Are you ready to unlock your potential? Bringing a wealth of experience and insights, our latest guest, Dave Meltzer, entrepreneur, author, speaker, and businessman, shares his journey from an ambitious youngster to leading Samsung's phone division as a CEO. His tale is a testament that with the right alignment of skills, knowledge, desire, and actions, there's always a way to conquer challenges. Listen as he recounts his path from selling legal research online in 1992 to becoming a CEO, highlighting the power of determination and a resilient mindset.
But the discussions don't stop there. Together, we delve into the intriguing concept of time, and how its understanding can shape our past, present, and future outcomes. Learn how to use the man-made construct of time to improve productivity, accessibility, and grace. Also, hear how beliefs can cultivate a heart set, mindset, and handset, steering us towards progress. We further discuss the critical role of maintaining a balanced focus on non-negotiables - health, family, and finance. Brace yourself for an episode filled with powerful insights, practical advice, and inspiring stories from Dave’s voyage to success.
Nathan Mansfield
Instagram: @nathanmansfield
Are you ready to unlock your potential? Bringing a wealth of experience and insights, our latest guest, Dave Meltzer, entrepreneur, author, speaker, and businessman, shares his journey from an ambitious youngster to leading Samsung's phone division as a CEO. His tale is a testament that with the right alignment of skills, knowledge, desire, and actions, there's always a way to conquer challenges. Listen as he recounts his path from selling legal research online in 1992 to becoming a CEO, highlighting the power of determination and a resilient mindset.
But the discussions don't stop there. Together, we delve into the intriguing concept of time, and how its understanding can shape our past, present, and future outcomes. Learn how to use the man-made construct of time to improve productivity, accessibility, and grace. Also, hear how beliefs can cultivate a heart set, mindset, and handset, steering us towards progress. We further discuss the critical role of maintaining a balanced focus on non-negotiables - health, family, and finance. Brace yourself for an episode filled with powerful insights, practical advice, and inspiring stories from Dave’s voyage to success.
Nathan Mansfield
Instagram: @nathanmansfield
What's up, guys, and welcome back to the Nathan Mansfield show. I'm Nathan Mansfield, your host, and I have the honor and the blessing to have the great Dave Meltzer on the show today. Welcome, dave.
Speaker 2:Thank you for allowing me to be here. I can't think of a better community to address, and I'm here to share my dummy tax. I paid the most expensive tax in the world. Forget federal taxes or if you live in California, new York, complaining about your state tax. I paid over a hundred million dollars in dummy tax and that happened between you know the time. I was 28 and 38 and completely screwed up my life, and I had some lessons that I've learned to allow myself now to make more money than I've ever made. It helped more people than I've ever helped and, most importantly, something that a lot of guys really want to know about, how do you have fun doing it? And so it's just a blessing to be here with your community to share that dummy tax that I was talking about earlier.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, I can't wait to dive into some of that because I've played too many, too many dollars to that as well. But, guys, if you don't know Dave is that he's an entrepreneur, he's an author, he's a speaker, he's a you know, he's a renowned businessman and that's where I really look up to this guy is that, you know, he's always found the way. He's always, regardless of the circumstance, regardless of losing a hundred million dollars, he's always found the way through. And he's also a father and a husband, which I love. And so you know, as most of you guys can relate to this, leading yourself, leading a family, leading a business it's all challenging.
Speaker 1:How do I figure out the priorities? How do I get? How do I both make sure my wife feels safe, my kids feel inspired by dad and led by dad? Also, how do I lead a business and make money and be successful at it? And that's what I'm here to pick his brain today for the benefit of your view. And I hope that you take notes because, dave, every minute here will be packed full of fire. So, dave, I just want to quickly dive into part of your story of success. From whatever moment and you knew, there was a fire and intensity to do more and be more into. You know the three minutes synopsis of who you are now. What are some of those big points in there, dave, that have led you to where you are today?
Speaker 2:Well, first, you know, just growing up with a mom, that I had that instilled in me the understanding of enjoying the consistent, every day, persistent, without quit pursuit of my potential, not what other people wanted for me, not what was missing, not what I didn't have, but living in a world to try me to not limit my own self image. And she would always say you can never overachieve your own self image. So she made sure that I had a high self image, but I was willing to do what it took to do, say, think, believe and feel what it took every day without quit, no matter what the outcomes were. And that was the start of it. Next was when I graduated law school to pursue something that everyone thought was a mistake. I graduated law school to be an oil and gas litigator and I ended up being a salesperson selling, in 1992, legal research online, even though even Justice Scalia told me that nobody would ever do research online, that you needed books. My own mom told me that the internet was a fad and yet, nine months out of law school, millionaire Three years later, we exited for $3.4 billion in 1995. And then going up to the Silicon Valley with no technology experience at all other than selling internet and, you know, raising hundreds of millions of dollars in a hyper technical field of middleware and then, in 99, being a CEO of Samsung's phone division. And that led me to understand a very valuable lesson in entrepreneurship that a lot of people look at industries, jobs and careers.
Speaker 2:I have always looked at my skill, my knowledge of who and what and my desire. You know I have one of the top podcasts in the world. I always say I have, you know, one of the top, top 10 of the top 1000, because everybody has different lists. I have one of the top 10 podcasts out of 1000 and I found, you know, from 1600 episodes of my podcast alone and over 5000 interviews that I've done. The common denominator beyond skills and knowledge is the desire that you must be what you can be, and I've had that. And so all through my career I've looked within. How does my skill, my knowledge and my desire align with what's doing well, what's stable and what I think is going to do well? And you talked about no matter what. I've always found a way.
Speaker 2:That try me attitude was instilled by my mom, explored in my 20s through understanding different things that other people didn't understand. But in the end when I ran Lee Steinberg, the most notable sports agency in the world, and people asked how the hell did you get that job? Because I had developed my skills, my knowledge and my desire aligned with the biggest sports agency in the world, the Jerry Maguire firm, because I had built. How to raise money is a skill of mine, technology was a skill of mine, how to sell was a skill of mine. I had a law degree which was also applicable in the state, and a sports background and nobody else in the world had all of those things at the highest level. I had developed them into my 30s because I always looked at my skills, my knowledge and my desire and expanded, not transition those Right.
Speaker 2:I was constantly expanding. It wasn't like I was transitioning from internet to middleware, middleware to hardware, hardware to sports agency. I just expanded it because I'm always expanding my skills, my knowledge and my desire. And even when I lost everything, while I was running the most notable sports agency in the world worth over $100 million access to what even billionaires couldn't access I was still developing my skills, my knowledge and my diet. I was really pissed my wife off when I lost everything and I told her I didn't lose that money, you know that. And she said, dave, you're in denial. I said, oh, I didn't lose that money. I invested it into my skills, into my knowledge of who and what and into my desire, and nothing's going to stop me now. I can't wait to see what I do next and I proved it to her over the last 17 years what you can do when you focus in on those things an expansive mindset, heart set and handset.
Speaker 1:That's incredible, bro. Skills, knowledge and desire Guys, write those down. Stop chasing all the things that the world wants to offer and start chasing what's inside and align that. That's huge. Now, at the beginning of this, you talked about how good your mother was at reinforcing your self-image. Okay, Dave, but here's the thing I work with a lot of people who don't have that self-image, and also I have struggled with that my whole life and somehow, I think just my work ethic and sheer desire to win has made me moderately successful. But I've always struggled with self-image. And so, Dave, I know you've been notable as one of the top 100 coaches in the world. So when working with someone who has massive potential, good work ethic, how is it that you begin to reverse the self-image, and how can these guys listening to this begin to do that for themselves?
Speaker 2:Well, first of all, I educate people on time, the utilization of time in two different manners. One, time is the dependent variable of all matter, and so what we spend our time in, with the attention and intention of what we do, say, think and believe, is where we are going to create the aggregation, the compounding of the exponential outcomes that we want and the acceleration. And so once I get someone to understand how time impacts the past, the present and the future, then I can also work on the idea of the meaning, and what I say by that is that to increase and understand that you will never overachieve your own self-image. I let people know that, okay, we are dealing with time, the infinite past, the man-made constructive time of today, 24 hours, and the infinite time of the future. So I want you to follow me in your beliefs, and so you talked about looking within at the skills, knowledge and desire.
Speaker 2:You and I are nothing but a bag of beliefs. That's all we are. We are a skin bag of beliefs, and those beliefs impact a few things. Number one they impact your heart set. What you believe impacts the way you feel about whatever it is, the way my beliefs are impacting the way I feel about losing over $100 million. I could be a victim and feel depressed. I could get super fired up and it's inspired that I screwed up and I got a chip on my.
Speaker 2:It is your beliefs that determine your heart set. Secondarily, your beliefs, and you are a bag of beliefs. Your beliefs indicate your mindset. All of your thoughts are reliant upon your beliefs, and so the meaning that we give the past, the infinite past, the defining moments, the setbacks, failures, mistakes, void, shortages, obstacles, successes the meaning that we give it determines the beliefs that we have, which then determine all of our thoughts, which then all projects our perception of things. So now we know that nothing outside of us has any control on us, that there's only three things that have control Our heart set, which our beliefs control our mindset and then, finally, our handset. And this is where people like you and I, regardless of the inputs of other people not having a mom like my mom, which very few people have had in life, but without that we can effectuate control over what we do and say, and our beliefs have less of an impact on what we do and say than our mindset and our heart set, but yet it still is a catalyst for being consistent and persistent in what we do and say. Why is that important? Because behavior aggregates, compounds and accelerates. Behavior creates good progress with good behavior. Bad behavior creates bad progress. And so, for example, when we feel not worthy, when we think not worthy thoughts, we're more likely to have not worthy actions and words, which then facilitate the pragmatic world of today, the 24 hours.
Speaker 2:So I teach people number one the infinite time of the past, to make sure that if something's infinite, we could change the meaning of it. I changed the meaning of my bankruptcy. When I went bankrupt, the first few days I promised you the mindset, heart set and handset were not what they are today. I did not say, oh my gosh, I'm so lucky, I lost all this money. I'm moving out of my beautiful home in Rancho, santa Fe. Everybody hates me or I'm barest. I was like dude. Today it's the best thing that ever happened to me, like.
Speaker 2:One of the best business things was losing everything, because it allowed me to take my skills, my knowledge and desire and instantaneously change its direction without any baggage. So, looking at this in the concept, in construct of time and the bag of beliefs, I'm able to shift people's self image, but not just their self image, according to their values of gratitude, forgiveness, accountability and inspiration, but also their beliefs and their daily practices, so that now they're using man-made constructive time 24 hours a day, to be productive, accessible and gracious, to know what they want today, in the trajectory of what they think they want in the future. An unlimited self image by giving meaning, by finding the light, the love and the lessons in the failures, the mistakes, setbacks, the way, shortages, obstacles and even successes.
Speaker 1:I'm going to need to replay that about five times and let's do it Right on. That's a formula, that's like an algorithm. You got that obviously is from years of doing the work, years of failure, years of success, but also probably years of mentorship and learning from people In practice.
Speaker 2:I practice every like. People ask me what's your superpower, man? I said consistency. Yeah, Very few people enjoy consistency as much as I do, so it's probably a little bit of OCD and spectrum in my personality that allows me to enjoy consistency as much as I do, but it's a superpower when it comes to this stuff.
Speaker 1:What does consistency look like for you for like? Could you give me some examples of your?
Speaker 2:practice of consistency. So understanding time, I know that two minutes a day is worth more than two hours on a Saturday, because time is an energy, just like money, so it aggregates, compounds and accelerates. So I have non-negotiables. I spend a minimum amount of an hour every day on my health. I spend a minimum amount of time with my family my wife 30 minutes, my son 30 minutes, my daughter's two minutes minimum, my mom one minute minimum. Then I have a minimum of 10 minutes where I keep in touch with a relative, friends and family I haven't talked to. Then I spend a minimum of 10 minutes a day studying time, and all within the context of lenses, to be as productive as I can, provide as much value, accessible and gracious every single day in the trajectory of what I think I want in the future, by learning from the past and giving meaning. And so for me it's a weighted balance every day, personally, experientially giving and receiving, wise of how I can align a weighted balance to the non-negotiables of health, family and finance, but also to deal with the activities I have planned.
Speaker 2:I don't have planned and sleep paid for and unpaid for activities as well. So for me I'm utilizing this consistent behavior so that two minutes a day with my daughters is worth two hours on a Saturday with my daughters. One minute a day with my mom minimum is worth an hour. So I vacation every day. I have activity. I don't believe in busy. I don't believe in work I'm not done. Accessible Work sounds really awful to me. I just have activity I get paid for and activity I don't get paid for. And I'm on a mission to try to get as much activity in the day I get paid for than not paid for. That's huge.
Speaker 1:I love that. So much wealth and wisdom that's going on in that brain of yours. I love it, bro. Well, last one, last question. I'll be studious with your time and let you back onto your busy day.
Speaker 2:Not busy day, your active day.
Speaker 1:So, hey, if I'm 30, 35 year old man and in a career that I'm kind of unhappy with and I'm looking in the future, I'm going. I don't know if this is for me. I want to do something that gives me that desire, that it's fulfilling that desire.
Speaker 2:What's the first step I need to make towards living a life full of purpose and being, you know, living that desire lean into what you do today, lean into the activities you have today, lean in and find more time, more options and opportunities to develop the skills and knowledge and the desire of what you're doing today. Too many people, right, and they do this in their marriages all the time. They're looking for what they don't want. And so, if I can change the paradigm, to start, hey, let's look at what you do want in what you're doing today, and then we'll be able to find more of what you're doing. It may be still inside of what you're actually doing today, but so many people and I almost did this in my marriage right, I would travel and all I could think about is how much I love my wife and how lucky I was to have the family and the wife that I had. And I'd come home and I'd see the shoes lying on the staircase and, instead of reminding myself what I was looking for, I started looking for the wrong things and I got more of the wrong things and it made my marriage seem shitty to me, and I see people do the same thing in their jobs, their marriages, their families. So what I tell you to start is let's start looking for what you do want and lean into what you do want. And now, whether it's what you already have and you're just not finding it, or it's outside of what you have right now, at least we're very clear on what you want. Then we can determine who you can help and who can help you. Then we can determine how. That then tells us what's important to us, and then it effectuates the now and the next. In other words, it allows us to prioritize.
Speaker 2:Prioritization is the antidote to the problem you're talking about. It is also the antidote to procrastination and feeling overwhelmed. And so what I do is I give a lesson of importance to everyone. I help them facilitate what is it you actually want? Let us put your attention and intention on that, because the mathematical equation of luck and coincidence and karma is what you pay attention to plus what you give intention to, equals the coincidences in your life. It's the karma of your life. So I teach people the what, the who, the how. I then prioritize there now, and, instead of searching for a why that they're feeling right now in a job or a relationship or a family, I let them apply their why to what they already have and then get more of what they already have and apply more of the why, that in spirit, that inspiration, that gratitude of the future that's already there. So, instead of looking for more health, wealth, worthiness and happiness in what you're doing, I teach them first. I am happy, healthy, wealthy and worthy. Let's figure out what you're doing, to interfere with it, and then let's go get more together.
Speaker 2:And this is work that I wanna offer everyone, including you and your community. I wanna, if you email me, I will sign a book for everyone in your community. I will pay for the book. I will pay for shipping. I'm not trying to get 9.99 for shipping out of you. I will pay for everything because I know that the starting point, the foundational principles in my book will help you and guide you into the journey of enjoying the consistent, persistent pursuit of your potential. So just email me, david, at demeltzercom, and I will for sure send that out to everyone.
Speaker 1:That's incredible, David. Where else can they find you? Just, I know you offer a ton of free knowledge.
Speaker 2:You're free training every Friday.
Speaker 1:You got courses, you got everything. You put up more content.
Speaker 2:Please join me for free. It's david at demeltzercom. If you forget my email, just Google me. I'm on every platform at David Meltzer. You Google my name, you Instagram me, you've LinkedIn me, you TikTok me. I'm the middle-aged mutant turtle of social media. Just find me.
Speaker 1:He's everywhere.
Speaker 2:If it's free, it's me, so just ask, david, I appreciate your time.
Speaker 1:Honor it, man. It's been a blessing. Looking forward to connecting with you more, brother, but thank you so much for, on behalf of me and my audience, for all the value and wisdom that you've given today. Thank you so much, dave. Thank you.
Speaker 2:All right, brother, have a good day you too. See you soon, nathan, see ya.