The Mindset That Took A Shark from Poverty to Millions

0:00There is one main thing that is blocking you from reaching your full potential. And it's all because you're trying to do everything alone. And that's a big problem because real growth happens when you build a community, when you're in a room full of people who want to see you thrive, who support you becoming your best self. And if that's something you're looking for, then make sure to join me at the Summit of Greatness live at the iconic Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, down in Hollywood, September 12th and 13th. because this year is a powerful lineup of incredible speakers and performers like Gabby Bernstein, like Dr.

0:38Tara Swart, like Brenda Bouchard, Amy Purdy, and so many more inspiring surprise guests. You'll experience a couple days of transformation and inspiration and deep connection with the community that actually gets you and wants to see you thrive. Tickets are selling fast, so go to lewishowes.com slash tickets right now to get your seats. Bring your friends and family. And I can't wait to see you there at the Summit of Greatness very soon. Welcome back, my friend, to the School of Greatness. If you are like me and you love business and entrepreneurship, if you love how to turn creative ideas in your mind into a reality, into the physical world, to be of service to other people, then this is going to be the episode for you.

1:23And for years, years, I have been watching a show called Shark Tank. And we've interviewed many of the sharks on this podcast over the years, some of my friends who we've had on here, who have helped invest in small entrepreneurs and business owners for years on Shark Tank, and also just inspired people through educating and informing them how to really grow a business. And today I get to interview Robert Herjavec, who I've always been inspired by. He's kind of like one of the nicest sharks, it seems like, on Shark Tank. and I've always been inspired by his insight and his generosity. And he is a powerful business leader, entrepreneur, and today we're talking about how to explore the deeper dimensions of building wealth and living a life of purpose.

2:13He's going to share intimate details about his journey, including a powerful story on how hitting rock bottom led him to rediscover his faith and joy. There are so many moments where Robert had to pause and think and really reflect about the questions and the conversation we were talking about because he hadn't been asked some of these questions ever. So it was fun to have this conversation with him where a lot of these individuals who are on TV or doing a lot of interviews usually get asked the same questions. But as you guys know, I like to go off script a lot and ask things that I'm feeling based on how someone's energy is, how their heart is, and how our connection is before the interview actually starts.

2:56And he reveals game-changing insights about the difference between hard work and smart work, why real wealth requires more than just passion, and how to maintain joy while pursuing ambitious goals. He shared so many cool stories right off the bat that I think you're really going to love. So make sure to take notes, share this with one friend, just copy and paste the link on Apple or Spotify and share it with a friend. And again, big thank you to everyone who is just showing up for yourselves as well. During these episodes, taking this information in, diving in deep, sharing with your friends, I appreciate you.

3:34I am grateful for you and you deserve great things in your life. Without further ado, let's dive into this episode with Robert Herjavec. Welcome back, everyone, in the School of Greatness. I'm very excited about our guest. We have the inspiring Robert Herjavec in the house. So good to see you, sir. Thank you for having me. Welcome. I've watched you for, I guess, 15 years now on Shark Tank or 15 plus years. 17. 17 years on Shark Tank. We have many mutual friends that you're buddies with that I've had on the show as well. and you just have an inspiring story and inspiring life and I'm glad we got to connect a little bit before this because you've been inspiring young and old entrepreneurs for many years to learn about how to grow their business how to launch a product how to package and position their product and I mean your story is pretty fascinating because you you're an immigrant you're an immigrant family I think you came to Canada when you were eight but you didn't have anything your dad didn't have any money.

4:36You guys were living in extreme poverty. So how do you learn to go from, I guess, a poverty situation and turn it into an abundance mindset? Like when does that learn, switch for you of like, we're in poverty, whether you knew it or not, but you had a poverty mindset or maybe you didn't, but you're in experiencing poverty. When does that switch on to abundance of wealth mindset? It's a great question. And that's a great question. Somebody Somebody asked me yesterday because they knew my story. I went for a medical and the nurse was like, oh my God, I read about your story and you came to Canada with nothing, blah, blah, blah.

5:13It must have been so hard. And the truth is it wasn't. I mean, it was my mom and dad escaping from a country, coming to Canada on a boat with one suitcase and I'm the only child. Wow. So for them, absolutely, horrifically hard. didn't speak the language had no money my dad was in jail could never go back the whole nine yards wow comes to a country doesn't know anybody doesn't speak the language now i'm eight years old first time on a boat like it's an adventure it's an adventure it just been poverty wasn't my mindset and i think that's a big difference i think people that are born into poverty or encompassed in poverty it's harder to get out of my mindset was joy really so I grew up on a small village with my grandma like the traditional vision of poverty with dirt floors we didn't have a phone like it was one of those like it was a village there was one phone but if you want to get a hold my grandmother you called the guy with the phone and he came on like but I didn't know we were poor because everybody around me lived like we lived.

6:34In joy. Oh, I mean, everyone around you lived the same. The same. So it wasn't you were rich, I was poor. We all lived in a little dirt floor, outhouse. It was fine. But as a child, we had animals and it was joy. I didn't realize that we were poor until we came to Canada. and when I went to school I remember this so clearly like I don't remember the journey I don't remember any of it my mom thinks I blocked it all out but I remember the first day of school and kids picking on me and making fun of me and telling me I'm a poor immigrant. Wow first day of school first day of school because you know you don't speak English either at this point right and there was no English classes so they just threw you in and that must have been kind of terrifying also of life terrifying i don't know what's his teacher saying don't know anything saying yeah and i came from environment where i was really a lot of fun my dad was the youngest of 15 tons of cousins and i go into an environment where i literally don't speak the language and and kids are making fun of me i really don't know why they're making fun so i learned poverty and i learned poor as a situation so I never thought I was poor I just thought the situation we were in is poor and I know it's a very subtle difference but I think you learn your mindset and I think poverty is a learned mindset and I think abundance is a learned mindset I didn't learn a wealth mindset until later on.

8:21And I always think if I would have learned an abundance mindset sooner, I would be much wealthier today. Wow. So what is a poverty or poor mindset versus a wealth or abundance mindset? What do they both encompass? The beginning for me is a poverty mindset is when you believe you're poor or you believe that you are the cause of the situation you're in or you believe that external circumstances have made you what you are. I never believed I was poor. I just believed our current situation was poor. Really? So I just I got to a point where I don't want to be in that situation anymore. But there was nothing wrong with me.

9:12my mom loved me I was a good human being I just had to get out of this situation so how do you learn then to get out of a situation of I guess poverty or not having a lot how do you learn this is it a skill is it a shift of energy is it a shift in thinking that allows you to get out of that situation is it a shift of I need to act in a different way I need to become something different in order to create abundance what does that shift look like yeah that's a great question too i think and how old were you when you were like okay i'm not poor personally but i'm in an environment that isn't thriving probably around 12 okay because it was such a crappy environment and we we had no money and at that point i'd been poor in my mind for four years and we constantly moved schools so you know when you're an immigrant you make a little bit of money you live in a crappy apartment you make a little bit of money you live in a better apartment and so on so by 12 i'd gone to like three different high schools and my dad worked unbelievable amount of hours like two shifts and manual labor i'm assuming yeah a contractor Collar, factory, swept floors.

10:37I mean, eventually he became a millwright, taught it himself. Somebody gave him an opportunity. And, you know, they paid off their house, which was, you know, the immigrant dream. But I think at 12, I'd been living like that for four years. And we went to a better high school. And every time we went to a better school, the kids around me had more. The richer. Yeah. You're like, I've got a little more, but they've got a lot more. So I'd be in this high school, and we'd make a little bit of money, and I was poor, but the other kids weren't that much better off. And then we moved to a better house, and now the kids were way better off.

11:23And I was just like, wow, I'm never going to get out of this cycle. how do you get out of this cycle and i think do you feel like you've gotten out of that cycle at this season of your life because now as you start to generate wealth you're around people that have million dollars then hundred million dollars then billion then billions and you're like is it do you find yourselves kind of still in that at some time very very true you know there's an what's the saying you are the net result of five people you hang out with and i think it's really true. I think that you are, it's very, very, very rare and hard to raise yourself up on your own.

12:07I think if your environment, your parents, your friends are constantly pulling you back, it's hard to keep going. Like you think, I think back and I think none of my friends I grew up with ever made it. And it would have been so easy to stay there. But I think as you do more and you get more, your circle influence and your friends becomes wider. Right. So when was that switch then for you? You're 12, you start to become aware that, okay, we're moving around, but I'm still in this poor environment compared to everyone else around me. Was it an energy shift, a thinking shift or an action shift that allowed you to say, I'm now creating abundance in my life?

12:55Yeah, that's a great question. For me, it was an energy shift. Now, I've always been pretty high energy, right? So I've always been like, go, go, go, go. What I didn't realize at the time was I was looking for external things to make me better. it took me a long time to realize i can't i can't take external things to make me better until i become better you know i always say show me a small business in trouble and i'll show you an entrepreneur in trouble wow there it's very very difficult to disassociate a lazy unmotivated entrepreneur with a highly successful business and vice versa and that was me at 12 i was just pure energy bouncing off the walls you know like we talked about i want to be a detective i wanted to join the fbi i wanted to be an actor because immigrants think if you're on tv you're rich like i just wanted not to be poor but i didn't know how to be rich interesting and i understand that mindset and it as corny as it sounds it always starts with you it always starts with discipline it starts with habit it starts with learning so what did you start learning to support you from going to poor to abundance mindset uh sales really yeah sales people always think i'm wealthy because i'm really good at computers and i am i'm probably one of the handful the top cyber people in the world but I'm not wealthy because of my knowledge of a task I'm wealthy because of my knowledge of sales and how to get how to sell what I'm doing to other people what was the first lesson you learned in sales or the first sale you ever made in life you can't force somebody to buy something they fundamentally don't need.

15:10And I was very lucky that way because if I would have been taught the used car salesman-y schlocky way, I mean, I was just hungry for knowledge. Like, I would have gone any way. Like, I always think if somebody would have taken me under their wing and they were like a con man, I would have been a con man, right? I was just very lucky. Like you and I talked about it. I got to learn from a guy named Harry Rosen, who was a legend in Canada, owned the biggest men's. And he was just a nice human being. So I went there to buy a suit. And it was like, this is a long time ago, it was like$1 ,200. And you're like, this is crazy.

15:51And I'm like, oh my God, I can't afford$1 ,200. We have more money than I'll make this month, kind of. Wow. and the salesman said to me you know if you work here you get to buy one suit every six months at 50 % off so I was like great so I got a part-time job there and I get a job there and the guy who owns the place called Harry Rosen now it's a multi-billion dollar company but Harry used to teach on Saturdays if he showed up an hour before the store opened he would teach you how to dress that's cool you'll love this so like the guy's a legend it was like even then it was like the biggest shop in Canada and he says show up at 7 30 because there's a store open at 9 and I'll teach you everything you need to know about dressing and how to sell to men and I'm like like I'm so excited.

16:52I leave. It was like a Wednesday. I show up on Saturday. Nobody there. Nobody there. So it's just him and I. Wow. No one else shows up. No one else shows up. So later in the day, I say to my buddy, hey, how come nobody showed up? You know what he says? No one's paying me to show

17:22interesting isn't that interesting your friend my friend yeah unless i'm getting paid unless i'm gonna show up at nine because i get paid at nine yeah i don't i don't get paid interesting i don't get paid what i heard is i don't get paid he said i don't get paid to learn uh-huh and i always thought man i don't need to get paid to learn i'll learn for free i'll pay to learn yeah i'm the best Like I thought I would have paid him to teach me. It was great. Whereas he taught me everything. He taught me everything, how to dress, how to spot someone with money. So I've always been lucky to kind of found that I worked for Warren Avis, who started Avis Rent-A-Car.

18:01Wow. And like I've just been really fortunate to have great role models who are good human beings. I mean those two I guess mentors and people you worked for they both have billion-dollar brands now right multiple billion-dollar brands yes that's kind of rare that when you're in your teens early 20s you you randomly how do you is it a random thing if you just know oh this guy could be something one day that's pretty impressive I just I could have worked anywhere I could have worked anywhere it worked at a local restaurant or the barbershopper that wouldn't have been this mega billion dollar business but you worked for these two jobs.

18:43I think how did I end up there right? Because I think back and I think none of my buddies got a job at a men's club. And so if I think about it what I've always been good at is not lying to myself. I think I've always been brutally honest with myself. like I told you I went on my first sales call I went to see a customer and the customer said to me you dress like crap I've never had an ego for success so if somebody said something to me and there's even an ounce of truth to it I would take it in I would leave my ego at the door so when somebody said to me you dress like crap it wasn't like oh I'm so offended what are they talking about it was like oh do I dress like crap and then you go home and you look in the mirror And you're like, yeah, I dress like crap.

19:37How do I get better? And then I just looked up the best men's store. Wow. So I've always had an ability, I think, to be honest with myself. There's a saying that the biggest lies in life we tell are the ones we tell ourselves. What's been the biggest lie you've been telling yourself lately? that I'm... The biggest lie I've been telling myself lately is that I've made it. I got to a point where I felt like I've kind of made it. And just in the last few months, I've been thinking, hang on a sec. Because you tend to, you know, like I'm older now, I'm 62, and you think, oh, I'm kind of at the end of the road because I know a lot of older people who are super successful and they're kind of in coasting and it begins to affect me.

20:35And I kind of went a few months where I'm like, yeah. And then one day I'm like, hang on a sec. Like age is a number and there's lots of people that can start something at this age and I have more capital than I've ever had. So yeah, I think I can still do it again. Interesting. So you've, the lie you've been telling yourself is you've made it. But what is making it? You know, when have you made it? If someone looks at you or watches this and they're like, if Robert doesn't think he's made it with all the money he has, all the success from multiple industries, from TV to personal brand to social media, everything you touch has blown up.

21:19If he doesn't think he's made it, I have no chance of making it. That's such a great question because you think about that. When you're starting out, you always think, oh, if I had a bigger house. Like, you know, you live here and you drive by Bel Air. Sure. And you think, oh, if I had a house over there, I made it. Or you have a, I don't know, a Corvette. You think, oh, if I had a Ferrari. And you think, oh, if I had a jet. And then you have a jet. And then you think, what if I had a bigger jet? Like when I sold my last company, in my mind I had a G4. And I used to think, I mean this is how shallow it was, I used to think, oh if I had a G6, come on, then I've made it.

22:10Because my G4 or my G5. and so I sold the business and literally within two weeks I bought a G6 and this is a long time ago now I think I don't think in terms of things of making it I think in terms of potential so when I think I haven't made it I don't think I've reached my potential so I don't yeah there There is no car I want to buy or no jet I need to buy or no home I need to buy to fulfill me. What I need is I need to feel like I've drained every part of my potential. I want to feel like when I'm on my deathbed that I say I couldn't have done more. And whatever that is, because I think it's different for everybody.

23:05Yeah. So for me right now, it's really about getting super fit. It's about starting another business. It's just about taking everything I've learned and applying it. You have a series on social media that's about the lessons you've learned from billionaires. And you've been around a lot of billionaires. And people can go on your Instagram and TikTok and YouTube and watch all these videos. I think they're really interesting lessons. But if you could share the top three lessons you've learned from billionaires, what would those three lessons be? Wow. Number one knee-jerk is absolute obstinate obsession about their skill set.

23:45not about the world in general but about that one thing do you know what i mean like it's not all the billionaires i know wouldn't would struggle on jeopardy right general knowledge doesn't get rewarded the interest of specific knowledge and so that's the first thing that comes to mind like i don't know a single billionaire that isn't a world-class expert at a very narrow singular task um i think the second one would be curiosity uh it's it's hard to be abundant if you're not curious right like i love to learn i love to you know how did you start the podcast how did you like i'm fascinated and i think that comes into because uh people of great wealth tend to be problem solvers you know we tend to like problems and i think the third one would be um discipline now discipline is different right like discipline to me is uh fit body fit mind fit business but i have billionaire friends who are slops sloppy right yeah you know they're they don't they eat like crap they're overweight they don't care but they're extremely disciplined about their business like i think the discipline applies to who you are and everybody can be different.

25:29I think those are the three. Here's a question for you that I think a lot of people, because I have a lot of fit people in my audience, a lot of fitness professionals and people in the health and wellness industry who struggle at making money. They're really good at taking care of their health and they're jacked or they're fit or they eat all the right foods, but they haven't unlocked how to create financial abundance so someone is healthy physically emotionally spiritually but financially hasn't cracked that code yet what is missing from them to create that financial abundance it's a great question i think it's the same reason why people who are wealthy aren't fit what is that reason um they look at the superficial easy ways to do it so people that have a lot of well think that they can get fit by taking a drug or surgery or surgery or they look for placebo type band-aids i think anything hard is discipline and habit so people that are super fit have discipline and habit but they're like me when i was a teen they don't know where to apply it You know, interesting story for you.

26:48Years ago, because I've always been a pretty fit guy, so years ago the Army Rangers reached out to me and asked if I'd like to go to the training camp. And you know, I think I'm pretty fit, and so I was like, yeah, rah. Anyway, long story, I went, completely kicked my ass, huge amount of respect for people in the military, the discipline. when it was done i sat down with the guy who ran the training program and they kind of did analysis of over the last couple weeks which you did well which you didn't and i said to him people in the military must be great at business because think about it discipline habit like no one has that more than army rangers yes or most people in the military he said something very interesting which was it's very rare that people in the military do well in business.

27:48Why is that? Why do you think? I think because they're used to be following the rules and taking orders probably and saying, what do I need to do to make sure that my boss is happy and staying in line with the team? That's part of it. And that was my answer. Because you can't break the military mold of how things are done. This is the way it's done. We're not going to change because you have a different opinion about how to run our unit. So I said the same thing. Okay. And that's part of it. But he said there's a bigger reason. Tell me, yeah. And the bigger reason is purpose. People join the military because they have a need to do something greater than themselves.

28:29Think about that. You're willing to lay your life down for our country. Think about that commitment. like that's not a gee do I you know am I kind of into it or not like that is an all-in passionate commitment I am willing to die well for my cause so then they leave the military they get a job in sales and their boss says if you don't make your number we're not going to make it for the quarter and they struggle with that they're void of purpose when you have that great a purpose and that leaves you it's very hard to replace it with a different purpose you would think they could but he said that was the reason wow and so i think it's it's both yeah yeah right like i think people with great wealth don't have a purpose to get fit and people that are super fit really at the core show me somebody's done great things and I'll show you somebody with unbelievable purpose interesting have you ever had a point in your life where you tied your self-worth with your net worth wow yeah probably my 20s really to admit it yeah I was very I was very superficial because my understanding of wealth was very external.

30:04It was everything that I saw other people. So my definition of wealth was how other people spent it, what kind of car they had, what kind of a house I had. Because I never really met anybody who had great wealth. I always say there's superficial wealth, which is you live for the way you think you should. You buy a nicer car, you get a bigger lease, you get a bigger mortgage, because you think those are the things that you need in order to be successful. And I think once you really achieve great success, you begin to realize, I don't actually need another car. I don't need these things to fulfill me.

30:53But yeah, I think in my 20s, I was very... How does someone today not tie their self-worth with their net worth? Maybe they're not making a lot of money right now. How do they not let it affect their identity or their core of who they are and the way they feel about themselves because they're not making$100 ,000 or millions or these things? Well, I think your net worth is not a reflection of your value. Poverty and wealth are situational. So somebody listening to this could be making 50 grand a year, but they're a high power, high value individual. Everybody's at a different stage of their journey.

31:41You just got to believe that you're learning the skill set in order to get there one day and you've got to have a greater purpose in order to get there. So I never thought I was gonna end up where I was. You never thought you'd end up where you are now? Well I never thought I'd end up like I am now but even when I was poor I never thought I'd stay there. got you it's just that the scope of my dreams wasn't big enough my dream in my 20s was to make a thousand dollars for my age so when i'm 50 to make 50 grand to buy a house and pay it off in my lifetime wow and to buy a corvette that was your dream that was my dream that was my like that That was my vision board dream.

32:37That was my knock it out of the ballpark dream. Because we didn't know anybody who had done those things. Wow. How did you begin to expand your mind to shatter that limit? Again, super curious, super honest with myself. so you know when I um when I bought a used Ferrari and I moved into my house I was so proud of those a 1986 Ferrari Testarossa and it was used and there weren't that much money at the time and I brought it over to my garage and I put it in and this was my superficial state so I moved into this neighborhood and I see my neighbor across the street and his name is Richard still friend of mine so I go over and I'm like hey um blah blah blah oh by the way look at my car so he comes over up in the garage and I'm so proud of it I've never been arrogant like like let me show you why I'm better I was just so happy so I show my Ferrari and he's like oh my gosh this that's amazing I love that year he says come to my garage so we go across the street to his garage he opens up the garage and he has two Porsches.

33:55And you know it's those moments in life that something happens, you're ready to learn it but you don't know what you need to learn and then something comes in and those two things fit and it's an aha moment. And I remember it so clearly, he opens the garage, there's two Porsches and I worked my ass off to buy a used Ferrari. it took everything I knew to get that car and and it wasn't like it was one of many I was it was that and I walked across the street and that guy has two and I couldn't fathom how that could happen like I was like how could he do that interesting and so I walked back and I was thinking there's something I need to be better at because the road I'm going I'm never going to get there.

34:50Really? Because you're like I've worked as hard as I can work and this is what I got. Every piece of knowledge, every bit of hard work, every bit of discipline I had got me one Ferrari. Now here's an interesting thing I think everyone needs to pay attention to and and be mindful of what you're about to say. Because I think what you're about to say from this question I ask you is going to break everyone's minds open. Because a lot of people are thinking, I work 15, 18, 20 hour days already. And for years I've been working hard at a job and I'm not getting the exponential growth I like, barely making incremental growth.

35:31And I don't see a way, I can't work any harder to create more wealth for myself. What is the thing that you learned then in that moment about hard work versus creating wealth? Because yes, you need to work hard, but what is the thing that broke you open from saying, I'm going to work a different way that's going to unlock wealth? That's such a great question. My dad worked in a factory his whole life, two shifts. paid off his house in his lifetime super successful guy in his world i will never work a day in my life harder than my dad worked ever that man was the hardest working human being i'd ever come across just because you'll work hard though doesn't mean you'll be rich oh man what it means is you won't be poor and there's a fundamental difference between the blue collar poverty mindset and the wealth abundance mindset and what I learned in that moment is I literally freaking couldn't give more I was sleeping four hours a day I was great at my task.

36:53I was driving my company as hard as I possibly could and it gave me one Ferrari. It's still cool but yeah. Super cool. Nothing wrong with that. You didn't see how you can get more. Yeah and the first part was did I want more? Ah. Did I, was that important to me? And people misunderstand that. They're like oh yeah I'd like more Ferraris. It was never about more Ferraris. It was just about how do I get more? How do I get more value, more worth? How do I get a better life? And so I said, yes, I definitely want more. Why not? Why not me? And so that was the first part. Big lesson for me though is you have to pivot.

37:46Hard work is absolutely foundational, but smart work is pivoting right so what did you learn from going to hard work to smart work to create more financial abundance value what i learned is markets and people will pay for value not for time people will pay you for your knowledge not for how long you've been doing it or the amount of hours you're going to spend on it or those kind of things and what I realized is I wasn't creating enough that really for your customers your clients or for my customers yeah for my customers and for me I wasn't learning enough and it's funny I actually ended up going to a Tony Robbins seminar right which was really eye-opening because I'd never experienced that and I thought I was a pretty motivated high-functioning guy and then I went to a so interesting story how old are you then 26 okay I want to hear the story because I have a similar story and so I write about this Tony Robbins and this is the early Tony Robbins when he was like you know bigger than life and he was coming to Toronto and me and four buddies went to buy tickets.