 Our next speaker is a gentleman that I'm looking forward to listening to because I used to be in his profession. He's a venture capitalist. I used to do that and now I'm a dating coach and confidence coach which my mom isn't a humongous fan of as you can imagine. She used to be able to say oh yeah my son's a venture capitalist. What does he do now? He's a dating coach. But hey he can't do what mom wants you to do. You gotta follow your passion. So we've got Ben Benson coming on and as I said he's a VC and a social entrepreneur, sorry serial entrepreneur. He has written nine books all on business. He's interviewed over 200 people including the Oracle of Omaha. Anyone know who that is? Warren Buffett. Guy has a couple bucks and he's got 20 years of experience in the finance VC world so help me welcome Ben. A West Texas rancher. This is one of those real rich Texans. Tens of thousands of acres of land. Dozens of producing oil wells. He's got an Olympic sized swimming pool and a mansion of a house and what he wanted to do was hold a party for his daughter, his youngest daughter who he wanted to marry off as quickly as he could. So he invited all the best-looking single salesmen from all over West Texas to come to this party. Now this is one of those real rich Texans. Tens of thousands of acres of land. Dozens of producing oil wells. He's got an Olympic sized swimming pool and a mansion of a house. Tens of thousands ahead of cattle and the party goes really well and at about midnight he invites everyone out to his Olympic sized swimming pool that he has the foresight to stock with alligators and crocodiles and he says the first man that will jump in this pool and swim the length of it and get out the other side alive and in one piece I'll give 10,000 acres of my best land to and if he doesn't want the land I'll give him a million dollars in cash and if he doesn't want the cash I'll give him the hand of my beautiful daughter in marriage and she was a good looking girl. Now no sooner as he said that there was a loud splash by an almost immediate emergence of a guy getting out the other end of the pool alive and in one piece. Now the host is stunned so he runs down to the other end of the pool and he says that's amazing you must have just set a world record that will never be broken he says what do you want 10,000 acres of my best land? No sir. A million dollars in cash no sir. Then he says and puts his arm around him he says well son I have to assume you want to take the hand of my beautiful daughter in marriage and I don't need to tell you this but everyone knows whoever gets the hand of my beautiful daughter in marriage will eventually get everything I own. Is that what you want? And the response is again no sir. So the host says for crying out loud what do you want? He says I want to know the name of the guy that just pushed me in the swimming pool. Now here's the question how many of you by show of hands would agree that that guy was motivated show of hands? All right everyone in the room. So if you consider this we do a lot of presentations for a lot of different types of groups and quite often we'll have a situation where people will call me in to do a presentation and so we've just brought Ben in today and for the next 25 minutes he's going to motivate you and everyone kind of folds her arms and sits back in the seat and you can see it written on their faces they're thinking to themselves oh yeah let's see how he does. 25 minutes later you drag yourself out of the room and everyone thinks to themselves yes I'm still demotivated. Well I'm really excited to be here today and I want to share with you some things that I think can make a difference. My name's Ben Benson and I want to share with you a couple of principles a few principles that I think if you apply and experiment with will bring an understanding and an increase in productivity particularly in the business world. How many of you by show of hands are currently working for yourself or perhaps you'd like to work for yourself sometime in the future about everyone in the room okay so would it be fair in saying that we're all entrepreneurs here we all want to do something different perhaps make our mark in the world okay so what are we going to do is look at a couple of principles and kind of give you a little bit about a background of what I've done how I got in this position so that perhaps you can relate to what's necessary and really take your situation to the next level. About 10 years ago I was in a situation where I thought how am I going to really take what I feel in my head what I can see in my mind and make it really my world and what I'm about to share with you is some of the principles that help me do that. Perhaps the best place to start is at the beginning when I was five years old my mother asked me a question that to this day until my dying day I'll never forget she said son I'm leaving the home who do you want to live with me or your dad five years old I ran out of the house ran down the street and never saw my mom again a few hours later my dad came and found me and kind of my dad brought me up until I was about 24 years old well I knew my dad until about 24 years old and then for one thing or another he left the left the family but the reason I share that with you is this the reason why my parents split up and the reason why we always had problems in our home was because of money or the lack of money everything was related to this problem of not being able to manage financially now some of you may be able to resonate with that some of you may snow people that perhaps have been in that situation some of you might be going through some major challenges right now but what I want to share with you is a series of ideas and principles that I think if you understand on a macro level and then down to specifically what you're doing on a daily basis you can make a difference for you and those people around you pretty bold claim to make I know but I'm confident satisfied we've shared this with lots and lots of different types of people and the feedback that we've had has been significant so with that let's just have a look at the the current situation kind of globally let's understand what's happening on a global level and then I'm going to bring it right down to you as an individual as to what is currently happening and what's going on in your own mind and some of the things that you can do to make things happen first of all in the new economy only three employees will be required for a new company for a large company or any company a man a dog and a computer the man will be there to feed the dog and the dog will be there to stop the man from touching the computer see just last week I went into my local bank to pay some money into my account only 18 months ago I could go into my local branch and there would be eight to ten people sitting behind glass sections ready to serve today there's one person sitting behind a glass section and one person managing nine paying in machines how many of you know what I'm talking about look down the checkout aisle look down the checkout aisle of any supermarket and you will notice that slowly but surely convey about tellers are being replaced by self-service machines right filling stations slowly becoming fully automated 24 hours they're open now not because they have more staff but because they have more unmanned computers see new technology has been dissolving large corporations for some time and the hard facts remain if you're an employee if you work for a large organization then the net in the next few years two to three years you will be in a minority so why am I sharing that with you because you and me if we want to get ahead we're going to have to become more resourceful we're going to have to do things differently the the landscape is changing change is happening at a rapid pace even the rate of change has changed so how do we make that happen for ourselves what are some of the things that we can do to make that happen well i uh i wrote a book i finished a book about six months ago called the seven laws it's been pretty successful up till now we've shared it with a lot of different groups and there was a few distinctions of wealth perhaps as we go forward that i want to share with you and as i share this stuff with you i'd like you to ask yourself a couple of significant questions the first question is this is this true is the material i'm hearing today is it true is it accurate does it sound correct and if it is true here's the second question builds on the first if it is true what am i willing to do about it because we know you know we come to these events and these kinds of conventions and we learn some really neat things and then when we get back home nothing's changed at home and so it's incumbent upon us to take the stuff that we've learned and really do something with it so i'm i kind of that's kind of my impassioned plea to you today um if if there are things of value make sure you write them down and then do something with them um that will certainly help you as you go forward come a couple of principles to have a look at i call these distinctions of wealth and we'll just cover a few of them and then we'll get into some of the real material that that i want to share with you a couple of distinctions distinction number one first thing is this income will not make you wealthy income will not make you wealthy getting a well-paid job is not going to create the kind of life that you really want the kind of life that you see in your head that you're trying to make really in your world um income might provide nicely for retirement but if you want to create wealth you're going to have to do something different and that's something different is this you need to own equity in a series of transactions does that make sense equity in a series of transactions owning equity so a simple example of that is you buy a house right and you own equity in that and it goes up in value when you sell it well that's kind of the example that you hear time and time again but there are tons and tons and tons of ways that you can own equity in things where you don't have to put money in to start it off okay equity is the way you become wealthy not income are you with me the second distinction of wealth is this saving money will not make you wealthy saving money putting 200 pounds or 200 dollars away every single month is not going to make you wealthy again it might provide for a nice retirement but if you go and speak to the top 100 people on the Forbes 400 or the Sunday Times rich list they didn't save their way to wealth they did something else another distinction of wealth is this you will not do it on your own you agree with me if any of you think I'm the guy who's going to go out and change the world and I'm the guy who's going to make things happen you won't do it on your own everyone that you see that appears to be the front man has got a team of people behind them them usually doing things better than they could you know when I got into business for the first time it took me years to learn that and it's it's obvious it is such an obvious distinction but I tried to do everything myself so I had to I wanted to learn coding and I wanted to learn you know email marketing and I wanted to kind of understand how to find the right people and I couldn't do all those things I was crap a half of those things but what I learned very quickly is start to hire people better than you and here's a really a really important distinction there will come a time in your business if you're starting a business where you're going to start paying someone or some people more than you pay yourself when you do that believe me it's a tough pill to swallow but when you start doing that you know you're making progress another distinction of wealth you're not going to make it and create significant wealth in your life unless you understand debt another way of saying that is leverage again if you look at the most successful people on the planet they didn't just kind of evolve most companies today in fact 99 percent of companies out there today concentrate and spend all of their time and efforts on what we would call internal growth internal growth is the most common way of growing a company but it was also the slowest and usually the most expensive that's internal marketing well we're going to go out and we're going to try and increase our market share how we're going to do that we're going to do it through email we're going to do it through having sales people on the road we're going to do it through a whole host of different ways but in reality it is the slowest way to grow a business so what is the fastest way and what is the way that the most successful people on the planet build their businesses through acquisition you know what do you think is better start in your own business or buying one that is already a going concern you tell me now how long might it take you to build that business to the stage where you're ready to buy a business might take you five years by that time the way change is happening man you're obsolete but if you can get involved in a business that's perhaps already moving that's already created that's already got customers that's already got the people in place doing the job that you would have to go and find well you're now in the top 10 percent of the most successful people in terms of building a business because the models are already in place don't worry about business plans either business plans and people come to me and say i've got a business plan i'm not interested in a business plan the most important thing you need to understand in setting up a business and making a business viable is the business model how do we create money where does the cash flow with cash flow you're an entrepreneur without cash flow you're not simply stated so how does the cash flow into the business and that's something you can write on a napkin you can work that out on a napkin what is the business model and how are we going to make money flow into the business and then out of the business and if you can make that work that's usually something that you can explain in under two minutes i've never written a business plan so let's have a look at perhaps some of the specific laws and how they apply to us i spent two years interviewing like i said a number of pretty significant people i'd been fairly successful in business myself i started business at 17 years old i sold it when i was 24 and then then i went and took all the money i had enough money to retire which is a pretty nice place to be and then 18 months later all the money's gone all of it why i'll tell you why because i thought i was the absolute ultimate i thought i was a little bit special and so now because i've made this money i can invest in everyone and i know exactly how to make their businesses work and i fell flat on my face and lost everything and had to start again and that was the worst decision for me financially and the best decision for me in terms of building character because now i knew what it really takes to make it in the business world and i want to share with you some of those things right now as we were going around and interviewing people on the rich list and we went to see significant significant people people that had really made a difference in their lives perhaps another distinction perhaps that i failed to tell you a few minutes ago was this overnight successes most of them are probably somewhere in the region of about 20 years in the making don't misunderstand that mark zuckerberg is an exception an exceptional exception but for most of us it's going to take the best part of our natural lives to build something that we're proud of so let's look at some of the laws the seven laws of wealth is a methodology if you will of distinctions and ideas that i have seen that have worked for me and i have seen really successful people utilize in their businesses and the first law is this gain control promote self leadership and initiative gain control promote self leadership and initiative reputation distinction and power will always result now what do i mean by that this isn't leadership power over people that's not what we're talking about we're talking about self leadership my ability to get myself to do what needs to be done and in reality most people are just simply too lazy to do that kind of they know what they should do and even if they do if you even if they don't know they're not really willing to do what it takes and for me when i was 24 years old i was sulking about the situation that i created for myself and it took me about six months to realize the only person that's going to change this situation ben is you after complaining and blaming everyone else it was me and in that moment i had a really important thought that and it was this then if i want things to change i'm going to have to change if i want things to be different i'm going to have to do things different and if i really want to step up i'm going to have to step up and so you need to ask yourself that question am i really willing to do what it takes being able to step up is to understand some key principles of what we can control versus what we can't control and i'm going to get some participation hopefully from you guys what i'm going to do is suggest for a moment that this room is what we would call our control model in fact in your notes on the right hand side if you kind of draw a line across let me do it for you so you can see it if you draw a line across the page this side right no control this side right total control now we're not talking about controlling other people we're talking about controlling you about the kinds of things that you're doing on a daily basis to build a business that you can be proud of so this side of the room let's suggest for a moment that this side of the room represents stuff events things over which you have absolutely no control on a daily basis give me some examples of stuff over which you have no control do we need a mic do we need a mic for this or can you shout it shout it okay give me some examples of stuff over which you have absolutely no control over here currency fluctuations not a lot of control very relevant for these times good what else natural disasters not a lot of control there good any others politics we're not going to touch that one with a ten foot pole but he's right isn't he politics we have no control over what the government chooses to do individually what else other people there's a good one other people i remember asking this question that guy said my wife and he's not far wrong is he it's other people can we control other people no great short term strategy can we impact people yeah can we influence yeah but that's not total control okay so give me some other words something perhaps this side give me some other words to describe things over which you have no control give me some more the weather all right there's another one in england we spend a lot of time talking about that one don't we we have no control over what the weather decides to do or not do what else again illness okay there's another one maybe if it's hereditary perhaps not a lot of control over that certain health things perhaps that we can do in terms of maintenance but generally speaking not a lot of control there give me some words to describe how you feel inside when you're up against this side of the room you're out of control how do you feel nervous thank you what else anxious any other words scared apprehensive uncomfortable are we describing good feelings on this side of the room no what's the self-esteem factor over here generally speaking it's pretty low right but is there much sense in getting upset over an event I have no control no but do we yes we spend a fair amount of time worrying about stuff over which we have no control don't we I went I grew up in Texas for a few years and I used to go down to a little place called gavelson bay and I had a few friends and they would dare me to jump in and swim the width of this little area it was probably about half a mile across and I never swam properly I'd kind of passed my 10 meter certificate and that was it but because they were my friends and the peer pressure the peer pressure was so strong they said jump in and swim the width of it so I did one day because if I got to the other end it meant that I would be in their gang so I jumped in and started to swim across halfway across I thought I was going to drown how many of you have ever been in that situation where you think you're going to drown a few people in the room I can see the hands not a nice place to be out of control right completely out of controlled experience about 150 meters away from me I saw a fin gliding through the water it was not coming towards me but I saw a fin gliding through the water the need to get to the other side went absolutely crazy and funnily enough I got to the other side why well I learned an interesting lesson that day it's okay to drown it is not okay to get eaten is it and I made it to the other side why because of this principle and write this down when the need is big enough you learn to control all kinds of stuff that you hook yourself into believing you can't control you say that again when the need is big enough you'll learn to control all kinds of stuff or events that you believe you can't control next time you go to the circus go outside and have a look at where the fully grown elephants are kept you'll notice an interesting lesson those fully grown elephants are tied with a piece of rope around one of their back legs that rope is attached to a stake three or four foot driven in the ground you look at that elephant and you look at the stake and say you know if that thing wanted to kick it and go home it could but it doesn't why doesn't think it can and the reason it doesn't think it can is that when it was a baby they put a steel clamp around that back leg which was attached to a chain for three weeks never more than four weeks the elephant fights that thing in a frenzy trying to get away and then after three weeks it stops trying right well whenever I'm hooked up I can't get away so literally now I can put a wet noodle around that elephant it's not going to try and get away why doesn't think it can and we're kind of the same way so recognize number one there are a number of things over which we have absolutely no control let's not spend any time really worrying about those things let's go to this side of the room and let's give me some examples of things over which you have absolute total complete control let me say it again absolute total complete control I wish you could see your faces it's like Ben I don't think I can control anything give me some examples what do you have control over all right yourself and that's the whole reason why you come to events like this right to understand how I can get control of me good response give me another one your time how I choose to use my time how I choose to do the things that I'm supposed to do or that I want to do what else reactions good yeah exactly that's a really good one isn't it it's a reactions to certain situations and here's an interesting question do you react or do you respond see reaction is something that you do because someone else has acted responding is more proactive right if you respond to a situation you're more determinative in fact if you go to the doctor and say doc I've got this rash on my arm can you suggest something for it and he says try this solution come back in two weeks and tell me how you're doing you go back after two weeks and the doc says well it looks like the treatment is reacting to your skin is that good or bad that's bad right but what if the doc says it looks like the treatment is responding to your skin is that good or bad now so you might think it's semantics but it's really not it has a much more powerful meaning when we understand responding as opposed to reacting to certain situations on this side of the room give me some other examples of things over which you have total control a couple of others decisions all right the decisions that we choose to make any others okay the way you think your thoughts what's the self-esteem factor over here high or low it's nice to be in control isn't it to be in control of your life to the point where the things that you're doing are yielding the results that you want in the first place but it takes a certain type of individual to make that happen and this person is the kind of person that really understands law one the ability to gain control of themselves to be able to step up to be able to do everything that they're supposed to do and they want to do to create the kind of results that they want to create in their lives and so notice also that everything that you have in your life in terms of results whether it's you know personal professional financial whatever it might be you have all those things based on the decisions that you've made up to this point so if you want different you're going to have to do different or you're going to have to do more of what you've already done and you know so there's no high fives and group group hugs here today it's very much about this is what it takes this is what we've seen works and this is what we're going to have to do you volunteer someone that's willing to gain or possibly earn 400 grand today show of hands oh it's interesting isn't it when the need is big enough all right this gentleman here in the blue what's your name Lloyd stand up Lloyd where you from sorry sorry okay that's all right we like sorry Lloyd if I said to you do you know the m1 if I said to you Lloyd if you'll be at Newport Paginal Services on the northbound side reception desk at eight o'clock tonight eight p.m. there'll be a check waiting there for you for £400,000 right all you've got to do Lloyd is be there on time would you be there on time yeah look at his face yeah I'd make sure I'd be there on time right okay Lloyd what time would you leave right now baby don't need to think about that one I'm going right making time to go out straight away right let's say Lloyd he's accosted someone in London he's stolen their car and he's making steady progress up the M1 he gets within three miles of welcome break services okay and all of a sudden out of nowhere traffic thickens up and he comes to a standstill cars on both sides right Lloyd are you with me okay so at this point he's looking around he's thinking to himself it's a quarter past seven cars on both sides you turn on the radio and it tells you that a truck's tipped over spilled two by fours of wood all over the place is going to take three hours to clear it up are you going to be there on time yes or no how a man after my own heart he's going to get out and run he's going to walk he's going to run he's going to crawl he's going to leap tall buildings with a single bound if that's what it takes see when the need is big enough we learn to control all kinds of stuff that we believe we can't control and the issue is the need to do it thanks Lloyd so understanding the need to gain control is the foundational law in building any wealth and you'll notice that this law really has very little to do with money and a whole lot to do with leadership a whole lot to do with self leadership and your ability to move when it's required law two embrace the future what does that mean well more than just being some kind of phrase embrace the future really means understanding number one what your skills are what are your skill sets because each of you here today have certain things that you may or may not know would yield the kind of results that you want some of you have tapped them and some of you are still looking for what they are but each of you in your own way have got unique skills and abilities that can be commercialized and your job is to find out what those things are whenever people come up to me and say to me how am I going to create value how am I going to be able to make it as an entrepreneur three things to consider what do you do well that's the first one ask yourself that question what do I do well the second thing is what do I do better than most you've got to be some sort of differentiation between you and the masses what do I do well and what do I what do I do better than other people and then the last one is and how can I create value for people doing these things how can I create value for people doing these things the name Howard Hill how many of you have heard of Howard Hill show of hands Howard Hill no looks like I got to you just in time then right Howard Hill was an archer true story some say he was the greatest of all time as a young story I remember used to watch record breakers and probably some of you might know that show but record breakers Roy Castle used to host that show and on one occasion he had Howard Hill with his bow and arrow he was an archer how many of you have ever shot the bow and arrow show of hands any good any of you any good well I know I could take any one of you and make you a great archer provided we did a couple of things Howard Hill went into 287 tournaments and placed first 287 times he was able to take his bow and arrow and kill a white shark under 15 feet of water he was able to bring down a Bengal tiger they said the fastest and hardest of game animals to stop with a bow and arrow he was able to fire at someone's head with an apple on it and split it into and in fact he was the guy in the film Robin Hood with Errol Flynn see that wasn't camera work that was a real guy and his name was Howard Hill now I've never shot the bow and arrow professionally but I know I could take any one of you here today and provide your eyesight was good and your health was normal have you can shoot in more consistently than that of Howard Hill the best day of his life provided of course we first blindfolded Howard Hill and turn him around a couple of times so he didn't know what direction he was facing you might say well Ben that's stupid that's juvenile isn't it how can a person hit a target they can't see that's a good question well how are you going to fulfill an outcome that you don't have so the key with embracing the future is to understand that things out front won't occur until we start making the steps the necessary steps right now to ensure those things happen if we had more time we'd go into more detail on that one let's look at the third one owner strategy is so important you know we hear about these people that talk about these conferences and you go into them and there's no real strategy in terms of well what am I going to do from day one let me tell you a couple of things that you must do in in creating a strategy part of that strategy and by the way a strategy generally speaking is very simple it's a simple thing steps that I have to do to ensure that I create this outcome the first thing you need to do in whatever business it is you're trying to create go and find someone that's significantly more successful than you in that area or a related area find someone who is see if you want to make a hundred grand a year as an example go and find someone who's already making three or four hundred thousand a year right don't think that my uncle is really successful in business and he's making about fifty grand and he's going to teach me how to make a hundred grand we love your uncle but he's not the guy on this occasion right if you're serious about you and you're serious about creating results get around people who are significantly more successful than you are and I'll tell you it will rub off now that's a principle not just for making money it's a principle for life folks you know if I want to be good in a certain area let me get around people that have already done it and have been successful doing it because that will rub off that is the fastest track to becoming successful when I sold my first business I thought to myself okay I've had a certain level of success now what I want to do is find out how the big people really do it and so I went and found them and I knocked on their door and you think they said yeah come on in the first time who the heck are you why should I give you the time but I was committed and I wanted to do it and I did again and again and again did I get turned down again and again and again yes absolutely but I kept on trying and asking and trying and asking in the end people said yeah come on all right because if this is what it takes to get you off my back let's do it strategy there's a whole load of principles around strategy again the next one the next point the next law if you will is always execute and this for me is the pinnacle that everything else rests upon if you can find a way to execute or in other words do what you say you're gonna do you know really make that happen King Philip of Macedon was known in the father of Alexander the Great he was known to be the king who wanted to invade all of Greece and own the entire land and he was doing okay until he realized there was one small area in Greece that needed to be captured Sparta he sent a letter to the Spartans and said we want you to surrender if you do not surrender we will come down and we will kill your children we will rape your wives and we will raise the city we invite you to surrender forthwith they sent a letter back to Alexander one word on a piece of paper if if that was the word do you think you think he went you think he invaded Sparta it was the one place that he didn't go to why he didn't execute now we don't know the reasons why he chose not to but he didn't and that is the biggest reason in life why people don't get what they want because they fail to execute they fail to follow through they fail to do what needs to be done that is the foundational key for all success you know and anyone some comes to me and says well I want you to help me with this business or I want you to do this I'll do that I'll set them a task so if you do this do it and you know about 90% don't and that's just the reality of it always execute understand that boldness and audacity yields results boldness and audacity yields results if you really want to be successful in business and in life get out there and do things that people aren't doing and be bold about it okay let people know that this train is leaving no matter what I'm going to make this thing happen law five very quickly law five create value how do you create value for yourself and for others see value profit to the giver is the consequential effect of value when we understand the principle of value in the bit in the business world we really start to understand why people act okay value is the intersection of three things I'd invite you to write these three things down value is the intersection of these three things what does it mean to provide value three things that where these three circles intersect here value is created circle number one is this demand the demand for what you do is the first principle in creating value demand now oftentimes I'll ask this question people say well it's need isn't it it's there's a need in the marketplace so that's what's going to create value well no it's not it's demand because do we need an ipod to survive yes or no do we need it we don't need it right but do we want it we want it so there's a demand right there's a demand for that we know that we want that thing okay do we need diamonds to survive do we need them guys girls do we need diamonds to survive yeah we need diamonds to survive man we need and the bigger the better right in reality we don't need diamonds to survive but is there a demand for diamonds yes there is no so stop thinking need and start thinking what do people want what do they want what's a need that's not being fulfilled if you said to me you know I'm going to go down on the corner of the street and open a hot dog stand and I said to you well what are the things you need and you say well I need sausages and I need buns and I need tomato ketchup and I need a little kind of stand and yeah you need all those things but what do you need most of folks yeah you need demand you need people that are going to buy so the first key to creating value is the demand the demand for what you do the second key is the the ability to do that thing see because some of you might identify a demand in the marketplace but you haven't got the skill set to execute are you with me does that make sense so how do you create that ability you might have the ability and that ability needs to be significant so the first stage is demand for what we do is there a demand the second do we have the ability to make that happen third what's the third one pardon scarcity well I wasn't going to say it like that but you're absolutely right I was going to say the demand the ability and the difficulty in replacing you or it which is scarcity same thing right creating value in the marketplace is not always easy but when you understand what is required when you understand the principles that underlie that then you can become more successful in the business world next one growth how do you create growth seek growth is number six seek growth how do you really scale it how do you make it big growth is a function of understanding why people do what they do and also a function of understanding what specific elements in the business of those things that the masses are going to want and generally speaking you will find that there's a little curve that happens like this and most businesses actually only get to about here and what happens is they build their business to a point where there's enough money for them to live on and then they kind of plateau out and they stopped doing the things that made them successful in the first place see this might be this could well be perhaps let's say one year one year of operating that business and you go help the leather on that first year and the moment that you start making money and the money starts you start taking a wage from the business we kind of start to slow down a little bit and we start to realize that this business is pretty successful i can live off the business and we stop doing the very things that made us successful in the first place so how do you get across this chasm and this is usually is a can be a tough place to get through well this is scalability and this is the next stage and this is what i do for work we help businesses scale we help businesses become market leaders we help businesses acquire other companies that are already doing the things that they want to do in the future and that is the fastest way to build a business you can try and learn everything yourself but it might take you a thousand lifetimes the best thing to do is find a business that is already moving forward and then look to grow that business internally but mainly externally through acquisition and if you look i challenge you in fact to look at everyone on any of the rich lists okay they've all made their money through acquiring businesses even Warren Buffett you might say well Warren Buffett is a stock guy well yeah but the only the only real way that Warren Buffett is able to invest in all these companies is because he owns certain companies outright right like Greco some of you might know that insurance firm that's float you've got an insurance company is a great business because you get all the money up front and you just hold it so now you can invest in all these other companies but if you really look at the most successful people you will notice that what they do is buy complementary businesses and scale that way and you can see it's obvious isn't it it's the fastest way to grow a business who out there currently has customers that we want to acquire and we go and get those customers we go and identify those customers and we build the business and then the last one the last law if you will is give back give back and i think everyone here knows that i don't really need to to tell you why we need to give back you know i do believe what goes around comes around and if we can make the world a better place by what we do and the impact that we leave on this planet then that will be paid back to us in 1982 moments after air florida's flight 90 left the runway at washington's national airport it was clear that the plane was not going to fly as it shuddered and stalled the pilot turned to his co-pilot and said we're going down three seconds later the plane slammed into the 14th street bridge and plunged into the icy waters of the potomac river onlookers watched in horror as the fuselage which would broken free from the tail section sunk beneath the water with its rows of passengers still in their seats within four minutes four five and six people were left bobbing and trying to hold on to the tail section only six people were left the rest had died priscilla teredo had a newborn baby with her on that flight she was screaming hysterically trying to find a baby her eyes were filled with jet fuel but hamilton had broken his hip and his arm and he was holding on to another passenger kelly duncan who was a flight attendant who'd made it but it was freezing cold in the water and as onlookers watched on they realized that they couldn't get across the icy water so the only way that they could get these people out was by helicopter five minutes later that's a long time in a situation like that five minutes later the helicopter could be heard thracking through the sky dangling a lifeline as it dangled over that carnage arland d williams a balding middle-aged bank examiner from florida grabbed the first line and he handed it to burr hamilton burr hamilton grabbed it and was pulled to safety very quickly on the second trip the helicopter came back kelly duncan grabbed it with another individual as they went up this second individual fell back in the water an onlooker from the shore jumped in to help her and save her she was the one with the jet fuel in her eyes the third and fourth time arland williams caught the line and he handed it to the next person on the final trip when he came back the helicopter came back williams was gone he hadn't made it now you and i will never have to be in a situation like that i'm sure but if someone like that could do something for strangers how incumbent upon us is it just to do something with our business or our professional life that can impact others in a significant way most of the businesses that are successful today and have really made it didn't start out with the intention of making a lot of money they started out in creating a need understanding demand and really trying to execute against that to help people create a better life i just saw a gap usually they say i just saw a need i just saw a demand and i wanted to create something so if you go after the money first you might be successful but you won't be fulfilled does that make sense understand that it's important to recognize that why am i doing this in the first place and let the money come after that self-worth is always more important than net worth but if you get that right you can look forward to the net worth one last point and i'll be done this is a a poem that i learned a few weeks ago i read it and i thought this really applies to what we're talking about here today in understanding what it takes to be successful in our lives as uh as individuals just trying to get ahead in the world goes like this a lady was waiting at an airport one night was several long hours before her flight she hunted for a book in the airport shop bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop engrossed in her book she happened to see that the man who sat beside her as bold as could be took a cookie or two from the bag in between which she tried to ignore to avoid a scene as he munched on cookies she watched the clock as this gutsy cookie thief diminished to stock she got more and more agitated as the minutes tick by and said if i wasn't so nice i'd blacken his eye with each one he took she took one too and when there was only one left she wondered what he would do with a smile on his face and a nervous laugh he took the last cookie and broke it in half he offered her half while he took the other she snatched it from him and thought oh brother this man's so rude why he didn't even show any gratitude she'd never before felt so appalled and sighed with relief when her flight was called as she gathered her belongings she headed to the gate refusing to look back at the thieving ingrate as she boarded the plane she sank in a seat and opened a book which was almost complete as she reached in her bag she gasped with surprise there was her bag of cookies in front of her eyes if these are mine she thought would despair then the others were his and he tried to share in a moment of clarity and a moment of disbelief she realized that she was the ungrateful one the ingrate the thief why do i share that with you for one reason sometimes we think we know what it takes to be successful in life the only way you can truly be successful in life is by getting around people that have already done it and i challenge you to do that i've been a great group thank you very much for uh for this thank you thanks guys do you want have we got some time for questions or yeah okay well just just so you know we've got um we've got a few copies of the book if you want to get a few copies you can see james at the back um for those if you're interested if you guys have got any questions by all means you know shout them out i'd love to uh to to answer them i'm currently reading uh richard branson's screw business as usual and i was just wondering if you could uh sort of give us uh your thoughts on the role of entrepreneurship in solving some of the issues that the global economy and and the world's facing yeah good question i've read the book and i think it's great i don't think i can top branson so i think you're on the right tracks um i certainly think doing what you know if you look at what branson's done he's never made money his most important priority he's got involved in a number of businesses that lost a lot of money to start off with you know virgin um atlantic being one of them um so i think i think really the uh the the best advice i could give on that is make sure whatever you're doing is something that you really are passionate about and you really believe because that's what's going to give you longevity um the money's nice but um if you know before long you i know i know i know i know i know people that have created businesses sold them uh retired to spain to play golf for the rest of their lives and they do for about six months then they got to get back and do something so make sure whatever it is you do you're passionate about it and you know there's an element of giving back is that all right is that accurate okay thanks any others one here um you say the best strategy for growth is aquarium businesses what's the best way to get a start up capital to acquire a business then 300 financial presentations over the course of 10 years is the easy answer in reality though in the real the real answer to that question is this most people try and try and raise cash number one through presenting to the wrong people these aren't qualified people that are actually the decision makers um and secondly uh they go cap in hand as opposed to um we're looking for finances and um we'd like to uh to interview you as a possible candidate you know so you kind of turn the table what you do in a bank don't go to the bank and say can you lend me 50 000 pounds you go to the bank and say what we're looking for um are a number of investors and are you the person that can qualify lending of up to 50 up to 50 000 or up to 100 000 if not you're wasting your time you know that you need to find out early um and once you once you find that uh then move forward on that strategy the other thing is banks represent maybe five percent of the equity that's out there there is so much money available for deals there's more money chasing deals than ever currently now you would think it'd be the opposite because of the global economic downturn but if you've got a deal or if you've got something that is already got traction then it shouldn't be too hard the real issue for most people is they just don't get out and talk to people is that okay all right thanks any others yes so there's a lot of money chasing deals at the moment is that just in the uk or all parts of the world i think i think it's i think there's pockets of it all over the world yeah i mean if you if you look at some of the uh the vc firms and private investors they are flush with cash at the moment and the thing is though again you've got to get around the right people um you know talking to your mate who you grew up with as much as you love him is not the guy that's going to be the one to take you to the next level so it's it's about developing a level of seriousness about what you're doing and really saying this is my business and i need to see it go to here i need to get around some people that are going to be able to make that happen one of the things i did when i went when i went back into business and started buying property we spent some time acquiring 270 private homes a few years back and one of the ways we did that was we went and we we had 10 billionaires on our list and by the time we met the third one we had the money for the deal question over here uh do you think having an mba helps you as far as getting credibility for raising money yes it does um i don't have an mba but what i do have are people on my board that are significantly more successful than me and i think if you can do that then you know there's nothing that can stop you from never feel like i haven't got the qualifications uh to make it happen because you can always go out and find someone that that you borrow other people's credibility to make a deal work does that make sense and so yeah if you haven't got the mba don't worry about it just find someone who has already been successful in business or someone who does have the mba but track record is more important than than qualifications every time every time good question thank you any others yeah sorry okay you're all James if you see James at the back he'll sort that out for you we're happy to sign it and what have you there's a little bit of a discount off it but then all the money goes back to sable and stone um anyway the publishers so um but if you're interested have a look the other thing is um write this down in your notes seven number seven laws of wealth dot com if you sign up at that site that's one of my that's one of my uh websites uh if you sign up on that i'll sit you'll straight away you'll start to get some really great articles on on um clear business thinking um not the kind of stuff that the academics were right uh this is stuff that works in the real world but how to create value how to identify a value proposition you know how to raise cash all that kind of stuff that really really really takes uh that will really take you to the next level it's great reading all the the self-help stuff right that's good but there comes a point where you like i need like tangible answers i need i need to get to this step and then from that step to this step this is what we'll do that's what we've got in our book specific stuff one more um all right so you've got your business idea um and you don't have the personal money so you're looking for investors my fear has always been um who am i to approach some business people with my idea why would they need me wouldn't they just go a great idea set um i'll take that idea and we'll invest in that and thanks very much where do i add value to that relationship and how can i protect that uh yeah there are different ways of protecting obviously we can we can talk about that probably after looking at some of the the ip issues but i think really the biggest problem that a lot of up and coming entrepreneurs think is that they think their deal is so unique um and it usually it's not if i'm honest uh usually it's been thought of before uh but the the real issue is is that getting um getting the money from those people is going to be every single time is is going to come as a result of the passion and the tenacity you've got um let me let me give you a quick one quick example and then we'll be done um Khan Academy how many of you have heard of Khan Academy Khan Academy online write it down have a look at it um Khan Academy is a company it's a non-profit that was set up by a guy who was a hedge fund manager and um it's a learning website it's had millions and millions of hits millions of hits and it's relatively new and um he decided after he depleted 40 grand of savings he decided what he was going to do is get out and try and meet one person every day that would qualify that would be a qualified a qualified prospect to get the money from and um he did it for i think about two months and then the the person that he thought would least get the money from was a lady named andor anyone know who andor is andor is the wife of john door funnily enough and john door is the the owner of the venture capital firm in silicon valley that took uh companies like um i'm trying to remember i think it was some of the big some of the big maybe uh drop box they're about to go public now um a few other large companies i was going to say um youtube but that's not right that's a sequoia but there is um john door and and or if you google them you'll see who he is big vc company massive companies that most of the names you know the names of these are the people that and she he thought well i probably won't get the money off the wife after the meeting she said how are you um how are you financing this and uh he said well actually here's a situation it's pretty bleak and she said okay well good luck and uh kind of he went off on his bike and she went off on his bike from uh from coffee shop and just before he got home he got a text she said i've just wired you a hundred thousand dollars right so never underestimate what can happen but it's only going to happen if you execute execute execute okay just get out there and do it so um i really really really want you guys to to to be successful and and self actualize and uh and i hope that you do that okay are we done great thanks