Time to Thrive with Dean Graziosi: An EOFire Classic from 2022

0:01John Lee Dumas:Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire, brought to you by High Level, the all-in-one sales and marketing platform. On today's classic episode, we'll be breaking down how it's time to thrive and to drop these value bombs that I brought to Dean Graziosi and the EO Fire Studios. Dean is a multiple-time New York Times bestselling author, entrepreneur, investor, and sought-after speaker and consultant, presenting to audiences of over 200 ,000 people at conferences and live events. And Fire Nation, today we talk about how the world is shifting, who you are matters more than how you do things, how to explore a digital product alongside your traditional business, and oh, so much more.

0:39John Lee Dumas:And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Dean and our sponsors. Fire Nation, are you ready to make 2026 your best year yet? I believe it's time to start your transformation by attending the world's highest rated business growth workshop taught personally by Clay Clark and featuring football star and entrepreneur Tim Tebow and President Trump's son, Eric Trump at thrivetimeshow.com slash EO fire. Again, request life-changing tickets today at thrivetimeshow.com slash EO fire. Stop duct taping your business together. High Level runs your website, your funnels, email, automation, scheduling, payments, and memberships all in one place.

1:16John Lee Dumas:And when you sign up at highlevelfire.com, you get a 30-day free trial, plus my exclusive bonus stack that includes weekly office hours with me and much more. Visit highlevelfire.com, highlevelfire.com. Dean, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. Oh, good one. First off, JLD, always good to be here with you. And what's up, Fire Nation? It's a pleasure to be back. I think this is number four, JLD. So this is pretty exciting stuff. So one thing that being successful that most people wouldn't agree with, I would say it's the first time I heard this question wasn't pre-planned.

1:59So I like, I like spontaneity there, JLD. Um, I would say that when you're successful, I think most people think your problems go away or they get less. And I think it's the complete opposite. I think success, part of success is figuring out how to solve bigger and more problems. And I don't mean that, you know, if you're on your way to another level of success, you're like, damn, really? I thought this was going to go away. I think, um, Jim Rohn says for things to get better, you have to get better. Right. And I know Tony, my partner and dear friend has adopted that mindset, but I think it's the same thing with being successful for you to reach another level of success.

2:41You have to be the person in the room that deals with bigger and stronger problems and, and harder problems and be excited about, bring them to me. Literally, if I was sitting at a table and there was 10 people and I saw the happiest, their success, whatever success means to you, but if they were super successful in business and in life, in my head, I would be thinking to myself, wow, that person solves bigger problems than the rest of us.

3:05John Lee Dumas:Well, listen, Biggie says, mo' money, mo' problems. Dean says, mo' success, mo' problems. So I think you're in good company there for sure. Good company. But I want to talk about the time to thrive because we've been hearing about the upcoming winter and now it's arrived or it's at least arriving. So let's talk about how to be bold and thrive during this economic winter. Here's the thing. If you've been in business or thinking of starting a business in 15 years or less, it's hard to even understand what that means in economic winter. We've had a pretty good run here, JLD, we have to admit, right?

3:44We've had a stretch where, you know, each year got better and it's weird to think, could it get worse and how bad could it get? And could layoffs really happen again? And could homes go into foreclosure again? And could prices drop significantly and, and should, and would it be harder for my business and all those, there's a lot of questions. And what I feel, um, what I feel is we had two years of uncertainty with COVID, right? I mean, some people found themselves during COVID. Some people's businesses thrived during COVID. Some people had a tough time, right? But it definitely caused uncertainty.

4:18It caused separation. It caused people to have to choose one way, mask, not mask, vaccine, not vaccine. And just when that's starting to become the norm, then an economic winter hits. We have inflation and high gas prices and interest rates going up and housing markets starting to slow and wars and more polarization and separation. And I think that uncertainty first attacks. And again, it's steer me in any direction you want JLD, because I want to serve fire nation today to the best of my ability. I want to make it worth your time. There's lots of things you could be listening to, but you're listening to John Lee Dumas and Dean Graziosi right now.

4:53We want to make it worth your time. But I would tell you in my experience, the thing that'll affect you the most and hurt you the most is we already have this uncertainty living in us. And when a recession or inflation or what or the combo of the two hit, it magnifies that. And I think it's a time where people don't, they don't go fight or flight. It's the third F they freeze. So what I would say is it is better to anticipate and prepare than it is to react. So anticipate that things may get worse, prepare that things will shift. But like Wayne Gretzky says, you want to be a good hockey player, you want to skate to where the puck is going.

5:33To be able to have a confidence, to be bold is be an investigative reporter. Look into the past, study history and figure out where things are going during a recession. What industries will thrive? What will change? Like Warren Buffett says, get better at what you're good at. You wanna survive through a recession? Invest in yourself and get better at what you're good at. So I guess the question is how to be more bold is to fine tune your self-talk. Fine tune the story that's in your head and realize that if you have negativity and negative thoughts, that's going to have a magnifying glass on it for the next 12 to 24 months.

6:09So why not prepare, read, be enrolled, do whatever it takes. Like Tony Robbins says, get leverage to have a mindset of thriving during a shifting time rather than holding on tight and trying to survive.

6:21John Lee Dumas:I want to steer this conversation to the everyday person's business model. So how will this model thrive even during an economic downturn? So if we talk about our industry, the industry you're in, JLD, that I'm in, where we get to impact people with our knowledge, our experience, our skills, our hobby, the mess we went through and we're on the other side, right? Is the self-education industry, the e-learning industry, the course creator industry, the coaching industry, whatever you want to call it, why will this thrive? If you go back to what Warren Buffett, I don't know if you had a chance to watch Buffett and Charlie Munger and their yearly address.

6:59he said two things to get through inflation no matter how much the dollar may get devalued or how bad a recession may get he said two things one i already said it get better what you're good at invest in yourself meaning have people come to you whether he said whether you're uh trading in reichmarks seashells or a devalued dollar if you're better at the than the other people you'll get more of it so that was his first bit of advice so think about that as you go through whatever business you're in or the business that we're going to be talking more about today, the self-education industry. But the second part is really key.

7:34He said, be a part of a business or start a business that has higher margins. Because with costs going up, if your margins aren't big, you could get gobbled up or swallowed with the cost of shipping, supply chain issues, or cost of inventory going up. And why I love this industry, and I was in this industry in 99, and I was in this industry in 07, and my partner Tony had one more recession before me. During a time like this, your product, your inventory is your life experience. Your inventory is your skill, your hobby, your passion. You don't have to warehouse it. You don't have to ship it. You could sell it over and over.

8:13It impacts people in an amazing way and it creates success for you as a byproduct. You're selling your information. First time I ever bought information was, Tony, 27 years ago off of an infomercial. It shifted my life. It's the reason I'm in this industry. So if I look through the lens of Buffett, get better at what you're good at and be a part of a business with higher margins, I don't think there could be a better business than the knowledge industry, the information industry. In fact, when Tony and I, we've been in it for 65 years combined between the two of us, 25 and 45, almost 70 years.

8:47But it wasn't always a cool industry. But even when we decided four years ago, and JLD, you were there with us, when we decided to start teaching other people, this industry, this self-education industry, e-learning industry, was about$100 million a day industry and growing. Right now, we're at about a billion dollar a day industry. And the latest report said we should be at about a trillion dollars a year by 2028. So if we're in an economic winter, the self-education industry is in the springtime of its existence.

9:18John Lee Dumas:Powerful stuff. And yes, I was there four years ago and I've seen what's transpired over these four years and how many people that you and Tony and the others have served and just the amazing things that have happened. And now during a shifting economy, there's a lot of bad moves. And there's also a lot of good moves that Fire Nation could make. In your opinion, Dean, what's the number one move Fire Nation needs to make during this specific shifting economy? Investigate, investigate, investigate, investigate. Don't be stuck. Don't hunker down. Don't go into the goal and just play defense. This is not a time to stand still.

9:55You know, that saying, if you're not climbing, you're sliding. I know maybe I have too many cliches today, but the fact of the matter is you can't sit around and hope things are going to get better. You can't wait for someone to save us. There's no one coming to save us. I don't care if you lived here in the States. If you liked our last president or you like our current president, or you hate both of them or you like both of them. Have either one of them came into your home, your business and save things? No. So we can't wait for other people that that's probably the, the number one thing I'd say.

10:24But the second part is if you're going to be an investigator and see what's working, look into the digital product world. I, of course, this is what Tony and I are sharing and what we're excited about and what the time to thrive challenge is all about. But if you have a current business, if you don't have a digital product attached to it, what JLD is doing right now is a digital product we're listening I don't know what you're listening on your phone and or on your computer right now but this is you're gaining knowledge and information digitally right this there's no inventory in this it delivers massive value you could sell it over and over again so if you have a traditional business investigate how to create a digital product alongside of it if you're looking to start something new investigate what it like to create a course, a coaching program, a workshop, a mastermind, figure out that you have, you know, most people think, well, I have nothing to share.

11:14I don't have a big following all both of which are untrue. And there's a lot of stories, there's stories in everything that you think about, right? We have to create a new story. And then we have to investigate and learn from people who've already been there.

11:26John Lee Dumas:Fire Nation, I hope you're taking notes, because this is an individual who's been there and done that for 25 plus years in this industry, as he mentioned, and Tony Robbins for 45 plus years. I mean, think about the experience and what they've been through. I mean, this is another cycle. This isn't the end of the world. This is another cycle that if played correctly, we can make this happen. And we have a lot to talk about all around this when we get back from thanking our sponsors. Fire Nation, if you're growing fast, your backend can't be stuck in slow motion, bills flying in, approvals getting bottlenecked, vendors chasing updates, That kind of busy work drains your energy and steals your focus.

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12:42John Lee Dumas:Learn more at quickbooks.com slash billpay. Again, that's quickbooks.com slash billpay. Terms apply. Money movement services are provided by Intuit Payments, Inc., licensed as a money transmitter by the New York State Department of Financial Services. Fire Nation, are you ready to make 2026 your best year yet? Are you looking to learn the proven processes and success systems that have been used to create thousands of millionaire success stories? See thousands of success stories and testimonials from real people just like you who Clay Clark has mentored and coached into prosperity at thrivetimeshow.com slash EO Fire.

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13:52John Lee Dumas:Become the next success story. Schedule a free consultation and request tickets to join football star and entrepreneur Tim Tebow and President Trump's son, Eric Trump, at Clay Clark's next business conference today at thrivetimeshow.com slash EO Fire. Fire Nation, ideas are exciting, but systems will allow you to create freedom. That is where High Level comes in. High Level allows you to build and run your entire business from one platform. website builder and hosting funnel and landing pages email marketing automation and workflows calendar booking payments and subscriptions even course and membership hosting everything works together seamlessly plus award-winning 24 7 support so you are never stuck and when you go through my link at high level fire.com you unlock my full bonus stack a 30-day free trial of high level with full access a private 50-minute coaching call with me weekly live office hours with me a digital copy of my book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success, my 50 Days to Something Execution Roadmap, and more.

14:51John Lee Dumas:Stop piecing tools together. Start building momentum. Visit highlevelfire.com and start building your something today. Dean, we're back. And as I mentioned in the intro, we're talking about the time to thrive is now. I want to talk about thriving and how we can thrive in any economy using an asset we already have. The best part being it literally costs us nothing. What is this magical thing? It's your life experience. I mean, think about this. I've said this before, JLD, and those of you that have been, you know, maybe you listened to our podcast a year ago, but I want to say it again. If self-education, if learning from others, specialized knowledge isn't a part of your life already, that I want to encourage you, if you get nothing out of this podcast, they take this.

15:42When we want to go to another level, when we want to run faster, fix our marriage, eat healthier, go keto, go plant-based, do yoga, a million other things, the way the world has evolved or is evolving, instead of thinking, how do I get better at selling? How do I get better at going through this ugly divorce in a more empathetic way? how do I find my purpose again the how word is getting replaced by something so much more important I want to give you this gift if you get nothing out of this take this replace the word how with who that has been the biggest secret of my life when I wanted to learn and when I'm about to dive in to take my podcast to another level the truth is I've been dabbling with my podcast for years and I feel blessed there's still a half a million people a month listen but now it's time to go to another level when my team says how do we go to the next level you know what I thought of please reach out to john lee dumas he is the who he has been there let's pay him as a consultant let's buy a course if he's got it that's the way the world is evolving from how to who at the same time people are thinking i don't want to go back to college i want specialized knowledge not general knowledge they're also thinking i don't have time to learn on my own hence learning from someone who's already been there the self-education industry this is a skill i mean think about this, when people say, well, I don't know, is my experience actually worth that much value?

17:08Of course it is. People don't want to try on their own. People don't want to take two years to figure out that what you could share with them over a weekend through a mastermind, through a coaching program, through a course. The last thing I'll say, and again, you may have heard me say this, but it's a game changer in my life. If you had a week to prepare and you could go back and spend a day with your 20 year old self on any topic on how to make money, how to make sure you find true love in your life, how to be healthier, whatever it is, how much would it be worth for you to go back and spend a day with your 20 year old self?

17:40I know the answer. I've asked hundreds of thousands of people. It's always priceless or millions, right? But here's the thing. You have knowledge, experience, or value right now that someone else feels like you at 20. They might be 60, but they're starting off on day one. That's how valuable your information is. Just most people have a blank slate. They don't know where to start. They don't know what to sell, who to sell to, how to deliver it, how to package it. And that's why Tony and I work so hard and do these, you know, free trainings to show people, this is how you unlock it. This is how you share it.

18:09This is how you make it real.

18:10John Lee Dumas:Dean, you mentioned fight, flight, or freeze earlier. And if we're being honest, a lot of people freeze in moments like we're experiencing right now. So let's, for once and all, share with Fire Nation why it's time to stop sitting on our hands and shift our thinking. Has anyone ever come along and saved you while you were just sitting and waiting? Listen, with a shifting world, everybody has uncertainty. I have uncertainty. Tony has uncertainty. I mean, I was just with Ed Milet. I was with Tom Bilyeu. I've been with Jenna Kutcher. I've been with a lot of people. Maybe you know those names, maybe you don't, but I was with a lot of people who are influencers who have done amazing things in your life, have sold businesses and lots of zeros at the end of it.

18:55That uncertainty and that fear is real. But when I talk to the most successful people on the planet, what they're doing is getting off their hands and actually sitting up straight. This is a time we'll do more work. This is a time we'll investigate more because this is a time you can gain massive ground because most people are gonna freeze. And I wish it's why Tony and I are screaming from mountaintops is don't freeze. gain capabilities, take uncomfortable action. But the fact of the matter is really hear me. Most people are going to wait to see what happens and go back, Google it. Look at when the most wealth abundance and new companies are started.

19:32They're started during a down cycle. It's those innovators. It's those that find the right secrets, take uncomfortable action and truly thrive. So I would, if I was you, if again, if you take anything from this, think of every time your brain says, what should we do to survive? I want you to stop that. No, no, stop that thinking. What can we do to thrive?

19:55John Lee Dumas:Speaking of the word thrive, this is where I want to end with a bang on. You have time to thrive challenge. This is going on August 2nd to August 6th. In Fire Nation, we have a very awesome and special URL for you, eofire.com slash mastermind, where you can go and learn more. But hey, we got Dean on the mic right now. He's the guy that's going to be rocking this challenge along with many, many other amazing people. I mean, I'm actually holding right now the catalog you sent to me and I'm just looking at these faces and they are unbelievable. So talk to us about this challenge. Talk to us about what you have going on this year in general and let's get a strong call to action for Fire Nation to be present for this.

20:42I guess the best call to action would be if anything I shared today evoked an emotion, a thought. Could this be? Is this possible? I've tried and failed. I thought about being a coach. I am a coach. I'm not making enough or I never thought about it, but God, I'd love to see about it. Then you must come because here's the thing. It's Tony Robbins, myself, and we have some amazing guests. We even got Matthew McConaughey coming, which I think is incredible because when he wrote Greenlights, one of my favorite books of this year, he entered the self-education industry. It's got nothing to do with him being an actor and he's delivering a process, a philosophy on how to get through tough times, turn it into a green light rather than a red light, right?

21:19So we have him coming in and, you know, Russell Brunson and Jenna Kutcher and some amazing, amazing, Brendan Bouchard, so many amazing people coming who once thought selling what they know was kind of like, oh, that's for other people. And now they are thriving and our whole five days is created to show you why now, why you, why this. Identify what you should be offering, who you should be offering it to, how to sell through elegant service, and then how to build a following. And during those five days, get rid of all the limiting beliefs. Get rid of the stories you're telling yourself and see that right now is a time to be entering this industry, whether that's bolting on a digital product to your current business or creating this from scratch or stop dabbling because you've been waiting too long to get successful.

22:05It's not kind of free. It's completely free and it's unbelievable. I think we'll put a million people in this. Wow. And it's our goal to change the world. I mean, this is going to be a scary time. There's no question about it. And if you know anything about my partner, Tony, you know, the first two years we did this, John, you were with us. Oh yeah. Um, and we did it as a three hour training and literally last year, Tony said, it's not enough. We got to give people five days. It's about 90 minutes. The days Tony are on, which are day, you know, one, three and five, I think it's a little longer because he likes to over deliver, but you will leave with a plan.

22:37You will leave with a plan. I'm saying, thank you. This isn't for me, which I think most of you won't. I believe most of you say, wow, this is for me. And I'd hate for you to miss it. I believe this might be the last one we do. And you're right. It's on August 2nd. It's going to be spectacular.

22:51John Lee Dumas:Fire Nation, look at these names. Tony Robbins, Dean Graciosi, Russell Brunson, Lisa Nichols, Jenna Kuchar, Brennan Bouchard, Matthew McConaughey, Alex Hormozzi. I mean, the list goes on. And this is access to these individuals for free. This is August 2nd to August 6th. eofire.com slash mastermind. eofire.com slash mastermind. Get there as soon as you're hearing my words so you can register and you can start getting prepped because Dean's team does a fantastic job prepping you for these things. There's going to be some material, no doubt. There's going to be some things you can do to maximize the August 2nd through August 6th challenge.

23:33John Lee Dumas:And every day will be worth your time. I can guarantee that being a part of this for four years now and just seeing, you know, what quality content and value all these individuals deliver with Dean at the forefront here. So Dean, one final takeaway, one last value bomb, and then we'll say goodbye. I want to reiterate everything we said today. I hope you attend. It's going to be pretty spectacular. And if you know anything about Tony, day one gives you a mindset that we all need. But here's what I would just say more than ever before in your life. Watch your thoughts. the news is getting worse and worse.