Money Expert: Why You Should Give Before You’re Rich (With Derrick Kinney)

22:30Derrick Kinney:business to meet my commitment. There's nothing like growing your business based on a verbal commitment you made to somebody when the money wasn't there. It's crazy. I don't recommend it for everybody, but it just shows you that when you believe in something, people catch that. And when people sense your purpose and your passion, you become irresistible not to work with. But what I would tell you is this, please do not think that giving makes up for poor service, poor quality, and poor work. It's the bonus. Don't think you're in the business of giving. You're in the business of adding value to people's lives and solving their painful problems.

23:12Derrick Kinney:And by the way, if you do that really, really well and you give, there is a moat that's going to be hard for competitors to steal your clients away. Absolutely. And I think you and I completely align on this where, you know, when you're thinking about this process, you're saying, you know, income is probably the most important and powerful lever that you have because income is infinite. It is one of those things that you can truly earn more in an infinite capacity if you really put your mind to it. There's a bunch of different ways to earn more. But what most people do is they come in and they say to themselves, well, I'm actually just going to cut back.

23:41And that's how I'm going to try to find more money. But income, I think, is the most powerful lever that you have in building wealth. And I know you talk about that as well. So why do you think that income is something that a lot of people out there, you know, they focus on cutting back spending before they actually focus on income. But is there any other reasons that you think income could be the most powerful lever that people could pull in this situation?

24:01Derrick Kinney:Well, I do want to touch on this. And that is culturally today, the message is live within your budget. Make coffee at home. Live on rice and beans. Don't experience joy in your life. That's really the secret to financial success long term, right? At least that's what so many people sell us. So one of the, I just recorded some content on this and I talked about people rail on, if you don't make coffee at home, there's no way you can retire. So$3 for a cup of coffee. when I have coffee with a friend, somebody I respect, my brain becomes like a popcorn machine, Andrew. Ideas, pop, I'm taking notes.

24:42Derrick Kinney:If I don't probably make about$1 ,000 off an idea that I walk away from with coffee with somebody I respect, it'd be surprising. So I say coffee is the smell of money. See, it's all how you look at it. Coffee to me is an investment vehicle to make more money. Now, live within your budget is important, but ultimately that's not how people become wealthy. Hey, I achieved great riches because I lived within my budget. Typically is you want to cut any unnecessary expenses, but you want to focus on the sunroof. How else can I grow my wealth? But having said that, start giving today. Just give something today and ideally really have a family meeting and talk about what is a common cause that we as a family can care about.

25:32And in our respective businesses or individually, there would be retired couples I'd work with that they felt like they were drifting. You know, their name was no longer on a business card. They lost their identity. And what happened is people would ask, what do you do for a living? And they were like, I don't know. And they felt lazy. They felt judged. Here was somebody who worked hard to retire. And now they're getting questioned by, well, what are you doing with your life all day? And so to be able to say, well, we love to support this cause. Well, now they're associating themselves with something they're passionate about.

26:03And typically that's where other opportunities, they actually met some great investors and they were able to join in to build their wealth by finding other people who shared the same passion for the cause they had. But let me say this, what I'm not talking about is you have to give$100 ,000 to the symphony, $50 ,000 to support the arts. I literally grew my financial planning business from scratch,

26:27Derrick Kinney:giving a$25 Amazon gift card to a student of the month and a$50 Amazon gift card to a teacher of the month. $75 a month was helping attract million dollar accounts only because people are attracted to people who are givers and it elevates their status and they feel like they're part of something bigger and it makes you want to keep doing it. Absolutely. It really does change, you know, people's even perception of you. And especially, you know, overall, when you're in a business relationship, I think it's just so powerful. Some of the things that you could do with giving. Now, when it comes to this, maybe somebody is listening and they're saying to themselves, okay, I want to do this.

27:03I have causes that I believe in and I want to make sure that I can give more to those causes. One thing you talk about that I love is setting up an income target, because I think what a lot of people out there will do is they'll say, oh, I hope I can make more money this year, but they have no plan in place on how they're going to make more money. And so thinking through this, I think it is so important for people to set up income targets and income goals, just like we're setting up goals, you know, for the various areas throughout the year, you can go and set up income target goals as well. So can you talk about how someone can set up an income goal and how lofty should that goal be?

27:38Derrick Kinney:Well, if you make it too lofty, that can feel discouraging, especially the first time around. I mean, if you're making 25 grand a year. I want to make a million dollars a year. Well, technically all of us do as well, but there's just a longer runway that we need to get there. So what I would tell people is you can complain about your current salary or you can complain about your current income or you can burn brain cells to figure out how to get the income you want. Okay. So let's say that you're making$100 ,000 a year right now and you want to get to 150. Once you set that goal and you write it down and you look at it every single day, now you don't have an income problem.

28:17You just have a math problem. And the problem is, how do I get from$100 ,000 to$150 ,000? And now we can think of ourselves as the CEO of our lives and we figure stuff out. Just like if your son or daughter needed to have a delicate medical procedure and their freaking life depended on it, you as a mom or dad would become a research superhero figuring out what it would take to save your son or daughter's life. I don't want to get emotional here, but this is what's at stake. You need to apply that same level of brain cell burn to your income because that level of income can provide investment opportunities, relationship opportunities, ways for you to possibly buy the duplex you've always wanted, buy the seed startup in a company, launch your own business, all because you made that one decision.

29:10You could actually be the person that generations from now, they look back and they say, you remember Mary? You remember Ted? They literally changed our family tree. That could be you. And it starts with sometimes these one decisions. All right, I'm off my soapbox now, but I'm very passionate about that topic. All right, so now what we ask ourselves is, A, in your current job, do you have the ability to get paid more money? Okay, and if you do, then you have to come up with a game plan to get more than the 4 % raise. The 4 % raise is not the pathway to financial success. You have to ask yourself three questions.

29:45How do I help the company make more money, help the company save more money, help the company be more productive? So you need to think of yourself no longer as a title on a business card. You are a paid problem solver who provides expertise in solving a specific problem. And so when you look at yourself like that and go to your boss and say, hey, I've identified three ways to help the company make more money. I want to pre-discuss a raise with you that once we do these things for 60 days, I want to put a raise in place. Well, your boss is going to be open to that because they're going to be based on, hey, I want to make more money as well.

30:26And even if you don't hit the target, you being in close communication with your boss on a regular basis is typically not a bad thing. OK, so we've got that in play. The second thing would be, do I want to change jobs? Do I realize, you know what, here my income is capped, but you're going to have to reconstruct your resume.

30:45Derrick Kinney:Old resumes look like, you know, the dust is on them. No longer say, you know, I'm good at numbers or I'm good at folding things or putting paperclips on things. But the goal is you want to state the problem at the top of the resume. I help solve this problem so this company can make more money. Boom. You see, that's a header. You know, that's a line that captures people's attention. So it possibly means changing jobs or launching the side hustle. The key is with a crafted plan and you taking deliberate steps. And again, what I would suggest is carve out 30 minutes a day, whether it's when you first wake up, before you go to bed, but put it in your fixed calendar, time block, 30 minutes a day, income increase strategy.

31:33Derrick Kinney:And you hit it 30 minutes a day. One lesson I learned many, many years ago, the person who wrote the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, Jack Canfield, he talks about the rule of five. And he gave me this example. He said, Derek, if I go to the redwood forest with an ax. And those are big, big trees. And I take five swings a day. And by the way, I'm not advocating chopping on a redwood. Just go with me for the example here, okay? And I take five big swings a day. Eventually, what's going to happen? That redwood's coming down. Now, it's going to take a while, but days I don't show up to take the five swings, it's going to take longer.

32:10Derrick Kinney:Every day, five swings, that redwood is coming down. So the bottom line is, I would not want to stand between your listeners, Andrew, and someone who is determined to get more money. Because with a game plan, 30 minutes a day, literally you're unstoppable. And you do that, that confidence that wells up within you, you're not just going to make more money. You'll be making advances in your relationships, your career. There'll be a lot of other spokes on the wheel that expand because of that one move you make. I couldn't agree more. And I think overall, for a lot of people listening right now, it is so important what Derek's talking about to make sure that when you are starting to ask for a raise.

32:47You don't want to get those standard three to 4 % raises every single year because inflation is rising at a 3 % rate every single year. And so if you don't even get those standard raises, you're taking a pay cut every year. But it's so important to make sure you're collaborating with your boss and communicating with your boss in order to make sure that you can earn more. Here's what a lot of people did in the corporate world when I was there, is they would walk into their boss's office, they would swing the door open and they would say, hey, I'm fed up. I want to make more money. I deserve to make more money.

33:12And every single time, obviously they were rejected because there was zero anticipation from their boss that this person was going to be coming in there. And instead, if you start to have that conversation with your boss, work collaboratively on the things that you can do and show your value, make sure you're tracking your value and all the things that you're doing. Just like Derek said, areas that you're saving more or making the company more money or making the company more productive. Those are going to be super, super powerful things that can help you when you collaborate with your boss. And then setting up that daily 30 minutes is something I think is so incredibly powerful for most people because what most people will do is they will sit there and they'll let weeks go by and they won't even think about it again.

33:51And then all of a sudden they'll be like, Ooh, I didn't make more money yet. I got to figure out a way to do this. And so instead spending time every single day, having that time blocked is going to be one of the most important things that you could do. If you want to achieve something, you need to work on it day in and day out every single day. And just having a small amount of time, like 30 minutes is going to help you do that. So I love that system and that process. Because I think if you're working on it 30 minutes a day, it's inevitably going to happen. And you're going to at least make more money over that timeframe.

34:18And it's really, really important that you set that up. So when people are thinking about the three levers, and when they are thinking about, you know, how they can actually balance all this stuff out, how can they balance all of it without feeling overwhelmed?

34:31Derrick Kinney:Well, the key is to take one step at a time. And one of the things that I will do, I'm an a personality. So I tend to move pretty fast. I set lots of goals Whenever I feel overwhelmed what I found is effective for me is just to stop Now it's opposite of what I want to do I want to just keep going and keep banging my head against the wall But when I stop and I just say okay What is one thing I can do right now? And I write that one thing down And then I do that one thing Well, now i've got momentum and then I ask okay. What's another thing? I'm gonna write it down I write it down because it gives me a feeling of accomplishment to check off the box that I did it.

35:07Derrick Kinney:Well, now I'm back in the game again because sometimes as counterintuitive as it sounds, slow is fast. You know, one of the things when I'm on a stage and I talk about how do you talk to people in high-stakes conversations because ultimately money is made when you're having a high-stakes conversation. And you hear that, you know, let's say a man is in church and he gets called on to pray by surprise or gets called on. And this happens with women as well. And suddenly their voices go way, way high. And they talk really, really fast because they're surprised. I'm here in Texas and we love our barbecue.

35:43Derrick Kinney:And the way they cook brisket, my favorite barbecue item is they cook it low and slow. And what I tell people is when you're in a high stakes conversation, you want to go brisket. You want to talk a little bit lower and just a little bit slower. and when you do that, you automatically sound more authoritative and trusted and credible. And when I talk a bit lower and slower, people want to lean in and they say, what is he talking about? And so I would encourage you, the moment you feel the most nervous is when you need to talk the lowest and the slowest to counteract that. Because typically those high stakes conversations are the moments where money is made.

36:23Derrick Kinney:And so please don't think that, again, giving is the ticket to grow the business. Giving is a way to complement what you're doing. Ultimately, people want to know you, like you, and trust you. And I love the analogy, Andrew, that you said about many people bang on the boss's door. Please remember this. Besides this great podcast, people's favorite radio station is always WIIFM. What's in it for me? And people play that station loudly every single day. Most people, as much as I hate to say this to myself, don't even care about me. All they care about is, do I have the ability to help them make money, save money, make their life better, or increase their productivity and help them achieve what they want in life?

37:10And when I do one of those five things, I have the ability to help them become

37:15Derrick Kinney:wealthy and then simultaneously, I become wealthy as well and my income goes up. So if you're only in the camp of I'm going to beg and bang on the door of my boss for a raise, you'll probably get it because labor force is pretty tight right now, but you're not getting paid the true value of what you're worth. You've got to help other people make money, save money, be more productive, improve their life, help them achieve their goals. You do those five things, you're going to start making the money you deserve and you're going to feel good because you're helping make other people's lives better.

37:47Absolutely. And that is such a key is that, you know, when you start to earn more, when you start to be able to pull some of these levers, you can really truly change other people's lives. And I think that is just the impact that a lot of people if you focus on that as your North Star, instead of just buying more stuff, and there's nothing wrong with buying more stuff, as we'll talk about in a second. But overall, I think it's just so powerful to have that North Star that you can look at to motivate you going forward. Now, a lot of personal finance advice is guilt driven. Now, we alluded to this a little bit earlier, you know, stop spending money on lattes is what a lot of people will say, or, you know, stop spending money on fun.

38:18And you and I kind of agree on this. And we take the opposite approach where I want you to spend more on the things that truly bring you value and more on the things that you truly want to do. And so overall, why do you take the opposite approach with this?

38:31Derrick Kinney:Well, let me give an example. So I was driving to the TV station like a week ago to an interview in Dallas. And I took an Uber there. And in the car, I filmed myself and I asked a question. I said, now, this Uber ride is costing me$49 from my home in Arlington to Dallas and$49 from Dallas back. So that's$100. Is it worth me spending$100 to have someone else drive me? I said, first of all, the first 30 minutes, I'm going to practice my script so I know what to say on TV. But on the way back, I'm going to call people back, check emails, and likely probably make at least$1 ,000 in revenue on the way back in the car.

39:08Derrick Kinney:How many of you would do the same thing? And it was kind of split. I mean, you have to have an entrepreneurial mindset to think like that. But oftentimes I might be on a Saturday and I may be watching Netflix and someone else is mowing my grass and someone, well, Derek, you're lazy. What the heck? Why are you watching TV? You could be mowing your grass yourself. It's because I'm choosing times to put my brain on the payroll and times to give my brain a break from the payroll because it gives me a better brain. My whole concept is I've got to manage my brain cells to create revenue and add value to people's lives.

39:44If I'm burning brain cells on the smallest things, there won't be enough brain cells to go around to do the big things, the big goals I've got. And so that's what I would tell people is, look, you've got to find out what are your goals. There's lots of good opportunities, but there's few great ones. And when you learn to say no to the good ones and focus on the great ones, those are levers that will dramatically increase your income and your opportunities. So the goals, you got to go back to that and say, this is my goal, is this opportunity in congruence with my goal. And if it's not, thank you so much, Andrew, for that opportunity.

40:21I wish you the best with that, but it's not on my goal path. And the more that you say no, the farther you can go. It's amazing. And the other thing I would tell people is I recorded a quick video. This was at 2.30 a few nights ago in the morning.

40:35Derrick Kinney:I got popped up and I began to record videos of ideas I was having. And some of these are really, really good ideas. But when I've not done this, I miss great ideas in the morning. I'm like, I'll remember it. I'm not getting out of my nice warm bed. But this particular night I got up and captured them. And the ideas I got, there are several thousand dollars of ideas on those videos. I could either wake up and be tired or wake up and be tired, but about to make more money. And one was more attractive to me. So it's all how you think. And just remember, people who make the most money think differently.

41:09Derrick Kinney:It's why they make the most money. And when you're okay with that, you become better to deal with that. Absolutely. And I think it's one of those things just to kind of piggyback off your point. I think learning to say no is a skill. And I think overall, a lot of people out there, you know, when I was in my early 20s, I would say yes to literally everything. I would say yes to making sure I saved money by, like you said, mowing the lawn or making sure I was cleaning my pool or doing all those different things. All of a sudden, And I realize when you start to learn to say no to the things that don't matter to you anymore, or that's not going to provide you the impact that you want, overall, it makes saying yes so much easier.

41:41And your yeses are so much greater because you said no. And I think that's just such a powerful lesson that a lot of people need to learn. And it's definitely a skill overall. Now, what would you say to someone who feels guilty? Because a lot of people out there, when it comes to their money, they'll start to feel guilt around not giving enough or not saving enough right now. So what would you say to someone who starts to feel guilt around their money?

42:03Derrick Kinney:Well, again, what I go back to is you've got to figure out what's important to you. What is it that you want? I mean, ultimately, we all have one life and we're all going to reach the end of that. And are we going to have regrets of what we could have done? Or are we going to be thankful? Like, man, I'm sure glad I did that. It didn't turn out very well, but I'm sure glad I did that. It's a great story. So I would just ask people right now, the moment they finish listening to this, write down your five goals, what those are in your life. Then once you know what that is, now you can assign value to what it is that you want.

42:37Derrick Kinney:And by the way, it's okay to want to make a lot of money. One of the core tenets of my book is how to make more money to do more good. But I wrote it because I would have clients come into my office, this was pre-pandemic, and say, Derek, I'm hearing a lot about how it's bad to want to make a lot of money. But if you have a lot of money, you must be a really bad person, like you're withholding opportunities from other people so they can't have, so you can have all of it. I was like, who in the world is telling you this? And what happened is there's this whole vibe about, look, if you just want to make it all about money, then you're bad.

43:14Derrick Kinney:And so that's where this concept came about was, look, I'm a big fan. I like, I really like money. Money to me is fun to manage. It's fun to make. It's fun to grow it. It's fun to help other people make money. Money to me is just really, really fun. But what I realized was what makes it even funner, if that's a pretend word, is to tie a cause to it. Like, I want to go make a lot of money for all the good, like I'll set goals up of here are the things I want to give money to, but I need to make the money first to do it. A friend of mine, Dan Miller, he has since passed. He said, Derek, one of the things I would tell you is if you want to help the poor, don't become one yourself.

43:53Derrick Kinney:That was deep when I heard that. It was also kind of mildly offensive to the poor. But nonetheless, you don't want to be, you don't want to become poor. People think, well, I need to not have any money. That's going to be my greatest sacrifice. No, no, no. Go make a lot of it by adding value to people's lives so that you can then be the giver that you want to be. But keep in mind, a lot of life, you will be misunderstood. People will question you. People wonder what you're doing. And as long as you can state, here's my goal, Pat, this is what's important to me. People purchase passion. They'll question you, but they purchase it because they wish they had the same level of passion that you did.

44:32Absolutely. That kind of leads me into my next question, because you talk about money being a tool, not the goal. And I think overall, you know, we've talked about that a ton on this podcast, how money is a tool and it's a tool to get you specific outcomes that you want in life. But why do so many people get this backwards? Why Why do so many people not realize that money is a tool?

44:50Derrick Kinney:Well, I think we've grown up with our parents and grandparents well-meaning saying, look, you're probably only going to make so much money in life because they're sort of the haves and the have-nots. And we're sort of one of the have-not families. We're not the well-to-do family. You're always going to be probably at this level. And at a young age, I think people grow up believing that this is my lid. This is why they don't get the promotions or the pay raises. It's more of this mental holdback that they were taught when they were younger. And because of that, it's the belief system that often creeps in.

45:26Derrick Kinney:For example, I had a woman in the office. This was several years ago. I came in the office on a Saturday to check and kind of follow up on things. And I saw my voicemail, I blinked. And Preston, in this frantic woman's voice, she said, Derek, Derek, I know it's Saturday. You've got to call me back. They're about to send me to jail. Can you help me? Andrew, have you ever had anybody leave a message that say they're about to be sent to jail? That ever happened to you? I have not had that happen. Nor had it ever happened to me. So I knew I couldn't wait till Monday. Called her right back. I said, why are they going to send you to jail?

45:57Derrick Kinney:She said, well, I got this letter that said I didn't move my money from savings to checking. She basically wrote a hot check on accident. It was a non-sufficient funds letter. And she said they were going to send her to jail. I said, well, first of all, why do you feel like they're going to send you to jail? So she tells me a story. She says, when I was a kid, I overheard a phone call that my dad took from a store owner saying that her dad had just bought school supplies for she and her sister, that her dad had bounced a check, and that the owner was going to call the cops and send her dad to jail.

46:31Derrick Kinney:And so she grew up, she's now like 65 years old. She grew up believing that if you bounce a check, you go to jail. Or if you make a bad decision, you go to jail. And so this was a woman on the outside, the picture of success. But on the inside, this wilting flower, she was complaining about getting passed over for the raise, the bonus. I said, let's come in next week. We'll help you move the money and cover the check from the bank. I'll help you with that. But come in. Let's unpack the situation. So we begin to talk and she begins to realize, oh, my gosh, all these beliefs I've had have held me back.

47:05Derrick Kinney:within three months, she got a$25 ,000 a year raise and got promoted to vice president. And it was all because she realized, oh my gosh, I was letting these belief system hold me back. So what I would tell people is, and this can happen to very successful people, is something off with your money. Are you not making the money that you know you deserve? Not that you want a handout, out, but you know that you're capable and you're worthy of a certain amount, you're not making it. Ask yourself, are you doing something? Is there something in your head holding you back saying that you don't deserve it, you're not worthy about it, or you worry if I make a mistake that I can't have money?

47:50And what I told her is, look, people who have money make even more mistakes.

47:55Derrick Kinney:It's sort of the football analogy of if you get beat on the long ball and they score the touchdown, And the coach says, you just forget about that one. It's the next play that counts. And that's what I began to tell her, and it helped her and a lot of our other clients as well. Don't worry about the past play. It's the next play that counts. Exactly. And I just read an article this morning, actually. It was talking through just the psychology behind money. And, you know, a lot of us have talked about this in the past. But it's one of those things where, you know, by age seven, you have a lot of things ingrained in your brain already about money.

48:25And if you don't realize, you know, how to utilize money properly, you have to kind of rewire your brain. I had to do this very early on in my 20s where my first job, I wasn't making much money. I was living paycheck to paycheck. And I had to rewire my brain and understand how money works. I was self-taught. And so I started to read books and I started to go through all these processes. And the more you learn about how money actually works, the more you kind of see the opportunities that are available to you and how it is a tool that will unlock so many really cool situations in life where you can get financial freedom.

48:54You can be in different rooms, have different opportunities. There's so many cool things that you can have just by learning how to build wealth. But the most important one overall is that you can have impact with your money. And I think that is just what is so cool about this. My relationship with money has changed a lot over the years. Early on, I thought building wealth was about making more money. Now, I know it's really about having clarity. When you know exactly where your money is going and whether you're on track, you make better decisions. That's one of the reasons I love Monarch. It's the personal finance app that tracks everything from your accounts and investments to your savings, goals, and spending.

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52:09It gives your job post the boost it needs to be seen and helps reach people with the right skills, certifications, and more. Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Listeners of this show will get a$75 sponsored job credit at Indeed.com slash podcast. That's Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need a hiring hero? This is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs. You and I both have kids. I have really young kids and we have kind of started to think through, well, how can we teach our kids about generosity and how to manage money?

52:41And so we came up with this idea to kind of give them three different jars where one is save, one is spend and one is give. And that's kind of how we taught them to at least budget, you know, while they're under the age of six, you know, how to kind of put money together in a budget and do it with these three different jars. But how have you found ways to teach kids how to be generous or how to teach them about generosity?

53:02Derrick Kinney:Well, it's funny. There is a business club that I taught at our kids' school. So our kids went to a local school. And I thought to myself, Derek, you've got some business wisdom you want to share it. But I wanted to wait for a student to approach me because I don't want it to be like parent-led. Like I don't want to be the parent forcing this on the kids. So a student came to me. I prayed about this. And his name was Jared Steele. And Jared said, Mr. Kenny, would you consider like teaching us about this? I said, yes. Well, do you want to think about it? No, no. I've been waiting. I just didn't know who it was going to be to ask, and it's you.

53:32Derrick Kinney:So we do this, and there's a$5 challenge that I began to do. Now, we started this club with about 10 students. It grew to like 80 at the high point. We had to take over the gym. It was the biggest club in the school. And so I would give out a crisp$5 bill to everybody in the room there. As you can imagine, it caught their attention, and I said, here's the game. I said, in life, there's moments where your back is against the wall, and you have to make something happen. Here's the deal. In the next 24 hours, whoever can make this$5 into the most money will win a suite of fabulous prizes, $100 Amazon gift card.

54:11Derrick Kinney:And it was really nice. And the goal was, it wasn't about the money. It was the lesson to teach them and motivate them. And I said, now, out of curiosity, how many of you right now are probably not going to participate in the$5 challenge? Half the hands go up. I said, okay, that's great. I said, the$5 is yours to keep. Buy yourself a cup of coffee. Give it away. No problem. How many of you want to do this thing? Half the hands go up. I said, okay, here's the deal. You're going to be faced now with voices inside that say, what are you doing? You're dumb. You're stupid. This is the dumbest exercise ever.

54:42Derrick Kinney:Just fight that. And then 24 hours from now, I want you to text me what you did. Okay. So 24 hours later, I began to get text messages from these students. And one of them, a storm had come through the neighborhood. and he decided to buy a box of trash bags for$4.98 and he went around to all the houses and offered to pick up the debris in their yard and he raised$90, okay? Another young man texted me, his sister had a soccer game, hot day on the soccer field that following day and he bought two cases of bottled water and sold the bottle of water and made like$75, okay? My own daughters, waiting to the last minute, they made cupcakes and went around the neighborhood and told people, hey, we're selling cupcakes.

55:31Derrick Kinney:It's a$5 challenge. One of our neighbors went back and gave them a$100 bill to reward them just for doing something hard. Now, the cool part of the story is all of these students learned some really cool lessons. But it gets me emotional thinking about this. Dang it. the student who did the trash bags asked me to write him a letter to get him into the ut austin business school and with great pleasure andrew i wrote your school is about to get a student who took five dollars and made it ninety dollars with a box of trash bags and initiative think what he'll do with an mba from your school i would encourage you to give him every possible scholarship and I believe they almost gave him a full ride.

56:20Derrick Kinney:So the lesson of all that was, it was a good investment. And I told those students, I said, all of you are really, really good investments. You're worth me giving you$5 because I bet on you any day. And some of them still talk about that, that it was that moment where they had to do something, their back was against the wall that prepared them that in quote real life, when their back was against the wall, they had the courage and the belief in themselves to do it. And there's just truly something when you're teaching to give real world exercises like that for people, because once they start to see this, they will never, ever forget that exercise.

56:57And that is something I think that is so powerful for people listening right now. If you want to teach and if you want to teach other people, you know, how to do certain things, maybe you're listening to this and you're like, I want to teach other people about money as well. I want to teach my kids about money and I want to plant that seed into them. Well, if that's the case, learning how to find real world situations, just like what Derek explained is so powerful for people because they will not forget it. And I think that is just so impactful long-term because you can do these small exercises and once the light bulb goes off for them and they understand the exercise, all of a sudden they can take that to huge, different, insurmountable, you know, options that are out there where they can start a business.

57:35They could do all these different cool things that makes it really, really powerful. Now, one thing I love, Derek, is that you have this new course and you gave me a sneak peek at it before you actually launched it originally called Simple Teen Success. And you created this program that basically is teaching a huge gap in the market today for a lot of teens out there. Now, as a parent yourself, you've kind of seen some of those challenges firsthand. So what do you think are the key skills or traits that kind of can help a teenager stand out and set themselves up for success early on?

58:05Derrick Kinney:Well, one of the biggest challenges, and this is what teens have told me is, Derek, we don't feel comfortable talking to adults. Okay, so let me paint a picture. Let's say that a young person, let's say they're a junior in high school, they walk into Target or to Costco, and they happen to see parents of their friends, but those parents don't see them yet. And the young person has a choice to make. Do they A, confidently walk up and say, well, hi, Mr. and Mrs. So-and-so, it is so nice to see you, or do they dip into the chip aisle and hope they don't see them? By a show of hands, when I asked this to groups of teenagers, probably 80%, they're dipping into the chip aisle.

58:46Okay. And so I asked them, I said, now, why would you do that? Well, A, I don't want to look foolish.

58:50Derrick Kinney:I don't know what to say. And it feels embarrassing. So I don't fault them because they're being honest. And so what I realized was we need to give teenagers a playbook of exactly what to say and do. so opportunity comes true for them. And so what we practice then in this course is teaching them what to say, to walk up and say, well, hi, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, it is so nice to see you. And then oftentimes they're gonna be caught by surprise, but they'll always ask, hey, well, how's school going? And this is where the teen can either fumble the ball or cross it over the goal line and score the touchdown.

59:26Derrick Kinney:The teen shouldn't say, oh, school is fine. And then the conversation ends. Instead, you wanna say, and we train them on this, tell them something you're excited about because no teen is ever excited about anything. And when you sound excited, you stand out because the secret to connect with adults is to relate to them. You see, all adults, I joke about this, we all have this private club that we all talk about the teenagers who engage us, who we would engage and say, hey, do you know somebody who could watch my house for the weekend while we go on vacation or somebody who could intern at our company?

1:00:01Derrick Kinney:and that list is very, very short. But the teen that walks up and shakes your hand, well, hi, Mr. Smith, it is so great to see you. Those are the teens you remember. And so we teach the teen to talk about, you know, I'm taking this class in school that I really, really love, or I'm working part-time and I really love this opportunity, or here's what I'm working on. Well, suddenly now you're engaging. Then we teach the teen how to end the conversation because that can be awkward too. Well, I don't want to keep talking. Hey, I know you're in a rush. It was so great to see you both. Have a great day.

1:00:30Out of there. The whole interaction takes less than 60 seconds. But what you've done is you placed a seed in that adult's mind of you are on the teen approved list. Exactly. So the whole course is giving teenagers a playbook. For example, one of my favorites is I call this the sports stand play. So how many teenagers are caught in the baseball bleachers, the gymnasium bleachers, watching their sister or their brother play basketball, football, baseball, whatever it is, and suddenly you're seated next to a random adult.

1:01:06Derrick Kinney:And you've got this decision to make. Do I just stare straight ahead and not look at the adult at all, pretend like he's not there for two hours, or do I engage the adult? Well, teenagers just don't know what to do or say. And so we teach them a couple questions to engage the adult. And because oftentimes all we learned is, Andrew, and this is real important for adults to hear, most adults feel as ill-equipped to talk to the teen as the teen feels ill-equipped to talk to the adult. So just realize you're both are on neutral territory right now. Don't wait for the adult because oftentimes they won't.

1:01:39They don't know what to say either. So instead you want to say to the adult, hey, who are you here to see? And that adult will typically say, oh, that's my granddaughter. That's my grandson. Well, now you're talking. A dialogue has emerged. And then you want to say, oh, hey, out of curiosity, are you from, insert whatever city you're in, are you from Arlington, are you from Dallas? No, I actually am from Boston. Well, now a deeper conversation has emerged. Now you're actually talking to somebody, okay? Now you want to say, hey, crazy question. What's something you're doing right now that you're super excited about?

1:02:12I know it sounds like a crazy question. Well, now they're going to share something they really like. man, I really like woodworking. I love running marathons. I love whatever it is. Well, now the key is you've had a bona fide conversation that might last for five minutes, might last the whole game. But here's the key. Is it likely that you will see that person at the next game and the next game? Well, now you have a friend. Well, hey, Mr. Jones, it's good to see you. Well, hey, Tim, nice to see you. Now you know somebody. And see, what you didn't know was Mr. Jones owns the hardware company who knows a friend who's looking for the intern who needs somebody to be.

1:02:49And that's how it goes. But unless you engage the adult, the door of opportunity will stay closed. So that's what the whole course is about is just simple, practical ways to give teenagers the confidence to engage with adults so opportunities come their way. And the skill and confidence that comes with learning these skills is just going to be the most important thing overall, I think, as time goes on here in the revolution world. There's a lot of folks right now who spend a lot less time engaging. In fact, I just read a study that people are engaging or spending time with other people in person 50 % less than they used to.

1:03:24And I think it's just so incredibly impactful that if you can have conversations with people, and if you can even just make sure that you're saying hi to people, they found that the kids who were the most popular in high school were the ones that just said hi to the most people. And I think it's just one of those things where if you learn how to have some of these communication skills, instead of running away from them, it can absolutely unlock so many different opportunities for you. Because when teens can learn to have these conversations, it makes their adult life so much easier because they can naturally just have some of these adult conversations.

1:03:53And I think even adults need to learn some of these skills. I learned some things just from going through some of the lessons that you had there that I think are really, really important. So what are some practical exercises that maybe parents can kind of work through with their teens to strengthen their communication skills?

1:04:06Derrick Kinney:Well, one of the things I think no parent wants to force a course on their kids. No parent wants to look uncool. I mean, there's so much pressure these days of like saying no. Most parents don't want to have one more no to say. So one of the effective strategies that we've tested and it's proven to work for parents is to approach their teen and say, hey, I've got this crazy idea, but I don't think you're going to like it. So go negative with it. And then let them say, well, what do you mean? Well, there's this course that people are talking about, about how to better communicate with adults that people are saying is really cool, but I don't know if you are going to like it or not.

1:04:47Well, let me decide that.

1:04:49Derrick Kinney:And suddenly the teen is bringing themselves into this no discussion. They're selling themselves. Well, I tell you what, why don't you watch it and you can stop anytime. Or if you watch the whole thing just for fun, you pick the chore you least like to do around the house and I'll do it for you. Well, okay, I'll do it then. Well, suddenly now you're the cool parent through the whole dialogue. You didn't force them at all. You threw it out there. You took it away twice and they are the ones that opted in. So that type of approach can be very, very effective for something like this. And what we're finding is the teenagers really like it.

1:05:29Derrick Kinney:It's binge worthy. It's like five to 10-minute sessions. Very, very easy. And this was kind of cool. And we will actually revive this again, Andrew, based on the response we get, is Robert Graham. These are the shirts I wear. They're like wearing art. Robert Graham actually wanted to partner with me on this. And they said, hey, for the teens, the first three teens who take the course and send you their three takeaways, we will let them pick anything from the Robert Graham website that they can wear. It was cool. And so here, Robert Graham is a shirt I've worn. I've worn these types of shirts for years, but they were like, Derek, we love what you're doing because their brain is all about confidence.

1:06:08And they know that my course is about giving teens confidence. It was just this cool synergy. So the key is if you tell your teen, hey, you're going to take this course, you might as well just check out on that one. But if you do the takeaway, highly effective. Exactly. Yes. It's like the psychology game almost with them, which is absolutely awesome. I love that. And I think it's really, really powerful overall. And these are the lessons that I wish they taught these more in schools. I wish they taught this stuff, you know, along with personal finance, obviously, in schools, because this is the stuff people are actually going to use.

1:06:39And I think that's why it's so powerful. So in your opinion, are there any skills, because you've been around teenagers, and one of the cool things I love is that you're teaching this live inside the course, which is cool. But in your opinion, are there any skills that teens need to develop before they go off into college? Or what are the most important ones that they need to develop?

1:06:57Derrick Kinney:Well, what I'm going to tell you is going to sound really crazy, and I didn't believe it at first. Okay. So when we filmed this course, we had 13 teens come over to the house, different ethnic backgrounds. I wanted everybody who took this course to see themselves in the course. Okay. Because all these skills apply to everybody. So one of the questions I asked was, how many of you are comfortable with your smile? No hands go up. I'm like, what? And I said, out of curiosity, why do you not like your smile? And these were very, I encouraged open conversation. They said, well, I feel like I look goofy.

1:07:30I look awkward. I look dumb. I said, really? And so I gave each of them a handheld mirror. And I said, here's what we're going to do. This is going to make you feel really goofy, but I need you to do this. I want you to look in the mirror and I want you to see what a good smile looks like. And so they're all smiling. And I said, here's the deal. I want you to remember what a good smile feels like.

1:07:55Derrick Kinney:So, for example, when I go on TV, and I'll illustrate this for you now, when I'm interviewing and I go like this, I know it's a good smile. I've practiced. I know when my top teeth touch my bottom lip, it's a good smile. Just like when a woman takes a picture, they go into the fancy pose, like they put their leg out, their arm out. It's like instinctual. And so what I encourage people to do is, especially when you're face-to-face, when you know what a good smile feels like, now you can be confident that you look good. And so what I told the teens to do was take the mirror home and practice smiling so that you know what a good smile feels like.

1:08:37Derrick Kinney:And then I added the dad joke and I said, it increases your face value. And they all laughed. I mean, that kind of thing. But nonetheless, the goal was look at how can you make people feel with a first impression. So in our business club, for example, we would do exercises like we would divide the whole group up and have one group walk toward the other group. And when they got within 10 feet, I would have them nod and smile. And within five feet, hey, how are you? Which lines up directly with what you just said. If people just say hi to people, they're more liked. Okay? And we would practice that.

1:09:09Derrick Kinney:And so what would happen is, and this was a lesson I learned as an adult, I thought I knew what the best exercises were for these teens. Well, we did this for 10 years. So people graduated high school, went to college, had families, started their own businesses. They began to come back to me and said, hey, Mr. Kenny, you remember when you taught us about know you, like you, trust you? Well, that helped me get this job. Or do you remember when you told us about walking toward and saying hi to people? Well, that opened up a door. Or do you remember when you taught us never to say nice to meet you because I might have met them before?

1:09:46Instead, say nice to see you. It caused me, it kept me from embarrassment. And so what I did is I took the feedback these teens gave me that said actually worked, like they actually liked it, and we just put that into the course.

1:09:59Derrick Kinney:So it was a lesson for me of like what I thought would work. I don't know, but what tested the teen said really was effective, that's in the course. And so we set this up. I think it's like$97 plus there's a bonus course in there. The key is we just want to get this into the hands of as many teens as possible because we know it's a game changer. If you can connect with adults, they are the doorways of opportunity for scholarships, part-time jobs, full-time opportunities. But most importantly, I just know that a confident teen is a better teen. And one of the things we teach them, I'll just add one more thing if I might, Andrew.

1:10:37One of the questions that we teach the teen to ask, and this causes heart palpitations in many a parent, is we will say to your parents, to the teens, okay, on Friday, say to your mom or dad or both, hey, could we meet for 30 minutes on Saturday morning so I can review my week with you so that you know what's going on? I love that. That's like every parent's dream. Like parents have called in and said, dude, that one question was worth the whole course because no teen does that. It's the heartfelt desire of every parent to have that. And what that does is it builds respect. And I said, it's no guarantee, but there's going to be moments where you may need the longer curfew.

1:11:19And if you built a trust with mom and dad, they can count on you and you're asking them the other question. hey, by the way, of all the chores you want me to do, what's the most important chore you want to make sure I do this week? Yes, those two questions, you're pretty much golden in terms of building trust with your parents. Exactly. That is such a powerful thing is that you actually have things that where you can connect with the parents as well. And I think it's just so important for people to have these skills. And I think it's so cool. What would you guys see? So if people want to get the course, Derek, where can they find that before we jump into the quick questions here?

1:11:50Derrick Kinney:Yeah, yeah. SimpleTeenSuccess.com. SimpleTeenSuccess.com. John Gordon, Will Goddard, a couple other great people have endorsed it and speak highly of it. The bottom line is it's only stuff that works. And the teens are giving us feedback now that this is great. And even parents are telling us, hey, they're seeing their teens' confidence improve rapidly. So I always like to say take what I say as a grain of salt. Take what the parents say as proof. Exactly. Again, I've gone through some of the lessons. I think it is so incredibly powerful and it is one of the most impactful things. So we'll link that up in the show notes down below as well.

1:12:28So you guys can check that out. Now, Derek, I want to shift gears here to a couple of rapid fire questions that we ask all of our guests that I absolutely love. And I would love to hear kind of what you say on these as well. So if you could tell your younger self one thing, what would it be?

1:12:43Derrick Kinney:Oh, don't worry about what other people think. I love it. That's a lesson in and of itself. It's a skill overall. I think sometimes that people have to develop over time. What is the best money advice you've ever received? Bet on yourself and also listen to yourself. If you feel like, uh, I always pray about decisions. And so if I feel like God is calling me to do something as crazy as it sounds, I take action on it. Um, action is what leads to satisfaction and it's made me quite a bit of money doing things that I feel like I know I need to do that make me feel uncomfortable. Typically, the best opportunities make you feel the most uncomfortable.

1:13:23Derrick Kinney:That's when I know I need to do it. I love it. How do you plan to level up your finances in the next year? Well, one of the things I like to do, I believe like your net worth is like the report card for adults. Okay. So I review my net worth every single quarter and I set financial goals that I want to hit every single quarter. And then my wife and I are talking about money all the time, but those for me, I clearly evaluate. Again, money is very important to me. It's the business I'm in. And so I want to make sure that I'm always practicing what I'm preaching. And by monitoring my net worth, that helps me do that in the best way possible.

1:14:01I love that. The last one is my favorite, which is what does wealth mean to you?

1:14:06Derrick Kinney:Well, wealth means to me different categories. We were on the court with three of our kids last night playing pickleball. That's relational wealth. Man, you're asking questions that generate some emotions here, Andrew. You know, when I think about a stoplight, I was out with my son a few months ago and I said, hey, what are you going to do now? He opted to go the non-college route. He said, well, I think I'm going to start my own business. And I said, why? He said, well, because that's what we do in our family. Because all of our kids are entrepreneurs and dad's an entrepreneur. And it hit me that more is caught than taught.

1:14:47And I was like, whoa, so that's wealth.

1:14:50Derrick Kinney:And then I think about just teaching our kids that there's no lid. We have a sunroof family and not a lid family. That's what wealth is. And so now I'm seeing some of these lessons and I'm seeing all of our kids launch their own businesses and now they're rolling. And now the biggest wealth is just for me to just get out of the way and let them create their own wealth. I love it. And I think that's one of the most impactful things that we can have is teaching those lessons to our kids and kind of pass that out from generation to generation is so incredibly powerful. Well, Derek, this has been absolutely amazing.

1:15:22Thank you so much for coming on here. Where can people We'll find out more about you, more about your podcast, more about everything else that you do. In addition to, we'll talk about simple teen success again.

1:15:30Derrick Kinney:Yeah, a couple of places, Derekkenny.com is the primary website. Simple teen success, of course, where to buy the course. You can follow us on LinkedIn at Derekkenny. And then our most popular channel is Instagram at Derekkenny. Just daily tips on how to make money and save money and really get paid what you deserve. Absolutely. And thank you so much. We'll link all those up down in the show notes below so that everybody can check them out. Derek, thank you again so much for being here. This was awesome. Andrew, this has been great. I always love your podcast. You're such a great person. You're the real deal.

1:16:02Derrick Kinney:I've enjoyed every minute of this. Thanks for having me. Thank you.

1:16:21I'm not giving up. I am selling the building. The final season of FX is the Bear. The restaurant is flooded. Everything's either gonna be okay. Or not. We are outgunned and we are outmanned. We have each other. FX is the Bear, the final season. All episodes now streaming on Disney+.