0:02 bring on a pmic I got cash that's how I
0:04 went bro walk me through how you ended
0:06 up scaling that if you had advice that
0:08 you could give 40-year-old Dave what
0:19 him I am super thrilled to be here today
0:22 because uh Dave's a legend and uh I'm
0:24 going to I'm going to give a little bit
0:26 of an intro from my perspective um of
0:28 you this is a little
0:31 scary um and I I actually wanted to take
0:33 the first like few minutes to um
0:35 actually just kind of like hype Dave and
0:36 I think it's because like on in the
0:38 marketplace of attention right now I
0:39 actually still think you're
0:41 underpriced um I still think that you
0:42 are underappreciated for the amount of
0:44 value that you provide to the audience
0:47 at large and flattery will get you
0:50 everywhere got me here
0:52 um but one of the things I wanted to hit
0:55 on was um like I see and I'm sure you do
0:56 or your team does like there are a lot
0:58 of people who take I you know I'll use
1:00 the term fake gurus but a lot of people
1:03 who haven't achieved you know a 100th of
1:04 the level of success that you have that
1:07 take a lot of shots and at you and you
1:09 know a lot specifically R your views on
1:11 debt but sometimes just in general and
1:14 um you know we have a big belief at at
1:15 acquisition. comom that the only people
1:18 ever hate you um are never ahead of you
1:20 uh and I feel like that's been extremely
1:21 true and it's been tough for people to
1:24 be ahead of you in general um but I just
1:26 want to give context for my
1:30 audience that number one uh you've been
1:33 doing this for three decades yeah a
1:35 little over yeah three decades uh and
1:39 your overnight uh three decade success
1:42 yeah for real just in time to get old
1:44 old
1:47 and what I'm going to be directing the
1:49 the conversation today around is
1:50 actually around business stuff so Dave
1:52 has a zillion things on Personal Finance
1:54 I mean I think that was the you know the
1:56 the wedge product that a lot of
1:59 everything um but because our audience
2:00 is predom business owners I want to
2:02 focus on how the actual building of
2:05 Ramsey Solutions and kind of some of the
2:06 things that you that you learned along
2:08 the way some of the big mistakes that
2:10 you did some things that you'd go back
2:12 in time and would have done differently
2:14 um and even as you've kind of scaled the
2:15 brand so that's kind of the direction
2:20 okay that work sure okay so um can you
2:22 give a little bit of background in terms
2:26 of how uh Ramy Solutions the education
2:28 business which was the first business
2:30 correct they've all kind of evolved
2:34 together okay um how did that come to be
2:36 and then what was your thinking around
2:38 the business model at that time and like
2:40 what has it evolved
2:47 into well um all of it started uh extremely
2:48 extremely
2:51 primitive I mean like 1+ 1
2:55 equals two barely you know kind of thing
2:58 and uh so like for instance we started a
3:00 I I I went down there as a talk radio
3:02 show or talk radio station in Nashville
3:04 at the time that was in chapter 11
3:06 bankruptcy and there was a guy doing a
3:08 bad financial show like a Saturday Night
3:11 Live skit you know on there I went on as
3:13 a guest on the bad financial show and I
3:15 didn't have any books I just went on for
3:17 fun I was actually promoting a real
3:21 estate Club I was in and um he said hey
3:22 I hear you're helping people with your
3:24 for with foreclosures and helping them
3:26 stop getting their car repoed or if
3:28 they're having financial trouble over at
3:29 your church are you doing that and I
3:31 said I'm just kind of doing that for fun
3:32 just to help folk as a Ministry at the
3:34 church and he goes well if you got any
3:37 questions about that call up and phone
3:38 rang and he never got any phone calls he
3:39 didn't know what to do didn't even know
3:42 how to put the guy on the air and so um
3:43 he said hey come back let's do that
3:45 again cuz the phone never rings and so I
3:46 went I did it like two times and then he
3:48 quit and we went down and talked that
3:51 guy that that was running that station
3:53 into letting us work for free and so a
3:55 couple guys me and a couple other guys
3:58 went on the air uh answering questions
4:02 uh uh in a really heavy hillbilly twang uh
4:03 uh
4:06 wwtn you're talking Nashville y'all call
4:08 in I mean it was it was nasty buddy I'm
4:11 telling you it was nasty and uh but with
4:12 information was good and the phone rang
4:15 yeah from the very first day at at about
4:17 the same time I had finished writing uh
4:21 on my laptop in my living room uh on the
4:24 very first version of Windows this is
4:27 1992 uh my first book and uh I
4:28 self-published it carry it home in the
4:31 trunk of my car got a, copies and I went
4:32 on the radio and said hey y'all get my
4:36 book and um some people did and uh and
4:40 the 18 months later Ed to get to your
4:43 question yeah we moved the uh card table
4:45 out of my living room and one old beat
4:46 up desk from the days when I went
4:50 bankrupt and open an office in an 800t
4:52 month-to-month rent and me and another
4:53 guy the other guy was going to do
4:55 Financial coaching the way I teach to do
4:57 that I was going to continue to do that
5:01 and we launched a in April of 1994 a
5:04 class on how to handle money it was
5:05 actually how to avoid
5:08 bankruptcy um and one of the lessons was
5:09 on the different types of bankruptcy one
5:11 of the lessons was on how to stop a
5:13 foreclosure if it's an FHA if it's a VA
5:15 or if it's fannye different processes to
5:18 stop a foreclosure um and you know all
5:20 these different things and the people
5:21 that came weren't
5:24 bankrupt they were just making a lot of
5:26 money and spending it all oh okay so
5:28 they were broke it was all the money
5:29 comes in all the money goes out only the
5:30 name are Chang to protect the innocent
5:32 but they weren't behind on their house
5:35 payment right they just were fighting
5:36 with each other in their marriage and
5:38 they didn't know how to do a budget and
5:39 no one ever told them about insurance so
5:40 I took the bankruptcy and the
5:42 Foreclosure lesson out and replaced it
5:45 with a uh uh retirement lesson and
5:48 here's how Investments work lesson uh
5:50 compound interest whoa and which is you
5:53 know still for the general public causes
5:57 their uh brains to just go melt down in
5:58 in a wonderful way the first time you
6:00 see compound interest right yeah and so
6:03 yeah we that was called life after debt
6:07 um in April and uh four people came the
6:09 first night I sold three of them so for
6:11 you digital people I had a 75%
6:14 conversion rate cut up right but um I'm
6:15 telling you it was primitive overhead
6:17 projector bad suit you know that whole
6:19 thing and then we changed it to called
6:22 it Financial Peace University the five
6:25 months later in September 6 months later
6:27 and now Financial Peace University's had
6:29 10 million people go through it in 50
6:32 ,000 churches have taught it
6:34 unbelievable so
6:37 for context the services that you had
6:39 was education with some level of service
6:40 kind of like holding accountable or
6:43 keeping them consistent on top of that
6:45 which the reason that I I was really
6:48 intent on talking to you was that in the
6:49 space that we're in today and obviously
6:51 the the marketplace has changed a lot
6:54 you have an education business and I
6:56 would say that the vast majority of
6:58 quote education businesses
7:02 are not perceived is legitimate mhm how
7:05 do you think you've been able to Anchor
7:06 in it like it's it's very clear that
7:09 rain Solutions is a legitimate business
7:11 obviously um but what do you why do you
7:14 think that so many of them are not
7:15 perceived that
7:17 way um what's the Gap what are what are
7:18 people missing
7:22 there I I honestly don't know I I know
7:26 that um in the financial World in
7:28 general um and I think most of your
7:29 listeners and you and I will agree to
7:32 this that that there's a lot of us I
7:34 grew up in that world and and I'm a nerd
7:36 by nature and got a degree in finance
7:39 for God's sakes and so I in other words
7:40 I thought the way to fix everything was
7:42 with the math
7:46 MH and math treats the symptom right not
7:48 the problem and what our brand
7:50 differentiator and it may be the
7:51 difference in what you're talking about
7:54 as well is that we did come to
7:55 understand that it's a behavior problem
7:58 it's personal finances 80% Behavior 20%
7:59 head knowledge I've said that like I
8:02 don't know 8 million times in 30 years
8:04 and um but it is and the problem with my
8:06 money is the guy in my mirror if I can
8:08 get him to behave he can be skinny and
8:10 Rich and we've talked about this all
8:12 these lines these riffs that we do and
8:13 we do them over and over and over and
8:15 over and over again and but it but but
8:16 that's the differentiator that's the
8:19 thing that said oh yeah because I mean
8:21 knowing how to do a budget is different
8:24 than actually doing one knowing how to
8:25 live on less than you make or that you
8:27 should is different than actually doing
8:31 it knowing that e 73 Donuts will make me
8:34 fat is different than not eating 73
8:37 Donuts right personal testimony but the
8:40 um but yeah that that stuff I think
8:42 that's the difference and then what has
8:45 happened is that if you go through and
8:48 you do the stuff that we teach and we've
8:51 got the systems in place to help you be
8:53 held accountable to do it and encourage
8:55 you when you're struggling and scared
8:58 and hopeless um but if you're arrogant
8:59 and prideful either way way we're going
9:02 to be there in your grill uh saying we
9:05 love you so much that you need to change
9:07 if you do this stuff and you actually
9:08 make the changes due to the
9:11 accountability that that that because if
9:12 you keep doing what you've been doing
9:13 you're keep getting what you've been
9:15 getting so you got to change the recipe
9:18 so if you change the recipe you have
9:20 success and lives
9:23 transformed is legitimacy that gives you
9:26 legitimacy and so in in other words I
9:27 don't know if they set out to be
9:30 illegitimate but they didn't maybe they
9:33 didn't have the uh the this the life
9:35 wasn't actually changed MH you know if I
9:39 join a gym yeah and then I don't get
9:42 anything out of that yeah I don't have
9:44 any weight loss no increased muscle tone
9:47 no um you know increased aerobic
9:48 whatever whatever it is you're trying to
9:50 accomplish if I don't get any of that
9:53 even if it's my fault yeah it feels like
9:54 the gym is illegitimate I don't think
9:56 the gym is necessarily illegitimate but
9:58 the results were illegitimate and so
10:01 then you get labeled that way yeah and
10:02 so I hear people say Dave Ramsey stuff
10:06 doesn't work the haters right and uh it
10:07 absolutely does not work unless you're
10:11 working yeah like I guarantee that I can
10:13 make you that personal
10:17 guarantee shifting back to the business
10:20 um explain to me how how the actual
10:22 product Suite developed over time so in
10:23 the beginning you had the education and
10:25 then you had the services that that
10:27 layered on top of that was that the main
10:30 thing for like a decade or and and like
10:32 walk me through how you ended up scaling
10:34 that was that all through media um we
10:36 had the okay the the radio show didn't
10:39 make money for a decade MH um because
10:41 they don't pay you to do radio uh even
10:43 today I don't get paid by radio stations
10:46 I have a a clock split with them and so
10:50 um and we didn't have anything to sell
10:51 when we split the clock and so we didn't
10:53 make any money so whatever we put in
10:56 radio was lost dollars um but it was the
10:59 megaphone it was the uh the the the lead
11:02 mechanism MH uh okay and so we we I
11:04 started doing some speaking and then I
11:06 thought hey we could do like a little
11:09 public event in town because we were on
11:11 only on the air in one but so we went on
11:13 the radio and announced and I think we
11:14 had um I don't know 100 people or
11:17 something come out and um paid us like
11:20 40 bucks or something to sit for 3 hours
11:22 or 5 hours or whatever it was and listen
11:24 to me Yammer in my hillbilly twang about
11:26 getting out of debt and so we had live
11:28 events started to develop we had the
11:30 little book so we had a little bit of a
11:32 publishing thing going and we had the
11:35 class itself uh which is a long form U
11:38 It's a combination of 12ep in curriculum
11:43 so to speak um a a and and so radio
11:45 publishing Live Events those were the
11:47 first and what becomes Financial Peace
11:49 University we're the first ele oh and
11:50 one-on-one coaching one-on-one
11:52 counseling we called it in those days we
11:56 now call it Financial coaching um so
11:58 there's no confusion that we're not
12:01 licensed therapists um some people can't
12:03 seem to it's not clear but anyway
12:06 coaching is hard to mess that up so um
12:08 yeah so we do that and each of those
12:10 things grew at different rates and so
12:12 there were different times in the 30
12:16 years that um Financial Peace University
12:18 was bringing in the Lion Share of the
12:20 money and then publishing would come up
12:23 and pass it m uh Live Events is pretty
12:27 much always been a slightly profitable
12:30 but really good second lead Source okay
12:33 so if you come to a live event um
12:34 because you heard us on the radio it's
12:35 going down the funnel the marketing
12:37 funnel so to speak and then they might
12:39 buy Financial Peace University which is
12:42 you know a nine week commitment and a
12:43 high you know instead of a $20 event
12:45 ticket it's $80 to go through it or
12:47 whatever that so we were working that
12:48 that and there were always books on the
12:51 back table too so uh and so once those
12:53 things worked and the book then we had a
12:54 New York Times you know the book
12:56 eventually evolved and was purchased by
12:58 a publisher and became our first New
13:02 York Times bestseller um once that
13:04 happened and then we start doing a bunch
13:05 of we start getting more and more radio
13:07 stations and doing more and more media
13:09 so instead of just doing the little
13:12 local news Sky we actually with the book
13:13 tour the first time got on the Today
13:17 Show and uh and then that opened up
13:18 something then that opened up something
13:20 and then pretty much been doing New York
13:24 media for 25 years um obviously all
13:27 that's free but it's lead generation and
13:29 so if I were to say this back to you the
13:30 the radio station served as the big
13:33 megaphone to gather attention and then
13:34 point it in a direction and one of the
13:36 places you'd point it in the earlier
13:37 days was the live events which
13:39 functioned a little bit as a conversion
13:41 event for you guys for a business
13:43 perspective and then those people would
13:44 get funneled into whatever was
13:47 appropriate for their budget uh you know
13:48 either they'd buy some books or they'd
13:49 buy the curriculum or they'd buy the
13:52 curriculum and some one1 counsel um I'm
13:55 already One One Financial coaching um
13:57 and then that machine has been what
13:58 you've continued to spin the wheel on
14:00 and Gathering more and more and more
14:01 media yeah we and we've got more and
14:05 more product mix now I mean we've got uh
14:07 you know we ended up uh I advertised for
14:11 a stock brokerage firm um and then when
14:13 I sent the leads the people would go
14:15 over there the local broker that they
14:17 went to would tell them to do stuff that
14:19 I had just told them on the air not to
14:23 do and so that didn't work and um people
14:27 are pissed off and uh uh yeah and so we
14:29 said well guys y'all can't do that with
14:30 the leads we send you well you can't
14:32 tell us what to do and I said I can tell
14:33 you you can't advertise so we're not
14:35 going to be on the air so we dropped
14:39 those folk and um so the product Suite
14:42 from there that was the core initial
14:45 product mix and then what we did was uh
14:48 we would hear about some need that was a
14:51 a similar thing but a finger off of that
14:53 so for instance a local coach at a
14:55 Catholic High School was took my
14:57 Financial Peace book and started
14:59 teaching his seniors cuz they need to
15:01 know about personal finance with and
15:02 then called me up and goes hey I hope
15:05 you don't mind I'm like well I don't
15:06 mind and I'm kind of complicated but
15:08 let's work together on this let me help
15:10 so I went over and spoke to him a couple
15:12 times there sweet kids and he's a great
15:13 guy Greg Carson he's a friend of this
15:15 day that was and we ended up out of that
15:17 developing a high school curriculum
15:18 that's now been taught in 48% of the
15:20 high schools 6 and a half million kids
15:23 have been through it and so um you know
15:25 that was again another product line that
15:27 Ed Solutions is another department if
15:30 you will inside of RAM today and pretty
15:32 substantial revenues for high school
15:34 college and even Middle School uh
15:37 curriculum and and then uh you know
15:38 Corporate America says okay we'd like
15:40 for our employees to get this stuff so
15:42 we take a modified version of the
15:44 Financial Peace University that doesn't
15:47 have as much of the bible stuff in it um
15:50 and we have to not violate um some HR
15:52 rules and stuff so we had to change some
15:53 of make it a little more of anill on
15:55 different things and uh it's called
15:59 smart dollar and gosh man Lots h I don't
16:01 know 10,000 companies have now taught it
16:04 including big ones like U-Haul and uh uh
16:05 Costco all of their employees have gone
16:06 through it so that's a whole another
16:08 product line but it's you know there it
16:10 so the the brand Suite or the product
16:14 Suite continues to evolve uh as we look
16:16 at different things where we can serve
16:18 uh we took over all the publishing and
16:20 so we do all our books now uh
16:22 self-published have for about a decade
16:24 how do you think about spinning out new
16:26 products like what to do versus like
16:27 because there's obviously focus in a
16:29 business right you limited time
16:30 resources like how do you say this is
16:31 going to be something we're going to
16:32 just partner with someone on or this is
16:33 going be something we're going to bring
16:36 in house and actually own entirely or
16:37 just not do it all and ignore and just
16:39 let somebody make some extra cash on it
16:42 and we just don't worry about it yeah um
16:45 well one thing we don't do is we don't
16:47 um we have made a conscious
16:50 philosophical decision to not sell
16:52 Financial products so we don't sell
16:55 insurance we don't sell Investments um
16:58 we don't sell real estate we endorse
17:00 people that do M but they don't work for
17:03 us they're advertisers of sorts Endor
17:06 our Ramsey trusted is what it falls
17:08 under that brand so some of them are
17:10 have ads on the podcast some of them we
17:11 say go to the website and fill out a
17:13 form you find the realtor we recommend
17:15 in your area that's Ramsey trusted that
17:18 kind of thing and so that way when I'm
17:19 giving real estate advice someone
17:21 doesn't say oh he's just trying to get
17:23 us to do that now they still say yeah
17:25 he's trying to just get us to be a real
17:27 estate lead but that's different than
17:29 he's trying to sell me a house or he's
17:30 trying to sell me a mutual fund we don't
17:33 endorse particular mutual funds uh and
17:36 we don't um sell Investments like that
17:38 so you can't say the reason Dave does
17:40 insurance is because or says term by
17:42 term insurance is because he owns a term
17:45 insurance firm because I don't and you
17:46 know one of the lies out there floating
17:48 around is I own half of Churchill
17:50 Mortgage which I don't own a dime of it'
17:53 been nice if I had they done really well
17:55 and I don't and I own half or some of
17:57 Xander insurance or both advertisers
17:59 have been with me 26 27 years years
18:02 consecutively and um but I don't own any
18:03 of those they're just they're they're
18:04 they're friends of mine but I've been
18:06 doing business with them for three
18:07 decades and they do really well and they
18:09 do a great job for a listener and so
18:11 those are media Partnerships they're
18:12 sponsors and that's how you sponsors
18:13 that's all they are I mean they're just
18:15 advertisers on the on the original talk
18:18 radio show which is now like you guys I
18:22 mean podcast and YouTubes and Tik toks
18:25 and everything yeah what have been some
18:28 of the major beliefs that you had to
18:30 break along on the journey from and if
18:32 so what's what's topl line revenue today
18:34 across all of the portfolio I'm calling
18:36 portfolio I'm using my own language but
18:38 across Ramsey Solutions Ramsey Solutions
18:40 uh revs will be a little over 300
18:43 million this year okay so for context in
18:45 terms of size here for my audience 300 a lot
18:48 lot
18:50 uh so what what what were some of the
18:52 because you know a lot of businesses
18:54 grow at least in my observation of
18:56 businesses is they're they're stepwise
18:57 it's they'll they'll grow they'll grow
18:58 and then they'll hit something and they
19:00 St there until they figure out whatever
19:02 that thing was and then they go super
19:03 fast again and then they hit another
19:05 wall and they keep going would have been
19:07 some of the you know two or three major
19:09 pivot Points in the business in terms of
19:10 your lessons or beliefs that you had to
19:12 reshape that allowed you to break
19:14 through to new levels of
19:17 growth you know I think because the
19:23 product line was so uh diverse um
19:26 the different ones of those were
19:28 stepping at different times M and itus
19:31 caused our actual Revenue growth to not
19:33 stair step but to be fairly smooth
19:35 interesting on a curve got it um but
19:37 like you know if we went for instance to
19:38 Financial Peace University it went
19:39 through different seasons where it would
19:41 go and then it would stop and it would
19:43 just sit you know and we're kind of in
19:44 one of those stop and sit modes now
19:46 because we're making this transition uh
19:49 from being primarily Church distributed
19:51 okay uh because churches aren't teaching
19:52 classes like that in this current
19:54 environment as much as they used to and
19:56 so we've got to have a more direct
19:58 consumer uh digital uh distribution
20:00 methodology and we're we're discovering
20:01 that right now so it's plateaued right
20:03 now got it Financial University is
20:05 awesome it's excellent but it's but from
20:07 a business Revenue perspective business
20:09 model it's you know its big spike would
20:12 have been the mid 2000s okay I mean it
20:14 made woo it went crazy up and it was
20:16 kind of like the 800lb gorilla Revenue
20:17 wise inside the building and then it
20:20 moved over to the other thing so uh what
20:22 are your question is not the stairstep
20:24 question your question was uh uh what
20:27 are some Milestones along the way like
20:29 lessons Bel shift that allowed you to be
20:31 an entrepreneur that could get to I mean
20:33 10 I mean do you remember when you hit
20:34 your first $10 million year your first
20:36 30 and your first 100 and your first you
20:38 know any any big changes that happened
20:40 in you as a person that that you can
20:42 denote and say I learned this and this
20:43 is why we were able to break through
20:48 that yeah I I figured out um fairly
20:53 early that um that organizations are not
20:54 going to
20:57 outgrow the character and uh
20:59 intellectual capacity
21:01 of their
21:04 leadership um primarily
21:07 me and so if I'm if I remain dumb in
21:10 some of the areas I'm dumb in then we're
21:12 we're not going to be at 600 million you
21:14 know I've got a uh or somebody else will
21:16 be doing it and if they remain dumb they
21:18 can't you just can't do it I mean
21:19 there's stuff you don't know and so I
21:21 was a I grew up in a real estate
21:22 household Mom and Daddy were in a
21:24 residential real estate business and so
21:25 I've been selling my whole life straight
21:28 commission for me self-employment as a
21:30 is my DNA I don't I don't know how to
21:34 think about working for someone uh so
21:36 and when you grow up in that world you
21:37 know you learn to kill it and drag it
21:38 home CU you ain't got anything to eat if
21:39 you don't kill something and drag it
21:44 home and so um very tactical MH and so I
21:47 couldn't Spell strategic when we started
21:49 and we got large enough that we started
21:51 hiring these things called mbas and
21:53 these people that actually had and uh
21:54 now over the years I've got a ton of
21:56 NBAs on the team and I love the NBA
21:58 programs most of them that are out there
22:00 they do really good job of teaching but
22:03 one of the things I learned almost
22:05 universally about NBA they are heavily
22:07 steeped in strategic
22:11 thought and so uh the NBA on our team
22:13 and me about uh 20 years ago made a
22:16 really good trade um they taught me how
22:17 to think strategically because I didn't
22:20 know how and I taught them how to work
22:23 so it was a good trade and so would you
22:25 say that basically them coming in and
22:28 talking strategy was a like a big unlock
22:30 in terms of grow critical thinking
22:32 skills I the way you solve a business
22:34 problem how do you you know I would just
22:35 go in there and go okay the answer is
22:37 activity just go run into the wall
22:38 enough times and the wall will fall down
22:40 meanwhile the NBA standing over the side
22:42 going hey Dave over here there's a door
22:45 if you just walk around I mean you don't
22:47 have to run into the stupid wall this is
22:49 dumb and so uh cuz they're looking down
22:52 on the maze the Lamberth and can see the
22:55 way through and I'm just going just get
22:57 after it just get in there and hustle
22:59 you know and you need to have both you
23:01 got have the energy of the hustle and
23:04 grind and the uh because wiin doubt
23:07 activity is the answer but um unfocused
23:10 unplanned activity is um not always fun
23:13 it causes pain sometimes too so we're
23:16 much better at uh what my friend Jim
23:19 Collins calls calibrated cannonballs now
23:22 than just firing
23:24 cannonballs would
23:27 you from a branding perspective because
23:29 I think you've developed a really strong
23:31 brand what are what are some of the
23:32 deliberate decisions you've had to make
23:34 to associate with versus not associating
23:36 with in order to continue to strengthen
23:38 the brand expand the media because I
23:40 would imagine like in the flywheel that
23:42 is Ramsey Solutions the media is a huge
23:43 part of that and so like what has been
23:45 one of the big things that kept that
23:47 wheel spinning and expanding compared to
23:49 the many other people who try to to top
23:51 you I mean even the people try and get
23:55 more audience more earballs yeah I uh I
23:57 don't know we discovered I don't know
23:59 how we figured it out it was accidental
24:01 I guess it was people getting pissed at
24:03 us in the early days we you know like we
24:05 would endorse something on the radio
24:08 just local T local radio station and you
24:09 know go to such and such a car lot well
24:10 somebody go over there and they go the
24:12 guy tried to screw me Dave he' call me
24:13 up on the air or call me up at my house
24:16 you know find me in the mall and go you
24:18 the guy you sent me to is a d gum crook
24:21 Ramsey and so now I can't trust you yeah
24:25 and um and I would lose the advertiser
24:26 cuz I would have to cancel them cuz I
24:29 was ashamed yeah of the
24:31 and uh so somewhere along the doing
24:34 stupid stuff like not vetting who we're
24:37 going to associate our brand with uh
24:38 instead of just buying just oh we were
24:40 so happy we had an ad sold you know we
24:41 made a little Revenue my God and then
24:43 you figure out that doesn't play well
24:44 because you're destroying your
24:46 credibility with the market we figured
24:49 out we were a trust brand and uh radio
24:51 endorsement taught us to be
24:54 trustworthy worthy of trust and uh so
24:56 we're very careful uh as a matter of
24:57 fact just a few minutes ago I came out
25:00 of a meeting where I turned down two
25:02 potential advertisers and the sales team
25:04 said we think we need to turn these down
25:06 but before we do it's a lot of money we
25:08 need to uh ask you and I said yeah that
25:10 that guy if we put that guy on he's
25:11 going to it's going to cause our
25:14 audience is not no that's not so would
25:15 you send your sister there would you
25:17 send your mom there would you send your
25:21 friend that you play softball with uh
25:22 you know would you send them over there
25:25 and if they don't pass that acid test we
25:27 don't put them on the air so if I won't
25:30 really buy it or I don't really believe
25:32 someone should buy it for their own good
25:35 MH um I mean like 100% of the things we
25:37 advertise I don't necessarily buy
25:39 personally at my stage of life but I'm
25:43 not the market for them either so um but
25:45 but I do believe in them and I believe
25:48 they're good for you and um sometimes
25:49 we've messed that up we've endorsed
25:50 things we shouldn't have endorsed in the
25:55 early days even I mean it's it's uh uh
25:57 in the last few years I've had a really
25:59 disastrous one that was mess it's caused
26:01 me all kinds of problems but um you know
26:03 initially started out good and then
26:05 turned bad and we didn't we didn't cut
26:08 them off fast enough uh and that's our
26:09 fault for not cutting them off but we
26:11 weren't doing it for money we were we're
26:13 trying to help people and so it's a
26:16 trust brand and so no single
26:20 relationship Advertiser endorsement is
26:23 uh it could not possibly give you enough
26:26 Revenue in our world to offset the
26:27 damage it will do if they don't take
26:29 care of the C customer yeah because
26:31 people all we've got is trust and if
26:32 they don't trust us for that they also
26:33 aren't going to trust us when we tell
26:35 them to get out of debt they're also not
26:36 going to trust us when we tell them hey
26:37 this is going to affect your marriage
26:39 you know the the advice we give is no
26:41 longer trustworthy if the endorsement is
26:43 not trustworthy so the whole stinking
26:46 thing ends up revolving around this word
26:49 and uh so we spend a lot of time
26:52 discussing and vetting and uh shees
26:54 clothing the holy it's a mess but yeah
26:56 it's it's okay it's worth the
26:59 effort I agree
27:00 I'm with you on that and I mean I think
27:02 that you know at acquisition. comom we
27:03 tried to do the the same kind of
27:05 approach which is like how can we be as
27:06 trustworthy asly possible because you
27:09 know we we do Equity deals and so yeah
27:11 we have a huge vetting process and you know
27:11 know
27:13 99.999% of the the audience I have will
27:17 never do business with me um but I still
27:19 need to treat you know everyone so that
27:21 the reputation which compounds is based
27:23 on trust so that we can do deals over
27:25 the long term and just to be
27:29 very uh transparent it
27:33 um it's emotional for me and most people
27:36 in this building when that doesn't go
27:39 right yeah when we mess that up somehow
27:42 because we our intent is to never mess
27:43 that up and when it gets messed up it
27:46 hurts our feelings more than it does
27:48 anybody's mentor of mine gave me this
27:49 quote you might like it he said uh never
27:51 risk the empire for a pot of gold there
27:55 it is that's a great one I love it so
27:57 speaking of pots of gold so 300 million
27:58 is where you're at right now what do you
28:01 see as the as the next thing to get you
28:03 know Ramsey solutions to 600 million
28:04 like you were saying earlier like what's
28:06 the what's the path forward there like
28:07 what do you see as the Strategic
28:08 opportunity what are you investing in
28:11 right now
28:15 um well we're seeing an explosion uh
28:18 with our every dollar app for one thing
28:22 it's um it uh with minimal effort
28:24 honestly has caught fire so we're going
28:26 to pour a little more gas on that while
28:27 we're at it we're going to put some
28:29 effort into it since it's working and uh
28:30 we do think that Financial Peace
28:32 univiversity is going to stair step
28:33 again and we've got to finish we got to
28:37 find that um methodology for delivering
28:39 those age-old principles in a new ma in
28:43 a new way we are a platform and delivery
28:46 agnostic MH I don't care how we get it
28:48 to you but we got to get it to you and
28:50 it's not and efficiently with the least
28:52 friction possible so people actually do
28:56 the stuff and so that that's there
28:59 um uh some things are going are
29:02 logistically have uh in the last say 20
29:05 of the 30 years have be not they didn't
29:08 shrink they grew but they don't have the
29:11 logistical ability to grow uh
29:13 revenue-wise as much an example that' Be
29:15 Live Events there's only so much of that
29:18 you can do and it doesn't it doesn't
29:20 hockey stick right you you because you
29:23 you have a bottleneck actual bodies on a
29:25 stage yeah and bodies to set the stage
29:27 up and that kind of stuff and number of
29:29 cities you can actually draw a crowd in
29:31 and that kind of thing so um the only
29:32 way you could hockey stick that thing
29:34 would be to run the prices where they
29:36 were just not for the average guy and
29:38 our whole thing we do is for the average
29:41 guy so um so that's going to if the if
29:43 it stays the same or grows at 5% and
29:45 something else grw at 50% it's going to
29:46 get to be a smaller and smaller piece of
29:49 the pie right mathematically uh but not
29:50 still not be something we're ashamed of
29:52 we love Live Events and I'm we're one of
29:54 the biggest event companies in America
29:57 we do great Live Events but uh but it's
29:58 going to end up that that one's not
30:01 probably going to be the answer um
30:05 unless now streaming could um it would
30:08 have to monetize for the first time but
30:12 they suck on monetization but uh uh but
30:13 it's good at getting information out
30:18 there uh so I uh um I we don't see hard
30:20 cover books as being something that's
30:22 going to hockey stick uh in the coming
30:23 years but I do think they're going to
30:27 continue to be a a valid part of the mix
30:30 um so it's probably more uh digital
30:32 application and delivery because it's
30:34 the easiest to scale and lowest cost of
30:38 goods and um and it uh more easily
30:41 iterates than anything analog and uh the
30:42 rate of
30:46 change uh has exponentially increased in
30:48 30 years MH it used what what used to
30:50 would take us five years to see unfold
30:51 in the marketplace is unfolding in five
30:55 or 10 weeks right now yeah and um how
30:58 fast uh entire social media platform
31:01 forms become irrelevant m is is kind of
31:04 amazing and uh so you know betting the
31:07 whole thing on one delivery mechanism uh
31:10 woo dumb and so
31:16 um uh in my mind anyway but yeah so so I
31:18 think whatever it is is going to like an
31:21 app like a budgeting app or a delivery
31:23 digitally of FPU or delivery digitally
31:24 of our entree leadership which is our
31:27 small business uh teaching and coaching
31:30 uh you know only have so many physical
31:32 coaches for small business guys right
31:35 and uh that's got a limiting factor do I
31:36 want 3,000 of those people on a building
31:39 no I really don't uh I'd lot rather
31:40 figure out another way to help you folk
31:44 out there and uh that that is um not as
31:46 Manpower hungry so when you said the
31:48 every dollar app just kind of like took
31:51 off is that like a micro example of how
31:53 product iteration works for you is like
31:54 let's throw something together let's see
31:56 how it works and then if it starts
31:57 taking off disproportionately to like
31:59 the effort you say okay now we're going
32:01 to invest more resources in it yeah we
32:03 put a huge amount of effort into
32:05 building it and launching the initial
32:07 yeah um it was a major initiative and a
32:10 push and then it kind of you know it it
32:13 it's had a good growth rate but it
32:14 really wasn't but something shifted in
32:17 the marketplace I mean literally last
32:20 four or five months right uh and the way
32:22 the consumer uh is viscerally responding
32:25 to the word budget mhm uh differently
32:28 than they were certainly uh 10 years ago
32:31 but probably even 10 months ago and so
32:32 when we develop things so we're going to
32:34 you know we've always iterated it we've
32:35 always updated it we've always made it
32:37 better every time and all that kind of
32:40 stuff but um there just seems to be uh
32:44 some attention that we didn't cause so
32:47 why not join the parade yeah right I
32:48 think probably some of that's the the
32:49 macroeconomic environment has changed a
32:51 little bit in the last you know in that
32:52 period of time people are probably
32:54 feeling the need for a budget and it
32:56 might be that I mean I think the product
32:58 the original launch on it was
33:01 uh it's probably coming up on 10 years
33:06 you know so okay and the um you know the
33:07 the number of people that are walking
33:11 around adults that have have uh never
33:12 lived in a world that wasn't a
33:15 smartphone world is much larger than it
33:17 was 10 years ago yeah and so the
33:19 marketplace has shifted in that regard
33:24 but the the the iPhone the uh um
33:27 whatever whatever smartphone is native
33:28 to a much larger percentage of the
33:31 population than it was uh when it was
33:32 launched so we may just be seeing that
33:36 demographic shift and that um they aging
33:38 into it yeah because they you know that
33:40 age group I mean if you're 28 you you
33:43 wouldn't ever think of doing a budget on
33:45 paper right it would not occur to you
33:47 that that could no more than you would
33:50 handwrite a letter in cursive you know I
33:53 mean it's just absurd so but you know
33:54 when I started all this that wasn't
33:56 neither one of those was that unusual
34:01 right So speaking of of of the app in
34:04 particular as as a an increasingly large
34:06 part of the pi um how does it measure
34:08 compared to the other pieces like just
34:09 by percentage you've got the events
34:10 you've got the education you've got
34:13 Entre leadership uh you've got the app
34:15 you've got the Live Events um like how
34:17 how do how do how do those divide up in
34:19 terms of uh like size for Ramsey
34:23 Solutions the Ramsey trusted items which
34:25 includes National advertisers and uh the
34:28 whole uh smart Vestor Pro all the
34:31 endorse all the people we endorse for um
34:33 investing all the real estate agents all
34:36 the there's about 8,000 9,000 different
34:37 uh people that we endorse for in
34:41 different areas tax all that tax and um
34:43 real estate and investing uh through
34:45 Ramsey trusted and then you've got a
34:46 singular National Advertiser like a
34:49 church on mortgage for mortgages all
34:50 that falls under Ramsey trusted so
34:54 that's a lot under there but uh the the
34:57 uh the national uh associations plus the
34:58 Strategic Alliance as we call them the
35:01 the what used to be called the ELP
35:04 program um probably amounts to 40% of
35:07 the revenue really um and
35:11 so not let not putting on back to our
35:13 earlier conversation not putting on one
35:16 that's bad yeah is a big deal there
35:17 because you're going to mess up the
35:17 whole thing you know you're going to
35:19 mess up the Empire with that singular
35:21 bad pot of gold and so we have to you
35:23 know to be a real estate agent and
35:26 Ramsey trusted you really are we're
35:27 really going to do the stuff we tell you
35:29 to do or we're really not going to let
35:31 you in there I mean it's a big deal you
35:34 know and so cuz we love you and we love
35:36 our customers and we want everybody to
35:37 have a Little Love Fest we don't need
35:39 anybody pissed off so you're really
35:42 going to do this stuff so that's uh uh
35:43 probably uh I think it's probably
35:45 sitting at about 40% of the revs right
35:47 now but that's half the ad gun building
35:49 too in terms of the 1100 people that
35:52 work here uh entree leadership is
35:56 probably uh 15% uh you know something
35:59 like that uh Financial p University is probably
36:01 probably
36:06 15% um you know uh every dollar is 10%
36:10 maybe or less it's less than 10% um but
36:11 they know they just kind of fall out
36:13 like that publishing and Live Events
36:16 together not that huge Revenue but again
36:19 they're almost middle yeah they're
36:23 almost lead Gathering things so um I'm
36:24 trying to think what else falling in
36:26 that p&l but just something like that
36:28 those are the big ones that's rocks how
36:29 do you think about reallocating or
36:31 reinvesting Capital within the business
36:34 versus taking it out of the business as an
36:34 an [Music]
36:36 [Music]
36:41 owner well we we uh don't randomly if we
36:44 have something we can I can get more
36:47 Roi here on something that we have a
36:49 high belief in than I could anywhere
36:52 else I mean certainly on mutual funds of
36:54 real estate I mean I love mutual funds
36:55 of real estate but I mean I can get a
36:58 th% Roi on launching a
36:59 and I can't even approach that on this
37:02 other stuff so I would rather deploy the
37:05 capital here uh but I don't need to
37:10 deploy it stupidly so um when in doubt
37:12 uh we take it home and uh when in doubt
37:14 take it out yeah yeah that's it and and
37:16 plug it into the you know plug it into
37:17 the generosity and plug it into some
37:20 more real estate or mutual
37:23 funds so um I'm going to I'm going to
37:24 Pivot a little bit on the on the
37:26 investing side because I wanted to give
37:28 you a something that you might not know
37:30 but you did a um a podcast with graham
37:34 Stefan and he was fun he's a great guy
37:36 yeah Graham's Graham's a nice guy he's
37:37 done he's done a great job too on his
37:39 stuff man he's followed in your
37:41 Footsteps in a lot of ways well he he's
37:43 he's different but I mean he's doing
37:45 he's good he's we like him yeah Gram's a
37:48 good dude and he showed you his
37:50 investment uh portfolio oh yeah that's
37:52 like a thing he does when he has people
37:53 on I'm like I don't know Graham I don't
37:55 know if I'm qualified to help you with
37:58 that yeah you said something to him that
37:59 massively changed the direction of how
38:02 we invested just so you know yeah so I I
38:04 just wanted to share that with you so I
38:08 think you had said Loosely well before I
38:10 look at this if this were your brain or
38:12 your knowledge or your experiences what
38:14 percentage of this pie would you say is
38:16 real estate versus stocks versus
38:19 anything else and he said well because
38:20 he had asked you do you think I'm over
38:22 indexed on real estate but when you
38:23 asked him the question he said well I
38:24 mean I guess probably 85% of my
38:26 knowledge is around real estate and I
38:28 think his portfolio kind of reflected
38:30 that you were like well then that's a
38:32 perfect mix for you and for me as we
38:34 were coming out of the of our liquidity
38:35 event we' probably taken about 40
38:38 million home before that wow good for
38:41 you that's awesome it's not 300 it 300's
38:43 gross dude I know you know the
38:44 difference in gr
38:49 net and um but anyways and so I had
38:51 during while I was growing the business
38:53 I I basically just didn't really invest
38:55 at all I mean I just put in indexes and
38:57 was like I'll deal with it later um and
39:00 then we had the liquidity event and I
39:02 had I talked to probably every guy that
39:03 I know was who was richer than me and
39:05 was like what should I do with all this
39:07 and the answers that I got were as
39:09 different as there are people under the
39:12 sun yep which left me more confused than
39:14 anything and so the reason that that
39:16 little piece of advice that you gave to
39:18 Graham was so meaningful for me was that
39:20 it was personalized because everybody
39:22 told me what they did mhm and what had
39:24 worked for them but you know one of the
39:26 guys I asked was like oh take all that
39:28 and buy one huge building and I was like
39:29 I don't know anything about I was like I
39:30 really I don't want to risk everything
39:32 on one building he's like well I've been
39:33 doing this 30 years like that's what you
39:37 should do I like but I'm gonna mess this
39:39 up that scares the crap out of me yeah
39:41 yeah I have no tenants and termites and
39:43 toilets and all that I have no idea any
39:44 of that stuff works
39:47 right and so when I thought back on when
39:49 I looked at that pie and thought okay
39:50 well what's my knowledge base it was
39:52 like it's all business everything I've
39:53 done has been business and all the money
39:56 I've made has been business and so um I
39:57 showed that clip to Lila my wife I was
39:59 like I think I think this is what we
40:01 should do I think we should just stick
40:03 to business and just buy businesses and
40:06 grow them I love it I love it that's
40:09 what we did with acquisition. comom is
40:12 that good for you that's a great wow but
40:14 that little piece of device changed the
40:16 direction of how I mean how we allocate
40:18 all of our assets and what we do because
40:20 it's funny because if I was going to
40:22 write a $5 million check into a building
40:24 I I I got like you know three or four
40:25 deals that were around that size in
40:28 terms of check size and um I'd get all
40:29 the way to the end and I was like I
40:31 don't know what I'm doing and I'm just
40:34 trusting that this is a good deal like I
40:35 had the Excel sheet and the you know
40:36 projector returns and all this stuff and
40:37 I was like I don't feel good about this
40:40 because I don't know when on the flip
40:41 side if I'm going to write a $5 million
40:43 check into a business I feel fine about
40:45 it because I'm like oh I know how like I
40:47 know I don't know everything obviously
40:49 mil things it's it's your it's your
40:52 sandbox right and so um anyways that's
40:54 beautiful I love that that's what what
40:56 happened was we had a product that we
41:00 called wealth coach for a little while
41:02 and uh we ended up doing these very
41:04 small but I don't know we charged more
41:06 than we ever charge like a th000 bucks
41:07 or something we always charge 20 bucks
41:09 so to come to this little seminars and
41:11 we would end up talking to these people
41:12 that were millionaires or 5 million or
41:15 10 million and I kept asking them okay
41:17 what do you put money into CU they're
41:19 they've actually done it they had money
41:20 like you've actually done it you had
41:22 money and so it's not someone with a
41:27 theory on Tik Tok you know and so um
41:29 what I kept hearing from them was this
41:31 array of all kinds of different things
41:32 so I couldn't it wasn't the answer to
41:34 the question wasn't a certain investment
41:37 made them Rich what it was was they put
41:39 money and stuff they knew yeah and I
41:41 mean one guy was a car dealer and he had
41:44 a massive CL classic car collection
41:47 which for an ego-driven person is a
41:50 horrible idea right but because because
41:51 you can lose your butt in in any kind of
41:53 collectible yeah but for somebody that
41:56 is in the car business and his his
41:58 grandfather had a dealership and he his
42:01 father had a dealership and he had a he
42:04 he knows that loves it he goes out in
42:06 the garage and pets the cars I mean you
42:07 know so guess what he's making that
42:11 portfolio seriously gave him a great
42:13 return now do I recommend to the general
42:16 public go get a car no no put money in
42:18 stuff you understand and you love and uh
42:21 don't put money in stuff because it sounds
42:22 sounds
42:25 fancy um or somebody you know it sounds
42:27 sophisticated cuz there's something
42:29 happens when you get money you think
42:32 that everybody that has money is
42:35 sophisticated about their investing and
42:37 what I figured out is almost no one is
42:40 yeah they're very primitive I mean a lot
42:41 of people I talked to were farmers and
42:43 you know what they about lots of land
42:45 they got dirt man that's it just dirt
42:47 and it don't even I mean they don't even
42:49 necessarily plant it but they just buy
42:52 dirt and one guy had 8,000 Acres of dirt
42:54 you know I'm like God in Kansas you know
42:56 I'm like golly I wouldn't need more good
42:57 I don't know anything about that kind of
42:59 dirt I like real estate but that would
43:02 scare me to death but for him it was the
43:03 most comfortable natural thing in the
43:05 world to your point and so I just
43:07 learned that put money in stuff you love
43:08 and you understand don't put money in
43:11 stuff because it sounds sophisticated
43:12 because you're getting ready to lose
43:13 your butt because you're trusting some
43:14 guy who doesn't have any money who's
43:17 trying to sell you something and um
43:21 driving a well a bad car and um so yeah
43:23 uh we w't name the bad car but anyway
43:25 yeah I mean that that's that's where
43:27 that came from was just anecdotally
43:29 hanging out with those folks and
43:31 researching it and it gave me peace
43:33 because I was starting to make bank for
43:35 the first time and I'm like I need to be
43:37 like doing double back flip limited
43:39 family Partnerships or some kind of crap
43:40 I don't even know what they are but I
43:41 probably ought to be doing one if I'm
43:43 making this kind of money and and then I
43:45 and you talk to a guy and he's like yeah
43:46 you ought to do a double back flip with
43:48 a Twist and I'm like n yeah but get
43:50 right up to it and I'm going you know I
43:52 don't half no I think I'd rather just
43:54 bury it in the backyard than that
43:55 because at least I know where it is you know
43:57 know
43:58 it's funny though because even with the
44:01 dirt example um there was a guy who uh
44:02 his entire investment strategy explained
44:04 an interview he's like you guys are
44:05 going to be bored about what we're going
44:06 to do for the next 55 minutes because I
44:08 can explain it in five and we're like
44:10 and you know I'm listenting I'm like
44:11 okay here you know here's it he's like
44:13 okay so what I do is I find a city and I
44:15 find the main street because usually
44:16 there's a a main street that goes
44:17 through the middle of the stat the
44:18 oldest street whatever it's like and I
44:22 take a ruler and I go out 30 miles he's
44:25 like and then I buy all that land he's
44:28 like and then I wait 20 years [Laughter]
44:32 [Laughter]
44:38 guy and what are what are the big any
44:40 questions yeah he's like so what do you
44:41 want to do with the rest of our time
44:43 together they're like so how do you head
44:45 he's like oh Buy in cash because you
44:47 can't you know can't take loans on land
44:49 and uh yeah that's that's what I do and
44:50 we've been doing that for many many many
44:51 minut I done with a guy the other night
44:54 that had2 billion do net worth and he
44:57 second gen but his dad was dirt doing
44:59 dirt mhm not unlike what your friend was
45:02 doing and um then he couldn't get the
45:04 bank to do the deal he was borrowing
45:07 money to do the dirt and so he bought the
45:08 the
45:11 bank it was a little Hometown Bank and
45:12 they screwed with him and so he bought
45:15 it and he's like okay now they'll behave
45:18 and um then he started making money on
45:20 the bank and got in and got to figure
45:22 out how Banking and and now they own
45:26 like 15 or 20,000 Acres three wineries
45:28 around the world and a whole bunch of
45:32 banks bunch of Community Banks and they
45:34 and they're billion multi-billionaires
45:36 and so yeah but it started from that and
45:38 they don't really do anything else it's
45:40 the wineries are more of a fun project I
45:41 don't I think they know what they're
45:42 doing with those probably the way he was
45:47 talking he knew wine and um the uh but
45:50 the uh but he knows Banks he knows dirt
45:52 and that's where all their money is yeah
45:54 and they're they're not Diversified for
45:56 having as much billions with an S you
45:58 know I mean it's it's interesting those
46:00 kind of people are enthralling to me and
46:02 it's interesting because most of of the
46:04 the billionaires that I have looked at
46:06 they usually make their money in one or
46:07 two vehicles that they know exceedingly
46:08 well where they feel like they have an
46:11 unfair advantage and like they they they
46:12 get there not because there's a
46:13 Marketplace Advantage but because they
46:15 have an information Advantage they know
46:19 it better exactly exactly and if you go
46:22 through the Forbes 400 I think it's 67%
46:24 last time I looked are first gen mhm
46:25 they're all billionaires now you don't
46:27 qualify if you don't have a b
46:31 and um their first gen and I think I
46:32 looked at
46:34 them of the first
46:38 gens uh it was 90s something perc were
46:40 business-driven MH so it was Michael
46:44 Dell you know Bill Gates um Hobby Lobby
46:48 David Green um Chick-fil-A TR Kathy um
46:50 you know and so they started a business
46:53 and it led to either they took it public
46:55 or they just monetized the crud out of
46:57 it and it just has a value Marketplace
47:01 valuation Oprah you know um but you know
47:03 the the secret of Oprah's wealth is not
47:05 her Celebrity Status it's the Empire she
47:08 built under the Celebrity Status and so
47:10 um you know you go down those things
47:12 like that and you go okay you can get to
47:16 one to5 million net worth with your 401k
47:18 and your paid off home yeah uh but you
47:20 you know mathematically impossible to
47:22 get to a billion in your 401k it's not
47:23 possible to do it so you got to do
47:25 there's other strategies to be involved
47:27 if you're going to do that so I wanted
47:30 to take a quick second because uh it
47:32 would it'd be hard for me to to to talk
47:33 to Dave Ramsey without talking about
47:36 debt and um a lot of people so in my
47:39 audience um I'm kind of dead agnostic I
47:40 don't talk much about it um but a lot of
47:42 people don't know that I actually have
47:43 no debt either and so everything I
47:45 bought to this point in my life has been
47:48 cash now I'm not against that I just
47:50 kind of like talk about uh you know when
47:52 I get right at the edge of something I
47:54 just I end up not doing it um it's been
47:56 that way with most kind of loone things
48:00 in general and I read uh Financial or
48:04 Total Money Makeover um years ago and
48:06 you had this line in there about debt
48:07 that was I'm going to try and say it
48:09 back to As I understood it because
48:11 there's there's obviously the B biblical
48:13 component but for everyone who might not
48:16 believe in that um I wanted to give at
48:18 least my ra my rational understanding of
48:20 how you see it which is that debt
48:23 introduces risk MH and risk when it when
48:25 compounded over a long enough time
48:26 Horizon no matter how big a number you
48:28 require any number multiplied by zero is
48:30 still zero and so if you know that
48:32 you're going to be playing this game for
48:34 a very long time even a small amount of
48:35 risk when you're going 200 mes an hour
48:39 can flip the car MH that was my
48:42 understanding of how you saw debt MH is
48:45 that accurate that's that's how I I saw
48:46 it or at least I interpreted your view
48:48 on debt yeah that line is actually from
48:51 Warren Buffett um he uh and one of his
48:53 his famous annual reports they're
48:55 they're very cheeky and fun to read and
48:57 especially the opening paragraph so in
48:59 one of those he he was talking about in
49:02 a down year like' 08 um you know we soon
49:04 discover that Leverage is not always
49:06 your friend those of us that could do
49:08 math realize that any number multiplied
49:11 by zero is going to equal zero and that
49:14 does that for you so yeah it's um again
49:15 having grown up in the real estate
49:17 business one thing you're going to do in
49:18 the real estate business when I was
49:19 growing up if you said I'm going to be a
49:21 real estate investor they took you to
49:22 the hospital they took out your risk
49:25 meter and they broke it with a hammer
49:26 and they put it back in you're not
49:27 allowed to to perceive risk if you're
49:29 going to be a real estate guy cuz and CU
49:32 it's every it's a glass half full we're
49:33 Eternal Optimus everything's going to
49:35 work out cuz real estate's always
49:39 awesome it's just awesomeness on Parade
49:41 you can't mess this up the renters will
49:42 pay your rent oh God that or pay your
49:44 mortgage you how can you mess this up
49:46 and you know so if if a little bit of
49:48 Leverage is is good then a lot of
49:51 Leverage is amazing and uh and that's
49:53 how I went broke yeah you know I
49:55 leveraged up to my eyeballs on had a
49:56 bunch of short-term notes in the bank
49:58 call did the unthinkable and called my
50:00 notes when they got sold to another bank
50:02 and they saw a 26 year-old kid owed them
50:04 a million two on a 90-day notes doing
50:06 flips this was before chip and Joanna
50:09 told us how to do it and so do a flip oh
50:11 my God and we didn't have HG to channel
50:14 to tell us how to fix up a house I
50:17 without cable TV I did this stuff and so
50:20 um yeah so that's where it came from and
50:22 then what happened to me because I lost
50:24 everything following
50:27 the borrow all you can
50:32 because it works plan um I had to stop
50:35 and go uh I think I've got a bad set of
50:39 rules the Playbook I've got sucks I keep
50:43 losing and my kids are getting skinny I
50:45 mean this is not working so when I did
50:48 that the first as you said the first uh
50:50 door I went through was I was had just
50:52 become a Christian and so I started
50:54 studying the Bible and so from as a
50:56 matter of faith I started reading
50:58 scriptures and all the scriptures say
50:59 negative things about that it doesn't
51:01 say it's a sin doesn't say you're going
51:03 to hell but it's stuff like the borrower
51:05 slave to the lender you're a fool if you
51:07 cosign I mean it says these things in
51:09 scripture and then you talk to old rich
51:11 people and they go well you stay out of
51:13 debt boy you know and okay that's kind
51:15 of Grandma God's and Grandma's ways of
51:18 doing it so what did I miss in Academia
51:21 when I fell in love with leverage from
51:23 an academic Viewpoint because how is it
51:25 it's in congruent to me that if this
51:27 book of wisdom
51:29 and these people M that are long in the
51:33 tooth with gray hair that have proof
51:35 social proof they've got money and they
51:38 kept it are all saying avoid debt what
51:41 is it that we missing in academic land
51:44 with my intellect so spiritual social
51:45 proof now I got to solve it
51:47 intellectually and what I ended up doing
51:49 I ended up speaking at uh Vanderbilt to
51:52 a group of NBAs early in my career and
51:54 it it it forced me to because I knew I
51:56 was going to go in there and get tackled
51:57 right because they're going to
52:00 go you're primitive you believe
52:01 the Bible you know you don't know
52:03 anything and you don't how to do math
52:04 and I know I know how to do math as a
52:05 matter of fact it's about all I know how
52:07 to do I'm a math guy so what I figured
52:13 out was was that in business debt or
52:15 real estate debt uh business is not publicly
52:16 publicly traded
52:18 traded
52:20 um no
52:25 one includes all the math mhm they leave
52:28 out a risk factor associated with debt
52:31 mathematically and so we look at a very
52:34 inaccurate and primitive measure of
52:36 Leverage and so if I can borrow this
52:39 money at 2% and I can invest it at eight
52:42 uh why am I not making six well a you
52:44 left out inflation B you left out taxes
52:47 but aside from that um and and that's
52:49 pretty basic because this is the
52:50 argument it's that it is that the
52:52 argument is that primitive right but you
52:56 did not adjust for the risk you took on
52:58 cuz think we can all agree if you have a
53:00 business that's doing $10 million
53:02 Topline and you've got uh $12 million in
53:04 debt you have a lot more risk than if
53:07 you had $2 million in debt and even $2
53:08 million is more risk than if you had
53:10 zero debt we can agree that debt is
53:12 equal to risk and if we can agree to
53:13 that then we ought to be able to assign
53:15 if we're going to really get down in the
53:19 analytical jungle uh we can assign a
53:21 mathematical formula to that well Tada
53:23 there is one it already exists we just
53:24 never applied it in that in the
53:27 investment World they teach us M to
53:30 adjust you don't compare an aggressive
53:33 growth stock mutual fund that has a high
53:36 peaks and valleys on the graph volatile
53:39 with a growth and income fund which has
53:42 almost no Peaks and valleys so a growth
53:45 and income fund may have a beta of
53:49 a08 meaning it is only 80% as risky as the
53:50 the
53:54 S&P when you're comparing it to uh an
53:55 aggressive growth stock mutual fund that
53:59 might have a 2.0 meaning it's twice as
54:02 volatile risky MH and so in that world
54:04 we're taught I mean one of the first
54:06 things you learn doing financial
54:08 analysis in that world is the you use
54:11 the beta as an inverse in the math and
54:12 you and you flip it on its head and you
54:14 multiply it through and you adjust for
54:17 risk mathematically so that you can then
54:19 say after you adjust for the volatility
54:21 the 08 versus the 2.0 versus the S&P is
54:24 a 1.0 it's your Baseline when you adjust
54:28 for that risk uh the perceived Return of
54:30 the aggressive growth stock mutual fund
54:32 at 20% rate of return where the other
54:33 one's making
54:37 11.2 it goes away it neutralizes it and
54:39 you might end up with with uh risk
54:42 adjusted that 11.2 will come up and the
54:45 20% will come down risk adjusted and
54:47 then you can actually compare apples to
54:49 apples but you've risk adjusted for the
54:52 volatility and mathematically we don't
54:54 do that in business right we just go oh
54:56 I want to buy bulldozer let's go get
54:59 50,000 at the bank yeah and I think I
55:01 can do it I think we can push some dirt
55:03 and that that is your risk analysis well
55:06 kiss my butt that is dumb okay and and
55:08 people do that all the time and so what
55:11 I determined was is that I'm going to go
55:14 I if you want to compare two dry
55:16 cleaners you know one has debt one
55:18 doesn't I've got a risk adjust for that
55:19 mathematically and you have to apply a
55:21 beta formula that I presented that to
55:22 this group of NBAs and they're all
55:23 sitting there with their jaws on their
55:26 lap going uh no one ever said that I
55:28 said it's because it's never been said
55:30 no one no one does it in the world no
55:32 one no you're not trained this way
55:34 you're trained that way and only one
55:36 bucket of Finance all the other buckets
55:39 of Finance zero real estate people do
55:44 this zero none they do not analyze risk
55:47 and so if you take risk out then
55:50 unlimited leverage right is logical but
55:52 if you say unlimited leverage they go oh
55:56 oh not quite maybe 80% maybe a 70% maybe
55:59 a LTV right and uh you know but if you
56:00 push them up to the edge they can
56:02 actually feel it a little bit cuz they
56:04 there's remnant of a risk meter in there
56:06 but it just doesn't function
56:09 anymore that's where that came from oh I
56:10 love it probably more than you wanted
56:12 but yeah no no I wanted to uh to kind of
56:14 hear your take on it and uh because
56:15 obviously you know in the business
56:17 acquisition world there's also debt
56:19 that's that's factored in now we've done
56:22 all all cash deals um up to this point
56:24 um but I wanted to just kind of hear
56:26 your take on it uh and I I quote Warren
56:28 Buffett a lot he's a big yeah but even
56:30 even in the publicly traded realm you
56:32 know if you we were taught and and still
56:35 taught bonds are debt mhm and so if
56:36 you're looking at a com company with
56:38 publicly traded stock it has a heavy
56:42 Bond weight yeah you discount the pte
56:44 you you don't compare that stock Apples
56:46 to Apples with a company has no bond
56:48 rate zero bonds they have zero debt they
56:49 don't have Bank debt they don't have
56:51 short-term debt they're sitting over
56:53 there debt free you you would give them
56:56 some benefit on their stock analysis
56:58 mathematically we're taught to do that
57:00 but again it does not transfer from the
57:02 mutual fund world or the publicly traded
57:05 world to the real estate world or the
57:08 small business World small business uh
57:10 privately held business don't even I
57:13 mean I know people that do you know have
57:15 a billion dollar Top Line and honestly
57:17 they don't even look at they just they
57:19 just some of a lot of them just don't
57:20 borrow money they don't even know why
57:21 they don't borrow money they just don't
57:23 borrow money cuz somebody told them to
57:25 one time and they go I like not being in
57:27 debt I can sleep better and that's their
57:31 entire analysis you know uh me I've got
57:33 analysis and I can do the country boy
57:35 thing too and say I just sleep better
57:39 bring on a pandemic I got cash yeah I
57:40 I'll I'll I'll I'll bring this home
57:42 because I had a and I could talk to you
57:44 all day um and I appreciate you taking
57:46 the time to to you know talk to me and
57:47 the audience the game been honored it's
57:51 fun fun conversation if you had advice
57:53 that you could and I I'll keep it
57:55 specific to business advice um that you
57:57 could give for 4-year-old
58:00 Dave what would you tell him then that
58:10 then play incremental long ball don't
58:11 look for the Home
58:15 Run um I keep waiting for somebody to
58:18 call me and for this to get
58:21 easy one phone call and it's all over
58:23 and it's like oh now I don't have to
58:24 think about it anymore someone else is
58:25 going to do it for me it's all automatic
58:26 it's never going to be automatic it's
58:29 never going to be easy it's um it's a
58:31 hustle and grind it's a claw you're
58:34 going to make a bazillion mistakes make
58:35 mistakes that are experiments that you
58:38 survive you put out a hypothesis you
58:41 survive the experiment to live another
58:42 day to have another experiment put out
58:44 another hypothesis another product that
58:47 fails another idea that fails and our
58:50 failures at Ramsay are in New in number
58:52 and in money are way greater than our
58:54 successes the only thing is we survived
58:56 them a we didn't have debt and B we
58:59 never bet the farm on one horse and so
59:00 from a diversification standpoint we
59:02 never pushed all the chips to the middle
59:04 of the table on one hand and so we're
59:07 not looking for the singular home run uh
59:08 we're looking to survive and fight
59:11 another day and keep iterating and the
59:14 the culmination of that uh the
59:17 accumulated value of those iterations
59:19 are what we call the gleaming mountain
59:22 of success which turns out as a pile of
59:24 garbage and mistakes that you're just
59:27 standing on rather than laying under it
59:29 I love that uh one of the say that we
59:31 have in our community is 100 gold 100
59:33 golden BBS no silver bullets there you
59:35 go that's one that's exact you know you
59:36 beat me to that's much better than mine
59:38 I would have just gone with that you
59:40 know it's the same thing I keep waiting
59:42 on the phone call but I mean it's never
59:43 I had a couple of them I thought was it
59:46 and then I was um found out they were
59:49 just people and they weren't magic
59:50 what's funny because I joke with our
59:51 community because a lot of my community
59:53 is small business owners you know
59:55 probably you know from $100,000 a year
59:57 to1 million a year is probably like the
59:58 the broad brushstroke of the people who
60:02 are listening to this um and the biggest thing a lot of them suffer from is you
60:04 thing a lot of them suffer from is you know shiny object syndrome is that as
60:06 know shiny object syndrome is that as soon as something starts to get hard
60:08 soon as something starts to get hard something new looks easy and so they
60:10 something new looks easy and so they jump from the hard thing to the easy
60:11 jump from the hard thing to the easy thing and really it's just uninformed
60:12 thing and really it's just uninformed optimism and then they get into it and
60:14 optimism and then they get into it and then they have informed
60:20 pessimism that's beautiful that's beautiful yeah I mean by the time it
60:22 beautiful yeah I mean by the time it shines you're
60:24 shines you're light you're it's too late I mean if you
60:28 light you're it's too late I mean if you think Tik Tok is new you're late yeah
60:31 think Tik Tok is new you're late yeah it's already not
60:32 it's already not new it may have already turned down and
60:34 new it may have already turned down and we while we were talking right
60:36 we while we were talking right now well I mean if if we have a second
60:39 now well I mean if if we have a second let me know um in terms of how because
60:41 let me know um in terms of how because you've survived survived a strong word
60:43 you've survived survived a strong word uh you've thrived uh platform agnostic
60:47 uh you've thrived uh platform agnostic you know you have you I mean you were in
60:49 you know you have you I mean you were in radio you've done live stuff but then I
60:51 radio you've done live stuff but then I see YouTube clips uh of your show
60:54 see YouTube clips uh of your show pumping out every day you guys crush it
60:56 pumping out every day you guys crush it on YouTube and you do it kind of your
60:59 on YouTube and you do it kind of your way um how have you thought about
61:02 way um how have you thought about navigating platforms as they come and go
61:05 navigating platforms as they come and go and how you kind of like reinvest in
61:08 and how you kind of like reinvest in where where are we going to make a bet
61:09 where where are we going to make a bet and say okay we're going to start
61:10 and say okay we're going to start expending resources here or is it just
61:12 expending resources here or is it just if there's attention we'll go there like
61:14 if there's attention we'll go there like how how do you think through
61:16 how how do you think through that uh we try to go there and then we
61:19 that uh we try to go there and then we expend resources based on um results and
61:23 expend resources based on um results and so um the YouTube shorts that we've been
61:25 so um the YouTube shorts that we've been been pumping out is only about a year
61:27 been pumping out is only about a year and a half old and uh we're getting
61:30 and a half old and uh we're getting incredible results uh but we're getting
61:33 incredible results uh but we're getting results on those as an example um we
61:35 results on those as an example um we don't view those as life transformation
61:37 don't view those as life transformation items okay we view them as lead magnets
61:40 items okay we view them as lead magnets MH to lead you to the long form show to
61:43 MH to lead you to the long form show to Financial Peace University to a book
61:45 Financial Peace University to a book which are life transformation items so
61:48 which are life transformation items so um they're um free advertisements that
61:51 um they're um free advertisements that cause people to get a get a little
61:53 cause people to get a get a little sample get little little old ladies
61:55 sample get little little old ladies stand in Costco with a sample biscuit
61:57 stand in Costco with a sample biscuit right and so get a little sample and
62:01 right and so get a little sample and um uh get a little sample biscuit and
62:04 um uh get a little sample biscuit and then you may go buy the whole thing in
62:05 then you may go buy the whole thing in the freezer uh and but so we I would not
62:09 the freezer uh and but so we I would not do in other words our Phil philosophy on
62:12 do in other words our Phil philosophy on changing lives as while we're here we
62:14 changing lives as while we're here we would not only do YouTube shorts because
62:16 would not only do YouTube shorts because they don't change lives MH okay we would
62:19 they don't change lives MH okay we would not only do uh the new long form Tik Tok
62:22 not only do uh the new long form Tik Tok 6 minutes 7 minutes we would not only do
62:24 6 minutes 7 minutes we would not only do that uh because it won't change life um
62:27 that uh because it won't change life um and so it's got to lead us somewhere and
62:31 and so it's got to lead us somewhere and based on its response on doing that or
62:34 based on its response on doing that or just general activity around whatever
62:36 just general activity around whatever the item is whether it's a long form or
62:38 the item is whether it's a long form or short form uh it is we're going to we're
62:41 short form uh it is we're going to we're going to pour gas on where we're seeing
62:43 going to pour gas on where we're seeing stuff work and you know so we don't you
62:45 stuff work and you know so we don't you know for the last two years we put uh
62:48 know for the last two years we put uh little to no effort in growing Twitter
62:50 little to no effort in growing Twitter MH um Tucker Carlson might change that
62:55 MH um Tucker Carlson might change that it may become a broadcast medium mhm and
62:58 it may become a broadcast medium mhm and uh so we'll probably be on Twitter next
63:01 uh so we'll probably be on Twitter next week well elon's definitely pushing Elon
63:03 week well elon's definitely pushing Elon and he's going to but I mean if it's not
63:05 and he's going to but I mean if it's not going to just be a uh a cauldron for
63:08 going to just be a uh a cauldron for trolls uh then um and it's actually
63:11 trolls uh then um and it's actually going to put out some positive
63:12 going to put out some positive information uh in a way that is
63:14 information uh in a way that is consumable and could grow and Tuck if if
63:17 consumable and could grow and Tuck if if Elon proves that with Tucker I mean
63:18 Elon proves that with Tucker I mean we'll jump in there and try it right now
63:20 we'll jump in there and try it right now and all that is we're not going to put a
63:21 and all that is we're not going to put a ton of money on it or uh resources or
63:24 ton of money on it or uh resources or bandwidth on it but we're I this week we
63:27 bandwidth on it but we're I this week we were discussing we're probably going to
63:28 were discussing we're probably going to try it and uh tuck what Tucker's doing
63:29 try it and uh tuck what Tucker's doing and what elon's doing with Tucker and
63:31 and what elon's doing with Tucker and with that whole idea of broadcasting
63:33 with that whole idea of broadcasting there um because Facebook live is didn't
63:35 there um because Facebook live is didn't work I mean it's not working no not
63:37 work I mean it's not working no not anymore um not from our perspective
63:39 anymore um not from our perspective anyway but we're still there we're not
63:40 anyway but we're still there we're not we didn't abandon it but we're not
63:41 we didn't abandon it but we're not putting effort on it we YouTube shorts
63:44 putting effort on it we YouTube shorts yeah we got a lot of people in this
63:45 yeah we got a lot of people in this building working on that every day yeah
63:47 building working on that every day yeah you guys crank those yeah they do they
63:49 you guys crank those yeah they do they put out a bunch of them when you think
63:51 put out a bunch of them when you think about content for you are you cuz you're
63:54 about content for you are you cuz you're recording 12 hours a week correct four
63:56 recording 12 hours a week correct four days three hours a day 15 hour okay well
63:58 days three hours a day 15 hour okay well accounting commercials yeah we do we do
63:59 accounting commercials yeah we do we do three hour talk radio show every day
64:01 three hour talk radio show every day days is that the entirety of your kind
64:03 days is that the entirety of your kind of content creation and then the teams
64:05 of content creation and then the teams take all of that and disseminate it
64:07 take all of that and disseminate it through all the the
64:09 through all the the channels uh I do a podcast that I just
64:13 channels uh I do a podcast that I just took over that's callar driven on
64:15 took over that's callar driven on leadership in small business called
64:16 leadership in small business called onent trade leadership took that over in
64:18 onent trade leadership took that over in January that and the Ramsey Show are the
64:21 January that and the Ramsey Show are the only two things I'm on but Ramsey
64:23 only two things I'm on but Ramsey network has about 10 shows MH are uh
64:26 network has about 10 shows MH are uh YouTube Andor radio Andor I mean we put
64:29 YouTube Andor radio Andor I mean we put them on everything but um I mean the Ken
64:31 them on everything but um I mean the Ken Coleman show is the only ones on talk
64:33 Coleman show is the only ones on talk radio 75 stations plus podcast plus
64:36 radio 75 stations plus podcast plus YouTube um deloney John Dr John deloney
64:39 YouTube um deloney John Dr John deloney has a huge show on uh podcast and
64:42 has a huge show on uh podcast and YouTube only uh the Rachel Cruz with
64:44 YouTube only uh the Rachel Cruz with George camel the h smart money happy
64:46 George camel the h smart money happy hours but we sawdust every one of those
64:49 hours but we sawdust every one of those every one of those can say uh we're
64:51 every one of those can say uh we're going to take uh pieces and clips and do
64:53 going to take uh pieces and clips and do all kinds of things with them instead of
64:55 all kinds of things with them instead of don't go create uh well I say very
64:58 don't go create uh well I say very seldom do we go create a YouTube short
65:01 seldom do we go create a YouTube short of anyone in the building or anything in
65:03 of anyone in the building or anything in the building it is clipped from
65:05 the building it is clipped from something we were already doing so it's
65:08 something we were already doing so it's repurposed uh content that was already
65:11 repurposed uh content that was already developed for something else you know
65:13 developed for something else you know highly edited yeah I I mean because I've
65:17 highly edited yeah I I mean because I've I've observed what you're doing and
65:18 I've observed what you're doing and thinking like how can how can we do even
65:20 thinking like how can how can we do even more of that kind of stuff lots of
65:22 more of that kind of stuff lots of payroll yeah where our media is
65:26 payroll yeah where our media is um all right well uh this has been
65:29 um all right well uh this has been phenomenal and uh I'm honestly just so
65:32 phenomenal and uh I'm honestly just so grateful that uh they they had me and my
65:34 grateful that uh they they had me and my team out here um to uh is this
65:36 team out here um to uh is this considered Ramsey Studios is that what
65:38 considered Ramsey Studios is that what this would yeah we call it that Ramsey
65:39 this would yeah we call it that Ramsey solution Studios yeah um and uh just
65:42 solution Studios yeah um and uh just also so grateful for that one tiny
65:44 also so grateful for that one tiny tidbit that wow wow I'm honored I had a
65:47 tidbit that wow wow I'm honored I had a tiny bit to do with all that you do man
65:49 tiny bit to do with all that you do man you're amazing I'm proud of you well
65:51 you're amazing I'm proud of you well done means a lot I appreciate it well
65:54 done means a lot I appreciate it well thanks so much for having coming on the
65:55 thanks so much for having coming on the game thank you brother hope the
65:57 game thank you brother hope the something in the future absolutely you
65:59 something in the future absolutely you can count on it