Wealth Made Simple

Why Human Connection Is Your Real Edge as AI Gets Smarter | Dean Graziosi

• Karlton Dennis

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The old playbook for entrepreneurship has quietly stopped working. For years the edge was information, but AI has made knowledge instant and nearly free, which means knowing more no longer separates you from the next person. So the real question becomes what actually turns information into transformation, and why so many people stay stuck even when the answer is one search away.

In this episode of Wealth Made Simple, host Karlton Dennis sits down with serial entrepreneur and master educator Dean Graziosi to break down what is really changing in the knowledge economy. Dean walks through the sequence he uses to help people actually follow through, giving them a reason, removing their fear, getting them to embrace change, and clearing the clutter before any teaching begins, and he explains why people trust and learn from you when they feel understood rather than when they are simply impressed. He also gets into why courses are losing their grip, how proximity and accountability beat a stack of unwatched videos, and the shift from chasing the dopamine of learning to getting obsessed with uncomfortable action.

If you have ever bought the course, taken the notes, and still not moved, this conversation reframes why and what to do instead. Dean and Karlton dig into selling the outcome instead of the time, why human connection becomes more valuable as AI gets more capable, and how a single deep purpose can make you resourceful enough to push through almost anything. It is a grounded look at building something durable at a moment when everyone has access to the same information but very few create real change. If you are trying to build a business or a brand that lasts in the AI era, this one is worth your full attention.

CHAPTERS

0:00 Intro
0:28 The old entrepreneur playbook just broke
1:36 AI is moving faster than anyone can predict
3:37 The Wayne Dyer lesson: belief changes everything
6:09 Will AI take your job?
7:31 Who Moved My Cheese and the courage to adapt
10:40 Why information alone never changes your life
14:53 What you must do before you teach anyone anything
18:10 Does the knowledge industry still work?
19:20 Why human connection is the edge as AI grows
20:34 How to build real trust as an entrepreneur
24:30 When personal development becomes procrastination
26:42 What actually creates leverage now
32:05 Selling the outcome, not the time
32:45 The VIP upgrade that changed the game
35:38 Should you build a personal brand?
36:19 Overwhelmed? Focus on one constraint
38:53 Why he still builds after all his success
40:22 What he would obsess over starting today
43:14 Find the deeper purpose

#entrepreneurship #aiandbusiness #karltondennis

SPEAKER_01

If information transformed lives, we'd all be successful. There was a day I watched an infomercial almost word-to-word to mine. It was the old days with a big cordless phone and I threw it and smashed it against the wall and said, It's over for me. It's over. People will trust you, buy from you, learn from you when they feel understood, not when they understand you. I said, I'm not selling the time. I'm selling the outcome.

SPEAKER_02

Welcome to Welcomade Simple, everybody. I'm here with our guest, Dean Grassiosi, a mentor of mine and a serial entrepreneur. Dean, thank you so much for joining me here today. I'm excited to do this. And I prepared quite a bit of questions today because I feel like the state of entrepreneurship has completely changed. I mean, for years the formula was pretty simple. You could learn a skill, build expertise, package your knowledge, build an audience around it. And that created an entire industry. We got courses out of it, coaching, masterminds, but now AI can generate information instantly. And if you ask me, it feels like attention is fragmented, trust has lowered, and a lot of people are wondering if the old model of entrepreneurship even works the same way anymore. So you've been at the center of the knowledge industry for decades. You've seen the early days of self-education all the way to where we are at now. So today, let's move past generic motivation or take action advice. I want to understand what's actually changing, what opportunities are disappearing, and what still matters. Because what is most important right now is for people to not just get information anymore that's been commoditized, but for them to get a transformation. So talk to me a little bit about where you feel the state of business is at here today.

SPEAKER_01

Well, I think this is one of those rare times where it's almost impossible for anybody to predict.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Right? AI is moving faster than anyone would have imagined. Um, my daughter and I, she's here with me today. We were just watching a clip of Elon Musk, and he doesn't like to predict past five years, if you notice. He doesn't, because there's so much change coming on. But what he predicted in five years is that uh AI will be smarter than the collective of every human in the world. We know that's coming, right? He predicts uh uh a hundred million, if not a half a billion humanoid robots will be serving us and and doing things, hardcore labor to to handling your house, to helping your children study.

SPEAKER_02

Yes.

SPEAKER_01

Like and he's usually spot on. Like if you look, right? So that's so that's coming. So what that does for the brain is it's hard because if you look at Moore's Law for the last 70 years when it comes to technology, Moore's law is simply if you never heard it, if you're watching right now, is technology doubles every two years and it becomes half the price, usually half the size. Yeah, right. That's just been throughout time up until AI. Now every four months it's going times 10. So it's hard for even wow, people who spend their life studying this to understand where we're gonna be at.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

But I but I choose to, and this is just a choice. And then and I want to go upstream, and then you help me get as tactical as you want.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

But I but I choose to have a different way to approach it. Because you know, if you're in a group of six people, three are like Armageddon's gonna get the nuke codes, it's gonna end the world, it's gonna take jobs away, we're all screwed. Yeah. The other three are it's gonna cure cancer, help us go faster, help us quicker. Change the world, right? And I would just rather to choose down the middle and towards the left. Meaning I there was this. I'm sorry, I'm gonna go upstream for a minute, and then let's get tactical. But I remember uh an important time, Wayne Dyer, I watched a live training of his when he found out that he had leukemia.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

And he had leukemia and he was up on stage in the greatest mood you'd ever seen in your life. And he said, when he first found out he had leukemia, he started thinking it's because I drank too much when I was young. I abused my body when I was young. Maybe I wasn't a good man. Like he went down all the road of why I would get leukemia.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And he said, for weeks he just woke up depressed. I can't believe this. I have leukemia. And then he said, one day he woke up, looked in the mirror, and he said, I'm weighing dire, for gosh sakes. He said, I'm gonna be the guy that kicks leukemia's ass. I'm gonna be the example for everybody. And he said, in that moment, not when he started feeling better, in that moment he felt better. In that moment, he felt inspired. In that moment, he wanted to shoot a video, in that moment he wanted to come on stage where I got to watch him and share this. Yes. And the fact of the matter is, nothing changed but his belief.

unknown

Right?

SPEAKER_01

He still had leukemia. Correct. He ended up dying a few years later of a heart attack, not the leukemia, right? So, with that, I I know that's a long answer to a short question, but AI is here. It's evolving faster than we can imagine. And I am going to choose that it's gonna help cure diseases, that it's gonna help humans unlock another version of themselves by taking away the mundane, the boring, the repetitive. It's gonna do the things we don't like to do so we can finally have time to be creative, to unlock that that next level of entrepreneurship or maybe be home for dinner.

SPEAKER_00

Yes.

SPEAKER_01

Now, and with that frame of mind, and I want to go more tactical on the approach and what I think about how AI can make you more human and why I think people need more human connection more than ever. Yes. But through that lens of looking at AI, I can approach it completely different than anybody else because I don't let I don't let the negativity in, even though some people will call me naive, I'd rather be like Wayne Dyer and say, I got leukemia, but I'm gonna kick its ass. I'd rather say AI is gonna fuel me. It's gonna make my kids be safer. I'm gonna use that to build a farm and I'm gonna put houses all over the farm for my kids to live next to me. So my grandchildren are close, and AI's allow me to go faster, quicker, and write two books and do the thing. So when I'm in that state, I feel as an entrepreneur that opportunity attracts to me, people attract to me, clients attract to me. And I think when you exude that, no matter what AI does, we're always gonna want to be in connection, in communication, in spirit with humans. Yes. So that's that's the foundation of it all.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. You have another side of the population though that can't help but to live in fear, though, Dean. You saw that Meta, I believe, just laid off 10% of their workforce. And people are wondering well, if I went to college for four years and spent another, you know, two years getting a master's degree in something, am I gonna have to start all over because of AI?

SPEAKER_01

That's what in some cases, yes. And and and we started this off talking about the mindset of an entrepreneur. So I just shared the whole mindset of an entrepreneur. If you're in a career and went to school for six years and you're in it, you're like, the hell with you. You're not talking to me. But the fact of the matter is, if I could wave a what magic wand, I would help even people with a career or a career mindset. Thank goodness for people with with that are great at their career, or else we wouldn't have businesses. But I would help them have that same approach to it because the fear is what everybody's gonna do.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

The worry, and it is happening, right? And now I think a lot of the layoffs that have happened in the last couple of years, just because I get to see behind the curtain of a lot of big businesses, they're really just right sizing from COVID over hires. That is the majority. Yeah, that is the majority. I I have a dear friend who's got a $24 billion a year business and he does the IT um for a lot of these big companies. He said, When you get in a room and the doors are closed and there's no cameras on, he said, We're all just letting go of the the COVID overflow and it's easier to say it's AI.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

But it is coming. So not being naive, it's it's coming. So, in that, those that like Who Move My Cheese, those that say, I can't believe this is coming. This is gonna ruin my life, this is gonna end everything. In the book, Who Moved My Cheese? The ones that waited for their cheese to come back when it stopped coming almost starved to death. The ones that said, I'm gonna go explore and find what's next, thrived and prospered. And I think this is a time where we have to say it is changing. It is not saying the same. It is gonna cause job loss and opportunity. If you, if you believe what Elon Musk and some really smart people think, is this is gonna open up the Elon Musk believes the economy, the GDP in America will be 10 times the size in five years because of the output and the production we can do. What if he's half wrong and it's five times the size? It is gonna cause and create opportunity, but we have to be flexible. We have to focus like Wayne Dyer. It's gonna make my life better, even though it sucks in this moment. How do I explore? How do I investigate? How do I go out into the maze and try to find new cheese? I mean, literally, if you're stuck in a loop of AI is gonna ruin my life, literally go read Who Moved My Cheese. It takes one hour and 55 minutes to read it, and you will say, I'm gonna be the rare person that says this opportunity might be closing, yeah, but this other door opens.

SPEAKER_02

Who wrote this book, Dean?

SPEAKER_01

Oh, God, it's could you look it up? Yeah, this one seems like a Oh, you never read Who Moved My Cheese? I need to read this. Oh my god. Let me give you the parable real quick. Two little men, two little mice live in a maze. They find a plethora of cheese. And they're just, they're they're not just cheese. They're eating cheese every day. There's so much, they're all getting heavy. They name it Cheese Town. And every day, uh, yeah, that's the one. Just every day somebody drops off cheese. They get used to it. They claim it. In fact, they think that they deserve this cheese. And one day it stopped coming.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And a week went by, two weeks went by, and the two little men are like, We deserve this cheese. It needs to come back. I'm staying right here till someone brings it.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And the mice said, It ain't coming back. We're going to go explore.

SPEAKER_02

Right.

SPEAKER_01

That's the moral of the story. They went out and explored. The two little people waiting almost died of starvation. Yes. They end up finding more cheese, but they had to be brave to go out into the maze.

SPEAKER_02

Yes.

SPEAKER_01

And that's it. I mean, I don't want to oversimplify it, but you can't sit around and hope. You can't sit around and think the government's going to save us because it's not. No one's going to wave a magic wand. They're talking about in the future that there's going to be so much abundance that the government can help support those that lose their jobs. How quick does the government move?

SPEAKER_02

Pretty slow.

SPEAKER_01

Pretty slow. It's not, it's it might be in 15 years, maybe in 10 years, but it's not going to happen. In the interim, those that thrive are the people that are probably listening to you. Because if you're a negative and and you think it's the end of the world, you probably already turned this podcast off. Right? You're not listening to you. You're not following Carlton, right? You're you're you're you're you're you're clicking on the doomsday uh uh support. So I I would just say keep that open mind of innovation, creative, creativity. Look for where the puck is going. Try to shift, read the right books, surround yourself with the right people, and opportunities and new doors will open. Yeah. But just and again, some people might say that's naive. It's just the way I've approached it my whole life. Do I get fearful sometimes? Of course. Do I doubt myself? Of course, but it only lasts moments because I can overpower it with the other. I like that.

SPEAKER_02

Speaking of moving the cheese, you were in the info space very early on. Yeah. You monetize knowledge. What did you see early on that most people were missing? What were you exploiting?

SPEAKER_01

Um it's a good question. And uh, and I still do it to today. Um knowledge alone isn't enough. Information alone is enough. We're we live in the information world. People say we're in the information age. We're not. We're in the information overload. We're in information abundance to where it's overwhelming. If information transformed lives, we'd all be successful. And why does that not happen? And when I look back, it's funny because I shared a little bit when we were together last time in in Florida with a group of great people. But it's really important to know in this industry that I'm in, the the either discovering what works and sharing it or living the experience and sharing it, right? You discovered so many incredible things on how to help people with wealth, with protecting their wealth, with doing taxes ethically. You learn so much. Then you realize, hey, I could do this for a couple of clients, but I could teach the whole world this, these secrets that I found, right? And once you understand it, what could be better in life than helping somebody go faster and getting paid to do it? Like just being honest. When people say, Why do you love this industry? I help people for a living. Yes. Like on them, I'm on a webinar or I'm on training and there's tens or hundreds of thousands of people, and they're all cheering it in a thing. I'm like, I'm working right now. Like, what could be better? And all I'm sharing is something I discovered sooner. I'm a chapter ahead of you. You're gonna, you're gonna get to my chapter. I can help you get through it quicker, right? But AI is a great example. And I'm gonna take two minutes and explain this because it's not just about this industry, it's about anything you want to shift in your life. So many times when we think we want to lose weight, get intimacy back in our relationship, start the business, scale the business. We're looking for that knowledge. Yes, and we can find it. But why doesn't it work? So I was meeting with the largest bank in the world. Uh, I shared with you who I'm meeting with. I just just be anyway, they want us to help with training, have our company help train some of their their employees on AI. And she said to me, Why isn't our AI education working? We have AI creating AI training. It is so good, but nobody's using it. And it's the same thing I noticed 30 years ago, 20 years ago, 10 years ago in this industry. Because what I watched, I'm digressing a little. So reel me back in if the ADD kicks in. But I realized when I when I first about 25 years ago, my first infomercials really took off.

SPEAKER_02

Yes.

SPEAKER_01

And when people say, why infomercials? Because there was no internet when I started. So just that's why. So when they took off, people, I and I wasn't in this industry yet. Now I started getting the number two, number one in uh infomercial in the world, and all of a sudden there was like four copycats. And I remember freaking out. I'm like, they just ripped off the whole show. And then they went through the program and ripped off all the information. I'm like, oh my God, there's no way I'm gonna survive. And I got 80 employees now, and I don't have a bat, I don't even come from a rich family. I remember freaking out, Carlton. Yes, like I can't even remember those days, but I remember sick to my stomach. There was a day I I watched an infomercial almost word to word to mine, and it it was the old days with a big cordless phone, and I threw it and smashed it against the wall and said, It's over for me. It's over. And then I watched one disappear and then one disappear and then they're gone and then they're gone. And there were two things. One, they ripped off the education, they couldn't rip off how deeply I cared about people. Yes. And three, they were missing all the things to get somebody to actually do the education. And I'd love to say I learned this. I I'm gonna say I was just blessed to see it, maybe because I had dyslexia and I had trouble learning in school that the only way I moved the needle in my life is I needed deep tools and purpose to move me. So when I look back now, and I even had AI look at my education for 30 years, I said, tell me the top, what is the pattern of which I do when I educate? So remember when I said if you want to lose weight, intimacy, scale the business, start to business, go to 100 million a year. I think all of it follows the same thing. So this is the this is it, and I'll try to do it as quick as possible.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

If you're gonna educate, let's keep that as step five. Okay. Four or five. Step one is you need a reason why. This might sound, but I mean, you need a deep purpose. Let's take AI, for example. If you say as a career or in life, you need to learn AI or you're gonna be left behind. Yes. That's pretty powerful. But it's not enough. You're gonna lose use AI or someone else is gonna take your a your job who knows AI. I should do this. I should. But if I say, what if you could use AI to truly get back 15 hours a week? I don't know if you want to unlock your creativity. I don't know if you want to finally start that business, or maybe just have the time to work on your business so you could scale. Or Carlton, maybe you just want to be home for dinner and be at the dance recitals more. That that's your 15 hours. That locks in a different level of purpose. So now it's like, yeah, I want to learn this so I can get that time back. Because time's personal. Yes, right. So one is you gotta give them a reason. Number two is if you take AI, you gotta overcome their fear. Because if you have that and you go, yeah, but what if, and what if I give it my information and it puts it all over? What if it takes the you got to help people have overcome fear of intimacy, fear of losing weight, fear of walking into the gym when you haven't been there in 20 years. If you don't overcome people's fear, that'll stop them. Yep. Number three, you have to get people to embrace change. If you've never invested in real estate before and go to do it, it's like, ah, but I'm a I'm an accountant. How would I you got to get them to realize that if they don't change, they'll die. If they stay in the same place, if I'm not climbing, I'm sliding. So, but haven't taught a thing. I have to get you a reason why to do it, get rid of the fear. And then we got to get you to embrace change. And then the fourth thing, if you take AI as an example, you got to clear the clutter. If you're online, there's a hundred different videos every day of telling you what you should do. And if you have too many choices, like Cheesecake Factory, you don't know what to eat. If you have too many choices with AI, you're like, do I go here? Do I go here? Do I go here? So you have to number four, you have to clear the clutter and give them one path. This is how you save money on your taxes, ethically and legally. This is how you learn AI to find AI back or to get time back in this one strategy. So when you do those four things, then you earn the right to educate. Wow. And then it lands. So when I look at all my competitors that freaked me out and made me smash the phone, and to this day they'll still do it, they start at number five, like I got Dean Graziosi's education. I'm gonna kill it.

SPEAKER_02

They started with the information, they started with the education.

SPEAKER_01

They started with the education. Yes. But then there's a sixth one. Then what we do really well, and my partner Tony Robbins is the best in the world in it at it, is help them implement it into their lives. So think if you got somebody you wanted to go to the gym, you're in the most amazing shape, right? You you help them get a purpose. Hey, you want to run around with your grandchildren someday. That's deep. Let's get in shape. Cool, let's do it. Yes. I haven't been in the gym in 30 years. I'm feeling off. Come on, we can do that. Who cares? Everybody starts on day one, right? Embrace change. This is the one exercise routine.

SPEAKER_02

Yes.

SPEAKER_01

Now they're like, I'm ready. And they go to the gym with you, fired up.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Now you got to get them to come back to the gym four days a week for the rest of their life.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, you do.

SPEAKER_01

So a lot of times people stop at the education. We don't stop. Then we teach you how to implement it into your daily routine. Create the muscle. And then we look like the heroes. And it's not that we're the heroes, some other people's education are just as good, but they're doing the education block. We got four steps before it and one step after.

SPEAKER_02

Yes.

SPEAKER_01

I've never shared that publicly. So that's but that's that's what we do.

SPEAKER_02

That is the sequence right there.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

I love that. Okay. You helped build one of the biggest industries around expertise and transformation. Do you think the knowledge industry still works the same way it did 10 years ago? And what's becoming harder now?

SPEAKER_01

So what's becoming harder is that information is everywhere. Yes. You could go online right now and say, teach me how Dean Graziosi does three-day events and puts a million people in. It'll lay the whole thing out for you. Write a webinar like Dean Graziosi or Alex Hermozzi or Russell Brunson or Carlton would do. Yes. Right. And it'll do it. It'll give you the framework for it. So knowledge is at our fingertips. I mean, if you really think about it, intelligence, brilliance is accessible now for everybody. It is. It's a great equalizer.

SPEAKER_02

Yes.

SPEAKER_01

I'm just as smart as you in anything you want. I I could go right now and find all the tax codes.

SPEAKER_02

Yep.

SPEAKER_01

Everything that you're doing.

SPEAKER_02

Turn all my YouTube videos into an ebook, a playbook.

SPEAKER_01

And even better, I have a private agent. I could say, take all this stuff and make me an app and run everything I do through it. Right? All of us could do that. And that's going to be available and that's going to happen in certain areas. But I'm just sharing from being in this business for three decades, is there's always been books available. There's always been YouTube videos available. The knowledge is always there. And you can get more of it to go faster. But transformation happens when the trainer shows up at the gym and you work out together, even though it's a million books on how to work out and be in shape. The transformation happens when I jump on the phone with you and you put my, you put me at ease and go, no, we could do this ethically, we could do it morally, and we could save you X amount of money on your taxes. Let me go work on this for you. That's a human connection. Yes. And I think the more AI gives us stuff, we're going to be empowered. We're going to get rid of the mundane. We're going to get rid of the boring. We should use it in every area of our life to leave space for the human part.

SPEAKER_02

Yes.

SPEAKER_01

And I think this, I think this industry is going to actually exponentially grow because people are going to need the human touch. They're going to need, let's use AI to do all the things. Yes. I think we're all going to rise to another level. I think I'm going to impact more lives and make more money. But then I get to refine the most human part of Dean that connects with the most human part of you. 100%. And I just, again, it could be the Wayne Dyer effect, but I think this industry is actually going to grow for those that don't just outsource their brains to AI. Yes. That don't just have a clone shoot their videos for them. Human connection. Let AI amplify the man or woman you are, not replace you. Yes. That's what that's what my belief is.

SPEAKER_02

Dean, I feel like there's a lot of entrepreneurs that are kind of just getting started out and they're struggling with building trust. I mean, everybody is good at, you know, loading up a camera with a teleprompter and talking into a microphone today, but they're not gaining the trust from the following like people used to. I can even say online, there are more tax strategists all of a sudden on the internet now. And so how do entrepreneurs navigate today relative to when we had it, where it was very easy to kind of sniff out people who actually were knowledgeable about something versus somebody who used AI to pop up on a website and make themselves look like they're already doing the thing?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I I mean depth and breadth is a is a really important thing. So there's kind of two sides to that. You said how do someone gain trust? And then the other side of that was how do you know if you can trust the right person? So I I would let's go to the gaining trust part. If we go back to everything I just shared, everybody shares information. Everybody, somebody could right now take all of your stuff and regurgitate all the things that you do and sound really knowledgeable. But how do you earn trust? I there's a couple of things that I've been living by for three decades in this industry. One is people will trust you, buy from you, learn from you when they feel understood, not when they understand you. So instead of always trying to be the deliverer of just value, you want to do that. You want to make people knowledgeable, but you got to meet people where they are. What are the conversations they're Having at a coffee shop with their friend, meet them there. What are the conversations they're having in the mirror to themselves? We have to let people feel understood. Like, for example, I've I've if have you ever watched a presenter, and I think you and I could name a few, gets up on stage and you're like, dang, that was amazing. This guy, this girl, she's doing incredible. But you really didn't take a note. You're just impressed with what they shared. And then you get another speaker on stage, and you're like, gosh, this person's reading my journal. Like you're you're immediately, you're writing notes nonstop. John Maxwell to me was that. Yes. I don't know about you. I was listening to John Maxwell. I'm writing notes like I'm 14 years old, never heard any of it before. I felt like he was entering, and this is something I remember, he was entering conversations that were already going on in my mind. So there's three things I've been saying to myself for at least 25 years is meet people where they are, enter conversations that are already going on in their mind, and let people feel understood. Don't get them to understand you. We're in this phase like I've done this, I've done millions, this is my plane, this is my thing, I've done. Nobody really cares. They just want to know your depth of caring and if you understand where I'm at. Yes. Right? Like you just want somebody, people just want to say, if you're if you're helping people through divorce, they just want to say, I know what it's like when you wake up in the morning and the house is silent because you don't hear the kids running around anymore.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

I know what your heart feels like when you do that, and I know what you feel when you looked in the mirror. When you, you know, like that's the kind of emotion that you go, I get it. I know what that feels like. I'm not perfect, but I've created a plan to get you out of that funk, to get you like that's what people rather than, hey, when you go through a divorce, here are the 10 things that can make you motivated, inspired. And that's what I'm seeing so much of. It's just information. It doesn't hit the heart. And I I don't think I'm the brightest guy in the world. I just care deeply and I've been in it for so long that I'd have to be blind not to see the patterns. And the people who make it beyond, you're one of them, is because you genuinely care, you meet them where they are, you understand their pain, and you have a true plan to solve it without being pressured, without high pressure.

SPEAKER_02

That's you called it depth in it's depth in something. Oh yeah, depth in kind of so you were yeah, we'll go back to that one. I think a lot of people confuse consuming content with actually progressing. They listen to a podcast, they watch videos, they buy courses, but then they never really execute. So at what point does personal development become procrastination disguised as progress?

SPEAKER_01

That's really good. I it's funny, I use that all the time. I'm like, don't like there's sometimes I'll see somebody buy several of my courses and they're there and they're on the screen and they're like excited, and I'll literally call them up, like, hey, I see you on the third course. You got to send us a progress report of what you're doing, or you're not allowed in my next one because they can people can fall in love with the feeling of being around somebody with so much energy like you or optimism or Tony Robbins and the feeling because you it's euphoric. When you really understand personal development, you understand what Wayne Dyer when he switched that thought. When you can turn a negative belief to a solid belief, when you could take a horrible past and make it the wind behind your sail, not the anchor. That stuff is freaking amazing. It jacks you up, it jacks me up. And we can get comfortable with that feeling. And what we want is another dopamine hit of the way that feels. What I've been saying for two decades is get obsessed with uncomfortable action, not just obsessed with the learning. Like let your brain be rewired to go when I take an action that makes me feel uncomfortable. That's when I'm moving forward. Because it's always uncomfortable. Yes. If it was comfortable, you would have already done it. 100%. Right? So you got to look for the things that put a knot in your stomach that are uncomfortable. Get through those. The dopamine hit on the hear me on this one. The dopamine hit on the other side of an uncomfortable action will far outdo the motivation of a quick video.

SPEAKER_02

Yes. You're absolutely right. Yeah. There's sometimes I'm staring at my camera and I'm like, oh, this is so cringe, but then I just end up posting it anyway. And then I'm so grateful I got through it.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And then it ends up being some of the most impactful videos. You know what's been happening, which is very funny, is all of my scripted videos that I've had are slowly losing viewership. But when I get on my iPhone and I just turn around and just talk from my heart, those are the best story of my life that I have right now. And I don't even have to be talking about taxes. I can just be talking about the fact I like wearing brown lately. And I think brown looks very good on my skin. It looks really good on my skin. And so it's just interesting what's what's going on right now with content. If information alone is low no longer enough, then what creates leverage today? Is it speed? Is it execution? Is it audience, distribution, trust? What do you think the next generation of entreprene entrepreneurs are under measure underestimating right now?

SPEAKER_01

I think this is I never shared that. Never, this is not something at the top of my head. I didn't look at any of your questions on purpose beforehand because I didn't want to have a pre-planned answer. I like to go with my gut. I would say speed, trust, and accountability. I think I think it's in that order. No, I don't know. I I don't know if that's the right order. Um I think accountability goes along with proximity, right? I would put like accountability dash proximity. And that proximity could be live online. I mean, we just I've been selling courses for 30 years. Yeah. Right. I've obsessed on courses. I would bet to say besides Tony Robbins, and now we're partners, we've sold more courses than any humans alive. I would have to say that's probably true. Yeah. We just we got 80 years between 30 and 50. We got 80 years of of of of doing this. A lot more time to go. And uh yeah, knock on wood. Um I love the last three launches we did. I just switched it up and said, we're doing a three-day launch. We're doing a six-week boot camp that starts in three days. You got this momentum. Let's just keep it going. No stopping, no hesitating, no at-home course, even though it's got everything you need. People are too fragmented. There's too many things online. We're too distracted. People can't get through courses anymore. I mean, think about think about just because we get to check our phone every day. I don't know if it's you. I have to fight myself. I'll be in the middle of working and I'll grab my phone and go look at it. And I'm like, what are you doing? I'll put it down. I'm in the middle of working. I grab my phone. I'm like, oh my God, it's like Pavlov's dog. I can't even stop it. And this is what I do for a living. We're so distracted that I don't think courses have the depth and strength anymore because people aren't disciplined enough to get through it on their own.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, you're right.

SPEAKER_01

So I'm like, hey, three-day event. We start Monday live, 90 minutes once a week. We're gonna. That was the first time we ever did it so quick. I didn't even give them a break. I gave them a two-day break. We went live and we started the education. For example, our our company AI Advantage, we had the AI Advantage bootcamp where we taught people how to build a digital twin and start using agentic AI over six weeks. We started three days later, highest satisfaction rate of any any product I've ever built, 30 years, lowest refunds of any product I've ever built in 30 years. Like nobody refunded ecstatic out of their mind. And I think it was because we kept them accountable. We just started proximity and accountability. You're starting Tuesday.

SPEAKER_02

No delaying.

SPEAKER_01

And I could see you because you're up on the screen. I'm gonna tell you, and we sent them emails. No one, you got to be there live. We had crazy, insane show up rates. And we carried them through this journey. They stayed with us for six weeks. They graduated, got done, was over, out of their freaking mind. I could have taken that same six weeks, packaged it into a course, would have been the same value, but they would have been checking their phones, seeing life, getting distracted. So I think that I'm not just talking out of what I think. We just did proximity and accountability immediately. Yes. The other thing is we used to sell courses that were a year long. Take the next year to get it done. I'm charging the same amount and say, no, no, no, let's do it in 30 days. Let's do it in six weeks, right? Most courses are 12 weeks or 16 weeks.

SPEAKER_02

You're taking them for months.

SPEAKER_01

We're doing mastermind, we're doing an event on June 18th, and I'm going with the same model, and I've reduced the whole thing that used to be in our year program. I reduced it to 30 days. Five trainings in 30 days. I love this model.

SPEAKER_02

And so You don't think it's overwhelming by decreasing all of it and condensing it down?

SPEAKER_01

No, I don't because it makes you think it's like Mark Twain's quote if I had more time, I would have written you a shorter letter. When you take a year's worth of content and find a way to you realize what's a waste, what's complicated. You get rid of there was technology involved. They threw it out. They don't need the technology yet. They could use a platform like school or others and just get it done in two minutes. So it makes you throw when when you reduce the time, you have to have creative destruction.

SPEAKER_00

Yes.

SPEAKER_01

Meaning I had to blow stuff up and put in the most important parts. And it crushed it. Everybody's like, you're gonna take six months for A? I'm like, no, six weeks. Done. And I think if you look at it, if I said, now when people say, here's another thing I think is changed. So first is proximity and accountability. We started right away. Yes. Right? Second thing, time. Reduce the time, right? Speed. I think we used to be in an area where like I'm buying a course. How long is it? I think our brains used to associate the the time with the value. It's only a three-hour course. Oh, that's that's 97 bucks. It's a 40-hour course. Oh, we'll just spend a couple grand. I'd spend a couple of grand for a three-hour course if it got me the same results.

SPEAKER_02

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01

If I said to you, Carlton, if if something held, maybe you got hit on the head and you forgot how to work out and you ate cake every day and you you put on 30 pounds you didn't want, right? If I said, hey man, I'm the guy that knows how to get the weight off you, give me five grand and in one year you will be ripped again. Or if I said, give me 10 grand in 45 days, I'll have you back where you used to be. What would you choose?

SPEAKER_02

And the check for 10K. Let's get started.

SPEAKER_01

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, right?

SPEAKER_01

All we're in that space. That's why listen, when I reduced it to a 30-day program and a six-week program, my team was freaked out. They're like, no, no, no, people aren't going to see the value in six weeks. I said, I'm not selling the time, I'm selling the outcome. And we had a big promise. If we don't match our promise at the end of six weeks, please give a get a refund.

SPEAKER_02

Yes.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, we promised people they'd get 15 hours a week back, if not get a refund. And nobody asked for a refund. They all got their 15 hours, right? And we did it in that time. So I think what I'm sharing with you was instinct, but it's what I'm physically doing. Proximity, accountability, condense the time. And because they're getting results so fast, you build trust through the journey. Yeah. It's like this is session one. I got more today than I've learned in a year, right?

SPEAKER_02

What are some of the things that you've tested out in business that have turned out to be the biggest catalyst for you? Come off the top of your head.

SPEAKER_01

There's a lot of them. Um little things. And I and I've learned them through masterminding and listening. I I I love being in rooms of people that are way smarter than me. And I love being in rooms with people that are just starting. And they're, you know, I do more in a day than they do all year in revenue. But they're hungry. They're where I used to be, and they're figuring things out. Like, so you know, when I see people get too smart for their own good, and they, you know, we all want to be around our peers and people that are smarter because it stretches us. But sometimes you got to be around those hungry startup people. Um, probably one of the biggest needle movers, if I just, and this probably won't make sense to everybody, but we do, I've been doing live launch, launches, big events for 20-something years. Tony and I have been doing them together for about eight, right? We average almost a million people an event for the last 18 events, right? That's right. But it's expensive to do an event that big. And I used to, I one day I was at an event and I was watching somebody talk about a VIP pass for virtual. And I'm like, what does that mean? And I just started thinking, when you do an in-person event, right? And Tony's done them more. My partner Tony Robbins has done it bigger better than anybody. Loves it, right? Loves it. When you do an in-person event, if you sit up front, you know, let's just let's I'm I'm not talking about Tony's numbers. I'm just making this up. Uh, sit around the stage, go back after the event, take a picture with whoever the person is, it's five grand. Next phase is three grand, two grand. Up in the nosebleeds, it's $900 a ticket. You can stand in the back for $97. It's been that way since the beginning of time. You go to a concert, is it the same in the nosebleeds as it is up front? No, of course not.

SPEAKER_02

Right. Price is always more.

SPEAKER_01

But now when COVID hit, we're doing virtual events. I'm like, it's all the same, right? So I'm at this event and I'm talking and somebody's talking about VIP, and it just hit me. Create a VIP upgrade on the way in. Like everybody's invited to our events for free. But if you'd like to go from YouTube to Zoom, if you'd like to do extra QA, if you'd like to, you know, do extra hot seats again, if you'd like to keep the training, plus I'm gonna give you a jumpstart book. If you'd like to upgrade, here's a very little price to upgrade. Yes. And it worked like gangbusters. And the people who upgrade were actually the happiest ones that showed up. They showed up four times more than the people who didn't pay. Because even if it was 27 bucks, I paid 27 bucks, I'm getting my money. So they show up. Of course. They show up with a journal open, ready to take notes, and they're the ones that say if this was that good, I want more. So that changed the the game for me. I mean, talk about a needle mover. You know, we'd spend millions of dollars for an event and we get a lot of that back before we even get to the event. So it helped us self-liquidate our media, which has allowed us to impact more lives around the world because instead of Tony and I keeping that money, we just put it back in and spent more. Yes. So you're you're buying the VIP, great. We'll spend more, spend more, spend more. And that's how we got one of the ways we got to such big events.

SPEAKER_02

Do you think that entrepreneurs today should grow a personal brand and sell one to many in the format that you and Tony have been able to master over the last few years?

SPEAKER_01

You know, I it depends on if that's in your wheelhouse. Yeah. I I always think attaching a personal brand to your business is great. I mean, that's that's the lens I look through, right? If you're a if you're a carpenter, you see hammers and nails, right? But for me, I see the benefit of people getting to know who I am, what I do, what I stand for. Um, and I think it can only amplify a brand.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. There's people who are listening right now that feel behind. The world is changing extremely fast. Business is changing, technology is changing. What would you say to someone who feels just completely overwhelmed by everything right now?

SPEAKER_01

Welcome to being human. I mean, I feel it on a regular basis right now, too. It's all moving fast and I'm on top of it. I own an AI education company. We have a whole team that deciphers it for me, and it's still moving fast. So, one thing to realize is most people are feeling that. And they felt that way when we went from horses to Model T Fords. And it's like, do I get rid of my horse? What's going on? When when we went to the steam engine, then the gasoline engine, then the printing press, and then electricity, and then the internet. Every one of them has felt disturbing to people. And this one is bigger than all of them combined because we never had something move so fast, so quick.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Right. Um, so first off, realize it's human. And then secondly, what you have to do is find the things that cause the overwhelm and stop it. I find people like, I can't believe all these things. I'm I'm watching all these YouTube videos of all this happening. You know what I say? Stop watching YouTube videos. Yeah. Find, here's what I would say: find one, and this is just the philosophy I've really adopted in business over the last five years. Find the biggest constraint that you want to solve that can move the needle in your life.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Just whatever it is. Launching the business, starting the business, marketing, sales. I've been dying to build an in-person sales floor and I don't know how to do it. I need my online marketing. I want to double the size of my social media. Whatever the one that could truly move the needle, not the one the most comfortable to you, the one that can move the needle the most. And then think, why am I not doing that?

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And that is the constraint you should solve. And then all focus should be can I learn this one thing, this one AI strategy that helps me solve that? Can I read a book to help me solve that? If you condense it to one thing, the problem is we're seeing all this, yeah. It's like, oh, I should have my house bills done this way, and I should do my accounting this way, and I should have a spreadsheet this way, and I should be vibe coding this thing, or I should be clawed. Do I use Claude Code? Do I use Claude Cowork? Or is chat okay? No, but Grok's doing good. And it's like, you don't even know what you're solving for. You're just running all over the place. It's like if you just say, hey, in the next 90 days, I'm gonna launch my sales floor, then everything you should do is find strategies, AI, people, information that can help you solve that one thing. And then all the noise goes away. And I wouldn't, I would obsessively focus out and tune out everything else.

SPEAKER_02

Yes. Ian, you've mastered business to the point where success is was in the past for you. You you've achieved success. Why are you still building businesses today?

SPEAKER_01

I mean, Adol is saying if you're not growing, you're dying. If you're not slide, if you're not climbing, you're sliding. I I think one of you feel it? Yeah. I feel like I I like I feel like if you're gifted with this ability to do cool stuff and impact lives, yeah. That what what would I be doing? Would I golf 36 holes a day? Like, I don't know what I'd do. I'd probably drink a scotch by two o'clock. I don't even drink scotch. Never had one in my life, but I'd probably start. Right. I don't know, I don't know what I'd do to myself with myself. I mean, my daughter's here with me today. I like watching, I like her that she's watching me do this. I like it 57, gonna be 58 soon, that I'm still cranking every day. I like it's the best version of me. So I take a lot of reasons. One, especially being partners with Tony Robbins. There's a lot more lives I have to impact. It's just the way I feel. And whether that's a sales job on myself or not, there are people's lives that I know I can help, and it's my obligation to do it. Absolutely that drives me every day.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Number two, I want to be a good example for my wife and kids. I I wouldn't be a great stay-at-home dad. I'm just being honest. I wouldn't be. I'd get bored. I wouldn't know what to do with myself. My kids see I get to be a great dad, but when they know they know dad's creating, he's innovating, he's pushing hard. And I want my kids to have a kick-ass work ethic. I just do, no matter what they decide. So I want to be a good example. And I feel like I was gifted a lot and I have a lot more to give. Like, I don't know. I don't know what else I'd do.

SPEAKER_02

If you could go back to my age, I'm 32 years old. What would you obs-kid? It's awesome. I feel like I'm getting old. I feel my knees this morning.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

What would you obsess over at my age right now?

SPEAKER_01

You know, if it was anybody else, I'd say I I watch you with your kids. Um I would obsess on what more you could say no to outside of the business you want to build and the family you have. I would bet to say it's been a decade now that I say no to mostly everything, unless it's got to do with my children, my wife, or my business. And I'm the happiest guy alive. Like, like when you start getting wealth and you start compounding and you start getting more and more connections, sometimes, and maybe this is just me, sometimes you feel like there's a path you're supposed to take. I'm supposed to go to this event. I got invited to the Grammys. Oh my God, this party, there's all billionaires there. Like I'm I'm just making stuff up. Um, you know, there's this work trip where we're gonna do it's almost like you feel like you got this right of passive because you worked so hard to get it, and now these opportunities come.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And I know I spent a couple, half a decade, maybe a decade, decade and a half of thinking I had to dress a certain way, do a certain thing. And then there was one day it's like, no, no, no. Every when I'm at my last breath in my life, I I know I'm gonna think to myself, did I give my kids all the tools I could for them to live a fulfilled life? That's that's me personally. Like I literally think of my last breath of saying, did I leave my wife in a great spot? And did I give my kids the tools to just be fulfilled, to be good citizens, to be good Christians or whatever your beliefs are, just to be good humans and happy. Not not, you know, uh uh country club kids. I don't mean that disrespectfully. I was really gonna say um uh trust fund. That's what I mean, trust fund kids that that you can't find peace. They have the money, but they don't have the peace. I want my kids to be resourceful. So when I think of the end of my life and I want my kids to be productive, amazing humans on this earth, that makes me realize that going back is there's nothing more important. You're not gonna remember the billionaires you hung out with, you're not gonna remember the Emmys or the Grammys of the fancy party with the cocktails, you're gonna remember your daughter running across the pool and jumping on your lap and say, Dad, let's go swimming. That's what you're gonna remember. That's gonna be your last thoughts. So if you remember that every day, you'll always make good decisions.

SPEAKER_02

Your partner, Lisa, what has she meant to you in your life?

SPEAKER_01

Everything. Everything. Um I uh to have the right significant other, my wife, it it's beyond it's beyond the greatest gift. Because when you know your personal life is in check, that your family's okay, your home's okay, your partnership's okay, the trust is deep, the love is there no matter what, um, you just fly brighter, stronger, higher.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Dean, you've been sharing all these nuggets, man. I I have to say I'm super grateful, but there are so many people that are watching this right now and they're like, where do I even begin? This is just so much. What would you tell that person that wants to get started right now? And they're listening to this, they're motivated, they're excited. Where's that start?

SPEAKER_01

So the first thing I would do is whatever you think you're doing it for, there's a deeper reason. Just go find the purpose. Because the last thing I'll share is I told you I was that meeting with the largest bankers in the world. Yeah. And I'm sitting with this amazing woman who's a hard head of the education side. And I told her the importance of a purpose for anything, learning, traveling, success. And she's like, Yeah, I get that. I'm like, no, I don't think you do. I said, let me give you an example. And this is what I'll I'll I'll end it here. I said, we were right next to Camelback Mountain, which you know is in the center of Scottsdale, right? Yes. I said, if your brother, she said she had a brother. I said, if your brother was on the top of Scottsdale Mountain and he called you right now and said, Hey, hey, I climbed this mountain, it's a hundred degrees. I have no water. Could you climb the mountain? Bring me a bottle of water. I said, What would you say? She's like, You should have thought of it. Come down and get yourself a bottle of water. I said, What if, same situation, he's on the top of the mountain, calls you and says, I fell, I cut myself, I'm bleeding to death. I need you to run up here and save me. I said, What would you do? She goes, I jump out of this window and sprint to the top of that mountain. So, what's the difference of the two? One had a deeper purpose. You find a deeper purpose, you'll find the answers, you'll become resourceful, you'll do what it takes, you'll mentor under the right people, you'll cut the check, you'll go to the event, you'll learn, you'll say no when other people say yes, you'll say yes when other people say no. Deepen the purpose. There's nothing that could stop you.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you. Guys, wealth made simple, Dean Graciosi. Thank you so much for joining us on the show today. And I appreciate you being a mentor to me and sharing this lesson with everybody. Thank you. That was awesome.

SPEAKER_01

Thanks, man.

SPEAKER_02

Incredible. Incredible.