T. Harv Eker on The Power of Doing Whatever It Takes and Why Rich People Admire Other Successful People

Audio Transcription

Clay:
Yes, yes, yes and yes. Thrive Nation, on today’s show we have a super guest, T. Harv Eker on the Thrive Time Show in the dojo of mojo fo’ show. Mr. T. Harv, how are you sir?

T. Harv Eker:
I’m amazing. Thank you.

Clay:
Hey, I am so fired up to have you on the show. Your secrets of the millionaire mind, that audio set, that audio production, I have listened to that thing so many times, I think that my brain exploded and I woke up in the middle of the night hearing your voice over and over. Do you hear that a lot?

T. Harv Eker:
Ah, sometimes. Unfortunately.

Clay:
Well, I’ve just listened to it so much. Could you kind of share with the listeners out there how you were able to achieve success yourself because you’re such a great teacher, but where did you first gain your success?

T. Harv Eker:
I didn’t, I didn’t. Unfortunately, I struggled for literally 14 years. I left college early, never even graduated. Ended up being broke for over a decade. Had to choose many nights between eating dinner that night or putting $5 of gas in my car. And I often had to choose the gas to get around to see if I could make any money. Nothing was working out the way I thought it would or should. So I would say that one of the reasons that I might be fairly successful in the training arena is because I actually went through what a lot of people go through at the start up of their situation. And I was very fortunate to make a few changes that actually worked. Actually, as I said, went through a 12 businesses that did not work. And I’m sure a lot of your listeners understand that it’s all, and everybody understands, you have an idea, right?

T. Harv Eker:
And you are so excited about it and this is it, and now you’re going to be successful, and now you’re going to get rich, and it’s finally going to work. And then it implodes, and nothing happens and you lose a bunch of money. I’ve never gone bankrupt, but again, 12 businesses that did not work. And so, finally, after a little while, you start doubting yourself. I remember my self esteem took a huge hit. I was actually embarrassed to go out and meet people because God forbid they actually asked me what I do and I’d go, well I’m between things as usual and hey, do you mind picking up this cup of coffee because I don’t have 80 cents. And it was really bad.

T. Harv Eker:
So very, very fortunately, I don’t want to get into the whole story because of time limits, but I ran into a friend of my father’s who was an extremely wealthy man and he said to me in the hallway, because I was back living in the basement of my parents’ house, that “I hear that you’re broke and you’re a bum.” So he said, “What do you want to do?” I said, I don’t know. I just want to be successful. I just want to make a lot of money and be rich and have a nice life. I don’t know. He says, “Well, how do you want to do it?” I said, in business. And he said, “Well listen, one thing you have to understand is that rich people, they work in very similar ways to each other. And broke people work similar ways to each other. And if you want to be rich, there’s probably something you don’t know yet.”

T. Harv Eker:
And of course, being a brash young man at the time, I thought I knew everything, but he was right. And since I wasn’t making any money anyways and I was literally on government assistance stuff, I said, what the hell? So for six months, all I did was study rich business people. And I found seven principles they seem to have in common. I put them to the test, and I started with a $2,000 credit card loan, and I opened the world’s first retail chain of fitness stores and became a millionaire in two and a half years. People started asking me like, “Oh my God, aren’t you the same guy that still owes me 50 bucks?” I went, oh my God, here’s 100. I’m so sorry.

T. Harv Eker:
And people started asking me the difference because they knew me as a broke person and now I had a nice house, I had the cars. It was obvious I was fairly successful. And so I started sharing some of the differences between what I thought and what I executed and the strategies I used to get rich versus when I was broke for those 12 years. And they started using them and said, “My God, this actually works and you should teach this.” So I started teaching it, and literally now I have over three million students, and all I do is teach them this is what I was doing when I was broke. This is what I did to get rich. Here’s both of them, choose whatever the hell you want and good luck to you.

Clay:
Now you mentioned there’s seven common denominators of successful people, and I know we don’t have… I wanted to, I’m trying to make this passively aggressively the first 20 minutes of our 200 minute interview. But could you share with us just what one of those principles would be, one of those seven principles, just so our listeners can have a little bit of a look into your insight?

T. Harv Eker:
Well, I think the first one that changed for me and that needs to change for everyone is something called your money blueprint or your financial set point. I wrote a book on this called Secrets Of The Millionaire Mind. I guess it was successful. We have over 4 million copies sold, and it’s in 42 different languages. And it works. I mean every time people ask me about the strategies about business and this and that, I certainly can get into all of that and we do, but I say none of it makes any difference whatsoever if you do not have what we call a millionaire mind or financial blueprint set for high levels of success.

T. Harv Eker:
And there’s a lot of people listening right now that might be kind of stuck in what I call good. And the question I have for everybody listening right now is, are you willing to give up or trade in good for great? Because I’ll tell you right now, my friends, there is a big, big, big difference in both mindset and business strategy from good to great. And I mean financial. I mean are you willing to give up your 100,000 a year for $1 million a year? Are you willing to give up a net worth of a million or two for 30, 40, 50, 60 million? I will say this again, the strategy for those two things are different for each other.

Clay:
I think a lot of our listeners have maybe in their mind mystified wealthy people and a lot of people will say, well money corrupts and money’s the root of all evil. And you hear these things, but in your audio book, I remember you saying that money will only make you more of what you already are. And I think I had maybe grown up hearing that money’s the root of all evil and that the rich get richer and money corrupts people. Can you talk about what you mean by that quote, “Money will make you more of what you already are.”?

T. Harv Eker:
Yeah, for sure. I mean, this is a big one because you’re not the only one that grew up with that type of a message, those type of messages where people, money corrupts people. Rich people are bad. Rich people take advantage of others. Rich people are greedy. And not only people grew up with that from their parents, et cetera, et cetera, and people around them, but when you listen to religious leaders, when you listen to other than this last administration, the government, who’s telling you that it’s the 99% against the 1%, then you [inaudible 00:08:00] be the 1% or you’re going to be overthrown. And it’s like, oh my God. The understanding is is that this is what I do in my seminars that really gets the point.

T. Harv Eker:
I say, okay, so how many of you have heard or in some way, shape or form really, really, really, really down deep in your subconscious have some type of message that rich people are quote unquote kind of bad? Just in quotes, bad in any way, shape or form. And literally almost, it will be 5,000 people in that room, and 4,990 will put up their hand. Yeah. And I’ll go, okay, let’s just examine this for real. I mean, how many of you would agree and say that, yes, there are some rich people who are quote unquote bad? Everyone puts their hands up. All right.

T. Harv Eker:
How many of you would agree that there are some middle class people who are quote unquote bad? Everyone puts their hands up. I said, how many would agree there’s some poor or broke people who are quote unquote bad? Everyone puts their hands up. I’d say, so what on earth does this have to do with money? This doesn’t have to do with money. This has to do with the person. Money is a tool. It’s like a hammer. It can be used to build things. It can be used to break things. It’s not about the hammer, it’s about who’s holding the hammer. So the question isn’t, are rich people bad? The question is, are you bad?

Clay:
Harv, this is something that you talked about in your audio book that I really wanted to dive in with you on because, dive into with you, is you talked about in your audio book that rich people admire other rich and successful people, and poor people resent them and successful people. And as I was listening to you in my car, I was going, I do hate rich people. I hate rich people. I think I do. I don’t think I’ve ever had that conscious thought, but subconscious, and I remember talking to my wife, I said, babe, why do people have to have Lamborghinis? Why do they even have to? I mean that car costs 10 times more than the crappy car I’m driving. And Vanessa said, “Well babe, it’s because you need something to aspire to. You shouldn’t be mad at someone because they have something. You should aspire to it. It’s exciting. It gives us something to aim for.” Could you talk about this, how rich people admire other rich people and successful people whereas poor people tend to resent successful people?

T. Harv Eker:
Absolutely. I mean, the most important thing about that is everybody needs to be listening right now because most people have this mini resentment in, again, their subconscious. But this is really critical. Listen everyone, it may not sound all that critical because we’re not talking about, this is the marketing strategy to make $1 million tomorrow. No, but listen very closely. This is the software of success. Everybody’s dealing with the hardware of success, but the hardware goes nowhere without the software in a computer, does it? So if you don’t think that this is important, trust me, I’ve done this for 30 years, this is still by far the most important element to get straight. If you don’t have this straight, you will struggle forever. So bottom line, it’s a great question because if you believe in any way, shape or form that rich people are bad, and you want to be a good person, then guess what?

T. Harv Eker:
You can never ever, ever get rich. Never, it will never happen. You will sabotage yourself until the day you die because you believe somewhere deep inside that rich people are bad. So what do you do? Well, I’m talking to you right now from my home in Lake Tahoe. It’s a private community, and the cheapest cabin here is $3.5 million. Okay. And the average home goes for somewhere between 10 and 15 million. And so I talk with people here all the time, and nobody believes that rich people are bad because they’re one of them, first of all. But they never had that thought. They never grew up with that thought. Or if they did, they changed their mind. So the goal is to what? You admire and model rich and successful people. It’s like you’re a basketball player and you’re in the hood and you’re trying to get out of there, and you now hate LeBron James because he’s rich and a great basketball player.

T. Harv Eker:
Well, no, you go, I don’t hate him. He’s a great basketball player. Of course I admire him. Well great. People who get rich, first of all, you should know that 86% of people who get rich are self made rich, not given to them by daddy and mommy. So for all those people, they struggle just like you and me. For all those people, they went through their hardships. For all those people, they made it by their width and their success and their study and their acumen, and they created success. And we need to admire them in the same way that they are great at what they did, in the same way you admire, if you are a basketball player, LeBron James, for his prowess and his skill. You go, he’s fantastic at what he does. That’s why he earns that money. Same with rich people.

T. Harv Eker:
So we’ve got to switch that mindset to admire them. Secondly, we need to model them. The reason I became successful is because I spent six months studying rich business people, did what they did and got rich and continue to get richer and richer and richer and richer. And I teach thousands and millions of other people how to do the same thing. So you want to admire and model rich and successful people. Thank you for bringing that up.

Clay:
Clay Staires, you actually are a former school teacher turned millionaire entrepreneur. That’s a big idea going from a school teacher to being a millionaire entrepreneur. And it was years ago you and I first started working together, and I said, you got to get down to one of these T. Harv Eker seminars. You got to go. And you went down there. And tell the listeners about that seminar experience. And then I’d love for you to bombard Mr. Harv here with questions.

Clay Staires:
Oh yeah. Well first of all, I had a wonderful time. And Harv, I tell everybody, I mean it’s part of my story of the transformation kind of began right there in Dallas being down at the seminar, I remember the money mindset survey where there were a number of questions, money is, money is, money is type of thing. And the first time I did that on day one of the seminar, I mean I was jacked up with the way that I was thinking. I was just completely, like you and Clay were just talking about, my mindset on money was just completely screwed up.

Clay:
Jacked.

Clay Staires:
Jacked. Yeah. And so I saw for the first time, like Clay was saying, I saw for the first time, I actually hate the very person I’m trying to become, a wealthy, successful businessman. I hate that guy. And hearing you say from the front, you will never become something you hate, oh my gosh. It was like, ah. So again I got snot, tears everywhere, and I’m hugging people, I love you, next to me and everything, but it was a transformational three day seminar for me. Loved it. Thank you so much for being a part of that transformation in my life. Just tremendous. Then of course I just got all the books, and that ended up being a very important step for me.

Clay Staires:
And now that I am a business coach and work with clients across the country, this is one of the very things that I find when I am working with other clients is, like Clay was saying, they are stuck in being a solo-preneur. They’re stuck in being a self-employed person. And their thermometer, if I remember correctly learning from you, they have this thermostat of about 80 grand, 60 to 80, maybe $100,000. And if they get more money than that, they just lose it. It just slips right through their fingers. And so my question to you is how can I encourage these business owners that have a business that is stuck in good, how can I encourage them with this whole thing of we’ve got to change your thermostat? You just want to reach through the phone and grab their brain. But the Vulcan mind trick, last time I did it, I got slapped.

T. Harv Eker:
Yeah, yeah. Listen, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t force him to drink. So I always start with the goa. It’s not for everybody. Most people, listen closely here, do not want that. I started this whole conversation with, are you willing to give up good for great? And here’s the answer. Most people, no, they’re not. They talk a good talk, but they don’t walk that walk. They are not willing to give it up because they understand that it’s going to take something different than what they’re doing right now. And you know what? They are comfortable. And comfortable, everyone listen closely now, is the kiss of death, the kiss of death, to high levels of success. If you want to be more successful, you must do something more and different than you’re doing now, which means you must become uncomfortable.

T. Harv Eker:
And the goal is to be… Because what happens though is uncomfortable is what? It’s temporary. Because you start doing something uncomfortable, but after a while it becomes what? Comfortable. So then you start doing something else. So it’s like going into water. At first it feels a little cold, but then it’s like, hey, the water is great. Come on in. Well, it’s exactly the same way with starting to do different strategies and have different mindsets around success and being willing to, the number one thing I say in my book is, number one, you must commit to wealth. You must say, I want to be freaking rich. And people say, “Well, what is rich? I am rich in spirit. I am rich in love.” I go, no, no, no. That is not what we’re talking about.

T. Harv Eker:
That is a given that you want that, great. No, we are talking about one thing, and that one thing is money. Rich in money. And to me at least, I don’t know where this podcast is going, but we’re all over the world. At least in America, for me, and I’m going to say this, you don’t have to agree with it. For me, the word rich starts… When someone says, I’m rich, I’m thinking net worth of a minimum of 10 million, minimum. In these days and age. A freaking house costs two or three or four million.

T. Harv Eker:
So if you can’t wrap your head around that, then you need to start wrapping your head around that. When I say rich, I mean rich. So you’re going to be going for a new net worth. I say everybody, all my students have one goal, and that goal is a net worth of a minimum of $10 million and an income of a minimum of $1 million a year. And so I need to have people change their ways of thinking. Go, shoot, I haven’t been thinking that and that’s what I want, and great. If that’s what you want, then we need to start revamping things.

Clay:
Now Harv, we have time for two final questions because I know that you have a wonderful gift for our audience there. So I guess I have one final question, then I would love for you to share with the audience about the gift that you’re going to make available for our listeners. For you as a successful entrepreneur, we’ve had so many great guests, we’ve had Wolfgang Puck on the show, John Maxwell, we’ve had Seth Goden. Obviously we’ve had just you on the show here. We have the owner of the Houston Rockets that will be on the show here soon. Just really neat guests. And it seems like every one of you has some sort of idiosyncrasy, some sort of superpower, some sort of daily morning routine or something that you do that nobody else does that allows you to have super success. What is your idiosyncrasy or your thing that you do or your daily routine that you do that almost nobody else does?

T. Harv Eker:
You know what? I was asked this pretty recently, and actually my son Jesse was asked. And he knows me pretty well. He goes, “I don’t think my dad actually has anything like that.” And he asked me and I go, no, I don’t have anything like that. Nope. There’s only one thing that I know that makes me successful, and that is I am strictly a whatever it takes freaking person. I am a success warrior. I will do whatever it takes. I will be up at two in the morning, five in the morning, write all day, do what I have to do all day, all night, whatever it takes. And most people are not like that. And I would venture to guess that every one of the people that you mentioned, the successful people that you mentioned, is like that. They have that, and that’s a habit, my friends.

T. Harv Eker:
That is a habit. The other thing that is, I don’t take any BS from anybody, especially myself. So that’s the biggest thing. I don’t buy into my own, any belief system that I have that is non-supportive to my happiness and to my success. And the only one that will stop me and you from your success and your happiness is the voice inside your head. And I train myself, I work on that every single day to train myself. I use anchors, et cetera to reorganize and master my own mind. And that’s the only thing I know of that works for me.

Clay:
All right, Harv, now we were talking offline there and you put together a little something special for our listeners out there. What do you have?

T. Harv Eker:
Well, I know that a lot of your listeners are business owners. I know that a lot of them are looking to grow and do better, hopefully. And as we said, if you don’t have a net worth of 10 million at this point in time and you don’t have an income of at least a million a year, there’s a reason. And the reason you don’t have that right now is because of what you’re doing right now. And what you’re doing right now is a consequence of what you understand and the knowledge that you have. And so you got to go back to that part of it. And so I was in Maui not that long ago, and I have a home there, and I was just driving. I’m not going to get into a whole story. But I actually looked around me, and I have a Maui car, which is still decent, but not an incredible Porsche or whatever I’ve got now in the other homes.

T. Harv Eker:
But I was looking around, and 90% of the people were broke. And I’m not saying that your people are broke, but it’s like, why are these people broke? Why aren’t they not rich like me? Why not? What is the problem here? I said, it just seems like I know what to do now to get rich. If you took away all my money right now, I guarantee I would be rich in literally 24 months. All of it, I’d be back to five or 10 million net worth because I know what to do. Okay. This is not rocket science. And so I said, you know what, if someone could just make it simple for people, make it really easy to somehow go and put this down on paper and say, how do you go and get rich?

T. Harv Eker:
And so the problem with a lot of people is they go, yeah, I want to be rich, but I also want to be a good person and help people, so I have this dichotomy of what’s going on in my head. So I ended up writing this book and putting down these eight steps, keep it simple, eight simple steps to creating wealth, period. And the book is called The Good Millionaire: How To Make A Lot Of Money By Helping A Lot Of People because that way you get to do the two most important things I believe in life. You get to serve others with your gift and you get really, really rich. So these are eight simple steps. It’s called The Good Millionaire. It’s very, very new. We’ve only put it out to our database, which is a few thousand people.

T. Harv Eker:
The response has been more than overwhelming because people are going, “Oh my God,” and here’s the best thing. I wrote this book in the way I would read a book, which is I’m not going to read any book that takes me more than 60 minutes, period over and out. I don’t have the time or the inclination. You can read this entire book in 45 minutes and get my 25 years of experience and knowledge and teaching in 45 minutes. It’s full of graphics, and it’s done in an accelerated learning format, the way we do our seminars Clay, the way you mentioned, whereby it’s ingrained in you, you learn faster, you remember more, you have a lot more fun. 45 minutes, you will know exactly how to create wealth in any business you choose and help thousands of people by doing so.

T. Harv Eker:
And so I believe if you want to get rich, don’t focus on money. Don’t focus on money. Focus on helping people. And that’s what this book entails, and teaches you how to transfer, helping people into millions of dollars. And so I want to just do that, and so I want to gift, the word is gift, every one of your listeners with this book complimentary. It is a hard back book, and so it’s complimentary. All we ask is that your people take care of shipping, that’s it, so we don’t have to incur that expense with the book. It’s normally 24.95, it’s complimentary to all your listeners, and I guess they go to Harveker.com/clay and we can give it to them complimentary.

Clay:
So they go to harveker.com/clay, they can get the free book?

T. Harv Eker:
Absolutely.

Clay:
T. Harv Eker, I appreciate you for living up to what I expected you to deliver, and thank you for making a poor life choice and agreeing to be on my show.

T. Harv Eker:
I really appreciate it, and I just want to say to everybody listening that, listen, if you are doing whatever you’re doing right now, it’s gotten you to where you are right now. And to get somewhere else, you’re going to have to do something else. I would encourage you to start with this book, The Good Millionaire. I will say that in my experience, if you read this and you can read it in one quick sitting, you will have a completely different take on what you’re doing and how you’re doing it. Execute it, and then let Clay know how you’re doing.

Clay:
That’s Harveker.com, H-A-R-V-E-K-E-R.com/Clay to get your free copy of the book. Just pick up the shipping and handling. T. Harv Eker, I appreciate you more than you could possibly know my friend, and I hope you have an awesome rest of your day.

T. Harv Eker:
I appreciate you. Thank you so much and thanks to everybody, and bless you all.