My Worst Investment Ever Podcast

This is an all hands on deck moment. We all need each other in one way or another. Our past podcast guests sent us some inspirational thoughts to give you hope and keep you going through this challenging period. Beth Azor from Ep74 Keep Your Arrogance and Overconfidence in Check If you’re trying to work from home successfully, focus on time management. Identify the three critical things that you have to get done tomorrow. Take 50% of your day and focus on today, and 50% of your day and think about a year from now. Delegate and also ask for help. Use organizations such as Upwork and Fiverr to get some inexpensive help. It’s time to redo our 2020 goals. Allow time for distractions and interruptions in your day; they’re going to happen. Learn to say no. No is a complete sentence. It’s essential to have a morning routine that you do every morning. Time blocking is a good exercise. Also, batch calls and try to do all your calls in a two-hour setting. Get outside to get some fresh air, take a walk, and exercise. Create one place in your house for your workspace and clear out any clutter in your workplace. It’s a crazy time right now, so give yourself a break, but at the same time, don’t look back 30 or 60 days from now, and the only thing that you could be proud to say that you did was watch four seasons of a Netflix series. There are lots of ways you can still move your career forward. Chance Glenn from Ep135 Have the Courage to Stick with It The COVID-19 crisis is exposing our strengths. People are coming together, working together, being creative, and innovative to help their fellow neighbors out there. There’s something that you can do, even if it is just an encouraging word to somebody. Christopher Salem from Ep99 Meditate and Journal to Overcome Pain of Losing Don’t get sucked into problems. Not only the problem of the Coronavirus but also in other issues that were affecting you before this crisis. This is the time to reflect on where you are and where you want to go. We have the opportunity now to get in tune with who we are, what our purpose is, our core values and principles. It is the time to be a better example for other people that are important to us, our families, our colleagues, our business partners, or people in general. Use this time wisely to build your foundation so that when we get out of this pandemic, you’re going to be in a place where you can serve others through your example. This is a golden opportunity to be grateful and to fulfill your purpose to help others at a higher level. Give without expectation; receive without resistance. Connect with Beth Azor Beth Azor LinkedIn Twitter Connect with Chance Glenn LinkedIn Twitter Website Electronic Alchemy Email Connect with Christopher Salem LinkedIn  Twitter Website Email Andrew’s books How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market My Worst Investment Ever 9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 Points Andrew’s online programs Valuation Master Class Women Building Wealth The Build Your Wealth Membership Group Become a Great Presenter and Increase Your Influence Transform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 Points Connect with Andrew Stotz: astotz.com LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast  

Today we bring you more messages of hope from our past podcast guests. We are all feeling the pressure and anxiety from the COVID-19 pandemic. But together, we can beat this crisis and thrive in it. Mohd Sedek Jantan from Ep44 Panic Selling When Stocks Fall is Usually a Terrible Idea If you have invested for more than three years, but are only now experiencing short-term losses, do not obsess about the reduction in value. Losses of 20% to 30% are normal. Understand that equity volatility is the price you pay for capital appreciation over the long term. Now is the time to differentiate between income and wealth. During this COVID-19 pandemic, wealth that investors have accumulated over a lifetime has eroded in value as the market has crashed. But were you making good returns before? If yes, take this opportunity to top up your investment. Set up an automatic investment schedule. This removes the emotion from the process. If the market sinks further, do not fret, most of us are investing for the long term anyway. Azran Osman-Rani from Ep76 From Zero to a Billion Dollar IPO One thing that’s holding us back from dealing with this crisis even with excellent advice is acceptance. We subconsciously hope that after COVID-19, things will return to how they used to be, and so we are not living in the reality of the situation. The tension between the logical part of knowing what we have to do to change and adapt, and the emotional part yearning for the stability of the past is what is causing pressure, anxiety, and even depression. When we accept, we can move on and do what we need to do to move ahead and let go of that yearning for the good old days, and we will be able to cope better with the current situation. Lasse-Peter Pestel from Ep7 Eurozone Bailout Fund: Considering Risk over Return A crisis can be an opportunity for your company to thrive just look at delivery companies such as DHL or UPS. They are reporting figures which are the same as the pre-Christmas times, and these are the busiest times of the year. Don’t break the law even during holidays. Staying at home, it will calm you down and give you peace of mind. The current situation is a bit tense. Nonetheless, let’s do what we can to cope with the situation and hope that it will be over soon. Connect with Mohd Sedek Jantan: LinkedIn Connect with Azran Osman-Rani LinkedIn Twitter Azran Osman-Rani Instagram Connect with Lasse-Peter Pestel: Linkedin Xing Book Andrew’s books How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market My Worst Investment Ever 9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 Points Andrew’s online programs Valuation Master Class Women Building Wealth The Build Your Wealth Membership Group Become a Great Presenter and Increase Your Influence Transform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 Points Connect with Andrew Stotz: astotz.com LinkedIn Facebook Instagram

We are living through the COVID-19 Coronavirus times. Times of fear, despair, and anxiety. We all need words of hope and encouragement to keep us going. Andrew reached out to our past podcast guests who took a few minutes to share nuggets of wisdom on how to survive and thrive through this epidemic. David Barnett from Ep136: Always Have a Clear Path to Plan B You are not your business. You, as a person, are a wholly distinct and separate thing from your business. There are going to be many businesses that will no longer be viable and will end up closing. That’s not a reflection upon the business owners; it’s just a function of the time that we’re in. There is going to be a long and protracted recession; people need to think about themselves as individuals ahead of their businesses. If your business survives this, that’s great. But if you don’t see a way out, then you need to look for the path to extricate yourself from the situation, while retaining as many resources as you can so you create opportunities for yourself once this thing winds up and is over. When a business starts to head downhill for whatever reason, cut your losses, and don’t put your resources into the business to try to help it survive. Your survival has to be paramount in a situation like this. Andrew Sherman from Ep133: Mistakes to Avoid When Selling Your Business Now’s the time to retool, repurpose, reevaluate your business and your value proposition. It’s also a time to look at the future of work and the future of the workplace. Will working from home be the new normal? How will that affect staffing, teamwork, engagement issues, and even innovation and creativity? It’s also an excellent time to be sure that you stay close to your customers. The small businesses and entrepreneurs that really stay close to their customers are being rewarded now with alternative business models. Erik Bergman from Ep112: Keep Empathy in the Start-Up War Room Lower the amount of media exposure, so you don’t get stressed out by watching the news and watching the numbers all the time. Focus on other, less stressful things. Use this as an opportunity to create new habits. You don’t get new results by setting new goals; you get new results by creating new habits. Habits are everything. Many of us are working from home and meeting fewer people, meaning that we have more time on our hands to create new habits. Use this time to learn about different ways to make money online. Google and search on YouTube for various business ideas and guides. Explore these things and see if you can find something that sparks your curiosity and can be turned into a money-making opportunity. Connect with David Barnett LinkedIn Email Website Connect with Andrew Sherman LinkedIn Twitter Complete bio Amazon author’s page Connect with Erik Bergman LinkedIn Twitter Instagram Website Podcast YouTube Blog Andrew’s books How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market My Worst Investment Ever 9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 Points Andrew’s online programs Valuation Master Class Women Building Wealth The Build Your Wealth Membership Group Become a Great Presenter and Increase Your Influence Transform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 Points Connect with Andrew Stotz: astotz.com LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast  

A management consultant and venture capital professional, Henry Briffel advocates for the highest ethical standards, value of a secure and diversified supply chain, and the power of people and technology to bring innovation to the marketplace. Henry helps clients raise capital, operationalize their ideas into businesses, and monetize their products and services for the benefit of all stakeholders.   “Most people are good, but they are frequently influenced by money.” Henry Briffel   Worst investment ever Even veterans make poor investments Henry’s worst investment came just recently after working for years and moving on to entrepreneurship. Henry, over time, had made valuable business contacts and resources. He met a businessman who made him an offer to join his business as a partner. He offered Henry a 50% business deal. With Henry’s connections, together, they could build a successful business. Henry saw this as an excellent business opportunity. Working with blind trust Henry and his partner agreed on a temporary partnership. Henry gave everything he had into the partnership from the start. He brought on valuable venture deals and even put his resources into the business for several months. Soon enough, they had deals on the table from major tech companies. The cracks start to show As they got close to closing one of the significant deals, Henry started noticing behavior change in his partner. He brushed it off as two strangers getting to know each other. But, as more deals came in, his partner kept pulling away. Henry questioned him about it, but he convinced him that he was genuinely vested in the business. True colors are finally revealed Soon enough, Henry found out that his partner had been using all the deals Henry had worked hard to benefit himself. His partner had been going behind his back, lying to all the clients trying to snatch them from Henry. Eventually, on Christmas Eve, Henry’s partner informed him that he was never part of the deals that he had brought. He had managed to sideline Henry in all the deals he worked so hard to bring. Unfortunately, there was nothing Henry could do because they had not signed any contracts or NDA. Lessons learned Question people who refuse to sign an NDA are questionable Always question whether someone wants to sign an NDA or not. Make sure that you insist upon a mutual NDA; don’t make it one-sided. Temporary contracts only benefit one party over another If someone doesn’t want to sign a permanent deal, it’s because they don’t believe in you. Deal with that early into the partnership because it could get in the way of valuation. Everyone should be on the same page Everyone along the value chain should be on the same page and working towards the same goal. They should all be aligned for the business to work. Andrew’s takeaways There’s no shortcut to trust Occasionally, you could get lucky and meet someone that you don’t know well, but that person is trustworthy. But the reality is that you get to know who you can trust over time through difficult times. A non-disclosure agreement takes away excuses Once an NDA is signed, then it makes it a little bit more of a level playing field. It makes it difficult for any of the parties to hide something. Actionable advice Never be a sole proprietor or the only person with information about your deal. Always have people around you that you can trust. That allows you to have an outside view of what’s happening. No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Henry’s number one goal is to take the deals that he and his venture capital partner have done and make them successful. He wants to help other people be successful because that exponential growth of both financial security and productivity breeds other exponentially growing scenarios. Such growth will be essential to get through the current difficult financial times. Parting words   “Just keep going.” Henry Briffel   Connect with Henry Briffel LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Andrew’s books How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market My Worst Investment Ever 9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 Points Andrew’s online programs Valuation Master Class Women Building Wealth The Build Your Wealth Membership Group Become a Great Presenter and Increase Your Influence Transform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 Points Connect with Andrew Stotz: astotz.com LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast  

In this challenging time of COVID-19 outbreak and economic shutdown, people need inspiration and hope that they will make it through. This is the time to rely on your family friends and the network you have built. Andrew reached out to his network of podcast guests and asked each to share their best advice on how to survive and thrive during these difficult times. Shaun Rein from Ep118: You Can’t Win Unless You Know How to Lose In times of panic, investors and business people should look at facts and remain calm to find opportunities to grow. Stay focused on data, not rumors. Stay patient and calm, and don’t let fear overwhelm you. Focus on your workforce because not long into the future, business is going to get good, and you’ll need them. Nick Bradley from Ep169: Buying a Business Based Purely on Emotions Rarely Works We’re in a state of fear and overwhelm, and people want to have some perspective just to get through it, and therefore, we are all allowed to react differently without any judgment. It’s ok to take this time to hibernate and try to work out what’s going on. It’s also ok to use this as an opportunity to build and grow. It’s ok if you want to slow down so you can speed up when this is all over because this is going to end at some point. Try and manage your emotions. Don’t let uncertainty and fear rule you because you won’t be able to see the things that you can be doing to make the most of the situation. Now more than ever is the time to be a leader for yourself, your family, your business, the community at large, and the world. As a leader, show empathy and capability. Demonstrate that you have the confidence needed to push through this. In times of uncertainty, people need that confidence. Be grateful, be brave, have faith, and show up. Josiah Smelser from Ep83: Push Through When Everything Goes Wrong This is a time to be very thankful and cognizant of the blessings that we have. It’s a time to press into our faith. Be aware of what matters in life. Don’t be so focused on the things that you can’t take with you, such as money and wealth. The things that matter are our friendships, our faith, and our family. For the entrepreneurs, focus on a strategy to get you through, because this is a temporary problem that we will survive and pass through. If you’re in the real estate business, focus on the rental property right now. The rental market has a strong demand right now because people don’t want to buy at this moment they want to rent. Connect with Shaun Rein LinkedIn Twitter Website Email Connect with Nick Bradley LinkedIn Twitter Facebook Website Connect with Josiah Smelser LinkedIn Website Email Instagram Andrew’s books How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market My Worst Investment Ever 9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 Points Andrew’s online programs Valuation Master Class Women Building Wealth The Build Your Wealth Membership Group Become a Great Presenter and Increase Your Influence Transform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 Points Connect with Andrew Stotz: astotz.com LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast  

Samuel Kamugisha is a brand and growth strategist hailing from Uganda in East Africa but has been in Malaysia for the past five years, where he completed his Master’s degree. He is skilled in marketing, creative strategy, brand development, and project management that he attained from various fields. Samuel has over 11 years of work experience in Africa and Asia. Currently, he works in the strategy department at the prestigious iProspect Malaysia and Lemonade Agency that are Dentsu Aegis Network Companies. Finally, he is the host of the Wow Factor Podcast.   “Loss is just an investment in knowledge.” Samuel Kamugisha   Worst investment ever Chasing the excitement of being his own boss After working for about six years, Samuel quit his job and decided to open a business and be his own boss. He partnered with his friend, and together they started a business in Uganda focusing on bulk SMS. The idea was to offer SMS services to people who wanted to send bulk SMS messages. Raising capital for his business Samuel approached his sister with his business idea and requested her for a loan to set up the business. He showed her the valuation of the business, and she agreed to loan him the money. Excited to get started right away Happy to finally have the capital he needed, Samuel went to his partner, and they decided to hit the ground running. They were too excited to get started that they never bothered to do any kind of research to validate their business idea. First, they hired a developer to set up a website where they would host the SMS service. Next, they scouted for an SMS provider and found a gentleman whose rates seemed to be very good. They spent half of the seed money on buying the SMS:s. Tragedy strikes Things were going pretty well, and the business was starting to gain some ground. Unfortunately, the gentleman who sold the SMS:s to them suddenly died. His system went offline, and they no longer had access to the SMS:s they had bought. The gentleman operated his business alone, and so Samuel had no one to consult once the gentleman died. Seeking a second option Samuel and his partner decided to look for another SMS service provider. This time they chose to go with a company as opposed to an individual. They found a company in India and used the remaining half of the seed money to buy more SMS:s. Tragedy strikes again After about four months of successfully working with the Indian company, another crisis happened. The telcos in Uganda were blocking any SMS messages from entering into their network because they were not originating from their system. So now they had clients complaining that their SMS:s were not being delivered. Whenever they’d complain to the company in India, the company would say that there was nothing they could do as the SMS messages were being blocked from Uganda and not India. Trying to salvage the situation When Samual realized that there was not much the Indian company would do to help, he decided to find a way to salvage the situation to avoid losing all his investment money. The only way to do it was to sell the bulk SMS:s they had already bought to another entity. He approached a local bank pitched his idea, and they seemed to like it. Before he could sell off the SMS:s there were minor changes that needed to be made on their website. He called the developer and told him about the changes he needed. That was the last Samuel heard of the developer. He never made the changes, and he went missing. Needless to say, Samuel missed his window of opportunity as the bank got tired of waiting for him to deliver the SMS:s. Accepting the inevitable At this point, there was no other way to save the business, and so Samuel accepted his fate. He made peace with the fact that his business idea turned into a failed venture, becoming one of his worst investments. Lessons learned Do your groundwork Don’t just jump into a business because it feels good and you’re feeling excited about it. First, do some intensive research in the industry you’re going into then decide if it’s a viable business idea. Work with people with a similar vision Align yourself with people with the same mindset as yours. People who have the same vision as you. Otherwise, everything is going to go haywire. Analyze your partners strictly Don’t go easy when picking partners. Have ongoing discussions with potential partners. Make sure that you understand their mindset about money and business. If possible, talk to the people they’ve worked with and get to know their experience working with these people. Andrew’s takeaways Let your partners know if things are bad Communicate with everyone concerned whenever things are going bad. It’s easy to communicate when things are going well, but it’s most important to keep talking when things are going bad. The world doesn’t care Your success is determined sometimes by the timing, and sometimes it’s about luck, good or bad. There’s no shortcut to building trust Trust can only be built over time. There is no hack for building trust. Actionable advice Do your groundwork. The knowledge you get from this research will help you choose the right partnerships, understand the environment, the type of business you intend to start, and how the market is. Do people need your product? Are you building a product that you think they need? Some of the solutions that we are creating are not necessarily solutions. No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Samuel’s goal for the next 12 months is to add a revenue model for his podcast. Right now, it’s his most focused entity, and he’s putting most of his energy on the podcast so he can build a revenue model around it. Parting words   “I encourage you to look forward to your plans. Yes, you’ve had losses and you’ve had failures. It’s good you’ve learned from them. That’s the cost that you’ve paid for them.” Samuel Kamugisha   Connect with Samuel Kamugisha LinkedIn Twitter Website Andrew’s books How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market My Worst Investment Ever 9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 Points Andrew’s online programs Valuation Master Class Women Building Wealth The Build Your Wealth Membership Group Become a Great Presenter and Increase Your Influence Transform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 Points Connect with Andrew Stotz: astotz.com LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast  

Mei Phing is the founder of Got A Phing and a passionate advocate of youth leadership. She has been recognized as a high performer and was fast-tracked to senior positions in multiple global multi-national companies whilst only in her 20’s. Nowadays, Mei coaches high-performing young executives and entrepreneurs to level-up future-ready skills to navigate complexity and thrive in tomorrow’s world. She regularly speaks about the skills of the future, youth engagement, and multigenerational workforce inclusion–as a TEDx Speaker and featured speaker for international events, conferences, and podcasts. Mei Phing is a culture enthusiast and has traveled to 37 countries and counting.   “Leadership is self-management. Before you lead and manage other people, you need to learn and be yourself.” Mei Phing   Worst investment ever For the love of helping people For Mei, her worst investment ever was investing time and energy, trying to convince people to take actions that they weren’t ready to take. Mei has done very well in her corporate career over the years and always been one of the fastest rising stars in whichever company she was in. It’s, therefore, not surprising that she regularly get questions from people looking to also advance their careers. For the love of helping people, she’d spend hours giving them advice. Just in need of a sounding board After doing this for so long, she noticed a pattern. No matter how good her advice was or how much time she spent talking to these people, they wouldn’t take any actions to change the situations they were in. They would just continue to whine and complain. She realized that all they wanted was a listening ear and a sounding board for their frustrations. Learning from her bad investment Giving her time to people who never quite needed it got Mei quite frustrated because, as an introvert, she’s very protective of her energy and time. She regrets having wasted all that time on people who didn’t see the importance of taking action. Mei wishes that she could take back all that time and do something more magnificent. Fortunately, this came with lessons on how to handle people, and it has helped her run a successful leadership company. Lessons learned You can’t force someone to take action A person is only ready to take action when they want to. No external advice or motivation will make them make changes in life if they don’t want to. They’ve got to want change badly For someone to take action, they’ve got to want to achieve their goals and be passionate about it. If they’re not, all the motivation and advice given will be a waste as it will wither off at some point. Understand yourself first before you help others You need to understand yourself first so that you can better understand someone else and help them understand themselves. Andrew’s takeaways You only have four productive hours in a day We only have a certain amount of concentrated energy in a day. You’re most productive for only two to four hours a day, and it’s impossible to expand that amount of creative time. So make sure you maximize it. Confirm that people need your advice before you give it Before you give any advice, always ask your recipient what they want. Get people to confirm that they’re asking for advice. This permits you to give it hard and fast. Quit complaining and take action One of the best ways to take action is to quit complaining about your situation and do something about it. Actionable advice You need to develop self-awareness, and the first step is to take a personality test. Then have a look at the result and ask yourself, is this you and to what extent? What are some of the strengths that you see, and how can you work on them one by one? No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Mei’s number one goal is to spread more awareness and impact on future-ready skills because we’re in the era of digitizing, and the world of tomorrow is pretty much happening right now. She’s focusing on human skills such as how to communicate, how to work better with people, and how to create win-win relationships. She believes these skills are pretty much lacking with many. Parting words   “Keep learning and growing. More importantly, take action because learning is just learning, and knowledge is just knowledge. If you don’t take action, then nothing happens.” Mei Phing   Connect with Mei Phing LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Website Andrew’s books How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market My Worst Investment Ever 9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 Points Andrew’s online programs Valuation Master Class Women Building Wealth The Build Your Wealth Membership Group Become a Great Presenter and Increase Your Influence Transform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 Points Connect with Andrew Stotz: astotz.com LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast Further reading mentioned Vicki Robin, Joe Dominguez, Mr. Money Mustache (2018) Your Money or Your Life: 9 Steps to Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence Weldon Long (2013) The Power of Consistency: Prosperity Mindset Training for Sales and Business Professionals  

Amresh "Amar" Deshpande is a skilled communicator with a background in marketing, consulting, and sustainability. He is a public speaker and podcaster. He is the co-founder of Gaatha story, a podcasting company he founded with his wife in 2016. Amar is the creator and host of MyKitaab, a podcast on how to publish and market your book. He is also the creator of Baalgatha, Fairytales of India, and Veergatha Podcasts. He is a published author and blogger and has been featured in the Financial Times and Entrepreneur India. Amar has over 17 years’ experience in program management, construction, and communication with organizations such as Amazon, Schneider Electric, and Jones Lang LaSalle. He is an alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad, India and the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign in the US.  He is passionate about sustainability and is a USGBC-LEED Accredited Professional.   “If you know you’re going to dive into the deep end right away, either have a lifeguard around or wear a floater so that you don’t sink.” Amar Deshpande   Worst investment ever Uprooting his life on a whim Eleven years ago, Amar found himself in a situation that demanded him to eradicate his life from the US and back to his home town in India. His parents were getting old and in need of care. At the time, Amar was supposed to go to Canada for business school, but without giving it a second thought, he put everything on hold and went to India. Amar planned to give everything a break for a year and then go back to the United States. He figured that the life he had built for himself would still be there after a year, but his parents might not live for long. So for an entire year, he gave his all to his parents. Putting his career on the back burner Unfortunately, life didn’t play out as Amar had planned. After the year was over, the situation with his parents hadn’t improved. Even though his senses told him to leave India for the sake of his career, Amar ignored his feelings and continued his stay in India. His love for his parents clouded his judgment. Since Amar had planned to stay in India for a year then head back to the United States, he never networked with people in India nor got in touch with his colleagues back in the States. Amar should have probably spent that year networking and cultivating relationships with his co-workers, his clients, and customers. Instead, he completely put everything concerning his career on hold. Now here he was a year later in need of a job in India with no idea where to start. Setting root in India Fortunately, Amar got a job consulting for construction companies, but he had to move from his hometown to Mumbai, where everything was super expensive. On top of that, India was going through the economic effects of the Lehman crisis, and businesses were suffering. While he had a few dollars saved, the exchange rate was pretty low, and so he ended up losing 20% of his savings. Things go from bad to worse As if losing his savings was not enough, the Monsoon hit, and everything came to a standstill. He was no longer getting a salary as the construction industry was dead. Before long, Amar found himself completely broke and had to sleep in the streets because he couldn’t afford to pay rent. Sleeping in the streets was the wake-up call that he needed. He made a resolve to turn his life around. Amar realized that he was still living in the glory of his past life. He decided to let that go and start again. The next day he quit his job, moved back with his parents, and began rebuilding his life in India. Amar went on to build a successful entrepreneurial life in India, where he lives to date. Lessons learned Think things through before making significant decisions Take time to think things through before making a drastic change in your life. This will help you see things clearly and avoid making an emotional decision. Have a strong network It’s imperative to have a network of friends who can be your sounding board when you’re going through a difficult phase in your life. Invest in your career throughout No matter where you are in your life, always work towards improving your career. Invest in networking for career development so that you stay on top of your game. Andrew’s takeaways Go back to your roots If things are not working out as you hoped the will, let go and go back to your foundation and start rebuilding yourself from the ground up. This will bring you quite a relief. Keep it simple Keep simplicity in your life and your business. Keeping things simple will allow you to achieve more. Actionable advice Invest in your network no matter the occasion. You never know when you might have to reach out to certain persons or organizations for any sort of help. No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Amar’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to create more content for Gaatha story to build a more extensive library. Amar is also reaching out to his network, especially during this time of the COVID-19 crisis, and checking up on them. Parting words   “These are tough times, but it’s cyclical. So at some point in time, you’ll reflect upon these times and see how much you learned. So, stay strong.” Amar Deshpande    Connect with Amresh Amar Deshpande LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Instagram Website Andrew’s books How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market My Worst Investment Ever 9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 Points Andrew’s online programs Valuation Master Class Women Building Wealth The Build Your Wealth Membership Group Become a Great Presenter and Increase Your Influence Transform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 Points Connect with Andrew Stotz: astotz.com LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast  

Jonathan Slain’s book, Rock the Recession: How Successful Leaders Prepare For, Thrive During, and Create Wealth After Downturns came out in September 2019 and is a #1 Amazon Best Seller. Jonathan coaches high growth leadership teams across the United States to implement the Entrepreneurial Operating System®, also known as "Traction". He focuses on working with entrepreneurial niche/specialty firms and large corporations, spending over 100 days per year working with teams just like yours. Jonathan was Valedictorian of his graduating class and had the highest GPA ever in the history of Shaker Heights High School, where he was also voted “Next Bill Gates and Least Likely to Lose his Virginity.”    “There’s always going to be a disruption. Embrace it, and have a plan for everything.” Jonathan Slain   Worst investment ever Forging a business partnership Jonathan was working as an investment banker when he received a call from his brother-in-law asking him to help evaluate gym franchises that he wanted to invest in. Jonathan agreed to accompany him to Denver, where the franchises were. On the flight home from Denver to Cleveland, Jonathan, on a whim, suggested to his brother that they open the gyms together. His brother-in-law agreed, and Jonathan left his job at the bank and began working with his brother-in-law. Up to a good start Jonathan didn’t bother to do any research and had total trust in his brother-in-law. He believed that the business was going to work. They opened up their first gym in Hudson, Ohio, and went on to scale the business pretty fast. Indeed, the franchise was thriving. In less than five years, they had five units operating, all one-on-one personal training studios. The branches were in five locations across Cleveland, with 25 employees. They broke franchise records by recording the most personal training sessions in the year, the most locations, and the most revenue of any group. The great recession they never saw coming At 25, Jonathan was a thriving franchise owner and was riding the wave of success. Then the great recession hit out of nowhere. They had no plan on what to do at a time of such a crisis. Amid the panic, he came up with a plan to borrow a quarter of a million dollars from his mother-in-law. The business went on to barely survive the recession, but he had to live with the shame of having to borrow from his mother-in-law. Lessons learned You’ve got to have a plan Be sure to have a plan for what you would do if you ever hit an economic downturn. Have a plan for what you’re going to do to reduce expenses, cut overhead, do layoffs, etc. and survive a recession. Create your plan when you’re not stressed out Figure out your plan when things are calm, not when you’re in the middle of a crisis. People tend to make bad decisions when they’re stressed out and emotional. A recession can be an opportunity Not every recession has to be bad for your business. If you’re an entrepreneur and once every couple of years, there’s a significant disruption in your industry, figure out what opportunities come with the disruption. Pounce on these opportunities so that you can benefit from the disruption. Andrew’s takeaways Use stop losses for your stocks Use stop losses when investing in the stock market, especially if you’re a first-time investor. This allows you to predetermine future actions in case of an economic downturn. Don’t wait for an economic downturn, get your plan ready now Don’t wait until everything starts to crumble to come up with a contingency plan. Do it when times are good because then you will be in the right headspace to come up with an airtight plan because you are not panicking. Have both an upside and a downside plan Separate your research into the upside and the downside. By looking at an idea from both angles, you give yourself a chance to step away from the excitement of having an idea and see the ugly side too. In the end, you may just realize that the idea isn’t that attractive, and not worth doing. An upside and downside plan will also help you come up with a plan for when things are going well and when things are bad. Actionable advice Get the book, Rock the Recession: How Successful Leaders Prepare For, Thrive During, and Create Wealth After Downturns and take the 20 questions recession readiness assessment in it. This will help you benchmark how well prepared you are for the recession. Instead of it being subjective, you’ll get a score from zero to 100. Zero is not prepared at all. 100 is looking forward to the recession, because of how well prepared you are. Once you get your score, then you can decide what you want to do with that information. No. 1 goal for the next 12 months In 2020, Jonathan is focused on being at home, in Cleveland, more. He plans to get better at his virtual meeting capabilities so that he can have more virtual clients. Parting words   “Rock the recession, be in a position to rock your recovery so that you never have to borrow money from your mother-in-law as I did.” Jonathan Slain   Connect with Jonathan Slain LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Website Get 30% off the Rock the Recession workbook with the coupon code “Worst” Blog Andrew’s books How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market My Worst Investment Ever 9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 Points Andrew’s online programs Valuation Master Class Women Building Wealth The Build Your Wealth Membership Group Become a Great Presenter and Increase Your Influence Transform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 Points Connect with Andrew Stotz: astotz.com LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast Further reading mentioned Jonathan Slain (2019) Rock the Recession: How Successful Leaders Prepare For, Thrive During, and Create Wealth After Downturns

Joel Ong is the creator of the Expert to Authority coaching program for business owners to use their smartphones to make videos work for their business in 90 days (without having to hire a professional costing thousands of dollars).   “We have more processing power in our mobile devices than what Armstrong had in his spacecraft the first time he went to the moon.” Joel Ong   Worst investment ever Fueling his Instagram influencer dream Joel wanted to be like the travel influencers on Instagram and wealthy business owners that he saw traveling the world first class. However, he didn’t have the money or the influence to do it. He just didn’t have the confidence to be an influencer of any sort. But, Joel truly wanted this life, so he thought of all the ways he could achieve this. He figured that he could pick up the camera and influence from behind it instead of in front of the camera like the other Instagram influencer. This started Joel’s journey into travel videography. A humble beginning Joel started with a very cheap imitation of a GoPro camera that he borrowed from a friend in China. Slowly he started living his dream to be a travel influencer by collaborating with models and travel photographers. Doing it as the stars do As Joel interacted with famous influencers in the industry, the pressure to get sophisticated video equipment got real. He wanted to be like the rest of them, and so he invested thousands of dollars in video equipment. Joel bought better lenses, better lighting, a stabilizer gimbal, and more. His travel backpack got heavier and heavier. As Joel continued to travel the world more with his new equipment, he realized that something was still missing. Now he needed to improve his skills as well. So Joel paid a lot of money for several online courses. He thought that this would get him fame and glory quickly. In the end, after spending so much money, it didn’t work. Joel learned that besides proper equipment and courses, he needed to put in the work to get to the success he wanted. Lessons learned The key to success is to focus on simplicity Everything that works is simple, but it takes execution and work. Simple is not necessarily easy. Don’t expect a magic formula to find success; you’ve got to put in the work, trust the process, and go through it. Shift your thinking If you do not see any success, then you need to start doing things differently because, like Einstein said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.” So shift your thinking. Decide what you’re prepared to lose Before you invest, think of the worst-case scenario. If it doesn’t work out or it underdelivers, what’s the most that you can afford to lose? When you think of investing in that way, then it makes everything very clear. Invest in your skills too People who are very good at their craft have a very high level of expertise that allows them to get a lot of returns from it. If you don’t practice your skills consistently, you’ll become poor in your craft. Andrew’s takeaways Keep it simple It’s easy for anyone to complicate things, but not everybody can make things simple. Things tend to move towards complexity, particularly in business, and it takes a lot of effort to keep things simple. But make an effort, because simple works. Successful people know there’s no magic formula There is no shortcut to success. The secret of success is to go through the work. If you take shortcuts, you will pay for it in some way. Actionable advice Decide if you are going to be 100% transparent, honest, and accountable with yourself. The key to success is to commit to put in the work and get it done regardless of any circumstances or challenges. No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Joel’s goal for the next 12 months is to get his private coaching program Expert to Authority out to the market and more people. The program is based on all the best investments that Joel has made before. The program will take you from just being an expert or business owner to a brand authority using video in only 90 days. Parting words   “Stay safe, guys.” Joel Ong   Connect with Joel Ong LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Instagram Website YouTube Andrew’s books How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market My Worst Investment Ever 9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 Points Andrew’s online programs Valuation Master Class Women Building Wealth The Build Your Wealth Membership Group Become a Great Presenter and Increase Your Influence Transform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 Points Connect with Andrew Stotz: astotz.com LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast