Imagine saying that to a crowd of 5,000 people. Now imagine using some critical thinking in that audience and realising he isn’t excluding this audience with that statement.
Welcome to Part 2 of my National Acheivers Congress Auckland experience.
Read on to find out which of the esteemed speakers called his audience mostly dumb fucks, and other amazing tidbits that I gleaned from the conference. In Part 1 I covered the first two speakers: David Leon and Grant Cardone. Part 2 will cover the rest of the speakers and as such may be a little bit longer.
Come along for the ride, grab a nice glass of wine and enjoy the PlainBlack diagnosis of the value offering that is the National Achievers Congress.
Graeme Holm sharing the basics of the mortgage trap
Graeme Holm - Infinity Group - Rating: 1/10
Key takeaways:
Don’t listen to the BBQ Mafia
Credit card interest is legalized theft
Perception is reality
Net worth is your network
Winners focus on winning
Graeme has obviously been to the same school of public speaking as our first two speakers. Using a mixture of edification and awards to build credibility.
To be fair, Graeme lost me almost instantly when his patter proclaimed he was the ‘number one financial adviser in Australia…’ He mustn’t have been expecting too many Australians in the room as this obviously had me drawing comparisons to Scott Pape and his international best selling book ‘The Barefoot Investor.’
To quote Grant Cardone: ‘Obscurity and obscurity.’ If I’m Australian and I haven’t heard of you, but I’ve heard of your competition; perhaps you’re not number one?
Graeme used a couple of techniques to ingratiate himself to the NZ audience, but his primary method was the Aussie versus Kiwi rivalry, especially with rugby.
He had some amazing results to show on the screen of how people have reduced their mortgage time considerably. These results were compelling viewing, but that again is the problem with all the speakers so far.
All they have shown is that hint of value in an effort to close out a coaching or investment course. To quote a Kiwi friend of mine:
‘The value he is offering is no different to what any financial adviser worth his salt would offer. Why would I pay some Aussie thousands of dollars to achieve something I can get from my local guy?’
As you can see from the key takeaways above, Graeme’s presentation was less than original and left me feeling like I shouldn’t be in this room. I wish I had more positive things to say about Graeme’s presentation, but I don’t so I’ll end his review short, like his perceived value offering.
Elena Cardone speaking about being a spouse to a successful man
Elena Cardone - Grant Cardone Enterprises - Rating: 8/10
Key takeaways:
The power of 2 or more (clydesdale analogy)
Think bigger sooner
Be strong enough to take a metaphorical hit, and tough enough to deliver a blow
When you’re not giving someone like Grant a massive target; you become the target
This was more a relaxed interview than an outright presentation, and it worked wonderfully well. Elena is the only speaker so far who wasn’t ‘actively’ selling a program or investment opportunity. Elena is an actress though, and the old cynic in me couldn’t help keeping emotion away from the spectacle unfolding before me so I could focus on the facts.
Elena Cardone working the audience
The bottom line is: Elena spoke well. Really well. She touched on how she is the Female Indicator Gauge (F.I.G.) for Grant’s ideas, but her real strength and value-add for Grant’s empire was her focus on being, and teaching others how to be a supporting spouse to someone with grand ideas.
Those of us who have been afflicted with a bad case of dreaming, or big picturitis can relate to the need for a person who emotionally supports your crazy ideas. Elena spoke at length about how her family dynamic relies on and also supports the patriarch of their empire. A kind of symbiotic relationship.
I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again. Elena spoke well. The only time my salesman alarm was triggered was when Elena briefly lost her authenticity while talking about how a supportive spouse should attend conferences and bootcamps with their partner. Briefly, and I stress briefly, Elena talked about how she would never miss one of her husband’s speaking engagements, and how any spouses in the audience should most definitely attend with their other half.
This was the only time the cynic in me popped up his head. Even while Elena was talking about her book she didn’t sound ‘salesy.’ Some of the previous speakers could take note of her style and method.
I will finish with this for Elena, the Clydesdale analogy. Even though this a complete retelling of Zig Ziglar’s Belgian horse story, it was still told with passion. The basic premise for those who haven’t heard it is simple.
‘A Clydesdale can stand 7 feet tall and weigh 3,000 pounds. Alone, the Clydesdale can pull approximately 7000 pounds.
However, harness him to another Clydesdale and together they can pull over 15,000 pounds. Sounds pretty impressive doesn't it? But, horse trainers have learned that when you teach a team of horses to work (pull) together, rather than trying to pull independently of one another, they can pull up to 25,000 pounds. That's almost double what the same two horses can pull working independently!
Teamwork matters, but just because you have 5 people or 15 on your team doesn’t mean that they are working together. Look at the horses, two of them together produces only slightly more than their sum. The story only becomes interesting when the horses get on the same page and start pulling together as a unit: that’s when the real productivity happens.’
Even though this was an actress reciting a story she has no doubt recited many times in front of an audience, it is still prudent advice for anyone building any sort of team. Well done Elena.
Adam Hudson from Reliable Education and a YouTube ad near you.
Adam Hudson - Reliable Education - Rating - 7/10
Key takeaways:
Most people are dumb fucks!
Give A Shit (G.A.S.) factor
Sell shit people want, just do it better
Be location free
Be proud of what you are doing
And there it is, after briefly introducing himself as ‘that annoying guy you’ve probably seen on YouTube,’ Adam dropped the bombshell:
‘Most people are dumb fucks!!!’
To which everyone, and I mean everyone in the audience nodded their heads to. The statement itself says ‘most people’ and we all nodded along as though we weren’t most people. It was one of those moments where I had a silent chuckle to myself, but of course he didn’t just leave it there. The full quote is:
‘Most people are dumb fucks… (pause for effect)… We need to teach our kids how to think!’
And I’m sure we can all agree with the last part especially.
Adam spoke like a seasoned professional who was still passionate about his craft. Again, his whole presentation was geared towards the sale of his Amazon course, which did beg the question: If you’re making so much money off Amazon sales, why do you need to charge people ludicrous amounts of money, and spend thousands on YouTube ads to pitch your course?
Having said that, he did offer some great perceived value sprinkled with enough common sense to have even this tired old cynic thinking:
‘He will sell more courses than anyone here so far’
Adam showed several compelling stories of course graduates who were selling up to $50,000 worth of product on Amazon per week. Although when asked how much of that was profit, he carefully deflected the question and said he would get to that… But he never did.
Still, it was an entertaining set. About the only thing I marked him down for was the ten minutes he spent explaining Kiyosaki’s Cash Flow Quadrant.
He used the usual cliches, the rapport building, the pre-sales patter, the pitch, the extra perceived value and the fear of missing out (FOMO) that we had seen from all of our previous salesmen, but there were some nuggets thrown in.
I especially liked his take on social media and negative press.
‘The challenge for our young people is we’re only seeing the extremes on social media. The extreme highs and the extreme lows, which doesn’t explain the realities of success.’
And:
‘As entrepreneurs we are so much bigger and better than the negative mass media and the fear campaigns.’
Adam did it all well, and I am sure he filled his books with prospective Amazon wannabes signing up to do what he did. He spoke like a network marketer who had sold his position so he could go out and sell coaching, which in essence is exactly what he is… But he is likable. I’ll leave you with this quote from Adam before we move on to the main event:
‘Nothing has more degrees than a thermometer, and you stick that up your ass!’
A nice little dig at the current education system if I look at it from the positive point of view, alternatively it is a nice little stimulus to help people spend with his course instead of wasting money on recognised diplomas and degrees. But I digress…
Gary V doing what Gary V does.
Gary Vaynerchuk - VaynerMedia - Rating - 10/10
Key takeaways:
98% of people won’t do anything, they’ll just listen and nod
Kindness is the ultimate strength in our society
Every funnel with selfish intent is complete dog shit
Widen your focus
Happiness is fucking progression
Life is not binary, just make a choice
Wow! Just Wow! I have to admit I am a bit of a Gary V fan boy. So when he walked on stage it took me back to being a teenager and seeing Metallica live for the first time. ‘That’s actually them up on stage!’
And what a way to open up. After sitting through a day of speakers who were funneling us to their perceived value offerings and offering false value to make money off people, Gary opens up with:
‘I am desperate to provide you with the most value for free. This isn’t some funnel to get you to buy something. Every funnel with selfish intent is complete dog shit. Most people are fake giving because they want your money!’
Drop the mic right there. I would give any money to know what every other speaker thought of this beginning after they had all just spent their time offering fake value and money making ventures.
It was exactly what a few of us were hoping he would do, and he didn’t disappoint. Savage!
Not bad for a fella who waltzed onto stage and truly began with ‘I’m not sure what the fuck I’m gonna say, so let’s just go with it’
Gary talked about the power of the slow and difficult pursuits. Patience in business is most definitely a virtue. In a world where everyone seems to want it fast and easy, especially in this room, Gary was preaching the polar opposite, and my travel party and I loved it.
He touched on a few predictions about LinkedIn and TikTok being growth platforms, and sports cards and nostalgia making a huge comeback. You will want to be at the forefront of that wave as the men with pre-teen to teenage kids have serious disposable income, and they are keen to help their children experience similar experiences. This is common sense, and this explains why Gary has built his empire.
Gary speaks sense, and he puts himself out on a limb. It helps that a heap of his public prophecies have most definitely come into fruition over the years, but he isn’t shy in coming forward.
And then he moved into his famous Q&A that nobody in the room wanted to end. I’ll hit on a couple of the highlights from this before I close out this ridiculously long blog post.
The danger right now for entrepreneurship is it is predicated on money instead of finding a process you actually enjoy.
The best thing parents can do for their children is listen. Be present for the short time they are children and truly listen.
I think E-Sports is going to be one of the three biggest sports platforms in the world. (A revelation that lit up the faces of my friends from The CaveNZ)
Gary was and is a legit superstar in this field. Nothing fell on deaf ears, and there was no hint of a sales pitch to be seen. Whether he was dressing down someone in front of thousands of people who couldn’t take responsibility for their employee choices or business decisions, or he was selflessly posing for tens of selfies, Gary was present and vibrant.
This made the whole trip worthwhile. I’m almost certain my wife has forgiven me on that score, but even if she hasn’t, it was well worth it.
We have more adventures just around the corner, with a date with the one and only Sir Richard Branson coming up… If you want to see me unleash my ultimate fanboy in blog form, and probably video format for this one, be sure to follow us on Facebook.
I’ll sign off this post with this awesome nugget from Gary V himself, I couldn’t think of a better way to finish this post:
‘Laugh when a plate breaks. If you’re juggling five plates and you break two; you still have three plates. If you are only juggling one plate; you will always be terrified of dropping it.’
Perfection. Go out and create a life where you can laugh when a plate breaks. Catch ya next time.
