What If It Did Work?
What If It Did Work?
The Equipment Finance Revolution: Breaking Free From Corporate Chains
What happens when you reject the traditional paths to freedom and forge your own way? Jermane Cheathem has the answer. After walking away from his corporate finance job, he's spent years building a thriving equipment finance business while traveling to over 40 countries and living life entirely on his terms.
Most people looking to escape their 9-to-5 think franchises are the answer – but Jermane dispels this myth with brutal honesty. After seeing the harsh realities of franchise ownership (high startup costs, royalty payments, and the same failure rates as regular businesses), he realized there had to be a better way. That's when he discovered the untapped potential of equipment finance brokering.
The "Freedom Formula" business model Jermaine reveals is refreshingly simple: connect businesses needing equipment with lenders providing capital, earning substantial commissions in the process. But the real genius lies in how you position yourself – not by chasing individual clients, but by creating strategic partnerships with equipment sellers who consistently feed you pre-qualified deals. This leveraged approach allows you to build a six-figure business with minimal time investment, requiring only basic communication skills and willingness to learn.
What makes this conversation particularly compelling is Jermaine's no-nonsense approach to success and freedom. He cuts through the typical entrepreneurial fluff to deliver actionable insights about building a business that gives you control over your time, money, and location. His philosophy is clear – true freedom isn't about avoiding responsibility, but about choosing which responsibilities you take on and how you fulfill them.
Whether you're feeling trapped in corporate America, considering a franchise, or simply seeking a more location-independent lifestyle, this episode provides a roadmap to financial independence without the usual risks and constraints. Ready to reimagine what's possible for your life and business? Listen now and discover what might happen if you took the leap and actually made it work.
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I never told no one that my whole life I've been holding back. Every time I load my gun up so I can shoot for the star, I hear a voice like who do you think you are?
Speaker 2:Alright, everybody, another day, another one dollar. Another one of my favorite episodes. My favorite podcast because I'm biased. It's my own podcast, dude. We can't hear the You're recording man or something. It's not on my end, it's on your end. Podcast, dude. We can't hear the recording man or something. It's not on my end, it's on your end. I'm hearing the echo Like an echo. Everything's echoing. Alright, another day, another dollar. Another one of my favorite episodes. My favorite podcast I'm biased. What if it did work?
Speaker 2:Got a special guest, an amazing guest, all the way from Thailand, germaine. He left his nine to five to travel to over 40 countries while building a thriving business Along the way. He closed more than 50 million it's a lot of money in finance deals before transitioning. The teaching is proven methods. He's also developed a freedom formula system that empowers professionals to achieve financial and lifestyle independence by launching niche equipment finance businesses, even if you have zero experience, no prior experience. Looking to empower individuals to break free from the daily grind by guiding them to start their own niche equipment finance business. Driven by a passion for helping others. He's a Now Jermaine, now germaine. You're in thailand right now, correct?
Speaker 3:that's correct, yeah so what?
Speaker 2:what brings you to thailand? Is that one of the places you currently live, or you're just like a nomad? You go place to place, wherever you, wherever you may roam.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I've been lived in 40 countries since 2016,. So I'm a slow traveler, so I enjoy to get into the culture and take my time there. So I'm usually in one country for two to three months and then I move on to a new country. So I was in Tokyo for a while and then I was in Taiwan, and now I'm here in Thailand and next is Vietnam. So with my business.
Speaker 2:I can kind of go where I want and work from my laptop and it's nice to have that freedom. You know, going on your website and I was Internet stock and you one. The one thing that I loved because you know, I owned a franchise. Dude, I owned two franchises for 20 years, five locations, and this is from Jermaine Cheatham's actual this was on your LinkedIn. Most people looking to escape from their nine to five thinking franchises most of us do are the answer. You were one of them. Controlling day-to-day all for, if you're lucky Now, 10% if they're not, cannibalizing sales by discounting the hell out of your product, though you forgot to add that and the royalties, oh the dude, the royalties.
Speaker 2:and then what you forgot is when you do, when you're killing it because you're, you have to market yourself you have to thank them because it's their cardboard cutouts or it's their magnets. They're bullshit that they really do nothing for you. But now, if you're below standard, they'd be like Jermaine, what are you doing? You're not following the formula, you're not following the recipe. And not that they're going to give you any help. It's your fault. Not that they helped you pick a lousy location, not that it might be a cyclical business, oversaturated. It's your fault. And oh, by the way, we're not going to give you any help. You're either going to sink or you're going to swim. So yeah, man, I mean why. Why do people do it? Because they think it's safety, because of the name. They're buying a franchise, a proven model.
Speaker 3:It's a hundred percent. Uh, mirage of safety like a safety net Cause they think it's proven. But the facts are, and these are. These are facts. You spend $100,000, $200,000, $300,000 on a franchise. You have to pay the royalties. You're still boxed into their system. There's zero freedom, you're tied to a brick and mortar. Plus, they fail at the same rate as a normal business fails. What a dumb idea. Because people think it's safe. It's not safe, it's stupid.
Speaker 2:Oh, dude and Jermaine, this is one thing that you don't, you probably don't know they can red tag you at any time. My ex-business partner, my ex-wife, 20 years in the franchise system, and you know, at the end, you know you're tired, you don't want to frigging, go out and, quote unquote, help out the regional marketing, because you, you know, you did it for so many years. It was like a what have you done for me approach. So they, they literally found a loophole to have her and I sell our stores. And it's like, since you, you were in tokyo, they, they're this sayonara. It's like, yeah, but I helped build your brand. Hey, man, take care and think about that man. That that's, that's like communism, man, that they can take away. If it was my own, you know, without the quote-unquote name behind it, nobody's going to tell you what to what to wear, what time to operate. And the best part is, yeah, we know it's not profitable, but how about that one or two that need to go in there and buy the item? And it's like, yeah, but oh, but we're into service. No, it's because you want the 10%. 10% of something is better than nothing. Now, we don't care if you're profitable or not. So, hey, congratulations, man.
Speaker 2:It took me many years to realize and then at the end it was just they did me a favor Because I learned how to live without having a franchise. I'm sure they think I'm somewhere. After 20 years living under a bridge Begging, I got lifetime banned. But you know, oh my God, can I come back? So, man, I love that. After I read that I wanted to tell your publicist, man, this guy gets it. Now Entrepreneur Magazine might want to tackle you, because they rate franchises based on how much ad spend they get. Coincidentally, the top 10, top 20 franchises to own are the ones that put the nicest and the biggest ads in the magazine. I'm sure it's just coincidence.
Speaker 3:I know I've had friends and family buy franchises and I'm always thinking to myself and they always fail. And I'm always thinking to myself. You basically exchanged one nine-to-five cage for a franchise cage. You're in the same predicament. The only difference is you're 200 grand in debt and now you're stuck to this thing that you hate.
Speaker 2:Jermaine, the worst part was okay, they kept on rising because they wanted to look bougie and nice. So you know, bigger, more expensive, build out. And the franchise was like, yeah, you'll hit break even average between three to five years of your investment. And it's like so you bought yourself a job, Congratulations, You're helping someone.
Speaker 2:And you know, at first, when my because we quit corporate America and they said you bought yourself a job, Dude, you can only monetize after more than three, four, five locations. And then you're, it's like that 40 year old son that never leaves. You know, you're, you're, it's true. I mean, you can pretend every time going out on vacation. You know, the AC broke, the ice machine broke, something broke, my manager quit, someone quit, I got red tag because of this or that from the health department and it's like a constant headache, man. So when I was reading about your, you know to step away from all that BS because, dude, I don't know how I kept all my hair and you know it didn't gray prematurely, 20 years of all that nonsense. But, man, I like what you have to offer. But, dude, explain it in layman's terms. Explain it for me, man, because I can only write for like eighth grade level because I have a degree in journalism, so it seems complex. Is it really complex, though, Jermaine?
Speaker 3:No, it's third grade math and it's just talking to people. So the reason why I came to this epiphany about business in general and franchises and everything is when I was stuck at my nine to five I was trying to figure out how to escape, and so I was on Google trying to figure out which franchise is going to be my parachute right. But as I looked at the numbers, I looked at the math, I saw the upfront costs, I looked at the royalties, I looked at the profit margins and I'm like this doesn't make sense and I'm going to be stuck to a brick and mortar. And so when I was at my nine to five, I was a VP of sales in financing in financial services, and so I was doing equipment financing. So this is just.
Speaker 3:You know, businesses in America need to buy equipment to operate. Just think of a doctor that needs to buy an ultrasound machine, or a construction company that needs to buy a dump truck, or a law firm that needs to buy new computers, servers, software, whatever. There's equipment and software everywhere in the United States. These businesses need to finance it because it saves their cashflow, it's 100% tax deductible and it makes life easier for everybody. Financing runs the world. Let's be real, but I didn't realize that I could do this as a solopreneur, on my own. Corporate America and especially financial services they want to make you think you have to need them, you need them to have the connections, you need them to do this. You need their support, you need their backing, you need their financing all these things. But the truth is it's a lie, it's a mirage and they're pulling the wool over your eyes. And I started to realize I could do this on my own. They were taking all my commissions. I was getting 20% of the commissions, but I'm doing 80% of the work. This didn't make sense and so in 2016, I decided you know something, I'm going to do this on my own, this equipment financing thing as a solopreneur. And I cut my teeth, I figured it out and I was able to create this immense leverage because, instead of me sharing the profits and going to stupid meetings and going to the office that was unnecessary I could just work from my home and I could make 100 percent of the commissions and live a life of freedom.
Speaker 3:And on a trip to Italy with my mom for her 60th birthday. I was wanting to enjoy Italy. I didn't want to be working. So I had to figure out how could I button up my system. So it ran almost on autopilot, and this is a semi-passive business model. It's extremely. There's no inventory, there's no brick and mortar, it's just digitally moving money around. We're just playing the middleman, we're brokering these deals between the bank and the businesses that want the financing. Very simple, a fifth grader could figure this out.
Speaker 3:And so when I was in Italy, I realized I got to tighten up the SOPs and make this seamless for anybody to do it, and that's what I did.
Speaker 3:I took six weeks throughout Europe and I figured out how I could work a couple hours a day max, still make all the money I ever wanted, have all the free time I wanted, and I packaged this into, eventually, this coaching program that I have for people, because I built this for myself.
Speaker 3:But then, when I got back to the United States after Italy, I had friends that were in B2B sales, that were in nine to fives, that were like Jermaine I want to get involved, I want to figure out how I can do this. These people had zero finance experience. They understand they could talk to people. Sure, they were in sales and I was able to teach them using my SOPs, using my program, using my formulas, using my SOPs, using my program, using my formulas, and they saw the same exact success I had and got the same exact freedom I had, and they had zero finance experience. Some of these people had zero sales experience, like the thing about. I have a fundamental belief about entrepreneurship. It's the ultimate personal development tool, because all it is really is you getting clear about who you are in your relationship with other people. That's it, like that's what entrepreneurship is about other people in yourself. And if you can work with other people, talk to other people, explain to other people and communicate from a place of competency and also kindness, it's impossible to lose.
Speaker 2:You know what you just said, though. It's sales, everything's a sale man. It's impossible to lose. You know what you just said, though it's sales, everything's a sale man. It's to communicate. The more you can understand other people, understand people's worlds, the more successful you can be. Dude, believe it or not, what you're doing right now, by going to different cultures in different countries, man, you're literally becoming the ultimate salesman, because you're learning other people's cultures. You're learning what makes others tick, because you know, quite frankly, it is global, it's a global economy.
Speaker 2:Now, you know, and when we were raised, you know, oh, we're American. You know. And when we were raised, you know, oh, we're american. You know, speak english and go with our customs. And I mean not that when, when you took your mom in italy, you couldn't find the americans, we weren't the ones with the little scooters, 300 pounds, and like screaming, ah, we need you to speak English. Where's Olive Garden? Where's pizza? You know, because we, but the more you can understand.
Speaker 2:That's the whole basis of sales communicating. Everything is a transaction, and I love that that you said that, because, man, that's especially when you said you had people b2b. Now people, that's business to business. Dude, there, there is nothing harder than when you're, you're sweating your butt off and you're wearing nice clothes and you know, you, you, you go to this business, you're, you're walking, you're truck because, yeah, you might be in your car but you still have to park somewhere and hit every warehouse. You're sweating up a storm and you can have the cure for cancer and you're still going to have people. I don't need that.
Speaker 2:I don't need that. I don't need that. I'm the greatest, I'm the great, my business is amazing. Sure you are, but whatever. But yeah, man, I mean you got people to do that, but I'm sure there was people that were like Jermaine, are you crazy? You're giving up security, you're giving up a nine to five, you're giving up an extra day of vacation. If you stay every every year, you might, you might, hit three weeks of vacation after like 20 years. And what about the 401k? And what about? What about your health savings account? And what about your, your insurance, your health insurance? People are giving you that, though, right? Oh, for sure.
Speaker 3:But they're not the brightest people. The ones that are saying that are not bright. They haven't done any due diligence, because all that stuff can be wrong.
Speaker 2:No, not at all, man, not at all. But it goes back to like the franchise. It's like multi-layers If you look at everything. You know. I remember sitting in on a presentation and they're like and this was matter of factly, yeah, for the first year you're going to be bleeding out, you're going to be losing money. But once you hit that one year anniversary, you know we expect you to be breaking even that one year anniversary. You know we expect you to be breaking even. And that's a lie, because breaking even means let's not count the royalties, because you know you're breaking even.
Speaker 2:So think about that. Could you imagine if I'm like Jermaine. What I want you to do is I want you to work for me. The first year you're going to be busting your butt, but you're going to be giving me money. And then, possibly, if you stick around, you know you can work for free, you won't have to pay me. And maybe year three wait for it you can start collecting money and by hey, by year five, six, seven, dude, you're going to have everything paid off. Oh, but we forget to tell you year 10, you're going to have to do a complete remodel. You're going to have to spend a couple hundred thousand dollars. You know, it's like that spin, it's like that hamster wheel man. But people, you know they, they look at what you're offering and it's like, oh man, that's, that's scary. Now here's the question why would they want to come through me like a joe palooka? Why? Why do they need my funding for, you know, uh, a forklift, or an mri machine, or even a xerox copy machine, a really nice printer?
Speaker 3:yeah, because people are lazy. Business owners are lazy People. Look at anything in the world. Everything is based on convenience Amazon, facebook, everything is what can you get to me as fast and as easy as possible. And so the way I teach my students it's a different concept is, instead of you chasing people that need financing to buy equipment to run their businesses, you just partner with the equipment sellers that always have evergreen demand for people buying their equipment, that always want to finance it, because I don't care if it's an iPhone, a house or a car. Financing always is part of the equation. It makes sales way easier and so many of my students. They don't even have to do any work per se. They open up their phone, they open up their Rolodex and they have hundreds of B2B people that are already in their network that they can leverage and send them deal after deal, month after month.
Speaker 3:That was when I first kind of had the light bulb go off, when one of my buddies was like I want to do this. I have a guy that sells this medical equipment. He will send me all his business. I just need to know how to broker these deals. So I taught him it. So he was making six figures almost overnight based on one contact, and so the way I present this to people is your job is only to partner with equipment sellers. You don't need hundreds of equipment sellers, you need a handful that send you a deal month after month that are pre-closed. They told Dr Smith the equipment's going to be 50 grand, but your monthly payment's only $800. It's 100% tax deductible. Do you want to move forward? Yes, I do. Great, the paperwork is emailed, it's done, 80% of the work, 90% of the work is done, and so it's just a simple, seamless, leveraged business model that's highly lucrative. That nobody knows about.
Speaker 2:Now, jermaine, now are some entrepreneurs because you can go either way. After being a business owner for many years, credit comes and goes. Are these people? Is it low risk? Because some people are going to have bad credit right.
Speaker 3:Oh for sure. I mean I don't care if it's consumer lending or commercial lending. There's all different types of credit. That's the beautiful part about the business model is we partner with the underwriters, the banks, and they have different thresholds on what they'll approve. And so we have A credit lenders, we have B credit lenders, we have C credit lenders, so we have optionality.
Speaker 3:The reasons why not only do business owners like working with us, but the equipment salespeople like working with us, because we're kind of a one-stop shop to find a home for their deals, instead of going to Wells Fargo or Bank of America just to get a no after waiting six weeks. So it gives you a lot more flexibility. And you got to remember the psychology of trust that humans are built on psychology. And when you think about sales I want to talk about sales in a little bit, but sales is all about psychology of trust and when your trusted partner brings you into the deal and refers you as the financing arm of their equipment they're selling. The customer doesn't ask any questions. They just buy, they just sign because they just want it done. They already decided they're going to get the equipment. They already know it's going to be $800 a month. They already know it's 100% tax deductible. There's zero resistance.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, no, dude. If somebody came to me and was offering me where I didn't have to go beg Chase for no matter how great my credit, no matter how and it was always that it was. You know banks are like do you want to invest in the CD, the jumbo, for five years at 1%? No, can I get a loan. Are you insane? So, yeah, no.
Speaker 2:When you say that an entrepreneur, and yeah, man, not only are we lazy, but dude, it's like free money. Who wants to? Because the way people and this is both consumer, this is anybody you don't even have to be an entrepreneur. When you hear, hey, I don't have to pay everything up front, I, I can lease, I can, I can borrow money, dude, that's why I mean think about it. That's why I mean think about it. That's why everybody drives a way nicer car than a lot of people than they can afford. Because, yeah, it might be impractical, but it's only X amount.
Speaker 2:And then when you're a business owner and you can write off, like what you said, it's 100% write-off, man More power, let me do that off. Like what you said, it's it's a hundred percent right off, man More power, hey, let, let let me do that Now. Now when you say you have, you have relationships with the vendors, I get that. That that's easy because you know it's a win-win for the vendor as well as is me, the, the business, the the lender. Now do I go B2B looking for relationships? Do I have to go do cold calling? I know the longer you do something, you have contacts and people will trust you to do a second, third, fourth, fifth deal.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean for sure. Remember, this is about quality, not quantity. So we're not looking for a lot of equipment sellers or referring partners. This is what I call MVPs most valuable partners and we're just looking for people that can send us deals. And so when you think about who's the most ideal MVP, it's going to be equipment salespeople. A because they have all the deals.
Speaker 3:But also a very leveraged approach is partnering with regional banks in your neighborhood, in your city, because a lot of those regional banks have a stack of deals on their desk that they've declined, that you could approve seamlessly and everyone's happy, because those regional banks want to keep their customers at their bank and want to keep them happy. They don't want them going elsewhere, so they will send you a lot of deals as well. So this is just looking for referral partners for these equipment deals, and the best place to find these folks are in your backyard, in your Rolodex or on LinkedIn. This is very simple stuff. This is this. The beautiful part about this whole business model is you're not trying to sell anybody, you're just partnering, just as this is a win-win relationship. These are teammates, we're rowing in the same direction. There's no convincing. This is the same that I do financing. Do you have any deals we can help with?
Speaker 2:that's the fucking whole pitch well, dude, what I love about this. Okay, let's say I was back to being a franchisee. Oh man, jermaine got me this deal. Well, I know plenty of other franchisees, my buddies. Dude, why are you going through all that headache, going through bank of america or chase my man, germaine here can get you a loan, just like that. You know, screw all the headaches, screw all the rejection, screw all the legwork. So, yeah, I mean, once you do a deal for someone, they, they have plenty of other other entrepreneurs that want to get in on it in the sense of, hey, getting that loan, you know.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and it's even more leveraged on the other side is, once you do a deal with the equipment seller, they have 10 other sales reps at their same organization that are selling the same exact equipment that they're going to talk about you to them. And, like Jermaine was was great, he got this done efficiently, quickly. He paid me a commission, whatever you're going to be doing all their deals too, so you can see how quickly this starts to snowball. And then when one of those people from, uh, that organization leaves and starts selling equipment for a different organization, different organization, guess who comes along with them? You, and it just becomes a bigger and bigger machine without you doing any more work.
Speaker 2:Now, jermaine, this is something we spoke about. It Usually most for a lot of franchises. You bleed out and you have the brick and mortar, you have all the expenses, you have all the liabilities. How long does it take to get up and running? Doing this? The freedom formula.
Speaker 3:So, from just from like a logistical standpoint, you can have this up and running within a few days as far as like just the logistical, the setup, if you will, as far as actually making money. So I don't believe in working more than four hours a day period, because I believe in leverage and simplicity and selling something that is highly lucrative, okay. And so if you work four hours a day using this model this is what I've always done, this is what I've always taught and you only target people that can send you equipment deals, so you're not chasing customers, you're having deals come to you that are already pre-sold. My guarantee is you'll be making $10,000 per month within 90 days. That's how leveraged these deals are, because, if you think about it, these deals were allowed to build up to 20% for our commissions.
Speaker 3:So here's a hypothetical example I do a $100,000 deal for a doctor that needs an ultrasound machine. I put 20% in the deal for myself, I make 20 grand off of one deal and I consistently have deal after deal coming in from the same rep that keeps referring me more and more doctors. So you can see how quickly this can snowball to be a very lucrative lifestyle business with very little work. I mean, we're literally copying and pasting stuff into emails and emailing it out like six, six, seven emails and you're making 20 grand. I'll take that any day. So back to my sales. Point is sales is not about scripts, it's not about convincing, it's not about trying to coerce. It's literally about picking the right thing to sell, and the smartest thing to sell is financial services because it's leveraged, it's simple and it's lucrative. And then who you're selling it to is extremely important as well. You never chase people. You find strategic partners, aka equipment salespeople, and so that's the model. That's how simple it is.
Speaker 2:And all you need is a laptop, which you and I are both speaking out of. A modem, right internet bandwidth, that's it pretty much right a laptop and a cell phone.
Speaker 3:That's it email you, don't you?
Speaker 2:when it comes to computer literacy. I just mastered the word processor, so some guy like me, I can handle it, just as long as I can turn on the computer and make a phone call.
Speaker 3:Me too. That's the way I am. I'm not a tech guy at all, I can only thing. I have one skill and I can talk to people and I can listen. That's about it.
Speaker 2:Now, jermaine, I forgot to ask you this Did you have, like a family of entrepreneurs, or what made you want to just quit the nine to five man? I mean, give us some backstory here.
Speaker 3:Well, it's hard because I'm always, since I was little, wanted freedom, and it mostly was mental freedom. And I didn't realize it was mental freedom. I thought it was financial freedom. And because I grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, mental freedom I thought it was financial freedom. And because I grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, abandoned by two fathers before the age of seven, moved 18 times and I just knew I had to find a way out. And so I figured the only way for me to get out was to overcome my fear of rejection. So I got into sales and I cut my teeth because you're going to find out in sales real quick. Do people like you? Are you any fucking good? It's a true litmus test.
Speaker 3:But I still was at a 9 to 5 in the sales role and it was very comfortable. I was making multiple six figures. I worked a few hours a day, I came and went as I wanted, I had a lot of autonomy. But I knew the ultimate freedom for me is being an entrepreneur, where I control everything my money, my time, my location, everything. So I knew I had to make the leap, and so I did not come from a family of entrepreneurs. Everybody I know worked a nine to five. They worked for the government, they were very risk averse, they wanted safety, and I didn't. I wanted adventure, I wanted freedom and I wanted to see what I was capable of, and so I knew entrepreneurship was my only hope to see this. And so in 2016, I left and I started my own equipment finance company and I started helping other people escape and free themselves, starting in 2020. So that's kind of the whole full circle of my journey.
Speaker 2:You know. What I find odd, though, is that why is it people get the two confused, success with freedom? They think success is a dollar sign. You can make $500,000 and be trapped to your business. Dude, I know I was, as a business owner, making a shit ton of money, but I had no freedom. Freedom to me isn't freedom the ultimate success. What you're doing now to me? You're not answering that. I'm not like Jermaine. Why aren't you working right now? To me, that's not freedom, right?
Speaker 3:No, the only true freedom is control of your time, number one. But in order to control your time you have to have money. So, like things don't come in handy. And then, lastly, is you have to control your location. If I want to go to Maine, I should be able to go to fucking Maine. If I want to go to fucking South America, I should be able to go to South America.
Speaker 3:Like, literally before I hopped on the call with you, I had a single phone call with a customer in California. Let her know I was sending over her quotes and she was tickled pink. I told her the numbers. She's very happy. I made one phone call I'm going to make on that $70,000 piece of equipment uh, roughly 15 grand. So my point is you want financial freedom, you want time freedom, you want location freedom. And when you get those three things, you have mental freedom because you're not a slave to a job, to a place, to a person, to anything, except for what do you want to build? Who do you want to be? What do you want to create?
Speaker 2:You're going to laugh, but you and I have similar backgrounds in the sense that complete introverts that had to become salespeople to get out of it. Now I'm still an introvert, I'm socially awkward, but when it comes to selling or when it comes to like, you know you would think I'm like Mr Extrovert, extraordinaire and you oh. But I and you hear people. I hate sales salespeople. It's like dude, we're all on sales man. You got to lie to your boss to hire you for that nine to five and if you don't think you're selling, don't do your work, don't do your job, man, and we'll see if you can sell your way into another promotion or they're going to sell you on why it's time to hit the road. Everything's a transaction man.
Speaker 3:Everyone's in sales, whether they like it or not. The thing is no one that's outside of sales or even people's in sales, whether they like it or not. The thing is no one that's outside of sales or even people inside of sales. They don't know how to sell because they're trying to convince people and the facts are, when you sell, you actually shut the fuck up. You say nothing. You say very, very, very little. You listen and you ask questions and you have to be okay with silence. Nothing wrong with silence. There's. Nothing like sales is the easiest thing. If you're okay, being curious, like curiosity is a superpower. If you're curious about someone's situation, what they're actually trying to do, what do they enjoy, what's your goals, like you have to care about people and like be curious about can I help this person? If I can't, oh well, but if I can, let's do it but the thing is, people also it's not there.
Speaker 2:They feel like if I don't show you my knowledge, if I don't throw up everything that I know about this item that I'm trying to sell you, then you know it's, it's, it's a no go. You're going to see me as a pipe or you're going to see me as some guy that doesn't know what he's talking about and it's like, no, really, how is this going to solve my problem? Just give me three bullet points. You know I don't know the A to the Z. Nobody frigging reads the frigging manual from from. So why, why, why, why are you going to try to throw up and useless information, man, it's like just shut up.
Speaker 2:But and when I was married I used to love going to timeshare presentations because I'd love just the emotional selling aspect, just because think about that man that sell it's not a sale, it it's really that sell it's not a sale, it's really your cause. You're it's only a one-sided benefit. You're bamboozling somebody into taking a headache with X escalating fees or whatnots. But if you, if I wear a baseball hat hey, omar, you like the Yankees. You know what I love baseball too it's like but yeah, dude.
Speaker 2:I mean, selling is more listening. You're absolutely right. Plus, that shows confidence, man, because enjoy the silence, there's nothing off. You think it's awkward, the person that's rambling. But you know, man, the more likely you'll get the sale too, because the guy, the, the chick or the dude's going to be like oh my God, he gets me, he's listening to me, he understands me. And especially, you know, if you do the negotiation technique, that if you repeat what they say here and there, no, no, I get it. So what you're saying is like oh my God, this guy, you know this guy really. This guy really understands me and he understands my world. I'm not, I'm not going to go somewhere else, I'm going to buy from them, I'm going to buy from Jermaine. He's listening to me.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the funny thing is, I don't teach any techniques, I don't teach any methods, I just teach be real, and just the power is in the positioning, really, and so I don't care if you're dating or you're trying to have guy friends or whatever. When you're positioning yourself as the one that is curious, the one that's not self-conscious, the one that's just present, you have all of the power. And the only way you can really be in that frame is by being curious about the person you're in front of, from a playful, from a lens of competency, from a lens of can I help? That's it. There's no secret formula to winning over people. It's just are you authentic, are you curious? Are you kind? Are you in your own power, with or without you energy?
Speaker 2:And don't be an asshole. Nobody wants to buy. Be an asshole. Nobody wants to buy it from an asshole. You can, you could have water and the guys dying of thirst you know. You could have a sandwich and he hasn't eaten in a month. But if you're a complete douche, a complete asshole, you're going to lose the deal. So just just be yourself and if you are one man, try your hardest to not be one and be someone else. So, man, if this doesn't get people's attention, because literally you said it best man, you took your mom for her 60th birthday in Italy. Then also you've gone to Thailand. You're in Thailand now. You've gone to Nepal, the land of the rising sun. You know Sayonara, konnichiwa, the whole nine yards. You're going to go to Ho Chi Minh City, saigon, whatever they want to call it.
Speaker 2:You know next Dude, that's the ultimate freedom man. So how long is this course? How long for freedom man? How long is it for my freedom? I find, jermaine, I'm the student, I'm all ears. Clearly you have to start from a side hustle until you get some experience. I wouldn't say, go, jerry Maguire, and go. I'm quitting right now. Man Screw you boss. So how long is the course, man?
Speaker 3:So it's an evergreen course. So it's do-it-yourself, it's self-paced, so it'll take you, from start to finish, six hours to do it. And the funny thing about it is I had one of my students he was a hospital administrator and he was stuck in 7 am to like 2 pm and so what he did was he took the course and all he did was apply it after his work hours. So from like two to six he would work on his equipment financing business and in those short four hours a day he's able to leverage this business where he's making five times his monthly salary in his side hustle, only working a few hours a day.
Speaker 3:And he's kind of like most people where it's like I still have my security on my job but I'm making all this other money in my side hustle, so, and my job is so easy, I really don't want to quit. So he's still. He's still doing both. So like there's there's optionality, you don't have to go a hundred, go 100 into this, you can tiptoe your way into it. It's it's kind of up to the individual. Um, and I know he's he's quitting here shortly because he's like this doesn't make any sense.
Speaker 2:I'm making so much money well, dude, yeah, I was gonna say if, if your side hustle is crushing it, screw the main hustle. Man, especially if you have to answer to someone. We all have. When we're working for someone, we all have to answer to someone and I don't care if, if you, you picture your boss to be mr rogers. He ain't fucking mr rogers and he's only concerned about his own dreams. He's not sitting there going. You know what. Jermaine and omar, you know, wonder what they're doing right now. I know they've, they've been working like dogs and but I'm up at night right now. I'm wondering, man, are those guys taking time out for themselves to try to make their life happen, instead of just make helping me buy my, my new lambo, or making helping the board out, you know? So, yeah, man, literally. But people sometimes don't you think they lie to themselves and go oh no, my, my boss, actually he loves me, he cares about me everybody lies to themselves.
Speaker 3:Everyone lies not only to like what other people are doing. They lie to what they're doing, what they're thinking, what they believe. Everyone is a sociopathic liar. And a few people step back and actually realize that. And once you realize okay, I lie about stuff, I fool myself, like you can see clearly, about how I can make a new decision. So yeah, your boss doesn't give a shit about you. And here's the truth. You're always answering to somebody, no matter what I don't care, oh yeah or an entrepreneur.
Speaker 3:You have clients that have questions. You have equipment sellers that have questions. It's just life. But would you rather control the narrative or would you rather be dictated the narrative? I want control because that's where the freedom lies well, it did, your dude, you.
Speaker 2:You hit the nail with the major hammer because I remember, because we got red tagged a couple months apart and I told my, my ex-wife. I'm like I can't believe. You know, after 20 years of being an owner, I'm gonna have to answer to someone and she's like are you fucking stupid? She's like you always had to answer to people. You had to answer the Q&A guy. You had to answer to everybody in corporate. You had to answer the Q&A guy. You had to answer to everybody in corporate. You had to answer to the franchisor. You had to answer to the frigging city, the permit department, the health department. You were never your boss. You had to answer to plenty of people.
Speaker 2:So, quit the dramatics. And you're right, you're right, you're right. The only time that you're not going to answer anybody is you have such a substantial amount of wealth from your side hustle from this, that you're like, screw it, I can live off of my dividends and then you won't. But you still have to answer because Uncle Sam wants their money, their cut. So yeah, at the end of the day, you still have to answer because Uncle Sam wants their money, their cut. So yeah, at the end of the day, you always have to answer to somebody. There's never, there's, there's. There's that false sense that we are. We don't have to answer to anybody.
Speaker 3:But the but. The cool thing is, though once you do own everything the entire business right. As an entrepreneur, you get to choose how you answer to somebody. So if someone calls you and says, call me back immediately, I have a question about this deal, Sure, I still have to answer to the question, but when I get on the phone, I don't. If I don't like what you're saying, I can tell you don't ever call me again. We're never doing business. Click, I'm. I'm in control.
Speaker 3:I decide who I work with and who I do not work with, and so there's power in that. Because the truth is, the best clients, the best referring partners are easy to work with, the best spouses, the best friends are easy to be with. So why would you work with people you hate? It doesn't make sense. I fire clients as soon as I see they're assholes, they're losers, they're wasting my time. I say don't ever call me again. I fire clients as soon as I see they're assholes, they're losers, they're wasting my time. I say don't ever call me again, I'll never work with you. I don't care if you have deals for me, I don't care. And because? Because it makes your life better, but other deals are more lucrative, they're quicker, they're seamless, Like the 80, 20 rule, and I consider it. The 90, 10 rule plays out in every genre of life. Find the leverage. Plays out in every genre of life Find the leverage exploit the leverage and then live a free, happy life.
Speaker 2:Dude, that's it. That's the ultimate form. To me, that's the ultimate form of success. Because when you said fire, you know you dictate. If you're dealing with someone that you don't like, fire them One. You can't do that as a franchise one. You run into a quote-unquote customer. The franchise will pretty much suck the guy off, give them coupons, you know, make you look like the idiot, no matter what, and then you're gonna have to pay for the freebies for for this guy. And also, like what you said, imagine, you know you tell your boss. You know what. I fired that guy. I don't want to do business with him. He's an asshole.
Speaker 2:You think your boss is gonna be like well, omar and jermaine, you know what. You're right, don't call that guy back. You know what. If you don't like working for him, then I'm fine with it, because you know your peace of mind is more important, because I'm here to help create your dreams. No, man, he's going to be like you have to deal with it. You have to deal with it. So, yeah, man, I love it. I love every aspect of the freedom formula. To me it's a no brainer. So I know you said it's an evergreen model, but we also can pay for your mentorship, right? Jermaine? You're like Mr Telephone man I can call you up or I can DM you and I'm stuck.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I have two different models. Yeah, so I have two different models. If everyone wants to go to my website, you can download it and be part of my. I have a six part training series, a video training series that really goes into depth about what the model looks like, the T's and the C's and the ABC's, and if you do want to act on it and you do want to be part of something like this, where I will mentor you for a year, one-on-one, and I have a crazy guarantee and that's for people that take action on it. Otherwise, it's just an evergreen do-it-yourself model and it's more expensive than my, uh, which is funny.
Speaker 2:That's too funny. You know what you forgot, though, jermaine. What's the?
Speaker 3:website man Creators Learn. So there's creators in the world and then there's victims, and so my whole thing is like I used to be a victim as a kid and I realized, if I want to get what I want, I got to become a creator. And so it's like you're going to be a creator of the business and life that you want and you start now and do it, or you're a victim of the business and life you don't have, and so that's why I picked the name Creators Learn, and it's for people that consider themselves creators, that want to learn this model.
Speaker 2:Well, it's a no-brainer man, because either it and it's harder to create we're all used to being victims or we're destroyers, really destroying our own dreams, because man, to create our dreams, actually requires belief, faith and to actually work. So yeah, man, I like the website. I like it.
Speaker 3:I think it's actually that's funny. You say that because I actually think it's the same amount of effort to be a creator as it is to be a victim. It's just different energies going different directions. Like one is more hopeful and more optimistic and more um, I know this will work versus it won't work. I'm pessimistic, the world hates me, everyone's losers.
Speaker 2:It's not going to work yeah, but jermaine, I you, you get. You think you get more, more sympathy and more cyber hugs when playing the victim.
Speaker 3:You know which is perfect because everybody's everywhere in our own world man but also you get a lot of cyber hugs from people that are entrepreneurs and successful and oh my god, what a nice lifestyle you're living. Oh my god, congratulations. So guess what? People hate you? Who? Who cares? People love you. Who cares? It doesn't fucking matter, it's just neutral information Like what do you believe about yourself? Period.
Speaker 2:Right now. Man, I can't stand my boss. I hate all my coworkers. I feel defeated. What would you tell that person?
Speaker 3:All right. So first thing I would tell them to do is wake up two hours before you get to be at work, go to the fucking gym and work out as hard as you ever worked out in your life. And after you worked out as hard as you ever worked out in your life, and after you worked out as hard as you've worked out in your life, you grab a pen and paper. You write down what the fuck do you want Not what you don't want, what you fucking want. And after you do that, you put a date on the calendar when you're going to execute on that thing you want, and you create the first step. You do the first thing Because the combination of exercise gives you clarity. After you're done exercising, you're writing out what you want. It gives you clarity on the direction you're going, and then, when you put a date on the calendar, it gives you a deadline.
Speaker 3:And at the end of the day, if you want to be miserable, be miserable. If you want to be a winner, be a winner. The ball is in your court. No one's coming to save you. No one's going to rescue you. It's up to you. However, there are people in the world that are here to support you Find the right mentor.
Speaker 2:That's it, jermaine Cheatham. He's going to tell you right now, man, there's a cost, there's a cost in everything. What's a greater cost? To invest in this program, To invest in freedom, or the cost is staying trapped in that nine to five job or in that franchise or whatnot? There's always a cost. What are you willing to commit to what? What pay? What price do you want to pay? We're all paying a price, right?
Speaker 3:well, the crazy thing about the cost and paying the price is we're all in the same fucking boat. We all die. This does not last. So why are you doing shit you do not like with people you fucking hate? It doesn't make, it's not even. It doesn't make any emotional or logical sense. It's just stupid. So once you reframe your life, you're on planet Earth, you're in the middle of the solar system, like zoom the fuck out. None of this shit matters. So do the shit that does matter to you. Don't be stuck because you're going to die and when you're 85 years old on the rocking chair, you're not going to be like fuck, I wish I would have tried. I wish I would have done it. I wish I would have I wish I wasn't a punk Like you want to.
Speaker 3:I want to die empty. Like I left it all on the fucking field and I tried my best with the skills and capabilities I had, and that's that I can sleep in peace like that. I can't sleep in peace if I was scared like scared I'm talking to the guys out there Scared is a female trait. Don't be a female. If you're a man, be a man, control your destiny.
Speaker 2:Amen for me. I like that Dude man. We're kindred spirits, we're like-minded souls. Thank you, man, thank you for your time, thank you for the opportunity of getting to know you, getting to know more about the Freedom Formula. Dude, one last time. What is the website and how do we find you?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So creatorslearncom Go there, get this seven-part training series. It's a video training. It goes in the depth of not only the business model. You can watch podcasts I've been on that talk about this business model in detail, and then I have a vision workshop that will help you, hopefully, get clear on where do you want to go, what happens if you don't make any changes and then what kind of skills do you need to create. And that's all there. At Creators Learn. I'm most active probably on YouTube and LinkedIn, so hit me up on LinkedIn. I'd love to hit you up on the DMs and chat with you, but I'm just excited for people to take advantage of this opportunity because this window is only open for so long. Technology is changing everything and if you wait too long, you're going to be passed by and you know AI is coming and, like you don't want to be behind that train, you want to be in front of that train.
Speaker 2:Amen, brother. Dude, thank you, man, you are a rock star. I don't know whether you're waking up or it's time to wake up or it's time to go out, but enjoy the far east, brother. Thanks, man.
Speaker 3:It's early morning, it's like 8am here, so I just woke up at about 6am, so it's all good.
Speaker 1:What if you took action and made it happen and started living inside of your purpose? What if it did work? Right now you can make a choice to never listen to that negative voice no more. The hardest prison to escape is our own mind. I was trapped inside that prison all for a long time. To make it happen, you gotta take action. Just imagine what if it did work.