My Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Rune Sovndahl is the co-founder of Fantastic Services – an international brand with 10+ years of experience that combines technological innovations with bespoke customer care to deliver services for the home, office, and garden.Rune is Danish but moved to London 20 years ago to study for a BA (Hons) in Business Information Systems Design at South Bank University. Following the completion of his degree, he was accepted into a graduate program with British Telecom.In 2003 he also established the European Young Professionals committee in London and was involved in its website’s creation and the recruitment of more than 200 new members. Most recently, he worked for lastminute.com as Head of SEO. “For any investment that you get into, be prepared to lose it all.”Rune Sovndahl Worst investment everRune was running a successful business, and he had managed to put aside some good savings for 12 years. He decided that he wanted to invest this money in something that would make him a good return. So he started researching possible investment ideas.Getting some of the Amazon pieRune came across Fulfillment by Amazon, something he found quite fascinating, and after he did his math, he saw that he could make some pretty good money. So he got into this.Mixing business with friendshipAt the time, Rune had a friend he had worked with for a couple of years on many other things. Rune spoke to his friend about his new investment, and they agreed to run it together. They signed a contract, got the paperwork in order, and the partnership was good on paper.Return on investmentThe business picked up, and Rune started getting good returns. It grew into something useful, and there was money continually going into their Amazon account.Though Rune was busy with his other businesses, he would occasionally check on the account and confirm that everything was ok.Getting blockedRune’s account got blocked at some point, so they had to set up another one with a different company name and details. In the process, the money in the previous account was moved to the new one.Suddenly, Rune’s login details would not work for the new account. But since he still had access to the spreadsheet with the money details, he didn’t pay much attention to the logins.Bleeding dryMoney over time stopped going into the Amazon account, and when it came back, it was transferred to another account, which wasn’t Rune’s bank account. Suddenly there was no more money in the Amazon account.Rune was notified that the account was shut down. He found this strange because, as far as he knew, they were still in business. He tried to log in, but it said the account was shut down. That’s when Rune found out that all the money they had made was gone. His trusted friend had siphoned all of it.Lessons learnedPartner with people who have something of vested interestWhen partnering with people, even if you have the correct paperwork in place, these people should have assets or anything else that is of value. This makes it easy for you to recover your investment should the deal go sour.Don’t let past success blind youMost investors think that because they’re successful and what they want to invest in somehow seems easy, they can do it. You realize later that that’s not true.Be careful who you trustWhen getting into partnerships, most people trust blindly. They believe their partners have the same integrity as them and, therefore, expect them to deliver the end of their bargain faithfully.Be prepared for lossesFor any investment that you go into, be prepared to lose it all. Have a stop loss for all your investments to protect your downside.Andrew’s takeawaysThere’s a difference between a business operator and an investorThere are so many people who are very confident and very successful as business operators, but when they take their money and invest in something, it doesn’t go the same way. Be careful because this kind of overconfidence can spill over and ruin your investment portfolio.Prepare for lossThink about the investments you have and the ones you’re considering making and ask yourself how you can lose on them. Don’t get stuck with telling yourself that you are not going to lose. Always ask yourself how can you lose in this situation and come up with ways to protect yourself from losses.Be careful when granting people access to your accountsPut securities in place before you share access to your accounts with anyone, including your managers.Actionable adviceManage your accounts, no matter how busy you are. Do not give complete access to other people.No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsRune’s goal for the next 12 months is to attract the right people for his next challenge to create 1,000 millionaires.Parting words “We have to remind ourselves of some of our losses and some of our failures in order to get stronger.”Rune Sovndahl [spp-transcript] Connect with Rune SovndahlLinkedInInstagramTwitterWebsiteAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid ThemTransform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 PointsAndrew’s online programsValuation Master ClassHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketFinance Made Ridiculously SimpleBecome a Great Presenter and Increase Your InfluenceTransform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 PointsConnect with Andrew Stotz:astotz.comLinkedInFacebookInstagramTwitterYouTubeMy Worst Investment Ever Podcast

A recovering, hard-driving leader with over 35 years of sales, marketing, educational and entrepreneurial experience, Professor Pete Alexander successfully battled the negative effects of stress head-on and developed the LIGHTEN™ stress management model that will motivate you and your team to take action in only a few minutes per day.After learning the stress management techniques, participants can better become leaders teams want to follow rather than hide from.Professor Pete has an Amazon best-selling book titled LIGHTEN Your Day and hosts a popular 7-minute podcast on LinkedIn titled Winning at Business and Life. “Not all stress is bad. There’s good stress, and there is negative stress.”Pete Alexander Worst investment everPete was interested in investing in real estate and happened to have a friend living in California who knew a real estate agent who could help him find a property to invest in. Pete’s friend made arrangements for the agent to come from Arizona and talk to Pete and other friends interested in real estate investing.Cheap government housesThe agent told them that the federal government was offering houses for 1% down because these houses were mortgaged to military personnel who got moved, and now they were open and vacant, and they had to get rid of them.The agent gave them brochures on the different houses and information about how much cash they stood to make. There was also the added benefit of, besides being a real estate agent, the gentleman was also a property manager, and his company would be able to get renters for the investors.Additionally, Pete and his friends would not have to put a lot of money down, and the renters would pay the mortgage for them. The deal was a no brainer. They were sold on the idea.Real estate investment deal too good to say no toPete and his wife went ahead and took a second mortgage out on their house and invested $100,000 into this opportunity. Lo and behold, they ended up with three houses in Phoenix and two houses in Las Vegas because there was a mixup in what the agent said they thought Pete wanted and what they bid on for him. So now he had five houses. Interestingly, Pete and his wife only physically saw one of those five houses, and that one house was the only one that they didn’t lose money on. The other four were an absolute disaster.The property manager who couldn’t do his jobThree of the four houses were almost impossible to rent because the property manager’s office was so far away that people who wanted to look at the houses couldn’t manage to drive to him and then go to the house. So logistically, it didn’t work. The property manager would also not respond to renters who were having issues with the homes. So people would get fed up and leave the houses in a mess.Cash flow nightmareSo here was Pete with five full-price mortgages that had turned into a cash flow nightmare. It took him years to recover from that disaster.Lessons learnedIf it sounds too good to be true, it isFor any kind of investing, if it seems too good to be true, it is.Hire the right property managerIf you’re planning to have investment properties where people lease your houses, make sure you hire a property manager that has excellent reviews, is proactive, and operates close to your property.Research the markets you’re investing inBefore you invest in any market, find out what it is all about. What are the trends? What is the situation in terms of landlord versus renters?Consider all the costs incurredWhen you calculate how much you’re going to get in rent versus the mortgage cost and taxes, factor in a higher cost for maintenance because there will always be unexpected things happening.Andrew’s takeawaysReal estate investment needs workPeople say that real estate brings passive income, but real estate’s not really passive; there’s a lot of work involved.Your property manager mattersGet the right property manager and keep them close by. Property managers do a lot of work, so you better find the right one.Consider liquidity and legalityThe advantage of investing in the stock market, unlike other investments, is that there’s ample liquidity. If you want to get out of something, you can do it. Also, the legal structure is generally in your favor.Actionable adviceDo your homework, if you have money to invest, consider real estate, consider stocks, whatever it is, but remember that if it sounds too good to be true, it absolutely is.No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsPete’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to launch a 30-day stress-buster challenge starting next month. He plans to offer it every couple of months. [spp-transcript] Connect with Pete AlexanderLinkedInTwitterFacebookInstagramWebsiteAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid ThemTransform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 PointsAndrew’s online programsValuation Master ClassHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketFinance Made Ridiculously SimpleBecome a Great Presenter and Increase Your InfluenceTransform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 PointsConnect with Andrew Stotz:astotz.comLinkedInFacebookInstagramTwitterYouTubeMy Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Marcia Daszko is one of the world’s leading business strategists and catalysts for leadership and organizational transformation. She believes and teaches innovation in leadership thinking. She has 25 years of proven success as a Founder and CEO of a consulting firm, Marcia Daszko & Associates, and is an executive team workshop facilitator.She is also a researcher and graduate-level teacher, a keynote speaker, an award-winning writer and communicator, and an executive advisor to Fortune 500 corporations, private companies, government agencies; educational institutions; and global non-profit organizations. She is most recently the author of Pivot, Disrupt, Transform: How Leaders Beat the Odds and Survive. “Break down the barriers, silos, and hierarchies. Get out of the traditional mindsets that you have created, and instead ask yourself if you’re getting the results that you want.”Marcia Daszko Worst investment everMarcia was a stickler to societal norms. She went to school, got good grades, made it to the dean’s list, and went on to get a good job.Never questioning the systemThroughout her career, Marcia’s goal was to do the right thing and be the best employee possible. She concentrated on performing well in her performance appraisals, so she followed the rules. She was ok with the way her life was going and never questioned the system.Forming her way of thinkingOne day, Marcia’s boss sent her to attend Dr. Edward Deming’s four-day seminar in San Diego. She got to interact with Dr. Deming even after the workshop. Dr. Deming became Marcia’s mentor and taught her his concepts.Over time, Marcia started questioning the status quo and what society had taught her was the way to build her life and be successful. She started questioning things and thinking more about what success truly meant to her.Lessons learnedIt’s not all about good grades and being the best employeeLet go of things like grades and performance appraisals. But more importantly, think about what you are trying to accomplish before you let all of those things get in your way.Andrew’s takeawaysBe wary of internal competitionInternal competition is one of the things that we think is good but takes away the joy of learning. This kills the massive potential we have because you just concentrate on hitting targets and numbers, not on self-improvement.Be an independent thinkerTrue independence is the independence of thinking. It doesn’t mean you have to oppose every idea, just form your independent way of thinking. Allow yourself to think and question things.Actionable adviceIt’s essential to question. But use strategic thinking and questioning. Don’t just go out and question everything for the heck of it; understand where you’re coming from and where you want to go.Parting words “Reach out, ask questions.”Marcia Daszko [spp-transcript] Connect with Marcia DaszkoLinkedInTwitterFacebookWebsiteAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid ThemTransform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 PointsAndrew’s online programsValuation Master ClassHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketFinance Made Ridiculously SimpleBecome a Great Presenter and Increase Your InfluenceTransform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 PointsConnect with Andrew Stotz:astotz.comLinkedInFacebookInstagramTwitterYouTubeMy Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Dr. Julian Hosp is the largest crypto influencer in the German-speaking world, with over 90,000 followers on YouTube. He has written many articles and spoken at many blockchain conferences.He is a medical doctor and ex-professional athlete, and CEO co-founder of Cake, and chairman of DeFiChain Foundation.His vision is to bring blockchain awareness and understanding to a billion more people by 2025.You can find a large collection of his articles on his blog. “It’s way easier to invest by trying not to be wrong, rather than by trying to be right.”Julian Hosp Worst investment everAt 22, Julian was a successful professional athlete living his best life. He had about $100,000 in savings that was just sitting in the bank. Julian had no intention of investing the money as he knew nothing about investing.Pressured into his first investmentJulian happened to go to Brazil for training, where he met a fellow Austrian named Ralph. Ralph was a super friendly dude, and Julian got along with him just fine.Ralph told Julian about this fantastic investment opportunity that he wanted him to invest in. It was a new lot right at the beach that would get converted into actual construction land. He was looking for people to buy parcels of this land because he could split this up, and it would be easier to develop. Ralph made the investment look super exclusive and such a no brainer deal that was going to make Julian a millionaire.Putting in his entire savingsEven though Julian had no clue about real estate investing, Ralph was compelling and made him feel like he had to move fast else he’d miss out on the deal of a lifetime. Julian decided to invest and handed Ralph $80,000.Here come the cricketsJulian left Brazil a month later, and that was the last he heard of Ralph and his investment. After weeks of trying to reach Ralph endlessly without any success, it dawned on Julian that he had been duped into making his worst investment ever.Lessons learnedTake your time to recover an investment lossWhen you lose money, don’t try to get it back straight away. You might end up retaking the same stupid risks. Take some time to let the emotions cool down before you try something else.Learn to win by knowing when to exitIf you want to learn to win in investing, you must know when to quit. Have an exit plan, and make sure you understand how it works. You need to have a plan for when things are not working out. This prevents emotions from getting in the way of deciding to exit an investment.Don’t be pressured into investingWhenever you feel pressured by someone to make an investment, step away immediately and take time to think about it on your own.Become a strong diversifierFocus on diversification because out of 10 to 15 investments, probably just a couple will fail, and the rest will cover the loss.Andrew’s takeawaysTake your emotions out of investingLosing is two and a half times more emotionally painful than the joy of winning. You must take emotion out of investing.Build trust firstBuild trust with the people you want to make a financial investment with before you seal the deal.Actionable adviceLimit your access or the speed of access to making investment decisions. If possible, have strategies and tools in place that slow you down from buying and selling something to give you time to think about it.No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsJulian just became a father and so his number one goal for the next 12 months is to spend more time with his son and provide him with a successful first year.Parting words “Try not to be wrong instead of trying to be right. It’s hard trying to be right all the time.”Julian Hosp [spp-transcript] Connect with Julian HospLinkedInTwitterWebsiteAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid ThemTransform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 PointsAndrew’s online programsValuation Master ClassHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketFinance Made Ridiculously SimpleBecome a Great Presenter and Increase Your InfluenceTransform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 PointsConnect with Andrew Stotz:astotz.comLinkedInFacebookInstagramTwitterYouTubeMy Worst Investment Ever PodcastFurther reading mentionedJason Zweig (2007), Your Money and Your Brain: How the New Science of Neuroeconomics Can Help Make You Rich

As the CIO of Spotlight Asset Group, Shana Sissel oversees all aspects of the investment platform ranging from overall strategy, implementation, and communication to clients and prospects. Shana has nearly two decades of industry experience at leading investment firms, primarily in Boston and Chicago. She previously served as Director of Investment Due Diligence & a Senior Portfolio Manager with Orion Advisor Solutions.Shana is a sought-after speaker & media contributor, frequently appearing at industry events and major financial news outlets like CNBC, Bloomberg, and Fox Business News.She earned a Bachelor of Science in Sport Management from the UMass-Amherst and a Master of Business Administration Degree from Bentley University’s McCallum School of Business. Shana is a proud holder of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation. “If you have an idea, the knowledge, and you’ve done the work, then don’t be afraid to go out and talk about it or have a differentiated viewpoint.”Shana Sissel Worst investment everLate 2006 or early 2007, Shana was interviewing for an equity research analyst position at a major global asset manager. Part of the interview process was to pitch a stock that you believed in and do the work and have enough conviction. A stock that you would put your own money in.Banking on AppleShana did a write up on Apple. She believed that this was it. It was an excellent choice. Shana’s pitch was based on the fact that Apple was just about to launch the very first iPhone. At the time, the stock was probably trading at $3 a share. She had done her research well and believed that the iPhone was going to be a complete game-changer.Trying to sell a newcomerApple, at the time, had no market share. Blackberry ruled the world when it came to smartphones. Shana’s selling point was that it would develop this ecosystem because Apple had such a brand commitment from the people who used it. A generation of students was coming up that would prefer Apple to the larger brands at the time.Laughed out of the roomSo Shana went in and pitched the iPhone as a game-changer. She projected the stock would grow to $150. She got laughed out of the room and was told to pick a different career.Shana was unable to convince the portfolio manager that she was interviewing with to purchase Apple.Losing confidence in her ideaWhen Shana got laughed at, her confidence completely left her. Shana stopped trusting her instincts, and in all the work she had put into her pitch. She believed the portfolio manager who told her that she was wrong simply because he was in a position of power and had more experience than her.Failing to invest in her ideaThe worst part of it all was not that nobody believed her, but that Shana didn’t believe in herself enough to invest in Apple. This missed opportunity went down to be her worst investment ever because the iPhone went on to be a game-changer just as she had predicted, and she missed out on the returns it has made over the years.Lessons learnedIt’s ok to think differentlyIt’s ok to have different views from other people. Just because others disagree with you doesn’t mean you’re wrong. Thinking differently is a positive thing. When it comes to investing, that’s how you win. Following the crowd is never how you win. You win by being different, thinking different, and seeing things differently.Do your homeworkIf you have an investment opportunity, but you don’t trust your judgment, do your research so that you can be sure it’s worth investing in. You can’t convince somebody else if you can’t convince yourself. As long as you’re making good, thoughtful investments and doing the work, and you are confident in your investment, even if it turns out you were wrong, you win because it’s always about learning something new.Andrew’s takeawaysBeware of shortfall riskPutting your retirement savings in a bank and waiting for retirement day is a bad idea. That money will never grow. Invest it and let it make you good returns.Be confident in your ideasIf you have an idea and have a strong conviction that it’s a good idea and have all the facts to back it up, don’t let anyone tell you it’s a bad idea. Be confident in your opinion and push for it.Don’t be afraid of investingIf you find a stock or company or product that you like, do some research on it. Then if you think it’s good, invest in it. However, go in slow. Don’t invest all your money in it; instead, add to a diversified portfolio.Take actionOne way to take action on your idea is to start small. Just start small but do it.Actionable adviceTake action. If you have an idea or a belief that you think strongly of, and you’ve done the work, then put it into action instead of being paralyzed in the fear that you might be wrong.No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsShana’s number one goal for the next 12 months is just to continue fighting the good fight. And if she has a differentiated view, she won’t be afraid to articulate it. [spp-transcript] Connect with Shana SisselLinkedInTwitterInstagramWebsiteAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid ThemTransform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 PointsAndrew’s online programsValuation Master ClassHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketFinance Made Ridiculously SimpleBecome a Great Presenter and Increase Your InfluenceTransform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 PointsConnect with Andrew Stotz:astotz.comLinkedInFacebookInstagramTwitterYouTubeMy Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Wes Schaeffer is The Sales Whisperer®, a pigheaded entrepreneur who rehabilitates salespeople and trains their managers. He’s a reassuringly expensive copywriter, sought-after speaker, and marketing automation expert. He is the author of 2.5 books on sales, marketing, and CRMs, host of The Sales Podcast, host of The CRM Sushi Podcast, and he will help you grow by mastering the overlooked truth in life that to make any sale, you must make every sale. “It’s our job to change how we sell to match how the prospect wants to buy.”Wes Schaeffer Worst investment everWes, though an avid investor, always doubted his ability to invest on his own. He thought that other people had more knowledge, wisdom, insight, and skills to be better stewards of his money than he was.Trusting his boss with his moneyIn 2002, his boss at the time had a lot of real estate properties. He wanted to invest in an apartment complex, and he asked Wes to buy into the investment. Wes just trusted him because he was older, more successful, had made money in the Dotcom run-up in the late 90s, and was a high-flyer salesperson. Wes got his mom and college friend to join in the investment.Investing from a distanceWes had no idea how apartment complexes work as he’d never invested in one before and so he left all the responsibilities of running the investment to his boss.Things then started going sideways, and Wes’s boss was making excuses about why they were losing money in the investment. He then came up with this idea that he made look like it was to Wes’s advantage. He told Wes that he would give him 50% ownership in the apartment to have a bigger write-off and at least maybe recoup some of the losses in taxes.The con game unfoldsOne day Wes got a call from the IRS telling him he owed them $86,000 in late fees. Wes was shocked at how he could be owing money on something that lost money. However, he was informed that the investment had made over $450,000, and now that he was a 50% owner, he had to pay the late fees. His boss had kept all the money and tricked him into taking responsibility for 50% of his taxes.Deal goes sourWes was angry that his boss, a man he respected and trusted, had tricked him into making his worst investment ever. Now he had to reimburse his mom and friend using his own money.Lessons learnedTrust yourselfTrust that you can do it. The only way to truly trust in yourself is to do thorough research to understand your investment entirely. If you don’t know your investment well, don’t invest in it.Trust your gutIf you feel something is not right about the investment you’re making or the person you’re working with, take some time, and investigate the issue. Don’t make excuses; trust your gut, and look into it.Andrew’s takeawaysStart with the simpleDon’t take yourself into complex areas that you don’t understand. There are some simple ways to invest, such as an ETF or a fund that invests in every company. So consider simple investments to kick off your investment venture before you start getting into something complicated.Be wary of misplaced trustFinding people to trust is one of the hardest things in business because trust is only built over time.Monitor your investmentPeople often get busy and put their investment documents in a drawer and not look at them again. But you need to look at your investments once a month. Just pop in and get the necessary numbers of what’s happening with that investment.Actionable adviceInvest in yourself and apply what you learn. Don’t just study for the sake of studying. Make good use of what you learn.No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsWes’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to make more money this year. He’s tightening up his website and offers. Wes recently got a lot of clarity on how he wants to structure things, who he wants to work with, and will be hitting hard again, for the first time in years.Parting words “Go sell something.”Wes Schaeffer [spp-transcript] Connect with Wes SchaefferLinkedInTwitterInstagramYouTubeWebsiteAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid ThemTransform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 PointsAndrew’s online programsValuation Master ClassHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketFinance Made Ridiculously SimpleBecome a Great Presenter and Increase Your InfluenceTransform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 PointsConnect with Andrew Stotz:astotz.comLinkedInFacebookInstagramTwitterYouTubeMy Worst Investment Ever Podcast

James Jani is a YouTube Expert and Vlogger, who creates thought-provoking documentaries on YouTube about Business, Money, and Life. He’s been running a YouTube channel since January of 2020 that has now grown to 422k+ subscribers, with an average of 2 million views a month!His “The Untold Truth About Money” has had 3.8m views, and he first went down his rabbit hole watching “The Rise of Fake Gurus...”James now wants to share his methods with other people interested in growing their YouTube channel to expand their audience reach and engagement massively. “Just to go in and dive into more stuff. And even if it doesn’t turn out into a career, there are tasks in there that might be useful in finding out what exactly you want to do.”James Jani Worst investment everJames had always had a knack for acting, and he loved the validation that came from acting. Everyone knew him as James the actor. He had built a massive reputation behind his desire to be an actor.Trying to get into drama schoolJames tried to get into drama school, but he didn’t get in. He decided to join his friends for a trip to Portugal during his gap year. He came back home broke.Money for survivalJames had already resigned himself to living the life of a poor actor. He didn’t have so much desire for money because he knew he would only be rich once he made it as an actor. However, now that he had come home broke and didn’t make it into drama school, James decided to make some money to survive.James learned about selling second-hand stuff on eBay and decided to try it. He scouted his room for things he could sell and found some old video games. He sold all of them. James then hit garage sales and got a few more items and sold all of them.The fire of entrepreneurship sparksIt was while selling stuff on eBay that James had this huge desire to become an entrepreneur. After trying and failing to get into drama school for the second time, he realized that he didn’t want to be an actor after all. However, he couldn’t admit this to himself, his friends, or his parents. James had grown to identify himself as an actor, and he just couldn’t let it go.James continued to research on making money as the fire to become an entrepreneur kept burning in him as his passion for acting kept waning. However, he still kept trying to become an actor instead of putting more effort into becoming an entrepreneur.Nobody caresEventually, James figured that nobody cared that he didn’t want to become an actor anymore. He stopped worrying about what people would say and finally paid attention to his love for entrepreneurship, and finally made something big out of this passion.Lessons learnedLearn from your failuresYou will make lots of mistakes in life as you try to find your true north. Don’t let these mistakes hold you back. Instead, learn from your failures and let them propel you to greatness.Andrew’s takeawaysLet value be your motivatorBusiness is about bringing value and not about money. Money is just validation.Every job is the sameJust throw yourself into the work in front of you, and learn the tasks involved with that work. That work may not be where you end up, but the tasks and the skills you acquire will be applied elsewhere. Identify the tasks that you love to do the most, and then find a job that allows you to do these tasks.Actionable adviceDo as much as you can, and learn from each of those experiences. The best thing that will happen is that you may learn that you weren’t interested in that job in the first place.No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsJames’ number one goal for the next 12 months is to bring in video editors, people to help him with the research side of things, and a manager to run the day to day activities. He hopes that with this team, he will create even better content that he has right now. [spp-transcript] Connect with James JaniLinkedInInstagramYouTubeAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid ThemTransform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 PointsAndrew’s online programsValuation Master ClassHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketFinance Made Ridiculously SimpleBecome a Great Presenter and Increase Your InfluenceTransform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 PointsConnect with Andrew Stotz:astotz.comLinkedInFacebookInstagramTwitterYouTubeMy Worst Investment Ever PodcastFurther reading mentionedEric Ries (2011), The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful BusinessesMJ DeMarco (2011), The Millionaire Fastlane: Crack the Code to Wealth and Live Rich for a Lifetime!

Daniel St-Jean was born and raised in Montreal. Still, he has also lived in Whitehorse Yukon Territory, Vancouver BC, Ottawa, and now home is in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.He is an entrepreneur to the core, and the last time he received a paycheck as an employee was in 1986.Over the 34 years since, he has owned several businesses, including an art gallery and framing shop and a publishing company. As well, he wrote and published two Canadian bestsellers.He started investing in real estate in 2010 with his wife Laurel because they needed a source of income that was not tied to them living in Ottawa, where they were working as consultants.They wanted to move to Ontario’s wine region, so Laurel could pursue a life-long dream of becoming a winemaker.It took them only four years to be in a position to kiss Ottawa goodbye and move to Niagara-on-the-Lake.In their 11 years in the real estate investing business, they have acquired 62 properties worth over $25 million. The fantastic part is that to date; they are yet to invest one dollar in that portfolio—100% financed with OPM–Other People’s Money.How to do that is one of the many things they teach the members of The REITE Club that they co-founded in March 2017. “We are now following our investing system to the letter, no exception for any reason whatsoever. Now we’re successful.”Daniel St-Jean Worst investment everDaniel and his wife kicked off their real estate investing career with the rent-to-own strategy. They built on it slowly and got some real success out of it. In 2012, they went to Nova Scotia to expand their market. They found some cool people who wanted to do a rent-to-own deal, and they decided to get into business with them.Breaking their own rulesDaniel and his wife had a couple of rules that they followed when looking for property to invest in. One was to pick a house that they could quickly sell should the people renting it walk away. The second rule was always to take a deposit. However, they broke these two crucial real estate investing rules.Facing the consequencesAfter two months of renting the house, the people moved out unbeknownst to Daniel and his wife. They were now stuck with a house in the middle of nowhere with snowbanks so high. It wasn’t the easiest house to sell, but they managed to, albeit making a loss of $25,000.Putting in place a reliable investing systemAfter that loss, Daniel spent the next three or four months, setting up an investing system. This system had about 52 points, and this was the system he would always stick to when making investment decisions.Breaking the rules againIn the Fall of 2013, Daniel did a refinancing deal with a family that he felt needed his help. He didn’t like the house much, and he also didn’t take a deposit, but he went ahead and bought the house because he wanted to help this lovely family.The family, however, panicked and moved out just as the purchase was being closed. Now Daniel had this rundown empty massive house in a little town outside of Ottawa. The empty house cost Daniel $2,500 every month to maintain.Finding the elusive buyerIn the Spring of 2014, someone approached Daniel and told him that he’d want to rent the house and turn it into a daycare. He would be paying $4,500 in rent. Daniel got excited about the prospect of finally making some money from this property. However, after a year of waiting for the guy to get approval for his daycare, they found out that the water supply on that side of the street was insufficient for them to run a daycare, and so the client slowly walked away.Finally, Daniel could rent it out to a tenant paying $2,500 just enough to break even. But when the people later moved out, it was a total disaster. The house was in a complete mess.Fixing his messDaniel had to fix the mess before putting the house on the market. This cost him $90,000. Then as luck would have it, the weekend before Daniel listed the house, there was a huge storm that left the basement with two feet of water ruining the drywall and doors. Daniel had to spend another $40,000 to do repairs.At the end of it all, Daniel made a loss of $226,000 and change on that deal, making it his worst investment ever just because he failed to stick to his investing system.Lessons learnedDon’t deviate from your investing systemOnce you put an investing system in place, do not deviate from it come hell or high water. There are many ways to invest, but once you’ve figured out what strategy works for you, never deviate from that system.Don’t conduct business with your heartConduct your business transactions with your head to make money, and then you give it away with your heart. Don’t ever try to conduct your business transaction with your heart because, very often, it’s going to end up not benefiting you.Andrew’s takeawaysBusiness is business; leave philanthropy out of itIf you want to help people, make a profit, and give it to them. But don’t confuse business with helping people in that way. If you use your business to help people, it will bring significant conflict into the business.Don’t break your investing processStick to your investing process, especially during the times that you are tempted to break the system. Your system may underperform for some time, and it can be tempting to change your investing strategy. But if you start to change your system midstream, you bring your entire system down.Actionable adviceWhatever strategy you use, put systems in place and follow them. Period.No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsDaniel’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to have 20,000 members in his REITE Club community. The goal of that community is to help people experience freedom, whatever freedom means for them.Parting words “Time is finite. So please build a team and use it to save time. Then you can use that nonrenewable resource to do more deals or just to enjoy life.”Daniel St-Jean [spp-transcript] Connect with Daniel St-JeanLinkedInTwitterWebsiteAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid ThemTransform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 PointsAndrew’s online programsValuation Master ClassHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketFinance Made Ridiculously SimpleBecome a Great Presenter and Increase Your InfluenceTransform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 PointsConnect with Andrew Stotz:astotz.comLinkedInFacebookInstagramTwitterYouTubeMy Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Rhonadale Florentino has been an HR practitioner for around 19 years. She is the CEO and President of UpRush Social Geekers, an HR solutions and services provider located in the Philippines. She has held various director-level positions and has worked on the Gamification Framework to gamify human resources and the Digital 201, which helped her company digitize its human resources operations.She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and has been quite active in improving the standards of HR in the Philippines through programs like UpRush’s HR Boot Camp, which provides the necessary competencies for up-and-coming HR practitioners who would like to become professionals someday. “Don’t just start a small business blindly. Do your due diligence first.”Rhonadale Florentino Worst investment everRhonadale got into an accident and was bedridden for about two months. She’s not the type of person who can just sit down and not do anything. So during those two months, she was thinking of how she could earn money as she recuperated.Doing online jobsRhonadale decided to look for online platforms where she could get a job, and then she came across oDesk (currently Upwork). She applied for jobs and got hired. But it was not for HR work but a writing job. Rhonadale wrote articles and blogs, and in the process, she got to understand what SEO is.Starting a small businessRhonadale enjoyed working online, and by the time she was going back to work, she was toying with the idea of doing a consultancy in internet marketing, which at that point, she thought was something that she could manage.Let’s start doing businessRhonadale wasted no time trying to analyze the business idea. Instead, she registered the business, came up with a catchy business name, and just started.Rhonadale felt very proud of herself. She was in her late 20s at the time, enjoying being the president of her own company.Off to a good startRhonadale started tapping into her previous internet marketing clients and subscribed them to her business instead of going through oDesk. She looked for connections from her last bosses and got some excellent referrals. The first few months were the best for her. Money was coming in, and she was getting a lot of clients.Building a teamRhonadale’s clients were too many for her to handle them alone. She decided to hire a team. Rhonadale started looking for people that she had an emotional connection with even though this goes against all of the things she’d learned as an HR professional. Instead of looking into competencies and skills, she was looking at the emotional connection. Rhonadale got people that were part of her life.Not up to the taskSince the team she built didn’t share the same vision as her, nor the skills needed to do the job, she started getting many complaints because the quality of the services that they were putting out was not the same as before.Trying to run the business while training her team put so much strain on Rhonadale. So she reduced the number of clients she was taking in, and so the income decreased.Losing sight of the financesRhonadale did not have anyone monitoring her finances. Her idea of finances at the time was that money coming in was more than what she was spending. But because no one was watching her expenses, Rhonadale spent so much on things that were not important to the business. She was also spending so much of her personal finances as part of the company’s finances.Rhonadale got someone to help her with the finances, and that’s when she figured out that she was losing so much money and had to cut down on costs and let go of some people.So, where was the problem?While going through her finances and trying to get her business back on track, Rhonadale realized that how she started that business was wrong right from the start. Rhonadale didn’t do any research, and she hired the wrong people.Lessons learnedDo your due diligenceDon’t just start a business because you’ve got a good business idea. You have to research first. First, understand how to start the business and understand your own strengths and weaknesses.Pay particular attention to your financesWhatever your background, you must understand basic accounting principles for you to understand what’s happening in your business. Understand what’s credit, debit, assets, liabilities, etc.Andrew’s takeawaysSmall businesses are a trapPeople get into small businesses, but they don’t realize they will get trapped in it. Sometimes it’s hard even to bring it forward, and you find yourself stuck.Think of a startup as a whole entityMost of the people who get into startups focus on the one area that they’re good at. Running a business requires you to be good at everything that pertains to the business. You’ve got to be good in finance, bookkeeping, marketing, administration, management, etc. It’s not about taking one technical skill that you have and building a business around it.Business is an emotional journeyPeople get all excited about starting a business, but they don’t realize that it involves a tremendous amount of emotions that will shake you to the core. It is an emotional roller coaster.Finance adds no valueValue comes from your products and services and your interactions with your customers. Finance is a support function, just like other support functions that give you the tools to assess your decisions’ outcomes.Actionable adviceDo your due diligence. This includes researching everything the business is all about. Ensure that you understand the different types of setups you should have in place before you do your business.No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsRhonadale’s goal for the next 12 months is to grow the services she’s currently offering. Right now, she’s focusing on providing training services and webinars. She’s also looking at adding one more service, the managed payroll service, hopefully by quarter two of next year.Parting words “Know your numbers. The numbers will help you realize where you are at your business, and it will also guide you on what should be the next step.”Rhonadale Florentino [spp-transcript] Connect with Rhonadale FlorentinoLinkedInTwitterWebsiteAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid ThemTransform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 PointsAndrew’s online programsValuation Master ClassHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketFinance Made Ridiculously SimpleBecome a Great Presenter and Increase Your InfluenceTransform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 PointsConnect with Andrew Stotz:astotz.comLinkedInFacebookInstagramTwitterYouTubeMy Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Jim Rembach is a Customer Experience Authority and President of Influence to Action, which operates several entities, including CX Global Media, Call Center Coach Virtual Leadership Academy, Contact Center Virtual Summit, and Customer Service Weekly. He’s the host of the Fast Leader Show, B2B Digital Marketer, and Customer Service Weekly podcasts.Jim is a Certified Emotional Intelligence practitioner, Community Specialist, Employee Retention Specialist, and Digital Marketer. His work as a digital business development expert enables organizations to deliver on the needs of the new digital business development imperative. “Do it again even after losing because there are opportunities existing out there, and you’ve got to make those moves.”Jim Rembach Worst investment everTime for some riskJim had some money that he was willing to risk in a new investment, so he started looking around for risk opportunities.Finding the right fitJim picked about five different companies to look at. He did his research and ensured that he had marked off all the checkboxes. Then he decided on a female apparel company that seemed promising. Even though the company had some short term debt issues, it got refinanced for favorable rates.Staying down underJim had hoped that the company would pick up, and the stock starts performing well. However, they went down further.Jim stayed hopeful. He did more research, and all indications showed that the company would pick up. Jim decided to double his investment in the company.The unavoidable lossRoughly four or five months after he doubled down, the company declared bankruptcy, and just like that, Jim lost his entire investment.Lessons learnedKeep taking risksContinue taking risks even when you lose. Don’t have your emotions tied so profoundly in the loss and make it stop you from trying again.Do your due diligenceDo your due diligence and research, look at fundamental elements before you make a move.Andrew’s takeawaysPlay with money that you can loseInvest money that you can afford to lose to avoid losing all your wealth.Be aware of event riskEvent risk happens very suddenly. It could be bankruptcy, a corporate governance event where the owner did something benefiting themselves and harming others. With event risk, when it is announced, either trading stops immediately, or the stock price falls 30%, and you can’t execute that stop loss.Apply rules of risk managementRisk assessment is critical when getting into investment. Size your position and go into a position slowly.Actionable adviceHave an active pool of funds that you’re looking at doing some speculating with. Also, learn how to become better at your research from a human perspective.No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsJim’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to look at the permanent shifts that people think are temporary and make some investments because he believes wealth is made in downturns, not upswings.Parting words “Move forward. Even if you end up taking two steps back from one step forward, it’s just temporary.”Jim Rembach [spp-transcript] Connect with Jim RembachLinkedInTwitterFacebookWebsiteAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid ThemTransform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 PointsAndrew’s online programsValuation Master ClassHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketFinance Made Ridiculously SimpleBecome a Great Presenter and Increase Your InfluenceTransform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 PointsConnect with Andrew Stotz:astotz.comLinkedInFacebookInstagramTwitterYouTubeMy Worst Investment Ever Podcast