I Asked Tom Cruise How He Made $600 Million

I'm about to interview one of the greatest movie stars of all time, and his name, it's Tom Cruise. What industry did you decide to pursue a career in? Movies, which encompasses almost every industry. I'm here with Tom Cruise. Hi, man. It's nice to see you. He's been the face of Hollywood for over 40 years, starring in blockbuster films like Top Gun and Mission Impossible. He's made billions at the box office, while earning hundreds of millions of dollars personally and becoming one of the most iconic actors of all time. So today, I'm in my home state of Texas to meet with the legend himself, Tom Cruise, to figure out his secrets, and ask him how he became one of the greatest actors in history, all while building an empire in the process. So this video is about to be insane from start to finish, so stay tuned until the end. With that being said, let's get this video on the way. All right, you guys, so we're going to be meeting up with Tom Cruise very shortly, but I need you guys to understand something. Look, Tom Cruise is one of the richest men in all of Hollywood. He's one of the richest actors of all time, and I'm going to be interviewing him out in San Antonio. But right now, I'm standing in one of the billionaire capitals of the world. I'm in Austin, Texas, home to billionaires like Elon Musk, Michael Dell, guys worth billions of dollars. And I'm going to be cold approaching some of the richest people in all of Austin right now in one of the billionaire hotspots out here in downtown. So we're going to go see who we can find and how they made their, well, not millions, but billions out here, you guys. Come on. Excuse me, sir. Sir, how old were you when you became a millionaire? About 40 years old. And how did you get rich? Have you ever had one of these? A kind bar? Yeah. Yes. I found it. You created a kind bar? Yeah. And how much money did you make selling these? We sold over a billion dollars a year. Are you a billionaire? I guess so. But I spent 30 years building my business prior to Kind, and then only last December I finally sold the company. I go all over the world and even billionaires to help the younger generation. Can I get a minute with you for our channel real quick? Sure. With pleasure. Who am I here with today? Daniel Lubetzky. How did you come up with the idea for Kind? 10 years of mistakes in the natural food industry. I first started a company called Peace Works to bring neighbors in conflict regions together. Made so many mistakes, but eventually had an idea for a healthy snack that you could travel with and that exploded and did really well. Did you have anybody that doubted you when you started this company? Everyone doubted me. Even my parents, who I love so much. What is this crazy Mexican-Jewish lawyer doing selling sundried tomato spreads in the streets of Manhattan? What was the biggest risk that you took throughout your career? I mean, everything in my life was like that, but I had a degree from Stanford Law School. I could have gone to work for a fancy law firm, and instead I had my little legal suitcase, emptied it from the books, added all my products, and I was walking up and down the streets of Manhattan at 7 a.m. in the morning letting people try my products, door by door, door by door from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. And then the following day, I would go and deliver the product to stores by myself and repeat and rinse, rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat for many, many years. You built a billion-dollar brand. What's your best branding advice for anybody out there? Be consistent. Don't try to change things, because if you try to please everybody, you're going to please nobody. Always stay consistent with what your logo is. Marketers always want to change things, which is cool, but there's things that shouldn't change. Your value. Set a value statement. What does my brand stand for? And very importantly, what it is not. And be true to that. Always be what you say you are. Never be what you say you're not. And be consistent, consistent, consistent. You know, even after we were selling billions of dollars and worth billions of dollars, sometimes people still didn't know that the brand was called kind. They remember the colors. But it takes a long time to build an iconic brand. You just need to stay consistent. Like our logo, we never changed it. We were very, very consistent so that people develop the mental framework and understand it. And what does it mean? A brand is a promise. A great brand is a promise well kept. Your school of hard knocks, you know exactly what you're trying to do. You know what your consumer, what your viewer wants to get out of you. And you're very consistent. That's why you're succeeding. Because you know exactly what you need to deliver. If one day you're going to go philosophical and the other one you're going to go practical and the other way you're going to talk to old people. It's going to be much harder for people to know what to look for. So you need to be consistent whether you're creating a social media channel or a product. Just consistency is everything. Now Warren Buffett, one of the richest men on planet Earth, says that distribution is the key to everything. You're in every store known to man. What was your secret to getting into distribution and getting in every single retail store on the planet? Hard knocks. That's the name of your channel, right? It's literally hard knocks. Like I was on a date with my wife and I would ask her, before she was my wife, hold on I need to check into this bodega. I need to go into this convenience store. And I would like sell or try to get the product to the right shelves. One at a time. You build this thing. It took years and years and years of knocking down all those doors and slowly but surely you just keep building it. What's a lesson about money that is not taught in school that you would instill in everybody around the world watching right now? My grandfather was a rancher in Mexico. He was a cattleman. And he said, a man that's too proud to pick up a penny is not worth a penny. And I think it's a really important lesson to don't feel like you're above saving that dollar. And he used to also say, mind the pennies and the dollars will mind themselves. Be humble enough to appreciate that one penny. I'm walking on the street, I will bend over and pick up the penny. Not just because it's a penny, but it's because it says that you're never going to be above trying to hustle and trying to work hard and appreciate and stretch every dollar. What is your best branding advice? How old are you now? I'm 56. Daniel, if me and you died tomorrow and you had one more guiding principle to lead with the younger generation, what would that be? Be kind to every human being. The reason the company is called Kind is I named it after my father. He was a Holocaust survivor. He was in the Dachau concentration camp. American soldiers risked their lives to liberate him. And in spite of all of the horrors that he went through, he was kind to everybody, whether it was the bank teller or the bank president, whether it was the flight attendant, everybody. He told jokes. He was kind. He was loving to every human being. He saw his role as bringing smiles to everybody. And that's the very small way how what I try to emulate to make this a better world than the way we found it. That's beautiful right there. How important was the entity structuring when you were building Kind Bar? Did you start like an LLC or an S corp or what did you end up starting? It's super important. We used to be an LLC and it was just passed through so it's efficient. The disadvantage of an LLC is that if you do have profits and you're paying them every year and I was actually profitable and I was paying tax every year. When you have a C corp structure, there's double taxation. But if you're just focusing on growth, not on profits every year, it's a very good structure because then you're not paying taxes unless you have a distribution or a liquidity event. And if you're not planning to do it, if you're planning to grow for the future, then a C corp structure is good and you aim to just keep the money with the company, reinvest, reinvest, grow, grow, grow. And then you're compounding without having to pay taxes every year. It's super important for you to get the right structure. There's a company that we use called Busy for all of our entity structuring for our businesses. They make it super affordable and easy for any entrepreneur. Yeah, yeah. How do you spell that? B-I-Z-E-E. And the best part is you can do it like in seconds. You can turn that idea into a business overnight in seconds. So it's like super effective and efficient for all the entrepreneurs out there. Very cool. I'll recommend it to my team. Guys, we're going to be meeting Tom Cruise very soon, but we just interviewed a billionaire. Did you hear what he just told me? He said one of the most important decisions you will ever make is how you structure your company. Not marketing, not products, setting up your business entity. And he's right, guys. Look, if you don't set your business up the right way from day one, you risk losing so much money, paying way too much in taxes, and even putting your personal assets on the line. And that's exactly why when I built my multi-million dollar business, I went through Busy. They handled setting up my LLC and they continue to handle my state compliance filings each year to keep my company in good standing with the state. With Busy, not only can you form your LLC or S Corp in minutes, you also get a free No lawyers, no confusion, just the peace of mind for managing your business in one place. So if you're serious about turning your idea or side hustle into a real business, guys, do not wait. All you have to do is go down and click the link in the description of this video to start your business with Busy today. But with that being said, let's get back to the video. All right, you guys. So I know we're going to be linking up and interviewing the legendary Tom Cruise very soon. But before we do that, I've got a crazy surprise for you guys. So check this out. Most people spend their entire lives trying to make just $1 million. But Thomas Healy, no, no, no, no, no. He became one of the youngest billionaires in the world at 28 years old. And I'm going to be meeting up with him right now to figure out exactly how he did it. Guys, he literally went head to head with Tesla, one of the biggest companies in the world. And he built an electric trucking company, took it public to the NASDAQ and became a billionaire before he turned 30 years old. So we're going to be figuring out exactly how he did that and how you can turn an idea into an empire. So let's waste no more time. That's going to be Thomas right now. Go see what he has to say. All right, you guys. So we're right now here meeting up with Batman Thomas right here, the youngest self-made billionaire in the world. You guys, come on. What's going on, Thomas? How you doing, man? It's great to meet you. Appreciate you coming out, man. We were letting them know, man, 28 years old, you became the youngest self-made billionaire in the entire world. I did. Great to meet you. And looking forward to sharing a little advice with your audience. I got one rule for this interview. No holding back. I need you to give them a billion dollars worth of game. Can we make that happen? At just 33 years old, I've been through a lot in this short life, and so I can't wait to share more. Let's make it happen. Who am I here with today? Have you heard of Kylie Jenner? Yes. So in 2020, I dethroned her as the youngest self-made billionaire in the world. Are you serious? So I took my company public. We're trading on the New York Stock Exchange, and in 2020, we hit a $10 billion valuation. So how old were you when you became a billionaire? So I was 28. So this was all new. I became the youngest public company CEO that there was, and we were going public on the New York Stock Exchange. Ringing the bell. Opening the markets. Now, the average age of a billionaire is what? Is it like 70, 80 years old or something? Most people get there later in their life. I was super fortunate that I started this company. I dropped out of college. I was in Carnegie Mellon, and I had this idea of let's go electrify commercial vehicles. Dropped out and started this journey, and a few years later, we went public and have raised about $750 million to date. You had an electric trucking company. You were competing with Tesla. Were you ever afraid of competition? We were. Now, this has been a wild journey. So we went public, focusing on electric powertrains, but then the market's changed. Electric vehicles have gotten decimated over the past handful of years, and so we actually made the bold move of pivoting out of that industry, and we went all in on a technology we acquired out of GE Aerospace, where now we're actually making electricity. We have what we think is the future of how electricity's going to be made. So it's safe to say that you have to master the power of pivot in order to be a successful entrepreneur. We did. We saw that all of our competitors were going bankrupt. They were running out of cash. They weren't able to raise more, and we said, well, we still have capital left on our balance sheet. Why don't we go into a different market where we see so much growth? We saw AI. We saw commercial buildings, industrial applications needing more power, and we have the solution for that. Now, people that achieve that billionaire status, what do they do differently in your eyes than millionaires? One of our early investors, he's a billionaire, he said, winning is your only option. You can't think about what ways could I potentially lose at this? How could we fail? You've got to put all your time and effort into figuring out, how am I going to win and just work relentlessly at that? It has to work, or it has to work. Winning is the only option. Most people spend their entire lives trying to make a million dollars. You became a billionaire before 30. What's the best industry somebody can get into right now in today's world? AI, right now. AI is booming. It is unbelievable. I think it will totally transform businesses, industries. So what we're doing is we're saying, well, we got the way to power AI, power data centers. So that's the industry I've chosen, and I think it's a winner. Are you a good negotiator? I think I'm decent at it. I think it's tough to raise $750 million if you're not good at negotiating. So give me a piece of negotiation advice right here that can change somebody's life. Never get into a position where you're desperate. That's where things usually go wrong. You have to have leverage. Absolutely. Leverage is everything in a negotiation, and you need to be willing to walk away when it doesn't make sense. I had, I remember it clear as day, like it was yesterday, a night where we were supposed to close the deal the following day. The investor tried to change the terms on us, and so that evening, I flew to Florida, met with a different investor, and the following day, signed the entire deal with a totally new investor because we had another option. So it's safe to say that if somebody else won't, somebody else will. Yeah, absolutely. And you've got to have those people bought in around you that are willing to make that leap or jump with you and dive in. And you've got to know your worth at business because you could have been comfortable with closing on that deal when they tried to change the terms of last minute. So you've got to know your worth. You've got to know your worth, and you've got to always keep a plan B, right? Because the path that you're going on could change at any time, and whether it's because of something you did or some factor that you have zero control over, things change in this world, and you've got to have different options lined up to be able to jump on them in a second. And your last message to the younger generation? Figure out what you want to do in your life, and then go all in. One of the mottos at Carnegie Mellon was, my heart is in the work, and I think that's a great thing to live by. You've got amazing advice, my friend. No, I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you so much for your time, man. Guys, we just interviewed one of the youngest self-made billionaires in the entire world, and he just gave a beautiful interview for all the entrepreneurs out there. But listen to me very carefully, you guys. The time has now come. I'm about to go head in and interview the legendary Tom Cruise. Guys, he's one of the most renowned actors, one of the greatest of all time, and I'm going to be getting the secrets on how he became one of the richest and most successful men in all of Hollywood. So let's go meet up with Tom Cruise and go see what he has to say. Come on. Listen, you guys, I've done some crazy interviews before. Shaquille O'Neal, Mark Cuban, the owner of the Texans, the CEO of Nike, but I don't think I've ever felt this way before in an interview, man, because this is Tom Cruise, man. This is Top Gun Mavic. This is Mission Impossible, man. You've all seen a Tom Cruise movie before. This one's going to be crazy, you guys. Come on in. Let's go. All right, you guys, so we are in the hotel in San Antonio, Texas, right now, waiting to do the interview with Tom. I want to put this in perspective for you guys of how crazy this interview actually is. So this is probably going to be one of the last Mission Impossible movies of all time, and here's the thing, guys, Mission Impossible comes out tomorrow, so the fact that we're doing this the day before on his world tour is absolutely crazy. In my home city of Texas, you guys, no better place to do this, man. Shout out to San Antonio. Shout out to Texas. But yeah, guys, we'll be linking up with Tom soon, so get ready for this one. James. Hi, James. How are you, man? That's great to meet you. Great to meet you. How are you doing? Great. I'm happy to be here. Thanks for being here, man. Absolutely. Look at this. He was in a helicopter over here directing me doing that. So he would be in the helicopter, and he'd open the door. He would hang out in the helicopter, and our first date, they always had to remind him to put the seatbelt on. But thanks for being here, James. I thought I'd give you a little insight. Yeah, I appreciate that. It means a lot. Thank you. No, thank you. What industry did you decide to pursue a career in? Movies, which encompasses almost every industry. I'm here with Tom Cruise. Oh, man. It's nice to see you. You've been a top actor for decades. What's been the biggest driving factor of your success throughout your career? I don't know what separates me, necessarily. I think everyone has their own things that they're interested in, and it's passion. And finding something that you're passionate about, that it's not what I do, it is who I am. And so those things, I encourage that in others, and I'm always asking people, what is your passion and why do you pursue that? And it's my passion to make films, my interest in humanity, my interest in life and how it and knowledge that I can apply to attain the goals that I have set for myself and that of my filmmakers together, and I'm just very passionate about learning, very passionate about storytelling. You've become obsessed with all aspects of film and movies. How important was it for you to become obsessed like this? It's not obsessed. You know, it's interested. You know, obsession can have a negative connotation. It's an interest. You know, as I said, you look at the amount of industries that it takes and encompasses all of life in terms of working with groups, working with individuals as a producer, as an actor. So it is a passion. It's something that just interests me. So I enjoy learning about it, I enjoy watching films in the theater, I enjoy the crews that I work with and being directed here, you know, with Christopher McQuarrie, and so I just, I love what I do and I feel very privileged to be able to do something that I love to do and have audiences accept me and want to be entertained by me. When you look at a lot of people, the number one reason I see that they fail is because they don't believe in themselves. But when you look at your career, you've done every death-defying stunt imaginable. What was your perspective on fear and taking risks? Do you not fear anything? No, it's not a matter. I don't mind being afraid. I know fear is the unknown and I enjoy feeling that because it also puts me in a position of I want to know. And the way that I approach it is just, as I said, I look for knowledge that I can apply. When it's applied, you get the correct results. So that's what I'm looking for in terms of everything in my life. And I'm someone who, if it's not true for me, it's not true for me. If something isn't real for me, no matter what, I have to know and experience it and understand it for myself. And when I do that, the fear goes away, the adrenaline is still there, the excitement, the adventure. I want an adventurous life. I want it. I like adventure. I like exploring things that, you know, you look at the aerial stuff that we were talking about here earlier, you know, when we're doing stuff like this, it's like, how to figure out how to do something like this? How do we get to this? So the amount of- So this is you hanging off a plane right now? Oh yeah, it is. And the amount of knowledge that we needed to know just to be able to get this shot. I'm an aerobatic pilot. I fly airplanes. I fly this airplane. I fly it in all different maneuvers. It's what piece of equipment to get this shot. So we had to understand the different camera equipment. We developed camera equipment and technology just to get this, the speed at which this aircraft is traveling. And I also have to understand what the pilot knows, because I'm a pilot. I know the dangers and where we're getting this aircraft to a stall. So when I'm here, I'm not just acting and moving in between the wings. I'm also perceiving what he's going through and the air molecules coming over that wing. When you're approaching something like this, you don't know until you start really looking at it. So what I'll do is I'll set a goal and I'll write a list of all the things I think I need to know, to learn, to be in order to get a shot like this. And I align it with Christopher McQuarrie and our entire film group. And so we're also just exploring it. You don't just sit in a room and draw this up and think you can get this. There is physically, how do I train to get here? What kind of force? The wardrobe. There's so many different elements that an audience doesn't know why or how. But the amount of years to be able to get to this, to do a shot like this, and the collaborative efforts between me and McHugh, you know, the dreams that we have, and I'm hearing his dreams of what he wants to create, and I want to participate with that. And then he hears mine. It's just this wonderful back and forth with ourselves and with our whole film group. And that's what I love. What did you work at to come from? Just my desire to be as competent and able as I can be. That interests me. Excellence interests me. And it's something that I know that absolutes are unattainable, but that I'm going to constantly strive for it. And it's my desire to entertain people. It is my desire to deliver the very best that I've always felt for myself. Even when I was a little kid before movies, when I had any job, I always wanted to understand how to do that job and then do it at the very highest level that I possibly can. I enjoy going for that level of perfection. Your last message to the younger generation. Man, that was it. You go. Look for knowledge that you can apply to your lives. Because there's so much information out there. That doesn't mean that it's accurate. I'm someone who says when I hear it can't be done, I'm like, I don't know, maybe, you know, how many times do you think people weren't like, oh, you could do this. So it's how to accumulate knowledge that is applicable towards your goals. And don't be so afraid to be afraid or nervous. The important thing is to keep pursuing your dreams and finding accurate things that are going to add to your life and to others. You know, the way that I look at life, I don't live it for myself. I really know that to live my life, I'm thinking of others and to lead is to serve. Not to tell people what to do, but to help them to be better. So I'd focus on that in terms of yourself personally, but also others, how you can contribute to your friends, to your family, to your workplace in a very positive way. Those things are, you know, I look to improve every area that I'm in. Not just myself. I'm looking at my decisions based on what are the ramifications and the effects of others. So I think we have to think of that when we're part of the group. So that's kind of what I do. You've got amazing advice. Thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it. It's a pleasure, James. I really appreciate it. Guys, we just interviewed the legendary Tom Cruise. I need you guys watching right now to like and subscribe for amazing content we got coming every week. Guys, because nobody's interviewing Tom Cruise and we just did that and we're going all over the world to bring you guys the craziest guests, the richest, most successful people. And I need you guys to also do yourself a favor, go down and click the link in the description of this video to become a member of the number one most powerful entrepreneur community and network in the entire world. We launched it a year ago. We have over 5,000 hungry entrepreneurs that get direct access to the millionaires and billionaires I interview every week on this channel where they mentor you and answer your questions directly. So I can't wait to see you on the inside of the School of Mentors. With that being said, I'll see you in the next video.