to be
able to anticipate her states her
emotion what was shifter what’s going on
in her psychology a member at a time I
was in junior high school I was obsessed
with wanting know the difference in
people’s lives because we grew up in a
very tough environment but I went to a I
thought was a wealthy school was
actually lower middle-class but compared
to our life it looked that way and we
were lying the other side of the tracks
and so for me it was like why are these
people having such a beautiful life and
we’re not I had four different fathers
and I’m like mom I’m confused and and so
it made me obsessive one know the
difference in people and why is the most
popular kid in school so mean no and
he’s the most popular kid so I started
reading books that’s where it started
even before her own I took a speed
reading class and I set a goal to read a
book a day I didn’t do that but in seven
years I read of more than 700 books in
the era of human development psychology
physiology philosophy and I try to apply
it and then when I was 17 I went to this
seminar I was working as a janitor and
then I was in high school and then to
help support my family also I’d work on
the weekends and I’d move people and
there was a friend of our family who had
been doing really poorly and now he was
turning properties in California the
time that was going really well so I’m
moving and we get a little break and I
said my dad said used to be such a loser
and how come you’re so successful now
you’d only a kid could say that stuff
and the guy looks at me cuz you have
said white and long story short he goes
well I went to this seminar this man
named Jim Rohn and I said what’s a
seminar because one man takes everything
he’s learned in 20 30 years of his life
and he pours it in like four hours and
you get to save a decade or two and I
said wow I’d like to go two of those so
could you get me in and he said yeah and
then you didn’t say anymore so what
would you and he said no and I said why
not he goes because you won’t value it I
so how much does it cost and he said it
was $35 and I was making $40 a week as a
janitor and I said that’s a week’s pay
goes well then go waste 10 or 20 years
doing it on your own I made this big
decision you know it’s been two weeks
pay to go to this event I sat there and
I was mesmerised and that’s what started
the game
for me and when you were forming your
own idea is kind of your own system yes
how long did that take did you plan this
hell going on yeah I set a goal when I
was a sophomore in high school so I said
in my 20s I want to be able have any
individual but I want to be able to
change anything if they’re committed and
I’m committed I want to have the skills
to do it in my 30s I want to be able do
that with small groups of people
simultaneously so I could scale and help
more people I said you know my 40s want
to do it with large groups and my 50s
organizations and my 60s maybe I’d work
in government become a congressman a
senator maybe eventually run for a
larger office and it was like my whole
plan and I got ahead of that schedule
very quickly but it pretty much has been
the path that I’ve been on I’m just a
little further ahead I don’t know that I
want to work in government anymore I’d
rather advise because I’ve worked with
multiple presidents and the system is
not something I’m terribly excited about
but I think but that vision is what
really started me and then when I
started helping these skills where I
could wipe out a phobia in an hour and
therapists were saying it would take
five six seven years I take their seven
year client turn them around I used that
as the way to build my brand and in the
early years as you were building this
brand the way that you write about it in
your first two books it almost sounds
like you were touring the country in a
van like a band would do very much I was
it was a very very crazy life I used to
do four of these weekend seminars a
month literally and in between I would
have to fill them so I would go do media
to fill them and then I do have free
guest event so I could show people that
I really was the real thing and it
wasn’t BS I was working as hard as a
human being could work that temple
hasn’t changed I just have more
diversity the more companies and I got
33 companies so my dance card is full
four kids and three grandkids but I love
that passionate lifestyle I love
constantly growing I love seeing and
feeling that you can have an impact and
gradually it went from just coaching to
actually running businesses because I
had experiences that were life-changing
and then after this initial level of
success in your early 20s things started
to really accelerate you have your first
book unlimited power
becomes a best-seller but then the one
in 91 awaken the giant within yes cells
even more yes then in 88 you start doing
these infomercials that become insanely
popular yes
you’ve said in the past that you were
used to a schedule that was relentless
but at this point it kind of became
exhausted it did how did you deal with a
new level of celebrity and demand well
it was just do if the money would have
stopped you know making more than
million dollars a year and then three
and then four
you know the economics grew but it
wasn’t really what drove me I don’t have
to work another day in my life thank God
but I’m in a place where I probably work
as hard or harder today than I ever have
but I do it cuz I want to not because I
have to it’s like what does the Machine
work and play I think the difference is
purpose when your vocation becomes your
vacation in the old quote you know
that’s when you’ve made it so I’ve
always had that so yeah the celebrity
the demand from celebrity or people want
something every minute for me is
certainly increased but I’ve never been
frustrated or angry by it because it’s a
privilege and so how do I deal with it I
train more intensely I develop more
tools to strengthen my body in my mind I
just sharpen the saw even more so that I
could cut through the limitations
quicker we’re here at the male which was
one of your early investments at one
point in your 20s did you realize I have
enough money now that I can actually
make investments and then what were you
looking for to invest in businesses or
start your own I wasn’t focused on
investing at that stage cuz I was what
24 I think the first time I came here
and 29 is when I actually bought this
place and I didn’t buy it because I want
an investment I wasn’t that financially
oriented or intelligent quite frankly I
just found this place to be heaven on
earth
I’d been to many places in islands it
was really the culture here the kids
learned to sing in four-part harmony
when they’re four or five years old the
level of joy like somebody drops dishes
in the kitchen here you know most people
look at me they just start laughing
uncontrollably if they’re not making for
another person they just think it’s the
funniest thing in the world it changed
me so much first I just wanted to have a
place here so I’d have to come back
because I knew I get caught up on our
normal life and it’s been an incredible
balance for me this is just one of many
businesses that you have I think a lot
of people even those familiar with your
career would be surprised by how many
companies that you either run or are
invested in how many do you have now and
how much money does that generate 33 and
they over 5 billion this year we should
hit 6 billion
and annual revenues out of it but
they’re really diverse companies so I
only run 12 of those directly but you
know to give you an idea I’m very
interested in things that change
people’s lives you know I’m involved
with Bob Ferrari and stem cells you know
the top guys in the world in that area
we’re working with our Harvard Stem
saloons to kind of integrating buying
the Panama City Institute I own I’m
partners with Peter Guber and group of
my friends to give you an idea and
virtual reality we have next VR we have
the exclusive rights for the NBA which
starts at end of September on Tuesday
night NBA games the very beginning about
we have the UFC exclusive we have Live
Nation for all concerts so you can
experience it another way I’m one of the
owners of the alley FC the new Major
League Soccer franchise and being a part
of creating that and building that is
really fun about eSports team Team
Liquid we just won dota so when from
last place to first and generated more
money than any sports team in history on
that day so I love the challenge of
being involved these things and I love
being surrounded by people that are
geniuses in their own rights who are
wickedly smart learning from them
growing adding my two cents to it and
helping those businesses to grow and you
also have your foundation yes that you
run and that seems very connected with
your whole coaching philosophy related
even to your own personal life is there
a common thread between those what
started me on this journey really more
than anything else was when I was 11
years old and we had no money and no
food it was Thanksgiving which magnifies
the situation massively I go to the door
there’s guys standing there and he’s got
two giant bags of groceries in his hands
and he had a pot on the ground a big
black pot with an uncooked turkey in it
my father always told no one gives a
damn you know and I developed a new
belief that day that strangers care and
it’s changed to care about me and my
family I wanted to do something so that
day I said someday I’m gonna feed
families so no 17 I’ve had two families
and next year four and my goal was
double it every year and then about gosh
like five six years ago when I was
writing money master the game I’m
interviewing 50 billionaires that are
literally the smartest financial people
on earth Warren Buffett Carl Icahn
Ray Dalio I mean the best of the best
and I’m watching Congress take our food
stamps which is now called the SNAP
program and cut it by almost 7 billion
dollars which if you figure it out it
means every family that gets support
needs
to go out without meals one week out of
a month 12 months out of a year I said
how many people are you fat I asked my
team go back and calculate was 42
million people of our lifetime this is
what if I put 50 million a year and then
I got more excited so what if it’s a
hundred million and then I found feeding
America is my partner they’re the the
most efficient group there they really
deliver and I’ve had 100 million people
and then I set a goal to feed a billion
people so in the last three years that
we fed 300 million people and I’ve had
350 million in total and I’m gonna feed
a billion people over the next seven
years and that’s what my life is about
and then it’s also coaching education my
family and the rest of my life
in something through this entire journey
whether it’s working with your
foundation or coaching you’ve been able
to reach so many people because of this
tremendous network that you’ve built yes
and that spans business Hollywood
professional sports all kinds of the
natural world
yeah the financial world how did you go
about doing that what was maybe like the
domino that kicked that off at the
beginning and how did that build seem
how do you build relationships with all
these people what I really like is
changing a life helping someone change
of business James’s family and so forth
so in the beginning I think it was
because I was willing to only be paid
for results I wasn’t a therapist there
were no such thing as coaches back then
you got to be a therapist it had to be
paid for by somebody and and I saw what
therapist did and I was honestly
disturbed by it because I see people in
therapy for five years I was like this
is absurd so what was your pitch how
much were you charging and then very
beginning a thousand dollars for I think
I had my first sessions were 500 bucks
and then I went to a thousand and then
5,000 and then you know went out but I
get a million dollars here to coach
something out for a year
it wasn’t what the money was about
wanting people to know that you pay me
nothing unless I produced the result and
so I got crazy stuff
huge eating problems drug addictions
depression as you name it but I was able
to get results and then I was able to
challenge traditional therapist in the
early days now I trained them like you
know these people haven’t call me their
coach but just total like Marc
Benioff says I’m his coach he tells the
people in salesforce.com wouldn’t exist
without Tony Robbins and there’s some
truth in that but it’s a bit of an
exaggeration Marc did the whole goddamn
thing right but I helped and I’ve been
on this journey and so while I’ve been
coaching them you go imagine how much
I’m learning
I mean God you learned
so much if you’d have to be an idiot not
to pay attention or so filled with your
own ego think I’m just gonna teach them
that’s dumb
and one of these longtime clients and
friends is the investor Paul Tudor Jones
yes and I read somewhere that you have
daily correspondence does that still yes
can you give an example maybe of what
that back and forth would look like and
then what checking in in person would
sound like we’re good friends but I see
him four times a year for our direct
sessions and they usually go for an hour
and half two hours of total immersion
and every time I see him it the markets
changed the world’s changed and my job
is to help make sure he’s maximizing his
resources and so look once you know the
markets and what you know your business
is lost somebody like Paul I mean Paul
for people who don’t know it
in 1987 still the largest percentage
stock market crash in a day I mean he
made that year you know 20% drop that
day and he made 50% for his clients that
time then during that year so it’s
beyond what people can imagine but then
he lost money so my job is figure out
what’s going on turning around and then
daily he sends me you have a checklist
of what we measure everything from his
nav to his weights what’s happened his
body to his focus – we have ratios of
risk/reward that we’re measuring and
then he does a narrative for me and so I
see that and then I know the pattern if
I needed to do something right away I
can make a phone call or send him an
email or fly there in person when it’s
necessary but at this point it doesn’t
take that much because it’s a it’s a
refined machine we’ve been working
together 23 years 24 years I think now
to give you an idea so that also helped
me because he introduced me to Ray Dalio
who was a fan of my work I didn’t know
that but we raised the davinci of
investing and the network got bigger
Jack Bogle you know Ray Kurzweil all the
people that you start to meet in that
world when you really serve people and
care about them you’re not trying to
tank you’re trying to give they’re used
to people taking from them and so when
you sincerely are giving you develop a
friendship and that’s what I’m more
interested in I’m not some from but a
machine learning from them and in 2014
when money master of the game came out
that seemed to be the beginning of a new
chapter in your career and looking at
that that seemed to be around the same
time since then when you are looking to
connect with a younger audience as well
people now in their 20s in 30
when you started this new chapter of
your career were you planning on trying
to reach our rekindle something I think
that one goal is just I want people to
really learn the tools that could change
theirs I taught finance for years I
network with people in their 20s
obviously in all ages I’ve worked with
but I wanted to just take that to
another level and also quite frankly was
just angry
I was angry about the level of abuse I
saw in 2008 that happened to people I
knew what happened I made a fortune
during that time because when things
melt down and they’re going to again
life is cyclical it’s one of the
greatest opportunities in your life and
so I looked at that and said I gotta
help people and I hadn’t written a book
in 20 years I hate writing books I like
the live raw real and it’s always
changing and I don’t know what’s gonna
happen and I’d be bored to death
otherwise so I didn’t like it but
because I was mad and because I had
access I said I’m gonna interview these
50 people I’m gonna bring the answers to
people that are unassailable not my
answers the answers are the best on
earth and so that’s what started and
then people started saying holy
this guy as a strategy this guy knows
how to take the most complex things and
really teach them or you could really
use them and then also I started to
share more of what I was doing in my
foundation I wasn’t doing that I wasn’t
doing it for stars on my chart but I
realized that by talking about it I got
more help I got matching funds I got
people to help out and that doubled my
impact so I started doing that that was
conscious um I want to increase my
impact and to do that I need people know
more of who I really was and to do that
I needed to go to a different subject
matter speaking of comparing past and
present was looking at awaken the giant
within from 91 and Donald Trump is a
figure that occurs repeatedly actually
yeah and that was at a point where his
businesses were failing and it looked as
if he might have bought him doubt then
of course in the 2000s he had this
resurgence and today he’s President of
the United States looking at that kind
of following his career and analyzing it
and comparing that to your work with
President Bill Clinton and looking at
the other presidents that we’ve had do
you still see him as someone who’s
driven
by the pain of being second best and if
you were able to talk to him on the
phone right now what would you I know
the president quite well and I also know
Hillary quite well as well for many many
decades we’ve never shared values he and
I but I I respected his ability to turn
it around I remember the banks couldn’t
afford to have him go under and he was
able to turn around and the market
turned around all those things too round
so I respect somebody can turn things
around and be successful I think the
president’s communication style is the
most difficult thing because he actually
does care people that know him know he
cares if you see his kids and you get to
know his kids you can see there is a
good man in there but his style of
communication is combative approach the
elements of ego that are obviously there
in all of us but seem to be more easy to
see in the president sometimes than
other people get in the way of his
capacity to lead unfortunately I gave
him his first big speech those days you
do like a couple hundred people and he
came we had 10,000 people he was floored
he was scared it was overwhelming this
was in the 90s mid-90s I think it would
be and then he got addicted on it but
you know his talk was get a prenup
[Music]
insight because of the TV show he had
you know he had such a following of
people and people wanted hear what he
had to say and I’m an American so I want
whoever’s president to win I worked on
both sides of the aisle always and if he
asked me to help me when I’m president
mama just reached out for some of the
projects he’s working on and so I’ve
worked with a variety of presidents over
the years on both sides of the aisle and
congressmen and Senators so I’m not into
trying to demonize anybody what I think
is our problem is demonization it used
to be that people would fight like hell
on the floor of the house and they’d go
up a beer together now it’s like you’re
radioactive if you talk to the other
side which keeps us from anything done
so I don’t feed the narrative I see the
president’s weaknesses and strengths
like I hope everybody can but not
everybody does and I’m here to help
whoever either side of the aisle with
someone’s a good human being wants help
I would help him I’m not politically
driven that area I’m an independent
personally and I vote for who I believe
will make the biggest difference we’re
here at new male for the shopify bills
yes a bigger business competition you’ll
be spending a lot of time mentoring
up-and-coming entrepreneurs yeah if you
could distill
one fundamental lesson from all of these
talks that you’re going to be having
that you would give to an entrepreneur
who wants to build an empire around
their passion the way that you have what
would you tell them what do you think
that common ground is I always tell
people life is the dance between what
you desire most and what you fear most
gotta be able to deal with the threshold
of control and what I mean by that is do
you ski or snowboard I’m skating okay so
most people are intermediate their whole
life what happens is they go they learn
a little bit and then one day they think
they’re on a blue and it’s a double
black diamond
you know I holy I’m gonna die and
it looks like you’re gonna go off the
edge of the cliff and those moments are
threshold of control moments so what I
mean by that is you’re going like out of
control you know you literally can die
you go over the edge and so you have two
choices focus like crazy on what you
want and carve find the way to carve or
focus on what you’re afraid of and if
you do that what you’re gonna do is slam
yourself on the ground or try to hang on
for dear life well most people do the
latter so they’re terminally
intermediate they never become a master
at anything the people become a masters
are the ones that the fear is there and
it’s uncontrollable fear courage isn’t
that you’re not afraid that you’re
scared shitless but you decide that
you’re gonna focus on what you’re here
to do versus what your fear and you push
yourself and once you figure out how to
do that first carve and then another
another that all sudden the black
diamond is your bitch
you’re no longer afraid of that and and
you become a masterful ski or snowboard
or whatever it is and when you learn how
to overcome those instead of collapsing
I think that is the single most
important thing it’s like Joe Gebbia
from Airbnb he was telling me that he
was getting coached by Y Combinator the
guy was saying to him here’s the key to
success don’t die just don’t die and
that’s my way of saying that’s what the
threshold control is if you can keep
pushing through those thresholds then
all of a sudden the muscle and you grows
and what used to be hard to do is easy
if you don’t deal with that threshold of
control let’s talk about the fact half
our businesses are gone in a year
80% of gone in five years is the 10-year
mark 96% fail 4% succeed but that
doesn’t mean to make any money they
could be not profitable they’re just
still standing business requires an
unbelievable level of resilience inside
you and I tell every
the choke hold on the growth of your
business is always the leader it’s
always your psychology and your skills
80% psychology 20% skills if you know
the marketing skills if you don’t have
the financial intelligence skills and
you don’t have the recruiting skills the
tree it’s really hard for you to lead
somebody else if you don’t have
fundamentally those skills and so my
wife is about teaching those skills and
helping people change the psychology so
that they live out of what’s possible
instead of out of their fear and they
produce the kind of certainty inside
themselves so they really execute well
that was great thank you so much Tony I
really enjoyed the time thanks come on Josue to beauty thank you
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