Transcript

Asking Palm Beach Billionaires How They Got So RICH!

From School of Hard Knocks · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 23 min · 6,261 words · 43 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Asking Palm Beach Billionaires How They Got So RICH!", an episode of School of Hard Knocks published May 1, 2025 (23 min, about 6,261 words). It mentions 18 people, works and ideas, including Ashley Parker Angel, West Palm Beach, Private Equity, Attorney General, James Duman.

What this episode is about

The content explores the personal stories and strategies of billionaires in Palm Beach, showcasing a range of unconventional paths to wealth, including private equity and entrepreneurial ventures that defy typical educational backgrounds. Through candid interviews, it offers insights into their experiences, financial milestones, and advice for achieving financial success.

Key takeaways

  • Wealth in Palm Beach thrives on connections, sometimes even a rich brother-in-law as a launchpad.
  • Success stories are as varied as the businesses, from vacuum trucks to billion-dollar private equity firms.
  • Age is just a number; turning a profit at 25 isn't unheard of, but it’s rarer than you think.
  • In a town of billionaires, even getting 30 seconds feels like winning a lottery—wealth breeds exclusivity.
  • The hardest part of entrepreneurship? Managing people. Even billionaires agree—people can be a real struggle.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 5:00: 7-Eleven, West Palm Beach, Private Equity, Shaquille O'Neal
  2. – 10:00: Ashley Parker Angel, James Duman, Personal Injury, SEO
  3. – 15:00: Attorney General, James Duman, Industrial Equipment, ODU
  4. – 20:00: Artificial Intelligence, Private Equity, Commercial Vehicles, Shaquille O'Neal
  5. – 22:54: Attorney General, Private Equity

Notable quotes from "Asking Palm Beach Billionaires How They Got So RICH!"

  • You guys, I'm in one of the wealthiest cities in not just Florida right now, but in the entire world. I'm in West Palm Beach, home to over 60 billionaires with a B. And today…
    about West Palm Beach · at
  • Have the biggest business media channel in the world. I've interviewed Shaq, the CEO of Nike and 7-Eleven. Can I get one minute with you? So, as you guys can see, since we are…
    about 7-Eleven · at
  • Business, litigation business. I'm a lawyer. What type of law do you practice? We do personal injury and mass torque cases. So, across your firm in terms of revenue, what's the…
    about Ashley Parker Angel · at
  • What's your name? James Duman. James Duman. Yes, sir. All right. So, how old were you when you made your first million? I don't know. I was reasonably young, I guess. Yeah. What line of.
    about James Duman · at
  • Overwhelming and a lot of entrepreneurs waste their time and money trying to piece one together. And that's why I love ODU because they have a website builder that makes it crazy simple to launch your own beautiful site.
    about ODU · at
  • Just a couple of key customers that locked in on some very strong orders for us. And AI is driving a lot of my business in data center business. Like I supply generators to data centers all over the world. You like AI? AI is huge.
    about Artificial Intelligence · at
  • Private equity? You buy companies. the private equity model is you buy a company and you use the assets of that company to borrow against those and ultimately pay those off…
    about Private Equity · at
  • With advice to anyone it would be if you're going to get rich, there's a few ways to do it. Maybe you become a CEO of a company, which is pretty hard, but you got to own your…
    about Attorney General · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Ashley Parker Angel — Person · Interviewee (law firm owner) · 3 mentions · first at
    He discusses building a legal practice via early web marketing/SEO, shifting to social media, and negotiation strategy for large settlements.
  • James Duman — Person · Interviewee (anonymous public-company CEO) · 2 mentions · first at
    He describes rising to CEO of a large public business services company (42k employees) and gives career/leadership advice (be your boss's right-hand).
  • Shaquille O'Neal — Person · Referenced celebrity interviewee · 2 mentions · first at
    Used by the host as social proof to persuade interviewees to participate, indicating the channel's prior access to high-profile figures.
    Millionaires and billionaires all over the world on their advice to the younger generation. So, I've interviewed people like Shaquille O'Neal, Mark Cuban, the CEO of Nike. What…
  • Mark Cuban — Person · Referenced celebrity entrepreneur · 1 mention · first at
    Cited by the host as a credibility marker for the channel's interview roster.
    Millionaires and billionaires all over the world on their advice to the younger generation. So, I've interviewed people like Shaquille O'Neal, Mark Cuban, the CEO of Nike. What…

Companies & orgs

  • 7-Eleven — Company · Referenced organization · 3 mentions · first at
    Mentioned as part of the host's credibility claims (having interviewed 7-Eleven's CEO).
  • Houston Texans — Company · Referenced organization · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as part of the host's credibility claims (having done content with the team's owner).
    Instagram. So, just asking people a couple career advice. So, it's a very legit platform. We've done stuff with like the owner of the Houston Texans, the CEO of Nike, the CEO of 7-Eleven.

Concepts & topics

  • Private Equity — Concept · Core topic · 4 mentions · first at
    One interviewee explains the private equity model (buy companies, borrow against assets, repay via cash flow) and advocates buying businesses.
  • Attorney General — Concept · Core topic · 4 mentions · first at
    The episode repeatedly references becoming a CEO as a path to wealth and includes advice from a former CEO on career advancement and leadership pressure.
  • Artificial Intelligence — Concept · Core topic · 2 mentions · first at
    AI is discussed as a demand driver for data centers and generator sales, and as an operational tool for business intelligence.
  • Risk Taking — Concept · Core topic · 4 mentions
    A private equity interviewee claims wealth status correlates with willingness to take risk and shares leveraging his house to buy a company.
    The biggest risk you took that maybe a lot of people were telling you not to do? My second deal, I leveraged my house, everything to buy the company.
  • Personal Injury — Concept · Core topic (legal business) · 1 mention · first at
    Bryce Angel identifies personal injury as a key practice area and describes a major car-wreck case settlement.
    Business, litigation business. I'm a lawyer. What type of law do you practice? We do personal injury and mass torque cases. So, across your firm in terms of revenue, what's the…
  • SEO — Concept · Core topic (marketing) · 1 mention · first at
    Bryce Angel attributes early growth of his legal practice to being an SEO expert and later claims SEO is now largely dead, recommending social media instead.
    Your personal brand and stand out to get those kind of cases to settle for multiple eight figures? I became an expert at SEO and advertised on the web before it was popular and…
  • Industrial Equipment — Concept · Core topic (industry) · 1 mention · first at
    John describes his business in industrial equipment (generators, heavy equipment) and ties growth to data center demand.
    How old were you when you made your first million? 42. What line of business were you in? Industrial equipment, sales service rental generators that type of thing. Did you own a company?
  • Mass Tort — Concept · Core topic (legal business) · 1 mention · first at
    Cited as part of Bryce Angel's litigation practice mix alongside personal injury, indicating scale and case-type strategy.
    Business, litigation business. I'm a lawyer. What type of law do you practice? We do personal injury and mass torque cases. So, across your firm in terms of revenue, what's the…
  • Commercial Vehicles — Concept · Referenced business area · 1 mention · first at
    John lists commercial vehicles as part of his diversification across sectors.
    This business? It's a very niche and very specific business. Everybody thinks that No, I'm very diversified. I'm in oil and gas. I'm in commercial vehicles and things of that…

Places & events

  • West Palm Beach — Place · Primary setting (specific) · 1 mention · first at
    The host states he is in West Palm Beach and uses it as the immediate interview area described as home to many billionaires.
  • San Francisco — Place · Referenced location · 1 mention · first at
    An interviewee describes making his first million through mortgage banking in San Francisco during a real-estate boom.
    I was in mortgage banking in San Francisco. So, did you own a company or were you just I did. started a mortgage company. It was a mortgage bank. How did you get into that business and why.

Sponsors

  • ODU — Company · Sponsor/advertised product · 1 mention · first at
    Promoted as a website builder enabling entrepreneurs to own their online presence with free hosting and a free domain for the first year.

Full transcript with timestamps

Excuse me, sir. What did you do to become wealthy? What's that? What did you do to become wealthy? Got a brother-in-law. A rich brother-in-law. A rich brother-in-law. I'm I'm going around Palm Beach asking people what they did to become wealthy. I'm going around Palm Beach asking people what they did to become wealthy. You're going to hear the oddest story of your life. Then let me hear it. You'll never hear a career like this in your entire life. You I didn't even go to university. You didn't go to college, but you started a $500 million a year business. Well, no.

My business is a billion. Business made you the most money. Now I'm in private equity. Now you're in private equity. What's the most amount of money you made in a single year? I don't know if I want to be on this. I'll show you the channel after. I promise you it'll be worth it. A few hundred million. The company did multi-billions of dollars in revenue a year or so. What was the highest role that you held in that company? I was the CEO of what company? I don't want to tell you guys. What's the name of it? It's a good company. It's a public company. Do you think a lot of people know the company? Probably. You'll have to look this up. How old were you when you made your first million? Uh, I think I was 25. What's the most amount of money you made in a single year? We had a case that resolved for $54 million. 54 million. One thing I'll leave you with advice to anyone. It would be if you're

going to get rich. You guys, I'm in one of the wealthiest cities in not just Florida right now, but in the entire world. I'm in West Palm Beach, home to over 60 billionaires with a B. And today, I'm going to be going around the wealthiest areas, the wealthiest part of West Palm Beach to find billionaires and ask them how they built their wealth and how you can become financially free in today's world. This video is about to be insane from start to finish. So stay tuned until the end. With that being said, let's get this video on the way.

Excuse me, sir. Sir, how old were you when you made your first million? I haven't made it yet. No. Yes, you have. Come on. Come on. Real quick. I I I have the biggest business media channel in the world with 12.7 million followers. I interview business owners all over the world for the younger generation. Can I get 30 seconds with you? You recording this? Yeah. Yeah. Wait. Can I get 30 seconds with you? No, I'm going down. That's That's part of making your first million. What's that? Do you ever have 30 seconds for anyone? Excuse me, sir.

How old were you when you made your first million? Thank you. Real quick. I know. No, no, no. Real quick. No, no. Real quick, real quick. I I have the biggest business media channel in the country. I owner of the house. Wait, how do you know he made the first marri and I didn't make it? He looks like money. He looks like money. One advice to an entrepreneur in today's world. They're trying to grow their business. Really don't. All right, man. Have a go, man. Have a good Excuse me, sir. What did you do to become wealthy? So, I I started I started one of the biggest No, we're we're like we're having a meeting.

Sorry. I know. I was talking to him. I wasn't talking. I know. We're having a meeting, but thank you. Excuse me, sir. How old were you when you made your first million? Pardon? How old were you when you made your first million? That's a long time ago, son. But what line of business are you? Pardon? I'm a medtech, but I'm not up for interview. So, so I have the biggest business media channel in the world. I've interviewed Shaq, the CEO of Nike and 7-Eleven. Can I get one minute with you? So, as you guys can see, since we are out here in Palm Beach, the wealthiest city in all of Florida, it is not easy to get these people to do interviews. They are private. Some of these people are worth hundreds of millions, billions of dollars. So, it's not easy to get them to stop. But remember, the motto stays no does not mean never. It just means not yet. So, we're going to keep this one rolling and go get a mogul out here

in Palm Beach for you guys. Come on. Excuse me, sir. What did you do to become wealthy? What's that? What did you do to become wealthy? Got a brother-in-law. A rich brother-in-law. A rich brother-in-law. I'm ask I'm going around Palm Beach asking people what they did to become wealthy. I'm going around Palm Beach asking people what they did to become wealthy. You're going to hear the oddest story of your life. Then let me hear it. You'll never hear of a career like this in your entire life. Tell me right now. I got out of college and I got behind the wheel of a truck and suck gravel off of rooftops.

So on commercial buildings, whether they're 10 stories high, five stories high all over the five of New York. I suck gravel off of roofs instead of wheelbarrowing and shoveling gravel off. From that I got into industrial cleaning, power plants, refineries, steel mills, and built a vacuum truck business nationwide and a liquid storage tank business nationwide. So, what's the biggest issue you had in revenue? What's the most you made in a year? I won't disclose that. But it's public knowledge. I sold to four public companies. Wait, so real quick right here. So, real quick. So, I have the biggest business media channel in the world. I be like the CEO of Nike, the CEO of 7-Eleven. Could I get 30 seconds?

It's for the younger generation. Real quick though, how important was vertical integration? The hardest part in business is people, managing people. Yeah. Wait, can we walk with you for 30 seconds? I promise you. Listen, I I need to I need to get one interview while I'm out here, man. I've had a rough time today. The old people don't want to do it. So, just just a couple questions, man. Now, you sold to four public companies. So, you were dealing with some sharks. What was your secret to sales? How did you get in front of those customers and and sell to them?

Ultimately, knocked on doors, Cole. Just knocked on doors. No cell phones, beepers, and pay phone. So, did you have any money when you started the business or did you ever raise money or borrow any money? Nothing. Nothing. All organically growing. It was just kind of like you you got the profits, put it back into the business, and just kept growing it. But what was the best financial decision you made throughout your career? Great question. Betting on myself, right? Did you come from a rich family? No. So, how did you how did you change your family's trajectory? I bought my first back truck for $180,000.

Today, they're worth5 to 600, but I I bought it with some money I saved over time and paid it off. And then talk to me about scaling. It's one of the hardest things to do. People will have a great idea. They start, they don't know how to scale and grow it. Don't try to go to zero to 100, grow 0 to 5t, then 10 ft, 15. Take your time. It's a marathon, not a sprint. I could do this all day if you really want me to coach. Don't go for the quick money. Go for building a business that's worth something to many. So, you thought very long-term is what you're saying. You didn't think about instant gratification? Never. Never. Can Did you ever lose money? Have to do it for love. Do you lose money sometimes?

Yes. I've only closed one office out of 40 in my career. But you got to do something that you love. It has to be internal passion. You can't get up every day at 4 in the morning if you don't love it for 30 straight years. Talk to me about customer retention because a lot of people they'll get a client, they'll lose them within a couple months. How did you maintain customers for such a long period of time? You got to stay uh the same person. Don't change. Stay loyal, hungry, and become friends. You never have customers. They become your best friend. Buy him ice cream, buy them hot dogs, and that's how you get somewhere. Did you ever have anybody that doubted you in business?

Oh, that's the best people I want to go after. Give me that year. What's the biggest You said it was public. In terms of revenue, what's the most amount of money you made in a year? Was it hundreds of millions or Yeah, you're north of 100. I sold. I got to go celebrate a birthday. I get your contact. Yeah. Thank you so much, brother. I appreciate it. I really appreciate you, man. Thank you, brother. Excuse me, sir. How old were you when you made your first million? Uh, I think I was 25. How'd you make it that early?

I was in mortgage banking in San Francisco. So, did you own a company or were you just I did. started a mortgage company. It was a mortgage bank. How did you get into that business and why why that industry in particular? Because real estate was popping off in California and the most expensive real estate, well, San Francisco. So, that was where we started. So, what business throughout your career made you the most amount of money? I would say the legal business, litigation business. I'm a lawyer. What type of law do you practice? We do personal injury and mass torque cases. So, across your firm in terms of revenue, what's the most amount of money you made in a single year? We had a case that resolved for $54 million. $54 million. What happened in that case? Uh it was a personal injury claim for someone who was injured in a car wreck case. It's very competitive in personal injury. There's a lot of people

that are competing. How did you build your personal brand and stand out to get those kind of cases to settle for multiple eight figures? I became an expert at SEO and advertised on the web before it was popular and that brought in all the cases and that's how we got it launched. Give us some game right here on on marketing and SEO because again people can be great at what they do but no one may know what they do. Don't try to pursue SEO. It's all but dead. Get out there and market yourself on social media. So, if you go to Bryce Angel, you'll see on Instagram, Facebook, all those channels, you'll see me on there and it'll show you what to do. Yeah. Did you come from a rich family? I did not. So, what was your turning point to financial freedom? What made you want to kind of go out there and build a multi-million dollar?

Starting my own company as a young kid. Now, you made a lot of money, but a lot of people say it's hard to keep a lot of money. How have you preserved that kind of wealth? Do you hire financial professionals that can help you manage everything better than yourself? Because you need a parent in the situation. So, you're all about finding people that are maybe better at the areas where you're lacking. The goal is to be the dumbest guy in the room. If you're the smartest guy in the room, you're in the wrong room. So, if you found yourself in the room where you're the smartest, you you get the exit. My last one for you. Your best sales and negotiation advice as a lawyer. You've been at the table with some hitters closing a $50 million settlement. What's your best sales and negotiation advice as one of the most successful lawyers out here in Palm Beach? Don't be prepared to do the deal at the table. Be prepared to do the deal

outside the room. What does that mean? Means you walk away. Yeah. And you deal the deal later. You'll always get a better deal if you leave it on the table and walk away. Can you tell me a quick story about a time when you had to walk out of a room and and maybe it was a hard decision, but you had to make it for the long term of your success. When you have 30 million sitting on the table, they're offering you that to sell the case and you say no and we're leaving and you grab your client and you walk away. So, you're not about instant gratification. You you play the long game. The longer play pays better. I love that, man. You got amazing advice, man. Thank you so much for your time.

What's your name? Bryce Angel. James D. You guys, we just interviewed the owner of one of the biggest law firms out here in Palm Beach. He's from Atlanta, but he just gave you guys some incredible advice throughout that entire interview. My favorite part is when he talked about when he negotiates, he had $30 million on the table, but he didn't settle. He said he walked out of that room and he walked away and he ends up closing what? A 50 plus million settlement. Crazy good interview out here in Palm Beach. We got to keep this one rolling and go get another one, you guys. Come on. Excuse me, sir. How old were you when you made your first million? Love this guy. Come on. We're going to get him, bro. Come on. Sir, how old were you? Could you give me one advice to a new entrepreneur in today's world? They're trying to grow businesses like you. No, I sold my business. For how much? Excuse me, sir.

How old were you when you made your first million? Who wants to know? I started one of the biggest business media channels in the entire world where I go all over the world interviewing the most successful business owners for the younger generation. Wanted to know if I could ask you a couple questions for one minute real quick. I'd like to remain kind of quiet. Yeah. What line of business were you in? Look fellas, I don't know who you are and I don't know where this is going to go. So, I'm not excited to I just want to show you real quick just that way you can kind of get an idea. This is my channel right here.

So, you see I do stuff my today. So, we go all over the world and just asking people some questions on uh how they made it for the younger generation. We've got 5.4 million followers on Instagram. So, just asking people a couple career advice. So, it's a very legit platform. We've done stuff with like the owner of the Houston Texans, the CEO of Nike, the CEO of 7-Eleven. What's your name? James Duman. James Duman. Yes, sir. All right. So, how old were you when you made your first million? I don't know. I was reasonably young, I guess. Yeah. What line of business were you in? I worked for a company my entire career, business service company. And I think there's a lot to be said for working in one place as long as it's a good company. Doesn't matter what they do. It's got to have an opportunity and it's got to have a culture that's going to allow people to succeed. And that's that's what we did.

What was the highest role that you held in that company? I was the CEO of what company? I don't want to tell you guys. What's the name of it? It's a good company. It's a public company. It's a public company. Like what what I guess area is it? It's business services. Do you think a lot of people know the company? Probably. Yeah. Yeah. I was if if it's public, can we It's public knowledge, right? But could could you say what companies you'll have to run a lot of public CEOs? You'll have to look this up. Let me ask you this then.

Leadership is the downfall of a lot of companies in today's world. And you ran, you know, how many employees did you have at one time? 42,000. 43,000. What's the most amount of money you made in a single year? The company did multi-billions of dollars in revenue a year. So we did well generating high singledigit revenue growth for 50 years. Are you a billionaire? I don't know. What do you mean you don't know? I don't know. Are you still the CEO of the company? No, I'm not. I'm not. So why did you retire? I was there for 18 years as CEO and uh there's a point in time where you realize you're not running at the same pace that you were in your younger days and it's time to turn it over to somebody else, right? Let me ask you this. I want to go back to real quick. You were the number one out of 42,000. You had 42,000 employees. What was the biggest driving factor of your success that enabled you to work your

way up and become a CEO of a multi multi-billion dollar company? Advice to who? Who am I giving the advice to? Somebody's starting out at a corporation right now and they want to work their way up and become a CEO. Cuz most people, they can't even imagine that. Like that's that seems so unreasonable to people. But you put it in reality. Every day I went to my boss at the end of the day and I said, "I'm done with what I had to do today. Is there anything else you want me to do?" Sometimes they'd say, "No." Occasionally they'd say, "Yes, I need this. Can you hand help me with this?" But my boss eventually thought that I was their right-hand person because every single day I'm coming to them and asking them, "Is there anything else I can do?" And when your boss thinks you're their right-hand person, when their boss comes to them and say, "We need somebody to do something else. Do you have anybody?"

The people that are volunteering to do all that extra work are the ones that get the chance to do it. Now, every time you get that extra chance, now you got to perform. You got to do a really good job. But my advice is be your boss's right-hand person. Be there. Be there all the time. Go to them every day. What else can I do? Anything for you? Sometimes they give you stuff to do, but what they're giving you to do were things that they had to do. So, you're learning some of your boss's job by doing that sort of thing. So, that would be my advice. You got to work your butt off. How did you deal with all that pressure? Because you got to worry about shareholders. You got to worry about employees. You got to worry about customers. You got to worry about prospective clients. How did you manage to stay calm when you have immense pressure like that? Because again to have 40,000 people working under you,

you've got people that are investing in your company. You got to perform. How did you manage that, man? That's incredible. I know it wasn't easy. No, it's not. It's not. It's not. I guess the best way to say it is as you move up the organization, you kind of get used to different levels of pressure. I tell my kids that life doesn't quit throwing hard problems at you. You just get more used to dealing with them. And as you get more used to dealing with them, you don't overreact as much as you did when you were younger. So, you know, it's like the frog in the in the kettle and you turn the temperature up. They don't realize it's going up. It's just going up. That's what happens in business with the kind of pressure that you take on as as you move up into more and more responsible positions in the company.

Who's the number one person that had the biggest impact on your career in terms of like the success standpoint? Who did you learn the most from? My father and my predecessor as CEO before I took over the role were probably my biggest influences in business. My dad was a businessman as well and I learned an awful lot from him when I was young and then when I took the role of president of our company and I worked directly for my predecessor, I learned so much from him. What was the lowest point in your career? Don't make me go there. Let him I got to run. Give me that last one cuz I think that adversity helps people to get them to understand. I mean, anybody who spends a career in business has more problems that you deal with than you do up upside. What was your name, sir? I'm Scott. Scott. Last name? Uh, I'm Scott.

Scott, thank you, sir. I appreciate it. Guys, we just interviewed a billionaire out here in Palm Beach. He wouldn't say who he was or what company he worked for, but we looked him up and his net worth is over $12 billion. Guys, Palm Beach has been crazy. We're headed right now to go get our next interview. But before we do that, I want to give to you guys one of the best pieces of advice that I've ever received while running this channel. And it's that if you don't own your online presence as a business owner, you don't own your business. And what you have to understand is that today your website is the first thing that your customers ever see. But let's be real, building one can be overwhelming and a lot of entrepreneurs waste their time and money trying to piece one together. And that's why I love ODU because they have a website builder that makes it crazy simple to launch your own beautiful site.

Literally, all you have to do is answer a few questions, drag and drop your content, customize your pages, and you've got a real professional website ready to go. You don't need any tech skills whatsoever or even a designer. And you want to know the best part? you can build your website completely free with hosting and even a free custom domain for your first year. So, if you're serious about building your brand, then check out ODU today. All you have to do is go down to the link in the description of this video to try it out for free. And with that being said, let's get back to these interviews. Sir, how old were you when you made your first million? 42. What line of business were you in? Industrial equipment, sales service rental generators that type of thing. Did you own a company?

I've own a couple. Canada and in here. What business made you the most money? the business I'm running right now. What What is it? Well, it's a business that sells generators across the US and heavy equipment. What's the most amount of money that you've made in a single year? 500 million. $500 million. What happened that year? You did 500 million. That's incredible. Oh, it was just where to take. How did you scale from eight to multiple nine figures to do half a billion dollars in a single year? It was just a couple of key customers that locked in on some very strong orders for us. And AI is driving a lot of my business in data center business. Like I supply generators to data centers all over the world. You like AI? AI is huge.

It's like the industrial revolution right now. How can somebody leverage AI in their business right now? Because a lot of people hear artificial intelligence, they think, that's a whole different conversation. Leveraging AI from an intelligence standpoint in my business operations. That's the difference. But what's fueling my business is the surge that AI has on data centers. You do an AI search versus a Google search, it's 10x. So that just drives added demand for standby power for data centers and just base load energy as well. How did you get into this business? It's a very niche and very specific business. Everybody thinks that No, I'm very diversified. I'm in oil and gas. I'm in commercial vehicles and things of that nature. I do a lot of different things. So, I got I got a lot of geographical diversity and I've got a lot of sector diversity. I got a lot of guys that like to do the right thing for

our customers. Right. Did you come from a rich family? No, you didn't. I was a mechanic. Were your parents wealthy? No. So, what was your I didn't even go to university. You didn't go to college, but you started a $500 million a year business. Well, no. My business is a billion. You've been at the table with some haters. What's the biggest deal you ever closed? Probably about a $250 million deal with one customer with one order. Talk to me about your negotiation strategy there to go and close a quarter billion dollar deal. What was your mindset going into that deal? How did you close that deal? Well, first of all, developing a a relationship with that with that client, making sure that he has a sense of trust. He's going to be spending a lot of money and making a big commitment to your company. So, a big part of that is making sure that that customer is reassured at every step that when he makes that because everyone's

got choices. Yeah. He doesn't have to do business with me or my company. So, I got to make sure that his decision to do business with me is a sound one and he's reinforced that on that confidence day in and day out and staying connected with these guys. But whenever you have surprises whenever you have a prospective client that's on the fence, they're leaning towards a no. What's kind of your strategy to get them back over to EES? Give me like a a negotiation or a sales tactic that's helped you a lot. I would say it's largely just the relationship building exercise. Whether you take a guy out in the golf course, take them for dinner, take them on a boat for a weekend. You know, there's there's a lot of ways of developing that trust. A lot of guys use golf courses for doing that. A lot of guys use going fishing or taking them on holiday. I blend it depending on what the nature of the customer is. oil and

gas guys, they like to go shooting hogs from an air from a helicopter. I mean I mean every different strokes for different guys. You study your clients is what you're saying. Yeah. You got to know your demographic. You got to know who you're dealing with. Are you dealing with bankers? You're dealing with guys in major markets like Chicago, Washington, New York. Are you dealing with guys in the oil field down in Midland Odessa. Two different kinds of clientele and you got to deal with them appropriately. If I was to wear a suit going in to meet with a guy down in oil and gas down in Milan Odessa in the Perium Basin, I wouldn't get a deal done. I dress down for those kinds of environments. That's fascinating. But they spend great money. Nobody talks about that though. If I'm dealing with a guy in Chicago or New York or Washington, it's a whole different wardrobe. It's a whole different approach. And it's also it's a different

environment where I put myself in with that guy to make him feel comfortable. What was your superpower as a business owner? What did you do better than anybody else? Communication. When you say communication, where do most people struggle or like what's a communication advice? Transparency. I'd say being available. Like my office door is glass and it's glass for a purpose. What does that mean? People can see what's going on. When I have my closed door meetings, it's glass. People don't think there's a big conspiracy going on where I'm I'm changing the board or I'm changing key employees. It just makes them feel more comfortable. When you go behind a big oak door into a big office in a boardroom, people don't know what's going on. So, I want my employees to know that I'm working in their interest as well as my own interest. And just having that transparency. So, if there's some change in the company, whether it

be a financing change or a strategy or an embarkment on a new growth segment, they are the first to know. They are going to always be the first to know. They're going to hear from me whether it be through a town hall, I do a flyin, whatever it may be. What's your name? Yeah, John. John. John. Great to meet you, sir. I appreciate you. Guys, we just got another mogul out here in Palm Beach. She said, "My business does a billion dollars. The amount of wealth that is out here in this city has to be more than any city I've ever been in my entire life." But we got to keep this one rolling and go get another one. Go find some more of this Palm Beach money for you guys. Come on, you guys. Let's go. Excuse me, sir. How old were you when you made your first million? What is this for? I started the biggest social media business channel in the entire world where I interviewed millionaires and billionaires all over

the world on their advice to the younger generation. So, I've interviewed people like Shaquille O'Neal, Mark Cuban, the CEO of Nike. What did you do to become wealthy? What did I do? I've owned four or five companies. What was your main business? Started in printing, then got in the display business, then the carton business, all sorts of things. So now I'm in private equity. Now you're in private equity. What's the most amount of money you made in a single year? A few hundred million. I mean, it's not there wasn't a big company. You think somebody should start or buy a business in today's world? Definitely buy. Why?

Well, because you know it's got a track record. Raising money like I started with nothing. So raising money becomes very difficult if you're an entrepreneur and a new company. However, if you got a business with a track record, you can go raise money from a bank and then sort of leverage that up to the next deal. Is it possible to buy a business without a lot of capital? Yeah, I mean, but you've got to have your own track record. I was in the consulting business and the banks trusted me and I, you know, they How did you build your relationships with banks?

I did that over a period of four or five years. Have you ever lost money? Oh, yeah. I sure have. Yeah. But I mean, that's part of the learning process. If you're an entrepreneur, whether you buy a business or you start a business, you're an entrepreneur. you're really in business for yourself at the end of the day. For people that don't understand private equity, how do you make money in private equity? You buy companies. I mean, the the private equity model is you buy a company and you use the assets of that company to borrow against those and ultimately pay those off through the the cash flow of the business. Among the most successful people that you've met throughout your career, what do they all have in common? I think whether you're a billionaire or millionaire, most guys that get into that status are willing to take risk. That's the bottom. Were you a big risk taker? Oh, yeah, for What was

the biggest risk you took that maybe a lot of people were telling you not to do? My second deal, I leveraged my house, everything to buy the company. You put everything on the table. I put it on. Why did you do that? I felt very comfortable that I'd be able to. Were there some people telling you not to do it? Oh, for sure. Were you a little crazy? Just a little bit? No, not crazy. But I think, you know, you have to really have a lot of confidence in your ability and yourself. Did you always have that self-belief or did it come over time? No, I had it. I always had it. What is a lesson about money that banks don't want people to know? I don't know if banks don't want you to know this, but leveraging and understanding the difference between margin and the velocity of cash. Explain that real quick. The Walmart model. So Walmart, they make a little bit, but they turn that cash so fast. They still make a lot

of money. A lot of people don't really understand. They tie margin to how good the business ultimately is going to go. They forget the velocity of cash and the velocity of turning cash. Did you come from a rich family? No. My Thank you so much for your time. How did you change your family trajectory? What was your turning point of financial freedom? What did you see that made you want to stand out and go? Well, I bought my first company. The one thing I'll leave you with advice to anyone it would be if you're going to get rich, there's a few ways to do it. Maybe you become a CEO of a company, which is pretty hard, but you got to own your own business. That's the way I think you're going to be successful and ultimately make money.

How old are you now? 76. You look incredible for 76. Thank you so much. And I'll leave you with this cuz you're in private equity. What's the best investment somebody can make in today's world? Right now, the trend in is going to be manufacturing in the US. Why? because I think we're going to try to onshore and we're we're trying to do that more and more but our private equity firm only buys US manufacturing companies. So you're getting into manufacturing. That's what you would do. That's what I would continue to do. So you can get rich in doing that in today's world. Oh, for sure. You got amazing advice. Thank you so much, sir.

I really appreciate you. You guys, Palm Beach was incredible. We just found some of the wealthiest people in the entire country. We interviewed several billionaires in this video. But I need you guys to do me a favor to like and subscribe for amazing content I've got coming every single week cuz I'm going all over the world to find and interview the wealthiest and the most successful people for you. And if you are not a member yet of my private entrepreneur community, the school of mentors, you are missing out. The number one shortcut to success in today's world. This is from the millionaires and billionaires that I interview. It's mentorship. It's getting in the rooms with and finding the people that you want to be exactly like. The only way to go from point A to point B and your life and your career and your business is getting mentored by the most successful people. So, if you want to get mentored for free from the

millionaires and the billionaires I interview every single week on this channel on live Zoom calls where you can ask your questions and learn from and speak directly to the people that I interview, all you have to do is go down to the link in the description of this video to join the School of Mentors, the number one community for business owners in the entire world. But with that being said, I'll see you in the next

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Asking Palm Beach Billionaires How They Got So RICH!"?

James D. (Host), Bryce Angel (Guest), Scott (Host), John (Guest), Unnamed Billionaire (Guest).

What is "Asking Palm Beach Billionaires How They Got So RICH!" about?

The content explores the personal stories and strategies of billionaires in Palm Beach, showcasing a range of unconventional paths to wealth, including private equity and entrepreneurial ventures that defy typical educational backgrounds. Through candid interviews, it offers insights into their experiences, financial milestones, and advice for achieving financial success.

What is mentioned in this School of Hard Knocks episode?

18 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Ashley Parker Angel, West Palm Beach, Private Equity, Attorney General, James Duman, Artificial Intelligence. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Asking Palm Beach Billionaires How They Got So RICH!"?

The episode runs 23 min; the transcript is about 6,261 words in 43 timestamped sections.

More from School of Hard Knocks

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 24, 2026.