I Lost $50 Million in 2008... Here's How I Came Back Stronger

I went from Rolls-Royce Maserati to mom bringing me groceries. So, I was painting a house and I had a meltdown and and I literally threw the brush down. I'm like, "F this." And I I cried a little bit. I got back up and I went out and bought 500 houses in that next run. >> Welcome back to Super Entrepreneurs Podcast. I'm your host, Shahed Dani. Today we have with us Rod Khif. Rod's story is pretty incredible. He's built up a massive real estate empire with over 2,000 residential units under his belt, but lost 50 million in net worth during the 2008 crash, and he came back stronger. He's also the host of the famous Lifetime Cash Flow through Real Estate Investing podcast with over 17 million downloads. Welcome to our show, Rod. >> Oh, thank you for having me. I think we're actually pushing 30 million downloads at this point, but uh so you have a date you have a dated bio, but you had to bring up the 50 million, didn't you? You just had to go there. >> I had to go there. I had to go there because, you know, it's all about resilience is all about our inner power that we hold and you have achieved that in in real life. And it's an honor to meet you and talk to you about it. >> Ah, it's kind of you to say that. Thank you. >> Yeah. No problem. So, you know, let's start with that then, right? The 50 million that you lost in 2008. Sorry. >> Yeah. Well, let let's let's if you don't mind, I'll go back a little further just to kind of give some cont give some context to it. So, >> as I was just mentioning you before we started recording, um I have lived in Israel and I also I was born in Holland and immigrated when I was 6 years old uh with my mother Zvanche and my brother Albert. Um and uh we ended up in Denver, Colorado. And we really struggled initially. Uh, you know, I remember eating expired food. We shopped at an expired food store and drinking powdered milk with our cereal in the morning because it was cheaper than real milk. And trust me, it sounds better than it is. And >> and you know, wearing clothes from the Salvation Army and the Goodwill all the way through uh junior high school till I finally lied about my age when I was 14 and got a job at Burger King flipping burgers so I could buy my own clothes finally. Uh, and I'm sure you've got listeners that had it harder than I did or maybe even have it harder now with all the economic uncertainty, but I knew I wanted more. And luckily, my mom had an incredible work ethic. So, she babysat kids so we'd have a enough money to eat and u and you know, we always had a house full of kids, but with her babysitting money, she was a bit of an entrepreneur, no formal education. She invested in the stock market successfully, but she also invested in real estate. And her first real estate acquisition was a house right across the street that she bought when I was about 14 for about $30,000. And then when I was 17, she told me she'd made $20,000 in her sleep. And I'm like, what? You made 20 grand? This is when 20 grand was a lot of money, just to give you some context. But she, you made 20 grand, you didn't do anything? Screw college. I'm getting into real estate. So I got into real estate. Well, my first year in real estate, I made about eight grand. My second year, I made about 10 grand. And but my third year, I made over $100,000, which back in 1980 was some pretty decent change. And so what happened between year two and year three that caused me to 10x my income? Well, what happened was I met a guy. I was actually dating his daughter and I actually went to work for him. Uh that taught me about the importance of mindset and psychology. How really 80 to 90% of your success in anything is your mindset and psychology, you know. And fast forward to today, like you said, I've owned over 2,000 houses that I've rented long term. I own thousands of apartment units now. In 2006, my net worth went up $17 million while I slept. And you might say, "Wow." And I said, "Wow." And my head got so big, I could barely fit it through a door. I thought I was a real estate god. And you know, when that happens, God or Allah or whatever you believe will give you a nice little smackdown. Well, that was 2008. I lost 50 million conservatively in 2008. And >> so, what I'm known for talking about on my podcast and at my events and things like that is really the mindset it took to have 50 million to lose in the first place. But more importantly maybe is is what it took to recover from that. And and those strategies that I utilize candidly are the same strategies someone should use to get started, you know. So if you're listening, >> if we get into that, I think those strategies might help those that want to get started. So happy to go. Okay. All right. Well, let's go. Let's get into it then. >> It's all about strategies, mindset here on this show. So if we can get someone a win, let's go. >> Oh, let's do it. So this is this uh let's I'm going to give you a sequence of events. So When I lost everything, I recognized that I had to reassociate with my goals again. You know, I hid under a rock for a couple couple of months, feeling sorry for myself, but then I'm like, "Okay, I got to pick myself back up." And, you know, if you come to one of my boot camps, uh, I I I do virtual boot camps um regularly. The first thing we do is goal setting. Goal setting on steroids because how do you get anything if you don't know what it is? You've got to figure out what it is you want and more importantly, why you want it. And so, that's the first thing we do at any one of my events. Uh, and because what you have to do is you have to create what Napoleon Hill in his book Think and Grow Rich calls a burning desire. You got to want it, okay? You have to have hunger because that's the only way you push through fear and limiting beliefs and or maybe you're comfortable and we all know the comfort zone is a nice warm place and we also know nothing freaking grows there, right? So, you've got to get uncomfortable to make things happen for yourself. And so you've got to create that burning desire, that hunger to push through that fear, to push through those limiting beliefs, to to, you know, to create the life you want and deserve. And so it starts with goal setting. And then the next piece, Shahed, is you've got to make a decision. And I don't mean dipping your toe in the water. I don't mean one foot in, one foot out. I mean, you make a decision, it is done. Okay? It it's just done. And uh you know, once you make that decision, then you're committed. And then you're like a train on a track. And you know, if you if you're not committed and you don't make a a firm decision, you're you're going to get knocked off track. And you know, a a great example of a of a decision uh that I love to use is if you're going to attack the island, you burn your ships because you're taking their ships home. I mean, it's done. Okay? It's it's just done. And and and so uh you know, motivation will get you started, but but you've got to be committed to keep going. >> And then the next piece is you got to take that first step. you know, I made that decision when I, you know, that I had to get up and get going again. And if you haven't started yet and you want to create that life of your dreams, you got to make that decision that, you know, enough is enough. You know, and sometimes it requires leverage. Sometimes it requires disgust to make that decision. I've been there before, too, where I've just been disgusted and said enough is enough. In fact, I'll give you a great example of that. Back uh and I don't hardly ever talk about this, so this will be unusual for me to talk about publicly, but back uh in my early 20s, I lost everything for the first time. And I had a Rolls-Royce. I had a Maserati. You know, I was living large. People thought I was, you know, wealthy. Uh, actually, they my neighbors thought I was a drug dealer. I was just kicking ass in real estate, but they thought I was a drug dealer. And and uh I know they did. But but I lost everything. Okay. And I had my house foreclosed on. And I remember that um my mom and oh, I had to paint houses to have enough money to eat. Okay. That's how bad it got. Okay. from from Million-Dollar House, Rolls-Royce, Maserati, all that. I had a Maserati. Uh, and and and I remember my mom bringing me a bag of groceries because she felt bad for me. Okay. I went from Rolls-Royce Maserati to mom bringing me groceries. So, I was painting a house and I had a meltdown. And and I literally threw the brush down. I'm like, "F this." And I I cried a little bit. I got back up and I went out and bought 500 houses in that next run. But disgust can be a very powerful motivator. But you got to make that decision. The next piece is you got to take that first you got to take that first step. You know Dr. Martin Luther King says you take that first step in faith the next step will be revealed. You don't have to see the whole journey especially those of you that are analytical right you don't have to see the whole path. You know uh a great analogy for this is you can drive all the way across the United States at night with your headlight only seeing 50 feet in front of you and you know you'll make it. You might have some obstacles but you know other people have done it before you. It's the same way with this or any business. But you got to take that first step. You know, La Su said, "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." So that was the next piece. >> Um, did you were you going to interject something? >> No, no, go ahead. I'm I'm >> Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. So, you know, and here's the thing. A lot of people, they don't take action because they fear failure. And I'm going to tell you, if this is you, don't fear failure. Okay? I call my failure seminars. Okay? That was a $50 million. It was an expensive freaking seminar, but it was a seminar because it's only a failure if you don't get back up or you don't get the lesson, right? >> And I've had ton everybody's had tons of these seminars. Um but but don't don't fear failure, fear regret. There was this nurse in Australia um Shahed that um was a hospice nurse and her name was Bronny Wear and uh she asked patients a question and the people that were dying she asked him a question. She said, "Do you have any regrets?" And she even wrote a book about it. It's like the five regrets of dying. It's a bestseller. Something like that. It's titled. And the number one regret was not living the life I could have lived. Living someone else's life, not doing what I know I'm capable of. I can't think of anything worse than fear that. Don't fear failing. I'll tell you, I have I have started, A lot of people don't know this. I've started 29 businesses so far in my career. I was shocked when I got the count on that. >> Several worth tens of millions of dollars. Most were spectacular flaming seminars. Okay. Because we fail our way to success. We're going to talk about failure a little more in a minute. >> Yeah. The next piece let's talk about is fear. Is fear. You know um everybody feels fear. Uh the most successful people on the planet feel fear. Now some of us entrepreneurs we call it stress but it's fear. And you know so what is fear? Is it f everything and run? That's what most people do. Okay. I'm going to tell you I hope you can you look at it as the fact that it's false evidence appearing real in most cases. These are acronyms that I like to use. But but the the one you need to adopt is face everything and rise because when you take massive action, if you're facing fear, it mitigates the fear. And so, you know, but we all have it. So, you just got to push through in spite of it. And once you push through to the other side, you're ecstatic because you know what you're capable of. So, don't, you know, just recognize we all have it. You just got to push through in spite of it. And the next piece is limiting beliefs. You know, I I I've got I've got a couple props for this one. I got to turn around to get them. Give me one second because they're funny. So, so when I immigrated to this country, I got thrown into school. I didn't speak English. Found out what bullies were for the first time. And then my mom, proud, proud Dutch woman that she is, thought it'd be a great idea to send me to school in these wooden shoes. These are the actual freaking shoes. We found them in the house when we put her in assisted living. And and these leather shorts that the Germans wear for October Fest. >> So, I got my ass kicked again, you know. Oh my god. It was like crack cocaine for the bullies. And then, you know, and then the then the bullies would chase me home from school and she'd chase him off with a fly swatter. So the next day butt kicked again, you know, and and and that coupled with this, you know, this experience I had with this girl I had a crush on that she embarrassed me in front of some kids in school that we all have this stuff. But I came up with this limiting belief that I wasn't good enough. I used to ask myself, how can I show them I'm good enough? And which of course presupposed that I wasn't? And see, here's the reason I bring this up. Because a lot of people have these limiting belief systems and you know I'm not good enough, I'm not strong enough, I'm not courageous enough, I'm not analytical enough. That was another one of mine. >> I you know I don't have enough time. I don't have enough money. Whatever. And there's a reason the acronym for belief systems is BS because 99.9% of them are BS, but we believe they're real. And so if you have one of these that you're consciously aware of anytime it pops up, anytime it pops up, drag it out into the daylight. Okay? look at it with your adult rational mind and and recognize that it's BS and it will slowly diminish and go away. But you got to consciously do this. You know, I used to be afraid to raise my hand in front of 10 kids in a classroom and now I speak in front of thousands of people a year typically typically in my freaking flipflops here. Okay? So, you know, I'm known for that. It's not a brand thing. It's cuz my feet hurt when I walk around for three days at a boot camp. But anyway, yeah. So, so but you can diminish anything like that, a limiting belief like that if you give it, >> you know, give it the energy it deserves. >> Yes. >> Um, yes. >> The next thing, the next thing I want to talk about is integrity. You know, uh, recently on a podcast, I brought up this sham lawsuit that was brought against me like 20 years ago, and the attorney general at that time was running for governor. So, he opened up an investigation of me. He had political aspirations, and I was completely exonerated. I was of any wrongdoing in that in that. But but I learned a lesson, a really important lesson. Uh number one, you have a great contracts attorney because that's what this was all about. And I was, like I said, I was completely exonerated when they saw how I did business. So that's the first piece. But the second probably more important piece is to operate with integrity. Okay? And integrity is my number one core value. And in fact, just recently, I had this supposed investigative journal journalism article written about me. It's complete crap. I mean, there's nothing a single bit of truth on it on this Sham website trying to discredit me. is probably a competitor or something. Can't even remember the name of it. But they try to make me look bad. You know, all sorts of BS claims. And so this stuff pops up every couple of years. And you know, I'm sure, you know, once as as big as you are, you probably get hate as well because, you know, someone's got an axe to grind or something. But I I'd like to turn that into a teaching opportunity for my students, you know, and you know, very rarely, but once in a while, we'll even see people commenting negatively about me online of their supposed experience with me. And uh you know, I've had over 15,300 people attend my boot camps and I think we found 14 quasi negative comments. So 15,000 attendees. 14. Yeah. 14 comments. And some of them weren't even that negative. >> I want to I want to >> let me Yeah. >> Let me finish one thought. I'm almost done. And and you know, even with that minuscule number of complaints, I take complaints very seriously, obviously, but we discovered like 99% of the time we look these people up and to contact them and say, "Hey, how can we make it right? they've never even done business with them. So, you know, there's no record of them. And so, they're likely competitor competitors or nefarious ex partner that I'm actually litigating with. But the bottom line, I just want to land the plane with this is is when you get into business, any business, this business or any business, you got to operate with integrity. And you got to get competent legal help with your business model. And like I said, integrity is our number one core value and it should be yours as well. You do what it's right even if it hurts. And that helps insulate you from stuff like that. But anyway, sorry. I wanted to finish my thought on that. >> No, no, no. That's good. No, it's wonderful. I just came to mind in a recent experience. I went for breakfast at a breakfast place >> and >> the moment I stepped into that place, Rod, I'm telling you, every aspect of that place was finally tuned for me to experience something different from all the, you know, u uh restaurants out there for breakfast. You know, it felt different. So, I sat down and I got the menu. It was a leather, you know, a fau artificial leather menu cover. Really cool. And the menu inside just had incredible incredible items on there and everything was great. They were cleaning continuously. They were just really friendly, great experience, quick food, unreal for me. And I said, "Give me your card. I want to leave you guys a review." Right. And I like to do that, you know, as much as I can, of course. >> And and she goes, "Oh, that'll be so great." and she came running back, gave me the card. He goes, "You, how was your experience?" Right? It goes, "Wonderful." And I pointed all these things out. He goes, "You won't believe it. We still get negative reviews, >> right? So I I I and there was just a feedback I provided that there is just a conditioning of our mind too, right? Because if if one individual is looking for what's wrong with the world or looking for what they need to fix or there's an issue with people or things, if that's what the programming is, if they're always looking for that, they're always going to be trying to search for that. And that's just not at a restaurant level, that's at their career and their family and their relationship and their business. They're doing more harm to themselves than they could ever imagine. If they kind of shift and start looking for the good in things, you'll be surprised how much more good you find. >> Oh, that's so that's so insightful, Shahed. I can't I can't even tell you because what you look for is what you get. And actually, that's the next that's the next topic I wanted to talk about, which is focus. Okay. Okay. Let's talk about focus for a minute because focus is power. But whatever you focus on gets bigger, like you just said, positive or negative. You know, I'll I'll have people call me and say, "How do I get out of student loan debt?" I'm like, "Wrong question. How do you make so much money the debt's irrelevant is the right question, right?" You know, they asked Mother Teresa when she was alive if she was anti-war, and she replied and said, "No, I'm pro peace." >> I mean, you see the parallel, but the but the but but whatever you focus on gets bigger. And you know, I will tell you, the most successful people on the planet have the highest degree of focus. You know, I don't know about you, but a lot of times, you know, Rod will be sitting there watching Netflix or something and I'll be scrolling on my social media, which is horrible for your focus, by the way, because your brain is making these micro decisions every split second. And and I'll tell you, I'll tell you another great example. So, you know, I get excited about my 25 20 plus million downloads on my podcast. So, I listen to two podcasts. I listen to Joe Rogan and I listen >> Yeah. Thank Well, thank you for that. But I listen to Joe Rogan and I listen to Tim Ferrris and they get that a week on their show. So, you know, just to give it to context, but I try to get both sides of the aisle. Um, and and on Tim Ferrris's show, he interviews the best of the best in the world. You know, the best athletes, my Michael Phelps, the swimmer, NBA players, actors like Jamie Fox, Ed Norton, Hugh Jackman, Arnold, you know, billionaires like Ray Dalio, heads of the biggest companies in the world like Zuckerberg. And what he does is he deconstructs their success. It's very intellectual and and interesting conversation. Uh but I started to hear a pattern. Shahed they almost all meditate. >> What does meditation enhance? Yes. Focus. >> That's part of our our framework as well. >> Meditation part. >> Focus. Focus is is and it enhances your focus. Uh and so anyway, so that's focus. The next piece really uh particularly honest say I shouldn't say particularly I think it applies to everything is to play to your strengths but it definitely applies in the um uh multif family space which is what I teach um and because it's a team sport you know uh you're not going to buy these 100 unit apartment complexes or 400 unit apartment complexes by yourself you can you know I bought 2,000 houses mostly by myself I had my brothers involved and I had employees and stuff like that but it was mostly me and and you're not going to do that in in the space that I'm in now, which is multifamily. But you got to play to your strengths. Your strengths are your greatest assets, okay? Uh you know, don't try to build your weaknesses because here's why. When you're playing to your strengths, first of all, you love what you're doing because you're good at it, okay? And you never really work another day of your life when you're playing to your strengths. Second thing is, so you're in the quan or the zone like Jerry Magcguire talks about. You're in the zone when you're playing to your strengths. And but the second thing is um you're passionate. Like I'm I you can probably feel my passion. And I freaking love what I do. And and passion is the fuel. And and and and passion always gives you the also rather gives you the ability to influence. Okay? And if you're going to get into any business, you got to get into something you love. So you're passionate so you can influence people to invest with you, to work with you, to sell to you. So you know, play to your strength. Super important. And passion also breeds innovation. It breeds creativity. And when you hit a speed bump, if you're passionate about it, it's just a speed bump. It's not going to be a wall that stops you. You're going to keep going because you love what it is you're doing. So, you know, that's an important piece. Do what you enjoy and you're and and and play to your strengths. >> You know, passion also has a direct effect on the level of love you feel in your heart, for example. Um, you know, a lot of, you know, macho guys might say, "Oh, love. We talk about love." But I was one of them before, but now I, for me, love is a very a very different meaning. It's not a surface level type of meaning that you you read in a card or something, but it's a very deep sense of oneness to everything. And that that passion, there's something so powerful about that passion that elevates that love in your body where it just permeates everything that you interact with. >> Well, right. >> I I completely agree and I was I want to I want to uh end this this get off my soap box talking about gratitude. But before I do that, I got to because it ties into what you just said, gratitude. But let's let's talk about peer group for a minute. >> Uh because I will tell you, and you've heard this before, you know, you are the sum total of people you hang out with. I mean, you show me your three best friends. I'll show you who you are in your relationships, your health, your happiness, and definitely your finances. Who you hang out with is who you become. But here's the problem. Most people will default to a group, a peer group that they went to school with or that they work with. And and very often that group will have limiting beliefs or fears or they may fear of losing you. They may fear feeling rejected if you succeed and sometimes it's family. And so I'll tell you love love your family but proactive right love your family but proactively choose your peers. And you know when I was losing everything in 2008 and9 I was in Tony Robbins platinum partnership. Okay high level that's his very high level mastermind. It was like a h 100red grand at the time it's even more than that now. And I was around people that were killing it in that crash while I was losing everything and they were killing it. And they're like, "Get up, you puss. 50 million shillion. Go make something happen." That's who you want to be around, you know, is people that are making things happen because a rising tide lifts all ships. Can I Can I brag for a minute? I want to brag, please. I I I have a coaching program. They're called my warriors, okay? They're they're And I've been teaching for about a little over seven years. They own 260,000 units that I'm that we're aware of. I think it's closer to 300 candidly. We just can't keep track anymore. But we know it's over 260,000 multifamily units. They own thousands of self- storage units. Senior housing storage. No. No. Not together. No. Individually, we count. We ask them, "How many deals are you in?" Oh, in the community. I got it. >> Yeah. In the community. Yeah. Yeah. But under my toutelage, this is this these are the results. They're just spectacular. And it's because of mindset. They take action. Yeah. I give them the tools and everything at my boot camps and in my program, but they actually do it because we spend so much time talking about actually taking action, you know, and not just sitting there and thinking about it and analyzing it, you know, and yes, I made the a uh long on purpose, you know, and so and so, you know, um but but that's the power of a peer group, okay? And and most of those deals done between warriors. Yeah. The right peer group. Exactly. Thank you. That most of those deals were done between warriors. So, if you're listening to this, get around people that want more out of life. I will tell you, I created my own mastermind a few years ago. There's probably 40, 50 billion in assets in there. I I it became too much work. I was hurting cats trying to get them to show up and stuff, but but it was a huge mastermind. I set it up >> so that I could be around people that thought what I thought was hard was easy. And that's who you want to be around. People that think what you think is hard is easy. That's Yeah. And so, that's that's the power of a peer group because that again that rising tide lifts all ships. So back to problems. No, go ahead. >> Yeah, for me in my situation um doing what I'm doing and how you mentioned about the people that were in your past and that comm that group that you had >> or your environment a small percentage I would say 30% 30 40% of the people I knew from back then because they're still close with me and they're around this type of material. They're seeing people like yourself. I'm talking to them and and the stuff that you're saying it it connects with what I'm seeing and then more and more success stories are saying similar things. They started taking it to heart. They started changing the way they think their patterns. Do you know what I mean? Like they shifted, right? Majority didn't. So I don't hang out with them, right? It's a true fact is I'm not around in their lives. But the ones I do are very similar. >> As you grow, you will lose people and and it's sad. I mean it's sad. Uh you will you will lose people. They fall away. I think I you know we could talk about energy and vibrating at different energies. Yeah. But you know we could talk about energies how you vibrate at a different energy and and you lose people that are that stay at a lower energy. >> You're not the vibe. You're not the vibe. >> That's it. That's it. And it's sad but it's it's reality. Some people just don't don't they give up on life. They're happy being comfortable or or happy being miserable sometimes. But but so the the the just a couple more quick things. One is problems and problems and failure. We talked about, you know, failing our way to success. But but here's the thing. Don't fear problems. Okay? Problems are feedback. Like when I do one of my boot camps, um can I get can I do a quick plug for my boot camp? Is that all right? >> Yes, of course. It's all about you. Go ahead. >> Oh, well, thank thank you for that. So, I do these boot camps every couple of months. I don't know when this will air, but there'll be one coming up in the very near future. I do virtually mostly right here in my studio. probably 8 weeks or so >> from now. >> Eight weeks. Yeah. So, so they'll they'll be virtual and um and um uh give me a name a word that they can use to get a great deal on. What's a word they should super? Okay. So, so if you go to By the way, I forgot to mention this. If you haven't done your goals recently, go to rodslinks.com. rodspluralinksplural.com and and um and at the bottom of that link tree, that's got all my free resources. My boot camp site is there and free books that are fantastic. But at the bottom is my goal setting workshop. Even if you're not get interested in multif family, do the goal setting. You know, like people spend more time planning a birthday party than they do designing their lives. That's designing your life. Have your spouse do it. If your kids's over 10 years old, have them do it. Spend an hour and it will massively impact your life. So it's in rodslinks.com. Um go there and do that goal setting workshop. But but my boot camp site is there. I do a virtual boot camp. It's two days. I don't sell anything there. nothing being sold and and you'll leave so juiced. You'll be coming out of your skin. It's always on a weekend and uh if you use the code super, you can come for $47. Okay. For two days of training for $47 and you get about three $3,000 worth of bonuses. Yes. I mean, you get my dealer evaluator software. You get my document library. You get a free course. Yeah. For 47 bucks. So, no excuses. Oh, my pleasure. So, use the code super >> for that, Rod. >> Oh, no. You'll love it. I I I can tell you I told you about my complaints. I've had over 15,300 people attend my boot camps and we've had 14 quasi complaints. Most of them we can't even track back to ever having done business with us. So, you know, people rave about my events. But anyway, >> perfect. >> So, um the the the I told you I wanted to talk about gratitude >> and now some of you may tune out when we're talking about this foofy stuff, but trust me, you it'd be a big mistake, okay? Because what I'm going to what what I'm going to share with you is how I had 50 million to lose and how I got it back. So, ignore this at your peril, okay? So gratitude is the most important foundational foundational emotion we have available to us. It's it strengthens our immune system. It lowers our blood pressure. It brings us closer to our spirituality and it's how we it's and it heals and it's how we manifest everything we want into our lives. Okay? So most mornings I will sit on my recliner in one of my other buildings here at my compound and I've got my vision board sitting next to me and I will just do gratitude for the people I love, for my foundation, for my students, my warriors. And then I'll do gratitude for the things that I want as if I already have them. And I've gotten emotional being grateful for things I don't even have yet. And I know I lost some of you on that, but this is how I had 50 million to lose and how I got it back. So again, just ignore it at your peril. But um but when you do that, that's how you manifest everything you want in life is through that pro. You could call it prayer if you like. It's pretty much the same thing. You could call it that. >> Whatever. >> That's it. That's right. That's right. And the last piece is uh I want to share a story. And and so when I immigrated, I moved to Denver, but I knew I wanted to live on the beach. And my dad worked for Continental Airlines, so we flew to Hawaii and I got to see what the beach was like. So for 20 years, I would visualize the palm trees and the sand and the surf. And and and 20 years later, I built this mansion on the beach here in Sarasota. And I mean, just to describe this place, I'll brag for just a second. There was a beach on one side. There were boats on the a boat lifts on the backside. It was sliced through an island. It was called a Gulf to Bay lot. Um the house was 10,000 ft. There was a waterfall from the second row balcony into the pool. You had to walk through the waterfall to get to the pool. Pool was in magazines. Um, big spiral staircase up through the middle of the house, wine celler, elevator. I'll land the plane with this. On the second floor, I had aquariums built around the spiral staircase. It cost me almost $200,000. So, this gives you an idea of the house. I mean, spectacular. >> Well, I worked for that thing for 20 years. Two months after I moved in, two months after I moved in, I'm floating in the pool at night. It's changing colors. It had fiber optic lighting. And I'm looking up at this testament to my ego, which is really what it was. It was to prove to the world I was good enough. I mean, if that didn't do it, you know, forget it. Okay. My my and my family's inside sleeping. You know, I had all the toys, the Mercedes and the nice cars and the boats and the jet skis. >> And I'm looking up at this thing two months after I moved in and I got depressed. And I don't mean a little depressed. I was like, "Holy crap, depressed. I mean, it was like really overwhelming feeling of depression." And when I looked back on at Shahid, I realized there were three things happening. The first thing was you should never achieve a big goal without having other goals lined up behind it. You know, like the good book says, without a vision, the people perish. And I didn't have a vision for the future. I didn't know what I was going to do next. Second thing is it's never about the goals. You need the goals to create that burning desire and that hunger. But you know, like they say, the happiest days of a boat owner's life, the day they buy the boat and the day they sell the boat. Okay? And and so it's never about the goals. You need them, >> but happiness comes from progress and growth. >> Yeah. And so if you go do my goal setting workshop at Rod's links at the bottom there at the end I do a weekly planning process about 15 minutes and one of the pieces and that's how I managed two very large companies at the same time with that planning process. But at the very uh one of the pieces of that is is celebrating anything you got done the previous week consciously because you're going to have setbacks. You're going to have delays but if you did anything and you acknowledge it you'll be happy. So again happiness is progress. Um, but the big but the big thing, Shahid, was I was totally focused on me. Rod, Rod, Rod, show the world I'm good enough. Blah blah blah. But that's the that's the year I met Tony Robbins. Okay, this was I was I was 40 years old. I went and saw him speak live and I spent another 20 years following him around the planet. But I discovered that he fed families for the holidays. And I'm like, what a concept. Do something for someone else. I'm embarrassed to say I had to be 40 to get that memo. But I called my brother cuz I was going to go visit him in in Denver for Thanksgiving. And I said, "Bro, let's feed five families. Let's have some fun." So he he called his church, founded five families that really needed help. And and we delivered the food, and we had frozen turkeys and toys for their kids if they had them. And this third family changed my life. Sh. We go up to the door, and this woman is in a one-bedroom shack with five kids, Hispanic woman. She comes out on the porch and she sees all this stuff and she starts crying. Her kids come out, two, the older ones start crying. I start crying and I'm hooked. And now, please, I am not bragging with this. And don't tune out if you're listening because this is probably the most important thing I've said the whole time we've talked. Okay. Since then, I have fed 150,000 children for the holidays. Okay? I've done tens of thousands of backpacks uh for atrisisk children locally here with school supplies. In fact, we just ordered 2,000 for August uh a couple weeks ago. I've done thousands and thousands of teddy bears to local police departments for their officers to keep in their vehicles if they encounter a child that's been in a traumatic situation. Now, again, I'm not bragging with this. Tony Robbins likes to call it the science of achievement versus the art of fulfillment. Achievement's a science. If you want to learn multifamily, get your butt to my boot camp. I'll give you the blueprint. You just got to go do it. But fulfillment is an art. You got to figure out what juices you. For me, it's it's the it's it's children and the elderly. That's that's that's that's what makes me happy is helping children and the elderly. And you know, maybe for you it's it's it's something around nature or the environment. Maybe it's it's animals. Whatever it is, give back right now. Don't say to yourself, "Well, you had money, that's why you gave back." No, you want the money, give back now. That's how you get it faster because power move power moves to those who serve. So, find something you're passionate about and start giving right now. If you don't have the money, give of your time because then success will be inevitable and you'll be leadership rather than that's it. That's it. >> Yeah. No, I love it. Love it, man. It was amazing having you on the show here and talking to you and hearing what you're saying. I do appreciate your energy, you know, what you're doing for other people and how you using this power we have within that every human being has that we just sitting on it and not realizing how p how powerful we really are to make things happen. And you are an example of that coming on these shows, going on on your podcast tour to bring this awareness to more and more people that if they just shift that from outside and trying to point and blame and all that and just bring it to themselves and start working on themselves and internal world and just take the precision action that they need, the direction that they need from people that already been there. >> Thank you my friend. I've enjoyed it. [Music] Super shut down.