Raising Kids With Real World Skills in a Broken School System

What if the biggest risk to your child's future is not what they are learning but what they are never being taught?

In this powerful episode of Official Success Formula, we sit down with entrepreneur George and his 11-year-old son Leo to talk about homeschooling, entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and why traditional education is failing to prepare kids for real life. From launching a podcast at a young age to learning business through real experiences, Leo is proof that confidence, communication, and responsibility can be developed far earlier than most parents think.

George shares the deeper lesson behind his Buyback Time philosophy, including the painful realization that building a successful business means nothing if it costs you your presence at home. This conversation explores how fathers can avoid the absent parent trap, why real-world skills matter more than outdated schooling, and how intentional parenting can shape a child's future in a way school never will.

If you are a parent, entrepreneur, or anyone who wants to raise capable, confident, and financially aware children, this episode will challenge the way you think about success, education, and legacy.

Leo's Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/leointerviews?igsh=dHh6Z3ozbm8weXEx

George's Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/georgerivera1977/

Website- https://buybacktimeformula.com/freedom-snapshot?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMjU2MjgxMDQwNTU4AAGnSHCU2aroZPPeBFMPNe7F8C78EV-yeBg726tT5EVhSK-UoTWgv-YLGTqofrw_aem_8ULInEdiBeGE6qzaeGnznA

Tune in every Tuesday at 10 AM for another inspiring success story, along with the proven formula to help you achieve your own goals. Don't miss out on the insights that could change your life!

Buzzsprout- https://successformulapodcast.buzzsprout.com/
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7aRe06pXIq6yq8GQf62NBM
Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/1393b77c-626a-4a53-bdd5-43ce3b1aa15b/success-formula-podcast
Apple Podcast- https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/success-formula-podcast/id1748704615

Our Social Media:
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@OfficialSuccessFormula
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officialsuccessformula/
Twitter: https://x.com/_SuccessFormula/
Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@officialsuccessformula

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Alright, well so we have a unique show today because we have a father and a son. How old are you, Leo?

SPEAKER_00 0:08

I am eleven.

SPEAKER_03 0:09

Eleven years old. And Leo has his own podcast of his own interviewing business people and other successful people. Kind of similar to the show. I want to ask you both the same question. Why do you think so many kids leave traditional school without real world skills? What do you think, Dad? Why do they leave school without the real world skills? Yeah, why do you think when they graduate from school they have no real world skills?

SPEAKER_04 0:36

Yeah. But um I haven't seen any evidence where traditional schooling's worked in 40, 50 years. I would agree.

SPEAKER_03 0:49

I would agree with the same thing. What about you, Leo?

SPEAKER_00 0:51

Um, I would say that I think the reason would probably be that like kids don't find it maybe like as too enjoying because a school's almost like a prison, you know, so maybe that's why they're like, eh, I'll just convince my mom or dad, you know.

SPEAKER_03 1:05

The I like those memes that I see online where it like shows the prison bus and the school bus and then it shows like the cafeterias and they look exactly the same. And it's it's definitely, I don't know, you're right. It's it's might not coincidental. I think uh it was designed just for a different time. And I think times have just changed so much. And I think it was already outdated, and now with AI, it's gonna be crazy outdated. I don't think they're gonna be able to move fast enough. So I think you're on the right path by by homeschooling them.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:35

Wait, what what point did you realize that you wanted to homeschool him? Was it since day one? Since since birth.

SPEAKER_04 1:40

I I mean, we we just knew my wife and I knew that was the plan is just to be real uh you know intentional with him and and uh yeah, just you know, we we'd seen just historically, is anybody who's paying attention knows that the system isn't uh, you know, we speculate as to why that's the case, but it hasn't really been uh hasn't been producing the the top type of talent that I believe that that the system should, or or maybe initially it was intended to.

SPEAKER_03 2:05

So do you are you involved in also the homeschool curriculum, or is it is it just your wife? How do you all how do y'all structure the the day?

SPEAKER_04 2:13

Mom's a huge part of it. Um I would say my only role in it, and it doesn't even feel like a role, but it's in the mentorship of launching the podcast. Okay. It's just more like real life activity. It's like, all right, we got a podcast at one, let's get ready. What are we gonna talk about? And so it's just like doing things in real life is sort of my my role.

SPEAKER_03 2:32

Of course, that's what everyone needs that school doesn't provide is real life skills.

SPEAKER_00 2:36

Yeah, yeah, and like a dad, you know.

SPEAKER_03 2:38

Do kids your age talk about money and business and podcasts?

SPEAKER_00 2:44

Um, no, and the answer is no, probably not. I I mean as a kid, you know, I feel like you don't learn that stuff until at a you know much older age. And you know, I'm very lucky to be learning this at a young age so I can understand when you know, like when I need to like do this or that, right? I already know. I know, oh, I'll just do that, you know, and it helps with that.

SPEAKER_03 3:08

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 3:11

And you know, other things to do with that very early on.

SPEAKER_03 3:14

I think so too. I think you're right. Because if you you learn by doing, you you learn a lot more by doing than you do sitting in a classroom reading out of a book your whole life. Yeah. And so when you do something, you get a little bit more confident and you definitely learn a lot faster. And so I think that's the right path for sure.

SPEAKER_00 3:32

Books are good for you, but uh, books are good.

SPEAKER_03 3:35

It is, it's it it gives your ideas flowing, it's it it gets your mind thinking creatively, but I don't think it's the only way people learn by doing, they learn faster by doing.

SPEAKER_01 3:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:45

What is there a certain curriculum that y'all follow or but because I don't, you know, I'm kind of going down the same path that y'all are going down.

SPEAKER_00 3:52

It's called a CC classical conversations.

SPEAKER_03 3:55

Okay, yeah. And is it just an online program that that you can register for?

SPEAKER_04 4:00

Yeah, there's an online component to it, and that's like everybody will get that if you're participating in it. But then there are like local groups of of you know CC uh in regions and uh, you know, like there's a there's a Spicewood group, a Lakeway group, there's multiple in every area. And so um, so yeah, they get together about once uh once a week and they kind of unify on the agenda, kind of review things. It gives them time to like play with their friends and peers because that's one of the the stereotypes of homeschool is like, oh my gosh, are they socially awkward? And I'm like, Well, you never meant this one if that's what you're thinking.

SPEAKER_03 4:32

Because uh all the ones I know are actually some of the most outgoing people that I know that were homeschooled. Some of my guy friends and then you know, Candace and some other people I know they're like almost some of the best communicators. And uh so I I think it's that's a completely opposite thought. I think it's just something that they can push back on, like justify it a little bit. It's like, oh, they're not gonna be around other kids. Well, I don't know because all the bad stuff I learned, I learned in school from other bad kids. And so it it there might be a couple good kids at school, but that's what you can't control. And so now your kids around a bunch of other kids that you know may not want to improve their life and may want to, you know, not care about life at all or not care about learning, but then your kids around them all day long. And so I'd I I would think the I push back and say it's the opposite. I don't think it's a socialization problem at all. But I I do think kids need to be around other kids too, but it needs to be around the right kids.

SPEAKER_00 5:30

Yeah, it can't be around some kids who probably grew up in an alleyway, you know, New York City.

SPEAKER_03 5:38

It's uh what made you want to go a different route than the traditional school route?

SPEAKER_04 5:45

Yeah, I mean, just seeing how kids are are are growing up these days. It's um they they they're you know, I see kids these days and they're just like zombies, you know. I know that it's not all kids, you know. I'm stereotyping too as well, but you know, they don't know how to you know look you in the eye, they don't know how to shake your hand, um, they're lacking confidence, they're they're they're they're playing their games and they're missing out on opportunities to to connect with the world.

SPEAKER_03 6:09

So and I think that you know, traditional school is part of that problem for sure. Yeah. Um, just because it doesn't teach them all the things that you actually need to succeed in life.

SPEAKER_04 6:18

Yeah, and just a quick note on traditional school, you know, what is it, eight hours? And it's sort of designed to have two two working parents so they can go to work, and then you've got like daycare or a little bit of education through eight hours. It's just way too long for a kid to be away from home and also like in a setting. And I know they change classes and they got their, you know, their timed classes and then you take little breaks, but it's just too much time to be sitting there to to like consume all this information. So it's almost like they're just cramming random things that they'll never use in life just to make up that time so that mom and dad could can be working. And then there's other reasons why mom and dad have to work, you know. Um, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:53

Yeah, the school is built like literally like a prison. You know, like think about it. Like you have the bus, which imagine like that's the police car, right? They take you to jail, that's school, and well, you're pretty much locked up there for what, yeah, like eight hours. Yeah, so it almost pretty much is a jail.

SPEAKER_03 7:11

And everyone knows, and I know from me going to school, you don't learn the whole eight hours. You barely learn in if at all, any of the time that you're there. What do Leo's responsibilities look like in your house outside of the homeschool program?

SPEAKER_04 7:27

Yeah, I mean, we make him, you know, clean up after himself um and make sure he's aware of whatever he's doing, you know, that there's there's consequences, not like punishment consequences, but like there's gonna be effects to your actions. So, like, what are those? And and just be mindful of that. Um, you know, more specifically, you know, he's got a dog that we got him a couple years ago. So he watches out for the dog, takes him out, uh, attends to him when he's needy. And, you know, sometimes, hey dad, can you do that? I said, Well, he's your dog, you know.

SPEAKER_00 7:54

He he well me, I only need you help with you know, feeding him and just just keeping him alive, yeah. I mean, I I can take him out and make sure he doesn't, you know, that's still really good thing on the rug.

SPEAKER_03 8:05

Yeah, yeah. But that's still really good because every other kid says they're gonna do it, and then a week or two goes by and they're like, they're not doing it anymore.

SPEAKER_04 8:14

Yeah. So it gives them responsibility, gives them something to do. And then now, even like even more to current day, we've got the the podcast, and he's like, Hey, so what time is it? Because I got this at one o'clock. And and so he's just being mindful of of you know, there's a schedule for things, and then all right, it's five minutes till let's get ready because you know we have to respect the other person's time. So uh he's just learning a lot of those things simultaneously.

SPEAKER_00 8:35

Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 8:36

What do you think creates entitlement in the kids today? Because I'm I'm I'm definitely nervous about that. Um, it's my biggest fear because my kids growing up with a lot different life than me and my wife grew up with. So I'm trying to do everything I can, you know, to not have him grow up with his handout. And so I and it's tough, you know. Um, he doesn't have to struggle like we had to struggle. And so, but I'm I still try to create as much as I can, but it's still still definitely a fear. What do you think that can either avoid that or why do you think a lot of kids do grow up with entitlement nowadays, especially?

SPEAKER_04 9:07

Yeah, that's a great deep question. Um, yeah, I believe just exposing them to some habits to some you know, what to some other life that that maybe it's not their life right now, but say, hey, other people have had it rough and let's go check it out. Like we went to um uh Navajo Nation in Arizona, and so the Indians, you know, the native Indians live as some of the more the poorest people, you know, in America, even in the world. You think you're like in a whole nother country. And, you know, as we're walking through and just looking at how how the people are living, you know, I teach them to to first, you know, respect them, have sympathy for them, and then look how hard they're working. And it's like, you know, you get up, you've got food, you know, you you can kind of do whatever you want. And these people are like they're moving around doing their thing because they have to. And so um, I think just exposing our children to those kind of things at an early age and talking to them, explaining them, you know, because they're not they're not gonna like observe it without the communication, I think that's key and and that helps.

SPEAKER_03 10:02

I think discipline too, and like you said, habits, yeah. Discipline and good habits.

SPEAKER_00 10:07

Yeah, I think another like I guess thing that also, you know, does entitlement is like mummy, you know, which is what that's it, like you have to show them that like you could be in like a worse place, like you should like you should be happy for where you are, you know, and maybe even where you will be eventually.

SPEAKER_03 10:27

Yes, and then you know, a thing that I make a point is I don't give my son any money or anything at all. He has to earn everything, and we actually do it through improving on his skills because he is pretty young still, and so you know, I don't necessarily pay him to do any chores because it's pretty much expected, anyways. He's gonna clean up his stuff, I'm not gonna pay him to do it, but when he improves on his skills, like some of the stuff you're doing, like communication and we work on every week, and some of the other life skills that we work on, then he can earn something, which was for a little while was Legos. Um, he didn't really want any money, but you know, that's kind of I'm hoping to continue. Like, he's not gonna get anything from us, not gonna buy him a car when he's 16. But I'll give him the skills to go be able to earn as much money as he wants. So I'm you know, I I hope that'll help a little bit. He's he's definitely not gonna get a handout or money from his mom and his dad for sure.

SPEAKER_00 11:18

It's funny because I actually just built Lego set like a couple days ago.

SPEAKER_03 11:21

What'd you build?

SPEAKER_00 11:22

Um it was this big one called Love.

SPEAKER_01 11:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 11:25

And um I forgot where it was from, but uh you have it to where there's oh uh the O, and the O looks like it's about to fall off, but it's it's like secured on. It's very cool.

SPEAKER_03 11:37

What categories do you like the most? My son's into cars right now. He likes dinosaurs and he likes cars, but cars probably a little bit more than dinosaurs.

SPEAKER_00 11:43

Um, category for Legos.

SPEAKER_03 11:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:46

Um honestly I kind of just like any type of Legos. I mean who doesn't love Legos? You know it's a break. The only thing that people do not like about Legos is when you accidentally step on them. That's it.

SPEAKER_03 11:58

We actually read the Lego book, the the where it where it got founded, and it was a really interesting story. And they were kind of on the brink of going under at one point, and they started doing partnerships with all the big brands, so they had name brand, whether it was cars or name brand something else, and it kind of revived them where people got really into it, or Marvel characters, or whatever the um movie sets, anything, and so that's like kind of where they rebounded. But it was a really crazy story about the guy that started it. It was really good. Y'all should you should read it.

SPEAKER_00 12:29

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_03 12:30

Awesome.

SPEAKER_04 12:32

What I guess you're in real estate. Uh in real estate, internet marketing, advising. Okay. So serial entrepreneur.

SPEAKER_03 12:40

Okay, awesome. What when did you first start exposing Leo at what age to real estate and some of the business stuff that you're doing?

SPEAKER_04 12:48

Yeah, specifically real estate, I would say at eight years old.

SPEAKER_00 12:51

So yeah, I remember that.

SPEAKER_04 12:53

Yeah. So interesting story, but yeah, uh, we'll go as long as you want or as deep as you want on it. But so um, you know, I have a primary business, online marketing and in the supplement space, high volume, been doing that for, you know, since the mid-90s. I like to say dinosaurs used to roam the earth at that time. And um, so you know, that type of um business has provided, you know, great cash flow to to do other things with and expand our little attempt to have a nice little empire. And uh, one of them was doing Airbnbs. And so we found this place up in northern Michigan, so off the beaten path for us. But we found like little paradise up in northern Michigan, and we bought a lake house and we were um, you know, put a lot into it, made it like our our second home basically. And then another house came on the market uh on the lake, and we planned to rent that house in Michigan. And so I was like, oh my gosh, this is a beautiful house and it's gonna be our competition. Let's go look at it. And so we looked at it, and I'm just in my head, I'm like, oh my gosh, doing the numbers. Yeah, we need we need to get this thing. And so the realtor like showing us around, and you know, they give you a little private time as a family to discuss amongst yourself. The old me would have said, All right, son, here's an iPad, there's the room over there. Go, go play your heart's content, and we'll let you know when we're done. And that would have been fine. I don't think anybody would have judged me.

SPEAKER_00 14:04

I think I would have probably been grinding Clash Royale on the iPad.

SPEAKER_04 14:08

Yeah, you probably would have had fun doing it. But what I thought was teachable moment, I said, son, you're gonna make the offer to the realtor. I said, You're gonna tell him we're gonna close in 30 days. Here's the price that we're gonna pay. Leave the dock, leave the furniture, because again, this is an investment property, and this will save us like a hundred grand. Yeah, go for it. And he's like, Why am I doing this? And I'm like, we'll debrief later, just go. Time's of the essence. And then he goes up. I remember Mr. Jim, and then he's telling him all this stuff, and he's kind of looking down, like a little smirk, like this young kid talking big people stuff. And then he looks at me, doesn't say anything, but with his eyes, he's asking, is that the offer? And I'm like, young whipper snapper smoke for us. That's the offer. And then we got the house. Of course, the terms have to make sense, but let's hope he's having a fun time up there. Yeah, he he passed away. So um, but that that's a great memory with Mr. Jim. And um, we we got the house, terms have to make sense, and um, yeah, it was his first experience kind of being thrown into a business situation, and um, I can just see like one day he's gonna do that with his kids. Like, my dad took me to to to do real estate and make this offer. So, kids, you're gonna do it too, and he's gonna share that experience. So, for me, it's just about the the legacy aspect of it.

SPEAKER_03 15:16

And so eight years old, and so after that, after he made the first offer and you started kind of introducing him into the business and real estate world, was he paying attention at first or would he kind of get sidetracked? I've noticed with my son that again, he's when I started with him, he was you know, four and a half to five, and so it was a little bit tough, shoot super short attention span. Um, but now he's like really starting to come around. He's six and a half now.

SPEAKER_04 15:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:40

But was he the same way? Was he not paying attention? Would he pay attention sometimes? Like how hard it was it to keep him focused on the business and real estate?

SPEAKER_04 15:48

Yeah, I mean, uh yeah, it's interesting because um, you know, we got that house, and you know, we'd spend a lot of time up in northern Michigan. You know, we live in Texas, and so um we've got one house very different climate change. Oh, yeah, I know that. Yeah, yeah. You got one house under massive construction. This other one that he made the offer on, same semi-construction, but still a pretty big project. And so we're like, okay, we need to be up here. So we have a travel trailer, so we need to be up here to like oversee this. Like, I, you know, I'm not gonna be the one nailing the hammer, but I need to be up here to like go get lumber and and and go, you know, run around and do stuff because I noticed that our contractors were very slow when we're in Texas. But when we're up there, they go faster. So I put two and two together. We should be up there more. And I have this big, massive truck, and I'm like, you know what? I don't know how to hammer a nail in or not very good, uh, but I do know how to go to the hardware store and pick up lumber better than anybody could. Like, I wouldn't challenge them to do it better than me. And so, no more like, oh, we got to go to the hardware store at 11 and then we're gonna go to lunch, and then it's two o'clock. We'll just call it an early day. And so um, he got to participate with us, going to get lumber, going to like, you know, do measurements and do like all these cool custom things that we probably wouldn't have done, you know, had we stayed down here. Because, you know, it's like we know what the project's going on. And then my wife, she's very creative with design. She's like, well, since we got to go get you know lumber for that, let's let's make it like you know, this certain way. And so we were kind of coordinating with the contractor and and other kind of specialists there on that, and and he got to witness all of that. So I think some of that got to stick around to see how we manage that.

SPEAKER_00 17:13

Other than that, I mostly just spend my time on Clash Royale. But that was it.

SPEAKER_03 17:17

So after you started the house, how did it turn out? How did the what the numbers turn out like?

SPEAKER_04 17:23

Yeah, spectacular. I mean, you know, Northern Michigan, they're like, you know, pristine summers. And speaking of somebody who's who's from Texas, you know, uh hot highest is like 89.90. And when they get those temperatures, they're like, oh my gosh, it's hot. And I'm like, you've never seen hot before. Yeah. But um, so it's pristine from like mid-June to like mid-September. And during that time frame, like both houses were just booked, you know, back to back. Uh, I mean, it's printing cash. Um, but on the uh flip side, um, there there's some fall demand and even some spring demand. But in the winter, it's like you might as well have said this place is uh is to be condemned or something, you know, because it's uh winter wonderland. And while it is beautiful and and we love to use that home in the winter, it's very cold. Well, it's very cold, yeah, negative 20 degrees sometimes. And it's on the lake. Like the lake's there, and the house is like right at the edge of the lake. And so um, our first house, we we redid the whole house. Like at first, the realtor, another realtor, is like, yeah, you put 75 grand into this thing, it'll be ready for prime time. And I'm thinking, okay, I know how this game is played. You tell me 75, I'm gonna double it to 150. And then, like, if I'm okay at 150, then then that then we can move forward. Otherwise, you know, I have to be okay with doubling his number.

SPEAKER_03 18:35

Every construction project I've ever done has cost more than I originally planned for. Oh my god. There's never been one time where we spent less than I planned to spend. Yeah. So sometimes I get close, but it always seems like it costs a little bit more. Doesn't matter to the project.

SPEAKER_04 18:50

Well, I should have told myself um multiply that times 15, not two, because that's what the outcome was. But you know, you've heard of the term uh uh scope creep, you know, it's like we've got this is the plan, and then all of a sudden this and this, and we can lift the house. Now that we lift the house, we've got more room to do other stuff. And so anyway, but we treat it like an extension of our home.

SPEAKER_03 19:09

So it's uh that's super cool. When you can make money off something and have a place to go, that's that's the dream. Yeah, it is. Whenever you first started learning about real estate, did it feel like you were learning when he had you made the offer, or did it just feel like you're hanging out with your family?

SPEAKER_00 19:23

It felt like I don't know how to say this, I could just be going insane, but it felt like a spark to something big, you know? Like you light the fuse, and then guess what comes after? Boom, you know? Um it was it definitely interested in me. I was a bit interested in in, you know, I guess real estate. Well, not really, but but maybe maybe just a tiny bit.

SPEAKER_03 19:46

Were you nervous in the beginning learning about money in real estate?

SPEAKER_00 19:49

I mean, first when dad said the word money, I'm like, okay, I'm I I will take this off. I'm like, you said money, I will do anything.

SPEAKER_03 19:58

So that's a good point. If what do what route would you have taken if he didn't really show a ton of interest early on? Would you have stuck with it and kind of just kept teaching them about it?

SPEAKER_04 20:08

Yeah, I think so. I mean, I feel like at eight or you know, those early ages, you know, it's more about their their capacity to learn and absorb of what they're doing. And and you'll you'll see, and I'm sure you've already seen, like it, you know, your son's different from five than he was at four. And so like every year a little more personality comes out or changes, you know, and and they're interested in different things. And you never know, like, you know, he he has some people he likes to watch on YouTube, for example, and when they talk about a certain topic, it's like, well, you know, I I've been saying that before, but now when he heard it from somebody else, it's like it kind of clicks, you know, like you know, some of these younger kids are you know talking about money and stuff. No, I I know that, but I'm just saying, like my son does too.

SPEAKER_03 20:48

Yeah, yeah. So I had to I had to limit it. He he he earns his YouTube on the weekends after he improves all week.

SPEAKER_00 20:54

I'm pretty sure this is going on YouTube, right?

SPEAKER_03 20:56

It's going to be on YouTube, it's gonna be everywhere. Spotify, YouTube, everything. Oh man. Apple.

SPEAKER_00 21:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:01

What what do you think the importance is of an involving him in the adult conversation so young?

SPEAKER_04 21:06

Yeah, I mean, just so that he gets used to it, so that it's not some foreign thing when it's his turn to come up. Because um, you know, a lot of us, and I'll speak for myself, you know, I was I wasn't in those adult con conversations. So when it was time for me to, you know, buy my first home and start, you know, talking business, I I kind of had to like figure it out and kind of stumble through it. And that was my journey, and you know, I figured it out. But I know that could discourage others who are like they don't even know where to start or how to do it.

SPEAKER_03 21:30

You had the same kind of path that I did. And whenever I graduated when I was 18, I was it it felt like I was starting over from zero because you know, I saved up a little bit of money. I was interested in purchasing a property that I could fix up and sell because that at the time that made sense to me. It's like, okay, I can buy something that looks really bad and I can fix it up and I can and it sells for a higher price. Like that that made sense. And so that's what I want to do. But I knew nothing about like who to contact, how how to get the Money. Um, I didn't even know what a mortgage broker was. And it's because you don't learn any of that stuff in school. And so I do think that's one of the biggest problems with school is they just you graduate and then it's it's like completely starting over from zero. Yeah, no idea.

SPEAKER_00 22:14

Schools are overrated, especially college and graduating.

SPEAKER_03 22:18

Very much so. And then now in today's AI world, it's gonna get even worse. Yeah, so it's gonna be they're gonna have to really pick up the pace to try to keep up, and I don't think it's gonna happen. What did you like outside of money real estate business that like I I heard you mention what was it? Cass Casino Royale or what oh Clash Royale. Clash Royale.

SPEAKER_00 22:37

Yeah, it's it's a mobile game, but I really just like playing.

SPEAKER_03 22:41

So you like video games? Of course, you like YouTube. I think all the kids grew up on YouTube now.

SPEAKER_00 22:46

Um, I also like soccer. Soccer.

SPEAKER_03 22:48

Okay, awesome. Do you play any other sports?

SPEAKER_00 22:50

Um, nope, just soccer pretty much.

SPEAKER_03 22:52

Just soccer? My son plays soccer too, and I was a big soccer guy. I played soccer my whole life. I was I was really good at soccer, not really good at too many other sports. I was okay at baseball, but everything else I was and I was small. So soccer uh I love more than anything. Does he how does he earn money? Or do y'all give him an allowance? How's he how's he get what he wants?

SPEAKER_04 23:15

Yeah, it's more just like uh he he just gets like privileges, you know, like you said, your son sort of has to earn some YouTube time or what have you. That that's kind of the same way. It's like, you know, he he's got to work on a paper, so let's get that done before you can kind of you know have your your leisure time. And so um, so that's that. But I I think now we'll we'll start getting him some money from from the podcast. Just um think of ways to monetize that. I I already have an LLC for him, you know, that that is ready, a bank account tied to it, ready for him to start accumulating some some money in there.

SPEAKER_00 23:48

First dollar again, I'm spending it on a candy bar. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:51

Do you have any do you have a debit card or account already before the podcast?

SPEAKER_00 23:55

Um, no.

SPEAKER_03 23:56

No, I don't have one from us on either. I was just curious. I I think we're gonna open one because what we're doing right now is I'm trying to teach him how to um the just the simple art of selling something, like buying it, fixing it up, and selling it. And we bought an old golf cart last week, and so we're kind of fixing it all up ourselves. We're gonna hopefully sell it for a profit. And I loaned him the money, so I loaned him the money at 10%, and I'll take my cut and take my money back, and then when he sells it, I'm just planning on opening him a bank account and you know, hopefully the profit can go in there. But that that's kind of what that's kind of what we're working on right now. I do like golf court, and we bought it off Facebook Marketplace and uh just bought a junker and we're gonna fix it up together and paint it. And um, just been watching YouTube videos. I mean, you can figure anything out. I don't know anything about fixing up a golf cart, but between Chat GPT and I'm like, hey, pull me up some YouTube videos on how to replace a seat and how to do this and how to do this. Everything on there is super easy.

SPEAKER_04 24:52

Oh, it's a great father-son experience too. And just like reviving something that maybe was cast off by somebody is just done uh or just not very useful to like, you know, you're like making it great.

SPEAKER_03 25:02

So uh it's it's I think it's the simple art of just you know figuring out how to buy something low and sell it for higher, right? How do you create the value? The value that we're creating in that is just by fixing it up, making it look super nice, getting us some features that that people may want, and then hopefully we make a profit. I think we will. Um we're shooting for between like 600 and a thousand, like fingers crossed, but you never know. Like, I don't know what the market's gonna do. I'm not like super familiar with the golf cart market. We did look at all the other ones for sale. We think we can make ours a little bit better for the same price. So um we'll see where it lands. How did you teach him the importance of creating value uh, you know, in life?

SPEAKER_04 25:42

Yeah, that's a good question. Um, you know, just just to know that he was put here for a reason to be to be you know a light in this world that's uh very, very dark. And um, you know, we we're a family of faith and tell him, you know, God has a purpose for you, and let's find out what that purpose is. And you know, we're still kind of working through it. He's still very young, but I think we found something where he can impact a lot of people with his, you know, his story, his message, and um inspire other kids. I mean, uh you know, at the end of the day, he's building an amazing network and it's gonna create amazing connections for him, but hopefully other kids get to see what he's doing and and they get the courage and and just hear him say, Hey, I want to be like Leo or I want to do something like Leo, and he can just, you know, humbly share, hey, yeah, you come come along for the ride.

SPEAKER_03 26:26

It is really inspirational. Think about all those people you watch on YouTube and you're like, man, that's super cool. Like you can inspire a lot of people by doing that. The other thing I think is really cool that you may not know just yet, but when you get a little bit older, you're gonna realize all of these great uh people that you're sitting across from, you're gonna get so much good information and so much, so many pieces of information that can hopefully save you from making some mistakes. And so that's what the good thing about talking to people that are older than you or have done something that you haven't done yet, is you can just learn from their mistakes. And because I've made a lot. And so I try to keep my son and then also the people that the reason I got online is like I want to keep him from same making the same mistakes that I did in life. So that's the whole point. So when you're sitting across from those people, definitely want to soak up like every little bit of information that you can.

SPEAKER_04 27:12

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 27:13

What's the biggest lesson you learned about money so far that you can think of?

SPEAKER_00 27:19

Probably that's very rare and hard to find. Okay. Uh the only times I get lucky enough if I find any money is usually on the ground on the sidewalk, if someone like leaps down a dime.

SPEAKER_03 27:32

But what about the way money works? What's the biggest lesson that you found on how money works in the world? Or that you've learned so far?

SPEAKER_00 27:41

Probably that if if like um stocks, I think stocks like to me it was very cool. Like, if someone bought it, people wouldn't be like, hmm, maybe maybe I should invest in it. And then it would just go up, you know. But if someone sold, they would they would think, hmm, should I really, you know, invest into this?

SPEAKER_03 28:00

Day trading's hard when you're buying and selling stocks. I'm I've never been good at it. And so I'm a real estate guy like your dad. It always made sense to me. Like I can fix up something old and that doesn't look good and then fix it up, make it look nice, and then you know, create the value in the property that way. What responsibilities do you think he has that most other kids maybe his age don't have?

SPEAKER_04 28:21

Yeah, responsibilities. Um, yeah, I I just think now just being aware of uh you know, like for just going back to his podcast, just like having to have these topics that he has to be prepared with for guests. And I don't know, I think other kids don't really think about others too much, not in a not not in a non-selfish or or selfish way, but um, you know, other kids like just their whole world is just like themselves. And that's fine. They're at that age where, you know, a lot's done for you, but um, he's having to think about other people. How am I gonna connect with this person? How am I gonna respect their schedule? And um, and even when we have guests come over, he's always very quick about hey, let's let's make the place look nice. Um, let's make sure I'm dressed appropriately. And so just thinking about others and and how he's he's perceived out there.

SPEAKER_03 29:07

Yeah, that's really the the the skills that you're gonna get from the podcast are gonna be incredible and communication and you know, time management, and then coming up, coming up with those questions and just figuring out how to learn from all these people. I mean, it's gonna be really, really cool what you're doing. And I think you are gonna inspire a lot of people for sure.

SPEAKER_00 29:25

Yeah. Then you're gonna talk about a yellow dangle.

SPEAKER_03 29:28

Oh yeah. What what's something that that you messed up or you made a mistake that helped you learn from that you learn from? So what's something you messed up or made a mistake that you learned from, or you got you got a big lesson out of that you can think of?

SPEAKER_00 29:47

Can you think of any? Yeah, I I can't.

SPEAKER_04 29:50

I don't know. I mean, I think I I just keep going back to the podcast because that's kind of been our light, let's thrust them out there. But um, I I think he's a lot better now at asking questions of of other people and getting to the to the root of their why and and letting them share their story. And at the beginning, and and you know, you can't fault him, he's just starting out, but um, he might have like rushed through it kind of quickly, and it's like, hey, there that you could have gone deeper on that because that's why they they might be able to do that.

SPEAKER_00 30:14

Yeah, I think that's something like rushing through.

SPEAKER_04 30:17

And I wouldn't call it a mistake, it's it's like a a learning experience.

SPEAKER_03 30:20

Whenever I say mistakes, I don't mean something that you know that you could have done better after you do it. It's not, yeah, just like whenever you're learning something, like your podcast, the more you do it, the better you're gonna get. And it's not that you're gonna fail or you have a big failure, it's like a lot of small things, like, oh yeah, I could do that better. Or you know what? I learned that I was talking too fast and now I need to talk slower. So you'll learn a lot from that.

SPEAKER_00 30:43

I'm talking too fast right now.

SPEAKER_03 30:45

No, no, no, no, you're doing good. You have good communication skills. That's something that I work on my son with the most because that's what I lacked the most of when I was growing up. And I felt like if I would have had that, I would have been just so much further in life. It just helps you with every single other part of your life. So I I I'm like make it a point. That's one of our number one things that we focus on. Couldn't get any better than doing a podcast. That's gonna help you more than anything. Why did you want to start a podcast at a young age, such a young age? What was your what was your reasons?

SPEAKER_00 31:14

You think probably just get uh to maybe get a YouTube channel and maybe in a couple years start making money. Um other than that, like actual, actual, I'd probably say probably just getting a YouTube channel.

SPEAKER_03 31:32

Um Do you do do you do any editing? Do you do all the uploads? Like what part of the process do you do to get them to YouTube?

SPEAKER_00 31:39

Uh we have a uh semi-editor. She does all the uploads and editing.

SPEAKER_02 31:44

Okay, cool.

SPEAKER_04 31:45

Yeah, she's not uh, I mean, she's not amazing, not bad. It's not extremely difficult, but but um yeah, um I wanted to teach him to, and he's done a couple of edits, but I also wanted to teach him like, look, you're the best use of your time is not in doing this, you know how to do it. Now you can tell somebody else how to do it. Let's get somebody else to do it. So just teaching him how to like stay focused in his zone of genius, which is becoming the podcasting, and then uh all the stuff you shouldn't be doing it, you get it off your plate and stay focused.

SPEAKER_03 32:14

Hey everyone, real quick, I just want to let you know this podcast is 100% independent. No ads, no sponsors, just real. If you're finding value in whatever we're doing here, the biggest help that you can give us is hitting subscribe and sharing this with someone who you think needs to hear it or someone that it will provide value to. That's how we continue to grow. And if you did that, I would really appreciate it. Do you know that all those big, big creators on YouTube, they started so young? Yeah. So it looks like they just took off. But if you look back and you see Mr. Beast, all these people, they started when they were like 12, 13, 14, like the Logan Paul and Jake Holly, they're so young when they started. And so they got better and better and learned more and more. And then if you do something for a long period of time, you usually get good at it and it usually works out. Most people give up before they ever take off. Yeah, yeah. Yep. For podcasting. Yeah, we just talked about that. So to be in the top 1% of podcasts in the world, I think you have had to do more than 21 or 25 podcasts or something like that. So you're already in the top 1% just by meeting those people. What's the can you remember one thing, like the biggest thing that you learned from out of all your interviews that you can remember? That you learned, or somebody said something that you remember that stuck in your head.

SPEAKER_00 33:32

I probably imagine that all of them said it. Um, but probably always look at the bright side of things.

SPEAKER_04 33:39

Okay, that's a good one. But you might also want to talk about your most recent interview. You remember who it was?

SPEAKER_00 33:45

Uh yeah, but which one? Because we've learned so many. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, what did you learn about him? So um, I'm totally not trying to advertise my podcast here. Um but so um in our latest episode, we interviewed this guy who he only has one functioning lung. He's climbed the highest peak in every continent, climbed uh even Mount Everest and all these other peaks. It's very cool.

SPEAKER_04 34:13

And um a couple other fun facts. He did all that with one lung.

SPEAKER_00 34:18

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 34:18

And also, like two-time cancer survivor who was given 14 days to live.

SPEAKER_00 34:23

Yeah, like everybody thought he was going to go up there, right, into the clouds, but no, he survived cancer two times.

unknown 34:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:30

Wow, that's incredible. So it shows you that if you put your mind to something and you have a lot of strong will, you can pretty much achieve anything. It's really cool. Were you ever nervous interviewing any of those people?

SPEAKER_00 34:42

I would say probably ner um I was really nervous when, you know, interviewing some some of the the the big dogs, you know, out uh in the world just because like what like it's it's gonna seem like some kids play, you know, if I mess that up, if I do this. Um I definitely was a bit nervous.

SPEAKER_03 35:02

That's okay. I was nervous too. I was probably more nervous than you was when I started mine. Are you more confident now than when you first started?

SPEAKER_00 35:09

Yeah, I would definitely say yes.

SPEAKER_03 35:11

What do you think Leo learns by just watching you every day? I know you're an entrepreneur, I mean, and um I I kind of try to involve my son too in the same uh it's not family or business. It's like all it's kind of all one. Yeah, a lot of things going on. Yeah, what do you think some of the major things he's learning from that?

SPEAKER_04 35:29

Yeah, I mean, I hope he just sees somebody who's dedicated to his faith, dedicated to his family, uh, respects mom and uh just tries to to show show him what a man is to be. You know, I believe with our sons, you know, we're we're uh training our replacement in this world. And so we want to show them what it is to be a man. And and like with daughters, we're showing them, you know, what it is to expect in a man when it's their turn to go out and look, look for a man. It's like, no, my dad didn't talk to my mom like that, or my dad, you know, the red flags come up quickly. And and of course, uh for sons that are learning how to be a man. And so my hope is that he just sees somebody who's dedicated and consistent and always there, not perfect, but uh does his best. Yeah, leading leading leading by example.

SPEAKER_03 36:12

How many sisters do you have?

SPEAKER_00 36:13

I have two older sisters, and I'm totally not advertising on more things. We have a matcha business, if you know what that is, matcha?

SPEAKER_03 36:21

I do know what that is.

SPEAKER_00 36:22

Yeah, it's basically green tea.

SPEAKER_03 36:23

When did you did it? You started with your sisters, or you have one?

SPEAKER_00 36:26

Uh no, no, no. Just my two older sisters.

SPEAKER_03 36:29

Oh, they have a matcha business. Oh, cool. How long have they been doing it?

SPEAKER_00 36:33

Um, I think since like 2024.

SPEAKER_04 36:36

Yeah, like two, yeah, a little over two years at this point. Where do they sell it at? Um, they sell it at the uh like like these trade shows or farmers market kind of things. Um I think they also have a website where a couple locations, and so yeah, it's something they're passionate about.

SPEAKER_03 36:52

How do you look at the whole, you know, um work-life balance thing that everybody tries to talk about and say is important? How do you look at that?

SPEAKER_04 37:01

Yeah, uh I I say um, you know, anything that takes away from my family, I have to figure out how to make that work without my time being involved in it. And I know that like, you know, if you're just starting out, it's like, well, yeah, I don't have the resources to to do that. But um, yeah, I I would just say, you know, if you're starting out, you you want to set things up so that when you do scale, because that's the intention of every business is to one day scale, is um you you know you're scaling like freedom through systems and and and a process, not scaling chaos. Because part of my story is I scaled chaos. And the chaos had me, you know, this amazingly successful company printing money, but uh hating life because um the the demands of the job, you know, I call it job, I mean the demands of the role um were like sucking the soul out of me. And that's having a negative impact on my family. My family's like, where's dad? And so uh kind of went on a little rant there, but um, yeah, it's it's just making sure that you you are uh you're setting things up so that you're you're still committed to the things that that you love the most, the things that you say you're doing it for. Um yeah, so hopefully I answered that to some degree.

SPEAKER_03 38:06

That's the same mistakes I made. Yeah. Yeah, I was I was doing a lot. I did I did way too much in my business for way too long. And you know, easier to look back on it now, but when you're in it, you just you you think that's like the only path, right? You're like, I have to keep doing all this stuff, nobody can do it better than me. It's not it's they're they're they're gonna mess it up, and so you like end up doing things for way too long, and you don't do the things that you like that you probably did like when you started the business. Like, this is why I started because I love all these things, and then you end up doing a lot of jobs that you hate.

SPEAKER_00 38:37

That's why that has that book.

SPEAKER_04 38:39

Yeah, and the thing is like that what whatever chaos I had at the time, like when I first like got it going, might have been sustainable at a certain level. But then, you know, like I said earlier, like you want to scale the business and it's gonna get over here. But if you don't have systems, you're just gonna scale that chaos and it's gonna demand every living moment from you. You know, like emergencies at the dinner table or 3 a.m., you know, hey, you got to fix the server because affiliates are gonna complain that the conversions are off. And it's like, well, I can't go back to sleep now, so I better fix it. And the crazy thing is I had a team to do all this stuff, but I trained my team to depend on me. Uh and so I I had the whole concept of delegation so wrong, and it wasn't until I fixed that that I that I found my freedom.

SPEAKER_03 39:19

I agree a hundred percent. I went through all those same mistakes. I did the exact same thing. So is that why you wrote the book to try to uh keep people from making those same mistakes?

SPEAKER_04 39:29

Yeah, yeah, at the end of the day, I mean, yeah, the book has a lot of like my frameworks and stuff in there, and and they'll get your time back. But the motivation of it really came from the expense that I saw that it was causing my family, you know, my my absence essentially. And even proximity doesn't mean presence. I could even be there, but like I'm, you know, facing the phone, trying to put out a fire while family's trying to eat. And they're like, hey, hey dad, can we get your attention? And so it's kind of kind of a bit of a story, but you know, my dad in 2015, two weeks before he passed away, because he got diagnosed with cancer early in the year, made it a few months, uh, 10 months, but two weeks before he died, like his deathbed confession or deathbed statement, he said, Don't miss Leo's games. I missed too many of yours. And Leo's like 11 months at the time when he told me that.

SPEAKER_00 40:11

That was a little peanut.

SPEAKER_04 40:12

Little peanut. But he was just starting to walk and talk and you know, the first firsts of a little child. And I had to depend on my wife to send me, you know, pictures and videos of, you know, and a little comment, hey, you missed this one too. And I don't think she's being rude, but just a little bit of like, yeah, I should be there for these moments. And so when my dad told me that, it it smacked me like a thousand pounds of bricks on my head uh in a couple of ways. Because first it was flashback to like the early 90s when I played basketball in high school. And, you know, out of about 40 games, my dad only went to one of those games. And I remember thinking, am I just not important for my dad? And, you know, I'm 13, 14, 15, like I don't know how to process this. I'm a kid. And, you know, I'd score a basket and I look to the stands, like, I hope my dad's here. Because I, you know, sons want to impress their dads or they want the loving encouragement if they, you know, step out of balance. It's okay, son, go, you got this. And so, but no dad there, but my teammates would score a basket, and uh, and their dads were just cheering them on like crazy, like, that's my boy. And I remember looking at another dad loving on his kid, and I was like, I wish that was my dad. And yeah, that would have crushed my dad because um, you know, he wasn't a bad man, he was a good man, he was a medical doctor, yeah, very successful in his career, successful on paper, but the family side of life, um, you know, it wasn't like he was hostile or anything, but just absent. And so I was kind of like, you know, trained to to to raise myself in that sense from a from a man.

SPEAKER_03 41:32

I'm pretty good friends with a lot of doctors, uh, multiple different doctors, and they they get paid a lot, but they use all of their time and they have no time to do anything because they're always seeing patients, they're always I mean, there's no freedom, zero. Yeah, and so it's tough. You're you're you're you're trading your time for money for sure. I mean, and it again they're making a little bit more for their time, but it's still they don't have the freedom that probably your dad has anything close. Whenever I implemented all those systems and started like really hiring good people, I actually made more money. And so, like the things that I wish I would have done so much sooner, I could have made even more money, and then also just the stress and the freedom and being able to do what I really wanted and not like, like you said, every single person in the company relying off me, whether it's during the day or two o'clock in the morning.

SPEAKER_04 42:23

Yeah, no, it was crazy because yeah, so so one portion of that flashback was the the childhood, but then fast forward to when my dad told me that the other part of it was like, holy cow, I'm you all over again. Like I'm doing the nice homes cars trips to Europe thing that my dad used to do in exchange for his presence. I'm doing that with my family. And I my thinking at the time was I was the boy that didn't like it. Now I'm doing it to my son. This ends here, but it's got to start tomorrow because I'm working 16 hours today. And then tomorrow comes, and then tomorrow, tomorrow, many tomorrow turns into three years, and I'm scaling a company with you know, printing money more than I could ever like envision having, um, but hating life. And it took me to want to like burn the business down to realize that I got to stop doing what I don't like doing and keep doing what I love doing, like my zone of genius stuff.

SPEAKER_03 43:10

What's the day that you made the switch? Like what was it? Was there just like a day that you remember that it happened, or what made you make that switch instead of I'm gonna put it off tomorrow, I'm gonna do it next month, I'm gonna do it next month.

SPEAKER_04 43:20

Yeah, I I would say I I remember vividly August of 2018, I reached a point. I remember calling my mentor and saying, I said, I hate this business. And I don't say hate lightly. If I say hate, it's a visceral just anger, you know, towards something. And um and I told him, like, I want out of this business, I want to sell it, but you can't snap your fingers and sell a business. You got to hit the market evaluation, LOIs, 80% of them fall through. Like, that's not a tomorrow thing, that's a multi year thing. Um, but you can burn a business down overnight. Not the smartest thing to do, but that's an option. And so my mentor like lovingly walked me off the ledge, and that's when the the whole concept of buyback time formula began. I didn't know that name, I didn't. Know about bottlenecks or frameworks. I was just doing the work.

SPEAKER_00 44:03

And hold up the book and show it to them.

SPEAKER_04 44:05

Well, I'll do that in a second. But the the pinnacle of the transformation was I more than doubled my business. So an already very successful business, more than doubled it. Um you know, and I was like living a semi-retired lifestyle, um, never working more than 30 hours a week. And the most impressive part of all that, like my dad said, don't miss Leo's games. I never missed any of his games. And like I told you uh earlier, like taught him how to negotiate real estate. Uh fast forward to current day, he's got a podcast, and and he's just like hanging out with my my friends and peers, like he's one of the guys, and he's just soaking in all of this like like life experience.

SPEAKER_00 44:37

From his uh the chess.

SPEAKER_04 44:39

Yeah, yeah. So we got a friend who's like raised, you know, almost 40 billion dollars of capital.

SPEAKER_00 44:43

He's a grandmaster in chess.

SPEAKER_04 44:45

Yeah, we're just playing, and he's like, you know, pouring his wisdom into Leo. I'm like, oh my gosh, like, yeah, you're not gonna get this in school. And so that's just evidence of a present dad in the family that you can do things like that because his trajectory would have been similar to unfortunately what a lot of other kids, like the common kid today, just facing the phone and life just going right by you.

SPEAKER_03 45:04

Yeah, I think that's the biggest thing is uh they get raised off the screen and then and then parents are like, oh, social media is bad. Yeah. It's like, well, you're letting them do that all day. That's I mean, there's always been something that could, you know, make a kid go in a different direction, whether it was, you know, something bad previous to social media, but it could be, you know, just bad influences, but you still gotta be a parent and you still gotta be around.

SPEAKER_04 45:25

Yeah, absolutely. And that's my goal is like to get the message out, really to get my dad's message out. And that message was first for me to adopt for myself. And then it was like, oh wow, I have something here. Because like in the last couple of years, I've gone back to like, okay, you know, I'm you know, 48 years old at the time, you know, 46, 47. And I'm like, you know, anything that I do, like put my sink my teeth into for like the next 10 years, I'll be pushing 60. I I mean, people can reinvent at that age, but not too many people do. And you don't want to find yourself trying to do something new. So I'm like, you know what? I want to do something that I could feel like I have purpose on this planet because I've sold millions of bottles of pills, millions of bottles of supplements. And and ethically, there's a bad way to do it. I've done it really well, but nobody's ever told me, oh my gosh, this bottle of pills changed my life. Like maybe you get less joint pain, maybe a better memory. And that's what it's designed to do. It's not a miracle in a bottle. But ever since I've been sharing the story, I've had a number of people text me, and especially dads, like, oh my gosh, my kids light up like a Christmas tree at my presence. I didn't know I was missing out on this stuff while I'm trying to build my business and do it for the family while they're they're completely like missing out on dad and his presence. And so they're either gonna get it from you know, the iPad and the iPhone, the World Wide Web, we know where that can go, or they're gonna get it from dad. So let's bring dad back home.

SPEAKER_03 46:36

Yeah, and I think the whole work-life balancing, the way I look at it is I integrate as much as I can. So my kid's doing the same thing. He's learning, he's going with me to buildings, he's learned about real estate, he's learning about other businesses. He does the same thing with his mom. And so, yeah, I'm I bring him everywhere. Like I don't try to I don't try to separate the two. I want to I want to involve them in everything so he can learn along the way, and I still get to spend time with him.

SPEAKER_04 46:58

Yeah, yeah. Just on that note, um, yeah, he comes with me to just about every business lunch.

SPEAKER_00 47:03

Like I love going to Carlos' house only just because of chess. Yes, I know you do. That's super cool.

SPEAKER_03 47:08

Me and my son started playing chess. He's still he's he's he's good, but his attention span is still a little bit short. I mean, he's good. We'll play probably three or four games before he kind of crashes out and then he starts getting bored. But uh he's been learning. He's he he's he's been doing better and better and better. Are you good? You're getting really good at it?

SPEAKER_04 47:27

That's cool. Yeah, he beats me at it.

SPEAKER_00 47:30

No, you beat me at it.

SPEAKER_04 47:31

Oh, I I don't it I I feel like I lose more than just com to practice, okay?

SPEAKER_03 47:37

What skills do you think every kid should learn before they're 18?

SPEAKER_04 47:40

Yeah, that's a good question. I I think they should learn about money, money management, because yeah, once you become an adult, it's like, all right, you got roles, responsibilities, and nobody's teaching you how to do that. Um, just speaking for myself, when I was 18, I got a credit card. It's like nobody told me you got to pay that back. Or I mean, I I guess you assume you have to, but it it wasn't really like emphasized, like that's one of the things I could have learned from my dad, you know. Uh he was very good with money. And, you know, I I'd seen how he managed money from uh like things that he bought or didn't bought, and uh, but he never taught me like, you know, how to like balance a checkbook at the you know, that's like a foreign thing to say today, but um, yeah, checks and credit cards and kind of that the thinking of that uh hey, be careful because this is gonna cost you a lot more than you think it does. And so that would have been nice to learn early on.

SPEAKER_03 48:27

Um, and so that's that's the weirdest part about or the strangest part about the traditional education system is it doesn't teach you anything about money, not one thing. Yeah. And so you have to learn on your own, and they wonder why it's like, oh, people make all these bad financial decisions. Well, they wouldn't all make those decisions if they actually learned a little bit about it. And so unfortunately, a lot of parents maybe don't have good money skills that they can't teach them. So it's unfortunate that school doesn't teach them. It's kind of sad, but hopefully it's passed down. Yeah, hopefully that'll change one day.

SPEAKER_00 48:58

Daddy have to show the cabinet your book. You must.

SPEAKER_03 49:00

I know you want to show I we'll talk about it. We must advertise. We'll we'll get we'll get him to we'll get him to tee it up at the end.

SPEAKER_04 49:06

Yeah, because he he loves having his guests show their books, so he's like, that's super cool. We'll get there.

SPEAKER_03 49:12

What's the biggest parenting mistake that you think you made?

SPEAKER_04 49:15

I'd say getting my dad's message too late, basically. Yeah. Um, yeah, letting a few years go by without prioritizing, and basically teaching Leo to ignore me, you know, for the earlier part of his life. Like I remember I'd be on calls and he's like, Dad, I got something cool to show you. And it doesn't even matter what it is, like I gotta stop and look and listen. Um, because when I say five more minutes and I'll be there. And I meant it. I wasn't like trying to, you know, but you know, five minutes is never five minutes, it's it's 30 minutes, it's an hour. And when a kid's like three, four, five years old, as you know, tension span goes away. And I'm like, oh, hey, what do you want to show me? And it's like four hours later, uh, I don't know. Um, see you later. Like, I'm I'm busy doing my own thing over here. And over time, because he doesn't get the response he wants or needs, he just stops coming up to you. So there was a point where I was like, yeah, I gotta like restore this bond, otherwise I'm gonna like miss out on it.

SPEAKER_03 50:03

Yeah, I think the biggest one I made was letting him watch the iPad for too long. He was a really late talker, he didn't talk at all till he was a little over four. And so in my mind, I'm like, oh, I can't wait till he gets, you know, he communicates and he can, we can I can teach him all this stuff. And so in my mind, he's not learning anything. What I didn't realize is so he watched iPad a lot, watching all this weird YouTube stuff that you know, these weird characters. And when he did start talking, that's all he would talk about. And so I'm like trying to teach him stuff, and he would just kept going back to that. And so that's when I pulled it away. But definitely they learn a lot sooner than in my mind. It was my first kid. I just like, oh, I'm gonna teach him one day, and I should have been teaching them the whole time, even I mean, just from almost day one. And so that was that was definitely my biggest mistake. That will never happen with my daughter. She's one and a half, but she won't I won't make the same mistakes with her. What do you think? Um builds responsibility in kids.

SPEAKER_04 51:01

A dog well, that I guess that's part of it. Yeah, just having things to do and care for and um and just knowing that like I said earlier, just having you know consequences or or knowing that their actions lead to a certain result. And is that a good result? Do you want that result? And um yeah, I I think that's what does it just giving them things to be responsible for. I I know that kind of a simple answer there.

SPEAKER_03 51:25

No, no, no. It's it it it's true. Leo, what advice would you give to parents that are raising other boys? Um what's a good tip that you think would help parents?

SPEAKER_00 51:38

Start homeschooling. Okay. Because school is a prison. And like I'm gonna give you a couple tips, alright? Okay. Well, not tips, but it just, you know, like what's going on in schools. Number one, there's you know, like the bowling, right? Which is already bad enough.

SPEAKER_01 51:56

That's a big one.

SPEAKER_00 51:57

Uh number two, uh my mom told me apparently that in some schools there were kids just smoking in the bath bathroom.

SPEAKER_03 52:06

Bad bad kids is a big one. I've I went to some bad schools in my life.

SPEAKER_00 52:10

Yeah, it's like, huh? And like there's just a bunch of crazy stuff happening at these schools. So parents take your take your kids out of, you know, just school. Of that environment.

SPEAKER_03 52:22

You want them to be in a good environment for sure.

SPEAKER_00 52:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 52:26

That's that's his his position, right? Yeah. But aside from money, aside from someone being wealthy, what do you think makes someone successful? What are some other things that you would consider somebody to be successful?

SPEAKER_00 52:41

Um, maybe, you know, being with their kids, you know, like that's what dad is doing right now with, you know, his book and his website, and he's, you know, teaching like amazing, like successful dads who could probably buy like 10 million Lamborghinis, right? But yet they can't find the time to, you know, be with their kids.

SPEAKER_03 53:01

I think that's some really good advice. Do you think money's hard or easy to make?

SPEAKER_00 53:06

It's definitely hard to make, you know? Um, it's not like it's gonna come at you free randomly. Oh, oh, would you look at that? I got ten thousand dollars somewhere, you know. It's you money, you have to work for money.

SPEAKER_03 53:22

I agree. If a kid wants to be rich someday, what do you think they should start doing now?

SPEAKER_00 53:28

Definitely learn about money.

SPEAKER_03 53:31

Common sense, you're right. That is a big one.

SPEAKER_00 53:34

Because uh, let's say money it's it's not very simple. It likes to go this way, this way, this way, this way. It goes a bunch of different ways.

SPEAKER_03 53:43

What do you think is a big mistake that people make with money?

SPEAKER_00 53:46

Probably thinking that they're not spending too much. Like, if I have two dollars and I spend a dollar and seventy-five cents on a Snickers bar, that only leaves me with 25 cents. So I think I would rather, you know, look for something maybe a bit, you know, cheaper.

SPEAKER_03 54:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 54:03

And save at least half or three quarters of it.

SPEAKER_03 54:06

Yeah, budgeting. Yeah. Yeah, that's a big one. What does responsibility mean to you?

SPEAKER_00 54:12

Taking care of something, like, you know, pets. Pets are a good way to, you know, earn responsibility, like with our dog.

SPEAKER_03 54:20

And you know what? That's a big one. And a lot of other kids don't take care of their pets. I know a lot of parents that are friends of ours that they get a dog or they get an animal because the kid says, Oh, I'll take care of it, I promise. And then they don't take care of it. And so you're you're one of the few that actually probably follows through with it. So that's a good thing.

SPEAKER_00 54:37

That's what happened to my uh two older sisters when they're around the same age as uh me. And they're like, Please give us a dog. I promise we will both take care of it.

SPEAKER_02 54:47

And did they take care of it?

SPEAKER_00 54:48

Yeah, no, it's not.

SPEAKER_03 54:49

You took care of it.

SPEAKER_00 54:50

No, it's all what do you think makes somebody trustworthy? Um being good with their money, because if you ever have to like, you're like, oh hey, can I get like two dollars for a stinker spar? You have to make sure they're you know may not spend on another useless thing, you know. So knowing someone that isn't has a good responsibility with their money.

SPEAKER_03 55:15

What's one thing your dad does that makes you feel respected?

SPEAKER_00 55:18

Being fair. Just you know, being there, showing him something, and I'm like, hey dad, check this out, you know, and he's there, you know, with me.

SPEAKER_03 55:28

I think also treating you like an adult too is is a good thing. I try to do that with my son because I think you know, as a man or as a boy, uh if you're treated like an adult, you're gonna become more mature a lot faster. Because it's hard. Boys stay immature for a long time. I I I definitely did. And when you're around people that are more mature, the more you are, I feel like it'll rub off on you a lot. When do you feel the most proud of yourself?

SPEAKER_00 55:57

I guess getting the feeling that I did something right for my dad, you know? Like if if I do something where I'm like, nice, dude, you did, good job. Like, you know, that that's the correct way, you know.

unknown 56:09

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 56:11

What do you think is something that dad should do more with their kids?

SPEAKER_00 56:15

Um definitely spending time with them, you know, building a bond.

SPEAKER_03 56:23

What do you think is the biggest lesson that you learned from your dad so far? That you can think of.

SPEAKER_00 56:30

Um don't always go spending your money on just useless things. You wanna, you know, save the money because let's forgive out, right? Let's say I have two dollars, right? Two dollars in a Snickers bar. No, no, let's say a Snickers bar costs one dollar, right? And I spend a dollar on it and eat it, right? Then let's say another bar or candy bar comes out, right? And it's a lot better and it's a lot healthier, but this time it costs two dollars. I only have one dollar, you know. I spent it on the Snickers bar, so always save and wait until you know that you can actually get a good deal.

SPEAKER_03 57:08

Delayed gratification. So like saving or or waiting for something that you think is gonna be better or pay off in the future. That's a good one too. Why do you think a lot of people quit when things get harder?

SPEAKER_00 57:21

Say that again.

SPEAKER_03 57:22

Why do you think a lot of people give up when things get really hard? People, kids, parents, everybody. Why do you think they give up?

SPEAKER_00 57:30

I think the reason why they give up is because sometimes they won't be able to finish something and they're like, uh, I just give up, you know. I I can't always restart it, redo it. But most things in life you can't redo it, you know.

SPEAKER_03 57:44

Yeah, you gotta stick with it.

SPEAKER_00 57:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 57:47

What scares kids today that you think maybe adults don't understand or they don't know about? Scar scares or they're afraid of that their parents may not know that they're afraid of.

SPEAKER_00 58:04

For this, I would say every kid's different, so I may not know like the most thing that scares them. But what I would say is talk to your kid, you know, and just say, you know, what scares you, and you know, you can help, you know, overcome that.

SPEAKER_03 58:19

Hey everyone, real quick, I just want to let you know this podcast is 100% independent. No ads, no sponsors, just real. If you're finding value in whatever we're doing here, the biggest help that you can give us is hitting subscribe and sharing this with someone who you think needs to hear it or someone that it will provide value to. That's how we continue to grow. And if you did that, I would really appreciate it. If parents that are out there listening to this could teach your kid one thing, what do you think it should be? One main thing that they should focus on.

SPEAKER_00 58:54

Probably money or being there with their own kids.

SPEAKER_03 58:59

Okay. Good advice. And then George, um, you know, when he gets older, what do you what do you hope he says about how you raise him?

SPEAKER_04 59:09

Yeah, I just hope he says, well, my dad was always there, and he showed me a good example of how to how to stay composed. Um, yeah, where to go when I felt uh that I needed needed help. Like, you know, dad's always there. Um, dad always gave me good advice. Sometimes it wasn't what I wanted to hear, but it's what I needed to hear. And um, yeah, and that he just saw me just just love loving him, loving his loving our family and just being a good good person in this world. What's something that you might you worry you might get wrong as a father? That I might get wrong. Yeah. I mean, you know, I can only like you know open doors for him and and support him where he wants to, and and sometimes I could misinterpret his his excitement and encouragement for something. Um, and and I'm thinking, all right, this is it, and it's a long-term thing, and it just fizzles out, and I'm still trying to like run with it. Um, so it's just just being aware of what has him excited and supporting him in that versus trying to like continue something because I thought that I thought I had it and and he doesn't anymore, but I'm still like pushing it through.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:13

What lesson are you trying to teach Leo right now that he might not understand until he gets older?

SPEAKER_04 1:00:19

Yeah, that's a good one. Yeah, what am I trying to teach him? Yeah, just um you you know, at this age, you know, you're not you're probably not having major life setbacks because you know, you're a child and you've got people to depend on for that. But um, that uh, you know, you you can you can recover from anything, really, any kind of major setback. And and you know, he's interviewed enough people, like one of the the common themes is um is how to handle you know failure or perceive failure. It's like it's failure if you're just like I'm done and and I'm out, but it's it's just a stepping stone to where you want to go if if you take that and learn from it now. How can I do it better next time? Or or is this like a door closing? I need to go that way.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:02

And so um you only fail when you give up because everything else is a learning lesson. So even if it's just any type of failure, challenge or problem, it's just a learning lesson. It's like, okay, what can I learn from this? How can I get a little bit better? How can I not do that again? That's all failure is. What's one trait that you have that you hope he carries carries forward to?

SPEAKER_04 1:01:22

Yeah, I'd say it's just um just having that entrepreneurial stubbornness. Like um, one of the first things I told him when he interviewed me for our little like mock podcast, he's um I forget how he phrased the question, but I told him um when you're taking advice from people, make sure it's from people who are where you want to be.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:42

Not where you want to be.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:43

Well, not from people who haven't been where you want to go. So, like if he wants to have this massive YouTube channel, don't take advice from somebody who doesn't have a channel or started one and gave up. Take one, like I know Mr. Beast is an extreme example, but if he has anything to say about growing a YouTube channel, he's probably the one you want to listen to, not uh not the kid who just burned out.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:02

I think that's extremely good advice. Yeah, because there's gonna a lot be a lot of people have a lot of opinions in life, and you definitely want to only consider the ones that are have done what you're trying to do for sure.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:13

Yeah, and a lot of those people might truly love him, they might care for him, their family, um, and even good friends, but it's like, okay, thank you for the advice. Let me now put it through my filter of where have you been? Where I have you been where I want to go. No, then we'll just park that where it needs to go. Yeah, it's an opinion. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:30

All right, that was it. Appreciate you coming on.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:34

Yes, oh Dad, your book.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:35

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:35

Let's less advertise time.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:38

He's my best marketer over here. No, wait. Where can they find where can they find your book? Where can they how can you help them? They can hopefully you can keep people from saying making the same mistakes you did.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:49

Absolutely. Yeah, this is my book, buyback time formula. So I have a website. Okay. We got three of them, so he can show it anyway. He's making me show the book. Um, yeah. So his priorities are right. Okay, all right. Um, yeah, so yeah, it's it's 128 pages, and it has all my frameworks on uh what I use to buy myself out of my founder prisoner. Or I was a founder prisoner, speaking about prison a lot of times in the in the school system here. Um, yeah, I took my company from 20 million to 50 million dollars in um in about two years implementing these frameworks in here. And um I got my time back, got my life back. My business didn't fall apart, didn't just stay status quo, it actually went up when I was focusing more on my zone of genius, what I was born to do versus all the other stuff. Important, but somebody else should be doing it. And so all my frameworks are in here. Um, but you can go to buybacktimeformula.com, get a link to the book. I also host a couple of events per month. I host a dinner at my home for local entrepreneurs. Uh, you know, founder dads are the ones that typically gravitate towards it because we we experience the same kind of issues and struggles and stuff. And really, it's more like a just men opening up to other men about the the struggle that we go through balancing work and in and life and all that. Um, and then I have a virtual meetup for those that can't make it as well. But all that's at buybacktimeformula.com and and links to my socials I post daily. And uh yeah, just trying to get my my dad's message out uh out to the world. Super cool.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:15

And it's funny how it takes you so many years to learn that if once you get a business going, if you just step away and create the right systems, you'll make way more money and you'll have a great life. Absolutely. And not saying that you can start out doing that because everybody has to kind of learn everything as they go. Um, but it's funny how it takes so long to figure that out. And it took me uh probably 18 years, 17 years. Oh, nice. It was about the same.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:43

You got it sooner than me. I was 23 years when it finally clicked, and I thought I had it, but I yeah, I didn't have it like I thought.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:49

And it's so crazy because now I can make so much more money and invest in more companies because I have hire all the right people, we put in the right systems, and you have a lot more freedom. So you get all the good parts, you get all the good parts of a business without a lot of the bad ones that that the reason people burn out is probably a lot of those reasons in that book that you can help you.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:10

Yeah, okay. That's enough advertising for you now.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:13

Tell us so tell us the name of your podcast. Where can people see your podcast at?

SPEAKER_00 1:05:17

So you can um so uh we have a website, it's still being made, so if you click on it, you might find some weird.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:24

It's live, it's version one. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:26

Um, we still have to get a couple things still working.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:29

Is there a name for the podcast?

SPEAKER_00 1:05:30

Uh yeah. So the podcast I have is called Leo Interviews.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:34

Uh you can find it on YouTube. Um please subscribe, please.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:39

It's Leointerviews.com and it's also on YouTube.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:42

And it's Leo Interviews is the screen name on YouTube. Are you posting any short form content anywhere? Do you have an Instagram that you post the clips on or anything?

SPEAKER_00 1:05:49

No, no. Well, uh, my dad does he'll make a post on Facebook for people to go check it out on YouTube. Um, other than that.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:57

So we're gonna we're gonna give you a list of editors and I think. You can get a lot of short form clips from your podcast, it'll do really good, and that'll help drive some traffic to your podcast. But it'll we'll we'll get you some good ones that do not cost a lot at all. Editing's really gotten people have gotten really good in um really low pricing. So you can learn from my mistakes and don't overpay. We'll take it. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:19

Yeah, thank you. Awesome. Thanks for coming on. Yeah, thanks for having us.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:23

Yeah, super impressive what you're doing with Leo. I'm I'm trying to follow in those same footsteps.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:29

Yeah, I guess if I had one final word is like, you know, we can always go out and make more money, but we can never redo a childhood. So let's let's make the best of it. All right.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:36

Yeah, I would say like a childhood can never be replaced, redone, remade. A childhood will always just stay the same.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:46

It'll just happen once, right? Yep. Okay, awesome. Thank you guys. Yeah, thank you.