BIO: Leonard Kim is the worst investor you will ever meet and has made countless mistakes.STORY: Leonard invested over $6,000 in penny stocks and preferred shares whose value went to less than a penny.LEARNING: Avoid stocks on the OTCBB; trade in the NASDAQ shares instead. Focus on the company’s ability to make profits instead of the stock price.&nbsp;“Don’t invest in stocks that are at the sub-penny level.”Leonard Kim&nbsp;Guest profileLeonard Kim is the worst investor you will ever meet. He’s made countless mistakes like investing in stocks on the Pink Sheets, OTC Bulletin Board (OTCBB), and companies bound for bankruptcy like MoviePass. He’s bought preferred shares from public companies that have gone bust and invested in private companies that have failed.On the contrary, he’s an extraordinary marketer who has won countless awards and been recognized as a top marketer by Forbes, Brand 24, MadCon, and more.He’s also done an internationally recognized TEDx Talk and is the author of Ditch the Act, a book on personal branding and humanizing your company with McGraw Hill business.Worst investment everLeonard put money in a penny stock that he thought had the potential to go up, and it did. It hit $7, but it quickly went down to 50 cents, so Leonard lost his money.Leonard also invested $6,000 in a company whose stock was listed in the OTCBB and sold for around 50 cents. The company sold series B preferred shares with a one-year hold where you couldn’t sell them. After a year, the stock was trading at less than a penny, and it’s still at that value to date.Lessons learnedAvoid stocks on the OTCBB; trade in the NASDAQ shares instead.Don’t invest in stocks that are at the sub-penny level.Handle your investments by yourself.Invest in stable investments like oil.Andrew’s takeawaysFocus on the company’s ability to make profits instead of the stock price.Avoid investing with friends.Actionable adviceBuild a conservative investment profile and figure out how to invest more.No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsLeonard’s goal for the next 12 months is to continue creating value through his content.Parting words&nbsp;“The secret to marketing yourself is to differentiate yourself.”Leonard Kim&nbsp;[spp-transcript]&nbsp;Connect with Leonard KimLinkedInInstagramTwitterPodcast<a href="https://ditchtheact.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer"...

BIO: Vanessa Ho built a student-alumni-run angel investment network and educates students and fresh graduates on startup and private sector investments.STORY: Vanessa invested blindly in a startup she was introduced to by an angel investor. She never did any research. There was no market for the company’s product, so it never made any returns.LEARNING: &nbsp;Dig deep into the business model and ensure the startup has a product that the market needs. Don’t invest in a company just because it’s popular and others do it.&nbsp;“Learn the fundamentals of angel investing.”Vanessa Ho&nbsp;Guest profileVanessa Ho built a student-alumni-run angel investment network and educates students and fresh graduates on startup and private sector investments.Formerly she was a venture capital analyst and a social media content creator and host. Currently, she is in a socialfi startup called So-Col doing business development and marketing.Worst investment everAn angel investor introduced Vanessa to a company dealing with paywalls for media outlets. The company looked good on paper, and Vanessa trusted the angel investor, so she didn’t do a lot of due diligence. She simply put money into the company blindly. She didn’t even read the investment contract.Three months later, the company hadn’t made any progress, and the owners were getting worried about sustainability. Vanessa kept checking the news, and many months later, she realized that the company wasn’t going anywhere. She decided to write it off.Lessons learnedDon’t be swayed by big founder names and glamorous titles. Dig deep into the business model and ensure the startup has a product that the market needs.Do your due diligence even if other angel investors are backing up the startup you want to invest in.Andrew’s takeawaysDon’t invest in a company just because it’s popular and others do it.Don’t invest in a startup if you don’t have enough money to risk or if you’re new to investing.Weigh your risk before you invest in a startup.Invest in 10 startups, never in just one.Actionable adviceLearn the fundamentals of angel investing before putting your money into it.No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsVanessa’s goal for the next 12 months is to build a syndicated fund to bring value to private sector investing.&nbsp;[spp-transcript]&nbsp;Connect with Vanessa HoLinkedInWebsiteAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid ThemTransform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 PointsAndrew’s online programsValuation Master...

BIO: Jitender Girdhar is a best-selling author, TEDx speaker, entrepreneur, Op-Ed writer at The Times of India, mentor, and NLP professional.STORY: Jitender’s worst investment ever was not investing in growing his mind when he was younger. This saw him make poor investments.LEARNING: Your beliefs and opinions become your identity. Leave past knowledge and beliefs behind and be curious to learn new things.&nbsp;“The action everybody needs to take is to question their strong belief. Questioning is the beginning of intelligence.”Jitender Girdhar&nbsp;Guest profileJitender Girdhar is a best-selling author, TEDx speaker, entrepreneur, Op-Ed writer at The Times of India, mentor, and NLP professional.He is best known for his articles on Mind &amp; Body, Human Behavior, and Cricket, and for his thought-provoking book Think EPIC, which became a #1 international bestseller in just a few months and got success in various countries.His contributions to multiple disciplines broadly address the narratives of human behavior.He has a great following on LinkedIn and is an ardent reader and a sports fanatic.Worst investment everJitender’s worst investment ever was not working on growing his mind after completing his education. Instead, he spent all his energies working to rise through the ranks. He ended up making wrong investments and lost money by ignoring his mind. He wishes he had spent more energy when he was younger to improve his mind.Lessons learnedStop living a mechanical life. You won’t get much out of it.To create something new and see things from a fresh perspective, you need to leave past knowledge and memory behind.Your beliefs and opinions become your identity.Andrew’s takeawaysStart safe, then start thinking freely as you grow older.Actionable adviceQuestion opinions and beliefs, and be curious.No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsJitender’s goal for the next 12 months is to keep learning and sharing.Parting words&nbsp;“Stay hungry for learning. Stay foolish, and when somebody says something against your opinion, you won’t get hurt.”Jitender Girdhar&nbsp;[spp-transcript]&nbsp;Connect with Jitender GirdharLinkedInTwitterFacebookInstagramWebsiteBookAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever<a...

BIO: Anthony Milewski is an investing veteran and Chairman of Nickel 28 – a battery metals-focused investment company focusing on metal streaming and royalty agreements.STORY: Anthony and a friend partnered to drill oil in Indonesia. They pooled $10 million and hit the ground running. After facing one disaster after another, the partners gave up on the venture, having spent all the money, and not a single well was dug.LEARNING: Understand the context of the foreign country you’re investing in—research both the expected return and expected risk.&nbsp;“Why are you investing? Do you need to do this? What’s the alternative?”Anthony Milewski&nbsp;Guest profileAnthony Milewski is an investing veteran and Chairman of Nickel 28 – a battery metals-focused investment company with a focus on metal streaming and royalty agreements. The company trades on the Toronto stock exchange.Anthony has been active in the battery metals industry, including investing in cobalt and actively trading physical cobalt. Previously, he was a member of the investment team at Pala Investments Limited, a leading venture capital firm.Worst investment everA former partner and friend in Australia shared an idea with Anthony about these oil drilling blocks coming up for auction in Indonesia. Anthony figured it was a good idea, and so the two partnered and raised roughly $10 million. They were awarded a block.The two partners thought they were to drill a couple of wells and become oilmen. It never happened.They faced one disaster after another, from corruption locally to landowners fighting them to the inability to mobilize because they were being held to ransom by locals. Ultimately, they spent all the money they had raised but never drilled a well.The partners’ undoing was their naivety to how complicated it would be to do an oil and gas deal with local landowners without a strong local partner.Lessons learnedUnderstand the context of the foreign country you’re investing in.If a return feels out of whack, even if experts are right, always make sure that you understand the risk.When you see a return that looks like an outsize return, ask why? Then identify what the why is because that is the risk.Andrew’s takeawaysSplit your research between the expected return and expected risk.Reducing risk reduces the expected return.Understand your investment environment.Actionable adviceBe thoughtful when investing in places where you don’t know anything about. Work with a management team that has an edge in that place. And if you don’t trust that investment, buy something else.No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsAnthony’s goal for the next 12 months is to do a triathlon.&nbsp;[spp-transcript]&nbsp;Connect with Anthony MilewskiLinkedInTwitterWebsiteAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever<a href="https://amzn.to/3v6ip1Y" rel="noopener...

BIO: John Spence is an author, international executive coach, professional development educator, virtual trainer, strategic planning facilitator, keynote speaker, and developer of online learning programs.STORY: When John was a young CEO of one of the Rockefeller Foundations, he invested in the trappings of a CEO, such as big houses, boats, wines, artwork, etc., all in the name of impressing people. All these things were lost in days when Hurricane Andrew hit Miami.LEARNING: Don’t let material things define you. The ultimate freedom is the freedom of mind. The accumulation of things is uncorrelated to happiness.&nbsp;“Be grateful for everything you have now.”John Spence&nbsp;Guest profileJohn Spence is an author, international executive coach, professional development educator, virtual trainer, strategic planning facilitator, keynote speaker, and developer of online learning programs.John is recognized as one of the top business thought leaders and leadership development experts in the world and was named by the American Management Association as one of America’s Top 50 Leaders to Watch, along with Sergey Brin and Larry Page of Google and Jeff Bezos of Amazon.As a consultant and coach to organizations worldwide, from startups to the Fortune 10, John is dedicated to helping people and businesses be more successful by “Making the Very Complex… Awesomely Simple.”Worst investment everJohn became the CEO of one of the Rockefeller Foundations when he was 26 years old. This saw him earn a significant salary. John decided to use his earnings to invest in houses, boats, artwork, wine collections, and everything else that were the trappings of being the CEO of a multinational company. At a young age, John thought that those were the things that would impress other people.In 1989, Hurricane Andrew hit Miami and destroyed everything John owned. In just a matter of days, all his properties and belongings were gone. John had invested so much time, energy, effort, and ego in all that stuff, and it was all taken away in one day.Lessons learnedEven when you suffer a significant loss, stay focused on your values and remember that others have been through worse.Material things are lovely, but they don’t define you.You’re stronger than you think you are.Be grateful for everything you have now.Andrew’s takeawaysThe ultimate freedom is the freedom of mind—the freedom to think and detach.The accumulation of things is uncorrelated to happiness.Actionable adviceLook at the things that are truly important and valuable in your life.No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsJohn’s goal for the next 12 months is to learn more and meet more people.Parting words&nbsp;“Just live by your values, treat other people with love and have fun.”John Spence&nbsp;[spp-transcript]&nbsp;Connect with John SpenceLinkedInTwitterFacebookInstagram<a...

BIO: Brian Golod was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His parents asked him what he wanted to do for a living when he was 13 years old, and somehow he knew, at least for the following 21 years.STORY: Brian invested $25,000 in a new company belonging to a man he’d known for just a few days.LEARNING: Don’t trust blindly; ask questions. Be careful of the appeal to authority fallacy.&nbsp;“Pace yourself. There’s nothing like an overnight success.”Brian Golod&nbsp;Guest profileBrian Golod was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His parents asked him what he wanted to do for a living when he was 13 years old, and somehow he knew... at least for the following 21 years.He studied Computer Science at the number one middle and high school in Argentina and got an early start. Before turning 20 years old, his family immigrated to Canada. After working for the Government of Canada twice, tech multinationals, startups, and everything in between, he realized he was able to help professionals get back on their feet and advance in their careers. He started doing this on the side for free, just trying to give back to society, and eventually realized he couldn’t live the rest of his life without pursuing his purpose, what he was born for. He says it’s impossible to describe how he feels every time someone gets the job they want with his help.Worst investment everBrian was working as a production support developer for a multinational in Toronto when he was introduced to a family. He was invited to their place for dinner and got to know the family. There was immediate trust, especially because of the person who introduced him to the family. Brian learned that the man of the family wanted to branch out of where he was working as CFO and start something very similar to what he was doing.The man mentioned this to Brian, and because of his title, his responsibility at the organization where he was working, and the size of that organization, Brian believed the man must know what he was doing. Brian told him that he’d be the first one to support him right off the bat. He invested $25,000 in the man’s business. Additionally, Brian was convinced to quit his job and join the new company full time.The mistake the man made was buying a lot of inventory and having no clients. So all the money that he had raised, not just from Brian but from many others, about $300,000, went to inventory, yet there was no cash flow. The product just sat in a container in one of those storage rooms.The duo couldn’t sell for different reasons, so the company tanked.Lessons learnedDon’t trust blindly. If you’re going to put money towards something, ask a billion questions.Just because someone has the title and has been doing this somewhere else doesn’t mean that they actually know how to do it all from scratch.Don’t be greedy or invest more than you can afford to lose.Communication is very important. Communicate with the people that you work with and with your suppliers.Make sure that everything is written, especially when working with suppliers.Pace yourself. There’s nothing like an overnight success.Andrew’s takeawaysTrust takes timeBe careful of the appeal to authority fallacy.The first job of a business is to try to get the cash flowing.Preserve relationships.Actionable advicePause and listen to someone else’s perspective. If you have a significant other or someone you trust who has your best interests at heart, and can potentially be...

BIO: 15 years of experience running his own business, more than enough money, time, and freedom; now Nat Berman teaches the practical steps he’s taken to achieve these results in what now takes only 3-4 hours a day.STORY: Nat got wind of a stock that Jim Cramer would tout on his show and invest in. Nat decided to invest $30,000 in the stock without further research. He lost the money in a short period.LEARNING: Do your research. Never buy a stock that somebody tells you about.&nbsp;“Pause. Read. Invest.”Nat Berman&nbsp;Guest profileAfter fifteen years of experience running his own business, more than enough money, time, and freedom, now Nat Berman teaches the practical steps he’s taken to achieve these results in what now takes only 3-4 hours a day.Worst investment everNat knew a guy that worked for Jim Cramer directly. He got wind of the stock that Cramer was going to tout on his show and would put in his charitable trust. Nat put in $30,000. He lost a lot of it in a short amount of time.Lessons learnedDo your own research, assess your risk, and understand what you’re comfortable losing.Everybody is smart enough to make their own investments.Andrew’s takeawaysInvest in the S&amp;P 500 or an index fund if you’re learning how to invest.Never, ever buy a stock that somebody tells you about. Make your decision that this is the stock that you want to own for a particular reason.Build a portfolio of about 10 stocks to diversify your risk.Actionable adviceWhenever someone tells you about an amazing stock, pause, read about it, and see what kind of news there is about it. Check out the financials too. Just don’t do anything for at least 24 hours to a week.No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsNat’s goal for the next 12 months is to be proud of himself and be able to look into the mirror every day and know that he’s satisfied and comfortable with where he is.Parting words&nbsp;“Stay focused.”Nat Berman&nbsp;[spp-transcript]&nbsp;Connect with Nat BermanLinkedInFacebookInstagramTikTokYouTubeWebsiteAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid ThemTransform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 PointsAndrew’s online programs<a...

BIO: Dave Buck is fascinated by the concept of time and how it is applied in everyday life. It is one of the main reasons he started Kairos Management Solutions.STORY: Dave was a very disciplined saver and investor from the time he got his first job when he was 16. The only mistake he made was not managing his portfolio according to the lifestyle he wanted to live in retirement.LEARNING: Start to save for the future today. Have goals for your savings.&nbsp;“Manage your portfolio to match the desired lifestyle you want to have.”Dave Buck&nbsp;Guest profileDave Buck is fascinated by the concept of time and how it is applied in everyday life. It is one of the main reasons he started Kairos Management Solutions. Kairos is one of the Greek words for time, tied to accomplishing a crucial action or performing in a decisive moment. Through his company, Dave offers a variety of services from individual and corporate time management, leadership management, retirement and lifestyle time management, and sales productivity enhancement. The corporate mission of Kairos Management Solutions and Dave is to help people move their time from finite to infinite.Worst investment everDave got his first job when he was 16, and from then, he started to save diligently until he was in his 50s. When he approached retirement age, he realized that he didn’t know what he wanted to do with the funds he’d been saving for years. He had not aligned his investments with the retirement lifestyle he wanted, and now he wasn’t sure if the funds were even enough to lead the life he wanted.Lessons learnedStart to save for the future today.Adopt a broader strategy of the purpose of the funds you’re saving and how that purpose aligns with your lifestyle.Start by saving a small amount, even if it’s just 5% of your income, and be consistent.Andrew’s takeawaysHave goals for your savings. Are you saving for the sake of saving?What is the purpose of the funds you save?Be frugal, be careful with your money, but stay focused on saving it.Actionable adviceGet started with saving, be disciplined and keep at it. It’s okay to pause due to various factors. Just don’t stop forever. Your portfolio can grow if you’re not contributing to it but get back to contributing for as long as you possibly can.No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsDave’s goal for the next 12 months is to implement his initial business strategy to such a point that he doesn’t have to draw on his current savings plan.Parting words&nbsp;“As you plan projects, invest your time as you look to how you manage it. Take what you do and add 20% to it. It’s always going to take longer than what you anticipate.”Dave Buck&nbsp;[spp-transcript]&nbsp;Connect with Dave BuckLinkedInYouTubeWebsiteAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth...

BIO: Akshat Malik, a serial entrepreneur, a risk-taker during the week, and a happy dog dad on Sundays, has undoubtedly had his good and bad investments.STORY: Akshat’s company partnered with a brand and focused on helping it grow. The brand grew 100x, which was good for the company. But, the brand started partnering with other people, which led to Akshat’s company losing its market share and revenue.LEARNING: Don’t get too invested in just one partner or brand. Keep your debt down as low as possible.&nbsp;“Never hesitate to speak about what’s on your mind.”Akshat Malik&nbsp;Guest profileAkshat Malik, a serial entrepreneur, a risk-taker during the week, and a happy dog dad on Sundays, has certainly had his shares of good and bad investments! He started his entrepreneurial tryst early on in the times when e-commerce and e-services were just seeping in, trying to get a foot-holding in India.Fast-forwarding to today, he has revolutionized and enhanced the health and wellness industry by reshaping the niche in the cosmeceutical, derma, and nutraceutical sectors. He is the founder and CEO of ClickOnCare Retail Private Ltd.Worst investment everAkshat’s company engaged a particular brand to help build their entire segment and grow within the nutraceutical market. This partnership helped the company immensely as the brand grew 100x.But then, the brand had its own intentions of partnering with other people in the segment. Akshat’s company had placed all its focus on this one brand, and due to the new partnerships, the company started losing its market share, and its revenues got hit.Lessons learnedDon’t get too invested in just one partner or brand.Know your limits and your boundaries.Andrew’s takeawaysKeep your debt down as low as possible.Don’t have all of your revenue concentrated in just one or a small number of clients. If something happens to them, you’re going to be in trouble.Don’t allow any of the resources you have to be used in a way that doesn’t generate revenue.Actionable adviceNever hesitate to speak up.No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsAkshat’s goal for the next 12 months is to add a line of products that will help add brand value to the organization.&nbsp;[spp-transcript]&nbsp;Connect with Akshat MalikLinkedInTwitterFacebookInstagramYouTubeWebsiteAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid...

BIO: Gary Belsky is co-author of Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes—And How To Correct Them: Lessons from the Life-Changing Science of Behavioral Economics and the former editor in chief of ESPN The Magazine and ESPN Insider.com.STORY: Gary waited for seven years to invest in the Berkshire Hathaway stock hoping the price per share would drop. He missed out on the compounding for the seven years and earned a 14% return instead of 18%.LEARNING: A stock isn’t cheap because it’s $5. A stock is cheap if the Price-to-Earnings ratio is low.&nbsp;“In the short run, people regret actions, but in the long run, they regret inactions.”Gary Belsky&nbsp;Guest profileGary Belsky is co-author of Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes—And How To Correct Them: Lessons from the Life-Changing Science of Behavioral Economics. The former editor in chief of ESPN The Magazine and ESPN Insider.com, Belsky is president of Elland Road Partners, a storytelling consulting firm based in New York City.Worst investment everGary was working for Money Magazine when he got assigned to write a story about Warren Buffett in 1992. As he researched the story, Gary got convinced that Buffett was an investing genius. This convinced him to invest in the Berkshire Hathaway stock. However, the stock was selling at $8,000 a share at the time. Gary decided to wait for the stock price to go down. He invested in the stock in 1999.Had Gary invested in the stock in 1992, he would have had an average annual return of about 18%. But since he waited until 2009, he only got a 14% average annual return. Over that period, the market was up by about 9%. So he still outperformed the market, but he also missed the compounding between 1992 and 2009.Lessons learnedA stock isn’t cheap because it’s $5. A stock is cheap if the Price-to-Earnings ratio is low.The way people lose money in the stock market is not nearly so much about making bad investments. It’s about trading too often.Long-term patience is the key to success in the stock market.Andrew’s takeawaysTake advantage of the compounding effect because even if you’re an average stock picker, you’ll still have a massive amount of return if you invest for the long term.When you learn something, write it down, internalize it and implement it. You’ll be amazed at what you’ll have achieved when you look back 10 years later.Bring people into your decision. Even if it’s just one other person, you’re almost assured the decision will become better.As a startup, produce a monthly financial statement of your P&amp;L, balance sheet, and cash flow, and talk to your management team about it once a month.Actionable adviceAsk yourself who’s the person that is most likely to annoy you if you asked them what they think about something and then ask them.No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsBrent’s goal for the next 12 months is to finish a project he’s working on.&nbsp;[spp-transcript]&nbsp;Connect with Brent KochubaLinkedInTwitter<a href="http://www.ellandroadpartners.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer"...

BIO: Brent Kochuba is the Founder of SpotGamma, a financial insights company that applies its proprietary methodology toward modeling index and equity options and then provides unique content to its subscribers.STORY: Brent joined a former client as a trader in his fund. Five days after he started working at the fund, the market opened a limit down and halted trading. The fund lost so much money, and the only way out was to liquidate and shut down.LEARNING: Know whom you’re dealing with. Speak up and ask for clarification when things don’t make sense.&nbsp;“If you’re in a position that is going to make you a lot of money, the risk is likely to be high too.”Brent Kochuba&nbsp;Guest profileBrent Kochuba is the Founder of SpotGamma, a financial insights company, which applies its proprietary methodology toward modeling index and equity options and then provides unique content to its subscribers. SpotGamma has thousands of members and has been featured in publications such as The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg Markets.Worst investment everBrent had been in the institutional broker space for about 15 years when one of his clients—whom he knew reasonably well—decided to start his own fund. Brent chose to leave his then employer to work for this gentleman at this fund. This was in August of 2015. At the time, the gentleman ran a small account. He would short put options—insurance contracts that people often buy to protect themselves if the market declines.Brent was a trader, and the gentleman was the portfolio manager. Brent had been on the trading desk with the gentleman for five days, and on the third Friday of August, massive trades suddenly started to go off right at the close of trading. Two days later, the market opened a limit down and halted trading. The fund was losing money because the market was dropping. Frantically, they tried to hedge their portfolio but couldn’t and were forced to liquidate and shut down.Lessons learnedKnow whom you’re dealing with.Speak up and ask for clarification when things don’t make sense.The more money you stand to make from a position, the higher the risk.Andrew’s takeawaysBanks will always take away the umbrella just when it starts raining.Actionable adviceUnderstand what it is you’re involved in. Instead of looking for the shortcut, go with the tried and true ways of succeeding.No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsBrent’s company is part of a documentary coming out on MSNBC and Peacock. His goal for the next 12 months is to use this platform to educate people on the power of options and investing in the market.&nbsp;[spp-transcript]&nbsp;Connect with Brent KochubaLinkedInYouTubeWebsiteAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever<a href="https://amzn.to/3v6ip1Y" rel="noopener...

BIO: Sourabh Goyal is the Founder of SuccessBrew (a growth marketing company) and The Goalchy Club community that is focused on the personal and professional growth of people.STORY: Sourabh studied engineering, not out of choice, but because it’s what was expected of him. He hated it and believes he should have invested the four years of college in a much better way of knowing himself.LEARNING: Make yourself a priority in your 20s and build yourself in the manner that makes you happy.&nbsp;“Experiment with life instead of going with the society-created life structure.”Sourabh Goyal&nbsp;Guest profileSourabh Goyal is the Founder of SuccessBrew (a growth marketing company) and The Goalchy Club community that is focused on the personal and professional growth of people. A LinkedIn influencer by accident and content creator with the intent of sharing his life experiences. Trained over 10k people across 7 countries on subjects like Goal Setting, Personal Branding, and Organic Social Media Strategies.Sourabh is also the Co-Author and Associate partner of the internationally bestselling and Golden Books of World Record holding The Growth Hacking Book #2.Worst investment everSourabh’s worst investment ever was studying engineering, not out of choice, but because it’s what society expected of him. Sourabh started college during the 2007/08 recession. When he finished college in 2011, there were no jobs.Sourabh believes he should have invested the four years of college in a much better way of knowing himself.Lessons learnedTake a pause, shut out all influence, think about what is best for you and jot down whatever comes to mind.If you go to college, go for your happiness, not to show people that you went to an Ivy League college.Make yourself a priority in your 20s. Build yourself, your joy, your learning, your career, and your growth, irrespective of what somebody else is doing.Andrew’s takeawaysThe foundation that we get from our parents is the foundation that we carry throughout our lives.Build a trusting family because that’s the ultimate strength to take you through life.Actionable adviceGrowth = mindset + skill set + tools.No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsSourabh’s goal for the next 12 months is to scale his community. He plans to hold many meetups and meet with at least 10,000 people across Dubai, the UK, the US, and Asia to bring them together and build a support system for each other.&nbsp;[spp-transcript]&nbsp;Connect with Sourabh GoyalLinkedInInstagramTwitterFacebookBookAndrew’s books<a href="https://amzn.to/3qrfHjX" rel="noopener noreferrer"...

BIO: Corina Burton is the co-founder and co-owner of CPR Construction Cleaning, CPR Productions, and host of the Unstoppable podcast.STORY: Corina returned to an old job and gave up a good salary even though her gut told her not to. The old employer could not pay her, causing her to hit a financial rock bottom.LEARNING: Listen to your intuition.&nbsp;“Business is not linear. Learn to pair your analytical and spiritual self.”Corina Burton&nbsp;Guest profileCorina Burton is the co-founder and co-owner of CPR Construction Cleaning, CPR Productions, and host of the Unstoppable podcast.She is a mother of 4, serial entrepreneur, brand builder, marketing expert, and industry/generational disrupter. She has over 15 years of industry expertise in business-to-business authentic marketing, sales and brand building.Corina is an industry leader driven by her passion and skills in negotiating contracts, multi-seven-figure sales, business development, customer relationship management, event management, and brand recognition creator.As a mindset coach and marketing expert, Corina lives her life believing and knowing she is truly Unstoppable.Worst investment everCorina had been a stay-at-home mom for years. When she suddenly became a single parent, she decided to look for a job. Corina got employed in the construction industry, and she thrived. But soon, she felt like she had hit a glass ceiling. Corina decided to try something new when a recruiter in a different industry headhunted her and offered her a fantastic salary.After a while, Corina’s old employer approached her and asked her to go back. Even though her gut told her to say no, she returned to her old job. The company started struggling in just a few months and couldn’t pay her. In about eight months, Corina had run out of her savings.She was conflicted about what to do. If she walked away, she would lose everything and would never be able to recoup what her employer owed her. She would lose out on the time she spent and start over with another job. Eventually, after a year and a half, she decided to quit.Lessons learnedListen to your intuition.Andrew’s takeawaysHave intuition awareness.Don’t be asset-rich and cash poor. If you don’t have the cash you need when you need it, you’re facing a liquidity crunch.Beware of the physical warning signs.When you invest in a business, make sure you have monthly complete financial statements (a balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement). Close the books every single month.Actionable adviceNot everything analytically correct on paper is going to work. So pair logical and analytical. Write it down and make sure it makes sense.No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsCorina’s goal for the next 12 months is to have a stronger outreach. She’s focusing on the Unstoppable brand so that she can reach more people.Parting words&nbsp;“Your circumstances don’t define you; your choices do 100%.”Corina Burton&nbsp;[spp-transcript]&nbsp;Connect with Corina Burton<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/corina-burton/" rel="noopener noreferrer"...

BIO: MJ DeMarco is the international best-selling author of The Millionaire Fastlane, Unscripted, and the Great Rat Race Escape. He’s also the founder of Viperion Publishing and the Fastlane Business Forum.STORY: MJ sold his business in 2000 for $1.2 million. Of this, $700,000 was held in an earnout. Because of the recession, the buyer paid MJ $500,000. He put the money in tech stocks, but they imploded in just a few months. MJ lost everything he had invested.LEARNING: Never accept an earnout.&nbsp;“Don’t let the stock market control your wealth.”MJ DeMarco&nbsp;Guest profileMJ DeMarco is the international best-selling author of The Millionaire Fastlane, Unscripted, and the Great Rat Race Escape. His books have been translated in over 25 languages worldwide and he’s the founder of Viperion Publishing, and the Fastlane Business Forum, a global business and entrepreneurial community with over 70,000 users and nearly 1,000,000 contributions.Worst investment everIn 2000 MJ decided to sell his business for $1.2 million. $700,000 of this amount was held in an earnout. This was at a period when the tech stocks were booming. A few months later, there was a recession, and MJ got $500,000 of the $700,000 owed.MJ put the entire $500,000 in tech stocks, and a few months later, the stocks imploded. He lost most of the money, and because he had not paid tax on this money, he owed almost as much as was left. MJ had to liquidate, and he had virtually nothing left of the $500,000.Lessons learnedDon’t tie all your wealth to the stock markets.Don’t accept an earnout when selling your business.Andrew’s takeawaysAlternatives to an earnout you should consider:Build a business with robust systems.Take a lower priceBe an advisor and get paid for it.When building your business, always ask yourself if you’re overexposed to the market.No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsMJ’s goal for the next 12 months is to write another book related to goal setting and productivity.Parting words&nbsp;“You only live once, so go after your dream, whatever it is, and do not live in fear.”MJ DeMarco&nbsp;[spp-transcript]&nbsp;Connect with MJ DeMarcoLinkedInTwitterFacebookInstagramYouTube<a href="https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/"...

BIO: Shane Senior is a British actor who started his acting career as a motivational public speaker. After losing a large sum of money in the cryptocurrency market, he changed his career into acting.STORY: Shane invested in cryptocurrency in 2017, and the investment was growing. He got greedy, took out the money from the currencies, and invested £500,000 in ICOs. Within as little as 18 months, he had zero money left.LEARNING: Don’t just jump on the bandwagon; do your due diligence. When you fail, learn lessons from your mistakes and move on.&nbsp;“Do your due diligence and stick with what you know works, not what possibly will work.”Shane Senior&nbsp;Guest profileShane Senior is a British actor who started his acting career as a motivational public speaker, who by chance happened to fall in love with the art of character building. He has experience on set of a vast range of productions and he specializes in action acting, who is stage combat trained and an ex-serviceman with martial arts experience. Shane is also an author and motivational speaker who changed his career into acting after losing a large sum of money in the cryptocurrency market. Life changed for the better!Worst investment everShane started a law enforcement business, working on behalf of the magistrate’s court in the UK, conducting enforcement warrants. Surprisingly, the company turned out to be very successful, and Shane earned around half a million British pounds.This success made Shane get interested in investing. He started looking at various investment opportunities, including property. Shane even looked at buying multiple businesses and acquisitions. At one point, he got close to buying a taxi rank. However, he skipped those opportunities and joined the 2017/18 cryptocurrency bubble. Shane invested in Bitcoin and Ethereum—the two most prominent cryptocurrencies.The currencies were doing well. Unfortunately, Shane got greedy, and instead of waiting a little longer, he took his proceeds and invested about £500,000 in ICOs (initial coin offerings). He split the money into about 20 different companies. And within as little as 18 months, Shane had zero money left. Had Shane kept his money in Bitcoin and Ethereum for just two years, he’d now be sitting on 5-10 million pounds.Lessons learnedAlways do your checks on every part of that investment you’re involved with.It doesn’t matter if an investment fails. Don’t let it stop you from future ventures—simply learn the lessons from these mistakes.Andrew’s takeawaysDon’t just jump on the bandwagon because of the excitement; do your research first.ICOs, unlike IPOs, are tricky because they’re all about raising capital before the business idea has been put into action.Actionable adviceDo your due diligence and stick with what you know works, not what possibly will work.No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsShane’s goal for the next 12 months is to get the funding for a film he’s just pitched to Netflix and make that film a reality.Parting words&nbsp;“For every outcome, there is a positive to it.”Shane Senior&nbsp;[spp-transcript]&nbsp;Connect with Shane SeniorLinkedInTwitterFacebook<a...

BIO: Gisela Hausmann is one of a dying breed of adventurers – she digs in and researches topics of interest from the ground up, then tells things as she sees them.STORY: Gisela published a book about her time working at Amazon. In the book, she suggested what Amazon should do to improve working conditions. Amazon implemented these suggestions.LEARNING: Know who your friend is and who is not. Look at criticism as an opportunity.&nbsp;“If you just get going and try to do your thing, you’re probably gonna get it.”Gisela Hausmann&nbsp;Guest profileGisela Hausmann graduated with a master’s degree in film &amp; mass media from the University of Vienna, the oldest university in the German-speaking world.She is one of a dying breed of adventurers – she digs in and researches topics of interest from the ground up, then tells things as she sees them.An author of two dozen books, her work has been featured in regional, national, and international publications, including GeekWire, Inc, Success (print magazine), Entrepreneur, and Bloomberg’s podcast ‘Decrypted.’ She is also the winner of the 2016 Sparky Award “Best Subject Line.”Born to be an adventurer, she hiked in the Himalayas and the Gobi Desert, crossed Russia on the Trans-Siberian Railway twice, and meditated in the Dalai Lama’s private room at the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet.Her motto is: “Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.” – Napoleon HillWorst investment everGisela has written very many books throughout her career as an author. Her books have won various recognitions, including Kindle book review awards, and have been featured on Success Magazine and Bloomberg podcast.At some point in Gisela’s career, many of the cheaters came in and made her life miserable on Amazon. So she decided to have a downtime phase and went to work in Amazon’s logistics department.While working at Amazon, Gisela found out that all the many principles that the company preaches did not happen there. She even wanted to quit at some point because she was miserable there. Then came COVID, and Gisela was now stuck where she didn’t want to be.Gisela then came up with a great idea to write a book about her experience at Amazon and published the book. She thought the journalists who constantly investigated everything about Amazon would be thrilled to finally hear from a logistics professional about what needed to be done. But they were not interested in her book.When Gisela submitted her book on Amazon, it took 104 hours for it to be put online. In most cases, it takes a maximum of 72 hours for a book to be approved. Gisela would soon learn why her book took so long to be published on Amazon. Amazon’s legal department forked over this book in every little detail. Then they literally went ahead and took many of the changes Gisela suggested in her book and implemented them. Amazon is now doing what Gisela wrote.Lessons learnedThink through in a creative way who is your friend and who is not worth anything.Andrew’s takeawaysLook at criticism as an opportunity.Actionable adviceIf you’re an author and want to contact reviewers, read one of Gisela’s audiobooks. If you run a business and sell on Amazon, read Gisela’s book Naked Truth About Getting Book Reviews, and you’ll find seven tips to boost sales. Another great book everyone should read is Naked...

BIO: Rick is an author of several books and performs one-man shows, bringing alive the stories in his books.STORY: Rick spent $22,000 to produce his first audiobook and made just $500 in sales.LEARNING: Accept that there’s most likely nobody who will buy your book. Figure out how to get your product to the market.&nbsp;“The chances of you doing your memoir and anybody cares about it are almost zero.”Rick Gilbert&nbsp;Guest profileRick Gilbert is the retired founder of PowerSpeaking, Inc, one of Silicon Valley’s most successful communication and training companies. Before founding PSI in 1985, Rick was a psychologist and held management positions at HP and Amdahl. Rick is an author of several books and performs One-Man shows, bringing alive the stories in his books. His latest book is an audiobook, Sharing Our Stories, featuring interviews with 65 people, including Gloria Steinem, Daniel Ellsberg, Chris Brubeck, Anna Eshoo, and Don Garlits.Worst investment everIt took Rick about a year and a half to put his audiobook together. Because he didn’t understand the technology of audiobooks, he hired people, including lots of editors, to help him with it. Rick ended up spending $22,000 on that book. Over six months, Rick sold 50 copies, only selling at $10 each. So for his $22,000 investment, he made 500 bucks.Lessons learnedIf you still want to write your book, accept that there’s most likely nobody who will buy it.Andrew’s takeawaysYou may have a great idea, but it remains a hobby, interest, and passion if you haven’t figured out a way to get it to the market. You’ve got to figure out how to get it to the market to sell that idea.Start bringing your product to the market now. Write a chapter, share it, see what happens, and you’ll grab the marketplace before you make the entire investment.Actionable adviceDo your homework so that you’re aware of what you’re getting yourself into.No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsRick’s goal for the next 12 months is to stop worrying about the future and live in the moment.&nbsp;[spp-transcript]&nbsp;Connect with Rick GilbertFacebookYouTubeWebsiteBookAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid ThemTransform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 PointsAndrew’s online...

BIO: Kanit Nimmalairat is the owner of the YouTube channel and Facebook Naiwaen Investment, with over 200,000 followers.STORY: When Kanit started investing, he made his worst investment ever when he went all-in on one commodity stock. The stock was selling at 34 baht, but the price plummeted to 7 baht. Kanit made a 100% loss on that investment.LEARNING: Educate yourself on value investing. Have an investment principle. Consider a stop-loss, especially if you’re new to investing.&nbsp;“Don’t go all in. Instead, build your investment position as you get better at investing.”Kanit Nimmalairat&nbsp;Guest profileKanit Nimmalairat or นายแว่นลงทุน (Nai-waen-long-thun/investment) is the owner of the YouTube channel and Facebook page นายแว่น ลงทุน - Naiwaen Investment with over 200,000 followers. He is also a full-time investor who is a master of investing in VI stocks and has various online courses on how to invest and gain financial freedom.Worst investment everWhen Kanit started investing, he made his worst investment ever when he went all-in on one commodity stock. The stock was selling at 34 baht, but the price plummeted to 7 baht. Needless to say, Kanit made a massive loss on that investment.Lessons learnedEducate yourself on value investing and have an investment principle before entering any investment.Don’t go all-in on a stock.Andrew’s takeawaysCommodities are very volatile, and only consider investing in them when you’re in an inflationary environment for that particular product or commodities in general.Never invest in commodities for long-term gain.Consider a stop-loss, especially if you’re new to investing.Actionable adviceBuild a valuable investment principle. Don’t go all in; instead, build your position as you get better at investing.No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsKanit’s goal for the next 12 months is to grow his investment portfolio and also increase his Facebook and YouTube followers.Parting words&nbsp;“You can build your financial independence by 2030.”Kanit Nimmalairat&nbsp;[spp-transcript]&nbsp;Connect with Kanit NimmalairatFacebookYouTubeAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid ThemTransform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 PointsAndrew’s online programsValuation Master Class<a...

BIO: Allan Dib is a serial entrepreneur, rebellious marketer, and #1 bestselling author.STORY: Allan lost a decade and thousands of dollars trying to figure out marketing for his business all by himself, yet he had no expertise in the field.LEARNING: Find experts to help you with the things you don’t have expertise in. You’re not always going to be the person to solve all your problems.&nbsp;“When we’ve got problems, we often try to figure out the how instead of the who.”Allan Dib&nbsp;Guest profileAllan Dib is a serial entrepreneur, rebellious marketer, and #1 bestselling author. His book The 1-Page Marketing Plan has been an international bestseller for the last four years. Allan helps businesses worldwide develop and improve their marketing capabilities using the 1-Page Marketing Plan (1PMP) framework. Download The 1-Page Marketing Plan Canvas for Free.Worst investment everWhen Allan started his IT business, he decided to try and figure out the marketing game. He had a very slow uptake because he had no idea how it was supposed to be done. Trying to figure it all out by himself cost Allan a decade in terms of time which is very expensive. Allan also spent thousands of dollars on trial and error. He could have shortcutted that process to maybe a year or six months had he got the right mentors, coaching, and people to walk him through the process.Lessons learnedWhen facing problems in your business, start by figuring out the who, not the how.Find experts to help you out with the things you don’t have expertise in.Andrew’s takeawaysAccept that you’re not going to be the one that’s going to solve every problem you face in your business.Actionable adviceIf you’ve got no budget, one thing that you can do immediately is to create a marketing plan. If you have a bit of funding, don’t try to figure it all out yourself. Hire someone to do it for you.No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsAllan’s goal for the next 12 months is to get his next book out and launch a podcast.Parting words&nbsp;“Get better at marketing because the best marketer wins every time.”Allan Dib&nbsp;[spp-transcript]&nbsp;Connect with Allan DibLinkedInFacebookInstagramYouTubeWebsitePodcastBookAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst

BIO: Nidhi Mohan Kamal is the director of NidSun Wellness, a chain of weight loss clinics with branches in Delhi and two other cities in India.STORY: Nidhi’s worst investment ever was looking for superficial qualities in the people she got into relationships with. This left her with a string of failed relationships until she figured out the fundamental qualities she needed to focus on.LEARNING: Look for fulfillment inward, not from other people. Be assertive with your truth.&nbsp;“Have intentional love for yourself.”Nidhi Mohan Kamal&nbsp;Guest profileNidhi Mohan Kamal is the director of NidSun Wellness, a chain of weight loss clinics with branches in Delhi and two other cities in India.She’s a Food Scientist with a Food and Chemical engineering degree and a specialization in nutrition and sports-specific nutrition. She is also a Certified Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga Trainer. And a certified Strength Fitness trainer with a specialization in Rehab and Resistance.You can find her writing and videos on blogs about food, fitness, and nutrition. She’s the brand ambassador of Puma Do You in India and was part of the Guinness World Record plank.Worst investment everNidhi’s worst investment was in the type of relationships she got in. Whenever she was picking a partner, she’d look at surface qualities that were relatively superficial such as hobbies and interests.Years later, Nidhi realized that she was delusional about what she thought she needed from relationships. She didn’t consider essential things such as consistency, kindness, gratitude, a willingness to stick around, etc.Lessons learnedNever look for fulfillment from other people; it has to come inwardly, from you.Fill yourself up with love, affection, and compassion first so that you can give the same to your partner.Be assertive with your truth.Always ask yourself if your intention of going into a relationship is good or are you coming from a place of ego and selfishness.Andrew’s takeawaysStay true to your mandate.Physical health and happiness depend significantly on your outer and inner journey.Actionable adviceSlow is fast. Take relationships slowly, and always remember that love is intentional. It’s not about the spark or what you felt the first day. It’s about the bigger things in life. Can they invest in you consistently and let the compounding work for them?No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsNidhi’s goal for the next 12 months is to find balance after a few roller coaster years.Parting words&nbsp;“Invest in yourself, your knowledge, spirituality, and health. The biggest investment you will make in your life is not your bank account. It’s you.”Nidhi Mohan Kamal&nbsp;[spp-transcript]&nbsp;Connect with Nidhi Mohan KamalLinkedInInstagramWebsiteAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth...

BIO: Brett King is an Amazon bestselling author, a renowned commentator, and a globally respected speaker on the future of business.STORY: Brett got into a partnership offering a five-day executive program in Dubai. The business was doing well until the global financial crisis hit in 2008. His business partner took over the company, but he had no experience in training, so it died in just a few months.LEARNING: Have an advisory board for conflict resolution. Have an exit plan. Always have a shareholders’ agreement.&nbsp;“Sometimes, the best thing you can do is to walk away.”Brett King&nbsp;Guest profileBrett King is an Amazon bestselling author, a renowned commentator, and a globally respected speaker on the future of business. He has spoken in over 40 countries, to half a million people, on how technology is disrupting business, changing behavior, and influencing society.Worst investment everBrett was teaching MBA in Hong Kong in 1999, and he got in touch with this gentleman running a trade association in the US for E-commerce specialists. The qualification he issued was the certified e-commerce consultant. He also ran a trade association or professional association for finance, and the certificate he issued was very successful when attached to the MBA program.Brett started a mini MBA five-day executive program called the American Academy of financial management in Dubai. The program exploded within a few years, and the business was doing 3 to 4 million dollars a year in revenue. Brett relocated his family to Dubai and set up the international operation of this business in the free zone. But, to some extent, he ran the business in Dubai quite separately from the US business. But he had a contractual relationship with the US business as a licensed training organization. Within a couple of years of being in Dubai, Brett’s business represented about 95% of the total revenue of this new professional association.Then the global financial crisis of 2008/2009 hit. His business partner in the trade association in the US got into financial trouble and decided that he would take over the operation in Dubai. He sent out legal notices to all the companies Brett was working with, notifying them they could only buy their certificates directly from him and not Brett. The partner didn’t understand the business, and when he took over, the company collapsed overnight.Brett had put almost 10 years of his life into that business. Based on Brett’s trajectory, if the company had survived the financial crisis, it would be a $300 million business today.Lessons learnedIf you’re going to work with someone in a business, make sure that you’re both on the same page in terms of the business strategy.Think about the divorce implications for a business. Also, if you decide to exit the company, have clear guidelines on what happens to the IP, how you deal with the employees and other elements as part of the business’s closure or evolution.Use an advisory board to help deal with disputes between the partners.Andrew’s takeawaysHave a trusted intermediary in your business partnership.Always have a shareholders’ agreement before the partners start working together.Actionable adviceGet an excellent structural contract lawyer to help you put together the shareholders’ agreement and those initial structural elements of the business. Also, prepare yourself for the event that the company may not work, and you need to walk away from it.No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsBrett’s goal for the...

BIO: Mohan Belani is the Co-founder and CEO of e27, a startup and tech ecosystem platform focused on helping startup founders build and grow their companies.STORY: Between 2013 to 2015, Mohan was mentally and emotionally satisfied with the status quo and never invested in himself, his capabilities, and his mindset to go to the next level.LEARNING: Don’t avoid failure. Just learn to deal with it and handle it better.&nbsp;“The true currency of life is time.”Mohan Belani&nbsp;Guest profileMohan Belani is the Co-founder and CEO of e27, a startup and tech ecosystem platform focused on helping startup founders build and grow their companies. He believes that startups can make the world a better place, and in order for Southeast Asia’s tech ecosystem to be relevant, it needs to be driven by sustainable and impactful companies solving problems at scale. He’s invested in over 25 early-stage funds and startups across APAC and US and enjoys working with founders and helping them alleviate the challenges of building great companies, specifically around the areas of talent, funding, and market access.Worst investment everMohan’s worst investment ever was not evolving his psyche and mental state in a manner that would allow him to go forward, grow, and be where he needed to be. Between 2013 to 2015, Mohan was mentally and emotionally satisfied with the status quo and never invested in himself, his capabilities, and his mindset to go to the next level.Lessons learnedSurround yourself with the right people who can help you grow to the next level.Sometimes you need a bit of a jolt and external feedback to get you moving.If you want to remain relevant and continue to grow, you need to adapt and evolve constantly.It’s one thing to desire to change or do something positive, but it’s another to build the systems and processes to support that.Andrew’s takeawaysTake care of yourself and be aware of what’s going on with your ego and your drive.Actionable adviceSometimes you have to go through the downs to appreciate the ups. Don’t avoid failure. Just learn to deal with it and handle it better. If you fail, it’s better that it happens quicker, and you realize it faster, and then figure a way out around it.No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsMohan’s goal for the next 12 months is to start doing new things to change the dynamic of his company and push it forward.Parting words&nbsp;“The faster you realize that time is the ultimate currency and everyone has the same amount, the better quality of life you’ll lead.”Mohan Belani&nbsp;[spp-transcript]&nbsp;Connect with Mohan BelaniLinkedInWebsiteAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid...

BIO: Mariah Edgington BSN, RN is a retired critical care nurse who integrated holistic practices into her practice. Byron Edgington ATP, CRMI is retired military and commercial helicopter pilot, Vietnam veteran, award-winning author, speaker, and contributor.STORY: Byron lost his pilot job in Kauai due to a minor medical difficulty. This brought the couple’s dream life on the island to an end. Desperate and lost, Byron invested blindly into real estate and made no money. He didn’t know that he’d have benefitted from disability insurance had he claimed it.LEARNING: Don’t make decisions when you’re at your lowest point. Seek help from people you trust.&nbsp;“Seeking a community that can help you is by far the best thing you can do for yourself.”Mariah &amp; Byron Edgington&nbsp;Guest profileMariah Edgington BSN, RN is a retired critical care nurse who integrated holistic practices into her practice. Mariah found these tools so effective that after retirement, she integrated them into a mindset coaching practice. She is a soon-to-be New Your Times Best Selling author, speaker, and contributor to BizCatalyst360.Byron Edgington ATP, CRMI is a retired military and commercial helicopter pilot, Vietnam veteran, award-winning author, speaker, and contributor to BizCatalyst360, and TravelAwaits Magazine.Mariah and Byron co-authored the first in a series of books, Journey Well, You Are More Than Enough: (Re)Discover Your Passion, Purpose, &amp; Love of Yourself &amp; Life. Their book, guidebook, and online course will be available will be soon.Worst investment everByron and Mariah lived on the island of Kauai, where Byron worked as a nurse while flying tourists around the island all day long. The couple loved everything about living in this piece of heaven. Their life in paradise was short-lived. Byron lost his clearance to fly because he couldn’t get medical approval because of some minor medical difficulty.Byron and Mariah were devastated. They packed their bags and left Kauai. Lost in the unfortunate turn of events, Byron forgot to follow up on disability insurance. His only concern was to move forward. In the process, Byron took the first way out he came across. He went into real estate because somebody suggested it. Byron put a lot of money into real estate, and it didn’t go well. Within a year or two, Byron was out of real estate without making anything out of the investment.Lessons learnedWhenever you’re feeling lost, don’t do anything for a while until you have a better idea of who you are, what you’ve lost, and what you would like to do going forward.Join mastermind groups with people who can help expand your thought.Andrew’s takeawaysBe aware of what’s going on in your life and what’s available to you. Don’t be afraid to take benefit of what’s available to you.When you’re struggling with an issue, one of the best solutions is to talk to people you trust about it.Actionable adviceWait and seek help.No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsMariah &amp; Byron’s goal for the next 12 months is to publish their book <a href="https://www.mariahedgington.com/"...

BIO: Alistair Croll is an entrepreneur, author, and conference organizer. His book Lean Analytics has been translated into eight languages and is considered mandatory reading for startup founders.STORY: Alistair needed to raise capital for his startup. He received a series A investment of $20 million and gave up 50% equity in his company.LEARNING: Don’t scale prematurely. Capture your market’s attention first.&nbsp;“Risk is a necessary component of progress.”Alistair Croll&nbsp;Guest profileAlistair Croll is an entrepreneur, author, and conference organizer. His book Lean Analytics has been translated into eight languages and is considered mandatory reading for startup founders. He helped create the Data Science and Critical Thinking course at Harvard Business School and founded web performance pioneer Coradiant. He’s chaired some of the world’s leading tech events, including Strata and Cloud Connect, and is the co-founder of Forward50, the world’s biggest conference on digital government. He’s joining us from Montreal, Canada, where he’s hard at work on a new book Just Evil Enough, a still-stealthy mobile startup called Stroll, and launching the 2022 edition of Startupfest, Canada’s original startup conference.Worst investment everAlistair started a startup in the business of running websites for people. So instead of having to buy dedicated hardware, web server, firewall, and so on to run your website, the company could have that stuff and let customers use a slice of it.The company got a Series A investment of $20 million. In return, Alistair and his partners gave up half of the company. Alistair didn’t anticipate that this trend he’d foreseen was just the start of a much longer trend that led to modern-day cloud computing.Alistair’s worst investment ever was receiving funding and giving up 50% equity in the company long before he had adequately understood the trend he was capitalizing on.Lessons learnedDon’t scale prematurely. Capture your market’s attention first.When pitching an idea, always ask yourself if you can change the behavior of a lucrative target market sustainably.Andrew’s takeawaysYour startup is not successful until you can sustainably keep people’s attention and focus on what you’re doing.Actionable adviceDe-risk the highest and most uncertain thing first.No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsAlistair’s goal for the next 12 months is to market his new book Just Evil Enough.Parting words&nbsp;“We move the world forward by taking risks. So figure out what risks are worth it and then plunge headlong into them and don’t pull your punches.”Alistair Croll&nbsp;[spp-transcript]&nbsp;Connect with Alistair CrollLinkedInTwitterWebsite<a...

BIO: Ash Maurya is the author of two bestselling books, “Running Lean” and “Scaling Lean,” and is also the creator of the top-rated one-page business modeling tool “Lean Canvas.”STORY: Ash had this social networking idea that he thought was unique, so he kept it to himself as he built on it. He never tested the market until he launched, and the network was a flop. Ash kept building the network in isolation until seven years later when he realized he was supposed to be building a customer base, not the perfect product.LEARNING: Take at least 90 days to test a new idea before launching it. You need customers for your business to survive.&nbsp;“You can actually sell before you build.”Ash Maurya&nbsp;Guest profileAsh Maurya is the author of two bestselling books, “Running Lean” and “Scaling Lean,” and is also the creator of the top-rated one-page business modeling tool “Lean Canvas.”Ash is praised for offering some of the best and most practical advice for entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs worldwide. Driven by the search for better and faster ways for building successful products, Ash has developed a continuous innovation framework that synthesizes concepts from Lean Startup, business model design, jobs-to-be-done, and design thinking.Ash is also a leading business blogger, and his posts and advice have been featured in Inc. Magazine, Forbes, and Fortune. He regularly hosts sold-out workshops worldwide and serves as a mentor to several accelerators, including TechStars, MaRS, Capital Factory, and guest lecturers at several universities, including MIT, Harvard, and UT Austin. Ash serves on the advisory board of several startups and has consulted with new and established companies.Worst investment everIn 2011, Ash came up with a social networking idea that he believed was so good that he couldn’t tell anyone. The friends he told, he swore them into secrecy. They all convinced him that this would be a perfect idea.Ash took all the money he had, got a small team together, and spent a year building the network. He never talked to anyone about his idea during the building period. Nine months into that journey, he heard about Friendster, the first social network launched. Someone had beat him to it. However, Ash was still convinced his idea was unique, so he continued to build on it.Ash finally launched his network and spent another year trying to get everything right, but it didn’t work. Then he took a hard pivot and had a lucky break when another company that liked the technology he was using licensed it for a little while. But it was still not Ash’s big outcome story. His co-founders lost interest in the network and walked away. Ash kept plugging along and bootstrapped until the five-year mark, building his product.After about seven years, Ash realized that he had been looking at all his ideas from the inside out. He concentrated on building a product for himself instead of creating a customer base first.Lessons learnedWhen building a business, focus more on purpose and meaning. Ask yourself if you’re creating what the customers needs.Give yourself 90 days to test the market and demonstrate traction if you have a new idea.If your customers aren’t paying attention to your idea, building a product will not make a difference.Andrew’s takeawaysTo turn great...

BIO: Edward Zia is a Marketing Mentor, Certified Practicing Marketer (CPM), and International Master Coach. He has mentored thousands of winners globally to help them get more clients, win top positions and become leading personal brands.STORY: When Edward left the army, he immersed himself in his job. He put his employer ahead of himself. This left him stressed and burnt out, and he made poor decisions that left him homeless.LEARNING: Question everything you hear, don’t just go on autopilot. When faced with problems, don’t just sit there and hope it will get better; do something about it.&nbsp;“Be a critical thinker and question what you hear. Don’t believe what people or the media tell you.”Edward Zia&nbsp;Guest profileEdward Zia is a Marketing Mentor, Certified Practicing Marketer (CPM), and International Master Coach and has mentored thousands of winners globally to help them get more clients, win top positions and become leading personal brands.As Master Grade Coach, Edward has exceeded the 10,000+ Personal Coaching hours threshold, making him a leader in his field. He’s helped individuals generate millions and millions of dollars and loves it so much.He’s a proud veteran who started in the Australian army as a Combat Engineer and was honored to be invited to work in the Federal Government on Drug Enforcement &amp; Organised Crime taskforces.Today, Edward works with his clients and works directly with key organizations such as Microsoft, Teachable, Meetup, LinkedIn, Business Australia, the Australian Government, and more to get the latest knowledge and support great people.Worst investment everWhen Edward started working after leaving the army, he would work night and day, seven days a week. He’d often work through lunch. He suffered from stress and burnout and made a series of bad decisions that left him a homeless veteran.Lessons learnedQuestion everything you hear, don’t just go on autopilot.Push back when situations aren’t going your way. Don’t just sit there and hope it will get better, do something about it.Get some help. Whatever the problem you’re facing, find an expert who understands that problem well to help you out.Andrew’s takeawaysThere are forces of good and evil behind everything. Just look for it.Think for yourself and then make your conclusions.Actionable adviceStop for a moment and think about what you’re doing and where you’re going.No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsEdward’s goal for the next 12 months is to upscale what he has instead of doing new stuff.Parting words&nbsp;“Even Elon Musk was homeless. Just remember that.”Edward Zia&nbsp;[spp-transcript]&nbsp;Connect with Edward ZiaLinkedInTwitterFacebookBookAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in...

BIO: Izabela Lundberg is a people champion who transforms organizations, their teams, and their talents and turns them into high performers.STORY: In 2019, Izabela invested her money and time into film production. She was sure this would be the project that would allow her to retire early. Unfortunately, the pandemic hit in 2020 and shut down everything. Izabela’s investment went down the drain.LEARNING: Difficult moments are temporary. You can survive any trauma.&nbsp;“You’re going to be okay. You’re much stronger and more capable than you give yourself credit.”Izabela Lundberg&nbsp;Guest profileIzabela Lundberg is a people champion who transforms organizations, their teams, and their talents and turns them into high performers.Izabela established Legacy Leaders Institute, a premier platform developed for Executive and Organizational Advisory, Consulting, and Training through a ‘High-Performance Impact Method’ framework comprised of extensive research, data, and analytics of human dynamics and behaviors in business and sports.She has a dynamic worldview after living in six countries, speaking six languages, and traveling to over 50 countries while working with diverse teams from over 120 countries. Izabela is a recognized catalyst of sustainable solutions for global leaders and their most pressing challenges.Listen to her Legacy Leaders Show, a top-rated global business and entrepreneurship podcast offering real and raw business, sport, and life lessons with practical advice for current and upcoming leaders.Worst investment everIn 2019, Izabela converted full-time attention to becoming an executive producer and producer. She invested in film and film production and started working on a film. According to her projections, this was going to be a moneymaker project.Come 2020, the pandemic shut off the entire world. Izabela’s project came to a halt. All the finance, profit margin, and risk projections went down the drain in a split second. What was supposed to be the opportunity to enable her to retire early became her worst investment ever.Lessons learnedWhen going through moments of devastation, it’s essential to take those moments one day at a time and stay calm and grounded so that you don’t make haste decisions or overreact.Even when things look so bleak, and you feel like you have no point of return, know that it will all change with time. Your situation will start getting smaller and smaller, and eventually, you’ll put it behind you.Andrew’s takeawaysYou can survive any trauma. Just tap into your inner strength to pull yourself back.Timing is crucial in business.Actionable adviceFace what happened with honesty, examine it from different angles, and learn from it. Ask yourself what you can do differently. Did you do the best you could with what you knew or made a hasty decision?No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsIzabela’s goal for the next 12 months is to continue serving and give her talents and skills back into her documentary and film production journey.Parting words&nbsp;“Consider every failure or loss as a stepping stone to your success. Failure and loss will help you build the tremendous human being you’re meant to be.”<blockquote...

BIO: Martyn Terpilowski has spent over 20 years in Asia, where he lived for the majority in Tokyo and Hong Kong and was working in finance.STORY: Martyn wanted to buy a property in London, but since he was living in Singapore, he decided to get a loan from a Singaporean bank. The mistake he made was taking the loan in Swiss francs. He ended up losing over 1.5 million pounds to the bank.LEARNING: Don’t be greedy when investing. Always do your due diligence.&nbsp;“Don’t mix property investments with currency investments.”Martyn Terpilowski&nbsp;Guest profileMartyn Terpilowski has spent over 20 years in Asia, where he lived for the majority in Tokyo and Hong Kong and was working in finance. In 2018 he moved to Indonesia and was the Angel Investor and Founder of technology company Bhumi Varta Technology (BVT). The company now has over 150 staff and is growing rapidly. They provide location analytics and big data platform to help large international and local companies make better data-driven decisions. BVT will be one of the leading deep tech companies in Southeast Asia in the next 3 years, with plans to launch a successful IPO.Worst investment everMartyn made the mistake of taking a mixed currency loan on a property he wanted to invest in. The property was in London, and at the time, he was living in Singapore. Martyn took a 3 million pounds loan through a bank in Singapore.To save himself some interest and earn some extra, he decided to borrow the money in Swiss francs. At the time, this seemed like a safe bet. Then, along came the financial crisis in 2008 and the Swiss franc strengthened against the Sterling by 50%. Martyn lost about 1.5 million pounds to the bank.Lessons learnedDon’t be greedy when investing.Always do your due diligence.Andrew’s takeawaysUnderstand where you’re investing, where you’re speculating, and where you’re hedging your position.Consider investing in a natural hedge where your assets match your liabilities in that currency.Actionable adviceDon’t mix low-risk property investments with high-risk currency investments.No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsMark’s goal for the next 12 months is to continue growing his company’s revenue.Parting words&nbsp;“Just be careful. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is and certainly needs proper evaluation.”Martyn Terpilowski&nbsp;&nbsp;[spp-transcript]&nbsp;Connect with Mark McNallyLinkedInInstagramYouTubeWebsiteAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever<a...

BIO: Mark McNally is a serial entrepreneur with broad experience scaling companies from startups to multinational establishments. A passionate product and marketing strategist, Mark is one of the original innovators in the e-commerce space, rapidly expanding online buying internationally since the ’90s.STORY: Mark lost almost his entire net worth when a startup he had invested in his mid-twenties experienced a 94% stock price drop.LEARNING: Don’t confuse a person’s financial scorecard for who they are as a human being. Trust only happens over time as you see people’s reactions to serious adverse events.&nbsp;“Upside return is only realized investment if you take money off the table.”Mark McNally&nbsp;Guest profileMark McNally is a serial entrepreneur with broad experience scaling companies from startups to multinational establishments. A passionate product and marketing strategist, Mark is one of the original innovators in the e-commerce space, rapidly expanding online buying internationally since the ’90s.Mark’s journey has crossed 14 startups that have raised over $300 million and have seen over $5 billion in exits. These startups pioneered their days from machine learning and e-commerce to healthcare and consumer products.He continues in that spirit as the Founder and Chief Nobody at Nobody Studios, founded in 2020.Worst investment everMark got involved in his first startup when he came out of the military. A couple of guys had this idea that they could connect buyers and suppliers on this new thing called the internet. This was back in 1996. Mark was in the upper five executives of the company when it went public on the NASDAQ in 1999.The startup got to almost a $5 billion market cap, and Mark was living his dreams. A couple of years later, the market corrected itself, and the company’s stock fell 94%. Mark lost almost his entire net worth, which was at eight figures.Lessons learnedBe very careful of dealing with manipulative type personalities.Don’t confuse a person’s financial scorecard for who they are as a human being.The sky is the limit if you get the why and the execution right.Andrew’s takeawaysTrust only happens over time as you see people’s reactions to serious adverse events.Don’t think that the people behind the scenes are wise guys thinking things through. They’re going on a roller coaster ride and often believe that they’re doing the right thing by bringing you along.Actionable adviceWhen running a business, put rules in place to take the emotions out of it as much as possible.No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsMark’s goal for the next 12 months is to continue building his core team and getting funding to launch 15 companies.&nbsp;[spp-transcript]&nbsp;Connect with Mark McNallyLinkedInFacebookTwitterYouTubeWebsiteAndrew’s...

BIO: International Radio and TV host, bestselling co-author, author, speaker, and visionary Toni Lontis quietly entered the entrepreneurial world in 2019, post-publication of her memoir, Resilience, about her healing and self-discovery journey from dysfunction and trauma to helping heal others through her words.STORY: Toni was born with a preauricular sinus, and she let this condition hold her back for years. She regrets waiting until she was in her 50s to start investing in herself.LEARNING: Start investing in yourself now. Overcome fear through little consistent actions.&nbsp;“Embrace who you are because you are uniquely you with your own sets of dreams, values, and inspirations.”Toni Lontis&nbsp;Guest profileInternational Radio and TV host, bestselling co-author, author, speaker, and visionary Toni Lontis quietly entered the entrepreneurial world in 2019, post-publication of her memoir, Resilience, about her healing and self-discovery journey from dysfunction and trauma to helping heal others through her words.A “chance” conversation led to a meeting with an American Media company, and Radio Toni was born. Toni now has multiple live streaming TV shows and a series of co-hosted business shows on different platforms based in the US and broadcasting to the world.2022 sees her launching Everyday Women’s Network (Netflix for women), a global TV network led by women, for women everywhere.Worst investment everToni was born with a preauricular sinus, a congenital facial defect, and after the three surgeries, she was left with left-sided facial palsy. So in her younger life, she couldn’t smile, eat properly, or close her mouth correctly.Toni carried the shame of this defect until much later in life. She never invested in herself, her growth, or her healing until midlife. For Toni, her worst investment was waiting until her 50s to discover who she was and what she had to offer the world.Lessons learnedLearn to support yourself in terms of your emotional needs and believe in yourself.You can do and create anything that you set your mind to.Learn that you are a unique creative being, and you’ll do amazing, phenomenal, and immense things across your life.Fear is only a thought and a feeling. It’s not an actual thing and only takes root if we allow it to.Andrew’s takeawaysOvercome fear through little consistent actions.Start now, start today.Don’t compare your insides to other people’s outsides.Actionable adviceBelieve in yourself even when no one else believes in you or feels like you don’t have support. You’re a unique and valuable human being who has been given extraordinary dreams, values, and thoughts. So start believing in yourself and keep going one step at a time, even when in the depths of the worst, darkest, most horrible period of your life.No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsToni’s goal for the next 12 months is to launch Everyday Women’s Network, which will be a network for women and the men that support them. Underneath the network will be fantastic channels filled with information that will inspire and empower, educate and help its audiences. She also hopes to have 25,000 subscribers on the network by the end of...

BIO: Barry O’Reilly is an entrepreneur, business advisor, and author who has pioneered the intersection of business model innovation, product development, organizational design, and culture transformation.STORY: One of Barry’s oldest friends sent him a video about investing in Ethereum. He watched the video but didn’t understand it, so he didn’t invest. The investment turned out to be a success, and Barry missed out on the opportunity.LEARNING: Trust your curiosity, especially in venture building. Don’t focus too much on that missed opportunity. Learn from it.&nbsp;“Keep improving your system. Identify the things that went the way you hoped and mitigate the ones that didn’t.”&nbsp;Guest profileBarry O’Reilly is an entrepreneur, business advisor, and author who has pioneered the intersection of business model innovation, product development, organizational design, and culture transformation.Barry is the co-founder of Nobody Studios, a crowd-infused, high-velocity venture studio with the mission to create 100 compelling companies over the next 5 years.Barry is the author of two international bestsellers, Lean Enterprise and Unlearn.Worst investment everIn 2015, one of Barry’s oldest best friends sent him a video he was convinced he had to watch and was going to change his life. The video was of a young guy talking about an idea called Ethereum. This unique technology was going to transform the way people interact and transact.Barry watched the video seven times, and he didn’t get it every single time. So he didn’t invest. His friend invested and made millions from the investment.Lessons learnedTrust your curiosity, especially in venture building.Take small steps to get started and learn your way through new ideas.Be very conscious about how you invest your energy, capacity, and focus.Andrew’s takeawaysDon’t focus too much on that missed opportunity. Learn from it.Start small and build up your investment portfolio as you gain more experience.When you’re investing in startups, invest in many, knowing that some of them will fail, some will succeed, but you’re going to learn from all of them.Actionable adviceKeep improving your system. Identify the things that went the way you hoped and mitigate those that didn’t.No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsBarry’s goal for the next 12 months is to be the first venture to ever offer equity crowdfunding.Parting words&nbsp;“Just keep up the great work Andrew.”Barry O’Reilly&nbsp;[spp-transcript]&nbsp;Connect with Barry O’ReillyLinkedInFacebookTwitterYouTubeBooks<a...

BIO: Dr. Panu Boonsombat is a personal branding professional and the owner of Dr. Oppa Facebook page, Instagram page, and TikTok account with almost 300,000 followers, 52 million views (without dancing or wearing a bikini), and over 3 million likes.STORY: Panu built an airport hotel with rental space despite elderly locals warning him that this location was not ideal for business. He is still struggling to make the retail space work over 10 years later.LEARNING: Listen to the wisdom of your elders.&nbsp;“That one little thing you don’t think it’s going to be a big deal could be the reason why things don’t go according to plan.”Panu Boonsombat&nbsp;Guest profileDr. Panu Boonsombat is a personal branding professional and the owner of Dr. Oppa Facebook page, Instagram page, and TikTok account with almost 300,000 followers, 52 million views (without dancing or wearing a bikini), and over 3 million likes.Worst investment everPanu purchased a piece of land in 2010 near the Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok, Thailand, and built a hotel with retail space for restaurants, cafes, and other social amenities for tourists using the airport.The people who were native to that particular area warned Panu that the zone was not lucrative for the kind of business he was trying to do. They told him they’d been here for about three generations already, and no hotel owner had succeeded there. Panu ignored their advice since they were not property experts.Once the premises opened shop, Panu noticed immediately that the foot traffic seemed to be a bit off. The hotel did okay, but the retail space couldn’t survive. He’s still having problems filling up the retail space.Lessons learnedListen to the elders; they have a lot of wisdom from their experiences.Don’t be overconfident in your investments.Andrew’s takeawaysStatistics is just one way of getting the information we need to decide; it’s not the only way.Actionable adviceSeek advice from neutral people who will direct you using facts and not emotions.No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsPanu’s goal for the next 12 months is to try to get to his hotel to full capacity.&nbsp;Connect with Panu BoonsombatLinkedInFacebookTikTokInstagramAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid ThemTransform Your Business with

BIO: Ashutosh Garg founded Guardian Pharmacy in India in 2003 and grew it to the second-largest pharmacy chain in India with over 200 stores. Now, he is a certified Business and Executive Coach and mentors several CEOs worldwide.STORY: Ashutosh invested in three investments at the height of the Dotcom boom. He didn’t do any research before investing and was just carried away by the hype at the time. All three investments went bust in 18 months.LEARNING: Don’t invest just because you have money. Reduce risks by understanding and learning from your mistakes.&nbsp;“Don’t be impulsive and make investments simply because you have money available to invest.”Ashutosh Garg&nbsp;Guest profileAshutosh Garg founded Guardian Pharmacy in India in 2003 and grew it to the second-largest pharmacy chain in India with over 200 stores. Now, he is a certified Business and Executive Coach and mentors several CEOs around the world on business matters, governance, strategic planning, succession planning, personal accountability, people and culture issues. He has also written 8 highly acclaimed bestsellers.Ashutosh in his new role as a storyteller hosts a very successful video and podcast titled “The Brand Called You”, bringing stories of successful entrepreneurs, professionals, and senior corporate leaders to thousands of listeners. He has interviewed over 1,000 people from around the World.Worst investment everIn 2000 when the Dotcom boom happened, Ashutosh was in senior management earning a pretty decent salary. It was also a time when get-rich-quick schemes were popular, and people were investing all over the world. Ashutosh would get messages from friends in Silicon Valley and New York about their investments, turning them into millionaires in just one month.At this point, Ashutosh’s greed was running way ahead of his logic. He decided to put money into three different investments; a retail company in the US, a software company in India, and a portal being developed in another part of the world. One of the investments made it to the Forbes list of best investments ever. Ashutosh was feeling very good about the investments. Over about 18 months, all three investments went under.Lessons learnedDon’t be impulsive and make investments simply because you have money available to invest.Be a little more discerning about where you want to invest.Don’t trust anybody blindly, especially with your investments.When you invest, make sure you’re involved somehow in that investment. At least make sure that you get weekly, fortnightly, monthly reports to keep you abreast of what is going on in that investment.When you make a mistake, don’t beat yourself up so much. Mistakes are normal. Learn from those mistakes and carry on.Andrew’s takeawaysThe best way to reduce risk is to understand and learn from your past mistakes.Common mistakes people make when investing:Failing to do their researchFailing to assess and manage risk properlyBeing driven by emotion or flawed thinkingMisplaced trustFailing to monitor their investmentInvesting in a startup companyActionable adviceOne, make sure you research your investment instrument. Two, talk to the startup founder and understand whether they have understood what the customer wants. Three, keep a close eye on the performance and funding

BIO: Nattaphol Vimolchalao is the Chief Executive Officer of Siam Rajathanee Public Company Limited, an outsourcing service.STORY: Nattaphol thought that hiring an executive from a world-class medical device company to run his startup was the way to make it succeed. However, though experienced, the executive had zero experience running a startup. The company went under within no time.LEARNING: You need more than experience to run a startup. Just because someone has experience managing a multinational company doesn’t mean they’ll be good at running a startup.&nbsp;“You may be successful in managing one type of business, but that doesn’t mean that you will be successful at managing another.”Nattaphol Vimolchalao&nbsp;Guest profileNattaphol Vimolchalao is the Chief Executive Officer of Siam Rajathanee Public Company Limited, an outsourcing service. The company started as an agricultural business and later expanded to outsourcing services. Now, it is the leading outsourcing service company in Thailand.Nattaphol has a Bachelor’s degree in Physics from the University of Manchester. He finished his Master’s degree in Technology Policy Micro and Nanotechnology Enterprise from the University of Cambridge.Worst investment everAfter university, Nattaphol started a medical device trading firm and invested 10 million baht. He didn’t have experience running a business, but he thought he would be able to make it because he went to one of the best schools in the world.Nattaphol did everything from marketing, sales, and even hiring the first employee who happened to be an executive from a world-class medical device company. The employee had never worked in a small startup, and the way she went about running Nattaphol’s business was wrong. She spent a lot of resources hiring unnecessary employees, not understanding that the startup didn’t have a substantial human resource budget as a big company would.Cash flow was a problem from the beginning, and because Nattaphol didn’t keep track of the finances, the business was out of money within no time.Lessons learnedManaging a startup, a midsized company, a listed company, or a multinational company is different. You may be successful in managing one type of business, but that doesn’t mean that you’ll succeed at managing another.Andrew’s takeawaysWhen setting up a business, be careful about partnering with people who have experience running a big company because they may not be suitable for running a startup.It would help if you had more than brains and expertise to succeed in business. It’s a combination of how you work with people, the products you choose, how you build out a sales team, etc.No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsNattaphol’s goal for the next 12 months is to scale his company’s technology divisions to have a sizable income.Parting words&nbsp;“Don’t give up. To be honest, like, my worst failure is the thing that drives me forward now.”Nattaphol Vimolchalao&nbsp;[spp-transcript]&nbsp;Connect with Nattaphol VimolchalaoLinkedIn<a href="https://www.siamrajathanee.com/th" rel="noopener noreferrer"...

BIO: Geoffrey Moore is an author, speaker, and advisor who splits his consulting time between start-up companies in the Wildcat Venture Partners portfolio and established high-tech enterprises.STORY: Geoffrey was a venture partner in an investment firm that decided to delve into computer storage. The company, against Geoffrey's advice, decided to expand the project but didn't have enough capacity to get the product to market.LEARNING: Think about a venture portfolio as an exercise in 10-year liquidity. Some things are better suited to incremental change.&nbsp;“Think realistically about time to liquidity instead of just thinking about dominating the market.”Geoffrey Moore&nbsp;Guest profileGeoffrey Moore is an author, speaker, and advisor who splits his consulting time between start-up companies in the Wildcat Venture Partners portfolio and established high-tech enterprises.Moore’s life’s work has focused on the market dynamics surrounding disruptive innovations. His first book, Crossing the Chasm, focuses on the challenges start-up companies face transitioning from early adoption to mainstream customers.Worst investment everIn 1998, an investment firm asked Geoffrey to join as a venture partner. To which he agrees. The venture then brought in an excellent professor from a prestigious technical university who had an idea about computer storage. Geoffrey and everyone else thought this was a brilliant idea. It turns out implementing the concept was a lot harder than anybody thought. There were just too many variables making it hard to turn the concept into an actual realizable product.But the team believed in the idea, and they pushed on and had early market success. Investors wanted to go big, but Geoffrey thought they should take it slow. They ignored his advice and even changed management and brought in a leading personal computer firm guy.Huge market risks marred the project expansion from the start. The company spent a lot of money on marketing and sales forces. The sales cycles would take forever. Eventually, the company gave up trying to market the product. They asked Geoffrey to help, but the product didn’t have enough differentiation to get it to the finish line.Lessons learnedThink about a venture portfolio as an exercise in 10-year liquidity.You can’t transition from a complex systems business model to a volume operations business model in either direction. These two models are radically different; you must never try to combine them.Get a team that is fit for the transition.If you’re going to be disruptive, you’re going to be on a timer, so make sure you establish your business before the present catches up to you.Andrew’s takeawaysSome things are better suited to incremental change.Ensure you have enough runway and resources for the venture to take off before the competitors do or before a solution comes out.Actionable adviceThink realistically about time to liquidity instead of just thinking about dominating the market.No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsGeoffrey’s goal for the next 12 months is to promote his new book, The Infinite Staircase.Parting words&nbsp;“Risk-adjusted returns is the key idea, not just returns.”<blockquote...

BIO: Brenda Bence is one of the world’s top executive leadership coaches and motivational keynote speakers.STORY: Brenda’s worst investment ever was pulling out of an investment to safeguard the funds she needed to fund her new business.LEARNING: Think long-term, even in the face of heightened risk. Don’t let emotions, primarily fear, impact your investment decisions. Diversify your portfolio.&nbsp;“Don’t let fear impact your investment decisions.”Brenda Bence&nbsp;Guest profileBrenda Bence is one of the world’s top executive leadership coaches and motivational keynote speakers. Recognized by both Thinkers50 and Global Gurus as an expert in her field, Brenda earned her MBA from Harvard Business School and authored 11 award-winning books on leadership, coaching, and branding.Brenda left the corporate world after a successful career managing megabrands for Fortune 100 companies. She is successfully running her own business out of offices in both Singapore and the US – an experience that has given her ample opportunity to make plenty of mistakes!Brenda’s latest book, The Forgotten Choice: Shift Your Inner Mindset, Shape Your Outer World, is available for sale. As a gift to listeners, Brenda has agreed to offer a complimentary copy of the Companion Guide to The Forgotten Choice – a workbook full of exercises to coach you through the book’s core topics and deepen your self-awareness. To receive your free fillable PDF copy of the Companion Guide, email a receipt of your purchase of The Forgotten Choice book to [email protected] investment everAfter 9/11, Brenda realized that she was not happy with her corporate job even though she was pulling in a very nice six-figure salary plus generous bonuses every single year. She told her husband she wanted to start her own company.Just months after starting the business, Brenda convinced her husband to get out of the market to safeguard the funds they needed to fund her new business. The couple went primarily into cash and sold over 90% of their equity investments. In 2003, the market went up 28%, and in 2004 it went over 10%. So the market was going up, but they didn’t get back into investing for about three years. Brenda and her husband lost all those growth opportunities.Lessons learnedYou have to think long-term, even in the face of heightened risk.Don’t let emotions, primarily fear, impact your investment decisions.Andrew’s takeawaysOne of the most complex parts of investing is adding to your investment at the bottom of the market because everything looks terrible.Think long-term and diversify your portfolio.Actionable adviceWatch how you’re thinking about things because we have self-limiting beliefs that drive just about everything we do.No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsBrenda’s goal for the next 12 months is to build more passive income through content that will add value.Parting words&nbsp;“Enjoy, have fun, and let go of fear.”Brenda Bence&nbsp;[spp-transcript]&nbsp;Connect with Brenda BenceLinkedIn<a...

BIO: Nik Kennett and his wife Allie are a US-based couple with a love of travel and adventure currently on a self-funded 6-month sabbatical through Europe and Asia.STORY: Nik stopped by a gas station in Croatia and assumed that a green handle on the fuel pump indicated diesel as it does in the US. This assumption made him put petrol in a diesel car. This rookie mistake almost cost them their well-planned 6-months long trip.LEARNING: Create space in your life to focus on what’s important. Always have travel insurance.&nbsp;“Create space in your life to focus on what’s important.”Nik Kennett&nbsp;Guest profileNik Kennett and his wife Allie are a US-based couple with a love of travel and adventure currently on a self-funded 6-month sabbatical through Europe and Asia. They attribute much of their success to financial planning and the accumulation of over 1.7 million credit card points and miles.Nik and Allie believe in the transformative power of travel and that an intentional sabbatical or gap year can be an incredible form of personal development and a great way to forge lasting bonds as a family or couple.That is why they have committed to documenting their journey and providing valuable tips and advice around how to plan and afford travel through ‘Away Together,’ their site, and YouTube channel.Worst investment everNik has made a few mistakes while he and his wife traveled through Europe and Asia while on a 6-month sabbatical. These mistakes have taught him a lot about traveling safely and smartly. One notable mistake was when traveling from Croatia to Italy. Before entering Italy, they needed some gas, so Nik stopped by a fuel station, grabbed the pump, and fueled their car. After driving off for a few meters, the car just suddenly stopped. It took him a while to realize the problem. He had put petrol in a diesel car.Nik had grabbed the fuel pump with a green handle at the gas station, assuming that the green handle indicated diesel as in the US. This rookie mistake set the couple back a lot of hours and money. It almost made them cancel their trip.Lessons learnedKeep a journal so you can document what you’re doing.Andrew’s takeawaysAlways buy travel insurance.Actionable adviceCreate space in your life to focus on what’s important.No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsNik’s goal for the next 12 months is to use their experience and adventure to help other people travel more and create bonds with their loved ones.Parting words&nbsp;“Think about what you want, write it down and work like crazy to make it happen.”Nik Kennett&nbsp;[spp-transcript]&nbsp;Connect with Nik KennettLinkedInFacebookInstagramYouTube<a href="https://awaytogether.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer"...

BIO: Richard Bliss is the founder of BlissPoint Consulting, a social media consulting company that helps improve executives’ online communications and sales teams’ social selling behaviors.STORY: Richard got a cash gift of $500,000 from his employer. After paying 50% tax, he spent the rest to pay his student loans bought a new car, a house, and some furniture. He regrets not investing what remained after paying his debts.LEARNING: Small, incremental investments over time are more important than large lump sums. Find ways to make money and then invest in the stock market to turn that money into wealth.&nbsp;“Focus on the consistent, timely, small, incremental steps to growing wealth rather than trying to go hit the home run.”Richard Bliss&nbsp;Guest profileRichard Bliss is the founder of BlissPoint Consulting, a social media consulting company that helps improve executives’ online communications and sales teams’ social selling behaviors.A LinkedIn Top Voices Influencer, experienced executive communications manager, and social media coach, Richard has helped thousands of people master social media tools and become fluent in social conversations, building their platforms and confidence to reach their audience and define their brand effectively.Worst investment everRichard was part of a company that had a huge windfall, and the owner of the company felt that he had made an enormous contribution. So he gifted Richard $500,000 cash as a thank you.Richard was left with $250,000 after paying 50% in taxes. He used the balance to pay off his debts and bought a new car, house, and furniture. Richard even bought furniture for some of his relatives. In about eight months, he had zero money in his bank account. Richard regrets having so much cash and not investing it.Lessons learnedSmall, incremental investments over time are more important than large lump sums.Focus on the consistent, timely, small, incremental steps to growing wealth and growing success, rather than trying to hit the home run.Andrew’s takeawaysDon’t invest in the stock market if you want to get rich. The stock market is where you grow your wealth.Focus on creating a cash flow machine and then use the stock market to grow it.Actionable adviceWhen a windfall comes in, pay off your debts and then take whatever’s left and invest it so that it’s not part of your living expenses.No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsRichard’s goal for the next 12 months is to double his company’s revenue again just like last year and continue this trajectory of growth.&nbsp;[spp-transcript]&nbsp;Connect with Richard BlissLinkedInFacebookWebsiteBookAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever<a...

BIO: David Segura is an accomplished entrepreneur and investor. He currently serves as the CEO of Glassbox Media. This podcast platform enables Podcast Hosts to grow their brand revenue and new listener base with direct investment and technology support.STORY: David invested in and joined a startup in New York. The company was growing fast, and after their Series A funding, they got convinced by the lead investor to expand to London and other international cities prematurely. The company could not sustain the growth.LEARNING: Be deliberate with your growth plans. Focus on quality growth that you can build on.&nbsp;“Be deliberate with your growth plans.”David Segura&nbsp;Guest profileDavid Segura is an accomplished entrepreneur and investor. He currently serves as the CEO of Glassbox Media. This podcast platform enables Podcast Hosts to grow their brand revenue and new listener base with direct investment and technology support.David previously founded Giant Media, serving as the CEO from launch through acquisition. The company was an early Video Advertising Exchange that included AMEX, L’Oreal, and Dollar Shave Club clients. David launched the company in 2009, and an AdTech roll-up acquired it in 2014.David is also an active startup investor with upwards of 60 investments.Worst investment everDavid got interested in a startup company based in New York and invested in 2017. He believed that the genesis of that business was terrific, and the founder was brilliant. The founder even convinced him to get on board as an investor and as the chief strategy officer.The company was doing well in New York, and they decided to expand to other cities. To do so, the company had to raise funds. They raised $12 million in their Series A, and the lead investor was British, and they wanted the company to devote a lot of that capital to expand into London as soon as possible. The data indicated that they should double, even triple down in New York and not expand internationally. David tried convincing the founder that expanding internationally was not a strategic decision and they should instead push back. But they didn’t. They just went with the flow and used a significant amount of the capital raised to expand internationally. Not just London, but other places as well. The fast growth was too much for the company, and it couldn’t handle the capacity.Lessons learnedBe deliberate with your growth plans. Sometimes it’s prudent to slow it down to be more sustainable.When investing in a startup, it’s ok not to know what you’re doing or be a little scared.Identify the problem holding your business back and solve it. If you keep ignoring the elephant in the room, you’ll regret it.Andrew’s takeawaysGrowth, in and of itself, is not everything; it’s got to be quality, growth that you can build on. The growth that goes beyond the capacity of the operations to deliver what you’re promising is not good.Whenever you’re expanding, locally or internationally, take the time to look at the risk and return.Actionable adviceWhether you’re the founder, an angel investor, or even a VC, continually evaluate what the company is doing. Be honest with the senior executives and yourself and figure out ways to minimize risk. A lot of times, that means just focusing and narrowing down.No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsDavid’s goal for the next 12 months is to grow Glassbox Media into a US household name

BIO: Andrew Henderson is a lifelong entrepreneur, world traveler, investor, and founder of Nomad Capitalist. He helps other investors and entrepreneurs create their nomad strategy, go offshore, keep more of their wealth, and enjoy an unprecedented level of global freedom.STORY: For Andrew, his worst investment ever was being born with US citizenship. He’s always felt that had he been born anywhere else, he’d have had an entirely different life. However, he kept staying because many people would call him a traitor and ridicule him whenever he wanted to exit that investment.LEARNING: Go where you’re treated best. You don’t have to keep your citizenship for the rest of your life.&nbsp;“There are 252 countries and territories in the world. The idea that yours is best at everything, let alone anything, is pretty egregious.”Andrew Henderson&nbsp;Guest profileAndrew Henderson is a lifelong entrepreneur, world traveler, investor, and founder of Nomad Capitalist. He helps other investors and entrepreneurs create their nomad strategy, go offshore, keep more of their wealth, and enjoy an unprecedented level of global freedom.Born and raised in the United States, Andrew left Arizona State University to start his own business. When his first business became successful, he started traveling a little. Within a few years, he began traveling at least half the time.He noticed that even though he was spending over six months outside of the US, he was still paying 43% in taxes! The money he wasn’t giving to the government or spending on travel, he reinvested into other businesses in the United States. But this meant, as those became profitable too, they cost a lot more in taxes.Andrew has spent over 12 years traveling to more than 100 countries, looking for and experimenting with the best places worldwide to employ offshore strategies and reduce your tax bill to nearly 0%. Andrew and his team dedicate their time to helping others get to this life of near-complete freedom.Worst investment everFor Andrew, his worst investment ever didn’t come with a choice – his US citizenship. He’s always felt that he’d have had an entirely different life had he been born anywhere else, say Canada. However, he kept staying because many people would call him a traitor and ridicule him whenever he wanted to exit that investment.But when Andrew realized that he was paying tremendous costs to be in the US, he eventually left and started his nomadic life.Lessons learnedGo where you’re treated best. Don’t hang around with a bad investment that’s not serving you just because there’s some dominance in that market.Build your infrastructure faster when you decide to be nomadic.Andrew’sAndrew’s takeawaysYour citizenship is an investment ultimately given to you at birth, but you don’t have to keep it for the rest of your life.Actionable adviceThere’s nothing wrong with lowering your taxes, and there are always options to get your taxes to zero. If you’re a risk-taker, you can take more risks, hire a lot more people, contribute a lot more, and give a lot back by lowering your taxes.No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsAndrew’s goal for the next 12 months is to build the vision for his team and build a bigger and stronger team of leaders.Parting word&nbsp;“Are you in every part of your life going where you’re treated best?”Andrew...

BIO: Mark was a columnist for Forbes for four years and is the author of the book SOCIALIZED!STORY: Mark started investing in real estate on the west coast of Florida when the market was up, but he didn’t heed to signs of a downturn and ended up making huge losses in 2008 when the financial crisis hit.LEARNING: Know your market and remember that the market doesn’t always go up. Make sure you apply the experience you acquire.&nbsp;“Group knowledge is power.”Mark Fidelman&nbsp;Guest profileMark Fidelman has been named a 2017 Top 20 influencer of CMOs by Forbes Magazine, a Top 25 Social Media Keynote Speaker by Inc Magazine, and a Huffington Post Top 50 Most Social CEO. Mark was a columnist for Forbes for four years and is the author of the book SOCIALIZED! He also hosts a popular marketing YouTube channel.Worst investment everIn 2005, US real estate was booming. A couple of states, California in particular, were increasing in value tremendously. So Mark decided that because California was too expensive, he’d try the west coast of Florida, in Naples, Tampa, or St. Petersburg. He started investing there, and his investments were doing well.The stroke of luck made Mark cocky, and he started thinking he was the greatest investor ever because no matter what he touched, it turned around, and he made a ton of money. And so, even with warning signs in 2007 that the market was going to change, Mark continued to plow ahead, thinking he’d figure out a way out of it. The market overturned in 2008, and Mark’s project turned into a loss.Lessons learnedKnow your market.Make sure your spouse or your business partners are on board with your investment idea.If you’re going into investments in real estate, join a real estate mastermind group.Andrew’s takeawaysRemember that the market doesn’t always go up.Experience is valuable, so as you gather that it, make sure you’re applying it.You don’t get rewarded for not knowing the macro.Actionable adviceGather an advisory board made up of a group of people that know the particular field you want to invest in. Gather all the input from this board and then make a decision.No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsMark’s goal for the next 12 months is to prepare for a high inflationary environment.Parting words&nbsp;“Be vigilant, overanalyze things, take risks, but make sure you mitigate those risks as best you can.”Mark Fidelman&nbsp;[spp-transcript]&nbsp;Connect with Mark FidelmanLinkedInTwitterYouTubeAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever<a href="https://amzn.to/3v6ip1Y"...

BIO: Mabel Nuñez is the founder and Chief Education Officer at Girl$ on The Money, a stock market investing education company targeted to women, minorities, and individuals underrepresented in the world of investing.STORY: Mabel spent so much money and time taking an MBA that didn’t materialize to anything. Her biggest mistake was never building connections while studying.LEARNING: Make connections in your field as you study. Join career associations to make connections in your area.&nbsp;“Use your time as a student to make connections in that field.”Mabel Nuñez&nbsp;Guest profileMabel Nuñez is the founder and Chief Education Officer at Girl$ on The Money, a stock market investing education company targeted to women, minorities, and individuals underrepresented in the world of investing.Mabel teaches highly rated courses centered on stock market investing and is the author of two best-selling books. Through all of her resources and social media, she shares what she has learned (and continues to learn) since starting her investing journey back in 2008. Mabels holds both a Bachelor of Science and an MBA in Finance. However, most of what she’s learned about investing came from experience.Mabel is currently offering an online course Ready, Set, Invest workshop and has extended a 20% discount to all My Worst Investment Ever podcast listeners. Use Code: Abundance2021 to enjoy the discount.Worst investment everWhen Mabel turned 26, she decided to start pursuing an MBA. She took the GMAT and did horribly. Mabel paid for this expensive course to teach her how to master the GMAT, which didn’t help. However, she finally got into an excellent MBA school in New York City.Mabel was excited about getting the MBA because she believed it was her ticket to getting a fancy job on Wall Street. Little did she know that all that sacrifice of going to school part-time and working full time for four and a half years wouldn’t yield her much.After Mabel graduated with a degree, she realized that she had done nothing else but go to school throughout those four and a half years. She wasn’t making connections with people in the field where she wanted to work, and that’s probably why she was never able to build a career on Wall Street despite her expensive MBA.Lessons learnedIf you want to work in the field you are studying in, take your time as a student to make connections in that field.Andrew’s takeawaysConsider joining the associations in your career field to build connections and relationships.Actionable adviceFind a mentor or someone on the same career path as you or more experienced. Don’t just blindly listen to people that don’t know what they’re talking about. Find someone who understands your journey and can give you some valuable advice because the right mentor could save you a lot of time and money.No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsMabel’s goal for the next 12 months is to use social media more to make a stronger connection with her audience. She also hopes to finish translating her first book into Spanish.Parting words&nbsp;“Take risks because that’s how you get ahead in life but just make sure they are calculated risks.”Mabel...

BIO: Henry Eisenstein is a residential and commercial real estate agent and a real estate investor. He has personally sold and been a part of over $120 million worth of real estate transactions.STORY: Henry blindly hired a contractor referred to him by a friend. The contractor was so bad at his job and a project that should have lasted eight weeks took six months. Instead of costing $35,000, Henry spent nearly $60,000.LEARNING: Don’t hire a professional without references. Have good contracts in place that clearly outline milestones and timelines.&nbsp;“Referrals are the easiest sales pitches in the world.”Henry Eisenstein&nbsp;Guest profileHenry Eisenstein is a residential and commercial real estate agent and investor. He has personally sold and been a part of over $120 million worth of real estate transactions.This success comes despite being a two-time college dropout and suffering from suicidal thoughts and depression from age 8 to 18.Henry inspires others through his speeches on entrepreneurship, sales, mindset, and business at colleges and charity organizations around the US.Henry has a coaching program called The Ultimate Real Estate Accelerator. The 12-month program helps realtors create a $1m net worth and design a lifestyle they desire. The regular price is $2,997 but will be $997 for My Worst Investment Ever podcast listeners! DM Henry “STOTZ” on Instagram @henryeisenstein, and he will get you set up!Worst investment everHenry wanted to buy his first investment property as a primary residence using an FHA loan. The property was a four-bedroom family property. He searched for a contractor, and a friend referred one to him. Henry blindly trusted the friend. Everything seemed great.What should have been a&nbsp; 6-8 weeks project turned into a six-month project. Initially, the project was a $35,000 job, but it turned into a nearly $60,000 experience. By the end of it, about 70% of the work was done six months later, and Henry had to fire the contractor before he completed the project because he was still asking for more money, and he was doing nothing.Lessons learnedDo your due diligence up front before you hire anyone.Get 2-4 recommendations at the very least when hiring any professional.Don’t hire a professional without references.Andrew’s takeawaysHave good contracts in place that clearly outline milestones and timelines.Actionable adviceBefore you sign anything with anybody, make sure you get multiple references and see proof of their work.No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsHenry’s goal for the next 12 months is to buy 100 units in his investment company.Parting words&nbsp;“Don’t hesitate to reach out to the incredible mentors out there. We’re one message away from helping you out.”Henry Eisenstein&nbsp;[spp-transcript]&nbsp;Connect with Henry EisensteinLinkedInYouTube<a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/5HBbis0yc6mOmZrXRp2jUn?si=TSzhIjGIQ1OtDiJDZi38kQ&amp;nd=1" rel="noopener noreferrer"...

BIO: Dr. Siravich Wongpanich is a founder of the Money Clinic, a Thai Facebook page about trend-following trading. He is a doctor and a trader in the stock market, cryptocurrencies, and futures.STORY: Siravich invested in cryptocurrencies without research or a risk management plan. He lost 1/5th of his investment.LEARNING: Be careful dealing with futures. Find your sweet spot and try to operate within that sweet spot.&nbsp;“Have an investment plan and follow it.”Siravich Wongpanich&nbsp;Guest profileDr. Siravich Wongpanich is a founder of the Money Clinic, a Thai Facebook page about trend-following trading. He is a doctor and a trader in the stock market, cryptocurrencies, and futures.Siravich has an ongoing online course, Tools to Trend Trader Online Course and has extended a 15% discount to all My Worst Investment Ever Podcast listeners. Message him on Facebook to get your discount.Worst investment everWhen Siravich started investing in cryptocurrencies through futures contracts, he was super excited about the booming market. He jumped right into it without any research or a risk management plan. The cryptocurrency market was quite volatile, going up and down pretty fast. Siravich got 10x profit at one time but also lost around 1/5 of his capital in the end.Lessons learnedBe careful dealing with futures.Avoid revenge trading.Long-term investing is better than short-term investing.Andrew’s takeawaysWe need to compound our savings and investments over time to have enough money to do the things we want, such as retire.If you invest with overconfidence, the market will take your confidence away.Find your sweet spot and try to operate within that sweet spot.Actionable adviceHave an investment plan and follow it because if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsSiravich’s goal for the next 12 months is to build a community on Facebook. He’s also working on building a trading strategy that suits him.Parting words&nbsp;“Develop and improve yourselves by learning from your previous experience and mistakes.”Siravich Wongpanich&nbsp;[spp-transcript]&nbsp;Connect with Siravich WongpanichLinkedInTwitterFacebookWebsiteAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever9 Valuation Mistakes and How to...

BIO: Golf Sarun is the founder of a Thai Investment channel, Longlongthun (ลองลงทุน), which aims to educate his fellows about how to invest in crypto efficiently, stocks, and many other things.STORY: When Golf was 18 years old, one of his friends told him of his father’s company listed in the stock market. The stock was doing well and would to do even better due to a project coming up. Golf told his mom about the stock, and she invested. A few months later, the stock price plummeted and never recovered. Golf’s mom lost 60% of her investment.LEARNING: Don’t trust people with your investment. You have to invest on your own and for your own reasons.&nbsp;“Don’t trust people with your investment.”Golf Sarun&nbsp;Guest profileGolf Sarun is the founder of a Thai Investment channel, Longlongthun (ลองลงทุน), which aims to educate his fellows about how to invest in crypto efficiently, stocks, and many other things.Worst investment everWhen Golf was 18 years old, he had friends with whom he hung out. The father to one of the friends in the group owned a company listed in the Thai stock market. At the time, the stock’s price was going up quickly. The friend told them that the price would continue to go up because of a new project coming up.Golf saw this as an opportunity to make money quickly. He went home and told his mom about it. His mom sold her gold to buy the stock. After purchasing the stock, the project’s news came out, and the price went up. But after a few months, the price started going down so fast, and Golf’s mom lost 60% of her investment.Lessons learnedDo your research before investing in anything.Set clear boundaries of buying and selling conditions.Learn to read financial statements.Don’t trust people with your investment.Andrew’s takeawaysJust because you have information or some news, you don’t know how the markets will perceive that news.You have to invest on your own and for your own reasons.Have predetermined future actions for when the market crashes or goes up.Actionable adviceStudy technical graphs and apply them in investing.No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsGolf’s goal for the next 12 months is to grow his portfolio by at least 20%.Parting words&nbsp;“Keep increasing your knowledge, and your money will continue to increase.”Golf Sarun&nbsp;[spp-transcript]&nbsp;Connect with Golf SarunTwitterFacebookYouTubeWebsiteAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever<a...

BIO: Kamal Karanth is the co-founder of Xpheno, a specialist staffing company he has been building since 2017. He also co-founded the Indian Staffing Federation, a prominent voice for labor reforms in India.STORY: Kamal was thriving as a sales rep, but he wanted more, so he put himself up for promotion. He got promoted to area manager. All he did was work, but his performance didn’t match up. Eventually, everyone noticed, including Kamal’s boss. After a year and a half, he had to quit.LEARNING: Nurture your relationships. Always anticipate the risks of a new venture.&nbsp;“Pay attention to your relationships, not materialistic gains. In the end, when we die, what we’ll leave are our relationships.”Kamal Karanth&nbsp;Guest profileKamal Karanth is the co-founder of Xpheno, a specialist staffing company he has been building since 2017. He also co-founded the Indian Staffing Federation, a prominent voice for labor reforms in India. Kamal has been named as one of LinkedIn’s Top Voices in 2020. He is a columnist, a blogger, a vlogger and hosts weekly live sessions on workplace dynamics. A fitness enthusiast and movie buff, Kamal claims relationships define careers and believes all of us can do much better on the relationship front at work.Worst investment everKamal was working as a sales rep, and about 18 months into his job, he showed interest in being a manager. He attended managerial interviews and went on to become a manager. Kamal was doing great in his position, and the company invested heavily in him.After a while, Kamal asked to be promoted to area manager. Again, he did interviews, got promoted, and went to a new territory. Moving to a new city was also not so easy for Kamal. He had a hard time adapting to a new language, new food, new culture, and constant travel. Suddenly, he realized that he had to work even harder now that he had a bigger team to manage. Kamal’s leadership style was lead by example; people will follow you. So he worked hard doing almost 15 hours a day, no weekends, no movies, no cricket, only work. Kamal was burned out at the end of one year, yet his results were minimal. His boss was unhappy with him. His team members kept moving to other teams because they were not happy with him. In about a year and a half as the area manager, Kamal quit because he could no longer handle it.Lessons learnedNurture your relationships.Pay attention to those subtle external changes that are not in your control.Nurture your relationships.Andrew’s takeawaysNever underestimate changes that happen in your life. They can have a significant impact.When considering an opportunity, keep in mind that there are risks involved. Some things could go wrong.Actionable adviceWhen getting into a new venture, keep reminding yourself it will be challenging, have an exit plan for when it becomes more challenging than you think you can handle.No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsKamal’s goal for the next 12 months is to bring back his fitness levels. He also wants to reconnect with all his contacts and nurture those relationships.Parting words&nbsp;“Relationships matter. Stay on.”Kamal Karanth&nbsp;[spp-transcript]&nbsp;Connect with...

BIO: Nesli Girgin is a content creator and expert in marketing campaigns, product introduction, and visibility.STORY: Nesli got an offer to move from Istanbul to New York to work for a multinational company. The United States immigration office needed one year of residence payments for her to move. The company only paid three months of residence and disappeared on her. Nesli had made some payments in anticipation of the move. She lost this money.LEARNING: Be patient and kind to yourself even when things don’t turn out as you hoped they would. Bad things happen for a reason, and they may change the direction of your life.&nbsp;“Let’s take care of our health and happiness. This is the best thing we have.”Nesli Girgin&nbsp;Guest profileNesli Girgin is a content creator and expert in marketing campaigns, product introduction, and visibility. With 20 years of banking, textiles, design, logistics, and business association experience, she has vast knowledge in general management. She is an expert in various industries, including foreign trade, payment solutions, business planning, and project management.Worst investment everNesli had to quit her job to take care of her sick mom. She started some work-from-home business projects. She would receive job offers from recruiters, and one offered her a job at a multinational company in New York. The company invited Nesli to live in New York. She was excited about this opportunity because she’d always dreamed of living in New York. They discussed everything, and Nesli signed agreements.Nesli started the immigration procedures, and the United States immigration office requested her for one year of residence payments. The company only paid three months of residence. Nesli tried her best to reach the HR teams, she wrote many letters to them, but unfortunately, they didn’t complete the rest of the payments. Eventually, she decided to stop trying to go to New York. Nesli had already made some payments in anticipation of her move. She ended up losing this money.Lessons learnedDon’t lose hope if something doesn’t happen as you dreamed it would. It will happen when it’s meant to happen.Andrew’s takeawaysEverything happens for a reason. Just let things happen.Bad things happen for a reason, and they may change the direction of your life.Actionable adviceBe patient and kind to yourself even when things don’t turn out as you hoped they would.No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsNesli’s goal for the next 12 months is to complete some projects she’s working on with her wonderful team in Turkey.&nbsp;[spp-transcript]&nbsp;Connect with Nesli GirginLinkedInAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid ThemTransform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 PointsAndrew’s online programs<a href="https://valuationmasterclass.com/"...

BIO: Pankaj Jathar is the CEO of Prione, a company established in 2014 which enables small and medium businesses to grow in e-commerce.STORY: About 12 years ago, Pankaj invested in a company he saw journalists recommending on TV. He didn’t do any research and believed the reporters 100%. The stock price tanked a month later. Pankaj sold his stock a year later after taking a 75% capital loss.LEARNING: Be skeptical about the advice you receive, especially from the media. Learn and understand some of the basics of personal finance and investing. Be your own financial adviser.&nbsp;“Educate yourself and be skeptical about what you read or see. Do your research, which will come once you learn.”Pankaj Jathar&nbsp;Guest profilePankaj Jathar is the CEO of Prione, a company established in 2014 which enables small and medium businesses to grow in e-commerce. He has 10+ years of e-commerce experience, starting with Amazon in 2011. Being part of the India launch team and working in multiple roles, he has a deep understanding of the e-commerce value chain. He might be a white-collar worker on weekdays, but he enjoys writing his blogs on weekends, and that blog is Stacking Beans which he has been writing for more than a year.Worst investment everAbout 12 years ago, Pankaj would watch CNBC for the stock tickers and conversations, which got him a little interested. But he had not yet started learning about either personal finance or investing. So Pankaj kind of believed the experts and the pundits on TV, thinking they knew what they were talking about, and their advice was to be taken 100%.They did a company profile they recommended as an investment option for the short to medium-term. As the naive newbie that Pankaj was, he put a fair amount of money into that stock. A month later, it tanked and stayed there for a long time. He sold the stock at nearly a 75% capital loss.Lessons learnedBe skeptical about the advice you receive, especially from the media. Don’t listen to experts on TV. They are probably experts in their field but necessarily financial experts.Not all journalists do their homework or do the deep dive level you would expect. Journalists are paid to generate interest, talking points, news, etc.Listen to everyone, but do your research before you put your hard-earned money on the line.Understand what equity investing is about before you start. If you don’t have either the skill or the time to do an in-depth analysis on a particular company or stock to understand the nuances, then just don’t invest in it.Question all advisors. Try to understand their motives. Is that person on your side, or is it just about their benefit?Don’t confuse your circles of influence. For example, don’t ask your mom for stock-picking advice. Don’t ask your financial advisor for cooking tips. Those two circles are different.Andrew’s takeawaysThe media is not on your side; they are trying to generate income from you.You have to be your own financial adviser.You have a right and an obligation to investigate and ask questions. If you’re not satisfied with the answer you get, you have a right to ask again and again until you’re happy.If you’re going to own individual stocks, start with about 10. Holding less than 10 stocks exposes you to individual stock risks. More than 10 will just be similar to owning an ETF.Unrealized...