The Truth About Wealth: How I Made Millions, Lost It & Built It Back Differently

0:03Darin Olien:Welcome to Super Life with me, Darin Olien, a podcast where we explore, discover, and share solutions that promote a healthier life and a better world. Together, we'll ignite possibilities, inspire change, and build sovereignty, creating a roadmap towards a super life for you and for all. Get ready to start living your super life.

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4:15So this episode, I'm going to talk about something that I haven't talked about much. Wealth. See, I've had a lot of wealth actually in my life and I've lost it more than once. And there's lessons along the way. And maybe it will happen again. Maybe it won't. But certainly having it happened many times in many different scenarios, I've learned a lot. And many people in life taking risks, it does happen. But what if there was nothing ever wrong with it? And it was just an opportunity. Here's what I did. Trusting people I shouldn't have trusted because I gave them my discernment instead of using my own discernment.

4:56I projected onto people. I assumed they were gonna do the right thing because that's what I would have done. But here's a lesson that took me way too long to learn. Most people don't. They certainly don't act like I would. Not because they're evil or bad, because they're not me. So we get to plan accordingly now. I'm not telling you this to feel sorry for me at all or for you to think that I have it all figured out because I don't. It is a work in progress and I continue to be excited to learn about abundance and wealth and money. I'm telling you this because I think most of what we're taught about wealth is bullshit.

5:39We chase a number, we protect that number, We make that number mean everything, and it defines us. That is backwards. That is futile. That is empty. So I want to walk you through what I actually believe about money. Not everything, because it's big. But having lost, having built, having to rebuild, literally and figuratively, I want to lay out some things. This is wealth in the modern world, so let's get into it. So, you know, I like to look at things through a fatal convenience lens because it's so funny, isn't it? That in our modern world of living, like living life, we're chasing a job to make money, to pay for our bills to exist.

6:27That is nuts and crazy. We're sold a story also that managing wealth is complicated. So we hand things to other experts. We trust people advising us. We trust the deal, the rush. This is going to make it. This is going to make me wealthy and then happy and all of this stuff. Then we trust a guy who seems like he knows what he's talking about. Here's the caveat. Most people don't know shit. Certainly not on TikTok or Instagram. Very, very, very few people. But don't ask too many questions, man. That's inconvenient. that's rude that's not about the business that's not how business is done just sign just give me the money this is gonna work out have you heard that shit before that convenience the convenience of not doing the work not using your true discernment of all your faculties listening to yourself is exactly what cost me dare i say millions of dollars more than once i trusted people without vetting them.

7:37Now listen, vetting people goes against my DNA on every level because I am Minnesota born trust everybody. So it is something where I believe what people say. But if I don't listen beyond my ears, beyond my brain, and I don't listen from the feeling I get, the heart that I get, my intuition, my instincts, I'm running into the same issues. So I trusted people without vetting them. I trusted the promise instead of the pattern or the patterns or the instinct. And when it went wrong, it wasn't really their fault. Now was it? Really isn't. Because here's the thing. I choose to take 100 % responsibility for my life.

8:26I chose to do deals with people, be in relationships with people, believe their promises, that's mine. That is a hundred percent my responsibility because I didn't do the work many times. I trusted way beyond where I should have because people didn't earn it yet. And there's a second fatal convenience underneath this one. It's quieter. The convenience of money just showing up. The caveat is this isn't the blueprint for you. This is me sharing from my perspective where my pattern started all the way back to my parents. Because the one convenience that was quieter for me was the wiring that I had.

9:09That money was just going to show up. Now, on the one hand, that's great. On the other hand, it's not great. And I'll explain. So if I grew up with the wiring where money appears without direct line of intention and effort, it feels good in that moment, but it messes me up over the long haul. So I stopped building the muscle of creation. And that actually then cuts off the creation of wealth, which also cuts off the willingness to receive and earn that money and then really protect it and really be a steward for it. What if money had a voice? What would it say to you? How are you treating me? What are you, do you hold me with regard and respect or are you flippant?

9:55Are you pissed off at it? Why isn't, why aren't you coming more? Why aren't you showing up? These things are inconveniences. These are conveniences where we need to dig into our understanding of where this programming came from. So I was outsourcing my discernment, expecting money to appear without doing the work. And that was my modern day default. And these defaults are never neutral. They're designed to create outcomes. So I got two completely different money educations growing up. And they were at war with each other for a long time. My dad's philosophy, which I now see, like the way he delivered it sucked because he was yelling, he was angry, all of that shit so that aside the philosophy was great because it was through discipline it was through having my own checking account uh when i was 11 years old having my paper route mowing lawns all of this stuff picking beans baling hay my paper route i had from 11 to 18 years old like i really had it i i made money i i bought my bmx bikes i felt proud of it every time i could buy a new pedal.

11:12I was proud because I saved money. I earned it. And if I wanted something, I would get clearer and I would go for it. I loved that. My dad made me understand that. My mom's philosophy, on the other hand, was kind of opposite. She'd undercut what my dad's discipline because she was upset that he was doing it aggressively. So she would undercut him and just give me money so that it would let me do the thing without earning the thing. And I know that that came from love for my mom, but it messed up my understanding. And because it taught me underneath the discipline my dad was building, I also expected money just to show up.

11:56Again, both good and bad. Good because it's not scarcity thinking. On the one hand, I'm like, money's showing up. It's great, especially as an entrepreneur all my life. Bad because it shortcuts the very muscle my dad was building and that discipline. Now, I am a disciplined person on many levels. But when it comes to money, I kicked some ass, I made money, and I also lost it. I spent a lot of my adult life rectifying this clash, learning where my parents' voice, learning which parent I was actually going to listen to. So now, taking responsibility for my life, I extract like a nice hot tea the good constituents from what my dad was teaching and what my mom was teaching and bring them together through discipline, expecting money to show up.

12:50That works. That works for me. And I think about a lot of people are running versions of this same internal contra. So I think of you. I think of all of us. We're running these mechanisms of what money means, these contraindications, these contradictions even. And even now, it's something I have to discern all the time. So going to work and working for something makes the most sense to me. And when I do it, like the field of dreams, they will come because I have examples of both. And I'll tell you about what those are in a bit. So I've had real wealth. I'm not going to get into the numbers, but I've made millions and millions of dollars.

13:39I've had some incredible things. And here's the thing. I expected it always to be there and didn't hold money with the respect that it deserves. And I've also done this many times, many different ways, made money this way, made money that way, lost money this way, lost money that way and some of this seems very simple listen i didn't invest i've invested some stuff now and i should have there's a lot of great ways to invest ways to support compounding interest all of these things and there are some things i'll i'll say at the end that i use now that are badass and powerful so hang on but i've made many bad deals and people listening to people And I've had lawsuits.

14:24Currently, I just won another lawsuit of a lady that used spirituality against me. I had a connection with her and she used spirituality. She stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from me, at least$100 ,000 and from other friends of mine. So I went after her and I don't like the conflict of doing it. But with my attorney, I decided to go, that's not right. And she's hurting other people. So I decided to do it. I've also had other situations where I believe someone to do something and they didn't do it. I even invested in gold at one point at the source of excavation in a sustainable way. And it got stolen along the way.

15:04The whole Africa story. So I lost expecting, you know, flipping a bunch of money. I have so many stories like this. I trusted some sustainable housing developments, power systems, other projects in other countries, and they all didn't work out because I wasn't also truly involved. I was just wanting to win the lottery. I assumed people would do the right thing because that's what I would have done. But again, I'm not saying this as a pessimist. Most people don't act in the integrity that I do. Therefore, I have to understand that and use discernment. And once I know that, I can create assurances.

15:46I can create plans. I can create back doors where I can protect myself through agreements and policies and everything else. I'm not going to pretend that losing the money didn't hurt because it really, really did. It hurt from the personal perspective, like I can't believe someone would lie, steal, and cheat. I still can't. Doesn't make sense to me. Doesn't make sense to my Minnesota nice qualities, but they do. They absolutely do. And so now I sniff them out. I listen to my intuition and I do vetting. I look beyond what people say so that I can hold the integrity of them and what we actually want to do up higher and higher.

16:33So I believe that money certainly is an opportunist, right? It creates, it is a medium of exchange. It is a vehicle of creativity. It is a means. It's not the end. It's what the money is creating that means something to me. It's fuel. It's not the destination. Of course, do I love money? Yes. Do I want hundreds of millions? Yes. And I will have it, but not just to have it, not just to flaunt, because underneath it all, I know where I can put that money. I've been exposed to things all over the world. I've been exposed to incredible technologies, movements that can change the world. And I'm not even saying that flippantly.

17:20I mean, honestly. So I want to continue to invest into those projects. So yes, Bring on the money so that I can continue to receive and continue to give. Wealth is receiving and giving, not accumulating. Money loves to move. It's a cycle, not a pile. The people I know who are actually wealthy in the fullest sense of the word aren't hoarders. They're in a flow. They are flow. Money flows and moves through them towards the things that they care about. At least that's the people I hold as mentors. They're generous. They're loving. And yes, they want their money invested into things that generate the things that they care about, which is absolutely what I believe.

18:13Wealth is best created by doing what you love and care about. my point of view, it doesn't make sense to me when I go off just to make money. It doesn't make sense. So if I find something that I feel the world and people will benefit from, then I want to get it out in the world. I have some things coming. I have some adaptogens, medicinal mushrooms, tinctures, things that are coming that are not out yet, that are so special, procured, honored, letting the plant do its miraculousness in the world and for the bodies. So those things, it's in my DNA. I spent a lot of time doing that. And in terms of like the promotions I do, the podcast stuff, the social media posts, I support companies and brands I'm aligned with in my heart.

19:07Because here's the point of view. Here's my point of view. If I'm going to put energy and time into something, I want it to line up with my integrity, my heart, my direction of purpose, and my vision. My vision is a world that thrives and is healthy and happy outside of fatal conveniences into a world that's abundant and joyful and possible, filled full of solutions. Solutions is a driving force. Possibilities is the driving force of my wealth creation. So every partner, every deal, every yes I've said yes to is something I believe in. If I don't believe it, I'm not gonna put energy into it. I don't care enough just to make money on something just to make money on.

19:53It's not worth it to me. So I filter through those layers. I get clear on my vision. And if it lines up with my vision, I'm all in. If there's one decision that defines my financial life more than any other, it's this. I bet on myself. I learned to bet on myself, on my vision over and over and over again. Some things work, some things don't.

20:18Darin Olien:I'd like to take a moment to mention my amazing sponsors, the company Body at Shakeology, my baby, who I helped to formulate way back in 2006. Most people think of a protein shake as a quick fix, but Shakeology, because I know, was built with a completely different intention. It's superfoods. It's nutrient density. It's a superfood nutrition shake where quality actually comes first. I know this firsthand. When you talk about the quality story, we're talking about a refusal to take shortcuts. While most of the industry uses generic blends to cut costs, every single ingredient in Shakeology literally is individually researched, vetted, and sourced from global partners all over the world who meet the strictest standards of purity and sustainability.

21:13Darin Olien:We're talking about seven layers of testing. These are not just words. This is actual. From the raw ingredients to the finished bag to ensure that what's on the label is exactly what's in your glass. There are no artificial sweeteners, no fake flavors, no compromises. It's measurable quality that evolves with science. Experience the difference for yourself. I still drink this every single day. Head to Shakeology.com and use the promo code Darren O, D-A-R-I-N-O, 1, body, B-O-D-I, for 15 % off your order. That's Darren, D-A-R-I-N, the letter O, the number 1, body, B-O-D-I, to get 15 % off. I can't wait for you to try it.

22:04instead of handing that off to someone else, no, I keep the power. If I'm doing something in a partnership and a collaboration, I'm contributing my energy to that for it to be successful. So superfood hunting, 15 plus years of my life. I didn't start out as an expert. I started out as someone curious enough to get dirty, to show up in countries around the world, to learn, learn about the plant, learn about the anthropologic understanding of what and where this stuff was coming from so that people could benefit from it. I just threw myself in the middle of it. And then I started formulating. I started formulating so that I could experience and know and understand what was actually going on in this crazy supplement world that everyone markets something and no one knows anything about where it's truly coming from and what those people are and the land and the constituents and the compounds that are actually in those things.

23:10That experience of throwing myself into and through the curiosity lens landed me to generating Shakeology and other products that created health and healing for millions and millions of people, creating billions of dollars, not to me, but for in this case, Beachbody and Body, it's now called, that is a fulfillment that's so abundant. You get to get money from it, but you get most importantly to impact the world. So I'm not just saying this to boast. I'm saying that I took risks through things that were passionate, creating my own MBA program so that I can learn, be a beginner, be curious, and then become an expert in certain areas.

24:00The podcast is the same. Podcasts, I invested so much time and money before I got a dollar. Years. It's probably year four where I even made any money whatsoever. Investing$30 ,000 to$60 ,000 a year. Now realizing and knowing that my podcast is the top 10 and I think the top five alternative pod health podcast on the planet that was because I care with 500 plus episodes sitting down with people I'm curious about I'm connecting to so that I can share that message and then scaling that sharing that message aligning products and people that that I think can benefit people making money from the podcast so that it becomes itself generating.

24:49And now this recent one, the roadmap to happiness, I learned a lot from Down to Earth. So having it be the majority of my idea on Down to Earth and what we did and the cornerstone of the episodes, I had written down and then Zach was able to bring that into Netflix and we had a show. That's abundant. That is, it didn't take money. It took connection, collaboration, contribution. I'm forever grateful for Zac Efron for bringing me into Netflix and then getting to meet all the amazing people, producers that came together to create this healthy tension of creation to bring something like that, winning Emmys, all of the stuff.

25:35now but I learned a lot I had no control I had no ownership very little enough to not have anything I didn't make really any money on the process a little bit but in the time of in the time of creating it and all the time it took on the acute side I lost money but of course it was abundant because it opened up my world of docuseries and creating and sharing messages of hope and possibilities for people, which then lend itself to the roadmap to happiness, which we're doing right now. We have a couple more episodes to shoot, but we're slinging. We haven't given over any ownership. We own it between my partner and I, and we are driving the destiny, having some of the top A-listers on the planet being involved with our project.

26:31This is creation. Will we make money? I hope. Has it been me investing my own money and time for the last two and a half years? Yes. Because again, I'm investing in myself because it lines up with my vision, a vision that I see that works, that is creating hope and possibilities for others. So from the ground up, going back to what my dad taught me, discipline, creation, working every day at it, believing it. And with my mom's good side, knowing that people, places, things, and money are going to show up. That's where I've transmuted the challenges of both my mom and dad, transmuted them into the gifts that they actually gave me and let go of the pain and trauma of the other stuff.

27:22But that takes also hard work to learn about what these patterns are so that I can take 100 % responsibility because only then I then can take back the power and choose from there. So I've also got serious about structure around money, not just creating wealth, but protecting it. Once I have it, I've set up trusts and I can get into more of this later at another time with whole life insurance policies with this philosophy of own nothing but control everything. It lends itself to other leverage points of money so that I can control the money flow. I have tax write-offs that I didn't have before.

28:04This to me is empowering because I'm not giving my money to other organizations or situations expecting them to do this. And within the trust, I am able to create, but also keep those dollars flowing within my own system. Again, it might not make sense to you. I'll do another deep dive on that at some point, get some experts on so that we can really dive into what all that looks like. But that's the empowerment side. That is the reflection of looking at money as an entity of respect. I deserve you. I let you flow through me so that I can create, so that I can continue on my vision. So build your discernment before you build your net worth.

28:57Vet people. Look at their patterns. Take time. Cultures around the world, certainly the Asian cultures, they create time to get to know you before you even start talking business. That's powerful. So instead of just believing what someone says, look at them through the lens of discernment, character, and get to know who they really are before you give them too much credit. And again, this is against my Minnesota aspects because I want to trust people in what they say and what they do, but not all people act that way. Treat yourself as your first investment. Before you hand money to someone else's deal, ask what you're building in your own way.

29:43How are you building it? What can you contribute? Don't give your power away on any project. That's my point of view. Chase alignment, not just opportunity. If a deal or partnership doesn't match, be willing to walk away. And even when they flash all the money. If you go against your instincts, it will come back to bite you. Practice wealth as a cycle. Be on purpose. Receive, receive, receive without guilt. And by the way, wealth shows up not just in money. It shows up in all areas. Life is regenerative and giving and receiving is a part of it. Notice when you're hoarding. Notice when you're coming out of fear and be clear on your intention.

30:29Plan for the fact that most people won't do the right thing as default. Money creates weirdness in people's universes. That's not pessimism. It's taking off the mask so that I can see things fully and get your structure sorted. Get the people around you and set up your payments, set up your accountants, set up your tax people, like 10 % of your income, suck it away 40 suck it away for taxes whatever you need to do to know that those things are creations and correct and set yourself up for success because you know the tax bill is coming so be proactive so again there's a lot of practical things that we can get into around wealth but this is the first one because i haven't talked about wealth much but i wanted to give you this i've built wealth.

31:26I've lost wealth. I've built it again. And the version of it I have now is lighter than any version I've had before because it's not tied up to an identity. It's fueled by things I actually care about, by my own projects, by things that align with me and other people's projects, by the agreements that are clear, by having direct, clear communication with all people, especially around money. And because of that, other opportunities open up. It takes, so money is a powerful, energetic tool of creation in our modernity, in our modern world. Use it, respect it, receive it, share it with discernment, with possibilities and align with your vision.

32:18And if you don't know what your vision is, start there. What do you care about? What do you want? What do you see? And be willing to vision your life. So if you've taken one thing from this episode, please share it. It's free. Share it with other people. And let this be a beacon of hope that you can today create abundance by what you care about and what you're committed to. That is my greatest single superpower. When I align with something, people want to support it. I have shown that many times over. So when I've fallen off and I've lost money, I go back to what I care about because when I care about something and I'm all in, others want to support it.