Humble Beginnings to Millionaire Status:Turning Setbacks into Success | MDIDS2EP53

Welcome, welcome. Welcome everyone. This is Paul Finck, and this is Mavericks Do It Different podcast. This is where we think different, be different, do different, to create a different life for not just ourselves, our family, our community, our society, and the whole world. When we step up when we create a difference, it ripples effects throughout the throughout the world throughout the universe. To create a difference for all be absolute, you are going to step up and today I've got a special guest to help us move through that process and understand how to step up into a great, great, great life. This is Jordan Adler and man, he has been just an inspiration to me for so long without him knowing it. At 34 years old, Jordan was living in an enclosed garage. His rent was $200 a month he had two roommates, he carried $36,000 in credit card debt, which in my background is even still a small amount. But man when you're when you're young, and that's everything that you have. That's extremely a ton of money. His job paid him only $14,000 a year, which is why the 36,000 credit card debt was so amazing. And overwhelming to so many. He had tried 11 networking Mark network marketing companies in 10 years, never signed up. One person never made one penny in all those ventures, the future looked bleak. And yet today is one of the highest paid network marketers in the world. As the number one affiliate with the legacy company promptings he cracked the code, his best selling book, beach money, and, and this is the original copy that I had. And I showed him this. And he was like, wait, I need to make sure you've got the newest copy. So Jordan Adler's book, beach money, absolutely broke all records has sold over 1 million copies. 100% of the profits of his book, donated to the organization that helps entrepreneurs in developing in developing countries start small businesses through micro loans. And more recently published the second book better than beach money. His message is simple. Hope, simplicity, limitless opportunity. He believes that when you continue to send good things out into the world, as we just were talking about, and treat people right, good things will come your way. Jordan, such a pleasure to have you here. It's such a pleasure to connect. I got your book so many years and years ago, when I was just getting started. And it felt like when it was in my I guess it was in my 30s or even 40s that I got the book and went, Wow, this is somebody that I loved it. I followed you for years. And then we finally connect it up after all this time. How are you? Well,

we met on a cruise ship. You go Yeah. Can you believe that? Yeah. It's it's such a pleasure to be here with you. I feel like I've known you for a long time, Paul. And we really haven't known each other that long. But it's, it's great to be here. And I get the invite like

minded people, like minded people connect very quickly.

So absolutely. Tell us a little bit about this journey

that you've been on and what it really meant to you in your life.

Yeah, so I grew up in the south suburbs of Chicago, in a lower middle income neighborhood. In fact, I just saw a Facebook memory pop up the home, the family home that I grew up in. When my father passed away eight years ago, I sold it for $9,800, the hall that I grew up in. So that gives you a sense of the neighborhood and the area. Now it's gone up a little bit since then. But that's what that's the home that I that I lived in. And, and I was always wired as an entrepreneur, I didn't really have any entrepreneurship around me. But for whatever reason, I was always attracted to things like lemonade stands and paper routes where I can do things to creatively increase my tips. And so I was wired that way. And then I did go to college. My father saved his entire life for myself and my two sisters to go to college for the heat paid for the first year and then we had to figure out how to pay for the rest. So I did go to college, I got a degree in landscape architecture. And right out of college, I had a guitar, a suitcase and 250 bucks, which was birthday gifts. And I flew to Arizona because there was a lot of building going on. And while I was I was you know doing drafting jobs and things as a landscape architect, but low pay, like I'm talking 12,000 bucks a year, 14,000 bucks a year in that range. And then I started dabbling with little little entrepreneurial things because that's what I was attracted to. And like like I mentioned, like you mentioned in the I'm in the, in my bio, over a period of 10 years, I got involved in 11 different network marketing companies. I get involved, I'd be in there for two or three months, I get discouraged really fast, a lot of negativity. A lot of people that, you know, that were negative about network marketing and people that would no show me and all that, and I would get discouraged. And I would quit. And I did that over and over again for 10 years, 11 companies,

what kept you moving forward? So many people, they'll go through an experience like that and went, Oh, yeah, I did network marketing once. I'm never doing that stuff again. And you went through 10 year process to find the perfect home?

What right, what caused you move in? Yeah, the truth is like, like, I hear the question, you know, why? Why didn't you quit? Well, the truth is, I did quit, I quit over and over again, I do it for two or three. But But here was the difference between me and I don't know, it was just because I have a short attention span, which I do. I don't know why. But for whatever reason, I do know why actually, I was, I really believed in the dream of a passive income that would give me the freedom to call my own shots. I believed in that dream. And so when something didn't work out, I didn't just throw in the towel, I threw in the towel there. But then months later, I was looking for the next thing that was going to take me there and the the fallacy and what I was doing was that I was attaching my success to that company and my results. So like, if I have bad results, after talking to two or three or four people, I mean, I was young, like, I didn't really know, entrepreneurship, I wanted to be an entrepreneur, but I would get involved in a company and get some discouragement and quit. And that model doesn't work, the model of getting getting started and then quitting when things get tough. If you want to be successful, that model doesn't doesn't work. And so I did that, or until I finally figured it out. It's a lot of tries. My 12th company, it really wasn't the company it was it was just that I was the timing was right, because of my mindset. You know, my mindset shifted. And I decided, I remember consciously a specific moment where I consciously made a decision that I wasn't going to quit on a bad day. And I had two things happen, that if this, these two things happened to 1000 people, all of them would acquit. But I made a decision that as long as the company was around, and as long as there were people making money, I was going to ride through the storm. Come out on the other side, other side. So after a year in my 12th endeavor, I was earning $180 per month proximately under 200 a month, after almost a year. And I had something happened that I flew I had no money like I was I was using credit cards. I flew across the country for a meeting in Peabody, Massachusetts, with a guy named Tom Alder Inc. I even remember his name. And it was a snowstorm. It took me two and a half hours to get to his home and a rental car. In a snowstorm without the snowstorm would take 20 minutes. I get there and nobody's that I literally flew across the country from Arizona and nobody's at his house, the lights are off. And he basically quit the day that I was flying out he had quit the business and not told me. And so I went and got a Motel Six. I remember standing at a payphone because we didn't have cell phones back then. In a blizzard, like a really cold Blizzard now wasn't dressed for it. And I decided that day that I was this was my 12th company, I'm not going to quit again. I decided standing on his doorstep that I just need to get through this. And I ended up making $8 million with that company. And my from from my 108 from my $180 a month on my eighth or ninth month. Within three years, I was over 30 grand a month and eventually exceeded 80 grand a month. But it was many years after I got started. Most people throw in the towel after a few months or even a few weeks. And because it's easy to get into so it's easy to get out of

what makes the difference. You know, one of the things that we talked about here is is I'm a Maverick and we talked about the doing things differently than we were wired different and that creates our success. But what is it that you thought differently did different to be the person that created the success when people to the right and left of you didn't? Well, what was that Do you know?

I think it was like people when people describe me they say he's the most consistent person I know that's one of the things that I hear. And I I'm this is just how I am like but But it wasn't always that way I made a decision. At one point I made it to decision that I wasn't going to quit on a bad day. That was the first thing. The second thing is when things got tough, I'd work a little harder. Yes, I would reframe and work a little harder, which is not easy to do. When you're feeling crappy, which the truth is, we're human and part of the human condition is we're going to doubt our emotions are going to go up and down, we're going to have many days where we feel like things aren't going to work out. But that's normal. Everybody has those feelings, but what's not normal are the people that don't throw in the towel on the days things are going tough, that's not normal. And that, and so what what I do is when I when I wake up not feeling like doing the work, I do the work. But the thing that keeps me on track is keeping my calendar full. On the days that I'm working, like, I don't work all day long, I work a few hours a day, and I don't have to work or anymore because I've got a very large team of people that are have gotten customers and those customers use our service every day. And I get paid from that. So it's not like I have to go to work to make money, like many people do, that are trading time for money. However, there are days where I'm not feeling it. But if I've got stuff on the calendar, I'm going to do the work. Like there may be days that I don't want today wasn't one of those days, Paul, I was excited about this. But there may be days where I'm supposed to be on a podcast, and I don't feel like it. And but I've already got it on the schedule. So I'm going to do it. And then I'll schedule things, I'll schedule the things that you know, where it's not even doesn't involve somebody else. Like for example, I'll schedule an hour to just follow up with people or send schedule an hour to send some cards out or whatever, you know, those kinds of things. But I have stuff on my calendar that keeps me accountable to myself. And then I state that I'm very good about holding my about following through on my commitments to myself with all the other thing people. Right. Yeah. So yeah, I want to go back over a couple

of things. One is that you made a decision, you made a commitment to yourself, and you made a decision to keep moving forward. Just some core things that I know, create a difference for people. You've got to get to that point where you're like enough's enough. Here's the line in the sand. I'm going to make a decision that I'm going to fall through with no matter what. And that's where most people who succeed, they get to that line in the sand and they go, this is it. This is this is the the road I'm gonna go down. This is the journey. I'm gonna go down and nothing's gonna stop me.

Yeah, so like, go ahead, go ahead. No, no. The second thing that the other thing I want to mention is I'm a helicopter pilot today. I got my helicopter pilot's license eight years ago. And that was one of those things where I have the dream like I'm sitting in my condo here in Las Vegas. I'm looking out over the strip, I can see the park MGM and the MGM New York, New York, Mandalay Bay, I'm looking south, right on the 37th floor. And I see the tour helicopters all day long, going around around and one morning, I woke up and I'm watching them. And I'm like, you know, it would be so cool to be able to take my friends up in a helicopter when they came to town. So I just I had that dream. And it got me really excited. I had been only been in a helicopter one time in my life. And I went online, and I found a helicopter training school here in town. I went down there, I said, How much is a discovery flight, which is just like, introduction flight, 250 bucks, I gave that I went on it. And I said, this is something that I want to do. But what I didn't get Paul was that at the age of 57 years old, which is when I went in there. I had no idea how hard it was gonna be like, I did not have a clue. It was the hardest thing I learned to do in my life and for many, many are you still with? Yeah, for many, many, many months, six months, eight months, right in that range. i Every single day I went flying with these guys, I questioned and doubted whether I would ever be able to do it myself, like nearly every time because it was so hard. It's hard.

When he talked to me about this before when we were just talking hanging out one day, he talked about this and I gotta tell you that's inspired me as as a maverick that's inspired me to go maybe that should be on my bucket list. Because I gotta test out your theory that it's the hardest thing

to tell you to do. If you want one of the greatest exercises in personal development is to become a helicopter pilot and Rh wow

are our age and we we are similar in age however we know this idea that age has no Anything to do with our abilities? Come on now. We can, well

tall. So I go in, I go into the school and it's a bunch of 20 to 25 year olds running the school in there, right? And I go in there, and they see me and they snickered a little bit because guys in their 50s Do not go in to get helicopter pilot license. Is it?

Is it that it's is it physically demanding?

No, not at all. So it's physically demanding only in the sense that it's so different. It's so challenging to your mind that you feel it in your body, but not. Yeah, it's, and it's not the age. It's just that 50 year old, 55 year old men tip or women don't typically have the dream to learn to fly helicopters, right? So they just very often,

yeah, well, here's what I want to tell to our audience is that it's never too late to dream. And it's never too late to dream big. And to challenge yourself to dream like a 20 year old. Every single day of your life. You want to know the secret to longevity? That's one of them.

That is true. Yeah, so one of my favorite things to do, Paul, it's probably on my list of my top five favorite things to do is when friends come to town, take them fly him over the mountains, which is just a 30 minute flight, landed the winery in Pahrump go in and have lunch, get in the helicopter fly back to Vegas. And it's beautiful. And it's it's a cool experience. I had, you know, Jay and Cory facettes. Yep. Yeah, of course, Jay. And Cory, you might have seen this, Jay and Cory were just in town, they brought their two boys, one of their boys had never been in a helicopter before. So I took up Cory and one of their sons, and then I took up Jay and one of their sons. And we just did a little flight over the mountains, which is really fun.

ways. People. How many people can we fit in your helicopter? For

but so I couldn't pull family in? Yeah, yeah.

Well, you can't certainly can't put my whole family in. So definitely will. So my wife and I will be there and will will the kids can suffer on their own, they're old enough. Now, you know, and so we'll look on

showing it, I'd love to, that would be a blast, it makes my day. A

couple of the things that you talked about. And this is really key is is work ethic, you know, the idea of that persistent, consistent behavior. And I talked about that all the time. And it's something that, that people are looking for the quick fix, versus creating a legacy.

Yeah, it's, it's, it's well, and also, it's very difficult when you're, when you're in when you're in the middle of it, and you're doing the work. Sometimes the work you're doing, although you know, it's important, it's hard to look at that work and say, this is going to take me to my dream. You know, there's sales and there's marketing, right? There's sales where you're actually, you know, Trent, which can be kind of transactional in some sense. And then marketing is more like, what you put out there and what you attract, like, so. And sometimes when you're doing the market, well, both you're doing the work you're on like, is this really taking me closer to my dreams? Or am I just spinning my wheels? A lot of times you're spinning, like for example, I've heard people say, they don't say these words, but they're basically saying building relationships is a waste of time. I just need to make the sale, right? I need to get the income. So people come to me and they say, Jordan, I need to make money now. Right. But if they if they focus on that, which is important to focus on. But if they just focus on that, they're never going to have the legacy income. Right? They're never going to have a legacy business. Yeah, it's ultimately the relationships that take you to the greatest. The greatest partnerships are in your business. It's like, that's really where the real the rubber hits the road in the relationships like and you if you read books by successful people, all of them will talk about this. Yeah, but yet most people don't really get that which there's a lot which is really it's a it's a glass ceiling. It's it'll, it'll stop you in your tracks if you don't get that your greatest opportunities lie in the relationships that you make along the way. Yeah, and

you've got to, you know, and I talk a lot about that legacy component versus cash flow, you know, the immediate need base, if you will, and so there's short term needs. And then there's a long term dream, right to build the long the long term dream. It does take that relationship building to actually feel people be with people, connect with them, and be real And it's a man it's it's a lost art these days. And those people that are focused in on it that really pay attention to that component are the ones that are going to be the leaders for the next couple decades.

Yeah. So we have, I have one relationship that I built that lead to $280 million in sales to our company. That's pretty significant. It was a relation. I know, it's, it's mind blowing to me. And it's a result of, I mean, 1000s and 1000s of people were involved. But it's a result of me eventually getting invited to speak on the stages of in front of 1000s of people all over the world. As a result of one guy that I met at a networking event, who was 21 years old at the time, his father was and I built this friendship with him. And his father was the CEO of BNI, Business Network International, which I'm sure you're aware of. Absolutely. So I got to know Nate, I got to know as his new wife, I literally, I got to know his father. And they knew what I did for for work. And, you know, we're how I made my money and, but it was all about the, it's not always about what you're gonna get. It's not always about like, I don't make friends, because I know, I'm gonna get something. I didn't even know what they did when I met him. I just liked the guy. We scheduled lunch, and we built a friendship. And we've traveled myself and him and his family. We've traveled all over the world together. I'm Uncle Jordan to his kids, but it's the relationship that led to that opportunity. And it's typically one or two relationships or three relationships in your entire lifetime. That can that really can move the bar for you, like, significantly exponentially. Have you ever heard of the book called you squared by price? Pritchett? Yes.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yes, that that's, that's a life changing book. And it really is what we're talking about right now. It really drives that point home and that, you know, it's not most people thinking in a very linear fashion, like, step one, step two, step three, step four. And there's, there's a rationale behind that logic, but at the same time, and I'm sure you've noticed this, Paul, in your business. It's typically the thing, if you look in your life, and you look at the things that were most significant in your life, I'll ask you this, Paul, of the Think, think of three things in your mind that are the most significant in your life, isn't it? Always a result of meeting the right person at the right time?

Oh, yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

So there it is, right there. It's meeting the right person at the right time. So what do you got to do, you got to get out and meet people, and build relationships with people, it's going to be those magic moments that create the quantum leaps in your life. And in your business,

the biggest challenge that I found is that, that people think that they can predict which person and which moment, and which means you need to be in a lot of raw, you know, the lucky, they'll the lucky, you know, the luck happens when you're at the right place at the right time. And that only happens because you've been in a lot of wrong places at a lot of wrong times, to create the momentum that puts you in the right place at the right time, just in the right time in your life and in theirs. And everything follows from that point forward. And it's so amazing. To keep that door open to make that happen every day is where that persistent consistent behavior comes in that work ethic to just show up regardless of whether you know, you're going to end up at a dark house, at the end of the road, or whether it's going to be filled with everything that you dream of. You don't know, but you've got to do the journey anyway.

Absolutely. And sometimes the people you meet that you think are the wrong people. Over time you realize they were the right people. Oh my god. I was in my 20s this guy to this. I mean, he's gone. He's long gone, I'm sure. But this guy when I met him, he was one of the most he left the biggest imprint in my mind is in terms of being one of the biggest losers that I've ever met. And he motivated me more than he even knows. And here's what happened. I was living in a little studio. My rent was $200 a month live in a little studio on University and hardy in Tempe, Arizona. And the studio was tiny and have a little kitchenette. I had a big water bed in there, you know with a trellis over the top was ridiculous. Anyway, this guy's name was Don and he was my next door neighbor. And every day I come home, he'd be drunk on his doorstep in a little wood, a wooden chair, and by the end of the evening, he pass out on the doorstep, he literally pass out. And then in the middle of the night, he'd get up and go into the house and go on his bed. Well, Don was such a drunk and such a loser. And I remember so many times coming home thinking I never want to end up like Don. And that was actually motivating to me. It was motivating. And I remember him to this day. Like, it was one of the things that helped implant that work ethic was like, I got to work. So that this never, because it's just like, we're all thin threads away from things like that living in the street, you know? Yeah.

That is really key remembering that? Yeah.

I mean, literally. Yeah, go ahead.

Yeah, I had similar things where there were people that were doing things that I was doing in my 20s and early 30s. And but they were 70 and 80 years old and still doing it. And I and I just looked at that going. Never, never. And it really, that was a catalyst that moved me to another level. Yeah. So yeah, sometimes it's not about watching the big successes. It's about watching the opposite and being driven to the opposite of that. Right. Yeah.

And it is thin threads, man. I mean, I've seen we have I mean, we all have, right, even you anybody who's watching this has seen that. The there's people that fall from grace, you know, and I don't ever want to go there. I like my life.

Yeah. Yeah. One of the things and and, you know, there's a concept that your mind wants, expands, never contracts. And I'm a firm believer that your your wallet is the same thing. And so the learning to live that great life is a component that will keep you in that great life, and to stay focused on what does that mean to you? And how do you develop that every day for that longevity?

Absolutely. Hey, and listen, don't settle. Like most people, what they do is they start shrinking their dreams down to meet their income. Yes. You don't need to do that. Instead, work on focus on getting your income up to meet your dreams. Put your dreams high Dream High, even if it's more than you even believe is possible. And then

your dream high. No, no, we're supposed to have realistic goals. Who have you been talking to him? This is crazy stuff. Right? You know, and everybody out there? You've heard of SMART goals? Right? SMART goals. They are the Achilles heel. That is disappointing people? Because it's it's realistic goals. Are you telling us that we should have unrealistic goals?

Georgia? Yeah, no, very telling you. Yeah, I'm telling you that you need to have goals, you know, this PA, or you need to have big goals that are going to get you excited inspire you and also scare you a little bit. Yes, you know, and stop settling. You don't need to settle for where, oh, it's just kind of how it is. This is just how my life is, you know, I just attract all the bad luck. I make all the wrong decisions. You know, that's what most people do, you know, and they start, they go, You know what, I'm too old. You know, instead of setting the bar high, and then figuring it out. Like that's what entrepreneurs do get around people that can that that can there's a symbiotic relationship with that can help take you to your dreams appear here. It's going to be meeting getting there, it's going to be meeting the right person at the right time. So it does, it's not about what your abilities are. It's not about that. Yeah, it's about who we meet at meeting the right person at the right time. Everybody has connections. Everybody has skills and knowledge. And we all bring a different set of skills to the table, we all get, bring a different set of beliefs to the table, but you know, it's finding that right fit, where they help you you help them you know, and they're out there for you.

One of the things no question and it's keep networking, keep dreaming, reach for the stars, and recognize that it's never too late. That that age thing I fight on that every day and to say we are we are as young as we feel and there's so much more ahead of us no matter what age you're at. Dream big. So with all the all that you do you figure it out, you have definitely figured out the formula for living a great life and and one of the components is the idea of passive income of true passive income which a lot of people talk that number one that that verbiage, but they're not really passive talks a little bit about what that means. Yeah.

So imagine that every month. If you're, instead of your income starting from zero every month, you start at a level, it could be, say it's $100 a month where you've done something, there's lots of different ways to create passive income. So you could, you could buy, you could buy rental real estate, you could buy vending machines, you could invest a bunch of money and create, you know, get an interest check. You know, that kind of thing, network marketing, where you leverage your time through the work of other people. So there's lots of ways of creating passive income. Here's what happens, if you focus on that, over time, you'll develop a passive income that equals your bills. If you focus on developing a passive income, you know, as today's world with online marketing and the in subscription models, you can create a passive income with subscription models, you know, building funnels around that affiliate programs that that have a repeat purchase, where somebody's buying something every month, and every month, you're getting paid on that, right. And I can tell you right now that there's not a single person that's watching this podcast, Paul, or listening to this podcast, there's not a single person that wouldn't want to have an income stream, whether they went to work or not. It's not a single person that wouldn't want that. The only reason most people don't do it is a they don't believe it's possible, or B, they don't believe it's possible for them. That's it. So so what happens is, most people go you know, what the way to make money is to work a job. Well, the problem with that there's not it pays your bills, maybe, maybe not, but you're gonna put in some of your bills on your credit cards like I did. You're trading time for money. So if you don't go to work, you don't get paid. But what What if you got paid this month, and this month, whatever you're making this month comes back next month, and then you increase it a little bit. So now you're making $200 a month, every single month. So you can add literally stack your income over time. And at some point, your income equals your bills. And now you're now you're free. Now you're like the world you can like it from that point, you can start doing, you know, give away more money, do more fun things, discretionary income, buy artwork, travel the world. fly first class, whatever you

want to do. Yeah. Yeah, that's true freedom. That's yeah, true security. And people talk about job security. And there's no such thing in this day and age. And where real security is, is when you're able to build up that residual income, so that it's coming in no matter what. And then you're able to build on top of that for your month. And that's where you get real freedom where you can predict where you're going to be in a month, six months, a year, five years, 10 years, you can predict it, because you know, it's already coming in. Yeah, really key message

writing. Passive income is exciting. I remember when I got my first residual check, it was like 12 bucks. And but it was a residual check. Right? Meaning I didn't have to go to work to get it. It was because one of my customers was using our service. So I get a check. Yeah, and, and that made it real. And I started, wow, if I can do it one time, I can do it twice. If I can do it twice. I can do it four times, you know, and I just kept doing it. And eventually my checks, you know, got to a point where I was able to travel the world like things that are only dreamt about, you know,

yeah, I never could have imagined the life that I have now. Yeah, 25 years ago, right. Never in my wildest dreams, understanding. I met the right people at the right time, moved me into arenas that I never imagined and introduced me to the right the other right people at other right times that the world opened up for me. And it's it's what we see over and over again. So it's I know, we're run out of time. I know you've got to run. And I want to thank you so much for joining us here. Where can people find you reach out to you? They love they want to connect with you. Where can they do that?

Simplest is probably just start with Instagram at beachmoneyjordan would be a great place to go. And, yeah, that's probably the best place. It's got all my contact information on it. It's got my website on there, unusable.

We will absolutely have also, wherever this is publicized, we will have a link for you here and we are everywhere all around the world. Wherever podcasts are transmitted. We will be there. So your links will be right there. Jordan, what a great pleasure. Look forward to being on the helicopter real soon. We'll see you out in Vegas. And we'll be talking to you all around the world as we always do. Thank you so much for being here.

I'm looking for Thank you, Paul. And I'm really looking forward to the next time we can get together I hear hear

everyone there, everyone here listening. This has been such a great time with Jordan. I really love people that are living the life living the dream and understand how to really enjoy it both for themselves and for everyone around them. Jordan is a great example of that. This is Paul Finck The Maverick Millionaire This is Mavericks Do It Different podcast. Continue to listen continue to share. We look forward to seeing you next time. Till then everyone talk to you soon.