Start Thinking Rich: Transform Your Financial Future with 21 Powerful Lessons from Dr. Brad Klontz and Adrian Brambila

I had so much fun, chatting with doctor Brad K, and Adrian, B be. These 2 guys are c authoring a book that's almost out. We'll be out in October. It's called start thinking Rich 21 harsh truths to take you from broke to financial freedom. Man, we we cover some controversial topics and they do not pull any punches, and but they bring such a positive energy to the discussion and it's really just, you know, a discussion that needs to be had in our culture.

Adrian talks about... He he has a ton of a social media followers and and has a lot of influence, and 1 of the main things he's known for is how we made 1700000.0 dollars while living in a van. And we we cover that later on in the episode. And so he's kind of the the street smarts guy in the discussion, and he also worked years ago with tea pain, the rapper, and he and he shares a a pretty cool story about that. Doctor Brad Cl is the research guy.

He's a professor, you know, has done all kinds of research about psychology, the psychology of money and the psychology of success. And these guys together just have a synergy that is just phenomenal. It's it's hard to explain, you I can't really get across how fun and impactful this episode was, so you'll just have to find out for yourself. Buckle up for this conversation with doctor Brad K, financial psychologist. And Adrian, B mp, the minimalist millionaire.

Enjoy. Welcome to from adversity to abundance. The go to podcast for real estate entrepreneurs seeking not just to thrive. But to conquer with resilience and mental sharpness. Each week, join us as we dive into the compelling world of real estate through the lens of mental fitness where challenges transform into opportunities.

Get ready to transform your mindset and expand your understanding of what it takes to succeed in real estate. Let's explore these stories of triumph and resilience together. Welcome everybody to another episode of the From Adversity to abundance podcast. I am your host, Jamie Bat. And on today's episode, this is gonna be a fun 1 we've got 2 guests with us, Adrian Bro be.

Hopefully, I said that right, Adrian. Is that right? Awesome. It crushed it. Awesome.

And doctor Brad K, a doctor Brad. How are you doing today? I'm doing great. Happy to be here. Awesome.

So Adrian, you are known as the guy who made 1700000.0 dollars living in a van. Is that right? Yeah. That... You know, I was making...

I've been making content since 2010, early on Youtube. I used to be professional dancer for T pain. So my first business was Teaching mail a dancer robot. And that that had, like, a pretty small audience, but I was living in a van during the pandemic. And that's when Van Life became more than an S and snl kit.

It actually became cool. Trending. I just happened to be living it, and I was just used to documenting it. And so I was... I've kinda just timed the luck of, like, documenting van life and and kind of being a minimalist, but also, I've always talked about finance and wealth, and 1 thing that's a very big contradiction I learned, it was a happy accident is that people that live in a van, there's a expectation that they're poor or then they have no money.

Mh. Not that you would ever do it by choice, especially if you have... Or have a high net worth or a high income. So I was a visual contradiction of, like, there's no way this guy's actually millionaire if he lives in a van because why would you do that? If you live in a...

If you're... A millionaire, you need to have a Lamborghini, and you need to have a mansion. So I didn't fit that mold, but that's how we got popular. And that's how we came to... Collaborate with doctor Brad Cl and make our first book, which.

So slightly different different than, Chris Farley living over down by the river. So doctor Brad, you were an author c author with Adrian. And you are the world's leading psychologist on money and success. Let's talk Proclaimed. Self proclaimed title claims.

Yeah. I challenge anyone. You know, come on. Let's go Absolutely. How prove it.

Right? So talk a little bit about what you have a little bit about your background before we dive into your story, but a little bit about your background and what you have going on today. Yeah. So so I got a doctorate in clinical psychology. That's where I started my work.

So really helping people overcome adversity, trauma, all that. And then I... Early, in my career, I stumbled on how traumatized people seem to be out lot money and how how frequently they self sabotage. There... They'll start to to, gain some assets, start to invest, and then all of a sudden, they sabotage themselves psychologically.

And I really curious about that. Part a big part due to my own personal story of adversity, But, also, actually I started to do a bunch of research on the psychology of success, the psychology of mindset, looking at ultra wealthy middle class, lower income people looking for patterns. Mh. So that I could essentially arm myself with a better mindset and then teach as many people as possible. Who are wanting to better their lives.

That's awesome. I'm finishing a book called the big Leap by, Gay Hendrix and he talks about the upper limit problem and and all about how people self sabotage without even knowing it times. So that's very relevant for me. Before we jump back into your story, Adrian, speak briefly about the book and then we'll get... And then we'll we'll talk more about the book later on.

But what's the book all about exactly and and why did you, work on it together? I think the reason we wanted to create a books to help people. It's it's a... It's really a money finance mindset book. It's called start thinking Rich, 21 harsh truths to take you from broke to financial freedom.

Brad and I we're total opposite in our background. He's super edge. And I come from a, Immigrant family here. And, although on paper, we're totally opposite, our mindset is the same when it comes to wealth, and we actually... Connected through Tiktok.

We have a couple million followers each. And we noticed we kept popping up in each other's pages, and we were saying the same message, despite having totally different backgrounds and Mh the foundation for sure is is we wanna help people And I think right now in today's worlds, there's a lot of soft approaches that aren't working. If you just look at the average American in terms of how much debt they have lack of savings, lack of investing. And so we're taking an ops approach. We're taking a harsh approach.

We have really aggressive. Points that we make. For example, if you wanna get rich, You have to get rid of your poor friends. We can explain what that means later, We... We also say, for example, that your political party, whoever you vote for, doesn't really give a shit about you.

Like, they're not gonna take you to financial freedom. So we're making these very aggressive points and 01:21 of them in the book, and then we explain through a loving, perspective how even though the headline kind of punches you the face, the the the chapters are, like, ugg, that that kind of teaches you the right mindset of how to think about wealth. And integral. Yeah. I think your...

Timing is good because I mean, I I can't speak for other people, but I know I'm I'm getting a little tired of, you know, everybody being afraid of of saying the wrong thing and, you know, let's focus on what actually works and that may hurt in the short term. Right? And so let's get somewhere and make some... Get some results. And and like you said, you're trying to help people.

Your your goal isn't to hurt people. It's actually to help people. And sometimes the kid gloves need to come off in order to do that. Doctor Brad, let's switch it up Let's go back. That's a little more into your your story.

Your personal story. We're not gonna spend an hour on that, but let's dive into your personal story of, from adversity to abundance focusing on on finances, what did that look like? What what age do you wanna start with? I think I'll start with age 2. Okay?

And that's when my parents divorced. And, you know, back then, I'm I'm old enough where that was a rare thing. So I was the only kid I knew who we had divorced parents. Throughout my entire elementary school. And, you know, so the divorce was pretty hectic.

There was lots of drama related to it. But 1 of the biggest impacts at least on my psychology had... We we were extremely poor immediately, You know, single mom work part time. And so I grew up not having much. And I...

Come from a family system that didn't have much. So both of my grandparents lived in trailer parks, which by the way, were way way better than living in Downtown Detroit, which is where they lived when I was, really young. Mh. A very very dangerous situation. Because I remember I remember being in my aunt's house with hearing, you know, everyone drops on the floor, bullets are flying through the walls.

And so for me, I talked. Right. Right. Yeah. Exactly.

And and after a I I'm like, why are we coming here for for Sunday dinner like march. What what do we do doing here? Anyway? I had that thought later. But I it was it was growing up not having much And and, frankly, you know, I lost a sibling to violence as a young kid.

And so I think, you know, combination of all that thing. I definitely had trauma, and but I I but I really had to poor my because I I had negative attitudes about rich people. I didn't know any rich people, and I saw my family working really hard. Good people. So I I figured well to get Rich richie must be taking advantage of other people or something wrong with it.

So I had a negative association with that. Yeah. But but early on, I realized, you know, being poor suck or you know? And okay. There's a lot you can't do, and there's a lot of problems that come along with it.

And so at a very early age, I think I became a psychologist. I remember going over to my friend's house in middle school, and I thought they were rich. You know, I couldn't believe how rich they were in retrospect, they were middle class. You know. But to me, they had more than 1 bathroom in their house, Jamie, and I'm like, holy shit.

Like, I just would even imagine that. And I remember at the dinner table, interviewing my friend's dad. Like, like, almost like I'm a reporter? Like, almost like, I want a road roadmap. Like, how do I get a house with more than 1 bathroom.

What did you do? What do you do for a living? I mean, so I think that sort of curiosity and that desire to better my life for my kids someday. So really drove me along this path? And then when I became a psychologist, I I realized nobody had done any work in the area of the psychology of money, which I thought was pretty weird.

And so, eventually, It started to research. Like, what does the research show us about... The psychological differences. So I I took the interview with my friend's father at the at the dinner table, and I've now interviewed thousands of people. Took that to the.

Exactly. Yeah. Mindset. To try to figure out what works and what doesn't? That's awesome.

I, you mentioned the negative association or you you assumed that Rich people were bad or, you know, you had a negative association with Rich people. I was just listening to a podcast with Cody Sanchez and she was talking about hell. You know, if you want less of something, that's a great way to do it is create a negative association with that thing. So you're probably not gonna attract money if you associate, you know, negative thoughts and and, all rich people are bad if you have that mindset growing up. Or or as your older.

So, okay. So now today... Okay. So you came from poverty, you know, obviously, it's a it's up to you how personal you wanna get, but what does abundance look like in in your situation financially today? Yeah.

You mean, like, what's my net worth or... Well, he's like. Look, you know? You feel free to answer that, but you you described the the diversity of finance adversity you came from what these things look like today for you how is it different? Yeah.

So so I I'm super blessed to be, you know, multimillion millionaire status, many times over. But but the thing for me is, I got out of grad school. I owed a hundred thousand dollars in student loan debt. So I had a... A net worth of 0.

And in my training of psychologist, I was told, like, we're here to help people that make money. And coming from a lower income environment I'm like, what what why did I rack up all this debt if I can't make any money to pay off this debt, Mh. And so at at that moment, I saw a mentor of mine who was a mentor in psychology. He made a hundred thousand dollars in 1 year trading stocks. And I was like, this first exposure Ever had at the stock market.

I remember sitting down next to him my computer and he's, like, buying stuff, and I'm like, what's that? He's like, I have no idea. Clicks it. And I'm, like, I could do this. Okay.

And so I sold everything I had of value. Okay. And it sounds extreme, but it is absolutely extreme. I I was driving a 500 dollar car. I had 1 plates, 1 fork.

My wife can test all. Had lawn chairs for furniture. I mean, I'm gonna get rich. Yeah. And so, I had a fabulous run for about 3 months, and then a...

Tech bubble burst. And I lost all my money, and that was that was my wake up moment. I'm, like, what is wrong with the way I'm thinking about money. And and so that's really started me on this journey. Yeah.

And you know, learning everything from the ground up. So now I'm a... You know, I happen to be a financial plan planner or also. I'm an asset manager. I I'm own multiple businesses, and I've done tons of research.

I'm a professor in this whole psychology of money. Yeah. But my my true passion right now, Mh. And and, you know, you asked us before the show, What are we trying to promote? We do have all these businesses.

We just want people to buy this book. Now I'll tell you this dude. You're an author. You you probably know this. There's no money in books.

Like, no... We're not gonna get books from this book at all. But my passion really is to try to help as many people as possible, because, frankly, I don't really need the money. Adrian doesn't really need the money. We we're...

We wanna teach as many people as possible. You know, I'm sort of writing the book, I wish I I had when I was a young man. Or are you a teenager? That's the book. That's the book we wrote here?

No. And and many times, many... Many times on this show, I... We've kind of bashed the public school system, and, you know, I and I'm I might... Or my family has a long history of of teachers, and and but they, you know, so we're not here to do that.

You know, but it's it's they just don't teach you these important tools in these mindset. Pieces and, especially about money in school. So you've gotta learn it the hard in a lot of cases. So it does sound like your book is serving a filling an important void there, and filling a of serving an important purpose in filling and void. So Adrian, it sounds like a van is actually wealthy compared to what doctor Brad went through.

But let's jump into with your story a little bit, tell us about your background before we hit record, you mentioned, your family, and I think you mentioned them when we did hit after we hit record Tell us about your your story. Yeah. My... I I tend to struggle with my parents. I feel like III love them so much.

My my... They're superheroes me. My dad immigrated here when he was 13 from Mexico. My mom was born here, but she was also born really poor also Mexican, and I learned from them even though I grew up, and they didn't have much. They taught me that I could achieve anything like...

If I want something nice, I wanna do nice things, have nice experience, I can work for it. So that's, like a really great in, like, mindset I inherited for my parents because I watched them go, and my my parents were the first, like millionaires in in the B be Family Tree. And they did it. Honestly, you know, they didn't do it with, like, proper investing. They just saved, like, in ways that seem insane today, For example, they went, like, a few years without buying new clothes.

Yeah and, like, that's, like a sacrifice like, today, it seems like, oh, my God. How could they do that? That's pretty much we're such big consumers today that just we just used to buying. They didn't actually. I think I'm actually...

Fine with that. But most people... Yeah. Right. Right.

Right. And most people like, if if you don't have enough money if you're trying to... For whatever reasons trying to invest more. Yeah. Or just save more if you're buying on bills, like, cut out on all these things we take for granted.

And and I learned... I saw... Fine a lot of my parents do this? We never went out to eat. We always cooked food.

Like, like, all these little things that I seems like... What you guys didn't go out for a whole year. That's terrible. No. Was like, what was my what were my parents doing behind the scenes I didn't know this until I I was in dolls like, they were saving they were saving almost majority of their income.

It's like, you know, part of some of the content I talk about online is, like, the fire movement, financial tenants retire. So they were basically doing it before was thing. Yeah. It was like, it's like this immigrant mindset. It, like, it's, like, we're gonna save as much money as as we can.

Now if they would have learned about, like, investing into, like, real estate, or even the stock market. I think they could've have done even so much better. But Sure. They taught me that I'll just briefly mention that in high school was really bullied, and I felt like where... I was really boxed in.

So... And I went to school in Soc cal. And Feel like I had to go far away. I went just... I ended going to school in Iowa.

Very private. Yeah. Small college was totally random. Yeah. Honestly, my motivation was, like, I need to get away from bullies, which is funny because bullies are everywhere.

Bullies also exist in Iowa. That's exactly. Exist everywhere. So, I didn't learned that there's gonna be bullies in every walk of your life as adults, like, we have boys today. Like, there there's many people.

And so you have to you have to stand up for yourself, and you have to conquer through, and you can't let other people affect, your life. That's why... 1 of the biggest regrets people have is is their living life based off other people's expectations. And that actually affects wealth tremendously. Hence, people buying, name brand designer stuff.

Why are they buying it? Do they really love it? No. They can flex the other people. Yeah.

But good. Dave Ramsey talks about that Right? Yes. Buying things you don't actually need for... To impress people.

You don't actually like something like that. Yeah. It's so true. Yeah. But and then the most random thing happened while I was in Iowa, III stopped 6 why I was partying and drinking alcohol, like most college kids, but then, I stopped because when I came home on my first semester and my parents who worked so hard and save more money for my college...

To to pay for it, then than they did for themselves. Is when they said, how is college I'd lied to them. I was like, oh, it's great. I'm studying really hard. At I'm working...

I'm working great. I felt so guilty. When I came back to school. I was like, I'm gonna stop drinking. So I did.

To Now nice. And in a college, that takes us so much time partying, drinking, and bring hung. I started... Yeah. I started dancing.

I learned how to dance the robot in Iowa, and I got... Like, I think it's God's miracle, after 2 years of dancing learning from Youtube, I got a audition for t pain, and I ended up making it as a professional dancer for T tea pain. That basically actually changed my life. But t pain was the very first wealthy person I feel like I met. When I first came to his house, he did have a mansion.

He had 30 cars. I remember he had this mini cooper that was soup up, like a monster truck. Like, wow. He had all the gadgets and stuff. Now and And we talk about the book, you know, Is what you see wealth is what you can't see.

Mh. And so, you know, Many many, many years later, you know, t pain did have to file, you know, some bankruptcy stuff. So... But for me, as a again, I'm just seeing all this stuff. That's this company your eyes, you you've just never been exposed to this much abundance, like, right.

Financial abundance before. Right. Right. And, but, yeah. So that that that that changed my life and and, went tour abruptly ended, I I started posting on the Internet.

Teaching people how to dance the robot. And that end up being my first online business, and I've created many since then, but I failed mostly at all of them. And probably out of, like, hundreds and hundreds of failures of just getting used to you know, not making money, trying something and failing. It's just become a habit, and Yeah. Ultimately, I haven't given up, and now I have, a few business that do well in the team of 15 people now.

Wow. That's awesome. I mean, it's, you know, and, I'm sure doctor Brad, you probably had AAA couple of failed businesses as well. You know, it's... So we got a couple failing right now.

Gotcha. Yeah. You're talking. She probably started a couple during this interview. No, I'm just kidding.

But, yeah, I mean, that's, the fact that you both come from poverty, you know, may help you realize that, hey, it's okay. You... That's not, you know, wealth isn't necessarily where your self worth comes from and maybe you're willing to take more risk or bounce back better than those who maybe were born into. Extreme wealth, and then they maybe it has almost have a scarcity mindset because of that. They don't know if they're gonna be okay without that that money.

But yeah, the... Entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart. And you've definitely gotta be willing to roll with the you know, ride the roller coaster through the the lows and the highs. And that that's... Okay.

So so now, Adrian, and so so briefly talk about the the 1700000.0 from a van. How did that... How that work? I'm sure there more... Lots of videos online, People can check out as well, But what's the what's the synopsis there?

After my dance business, I was working on working on online... Okay I was hitting a ceiling of 5000 dollars per month. And that was enough for me to quit, but it wasn't enough... It wasn't a 6 figure income. And I I was so surprised.

Why didn't more people wanna learn how to dance the robot? Jamie. Do you know? Yeah. Yeah.

I've bet. So I you have your work cut out for me for you. Well, maybe we create a a special episode right but robot dancing. But after that I I... Started learning all the different ways people can make money online.

I tried them all. Like, without selling picks, You know, I tried all the legit ones. But they're blogging affiliate marketing Am was selling an Amazon selling an Etsy ebay. Like, there's so many different opportunities exist online. And I gravitate towards that kind of from just...

It's like a video game to me. Sometimes it feels like online. I grew up playing video game, so it felt like it. And and I never put myself in a financial situation where all these times, all these things I'm mentioning. I'm failing at all of them.

But I never would put myself in, like, Never used debt to basically, like, try Amazon and then be out of 30000 hours in debt. So, like, I I always would take these very, very small risk, and I would learn, and it never... All despite failing, they never took me out of the game. Eventually, III started to sell, other people's products from my dance audience. For example, my Youtube channel maybe have, like, a, 60000 subscribers and say Adrian, what's that beanie that you're wearing?

Where those headphones? Where do I get those? And I was just sending them... They're they're were here. The skull?

The skulls and Yeah the name? And then they say, you know what? If you actually give me an affiliate link, you can make money from that. So I had a subscriber teach me how to do affiliate marketing. And then that gave me the I Idea.

Wait a second. So I actually don't have to make headphones, but I can make money from headphones. Right. And then that really snowball to. I...

Today... Now this is something, also, I don't know if anyone... I'd have to say who can challenge me on this. I'm I'm probably the the most version title. Most most most versatile affiliate marketer in the world.

Like, today, I promote over 500 different companies. And I'm again, it's not just myself. And, and I'm the number 1 affiliate it for for many different companies across all different ranges. I have dozens of blogs and brands. So before living in the van, actually had all those in place, I just all that, you know, being a minimalist at heart.

I I we live way underneath our means. Mh. Where most of our money go goes towards investing. Like, that's what... That's my biggest...

Where does my money go at every single month or a year. It's investments. My cost of living, if I make more another 10000000 or something. My cost living I know if it's gonna change that much. Like, right now, the biggest splurge I have is like, I have a pickle ball court that how he done in my house.

Like, in 3 weeks. So Besides... Yeah. Besides that, I... My cost living super low.

And so living in a van, although it's it seems like a to the external world to me. Like, oh, this makes sense. Everything I own is in this van. That's perfect. And.

And again, it's never... It's never gonna be enough anyway. So, you know, whether you have 5 mansions or not, you... It's it's there's still that... Talk there's always more.

Right? I'm I'm a hundred percent addicted to Pickle ball now, and the last year it's been really fun, and and I'm also super lucky, a friend of mine put in a court and we've been, borrowing his... Real estate, if you will for a lot. Unfortunately, he tours Ac, so he hasn't been able to play, not through Pickle ball, but but, yeah. Pickle ball is so much so much fun.

But, yeah. We... We'll have to do. That'll be a third episode. We can do the dancing 1 and a pickle ball 1.

So, yeah, man, it's a... I'd... I'd... There's so much more... So many rabbit holes.

I'd love to go down with both of your stories, but obviously, we don't have the time. Okay. Doctor Brad. So look how did you too meet? You met online, talk about how you you met and why you decided to work together?

Yeah. So we did. It's it's it's kind of a a strange story. I guess it's not that strange nowadays. But for my generation.

Yeah. So, Adrian and I ran across each other's content. We're were early adopters on Tiktok. And, you know, here, you know, I'm I'm a respected professor, I guess. You know, I'm I'm still worried.

I'm still worried that my dean's is gonna, like, turn on Tiktok and be, like, what that around because because I still teach, but that we're early early on there, my nephews actually showed me that app, and they... It's really... It was really engaging at the time of the algorithm, all this funny stuff. And then all of a sudden, I saw this video pop up and somebody was selling day trading. And I was like, now I remember, I just lost all my money day training.

Right. Couple decades weeks ago. And I was so appalled. I was like triggering. No.

No. No Is it back? Is it back? Oh, no. And then I was like, of course, it's back.

The market's been screaming. And so, literally, I got on Tiktok to start making anti day trading content. And because I read all the studies on day trading. So I know the statistics, not only do I have my own experience. And so so I was making content like that.

And then Sure enough. Like, they funnel your feed based on your interest, and I started to see videos of Adrian popping up. And, I just loved his message. I loved his vibe. He he brought the robot into his videos too.

That's kinda fun. And, we just started to comment each other's videos and then eventually, we started to... It's... Really, we started to make videos insulting the other 1. You know, Like, pretending of each other and everything.

We just had a lot of fun with it. And then in the pandemic, I met, I actually meant Adrian in person when he was driving to get his van. Across the country to pick up his van. And then we just connected, you know, on... He he turned me on a pickle ball too.

I'm an addict. Okay. So I'll have a problem. We just start a support group. Yeah.

But we just started too much more to to be addicted to. Exactly. And then we we just got sort of passionate about finding ways to collaborate to help bring our message to more and more people. That's awesome. I think there's a there's a lesson here though for everyone that's listening to is Brad and I would have never crossed paths.

And we've we've formed, 6 figure incomes together. We've collab on projects, and now we have this book coming out with... And we have a a really serious publisher. I know I would have had access to that. And Brad had access to both of our networks.

And I think no matter what you do for a living, creating content and willing to get over the cringe factor of, you know, seeing your face online. Yeah. Radically impacts your net worth and your experience and your network. It it it... It's...

I've landed real estate deals, like, connections that that I I would have never had, but someone someone found my content fascinating totally irrelevant to real estate with like, this guy's is good. I, like, hey III really like what you're doing. You seem like a good guy and we actually got this project. And and, like, literally, something like that I got a wake up to an Instagram Dm of an opportunity. So, like, I encourage everyone to create content.

It's No matter what you do. I can't see a bad thing in it. It's only... Every time you create content, it creates opportunity and exposure. You never know who you reach.

Sure. That's really that's really good. Awesome. Let's dive into the book a little bit, and then I do have some some rapid fire questions too. Doctor Brad, what's the book called about?

I know they're 21 harsh truths. Yeah. During that. They're pretty harsh. And so...

And really, each each chapter... It was kind of a fun book for for me to write. It's my ninth. But but anyway, I don't tell him my other children, but it's it's the best 1 by fun nice. And each chapter is is a unique essay.

So it's kind of fun. In that sense. And you mentioned teachers, like, 1 of our chapters is, your teachers can't teach you how to get rich. And your boss is not going to teach you how to be a financially free entrepreneur. Like, there's a good chance your boss, isn't financially free themselves?

And then secondly, why would they wanna equipped you to leave your day job Right. And leave them hanging. Yeah. So like consider who you're taking advice from. Right?

Exactly. Exactly. So we have 21 chapters that are sort of part hitting. And another way 1, I'll just mention is, you know, you don't wanna become a millionaire. You just wanna spend a million dollars.

And and we give people the millionaire test, You know? So if Adrian and I gave you a million dollars, what would you do with it? And you can tell whether somebody has a an abundance rich mindset or a poor mindset based on their answer. Okay. And the the typical answer, most Americans they'll rat all the stuff they wanna buy.

And when you when you put all that in a calculator, Go ahead and try. You know, there's a million dollars and then subtract all that stuff, you don't have a million dollars pretty soon. And as a matter of fact, you have nothing very soon. Whereas the rich mindset, a millionaire our mindset. Would look at that million dollars and how can I invest that?

I'm gonna take that. I'm gonna invest it, and it's gonna spin off cash for me for the rest of my life. Absolutely. And so... It's it's true like that that we really try to hit with compelling titles that sort of shake you up a little bit.

Yeah. Adrian, what else is in the book that may be controversial. I think the the 1 we've gotten the most heat from, and I've... I actually think we're gonna get to bad press is If you wanna get rich, you have to get rid of your poor friends. Mh.

Talk about that more. Yeah. Yeah. So we define in the very first page of the book what poor actually means. Poor is a mindset, where broke actually means I have no money.

Like, we've all been broke. And. And broke is a... Can be a temporary state. Poor is is your ability, You could, like, people that inherit a lot of money, they can invest in really bad deals and lose it all or they can just start spending.

So it's like, on paper, they're rich, but they have a poor mindset. And so I think it... When we talk about this, People like, what am I supposed to do? Like, I can't go around saying, hey, are you a millionaire Can you be friends? I wanna be like you.

It doesn't work like that. But it's more about finding people around in your circle in person online, like, your community here people that are listening your podcast. You Like, and with your content, everyone, I would assume everyone here that's listening has a rich mindset because you're you're... You could be watching Netflix right now binging something, but you're trying to improve your your... Your...

To go to the next level So Absolutely. These are things like, imagine if all your podcasts listeners gotten a room together. Like, that'd be an amazing room of people who have a have a rich mindset. So it's, like, trying to find those in in real life, and sometimes our family members tend to be people who are holding us back. They don't really have a poor mindset.

And that's that's a trick 1. Because when we got comments like that, it's like, no. We're not saying, hey. Sorry, Sis. Like, sorry, brother.

Sorry bad. Bet. It's it's it's more... It's more of, like, like, knowing what to talk about or or conversation to avoid. Yeah.

Because sometimes, and I think Brad has done a lot of research on this on on why why being around, like, even your friends that you grew up with, and you start going on a faster path, then then they... Why why sometimes it feels like they're holding you back or even brad you down. Brad, do you wanna do you wanna share something They call do that? Yeah. It's real simple.

It's like, it's because they love you. That's really what it is. And their phrase gonna lose you? Right? So we're.

We are all we're wired to be around tribes. Right? This is spent 99 percent of our time on earth. And and if all of a sudden, somebody you love is starting to leave your tribe. Right.

It's gonna make you anxious. You know, it's 1 of the reasons why people come in into money and then blow it all. Because reverse on the reverse side, they're afraid of leaving their family. Right? And so subconsciously, they get rid of it all.

This happens a lot to people who who questions wanna highly sa myself. Well, it's this this is probably the reason why. Yeah. And so it's it's not because they're evil or bad. It's because they're afraid of losing you, and it's it's important to know that.

And so sense. Yeah. I mean, it's... And it's lonely. It's lonely to we tribe.

Yeah. I mean, that makes sense to put... You have more of an empathetic. Empathetic view of of the people who are holding your holding you back, They're not trying to hold you back to hurt you. It is because they love you.

And they... And if you were in their shoes, you'd probably be doing the same thing. Right? So I can identify with that when I I worked for the federal government for 14 years. The second half of that was I was part time and I was building my businesses.

And, man, so it was not a quick you know, rip off the band aid, you know, jump in with 2 feet kind of thing into entrepreneurship. But over that 7 years, I mean, I I loved a lot of people I worked with. They're great people, but there was such a just a pull on me, know, in 2 very different directions, and I felt very held back, not by any 1 person, like, like, it was a personal thing, but I just felt, like, they just don't understand what I'm even thinking about right now. It's it's it's a different mindset, literally. And, you eventually, eventually I I did did quit a couple years ago, which has been which has been great.

But, absolutely, this... There's the very good people not trying to hurt me at all. They know their world, and they... And, yeah, that's a great way to look at it. They didn't wanna lose me.

And lose not that not that it's all about me, but, yeah, I a lot less contact with with my coworkers now. So that makes a lot of sense of operating out of love and and fear in in in a combination of too. Besides your book and your 9 books, doctor Brad, what other book would you recommend to our listener? Well, I I don't remember the author's name. You can look it up, but it's Sapiens.

This is the book that I read. I reread this book every year it's just called Sapiens, and it really talks about... Well, it really talks about sort of subjective reality. And I I don't wanna go too far on this, but but essentially, we are making up so many stories about everything in our life. And what what's mind blowing about that, That's that's actually how human beings became the dominant species, by the way is our ability to make up stories.

Right? Mh. You know, oh, like, we need to all get together for this 1 reason, you know, and it's all it's all sort of made up. But what is so fascinating about that is if you if you can really deeply understand that as a human being you are wired to just make up stories all the time. Mh.

It's a light bulb moment for you because you can then look at your life right now and realize, oh my gosh. I'd made up all the stories that are running through my head right now. Those stories are giving me the results I'm getting in my life. Mh. If I'm not happy with those results.

Maybe I should come up with a different story. And once you have that awareness. Yeah. And, of course you need to search for what story I should come up with. And, by the way, that's a fun search, You know, that read books, study people who are living the life you wanna live.

But for me, that I I revisit that whenever every year just to remind myself to to think about what is the story I'm making up not my wife today because I'm kinda irritated her, you know, So what's what story am I making up. And is this a good story? Is this gonna help me or is it gonna hurt. Well, that's really cool. Because it's empowering and and it, you know, you talked about the stories and Adrian earlier, you talked about the video games and and essentially how a lot of this could be approached like a like a game and you're playing a game.

You know, this is obviously a little more real than just, turning off the playstation or whatever. But... So I like that though, because we... They're both empowering viewpoints. They're both empowering mindset where you can you can approach.

You have a lot of influence over your own... You your own life and and what what happens with that? Adrian and how about a book or 2 that you could recommend? For sure, the book that has continues to make the biggest impact in my life is the 4 hour workweek by tim... Ferris.

Mh. And I think... It's it's so popular Almost like, don't like saying it because it's almost so cliche. But what I'll mention this that's super relevant because although that book is geared towards online business, The thing that I feel, like, I still implement it's like an ingrained mindset, is this idea that I don't have to do everything in my business. And so if you think of, like, whoever the president and whoever is in present at any point in time.

They're the president of entire country, but... And they manage that. Right? To the best of abilities, but they have so much people and staff And I think and we take a Fortune 500 Ceos, they have people. They have assistance.

And so all all this... The 4 work concept is like, is part of the problem of being entrepreneurs that people sell the dream of you get financial freedom and time. A lot of entrepreneurs I know are trapped inside their business instead of working 40 hours a week... They're working 80. And out of ego, they say, I'd rather work 80 for myself is, like, not me, I don't wanna work 80 ever.

Right. In in order to do that, I have to have someone, but actually read my emails before they get to me or else that sucks up a lot of my time. I need I need to assist. I need someone who's posting my content. I need someone who's researching collaboration.

So I have people that are doing these things that I... I'm not doing... Although I've trained them how to do. And that that I think is the true essence of the 4 where we It's not online entrepreneurship, and you can make a lot of money online. Mh.

I think the most powerful thing is like, you you need to let go and you need to outsource and that's how you streamline where when you go to bed, you got people still thinking and how how do I make Jamie more more money do more deals when you wake up, then you have more that momentum never stop. So I think that's something I I think about. And I I'll just mention very briefly. I think we need I realized after I was living in the van, and I moved and I'm here in Austin, Texas. I remember, we we got a house and stuff, and my businesses were so 4 hour work week optimized.

And my personal life wasn't. So I saw... I would cook, then I would clean. And I was like, wait. Wait a second.

Like, and I doing these chores? And I was doing yard Like, how did I, like, pray financial freedom so I could do chores. Right. So then, like, then I got you know, it's like the same concept as, like, do... How do you wanna spend your life after you've achieve financial Freedom.

Do you wanna do it? Do you wanna be spending it doing chores and Cooking. I've I've even... We have a chef and we have a cleaner. We have a house admin, like...

And these are all things like, when you when you start creating income, like, I'd rather spend money on that to own my time, then buy all these all this stuff. You know? So I think that's... Again, it's still really awesome book that I think about a lot. Yeah.

I love it. I mean... Just because it's popular. Doesn't mean you can... It's not good.

Right? So... You I mean, I imagine your 50 person team is making you money when you're playing pickle ball, which is awesome. I I love that. So Let's see, as far as just in your...

I know you're kinda coming both of you're coming to your industries, you have very different backgrounds. But what's 1 thing you see that's maybe controversial, whether... Let's say, let's say creating content or in the the world of you know, psychology I know those are 2 massive massive industries, but what's something that you disagree with it's controversial that you see a lot of today. Either 1 of you can hop in on that 1. Wait.

Brad. I don't know if you wanna do this, but there was 1 chapter in the book that we did disagree on, and and we had different perspectives, and it was actually about real estate. Okay. I like that. Let's what it was that.

If you're if you're good with a doctor Brad. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. Go ahead.

Well well, so waiting, this chapter, we talk about... It... It's controversial. We're basically saying, you know, giving all the data on going to college and marriage and buying a house and and millionaire status. Right?

So you don't have to do any 1 of those things. But it is associated with being much wealthier overall. And so Adrian got all nerd out. You know, Usually, I'm the nerd and he got his spreadsheets out, and he's... He made a very compelling.

Case that's really difficult argue with, in terms of the spreadsheet on that renting is actually a better financial move than buying a house. Mh. And so he and I had a fun discussion and and sort of battle it her because I I definitely come from the psychology side where I think the the home what it does for most Americans is it's for savings, So it locks money away and something that you can't just go blow on shit, which is most people would do. Yeah. But but I think the the point of that chapter I think is to you know, should...

Do... Are Married people Richer? Yes. Absolutely. Like, you know, between 25 and 35, they're 10 x richer than single people.

Now should you get married? Well, that's entirely up to you because divorce will wipe you out. You know? Right and same thing with college, Like, the average college grad? We can say that everything's changed, but they make 1200000.0 more during their lifetime, like, that...

And by the way, those are numbers from, like, today. Right. When they study those things. But is college a good idea. Well, look, I make videos on the worst college degrees, you can you can go spend 50000 on a college degree that pays less than minimum wage.

And I think that's a horrible idea for everybody, and unless your parents are rich. So... Right. It really... We...

We we're trying not to give advice because we don't know you. We don't know the listener. No. That's what. But we're just trying to give the facts.

And sure people think it through so they can make conscious just a... And I like that you're not you're... I mean and I do note investing mentorship 1 on 1 mentorship with the people, and that's 1 of the key components to our program is I don't know where you're coming from, and I don't know where you wanna go. So let's let's not slap a 1 size fits all, you know, solution on you. Let's talk about this and let's...

So I couldn't get a better understanding where you're coming from and where you wanna go. Adrian, you you disagree with anything. Doctor Brad said? No. Well, he he mentioned it.

It was it was the the home aspect. So people in the in the fire movement specifically. And I and me living in now living proof that, like, Yeah. Like, your home... Although, I think a Brad phrase it perfectly is, like, for the smart investor.

I would say everyone that's listening here. You guys are the smart investors. You you could live efficiently off rent and the difference between all the extra phantom cost of of adding a home instead of going and spending that, you go invest that Right. But that's not what does consumer average. Right.

Right. And so so so Brad point is a really great point of you know, it... It... It's forced savings into that into that mortgage. Absolutely.

And but on paper, it's I I went through so much research and, like, data to approve that. Yeah. If on paper, if you take out the emotion, which is possible. Like, it's better to rent and then invest. You make better return.

But Gotcha. I think that was that was the thing. I'm curious on on your take, Jamie. So you know I I think and it... Look, it's this is gonna sound like a cop out, But I think for someone like you, Adrian, it probably makes more sense to rent, you know, because you are smart with your money, But I think for most people, they're not going to save and and or invest the difference.

They're gonna they're gonna waste it. So... Yeah. I think for most people owning a home does make sense because of that 4 savings element and also on the school point, you know, that's a tough 1 because I, I mean, my daughter's is gonna go to college most likely. You know, I'm, you know, we're gonna...

We're gonna pay for that. And. I think that's gonna be a good investment for her. Is it it's a chicken or the egg kind thing. It's a correlation kind of thing.

You know, they... I studied a some some cri back in the day. And I remember learning that crime goes up when the ice cream sales go up. And, you know, is it's just 1... Is 1 causing the other, of course, not.

It's, you know, during this summer, there just tends to be more of of both. I could argue that people go to college or get an advanced degree or multiple degrees like Doctor. Brad has because they're smart and driven, and those people would be successful without those degrees. It's not that they got the degree that that That... That's would cause them to be successful.

So... Yeah. It's we're back to... If there's not 1, you know, 1 answer for everyone, and everyone is different. But but I'll say this.

Nobody has ever current committed to crime while eating, I... Screen. This that's something you do know Could you possibly do that. I think that's a great point. A friend of mine has a real estate podcast called ice cream with investors, and and that's...

That's the first part of the first segment as they talk about your favorite ice cream? And everything? I mean, how can you not have a great conversation when you're having ice cream. Right? How about the the role of luck, Adrian, the role of luck and success.

What is luck real? Do you make your own luck? What's your what's your take on luck? I don't know if I believe in in luck. I I think I shared this the other day.

I was talking to Brad, is Brad and I probably have combined created 10000 videos online. Wow. And out of those 20... Oh, sorry. Out of those 10000, I think I have, like, 25 that went viral, I'm talking like, millions and millions of views.

When So and so split 50 55000 videos, 25 actually went viral, and most of them probably have, you know, 10000 views or less on on average. Mh. I looked I looked up right before actually, in prep for some... Podcast. I've had a hundred and 83000000 views on on my Tiktok.

Wow, this... The... So, like, I think effort, you know, the effort is the... Is the thing I I try to focus on and and the more effort I I'm gonna keep posting site I have a optimism that if I if I'm in the... I'm doing this right strategy, it's gonna create success.

I... I'm not banking that I had a viral video, which is, like, trying to hope for. Luck to happen. I don't create content to go viral I create content to create value. And maybe 1 of those it is gonna blow up and, of course Does that help everything absolutely what...

Like, that... Those were my highest record income days and followers and leads and business opportunities like, of course. I wish it would happen all the time. But I know that if III focus on the strategy long term, you know. So I know...

Yeah. It's a tough 1 for me because, like, I don't know if I believe. I'm not... I'm not thinking about that luck. I'm thinking about...

Am I doing the right thing and strategy? And that's all for me as a content creator, keep creating, creep keep added value. Well, it's it sounds like you're building off of the the work ethic that your parents gave you early on, and you're putting yourself in the in the right position to get lucky, but that's not your focus. But if you keep showing up consistently, put keep... Like you said, focusing on on adding value and serving others, Luck has a way of finding finding you.

Anything to add there, Doctor Brad? Yeah. So, you know, 1 1 perspective on luck that, I think about all the time. Is how incredibly lucky we are, frankly, to be here in the United States at this shame in history. And, obviously, I can't control any of that.

But, I know I have friends and and clients who are in Europe and and European country. I'm not gonna name it, but he's like, you... There is a 0 percent probability. You can go for puerto rich in this country. You cannot...

You cannot start a business unless you're connected politically. Or you have affiliation with organized crime. I mean... And and so So I think it's really really... I remind myself all the time of of this incredible land of opportunity.

Yeah. And to to whatever degree, if you're here, you're blessed... You're more blessed than 99 point 999 percent of people who've ever lived on Earth. So true. And so part of that can't control.

But but I'm a firm believer in making my own luck, including my bad luck. Like, when the... So the studies that we've done on ultra wealthy people is they are more likely to blame themselves for their bad luck. Like, okay. So something bad happened, what did I do to contribute to this?

What did I miss? And if you're not asking yourself those questions, you're doomed to have bad luck the rest of your life? It's a great point. Awesome. Alright.

These are gonna be real rapid fire, and then we'll get out of here. We'll we'll go back and forth. Adrian, if you could go back and give your 18 year old self some advice what would that be? You Youtube. Like, day 1, learn, Youtube, don't be afraid.

Love that. Doctor Brad, if you were given 10000000 dollars tomorrow. I know you guys asked a similar question, what would you do with it? I would invest all of it, and I would immediately start taking about 400000 a year to spend. Awesome.

Adrian, what is 1 challenge that you're facing in your business? Maybe maybe you're working 5 hours a week instead. I'm just kidding. What's what's a challenge you're facing your in your business right now? I have a software called Bra f file, which it's, like, a all in 1 solution for, running your online business, and it's 6 months in and churn rate, is, like, 10 percent.

So we're losing 10 percent of customers every time. We have we've had... We have 1200 customers right now. And so, like, I have super new. What do I...

What... How do I... Keep people on and stay on and making sure that the platform is at any value that? Man. If someone wants to hit me up, would they answer that.

Yeah. Awesome. Doctor Brad, if you could start a business tomorrow, What would that be? Keep Oh, I would definitely... First of all, I'd wanna have some some glide time, you know?

Like... So, Adrian and, we're not the type to go take out loans to start businesses because most businesses fail. Yeah. But I would... Start a, frankly, a consulting business on helping professionals.

Mh. Utilize social media to create personal brands and increase their income. That's probably a business. I would start. That makes sense.

You've you alluded to that earlier, Adrian as far as the asymmetric bets and where if if it goes south. You know, you maybe lost some time and effort, but not millions of dollars. Adrian, what's 1 question that you wish I'd asked you that I haven't. I think, how much money do you need to be happy? Go for it.

I I think... I... Well, this is only this is only my answer? Yeah. So everyone's answers is different, but I believe that if you have the freedom of time and the freedom of choice, you may...

I think that... Whatever the money it is for you to do those thing, because I truly believe objects don't bring as happiness, they bring a sadness. Like, every object you own actually owns you. So with that mindset, I think for me, I just need enough money to... If I and...

And by the way, I'm not saying live in Van. I'm saying, like, if I if I wanna... If I wanna go to Ireland, which I live for a year because I just missed my friends over there, I can fly to Ireland. Tomorrow. Like, that's still freedom.

That's, like, there's still a lot of money that I need to do that. But the the that freedom of choice. The freedom to pursue an art right now, you know, we have a book coming out. Maybe I... This is on my first book.

What I love it so far. What if... When I'm on my ninth book, like, Brad, like, I hate this and everyone write a book again. And and, I'm not trapped to it that I have the freedom to change. Mh.

The... So so, like, I think that freedom, whatever that number is. That's that's my answer. Because I think that freedom of is is empowering, and I I can choose, to spend my time, however I'd like whoever I'd like to spend it with. Is there a number that you don't have to give it, but for you, is there a number?

Oh, like, a specific number worth the number that that I think... I I feel like my cost living right now, is 15000 a month. And and III live off, like, my investments. Pay for that. So for me, like, I'm my my...

I'm not living higher than 15000 dollars a month, and I haven't for a long time despite income, so I would say that's that's my number. That's good. Doctor Brad, what is the biggest psychological barrier that you are facing right now? The biggest barrier that I'm facing is, essentially, it all comes down to lo of control. And so, successful people have an internal control.

They're blame themselves for for things. I'm always looking to blame myself for more and more things. And if I could find something, that I could change in my thinking, because to me, it's super empowering, and we all have blind spots related to it Like I feel like I'm I'm functioning pretty well, but I know I must be missing something Like, is there a different way I can look at something. Is there some other way I can take, you know, even more responsibility for something in my life because I find it not shaming. I find it incredibly empowering.

I love that. That's really good. Adrian, where can our listeners find you online. Right now, if you wanna learn more from Brad and myself. Start thinking rich dot com.

I can't believe we own that domain for our book, which is awesome. But it has... I think our book. That's the best way if you like mindset, maybe, I feel like, especially with your listeners Jamie. They might not need, our book.

They sound like they're super savvy audience. But maybe you guys know someone who who aspire to change. Maybe you guys would know someone to recommend it. But, on that page, you'll find links to to Brad and I, and we also have a a special page if for just listeners that come from, this podcast, so that's gonna be starting Rich dot com slash jamie. And then and then we're we're gonna try to make the context of, like, some bonus offers that more relevant for for your audience here too.

I love that. I mean, I would challenge that a little bit in in a sense of... I mean, I think everyone needs a, you know, it's a... It's you're never... You've never arrived.

Right? So you always need that that that growth and that that reminder, even if your book has some fundamental truths that my listeners are are familiar with and have implement daily. They still need that exposure to those those harsh truth and truths, and you said you come at a come of things in a in a in a challenging way. So I'm excited to read the book myself, Doctor Brad, anything to add as far as where to find you online. Nope.

That's it. You can find us on any of your social media platforms too, add doctor B K at B bi Or at Adrian Brand villa. So we're where they are pumping out videos, trying to get in your head, Yeah. I love what you guys are doing. It's such a...

You know, it's not a soft approach like you said. It's challenging, you, which is what we need. We need real conversation, not not these beating around the bush, you know, soft approach here. It's it's hard hitting truths, but you're trying to help people and you're adding value. And clearly, you know, money does matter.

Right? It's not it's not something to pretend, you know, we shouldn't be pretending that money has no value. It does matter. But it's not all about collecting toys and and and just, you know, gain, you know, the number of things you own, and they're... It's it's, like you said, adrian eugene, it's about options and being able to control your time and do what you wanna do and and serve others through that abundance, mindset, love it, Guys.

Thank you so much for for joining us. This has been great. Thank much for having was a blast. And to the listener out there, thank you for joining us. Please check out our website, adversity 2 abundance dot com.

That's the number 2, adversity to abundance, And If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend. Thanks all. Take care. Thank you for joining us on from adversity to abundance. We hope today's episode has equipped you with valuable insights and practical advice to elevate your real estate journey.

For more inspiring stories and resources, visit us at WWW dot adversity 2 abundance dot com. If this episode has inspired you, please share it with a brand who could also benefit from our conversation. Together, let's turn adversity into abundance. Until next time, keep building your mental fitness and your real estate empire.