Turning Setbacks Into Millions: Tim Storey & Natasha Graziano On Making, Multiplying & Giving Money

0:05Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to a very, very, very special edition of the Money Monday podcast we are here inside of a hubble studio just completing a multi-day event where our next guest was the keynote speaker the grand finale of the three-day mastermind by greg kimball now as you guys know we cover three core topics how to make money how to invest money how to give it away to charity this gentleman has done all of the above and sprinkle on top for decades now on television on tour and everything between so here's the thing on these podcasts as you're consuming the content that it's not just for you.

0:38It could be for someone from your past, your present, or your future. You might hear from real estate agents, celebrities, rappers, athletes, business moguls, from Gary Vee to Dr. Gary Bruck and everyone in between, you're learning different types of information that not just be for you, it might be for someone else in your life that you don't even realize it. So take in this information and listen to our next guest. He's gonna give a quick two minute bio so we can get straight to the money. Mr. Tim Story. Good to see you. Always good to be seen. So my bio is born in Los Angeles. Mother worked at Winchell's Donut Shop.

1:13Have you ever been there before? I grew up next to it in Long Beach where they did the Snoop Dogg video. 100%. The What's My Name video. Yeah. I live right there. And then dad worked at Bethlehem Steel, was a steel worker. But one of the things that was cool, Dan, is that I am the youngest of five children. so my three older sisters always made sure I did my homework so even though we were like lower income I remember my mother saying we might be lower income but we're not lower class because we had seven people in a two-bedroom apartment but I was really in school and I wasn't trying to be the person that the teachers liked but the teachers liked me sure so I had a a likable personality, had a lot of humor and loved school and just started taking off.

2:03Ended up going to seminary because I wanted to be a cool Mother Teresa. So the way you give out toys and all the humanitarian work you've been doing all these years, that's what I gave my life to. Wow. So starting at 18, I was in seminary and had already started like programs for inner city kids to think big in small places. That was the whole course. That's what it was called, thinking big in small places. I love that. And then I'm like you. I'm a bit creative. So I went and got some NFL players to start coming into inner city neighborhoods with me. And a couple of the stars said, hey, how old are you?

2:44I said, 18. They said, what the heck? And one guy who became a Hall of Famer, he said, I've got money. You got a skill set. let's go. So since I was 18 years of age, this is what I do. So what's the turning point when you turn it into a business? When you become Tim Story? Like when is it, was it, was it Oprah that made that happen? Was it you going to your first stages? What was the turning point that made you from little Timmy to the Tim Story? So I think in life, some things you decide and some things you discover. So I never decided I was going to be a businessman and own many, many businesses and be part of a lot of businesses as I am now.

3:26I never made that decision early. I discovered it. And the way I discovered it is that by helping people, so if I was with these NFL players or NBA guys, I'd hear them talking business. And because I like to read a lot, so it goes back to this education component i would then say so okay what are you going to do with this or how come that or wouldn't it be a good idea to do this and they started to pick up on man this guy he's he's quick he's quick so i started picking up on the business side of things from the very people that were helping me to help inner city kids was there one stage you first remember?

4:14Was there like one moment like, whoa, I'm Tim Story? Yeah. Like 100%. It was when Nelson Mandela came to see me. So it had been talked about that for real, Mandela thinks you're awesome. And his people are really talking you up to him that you You've got that Mandela vibe. There's a humility about you, a texture to you, that you're a revolutionary person, and he's going to come and see you. And at that time, I was only 31 years of age. I was speaking to 10 ,000 people. I remember when he rolled up, I was probably like eight minutes into my talk, and I went like, oh, my goodness. It was like a shift.

5:02It was that. It was that. it was that shift of like this this this is for real yeah so for someone out there listening that might be want to become a professional speaker when's the turning point when you go from speaking at events for free to now you're commanding 50 ,000 75 ,000 100 ,000 sometimes six figures more to go internationally yes what's the turning point to actually get paid for the first time whether it's a thousand bucks or five grand that first time actually get paid i think you would agree with this. I think that motive is a thing that has made me that my motives were always good where I wanted to just help people.

5:42And based on that motive, I just kept getting invited. Companies would invite me. And this is like when I was really young. And they would say, and by the way, we're going to pay you$15 ,000. And I said, for how long? No, for an hour, buddy. and that just blew my mind like what the heck and so then they would say and we have other friends that that we can hook you up to so i think i think the motive is so important that to me it was not about monetizing at first it was about the motive and creating what i call a signature message and my signature message to start with was how to turn your setbacks to a comeback and who hasn't had a setback?

6:32We all have. So Dan, what happened is that I started getting invited to all these places but because I'm almost too nice, I needed my lawyer to make the deal. Interesting. So I brought in an outside source to negotiate because I was too nice. So if you're listening and you can't afford that, you can become that by just changing your name and changing email address. so you can become Jennifer, the assistant. You could be Robert, the assistant. And you could email on the behalf of you, the speaker. So good, actually. Because at first, who can afford it when you're first getting started? But it adds this level of credibility to have an assistant to go back and forth.

7:13And you're doing it to actually get paid. You're doing it to turn into a business because you've got to pay your rent. Also, fun fact, the highest paid profession in the planet per hour is speaking. Nothing's even close. No athlete, no celebrity, no nothing. Amazing. And as you know, even as much as me or more than me, that's why some of the biggest entertainers in the world are trying to get in this space. Literally the biggest they want in this space. We're booking household name speakers for other people's events all the time. Obviously, we're booking an Aspire tour together all the time, these celebrities and athletes, because it is, you're going to get 100 grand, 200 grand, 300 grand to speak for an hour.

7:52and the company's marketing you. Yes. In Aspire Tour, for example, they're spending six figures, mid-six figures or more per month promoting their event with the flyer of Tim's story, me, the celebrity, the athlete, et cetera. So they're getting marketing during this time leading up to the event as well. And let me just say thank you to you about things like that. So one of the things you've always been to me, because we're friends first and we love each other as brothers, but you've always looked out for me like man Tim would fit in here Tim would fit in here and then Tim should stay here because even like at Aspire there's a lot of people that have come and gone but I've been rolling with that group for now for two and a half years and a lot of that is because of you secretly having my back all the time but tell me why why you chose to have my back in some of these things.

8:48You're the one. You fit into that thing. It's not like I'm doing a favor. You are that guy. A lot of people come and go. A lot of speakers come and go. We've seen it happen over and over and over. They think that they can handle being on tour 12 months a year. They can't. They have family, life, friends, situations. You've been there every single time for 28 shows, 29 shows in a row. People can't do that. They're not built like you. And I'm there early. It starts at 8. I'm there early. I stay to the damn end. You see me all around everywhere just talking to people. But again, that's my upbringing.

9:23But what else? Most of the speakers, they land at 1040 a.m., they speak at 12 p.m., they're done at 1 p.m., and they're back on a plane by 2.22. Yes. Yes. And they have to be like, it's like as if they couldn't stay for another hour or two. No, that makes sense. So that monetizing side, I like what you just said, that they could do that through another email. So I would use my attorney. He would make the deal. Then I would come in. And then I started to realize that, man, I'm more liked than I'm giving myself credit for. And it wasn't like low self-esteem. It's almost like we were just taught that you know we had to be humble we should be humble that's just how my mother taught us about life and so again I needed outside people to say hey Tim you're worth that yeah you you you you should be on that stage with those people because I almost for a while I had uh imposter syndrome like how come this stuff is happening to me at such a big level yeah so again on the making money side you get bombarded by events now yes right for years obviously how you choose right if you're booked to be in south africa then you're in malaysia then you're back to la then you're off to dallas texas and they want you in dubai then they want you in new york like that's a lot of travel but in between there people are offering you know 50 grand 100 grand however much it is how do you say no okay so that that became a tough one for me so i would say from age like 27 for about 20 years i was too busy i i was just moving too fast yes to everything because pro golfers have told you and me it's just hard to say no when they're giving you literally like a car.

11:30So when you were raised like us, right? They're like, dude, we're paying you a car. I remember this one guy in Ghana was trying to get me. He says, I don't think you're getting what I just told you. I'm going to give you$80 ,000. Right, plus travel. Plus travel and the size of the diamond ring he wanted to give me for a woman. He says, who's your woman right now? I will get her the greatest diamond ring. Yeah, and he was sincere about it too. and then it happened. But for that period of time, I was moving too fast. But again, this is some wisdom that I learned from the older guys. Put the right team around me.

12:14Because I remember Lee Iacocca, he said, you teach me about life, I'll teach you about money. And Iacocca was the man, as you know. Of course. And so I learned to always have a good team around me to help me with my investing, what I was doing, what companies I was letting use my name, because a lot of those things I didn't know, and then I started learning more and more about that in my 30s. So let's talk about the investing side of the world. Why is it important for people to invest into themselves? Why should they be reading books, watching courses, going to masterminds, going to live events?

12:51Why should they be investing into themselves? I think that it is the most important thing because we are like a walking goldmine. And when you look at somebody like a, you know, a Prince, the singer, had he not invested in himself to see how many instruments he could play and how he could make that sound be that sound. then people began to discover that but he had to invest in himself through the practice and the mentorship so I began to invest in myself and pay money I started going to see a therapist who taught at USC she was very well named known named Dr. Helen Mendez African-American lady and I pay her her fee and more.

13:46And I would say, I want to do this thing called life coaching because life coaching really didn't start getting popular until later. So this is in the eighties. And she says, Tim, I'm telling you, you could be like a forerunner, mostly amongst our people. And so I invested in her. I used to give her extra gifts and I invested in other people to come into my life because I knew that I was building up wealth inside of me that I could then therefore release to others. So over the course of your career, as you're making 50 grand, 100 grand a night, and sometimes you're doing it week after week or three or four times in the same week, what are you doing with the capital?

14:31Was there ever times you're investing into companies, investing into real estate? How are you deciding what to invest into? Yeah. Again, this was very powerful men in Beverly Hills that were much older than me. One of them was my friend Marvin. Marvin is very, very wealthy. And he'd say, Tim, I love you like a son. You can run this by your guys, but this is what I would do. I'd take this amount. I'd put it here. I'd take this amount. I'd put it here. I'd take this amount I put it here but then I would question Marvin so I could then learn so everybody needs a Marvin right because Marvin's motives were good Marvin never said and when you make this much money I want this percentage and Marvin saw my money start to go cha-ching cha-ching cha-ching it got a little crazy and um in a in a beautiful way and I think that's another time where I had to get a mind shift change that this is your life now, Tim.

15:40This is supposed to be your life. This is not just happening and it's going to go away in two years. This is your life. And it has been my life since I was 20 years of age. So to me, most speakers, unfortunately, aren't very good at social media. You've taken it on to a whole new level. Yes. You're live Instagram stories, posting from the events, getting photos with the other speakers, posting that, doing behind the scenes funny stuff, serious stuff and everything in between. Did you learn from someone? Does this evolve or you just watched the evolution of time of why you need to be involved in social media?

16:16Well, I do listen to people like you. And I feel like our conversations have really helped about really posting about things that authentic to me, like what is what is my brand? So I think my my brand is joy. My brand is goodness. My brand is next level. And I did see my social media just literally explode when I just started posting. about what I'm about, which is life. And I love the fact, this thing about social media is so wild that you know how it is. We could roll through even like a CVS and people come up to you and say all these things and you think, oh, you may have seen me just now on the NBC Today show or just last week I was on Nightline on ABC.

17:14But it's not that. It's social media. Facebook and TikTok. They know you all about social media and they feel very connected that way. So a lot of events, they're monetizing from sales from stage. Yeah. Where they sell something that they believe in or a package or a course or a one-year program, but then they bring you in. Yes. And it's typically right before the main speaker or the main sale from stage, which is how they monetize their event, which keeps the lights on. It's very expensive to throw live events, especially the events you speak at are 2 ,000, 3 ,000 people, for example. Yes. Why you?

17:48What do you think it is that makes it so that someone is more encouraged or more eyes wide open to want to make a purchase to better their life? I think one of the gifts that I have is to talk to people's hearts and really locate them of where they are and then speak to them of where they can go to. So I can help them take inventory. Like right now, I may be in a challenging time. But if you take these steps and you walk with us here at this company, we could take you from dimension to dimension to dimension. So I feel that people trust me because you're right. That's a role that I am usually in.

18:38So talk to me about investing into relationships. You know, you spend time again. Huge. You're staying at these events backstage all day long. Yeah. It would be very easy for you to fly out like the other speakers. why are you spending the money time and energy to build these relationships okay so like you notice that i text you just to say thank you out of nowhere we may not have even been at an event i just i'm just saying hey love you and then you send me some kind of really cool emoji that you get somewhere from your phone okay so so what that is about to me is gratitude, but extended. So not that I just say good things behind Dan's back, but I want to say it to your face.

19:27So every single day of my life, every single day of my life, I text 10 people. Wow, that's great. Every day of my life. That's 4 ,000 people a year. I text 10 people and I tell them, I think you're awesome. You know, I know you've been through that, but it's you're going to get out of it or congratulations on your baby. You guys just had a baby. Ten people every single day. So when you hear the quote, your network, it's relevant to your net worth. Yeah. What are your thoughts about that? Well, I think in your case, in my case, it is working. Again, it's motive. like for instance I was minding my own business and then I would meet a director who then would say I'm working on a Will Smith film maybe I want you to work with me and Will on that film I wasn't looking for that so it wasn't like I saw that guy I remember being with Steven Soderbergh, who did Oceans 11, 12, 13.

20:37And it was at a party. And he was just kind of by himself. And we just started talking about life. But I never thought, it's Steven Soderbergh. I wonder what I could get out of this Sunday. But it's so interesting on how a lot of my relationships that I sowed seed into years ago, they just started coming back to me in friendships connections or he's the guy so even like right now you know i'm working on a talk show and so we have interests from all the big networks cbs abc fox telepictures because dr phil is not doing it the same way and i think we will do it in the right time again when i'm walking in these guys offices i'm not selling anything they're liking me because they're like dude i've been following you for 20 years you encourage me one time you you even life coached me and wouldn't take my money so that's pretty wild i think why do celebrities athletes and business moguls come to you as a life coach or in bad situations okay so a lot of people will come to me, people in the addiction space, people that are in trouble financially.

22:02But I became known in the spaces that you're talking about by starting with the few Beverly Hills moguls that did well, and I had the right answers for them. But Dan, And part of the reason I had the right answers is I study. So I study two hours a day. So already today, I study two hours today. So whether I'm reading Think and Grow Rich or Atomic Habits or I'm watching a Kobe Bryant interview when he was alive on YouTube or I'm watching one of your shows, I'm studying two hours a day to grow myself out. so I think that I started to get a skill set to where I made a table stay quiet and then listen up that's what started blowing me away when I started sitting with the James Khans and sitting with the Elliot Goulds and these powerful guys at the pole lounge and and the James Con would go hey hey hey hey don't say a word Tim what do you think of this that's when I thought man I'm on to something it wasn't just charisma it was it was I was dropping I was dropping knowledge so let's talk about the charity side of things on the money Mondays why do you think it's important for us as humans let's say I run a family household yeah why inside of my family household should I have some type of charity around my wife husband children parents etc so there's there's something about reaping what you sow and there's something about this idea of when I let something go somehow God or the universe brings it back to you and I really believe this with all my heart that what I make happen for someone else life will make happen for me and I remember my mother even though she worked at Winchell's, she's raising the kids after my father passes when I'm only 10.

24:10She's got five kids, how we would go to church and she would give to the church. And she stayed faithful in her giving. But I look at her now, she's like going to be 95 soon. her houses are paid off you know her kids do well and we've always taken care of her so you you you reap what you sow so I don't give out of the idea of getting back I I give because I care just like you and I want to make somebody's life more beautiful and better but doggone it it comes back. It'll come back to you. So similar question, but someone that's listening that owns a company and they've got 35 employees, they're building up their business.

25:04Why should they incorporate philanthropy and charity into their business with their staff? I actually think that it's a must. It's essential. It's where the world is. So right now we have a world that is not just living in the mundane the mundane is we're just doing things regular we're not just living in the messy where things are disheveled we're living in the madness there's a lot of madness in this world for sure and the healers were the healers so it's it's it's common guys like us who life has chosen us to do uncommon things. So if you've been blessed with a business and you can get in the middle of all this chaos and bring healing, even if it's toys at Christmas or backpacks for back to school or feeding people, because we do it all, man, you're changing somebody's life.

26:15And who knows who that person's going to change. Wow. So there's only one question that I ask on every single episode, and I've never gotten the same answer once. So many, many years from now, after you've amassed this wealth, and unfortunately at some time, hopefully it's many, many years, 50, 100 years from now, it's time for Tim to pass away. What percentage of that massive net worth What do you leave to your children? Yeah. So I know that some of the powerful men don't leave that much to their children. I'm going to leave a lot to my children. I love it. Yeah. And the reason I'm going to do that is because I've been teaching them responsibility along the way.

26:58Yeah. So I really will tell them, like, you got this Xbox. It was not easy to get. and boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, are when the Power Rangers were hot and my son wanted them when he was a little, little kid. And I said, let me tell you something. Hardly anybody can get the Red Ranger. I found it in Denver. It wasn't easy. Just know what I've done, man. I sacrificed my life. So there's usually a lesson with a gift. But I'm going to leave a lot to my children. No doubt about it. Because I'm into leaving a legacy and wealth and wealth and wealth. So, Dan, we don't have to start like we started.

27:47By God's grace, we will never go back to where we were. Not even close. All right. Where can people find you on social media? Where can they check out anything you've been up to in particular? Yes. Podcasts, books, live events? What's going on in your world? Yeah. So, TimStory.com. So Tim and then S-T-O-R-E-Y dot com. And Dan, in front of everybody, thank you again for loving me, having my back, and caring about people. Thank you. All right, guys. You're listening to The Money Mondays where we cover our three core topics about making money, investing money, and giving away to charity. But this is what's been truly important.

28:25The reason the podcast has done so well is because of your support, liking, commenting, subscribing, et cetera. So as you guys are going through life, you've got to have blunt discussions with your friends family and followers We grew up thinking it's rude to talk about money. I think that's ridiculous You've got to be able to talk about loans salaries accounts taxes. What do you do with their bank? What happens if you borrowed 500 bucks? How do you get it back? These are real life things that go on in your life You got to feel comfortable talking about it with people in your world so we can make this a better financial society So I appreciate you guys check out Tim story across social media and Tim story calm We'll see you guys next Monday on the money mondays.com

29:05Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Money Mondays podcast where we cover three core topics. How to make money, how to invest money, how to give away to charity. This next guest has done all of those things all over the planet on the biggest stages. You've seen her on social media. You've seen her at, I don't know, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 events a year, year after year after year, spreading her positivity message, which is super important to me because I like uplifting people and she's been doing that at the highest level across the planet sometimes at events together sometimes events i've seen her in some amazing events all over the world give it up for miss natasha graziano what an intro i love that thank you so much for having me pleasure so as you guys know we cover these three core topics what i need from you natasha is to do a quick two-minute bio so we get straight to the money love it okay so he pretty much did it so well to tea.

29:53I started about eight years ago at this point, 2019 was really when my rock bottom happened. That was when I found myself on my lowest. That was the point where everything came crashing down around me. And in that moment, I was broke and in hundreds of thousands of debt. I was unwell, and I was trying to overcome life and get back on my feet. I was a single mom. Something shifted in my mind. Something in that moment told me, you're going to be a motivational speaker. And And I didn't know what it was, but I knew there was something greater for me out there. And so I decided to commit to a different goal, something that wasn't about my current reality that was something else.

30:29And from there, I built, I started a podcast, I started creating a business, I started creating a coaching business, and then the ripple effect, best selling books, et cetera, et cetera, to where we are today. We're going to talk about the et cetera, et cetera, so we're not leaving out any details today. So tell us on the make money side of this podcast, you go from wanting to be a speaker. a lot of times people go speak at events or they DJ at a party for free at first to get their name, get their connections. When was the first time you asked for money? When you're like, you know what, I want to get paid a thousand bucks, five grand, not what you're getting now, 50k, 100k.

31:01I'm talking about the times when you're trying to get a thousand, 5 ,000. Wow. So I actually decided to build a lot of value first. Like I was not going to go out there off the rip and be like, okay, I want to be paid because it doesn't work like that. You have to build your name, build your credibility build your validation build who you are by being what you talk about and taught me actually very well being omnipresent you have to be everywhere so that you create hype you create fomo you create value literally like fireworks so how do i get to that place so the first time i ever charged was probably the 10th time i went on a stage i didn't charge for so many at first because i would say mass of minutes that was a year because i was building my name building a rapport getting to know other big speakers and building who I was so that when I then go in was saying okay you know what I'm going to charge five thousand this first time it was a slam dunk yes and then you know okay that was cool and we do ten right and then you do corporate goes up to fifty then it keeps growing you know what do you think on the making money side what do you think holds people back from making money there's a huge mental block it seems like in our society where people feel like they're capped they make 30 grand a year or 40 grand a year 50 grand a year and they don't think that they can do more because of X, Y, Z.

32:17What do you think is holding them back? The limitations in their own mind. We look around us and go, I'm never going to be as good as them. Like, I'm never going to be like them. So we start to put these limitations on blocks, which are the walls of our own mind. That's all they are. Usually it's down to imposter syndrome. So we have this little voice that sits there and tells you, you're never going to do it. Give up now. You're never going to have a voice like him. Give up now. Oh, you're never going to earn money like her. Give up now. And so we stop achieving at our highest level. We stop believing in ourselves.

32:50And we start to listen to the little voice. That is just imposter syndrome. And what is on the other side of that imposter syndrome is success. It was like when they were digging for the diamonds. And they gave up right before. It's a very famous story. We all know it. And those people who originally were funny. And they gave up one meter. One meter before they found the diamonds. What does that say about life? It's the same thing. Imposter syndrome happens to tell you you are in the right place. You are meant to be there because you are about to feel success. You are about to find the diamonds.

33:23You are about to become the diamonds. There's a famous book that she's referencing by Greg Reed called Three Feet From Gold. And in this book, it explains and it shows a picture kind of what she's describing where they're just, they're spiking, spiking, spiking, digging, digging, digging, and they stop. And if you look at the other side of the meme, they kept digging and right behind there was, you know, the diamond and gold. All right. On the social media influencer side, you know, you've built up 13 million followers and growing. When you first got to the 100 ,000 and 200 ,000, 500 ,000, when do you start to decide, I'm going to start charging money to do brand deals?