Asking Billionaires How They Got Rich! (New York)

Excuse me, sir. Sir. Yes. I have a question for you. Yes, sir. Have you ever been broke before? Oh, yes. Yeah? I have. In what line of business are you in? I'm in the shoe business. Are you a business owner? I am. What's the name of your company? Steve Madden. Steve Added? Steve Madden. Are you Steve Added? I am. What was the most amount of money that you've made in a single year? You really don't want to know that. How much? It's a big number. Give me a number. About two and a half billion in sales. Question for you. Let's go. Real quick, real quick. Have you ever been broke before? Yeah. I've been broke many times. What was the most amount of money that you've made in a single year? Probably 12 to 15 million. The best choice I ever made was a couple of years back, Amazon. That was my cash cow. Did you make a lot of money off Amazon? I did. What do billionaires do differently than 99% of other people? Guys, we are in Billionaire's Row right now. This is the wealthiest street in all of New York City, home to where the largest percentage, the largest capital of billionaires lives. So we're going to be walking around trying to go find billionaires, see how they became wealthy and how you can follow their blueprint and do the exact same thing. Let's go find them and see what they have to say. Come on. Excuse me, sir. Question for you. Have you ever been broke before? Broke? Yeah. No. No? No. But what line of business did you end up in? I am in the construction business. Did you own a company? I own a company. Yeah. For how long? 35 years. I started a channel at the University of New York. What are you doing? Instagram? I'm going to show him. I'm going to ask him a couple of questions. What were you building? I build these. Towers. Actually. I build them all over from Philly down to Miami. What was the most amount of money that you made in a single year at your business? The most amount? One year? Yeah. You really don't want to know that. How much? It's a big number. Give me a number. $30 million. That's for yourself? Yeah. How about for the business? Several hundred. Several hundred million? Several hundred. Yeah. Like more than $200 million? What's that? More than $200 million? Yes. Not more than $500 million? Huh? More than $500 million? In that area. $500 million. That's incredible. As a multiple nine-figure entrepreneur, what was the best financial advice that you ever received? If you can recall one lesson you learned? Just stay involved. What do you mean by that? Don't delegate too much. Stay involved. But some people say that if you don't delegate enough, then you can work in the business and not on the business. That's not it. Just stay involved. If you delegate, people respect what you inspect. Just check it out. Did you come from a lot of money? No. What was the turning point to financial freedom? What did you see that made you want to stand out? Just that I'm an entrepreneur. I have a real estate business. I have a manufacturing business. I have a construction business. Yeah. So you diversified. Yeah. A lot of people say just focus on one thing, though. No. Never. Why not? Never. Maybe one wife. That's about it. One wife. That's about it. Were you a good salesman? Yeah. I was a great salesman. What was your secret to selling? I know how to close a deal. What's the secret to closing? I know what deal not to do. I know who not to talk to. And would you say that's just as important as... It's all instinct. Before you sit down, make sure you know who you're debating against. Because there's better guys. Why risk it? Don't take high-risk bets. Go to Vegas. See you later. Have a great day, guys. Thank you. Appreciate that. You guys, we just interviewed a construction mogul out here in New York City. He's done multiple hundreds of millions of dollars in a single year. That was a beautiful interview right there. My favorite part, my best takeaway from that interview was when we talked about sales. He says, I know exactly what deals not to do. A lot of people, they get greedy, they get desperate, and they go into the wrong deals and the wrong business. Great interview out here in New York City. We got to keep it rolling and go get another one. Come on. Excuse me, sir. Sir. Yes. I have a question for you. Yes, sir. Have you ever been broke before? Oh, yes. Yeah? I have. In what line of business are you in? I'm in the shoe business. Are you a business owner? I am. And what's the name of your company? Steve Madden. Steve Added? Steve Madden. Are you Steve Added? I am. Actually, real quick, I started a channel in Austin, Texas. Yeah. I grew it to 9 million followers. I go all over the country just asking business owners their best advice to new entrepreneurs. Yeah. Can I get one quick minute with you real quick? What would you like to know? So, how long have you been a business owner for? 34 years. Over those 34 years, in terms of revenue. What was the most amount of money that you've made in a single year? Our company, I think it does a little over about $2.5 billion in sales. $2.5 billion. I don't even follow it. Let me ask you this, though. As somebody who's running one of the biggest shoe companies in the world, what's your best advice to anybody trying to build their business into a billion-dollar company like Steve Madden? Oh, my God. Get a lot of help. Raise a lot of money. Yeah? You've got to trust your partners. Yeah. I guess. But if you make something people want, you'll be okay. Did you have a lot of money when you started this business? I started with $1,100. How important was focus for you in one industry? You know, I started working in a shoe store when I was 16. So I've kind of been, that's sort of been my thing. What's more important, product or distribution? Product is everything. Why is that? Because without that, you have, it doesn't matter. All the distribution in the world doesn't matter. What was the lowest point in your career as an entrepreneur? I did some time in prison. That was pretty bad. And I've had a very good run. I've been very fortunate. Knowing what you don't know is such a gift. And then you're able to get help, you know? So that's sort of the secret. Well, it's not a secret anymore. I really appreciate that. Okay, good. Guys, we just ran into and interviewed billionaire Steve Madden. And we're headed to go get our next interview right now. But I don't think you guys realize. Guys, he's built one of the biggest brands in the entire world. And one of the things that comes up time and time again when I interview the most successful entrepreneurs is the importance of building your brand in all aspects. But in today's world, especially your online presence. One of the most important components of this is securing a strong domain name for your business. But let's be real, guys. Finding a good .com domain these days is nearly impossible. That's why I recommend using a .online domain. Unlike .com, .online has a huge inventory of available names. So you're much more likely to get the domain that you want. Whether you're launching a business, offering various services, or even freelancing, .online works for any industry. And since the word online is searched 500 million times a month globally, you're instantly tapping into a massive audience. And here's the thing, guys. Right now, there's a special offer where you can get your .online domain for just 99 cents for the first year. And if you're serious about taking your business to the next level, securing the right domain is everything. So use code SOHK to get your .online domain for just 99 cents for the first year by heading over to www.git.online/.sohk2. We'll use the link down in the description of this video. But with that being said, let's go get this next interview. Excuse me, sir. Yeah. Question for you. What's up? Real quick, real quick. Have you ever been broke before? Yeah, I've been broke many times. And what line of business did you end up in? I worked in real estate. I was in construction. Yeah. Have you ever been a business owner? I am a business owner. What type of company? I'm an independent contractor, and I own an electronics business. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Actually, right. I started a channel in Austin. We grew it to 9 million followers. I interviewed business owners all over the country. I'm invested by some new entrepreneurs. Wow. Can I get one quick minute with you real quick? Yeah, you can get a minute. Yeah. So you've owned a bunch of different businesses. Sure have. Let me ask you this. Across all these companies, in one year, in terms of revenue, what was the most amount of money that you've made in a single year? When I was in construction, scrap iron, we were barging scrap steel in New Jersey. We had a barge and a shredder, and it was quite an operation. Yearly, probably 12 to 15 million. 12 to 15 million. Million. That's incredible. Best financial decision you ever made? Probably to buy a two-story apartment and refurbish it and rent it and let it pay the mortgage and leverage it for credit. So you created a lot of wealth through real estate? Sure have. Real estate's a good deal, man. Thank you, my friend. Can't miss with real estate. Energy's good, too. Why energy? It's a long story. We're done. I probably shouldn't be so worth it. Did you go to college? I went to college, but college was not where I got my information. It was from mentorship and being in a family business in the trenches with people that were doing it and watching them work and staying by their side. What's one lesson about business you'd give to somebody they will not learn in school? Any college. Let's say he doesn't want to go. You have to have a PhD in communication. You have to be able to articulate and be able to communicate effectively. Communication. You don't get that from a scholastic education. You get that with dealing with real people in real time and going through difficult situations and learning how to make those adjustments. A lot of that is the prerequisite is working in places that you hate and the person you're working under treats you like shit, but you're not reactionary. You're taking lessons away without letting your ego say, Wow, he's talking to me a certain way. Just do your job, and I promise you, you're going to start to ratchet up the hierarchy. Your skill set and the people that are treating you bad will start to respect you and respect your work ethic. You can't react and be emotional. The best thing I can tell you, your viewers, is don't be emotional. Don't feed your emotions. You've got amazing advice, man. Where do we find you guys? The School of Hard Knocks on all platforms. You think we could see some of that? You guys going to post something? Oh, for sure. The School of Hard Knocks. Boy, you're going to be famous, man. At first, I thought my guy wanted to square up and fight me, but he ends up giving an amazing interview. Guy made $12 to $15 million in a single year and just dropped some serious sauce for you guys. The two biggest things came towards the end of that interview when he said, The secret to becoming successful is learning how to communicate and never showing emotion in business. Great interview out here in New York City. This video keeps getting better and better. Let's go get this next one out here. Come on. Excuse me, sir. Question for you. Real quick. I started a channel in Austin, Texas. I grew it to 9 million followers. I go all over the country asking business owners their best advice to new entrepreneurs. Could I get one quick minute with you? What do you want to know? What line of business were you in? Real estate. Finance. Yeah. Yeah, and some other things. Are you a business owner? Yes, I am. How long have you been an entrepreneur for? Myself? Yeah. Well, it's been in my family since 1945. Yeah. My grandfather bought it, so I got into some other things. I don't want to say how long I've been in other things. What's your main business? It's real estate and finance. Commercial or? I'm a trader. An options trader. Actually, let me ask you this. What was the best financial advice that you ever received throughout your career? If there's a lesson about money a mentor taught you that always stuck with you, what's that advice you'd give to people that may not have it? Well, I'm a home gamer, okay? So I worked out of my own apartment. And I traded through a big company. The best investment I ever made, the best trades I ever made was a couple of years back, Amazon. That was my cash cow. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Did you make a lot of money off of Amazon? I did, yeah. You are a trader, though. Yeah. Okay. What separates the top 1% of traders in today's world? What do you see that makes the most traders successful? Determination. Yeah. Everyone makes mistakes, me included. I made mistakes where I got margin calls. Talk about losing sleep, you know? It's like the mafia coming after you. You owe us this amount, you know? Fortunately, I was able to cover it. Some Robin Hood. Remember Robin Hood? You know Robin Hood? Remember when the kid, 27, I think he was 20 years old? He committed suicide because he… I knew exactly how he was trading. Yeah. And I know why he screwed up. Right. And he was not emotionally prepared for the consequences when he got that margin call. So I had my share, and I go, wow. So it makes you a better trader. You learn from your mistakes. If you don't, it's your own fault. And then there were times where I thought about giving up, but I just kept going. And finally, it paid off. And one day, the biggest thrill of my life was I got invited to the New York Stock Exchange for breakfast. I was like, whoa, me? And then it was like about 30 of us through a certain company that we trade through. I'm not going to say the name. And it was like the biggest thrill of my life. And I knew at that point that I must be doing something right. I'm 70 years old, so I have backed down now a little bit, but I still do some. Have you ever been broke before? No, never been broke. Never been broke. What's one lesson about money that banks don't want people to know? Well, they would like to take your money and invest it for you. You know, I don't go to banks. I do it myself. You do it yourself? Yeah. The banks are good for people who want, you know, like 5%, 6%. I was making, you know, a lot more than that. I'm not going to say how much. I was making a lot more than that. Give me a range. How much? A lot. Yeah? No. But it's like, look, I live in Manhattan. You know, some place. And all through my trading, I have a year and a half of college. That's it. Yeah. You know. But the key is determination. You never give up. One day you fall on your face, you get back up and you do it all over again. Let me ask you this. I'm 22. You're 70. Whose generation works harder, yours or mine? Well, look, you want to know about my life. My grandfather was a coal miner when he came to this country from Italy. Nobody worked like he did. He lost body parts on the job, you know. My mother was born in a coal mining country, you know. So when they came to Brooklyn in the 1930s, my grandfather then worked on the infrastructure of the city, the bridges and tunnels. He was the toughest guy I know. No one, as far as I'm concerned, he went through the Great Depression, nothing. You either worked or you starved. There was no, you know, aid to help you out or whatever. It was a completely different world. Here's the difference between myself and your generation. When I was 22 years old, the stock market was for people who knew someone that had a friend that worked for a company or a bank, you know. And that's how you got into it, slowly but surely. But today, with the Internet, it changed everything. At least it did for me, you know. I started trading on the Internet back in the late 90s, you know. Little by little, little by little, all of a sudden it just snowballed. That's why I tell all young guys, you know, get in it now. We're not 100 bucks here, 100 bucks there. You'd be surprised what that's going to happen like 30, 40 years from now. Thank you, my friend. I appreciate you. Thank you so much for your time. This video was amazing, you guys. I cannot believe some of the people we ran into out here. But I need you guys to like and subscribe for amazing content we've got coming very soon. And if you're not a member yet, you need to join my private entrepreneur community because, guys, mentorship is the only secret and shortcut to success in today's world. If you guys want to hop on live calls and ask your questions directly to the millionaires and the billionaires that I interview about how you can start building generational wealth, how to scale that business or get out of that 9 to 5 and start and grow that business or learn the fundamental skills like sales, negotiations, marketing, everything, you need to be a member of my community. To join, go to the link down in the description of this video. I can't wait to see you on the inside of the School of Mentors, my school community. With that being said, we'll see you in the next video.