Why the World Needs You to Make a Lot More Money with Derrick Kinney: An EOFire Classic from 2022

0:01Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire, brought to you by High Level Level, the all-in-one sales and marketing platform. Today, we'll be breaking down why the world needs you to make a lot more money. To drop these vibe bombs, I have brought Derek Kinney into EO Fire Studios. Derek believes you're not making the money you deserve and you're not making the impact on the world you've always wanted. And there's a better way for you to make money today. And today we talk about where you are right now is where you can become successful right now and how your generosity purpose is going to be the X factor that causes people to engage with you and your business more and oh so much more.

0:41And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Derek and our sponsors. Fire Nation, are you ready to launch your own sports betting platform? Odds Jam's real-time API is trusted by companies big and small from lean startups to major players like StatsPerform and SportsBet.io. Visit oddsjam.com slash odds-api to learn more and talk with our team today. Mention promo Fire Nation to receive an exclusive discount. Franocity has helped hundreds of people leave unfulfilling jobs, invest in recession-resilient businesses, and create legacy income for their families through franchising. Get started today with Franocity's Franchise Funding Guide, packed with real-world strategies to launch your business without draining your savings.

1:27Visit Franocity.com. That's F-R-A-N-O-C-I-T-Y dot com. Are you ready for the ultimate all-in-one platform for entrepreneurs, marketers, coaches, and agencies. Build funnels, automate follow-ups, manage clients, and even white label your own software. Say hello to our featured partner, High Level, and visit highlevelfire.com to start your free trial today. Derek, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with? Well, hello, John Lee Dumas. Hello, Fire Nation. It is a pleasure to be with all of you today. You know, one thing that I would say to people is success is not a person's birthright.

2:19So many people, I think, divide people, John, in the haves and the have-nots. And they live their life that, well, that's the group of people who were born successful, We weren't. And so we just have to fight for everything that we've got. I really want to come hard against that. And the book that I wrote is all about helping people have a big reset. Look, where you are right now is where you can become successful right now. If it's a business you want to start, if it's the life that you want to create, I want to give you the tools to do that. So just because you may feel like you're not successful doesn't mean you can't be successful where you are right now.

2:59I'm loving that, Fire Nation. And I'm also loving the fact that Derek has a Labradoodle named Berkeley. And I just know that Berkeley and Gus would be the best of friends. How many pounds is Berkeley about? Berkeley's a big dog. I mean, she comes up to my waist. Probably, what, 50? 50 pounds, maybe? Well, Gus is 60, so maybe that can help you kind of judge right there. So they would be the best of friends. Very cool. And Fire Nation, as we talked about in the intro, we're talking about you and why the world needs you to make not just a little, but a lot more money with Derek Kinney. And in 2020, brother, you were recognized by Forbes as one of the top advisors in the country.

3:43Think about that for a second, Fire Nation. One of the top advisors in the country. but Derek decided to sell his business and build something new. Dee, that's a bold decision. What made you take that leap? Well, some would say bold, some would say crazy. It's funny because as I was selling my practice, John, I called each of my clients one by one. And it was like pulling a Band-Aid off of each of those relationships, kind of reliving the highs and the lows. And one lady said to me, you'll get a kick in it. She said, Derek, if you're going to have a midlife crisis, is just buy a Corvette. It's a lot cheaper than selling your whole business, for goodness sakes.

4:21So it was interesting because when I decided to sell my practice, this was something I'd been thinking about for a while. You know, even you think about a lot of the athletes right now that they finished their season and they've had these thoughts in the back of their mind. And that's where I was at. So this was July of 2019. And I go away on a sabbatical every year. So I go away for a week by myself to think and pray and journal and ask myself three questions. First of all, how can I be a better husband? How can I be a better father? And how can I be a better business leader? And so those three questions shape that time away.

5:02And my rationale there is I want to slow down for one week so I can go really fast the other 51 weeks chasing exactly what it is that I want. And what I realized was I began to make a list of all the things I would enjoy doing in this next chapter of my life. And I wrote down things like write a book, host a podcast, speak, coach, consult. And on that list was not being a financial advisor. It wasn't that I disliked it. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy my clients, but I was going through the motions. I had reached the level that I felt like this is the highest in terms of my capability, John, of what I could do I needed to do something else to re-challenge myself.

5:45And so that's when I said, you know what? It's time to sell the business. And that's where this whole concept of good money came in. And, you know, in culture today, and I know you may hear this as well, there's often when someone is successful or they make a lot of money, the people that aren't successful and don't have a lot of money are throwing rocks through their windows and they're vilifying them. They're saying they're bad. Those people must have taken advantage of people. They must not be treating their employees well. They must not be doing things to make the world better because they're so rich.

6:21And I think that is flat, dead, wrong. And so I want to help empower people to go make money, go make a lot of it, but now use it for good. And let's empower the good people out there to go make a lot more good money. Now, before we do move away from the financial advising side of things, you did find a very creative way to differentiate yourself from all the other financial advisors in your local area. I like to call that the USP or unique selling proposition. What was that for you? Well, it was something I kind of stumbled into. I've always had a passion for education. Growing up, I was a sickly kid with asthma.

7:04I would have to stay indoors. I couldn't go out to recess because of allergies. It was crazy. So the teachers, I began to develop a real affinity toward them because they would provide extra schoolwork for me or kind of help and so forth. And so I saw behind the scenes the power that teachers have in people's lives. And so I then began when I graduated college, went to work for a small software company, realized that wasn't going anywhere, launched my financial planning business. I began to donate back to my alma mater high school and I recognized a teacher of the month and an outstanding student leader of the month.

7:42So picture this, this wasn't a whole lot of money. I was given a$50 gift card to a teacher of the month and a$25 gift card to a student of the month. And it's because I thought when I was back in high school, I would have loved if someone had recognized me and breathed belief into me as a student to say, not just you're in high school, but you have a big plan for your life. And so what I would do is I'd get a picture with the principal and the student and the teacher and myself, and it would go in the newspaper. Well, a couple months of doing this, I began to get some phone calls. And I remember vividly, one woman said, Derek, my husband and I want to transfer our account to you.

8:25And I said, well, that's great, but if you don't mind me asking why, I mean, there's lots of advisors in the area that you could pick from. Why did you pick me? She said, well, we see you in the newspaper all the time, recognizing quality teachers and education is important to us. Therefore, I think you and I will work together really, really well. This was a half a million dollar account. This was not just an average size account back in the day. And that began to occur over and over again. And the epiphany that I received was people can work with anybody. As a financial advisor, I was heavily commoditized.

9:08People could buy a stock or a mutual fund, an annuity insurance from anybody or other people listening right now, whether it's a computer, furniture, software, an NFT. I mean, whatever those items are, they may appear the same, But it's you that adds a differentiating factor to decommoditize that. And so what I call now my generosity purpose was when you work with me, you're helping make our community better. Because a part of all of our profits go to help support quality education, quality teaching, quality students, and clients loved it. And so I became known as the community service financial advisor.

9:51did very well financially, but it was because we all worked together and the clients felt like they were part of something bigger. And it's a principle that I now believe will help any entrepreneur and any business owner truly stand out, especially in 2022, and decommoditize themselves from a very crowded marketplace. Fire Nation, we're going to talk about Dave, we're going to talk about giving, and we're going to talk about a big, hairy, audacious goal of Derricks when we get back from thanking our sponsors. Fire Nation, are you ready to launch your own sports betting platform? We're not talking about some far-off dream.

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14:02High level, join the revolution. Derek, in your new book, you talk about Dave. I mean, I have my avatar, Jimmy. You have Dave. He owned a money-making business, but he had a problem. Tell us Dave's story. Yeah, so Dave was a longtime client, and he was the kind of guy that lit up a room. That when he was there, you could tell just his presence came in before he did. He was always happy-go-lucky. He was a successful business person. He was the person other people wanted to be like. Well, this particular day, it looked like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. He looked older.

14:43He looked tired. He just looked weary. And so after some small talk and exchanging pleasantries, I said, Dave, you got to spill the beans, man. Something is terribly wrong. What's going on with you? He said, Derek, I'm just not into it. He said, you know, the last time we talked about six months ago, my kids are involved in the business. Business is actually doing very, very well. But I feel like I'm just mailing it in every day. I'm not wanting to go to the office. I don't feel purposeful when I'm there. I'm just showing up, going through the motions. And somehow, for whatever reason, these words just shot out of my mouth.

15:19And I said, is there a cause that you care deeply about? Well, Dave was stunned. I remember vividly his eyes got as big as saucers and he said, what are you talking about? I said, is there something that you care deeply about that you want to help right a wrong for in the world? He said, it's funny you say that because a couple of years earlier, he and his wife and family went on a trip overseas and a village they went to, this particular guide referenced that this village needed a schoolhouse because the kids there were severely behind with their education. And he remembered giving his wife a glance that wouldn't it be nice if we could fund a school for this village?

16:02Well, my comment to him brought all of that rushing back. And he said, I would love to put a school in that village. I said, Dave, what if you did this? What if you set a goal that you would increase sales by, let's say, 20 percent over the next six months and you would take half of that increase and you would fund that school? Well, he had a big smile on his face, John, and he began to click that I could actually make more money to do more good. So we shook hands. He went out. He comes back in three months later and he looks younger. He's reinvigorated. He's energetic. He said, Derek, I got to tell you, I was skeptical.

16:45I was skeptical when you told me what I should do. But I got to tell you, it worked. I went back and we talked to our employees. We began to promote to our customers that our generosity purpose is that when you work with us, you're helping provide education for impoverished areas. We've already increased our sales by 20%. They've already funded half of that school. And I want you to picture this. Here are two grown men in the room, and I recognize I have helped extract some potential out of Dave that he never knew was there. It was an emotional time for both of us, but it realized it's not just about giving money where you think if I give, then I lose and the recipient wins.

17:34No, no, no. In business, when you can tie in this generosity purpose, I like to call it, that's that cause that you care deeply about, you can actually make more money and customers want to do more business with you because they're part of something bigger. Even millennials right now, we know they will actually pay more money to buy a product or service when it helps improve the world or helps a cause they care deeply about. So that was how Dave completely transformed to no longer just a business owner showing up, but a purpose-filled business owner when he connected meaning to his money, cash to a cause, and he put purpose to profits, and suddenly his business exploded.

18:18See, I love this because it brings me back, Fire Nation, to when I launched the Freedom Journal, the Mastery Journal, the Podcast Journal. We always tied a giving component to that, and it was Pencils of Promise where a portion of every sale went to build a school in a developing country. And I loved how people got excited about when they were buying one of these journals to improve their life, they knew they were also improving somebody else's life with the building of the school. And in fact, Kate and I went down to Guatemala to take a tour of the schools that were built through these very successful campaigns that we did.

18:49We ended up building, it was five schools, three in Guatemala, two in Laos, because we were able to get the community behind that type of concept. And it was so cool to see. So I love when you can tie something like that in with what you're already doing. And this is just kind of going along with what we've just been sharing. But let's expound upon the topic of giving. Because for most business owners, making money is how they judge their success or their lack thereof. You say, you know, they've got to give money because that also matters. Because that's when they give, it adds meaning. What else do you want to say about this?

19:26Well, first of all, John, your story is so inspiring to me because I think it gives people a practical way to apply this. And the whole book, Good Money Revolution, is all about wherever you're at with your business right now, if you feel like there's more in the tank or you're not doing all that you can to make more money and do more good, there's a strategy to help you do that. And so one of the reasons that I think giving is so important, and one of my friends, her name is Bebo Calandra. She wrote a book called Do Good at Work, and I quote her in the book. And this example I think you'll find interesting because she talks about when people watch advertising, for example, if they see a car ad or they see an electronics ad, they process the information, their brain does, and then they just move on down the path.

20:14But if they watch an ad where, for example, it's about supporting the Olympic athletes or it's about saving the whales or it's about curing an ill in society, the way the brain waves in the brain work, it's similar to looking into the eyes of the one you love. I mean, that was so powerful when I read what she wrote in her research, because what it says is it's all about endearing people. You know, when I was a financial advisor, I was a dime a dozen. People could choose anybody, but they chose me because they knew they're going to get good returns. Their money is going to do well, but they're helping be part of something much, much bigger.

20:58And that's what I want to encourage people right now, because this is like a great reset in 2022 for business owners. And whether you have a successful business or you want to make the leap from working for someone to a side hustle or whatever, whatever it is for you right now. I believe that your generosity purpose is going to be the X factor that causes people to want to engage with you and your business more. want to develop stickier customer relationships, and they're going to want to buy more from you and refer other people to you. So what I believe when a person thinks about their net worth as a business owner, you're not just looking at, you know, income and profits, and you do such a great job at that.

21:40Thank you. You're a great model for us on that, of course. But adding in, hey, what did I give? What's sort of my impact rating and the difference that we're making in people's lives because ultimately when an issue comes up, I would always joke about at some point somebody is going to be mad at me in my office, but they always love somebody else. And so you always want to have another reason for people to keep wanting to do business with you. Let's say that if an advisor's listening and the accounts are down right now, the market's doing terrible right now, but they know, hey, my money's down, but my cause and my belief and my advisor's commitment to the community is still up, they're going to want to keep their money with you when other competitors come knocking.

22:23So it's all about that moat. You're insulating yourself and you're building, I would just say, a big tranche around your business that not only do people want to work with you, but you become part of a referral story that's easy to tell and people want to tell it. Now, you have mentioned your book a few times here, and I want to talk about that now, The Good Money Revolution. This is a book, Fire Nation, by the way, that I personally endorse and I don't endorse that many books. So take that for what it's worth, which is a lot. But this is a book that I really believe should be in the hands of Fire Nation.

22:59And you set a huge goal of having 10 ,000 people pre-order this book, which I can tell you is a huge goal, Fire Nation, for having just published a book back in 2021. That's a big number. So tell Fire Nation why you set such a big goal and what's in it for them if they purchase this book today? Let me ask each of your listeners this, John, and that is, you know that feeling when you have a dream inside you that you know you have to share, you have to set that free. And if you don't, you're really doing yourself and the world a disservice. That's how I feel about Good Money Revolution. So this whole concept, it's about rethinking how people feel about money.

23:38It's no longer just saying, look, I just want to make a whole lot of money. I want to make money so that I can use it for good. And imagine in your local community, in the world around you, the causes that you care deeply about, letting that drive and motivate you. For example, you know that feeling many people get, I think you can relate to this, Sunday about four o 'clock. And it's that feeling like, oh my gosh, tomorrow's Monday. I've got to go back to the grind. And without meaning and purpose, that can really drag a person down. But if you go in there thinking, look, we're going to work even harder this week to make a bigger impact, that can drive you to more and more success.

24:17So I wanted to get this message out quickly. There's a lot of authors that write books. And John, your book is a great one. I enjoyed reading that. But when people think about books, they want to make sure that there's something different and unique for them. So what I want to do with this book is, if you go to goodmoneyrevolutionbook.com, there's two free bonuses that we have built out for Fire Nation. And it's a way to earn more, save more, and give more. And it's a way how to ask for the raise that you deserve. And these are bonus courses that we recorded just for the release of the book. They're free with the purchase of the book.

24:58But I wanted to get to the 10 ,000 mark because that's what I viewed as critical mass. We're about a third of the way there. We've had some incredible support and we've actually tied the book to different causes. Most recently, we tied the book to helping pay off delinquent medical debt. We just paid off $1.4 million worth of delinquent medical debt last year through a company called RIP Medical Debt. And as people did that, we would then make a contribution to them. They pre-ordered the book. So all of this is about something bigger, but I truly believe it'll help people make more money and do more good, especially where they're at right now.

25:34Fire Nation, what a combo. That's the combo that you want because you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. And you've been hanging out with DK and JLD today. So keep up that heat. And head over to eofire.com, type Derek, that's D-E-R-R-I-C-K, into the search bar. And the show notes page will pop up with links to everything that we've talked about here today. But one more time, Derek, what is that call to action? what is that place Fire Nation needs to go today? Yeah, again, there's lots of books you can read this year, but I believe this one can literally change your business, change how you think about your business, and truly have clients attracted to you that were never, ever interested in your business before.

26:17Go to goodmoneyrevolutionbook.com. That's goodmoneyrevolutionbook.com. Fire Nation, you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with, so you're hanging out with myself and Derek. Go find a couple other good people today. A book can be a person sometimes because a person writes a book typically. So think about that. And Derek, thank you for sharing your truth, brother, with Fire Nation today. For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Thank you, John. Great to be with you. Hey, Fire Nation. Today's value bomb content was brought to you by Derek. And Fire Nation, over the last decade, I've interviewed more than 3 ,000 of the world's most successful entrepreneurs and I've created a revolutionary 17-step roadmap to your financial freedom and fulfillment.