Ep #343 – Chris Hogan – Author of Everyday Millionaires
Here is some of what you will learn:
Is the millionaire dream dead?
Myths about financial success
The five key attributes of everyday millionaires
Responsibility
Intentionality
Goal Oriented
Hardworking
Wealth Building = Consistency over time
Three things you can do to “get more”
Belief
Grow Your Knowledge
Take appropriate action
Necessary endings
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Full Transcript Below:
Chris Hogan – Everyday Millionaires Author (Ep343)
Intro: Hi! I’m Rod Khleif. Each and every week I record an interview with a thought leader that I know you’re gonna get a ton of value from. Now here on YouTube are the video versions of my podcast, Lifetime Cash Flow through Real Estate Investing. Now to make sure you get the latest information please subscribe and hit the notification bell. Let’s get started.
Rod: Welcome to another edition of “How to Build Lifetime Cash Flow through Real Estate Investing”. I’m Rod Khleif and I’m thrilled you’re here. I know you’re gonna get tremendous value from the dynamic gentleman that we’re interviewing today. His name is Chris Hogan he’s a best-selling author in fact we’re gonna dig into his latest book. He’s got an incredible podcast and you know we’re gonna share that with you as well and yeah without further ado let’s get into it. Chris, welcome to the show my friend
Chris: Oh well thank you sir it’s a pleasure to be with you
Rod: Yes so you know I know that you’ve got a successful podcast and you speak about becoming a millionaire. So maybe you can share a little bit of background and then I’d love to dig in and talk about this latest book that you wrote
Chris: Sure sure well you know I’m a former athlete. So I’m a firm believer and the power of your mentality and your outlook on things. But also the importance of setting goals in striving for them. I believe in keeping score I think it’s imperative that we understand where we are and know where we come from but ultimately to understand that our effort determines everything and so regardless of what phase or stage you’re in in life better is always available
Rod: Love it love it love it love it you know I teach my coaching students and we go through this at my live events and on my coaching program a whole goal-setting framework and it’s the first thing we do because if you don’t know what it is you want and as importantly why you want it, it’s never gonna happen. And I love what you said about keeping score you know if you’re not measuring as you’re going how well do you know how you’re doing oh and how do you change your approach if it needs to be changed if you’re not measuring. So absolutely love it, so let’s get right into your book Chris. So it’s titled everyday millionaires. I know you did a huge study, you studied millionaires, so please tell us about it
Chris: Yeah we did. I had the opportunity to do some media hits all around the country and I would remember it was a year and a half ago that I did this hit and a guy made the statement that the American Dream was dead and gone. And I remember looking at him and I couldn’t get near him enough to grab him and shake him but I just remember thinking why on earth would you say that lie? And so it got me started into digging in and I’m really aware of you know the power of the spoken word and to put that out there for someone to start to believe that then it kind of adjusts their effort. So I set out to prove you know Mr. Stanley did a “Millionaire Next Door” and they talked to almost eight hundred millionaires back in the 90s and I wanted to go big I wanted to do the largest study that’s ever been done. So we talked to over 10,000 from all across the country to really dig in and find out the truth. Is the American dream alive and well? or is it dead and gone? And are these millionaires just the recipients of a trust fund? where they just handed this money or did they earn it? and that’s what we were able to prove
Rod: No kidding wow 10,000 holy cow you must had a whole team working on it
Chris: Rod, we absolutely did. We started off and it started growing and we eventually had to reach out and use a research firm to begin to collect and call all the data that was necessary to really dig into this. So it was a massive project but I’m very proud of what the team has done in the end result
Rod: You know it’s crazy it’s so crazy because you know the way the universe works cuz I literally was just telling coaching students today one of my coaching calls about Stan Lee’s book and it was really networking with millionaires but the fact that you referenced is just like man… this is thought about in 10 years. So I mean it’s been around a long time. So I can’t you know wait to dig into yours a little more here so tell us you know I know that there are a lot of myths around financial success around becoming a millionaire you know money doesn’t grow on trees you know let’s talk about some of the myths that you discovered in your research
Chris: Yeah well the first one I’ll hit on is something already kind of teased and it was talking about this people believe that millionaires inherited all their money. And talking to them we found in our study that 79% of the millionaires did not inherit one time
Rod: Wow
Chris: Not one dime. So these were not trust fund babies. These were first-generation wealth builders that had built wealth over time and so I just I love the thought of that because we oftentimes forget that we live in the greatest country on the planet. And I’m severely biased but we have an opportunity to make a decision and start to try all within the same hour right we don’t need anyone’s permission we can do it. And so it just goes to show that hard-working men and women out there are able to do this
Rod: Yeah I completely agree. I mean that that’s what drives what we do here as well and you know and it’s so it’s so true I mean you know there it’s a small percentage and even out of that 21 percent that that may have inherited some money you know chances are they took something did something with it they may not have been here they didn’t inherit the millions they may have just got something but you know this we are in the greatest country on Earth I mean I emigrated here and you know I can be a poster child for the United States Chamber of Commerce because I totally believe in it just like you do. So let’s talk about myth number two you know people think that you have to have a high paying W2 job to even have a chance of becoming a millionaire. Can you speak to that?
Chris: Yeah that’s another thing people believe and so they always if you believe that you have to have a high paying job and you don’t have one then you think you’re excluded. But the truth is we found a third of the millionaire’s never had a six-figure household income. A third of them and the key word in this Rod is household income. Tthat means that two of them were working they didn’t make six figures. So it’s not about the income that you make it’s about what you do with the money and the mindset you have around it.
Rod: So let’s talk about what it is about. Let’s talk about the key points that someone should focus on to you know that you discovered in your research, they’d focus on if they want to have financial independence a millionaire
Chris: Yeah I found in doing this research I found that there were five key attributes. The first one was that the millionaire’s take personal responsibility. They’re not looking to blame anybody if they’ve achieved something or haven’t achieved, it rests with them. And I love that because that’s the anti victim mentality in our culture
Rod: Thank you and let me add this and it’s not ninety nine percent responsibility it is a hundred freaking percent responsibility. You’ve got to own it, it doesn’t matter what happens to you, you have to own it love it what’s the
Chris: Right yeah the next one was that millionaires practice intentionality with their finances that means that when money comes in, they’re aware of it and they’re absolutely clear on what they’re gonna do with it and that’s going down to budgeting, investing, saving, and really starting to be intentional and I like that because they don’t fritter away money, they use it
Rod: Yeah and guys and you know I know your partner Dave Ramsey speaks to this as well you you’ve got to have buckets and you’ve got to have a growth bucket. You’ve got to have a you know a rainy day bucket you know stuff hit the fan bucket you know the security bucket as it were and you know you’re right if that you’ve got to be prudent about your finances I love it and so you describe it as an intentionality. Great way to describe it
Chris: Yes and the next one you’re absolutely gonna agree with me. Millionaires with goal-oriented right. They set goals and Rod one of the things I realized as we talk about goal-setting in our country today, one of the things people leave out is the absolute necessity of sacrifice right. If you’re going to go after some things you’re gonna have to give up some other things and it’s important for people to do that consciously
Rod: Yeah it’s, guys, sometimes it’s not what you’re doing it’s what you have to give up to accomplish that say you’re right it’s the sacrifice and you know I believe in goals you know Chris it’s you know that’s one of the biggest things in my opinion that you have to have. They drive you, they propel you, they pull you, they push you, and they have to be clear and measurable and concise and love it. All right so what else?
Chris: The next one is that these millionaires are hard workers. That means they’re very focused when they’re doing their job guess what they’re doing their job. They’re not scared to dig in and to go further if they want to go faster. And you know is that mindset and then the final one was that these millionaires know that wealth building requires consistency over time. It’s not something you do some of the time. It’s got to be them all the time thing
Rod: Love it you know on the hard work guys, it’s massive action, it is massive freaking action. It’s not gonna fall in your lap. There is no easy road and that’s okay. If you’re doing something you love then it’s been work as play but you got to take massive action you know the comfort zone is a warm place but nothing grows there you gotta actually push through comfort, you got to push through fear, you got to push through limiting beliefs. And the consistency piece yeah you know you’re gonna get your nose bloodied, you’re gonna get knocked down, you’re gonna you know and you’re gonna have things happen, you’re gonna have obstacles but as long as you know what your goals are, you keep those in your mind’s eye, when you get hit you change your approach and go after the goal. You get hit again, you change your approach, you go after the goal but you remain consistent love it love it freakin love it
Chris: Yeah and you put all these five together right personal responsibility, intentionality with finances, goal-oriented, hard-working, and wealth building, requires consistency. These are things that we all can decide to start to do now right. You don’t need any fancy degree matter-of-fact 62% of these millionaires went to a public State University, 8% went to a community college, 9% didn’t go to college at all. So there’s not an exclusion about you being able to build wealth. It’s a matter of you including yourself in your beliefs in your actions
Rod: I love it I love it and guys of course learning is earning you know and you know I tell people I’ve got a PhD in results I never went to college you know I just made it happen and you know and that’s not to say I’m not well-read. I’ve got a library in one of my other buildings here with thousands of books in it. I mean I believe in reading but there really is, there’s no excuse frankly there’s no excuse. So what can people do to start down this path my friend? Everybody listening to my show wants more. I don’t care if they’ve already got a thousand doors they want more what can they do this path?
Chris: Well I think there are three things you can do that are absolutely essential. Number one, is belief. You need to understand what it is that you believe is possible for you. And we have to be careful because our families can put limits on us, our friends can put limits on us and my gosh we can even put limits on ourselves. So I want people to analyze what you believe is possible. Number two, I want you to grow your knowledge you know Rod I know you’re a coach at heart and you’re constantly reading and learning. But it’s important for all of us out there to start to understand things better really grow our knowledge. There are all kinds of resources that are available to us at our fingertips. And the third thing is, take the appropriate action that means if you’re serious about building wealth, then you need to be intentional about what you’re earning and looking for opportunities
Rod: Love it love it and just a circle back to belief the first one you know we all grow up with, many of us grow up with some limiting beliefs, limiting belief systems that hold us back. I’m not good enough, I’m not old enough, I’m not young enough, I’m not you know articulate enough and you know there’s a reason BS rhymes with belief systems, the acronym okay because they’ve 99% of them are BS okay. But you’ve to develop a belief and sometimes you fake it till you make it even okay. So that’s awesome on the first one, learning, you know we aren’t totally in alignment on growing your knowledge no question on that and then massive freaking action love it. So you know what, I know in your book you have a phrase called net worth million. So can you define what that what that what that means?
Chris: (deterred lines) I use to be in the banking industry before I got to be, if would learn to do math. Meaning, understanding networks as I look at it is what you own minus what you owe and so you look at that so all assets you have the money in your bank account, the 401k, the 43B, your real estate portfolio, whatever it is, you add it up, subtract out what you owe, if the end result is a million dollars, then congratulations
Rod: Love it love it. Okay so you know as you were interviewing these ten thousand people you must have heard story after story after story. And I’m sure there were some amazing stories. Can you speak to some of them, some of you know may be share a compelling story or two that really stand out?
Chris: Yes I really can you know I keep telling people it didn’t matter where you come from. It’s about where you’re going. And Thomas’s story is absolutely one of those. He grew up in the Midwest and this guy had a tough childhood. His father was an alcoholic, his mother suffered from mental health issues he was in and out of three or four foster homes growing up. But despite that upbringing he still went on to serve in the military, came back pursued his degree in college became a professor, worked in the education world. He said he wanted to impact other young people to help them believe in what was possible and this guy ended up with a net worth of almost 2.8 million dollars when it was all said and done. But if you would have met him when he was young, you would have thought this guy is not going to amount to anything and this is just a prime example of someone not allowing their circumstances to get in the way of their opportunity
Rod: I love it you know I love it and I mean if he was a professor he got his PhD as well so he did eight years of schooling from foster care to go to there. I mean that’s a decision and that’s a vision and that’s a commitment and that’s a not giving up and focusing on that vision. Love it, do you have any others?
Chris: Well there’s another one. Pam was another lady and hers you know her story she struggled with money growing up but her dad was hard-working. He taught her about money. He was very in tune. She to work to stay for college and here’s the deal she worked and paid for her degree as she had the money. She refused to go into debt it took her 11 years before she graduated from college but she graduated at age 31 with her degree. She had bought a home, went through some life, had a divorce ended up losing a lot of money through the divorce but she still stayed focused grew her business back up and she’s got to see someone that has a network that close to 3 million as well. And so I loved her story because adversity, she didn’t avoid it first day of life the problem is she overcame it and that takes a mindset and a belief system deep down inside of you that says, I refuse to be held back
Rod: I love it and I love it I and I have such respect for force it like single moms and you know people that you know like these two stories that didn’t, it relates to me I grew up wearing goodwill clothes through junior high school and you know it resonates. If you can go back and well let’s just say this you know our school system doesn’t teach people this you know it’s such a travesty that you don’t learn basic financial competence in school you know if you could you know teach something in school you know would it be I mean I would guess it would be financial competence yes or what else would you might you want to you know teach in school?
Chris: Well I think you know a firm believer that young minds are impressionable and we don’t know the home systems people come in and out of. I’m a product of a single-parent home. So I would definitely teach the financial side but Rod I would also take it a step further and start to teach about positive thinking and goal-setting. I think of those two, these three areas of finances goal-setting and positive thinking these are things that can impact young people and have a ripple effect for years to come
Rod: Yeah no absolutely no question. Well what would you say is the best advice you’ve ever received Chris?
Chris: My grandmother told me back when I was trying to figure out what I was gonna do after college. I remember I had a few options and I was sitting at her kitchen table and she came in and she listened to it and she made this statement, she goes honey you got some things to think about because I just want to encourage you to grab the opportunity and avoid the chances. And she scrolled out of the kitchen and that opportunity versus chance has stayed with me my entire life. Whether you look at things and you want to do something that leads you somewhere right you don’t want to do something that’s 50/50 or 70/30. I want to make decisions that put me in a better position
Rod: I love it I love it so who inspires you my friend?
Chris: I’m inspired by so many people I’m blessed. My youngest son has a special needs boy. So he inspires me but I’m gonna tell you the hard-working men and women that are out there especially single moms, coming from a single-parent home and I meet single moms that are working hard and doing what it takes to make ends meet, it lets me know that I don’t have an excuse right and excuses are the skin of a life with the reason. That’s one of my football coaches told me that and I don’t want to make excuses I want to make progress
Rod: Tell me you one or two of your favorite quotes
Chris: Goodness gracious, “If it is to be, it’s up to me” I loved that one and I loved Zig Ziglar like Zig had an incredible impact on my life but I love Zig say, “Avoid stinking thinking” right and that stinking thinking he’s talking about the negative attitude. And I just I love that
Rod: Love it love it. I got blessed to see him just before he passed. Yeah what a gift he was to the universe. So you know let me ask you this how did you get over your fear I mean you were in that you’re in pro ball I mean you know that’s a pretty exalted place to end up how did you get over your fear of pushing forward on these things that you want in life? Look at you’ve got an incredibly successful podcast it’s called the Chris Hogan show correct?
Chris: That is correct yes sir
Rod: I mean killing it you know but you gotta push through fear. How are you able to push through fear?
Chris: Well I tell ya I was fortunate I only played college I didn’t play pro I work with a lot of those pro gods but here’s the deal, I was able to get over fear because of coaches I know you coach your listeners and your clients to the best of your ability and I grew up with athletic coaches and family members and teachers. People that see something inside of you that push you, care about you, and that’s something I don’t ever want to stop learning. I don’t want to ever stop trying to grow. And so that has taught me that it’s okay to try and I’m even okay to fail because I think like a scientist. I try and try and try. I’m never finished.
Rod: Never fear failure. You know the only time it’s a failure as if you if you stop you don’t get the lesson that’s the bottom line. I call them seminars. I’ve had tons of seminars. So let me ask you this just two last questions. How do you define success?
Chris: I define success by how I’m able to impact other people’s lives and that is from taking the time to listen, taking the time to dig in and help a charity or to give resources. The impact is how I define success
Rod: I love it what a great definition. So last question, is there a book, all the other, obviously your own books but other than your own books that you gift more often than then than any other?
Chris: Yeah actually Dr. Henry Cloud is one of our favorite authors. He’s a good friend he wrote the book co-wrote the book “Boundaries”, he and Dr. Townsend and it’s just talking about that it’s important to have boundaries in your life. But he wrote another book Rod and I’m gonna send you a copy it’s called “Necessary Endings”. This book is amazing because he’s talking about in order for us to begin some things, we’ve got to identify things we’re going to stop doing to allow us to do the things we want to do
Rod: Just like we talked about in Sakurai’s. Listen you’ve got a tremendous value guys check out his podcast the Chris Hogan show. Get his book “Everyday Millionaire” thanks for being on the show and giving us your valuable time my friend
Chris: Thank you sir. Its as a pleasure to be with you
Rod: It was absolutely my pleasure take care buddy.
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