James Malinchak Interview

Joe Polish, President of Piranha Marketing, Interviews:

Motivational Speaker, Author & “Secret Millionaire” James Malinchak Win-Win Marketing Developing Marketing Strategies That Benefit Everyone Win-Win Marketing Joe Polish Interviews Author & Motivational Speaker James Malinchak

Joe Polish’s Tempe, Arizona office – headquarters for Piranha Marketing – is often referred to by marketing insiders as “action central” for much of the entrepreneurial world. Though he made his fortune in an almost invisible niche by telling carpet cleaners how to crush the competition and turn their small local businesses into money-churning machines, he is now among the most well-known, respected, “complete marketing geniuses” in the world.

Consulting clients from many different countries each happily pay up to $20,000 a day just to hear his advice. His “boot camps” attract convention-sized audiences full of famous entrepreneurs and many of the “superstars” of Joe Polish marketing and advertising.

In a business environment bristling with false prophets and bad advice, Joe’s unique mix of real-world experience and stunning financial success has earned him a spot among the most trusted experts alive. His one-of-a-kind recorded interview series, “The Genius Network” is a “Who’s Who” of super-savvy marketing and advertising brilliance.

No one refuses an interview with Joe. He has the gift of gab and the insight of a business veteran who’s earned his success. The “best in the biz” seek him out. He knows the good, the bad, and the ugly of what’s working – and what’s not working – on the Web, in infomercials, in direct response ads and direct mail, in niche marketing, in personal coaching and in every critical area of the entrepreneurial landscape.

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Joe: Hello, this is Joe Polish, president of Piranha Marketing and founder of the Genius Network Interview Series. You’re about to hear one of my Genius Network interviews. I just want to thank you for taking the time to listen to this and I hope you find it very useful. If you want to find out more information about some of the interviews and resources that can help you in your business, you can go to www.JoePolish.com and we have a Joe Polish Recommends section, with all kinds of resources and vendors and services and products that we recommend that could help you in your business. Also, for more useful interviews and a whole list of other people that I’ve interviewed, you can go to www.GeniusNetwork.com. Thanks, and enjoy the interview.

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Joe: Hi, this is Joe Polish, and I’m here with my good friend, Mr. James Malinchak. I’m going to interview this dude. First off, thanks for being here.

James: I appreciate it. Thanks for having me.

Joe: Since we know each other, we can goof around here.

James: I’m really worried.

Joe: First off, we’re both wearing black shirts and jeans right now, which I think is kind of funny.

James: Joe just told me it’s been a childhood fantasy to be me.

Joe: I’ve never said that.

James: Black shoes, too. What’s up? I’m in jeans, man!

I started at Joe: We’re going to go shopping after this. James, you’ve been doing info marketing, and speaking for a long a young time. You’re now a star on TV, Secret Millionaire. age, Let me give the viewers a little bit of background. I’ve got a lot of speaking bio stuff on James, but his name is James Malinchak. What I want to mention is you’ve given over 2,200 presentations, which is a lot of to help speaking. What’s that all about? kids. James: I started at a young age, speaking to help kids, college students, and teenagers. That was my passion. I loved it. I would speak 2 or 3 times a day, 150, 180 gigs a year. I was just busting. I just loved it.

Joe: You still do.

James: I still do.

Joe: I speak, but nowhere near that level. You’ve written 16 books, including one of the ones a while back called, Chicken Soup for the College Soul. So, you really integrated the college market. You’ve been Marketer of the Year for Dan Kennedy and Bill Glazer. You charge between – for your speaking gigs - $20,000 to $100,000. Have you ever gotten paid more than $100,000 at one?

James: No, not yet, but I will. I have a goal to get a $1-million gig.

Joe: Really? The reason I bring that up is I’m going to ask you some questions about speaking and about making a living sharing your expertise. Also, you’re named one of the top 40 business people under the age of 40 in Las Vegas, you own 6 different businesses, you’ve been doing a lot of philanthropic work. You gave away over $100,000 of your own money on ABC’s Secret Millionaire.

Also, in the last 6 months, you’ve donated and raised over $350,000 for children’s charities. Part of what your mission is right now It’s always is doing that. Talk a little bit about that, and then I’ll have you share some more things about you, and then we’ll get into asking some strategic things been tough for our viewers to hopefully take away some good stuff, other than jokes to explain that we’ll tell. what I do. James: I have a special place in my heart for kids. There are some bright kids out People there who just don’t have some of the financial opportunities that we have outside of – very smart kids, loving kids, great kids with big ideas, and it breaks my our world heart to see they don’t get a chance to live a dream because they don’t have money to go to school, or they don’t have the social skills, or the business don’t get skills, or the relationship-building skills that we all know as entrepreneurs. it. It’s been a real passion. I have a big goal, where I want to impact a million kids. Just maybe even become the voice that helps a lot of kids learn entrepreneurial skills.

Joe: Who are you, really? Who’s James Malinchak? What do you really do? If you had to talk about what your business does, the value it creates, what it represents, who your audience is, what is it?

James: It’s kind of strange. It’s like when I go on a blind date, and a girl asks, “What do you do?” I used to try to explain it. First I would say, “Well, I speak.” If she doesn’t know our world, she’d be like, “What do you mean, you speak?” I’m like, “I talk to groups.” She’s like, “Yeah, but how do you make a living?” I’m like, “Oh, man, I see where this is going.” Certain speakers make more in an hour than some people may make in a year. It’s always been tough to explain what I do. We get it, like our world, but people outside of our world don’t get it. So, if I had to just bullet point it, I actually am a fee-paid motivational speaker. I’m very proud of it, by the way. People say,

“Motivation wears off,” but I love it. Motivation saved my life when I was going through a tough time with my sister dying of a brain tumor. So, I’m You can be an advocate of it. I started on the college circuit, helping kids. the best What happened was a unique thing started to occur. People speaker in started to say, “I’ve never heard of you before. You didn’t fall out of an the world, airplane and live. You didn’t win a Super Bowl. You don’t have a movie about your life. You don’t have a New York Times best-selling book. But with the you seem to be out there speaking, and making more money in this most motivational speaking thing than the big-name people. How the heck do impactful you do this?” I’ve always run it as a business, so I started teaching others how to message, do that. That’s when I created my Big Money Speaker Boot Camps. but if I can out- Joe: I wanted to talk about that, because I’ve been to one of your conferences, I’ve spoken at one of your events. There is a huge difference between market being well-known and being well-paid. I think that’s why people go to you, I’ll your events. They actually want to learn how to make money as a beat you speaker. You’ve been calling it “Big Money Speaker.” The fascinating thing is you’re not even that good of a speaker. Just kidding. every day. James: I always say I’m not. Here’s my point. You’re 100% right. I say that all the time. I don’t walk the right way, my hands are in my pocket, but I tell people this. I say, “Look, you can be the best speaker in the world. You can have the most impactful message. But if I can out-market you, I’ll beat you every day.” I just became a really good marketer of the speaking business, and creating multiple income streams in our world, the motivational speaking. That’s why my boot camps are different than anything out there.

Joe: That is a really important distinguish. I was friends with Gary Halbert, who passed away. He was a crazy maniac, but a brilliant copywriter. We always used to talk that we had a lot of similarities, and the fact that when

God was doling out brains, 98% of our brains went on how to create a marketing campaign, and the other 2% on how to run the rest of our lives, On the flip that sort of thing. side of the James: That’s cool. coin is the business Joe: It’s so funny. I heard you say, on another interview, one of Gary’s sayings that, “You’ll always accomplish more through movement than you would side... through meditation.” You’ve just got to get out there and do stuff. The one thing that I think is most important in terms of a skill set to learn is marketing. I consider speaking a delivery system: 3 things you need to sell something, Gary would talk about. You need a product or service – what it is you have; you need a sales pitch or a marketing message; and the third, you need a delivery system. You said speaking is a business. You don’t just go out and speak. You actually utilize speaking as part of a much bigger-picture in business, but you go out and you market it. So, I wanted to ask you about the subject of marketing. I love marketing. I have a podcast, one of the top podcasts on iTunes, is I Love Marketing and ILoveMarketing.com. That’s a plug, by the way. You should go there. Basically, you’re totally into marketing. At your conferences, you probably spend 80% of your time talking about the marketing of speaking versus the speaking.

James: Actually, it’s probably about 99% of the time. I try to get it out of the way right at the beginning, those 2 sides of this coin. There’s your gifts, your message and how you want to impact people, but then on the flipside of the coin is the business side. Everybody has it reversed. They spend 99% of their time on the message and trying to perfect the message. So, what I do at the beginning of my trainings is I package it up in a box, metaphorically, and I put it over on the side. Not that it’s not

important, we’ll just pick it later. The 4 days together, we’re going to spend on marketing. I know I have a sign behind my desk. If you come to my house for consulting, like my coaching members do, I have a sign that says ABM. It how to does not stand for awesome bowel movement. create multiple Joe: That’s immediately where my mind was going. I’m glad you clarified that for me. income streams James: It stands for Always Be Marketing. Everything you do has got to be before I marketing. ever show Joe: I want to see you do a Glen Gary, Glen Ross impersonation of the “coffee up to is for closers.” You’d be like, “Marketing is for closers.” speak. James: I figured it out a long time ago. When I was broke, listening to all of this stuff that’s been perpetuated in the speaking business for years, “Dream big and you’ll be a wealthy speaker.” No, you won’t. You’ll just be dreaming big.

Joe: Totally. You can wish your way to bankruptcy.

James: Joe, I’ve tried it. I’ll try anything once. I’ve tried sitting on my couch, in a lotus position, going, “Ohm, ohm, ohm, ohm, I hope the window opens up and I hope money flows in for my business.” It never happened. But when I got off my assets and I learned how to ethically influence and how to position myself uniquely, and how to find the people who have the money in the speaking business and give it to me instead of my competitors, that’s when I got wealthy. I know how to create multiple income streams, how to get my books, my CD’s, and all of my continuing education sold to the group before I ever show up to speak, by teaching the meeting planner, the event coordinator which budgets they have, that they don’t even know they have

sometimes. That’s when I became a wealthy speaker, when I learned how to “close from the stage” with my product, give great value. First of all, Give great have a product. value Joe: That’s an important point. Speaking is one thing, but being able to throughout actually put people into tools, put people into systems in the processes, and the presen- give them some continuing education, to me, when you’re giving people capabilities, you’re talking about capabilities, you’re defining a game. But tation, and then, how do people continue to play the game after you get them all have them excited and motivated, if you do, if you’re able to do that? come to James: Right. It’s not about selling somebody into something. It’s about the delivering, first of all, 3 things. I call it AME: Add value, Make a inevitable difference, and Enrich lives. conclusion You should do that in every presentation. Give great value throughout the entire presentation, great content, and have them come to that they the inevitable conclusion in their mind that they want more of you. It’s not want more about twisting people’s arms or tricking people and manipulating them. of you. That got me more fed up, in the speaking and the info marketing world, than anything else; certain individuals teaching that stuff. I understand influence, but you can do it ethically. It’s not about doing something to people, it’s about doing something for people.

Joe: There’s an interesting thing I want to have your perspective on. It’s an interesting world, traveling and being an information marketer, to use that term, whatever you want to call it, the publishing world, speaking world, marketing world, how-to world, whatever, where I have a love/hate relationship with it. So much of it was incredibly valuable to me. It’s the same thing, in similar ways. When I have the hardest times of my life, books, seminars, speakers, inspiring messages. People would ask me all the time – and they still do to this day – “Why do you read all of these books? Why do you go to seminars?” I was like, “It just keeps me in a good state of mind.”

It’s kind of like, why do you keep going to the gym? It’s a different way to continually stay in a good state mentally. At the same time, when you All of this go as deep into this world as me and you have, you see a bunch of interesting characters. It’s like we’re all in the Star Wars bar. It’s like a stuff exists bunch of weird sort of individuals. because someone James: The Star Wars bar. was Joe: Remember the Star Wars scene? motivated to sell it James: No. I’m amazed at how you can pull that from memory. and get Joe: There’s some things I actually can. rewarded But, I have a love/hate relationship with it, because when you’re financially. thrown into this world like a marketer, people think of every person that ever ripped them off in marketing. But they don’t think of every wonderful, awesome thing that exists in the world, like the camera that’s videotaping us, the clothes we’re wearing, the books that are published, the light bulbs, just from where we’re sitting, versus the cars that people drive, the homes. All of this stuff exists because someone was motivated to sell it and get rewarded financially or in other ways for their stuff. People that are salespeople, in the best sense of the word, create value in the world. Using the Dan Sullivan definition, selling is getting people intellectually engaged in a future result that is good for them – key- word “good for them” – and getting them to emotionally commit to take action to achieve that result. That’s one of my favorite definitions. I’ve got that, obviously, memorized. When you’re out there really delivering value to people and helping them, the very best skill, the most honorable thing you can do as a human being, is to sell. People that sell are saviors, in a lot of way. Now, like anything else, you can use this in a very destructive way. You can talk people and influence them into things that aren’t good for them. There’s many things that we can point to that don’t help people, that

are high-pressure. But the reality is if you want to do good in the world, you’ve got You know to sell it. Nothing happens until a sale is made. Like literally, nothing. The more I think about that, it’s not just something I tell myself. That is as well as I true. do, it takes Think about every good thing that you’ve ever come across, any incredible piece of advice. I’m not talking for a profit. Any person in your life that ever led you into a good direction, they had to influence you, persuade amounts of you, create the environment to you to convince yourself that was a good persuasion move to make. You put rooms of people together, and you teach them how to get to use speaking as a vehicle to put people into where they want to go. Plus, of course, the character of the person – and I’ll stop babbling people to in a minute, I just really want to get this message out because I want to do even really get your perspective on it, because there’s a lot of people that think the things this world is bullshit. There are parts of it that actually are, and that’s the difficulty. Getting people not to throw the baby out with the bathwater, they say that sort of thing. they want So, what’s your perspective on the times where you put people in to do. states of being very disturbed if they don’t take action or follow the path, or you really want to sell something to someone, and it’s simply not, “This is really good for you, just do it”? You know, as well as I do, it takes incredible amounts of persuasion to get people to do even the things they want to do or say they want to do. Part of it is really understanding the DNA of what’s going on here. That’s why I kind of wanted to ramble about that, to get your philosophy on that.

James: I agree 100% with everything you said. I think a couple of things you have to realize first, before you get somebody to take action or take a step with you. I say this in all of my trainings, and I say this with all of my coaching clients at my house. They all have this apprehension about, “Ugh, I don’t want to seem like I’m selling, right?” Because we attach that negativity. The guy in the plaid jacket. We think of selling or marketing,

the guy in the plaid jacket with the plaid pants, with the glasses on and the toothpick, the shirt opened up with the gold chain and the chest hairs The guy grabbing at you, coming at you like “Hey, baby, I’ve got a deal for you.” looks like Joe: I’ve got a Halloween costume for you now. he just jogged James: Yeah, remember how you used to dress. home Joe: Yeah, totally. from his vasectomy. James: The guy looks like he just jogged home from his vasectomy. He got a vasectomy and he ran home, because he’s a macho dude, right? We attach ourselves to that. We attach ourselves, “Oh, that’s how people are going to see us if we offer something.” Right? Therefore, it’s a lot easier to not do it. So, we have this mental hang-up. I always say this to my students in my boot camps, or my coaching clients. I ask them. I say, “Let me ask you an honest question. Do you believe in what you’re offering? Do you believe your stuff enriches people’s lives, makes them better, adds value?” Everybody always puts their hand up. “Yes.” “Okay, do you believe that it could be a turning point in their life if they just had this, that maybe they’d stop smoking, maybe they’d grow their business, maybe they’d be a better parent, whatever it is?” “Absolutely.” So I say, “You’re doing them a disservice by not allowing them to take it home, and influencing them to take it home. If you happen to make a little money doing it, you should, because you’re running a business.”

Joe: Or, if you happen to make a lot of money doing it. You just said something that is really key there, which people can take out of context, and I absolutely agree with it. If you really have something that can help other people, and if you want to get paid for it and make a lot of profits, more power to you. I’m

a full-blown capitalist. I think of capitalism as the greatest system on the planet, not the thwarted perceptions of capitalism that a lot of idiots out “I’m there, on TV and movies actually claim capitalism is. But capitalism, in its purest form, is collaboration between doing a individuals creating value and exchanging money and services for it. disservice Now, you said that if you’re going to help someone, you’re doing if I don’t a disservice to them by not getting it in their hands. get this in James: If you really believe in your stuff. people’s hands.” Joe: You said making a little bit of money off of it. I want to highlight that. The reality is there are a lot of people that have crap in a box and don’t really have a lot of stuff, and they will try to convince themselves by, “I’m doing a disservice if I don’t get this in people’s hands.” So, just like you can have a frothy motivational saying that, “Yes, I’m honest. I’m great. I’m deserving.” But say you’re a scoundrel, and you really don’t go out and help anyone. You can tell yourself that stuff all day long, and maybe you can fake sincerity and convince yourself. In the best of terms, if you really do have something valuable, think about what James said. If you’re not getting it out to the world, if you’re not getting rewarded by it, you’re not doing yourself a favor, you’re not helping anyone else, and that is critical for people to understand and believe that. The vehicle to make that a reality, from what I know – and correct me if I’m wrong – the only vehicle I know with the capability that’s going to allow you to do that is marketing.

James: 100%. Even speaking. That’s what I try to tell people.

Joe: I just realized my shirt’s not buttoned here. This little button here. I figure right in the middle of this interview, it’s okay. We have enough rapport with each other, I can just kind of lean over.

James: Really good. Whatever floats your boat, brother. Joe did put makeup on

me before this.

The Joe: We’re probably still too shiny. We were watching little segments of the Secret Millionaire – which, by the way, you should go and type in “Secret prosperity Millionaire James Malinchak,” if you’ve not seen the show, and watch way of what he did. We’re going to get to that in a minute. thinking What I do want to do, from a strategy though, and there’s a lot to this. Me and you have been studying marketing for over a decade. I know is, “This I’ve personally spent over a million bucks in my marketing. is an investment James: You mean you invested. It’s a mindset. in my Joe: Of course, I invested. future success.” James: Seriously. That’s something I want to touch on, because people say, “Well, I don’t want to join the Genius Network or Joe’s 25K club. I can’t spend that amount of money. I don’t want to go to James’ boot camp and spend that money.” That’s a poverty way of thinking. The prosperity way of thinking is, “This is an investment in my future success. If I get one idea from a $10,000 investment or a $10 book investment, that one idea could be a million dollars.” That’s another thing I try to break my students free of is, “Oh, I don’t want to spend $10.” Are you kidding me? You’re not spending anything. I haven’t spent money on myself or my business in the last 10 years. I’ve invested in my future success.

Joe: You’ve got a good point. I should probably highlight that more. Absolutely. The best return I’ve ever made was spending money on learning skills and capabilities and actually doing something with it. If you really don’t have money, I mean truly, if you have no access to credit cards, if you don’t have any access to money – what’s going to change it? The money fairy isn’t going to show up and start crapping money. You’ve got to start doing something.

James: Can we please quote that? “The money fairy is not going to show up and “The start crapping money.” money Joe: We can quote that. We actually should turn that into business speak, just fairy is not like ELF marketing, easy, lucrative and fun, people should start talking going to about money fairies crapping money. show up James: That might be a good title for a book. “Watch Out for the..." and start crapping Joe: Is that URL taken? The thing is, if someone truly watching this does not have any money, there are amazing books that have been written that you money.” can buy for $10. You can go on Amazon, you can go on a lot of different - Joe Polish places.

James: Joe, you can get it for free by going to the library.

Joe: Exactly. You know the stats. It’s probably less than this now, since I last researched this. Less than 3% of the American population even own a library card -- and it’s free. But you’ll see these same people go out to bars, go out to movies, have cable television, they will spend all day on the internet, reading gossip (2/3 of American conversations, statistically, are gossip). That’s what people talk about. In order to have an edge in the world and be a little bit better, you don’t need to be a genius. I didn’t even complete college. I barely made it through high school. I didn’t even really care. I failed "Owning and Operating a Business" at a community college. I got a C- in marketing at a community college.

James: I even heard you were fired from your paper route, and you went bankrupt with your lemonade stand.

Joe: I never went bankrupt, but I never could really stick to a job because I am not wired to do that. But, that’s a whole other story. Far from a paper In a route. When I was a kid, I did have a paper route. I sold subscriptions generic door-to-door and won a trip to Disneyland. I was really good, for some business reason, making people feel sorry for me when I was talking about how I sense, needed to win this trip to Disneyland. I guess, as a little kid, maybe I used a little bit of sympathy, “I really need it” sort of ploy. is your However, that set the stage for a future of selling. If anyone marketing really wants to be good at marketing, marketing replaces selling. I’d love bringing to hear your definition of marketing. But to me, the best training someone could ever have is having to money and go out into the world and sell something. I don’t know anyone that customers becomes a great marketer that actually has not learned how to sell. back? Marketing is selling in advance. It’s using copy, it’s using video, it's using websites, it’s using social networking, it’s using all of the vehicles to develop rapport and communicate with people. If you’re selling something, a closed sale would be called “certainty,” and an unclosed sale would be “uncertainty,” and it’s taking people from uncertainty to certainty. Of course, your world uses speaking and various other things. Let me ask you, first, what is your definition of marketing?

James: In a generic business sense, for me, what I’m putting out, is it bringing money and customers back? People think billboard advertising is marketing. People think throwing something in the Yellow Pages and putting a business cards in the Yellow Pages is marketing. That is not marketing. What do you have to show for it? For my businesses, what we do, is we have a very simple question. Whatever we’re putting out, is it bringing people onto our list, or is it bringing people to our events, or is it bringing income in, in some way, or at least a new prospect that can turn into income? If not, we need to look at what we’re doing, because we’re just

wasting dollars. We’re just throwing advertising out there. In a very generic sense, that’s what it is for us. If anything Joe: So, how does someone learn this? I don’t know of any person that could else, this is teach someone, like in an hour, how to be a fantastic marketer. If anything simply just else, this is simply just an introduction, if you’re not already a marketer, to an intro- this thing called marketing and different avenues to do it, and how someone like you has become a millionaire and has now taught many duction. other people how to do the same thing, as a result of learning this skill set. How does someone start? What would you recommend to someone watching, if they really wanted to be a speaker, be a whatever, build a dog grooming business, build their cafÈ up? There’s a lot of different things that people do. But this marketing skill, how do people learn it?

James: First of all, if it has anything to do with speaking, you’ve got to get to one of my boot camps. There’s a little self-promotion there, but I say it because I mean it.

Joe: I interviewed Brian Tracey recently, and he said that if you haven’t asked for money today, you haven’t worked. I like that saying, because, literally, every day you have to ask for money in some way.

James: I love Brian. Brian’s been to my house twice, doing mastermind sessions.

Joe: If you were to get in a fight with him, do you think you could take him, physically?

James: I would put him in a pinky-lock, and I think I could submit him in a pinky lock.

Joe: You used to play college basketball, right?

James: Yeah, I did.

There’s no Joe: Does that mean you can fight, though? You took me to my first UFC fight. You’re kind of a violent man. way in the world I am James: I did. Behind the scenes, I’ve always had this thing for martial arts. I used actually to take martial arts for a while. going to Joe: Really? grow my business James: Yeah, for about 8 or 9 years. and make Joe: Wow. Quit going on tangents and answer the question. money unless I James: You just want to put makeup on me. What was the question? become a Joe: What was the question? One of the people in the back here. master marketer. Woman: How does someone learn it?

Joe: See, we’re not even going to edit this. I am literally going to leave that in there, because I think it’s kind of funny? Don’t you? If there’s a place to make a comment anywhere when you watch this video – because it could show up anywhere – then I want you to comment. What did you think about that little asking behind-the-scenes backstage people what the question was, because we’re both ADD?

James: This is the turning point for me, because I speak from my turning point and when others I’ve helped have had that turning point. It’s when I realize that I had to just pretty much kick myself in the butt, and say, “There is no way in the world I am actually going to grow my business and make money unless I become a master marketer.” I have a cousin that’s worth a few hundred million dollars. One of

the most successful traders of commodities and mercantile and silver. He taught me this a long time ago. He’s the When I was struggling as a speaker, he said, “Stop studying speakers.” I’m like, “What are you talking about?” He said, “Most of type of them are broke.” person that when they Joe: That is great advice. touch James: He said, “Go study the world’s top marketers.” That was 12-some years something, ago, 15 years ago, whatever. it just He’s the type of person that, you know when they touch something and it just turns to gold all the time? He’s one of those people, and one of turns to the most ethical, honest human beings I’ve ever met in my life. gold all of Everything he’s always told me, and I’ve done, it’s worked out. So, I’d the time. never, ever question him. So, when he told me this back when I was broke, and even working in a video store to make some extra money to pay my rent because I was buying into this whole speaking thing about “Dream big and you’ll be wealthy as a speaker, speak with passion and you’ll be wealthy,” I was doing all of that, and I was still eating noodles with diluted spaghetti sauce. I’m like, “Shoot, I’m doing everything they’re telling me to do, and it isn’t working. I’m telling my story, it isn’t working. I can’t even get onstage to do all of this stuff.” So he said that to me. I’m a very action-oriented person. You tell me something, I go out and get the book.

Joe: You absolutely do.

James: He told me this 15 years ago. I went out and started learning everything I could about marketing. First, I started at the bookstore. I think you’ve got to be careful. Without disrespecting any marketing stuff in a bookstore, a lot of it doesn’t relate to us, the entrepreneur.

Joe: Most marketing books in bookstores, I’d say 90% of them are crap.

I’m like, James: Yeah, it’s not the real nitty-gritty, this is what you do.

“I’m not Joe: It’s not direct response. It’s more like brand building and name trying to recognition. build a Look, if you’ve got a multimillion-dollar ad budget, like a soda company or something, then yeah, maybe. But a small business owner multi- that’s trying to work from home or whatever, brand building is not the type billion- of marketing. They actually need marketing where you put it out there and dollar actually bring some response. It’s not about getting your name out there, it’s about getting your name out there and getting a response back. company. This isn’t James: Exactly. So, I started going to the bookstore and seeing all of this stuff, me.” and I’m like, “I’m not trying to build a multibillion-dollar company. This isn’t me.” It seemed really false to me, in a way, a lot of this stuff. I went ahead and I took a leap, and I invested in a $1,000 direct response course. $997. Joe, I’ll tell you what, anything I had gotten before that was $10, maybe $80.

Joe: My first major investment was a $2,000 set of VHS tapes in 1992, from Gary Halbert, called the Atom Bomb Seminar. Even on ILoveMarketing.com, which is on iTunes as a podcast.

James: That was another promotion video.

Joe: Yeah. It is my interview, so you want to plug anything else of mine?

James: I was just going to say BigMoneySpeaker.com is where you want to go for all of your speaker needs.

Joe: Gotcha. Yeah. There you go. There you go. I love how you took part of your speech.

James: Does Joe have a website on here?

Joe: It’s subliminal. Actually, it only shows up on the camera, by the way. I spoke at one of your events, and then I saw you blatantly exploit my speaking by putting your tagline down at the bottom.

James: Why not? Absolutely!

Joe: Unbelievable.

James: Absolutely.

Joe: I think what we’re going to do is edit on your forehead, like “ILoveMarketing.com” here.

James: I can’t believe there is an ILoveMarketing.com stamp on this plant.

Joe: It looks like a heart. It looks like a heart. Don’t say anything weird. Here’s what I was going to say.

James: A $2,000 course, you were saying.

Joe: A $2,000 course from Gary Halbert, and I actually put, on I Love Marketing, the very first newsletter I ever read in 1992, that actually got me started down the path of marketing. When I first made that investment, it was on credit cards. I was $30,000 in debt as a dead-broke carpet cleaner, doing good work, but doing good work wasn’t cutting it.

James: There’s probably a lot of people watching this, and I deal with the same thing. Here you are, $30,000 in debt, never invested in like a $2,000 product from someone who really knows what they’re doing. By the way, those who know what they’re doing, they will be

charging more for their stuff. They’re not charging $8.97. So, what triggered you to go ahead, when you’re in this tough situation, to say, “You You’ve know what? I’m going to go invest on this Halbert guy even though I don’t know him, and I’ll give him the $2,000”? been so good to Joe: For one, he made a very compelling offer. It was a very powerful, me, I’ve persuasive pitch in a sales letter. got to help James: Which we’re talking about here is what you’ve got to do in order to get out with a people to jump over the line. promotion. Joe: Secondly, he had set the stage when I read, in that very first issue – which, like I said, I actually put a link for people to read that. It doesn’t sell anything, either, by the way. When I’m saying, “Go to I love Marketing,” it’s not selling anything.

James: That was selling. Trying to help a brother out. You’ve been so good to me, I’ve got to help him out with a promotion.

Joe: I appreciate it. In that first newsletter, he actually said that a smart person is not someone who measures the value of information by the pound, but by the value of it. He said, “A smart person is more willing to pay $1,000 for 10 pages of real value, real content, than $10 for 300 pages of fluff.” Like you said, the most expensive information in the world is bad information. It truly is. There’s a lot of bad information that’s free. You can go all over the Internet and get free data all day long. That’s not to say you can’t get incredible good advice for free. Heck, this interview is an example, whatever, assuming people actually think it’s good.

James: I thought we were going to charge $100,000 for this interview.

Joe: If anyone wants to cut a check, it’s really up to you. Pay us whatever you think it’s worth, and send the money to me. Send the money to me. But

that’s what did it.

I James: SendTheMoneyToMe.com. remember Joe: But that’s what did it. Does that answer the question? opening this up, James: Yeah. I’m glad you said all of that, because that first $997 course that I invested in, it showed up in an envelope. It was 6 audio cassettes thrown going, in an envelope. I remember opening this up, going, “You’ve got to be “You’ve kidding me.” got to be Now, I’m not suggesting anybody package it that way today. My mindset was I was prejudging it on 6 audio cassettes. I said, “You know kidding what? I’m going to listen to this, and I’m sending it back.” I listened to me.” the first hour, and said, “Oh my God. This is life-changing!” I didn’t buy 6 audio cassettes, I invested in the information that’s on here.” I took more notes in those 6 audio cassettes than I’ve ever taken in my entire life. That’s when it hit me. It’s not about the cassettes or the VHS tapes, it’s about what you learn on there and the results they get for you. So, to answer that question about somebody starting out, you’ve got to be really careful about, “Well, I’ll just go to the bookstore and read this book on brand building, and I’m doing it.” That’s not, probably, us. We’re the solopreneur, the entrepreneur, the small business woman or guy, and you’ve got to learn from people like us. Here’s my line: don’t learn from somebody who’s been there, done that. That’s a lie that’s perpetuated. To me, that is a road that leads into a ditch. Don’t learn from people who’ve been there, done that. Learn from people who have been there, done that, and are still doing it. I still do the speaking. You still do this marketing. I’m in your group, because I learn so much from you and all of the other amazing people that sit around these tables. What happened 5, 10, 20 years ago is totally different. You’ve got to learn from somebody who’s got their

finger on the pulse.

But you Joe: You stay on the cutting edge. A lot of people lose their audience, so they keep talking about what they did 20 years ago, and the world has changed. and I can That’s also not to say there’s not a lot of principles, because many sit there of the principles me and you used were created by Claude Hopkins, back and go, in the early 1900’s. There’s tremendous wisdom in everything we’ve been talking “Oh, look about, in spite of what you think of me and James. I don’t know anyone at those that has done really well in the world, that is not a great marketer -- and marketing don’t confuse marketing with selling. triggers James: By the way, even those that you don’t think are marketing are actually that she marketing without you knowing they’re marketing. You see people that just get a big following, and “Oh, he’s just such a nice guy,” or, “She’s such a sweet, empowering woman.” But you and I can sit there and go, “Oh, look dropped!” at those marketing triggers that she just dropped. Here’s scarcity.”

Joe: Every spiritual leader on the planet was a great marketer. The bible letter is one of the most effective sales letters that’s ever been written, however someone wants to view that. It is a message that is written, that creates a following. AA, one of the most phenomenal movements of the last 100 years, that has helped millions of people literally recover from horrible addictions – and different people have different perspectives on it – they built their entire movement not through the motions, but through attraction. I admire AA probably more than anything, in terms of the field of addiction, because it absolutely works for people that work it. Most people would ever think of AA as marketing, so they’re not marketers. They’re not out there writing sales letters. They actually shy away from PR’s and organization right from the very beginning, when it was first originally founded by Bill W. and Doctor Bob.

The truth is, though, because it works and they were catalysts for that, it’s still marketing. It gets out there somehow. Things just don’t Even Steve happen accidentally. Jobs said, James: That’s an important point about marketing. I don’t know if this is one of “We those strategies, but there are a lot of people who use the strategy of, “We always don’t need to market” as a strategy. Therefore, people just come to us as the authority. But that’s a strategy. “I don’t need to market. Everybody focus just comes to me. We don’t put it out, I get referred.” That’s actually a on the position strategy, that a lot of people don’t realize that a lot of people use. customer Joe: I have terrible memory on certain things. Like, if you ask me what a experience movie was about that I saw 2 days ago, it’d be really hard to describe it. first and Years ago, I was in a restaurant and there were little sugar packets, and technology they had little sayings on them. There was one caption that was an advertisement, and it said, “He who has something to sell and whispers in second.” a well is not as apt to make a shiny dollar as the guy who climbs a tree and hollers.” I remembered that. I love that, because if you’ve got something to sell and you whisper in a well, you’re not going to make the money. You’ve got to get out there and say something. So, one of the ways of doing it, is that is a strategy, “We really don’t market.” If you provide awesome stuff and people talk about it, I’m not going to say the quote, but Walt Disney had a philosophy of Disneyland and Disney World, like have the experience be so incredible, that once people visit it they can’t help but go out and tell other people about it. So, his method of marketing was just create an incredible experience. That was viral long before the Internet ever existed. Walt Disney thought of that 50, 60 years ago, when he first made that statement. Even Steve Jobs, in 1997 said, “We always focus on the customer experience first and technology second.” That’s one of the reasons why everybody that gets a new iPad or whatever talks about it to other Apple

fans. Marketing comes in many different ways, shapes, and forms. But The the bottom line is you’ve got to have something, and you’ve got to have a message, and there’s got to be a delivering system. Your delivery system bottom is speaking. line is I’m going to switch gears, because another delivery system that you’ve got you’ve now positioned yourself with, which has happened in a lot of different ways, never thinking that it would take off like it has, is the to have a Secret Millionaire. In the time we have left, which is only a few more message, minutes here, let’s talk about the Secret Millionaire and what that has done and there’s for you, how it’s shifted your perspective, and the lessons that people can learn from. I’m sure many of the people watching this have watched the got to be a Secret Millionaire. What are your thoughts? delivering system. James: Well, ironically, I was approached by ABC originally, I did not go after them. I wasn’t one of 250,000 people in a stadium audition. A friend – who, I don’t know, to this day, who it actually is – referred them to me. Actually, referred me to them. They sent an email in, and we didn’t respond for 8 days, because I actually didn’t want anything to do with the reality TV type of thing. I was approached twice in the past, by 2 different shows. It was not what I wanted to align with. Then I thought, out of respect for this person, I should at least call them back and decline politely. So, I called them. I was in Dallas, speaking at an event on Friday. I’m talking to the person, and he said, “Man, you sound great. Will you just talk to the producers?” I said, “But I just told you, I don’t want to do it. I’m not interested.” I don’t want to have some bait-and-switch or all of a sudden have some crazy thing going on. I said, “I’m here in a hotel room, I don’t speak until tomorrow. If they want to call me, they can call me.” Well, they called, and we talked for 40 minutes. They said, “Man, you sound great.” I said, “But I just told you, like 3 times, I don’t want to do this,” and I really didn’t. Because in my mind, they’re going to

bait-and-switch. That’s all I keep seeing is, “We’re going to hurt people instead of help people.” So we sit Joe: They’re going to make it sound like it’s going to be something, and then down and it’s going to turn into something that you really don’t want yourself on TV we talk, portrayed as. and I’ve James: At this point, I did not know it was ABC. Then this one producer, who got this big I’ve become really good friends with, she said, “We are actually ABC wall up, television. Can we fly and meet with you on Monday at your house?” I because I was like, “Wow, they don’t fly anywhere. You’re really ABC?” They don’t fly anywhere to just meet people. You go audition for them. still think, So they fly, and they meet with me. Ironically – I believe things “They’re happen for a reason – Monday was the only day in the following 3 weeks just going I had available. Monday, they fly and meet with me. They walk in my house, and to make the first thing I say is, “Look, you’re in my house now. If you’re going to people pull some bait-and-switch and all that, we can end this right now. Don’t look bad.” be lying in my house.” “Can we just talk to you?” So, we sit down and we talk, and I’ve got this big wall up, because I still think, “They’re just going to make people look bad.” About an hour and a half into it, this producer stands up, walks over to me, grabs my arm, looks me in the eye, and says, “I give you my word. I promise you, we’re going to help people. We’re not going to hurt people.” I just believed her. I really believed her, that she was really a good person and sincere. That turned into a 7-hour meeting. We were playing basketball in my house, on my court, and we just became the best of friends. The next thing you know, I’m on a plane going to do this. So, how has this changed my life since the show? It’s been amazing.

Joe: They gave you like $43, $44? How much was it?

When I James: $44.66 for a week. went to Joe: To live on. sleep at night, I James: Joe, I didn’t know until I showed up in the area. I had no idea. I’d never even thought about it. I’m taking no money, no credit cards. They won’t had two even let me take a watch. No watch, no cell phone. guys out front, in Joe: No way to communicate with anyone. cars, who James: Nobody knew. The producers checked in with my sister every couple of were days, just to tell her I was okay. When they told me where I was going, to packing. Gary, Indiana, I thought I was going to milk cows on a farm. I had no idea. I’m like, “Indiana? It’s farmland there.” It was one of the toughest ghettos in the US. One of the toughest ghettos in the US. When I went to sleep at night, I had 2 guys out front, in cars, who were packing, and there was one in the alley, packing. They stayed up all night, while I was sleeping at night. That’s how tough it was. I had no idea. I had no idea where I was at. I didn’t realize it was that type of place: drive-by shootings, the kids ride home on school buses, and bullets fly through the bus. It was pretty scary. I saw gangs, at one point, when I was walking. I ran from them, because I thought they were coming after me. It was a tough thing. Your question, how has my life changed? It’s been crazy. I never realized the power of network television for getting your message out, your brand. I have, I think, since the trailer started running, I’ve gotten 10 or 12 speaking engagements out of it. I got 4 or 5 speaking gigs just from the trailers alone – just from the trailers alone, before my episode came out. I’ve had events, speaking events created around me, like wealth-building events created around me. “Come see James Malinchak from the Secret

Millionaire,” promoting just that. I’ve had joint venture opportunities like crazy. I’ve had ex-girlfriends come out of the woodwork.. I have Joe: Is that a good thing or a bad thing? friends from 25 James: It’s to be determined. years ago I Joe: The time we’re doing this doing this interview is relatively soon, while the didn’t even show is out there. So, I’m sure like even 3 to 6 months from now, to see know. the strategic byproducts of this are going to be that much more.

James: I’ve had people ask me for money. I have friends from 25 years ago I didn’t even know.

Joe: I was going to ask you for money, but I was going to wait until we turned the camera off.

James: I’m just saying, neither good nor bad. There’s been both. There’s been positive and negative.

Joe: What sort of paradigm shifts could you share with the viewers here, anything that it taught you about poverty, it taught you about business, it taught you about America, it taught you about humanity?

James: Boy, I’ll tell you, I thought, originally going on this show, I was going to be some guy going on this show, going to meet some amazing people, and at the end I’m going to write some checks so they can further their mission or cause. About a day into it, to me, it was life-changing. The greatest blessing that God’s ever given me in my life has been when my sister Vicky was dying of a brain tumor. I actually had a few weeks, maybe a month, to spend time with her, just sister and brother. That was the greatest blessing I’ve ever had. I’ve never, in my life, thought anything

would come close to that. Being on this show and meeting this people and just seeing what I think at genuine good-hearted angels they are – not people, they’re angels. Just serving and uplifting, and really doing it for no other reason than to put a some point smile on somebody else’s face is the second greatest blessing I have ever we all start had. It totally changed my life. to drink So, I’m on this show thinking I’m going to write some checks. I got more out of what I learned from these people than I think they got out our own of the money that I gave them, in the form of continuing their mission. Kool-Aid... I think we all, at some point, at least this was something for me, I think at some point we all start to drink our own Kool-Aid, and we all get a level business success or financial success, and we kind of think we’re a little bit of a somebody, or a lot of a somebody. It came at a really good time in my life, where I got kicked in the shins and got brought back down the Earth. It taught me a lot of that’s what it’s really about. It’s okay to, and you should be, making money and growing your business, but it doesn’t mean you’re somebody special. You’re just a human being. None of them had any real money, but they were rich beyond belief. Rich beyond belief. Let me tell you a story. This is a behind-the-scenes one that wasn’t shown. This is what changed my life. We’re about day 4 or 5, and I’m living on this money, and I have like $4 or something left in my pocket, and I’ve got a couple of days to go. By the way, I lived on peanut butter and jelly, and bottled water. I lost 6 or 7 pounds in that whole week, and it taught me something. I really believe this. I could win Survivor. I was always worried about, “How the heck do these people nurse their body?” After doing that, I could, easily. I have no problem. If I ever compete on Survivor – which I have no desire to do – I know I could win it because I could handle the nutrition problem.

Joe: This is also, to take a serious subject and throw a little humor into it, this is going to save me some money whenever I have to go out to lunch or

dinner with you.

The first James: Darn. I’m kidding about all of this. No. thing I had Joe: I’m sure that resourcefulness can be learned out of this. to be okay with was I James: The very first thing I had – and I’ll get into this cup of coffee thing I wanted to talk about – the first thing I had to be okay with, was I had to had to get get comfortable being uncomfortable. I haven’t been in this situation 25, comfort- 30 years where I was completely alone, completely isolated. I had no able being money, no credit cards, no watch, no computer, no cell phone, no family, no friends, no people around me at a speaking engagement, no books to uncomfort- read. I had none of that. No television. I was completely alone. The first able. day, I’m jumping out of the window, ready to pull my hair out, like, “Holy crap! What am I doing?” I think that was the shell-shock that happened. Then, I started to strategize. “Okay, get back to the mission. What’s the mission? Don’t focus on yourself, dude. Focus on the mission. You’re supposed to be here to serve and meet these amazing people.” So, then I had to start adjusting. Take it off of me, get it onto these folks. But the very first thing I had to come to within myself was I had to get comfortable being uncomfortable. We’re in our lifestyles every day, and it’s very easy and complacent. Once I did that, and stayed focused on them and why I was there, I was okay. It took it off of me. Isn’t that how we should be in business anyway? Focus on the customer, first. Focus on the client.

Joe: Yeah. If you’re ever in a situation where you’re really stressed out or anxiety ridden or you’re publicly speaking for the first time, and you’re worried, instead of focusing on your nervousness, focus on the dangers, the opportunities, and strength of your prospect, your clientele, your friends, whoever.

James: That’s why I tell speakers, or people who want to get into speaking, who

are nervous about going up onstage. I say, “Don’t think about the presentation. That’s not what it’s about. Think about the audience. You’re Stay here to enrich their lives and help them. Just get up there and help them and educate them and enrich their lives. Don’t focus on you, that’s focused selfish.” on the That’s what I was doing on the Secret Millionaire. I was focusing purpose on me. It was all about me. I went, “Wait a minute. This is about these people. It’s called Secret Millionaire, but it’s about them.” and the mission, Joe: I love what you said, like you were kind of shell-shocked, I guess, in a lot and let’s of ways, and then you started to strategize. Isn’t that pretty much kind of like there’s a strategy right there? Do something. Wherever you’re a right do now, where you’re going to be a year from now is the books you read, the something people you meet, the actions you take. Really. about it. James: That was the very first thing, and that got me through. Stay focused on the purpose and the mission, and let's do something about it. I can dwell on this stuff, or I can focus on let’s make something happen here. Let’s focus on these people. So, we’re in day 4, and I’ve got like $4 left in my pocket, roughly. I tell about my friend, Coach Tony. I say my friend, because he’s my dear friend to this day. We text all the time, he’s come to my house, I’ve been back to visit him. I say, “Coach, I’ve got to go get a cup of coffee.” We’re about to go raise funds in the community for his organization. I said, “Before we go, I’ve just got to get a cup of coffee. I haven’t had one for all this time. I’m so proud of myself, I’ve got extra money.” $4. He goes, “Okay, great.”

Joe: He’s only going to go to Starbucks.

James: Man, no. By the way, the other thing I learned is money management.

Joe: Oh, I bet.

James: You’re given $44.66, and you have a week, you learn to start budgeting He says, and you learn money management. I think every successful person should go away for a week or 10 “What are days, where they have no resources, and live like I lived on The Secret you talking Millionaire. It will really shift your spirit. about? We go into this coffee shop, this pharmacy, and we go to get a cup of coffee. It’s about that big, and the lady goes, “99¢ each.” In my mind, You’re my I’m budgeting, and I’m still thinking about myself. I said, “Oh, coach, I’m family, so sorry. With my budget, and what I have in my pocket, I don’t have you’re my enough to pay for both of our cups.” See, it came back on me, right? He says, “What are you talking about? You’re my family, you’re friend, my friend, you’re in my town. You don’t pay.” So he bought those cups you’re in of coffee. my town. Now, here’s the important thing. He didn’t know that I knew, because I was undercover, his tough situation with his house, with the debt You don’t he had, and that he had medical bills, too, and that he’d been out of work pay.” for a year and a half. I’m thinking, “How selfish am I? Here’s this guy who has literally no money, is in debt, still supporting and feeding and clothing kids through his basketball program, and he would not let me buy a 99¢ cup of coffee. Here I am, worrying about $4 in my pocket.” It taught me something. Right then and there I said, “Rich is more than money. This guy doesn’t have any money, but he’s rich beyond belief.” That changed my life right there. I knew, at that point, we were going to be lifelong friends. I knew, at that point, that I was going to give him a significant amount of money that would change his life. That’s the life lesson, a main one I got from Coach Tony.

Joe: Very cool. First off, it was fun to do this interview and banter back and forth. It’s not even really an interview, we’re just 2 guys up here talking and stuff.

James: 2 guys dressed the same.

Joe: Yeah, exactly. Dressed the same, wearing the same makeup. My watch is “Money better than yours. earned James: It is. This is $3 out of a bubblegum machine. ethically is a Joe: I would hope so, after The Secret Millionaire, you wouldn’t be wasting all of your money on expensive watches. byproduct What I’d like to say to the viewers is, for one, if you have some of value value – and everyone does – and if you don’t feel like you do, that should creation.” be one of your life missions is go and discover. Money earned ethically is a byproduct of value creation. - Dan Sullivan James: Say that again, that’s really great.

Joe: Money earned ethically is a byproduct of value creation. I actually heard that from Dan Sullivan, one of my best friends. He’s a founder of the company called Strategic Coach. A brilliant guy.

James: Oh, he’s phenomenal.

Joe: Yeah, yeah. An amazing dude. One of the things you said about focusing on other people; it’s not about what you want. Don’t ever fall in love with your product or service, fall in love with what the market wants. Wherever there’s anxiety, there’s opportunity. Great marketers know that and understand that, and they utilize all of the different processes, methodologies, wisdom, techniques, in order to link people that have problems to solutions. There’s a lot of bad news out there in the world. If you know how to solve problems, if you know how to make people laugh, make their lives easier, solve minor problems to large problems.

James: Let me say this. This is important. You’re not a bad person if you do that.

Joe: It’s the best thing you could do. Solve James: Yeah, because you’re helping. I have a person that I’ve helped, who is a problems grief coach. Went to bed, woke up, and her husband was dead next to her. for a Went through like 7 or 8 years of grieving. I found out, through her, that profit. the average person in America, when they lose someone or a job – because losing a job is a grief, or losing a pet – 7, 8 years of their life is gone. Well, she wanted to help these people, because she had a process that would enable them to go through it fast and get through it, but she was worried about charging, because you’re dealing with grief. I had to clear her of that first, that she wasn’t profiting from her husband’s death. I said, “Here’s what you have to understand. You are saving people 7 to 8 years of their lives, statistically, of what they’re going to lose. Would you have invested in something, back then, that would clear them, if you will, in 3 months, 6 months, or a year? Would you have done that for yourself?” “In a heartbeat! In a heartbeat, to save 7 years of my life!” So, you’re not a bad person for doing what you just said, taking your service and that anxiety and clearing that anxiety with your product or your service.

Joe: I completely agree. You know what? If you don’t have a motivation to make profit from it, you can’t do anything. It’s kind of like, “I want to go do good in the world and I want to drive all over the place and do stuff, but I don’t have any gasoline in the tank.” Profits are the fuel that will fuel the mission, that will allow you to get employees, that will allow you to do the marketing. Typically, 50% of the cost of anything, if you’re really a well-run operation with great marketing, usually 50% of anything you sell is going to go towards the marketing of it, because you have to get the messaging out there. Solve problems for a profit. There’s this whole term in the philanthropic world, which I really don’t like. I understand the context of it, but people are like, “Well, I want

to do good stuff in the world. I want to give back.” Most people that give a lot to the world never took anything to You don’t begin with. Life gives to the giver and takes from the taker. You don’t have to give back because you took. People that give back usually do it owe the because that’s just who they are. They’re just good human beings that give world back. anything, So, if you really want to give back, you first have to create jobs, create value, and then put it out there. You don’t owe the world anything, other than other than your very best. By doing your very best, you’re giving the your very world everything you can give it and more. best. James: 3 things you can always give are, obviously, money, but you can give time, you can give your talent, as well. This is one thing I really admire about you. I’ve never told you this. One of the things, more than anything else. Obviously, Joe’s a brilliant guy. You’ve got to learn from Joe. That’s why I’m in one of his groups. I’ve never told you this, but the thing that connects me more to you than anything else – because there are a lot of marketing people out there – is when I hear you talk about how you helped Richard Branson raise money for his charity, and how you’re like the largest contributor or money raiser for his one charity. You don’t ever say this, but I’m sure you’ve written many checks for large amounts out of your own bank account. Now, here’s the point. If Joe didn’t have that money, because he knew how to create value and market his great products and services, think about how many people would not be helped because of what Joe’s done writing checks. If you don’t have the money, you can’t give it. But I heard Paul Hartunian say this one time. You know Paul.

Joe: Yeah, totally.

James: Paul’s the guy who actually sold the Brooklyn Bridge, sold pieces of the Brooklyn Bridge. He’s been all over. He teaches PR now. Great, great “The guy. But he says, “The world is changed with a checkbook.” That world is struck me, when he said that. He went on to say, “If people need clothing, changed all of the wishing and hoping doesn’t buy the clothing. It’s the stroke of a with a pen.” I never forgot that. I helped to feed hungry kids with one of these charities, and it check- always struck me that if we didn’t have the money in our bank accounts to book.” go and buy backpacks for kids, they couldn’t eat. So, money is not a bad - Paul Hartunian thing.

Joe: People say that money is not important. Try living without it. You did.

James: I survived, but it was tough, man. It was tough. One of the things I wanted to do on the show, but it wasn’t the focus of the show, is let’s not only give them money. Let me mentor these folks on how to go out and raise funds for their organizations. Let me teach them how to go get money. It’s that old adage, “Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish, he feeds himself for a lifetime.” That’s one of the reasons I resonate with coach Tony so much, is I wanted to teach him. He’s been to my seminars, actually. He’s attended my seminars. He’s been to my house, and I’ve helped him learn how to actually raise money. If I can teach him how to do this, he could feed so many more kids. He can buy sneakers for so many more kids. So, money is not a bad thing, and you’ve got to understand that if you enrich people’s lives, add value, and you make money because of that. If you do want to give back and serve, give all of your money away and help more people.

Joe: Totally. Exactly. That’s one of my big motivations. It’s not just about creating money, it’s about creating resourcefulness. Marketing can be done to not only make profits for yourself, but it can be done to solve a lot

of social and economic problems. The very best way that I think you could impact the world is, first, The more have a great business that totally takes care of you. The more that you’re taken care of, the more you can go out and do stuff. In a couple of that you’re minutes here, after we end this interview, I’m actually meeting with the taken care CEO of the Make-A-Wish Foundation in Canada, and we’re going to talk of, the about how to use great marketing and connecting in order to continue to grant wishes for kids. There’s a lot that can be done with it. more you First off, James, congratulations on all of your success. I know can go out none of this was easy. People like overnight success; the overnight that and do was 20 years. You’ve heard all of that, all of the cliches. It’s really great to see everything done and all you’ve stuff. accomplished, and now how you’re sharing the message and you’re training people. You literally have created a library of stuff, and I know there’s lots of things that you’re doing with universities and teaching people. Plus, you’re just a fun dude. You enjoy what you’re doing, you enjoy life, and part of it is because you’re constantly moving, you’re constantly creating. So, for our listeners, if you really want to learn marketing in the speaking world, BigMoneySpeaker.com. How do you spell Malinchak? Because I’m going to say the name.

James: If you’re looking for somebody to impact your audience, I would love to be that person. I was just telling Joe before this, my favorite thing to do is to go speak, and motivate and empower and uplift people. That’s www.Malinchak.com, or just go to JamesMalinchak.com.

Joe: Awesome. As far as marketing, ILoveMarketing.com. You can either go right to the website and download the podcasts, the recordings and the transcript. Literally, start with the very first episode on iTunes, because that starts from there. Literally, we don’t sell anything on that particular site, on the podcast. We’ll mention books and things we recommend. It is not used.

What I mean by we don’t sell anything, of course we have products and services and stuff. It’s not a setup for that, but we are Eat Your putting great marketing advice out into the world and helping people. It tells my whole story, how I did it, and you’ll totally resonate; because the Competition same ways that I learned were very similar to how you learned marketing, Alive! and we just put it out there for people. I’d love to have all of our viewers give us your feedback on what you thought of this interview, and also the success that you have. So, any famous last words, dude?

James: I just want to thank you. It’s been a blessing to be in your group and be around folks and get to know you and everybody else. You’ve got to learn from Joe. He’s one of the best. Now I’m going to get all sappy on him, so he’s not going to like it and he’s probably going to cry. Remember, he’s the guy who’s putting makeup on to take the shine off. Joe is a marketing guy, but he does come from the heart, and he really cares about you being better. He’s a big giver. Do whatever you can to get all of his stuff and learn from him. It’ll be one of the best investments you ever make.

Joe: Thank you so much.

James: Thank you for everything you do for me.

Joe: Absolutely. Absolutely. Thank you. Go out and do something useful now. Right now. Go and tell someone that you really care about that you love them, and then go to our websites and check it out. See ya!